In the films Actualities (Lumiere Bros. 1890 – 1910), Nanook of the North (Flaherty 1922), Regen / Rain (Ivens 1929), Drifters (Grierson 1929), Triumph of the Will, (Riefenstahl 1934), Olypiad II – Diving Sequence (Riefenstahl 1936), The River (Lorentz 1936) and Night Mail (Watt & Wright 1936) the filmmakers want us to believe the way they do and portray a one sided story.
During the early years of film, people were naïve. By 1910, coast-to-coast calling was possible in America and most towns had a local telephone franchise, but this was hardly the information age. Verifying facts through world news and early media was either painstakingly slow, unavailable or beyond most persons resources. Today’s audience has more resources at its fingertips than has ever existed. To be pandered to or told what a certain reality is will not go unchecked. If a filmmaker creates a purely subjective film, the audience will not be easily fooled and speaking points will be checked.
In Flaherty’s, Nanook of the North (1922), the score and repeatedly used supers give a narrative spine or train element in an effort to drive the story forward. Exposition unfolds at the beginning with a super stating that Nanook, the subject of this film has since died of starvation. While Nanook did die, his death was caused by tuberculosis. Flaherty manipulated the text of these supers because he needed us to care about Nanook and wanted to draw the audience in. It is important to motivate viewers to want to know what happens next, but this type of manipulation is no longer possible with the advent of the World Wide Web.
By 1929, filmmakers use the score to give credence to the theme of the film. In Ivens film, Regen / Rain (1929) the montage imparts a familiar scene of daily life. Life without rain is mundane and lacks a certain momentum. Once the rain begins, the music perceptibly changes and the imagery changes to rivulets of water. The imagery, which focused only on objects, changes to include people and their reaction to the rain. The music makes the rain feel friendly, familiar and welcome. It has a personality. Its theme suggests the world is more interesting with rain and the people serve it by being out in it. It is subtle, soft and artistic.
In 1929, Grierson’s, Drifters, used supers combined with cross fades, long dissolves and optical printing to help the arc of the story. The characters transform from countryside villagers to salty sea dogs and men scratching out a living, making their catch and hauling it to market, feeding their families and the world.
By 1934, Riefenstahl’s, Olypiad II (Diving Sequence), took the world on a turbulent ride from observer to participant. She set up her shots beginning with an observer’s perspective. Once lulled in, she took shots from high and low angles, in front and behind, full body to close up and edited shots in reverse. She provided a provocative dance allowing us the feeling of participation. She invented the optics for these shots and was the first to give the world under water imagery. While narrative film is character driven, this film breaks the confines of time and space allowing the viewer to become the character. It’s thrilling and physically dizzying to watch.
By 1936, crude soundtracks were available to filmmakers. Riefenstahl’s, Triumph of the Will (1936), takes her character, Adolph Hitler into a movie star stature with dramatic storytelling, making him heroic and strong before the German people. Dialogue is cut efficiently for power and exploitation. Various camera angles are used to diminish others and exalt Hitler. He is always portrayed as taller than those around him, never small. When Hitler is eye level, he connects with smiling well-fed, well-groomed people and pretty young girls admire him. His protagonist is poverty, starvation and a diminished Germany that he alone is capable of saving. The people of the time were completely held by the film. The lengthy parade sequences of enormous crowds pledging their loyalty to Hitler equaled the satisfactory ending German audiences craved. If they support Hitler they will achieve a unified Germany. The sequences played out so long, brain washing the population; it was easy to believe that every loyal German supported Hitler.
Lorentz, The River (1936), used poetic narrative to describe the destruction happening in the lands touched by the Mississippi. The clean and beautiful Mississippi is a highway and the beauty begins to fade once man touches it. “Men and mules, mules and mud.”
Finally, Watt & Wright’s, Night Mail (1936), has dialogue on an optical sound track. The story of a letter as it makes its progress on the postal special, a night train, becomes a frenzy of activity. The postal workers, their pride and the risks they take to deliver our mail and manage our dreams. “We all dream of receiving mail, and who can bear to be forgotten?” The film is poetry. It is a clock ticking in constant repetition. It is how we expect the mail to continue – ever on. The world is good when the postal special runs.
The exposition of these films cover who, what, when, where and why differently, not always waiting to give the audience what we need when we needed it.
Symbolism, iconography, montage, supers, camera language and sound have always reached the audience, but the ability to fact check combined with a well-traveled population and higher levels of education have made it more difficult to hold and entice that audience. It is for these reasons that objectivity is necessary as we explore increasingly complex content in documentary filmmaking.
]]>Colorado Film School – Intro to Film 16MM Production One announces auditions for: “RETIREMENT” - A Short Independent Film (non-pay – no fee)
Where:
The Colorado Film School 9075 E. Lowry Blvd., Bldg. 965 Denver, CO 80230
Visit: www.coloradofilmschool.net for directions
When:
Friday, February 5, 2010 (9:00AM – 5:00PM) Callbacks if necessary will be Saturday, February 6, 2010.
