Rock-N-Roll Creation

I love working with actors. My two favorite parts of making any movie are the rehearsals and the editing.

The re-writes that come from rehearsals are essential. Asking questions of actors, and more importantly them asking questions of you as both a writer and director create dialogue and scenario changes that leave no gaps. One of the points of rehearsal is to work out any logic gaps or credibility issues with the scenes and words. Cutting lines feels like editing video, but live with actors. Sometimes something reads fine, but hearing it out loud makes you think “Hey, no one would stand there and listen to that much without intervening or doing something.”

It’s different for a writer/director in that I have to either have or find the answers to the actors’ questions. I get to interpret with the actors what the words mean. Sometimes it changes in the rehearsal process to incorporate what the actors bring to the table. I like the challenge of seeing if I know the characters well enough to answer all questions. Sometimes the answers find themselves, other times I have to create the answer, and sometimes the actor can find the answers. Finding a reason and a meaning in every line is important. The context, subtext, and everything in between makes for a more interesting performance.



From one single rehearsal last week, I changed 30%-40% of the dialogue in the script. Concepts and ideas get refined in the dialog. Clarification from the intent happens easier when you have an open mind to contributions. Rehearsals are somewhat sacred to me because I want to develop a repartee with the actors so we have trust on set. All the bugs need to be worked out BEFORE we get to set. I am going to fight to have a true blocking rehearsal on the actual location BEFORE the shoot sans crew. Even with great rehearsals, it gets disorienting on the actual location with the crew and cameras, so getting that extra chance to try it out at the real place develops a confidence in the cast on the day of the shoot because they have a leg up on everyone having already been there, done it, without the same pressures of the shoot day.

I’m only shooting a 5 page script in 1 shooting day. It will be a full day and my standards (for myself) are a lot higher than anything I’ve ever made before. I have 3 of the best actors in Central Ohio. I pretty much have a dream cast for Columbus thespians. Greg Sabo has the cinematography gig, so a polished, well lit and operated piece this shall be. He already started a shot list and it’s gonna be fantastic. We’re on the same page mostly, and to be honest, I like to rely on my camera person more than a director should. Most directors are 50% camera and 50% actors (or 75% camera and 25% performance), and I like the collaboration with actors and making performance my main concern. If I “cast” the camera person right, someone who knows how to tell a story with the camera, then I’ll be fine. I need to work with people who have more experience and are “better” than me at what they do. That’s the best way for me to learn.

SMELL THE GLOVE

Now I’m excited again, in a big way. After making some short films earlier in the year, and doing some writing, I feel a little bit more confident in myself again. Part of it was the self beating that my first real feature film gave my ego, especially on the self reflection angle. I’m not really affected by people saying “You suck!”, no matter what the project. I don’t like or hate something I made based on how other people feel about it; I’m only concerned with how I feel about it. I don’t measure myself against other people, only myself and my own goals and interests.

When another local filmmaker recently dick-measured themselves versus my material, and basically were saying they were so much better than me. I was not pleased. A friend misinterpreted how I felt and told me to “Use that! Go out make your next movie and kick their ass!!!!” and all I could think was (And unfortunately I also said this out loud), WHAT A STUPID REASON TO MAKE A MOVIE. I am not motivated by interpersonal rivalries or comparisons to other filmmakers. Making movies is NOT a competition or a race. This whole analogy that film is akin to sports makes me nauseous. I make movies to tell stories. My only successes and failures, along with comparisons are to myself and my other work. I can’t put myself on any kind of scale with another filmmaker. My personal philosophy truly is that there is NO SUCH THING AS BETTER OR WORSE; ONLY DIFFERENCES.

What motivates me is the need (not desire) to tell a particular story. If I have something to say, I say it with the moving pictures and the sound along with it. It’s an expression about whatever the story and characters mean to me and some kind of sociological metaphor or slice of humanity that tickles my fancy. When I make a movie to try to prove that I can do this or that to some other filmmaker or to win a popularity contest, I’ll shoot myself in the head.



Now what gets confusing is that I have had to learn to keep my mouth shut about my honest assessments of other people’s work, unless it’s praise. I’m much more silent now about that kind of stuff, but I guess some people are ultra sensitive about their own material. Go figure. I’m a lot less interested in other people’s projects at this point anyway. My life has changed significantly in the last 2 years and where I am at and what interests me has invariably changed.

