So it's been some time since "What now Doug Hell...What Now?" and it's not from lack of trying. I've tried to film 3 movies in the last 2 years, with no luck. The First one was the "highly anticipated" sequel to "Aces Dont Make a Flush" I actually had about a 25% of this film shot AND edited. I filmed with about 15 people. Things got busy for me here is Vankleek Hill, and it took a back seat. I continued changing parts of it, but only on paper. Then after a year, I looked at what I had recorded and edited, and knew it was nearly impossible to start filming again. Some of the people that we're in parts that I had already filmed, I no longer talked to. Then my computer bit the dust. That was the last straw. I told myself that the only thing that I would lose is the footage. I had all the ideas, and they could be used in later films... if I was still going to make them.
I wasn't inspired anymore. I got ideas here and there that I thought "that would make a good movie" but never wrote anything down. Brendan and I spoke back and forth about writing a short film called "The Living Animal" a dark humor slasher kinda film. We always had great ideas when we sat down and talked about them. So he said he'd be up for filming with all this great new video equipment he had. So I wrote out a bit of the movie, and then hit a wall. I couldn't think of cool ways to kill people. The hard part was, we had decided that each murder in the film would be worse then the last, and it's a cool idea, but it's very hard to write. I put it aside and another 6 months went by.
Back around this time, friend in Vankleek Hill, named Todd Gilbert had put out a few vlogs on local news in the area and he was very interested in experimenting with cut screens, dubbing, simple effects, and pretty much all the shit I did in Aces Dont Make a Flush (he was a big fan of the movie). So we decided to join forces. I wrote a script -an idea I had rattling around in my brain for awhile, and called it "The Money". It was about 2 old men. One of them pays for a coffee at the start of the film, the other says "No No No, I'll pay", and the rest of the film is made up of ways where they give each other back the money. Until one of them dies. It was funny, it showed how hard headed some old people can be. I wanted to play one of the old men, and Todd wanted to be behind the camera. So I thought I'd call Pete Mingus "The Baby Gorilla" who has been in pretty much all my movies up to this point. Problem was, I hadn't heard from the guy in ages. He totally fell off the face of the earth. I dont remember how, but I got a hold of him, and he said he was up for it. He'd drive down from Toronto to film.
He came down one weekend and we filmed half the movie. We filmed some really funny stuff. Todd, me and Pete got along great and Pete took instructions well (aside from when he got hungry). Then nothing. He kept pushing back when he could come back to film. Then I never heard from the guy. The project was abandoned.
I decided that I shouldn't focus on film making anymore. My good ideas were getting wasted, and ruined. But then last year I was sitting at the Beau's Christmas party. they have a talent show each year... I watched as people played guitar, told jokes and other dumb stuff. As I watched I slowly decided that for the next year's party I would make a movie. It would be about a guy's search for the true meaning of Christmas. But I didnt want to act in it, I wanted total control of the way things were shot, what was said, where we would film. Everything.
A year later I wrote out a simple script, and jogged it by Todd, he was in. We started filming shortly after. We used Todd's flip cam because he said it was fast and easy to use. The lighting was bad on it and it wouldnt focus on anything close, but it would have to do. The first stuff we shot was at the local tavern with the bartender - Mike St Denis, who can be really funny. It was alright. I got back into the groove of telling people what to say and act and how to do it. It was hard to work with Todd sometimes because he has this whole "it will look fine" attitude and doesnt care too much about continuity. I have a little bit of an eye for it, but I know I make mistakes.
The next thing we tried to film was the scene of Todd driving with the cam tied to his front grill for the opening credits. As soon as I tried to turn the camera on, it was dead. We changed batteries, nothing. It was broken.
Luckily, I knew a guy who had the exact same camera in town. He was the owner of Blueberry Hill, a place we were going to film in soon. So I contacted him and he was happy to help.
Once we filmed that shot of the cam tied to the truck, everyone that saw it was amazing on how smooth it looked.
It was hard to film on various other peoples schedules. Some scenes were set in the day but had to be shot at night because people were late and it got to be dark at 4:30. Matt's entire scene with the wreath was set for the day, but had to be shot at night because he went AWOL on us for most of the day.
We filmed at Phil's house for one scene....It was extremely hard to work with Phil Beauchesne, for a bunch of reasons. First, he was drunk. Because he was drunk he couldnt remember any of his lines. Second, he re read the script and didnt understand why this character would do this certain thing, and wanted to change it even though it had nothing to do with his scene. Next, he wanted to ad lib parts and even added in a shot of him playing around with a Wii. Finally, half way though his filming he discovered one of his cats, and then wanted to re shoot the entire thing with a cat with him at all times. The cat was uncomfortable and wanted to run away, so he'd be there chasing it some of the time. He insisted on me using ONLY the shots of him and the cat. I never want to film with Phil again.
Other people were fine to film with. Mike St Denis, aside from looking at the camera from time to time, was great to work with. He ad libbed stuff that worked, and took instructions perfectly. Phil Arber was great too.
The editing was a little difficult. Todd had an editing program called Vegas Pro, which looked like a very user friendly version of Final Cut Pro (the program I used for Steve Cacciatore: Legend or Myth and Aces) I didnt noticed any rendering time, which is great. Todd took handling the mouse and all that, and I guided him through what I thought would look good. Problem with this was that he doesnt know any keyboard commends so everything took him twice as long to do. After working with Todd this way (God love him) I was getting frustrated because he wasn't taking the film as serious as I was. I always think, if youre going to film something at least make it look as best as you can, dont half ass stuff... so there were times when I'd say, "Well, we're going to have to re shoot that" and he'd huff and puff about how it wasn't a big deal. At one point he said "This isn't the Oscars" I know it's not, but I dont want to stick my name on a piece of shit I half assed. So, we didnt see eye to eye on stuff that would make the whole editing process longer or if we had to film a bit more to get something right.
