Antagonistic Tendencies

February 1st, 2007
Antagonistic Tendencies



Well, first off the first thing to take note of in the world of Boo is the new site for the BLOG and JOURNAL ENTRIES – www.PeterJohnRoss.com. This was a wonderful birthday present from my best friend. It's one of those surprise gifts you'd never ask for but has a lot of meaning and uses you never considered. Big shout out to the Moe for this handy gift of a domain and site.

More so than usual, I am incredibly busy. I've been hired and been steadily working on editing a DV feature for a Dayton filmmaker. It's a fun feature from a first time director and I am definitely making a contribution, it's someone else's vision. I started with a rough cut of the whole movie, so I am really just doing the fine cut and then final edits, plus sound mix & sound design. This is where a lot of my time has gone because it's a paid gig.



The days of generosity are not as fruitful as they once were. I've sacrificed a lot of my time, energy, passion, and soul to other people's projects, and I have no regrets, but it's my time. I feel I've earned respect and also the right to charge for what I do, even to filmmakers. There's enough in terms of equipment and experience that I offer that make me worth the meager amounts I'm charging. Besides, food needs to be put in the fridge and on the table.



I have just made my formal call for Interns to get some help with the many editorial endeavors I have on my plate. There's just more work than one person can handle, and sadly very little of it is actually for Sonnyboo Productions ® or me. These are gigs for the greater good and other filmmakers. There's a 16mm feature from my past that I was not involved with, but have agreed to help out on with the edit. There's a lot to be done with a feature like synching sound to 7 tapes of raw footage as well as separating the clips into scenes and creating a whole organizational pipeline so that more than one person can make sense of the muddled mess that is the raw footage, sound, music, titles, etc. that make up a feature film.



There will be 2-3 interns working alongside myself & Micah on these projects as we kick off 2007 with the mountain of work here. I've (miracle of miracles) had interns before. This is the first time I've solicited them, though. I need the help and don't mind giving some edit time for free, a chance to get some other people trained and involved in the editing process. Much to my surprise, I have well over 20 applicants and I will actually have to make choices. This surprised me because I didn't think I'd get more than 3-4 people interested. Lucky for me there is a strong movement at the Ohio State University with their new film studies major and some fans of the Boo there spreading the good word.

With Horrors of War, we have hours of footage and interviews that never saw the light of day. I'd like the more experienced editorial interns to take a crack at making something of those that can be found on the internet or on DVD for the cast & crew who got left on the cutting room floor. We still have no clue how much of what we turned in will or won't be used for the North American DVD release (although I guarantee that no foreign market will even know we have DVD extras). Myself, I can't stand to contemplate spending minutes nonetheless hours staring at me or listening to chatter about HORRORS of WAR. It's "of the past" for me, but there's still an obligation to the people who threw down for us to get their time in the light.

I shan't go a rant, but I will say that I am yet again a target of someone's deep seeded emotions. On the FOX network's ON THE LOT contest site, I locked horns with a local filmmaker. Funnily enough, I said nothing harmful or derogatory, but this guy lost his Shiite as if I told him to spend more time with his kids or something. I confess to a deep seeded interest in the wackos who read this very blog often, make mention of it, or write about it or your faithful narrator, and then claim they aren't obsessed.



Let's face some facts. When someone says they are basing a character in their script on you over the past 3 years; that sends a pretty clear message: YOU ARE OBSESSED. I don't even base any characters on myself anymore. I have to write about people who are more interesting than some guy who spends most of his time on the Internet writing to obsessed fanatics. The truth is I still can't comprehend or relate to the people who find me or my writings online and then become fixated on my and my goings on. When I don't like someone or something, I tend to ignore it or stop paying attention, and then they/it ceases to be a problem. For some people, and good God, I mean more than I can count on my fingers and toes now, they want to explore this further and make a confrontation. At that point, I get interested for brief periods of time because I can't see what's so interesting about me. I love a good debate and the impending scrap, but then I get bored and move on.

I don't care if you only spend 10 minutes a week writing about me or my stuff, but please dear God, I hope you find a more fulfilling hobby. Thank God I have My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ and a life outside of this virtual world where geeks are Gods and the sad & lonely find purpose in annoyance. You'd think I'd have a deeper understanding of the crazies by now, but I don't. I'm no closer to truly comprehending the mindset of the disturbed.



The great & powerful Scott Spears defines eloquently by saying that I am "polarizing". People Either love me or hate me and there's little in the middle. I am what I am, and I don't have a problem with who I am. I sleep well at night.

I was recently told that I will get what I deserve and that fate will play its role out. Sadly, this was meant to be a portent into the future for my demise, but based on the world I live in, I think I will get what I deserve, but my fate seems to be looking more positive. I've got financing for at least one of my features this year and the 2nd seems imminent, regardless it may happen too. When 2007 started, I was feeling the squeeze from a lack of paid work, but by Mid-February I will be doing well again, plus the Interns will help on the workload (who says they can't get help in Columbus Ohio???). In March I'm going to Europe on someone else's dime to do research on their feature, plus have a bit o' fun. In April, I get a new car that's been earmarked for me. Yup. I'm getting what I deserve all right.



The cats are dubious these days. I don't trust either of them for very long. Their alliances are fragile and our Rossdonia is held together by a thread of peace. Our troops are tired and want to come home, but the difference in beliefs is so strong, we can't let them police themselves. I tried training the cats to do their own security but they weren't trained properly. Our troops need more body armor, but the vice president failed to submit the proper requisition. Damn government!

Time to get back to the grindstone of editorial work.

Love and special sauce for all the peeps of Sonnyboo,
PjR, the real one

Post Birthday Blog

Friday Janaury 25th, 2007

POST BIRTHDAY BLOG



Seven years ago this month, my life changed. I met one of my idols, Richard Linklater (dir: School of Rock, Slacker, Dazed & Confused, A Scanner Darkly). I went from wanting to be a filmmaker to actually making movies within 2 weeks of that January night.  Now I am a full time filmmaker because of meeting Rick and the things he said to me, one on one.



