Photos from Halfway Thesis Shoot

Hi everyone!

I'll write more regarding the Halfway shoot later, but here are a few photos from my iPhone (I know, not too great, but still better than nothing) more photos from our first weekend are on their way!

On location at Joshua Tree National Park, Scott (playing Patrick) and Julia (playing Phoebe).

1st and 2nd AC Doug and MacKenzie on the job!

Scott and Julia ready for a take

Art imitating life.

Life imitating art imitating life (Glen and I standing in).

We needed extra hipster wedding photos for a prop album in the script, so Glen and I made our cameo (with a little persuasion on my part).

Brianna and Joel as Lana and Dean, the ultimate hipster bride and groom.

On location at Santiago Oaks Regional Park.

Julia and Lisa (as Phoebe's mom, Ellen) on location at my apartment, they definitely could be related.

New Zealand Short Documentary

In January I was lucky to get the opportunity to go on a documentary film travel course to the South Island of New Zealand. Our instructors were Professor Jeff Swimmer and wildlife cinematographer Bob Poole; they both were great mentors and gave a lot of valuable advice, plus they were fun to hang out with. The course was 12 days long and I stayed an extra several travelling around the North Island with my parents, who met me over there. The first four days were spent hiking and backpacking, which is what is covered in my short documentary I made. New Zealand is a beautiful and extremely interesting area ecologically and geographically, and I really enjoyed my whole experience there.

Here is a link to my short. I would suggest turning it on HD, I apologize that the quality isn't the best, I've been wrestling with the editing software, but haven't found the best compression format yet. (The title is an obscure reference to an Of Montreal I doubt anyone will get...)

A Backpacking Tour Diary: Finding my footing in New Zealand

The Peel Forest Eco-lodge, where we stayed 2 nights.

Hiking to the top of Little Peel. Not so little.

The Rex Simpson Hut, where we backpacked to and stayed 2 nights.

At the summit (well, the false summit) of one of our day hikes.

Inside the hut, we had some very competitive Boggle games going (using a German set in the hut).

Mt. Cook in the back!

On the way to Milford Sound (really a fjord).

I was highly entertained (because it was pretty brutal) and also mortified at how invasive species were dealt with in New Zealand.

At a seriously insane thermal area.

Cathedral Cove

My parents and I at the thermal area (I know, I look extremely dorky).

The Apartment - Short Film

I've finally put up my Intermediate Production 3-2-1 project on the web, this is a film I wrote and directed last year. I have to say, it's sort of a quiet little film, well, I guess so is Pit Stopping in some ways. If you haven't noticed, I tend to take events and experiences from my life and turn them into written stories which I then use for my film projects, I guess it's partly the way I make sense of things that happen to me. I have to start working on writing my senior thesis this semester and though I have an idea slowly working itself out in my head, I don't think it would be such a good idea to put it out there yet. I hope you enjoy "The Apartment" if you get a chance to watch. Maybe turn off the HD, it seems to play better and just as clear without it.

The Apartment:

http://vimeo.com/36590375

3 Day Shoot for "Pit Stopping" AP

Here is a very delayed post I wrote right after the Pit Stopping shoot in October:

After a couple months of planning and about six months after the concept and first draft of the script came together I finally got to shoot my Advanced Production project, "Pit Stopping." Though there is still a considerable amount of post work to be done including editing, sound designing, and most likely a couple of other things I'm forgetting about because I'm too tired at the moment, we have finished the three day shooting cycle! It was exciting and nerve-wracking working with Super 16 because this was my first and most likely one of my very few chances to work with film instead of digital, and we had five rolls of 400ft film, which averages to about fifty-five minutes of film total. We were down to the last few feet of film by the end of day three, talk about cutting it close.

I had a great team working with me, I am very fortunate that everyone has been so dedicated and focused on the project. When people started asking at the beginning of the semester if they could work on set for my AP I realized that I've been a little narrow-minded in believing that I hadn't met all that many people while I've been at Chapman and I was definitely happy to work with a lot of friends for this shoot. The crew turned out to be a sizeable one, we had about twenty people on set. I think it's interesting to note that five us working on the film transferred to Chapman just last year: me, the producer, the 1st assistant director, the 1st assistant camera, and the gaffer. We've definitely come a long way from transferring in last fall.

Some of the pictures taken at the shoot.