Due to this there are little things in the final product that annoy me because I didnt get a chance to finesse the editing myself with a fine toothed comb afterwards.
Somethings that annoyed me:
-There a split second in the Windsor tavern after one of Mike's lines that you can hear me saying "Ok".
-Theres one frame of Todd sitting at the Windsor bar after he's left already.
-The shot of Anne rummaging around for her fake glasses and nose is way too long.
-Phil explaining how his computer will tell Todd the true meaning of Christmas was long winded and didnt make much sense because he was drunk.
-I almost vomit after downing the beer at the pub (it was my second take at it) I'm surprised I stayed in character though.
-Zack is in the mirror in one shot after he's already left the pub. And at one point his clone looks directly at the camera, when he should be getting up and leaving.
Todd was great though, he's a natural in front of the camera. I know this because while filming him I didnt have to worry about his lines or the way he acts at all, and it left me focusing on other people in the shot and the framing.
Hopefully I get into the groove to write more and film more.
The Brew Meaning of Christmas
have a look at the film!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
What now Doug Hell....What Now?
So i have a friend named Doug Hell. I met the guy years ago playing shows with the heatskores in the Oshawa area. Doug is kind of a strange guy... i'll leave it at that. For some reason, even though i didnt talk too much to Doug after i first met him, the things i did say to the guy stuck with him. After awhile, years later, we hung out a few times. There are times that Doug hates me, and we sort of bicker back and forth, because i tell him exactly what i think about the things he's doing.
Later I got to meet his lovely girlfriend Jacyntha. Who i will tell you more about later in this post.
Doug likes making movies here in there and likes posting them on the net. Not like me at all really. I tried to follow some of the stuff he filmed, but it's difficult to understand what he's trying to portray with his film shorts, they are kinda weird, and dont really follow a story line that i can see. Either way, he had a character named Emmit, who was played by a giant doll with a scary face, and my understanding was this Emmit guy was always on his ass about stuff. He was a fucked up character, and had a high pitched voice that was just Doug's voice with a filter on it.
There was a phase in Dougs life where it seemed like everything he was doing was blowing up in his face. So i got on his case about stuff and pissed him off, and he kept calling me an Argentinian who was just mad that the Falkland islands were taken by the English. This really put me over the edge. So i swore revenge on Doug. He had just broken up with his girlfriend Jacyntha, and was moving out. So i messaged her asking her if he had taken the doll with him. She said no, so when i had some time, i stopped by in Oshawa and i picked the doll up without him knowing. I told Jacyntha i wouldnt hurt the doll. :(
in ONE night, i filmed, AND edited "What Now Doug Hell....What Now?" I didnt have a script, i just winged it. The first thing i filmed was Emmit getting hit by a car. Then again from a different angle, and then once more from inside the car. These 3 shot totally destroyed the doll, his spine was completely snapped in half. You cant really tell from watching the movie, but all Emmit is made up of is metal pipes glued to plastic, with a huge plastic head, and plastic hands. Right off the bat i screwed up what i told Jacyntha i wouldnt do.
I had to find a way to repair him, because he couldnt stand up anymore. I duct taped him to film the next scenes. He still looked injured. So i tried to glue him, for the sake of the movie, and for the sake of giving him back in one piece.
I really messed him up after the Onion Sandwich scene, where i actually cut the tip of his finger off. The scene is funny as hell, but there were no special effects, his finger was actually chopped off. (Ultimately, this was what really pissed Jacyntha off). At that point i figured, he was actually destroyed, i threw him in the bath tub, and filmed a scene with him in water.
Next i went to edit the whole thing. Emmit doesnt have a voice, so i recorded my voice and messed around with the pitch. The voice is one of the funniest things in the movie in my opinion.
the story was exactly what was happening in real life. I had kidnapped the doll from Doug, and he was living with me at my place... the only difference was that he was alive. I made Emmit to be the nice guy, and me, playing the character of me, was a complete jerk who hated having him around.
The sad parts are... 3 things. I made the movie as a joke, and it literally took one night to shoot it, and edit it. BUT, a lot of people who see it think it's the best movie i've made. Next, i think i went over the top being an asshole in the film. I know my friends will say i can be a bit of a jerk sometimes... but i really am a complete asshole to this doll, and i cant help but think people will think i am like this all the time in real life. Lastly, i broke the doll in so many places. I want to say it's just a doll, but Jacyntha told me not to break him, and he broke. I mean, he's all fixed now... but if you take his clothes off, you can see that he's been repaired... there are scars.
After awhile, in real life, Doug noticed that Emmit was missing. Im not quite sure if he suspected me of taking him. But in the end he knew i had something to do with it just before i posted the video on his facebook page.
this is what he had to say on his blog after he watched the video
Alright. So I got punked really good by Eddy Earwigg. I was punked like I have enver been punked in my life. I had something extremely special planned for my retaliatory effort but it was getting too heavy and a lot of innocent people were getting caught in the crossfire.
Please no the gig is up and you can all cancel the suicide watch. I just didn't know who to trust for this.
Either way, if Eddy would be so kind as to post the link.
i hope you enjoy the film... What Now Doug Hell...What Now?
Later I got to meet his lovely girlfriend Jacyntha. Who i will tell you more about later in this post.
Doug likes making movies here in there and likes posting them on the net. Not like me at all really. I tried to follow some of the stuff he filmed, but it's difficult to understand what he's trying to portray with his film shorts, they are kinda weird, and dont really follow a story line that i can see. Either way, he had a character named Emmit, who was played by a giant doll with a scary face, and my understanding was this Emmit guy was always on his ass about stuff. He was a fucked up character, and had a high pitched voice that was just Doug's voice with a filter on it.