Another year has come & gone. I have grown older miraculously by acquiring grey hair and gaining weight. I'm not too sentimental for birthdays. They don't mean much to me. I've taken to heart a lesson learned from a fictional character, FBI special agent Dale Cooper when he told Harry S. Truman "Every day give yourself a present. It could be a new shirt from the men's store, it could be a catnap in the office, or a fresh cup of coffee, but every day give yourself a present." Ever since 1990, I found the logic in this to be more and more important. There's a little bit of Xmas in every day now. No need for a special occasion to treat yourself right.



I treated myself to changing over my whole edit systems in the house. I am now editing on two 19" widescreen monitors and moved the precious 30" monitor/HDTV into the basement with full 5.1 Dolby Surround ™ where movie & television watching is less bothersome to the neighbors and to My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica™. Rossdonia cooks with finger grease now. I've got Premiere/Avid keyboards on both editing systems. There's 2 features editing on my machines for the next 2 months as well as an epic documentary project for another feature length movie, plus my cable show, so Rossdonia also is overbooked and kicking with work. I started off January worried about no work on the horizon, now I'm inundated, but it's good. I prefer to stay busy.

Micah started doing more work on the long, almost forgotten feature from a few years ago. I'll withhold the title until we at least have a rough cut done. Many eyes seek to know about that project, but until there's substantial progress, it's better left unsaid.




My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ wanted a change in Rossdonia, so we re-arranged the entire place. Since the basement was such a success, we moved around the spare bedroom, the kitchen, the living room, and even closets. Since I'm stuck here more often of late, it's better to re-invent the environment and keep things fresh. By moving all my TV/Movie watching into the basement, I surf the web a lot less, subsequently I'm sitting on my ass less since I'm always going up and down 2 flights of stairs all day, as opposed to having it all in one room and I can just roll a chair and do everything.

I even switched desks for my laptop/internet computer. I find that with a laptop, I prefer a flat desk with no hutch, plus a wider, empty desk space to work on. Since I had a spare monitor lying around, I put it to use as a 2nd monitor on the laptop. It will be hard to ever go back to a single. I have my email open on the left, Internet on the right. When using Adobe Photoshop ©, it's on the left and thumbnails are on the right. God it's more convenient. I love to multitask so the 2 monitor setup really works for me.

Last night I went to dinner with a few friends. Since My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ and I were moving furniture all day, and I got the coveted all night spooning session I've waited to get for years which yielded a night of uncomfortable positions and limbs falling asleep – I was not 100% "on". It was still a good time.

The dark comedy script is holding steady. I'm happy but still tweaking & paying a little bit at a time. It's set for an August shoot at this point, but that's okay. Time to raise money and do things with a bigger name cast always take more.  



There's another script idea fermenting in my head and has made its way to 3x5 cards. I had never used those before the dark comedy, and now I see that they work great for communicating with other people. I don't really want to be a screenwriter at all, but more a producer/director that originates a story but collaborates with writers. I think the best work comes from working with other people. My favorite two cohorts on a movie are the Director of Photography and the actors. This is where I like to give more control to other people. In the script & story, I am more domineering, but I guess I want something more specific. I'm recalling a great quote of one of my heroes Stanly Kubrick to Matthew Modine on Full Metal Jacket – "There is no such thing as bad ideas, only better ones."

I will rip through 99 suggestions waiting for the 100th (or more) one that is "right". No clue what that is until I hear/read it sometimes. This makes for tough collaboration sometimes. A lot of writers are just not prepared to hear "No" and "That's not right" for 2-3 days until something lights up as the right fit. Especially not unpaid writers. I'm not in a position where I can pay a writer for spec projects. The one thing I can offer is that if I say it's going to happen, it most likely will. My track record is very good for completing projects I set out to do. I'm not 100%, but if I set my mind to it, say it will happen, far more often than not, it does get done. Then I think it's safe to say I'll promote the hell out of said project. Anyone interested in being a screenwriter should take note that a produced screenplay is the key to opening the door to future work & sales of additional material.  



The Mighty "V" dominates poor Cousette. His fur matches his personality. He's mostly black & dark with a white underside. He attacks relentlessly, knocks stuff down, breaks things, claws at feet, bites skin, chews on cables, and then he gets a little tired and becomes the sweetest, most affectionate creature on the planet. He's a conundrum, but I love the little guy. Cousette seems pretty miserable, and yet doesn't cry as much as she used to, even when her brother Spaz was alive. I'm not sure what goes on in the mind of the felines, but I know that these terrorist insurgencies must end some time. Our new congress in Rossdonia perhaps can make some headway and give something to the people in these United States of Awesome.



Well, my little break from editing is coming to a close. I'm in the midst of a fine cut on a feature film. I agree with the great & powerful Walter Murch that you have to have the kind of mindset that likes minutiae to be an editor. It's the tedious and repetitive nature of looking at shots and frames and finding the sculpture within the marble.  

Large & In Charge,
Peter John Ross



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DRINK IT UP! www.Sonnyboo.com

On the Lot of Ambiguity

Friday Janaury 12th, 2007

ON THE LOT OF AMBIGUITY



There’s a new reality TV show on the horizon for filmmakers. It’s called “ON THE LOT”. It's from the producers of SURVIVOR and THE APPRENTICE teamed with Steven Spielberg. Project Greenlight meets American Idol.... making short films each week and people getting voted off the show by the public. I'm very cynical about the whole thing, but submitted because I would rather take the chance than not at all.

I've known about this for close to a year, and never intended to submit until one of the producers emailed me & asked me to last week. It's a little weird. After Project Greenlight 3 disqualified me for being a "professional", meaning I had been paid for directing and also had distribution for short films, I assumed I would never be able to get in on this show, but their rules are mighty different.



