Metonymy & Polysemy

I got lucky. In preparation for editing on this feature film from another local filmmaker, those who keep up with this here bloggy blog are aware that I faced a technical problem. To reiterate, I had footage that was supposed to be 23.976 frames per second being recognized as 29.97 frames per second. I could not tell if this was a user error or a technical glitch. I approached one of the creators of the software and I got a response by the next morning (if only the local director was as expedient at answering emails…).

He suggested 3 different things to try, 2 of which I already had. The 3rd idea however was something I had never heard of, and it was to use a simple program called “AVIFrate”, a simple EXE file that you run and you can change the header in the AVI or MOV file and dictate how all computers see its frame rate to any of the standard frame rates. This works without a hitch, as I tested it on a couple files. That means I’m in business with about 2-3 hours work as opposed to 29 hours of re-digitizing tapes of footage or 60+ hours re-rendering the files to the correct frame rate. I just knew there was a work around, and this saves the day with no cost and very little time.

This week is much slower on the regular work front, but I am then inundated with freelance. Whilst though not forsake mine soul for but a little while? Oh Fleance, I have not what you desire, which is the ability to control myself and not kill your dad Banquo. These are the cursed thoughts that nature gives way to in repose.

I want to take a full day off and edit my own material. It has been taking too long and I want to get ‘er done. Ere the passing of another cycle of the moon, I shall have completed one, lest the demons of the muse forbear upon my whims.



In the last few years of my life, I have increased my reading exponentially. I read a piece of fiction; then alternate with a non-fiction film-related book. Right now, I’m reading THE MAKING OF RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK from 1981 by Derek Taylor. I love these old straight to paperback BEHIND THE SCENES books. I have several. Some of the best perspectives on making these classic films can be found in the old paperback MAKING OFs. In the MAKING OF SUPERMAN 1978 by David Michael Petrou, I read an insane amount of stories about how the Salkind’s (producers) tried to fire Richard Donner (director). Alan Arnold’s ONCE UPON A GALAXY THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK has some wickedly interesting tidbits on drug abuse, ego, and power struggles and this was written by their PUBLICIST!



I wondered what ever happened to these books and then I realized, looking at my 3 book cases of film related literature, they became these full sized, glossy color picture books.

The book for films were like this:


Now they are more like this:


Now, I like these, but somehow I prefer the well written words to the sidebars to a photo gallery. I really miss the sassy stories and much more educational idea of the text versions of the books.

- Peter John Ross

Obsequious and Ignoble

Why do I do this to myself? I have a sick, nasty compulsion. I just signed on to edit another feature film for someone. This time, it’s an HD feature where I started out just offering some technical advice, and then the curse of knowledge bit me. Next thing you know, I’m scheduling out how I can get assistant editors in to re-synch audio and convert files.

My desire to see things through to completion, AKA obsessive compulsive disorder, appears not to be limited by my own projects (as if Goodnight Cleveland didn’t already demonstrate that). Now I’ve signed on to put together an editorial team to see another feature through the editorial stages. My role starts out more as a “Post Production Supervisor” because I have to get all the technicals lined up and taken care of. Overseeing the flow of footage, sound, and then assembling the files to a point where creative editing can even start to take place is something, unfortunately, I’m good at. Being organized and anal about folders and systematic ordering of massive amounts of data can hardly be labeled “talent”, but it is a skill. One I’m cursed with. Who am I kidding? I do this to myself.

So already, I hit my first major snag. The footage came from the Canon XH A1 HDV camera. It was shot in 24F, which is Canon’s answer to 24P, or 24 progressive frames per second format, the coveted frame rate of actual celluloid film and the key to making narrative pieces look more “serious”. Since their CCD chips are natively interlaced, they have some kind of work around to getting a pseudo progressive “film like” format. Since this is yet ANOTHER HD format I’m learning in the last 3 months, I have hit the hardest wall so far. My beloved CINEFORM codec is not dealing with the footage as well or automated as all the others have so far. The way CINEFORM handled the Sony Z1U footage, shot in PAL 25 frames per second mode and converted it unconventionally to 24P impressed me so much; I thought there was no mountain I couldn’t climb. Now I might have to go back to the source tapes and re-digitize 29 hours of footage. Ugh.



I plan on finishing the two Sonnyboo produced shorts ASAP. I have another weekend of freelance work kicking me, but I need to stockpile the $. Again, the comedy short is already more or less picture locked, minus the 2 pickup shots. The other one needs a solid 8 hour day to just immerse myself with the footage, watch the cut about 20 times, and start to see what annoys me first. Part of my new editorial process is to kill myself watching a piece over and over until something starts to bother me. You have to utterly destroy your association with the piece by over analysis, then you can start to find things that bother you, and those tend to be the same things that an anonymous person either online or in a theater will see on their first viewing and hate to. This chaotic method works far better than you might think.

I still struggle to carve out time to actually WATCH movies. Tonight I forced in the time to watch the black & white “director’s cut” of THE MIST from Frank Darabont of the Stephen King novella. I liked it the first time, and I even love black and white, but I preferred the color version. No other changes to the movie really. It didn’t suck in black and white, but I don’t think it added anything either. Oh well. It’s so freakin’ cool that we live in a world where a director can have it both ways on the same DVD release, so there’s that.



“V” only semi-hates Jessica Cameron. I suppose its progress. He really really hates Micah Jenkins, so this is definitely several notches more friendly than that relationship, but we had such high hopes that upon their first meeting my baby boy “V” would be more like every other boy on the planet and fawn all over miss Jessica. He let her pet him for about 20 seconds without mauling her flesh, so it’s somewhat hopeful. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ says he has claimed me and I’m his pet. He lays on my desk before me now as I type just purring like a motorboat eyes closed in a blissful sleep.

