- 3:15 PM, Thursday,
July 5th, 2001:
-
-
-
- In fact here's the
tentative shooting schedule for all 4:
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- Friday, July
6th - Top Left - "Gary"
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- Monday, July
9th - Bottom Left - "Dewd"
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- Friday, July
20th - Top Right - "Cameron"
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- Monday, July
23rd - Bottom Right - "Spencer"
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- Ahh yes, and those
are the names too...man there's so much you don't
know! Those colors will also be each TV's "theme". You
will see that color backdrop behind them most of the
time, and then when they open up the curtain, their
rooms will be in that theme. Pretty freakin' in depth.
We've converting my apartment into the living space of
the tvs. I last told you we were going to shoot this
at an actual workspace but Charlotte was worried about
the actual "sound" in any soundstage with such high
ceilings and stuff since we're doing everything live.
I've always wanted to do it in my apartment so I could
record things DIRECTLY into my computer, and then
of course we wouldn't have to worry about "time" and
places closing and such. Then again, having a location
for the shoot would make me feel all special and shit.
LOL. But we agreed on the apartment.
-
- Unfortunately to
backdrop 4tvs in 4 different colors would've cost
close to $1000. So screw that. We finally ended up
shooting against one blank wall, and buying drywall
for the sides. 2 pieces of 6x8 drywall and 4 buckets
of paint would be all we need. Hell yeeah. A severely
nice saving of money.
-
- Of course even
more important than the sets (which you only see for a
small part of the show), is what everyone's wearing.
So off to Melrose Charlotte and I went to shop. What a
strange couple of days this was. Maybe you don't know
this about me, but the only time I've ever bought
clothes for me...is when I lost the weight in April
and couldn't fit in my shit anymore. I hate buying
clothes. It's a waste of money to me. First off,
I don't have the money to buy the clothes I'd
like...and just simple shit is still outrageously
expensive. Jeans and a T-shirt my whole life. Oh and
the hat. That $25 hat lasted me for 5 years thank you
very much. But that wasn't what was
strange...Charlotte's footin' the bill. Now that's
fuckin' strange. Now do you understand the "Jesus
Christ, Superstar?" entry? I mean, I'm trying on pimp
suits that are more money than I've ever seen at one
time...shit I wouldn't even look at let alone
buy. And here's the kicker: All the salespeople are
trying to "sell" me on it. I'm TRYING to look
stupid funny. And they're trying to tell me
I look good. So funny. Live Adam is Mr. Arrogance
as I've said before, and so I'm trying on leather
plants, gaudy glasses...stupid jewelry - laughing at
how funny I look. And the people behind the
counters are all: "You look SOOOO good in those.
You gotta buy it." LOL. Anyway, after 2 days of
shopping, and Charlotte finding all sortsa shit on her
own, we were at least ready for the first 2
tvs.
-
- I of course then
had the unenviable task of creating the audio script.
The absolute lifeblood of the whole miracle of 4tvs.
You know I forget that about 4tvs every once and
awhile, it is rather miraculous that it all works
live. But the reason that is true, is the hours and
hours of planning before the shoot. I do the entire
script audibly. Every line, every song, and every
space for laughter. Therein lies the rub of course.
You can't REALLY know where the audience is gonna
laugh. In theater you guess, then see what happens
live and work with it, then change accordingly...don't
really have that luxury here. And in a live-show,
that's rather important. Audience reaction, and
feeding off that is what makes a live-show BREATHE.
Without it, it might as well be a movie...which you
DON'T want for this. So what you have to do is
guess long. Leave spaces where a critical eye will be
impressed at the timing of it all. There will
obviously be mistakes. No way around it. The audience
will inevitably NOT laugh where you want them to
(though this scenerio can be covered by "Live Adam"),
and WILL laugh when you never expected it. The
latter is the problem. A TV will most definitely talk
over audience laughter...and damnit, there's just not
a damn thing that can be done about it. Make an
educated guess...and run with it.
