A Ghastly Notion of Persistence

So Brant Jones edited my newest movie. Then we stitched together fragments of my edit into his cut and we made a “best of” edit. The cinematography is astounding, both due to the RED ONE camera, and mostly due to its operator/cinematographer, Greg Sabo. I am very happy with the results. There is still much to do. Color correction, sound mix, scoring, and various other technical details, but I can now watch a movie and foresee what it shall be.



Bryan Michael Block came up to the studio last night and looked at the cut with me and we made some minor tweaks here and there. I also realized I had not done a test on how to go from my 1280x720P proxy edit back to the 4K RED files. So I tested out the procedure of making an EDL from Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and then editing that file in NOTEPAD and changing the file names from *.AVI to *.R3D, then re-opening the EDL in Premiere. So far that is the single procedure and technical aspect that has worked without any kind of hitch.



I’ll screen this cut as is to a select few people to gather some opinions. It’s too fresh and I’m too close to it to arrogantly decide this is all the editing that needs to be. I want feedback from key personnel, as well as other people whose opinion I value.

Started some of the minor visual FX work on this today. More RED issues reveal themselves. Exporting to RED is not as easy. There are no settings for it. So exporting files with edits to an FX artist ain’t gonna be easy. So we’ll do it old school and send the whole clip and tell them the time code. Or export as an uncompressed file. I have options, but each one has potential downsides with color, etc.

Once finished, the next step is to use this to raise the rest of the budget to shoot an entire feature. I have a few ideas on what to do, some things I’ve never tried before. I view this as my last real attempt to make something out of what I’ve been doing for 10 years now. After this, might consign myself to a life of day job editing and working for other people in other capacities, but I don’t know if I could ever overcome the urge to make movies of my own. I have something to say and I like communicating it to people via moving pictures and sound.



In other news, I won some awards at the BEST OF UNDERNEATH CINCINNATI FILM FESTIVAL screening last weekend. I won BEST CONCEPT for Relationship Card, plus I got an HONORABLE MENTION for BEST SOUND (take that Tim Dutton with your professionalism and surround sound!). Relationship Card also got a half an award for BEST ACTOR with Amanda Howell, sharing with John Whitney’s Measured Sacrifice performance with her. We joked because the screen said John’s movie, but the award had a picture from my movie. The official statements credit it to both movies now. It’s like 2.5 awards for Relationship Card.



Speaking of Relationship Card, that and How to Deal With Telemarketers were official selections to the TROMADANCE FILM FESTIVAL, run from Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Studios. I wish someone had let me know. I got the rare experience of finding out my movies were playing from someone unrelated to the festival who was going. Weird. I could have gone too.



Now Sonnyboo productions has 5 movies in the TIME WARNER ON DEMAND FILM FESTIVAL/VIEWERS CHOICE competition thingy on channel 1111 or 411 (depending on where you are at with Time Warner). The most views win s $500. I hope someone else wins this. I don’t need the $$$ that bad right now. Although, 2 out of the 5 Sonnyboo movies were not directed by me, so GRUDGE MATCH (The Derek) and REFRACTORY (Joanne Fromes) could win and I wouldn’t mind helping out the others. I even got mentioned in the COLUMBUS ALIVE for this.



I’m also working on another book thingy as a quickie. Royalty free screenplays if you buy the book, then you have the legal write to make a movie based on the scripts therein. They are all short screenplays, some that I’ve made and some that are unproduced at this time.

That’s all I got for now. Peace out and Respect,
Peter John Ross

Carrion and Fodder With a Side of OCD

We’re only a day and a half away from the first COWTOWN FILM SERIES screening. I’m happy with GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! No, it is not a great film, but it’s a watchable and entertaining film. Too many people just wanted to see it done and that’s what I did.


Strange that I’m potentially considering helping another struggling feature from a Columbus filmmaker to get done too. I don’t know if I will or not. A lot of loose ends and personal issues may prevent me from even offering a helping hand.

I just did interviews with the COLUMBUS ALIVE and also UWEEKLY so the last vestiges of the social coma have really started to end. There’s nothing that can stop me now. The snow balls are collecting, just need to start rolling them down the hill and see which ones are avalanches…



I have so much in the hopper right now, I’m bursting at the seams, both literally and figuratively. For a new project I’m looking to executive produce, I went ahead and splurged on a 35mm lens adaptor for my Canon HV20. I went with the JAG35, as I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, like the $1100 on the Letus35 adaptor. It’s a great piece of gear, but I don’t want to buy something with no lens that costs more than the camera. It just feels awkward to me. So $400 for the JAG35 and having amazing depth of field for my 1080 HD camera, albeit a tiny one, all lead me to the decision to purchase.



In my current state as a director and filmmaker have me very interested in having depth of field as a valuable tool in my arsenal. It’s very basic you see; I want to wield my control over the image more. By being able to focus, or not focus, on things in the frame means the viewer will really only see what I want them too. This is like level two filmmaking, but it’s so potent. I have not played with this much. I’ve done some occasional rack-focus effects, but I have not truly utilized the power of depth of field to my fullest advantage. Now I will experiment with it extensively and make sure it gets used in this little side project.

