so that happened.

hi gang...

just a few quick notes...

1. there's a much better quality version (quicktime!) of the teaser trailer up on our myspace page (and if you're on myspace, be our friend!).

2. my imac died! after less than 1 year! last week it just wouldn't boot. initial trouble shooting by the genius bar at my local apple store indicated it was merely a problem with the power source, however yesterday they called to tell me that my hard drive was ruined as well! this was a major concern since most of the movie was on that hard drive. however, i also have an external drive i use and, luckily, i had saved a copy of the project file and about 40% of the footage on that external drive. so... long story short, i had to arm wrestle the manager of the apple store to get my old hard drive back (they're holding my imac unrepaired until i return it - bastards) so that i could explore my options for (unfortunately costly) data recovery. needless to say, this is a set back. assuming macforce can recover nothing (without having to send it to a drive recovery lab), i'm staring down about a month's worth of work to reconstruct my last cut. plus bills for attempted data recovery, software replacement, etc... which leads me to...

3. grammar school pictures is now accepting donations. for $20 you can pre-order a copy of the dvd (which we will ship by the end of september). for $50 you can purchase a "special thanks" credit (and receive a copy of the dvd). for $150 you can purchase an "associate producer" credit (and receive a copy of the dvd). for $300 you can purchase a "co-producer" credit (and receive a copy fo the dvd). and for $500 we'll credit you as an "executive producer", send you a copy of the dvd, and invite you to the premiere. take some time... think it over. when you decide how much you'd like to give, simply send it via paypal to: headmaster@grammarschoolpictures.com. we'll send you an email confirming your donation and it's associated credit. thanks for your support.

okay. that's all for now... hopefully i'll have more good news to post next time.

m

teaser trailer!

so this is pretty rough... no real sound work done and youtube doesn't provide the highest quality video (and it slips the audio out a sync a little too)... but, irregardless, here you go...

done with all that.

alright people: by popular demand we are officially ending this back and forth over a new title. the votes have been counted (all one of them) and the new official title is ... somethingness.

take it or leave it. or comment on it.

boring you and me: more potential titles

i'm not exactly trying to beat a dead horse, or drive away the few of you who actually read this drivel on occassion, but... the title issue has not yet been resolved.

here's a fresh batch of words/phrases under consideration:

- distraction
- all you need is me (courtesy of reclinerland)
- directions
- idle
- returns/returning/return
- hesitation
- backspace (i've bounced this one around for a while - and i kind of like it)
- the lack (does no one like 'the lack'?!? am i really that much of a freak?)
- somethings
- somethingness (yes, i'm serious...)

in other title news: 'how it ends' is out of the running for the picture as it has been reassigned to another potential future project.

thanks for putting up with us.

something else?

how does anybody feel about "bent" as a title...

thoughts?

feelings?

general misgivings?

o-kay...

maybe you don't like 'the post-graduate' but can't bring your fine selves to tell us that it's a terrible title... we've been considering that possibility and have decided to let you in on the whole brain-storming process... below is a list of words/phrases/concepts that we've considered... let us know if anything sticks or whatever. please! thank you! you're welcome!

the list starts now:
- incomplete
- a work in progress
- in limbo
- spinning wheels
- plans
- digression
- stray
- parenthetical
- the long finish
- the end
- misdirection
- all the high school girls
- a momentary lapse of reason
- the post-graduate
- the lack
- dating two girls at once while you're trying to work out your own issues probably isn't a great idea
- how it ends
- perspective (or a lack thereof)
- this is your only second chance
- twenty-five
- changes
- ...
- full circle

so... what do you think?

so there's that...

in the on-going debate over potential new titles for the film, joe and i have tossed a bunch of different ideas around. this afternoon, one of them kind of stuck...

the post-graduate

i'm not going to say anything else about the title, but i would strongly encourage feedback (give us first impressions and then sit on it for a couple days and check back in, if you don't mind).

thanks.

