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(click the picture above for the high definition video - but also click YouTube for me!)

 

12:01 AM, Monday, August 27th, 2007:

 

  

There are no copyright issues concerning this piece so please share it, steal it, wear it, feel it. :-)

 

Surprise! Betcha didn't see this comin'...

 

It was a tumultuous Thursday, August 23rd. We were already up against the wall because we had to shoot on a Friday again, meaning editing would have to be an all-nighter to pull off our deadline. Thursday was however a day of hoops, red tape, approvals, waiting, pacing and finally at the end of the day it was official:  I had that use of the Young and Restless sets for the following days shoot.

 

It was back and forth all day so the brainstorming I usually do kept getting jumbled. Trying to keep the storyline going changed drastically depending on where we shot. The big news of course was Spencer lost - but I purposely switched videos for Dewey and Spencer last week hoping Spencer's style video won again...and indeed it did. How the hell did Ditchwater beat me again? Seems America loathes heavy music.

 

 

The biggest hurdle was figuring out how to mention the bands. I hate that they have to take such a backseat but I have no information on them nor can I show much bias - so they get back burnered. I finally decided to just have Adam not be involved whatsoever and use the Newman Conference room. It was actually the key to the whole piece because it felt like a soap opera with the back and forth. And no, I don't know what that vase thing is. Just wanted something to zoom-in on to start the shot...

 

	...which was the best part about writing this: the soap opera standards. Overdramtization, looooong, slow unnecessary reaction shots - my favorite being picking up the old story line by more reaction shots. I love that.   And I gotta say: it works. I had 4 pages of script that managed to be nearly 7 1/2 minutes long. LOL. And you wanted to see the end. Soaps have that ability of having one story line last an entire summer when in a normal movie it would be a scene...and it just sucks you in. I mean Cam comes in and comforts Spence with the news in the envelope. There ya go. That's the whole plot. Yet all the little soap tricks keep it from feeling to draaaaaagy.

 

 

 

I love that Cam is always the one doing the technical stuff. Heh. Set-up was pretty simple, only 3 cameras this time. That little high-def boy... just looks incredible. Unfortunately it looks a bit more like film than the main XD cam and it's pretty noticeable going back and forth on the uncompressed version. Online it blends a bit better. Fun havin' Hunter back, he was in Utah covering the miners for the longest time and I'd missed havin' him around. By the way, ever wonder what I see?

 

 

 

Come to think of it... I absolutely NEVER see that view. How funny. You never see the camera when you're acting. Don't know it's there, are in a complete land of make-believe the entire time. I was noticing that when re-watching Cameron looking around at the house. As the editor I though "Oh, I was looking at the lights right then". Then I thought of my memory...and nope. No recollection. You're just in the moment - you don't see the stuff that isn't part of make-believe.

 

That's probably the key to all of this really. I mean not only do you have to make believe there aren't cameras or lights - you have to dialogue with air. I just buy it. I just whole heartedly believe it and that comes across on camera. It's all in the eyes really - Dewey is looking at Cameron. He just is. And my recollection of that moment is not the other sets in the distance... it's actually behind the camera heh - hoping the zoom is right. :-) So I guess I'm not always in the moment. LOL

 

 

 

Ha. I love Gary. Gary is hands down the funniest character to me. Spencer is a close second. Gary has so much grey to him. I LOVE THAT. He's not the normal "white guy trying to act hard"... because he's RIGHT on the line. He can actually pull it off - if he wasn't always trying so hard. When he just relaxes, he's fine. And of course in this episode there's none of that - but of course we're trying to be hyper-dramatic. Heh. I love being so comfortable with these characters that I can act poorly and you know it.

 

Oh and in case you were wondering: I really was crying... but it's because Tyson blew menthol directly into my eyes. LOL. Real easy to cry then. Heh. Apparently soap stars use it quite often. Never knew. It's great because it's just enough to put you over. I can cry if the scene is serious and I'm into it - but this is so comical to me, nothing but hurting myself was gonna do. :-)

 

Tyson scrunching to be Cameron so I could find the shot...

 

 

These two pictures tell two unyielding truths about movie making...
	There is no more exciting part of the shoot than looking at a menu and picking out what you want to eat...   And most of the time you will be sitting around doing nothing. :-)

 

 

 

And then there's the editing. To date, will probably be the most I've ever pulled off in a day. Ended up being close to 20 hours straight... just editing. Forget loading all the footage, forget organizing it, forget desigining it... it was a nightmare and I barely made my deadline by 30 minutes. To have to do something this ambitious in one day is just maddening. There are a ton of mistakes in the opening that stick out to me so bad, all sorts of little edits here and there I would love to go back on - but alas, you have to let it go early and think ahead to next week...   ...and of course to the secret of the grand finale.   :-)   Adam