There was a phase in Dougs life where it seemed like everything he was doing was blowing up in his face. So i got on his case about stuff and pissed him off, and he kept calling me an Argentinian who was just mad that the Falkland islands were taken by the English. This really put me over the edge. So i swore revenge on Doug. He had just broken up with his girlfriend Jacyntha, and was moving out. So i messaged her asking her if he had taken the doll with him. She said no, so when i had some time, i stopped by in Oshawa and i picked the doll up without him knowing. I told Jacyntha i wouldnt hurt the doll. :(
in ONE night, i filmed, AND edited "What Now Doug Hell....What Now?" I didnt have a script, i just winged it. The first thing i filmed was Emmit getting hit by a car. Then again from a different angle, and then once more from inside the car. These 3 shot totally destroyed the doll, his spine was completely snapped in half. You cant really tell from watching the movie, but all Emmit is made up of is metal pipes glued to plastic, with a huge plastic head, and plastic hands. Right off the bat i screwed up what i told Jacyntha i wouldnt do.
I had to find a way to repair him, because he couldnt stand up anymore. I duct taped him to film the next scenes. He still looked injured. So i tried to glue him, for the sake of the movie, and for the sake of giving him back in one piece.
I really messed him up after the Onion Sandwich scene, where i actually cut the tip of his finger off. The scene is funny as hell, but there were no special effects, his finger was actually chopped off. (Ultimately, this was what really pissed Jacyntha off). At that point i figured, he was actually destroyed, i threw him in the bath tub, and filmed a scene with him in water.
Next i went to edit the whole thing. Emmit doesnt have a voice, so i recorded my voice and messed around with the pitch. The voice is one of the funniest things in the movie in my opinion.
the story was exactly what was happening in real life. I had kidnapped the doll from Doug, and he was living with me at my place... the only difference was that he was alive. I made Emmit to be the nice guy, and me, playing the character of me, was a complete jerk who hated having him around.
The sad parts are... 3 things. I made the movie as a joke, and it literally took one night to shoot it, and edit it. BUT, a lot of people who see it think it's the best movie i've made. Next, i think i went over the top being an asshole in the film. I know my friends will say i can be a bit of a jerk sometimes... but i really am a complete asshole to this doll, and i cant help but think people will think i am like this all the time in real life. Lastly, i broke the doll in so many places. I want to say it's just a doll, but Jacyntha told me not to break him, and he broke. I mean, he's all fixed now... but if you take his clothes off, you can see that he's been repaired... there are scars.
After awhile, in real life, Doug noticed that Emmit was missing. Im not quite sure if he suspected me of taking him. But in the end he knew i had something to do with it just before i posted the video on his facebook page.
this is what he had to say on his blog after he watched the video
Alright. So I got punked really good by Eddy Earwigg. I was punked like I have enver been punked in my life. I had something extremely special planned for my retaliatory effort but it was getting too heavy and a lot of innocent people were getting caught in the crossfire.
Please no the gig is up and you can all cancel the suicide watch. I just didn't know who to trust for this.
Either way, if Eddy would be so kind as to post the link.
i hope you enjoy the film... What Now Doug Hell...What Now?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Steve Cacciatore: Legend of Myth?
In the fall of 2008, I was itching to make a movie. I quit my job and just got back from Argentina. I didnt know what, but i knew it was gonna be a long one. I had ideas, but i didnt have a subject. This was around the time I finished playing soccer for the winter, and my brother, Orlando joined a league for the summer.
My brother asked me to play for the indoor soccer team "The Village Vikings". I told him that my old friend Steve Cacciatore might be interested. I knew Steve around the time i moved to Toronto for college back in the early 2000's. I met him at my grocery store job at No Frills. He was your stereotypical gino. Italian greasy haired loud mouthed egotistical fancy car'd jock, BUT... Steve and i got along. Which was weird, since i hated ginos. He became a good friend of mine at No Frills, and i kept in touch with him when i quit that job, worked for Dominion, and even when i moved to Aurora and still now that i've moved to eastern ontario. I guess he was a different sort of guy when you got to know him.
So back to the story, I asked Steve if he would join the Vikings. He said yes, and promised that magic would happen on the pitch with him on the team. Problem was, the Vikings were the worst team in the league. I was a pretty good player back in the day.... so i went into this whole team thinking all these skills were still in me. i was dead wrong... all those years of music, and drinking on the road turned me into the opposite of an athlete . And after awhile, when people started noticing that Steve or no Steve the team still sucked, Steve had to defend himself with blaming the fact that the team was garbage. Then it became funny, he started blaming other teams, his shoes, his shin pads, at one point he even said that one of the players on our squad was a trader. Steve had a good sense of humor. So when the Vikings ended, and my brother got guys together for the CHF Pumas, he gave Steve the benefit of the doubt, and asked him to join that team too. This team was no Vikings, they were not a crappy team, they had a reputation to hold. All the players were skilled, and they had some championships under their belts.
Steve went into it the same way again, bragging that he was a legend, and there was no one else better. Long story short, my brother cut Steve from the team about half way thru the season. "He just wasn't cutting it"
I remember the exact day Steve told me too. Dec 1st 2008. He told me that the Pumas were a bunch of "jobbers" and cut him- a legend, off the team. So i sent him a link of my movie "Ed Zucca Sleeps with the Fishes", to cheer him up. not really thinking too much about it.