um... i'm not sure about that shot/line/piece of music/scene/character/sub-plot/sequence/act/whole movie

so yeah... my head's still spinning a touch from the super-small screening we had on sunday (and also the multiple beers i used to drown my anxiety). it was the first time we'd shown the film to anyone besides select members of our immediate families and it was a little nerve-wracking. special thanks to richard and payam for their objective commentary (being that they were the only ones who didn't really know the story and hadn't worked (much, in the case of payam) on the film prior to seeing it).

it went well, i think for only being a second cut... the highlights/lowlights:

1. payam starts giggling during my very brief cameo and proclaiming that i "look like a child molestor" (ed. note: not true. in no way does mr. knapp resemble a child molestor, nor is he playing a child molestor in the film in question.)

2. as soon as the movie's over, payam calls me out on my over-use of dramatic pauses. (apparently, somehow during the editing process i fell in love with structuring the scenes as follows: medium shot or close-up that jumps right into the dialogue; more med/cu shots as conversion continues; final joke/moment in cu; end on a very long wide shot in which nothing happens except for the characters looking at each other silently. this structure, while fine to highlight the occasional dramatic moment, may not be the best selection for EVERY THIRD SCENE.)

3. during conversation, everyone at the table suggests shortening/deleting a shot at the end of a particular scene. i look down at my own notes where i have underlined three times, my own thoughts for the scene: EXPAND THE END SHOT.

4. joe reminds everyone for the fifth time to refer to his character as "colin" and not as "joe".

5. issues arise regarding a scene in which joe fights with a middle-aged man, who slugs him (off-camera) resulting in joe having a black eye for the rest of the film. it's suggested that the scene simply does not work - which, on some level, i think joe and i were always aware of (that scene went through about three drastic revisions, including a final one five days before we shot it). however, if we cut it, it will leave a distracting gap in the continuity of the film (the black eye is discussed with other characters, but i really think something like that (at least as it relates to the tone/flow of our story) needs to be at least partially witnessed by the audience. richard suggested that a few editing changes (keeping the pace quick and steady through the entire sequence, and cutting down on the fight scene) might make it work... but there are also some sound issues to deal with. so, we're probably looking at another scene to re-shoot (the tally is at three so far), although this particular one will actually require significant scripted revisions to the dialogue/tone of the scene.

okay... i'm getting the anxiety again about all the work that still lies ahead. ultimately, i think we're still on solid ground. lots of work left to go (duh), but we have plenty of time to do it well. and, most importantly, nobody was too confused or throught that it outright sucked. so, yeah... i'm taking a few days off from the whole thing to kind of clear my head. then, it's back to work. (by the way, february marked the two-year anniversary of the project... it was during a triangular road trip from salem to los angeles to salt lake city to salem that i came up with the initial characters and concepts that became our currently untitled film.)

the point of a democracy

by the way, we finished that first cut weeks ago. and we're already well into the second draft.

there's music now - lots and lots of music. i think i've placed about 10 pieces of source music, some of which is legitimized by handshakes with gentlemen, the rest will hopefully not be too expensive. of course, we've got lots of p&r in the mix (and more still to come (hopefully including some by-request, unreleased b-sides and re-mixes) - there's also a very nice blanket music cover of a corrina repp song, some older reclinerland tunes, an amina track, and, finally, the stuff that will probably drain a fair portion of our post-production budget: belle and sebastian's "if she wants me" over a cheery summer montage and a.c. newman's "drink to me, babe, then" over our opening credits.

so, yeah, swimmingly is an appropriate word, i think. we'll be watching various cuts with friends/family/crew members over the new couple weeks and collecting notes on improving the edit. additionally, we've got some re-shoots scheduled for may, which i'm actually looking forward to. second chances are A+ in my book - especially with 9 months of hindsight... we'll be re-working two scenes specifically and i'm very much looking forward to bettering my shot selections and finding more active and interesting environments for the scenes in question. besides that it's all music and audio sweetening and then we're off...

