UK magazine features SONNYBOO!

 

DIGITAL VIDEO TECHNIQUES features Sonnyboo.com in it's Dec 2005 issue and on the cover CD!

Jacking Online Editorial Jubilee

Wednesday November 27th, 2005
Jacking Online Editorial Jubilee



the INDIECLUB CLEVELAND meeting went off last week very well. We screened the first of the Horrors of War Web Docs, a series of over 20 online videos we’ll be doing to show the MAKING OF the movie as well as some handy filmmaking tips we learned on the way. Indie Clubbers Really dug them. We got a much bigger response than we’d anticipated. I was taken aback by the laughter and enjoyment we got.

Tempered Zealot Productions showed the Brandy written short THE DECISION to good response too. I am proud of Brandy for following through and making this movie and with a good group of people.



The new Horrors of War Web Docs have started. The goal is to have two sets of these. Half that are much like the kind of thing you’d see on any DVD only a bit more in depth, one nugget at a time. Amusing anecdotes, behind the scenes video footage, and interviews with cast and crew. The second half will be very short HOW TO’s, DEFINITIONS, and HANDY TIPS for filmmakers, using Horrors of War only as samples, and a lot less promotional.

I wanted to make sure that Phil, Sean, John, Jon, and everyone get some equal face time so that Horrors of War doesn’t have the “Peter John Ross Show” vibe so that people who hold a grudge against me may think twice before holding it against the movie that is so much bigger than me.



We started the ONLINE EDIT. This is the phase at the very end of making the film. It’s where we re-do our entire edit but from the highest resolution master tapes, in our case, uncompressed Digital Beta tapes. LYON VIDEO hosts our merry band and it’s been a learning experience and full of new info I never had.

We’re cutting on the high end AVID NITRIS system, but I’ve still had to re-render FX shots, and other non-standard shots from the film. We started color correcting scenes, but we’re still missing several highend FX shots. I still need to do several MUZZLE FX shots of the gunfire.


Yesterday my main editing computer fried. Brandy & I were watching a video and the system locked up. Upon reboot, Windows would not let me in. I got so far into it that I had even tried to re-install Windows XP, but alas, I get a consistent Blue Screen O’ Death. I’m screwed. I’m on the hunt for a new PC, at least one on loan.



I watched BE COOL, the GET SHORTY sequel. It sucked. A lot. There were a ton of BRADY BUNCH moments and it denigrated the original film. I hope that Elmore Leonard never sees that hunk of garbage. We also saw the new Harry Potter in IMAX. The movie was just okay, but the SUPERMAN RETURNS trailer in IMAX rocked. Superman is being shot in HD video and not on film, a first for Bryan Singer and demonstrative of the future of cinema.

CHECK OUT the SUPERMAN RETURNS Web Docs HERE



Decide for yourself whether or not rumors are true. Never take someone’s word for it. Sometimes reality is somewhere in the middle of interpretations, in other cases, it’s better you not know for certain & live in denial. Some people here have made whole imaginary castles that they live out full film careers in their denial.



Many things are happening…



Internet Video Magazine has mentioned our new web docs and thanks to Mark for the props.



Rewind Video.com has also put up a nice bit of words on them too.









Times have changed here in Rossdonia. I have made an ally of Mr. Spaz Anderson. He spends most nights with me as a toe warmer, so the allegiances seem to be divided more by gender at this time. It’s boys versus girls in a cold war of attention, petting, spooning, and hairballs.

I myself have had to sleep with a female spy to get information on where the cats had hidden my shoelaces. It was difficult, but I had sex with a woman in the name of the Republic of Rossdonia. It had to be done. In a time of need, each of us has a choice and that was mine. I did it for us all.



That’s it fer now. I may have to suss out a bit more information and that will require some concentration.

-Ross
-2005 - THE YEAR OF ROSS 2: FROM RUSSIA WITH LUMPY  

Sandblasting Conquistadors

Wednesday November 9th, 2005
Sandblasting Conquistadors

October ended out with a blast. There was Ken Wilson’s Halloween party where we premiered the AFM trailer (that we left the party, worked on it then went back to screen it).

Then came three 20 hour work days in a row preparing the AFM screener of the whole movie. John & I mixed the temp sound mix and the music, some final, some temp, and put together a movie & tape of Horrors of War and I then went on to make MPEG2’s of it, adding final “for screening purpose only” tags & the DVD menus. Then there was the panic to make 10 DVD’s to go with Phil on a plane Tuesday morning. I slept a lot on the couch.

NOVEMBER 2nd, 2005
Going to California was cool. The flights en route weren’t bad. Brandy dropped me off at the airport at 4:30AM and I slept a lot on the flights. I got in, Phil picked me up and we ate in Venice where our hotel was, but we pretty much went straight to the AFM. It was at the LOEWS hotel right on the beach next to Santa Monica pier.

Tony got us badges so we could get into screenings & go pretty much wherever. Tony’s HOLLYWOOD WIZARD room was on the 7th floor next door to Mel Gibson’s ICON PRODUCTIONS room. The way AFM works is this: there are a ton of Sales Agents & Producer’s Reps that have several movies that they represent. They get hotel rooms and set them up as offices/screening rooms with TV/DVD players and desks. The beds are removed and some of the bigger companies even put up cubicles or full size facades with their company logos (The Wienstein Companies was the most impressive).

We picked up John Whitney at the airport that night. The AFM was a little slow, but it was a Wednesday.