Funny part was, I didnt send it to him to really cheer him up... i sent it to him to make him feel crappier because he was suppose to me in that movie, but last minute he bailed. In the very last scene, Steve was the one who was suppose to stick his head out of the bedroom. He made up excuses, and i ended up playing that part. When he saw the movie, he bitched and complained and kicked himself in the ass, because for some reason he really really liked the movie and felt like he should have been in it. At first i was like "thanks" thinking he was just saying that to be nice, but he really liked it and started showing it to all his friends, and brother and everyone. Then i remember him saying something i would never forget "You should make a movie about me! About how much of a legend i am"
At first i said, yeah yeah yeah, people always say "oh, next time write a movie about this or that" or "i want to be in your next movie, i can really act" just to be funny. But when he said that, it got me thinking. This guy was perfect for a documentary. I mean, he talks all this shit, and knows all these people, has played on a bunch of teams... and cant back up ANYTHING he says.
So i starting writing this fake/true documentary about Steve after bouncing some ideas off him. in a nutshell: I would interview all these people, get them to tell me what they really thought about him. Which i knew would be that he shoots his mouth off, and cant back it up. BUT, then i'd write some parts that might contradict that. Then in the end, i'd get his final interview.
I went into the whole thing not know quite knowing how it would turn out, or even how long it would be. I started th whole thing off without a script (just a few notes) and started interviewing my cousin Gio, who played with Steve on the Pumas, and thought he was a really nice guy, but didnt back up any of his talk. He started mentioning specific times that Steve played extra crappy. So it got me thinking, I HAD TO FILM STEVE IN ACTION! I called Steve, and tagged a long with him to film him play for the Lindsay FC, a team he got added too after he got cut from the Pumas. As much as Steve complained he was off that day, the stuff i filmed was perfect for the movie.
I slowly went down the list of people i wanted on film. My brother was next, then Kirk a fellow employee of his at No Frills. i had no idea on how to film, or even put together a documentary, but i went at it the best way possible when i look back at it. I got some serious stuff, at the end of that i got some half and half (the interview with Rob is 50% real 50% bullshit) then looked at everything. I noticed there wasn't a lot of positive about Steve when it came down to people really telling me what they thought about him. I didnt want to bash the guy, he is a great guy really. So i invented a few characters in there that were fake, but were on his side. For example there is a security guard that will do anything in the film to stop me from filming a story on Steve, or my alter ego Eddy Earwigg, who was obsessed with Steve, kinda like a creeping stalker guy.
Later, i felt that there wasnt a character that knew Steve quite like i did when i came to the whole Vikings, and Puma fiascoes, along with stories from the grocery days. I was there for all of it, and got his side of the story, and other players. I couldnt interview myself (i thought about it for a second, but i knew it wouldnt work) So i wrote a character who was an expert on Steve, a guy who wrote a book on him! Herbert Finger! Really if you watch the movie, the character says everything i want to say about Steve... if i was bullshitting and wanted to take his side.. and poor guy, at this point he needed someone on his side.
the end was hard to write. It came to me as a last resort. Ive seen so many documentaries that just leave the viewers saying "Now why? You just explained everything... so wheres the end?" Thats the crappy part of some docs, directors make them and they are educational, but viewers are so used to seeing a story, that they expect something to wrap up in the end. At first I wanted to leave it in the air... that idea faded pretty quick. Then i said to myself that Steve's interview at the end would end with a bang, he would lose it on everyone who bad mouthed him in the film getting the final laugh, then get into an argument with me and totally freak out at the film crew, and get kicked out of a public place. I'd have real people's reactions, and i'd get attacked by the security guard that was on my ass the whole film. That idea would have been funny... but i knew Steve would never act crazy in a public place, he is actually a very shy guy when it comes to people he doesnt know. Then it hit me... i wrote Steve an giant email about how i was going to end it, and went back to edit some little things throughout the movie for it to work... and told Steve that there would be NO MOVIE unless he co operated with the scene. He agreed, and we filmed it on a cold March evening in Aurora at my folks place. I dont want to give it away, so i wont say what happens... i know that sucks, because i dont have a link to the movie on the net. sorry.
The film took me from Dec '08 to May '09 (i remember i had moved to Vankleek Hill, and was still putting finishing touches on the film at my new place.) It came out to be an hour long, and wathcing it i knew this was my masterpiece. Even thought Steve was bashed all over the place... he loved the movie, because in the end he had total control of the audience, and there was no way anyone, unless i told them or were involved with the making, would know what was real or what was fake. Every time i show the movie to someone, theres alway that moment where they stop and say "Is this real?" (around the Gumbo Show interview) and from that moment on they dont believe anything they see, then they fall back into believing it, then back and forth. it's great.
My brother asked me to play for the indoor soccer team "The Village Vikings". I told him that my old friend Steve Cacciatore might be interested. I knew Steve around the time i moved to Toronto for college back in the early 2000's. I met him at my grocery store job at No Frills. He was your stereotypical gino. Italian greasy haired loud mouthed egotistical fancy car'd jock, BUT... Steve and i got along. Which was weird, since i hated ginos. He became a good friend of mine at No Frills, and i kept in touch with him when i quit that job, worked for Dominion, and even when i moved to Aurora and still now that i've moved to eastern ontario. I guess he was a different sort of guy when you got to know him.
So back to the story, I asked Steve if he would join the Vikings. He said yes, and promised that magic would happen on the pitch with him on the team. Problem was, the Vikings were the worst team in the league. I was a pretty good player back in the day.... so i went into this whole team thinking all these skills were still in me. i was dead wrong... all those years of music, and drinking on the road turned me into the opposite of an athlete . And after awhile, when people started noticing that Steve or no Steve the team still sucked, Steve had to defend himself with blaming the fact that the team was garbage. Then it became funny, he started blaming other teams, his shoes, his shin pads, at one point he even said that one of the players on our squad was a trader. Steve had a good sense of humor. So when the Vikings ended, and my brother got guys together for the CHF Pumas, he gave Steve the benefit of the doubt, and asked him to join that team too. This team was no Vikings, they were not a crappy team, they had a reputation to hold. All the players were skilled, and they had some championships under their belts.