keep checking in on occasion... and also look us up on myspace if you like (we're too lazy and insecure in our html to post an actually link here...) - hopefully we'll have some clips circulating on our myspace page as well as our home page (www.grammarschoolpictures.com) within the next few weeks.

until next time...

foreverforeverforeverforeverforever

it's been nearly that long since i updated, it seems. but, as i think i've disclaimed previously - it's largely mental, this work i've been doing.

the good news (and briefly!): literally, just a handful of scenes remain before i have the first cut assembled! of course, none of you will get to see that cut... but i think i'm very well on target for the first super-rough cut test screening that is penciled in for february 25th. but don't feel bad if you don't get an invitation - we're keeping a pretty tight lid on things until it's fairly well-polished... trust me, it's for the best.

besides that, i have a somewhat firm promise from ljb that the scoring will begin early next week upon deliver of the aforementioned first cut. and, speaking of music, (and i may be opening a can of worms here, but) if anyone out there has recommendations for mellow-like pop song or whatnot that we might get the rights to for free (man(!), that's sloppy syntax), by all means, do share...

that's about it for now.

except for one other thing: if you happen to search diligently through a popular networking website, you might just come across some stills from the film... not that we're encouraging you or anything...

still nothing significant to report...

as the title indicates, i have nothing significant to report. then why am i posting, you ask? good question. the answer: i don't know. maybe to dispell any romantic notions you may have held about the editing process (it's really just a whole lot of me sitting at a computer screen watching take after take of the same shot and trying to decide which of joe's slightly varied inflections of "what are you doing here?" is going to sound most natural and create the illusion of emotional continuity between the three or four other shots i'm using.) not that it's not fun - it's actually really engrossing work (especially when you're editing something that's yours). but the physical details of it are very minimal and the work/fun is primarily mental. in any case, i've starting closely watching the cuts of every film or television show now. and it's clear that editing (like all of the filmmaking process) is about 50% craft and 50% art. most of the decisions you make are to keep pace and continuity, but every once in a while, things come together and continuity is not an issue and you can make cuts that actually elevate a scene (the rest of the time, you must rely upon the script or the acting or the photography to serve the story and deliver the goods). and then there's the middle ground where you might not have perfect continuity, but by trimming a frame here or there and bleeding the audio from one take to another, you can cheat a little and hope that what you're really trying to do, creating that moment, distracts the audience from the fact that mike's right hand went from being on the table to under the table between shots. but it's coming along nicely so far. and the feb 26th self-imposed rough-cut deadline should be no trouble at all.

additionally, i sent in our articles of organization today and within a week or so, we should be an official business. wahoo.

also: still no new name for the movie. not that we've been trying that hard, but still...

who wants to name our movie?!?

so, we (i) have kind of cooled on the title (drift) and am more or less coming up blank for potential new names... we had this issue during the writing phase too and cycled through about seven or so names before settling (settling) on "drift". so if anyone has any bright ideas they'd like to share, please to post them in the comments section for this entry. if you happen to suggest a title that we fall in love with, we'll probably steal it from you and make no mention of its true origin in either public or private conversations. but there's always the off-chance that we'll throw you a bone and give you an associate producer credit or something.