Then the email came… I was asked by one of the producers to submit. I would have thought they have plenty of submissions, probably in excess of a hundred thousand. I know of at least 25 (literal number) of submissions from people in Ohio. Why me? What am I doing that’s so special? I was perfectly happy NOT submitting and not even watching the show. Why get my hopes up at all? This is why it fills me with cynicism towards the show. When I filled out my application, I was completely ridiculous in my answers because I have nothing to lose and have no inhibitions about saying whatever. Venom spewed onto the page and I hope at least it makes someone laugh while reading pleadings from wannabes with the “what I did last summer” tone in their ABOUT ME section.

I picked BITTER OLD MAN to represent my skill set, even though it’s one of my oldest short films. Then there was a 5 minute limit, so then I had to pick something else. I stopped making short films 2 years ago, so everything I’ve learned (and learned NOT to do) will not be represented. It’s all pretty futile anyway.

I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting on this show. I feel this weird pressure now that I uploaded a movie. I have had movies on short film sites for 7 years now. This shouldn't feel like this, but I guess Project Greenlight left me sour. I assumed since I make a living (by my own meager definition) at this filmmaking business, I just figured I wouldn't qualify at all.

Apparently it's not against the rules here. Regardless, just looking at the odds, I'd say my snowball is already melting. This is a one in about three million chance. Even less likely now that I'm about to turn 35 years old in a little over a week. Combine that with reality televisions penchant for good looking folks, and I'll be about as likely to be on TV as Jack Bauer is going to have a normal 24 hour day. Now there's something I'd like to see. The redneck equivalent to "24". Keifer Sutherland as a beer guzzling, wife beating cowboy watching Hee Haw until 4 in the morning. Now THAT's my idea of reality television. But I digress... I imagine no one wants to see my fat ugly face on national television, nor was this ever a dream of mine. I want MY MOVIES to be on TV, but not me. I have no interest in being a personality or anything. I’d rather be a Kubrick; making movies and living in seclusion where Internet stalkers can’t find me.



I can assure you, it's not "nervousness". It's more a feeling of futility. I'm usually very UP, but not when it comes to contests. Maybe it's the fact that this is a competition. I don't feel like art & competition belong together. I get along with my fellow artists. That's why my site (www.sonnyboo.com) is all about giving what few secrets I have away for free. Art is SUBJECTIVE, so to have the public determine success for me rubs me wrong too.

I'll be eagerly awaiting my rejection email that I can print out and continue to wall paper my bedroom with rejections. Regardless, keep at it though. No great success story started with "I quit and then everything worked out great for my dreams!"

In Other News…

I have several edit jobs I’m doing. I’ve got some BEHIND THE SCENES documentaries for a feature I did not work on, an edit job for an entire DV feature I was not involved in, and then a 2nd feature film I did not participate with (16mm feature), plus additional episodes of my 30 minute education show called MAKING MOVIES IN OHIO. Let’s just say that there are a LOT of projects on my plate and somehow I’m still squeaking in time to watch every single episode of FX’s NIP/TUCK show. I had never seen it, but I went from 0 to season 3 in about 6 weeks thanks to NetFlix.com

The TV show has started airing in Dayton already, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are next, and finally Columbus. This starts me on a rant I don’t think I’ve written about, but had stated numerous times in person. There is no Public Access/Cable Access television in Columbus Ohio. It’s quite criminal, but because of 2-3 people who pushed the limits of censorship by doing cable access shows with cursing, nudity, and somewhat vulgar acts (eating a girl’s bloody dildo, etc.) the entire channel was banished as more trouble than it was worth in the eyes of the city. Now, because of cheese-dick morons like these, EVERYONE ELSE has to lose out on the opportunity and have since December 3rd, 2002.

It’s not fair, but when there’s no being paid to give a hoot, and no one complaining that the city rakes in over $7 million a YEAR from the cable franchise fees, but no one gets the education or opportunity to put a show on the air – then nothing changes. It doesn’t help that Columbus is so conservative they think George W. Bush is a liberal pinko hippie. The vast majority of the populace of this pretend metropolitan area would prefer to sacrifice freedom of speech as long as our lord Jesus is dictated to us weekly… even if you’re Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or Agnostic or even Atheist.

My only option in my own hometown is to work with the Education Channel to try to get my work seen. Since a majority of my interest lies in educational and informative material these days, it’s a mutually beneficial outlet for the work and has made a show bent on demystifying the moviemaking process. Isn’t it sad that I can get a show on TV in 3 other cities before my own?

I successfully shot & edited in HDV with the JVD HD110 and like the results. I’m sure that this camera has more to it than I experience too, but it was good. I’m looking forward to doing more in HD, especially with the Panasonic Varicam ™ with all its bells & whistles. Perhaps a feature or two will be shot this year in HD… perhaps.



I’m in the midst of a revision on the dark comedy script, and this other feature idea will not leave me alone either. Once I get this draft done of the dark comedy, I’ll have to visit this other feature idea too and see if anything comes of it. I find writing these days is like seducing a bitchy girlfriend. I have to see if we’re both in the mood to poke. My muse sometimes comes & goes like a cheap tramp when the Navy comes to port.

Hence the NIP/TUCK festival. I’m just filling my mind with gunk and enjoying every minute of it. The show does not suck at all, but just like my fascination with ENTOURAGE, it’s about people, lives, and interests that have little to no relatability to who I am today. In some ways, I was a better artist when I was alone & miserable because I understood what everyone else felt like. I’m happy doing what I’m doing now, so it’s harder to relate to that insatiable desire to find out what fulfills me. Luckily, it’s not impossible, and there are things I still strive for and I go for it.

ROSSDONIA REPORT

Recently, the parliament of Rossdonia reconvened after our most recent elections this past November. I proposed a new plan to get more troops to quell the insurgency of roaches, but the kitties feel that we need to just let them be. They don’t understand that I don’t just want more troops to do the same things, but I want to try all new techniques. I want to live in 20 or so base-huts with the cockroaches and try to police them from the streets themselves. I fired my whole staff, and so that should show them I’m serious, but all they want is milk and string to play with. My parliament is easily amused…



I got in Season 3, disc 3 of NIP/TUCK, so I want to spend my Friday night watching beautiful thin people with lots of money have sex and surgery, so I’m going to get back at that. Then as soon as all 3 episodes are devoured I can return to the many edit jobs awaiting my attention.