Whatevah…

- PJR

The Veracity of the Muse

I am hoping to finish my edits on the drama this weekend. I didn’t chip away at it much because, thankfully, we had a lot of work this past week for Ye Olde Day Job. I love that I edit for a living. There are far worse ways to make a living. I enjoy what I do a lot. In the current climate of economics, I am grateful to be doing something that I love and get paid to do it. I edited some TV spots, a TV show, an actor’s reel, and an instructional video. There’s even variety in what I get to work on, so it’s not really boring.



Most of the computer graphics design work has come in for the comedy short from TJ Cooley. I cannot wait to get this one done. I played a rough cut for a friend of mine who has been, shall we say, not at all fond of any movie I’ve made. This is someone who I work with professionally creating graphics and doing freelance editing for. He thinks every short and my feature are beneath me and the skills he thinks I have. He doesn’t think I’ve made a single thing worthy of praise. Until now that is. Even without the graphics, which is integral to the piece, he thought it was the best thing I’ve ever been involved with. High praise indeed, especially considering he hasn’t seen the finished piece, plus I have not done the pickup shots for it.

I am pretty impressed with several of the music videos for the Ohio Film Office’s competition. They asked for Ohio bands and Ohio filmmakers to combine their talents for a music video contest. There are some amazing clips out there. It makes me proud of our statewide community. So much untapped skill being applied to a mutually beneficial application between filmmakers and musicians.

Today I volunteered the studio to a non-profit, everyone’s donating for free shoot. It’s for an urban outreach program. The real sacrifice was being here at 8:00AM on a Saturday (or any day before 11:00AM for me). I am sleepy and tired.



This weekend I hope to show My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ the classic CASABLANCA. She’s never seen it and I’ve only seen it twice. I got the HD-DVD of it for $3, so that will be a treat. I also rented the Blu-Ray of AMADEUS, so I’m hoping between tonight and tomorrow we can get through both movies. AMADEUS in 5.1 DTS Surround should kick some serious assage.



I saw WATCHMEN. It was good. I like a perspective on the super hero mythos that analyzes some psychology and addresses the flaws in the comic book logics. The idea of “right and wrong” not being black and white, along with what a hero is, are all subject to examination, which to me is the spice of the genre rarely tasted.

Oh well, need to do something more productive than writing this drivel.

=- Ross

The Sundance dream has died....

In the not too distant past, the dream of every filmmaker was to get into the Sundance Film Festival, and with that golden ticket came the studio deal for the feature, an eventual limited theatrical run, and then a real career was made.

THIS article in VARIETY (click here) has a perspective that I've had for the last 2-3 years. "Indie Film" as most of us knew it has died and with it went he delusional Sundance Film Festival dream. The times of KEVIN SMITH's, QUENTIN TARANTINO's, RICHARD LINKLATER's, ROBERT RODRIGEUZ's, and the like does not exist in today's film markets. Studios and even the remnants of the indie divisions or independent studios are NOT looking for unknown talent. At least they are not paying any decent sum to find out if there are diamonds in the rough.

I liked the article for explaining the WHY for this scenario changing. The now-dead dream of getting your movie into Sundance and getting a distribution deal has died a horrible death. Statistically speaking, the movies that have sold in the last year or two have LOST money at the box office, so everyone who used to buy movies (Miramax, Weinstein Company, Fox Searchlight, Paramount Vantage) either do not exist now or they are gun shy for losing money on their gambles the past few years.

HAMLET 2 - sold for $10 million, made $4.9 million
CHOKE - sold for $5 million, made $2.9 million
AMERICAN TEEN - sold for $2 million, made $942,000

So now that movie studios are run by bankers, and realistically, the movie business IS a "business", and these are not bankable any more. The speculative reasons are that the audience isn't that interested anymore or that there is too much glutton of movies with NAME stars of some kind available on TV, DVD, on demand, online, etc. 

The last few "indie" success stories from Sundance are for movies like LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, that had a budget of $3 million and starred Oscar nominees/winners and Emmy nominees/winners.

The future is unwritten and at some point a complete unknown will take the world by storm and then the "indie films" movement will have wheels again, but who knows when or how that will happen? I can't wait for something outside any kind of studio system will connect with audiences and redefine the industry.... again.

Sundance expectations tempered

Sellers and buyers both have modest hopes

By ANNE THOMPSON

There's a new reality at Sundance: dramatically tempered expectations.

Amid a tough economy, a veritable decimation of specialty-film divisions and a run of less-than-stellar returns for last year’s crop of Sundance faves, sellers are coming in with much more modest hopes than in other recent editions. And buyers aren’t looking to disabuse them of that outlook.

"We’ve all been to ‘Happy, Texas,’ " says Focus Features CEO James Schamus of the much-hyped 1999 entry that sold for some $10 million and grossed under $2 million upon its release.

Last year’s most-ballyhooed Sundance sales found no glory at the domestic box office: Focus Features’ $10 million worldwide acquisition "Hamlet 2," Searchlights $5 million "Choke," Overture’s $3.5 million "Henry Poole Is Here," Paramount Vantage’s $1 million-$2 million "American Teen," and two Sony Pictures Classics pickups, ‘The Wackness" and ‘Baghead" (which were bought for under $1 million). Overture will finally open its $2 million ’08 pickup "Sunshine Cleaning" on March 13.

The success stories of last year’s Park City confab turned out to be docus "Man on Wire" and "Trouble the Water" (both made the early cut for Oscar’s doc competition). Micro-budget neo-realist dramas "Frozen River," starring Melissa Leo, and Lance Hammer’s "Ballast" also fared well with critics, although theatrical revenue was modest. Rookie director Hammer released "Ballast" himself, setting a new model for others unable to make the right deal.

Now, with the economy in freefall, it’s tough for filmmakers to hold onto the usual fantasies of getting scooped up by a deep-pocketed specialty distrib like Focus. While a plethora of films were made at the end of the financing bubble, only four studio distribs are still standing, plus five or so mid-size indies.