checking in

not sure if anyone's still reading this (esp since i haven't posted in nearly a month) - but there's nothing major to report right now. i'm still editing (it's going well) and i've got about 35-40 minutes worth of scenes rough cut. sequences are starting to form. characters are coming to life. and the plot coheres. highlights: (1) joe's nose whistle. it's everywhere. EVERYWHERE. i can't think of a single scene i've cut where at least one take of each angle doesn't prominently feature a nose whistle. BRILLIANT. i'm thinking of stealing from mike nichols and inserting the nose whistle at key moments throughout the film. (2) the subtle variations of mike johnson. as per a previous post, mike excells at tweaking reactions and delivery just enough to change a line's mood without breaking continuity. BRILLIANT. (2) alicia's attention and energy. i've not cut many of her scenes together yet... but in the few that i have done, alicia carries herself extremely well. once a take gets going, there are no breaks in character or blank expressions - she's incredibly focused on each scene. BRILLIANT. (3) lisa's versatility. admittedly, we didn't give her any slapstick or broad comedy, but lisa nailed everything else we asked her to do. from kissing joe (ewwwwwww!) to striking a balance between sarcastic/hurt/angry/embarrased (all in a single moment) to being motherly, she pulled it all off. BRILLIANT. (4) jim is funny. as the dad, jim is really funny. and soft. and you kinda feel bad for him. but he's funny. BRILLIANT. (5) erick is a punk. as with alicia, i've only cut a few of his scenes together, but erick plays a pretty good asshole. which is nothing like him in person! BRILLIANT. (6) dylan is cute. BRILLIANT. (7) dennis is cute (but dumb). BRILLIANT. (8) bob ham can walk-out-of-a-bathroom-and-give-a-disapproving-look like a sonuvabitch. BRILLIANT. (9) mollie definitely looks like she thinks joe is weird. BRILLIANT. (10) all those high school kids in eugene are crazy and young and hip! BRILLIANT. (11) ashleigh is crazy and weird! BRILLIANT. (8) payam is EVERYWHERE. BRILLIANT. okay... i'm done for now.

how it's done (right)

so just after midnight last night, i sat down to cut together one last scene for the day... i'd been working on stuff from early in the shoot (which was also from early in the script) with joe and mike's characters and it was going okay. mostly, i was just lining things up to be polished at some point in the future when there was more context around the scenes. but so i start cutting together this nice little bit - it's the first time that colin and aaron (best friends 4ever) have to themselves after recently reuniting. it's a simple, two-shot scene set in a very cramped hallway at the basement pub where the characters just sort of chat and establish the situations for the first act. but, damn, those boys knocked it out of the f-ing ballpark. i digitized two takes from joe's angle and three from mike's and between those five times through the scene i had a terrific and uncommon range of reactions and emotions to select from - and without needing to cut around continuity! contrary probably to what i was telling him, mike gave me a slight variations of frustration and playfullness and cockiness without fully changing character. and joe did the same thing with his frustration, depression, and absurdity. both of them provided me with perfect little clips that can be interchanged and shuffled around without disrupting the flow of the scene or causing any awkward breaks of character. it was really fantastic and surprising putting that scene together with so much ease. so, hats off to joe and mike. additionally, hats off to bob ham (bobham!), who hid in the bathroom for several hours that morning, flushing a toilet on cue and then squeezing his large manly frame into an impossibly small gap between the camera and the wall (you can read his version of the story here: HERE! (scroll down to July 11)). i'm really excited to see this all coming together...

even more pictures!

and also here's a few pictures from the wrap party...



andy, gerry, and joe bicker in the kitchen.



joe continues bickering. peter is bemused.



gerry schemes, as mollie and alicia enjoy something someone else is saying.



joe, ashleigh, and yona admire mike while an unidentified person enjoys some liquid courage.



ashleigh and mike converse.



jim looks away from bob and lita.



joe and bob share a "moment".



gerry holds court in his living room.

more pictures!

since there's no new news to really report, i thought i'd catch up with posting some pictures from the latter days of production. enjoy.



joe attempts to put a shoe on.



joe and andy survey the scene.



matt moves incredibly fast behind the camera.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

that's the answer to your question. on that day, we'll hold a rough cut screening for the cast and crew of the film with the intent to gather critical feedback, test temp track music, etc. also, we should probably have another party that night at gerry's house. i'll have alicia put in a few more calls to widmer and liquid. see you then.

don't eat the bug

a brief note on our recent wrap party (brief: since i'm sure most of you (1) were in attendence or (2) are not at all interested in this aspect of the production):

it was fun
we didn't drink anywhere near the amount of beer or vodka we had available
gerry told fantastic stories about everything from ghosts to drunken chemistry teachers
some jerk ate a bug
everyone got a free t-shirt or two
peter drank so much he was hungover
peter also gave matt and alicia a fantastic scrabbleboard as a gift
everyone was drunk enough by the time we showed the footage that they were unable to fully express their disapointment/shame
it was fun

that's all for now... i'll try to keep everyone posted on the post-production, but i'm not entirely sure how interesting that's all going to be... additionally, i'll post some more photos and link to some on-line galleries of photos that people have taken on-set and at the party.