Stay pretty on the outside my sweet acolytes,
XXooXXoo
PJR





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DRINK IT UP! www.Sonnyboo.com

Sanctimonious Soliloquy

Monday January 1st,  2007

Sanctimonious Soliloquy



Well, we rang in the New Year last night at a party with some friends. Again, this year, I’m not too into the Holiday spirit, but playing poker & chatting for a few hours with some people I genuinely like made a big difference. My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ had to work this morning so we also had to bolt right away after Dick Clark miscounted down the seconds into the New Year.

When we got home, I was obsessed with hearing Jimi Hendrix & the Band of Gypsies perform Auld Lang Syne from January 1st, 1970 & I did. I love that it started with the concert promoter playing a .45 of the song & Jimi not taking that well, so he performed the traditional song in his own inimitable way.

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And now the semi-annual New Year Blog tradition…
Year End Stats for Sonnyboo:

40,000 hits a day average, 2,000 unique visitors a day average

shorts, trailers, and other videos combined from all sites hosting Sonnyboo movie had a combined # of views exceeding 275,000 in 2006 alone, which is an all time high for Sonnyboo.

Horrors of War played 20 cities across the U.S. + saw the North American DVD rights sold to Maverick Entertainment & the Japanese and several European DVD releases. This added many new passes and badges for the Tut-Ankh-Amon head I have on my book shelf collection of such things in the past 6 years.



The Boo is pleased, but not as interested in compiling stats beyond that.

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So the editing on my new MOVIEMAKER TECHNIQUES videos goes well. They are short, under 3 minutes each videos that I’m making for a Canadian distributor who thinks he can get us funding to do a DVD series of these videos in this style for sale to educational institutions.

So far, I’m very happy with the videos. If I get to do them over again, I’ll probably keep the exact same footage for the examples, but re-shoot the intros as I’m still looking quite fat on camera. I wanted to use an actor as a “Host”, but I was talked out of it by a close friend who really liked the way I did the Q&A’s for Horrors of War.

There is nothing more painful than editing me on video. I can’t stand the way I look or how I sound, as this is a common thing for most people, but then again, they don’t have to spend hours staring at themselves poorly delivering scripted educational bits for complete noobs. I asked My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ to do a preliminary edit of the intros so it would lessen the pain & she graciously accepted. This generous act made the videos get done.



I feel I’ve been slack on my promotions of late. This will be a shock to many, but I don’t think I’ve given it my all lately and I need to up my game in terms of promotion of the Sonnyboo product. Taking the more educational bent, I approached Channel 25, the Education Access station here in Columbus and submitted a show for airing. It takes a bunch of BEHIND THE SCENES clips, and MAKING OF docs, as well as INDIE FILM TECH TIPS from Scott Spears, and even now some of my new demo videos, and combined them to make 11 – 30 minute shows, and that’s just in 4 days of editing.

I miss Public Access. I liked having my movies and videos play on TV. I was getting my hair cut a year ago and the hairdresser started describing to me a show she saw on cable a few years before and she eloquently described my wretched movie NEW WORLD. I told her I made that movie and she freaked. It was a warm & fuzzy feeling. People are channel surfers and people stop for a second on a lot of programs. Might as well throw your hat in the ring. Since Public Access is illegally removed from the Columbus cable companies, the next best thing is EDUCATION ACCESS, channel 25. That means the material can’t really be short films alone, but if there is a true educational bent to showing HOW you made the movie, then it might be acceptable.

While dubbing out the master tapes of these many shows, I researched a few other outlets, and have joined DATV, the Dayton Public Access, and have reached out for Cleveland Public Access, and Cincinnati’s Education Access. This new show should be on at least 7 channels before the end of February statewide. I call the show “Making Movies in Ohio”.  Only 2-3 people responded to my call for entries on material, but I imagine that will increase when the show starts to air and they want to know how to get on it.



In this New Year 2007, the world of Rossdonia has many projects lined up already. There is my dark comedy set now for an AUGUST shoot date, editing on a 16mm feature, making a series of WebDocs for another feature (not mine), and another possible feature this year, nonetheless the afore mentioned TV series and Educational Videos.

‘Twill be a most busy time in the world of Rossdonia. Part of my preparation was to use my Xmas gift cards to make ready for the new workflows & environment. I spent a considerable amount of money & time preparing the basement for an influx of INTERNS and PROJECTS. I’m going to hit up ever school with a media program and try to get at least 3-4 interns in a week to do editing on projects. I have AVID and ADOBE PREMIERE PRO 2.0 setup on both of my editing machines, a new 250 gig internal drive (already filling with 17 hours of raw footage as I type), a borrowed 250 gig portable drive, and the recent techie upgrades will soon be put to task.



As much as I love my 30” widescreen monitor, I think for editing purposes, I’m going to make the switch to two 19” widescreen monitors with a higher screen resolution. This means that the main editing station will remain in the living room of Rossdonia, but the 30” and surround sound will migrate to the basement. That also means that Assistant Editors and Interns will be working on the beloved 30” widescreen to edit. My Sexy Girlfriend ™ will be happier to have some more separation between the 5.1 surround mixes and her work room anyways…

There exists many more hours of HORRORS OF WAR Behind the Scenes footage, interviews, and B-Roll that has never seen the light of day and I would like it to. I’m too burned out on it, but I feel I owe it to the people who took time to film interviews, be interviewed, and helped out on the project to NOT see it find some kind of life, even if it is a Public Access show or Internet video. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for Interns who don’t want to be gofers at Mills-James that actually want to have a great deal of creative control and actually EDIT something, plus get class credit for it.

ROSSDONIA REPORT
Cousette & “V” continue their ongoing geopolitical strife. The sectarian violence includes escape attempts by “V” hiding in my backpack when I try to leave. We had a hanging of the roach magistrate and this caused some celebrating and fear of reprisals that never came from the Shiite-led roach community.




