Just got back from the Kili documentary and safari in Tanzania. Here’s a pic I like:
auntie lioness and nephew
July 30, 2008
Watch the teaser below, or watch it in high quality if you have fast internet.
July 27, 2008
On Saturday, I woke up at 2:30 AM to shoot Bonner’s ascent up Mount Whitney. We started at dark by lighting the way with head lamps and walked 22 miles — 14 hours — up to the 14,500 foot peak and down. Since I hated the shaky-cam footage of our last shoot, I made Mitch and myself carry a 20 pound tripod all the way up:
Steady camera or no camera at all.
Aside from a less amateur video look, I also got props (and disbelief) from people passing me on the way down: “are you really carrying that to the top?!” The tripod was our great advertising tool: we handed out a dozen business cards about Bonner’s Kilimanjaro quest to the curious.
Getting to the top felt so good. I took off my new boots and lay down on a flat rock to dry my feet under the sun.
Team Get to the Top
Getting back down was did not feel so good. My feet ached. The last four miles felt like walking against a moving sidewalk. Endless. After hiking down the mountain for hours with hours still to go, Bonner said, “I don’t know how to say this nicely, so … can someone get us the fuck off this mountain?!” Apparently not.
July 19, 2008
Yay! I officially have a new film project. I’m going to fly to Tanzania, Africa to direct a documentary about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Details at KiliDoc. Did you know? Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world and the baddest peak in Africa. It’s monster. As you climb, you pass from tropical to arctic climate. Insane. I got Mitch McIntire and Andrew Davis on board and we’re planning to shoot Super 16mm on the Bolex.
Today Andrew, Mitch, and I climbed Mt Baldy, the tallest peak in Southern California to get some altitude under our belts. Andrew, who just quit smoking, climbed faster than I could: time to get in better shape. He did cheat, however, by wearing hiking boots. So bourgeois.
Next week, Mt. Whitney: 14,500 feet!
Mt Baldy: The air was fresh(er), but still dark with smog and soot.
November 29, 2007
I’m excited to report that:
- cinematographer Andrew M. Davis won the 2007 ASC Lazlo Kovacs Heritage Award for his work on The Line.
He called me while I was working at a temp job and it was the best day I’ve ever spent in an office.
October 29, 2007
Update!
The Line has gone through a 2k digital intermediate and is now on a 35mm print with Dolby SR surround sound:
Coming soon to a theater near you!
June 13, 2007
Today I was asked to teach a student “3 point lighting” using these tiny, 200-watt still photography lamps. I opened the kit and scoffed at the crumpled scrap of black wrap and torn pair of Home Depot gardening gloves. Halfway through the lesson, I grabbed these odd-looking lamps by the side and scorched the shit out of my finger. So on the first day I was supposed to teach filmmaking I re-taught myself the first rule of film lighting — don’t fuck up your hands with hot lamps! No matter how many times I get burned, I keep forgetting that one.
I remember reading somewhere that the blister helps with healing, so I’m afraid to pop it.
But it’s so hard to resist.
Mariah and I found an apartment yesterday in Angelino Heights, Echo Park. We’re super psyched. The guy was in such a hurry to rent the place that he didn’t even look at our applications. Mariah called him about turning them in and he was like “Oh you’re interested? Let’s meet in an hour and sign the lease.” He showed up wearing Birkenstocks with dried paint on his feet. He handed us the lease to sign and said, “Uh, so you guys have good credit, right?” We dutifully nodded and said “yes.” Who knew that these things could work on the honor system?
Because the place is two-thirds the size of our Long Beach place, we have to sell our awesome dining table, and I have to toss the boxes of crap I accumulate. Why is it so hard to throw away a box of stuff I will never open?
May 29, 2007
Today I woke up feeling lucky that I got to shoot film for my thesis. It’s only a matter of time before digital starts to replace film. That makes me sad because I love film. Here’s me feeling lucky that none of my negative got lost in the crazy production shuffle:
The Deluxe boxes even have the name of my “production company,” Sleeper Productions. Soon it will not need quotation marks.
May 7, 2007
Last weekend I shot pickups with Andrew and Julia (1st AC). I’m starting to get sad and nostalgic about graduating from film school. Now I’m going to have to find a j-o-b. Que Lastima.
We went shooting guerrilla style at the Nogales border checkpoint with this huge 35mm camera — not the easiest feat. But no one stopped us or even seemed to notice us.
Here’s our poor man’s process on Chapman’s sound stage:
Tonight I go to telecine to see how it turned out! And our first “test” screening is this Friday. Snap city! (as my mom says)
April 14, 2007
So Jacob built an awesome website for The Line:
http://theline.sleeperproductions.com/
If there’s anyone out there reading this, please leave a comment about what you think — how we could make it even better.
Thanks!
