Back again

Hello again.  I am sorry for all of you that have been waiting so patiently for the Rob Banks DVD to be delivered.  I have been having some issues and than found out that my sound guy is going to make the sound even better.  So it may be a little longer before anything happens.  Keep waiting it will be worth it.  Also I wanted to share my new video I made for Bluehost.  I graduated in December and got a job there two weeks before I was done with school.  Hope you enjoy.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3eWUY6tREs&list=PL2538A0E40578A5F3&index=0&feature=plcp

Internship in LA Week 1

I made it safe and sound in LA a week ago and to be perfectly honest not a lot has happened. The production I am working on is call Bulletproof Bride and they haven't started shooting yet. That's right this is the week of pre production.
Now I am not sure how it works for most Hollywood studios but I would guess it is much different then how it happens here. They only have three weeks of prep time for a 114 page script that they will shoot for 20 days. It is crazy fast. I mean they don't even have their actors yet. None of them and I am like holy crap how on earth is this going to work. But no one there is totally freaking out it seems like something that happens all the time.
So this week I have been sitting in the production office helping out where I can. Making 10 - 20 copies of 114 page script, sending faxes answering phones and even making coffee. Which I had to look up on the internet to figure out how to work the machine. thank goodness for the internet. It has been a really slow week but it has also given me a chance to talk to a lot of the different department heads about what they do and how they got to where they are. That has been really helpful. It is also interesting that they use the same people over and over again. the same DP shoots all the shows as well as costume designer AD team and so on. So it has been good to just be a fly on the wall and listen to what everyone has to say.
The big thing I have discovered on this trip is how boring it is to do things on your own. I don't mean this to sound all wo is me or crap like that. I am simply pointing out a simple fact for me, I don't like doing things alone. I went to a few movies over the weekend and it just didn't feel right. I didn't have anyone to lean over and share stupid comments with about the film. It is weird not being able to share experiences with other people. It doesn't feel right and really lonely.

Update

Robert Banks the film you all generously donated time and money into is nearing its completion. It has been a long haul and we are almost finally done. I just wanted to send out a big thank you for everyone that supported me in this endeavor. It has been a long road but I feel that the end product is worth the wait. The film is looking really good and has come together quite nicely. Thank you all again and I will give more updates as time goes on.

My Hero Project

This semester has been crazy. I haven't been able to update my blog in quite some time due to the large number of projects I have been helping. I shot a short film and a commercial. I am also going to shoot 3 more short films and another commercial. So it has been a really busy semester.
I wanted to just upload some pictures from the last film I helped out on. It was called my Hero and it was so fun. We worked with 30 kids making a fun kids film. I was the Director of Photography on it. Enjoy.

The Pre-Production/Production

First off a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have donated. It helped fund this film and future films to come. So in a sense you are all Executive Producers on this film.
About 2 years ago I had this idea for a film that I wanted to make about a guy who worked at blockbuster and finds out he is dying. Since he has done nothing with his life he deciedes since he has seen every heist film that he can rob a bank.
Than six months ago I wrote the script in a screen writing class I was in and the students loved it. So much so that I found my co-director Boston McConnehey and locations/2 Assistant director Spencer Scanlon to help out. And I set on getting the script ready to shoot. Doing re-write after re-write after re-write. Boston was an amazing help at this stage because he brought things to the script that I hadn't even thought of. It was awesome.
Than came crunch time. Two weeks before we shoot and I had so much to get ready. I tried to find someone to help produce but failed on finding anyone. Therefore, I produced it. Not a good idea and not one I ever want to repeat again. The locations were crazy. A Bank, a video store, and a Jail to name a few.
The bank was going to be the hardest to find because we needed to find one that had a working vault and would let us rob it. Ha! Impossible. Well not if you find one that has closed down recently which we were able to do. After about a month of call them I finally got through and they said yes. Amazing. After the bank the rest of the locations seemed like a cake walk.
Here is a picture of us in the Hollywood video store. It was closed down so the city let us use it for free. We just had to bring in all the dvd's to fill the shelves.

Four Days of Shooting

Hey Ya'll
I just finished shooting the biggest project to date. It was super intense and really fun. Stay tuned for the trailer. Thank you for everyone that has donated thus far it has been awesome. The film is one I wrote produced shot and directed.

First two weeks of a Feature

The experience of being a best boy electric. You may wonder what that is well allow me to explain with some pictures.
The Lighting

And the crew.

A best boy electric is an awesome title for the head assistaint to the main lighting expert on the film. Therefore I was the right hand man. The film was a feature called "For Robbing the Dead" you can check out more pictures and stuff on Facebook they have fan page there.
Any-who. It was my first feature film that I was on for the entire time. 30 days. The first two weeks we where at the LDS Motion picture studio which was crazy cool. We shot on some sound stages and the back lot.

On the Sound Stage

A typical lighting set up
A typical night shoot. All the grave stones are sousaphone and to light this we had a 60 foot lift with a 20,000 watt light on it shinning down it was pretty crazy awesome. Along with some other lights on the ground.
Those where the first two weeks on the shoot join me next time for the next two weeks.