One of the few Xmas presents I got that intrigued me was getting the “RIDDICK TRILOGY” starring Vin Diesel. I was not ever a huge fan of PITCH BLACK or CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, but I thought they were okay. I didn’t hate the movies enough to trade in the DVD’s either. I watched this, including the heretofore unseen DVD Anime Featurette called DARK FURY. I liked these movies a lot better this time, not only because it was free, but I just kicked back & enjoyed it. One of the recurring themes in popular culture that continues to fascinate me is these intermediate Medias like the ANIME Featurette.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I really like the new way of creating additional material in one form or another to expand the fictional universes and storylines for the people who want something additional. We saw similar things with STAR WARS – CLONE WARS cartoons, more recently with the TV series 24 and their prequel videos on the bonus disk of DVD’s for the previous season released weeks before the new season and the multiple episode series of WEBISODES of Battlestar Galactica online that featured secondary characters and played out storylines in between the 2nd and 3rd season. Even the U.S. comedy THE OFFICE did the exact same thing with secondary characters & web videos (both THE OFFICE and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA are NBC-UNIVERSAL series). Unfortunately because of these being “alternate media”, they aren’t union gigs and the studios are not paying out to Directors, Actors, or Writers any residuals or standard rates for these jobs, thus making them less likely to continue until resolved.



Our weather is unusually warm, as in 60 degree weather in late December & early January in Ohio is very odd. This also puts a complete crimp in the plan to produce the short SNOWMAN for my long time friend and crewmember John Fromes. I’m no meteorologist, but I think the weather has to be colder in order for snow to occur. I’ll try to assuage his grief, but sometimes John is unreasonable.

I got several new pages from George Caleodis on his script and it’s coming along well. Another seed of a movie idea occurred to me a while ago, and it’s sprouting on its own. I’m letting it freeform in my trusty notepad and letting things just happen with it. It’s that whole fermenting process that’s happening with a script or story idea. As I’ve learned from harsh lessons, I will not shoot a movie until the script is done baking in my mind, hence the no new productions from Sonnyboo in 2006. I have elevated my expectations of quality from myself and will NOT shoot until I feel I’ve got the script/story at 100%.



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DRINK IT UP! www.Sonnyboo.com

Back in the Saddle Again

Wednesday December 13th, 2006

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN



Okay my droogies, your faithful narrator has returned in more ways than one. Having wallowed in a dark place known as writer's block, as well as a self imposed prison of boredom. Now I have come back at the turning of the moon and sun reborn and renewed.



Last Saturday we did the first shoot I've done outside of Horrors of War web docs in over a year. This time I shot with my corporate/industrial/commercial sometimes boss Mike Tavares. Mike, as regaled in this here blog before, got a new JVC HD110 HDV camera for his 50th birthday. This opened the door for us to test out the camera.  



The sales pitch from me was that I had a project that benefited both of us. He could try out and play with his camera, in HD no less, and learn it's ups and downs, while working on something that will be seen and possibly profitable in the long run. The upside is to learn the camera without worrying about clients and lost revenue, and then having something classy to show to potential new clients wondering what the difference between HD and SD (High Definition and Standard Definition) standards can do for you.



We shot a car chase scene in downtown Columbus with a crane hovering inched off the ground & then passing inches over the hood of a BMW as it races by. My sexy girlfriend Veronica ™ played the sexy spy getting away from the cops. Luckily, by pure happenstance, we got 2 police cars racing past. Then again, it wasn't a shock since we shot on the corner next to the police building.



Sean McHenry came through in a big way and rented us his crane that got us some amazing shots that I originally intended to get by going to the 3rd floor of a parking garage. Instead, I got some moving shots and sweeping looks that made the final cut.



TJ Cooley was gripping and also helped in the Jack Of All Trades capacity. It was needed. After the crane shots, we drove around in Mike's van shooting out of the side door and back windows open so we could vary the shots up. I was not expecting Mike to strap a seatbelt on himself and hang out with the camera 4 inches from the ground as we went 40 Miles Per Hour. He lost his hat on a rather dodgy hill and we had to go back for it.

Of course it was only 14 degrees out too. The coldest day of the year so far (and it was 55 degrees the next morning…). We froze and suffered for the art. Again, my pal Buzz brought the limited edition 12 cylinder BMW race car and it looks great on camera. Since I am a huge fan of the BMWFILMS, this was a bonus I hadn't counted on, plus it raised the roof on production value for this little shoot.



To think, all this for a simple EDUCATIONAL VIDEO… I'm astounded. The first of these videos will go online for free in traditional Sonnyboo style, and sooner than I had anticipated due to reasons to be addressed later in the blog.

From downtown we relocated to Ken Wilson's, a rather popular site for shooting. We used their dining room for a dinner scene where I will demonstrate several basic filmmaking techniques in the series of videos that will probably see their own distribution in 2007.



My own portable VIDEO VILLAGE is always welcome on set these days. I can't live without seeing the basic shots anymore. I am much more concerned with framing than I used to be.



In other news, I returned to a less appealing stature recently too. In my usual abrasive manner, I commented on the Yahoo Group to someone who said they loathed self promotion, but his producer Philbert Ooper insisted he do it. I cannot comprehend this attitude, so I said that no one should be ashamed of self promotion, then I said something stupid – I posted that people who hate self promotion are wishing they had what the self promoters had. This was stupid of me, but hardly the last act for me.

The response from the poster was confusing as he then said that people should feel ashamed of self promotion and yada yada yada. I then did some research and found this guys site (he self promoted a few months ago), plus his blogs, and MySpace pages etc. The strange part is that he even listed Philbert Ooper as an alias on his site.

Now, where I found an all new low was reading his MySpace Blog where he wrote an impassioned rant about local yahoos that call themselves AWARD WINNING FILMMAKERS when all they've won are insignificant awards at meaningless festivals. He said it was deceptive to investors, etc. I took offense to this because I am an award winning filmmaker from smaller festivals, but more importantly, on a core level I cannot see where the deception is. A "debate" ensued (which is a polite way of saying a flame war) and then we agreed to disagree and pretend each other don't exist.