By Appointment: Please email renee@zuzingo.com to request an audition time
Cast:
“Edna Piedmont” – Female (55 – 75 years old) She's sweet pleasant sociable little small town lady, who is bright, has her wit and has a bit of spunk. She is enjoying her age, and retirement, not losing her spirit She chooses to live in the moment . Expert with a straw and spit wads– LEAD.
“Slick” – Male (20 – 29 years old) is a boisterous selfish inconsiderate ignorant loudmouth bully punk- like Biff from Back to the Future – LEAD.
“Harold Piedmont” – Male (55 – 75 years old) is a wise old man, but still has a boyish streak in him, but, he loves his wife and they are definitely a team as they both enjoy getting away with things in their retirement that they've waited a long time for – SUPPORTING.
“Police Officer” – Male (25 – 45 years old) is Peaberry's town deputy sheriff, in charge of all those parking violators! On serious ticket patrol, cool, collected keeping the peace, but doesn't take any business from anyone when he's on his beat. Not quite Gomer, but not really Sheriff Andy of Mayberry either – SUPPORTING.
“Sam Walker” – Male (30 – 50 years old) – is the friendly hard working town banker or businessman, pleasant and handsome – SUPPORTING
Extras Needed:
Townspeople of Peaberry.
Bit parts include:
Barista – Male or Female 18 – 29 years old Eye Rolling Girl – 18 – 25 years old Group of 18-25 year old females
Audition Details:
Bring:
- Resume
- Headshot (If none available, please include any photo)
- List of Conflict dates
Prepare:
- To do cold readings from the script
- To perform bits from the script and embody the character you are auditioning for
- Please arrive 15 minutes earlier than your scheduled audition time for paperwork and to become familiar with the script
- If auditioning for Edna – practice your quick draw spit wad abilities! Edna is able to whip her straw out of her purse or coat pocket in the blink of an eye.
Storyline:
A slice of Americana still exists in the quaint town of Peaberry. “Harold and Edna,” a retired couple and long time town residents are in their favorite coffee shop when a boisterous hooligan “Slick” slams through the door. Slick proceeds to disrespect and pester the patrons even making fun of Harold’s bum leg mimicking his need to walk with a cane. Edna stops Harold from a head on confrontation with Slick but gets into a confrontation with the town sheriff ticketing the car parked in the handicapped space. The confused cop is struck with a spit wad to the glasses and proceeds to find numerous reasons to slap tickets on the car. In the end, Slick gets his due.
Rehearsals:
Friday, February 12th Saturday February 13th
Shooting Schedule:
Friday, February 19, 2010 (6AM – 8PM) Saturday, February 20, 2010 (6AM – 8PM) Sunday, February 21, 2010 (6AM – 8PM)
Shoot Location:
Colorado – actual location disclosed at auditions
Executive Team:
Executive Producer: Tony Pfau Producer: Mara Baker Director: Renee Berberian Director of Photography: Jeffrey Anderson
]]>“George Lucas in Love” was a fun farcical look at the creation of the Star Wars trilogy. The ridiculous and bizarre events having a correlation to the films were a joy to see. The short was an excellent parody.
“Film Club” was a parody of “Fight Club” and made a horrible mess of the movie. I really disliked this short. I also felt the background music was at best, annoying. The other irony was the minimum wage clerk working at Blockbuster, who could somehow afford super expensive camera equipment. This production fell short with me.
“Evil Hill” was another parody of the Dr. Evil character in the Austin Powers / Mike Myers movie series. It had excellent production values, but was very long and the screaming children were very staged and put on. The film could have been edited into a shorter version and would perhaps have worked, but it was sad to see so much effort fail.
“Validation” was a wonderful short with a unique premise and an excellent plot and pay off. I truly enjoyed this film about a parking validation attendant and his ability to make everyone feel good, enriching their lives. I hope I can make a film as original and inspired one day.
I presented “Wasp” today based on our having viewed it in Writing The Short Script. The film was an excellent short. The talent brought a genuine desperateness to the screen and the situations were jarring and uncomfortable. I found “Wasp” difficult to watch the first time and was able to be more analytical the more I viewed the content. I spoke about the stasis and intrusion points in the film and how the filmmakers kept the forward momentum throughout. Thanks for introducing this film to our class to me personally. We spoke of the economic need that Zoe had, the responsibilities of caring for the children, the poor choices and decisions Zoe seemed prone to make, David as a not so shining knight in armor and the lack of any individual who could recreate stability for Zoe. We discussed the frantic, unnerving, tense and uncomfortable pace and portrayal of the lower working class surroundings Zoe lives in. The fact that Zoe wants to be taken out of her reality and the great fear we all had for the welfare of the children. The filmmakers had an uncanny ability to make ordinary life feel more frightening with their gritty film style and camera work. The camera language was stomach churning and the visual surroundings made you fear for the children’s safety.
