The End of Summer and Film Festivals

Well, well, well. Summer, is gone.

Cara and I officially said goodbye to our adventure filled road-trip summer times with the beginning of September. This semester I am taking a course on Hitchcock and a seminar on screenwriting. My goal is to shift the focus from film production to writing an entire feature length screenplay- we'll see how it goes.

Also, just an update on my plan while in Graduate school: after quickly completing 18 of the 30 required units in one year, I plan to take 6 units this Fall semester (Hitchcock and Screenwriting) and 6 units in the Spring (Thesis Prep and Documentary), bringing that total to the required 30. I then plan to enroll for one last semester in the fall (of 2010) and complete my thesis film, hopefully a feature-length project, which will, Lord-willing, advance my career as a filmmaker more than any other project I've completed thus far. OK, now on with other news.

I am happy to say that "Rocket" will be playing in three film festivals coming up soon. It has been officially selected to play the Tacoma Film Festival, the SoCal Independent Film Festival, and The San Diego Film Festival. I have a website made up for it here: http://rocketfilmsite.com

Personally, Cara and I have been doing very well, exercising a lot more lately by going on jogs. We're settling into our new place very nicely and, it's almost safe to say that we seem to have found a very comfortable home here. The commute to SDSU isn't as bad as it could've been, it's a quick ten minute drive to campus.

She'll be riding the bus with me tomorrow, just to get her "campus fix," I like to call it. Admittedly, it can be sort of inspiring being around all the youthful enthusiasm, libraries, books, and, the starbucks, even though it feels like the most typical vision of "California" you've ever seen in your life.

Well, SJSU lost to USC 56-3 and SDSU lost to UCLA 33-14. Hey, I never said I went to these schools for their football prowess. If the Seahawks lose I'll be 0-3 and things will only be able to go up from there.

Thanks for reading,

Phil

Rocket

So it's been a very long time since I've posted anything on here. I apologize. Cara and I have been very busy with work, school, and the hub-bub of making a short film.

This time around we shot on actual film and it really made a difference I think. Super 16mm has come a long way in the last few years with a process called digital intermediate. You get the resolution of HD, but the look of film. Cost wise it's not too friendly, our budget for Grandma Shoes was around $200. This was ten times that, around $2,000. But don't worry, we got by with a little help from our friends. At SDSU they have for set aside for advanced students who shoot film and I'm expecting one in my name to arrive soon. And, in addition to being my Director of Photography (pictured below) Peter Lindsey and his wife Autumn Lindsey (hair and make up) came on as Associate producers. Noel and Beth also pitched in and pretty much payed for all the food on set, which earned them a "special thanks" in the credits. All in all it was well worth the effort.

This film is called Rocket, it's about a woman who finds the courage to leave a toxic, verbally abusive relationship at the risk of losing her nine year old son in the process. Shooting it was a very emotional process for me and one I will never forget. Kali Kirk (pictured) was our lead actress and offered us a very honest and heartfelt performance. She will be attending a one year intensive at NYU conservatory in the coming months. (I'm glad we got her while she was still in town!)



Our other lead actor was Joe Cipriani (at the head of the table), a member of the Screen Actors Guild and a former pro hockey player. Joe added so much realism and intensity to the role- he was very serious about understanding his character. He drove down from LA to play the part and really ended up being a great casting choice for us. Noah Johnson, (left) was a great find as well. He had been in plays on stage at The Old Globe in San Diego and other venues but didn't have any film experience. He was just outstanding.

The best directing experience I've ever had. It was a privilage to be working alongside people who could do so much better than I could on my own. Peter Lindsey (left) was my DP and he did a great job. He was able to try things and be expressive and creative. Cara also did the best work on as a production designer to date. The sets were very authentic, even the actors said that the house felt eerily like the characters actually lived there. She pushed for a 90s feel, and I wasn't buying it at first, but it came across very well.

That's all for now, I've got a lot to get done before the semester's over. I hope to report on some film festival showings in the near future, as Rocket is really coming together. It's dramatic and hopefully compelling. It's about hope and courage in the face of adversity. Hopefully people will be touched by it.

-Phil

Long Time

Been a long time since I blogged (or Rocked and Rolled). So it's now February and I haven't written anything on here. Let's see, I went back to Washington to see the three families (not quite five but we're getting there). Then Cara and I went back home for awhile only to go back up to the bay area in mid-January to shoot a movie with our buddy Peter Lindsey. That was fun.  

Now that that's over and the semester has started at SDSU I've slowly and steadily been chipping away at a lot of things, my debt, my film projects and a $10,000 Fred Rogers scholarship, which would be huge (fingers crossed). My classes are Directing, Screenwriting and Film Production. That's a hum-dinger of a semester if I don't say so myself. That directing class is essentially why I'm still in school. 

As of this writing I am finally cleaning up Grandma Shoes and getting it ready to submit to festivals. It's been a long time coming for me and I'd like to get the film out there and see what people think of it. I'm proud of it for a few reasons, I like the message, the humor and that it only cost me about $200 to make. It's pretty cool, this process. Coming back to it after it has chilled for awhile. You re-look at the footage and you find stuff you didn't see the first time. I just feel like a big manipulator. It's all lies really. The audio from one take is used over another clip while you listen to fake birds and car sounds to smooth over the cuts because the clips were all shot out of sequence and at different times of the day. It might've taken so long because I hate editing, maybe just my own stuff, but it's sort of the equivalent to editing your own novel, it just doesn't work. You've sat and worked with the script, found your actors, got your locations, shot the movie, heck, you did your best. Now the coolest feeling would be to hand all that hard work over to someone else, but no, for low-budget dudes, it's you and you alone man. Staying up 'til all hours hacking away at the footage and putting it together so that it hopefully makes some sense to people.  

Anyway, I just wrote a 2 page letter to my Dad that I thought might help serve the purposes of this blog, which is just to inform folks what's going on in the lives of Cara and I. 

Here it is: 

A fellow grad student here just won the short film prize at Sundance, which kind of re-enforces to me that I'm in the right place. It was a good film, about a bunch of at-risk kids at a rehabilitation center. Also I got some good news that my buddy's film is in the running for SJSU's feature film project this summer. It's Super Hero Party Clown the feature. If he gets it he wants me to be his producer, which is a big responsibility. I would be in charge of the budget, which is currently something like $20,000. Which sounds like a lot but for a 90 minute feature film that's trying to compete with multi-million dollar productions, it's going to be tight. It feeds the crew for 30 days, pays for props and wardrobe, transportation and camera rental. 

San Diego is a beautiful city with lots to do. So far Cara and I have been to the hotel Del Coronado which is where Billy Wilder filmed Some Like it Hot. Last night we went bowling and I started off with two strikes and ended up bowling a 148, which is my top score of all time I'm pretty sure. Lately we've been going to SDSU basketball games. They're really good, and free for me. So far SDSU is 16-5 and the #1 team in the Mountain West Conference. 

Work is good. I've been up at the bar three shifts a week now which means more money. We decided to have Cara quit her job at Gordon Beirsch because it just wasn't working out the way we had hoped for her there. I like Red Robin for what it is and they've treated us really well through the years...401k, scholarship, and a request off book that allows you the freedom to shoot a movie when you need to. yes!

Well, that's all for now, love ya!

Phil