Groundswell’s Michael London has experienced the swings of the erratic indie market over the past year. Overture’s "The Visitor" was a hit, but Miramax made no money on Sundance pre-buy "Smart People."

Last year London left Sundance without having sold "Mysteries of Pittsburgh," starring Peter Saarsgard.

It took another year to make a deal with small distrib Peach Arch for a limited theatrical release.

"We made it on an outmoded business model," says London. "It’s impossible to spend money on a quality drama -- without big foreign pre-sales -- in order to sell for a profit or cover your investment at a film festival. The market is too flooded with good movies, and distributors don’t want in unless you have big stars or a marketing hook."

"Mysteries of Pittsburgh" wasn’t the only film to leave Sundance empty-handed last year. Other notables to pack up without a distrib deal in place included "What Just Happened?" and "The Great Buck Howard."

And there will be plenty more without a deal this time around. Putting distribution together can take months.

Last year, producer Lynette Howell ("Half Nelson") went into Sundance 2008 with high hopes for "Phoebe in Wonderland," which stars Elle Fanning as an imaginative girl who adores "Alice in Wonderland."

"People were still expecting the trends of the last few years of big sales," she says. "It was frightening when over the first few days nothing sold. It took a slow burn. If you need to get a $5 million sale you have to be ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ "

When "Phoebe" didn’t land a one-stop buyer, Howell’s husband, Endeavor agent Graham Taylor, who was repping the movie, got creative. He raised $3 million by selling exclusive TV rights to Lifetime Network, non-exclusive DVD and streaming rights to Netflix’s Red Envelope, and a reduced minimum guarantee from theatrical and DVD distrib ThinkFilm.

"Our investors were able to recoup," says Howell, "and we reached a broader audience than we expected going in.’

But even last year’s flex approach is less possible this year. Since then, Lifetime has shuttered its film label, Netflix has closed Red Envelope and ThinkFilm is a trying to restore confidence under ex-New Line exec David Tuckerman, who plans to release "Wonderland" on March 6.

Fingers crossed, Howell says.

This month, Howell faces a similar challenge with competition entry "The Greatest," written by rookie helmer Shana Feste. Her screenplay about a family dealing with the loss of their son and the unexpected visit of his girlfriend arrived out of nowhere, says Howell, who lured to the film Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon and vet lenser John Bailey. Howell and Endeavor easily raised $6 million from Bavarian Film Group and debt lender Oceana.

Howell did not finance against foreign pre-sell estimates, although Sidney Kimmel Intl. did sell a few foreign territories at Cannes.

"We are holding out on most of them," she says. "You get bigger numbers if you have a distributor."

But even if the movie plays like gangbusters, that does not mean Endeavor will land a distrib.

This year, people are fiscally conscious about the few movies that work, Howell says. "I’m taking it to the fest and hope it finds support and a home."

Another wrinkle in this year’s acquisitions mix: At least one major studio may not allow its specialty arm to acquire films shot under a SAG waiver while the Guild lacked a contract for seven months.

Usually, a new contract will supersede the waiver, but there’s no contract in sight, and some studios are in no mood to be helpful to SAG (though others are not concerned about this issue.) If a major’s specialty wing refuses to buy SAG waiver films, that could take the biggest potential deals off the table and cede the field to the likes of Summit and Overture, which are hungry to buy.

"I Love You Philip Morris" was completed under the old SAG agreement, but hot sale title "Brooklyn’s Finest" was not.

Having survived last year, Howell must weigh paying back her "Greatest" financier against wanting the film to play theatrically: It isn’t always the best exposure for the film. Most smaller distribs offer limited New York and L.A. releases geared toward a DVD release. And sometimes a direct TV sale is the best deal. "If it doesn’t sell at Sundance," adds Howell, "it’s not the end of the world."

London is relieved to be taking a year off from the fest.

"Sundance is a unique and wonderful way to get immersed in the real dreams coming true of indie filmmakers," he says. "But that little piece of social and creative connection, and discovering movies and filmmakers, has been overwhelmed for me by this shopping mall for movies. Maybe when I return people will go up not to buy or sell, but to watch."

And for filmmakers and would-be sellers keen to keep the old Sundance dreams alive, there’s always the remote prospect that a buyer will take to a passion project, and damn the tough times.

"I’ve lost money on movies I’ve loved and acquired and made money on movies I’ve loved and acquired," says Focus’ Schamus. "I’ll overpay this year if I feel like it."

A Marked Propensity for Carrion and Fodder

I was serious about taking my time with these edits. I’m not rushing the process. These days I start to tinker and watch takes, and lately, the various performances are being scrutinized more than I ever did before. Since one of these pieces is a drama, the performances are so much more important to nail. Selecting the most consistent and “true” acting is my mandate.

The first clips are a walking montage and the ending is a similar, non-dialogue piece but I wanted to modernize the editorial style for these. It’s not just some passé need to be current, as my justification is the mindset of the character we’re focused on, since her mind is somewhat fractured, so I wanted something editorial and effect-y to represent this visually. Learning that doing things “just because” or because “that looks cool” are lame to me. If there’s no reason to affect the color or stylize the footage, then don’t do it. Few things in a movie can cheapen it or make it appear to be amateur as all get out than people who try to follow the trends without understanding the reasons they were founded, or worse morons who try to create their own trends without any justification whatsoever. These never create waves, only mockery.

I’ve taken to duplicating all the footage and project files to a portable 1Terabyte drive so I can work on this at work or at home or even on my laptop anywhere. I never know when the muse will hit and I want to be able to take my metaphorical mallet and shape the orange metal while it is proverbially hot. Riding the wave of creativity when it starts to overtake one’s self should never be ignored.

I may attempt to create a 5.1 Surround sound mix for these two projects myself. I have never done it before and it interests me a little, especially since I have a DTS sound system now. I don’t have a 5.1 Surround audio card, but I might invest in one if I think it’s worthwhile. I prefer to find people who already have an interest in such things.