I showed some friends “Spider” today. I was interested in seeing their reaction to the accident and the payoff of the needle in the eye. There wasn’t a still body among them. No one seemed to think twice about the slate at the beginning of the film proclaiming “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.”
The beginning with the couple fighting is rather long on second view and the stop at the gas station finally moves the story along.
I think the station being run by two foreign men made for interesting cinema and the purchase of the variety of convenience store items was attention grabbing. Naturally, the purchase of the spider was eye catching as it relates to the title. Naturally, the guy that takes things to far can’t resist throwing in a little prank with his forgiveness gifts.
The first time I saw the film, I failed to notice where the spider was hidden, so the second viewing was more fascinating once I saw where the spider had been placed. Although the fighting continues after leaving the service station, she finally forgives him.
I loved the flowers on the dash and that as irritated the girlfriend was, she easily forgave him with the bribe of chocolate morsels. Who wouldn’t forgive anyone anything for bits of chocolate??? Well…perhaps not anything, but some things J
The spider dropping from the visor seems to magically happen and is woven seamlessly into the film. It never felt staged and the fright seemed genuine. She is terrified and almost crashes. She stops the car.
When she pulls over and get’s out of the car, we immediately feel for her safety. Although the boyfriend says the spider is a toy, he proceeds to again take things to far and tosses it at her causing her to jump back. She is immediately struck by a car and pays an ultimate price by his taking things to far.
Everyone watching JUMPED when this happened and let out audible sighs and gasps. I knew it was coming and probably also jumped in spite of myself.
At this point in the film, you are so horror struck by the events that have taken place that it’s easy to miss the reemergence of the spider. I missed it the first go round and only saw the needle in the eye. This time I saw all of the events and the paramedic reaction to the spider and the needle puncture were brilliant. I need to watch those edits in slow motion to see how they were able to produce such an effective action scene.
In the end, she may die and he maybe loses an eye. I know some said he got his, but did he really….
“Truman” was a terrible short with what could have been a wonderful premise for a story. The production values were excellent and someone spent real money to make this film. Sadly the story wasn’t really presented well on the page and that definitely showed up on the screen. It really is telling when you start with a poor script.
We actually did a table read of the script and discussed problems we saw with it. Those problems were magnified on screen and this was an interesting revelation. Somehow I thought things could be fixed once the screenplay reached production…not so. This was valuable for me to see.
I know every movie exists in 3 forms –
Though this seems to be the understood convention, component A carries a lot of weight.
The talent felt put on and staged and the suspension of disbelief never occurred. I never felt that Truman was pro active and therefore the ability to move the film forward was sorely lacking.
The visualization combined with the energy on screen was scattered and never gave a general sensibility to the piece.
The classmate’s sudden acceptance of Truman was to contrive and the kids were all much nicer than kids tend to be when paying for the failures of the underdog. No way would the crowd of children cheer Truman on after they paid the price of his failure with laps around the track. I believe they would reenter the gym and become upset that Truman could have climbed the rope and chose not to. They would be pissed. They would not suddenly rally for this kid.
When the coach questions Truman about his future, it was intensity without provocation…”It’s only a rope today, what’s it going to be in your future?” Really…
A noose was used for visual intimidation. This was one of the only assets to the film that felt appropriate. The civil war fantasy showcasing fear of the coach was very loose. The fire fighter rescue fantasy was somewhat apt in showing Truman’s fear of heights. The Robin Hood fantasy again showing fear of the coach was half-baked.
The film was trying to do to much in the span of a short and the little time it had to present Truman’s dilemma and the reaction to this dilemma became muddied with all the side story. Now I understand how to many directions can obscure the road.
The end scene where Truman vomits was nothing more than a cheap attempt to have the audience laugh.
The coach becomes a buffoon at the end and throwing balls around in a room that has recently been vomited in. This is completely unrealistic. Who the heck would hang around a vomit filled room and potentially touch a ball that has rolled through it.
“Life Lessons” part of the New York Stories trilogy released in 1989 is a Martin Scorsese long short that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was 44 minutes long and I’m not sure why this wasn’t slightly extended to create a feature. The talent was marvelous. The beginning scene brought you immediately into the action with beautiful inserts of a canvas, paint, brushes and expensive booze. We then see the bad tempered artist “Lionel” as he argues with his agent.
The twists and turns of the plot unfold when we learn that Lionel isn’t just picking up his assistant at the airport, this person is his love interest and she wants to leave him.
She has had an affair while on holiday but is no longer involved with that individual.
She is no longer interested in continuing the relationship with Lionel even though he doesn’t care that she has cheated on him.
Lionel somehow convinces her to stay on as his assistant without any expectation for intimate involvement. She agrees to stay on in her studio room with salary.