NOVEMBER 3rd, 2005
The market picked up some, and we stared the day off with a screening of DEATH TRANCE, a 35mm feature from an Asian market. There were about 6 other people at this 11:AM screening and the movie was just not my bag. I love martial arts movies, but this had some bizarre period thing, but also guns and motorcycles inexplicably thrown in apparently at random. We left. It was well shot, but not our type of film.

We stopped in and talked to people with the bigger companies, like the Weinstein Company (still owns DIMENSION FILMS), Lakeshore Entertainment, Newline Cinema, Focus Features, and more.

Thursday night, we met with Scott Spears at the Hollywood & Vine bar. We went down to the Egyptian Theatre where the “Attack of the 50 Foot Reels”, a super 8 film fest, happened to be playing. Ron Perlman who played HELLBOY happened to walk by, looking pretty unhappy. We saw the R2D2 footprints in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre and wandered around Hollywood for the night.

NOVEMBER 4th, 2005
We started the day with a meeting with COBBLESTONE STUDIOS, who are doing our sound mix. They had a cool place and we met in person with Matt who’s doing our sound FX and foley work. We were all on the same page & have similar ideas on how to better the sound mix. They’re doing kick ass work & I’m very happy with the AFM mix, given the limited amount of time we all had.

Friday saw a major increase in attendance at the AFM. I spoke to a few UK buyers and pumped our movie. Fred Williamson was there & was very friendly. He told Phil & John he would love to come to Ohio because people are “real”.

We got to see the exclusive screening of Terry Gilliam’s new movie TIDELAND, and it was atrocious. I love Gilliam movies but this was a bit much. It was a perverse view through the eyes of a 10 year old girl who eventually makes out with a mentally handicapped 30 year old guy. I squirmed a lot. I find it unlikely this movie will ever get seen much in the U.S.

I ran into Bala, the director of GREEN CARD FEVER at a food court outside the AMC theatre of the screening. He was in good spirits & in pre production on his next project.

NOVEMEBER 5th, 2005
Saturday was a big, huge day for attendance at the American Film Market. I had very little sleep because of the snoring symphony of John & Phil. Our hotel was on the beach in Venice, only a few miles from the AFM. Everyday was very nice out and great to walk on the beach sans shoes & socks. I called Brandy from the beach on my cell at sunset. I made it point to watch the sunset into the ocean everyday I was there.

As I lounged next to the pool, I head an all to familiar voice. It was
Damian Chapa of the CALLING (now called MAN OF FAITH) fame here in Columbus was at the AFM. He did not have a room or a booth but tried to peddle his flicks poolside instead.

Meanwhile John & Phil met John Gulager, director of FEAST and winner of this year’s PROJECT GREENLIGHT 3. One of my most favorite things was seeing the trailer for Feast and Dimension films proudly promotes “the first Project Greenlight movie not to suck!”.

I met with several Indie Clubbers and their movies represented, which was encouraging. My overall impression of AFM was that the very high end products & the very low end movies were the most sold this year. I think the market for $5,000 niche budget DV features were very high. They can be bought for a few hundred dollars up to $5,000. You won’t get rich or even quit your day job with one of these, but it can be profitable. I think the whole “microcinema” movement has validity after witnessing so many DV features sell for pennies to foreign markets because it had kung fu, tits, or some other minor hook, but still turn a profit. By contrast, Rambo IV was there to pre-sell it’s foreign markets to raise budget.

The middle ground is falling away. The 16mm features and the Jeff Fahey/Andrew Stevens/Christopher Lambert types who exist in the straight to video world are soon to be out of work, but that’s my opinion.

Sunday was a 13 hour day of airports, flight delays & being crammed in like sardines. Eventually I made it home & got to see my honey-baby. Sleeping in my own bed made for one night of hard sleep.

Now to finish the very last stages of post production…

=================================
In other news of the Boo…

Movies ONline has put up an Interview with your faithful narrator. My favorite quote?"Writer/director/producer Peter John Ross recently took time out of his busy schedule to chat about life, favorite movies, and the upcoming film Horrors of War... and I gotta say he's one cool and hardworking guy." Thanks Daniel.

Richard Mason, a well respected acting teacher in Columbus added to his ACTING IN COLUMBUS  site a list of the top 10 independent filmmakers for his actors to work with. I topped the list. I feel honored by this.

The Russians must dig the boo as HORRORS OF WAR is listed along with all A-list movies on this site.

=======RANT========

Above is the movie poster we used at AFM. Now I’m not 100
appy with this, but we ran headlong into a deadline and had to use it.

This is another poster done by the same guys that I liked less, but after attending AFM felt was a much better concept for a “sales” poster. As Darlene Crysper told me – if you can see this image n  an 8.5”x11” and be able to tell what kind of story it is, the genre, and something about the quality, then that’s what will work best to sell your movie to a buyer at a film market.

I wish I had listened to Phil Garrett and voted for this poster.

CLICK HERE for the spoilerific AFM trailer!

all posters here designed by SPACE JUNK MEDIA (www.spacejunkmedia.com)

=====END RANT======

Well, we’re at the tail end of HORRORS OF WAR. The final score music & sound mix are going on now. We have some FX work still in the mix, but it’s minor stuff like making eyes black within black and some other smudging (like removing Alec from a shot – literally).

Soon we’ll announce a Columbus screening for cast & crew. Next up – the ONLINE EDIT!

-Ross
-2005 - THE YEAR OF ROSS 2: The Erotic Witch Project