-
- The audio script
actually only took a couple of days. I went through it
this week, actually physically trying to pull it off,
running back and forth, and it works really well. This
is where "The Trinitrons" has the ability to really
shine. The TVs at one point (and all randomly) open
their curtains and go back into their rooms to change.
It's all choreographed in one nice 4-5 minute stretch
with all the tvs doing their own thing, yet coming
back at the right time and giving it a really
"live" feel. Unlike a post-production heavy "The
Klumps", this is all done with no edits...and
well...very much live. It's what people never really
caught (a few did) about how difficult the old music
based show was. There were NEVER edits from the open
to the close...usually close to 15 minutes long. On
top of that timing...we were singing! 5 part harmony
ain't the easiest thing in the world, especially when
you have no one to practice with - LOL. So you screw
up something in the 14th minute of that set...heh -
you're starting OVER. The pisser: most people thought
I was lip-syncing. (sigh) - fuck most people thought
it was karaoke...but I digress.
-
- So we special
ordered the drywall, which delayed the first tvs. This
is where the nut/ovum kicker comes in. We were to have
the first 2 televisions done Friday the 15th, and
Monday the 18th respectively. The Tuesday before was
the whole "psycho DVD lender" event, that actually
kept Charlotte and I from doing a camera test we
needed to do. So we pushed the first date to Monday,
and the second to Wednesday...no biggie. Then that
Saturday we go to get drywall and no place has 6x8.
They have to special order it!!! DOH. So we have to
push it to FRIDAY. No problem, just a week behind
schedule. Well on Wednesday we call to get it, and the
guy says: "You can't special order 6x8
drywall...we have to have a shipment coming in."
-
- And wouldn't you
know it...the next day Charlotte passes out in the
shower and smacks her head. What really sucks, is we
end up getting the 4x8 drywall anyway...which means,
had this FUCKIN' MORON told us the right info on
Saturday...we'd have shot the 1st TV on that Monday,
and the 2nd on Wednesday. Charlotte could've banged
her head as fate would have it, and it wouldn't have
mattered - WE NEED 2 weeks in between the
2nd and 3rd TV anyway to grow a beard back.
-
- BUT NOOOOOOOOO.
This Home Depot retard pulls this shit out of his ass,
and essentially delays the entire project nearly 3
weeks. What a mess. What a freakin' mess. But it's ON
now, so I'll shut up.
-
- As far as set
dressings per character we ran into another problem.
Doing so much...that no one will ever see. Charlotte
had all these great ideas for each TV, but I kept
having to tell her that NO ONE will see a
thing. This is one static shot. The camera NEVER moves
in any closer. Our best bet is to pick a color
scheme...maybe have one big obvious thing, but for the
most part...color is our only chance at making there
be a difference. We ended up getting a few trinkets
per TV, and the colors you saw above will make up the
"feel" of each television. I'm doing all the painting
and constructing of the set...since it's in my
apartment we can save a shitload of time 'cause
I can just stare at it and think of shit. Even
with all that said and done...I guarantee a good 6
hours will be set-up time tomorrow. Just too many
little things to worry about.
-
- And of course...my
hair. LOL. My hair. I'm in cornrows right now. The
first TV, "Gary", is a complete wannabe gangsta. Truth
be told he actually turns out to be a bit of a
bad-ass...not a total clown, but god I look funny. I
can't wait to introduce you to him in the next entry.
Not sure if I'll stay with the 2 entries for all 4
characters plan I had a few weeks back, or give each
guy their own entry. We'll see what happens next
week.
-
- So basically that
covers the pre-production phase. From the clothes, to
the hair, to the sets, to the audio script, to the
indefinite waiting...it all ends now. 5 months ago I
started writing this goddamn show, and tomorrow I do
the first performance. The hardest one actually...I
have to rap for cryin' out loud. The kicker: It's not
a funny rap. I have to actually pull off a really
pissed "I'm gonna BEAT YOU DOWN" type of rap
- to the tune of "The Way I am" by Eminem.
-
- God help us
all.
-
- Expect The
Trinitron Chronicles: Part Three in one
week.
-
- Adam
-
- original
video file
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