Paulette (the assistant) has an unconventional room in the artist’s studio. It has no privacy whatsoever and there is a giant hole in the wall that serves as a window. Lionel can bust into the room any time he wants and he is distracted by her presence. Lionel bugs her, he enters her bedroom repeatedly, and he professes his love for her to her. They have sex and he says he loves her. She says that she will love him back. He has his inspiration and can work.
The next day, Lionel looks at Paulette’s work and takes her down several notches. He is not supportive and deflates her. She calls her mother and says she wants to go back to school and asks to come home. Paulette has again decided to leave. She storms out to let Lionel know of this decision and watches him passionately painting with fierce strokes. She sees the small details at the heart of his creativity. She craves some of that brilliance within her own work. She stays, though it is clear she no longer wants a romantic relationship with Lionel from this point.
Paulette and Lionel go to the opening of his art exhibit together. He is very social and schmooze’s with everyone while completely ignoring Paulette. While he’s doing the social thing, he’s constantly aware of where Paulette is and whom she is talking to.
Paulette is flirting with a man who takes her across the room. Lionel notices and becomes very jealous and possessive. He locks Paulette in a closet after telling her that people are laughing at her for being taken in by the flirtatious man. Paulette is not concerned about her social reputation and is only relieved that they are not laughing about her artistic capabilities.
It’s clear by the conversations within the socialites at the opening that no one is aware of the prior union between Lionel and Paulette. While they are in public together, they keep the persona of artist and assistant, diminishing Paulette more.
Lionel and Paulette seem at an impasse. She is finally released from the closet and hooks up with the man she had been flirting with earlier. In spite, she takes him home – to the artist’s studio where they sleep together in the studio room. Lionel gazes up to the hole in the wall window and reverently continues to paint his masterpiece while Paulette and the boy toy have sex.
Lionel is a crazy artist who wants Paulette. Paulette is still hung up on the guy (a performance artist) who she cheated on Lionel with in the beginning of the film.
Lionel suggests they go see him perform to prove she’s over him. Lionel suggests she talk to him. Paulette does and then is ignored by him at the event he showcases.
Paulette is deflated and is extremely angry with Lionel for making the suggestion she talk to him in the first place.
Lionel again professes his love and says he’ll do anything for her. She pulls away and while walking home she asks him to prove he loves her by kissing a random man on the mouth. He agrees and she selects a police officer.
Lionel actually goes up to the police car and attempts the kiss at great risk to his person. He can’t go through with it and when he turns to look back at Paulette, sees she’s left the area. He feels degraded.
Lionel returns to the studio where Paulette lounges dressed in underwear and a robe. He’s pissed. He says he is the invisible man. He could do whatever he wants to her and no one would know. Lionel feels dangerous at this moment and we, the audience wonder for Paulette’s safety.
Later Paulette is in a diner with her girlfriend and Lionel. The performance artist shows up, a fight breaks out and Lionel stands up for Paulette’s dignity from the previous night. Paulette leaves, mortified and embarrassed.
Paulette returns to the studio and decides to leave. She recognizes that she is needed to help Lionel as his muse and inspiration for him to work. Paulette has called her brother and packed her bags. She departs with her brother after final words with Lionel.
This new fight inspires yet more creativity for Lionel and he paints again, finally finishing his masterpiece. He can now have his show.
At Lionel’s show, he meets an attractive woman who is an aspiring artist. He offers her Paulette’s job. We see that this new assistant is the bridge for the next masterpiece and the creativity needed to create it.
“Kosher” was part of a culmination of “Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect.”
It was a very cute premise that came out of Florida State’s Film School. A little boy asks a girl to marry him. She accepts. They find another kid to marry them – they are 6 years old. The other kids say it isn’t possible for them to get married because the girl (Rachel) is Jewish and the boy (Charles) is not.
Charles decides to become Jewish for Rachel. He refuses to eat the ham his mother makes for diner, which causes his mother some confusion. The scene here got a little long and there could have been more conflict than the desire to forgo ham, but it was cute.
Anyway – the next day the kids are somehow able to get married and once the deed is done – Charles exclaims Hoy’Vay when he realizes he will have to kiss Rachel.
The film school at Florida State also put out another short on this DVD called “My Josephine.”
This was done post 9-11 and the message was somehow tied to the post 9-11 American Arab tension. I kept waiting for something to happen. There was a great deal of tension and a lot of care in washing American flags. The flag washing is done for free.
There certainly was symbolism and I get that the female lead (Adella) was the male lead’s Josephine, but the story of Napoleon and Josephine were not the story of this short. I found it confusing and thought the filmmakers were also confused.
“Mt. Head,” a Japanese animated short from 2005 was really weird. It had a 3 dimensional quality to it and the subtitles did not seem to translate exactly??? The other thing that was interesting was the portrayal of the lead. He is clearly NOT Asian and has round western eyes – hmmm.
