Helmet. A hard head covering. And a movie.

It is done

2007-06-07T23:53:00.001-07:00

The fruits of labor sure are sweet.

Oh My oh my

2007-05-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

Michelle Garuik at Grind Music and Sound kicked some serious ass on our sound design. I can't wait to hear this puppy blasted in the bomb screening room at USC.

If anyone needs sound design and mixing, she's great!

Thank God!

2007-05-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

We finally have a few last things in order. We've got a screening location and we've got a sound designer! My last sound designer flaked. Man, I wish I could tell you his name, but I think naming names in public is way too LA for me. So, if you want to know which sound designer not to go to, ask me in private. Seriously, you never want to work with him

Anyway! Our fabulous new sound designer is Michelle. She runs a company called Grind Music and Sound Inc. I finally got to meet her today and she seems very down to Earth and committed to the art and cool. She has a studio dog that chills with her while she works. Awesome. She's working on it on the weekends cause she's got a ton of other work and she's giving us a hell of a deal. It'll be done in a few weekends.

Stayed tuned. We're getting this mutha done.

VFX

2007-02-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Visual effects for Helmet are done. On to Sound design.

Progress

2007-02-01T01:46:00.000-08:00

I've been going over to Adam's house to get these effects done more quickly and I gotta say, its coming along nicely. I think tomorrow will be our last day. Then its off to the sound designer and color corrector.http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Still working

2007-01-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

I know its been a long time since I posted and I don't know if anyone reads this, but we're still working hard on Helmet. Its been tough to get the effects just right without a bunch of dough. When thats done, we'll be on the fast track tø completion. Hang tight.

Music

2006-10-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

Jason is awesome. He's got 10 minutes of the score done. Only 6 Minutes left!

Music

2006-09-12T23:25:00.000-07:00

I'm meeting with my friend, Jason Brandt tomorrow for lunch and we're going to watch the movie together and talk about possible music for "Helmet". Exciting stuff. I'm really unclear right now about what I want. I know I don't want it to be normal or typical music. I definately don't want typical spy movie music. Hopefully Jason will hear something in his head and we'll discuss.

'Nuther rough cut screenin

2006-09-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

I had John, Dirk, Ali, Greg, and Roman over to take a look at the new rough cut. They gave some great suggestions. I'll be hard at work tomorrow trying to make them all work. Thanks you guys for helping me make my film better. Oh, and iffin I get famous with it... I'll give you another pizza party.

some pics

2006-09-09T02:37:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd post some set pics while you all (maybe 2-4 people) wait for more news on this blog. Just a head count... if you have read this then leave a comment. I really don't know how many people are watching this blog and it'd be nice to know. Thanks for reading this!

Rouch Cut Screening

2006-09-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

I had a screening last night with Dirk and he had some great suggestions about where to trim and move some things. I'm having another screening this Sunday with some more film peeps to see what they think about it. After that, we'll get everything tightened up and get a picture lock on this mo-fo.

Rough cut

2006-08-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hi, all. The rough cut is done. My concern right now is high quality sound effects. I thought I was covered with the super duper awesome (so I thought) library I bought. But now, I'm realizing it doesn't have some simple things like a nice crowd in an upscale restaurant. But it does have 50 different ways a bullet shell can hit the ground. Why? Oh, and it only has like 2 different pistol fire. But a gazillion ways for the shell to hit the ground. Anyhow. I'm going to show the cut to Dirk, see if we can tighten it up and then I want to have a rough cut screening with some close friends to get their oppinion on what coule be better and what sucks, whats awesome and that sort of thing. Stay tuned!

Rough scene from Helmet

2006-08-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yes. I've started editing. Hooray!

capturing

2006-08-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

So, I'm using Lumiere, which is buggy as hell by the way. I'm finally understanding the best way to go about capturing and I just got done with the last tape. So, yes folks, I'm trashing everything and starting again. The way I've done it as of now I'd have to go back and watch all the clips I captured to make sure they came out okay. Which would take just as long as capturing so I might as well recapture with the new system. Arg. I'll post some clips ASAP. Peace! Wish me capturing luck.

