Um... ok, so it turns out that this screening at the Academy wasn't just a screening of a few visual effects film clips by a bunch of visual effects nerds... it was the Academy voting on which 3(out of 7 chosen films from this past year) to nominate for the 79th Academy Awards! The nominated films will either be Superman, X-men 3, Eragon, Pirates 2, Night at the Museum, Casino Royale, or Poseidon. Sandra(the first AC from Too Loud A Solitude) and Ami(who filled in as another AC as well) went to the event and ran into Evan, the visual effects supervisor for Too Loud A Solitude and we also ran into a guy named Rob who was also another AC on it, as well. We spotted Isidore and talked for a little bit, he seemed in good spirits. I have to send him a thank you email and ask if they have one of these for the cinematography category- 'cuz that would be awesome! Oh, and Dick Van Dyke sat behind us... two rows away!
Today was good, we had 2 classes back-to-back and Larry took us to lunch. I am attempting to nick name a new power distro box a "Phill box" and all the other interns are playing along, so there may be some hope in that. Haha, also, word has been getting around that I did a "crazy tie-in" for the puppet shoot with Isidore. Sandra said that she met a guy on a shoot over the weekend and he said, "Oh, I know Phill- he did a crazy tie-in on some puppet film with Isidore Mankofsky!" She said, "I know, I was on that shoot!" I thought that was funny.
Tomorrow I have a class and then I head to Warner Bros to fill out paper work to get on the permit list... where they will call me for union permit days that I'll be able t count towards getting into local 728(the lighting union). Larry made some calls, had his people call their people who called my people who called their people back... we're gonna do lunch.
PhillM tip-of-the-day: When ordering lights, try to always order even numbers... trust me.
So I am "out of work" for the next 3 weeks because my next shoot doesn't start until the 29th, so I'll be at Mole helping with the classes. Larry is going in for a shoulder surgery next week so I'll be taking over a few of the classes.
Wait, did I tell you guys about working on the Paramount backlot!? A few days... no, THE day after the San Clemente shoot was over I was invited by Larry and the advertising guys to help out on a photo shoot on the backlot of Paramount. We were taking pictures of the new HMI pars and Tungsten par lights by setting up a fake movie set with a camera from Panavision, a dolly from JL Fisher, a 10 ton grip truck from Cinelease and our new Mole lights and then took pictures of all the products "in action". Since I have a pony tail they had me sit in as the director and my friend Jongo sat in as the camera operator while they were taking the pictures. Then, we'd take a break from our acting and help run power, set up lights, and do grip work... ON THE PARAMOUNT BACKLOT! It was amazing, I got to ride in a golf cart, I got to go on the roof, I got to see a herd of horses run down the street next to us for a Gatoraide commercial, and I got to walk all around the studio!
So last week started out great! Monday I helped set up for a class we had on Tuesday with the Producer's Guild and Steve Burum ASC... however, Steve, Larry, the other 4 interns and I were disappointed to see only three producers show up after we had run lines of banded, 2/0 and 4/0(really, really heavy) cables, set up a whole power distro display outside, plus brought all the lights into the stage and positioned them in a circle for them to see...
So Larry called us in after the producers left(just before lunch) and we had a "team meeting". He told us that we were going to break for lunch and then come back and we would get to set up anything we wanted with Steve Burum... in short, Steve wanted to play with lights and we were going to get a private workshop with the guy who shot films which include Hoffa, Mission: Impossible, The War of the Roses, The Untouchables, Mystery Men and all the 2nd unit stuff of a little film title Apocalypse Now.
So we went to lunch and then came back and had the stage all cleaned up and ready to go, to both Larry and Steve's amazement. Steve gave us a few scenarios about a particular shot, he gave us the action, the mood, and the amount of foot candles!Steven H. Burum ASC taught me foot candles!!! So one person volunteered to be the cinematographer and was in charge of lighting it to Steve's specifications. My friend Jason went first and did this cool backlight scene, Jongo went second, and everyone made me volunteer for the last one. I don't mean to brag, but Steve didn't say I did anything wrong, in fact, he didn't tweak any of my lights... he just added one more(he seemed really excited about it, too). He taught us all how to checker board our lighting so if the person was dark then they would be in front of a light background and if they were light then the background would be darker. On top of that, we light it for movement(we usually just light the room or a static subject... boring). Then, we all sat around as he told us war stores and gave us tips... Larry was taking pictures of us all sitting there listening to him talk. Then, Steve left and Larry went to his office while we wrapped all the equipment and cleaned the stage. As if the day couldn't get better, Larry came back and said that our pictures may end up in American Cinematographer Magazine because the editor just called him and asked for pictures of any top ASC members teaching students... so he was going to send in the pictures he just took!