I stand by my way of doing things in terms of promotion. As long as you're honest, there is no misleading or deception. I do not hide what festivals I've won awards from and I don't make up festivals awards or flat out lie. That crosses the ethical 180 degree line and there's no way to make that okay. If you disagree, then do things your own way and stop worrying about how I do it.



Today I got to edit the HD footage from Saturday. Now for my technical geek out of the week, the problem with HDV footage is the editing. What they call "Native Editing" means you edit HDV in it's original, standardized format of MPEG2. MPEG is the MOTON PICTURE EXPERTS GROUP, a consortium of software and hardware experts that agree (to a point) on standards for the industry.  HDV is a 1920x1080 or 1280x720 pixel sized video format, much higher quality to the standard definition MiniDV 720x480 format.


CLICK THE IMAGE FOR ACTUAL SIZES

MPEG2 is being used to get that high quality image onto a smaller format tape and edit it in a more realistic (for consumer/prosumer) file size using the compression of MPEG2. Now, there are a few (meaning 2-3) additional CODECS for editing HDV. There is RAYLIGHT from DVFILM.COM and also CINEFORM's ASPECT HD codec. Codec stands for Compressor/Decompressor, it's the software that turns video signals into playable computer files like AVI's and MOV's.

Unfortunately, editing in native MPEG2 for HDV requires a much faster computer than what I have, and quite frankly what most people have at home. These alternate codecs are the answer, and they are more robust and apt for editing. Guess what? You have to pay for that codec too. It ain't free and they ain't cheap. Having tried out both, the ASPECT HD codec is hands down the winner for the JVC camera (No offense to RAYLIGHT, but they seem to be more interested in the Panasonic HVX200 customers who want to edit traditionally in Premiere, Vegas Video, etc.).

I have a 15 day trial for Aspect HD at home, and it expired before a single frame of the footage ever got shot. At least at Tavares, I have 15 days from now, but that is fading fast. I still have intro's and additional clips to shoot. Yikes, 2 weeks is NOT a lot of time, so I had to edit a LOT today. I went through over 1 hour's footage and cut the bulk of my first video in 1 day, but that's normal. I did sound design and mixing at home tonight with an intermediate file (aka Proxy file) of lower resolution just to get it done, but now I'm due back at Tavares to get the other 3 videos edited ASAP.

It's a mad rush to the finish line because I don't want to spend $500 on a CODEC. Maybe it's just the name, (pronounced "KO-DECK") and maybe Santa can't afford to bring it to me this year.  



It feels good to get back on the horse and trudge forward. I miss being on sets and shooting, but I really don't want to make anymore shorts. There's little more I can say in the short form. What I'm doing now is something more of a pure educational nature and has multiple purposes. It goes along with the real appeal of the Sonnyboo site, as well as my need to be philanthropic, but this way it's less of a waste of time like a wannabe filmmakers meeting and has a broader reach. Plus with the Canadian distributor interested, the one that was blown off by the powers that be with the HORRORS OF WAR web docs I made in the same vein, I stand to make decent money with these. Vindication always tastes good in the form of a check, even Canadian dollars.



The cats are doing well, if not stand offish with each other. "V" is trying to establish his dominance over Cousette. Many fights, lots of hissing, claws, and even biting go on for hours, day and night. Then, "V" will then get tired and turn into the most lovable little furball that still passes out on my shoulder. At this stage, he slips off when he dozes, but I hold him up as long as I can go without typing.



I'm not so much into the Xmas spirit. It's homogenized and retail oriented. No one gives a gift because they feel selfless. When I feel selfless, I make a DVD for someone or help them out all year round. The cold weather and fat guys ringing bells don't make me feel like doing anything more or less.

At least I have the new Beatles CD- LOVE to keep me warm. It's a brilliant album of remixes using ONLY the Beatles themselves. I dig it mucho.


A-HA! My color correction pass has finished in After Effects, so I must get back to my now 14 day trial period of editing HD!

Have a blessed day, no matter what gods you feel the need to cow-tow to!

-Peter John Ross, aka Captain Exencamper!

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DRINK IT UP! www.Sonnyboo.com

BLISSFUL DEATH TO MONKEYS

Wednesday November 1st, 2006
BLISSFUL DEATH TO MONKEYS



I’ve kept very busy since the last entry on Ye Olde Blog, my acolytes. I worked some A/V jobs at a hotel and also got an editing job editing some HD material. Thanks to George Caleodis, the next feature script has made leaps and bounds forward. The Boo is on the move again and it feels good.

Last week I went into the hotel to work as I always do. I go to the 2nd floor and go to the A/V office. No one’s there. I go through the back hallways to see if I can find out where my boss is at. I go to the elevator and several people are waiting, they say the elevator is offline for at least the next 40 minutes. Without asking why, I just head downstairs via the front.

I get to the office center and head into the back hallways of the 1st floor. At the very end of the office, there are 3 women in their late 20’s staring out the little glass window of the door at something. I say, “Excuse me” and start to go through the door. One of the women asks me what I thought I was doing. I said I had to get past and they looked at me like I was nuts. As I went through the door, I bumped into a guy and said “Excuse me, sir. I’m sorry.” I look up and it’s none other than former President of the United States Bill Clinton. He said, “No problem.” Secret Service grabs me firmly, but not hostile and move me to the side. As Clinton passed the window, he said, “Hi Ladies!” and they went nuts like the Beatles had been reborn.

An hour later, I ran into Bill Clinton again as I pushed a cart of video equipment from the supply closet to a conference room. He was signing books and talking to hotel employees in the service halls. I made a brief comment and moved on. Another 40 minutes later, as I waited for the elevator with another batch of equipment, I look next to me, and for the 3rd time in the same day, there was Bill Clinton. Secret Service entered the elevator and all I could say is, “I’ll catch the next one…”



I got hired last week to edit in HD on a project, and in another twist, I had to learn the new Final Cut Pro 5.0 HD on a Mac. Now I haven’t touched Final Cut Pro since version 2.0 four years ago. Now that I’m a more experienced editor and even more tech savvy than I was then, it was interesting to use what has taken the professional industry by storm and is being used more & more frequently on broadcast TV shows and feature films.