He never throws anything away and is called the stingy man. Why not frugal or environmentally friendly? He finds glorious cherry’s fallen from a public cherry tree. The man takes them home and enjoys eating them. He is portrayed as being greedy and dirty. Why is frugality dirty to the Japanese? Obviously this is cultural, but the fact that he is portrayed as a westerner shows hostility that I was surprised by.
The man is one who cannot connect with others. He never throws anything away.
When he swallows a cherry seed, a tree begins to sprout from his head. The sprout grows into a tree on the top of his head. A mini society of people picnic under the tree on his head. They all abuse the resources and pollute the world of his head. They publicly urinate at the base of the tree and throw trash everywhere.
In the mini society, the view was sexist. The men were all grouped as businessmen and the girls were all grouped as office girls.
He finally realizes he must throw away the tree and pulls it from his head. A giant hole is left atop his head that turns into a pond. The party on his head continues and only gets worse.
As he looks down at the pond to see the reflection, he sees reflection after reflection after reflection of himself and the pond in repetition.
In the end, the message was confusing. The man ultimately joins the collective by throwing himself into the pond, which becomes an abstract flag of Japan…
“Das Rod,” a 9-minute animated German short was lovely to watch.
The film shows an ever-changing landscape of the world from the beginning of time from the prospective of two boulders on a hilltop.
The future rushed past until the planet became great, then crumbled then regenerated.
The rocks make comments on seeing things change. They start out complaining about the moss growing on them and in the end are once again growing moss and proclaim that “That was lucky.”
The rock conversation takes place really slowly while the progress moves at an extraordinary pace.
This was a cool animated short.
The 2003 winner for Best Animated film was “The Chubb Chubbs.” I loved this short!
There were various sci fi creatures in a bar that were spoofs from Alien, Star Wars, Lost in Space and the Wizard of Os.
The cute little alien only wants to sing, but is doing the lowly job of mopping floors. While he dreams of singing, he pretends the mop is a mic pole and he begins dancing around and trips over cords plugged in for the stage entertainment.
The cute little alien gets kicked out for killing the electrical to the mic. Everyone in the bar glares at him for his clumsiness. They look at him like he’s a goof off.
Once outside, he learns that a dangerous enemy army called the Chubb Chubbs is on their way.
Concerned for the other creatures in the bar, he makes his way back in to warn them. He slams open the bar door and crushes the main stage entertainment.
He is again booted from the bar.
His concern for these creatures is not rested. He again tries to go in to warn them, but is barred from entering. He makes his way to the roof and the ceiling caves in. He lands on the main stage entertainment.
We see his body soaring through the air as it lands outside in a puff of dirt with audible thud.
He only wants acceptance and love, but has no one. In the dirt, on the ground in front of the bar, 3 adorable little childlike creatures gather near him. They bond just before a sentry comes and warns him that the Chubb Chubbs are coming. The sentry looks down, screams and tears off.
The alien now concerned for the little creatures he’s bonded with gathers them up and makes for the bar. Immediately behind him is the army of Chubb Chubbs. Ironically they turn out to be many more of the sweet looking little creatures our cute alien has bonded with.
Suddenly, he has the acceptance he was looking for and because the entire planet is fearful of the Chubb Chubbs, our cute alien becomes the main stage entertainment while everyone looks fearfully on.
The short was amazingly fun to watch and referenced many other films. The fantasy sequence in the beginning alluded to our alien’s desires as he sang with the mop.
He also gains our empathy when he’s booted out repeatedly and still cares for the creatures that want nothing to do with him.
I loved it.
]]>Here we go! I got up early, had an opportunity to hug Marlo goodbye and start the packing process.
The pressure to be out the door at a certain time marginally exists when you fly yourselves. In good weather, it can stray a bit one-way or the other. If an incoming weather front must be avoided, we hustle to either beat the weather or bag the flight.
Today looked like great flying weather. We left the house at 10:15AM for Rocky Mountain Metro Airport and arrived at our hangar.
We fueled up, pre-flighted and took off. Paul flew us in our Cirrus SR22 http://cirrusaircraft.com/sr22/ aircraft.
Unfortunately, the pickings over the Rocky Mountains were slim. There were numerous clouds and turbulence that caused an extra long journey.
Typically, after we cross the Rocky Mountains, Paul keeps the plane at around 10 to 12 thousand feet. From that altitude we catch great scenery and it’s usually very pleasant flying.
Because of the crazy turbulence, our path took us to an altitude of 16,500 feet and we had to use oxygen for a long portion of our journey, I hate using oxygen. Meanwhile, the scenery was still great.
We finally landed 3½ hours later, at Henderson Airport. While our journey was long, the overall flight experience was lovely.
Sometimes air traffic control vector the small aircraft over McCarran International Airport. I hate going right over the main airport, it feels really dangerous with all of the big planes coming and going. Surprisingly, this type of vectoring is typical.
Today, air traffic control gave us a good vector around McCarran. We landed with the strip directly in front of us. Nice.
