Will Film For Food
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: Part 1: Bon Jovi's "Born To Be My Baby" Part 2: Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life"

because you're reeeeally special, The Realm's first two-part blog!

Part 1:


one hour and thirteen minutes until lunch . . .

i'm sitting in my office, staring at a cluster of exposed wiring, wondering what my chances are of being electrocuted as i keep half an eye on the video i'm capturing.

two weekends ago, a friend of mine's daughter got married and he asked me to video the service. "no problem," i thought and said. then his daughter called me. she wanted the rehearsal videoed, too. and the reception. and she wanted them edited nicely together, with a kickin' soundtrack. oh, and if i could transfer the raw footage from mini-DV to DVD that would be sweet, too.

so my day started at 9am (the ceremony began at 6pm), when they wanted me to show up at their house and video the girls doing their make-up and getting dressed. i was one of three men in a house filled with, what, twenty women? if i wasn't engaged, i might like those odds even more.

the morning was fun and fairly stress-free, but as it continued, i began to realize how big and momentous the day was and was becoming. how could i possibly capture such a day with my puny little XL-1? how could i do the third biggest day in anyone's life (first biggest day being birth, the second being baptism) any kind of justice?

i calmed myself by telling myself that i was film graduate. i knew what i was doing. and, because these people aren't film people, their standards and what they're expecting are probably much lower than me. i mean, seriously, somebody had to make Napoleon Dynamite popular.

the day went off without a hitch (except the expected one -- you know, the bride and groom) but the absolute funniest moment was when the mother of the bride grabbed me and pulled me into the dressing room, as she wanted video of her daughter getting into her dress. "Just don't look," she said.

"You want me to video blindly?"

"No, well . . ."

"You do realize, I'll be editing this later, right?"

"Um . . ."

"But if you want me to, I can point the camera in one direction and look the other. Or if you want, I can give you the camera."

"Oh, just come in."

so there's the bride in her skivvies and i'm videoing her as she blushes and squeezes into her wedding dress. everyone's comfortable with this until the photographer comes in and starts shooting her, telling her to strike "sexy" poses (as she's not in her dress quite yet, just her underwear corset). and that's when the mom gets uncomfortable.

ah, fun was had by all.

and i have the video to prove it! Mu-wah-ha-ha-ha!!

on a side note, it made me want to create a bumper sticker and t-shirt line that reads "Yes, This is my Camera. Yes, I Have Access to Final Cut Pro. No, I Won't Shoot Your Memorable Event."

fifty-seven minutes until lunch . . .


Part 2:

thirty-one minutes until i go home for the day . . .

having tested the wires, i can't get electrocuted. the video i had been capturing is now taking its dear sweet time to burn to DVD. i'll be quite happy when this whole wedding ordeal is behind me (don't tell the Murrays i said that, of course).

a couple of friends (who don't visit this site, as their time is "too precious") have asked me about the art i have on my main page. and so i have created a small presentation to tell the vivid history of this picture.

it began with a script for a film called "Happy Valley" that i was going to shoot this summer (2005, for the time capsule), but had to pull the plug on due to budget and time constraints. but that didn't stop me from going out and doing a photo shoot. i was going to play the pivotal (but ultimately supporting) role of CS and Amie Barnhardt was going to play Rebecca, CS' girlfriend. since none of the rest of the cast was cast, and i wanted promotional material to make a website out of, i grabbed Amie and we went out and took a slew of pictures. the one i liked the most had the both us in it, in character (a slight trick of gettings the settings right, putting the timer on, and quickly getting into place).

part of the marketing of this doomed project was going to be the focus on how diverse the characters were and how ecclectic even the script was. it bounced between drama and comedy pretty fluidly. so i sent the picture to Joe Pekar, a comic book artist i met on the internet and had comissioned a Spider-Man picture from a couple of months previous to the shoot. then he created the picture.

he sent me every step of the process and now the finished products (the black & white and the colour) are waiting to be framed and hung beside my Spider-Man & MJ picture (which i might share with you at a later date). anyway, here's the process:

the real picture is much bigger and has a much higher resolution. i had to downsize everything, otherwise it would take a year and a half for you to view it.

the script for "Happy Valley" has been sent to a screenwriting competition. we'll see if there's still some life in the ol' girl.

thirteen minutes until i go home for the day . . .