On a Slow Boat to China... er, In China.

Sorry about not posting, it has been slow here and the internet is expensive here in Shanghai... yes, they sent Rob and I on a "vacation" to Shanghai while they recast the film...

Ok, so it's been very slow moving here for the film. There has been issue after issue with actor contracts and equipment negotiations and the director getting sick for a few days that has really slowed down production. It is now looking like a 2 week push back on the schedule... however, Rob and I still don't know what this means for the date we are supposed to come home.

So with nothing really to do, Rob and I decided to get into acting and, as a result, ended up getting cast in the movie:


No, just kidding. We were bored enough to get really excited and take head shots and post them on the casting board as a prank... I think they are still up, no one has come to us and said anything yet.

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Higher voltage tends to arc more, so always be extra careful around 12Ks, 18Ks and 20/14Ks.

Paranoid Park

Though, I'm not a huge fan of Gus Van Sant, I do appreciate his work and I have to say, I want to see this one:



PhillM tip-of-the-day:
I tend to keep my key light somewhere close to a 90º angle to the camera so that we are always shooting into the dark side of a person's face... like a 3/4 back light, for example.

China Update 2

Well, things are slowly coming together... maybe they are not slowly coming together, but things seem slow for me and Rob. Slow enough to get us to start messing around with the program Garage Band on my computer to see if we can write a song or two... Haha, we keep doing location scouting and a bit of pre-planning, but not much after that. We have a film test planned though, so at least we'll get to do a little bit of lighting for that and actually start working.

Rob and I have a routine down now where we will go to lunch and then go for a walk after lunch and work out at the little playground... we call it our outdoor gym. Haha, it's a little playground but everything is some sort of aerobic exercise machine! It's designed for little kids, but we made due... as we work out with all the children playing and all the grandparents who take the kids out to play.




PhillM tip-of-the-day: (guest tipster- Rob Hauer, Cinematographer)
On tech scouts of exterior locations, always bring a compass with you or an experienced local... so you can figure out which way north is and can estimate the sun's path.