l8r.
matt

um... we're done.

almost. pretty much. basically.

there are a few shots to pick up on saturday before the wrap party - mostly joe driving around on various freeways.

we pretty much went out with a whisper. the last full day of production consisted of myself, joe, alicia, and lucy in salem shooting scenes in which joe was mostly in a single room, had no actual interation with other characters, very little dialogue and a lot of repeated shots. it went well and was a reasonably short day. no major issues or concerns or weirdness.

and like that [poof] it was done.

(at least for most of the other people. joe and i still have a lot of work to do (me: editing; joe: music) and we'll still have to call on our friends mike johnson and lisa wells to fill in a few gaps (mike for music/lisa for adr (we had some microphone failure in one of her scenes)). and, of course, there's the building of the ambient soundtrack as well as securing the rights to source music (most of which we're hoping will come from our good friends parks & recreation... but we won't know exactly what we need until the cut is assembled (unfortunately, we are no martin scorsese). then there's all the business of film festivals and publicity materials (and, oh yeah, we've got to try and arrange cast photos before anyone else changes their appearance too drastically) and trying to find a way for people to actually see this movie.)

but for now, we can give ourselves permission to breath again. most of us have our weekends back. and the work becomes much calmer and almost meditative (at least, the editing seems that way). they say that every movie is written three times - once in script form, once during production, and once in the editing. the first time, with the script, was fantastic - mostly joe and i sat around in bars and argued over the details and thought of things to make ourselves laugh (then i went home and typed it). the second time was (to borrow a term from the poetess, b. spears) chaotic, but fun, but still crazy and too fast and too slow and stressful and brilliant. and now we're back to beer and laughs. hopefully.

sorry... do i sound pessimistic and/or "bummed out"? really, i'm not. i feel great about everything and the scenes i've cut together so far look terrific and i'm excited to see all the moments that we worked so hard to capture all lined-up and playing off of each other. it should be a lot of fun. really.

(maybe this is the whole post-partum thing flaring up. and i wasn't even aware i had a birthing canal. (sorry, is that too graphic?))

long way down...

the second to last weekend has passed. so we say a hearfelt (production) goodbye to our dear old/new friends: michael george johnson, actor/musician; lisa wells, actress; erick custodio, actor; gerald lewis, director of photography; peter huszagh, production assistant/grip; yona prost, extras coordinator. you will be dearly missed.

but yeah... the weekend went well. the short version: we lost our coffee shop location on wednesday - but everyone kept their cool and raced to fine a replacement. the winner of the race was alicia, who had a new location (la razza tazza) secured by 4pm that afternoon. we shot there on saturday (they actually locked out customers during business hours so that we could get what we needed!). then we shot a few quick things outside mike johnson's apartment before heading off to berbati's pan with 'the band'. a few minor snags getting the tascam to connect to bob's laptop so that we could get a soundboard recording were ironed out relatively easily. in warming up, mike played 'yours' in a lower key and it sounded fantastic, so we went with that at the last minute. the dolly-pan shots of mike on the stage were damn near impossible to coordinate and may not work out at all. we had just enough extras to provide the illusion of a crowd. and it all looks and sounds fantastic. sunday - we got together around 8am and realized our exterior location for april's apt would not work due to construction in the area. so we cruised the neighborhood and "borrowed" the front door from another building in the area. joe and alicia were great in a break-up/argument scene (which is always tough). we picked up a few other pieces and headed back to april's apt for the remainder of the day. all went smoothly from there on out - there was some fun 1st person perspective shots that involved a group hugging of joe and alicia's arms suspended above her head. and we wrapped at a reasonable hour.

i'll see about posting some actual screen shots from our dailies within the next day or two.

one day to go...