For the 2nd piece, the comedy, I made a list of all the CGI graphics work it will entail. I’m humbled by the idiocy on my part for co-writing this incredible amount of post production work. There are well over 120 graphic elements that need to be created for a short that is under 4 minutes. I already did a 4 second title sequence out of nowhere yesterday. I created a virtual credit card and flew it around with specular lighting.



In the end, it will all be worth it. So far, I’ve been dead wrong in my predictions, but I’ll go on a limb again and say this will be the most popular Sonnyboo produced short online I’ve ever been involved in. I don’t regret not being the director, as I am a co-writer, producer, and editor on the movie. There is still a lot of “me” in it, but I am not the sole creator and not the director. This title belongs to the lovely young lady.

George Caleodis and Amanda Howell do a great job in it. George’s comic timing slays me every time and Amanda, whom I had not previously worked kicked ass. It’s hard pairing George with strong female actors with strong comedic timing and Amanda went toe to toe with him just fine.

I estimate 2-3 more weeks of post production work on this short. There’s about 2 weeks left on the first short too. I’m getting some of the aforementioned editorial effects work done now, and doing the meat of the scene work after. Even when the rhythmic muse is not present, I can work on these technical and render intensive elements.

Here’s a conundrum for my friends: what is it about me that inspires so much jealousy? There are a few (can you believe more than 3-4) guys out there that read this here blog and just burn up with the hate and envy.

I guess I am still confused by the “this guy is fat, his girlfriend is ugly, he is gay, he loves Paris (the city, not the girl), he’s a total geek, and he’s a total failure…..” which is why they spend so much time reading my words, watching my movies, then writing diatribes and comments for literally over a year. If I were so pathetic and my life so devoid of meaning, then why am I worth so much time and attention? The answer is a resounding obvious “JEALOUSY” from some, but I have never known jealous to last well into the plus 1 year mark, and isn’t it a contradiction to say I’m such a loser, yet be jealous?

I am not a fan of Michael Bay movies, but I can’t find the productive or usefulness in the idea of going to his message board and writing to him semi-daily saying “You’re talentless and your momma is ugly!” I don’t pay to see his movies; I don’t read his blog, and it is amazing how little Michael Bay bothers me, although I will say I thought THE TRANSFORMERS was decent. I got no time for these people anymore. My recommendation remains the same as it always has; If you’re reading this blog and upset or unhappy, then stop reading it. Find something better to do with your time. Then again, these words are falling on the eyes of either imbeciles without the mental capacity to comprehend logic, or they are being read by emotionally imbalanced, irrational buffoons that are incapable of recognizing their desperate cries for mental and emotional rehabilitation. Either way, not really any concern of mine, just an idle curiosity. Perhaps one of my readers can shed some insight into this phenomenon, or perhaps a trained psychiatric opinion can….

Things are going great for me by my own standards, which are the only ones that matter to me. I am achieving the goals I set forth, so I have no concerns for what other people consider success or failure. When someone calls me a failure (like my mom or my sisters), I am confused more than anything. I’m doing what I want and getting where I want to go whilst simultaneously I am motivated to aim higher and continue my growth. I guess I don’t understand why I would care or give a Shiite about anyone else’s opinion. Why would this possibly matter to me? How can that possibly affect me? See what I mean? I’m confused, not angry or upset. Similarly, I wish that people who read my dissenting views about things I find pathetic would similarly, not care and believe enough in you to not worry about my opinion.



Has anyone else been watching Joss Whedon’s DOLLHOUSE series? Eh, it’s okay. It’s Joss so I’m in for the long haul, but it seems to be missing entirely his trademark HUMOR. There’s little irony or fun in the show. What balanced out the action and horror elements in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER was the amazing humor and wit. So far, we’re lacking that in this show. I was however deeply disturbed by the performance of actor Graham Norris as a stalker. This guy scared the bejesus out of me! It was incredibly intense how he was stalking and spooky in his appearance as a psychotic nut job. Just look at this guy! COMPLETELY BELIEVABLE as a crazy wacko with a gun and nothing left to live. Joss Whedon, get out of my head!



Anywho, I’m finishing up some DVD burns for a client, and once this last disc finishes, I hope to get some personal editing done.


Peace out ya’ll,
Peter John Ross
Your friend in the Avril Lavigne Fan Club!

Indubitably Implacable

I just finished editing the near picture lock on one of the two shorts I produced. I think we need to do a pickup shoot for 2 shots. This was 100% an error on my part, if for no reason than NOT booking a scrip supervisor/continuity person. That job is an all important function, but I arrogantly thought we could go without for a simple 3 page shoot. Was I wrong on that count! Someone needed to remind us to shoot coverage of these 2 lines and we did not. No one check listed the shots with the script and now we’re desperately in need to cover this hole. I won’t be making this mistake again anytime soon.







Tomorrow I should have a picture lock on the other of the two shorts. When I say “picture lock” or the “edit”, that is NOT the end of the process.These are all pre-FX and pre-color correction, not to mention the full sound mix, sound design, scoring, and title phases that ensue. I’m taking my time on each step because it’s not only education, but I want these to be great, not just good. I’m keeping that bar raised for myself and those that work on them.







One of these two pieces will have an intense amount of CGI and graphics work. This will NOT be simple or fast. Working in 1920x1080 at 24 Frames Per Second doesn’t exactly speed up any part of the process either. I’m used to working with standard definition 720x480 graphics, and this full raster HD in a 4:2:2 color space has my computer wigging out a little. Luckily it’s only a 3.5 minute piece, but even then, almost every shot has a digital effect in it. Because of the rigors of post production, I wanted to finish this edit first, so that’s the one that is basically done. I can proceed with the FX since the 2 pickup shots are non-effects shots and it won’t affect anything I do with those. Needless to say this bugs my obsessive compulsive side.