Henderson airport has really gotten huge! The FBO (Fixed Base Operations) where private aircraft land and pilots flight plan, arrange for parking, pay for fuel etc. was unrecognizable. They’ve even built a new runway since our last landing here.
My Dad and Step Mother Sue were waiting at the FBO to pick us up and were given a ride out to the tarmac. We met, hugged and were glad to see one another. The driver helped us gather our luggage and once Paul finished replacing the 49 gallons of fuel we burned, we went to their terminal building.
The fuel prices were amazingly good - $4.69 a gallon! Awesome – I think our fuel price at Rocky Mountain Metro was $5.99. This makes our one-way flight costs $293.51. This of course doesn’t factor in annual maintenance, hangar fees, professional fees, insurance or the parking fees at Henderson, but we would have spent more money and burned more fuel driving.
The next leg will be cheaper since the fuel costs were less. Paul will be flying to Burbank while I go commercial back to Denver. Fuel in Burbank is probably $6.99 a gallon. It’s amazing how much fuel can fluctuate from airport to airport.
They got us to our hotel (Planet Hollywood) and stuck with us to see our mutual friends Larry and Simine Tepper who also flew in from Boulder for the U2 weekend in Vegas.
We all had an early dinner at Yolos Mexican Restaurant in the Planet Hollywood complex. The food was absolutely marvelous! I was surprised at how good the food actually was. I had crab cakes with mango chutney salsa and then street tacos with grilled mahi mahi in sweet corn tortillas. A delicious mango chipotle sauce enhanced this dish. I was super starving, so this was a delightful and truly appreciated experience!
Dad and Sue were so gracious. They loaned us their car. Actually, they loaned us the nicer of their two cars so we could get around comfortably without having to use a taxi. How generous of them!
We said goodbye to Dad and Sue and hustled to get ourselves together for the concert. After a brief 20 minutes of room time, we were in the car on our way to the Sam Boyd Stadium where 70,000 people were headed for the sold out concert.
The 9-mile journey from Planet Hollywood took an hour and 20 minutes, but with our good friends for company, we managed to keep our sanity.
After a successful parking job, we made our way into the stadium.
When we arrived at our section, I could hardly believe my eyes. First of all, our seats were excellent – but I knew that before going in.
The big surprise was the stage! This stage, which I had viewed as a graphic line drawing during seat selection, was far more elaborate than I had imagined.
It was an amazing, futuristic structure resembling a space ship with the anatomic features of a King Crab.
The circular stage was suspended between 4 enormous spiny crab legs. The legs and head of the crab structure had a stretched canvas skinning the frame and were knobby giving the illusion of a hard outer shell.
The canvas was similar to that of DIA’s architectural roofing, which spans the main terminal building and emulates the mountains.
The entire frame of the crab changed colors depending on the lighting focused on the canvas skin.
The structure was massive and the legs supported numerous platforms at various levels. The platforms lived inside the incline of each leg providing spaces for lighting, camera rigging, speakers, etc.
The exterior sides housed the strobe lights, disco lights; colorizing lights, smoke machines, etc.
If I were asked to guess the girth of these legs, I’d say they were at least 30 feet in diameter at the base and grew from there.
NPR did an entire segment on the custom built staging. The structure takes a solid two days to dismantle and a solid two days to build.
The tour hasn’t been in any city for more than one night. They were in Arizona last night and are off to Pasadena tomorrow, soooooo I have to wonder how many of these amazing stages they undoubtedly own? This also means they have numerous crew managing several sites simultaneously.
AMAZING!
The head of the crab sported a tower. The tower is a needle and was adorned with an enormous disco ball.
The sides of the tower are vented and produce smoke.
The ball, when lit with the smoke in the background, turned the entire outdoor stadium into a disco palladium.
Hanging from the thick upper portion, below the head, was an accordion like jumbo-tron in circle vision. Think of it like the tube from the mother ship, extending down from central command.
The jumbo-tron could move as a single unit up and down or expand in a mesh shaped cone toward the stage.
Remember – this visual feast wasn’t even the main attraction.
The Black Eyed Peas opened at 7:30PM – only 30 minutes delayed and put on an energy filled riotous show.
The group has been together since 1995 and has their act together in a big way. They were humble, thanking the audience for showing up early to see them.
They also joked that when they got this gig “it was like – hey, we’re opening for U2!”
Then when they started playing the gig, “it was like, hey – everyone’s coming to SEE -U2-?!?”
They admitted that they had never played a stage like this anywhere in their careers and that it was awesome to be doing this tour. Fergie was of course marvelous.
The group was dressed in black. Sequins and lights adorned much of their stage wear and had the tailoring styles of a futuristic Yellow Submarine era Beatles meets Devo.
Large sunglasses and oddly coiffed hair finished the look. They totally rocked the crowd! I need to purchase more of their music.
After an hour + performance, The Black Eyed Peas left the stage and we had an opportunity to prepare ourselves for the main event.