Steve went into it the same way again, bragging that he was a legend, and there was no one else better. Long story short, my brother cut Steve from the team about half way thru the season. "He just wasn't cutting it"
I remember the exact day Steve told me too. Dec 1st 2008. He told me that the Pumas were a bunch of "jobbers" and cut him- a legend, off the team. So i sent him a link of my movie "Ed Zucca Sleeps with the Fishes", to cheer him up. not really thinking too much about it.
Funny part was, I didnt send it to him to really cheer him up... i sent it to him to make him feel crappier because he was suppose to me in that movie, but last minute he bailed. In the very last scene, Steve was the one who was suppose to stick his head out of the bedroom. He made up excuses, and i ended up playing that part. When he saw the movie, he bitched and complained and kicked himself in the ass, because for some reason he really really liked the movie and felt like he should have been in it. At first i was like "thanks" thinking he was just saying that to be nice, but he really liked it and started showing it to all his friends, and brother and everyone. Then i remember him saying something i would never forget "You should make a movie about me! About how much of a legend i am"
At first i said, yeah yeah yeah, people always say "oh, next time write a movie about this or that" or "i want to be in your next movie, i can really act" just to be funny. But when he said that, it got me thinking. This guy was perfect for a documentary. I mean, he talks all this shit, and knows all these people, has played on a bunch of teams... and cant back up ANYTHING he says.
So i starting writing this fake/true documentary about Steve after bouncing some ideas off him. in a nutshell: I would interview all these people, get them to tell me what they really thought about him. Which i knew would be that he shoots his mouth off, and cant back it up. BUT, then i'd write some parts that might contradict that. Then in the end, i'd get his final interview.
I went into the whole thing not know quite knowing how it would turn out, or even how long it would be. I started th whole thing off without a script (just a few notes) and started interviewing my cousin Gio, who played with Steve on the Pumas, and thought he was a really nice guy, but didnt back up any of his talk. He started mentioning specific times that Steve played extra crappy. So it got me thinking, I HAD TO FILM STEVE IN ACTION! I called Steve, and tagged a long with him to film him play for the Lindsay FC, a team he got added too after he got cut from the Pumas. As much as Steve complained he was off that day, the stuff i filmed was perfect for the movie.
I slowly went down the list of people i wanted on film. My brother was next, then Kirk a fellow employee of his at No Frills. i had no idea on how to film, or even put together a documentary, but i went at it the best way possible when i look back at it. I got some serious stuff, at the end of that i got some half and half (the interview with Rob is 50% real 50% bullshit) then looked at everything. I noticed there wasn't a lot of positive about Steve when it came down to people really telling me what they thought about him. I didnt want to bash the guy, he is a great guy really. So i invented a few characters in there that were fake, but were on his side. For example there is a security guard that will do anything in the film to stop me from filming a story on Steve, or my alter ego Eddy Earwigg, who was obsessed with Steve, kinda like a creeping stalker guy.
Later, i felt that there wasnt a character that knew Steve quite like i did when i came to the whole Vikings, and Puma fiascoes, along with stories from the grocery days. I was there for all of it, and got his side of the story, and other players. I couldnt interview myself (i thought about it for a second, but i knew it wouldnt work) So i wrote a character who was an expert on Steve, a guy who wrote a book on him! Herbert Finger! Really if you watch the movie, the character says everything i want to say about Steve... if i was bullshitting and wanted to take his side.. and poor guy, at this point he needed someone on his side.
the end was hard to write. It came to me as a last resort. Ive seen so many documentaries that just leave the viewers saying "Now why? You just explained everything... so wheres the end?" Thats the crappy part of some docs, directors make them and they are educational, but viewers are so used to seeing a story, that they expect something to wrap up in the end. At first I wanted to leave it in the air... that idea faded pretty quick. Then i said to myself that Steve's interview at the end would end with a bang, he would lose it on everyone who bad mouthed him in the film getting the final laugh, then get into an argument with me and totally freak out at the film crew, and get kicked out of a public place. I'd have real people's reactions, and i'd get attacked by the security guard that was on my ass the whole film. That idea would have been funny... but i knew Steve would never act crazy in a public place, he is actually a very shy guy when it comes to people he doesnt know. Then it hit me... i wrote Steve an giant email about how i was going to end it, and went back to edit some little things throughout the movie for it to work... and told Steve that there would be NO MOVIE unless he co operated with the scene. He agreed, and we filmed it on a cold March evening in Aurora at my folks place. I dont want to give it away, so i wont say what happens... i know that sucks, because i dont have a link to the movie on the net. sorry.
The film took me from Dec '08 to May '09 (i remember i had moved to Vankleek Hill, and was still putting finishing touches on the film at my new place.) It came out to be an hour long, and wathcing it i knew this was my masterpiece. Even thought Steve was bashed all over the place... he loved the movie, because in the end he had total control of the audience, and there was no way anyone, unless i told them or were involved with the making, would know what was real or what was fake. Every time i show the movie to someone, theres alway that moment where they stop and say "Is this real?" (around the Gumbo Show interview) and from that moment on they dont believe anything they see, then they fall back into believing it, then back and forth. it's great.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Boca Vs Arsenal 08/13/08
Like i mentioned before i went to Argentina with my family in the summer of 2008. During that time i had the privilege of getting tickets to a Boca Jr's game. They are the soccer club that my dad has supported all his life. He hadn't seen a live Boca game in 35 years. So i filmed it, and edited all together with a song by Aggrolites. It was just all for fun, as I was preparing for my next project, which was also a movie about soccer.
Palermo has always been one of my favorite players, and it was nice to have footage of a cornerstone goal of his, even though it was sloppy as hell.