I submitted UNCLE PETE and IN THE TRENCHES to a few film festivals this past week. I’ve taken too long a break from that kind of thing. Time to get back to it and getting the work seen again. Once these two pieces are finished, I’ll really increase their exposure, and not in the poser-wannabe way I see in my cheap imitators. I mean, I’m going to bust ass to get them seen in real places.



I’m even contemplating a summer film festival of shorts. The question is, should it be a COWTOWN FILM SERIES one off event or a LOOK AT MY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL? I think COWTOWN. The level of excellence for COWTOWN is higher than the way the last screening of LOOK AT MY SHORTS was just kinda trashed. COWTOWN also had better sponsors and I intend to parlay that much bigger. I think I can get some TV ad time on Time Warner-WOW-Insight to really get some asses in seats. It takes months to properly promote and fund an event like this, so if I choose to do this, I’ll commit to dates and start working in less than a month. So I think COWTOWN represents a more professional era and I’ll leave the LOOK AT MY SHORTS to represent the amateurs and posers, of which I was definitely in those ranks then, but not now.







Work has slowed some. What a shock! At least it’s not at a standstill. My prediction? Once we get to the June-July period, people will realize the world didn’t end and start spending some of money they’ve stockpiled. Then some new jobs will open back up and the injuries will begin to heal, slowly but most likely.



I sold several DVD’s in the last few months unintentionally. I always do my duplication at work, and so I usually have some discs lying around. Sometimes commercial clients want to buy a DVD; sometimes it’s an editing class student wanting either the book or a DVD. So I’ve decided to make sure I always have a decent amount of product around. I dedicated a shelf of product at work, and have a box of various DVD’s in the trunk at all times too. You never know when you might want to sell or give a disc away. I run into people from HORRORS OF WAR in various places and want to give them their free copy of IN THE TRENCHES, so keeping some stock handy will save me on shipping.



That’s all for now my bitches. Are you a pretty hate machine?





- Peter John Ross

Chancellor of Rossdonia

A province of Rossdom

The Man-gina Chronicles

Last night’s shoot went great. That’s 2 in a row where things were pretty much spot on. We shot in my parent’s house and that was odd because there are pictures of me from all ages all over the house, so it was like a “Ross Museum” or more akin to freak show as people tried to figure out where the svelte good looking teenager disappeared into the fat hairy guy who must have eaten him.





Because of the rush nature of putting this together, I did not get to rehearse and that does bother me. I very much prefer to work for at least an hour or two with actors without a crew standing by or working so we can build some kind of rapport, and work without a net. There needs to be an environment of trust so that when we talk about things I like or not like, and what they prefer and want to try, we can experiment and talk without it being under pressure or with an audience. I don’t want an actor to be self conscious if I tell them I don’t like something they are trying because with 10-12 people watching it might seem like I’m shooting them down and embarrassing them. Similarly, I don’t want to have an argument if they don’t like the way I want a line to be read and we’re in the thick of the shoot with me behind the dolly, camera, and bank of monitors.







Now for this shoot, we shot with the Sony Z1U. Since I have Cineform’s ASPECT HD codec, I read up on it and they recommended shooting in the European PAL format of 25CF (cine-frame) mode. This is a Sony workaround to get the “film” like image, they shoot in an HD PAL format into a 50i image, and my software can extrapolate the 25 progressive frames from it and converts it down to 24 frames per second, but then re-works the audio so that it keeps the pitch normal without slowing it down too. It’s all very technical and makes sense to me. If you’re reading this and feel dumb, that’s okay. Maybe you are, or at least you aren’t as super-duper intelligent like me. Or maybe if you watch Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica and the techno babble makes perfect sense to you, we can be friends. It’s a miracle I have a girlfriend, and if I have to tell you that the last 2-3 sentences contained incredible amounts of sarcasm, then you are in fact dumb and that’s not a facetious stab.







What is cool for me about working on some shorts again is trying out several HD camera makes and models. As I gear up for 3 features later on, I want to have some firsthand experience with several cameras and see how they edit, handle color correction, effects, etc. Before I shoot on another feature, I will have seen how these cameras’ footage looks projected too. All of this combines to make more informed decisions about what to shoot the features with when the money is on the line. Shorts can serve a VERY important piece of the process and be multi-beneficial if you use your noggin.







I am proud of John’s sister Joanne Fromes who is doing well with her first few projects as a director. Again, My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ had to work, and there is some tension over the amount of time I spend with this young nubile girl. The editing sessions will begin tomorrow and she’ll see that not many hot young chicks are into hoggin’ it with the biggies. It’s very weird to not be the director on these pieces and just a co-writer and producer. I’m having a blast anyway. Maybe I’ll stop directing and only produce. And maybe it will rain beer.







I’m still waiting for this PAL 50i conversion to 23.976 Progressive frames to finish conforming the .M2T files to .AVI. I’m telling you, if that sounds like Chinese to you, then you need to get busy studying CODECS. Your first assignment? Tell me what CODEC stands for!





Peace and B WILD,

Peter John Ross

Sycophantic Distance

So the shoot yesterday went very well. I couldn’t be more pleased. Working with a mostly female crew was great. We had a few dudes on the crew, as Gil Whitney was the D.P. and Mike McNeese was the gaffer. Rachel Hannah was awesome (as always), so the crew and the actors did a great job. Major shout out to Max Groah for helping us with getting the main location. Actually, everyone was great on the crew and cast.



Biggest lesson learned? I really really appreciate a solid art director. Leyna has a great eye and killer sensibilities, even though she’s a smoker. We built a set from scratch in the studio for this and for practically no money, Leyna pulled together something that worked well and beyond the cash value.



This was just a 3 page script and something very complex, yet simple in many ways. The idea of doing a drama and make sense with some level of depth, relating mostly to female sensibilities appealed to me. Helping put this together and doing this will give me some satisfaction.