CHANNEL 17, a local digital only TV station has switched over from being a HOME SHOPPING NETWORK to original programming. They are filling a much needed void of locally created content. My old boss Mike Tavares does some freelance shooting and editing for them. A few months ago, they told him about how they were interested in local content and he told them about me, my short films and even HORRORS OF WAR. He gave them some DVD’s and that started them looking at the local film scene as a whole. Ironically, local yahoos want to (yet again) take credit for something they didn’t start but I really don’t care. All I want is my material to be on TV again. It can only help with exposure to an audience that otherwise would not see it. There is also a credibility issue that good work being seen on a TV station helps create. If potential investors see your work broadcast or know that it is being shown, then you are being validated by someone other than your mommy and daddy and the cast and crew. Step aside pretend filmmakers, the real ones are going to utilize the opportunity, then parlay it to mean something.

Sonnyboo.com is going to sponsor the show and the :30 Sonnyboo spot will play on the CHANNEL 17 network soon. With enough (good) new programming, WDEM CHANNEL 17 might get picked up by cable operators and then the exposure goes up exponentially. Since Columbus is illegally withholding any kind of Public Access television, this is a way to get material seen, and in this case, the station will filter out the sub-par, unwatchable crap from many of the weekend camcorder wannabes.



Next month I am shooting something special to me. Finally, I get to shoot something with the RED ONE camera. That will be freakin’ sweet. That means an upgrade to Adobe CS4 just to be able to handle the RED footage from the CF (Compact Flash) cards. I think THIS will continue my growth as a filmmaker and be another huge stepping stone in the career path. RELATIONSHIP CARD helped, and I am very proud of the piece, but this is taking another deep stab at something more professional and clawing my way towards another feature film.

Rehearsals start this week for the new project. The juices are flowing. Time to take another bite out of life and see what’s left.

Shark Sandwich

The other night I watched an old movie, as in 50+ years old. Even as a film fanatic, I don’t enjoy many older pictures. Also, I love the way guys from the Golden Age of film called them “pictures”. What I don’t like is the acting styles. That Edward G Robinson/Humphrey Bogart syncopation to the dialogue that comes off like it’s half theater-y and half semi-real acting. It’s too distracting in most cases for me to sink in and enjoy the story. CITIZEN KANE stands out because Orsen Welles gives a very real and modern acting performance, and that’s why Marlon Brando and his contemporary James Dean were considered so great – they were breaking the mold of that old style decades before it became the norm (and pop culture preference).

I make a few very rare exceptions, but mostly I like movies made AFTER 1964. The movie I watched easily makes it into the exception (and exceptional) category. TWELVE ANGY MEN blew my mind.



This is the 1957 movie version. It’s obviously based on a play, but the acting and direction are superb, but what stands out the most to me by a large margin is the screenplay. 95% of the movie takes place in 1 room and it never loses its grip on the audience. That’s all in the writing. Even though a few of the actors had that kind of period acting that I hate so much, the story and dialogue were too good to let that hinder the experience. Not one word spoken is wasted. Even the seemingly mundane turn out to have significance by the end of the movie.

For those of us want to consider a low budget, one location movie, the lesson learned for me was SCRIPT IS KING. If the screenplay isn’t 100%, it’s all for nothing. Every word has to play a part in achieving the affect and intent of the movie in some form or another, if it is demonstrative of character or painting the world. 12 ANGRY MEN doesn’t even tell you a single character’s name (except 2 at the very end), but you know a lot about them and they are all individualized.



As for direction, Sidney Lumet is still kickin’ it if you can believe it; I mean he is still directing as of 2009. Lumet’s direction can’t go unnoticed because he changed lenses slowly through the piece and the eye levels so that at the start of the piece we have some distance between the jurors and looking “in” on the scene, and later gets down to eye level and gets in the faces of the characters, plus it starts to compress space with the lenses and makes it feel claustrophobic in the end. At this time, even though they had color film everywhere, DRAMA’s were almost always done as Black & White as a choice. I wish it were still a viable option today, but that happens less and less.