The last time we were in Vegas was August of 08 and flew commercial air. We purchased commercial tickets then because we couldn’t risk bad weather and needed to be in Vegas for the wedding of my ½ sister Katie.
]]>Thursday – I can’t believe it’s Thursday. The days and nights are blending together. I found it impossible to concentrate before classes today and am therefore quite unproductive in my homework completions… I’ve got to get it together.
In Production One – Tony used my “Back to the Future” edit for class discussion. That’s cool. I guess I’ve turned the corner from soccer mom to something else. The jury is still out on the “something else.” I suppose I no longer think he hates me, but I’m not convinced he likes me either. I’m not sure what the issue is, but there is an underlying something there. It’s weird actually.
Anyway, I was proud that it was MY “Back to the Future” that he used. The class is still floundering with Project One. Several students (85%) still have not shot their project one and apparently Tony is waiting for scripts to be uploaded so that he can approve them. They must be sweating bullets at this point – I know I would be.
When we moved into our Post class, we took the mid term that I should have been studying for this week and at the very least, this morning. I was now in the hot seat, because for some reason I was unable to get the studying bug under control. We were given our mid term instructions and proceeded to open the test up on line. I’m sure I aced it – thank God I pay attention in class. I had extra time once finished, so used that to continue the editing process for “At Your Own Risk.’
I really want my first project to look good and am very aware of the sound deficiencies I have with it. I’ve got to get up to speed on how to put in the music tracks and adjust sound levels and clean up sounds, etc.
In Post – Margaret Norwood put her foot down and has given the drop-dead date for Project One – it’s this Tuesday! My poor class mates – This doesn’t give them enough time to get script approval, get shoot approval, get equipment, shoot the film, edit the film and turn it in for a grade!
I’m not sure what we’ll be viewing on Tuesday, but it should certainly be interesting in any event. In the meantime, I’m really glad I’ve got mine shot and in an almost locked state for sound. My production book is in a sorry state, but I can reorganize the pages and put that together with 20 minutes of uninterrupted time, so no biggie. I’ve already done all of the work for it and it just needs to be assembled.
I worked the box office for Urinetown and the show had an amazing walk in crowd. The box office took in around $1,300.00 in walk in sales! Great crowd of pre sale and walk in with over 300 seats sold!
I wonder if they will sell out on Friday and Saturday. The pre-sold seats already have the house at between 75% and 80% of capacity and the adjudication board is supposed to show up for one of these shows – what happens if they can’t get tickets??? Hopefully, they have already purchased in advance J. If the show goes to nationals – that would be really, really big!
By the time we got home, again well after 10:00PM I was not in a mind set for packing luggage. Guess that will have to happen in the morning. I am sooooo tired!
]]>My God – I went to bed after 1:30AM last night / this morning! I’ve finalized my rough cuts for scenes one, two and three for “At Your Own Risk,” and have the final scene to edit. Once the film is locked, I hope to gain enough knowledge in Soundtrack Pro to get the aural quality of my short in shape. I hope I can do it!
I’ve got to pack for Vegas – departure this Friday and I don’t know when that’s actually going to happen. I’ve got Urinetown tonight and tomorrow night and then departure early on Friday. Well, I guess that means either I’m packing late Thursday night or early Friday morning. Neither choice sounds good.
I am excited about going to see U2 in concert with the Black Eyed Peas opening for them, http://www.u2.com/tour/ but I’m also exhausted.
For the Urinetown performance tonight, another CFS student named Fola is attending with me. She is a sweetheart I met her in the dropped Voice Articulation class.
Fola went to Denver School of the Arts as a vocal major and said she might actually still know some of the seniors – how cute is that! I’m so old!!!!!!!!! It’s so sweet that she asked me if she could come J At least I’m approachable in addition to being OLD!
The dinner with Fola was lovely. It was nice getting to know her and the show was awesome. These kids are amazing and I have to admit, sometimes it is difficult to separate the idea that these are kids and that we're not viewing an actual Broadway show. I’m so proud of Marlo!
]]>What a day. Without Paul, I slept fitfully and feared I wouldn’t wake in time for carpool. Of course, I did wake on time – 3 alarm clocks saw to that. I also had to budget time to get Chloe situated before we left for the day. This made the morning more chaotic than normal. Marlo also did not finish all of her homework last night and was bucking to miss first period so that she could get it done. No can do – am I a mean mom or what!?!
I spent the better portion of today on www.lynda.com, which is the most fabulous video tutorial web site EVER!
I was given a free 24 hours and by 4:00PM I upgraded the membership to a one-year paid subscription. I was engrossed in Soundtrack Pro and also reviewed Final Cut Pro so that I would be more post savvy.
The Lynda.com site has video tutorials on just about anything you could think of from the most complex program to the most silly – like Twitter or Facebook. They also have video tutorials for camera equipment. I even found a tutorial for my specific camera and how to expressly use it in tandem with Final Cut Pro – amazing!