Since the deadline is now barreling down on me, I have to finish the documentary IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM, about the making of HORRORS OF WAR. The goal of having a feature length documentary about the creation of an ambitious feature must be completed. I started this, now I have no choice but to hammer the rest out. I did a lot of work on this, nuggets of which are in the webdocs, but overall, the narrative and educational aspects have to be nudged and tweaked until I have a compelling story. Its there, buried in the interviews and footage; just need the time and concentration. I can do it and today I started my though process on what to do with it, so that’s a good sign. I have to complete this project before I can move on.

In discussing the idea of completion of projects, and how COWTOWN FILM SERIES has been helping more than me with a real life deadline to compel the end of procrastination, I realized. I cannot start another project, at least shooting one, until this documentary wraps. I can pre-pro to a certain point, but I’m cheating if I don’t finish.

That’s the end of the Sonnyboo Report for now.

- PJR
The man, The myth, The math

The Inalienable Rights of the Ignominious

And the hits keep on coming! Oh, Acolytes of Boo, your faithful narrator keeps himself quite busy these days. I’ve been formulating a script for several months now. It’s a short, but that’s because the story I want to tell is not feature length, but a complex story that only lasts a dozen or so pages. One night the story literally woke me up. I was in that state of nearly sub consciousness when this idea occurred to me and I turned on the light, scribbled the basic idea down and then promptly fell asleep fully, having exorcized the demon of the muse.

I have been an avid fan of courtroom dramas (and even comedies) for well over 20 years. I even worked as a deposition videographer for a short time. The world of the legal fascinated me, but simultaneously I have never had an idea I felt was compelling enough to attempt to put to movie. This idea moves me enough to make it the next thing I shoot. It mixes serious issues of race and politics, so I’ll be able to stab at the heart of a politician I hate more than any other because I know him personally. I met this raging moron former state legislator on several occasions in my various video jobs over the past 8 years. Now I’ll take him to task, and with a very harsh view.

Last night, whilst awaiting my dinner date at Easton, I had this notion to bring with me a notebook. I had a pen in my pocket. Instead of reading CINEFEX on the article on the visual FX of IRON MAN, I was compelled to start writing the screenplay. I just… did it. No real thought or decision was involved, it just started. The damn broke and scenes and characters that my mental outline had never even pondered suddenly started appearing and saying things. I felt more like I was transcribing a TV show I was watching in my head than “writing”, but then again, the best writing I know of comes from this kind of serendipitous experience.

I will soon have a completed first draft typed up and the re-writing phase will begin, but the biggest hurdle is always the first completed draft. I sometimes cheat and cut corners in scenes and dialogue just to cross the finish line and feel that relief that comes with a draft completion. Then you go back & fill in the gaps with re-writes and little changes that quite frankly continue all the way through rehearsals, shooting, editing, and ADR in post production.

Something is inspiring me. I don’t actually know what it is, but I’m getting things done. The compulsions to finish old projects and start in on new ones has me aflutter. I have so much more to do and the energy and will resides in me to see it all done.




On a completely other note, today I finished the final DVD master of GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND, complete with trailer and deleted scenes. I did myself a favor last year that I failed to remember. I renamed several sequences of scenes that were removed as “deleted scenes” so they were very easy to find and export as individual scenes. ROCK ON, which made life much easier today.

An initial master disc is made, the DVD art and disc graphics are now done too. Tomorrow I’ll get some of the inserts made, and on Monday (no holiday for me), I’ll burn several copies for the cast & crew. Unfortunately, I can’t do full color inserts et al for the entire cast & crew, but then again, I don’t know hardly any of them and I’m not the one who promised them this movie 12 years ago. I’m just an editor and I’m already going wayyyyy over the top to help a bunch of strangers by finished their movie and then screening it for them in a movie theater.



Speaking of which, I already made the DVCAM master tape and DVD backup of the first COWTOWN FILM SERIES show tape. Unlike most people I know, I’m not gonna wait until the last minute to prep a show. This is too important to slack on. I’m going to test the projector and cables and lighting several days before the show.

I have entrusted the presentation of the shows to other people in the past and both times it bit me in the ass; one of those times it bit my ass and also my own wallet. Never again. Two bit know-nothings will not affect these screenings. People are going to be paying money for these screenings, so I need to make them as classy and without mistakes. Exhibition and theatricality often get overlooked by alleged filmmakers presenting their movie to an audience. I am motivated by my years as a movie theater projectionist/manager and also from some film festivals with really poor presentation. I feel compelled to give people something a little extra and make absolutely certain that the filmmakers movies are shown as best I can. I can’t imagine a more disrespectful thing than to screw up someone else’s screening by not being thorough and checking everything ahead of time.

The world spins in my direction these days my friends. Over a year ago I bought a pair of the precious VANS. I have worn 10 and ½ since puberty and this time, my feet were too big to wear them. So I ordered a 2nd pair of size 11’s and on my left foot, the one that gets hit with Gout, and it was still too tight. So both pairs of perfect VANS have sat in a closet unworn and brand new. By a fluke, I tried them on yesterday and BOTH pairs fit perfectly. I must be losing some weight, although not in the gut area. Going to the gym has helped a lot. I’m still swimming, but I’m still not anywhere near where I want to be. As I get older, it gets harder & harder to lose the weight. I’m only up to twice a week at the gym and I want to be at 4 times before the end of September.

Peace and Love and Good Happiness Stuff,
Peter John Ross