Great movie. Definitely something relevant today, even in comparison to the varied court room dramas playing 7 nights a week on TV…


Anywho, have a good time one and all!
Peter John Ross

Brain-Hammer

I have some time to myself this week. The Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ is on vacation with her family and I had some work to do. I’m going to be doing some writing this week. I plan on taking a few days off to go off somewhere and just WRITE. If you have been reading this blog for the past several years, you can clearly see a former writer/director that became more of just a director because I lost some faith in my own writing. After working with some other writers and also this year doing some more writing, I’ve regained some of that lost faith in my own ability to write. If I’m properly motivated, and I feel it in my heart, then I can write. So now I plan on writing my next project myself. Here comes draft 9…


So as I gear up for another season conventions and having a dealer table to sell items, I came up with another disc. I compiled all my educational videos onto a single disc and plan to sell it. I may even put this on AMAZON.COM, but eh, I may not. It all depends. Maybe if I make a few more videos like this, of which I had plans, but have been put on hold.

Now, there’s something educational. Let’s talk about editing on a feature film. Some people, a surprising number of people, don’t understand the most standard workflow of editing on a feature film. In several cases, if the audio was recorded separately from the picture (which is always the case with celluloid film), you need to synchronize (or short hand “synch”) the audio to picture. That’s where you match the sound of the clap to the “Clapper” which is the slate. After that, the initial edit of scenes, in most cases is just a basic cutting of the scenes in script order and they tend to be long. The name for this edit is THE ASSEMBLY, or assembly edit or assembly cut. This can often mistakenly be called a “rough cut”, but the rough cut is really the NEXT edit. The assembly of APOCALYPSE NOW and THIS IS SPINAL TAP are bootlegged as “rough cuts” and that propagates the misnomer.

The 2nd edit is the ROUGH CUT. Once you start to attack the movie from the assembly of scenes, and really start to dig in, you are doing something beyond the basic cutting of the film. The 3rd cut, often called THE FINE CUT is where all the notes from relevant personnel from the producers to directors, etc. are incorporated from the ROUGHT CUT and trimmed away, or put back in as may be the case. The FINE CUT is where radical re-arrangement of scenes, dropping scenes, etc. usually (but not always) occurs. This is usually where pick up shooting comes from, etc. You also wouldn’t’ want to screen anything but the FINE CUT to any kind of audience. The FINE CUT is what studios usually show to test audiences, and never any earlier versions. This is where temp music is placed and used to really start selling the movie.



After the FINE CUT comes the FINAL CUT, which means picture lock. That may or may not have the final FX shots, color correction or sound mix, but they often call it PICTURE LOCK because you aren’t really cutting any more or re-arranging the shot to shot edit.

So these are the four main stages of editing, especially on a feature film.

ASSEMBLY -> ROUGH CUT -> FINE CUT -> FINAL CUT

It terrifies me that people making movies don’t know this simple procedure on a feature film. I never went to film school, but even I know this. The procedure has been around now for nearly 100 years (since the mid-late 1920’s). It works. It works well.

One thing is for sure, I really am learning how much I know and don’t know about making movies every single day. All I know is that I don’t want to keep teaching people what I know. I want to work with people that I don’t have to explain this stuff to. I want to work with professionals, not amateurs. I’m done babysitting.

- Peter John Ross

Intravenus de Milo

I submitted my new DVD of short films in 39 combined film festival entries. Luckily most European fests have no entry fee and most of the smaller fests I have a relationship with, so I can get the submission fees waived. It pays to give things like royalty free music away and other handy things on my site. It helps pave the way for a return favor from things like film festivals. Countries I have submitted to this round include Poland, Spain, Portugal, Sengala, India, Japan, Canada, the UK, and even Nigeria.

To commemorate the completion of these shorts, I made a DVD cover and I really dug it lots. Again, taking inspiration from the Jazz albums of the past, this time specifically the orange and yellow against black of an old Thelonius Monk album, I dug this creation, which I wish I could take more credit for, but alas it wasn’t as much me.