We went 2 hours over my overestimation of the shoot day. It was worth it to get the best looking footage possible. I said 10:30AM till 7:00PM, but we went till a little after 9:00PM. Normally, a Sonnyboo Production wraps early, but I pushed for a better look and a more polished end product.

Today I’m converting all the footage shot on the P2 cards with the Panasonic HVX200A from their native *.MXF format to a Cineform *.AVI format for editing and color correction. I get the benefit of a free upres to 1920x1080P and a more robust color palette for post production, so the conversion is worth the 5-7 hours render time now, as opposed to later.



Now, I have about 3.5 hours of footage for what will be a 4 minute or less short. That means I have a lot of options. I will endeavor to work with the director, newcomer Joanne Fromes to cobble together a nice piece. She’s John’s sister and has some interesting ideas. We’ll see if they mesh together coherently. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ gets a little jealous of the time I’ve been spending with Joanne, but she’ll get over it.

Speaking of which, for Valentine’s Day, I made this video about the topic of SPOONS but alas it was to no avail. I am saddened. Many thanks to Andrew Kramer and Videocopilot.net for the cool graphics in my everlasting quest for the Spoons.



I have ANOTHER shoot on this week, so the busy time has begun for Sonnyboo Productions. We’ll see how well this whole thing keeps trucking along. There is a new standard and I feel like keeping the bar raised for myself. My standards were too low in the past, so it’s time to rise up and meet the challenge I have for my own productions.

COMING SOON TO AMAZON.COM and other TV and DVD outlets…


What up, my droogies?
- Ross

coup d'etat de resistance

I am producing a new piece next week. To help out a first time female director has many levels of appeal to me. It’s the whole big brotherly fraternal aspect, plus the philanthropic endeavor. I want to see more great pieces come from Columbus in terms of film. The bar has been raised and I want to see it met and surpassed.



We’re shooting on the Panasonic HVX200A with the P2 cards. I like the look of the Panasonic cinegamma style color curves. I would never say “film like”, but I can say that it is aesthetically pleasing and doesn’t look like video, which is good. The clean codec also merits mentioning, as it is a lot less compressed than HDV with its MPEG2 evils. I have worked with this material before, but I have never edited with these file types. The HVX200A is a tapeless format and everything records to a memory P2 card. You put that card into the PCMCIA slot of a laptop, then transfer it off the card to your hard drives and start editing. We’ll have someone on set to offload cards and copy footage at all times. It’s not unlike loading and unloading film magazines with the film shoots, only less potentially fatal to the source footage (unless you delete something or fail to copy something).

I did a test ahead of time to make sure this will work with my systems. This entailed getting some basic footage and converting it to the Aspect HD codec I use at home. I needed a driver to read the P2 cards first. Then I needed a P2 reader software so I could read the native *.MXF files that the video and audio is recorded to. Once I got both of those installed, it was effortless to get editable AVI’s and the quality is astoundingly good. The HVX200A has a better low light image than its predecessor.



Continuing on a thread from one of my last blog entries, I find that my interests in filmmaking are shifting a little. I’m not as into comedy as I once was. The appeal of drama and performance from actors captivates me. Not to say I’ll abandon the funnier material, especially in light of recent successes in regards to UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME, but I digress. Yet again, a trip to Ohio from George equates to another rush to shoot a short with George. I want to take my time and be a little more precise in the things I produce, but George is too good not to take advantage of using as an actor. He’s especially good at fleshing out ideas.

I have another short script/story that has been brewing for over a year. I had a great setup, but no payoff, at least not one that equates the layup. Brainstorming with George, I stumbled on the answer. Sometimes the pressure of time squeezes out the best ideas. It’s hard to find people who “get it” in terms of brainstorming. I liken it to the process of writing on Television. It’s a flurry of “no, that’s not right” until you get those nuggets of gold. You know its right when you hear it. There is no other rhyme or reason. In this case, it was several of George ideas that were NOT right that I found the right ending to the piece. Collaboration isn’t an exact science I guess.

Inspiration comes from life and the bizarre nooks and cranny of the brain. The kernel of the idea of this short is over 11 years old from when I was working at Banc One Securities Corp ™. In conversation with a girl who was one of the few that I actually liked, she said things about her relationship that struck me as odd. The key is to not be inhibited by the realities. This is a work of fiction solely “based” on this discourse, and I’m not making a documentary, so I’m not obligated to any truth other than the truth of the human condition. I like to take real events, conversations, etc. and nudge them into a workable fiction that says something I want to say about life, the world, people, or anything else that tickles my fancy.

I find that when I right outlines, just to get the ideas “on paper” (in a virtual Microsoft Word ® sense) that I start very vague and by the end I always get more detailed and include exact dialogue in quotes et al. Then I go back and start filling in more dialogue at the beginning and the next thing I know, I already have an entire first draft. It’s a process of cracking the writer’s block and getting the flow going. Once the characters start talking, I feel more like I’m transcribing not writing. That is the BEST feeling. When characters develop an actual voice and speech patterns all their own, plus saying things or doing things you had not pre-conceived; that is the shiznet, if you can excuse my colloquialism and pseudo nomenclature.



My cats are still being defiant as ever. The Might “V” has utterly destroyed the colored mice toys in record time. He has taken to bringing their slobbering remains into my bed in the morning. “V” will proceed to flip the item in the air, then jump around the bed to catch it and tear it apart…. On my legs, on my arms, and on my head. He is a demon, but he’s my pet demon and it’s so hard to be mad at him. I did eject both cats and My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ from the bed the other morning so I could get another hour’s sleep. Shock and awe ensued as I denied any desire for Spoons in favor of the almighty shut eye.

What more can I say? Time to boogie on down the road.


