The Dark Night 2 -- Get Off Da Ship!

Ahhh...obsessions.

At this point you might say, "man those kids sure got f-ed up by the Shining".
Well that's not the only one my friends. Alien. Aliens. Perfection.

I still love those movies. They are two of the best movies ever made. PERIOD. Neither is better than the other. They are amazing. Everything about them. So naturally we had to do OUR versions. You might remember Dark Night, (you might not since you were so filled with terror you may have blocked it out). Well, here's the "sequel"...sort of. Homage perhaps?

It's basically a web cam video before web cams existed. Recording on "vidi-disc" before vidi-disc existed. I know this was high school because of the nifty visual effects on the screen which were done with Borden's camera he spent a lot of money on and we rarely used. In fact this was the first video we shot on that.

This one is particularly famous for Borden's intense line at the end "Get Off Da Ship!", which we still quote to him from time to time. In addition to the fantastic dialogue "If you see this I'll be dead...unfortunately", which still makes me laugh.

So prepare to be terror-fied...

...and Get off da ship!

Film Courage Interactive

So last night I attended the third "Film Courage Interactive" event at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles. The event is run by David Branin & Karen Worden (www.Filmcourage.com). They put on a weekly radio show where they interview indie filmmakers, and now they've expanded it to this monthly screening event where they show REAL indie films. Not 5,000,000 dollar indie films, but little ones. $10,000 or $20,000 movies. The kind of movies that so many of us are making but don't have a chance to show in theaters as easily because we don't have some name actor in the movie.

Anyway, it's a really cool event. It's in it's infancey, but they are doing a great job of getting people out to chat, meet each other, watch some true indie films, often with a Q&A afterwards, and then they have what we have affectionately called "filmmaker group therapy" where whoever would like to tells who they are, what they're working on and lessons they've learned or problems they face.

I've me a number of really cool folks there this time and last time. People working on indie films at various stages. Some in preproduction like us with "Straight On Till Morning". Some all finished, festival favorites who are looking for distribution like "Scenesters".

If you're an indie filmmaker in LA, I highly recommend coming out, and getting inspired, or at least meeting some cool folks, making movies, that aren't full of shit. :)

And if you can't make it, check out the Film Courage radio show, noon on Sundays. (or archived to enjoy whenever you like).

Is it time for Pre-Production yet?

So...

we've been busy. Interviewing producers. Getting the website, facebook and twitter infastructure up and running for "Straight On Till Morning". Working...nice to have some of that finally after a really slow spring. We've got lots of ideas of what to do next, and just need to put in all the work and do all the stuff it takes to get it done.

I had a big idea for something to write right now and I seem to have forgotten it.

Anyway...watched "Lost Boys" in honor of Corey Haim's death last week. So weird to think he's only a few years older than me, but had done so much in entertainment and then was sort of forgotten. I had a friend who was cast in the lead in a film opposite him last fall, and then they ended up recasting HIM because he wasn't a big enough draw anymore. It's sad really to think that all someone's hard work and all we do can become irrelevant to the people doing stuff in the future. That they'll look back and remember it fondly. And eventually people will hardly remember or even know who we were. After all, how many movie stars from the 30's can you list off? And how many of them have you actually seen in a film? I know I can't do very many.

Guess that's why it's always important to have family and friends and loved ones so close. To really inspire a son or daughter or niece or nephew or something. That the human connection matters most since all of our work will crumble to dust. Then again so will people...

hmmm....this all seems kinda depressing, but I'm actually just thinking about it. Not to be sad about it, but just to think about how BIG the world is, and how tiny what we do in it is. But it doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. Not at all.

Prelude To Neurobashing

Sooooo.....

We're not in the living room anymore! Woooooo! Not that there weren't some amazing films that took place in Tom's living room. But now my friends... we have driver's licenses. Yep! It's late 10th grade and we have finally caught up with the "1st" CraigOClassic "Neurobashing".

So this is the video we shot spontaneously before deciding to do the epic chase adventure in it's entirety. Really, it's just 2 minutes of us cruising around Richardson, TX before coming up with a joke that was the pivotal moment in the full length film. Still, it was sure fun to see the streets, cruise the alleys (that was a big shock upon moving to Texas from Colorado was the strange fun alleys), and watching Tom nearly drop the camera out the side of the car when going over a dip!