It’s a great program, and funnily enough, it’s virtually identical to Adobe Premiere Pro as it is today. All these yahoos who claim that Adobe Premiere Pro is not a professional application are just ignorant and have not used it. As I say all the time, none of these programs are better than the other. Anyone who says that one is actually “better” are only speaking of their own PREFERENCE, not a fact of any kind. I’m now experienced with the latest versions of AVID, PREMIERE PRO, FINAL CUT PRO, and even VEGAS VIDEO. None of them are particularly “better” than the other. They all do basically the exact same thing and they each have little features that make zealots out of users, but it always come down to preference and how the individual editor likes to work.

Again, my old reliable metaphor about editors as painters comes to play. The software you use to edit with is nothing more than a brush for your canvas. You would never imagine DaVinci arguing with Picasso about whose brush is better. Neither should people engage in any kind of debate over which editing software is “better”.

Now the HD footage I have seen, shot on the Panasonic Varicam, the high end camera that does variable frame rates, looked amazing. I’ve seen some good stuff, but rarely do I get to see the raw footage and work with it. I love film, but I’m also not a zealot about the “film versus video” debate. I like the look of both and think that story is king. If the format supports the story, then it’s all good. This footage was staggering. If I hadn’t known it was HD, I would NOT be able to tell what format it was.



I had made the decision some time ago to shoot my next feature in HD, but after this experience, I’d say I’m incredibly jazzed about it. Working on this quickie project got me revved up to shoot another feature.

Because of the high volume of work last week, I spent a lot less time at home. This also meant that I was leaving V alone with Cousette more. My workload had been lighter, plus I worked from home his first 2 weeks in his new home, so this was new. V was a little peeved with me and he demonstrated this by all night hand biting and jumping on my head whilst purring. Then the wake up love bites also continued from 7:00AM till I’d eventually have to get up to make him stop by talking to him. Brandy was right, it’s like have a toddler in the house and he’s constantly chewing on my electrical and computer cables.



Cousette wants to love on V, but his only way to express love is grabbing, clawing, and biting. Needless to say, she’s not too thrilled with this. Cousette has taken to finding new hiding spot throughout the house. I try to protect her as best I can (I am afterall the elected Constable of Rossdonia), but he’s so fast and I do have other work to tend to.



Right after the last blog entry, I had a flashback party to attend at my friend Michael’s. The guests of honor were my old Bank One buddies, and it was an impromptu reunion of the cast & crew of THE JOB INTERVIEW.



Of course, I was the sole crew member and these two were the only “cast”. They were friends, not actors. I haven’t seen T.S. and Brown Lara in several years. They have no clue how much they helped me embark on this mad career choice. The simple thing we did together in January 2000 started this whole filmmaking decision. It still is NOT my favorite short on every level, but it’s one of the most popular Sonnyboo shorts of all time. These friends helped me get started, and that includes my host at that party, Michael Essman. He introduced me to MR. SHOW WITH BOB & DAVID, and had just had this energy that inspired me to get it out. For all of this I am grateful and have fond thoughts. Aside from being grossly overweight at the party, I felt like a million dollars.


V is making it difficult to write this, so I have to finish before he electrocutes himself by chewing on the extension cord…. Or Cousette kills him with her enormous paws.

Keep on Living,
Peter John Ross


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DRINK IT UP! www.Sonnyboo.com

Inagural Directorates

Sunday October 22nd, 2006
INAUGURAL DIRECTORATES



Let’s get this out of the way first…. My new cats name is “VLADIMIR JACK BAUER”. We basically just call him “V” and that’s our preference here. I picked “VLADIMIR” because of a line of dialogue from the 1981 movie ARTHUR starring Dudley Moore when he says, “Can we name our first child ‘Vladimir’? Boy or a girl?” I didn’t think anyone would get that in a million years and no one did… thankfully, these books cost me money.

I love the little guy. He’s a handful. V is sleeping on my shoulder as I type this, purring like a little motor boat. V has been a ray of special sunshine in our world here in Rossdonia. Brandy smiles more and loves him too. So far, the only non-fan is Cousette who seems more annoyed than anything. She’s the senior cat in the house and at 10 years old, doesn’t take to his aerial attacks with any form of glee. Cousette misses her brother Spaz, as do we all, but she’s not as sad as she was. We managed to replace sorrow with annoyance and curiosity. The house is less empty, but the energy feels different. I find a great deal of solace in being with V and Cousette now. I appreciate my life a little more.

I’ve started several new trends. I’m working out a bit. So far, I’m getting push ups and sit ups done everyday and I expect to see results sometime in 2007. I’ve become a fat bastard, but that will change. My work ethic has changed. I’ve shed some dead weight in a metaphorical sense and mystically several things in my world cleared up.

The writer’s block dissipated. George Caleodis came in from California and worked with me for one whole day & everything that was wrong seemed righted in a few short hours. We ate lunch at the Lucky House, my favorite Chinese food place, and worked right on through it. Ideas flowed better. George gets it. He’s experienced enough with group working and “gun for hire” jobs to understand that I will shoot down 99 out of a 100 ideas because they don’t “fit”, but when you hit the ones that do, you just know it. There it is. Collaborating doesn’t come easy, but it’s great when it does. George’s comprehension of pop culture and styles of humor make it easy for me to relay what I mean.

I also confirmed that my production plans being pushed to the spring of 2007 are okay.  Having seen some examples of late, I’m convinced HD is the way to go for this project. A lot can be done with this medium and celluloid won’t be the only option from here on out. High Definition when used right looks fantastic. I look forward to the challenge.

I’m thinking through the work flow for an HD post production pipeline. I think getting the HD tapes copied to DV with matching time code to do an “offline” edit will be great. It saves on hard drive space and also makes it easier to bounce between editing systems.

