(click the picture above for
the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
12:48 PM, Friday,
April 25th, 2008:
So diggin'
The Journey...
To
those following this in real-time, I'm
really happy for you. You've somehow
stumbled upon this guy that is compelled
to do copius amounts of work... for
absolutely no reason. Reading it you
realize I just love the challenge of it
all, but it's really the truest from of
artistic communication out there. I'm not
selling anything, I expect nothing of
you - I just try and communicate. That's
the revolutionary thing about the
internet. Sure, I probably should
be trying to sell you something - but it
just isn't my first instinct. I want
to just create fun stuff and show it to
people. With The Journey I've found not
only a way to showcase it... but a
discipline to continue it at a pretty
ridiculous real-time production level.
It's the challenge of a lifetime and it
multiplies the fun of normal life
tenfold.
So while I was
knocking around an idea for a short film Nick took
this picture of Keith and after we all stopped
laughing it was clear that we had to somehow
incorporate The Lord into our film. What I love about
his look is that no matter how hard he tries, you can
always see him smiling on the inside. Even in this
picture where he only had to be serious for a split
second, if you look close enough he is laughing his
balls off. It's absolutely perfect for someone
spoofing Jesus because all he has to do is say the
lines - and you just laugh along with him.
So we were on the
road, Jesus driving - it pretty much wrote itself from
that point on...
Hitchhiker gets
picked up by a naked Jesus. And that was literally all
we had. Oh and I knew I would end up being left behind
naked as well. Very homo-erotic this movie. Never
really thought of that to tell you the truth. I just
thought it was really funny. Hmmmmm...
What's
great is we shot it in under 30 minutes
completely ad-libbed. Just problem solving.
We'd come up with a line, and then figure out
what the honest reaction would be next.
I actually asked out loud: "What would
Jesus do?" which I found quite funny. Keith
and I held the camera for all the in-car
shots and Nicky got the outdoor ones. Nicky
also came up with the "Camry" line which was
the magic moment that allowed me to...
believe.
What's great about
that line is that it works on two levels. Once you see
the end and realize it's a big scam - you then realize
- "Of course 'Jesus' knew it was a Camry...the guy
broke down and Jesus passed his broken down
Camry".
Even
cooler than shooting it that quick?
Editing it in the car in high-definition.
:-) Did the rough edit in the car in and
finished it up when we got to Columbus
last night. Sure the audio sucks and we
could redo every line, but Keith is
already onto Wheelersburg (and then North
Carolina) and it kind of defeats the
purpose of immediate art. This is
literally a brain fart of an idea that
because of a high powered laptop can look
pretty complete. If you start stressing
about car noise, you've missed the joy of
spontaneity.
But there's always
the joy of running naked on 70 East in
Illinois...
Hahahaha. This was
rather nerve-racking. Oh and it was just
"horizontal" from running in this frame, it runs
all the way down my thigh. Heh. And I know what you're
all saying "I thought you were FREE! Why did you have
to hold yourself during the reveal?" Well I bet Marty
isn't saying that, but it is a very good point - and
we actually thought of it the moment we got back in
the car. However we were already tempting fate by
drawing attention to a certain plant Keith had in his
vehicle and it was not time to risk anything
else. A trucker honked when I started running which
was pretty funny.
Oh and in
case you were wondering, Nicky just put his
head down as we shot the dialogue shots. A
couple of you were wondering where the hell
he was during the shoot - crammed in the
backseat. :-) Strangely, that was the most
comfortable spot the whole trip as you had
two sides to lay your head on - great for
snoozin'.
So there you have
it - road trip 2008. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we
did.