Peace and love and good happiness stuff as Steve Vai used to say…
Peter John Ross
Of Rossdonia Farms
“Fresh Manure with French Fries”

Juniper and other things that annoy me

As for the goings on in C-bus, we’re in pre-production on the Feb. shoot. I am just producing for an up and coming young female director. The first three months of 2009 are dedicated to the ladies as it were. I’m trying to help provide equipment, gear, post production facilities and networking to the oft overlooked female filmmaker of Central Ohio. We have a void where interesting women’s roles and stories should be. In March, I will direct a short for myself. It’s a legal drama thingy I’ve had in mind for a while. My dream cast is coming together, but I need a solid script first and that takes time. I am now a constant re-writer of this piece until I get it “right” if there is such a thing. Deadlines are helping to make things happen.





April-June will be preparation for the next feature(s). I have a new business model I’m going to try out. I have a 2 year plan for my filmmaking. From my initial feelers to investors and money types, the proposal looks favorable. It doesn’t hurt to have a movie on shelves at Blockbuster ™.



Also in our local film scene, for those keeping score, it looks like the Columbus IndieClub is fading away. For the January meetings, the MOFA (Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association) meeting had 27-29 people on a night when there was a weather advisory for snow and temperatures below Zero. A week later, at the all important “town hall” meeting for the future of IndieClub when the weather was fine, about 15 people show up. It’s all very sad. Actions speak much louder than words, and I think it’s abundantly clear what people prefer. They don’t like IndieClub and they do like MOFA.



The two groups can co-exist, but it’s all in the leadership. I agree with some people which is that when the current “leader” steps down from IndieClub, they should let the group stay away for a few months, and let the aura of the current leader wear away before starting over again fresh and new.



I recall sending an email on Sept 25th 2006 to the leadership of IndieClub outlining ways in which they can market the group for free, including the calendar listings of the free papers, the community message board on public access, etc. I even suggested the movie theater they currently meet at as the location in the same email. Ironically, the “leader” brags about all these things being HIS accomplishments, but all I can think is how poor a leader is that can’t honestly give credit where credit is due.



Back to more positive news, I just received even more good news for UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME from George on the West Coast. First, I have a big thing about text messages. I don’t really like them. I’ve told George this. He stopped, but then one Sunday night he texted me. I was mad, until I read what he wrote. He said that the applause and laughter Uncle Pete’s PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY just got will be worth the cost of this text message. George has been teaching at the Second City (again) and he was doing the Alumni shows. They wanted material to play between things and he generously (and fortuitously) offered Uncle Pete. Between the Improv Olympic (iO West) and now Second City, Uncle Pete has some good live exposure. Now George has brought additional news, but until I take the call on Monday or Tuesday, we’ll let the potential future of Uncle Pete on television remain somewhat vague. Suck on that haters.



Time to celebrate someone else’s birthday tonight.



Peace,

Ross

of

Rossdonia,

Land of the Spooning Weasels

Paris et l'amour de cinéma

I just watched a Blu-Ray of the film PARIS JE ‘TAIME, which is really a collection of shorts from a wide array of filmmakers from across the globe, not the least of which are the Cohen Brothers, Gus Van Zant, Alexander Payne, and Alfonso Cuarón. I was floored by the movie for various reasons.



Now I’ve been to Paris France 7 times in my life and each trip was profoundly different. I do love Paris as one of the greatest cities on Earth. On my first visit, I recall meeting a Canadian at the hostel and then proceeding to get drunk on cherry whine in the Latin Quarter with him and his friend, a local Parisian girl. Then there are some vague impressions of vomiting in the middle of the night and sleeping for over 16 hours, and no recollection of how I got to my room and why I still had my wallet.

My second visit had my fondest memory of being near the Eiffel Tower. It was about 2:00AM and I wondered up the long hill to the museum that overlooks the tower and tour buses were still dropping people off from Germany, the U.S., Australia, and more with an incredible carnival atmosphere that late at night with street vendors and musicians enjoying themselves like it was noon. I met people, frolicked and just swooned with the wave that everyone had in that moment. That was the strangest touristy moment I ever had, yet didn’t feel disingenuous for anyone there.

I have shot some Super 8 film in the city myself, but nothing substantial or meaningful. On the last trip I wanted to shoot something, no matter how apparently meaningless. Unfortunately, the Canon HV20 was not out yet and I really wished I had that camera then. To be able to shoot so much, especially in 24P high definition would have been amazing. Perhaps one day soon, I will return for my 8th trip to this city and make even a simple short film there.

Other films have been wonderful post cards to the city such as Richard Linklater’s sequel BEFORE SUNSET, Paris’ hometown hero Luc Besson’s LA FEMME NIKITA, and even the Lawrence Kasden comedy FRENCH KISS. I love each of those films if for no other reason than capturing a small essence of the city.



PARIS JE ‘TAIME is a collection of short films, each with varying styles, casts, and every short focuses on a different district, trying to evoke the flavor of the different parts of the city. American, European, Mexican, Spanish, and even Asian and African casts meld and merge in this amazing set of stories. Each director had 5 minutes to tell a story, from things a varied as a vampire story to love stories, to slices of life vignettes, and fantastical or simple. I recommend anyone interested in making short films watch this feature to get inspired by the elegance of the cinematography, the simplicity of the storytelling, yet with deep impacts. So much is said with so little dialogue, in English or French, and so much is visually told.



I couldn’t have watched this movie at a better time. I’m gearing up for a short shoot and stylistically, this film was right up my alley for the type of movies I’m about to make for the next 3-4 months. Things are prepping well. I want to expand what I’ve done and mature some as a filmmaker.



I give PARIS JE ‘TAIME a very high recommendation. Natalie Portman starring in Tom Tykwer’s segment, which means the film already had 2 stars in my book, rates a 5 star movie overall. If you make or want to make short films, this is a MUST SEE movie.