In the meantime, I want to test this workflow out by doing another short film, only this time on HD this winter. I won’t direct, but I will write & produce a 2 minute short film for my longtime collaborator John Fromes, who’s been with me since 2001. Not the friendliest guy, but loyal and that means something. It’s time he had his shot as a director and there is one short film I still had on my slate of films I wanted to do before I ‘retired’ from making shorts.  This is a short called SNOW MAN that I wanted to do and never got around to it 2 years ago so maybe this year I can make it happen. My ulterior motive is to test all the technicals for post production on the feature later in 2007, but I also have many outlets still for short films I have not used yet. There are plenty of offers for paid shorts only I don’t make those anymore, so this is not a bad thing to produce.

I’m also looking into doing some other mini-projects with varying goals. Much like the indie film tech tips I made for Horrors of War, I’m considering making several more like those, only not related to the film. I have different outlets I intend, and only the first ones will appear on Sonnyboo.com and online for free. I have other plans for the rest…

There is nothing more to do with Horrors of War. I fulfilled all my promises. I delivered the movie and now I have been burnt to a crisp like a french fry in the boiling oil at the end of a shift at McDonalds when the lard starts to smell like sewer. If that’s not graphic enough, I have several other metaphors that are much more gross. I want nothing to do with the movie anymore. I’ve made some realizations in the last few weeks that show me that I have wasted the last year of my life. All the work I did on the WebDocs, the promotions, the screenings, the film festivals… all of it. It’s worthless. None of what I did seems to mean anything and I have countless hours of work and dedication poured down a drain of ineptitude and incompetence.  

Based on this realization, I got depressed. I was not in depression, but it is not a happy time. Many things happen for a reason. I’m sure of it. My cat dying, this realization, all lead me to other, happier things. I’m not down; in fact, I’m finding new doors opening before me everyday. Opportunities seem to be making themselves known and finding me, as they always do.




STORYTIME!

I was called a month ago by a producer out of state who asked me if I was interested in directing her feature. I said I didn’t know, please send me a script. We talked about it and, as is usual in these cases, I was told it was the greatest screenplay and already everyone who reads it loves it. (FYI – every single person who ever shows someone a script says it’s the best, so this is hardly an indicator in any way of how it might be). Of course, she says that several studios are interested in the film already (even though it hasn’t been shot). We talk for a half an hour and she said she saw my director’s reel online and thought I’d be perfect to direct her movie. I tell her I’ll read it and let her know what I think of it.

She emails me the script and I skim it. I won’t lie, it’s too early in the relationship for me to put forth the 2 hours to read her script all the way through. I don’t know her. I don’t know anything about the situation, so I take the time to write out several questions in an email to feel this particular scenario out. Here are the questions and subsequent answers:

#1. What is the budget for the film?
$25,000

#2. What format is it being shot on?
HD

#3. How much is the salary for director?
$200 a day

#4. What are the shooting dates & what is the work week like?
End of October and 6 day work weeks, 12 hour days

#5. Who is editing the film and what involvement would I have in post production?
We have a Mac with Final Draft and as much as you want!

#6. What size crew is it?
Still working on this

#7. Who is the first A.D.?
ME!

#8. Is the cast set already?
Most of it.

#9. Is the money already in your bank account or a production bank account, or is it still pending from an investor still? (I need to actual, factual truth on this as I have been decieved in the past and seen whole productions shut down mid-shoot from the best laid plans & broken promises)

Money is in the bank!

Of course it is. These are just words to me until I see some $$$. I don’t mean to be mercenary, but please. If someone wants me to put my name on a feature and be involved creatively in the making of a movie, I need to know if it’s really happening and what all it entails. As I wrote in my book, the single most common mistake made in independent film is miscommunication. I wanted to be as clear as vodka on this from the start.

Since I’ve been right here in this very position many times in the last 6 years, I asked the questions right out of the gate. Based on her answers, it was time to see if they were true. I made an offer. I said I am absolutely on board, but I have one stipulation. I need HALF my salary up front, 3 weeks prior to the first day of shooting. For taking this monetary risk, I’d go out of state and do 1 week of pre production absolutely free, no charge to the production and buy my own food and everything (not lodging though). She said that was completely cool.

From there I got several emails of the script revisions every few days, requests to help find a cameraperson for the shoot, and other knick knacks, but no money. Again, I don’t like to be solely about the money, but until I know there really is money in the budget, I will NOT waste my time prepping and working on a movie that probably won’t happen.

I’m doing my freelance work and commercials, waiting for the 3 week deadline. I made some recommendations for camera. On the deadline, I called her and left a message and also emailed her. I was getting (all true) several offers for paid work during the time she wanted me for pre-production. I needed to make a choice so if we were going to do this project of hers, then I needed to know if a check was coming.

Her response was that her investor usually likes to see more work from someone before he cuts a check and that it wouldn’t be easy at that time for him to write any checks. Basically, she lied. Either she lied before or she was lying now because she initially told me that the money was already in HER bank account.

See? THIS is why I don’t get vested in a project until I know it’s more than the overly ambitious first timers that will ALWAYS speak optimistically when in fact they do NOT have it together. The wise Scott Spears often says he’ll believe it when the check has cleared and he’s on set the first day shooting. Not a bad way of viewing life in the low budget filmmaking world.

Lesson learned & put to good use. I lost nothing but a few minutes of time and avoided getting excited about what amounted to nothing by asking a lot of questions and being skeptical. If I were naïve, I would have wasted time, energy, passion, effort, and possibly spent money on someone else’s pipe dream and delusions of grandeur.

Kids, no matter what – always be honest with people about where things are at. Sure, you want people to take you seriously, but until your money is in the bank, there’s no reason for them to take you seriously, nor SHOULD you burn your own name and reputation by making promises that can’t be kept.




Well, acolytes of Boo, V is having trouble balancing himself on my head. When he sleeps, he tends to fall off my shoulder, then claws are used to catch himself…. Deeply entrenched in my skin. I have a long day tomorrow working for many masters and several projects.

Peace and Love and Good Happiness Stuff,
PJR

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DRINK IT UP! www.Sonnyboo.com