At this point I played around a lot with titles, and timing of cuts with the music. The footage was awesome. I used audio from a CD we bought in la Boca of Boca chants. Have a look.
Boca Vs Arsenal 08/13/08
Palermo has always been one of my favorite players, and it was nice to have footage of a cornerstone goal of his, even though it was sloppy as hell.
At this point I played around a lot with titles, and timing of cuts with the music. The footage was awesome. I used audio from a CD we bought in la Boca of Boca chants. Have a look.
Boca Vs Arsenal 08/13/08
Ed Zucca Sleeps with the Fishes
I was surfing around the net one day, checking out You Tube when I came across a contest called "Project Direct" put on by a director who's movies were great. Darren Aronofsky who directed "Requiem for a Dream", "Pi" and "The Wrestler" had a contest on youtube for up and coming filmmakers to direct a short 5 minute film that had to have a red phone in it, and 2 props from a list of 25. The winner gets $2'500 and their movie gets a private screening at Sundance.
Lets just start off by saying i didnt win. In fact, i dont even know what place i came in, or if there were rankings. The site doesnt say how many people entered, but i imagine it was a shit load, considering the project direct channel is #22 on youtube's most subscribed list. This being said, it didnt mean my movie was shitty. In fact, a lot of people i showed it to liked it a lot, more than my other movies. i will also say, that out of all the movies i made to this point... this is the one i learned the most making.
I thought about the contest non stop when i heard about it. It was a 100% "yes" on if i was going to enter, I just didnt know with what idea or story, or anything. I remembered a short film idea i had a long time before i started making films. It was about a old time gangster that calls up the wife of someone he just killed to tell her that her husband "sleeps with the fishes" an old Sicilian saying. The wife didnt understand the saying, so he changes it up to some other saying that means he's been killed, and so on, with each saying making the wife more and more confused about her husband. This continues until the gangster gives up with his stupid sayings and yells as literal as possible that he killed her husband... the wife is so confused at this point that it still makes no sense to her. "I killed him!!! I murdered him, he's dead!" the gangster would yell.
I had made the skit up in my head awhile back, but that was as far as the story went. So i started writing out the background story. Why he killed this man, what he did with the body, etc. I wont ruin the movie anymore then i have already.
I discussed this movie with a film teacher i knew from highschool named Neil Gibb. He watched "Aces" and loved it. So he walked me through the best ways to film certain things, what mic equipment to use and how to use it on basically no budget.
I had no idea that this film was going to be harder to make then Aces Dont Make a Flush. It was. First of all, "Aces" didnt have a due date. This one had to be uploaded to youtube by a specific date. I started by filming Pete at a phone booth, it was so ridiculous how long it took us to find a phone booth that had enough privacy, and room for us to film. We drove to King City and used the booth that they had at the car pool parking lot. oddly enough once we started filming, the cops decided to park and watch us, they didnt stop us or ask us questions, but they made Pete nervous since it was the day that Pete forgot his wallet at home with his drivers license in it. Did i mention it was the coldest day of the winter, plus the wind? It was ACTUALLY the coldest day of that winter. I got some long shots of Pete, and of him driving up to the booth, and whatever else i needed as quick as i could. I knew i wasnt going to use any audio of pete talking, because all of his talking was being down with his back to the camera, therefore i would add it in post. The camera was actually starting to freeze, and act funny, as were my fingers so we wrapped it up.
We got back in the car, and i filmed him driving. Then we found a quiet spot where i would film him dragging a giant bag to his car that looked like a dead body was in it. It was a long shot, so i recorded the audio of him dragging it, and was going to put it over top of the visual of him dragging the bag. Sounded simple.
Last step with Pete was to record the audio of him talking on the phone in a quiet place. This was just about the only thing that i did without any screw ups (thanks to the advice from Neil Gibb).
Once i got back home and captured the film, i realized i could not use ANY audio of pete outside. The wind was so heavy that day, that all i got was wind in the mic, ruining everything. So i grabbed a garbage bag and went to the side of my house, and dragged it along the pavement, it was less windy by now, and that audio worked well (after editing the hell out of it in final cut).
Once i put that together, I went out to find me a girl to be on the other end of the phone. Nikki Pappas a friend of mine that i didnt meet in school or through my band said she would do it. I recorded her part 4 times and with a clip on mic.
When i got home to capture it, i could hear that clip on mic rubbing against her hoodie the whole time. SO, i had to have her come to my place and record audio separately. It was a pain.
The actual editing part and putting all the clips together so they would work was fun though. It was the first movie i had a phone conversation in where both ends were recorded at totally different times, and in different places and still look natural.
Ed Zucca Sleeps with the Fishes!
I actually had to ask permission to use any music that i didnt make myself. So i emailed Vic Ruggiero (one of my all time favorite artists) and asked to use "Lies" and "Taking Care of Business" and he said i could. I sent the movie i made to "Project Direct" and didnt wait to see if i won... i knew i wouldnt, but i loved the end result anyway.
On a side note: I wanted a friend of mine named Steve Cacciatore to play the guy with no shirt on in the very last shot, but he bailed and said he couldnt do it... so i played that part. Once Steve watched the movie, he kicked himself and regretted saying no. He loved the movie, and called me and said he was sincerely impressed with it and played it to his friends. He suggested i make a film about him. I laughed about that idea....
Lets just start off by saying i didnt win. In fact, i dont even know what place i came in, or if there were rankings. The site doesnt say how many people entered, but i imagine it was a shit load, considering the project direct channel is #22 on youtube's most subscribed list. This being said, it didnt mean my movie was shitty. In fact, a lot of people i showed it to liked it a lot, more than my other movies. i will also say, that out of all the movies i made to this point... this is the one i learned the most making.