Adieu,
Pierre Jean Ross

IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM on DVD

The feature length documentary IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM is now for sale on AMAZON.COM for only $15.99

CLICK HERE TO BUY "In the Trenches of an Indie Film

This movie makes a great guide for first time filmmakers attempting to make a feature length project, covering pre-production to post production and the marketing and promotion of the a film.

Bonus features include tutorial videos on storyboards, make up FX, editing, and more.

Support truly independent movies! Especially ones I produce....

- Peter John Ross aka Sonnyboo

Rotating the Axle of Confabulation

As I start to get creative again, weird things happen. Without exception, as I embark on the making of a movie, ancillary side effects occur. When I first made my first “shorts”, I eventually got fired from my job. Today, I work in the same industry, so the two things go hand in hand. The differences are the people I meet and the worlds that collide from the creative/artistic world those that call “The Normies”, for normal people.

More on that later.

Here is an update from Rossdonia, not to be confused with the old place better known as Rossdom. Our new government with the feline races has much more equality, but we still deal with terrorism. “V”, has made our “Most Wanted” list for destroying the corner of a couch, and Cousette remains a rebel leader, but since she’s soon to be 13 years old, she’s much easier to catch. This is a close to being a parent as I think I am capable of. Because I love these critters, I might be sharing some of their personality online. I haven’t quite found the niche I want, but I have some idea now what I’ll do.



TECHIE UPDATE – If you read this blog, you know that last year I made the jump to HD-DVD just in time to get burned by its loss in the High Def video war against Sony’s BLU RAY. I eventually relented and got a Play Station 3 ™ and kept my HD-DVD’s. At some point last year I sold my PS3 and got a Samsung HD-DV/BLU-RAY combo player so I didn’t have to change out cables every time I switched between the 2 formats. I’ve been very happy with the combo player and it has allowed me to scoop up some sub $5 deals on HD-DVD discs or buy 6-7 disc sets for $15 (like HEROES season 1 and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA season 1).



The rain in paradise came from the latest Sony and Disney Blu-Rays. Part of this new technology that makes it great is the new formats, like the “TRUE HD AUDIO”. Unfortunately, that means that discs that have ONLY the TRUE HD audio means I can’t hear any of it on my surround sound. That is, unless I upgrade my surround sound to SONY’s exclusive DTS surround sound. There is nothing wrong with my surround sound package whatsoever, but in order to hear the full 5.1 surround mixes on the latest discs like BAND OF BROTHERS, FIREFLY, or WALL*E, I would have to buy an entirely new receiver.



Now for MORE rain in paradise (starting to get pretty moist in this place), all the new receivers use a “passive” subwoofer that takes a coaxial cable, not regular speaker cable. So I not only would have to buy a new receiver with Sony’s DTS, I’d have to buy a new subwoofer. What’s the point? I can get a full surround sound “package” that has all 6 speakers and a receiver for about the same price.
So I collected up my 5 Best Buy gift card from Xmas, and researched and found the right system for me. I didn’t want to upgrade to the full HDMI setup because I’d be spending too much money that I don’t have to spend, so I priced out an inexpensive PIONEER set, of which that company has been very good to me in the past. The plan is to donate my old surround sound to my father who has ALWAYS wanted one, but my mother would never allow it. We have plans to secretly install it when she is playing bridge this coming week. My pops has become quite a bit more like me since he retired.

Yesterday I had to drive to Grove City in south end of Columbus to get the last known surround sound kit within 100 miles of us that matched my price and requirements. There was still some “risk” in that my HD-DVD/BLU RAY combo player allegedly converts the TRUE HD AUDIO into a Sony DTS signal, but I read it on some guys review on Amazon.com, so it may not work. I did the latest “firmware” update where they put some software out there you can download it, burn it to a CD or DVD and put it in the player and it will upgrade the internal software of your player.



It worked. I setup the new surround sound system, used my old cables, replaced all the speakers with the new ones, and then hooked up everything. The bass and subwoofer shake the foundation of the Earth. Meanwhile, I had bought years ago the 5.1 surround mix DTS versions of 2 Sting CD’s (Brand New Day and Ten Summoners Tales), which are amazing in surround. I also played THE BEATLES – LOVE 5.1 surround audio CD. Still, the true test will always be a movie, so last night I jammed out some DTS surround of Band of Brothers in a battle scene and I probably tripled the wattage from my old surround. If the neighbors hated us before, they will learn the meaning of despise before February.

For the past 2 years, I have not been “in the mood” to watch many features at home. I occasionally would get through 1 movie in a weekend, and usually something I rented from Netflix. I have been stockpiling cheap Blu-Ray’s and HD-DVD’s without watching them, thinking “I’ll have time when the economy crashes” or the usual “someday” feel. The economy has crashed, but I still don’t have that much free time, but for the last month I’ve been carving out more time and watching more of my discs.



Two weeks ago, My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I delved into the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA remake HD-DVD set that had the entire miniseries and also the entire first season. She was hooked and for me it was round two, but I had not seen them in High Def, with full 5.1 surround sound. Now I have often said, and still believe, that I will only ever own season 1 because it was near perfection and none of the other seasons are as consistently at this quality. We went from the HD-DVD marathon to my pre-recorded versions of the rest of the series all the way to the half way point of season 4 that is about to start up again, but still… not as great as season 1, but still good. I feel similarly towards HEROES, but I don’t think the 2nd or 3rd seasons are anywhere close to the mark they had in the 1st. I feel no need to buy additional seasons of either show.

Saturday night I watched Clerks 2 on HD-DVD and IRON MAN on BLU-RAY. God, these look and sound great on my 42” 1080P TV and I can turn around and edit on that same monitor at 1920x1080 or play Wolfenstein Enemy Territory full screen and immerse myself completely in another world. Last night we watched the season premiere of 24 in full surround sound and in HD off a $5 antenna. All of these things were fantasies beyond science fiction when I was a kid.

Sometimes you have to look back and realize that we’re living in the future today.