Done Waiting

2006-07-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry, Apple. I can't wait any longer. Wait, why did I apologize to you? You're the one who said full support for the JVC HD100 would be out by summer! Anyhow, I'm using the Lumiere HD workflow. I'm excited. I'm going to start editing next weekend. Lumiere HD is a program that let's you capture 24p HDV and then edit in Final Cut Pro. The great thing is I can edit in DV and then "online" it back to HDV. That way I can enjoy all the benefits of DV with no loss of resolution. By the way, the guy in the picture is Lumiere.

Still waiting...

2006-05-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

I'm still waiting for the software update. The day it comes out is the day I start logging though. I can't even look at my footage! Its killing me.

Wrapped

2006-05-11T01:38:00.001-07:00

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

LED lights

2006-05-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Podium done

2006-05-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

podium

2006-05-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

This is the podium unfinished. I used this "hammered metal" paint that didn't really look like hammered metal on wood. Maybe it has to be metal to begin with. The glue I used was elmer's hold anything glue. It seriously works well. Word to the wise: don't get it in your hair. I think I picked out the last best a couple days ago. Then I reinforced the wood with L brackets. Worked out well.

video of podium

2006-05-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't been to myspace to see the videos, I'll put them up here. This video is of the finished podium. I made it and I'm very proud. Its the first time I'd soldered anything. And if you watch carefully, Shanna appears in the back for a second!
Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Waiting... waiting

2006-05-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

Waiting for a Final Cut Pro update to come out so I can digitize my footage natively in FCP. As of right now there is no setting in FCP for HDV 24p footage. You can use a converter like Lumiere HD, but I bet the FCP converter will be better. Hopefully, it'll be out within the month. Tick tock tick tock.

Wrapped!

2006-05-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

here's some more photos from the shoot. We're done. I need to return all props and costumes today.

Shooting!

2006-04-30T22:22:00.001-07:00

Agent Dash barges in with his gun drawn!
Bang! You're sexy.

The most evil leg on the planet.
Agent Dash can't intimidate the Evil Queen. Rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, evil beats gun.
Aw, she's really just a teddy bear.
The evil Queen with her creation, THE ANNIHILATOR!
"Computer chip eyes"
Mike Testin, the Director of Photography
Dirk, the President with Paola our makeup artist
Ursula getting evil eyes.
Steve hard at work not directing
Drew getting his witty one-liners down.
Rehearsing.
Testin', Testin', one...two...three.
Dealing blow aint easy, you always needs a piece.
cramming everything into a hotel room. Thanks Tarzana Inn
John Hays, our sound mixer.
Scott, the Assistant Director pointing a gun at me.
Now he's nice.

Ah, man! Shooting has been going great! We've got three days in the can. Its all been brilliant. Drew has been perfect, Dirk's been funny, Ursula has been evil as hell, Darren's been super awesome, Greg's been hilarious. Its going very well. We've got two more days left and I'm stoked. The next two days of shooting are going to be the hardest, so I need to go over my shots again and really solidify what I want to get for editing. Special thanks to the crew who has been doing an AMAZING job! Enjoy the pictures (some courtesy of Jennie Book).

g@$%ksj helmet 738@%%

2006-04-28T00:52:00.000-07:00

This is my head. Its the night before first day of shooting and I'm a tad nervous. More excited now though. I've got all my props and costumes in order. Shot list looks good. I wish I had more money for a better lunch for my crew, but ya know. That's low budgie filmmakin'. Here's some pics from tonight.

Helmet Soldier

2006-04-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to introduce to you the soldier of the future: Helmet Infantry. The helmet gives them the ability to materialize anything they imagine. For example they could turn a terrorist running at them with a suicide bomb into, say, a Little River Band boxed cd set. Any questions? Yes, Susan Felt from the Republic.
"Why doesn't the soldier just imagine world peace forever?"