The rest of the week we had classes, Friday I went on a tech scout at the Motion Picture Home out in Calabasas... ran into Ralph Woolsey ASC there and got a good feel for how I was going to light the locations. Then came home and waited around for Joe, Becca, Minna and Priscilla to arrive(they took a weekend road trip down to visit). Friday night we went to our friend Dave's apartment downtown, he made gnocci and cake and we had a little dinner party thing. Then Saturday we went to Mann's and the Walk of Fame, then to The Grove and then finally we went out to this club called Tokio. Then they left Sunday morning and Andrew and I went and picked up Peter from USC... he told us he's now in the Airforce ROTC, which matched his new haircut. We hung out and played Scene It and the Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and watched some TV and then we took him back to school.
Then yesterday was a film test shoot at Mole and then Edwin and I got the big 20K and light the set with one light and then used a bunch of flags, silks, nets, dots and fingers to shape the light and make it look like multiple sources(a trick that I am told Steve Burum does)... well, we tried to do it anyway.
And today we taught a class for Cal State LA and then I came home and cleaned because Karolina is coming down this weekend!!! Yaaaay!
...wow, Isidore Mankofsky ASC just called me... he invited me to this special effects movie screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills tomorrow night... yeah, I think I'll be going to that.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
A jib dolly move for the first shot in Too Loud A Solitude.
A shot using the Power Pod Hot Head remote camera control head for a crane shot in Too Loud A Solitude.
A skating shot during the hockey flashback sequence in Loon.
I never thought I'd ever get to use these skates on the Fisher dolly... but here we are during a flashback cene in Loon.
Wow, I haven't posted in a long, looong time. I have been super busy, right after I did the shoot with Isidore I jumped right into that USC thesis that went for a week until Christmas. I was working with my cinematographer friend Chris Hall and my cool Swiss gaffer friend Roman. Chris, Roman and I had all worked on this music video earlier in the summer, it was funny when I got picked up by Chris and Roman on the day we had to load in the rental equipment because the first thing Chris says is, "The gang is back together!" We laughed. The shoot went well, we were on location in LA for the week before Christmas which included a house out in Chino, a photo studio in Hollywood, a lake in the Hollywood Hills and the ice rink down in Torrance which we used the J.L. Fisher ice skates on the dolly! Roman, Chris and I were super excited because for years now we've seen the ice skates in the Fisher catalogue and we've always wanted to use them! I'll be posting pictures and video of it soon. Christmas was good, I asked for a bunch of practical gifts this year, which makes much more sense asking for things I need then things that I just want. Andrew and I suited up for midnight mass... it was legend... wait for it... dary(*you won't get this unless you watch How I Met our Mother but trust me- it's funny) After Christmas I flew back and the cast and crew went down t San Clemente for 2 weeks. The director's parents rented a house next door to theirs so the crew piled into the two houses for the shoot... another muppet house shoot! Almost everyone went back up to LA for New Years except for me and the director and his family, so we all stayed up to midnight and then went to bed because we were so exhausted from the shoot. The rest of the shoot went well, we had some awesome looking lighting and some beautiful shots. Then, Roman and I drove up after the last day and returned all the equipment. I am very proud to say that Roman and I did not loose anything and there were only two items damaged through the whole shoot, which is amazing for a student production! It has been a long but fun past three weeks.
PhillM tip-of-the-day: When on locations for a shoot for a week or more, try to bring two pairs of shoes and switch off pairs every other day... your feet with feel better in the end.
" and all the other interns are playing along, so there may be some hope in that. Haha, also, word has been getting around that I did a "crazy tie-in" for the puppet shoot with Isidore. Sandra said that she met a guy on a shoot over the weekend and he said, "Oh, I know Phill- he did a crazy tie-in on some puppet film with Isidore Mankofsky!" She said, "I know, I was on that shoot!" I thought that was funny. 