I thought about the contest non stop when i heard about it. It was a 100% "yes" on if i was going to enter, I just didnt know with what idea or story, or anything. I remembered a short film idea i had a long time before i started making films. It was about a old time gangster that calls up the wife of someone he just killed to tell her that her husband "sleeps with the fishes" an old Sicilian saying. The wife didnt understand the saying, so he changes it up to some other saying that means he's been killed, and so on, with each saying making the wife more and more confused about her husband. This continues until the gangster gives up with his stupid sayings and yells as literal as possible that he killed her husband... the wife is so confused at this point that it still makes no sense to her. "I killed him!!! I murdered him, he's dead!" the gangster would yell.
I had made the skit up in my head awhile back, but that was as far as the story went. So i started writing out the background story. Why he killed this man, what he did with the body, etc. I wont ruin the movie anymore then i have already.
I discussed this movie with a film teacher i knew from highschool named Neil Gibb. He watched "Aces" and loved it. So he walked me through the best ways to film certain things, what mic equipment to use and how to use it on basically no budget.
I had no idea that this film was going to be harder to make then Aces Dont Make a Flush. It was. First of all, "Aces" didnt have a due date. This one had to be uploaded to youtube by a specific date. I started by filming Pete at a phone booth, it was so ridiculous how long it took us to find a phone booth that had enough privacy, and room for us to film. We drove to King City and used the booth that they had at the car pool parking lot. oddly enough once we started filming, the cops decided to park and watch us, they didnt stop us or ask us questions, but they made Pete nervous since it was the day that Pete forgot his wallet at home with his drivers license in it. Did i mention it was the coldest day of the winter, plus the wind? It was ACTUALLY the coldest day of that winter. I got some long shots of Pete, and of him driving up to the booth, and whatever else i needed as quick as i could. I knew i wasnt going to use any audio of pete talking, because all of his talking was being down with his back to the camera, therefore i would add it in post. The camera was actually starting to freeze, and act funny, as were my fingers so we wrapped it up.
We got back in the car, and i filmed him driving. Then we found a quiet spot where i would film him dragging a giant bag to his car that looked like a dead body was in it. It was a long shot, so i recorded the audio of him dragging it, and was going to put it over top of the visual of him dragging the bag. Sounded simple.
Last step with Pete was to record the audio of him talking on the phone in a quiet place. This was just about the only thing that i did without any screw ups (thanks to the advice from Neil Gibb).
Once i got back home and captured the film, i realized i could not use ANY audio of pete outside. The wind was so heavy that day, that all i got was wind in the mic, ruining everything. So i grabbed a garbage bag and went to the side of my house, and dragged it along the pavement, it was less windy by now, and that audio worked well (after editing the hell out of it in final cut).
Once i put that together, I went out to find me a girl to be on the other end of the phone. Nikki Pappas a friend of mine that i didnt meet in school or through my band said she would do it. I recorded her part 4 times and with a clip on mic.
When i got home to capture it, i could hear that clip on mic rubbing against her hoodie the whole time. SO, i had to have her come to my place and record audio separately. It was a pain.
The actual editing part and putting all the clips together so they would work was fun though. It was the first movie i had a phone conversation in where both ends were recorded at totally different times, and in different places and still look natural.
Ed Zucca Sleeps with the Fishes!
I actually had to ask permission to use any music that i didnt make myself. So i emailed Vic Ruggiero (one of my all time favorite artists) and asked to use "Lies" and "Taking Care of Business" and he said i could. I sent the movie i made to "Project Direct" and didnt wait to see if i won... i knew i wouldnt, but i loved the end result anyway.
On a side note: I wanted a friend of mine named Steve Cacciatore to play the guy with no shirt on in the very last shot, but he bailed and said he couldnt do it... so i played that part. Once Steve watched the movie, he kicked himself and regretted saying no. He loved the movie, and called me and said he was sincerely impressed with it and played it to his friends. He suggested i make a film about him. I laughed about that idea....
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Aces Dont Make a Flush
So I had this idea. I wanted to make a movie where I play cards against myself. I knew I could figure out "cut screens" in final cut, but i just didnt know how i'd act it out or how to film something like this. I tried to play it out in my head, but it seemed too difficult. I was on the fence about it for awhile.
Then one day, i just went head first into it. Started filming Pete Mingus at the table , then again reacting to something that wasn't actually there, then a 3rd time. (the last scene of Aces Dont Make a Flush, after the credits is the first scene I shot, it was the test) As soon as Pete was finished acting it out, I captured it and began splicing the scenes together. It worked like this:
One clip has pete sitting on the table to the far right (this was the one clip that i didnt cut at all, it was my template.) Next i put a clip of Pete over top of the last one, just this one was of pete sitting in the middle and having the right of the clip cut off, then the last Pete came in on the far left over top with his clip having cut offs in the middle and the right. it sounds complicated, but after awhile the only complicated part was waiting for it to render so i can see 3 Pete's sitting at the same table. Once it was done, i called my dad to watch it. He had seen Pete come to the house earlier that day, and when he watched the scene he asked what was so special about it. 3 fat guys sitting at a talble. I told him it was all the same fat guy, and he was amazed. He needed to see it again, he laughed and said thats why he didnt remember 3 different actors come in that day, just one.
I scribbled together 3 quick scripts. I had 4 Eddy's in my mind at one table. I made it so one had no lines, he was a silent Eddy. I figured it would be funny, and save me some hard work. it was hard getting my head around who was going to say what, and who was going to respond. So basically i filmed the movie 4 times in 4 different angles. I would say all the lines in every shot, so i'd have to pick out who said it best and in what shot. I was so far into thinking about cutting, and putting together shots it came to me that if i filmed the table with no one at it, then i could fade me in and out for a cool effect. Looking back at the movie, the only thing i would change is that i'd give it more footage of me just sitting at the table doing nothing. It seemed like a waste of time to just sit there and do nothing when i was filming it, but it was crucial for the movie to flow. So you can tell in some scenes one eddy is talking and the other is acting like the scene has already ended (at one point you can even see me reaching for a script).