Well, of course we'd first have to research the pros and cons of that.

suit and tux

2006-04-25T23:20:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I have no pictures of the tux. I will tell you what we got though. For Trevor, played by Drew, we're going with the classic white coat tux complete with black bowtie, black cumber bun, black pants and shoes. We actually bought Greg's suit. I told him I'd pay what I was going to in rental fees and he could pay the rest and get a sweet deal on a suit. Done and done. The picture is Greg lovin is new suit. Of course, he's only wearing the coat

more props

2006-04-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here's some more stuff to go on Trevor's bookcase. My favorite is the fat cat. What the hell is that thing? Why would anyone want an obese cat with a faux tuxedo if not for a funny prop? Maybe that's why it was $3.99 at Ross. Geez, nowadays, thats just about the price of a gallon of gas.

BOMB-A-LICIOUS

2006-04-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

Check it. Road flares, duct tape, random wires, a keychain organizer, and a belt = scary bomb strapped to my body. I closed the shades before trying this on. However, when I saw my neighbor outside he said, "what are you doing tonight?" I said, "I'm building something that looks like a bomb!" "Well, don't blow up the building!" He didn't get that it was a prop.

Sony Props

2006-04-21T15:34:00.000-07:00

Nora Gruber and I went to Sony Props Dept to see what we could find there. Some good Queen's chair choices and some good costume choices.

Prop

2006-04-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Look at this crazy ass black paper mache cheetah I found at Goodwill. I want to put it in Trevor's room somewhere to be featured.

Casting

2006-04-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

So, casting took place last Thursday. We rented a placed called the Actor's Creative Space. Or something like that. It was cheap, but the annoying thing was the woman who was supposed to open it up for me was super late and I didn't get in until 28 minutes after I was supposed to be let in. Casting was good. We got our Desert Queen, Annihilator, Terrorist, Stephanie. Our President is none other than our writer, Dirk Voetberg. I saw a bunch of Presidents. Some were ok, one was really good. But, overall, I felt that no one really understood Dirk's comedy nuance like Dirk did. Makes sense, no?

progress

2006-04-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

Quite a bit has happened since the last post. I've actually been too busy to post anymore about Helmet because I've been working like a dog (except smarter. I hope) to get this movie going. Let's see. I'll just post some separate entries for specific things we've accomplished.

Auditions

2006-04-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

Auditioning everyone next Thur the 13th!

Restaurant

2006-04-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics from the restaurant we're going to shoot in.

THE HELMET

2006-04-01T00:23:00.000-08:00

This is the first version of the helmet. I want to change a few things about it. Make it more busy and intimidating.

Meetin with Scott

2006-04-01T00:22:00.000-08:00

Talked about scheduling. We're officially shooting the 29, 30 of April, 1, 2, 5, 7 of May. Getting together again on Monday to talk about shot schedule and budget.

Meetin with Mike

2006-04-01T00:19:00.000-08:00

Went well. Talked about stuff. Insurance, tapes, locations, money, his dogs. I like Mike, he's nice. This is the worst blog ever. Oh, Mike's the D.P.

First Meeting

2006-02-21T23:56:00.000-08:00

A picture to remember our first meeting. We discussed location issues with David Gardner, our production designer. We touched on ideas for the helmet. We drank some sparkling water.

Helmet. A hard head covering. And a movie.

It is done

Oh My oh my

Thank God!

VFX

Progress

Still working

Music

Music

'Nuther rough cut screenin

some pics

Rouch Cut Screening

Rough cut

Rough scene from Helmet

capturing

Done Waiting

Still waiting...

Wrapped

LED lights

Podium done

podium

video of podium

Waiting... waiting

Wrapped!

Shooting!

g@$%ksj helmet *738*@%%

Helmet Soldier

suit and tux

more props

BOMB-A-LICIOUS

Sony Props

Prop

Casting

progress

Auditions

Restaurant

THE HELMET

Meetin with Scott

Meetin with Mike

First Meeting

g@$%ksj helmet 738@%%