I worked on an in class sound project that we filmed last Thursday and with what I learned in Soundtrack Pro – I was able to do some sound manipulation and I was able to add some sound effects. It’s still on the realm of amateurish, but I’m getting there. I’m excited to learn these things and don’t mind the self-teaching method. This helps me understand the lecture sessions of post on a different level and I like having a reference point.
Paul will be home late tonight. I hope his trip was successful. He’ll be so tired when he gets home. His flight lands at DIA at 10:00PM. This will put him home in the door at the earliest – 11:30PM. Chances are very likely that I’ll still be up doing my homework – so much editing, so little time.
Wow – Paul just called. His flight was cancelled and he’s been re-routed. He won’t be home until 1:30AM. In spite of the flight problems, he sounded jazzed. He said the day went well – really well. He couldn’t talk because he was passing through security, but said he’d call when he got to the new gate. I can’t wait to hear about his day!
]]>Paul departed this morning on a business trip to LA and is beginning the arduous task of fundraising. This is always an interesting stage in a business. We’ll definitely contribute and gain additional shares of the company, though in these tough economic times, how much cash is really out there???
It’s my lovely niece Noelle’s birthday. She is 14 today! She is also my Goddaughter and we’re all celebrating with her tonight with a birthday dinner at Carelli’s Italian Restaurant http://www.carellis.com/ in Boulder. I’m going to be larger tomorrow – YUM!
Marlo and I wanted to be the first birthday wishers and sang her Happy Birthday on the drive in to school.
My sister later told me that we were not the first to wish her a happy birthday and that Noelle’s friend Hannah stayed up to 12:00AM to leave Noelle a birthday message, plus sent her a birthday text. Well, she definitely has us beat by a few hours J
Marlo did not have rehearsal today, so she went to the library after school until I arrived after my last class. It worked out rather well; she completed a lot of her homework before actually coming home, which worked out nicely with our dinner plans and all.
We had an hour and a half turn time from the time we got home to the time we were expected at the restaurant. I had another headache and rested for 30 minutes before getting ready. Once up, I felt a bit better and signed Noelle’s card, packaged her gift and hit the road with Marlo.
Noelle loved the Russian egg pendant that I bought her in St. Petersburg this summer. I paired it with a beautiful gold chain and she wore it immediately.
By the time we came home, I was exhausted and bagged homework for tomorrow morning.
]]>It’s once again time to hit the paperwork in the basement. I got up a little before 7:00AM to get it all done…I only hope it’s possible.
Well – it’s 3:30PM and I’ve finally finished down in the basement…I definitely need a shower before I attempt the homework tackle. I cannot believe I am missing such a glorious day, but I need to get these things done or I won’t be able to sleep. I definitely did not have time to go to church today.
And now, homework…
This has got to be the most boring thing you’ve ever read!
]]>OK – zombie personifications are over. I slept until 8:00AM and it was glorious!
Time to get cracking on household paperwork, followed by homework – but first – I get to have my OWN “La Marzocco” http://www.lamarzocco.com/indexb.html espresso machine, organic cappuccino with four shots. Oh yeah baby!
Wow, has my day ever been sidetracked! I made Paul breakfast, cleaned up around the kitchen and went upstairs to put away the new shoes.
Upon entering the closet, I found myself unable to stop myself from going for the big closet purge.
After two hours of work, I’d purged at least 12 pairs of pants, 3 skirts, 7 jackets, 5 shirts a purse and 15 pairs of shoes.
Clearly, this closet purge was needed and I am happier with the now uncluttered space.
I have surplus hangers and shoeboxes to fill with current fashion, woo-hoo! Now, if I only had the time to SHOP for current fashion!
To the basement for household paperwork – away!
While many things remain unfinished in the basement, they will have to wait until tomorrow.
We have Urinetown this evening and several friends are joining us to see the show.
We joined our friends for dinner before Urinetown and had a nice chance to catch up. The dinner was lively (we were a group of 11) and we just made it to curtain with barely 5 minutes to spare. Marlo was missed at dinner, but she had to be at 5:00PM call to dress and prepare for the show.
Urinetown had a very large audience tonight. The show was excellent and our friends said that there were times they had to remind themselves that they weren’t watching a Broadway show, but were watching kids in high school.
I noticed some tech problems with lighting and thought the guys at the soundboard were having issues during the second act, but all in all, they all did a really nice job.
Candy Brown the amazing choreographer was in the audience tonight and I introduced myself. I wanted her to know how much Marlo has enjoyed working with her. She was absolutely lovely to talk to and said that sometimes she thought the kids must despise her because she worked them so hard. Marlo definitely loved every minute of it J
The Thespian adjudication board attended last nights show and qualified Urinetown for the state Thespian competition!
The kids are very excited about competing and hope to win at state so they can take the show to nationals. How cool is that!
We made it home late and flopped into bed. I’ve got to get stuff done tomorrow. Thank God there will be no driving to Denver and I will have the entire day to get caught up!
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