I didnt decide on the name until half way through editing, it was in the script but not the title of the movie when i filmed it. It comes from a line Davey D said at a BYOB poker tournament. He was so deep in concentration he wasnt paying attention to what he was saying, and muttered the line out. It makes no sense.
Aces Don't Make a Flush
All in all, it came out waaaay better than i expected. The cut scenes dont look cut at all, and the story came out pretty funny even though i had to ring jokes through 3 clips over top of each other in some cases.
This was also the first movie i made a trailer for.
Then one day, i just went head first into it. Started filming Pete Mingus at the table , then again reacting to something that wasn't actually there, then a 3rd time. (the last scene of Aces Dont Make a Flush, after the credits is the first scene I shot, it was the test) As soon as Pete was finished acting it out, I captured it and began splicing the scenes together. It worked like this:
One clip has pete sitting on the table to the far right (this was the one clip that i didnt cut at all, it was my template.) Next i put a clip of Pete over top of the last one, just this one was of pete sitting in the middle and having the right of the clip cut off, then the last Pete came in on the far left over top with his clip having cut offs in the middle and the right. it sounds complicated, but after awhile the only complicated part was waiting for it to render so i can see 3 Pete's sitting at the same table. Once it was done, i called my dad to watch it. He had seen Pete come to the house earlier that day, and when he watched the scene he asked what was so special about it. 3 fat guys sitting at a talble. I told him it was all the same fat guy, and he was amazed. He needed to see it again, he laughed and said thats why he didnt remember 3 different actors come in that day, just one.
I scribbled together 3 quick scripts. I had 4 Eddy's in my mind at one table. I made it so one had no lines, he was a silent Eddy. I figured it would be funny, and save me some hard work. it was hard getting my head around who was going to say what, and who was going to respond. So basically i filmed the movie 4 times in 4 different angles. I would say all the lines in every shot, so i'd have to pick out who said it best and in what shot. I was so far into thinking about cutting, and putting together shots it came to me that if i filmed the table with no one at it, then i could fade me in and out for a cool effect. Looking back at the movie, the only thing i would change is that i'd give it more footage of me just sitting at the table doing nothing. It seemed like a waste of time to just sit there and do nothing when i was filming it, but it was crucial for the movie to flow. So you can tell in some scenes one eddy is talking and the other is acting like the scene has already ended (at one point you can even see me reaching for a script).
I didnt decide on the name until half way through editing, it was in the script but not the title of the movie when i filmed it. It comes from a line Davey D said at a BYOB poker tournament. He was so deep in concentration he wasnt paying attention to what he was saying, and muttered the line out. It makes no sense.
Aces Don't Make a Flush
All in all, it came out waaaay better than i expected. The cut scenes dont look cut at all, and the story came out pretty funny even though i had to ring jokes through 3 clips over top of each other in some cases.
This was also the first movie i made a trailer for.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Argentina 08
This is was the big one... well at least at the time, this movie was the big one for me. I was finally (with the help of my editing guru Brendan Coutts on the phone and on internet chat) capturing footage and editing it for real this time. I got back from Argentina in the summer of 2008 with 5 full hours of footage. It wasnt much... but i still felt in over my head when i came to plugging into the computer. First off, I captured about 1 hour, and i could tell the files were huge and i needed an external hard drive, so that delayed everything. i also noticed that with capturing film in real time you can't use usb cables, because it drops frames, so i had to get a firewire cable. So once i had that going, i had it all figured out in my head... and it went relatively smoothly. I mean, there were times where the computer couldnt find my captured files, because i stupidly moved them, but other than that, it was fine.
It's funny, the first thing i ever shot with the DV camera that my dad bought was the very first scene of this movie. It was me getting up in the middle of the night and going to the window of the apartment we were staying at, and filming outside to see what the hell all the racket was in the streets.
I heard the song "Oak Ridges" by the Sadies and i knew for certain i wanted this as the intro to my movie. It was scary to me how close this intro looked to a real film, the credits came in at the right time, the music was perfect... it was eerie as hell, it was exactly what i was going for. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, but at night in the dirty streets it's exactly what you see in that first shot... eerie darkness speckled with a nightlife.
As for story or script, there was none... just footage of where my parents were born. I threw in a song by the Hives, and let out clip after clip of what Buenos Aires was, and what we saw of it... Next, i slowing came in with sound of a man busking in the subway, singing Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, and i spliced it in with the real version, as the movie went into the country side, cows, horses and shanty houses.
i wish i could give you a link, but i only have this video on DVD. As soon as i upload it, i'll put up a link.
It's funny, the first thing i ever shot with the DV camera that my dad bought was the very first scene of this movie. It was me getting up in the middle of the night and going to the window of the apartment we were staying at, and filming outside to see what the hell all the racket was in the streets.
I heard the song "Oak Ridges" by the Sadies and i knew for certain i wanted this as the intro to my movie. It was scary to me how close this intro looked to a real film, the credits came in at the right time, the music was perfect... it was eerie as hell, it was exactly what i was going for. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, but at night in the dirty streets it's exactly what you see in that first shot... eerie darkness speckled with a nightlife.
As for story or script, there was none... just footage of where my parents were born. I threw in a song by the Hives, and let out clip after clip of what Buenos Aires was, and what we saw of it... Next, i slowing came in with sound of a man busking in the subway, singing Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, and i spliced it in with the real version, as the movie went into the country side, cows, horses and shanty houses.
i wish i could give you a link, but i only have this video on DVD. As soon as i upload it, i'll put up a link.
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