Richardson's finest make a cameo, as does my high school, J.J. Pearce. (Yep, the same one Jessica Simpson went to... a few years after me. Same one Shane Caruth, director of "Primer" went to. A few years before me. As well as a number of other working film professionals who I also have no contact with.) Tom and David's high school, Richardson, is featured in the longer film. (Yep, the same one David Gordon Green, director of "Pineapple Express" went to, who my friend Dan Kraus knows from North Carolina.) It's a small world, but a big state.

The end of this makes me wonder why I didn't have much luck with the ladies in high school. I mean, we're so smooth, it's a wonder, really, really a wonder.

Tom actually shot all this, so I'm not sure I can call it a "CraigoClassic". Perhaps its a "THOMclassic", but whatever, there aren't really any rules here. :)

Oh...and the perm may be gone, but DAMN, my hair still looks good.

Random Stuff...

Yep...as random as it gets. This is 53 seconds of avante guard amazement.
pure...
complete...
unadulterated...
video...
art.

period.

The "Straight On Till Morning" Poster...

Here it is!

The One Sheet Poster for "Straight On Till Morning". I'm so pumped! This looks so much better than I thought it would thanks to Natalie Young our photographer, and Lonny Chant who did the titles. To Brian Erzen for his keen eye and for hooking me up with Lonny in the first place. And to all of you who were giving your thoughts and opinions on which struck you as best.

So now we have a poster...for a movie that hasn't been shot yet. We also have a number of other images, many of which you can see as background of the "finished" website www.SOTMmovie.com.

Looking at the images gets me excited to tell the story of David & Kaitlin. Hopefully it'll get other's excited to work on or see the movie. Of course by doing this and asking for all sorts of opinions, I was reminded of the fact that everyone has their favorites and their vision of how things should go, and even though seeking advice is always wise, in the end I've got to make my own choices and own decisions and sink or swim with them. As my good buddy Dan Kraus said in one of my many emails asking for opinions about fonts, blood color levels and more: "This looks great...but you gotta start trusting yourself! you don't need opinions on this small stuff -- you got it goin on, bro!"

Thanks Dan.

Super Ginormous Final Jeopardy

Oh Jesus...

I think it took me so long to post this one because I feared the boredom and dullness of this episode. I'd like to point out that again, the only ones of these junior high movies that I truncated were the two "Jeopardy" episodes. Why? They might very well be the dullest things ever put on film. I mean...wow...wow, we just aren't funny in these. There's no chases, no real jokes, no real...

well, there is real hair. That there is.

And yes...sooner than later there are going to be more fun things to watch. I promise.

Producers...and more Producers...

So I'm at the stage of interviewing Producers.

It's exciting. Really. No, really it is.

Okay, it's not super exciting. Meeting new people is, but trying to sort out the truth from the fast talk is interesting. After all, whoever this is that joins the team has to be trustworthy, a problem solver, creative, knowledgeable and frankly fun to be around. After all we're going to be hanging out A LOT in the next year.

A whole lot.

I just watched "CASINO" tonight, first time I'd ever seen it. And the whole movie is about trust, and that's what it's going to be with me, Neal, Laurel and whoever this Producer is. It'll be exactly the same (well, minus the baseball bats, exploding cars and gunshots).

Still it's scary, and exciting. Up to this point I've been the sole producer essentially on almost everything I've done. I've produced, directed, shot, edited, often written. It's not that I'm a control freak, I actually enjoy watching all the cool creativity and work people put into a project. I like to see everything, and understand it the best I can, but I know there are people who can do certain things much better than I can, and it's awesome to watch it happen.

Like the photo poster shoot. Sure, I could have taken the pictures, and they probably would have turned out pretty good, but Natalie Young blew it up! (not like the car in casino). Everytime I look at the pictures I go "wow". And now we have Lonny Chant helping with the titles and graphic design.

Anyway...

Producers.

Producer.

Looking for that person who wants to get involved, see's the value of this project, falls in love with David and Kaitlin like I have and wants to make this mother of a movie no matter what.

Do you know the Producer?