Aside from that, I now stand at the almighty crossroads. Sadly, Jack Butler won’t be playing his amazing guitar with the devil at his side at my crossroads. I have to decide how to proceed with my options as a filmmaker. Artistically, there are a few options, but which one to take? I have another short, something that combines my sense of humor with more of the darker dramas that are in my soul, but it’s still another short with limited appeal, gross income, and marketability. I have my initial plan to proceed with the bigger investors and take the time to work out the bigger ticket features. And there’s the possibility to take some of the money already on the table and make a cheaper feature, but with no name stars and incredibly small odds at a financial success and career advancement.

I haven’t made up my mind yet, but when My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica™ heads to South Carolina for a week, I want to go into seclusion for a hefty writing session, locked in a hotel room alone with the laptop in a cabin with no internet. I just need to know WHAT I’ll be focusing on. So I have all of a few short weeks to determine how I’ll be spending the next 18 months (at least) of my life. Can anyone say “Horrors of War 2”? YIKES, that would be tragic.



Today was my first real recovery after the big annual work project. I enjoyed some special time with “V”, but mostly I rested and even watched the first Blu Ray I got with the PS3 (Spider-man 3, a lot better the 2nd viewing, albeit still flawed). I don’t get to watch movies like I used to, but I want to get back to that, at least somewhat. Right now I average one feature film every two weeks and that’s kinda bad.



That’s it folks!
Peter John Ross

THE SUN NEVER SWEATS

My hopes with RELATIONSHIP CARD was that it would go “viral”, meaning take off as people see it, like it, and pass it on. This may or may not happen at the levels of millions of views, but so far it has developed some legs of its own in very little time. The first day I publicly posted it on VIMEO.COM, it had 300+ views. The next day, it dropped to 170, the day after 160, and then I started to think it would sink into the 10’s and 20’s and eventually go single digits day after day like all my other videos. Suddenly, it went back to 170, and the next day 200+ and today is on track to go about 200 again. So far 1,300+ views on VIMEO, not including the other sites (Yahoo Video, FunnyorDie, etc.). Not bad for very little promotion.

Luckily the “referrers” are showing that 2 different Spanish sites are linking to it and racking up the most views for me. There are a few other sites that are more for “people”, meaning not friends, family, or most importantly Filmmakers. I find filmmakers in most cases are the worst audiences. They either want to dissect the production or they have such odd tastes that entertainment and losing themselves into a movie is the furthest thing from their minds. This was evident in the local Indie Club screening. Getting laughs was like a dentist pulling a tooth out with that vice. The Cleveland Indie Club screening was much looser and more enjoyable, plus I got Marie's Pizza again en route.



I am taking both RELATIONSHIP CARD and REFRACTORY to a few festivals this summer. I’m mastering a DVD this week and prepping the new “festival” packet to promote both works.

Will RELATIONSHIP CARD go big? I have no idea. Of course I want it to, but it takes support and I don’t have the endless amounts of time I used to have. Besides I want to prep the next project, which some people already know about, but it’s a secret so if you know about it and you shouldn’t, then you should tell me you know, but don’t tell anyone else what you know or if you even know it.

Peace out

Vapidly Insipid

So now the new short, RELATIONSHIP CARD is out there and racking up the views. I’m so proud of George and Amanda. For two people who had never met, they certainly had a great chemistry on camera. George thinks I should categorize this movie as science fiction. Not because of the graphics and animation but because he thinks no one will believe he could land a hot hot hot chick like Amanda and it comes off as unrealistic. Eh, people say the same thing about me and My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ because no one understands why a hot chick like her is with a fat guy like me. Since I based the short partially on that reality and aspects of our relationship, it seemed oddly fitting to cast it this way.



Hopefully the video will find legs and other people will pass it along from to people they know. So far, the unbiased, I don’t know these people responses have been a great majority positive. It seems people who have been in a relationship “Get it”, and get it completely. That’s cool.

It took me months to do the graphics work. TJ designed the elements, but choosing the look, color, texture, etc. all were vexing me. It was a little too overwhelming to have limitless options. Most of my time was spent experimenting with looks, styles, and ideas. Once I established the basic “look”, it was only 2 weeks to animate and finish the rest. I may still revisit this piece in the next week and shorten it by about 10%. Vince Rocca, director of KISSES AND CAROMS actually took it upon himself to re0edit the movie and sent me a link. I liked some of what he did, but he cut more than I would have. Still, it was nice to have someone else edit the piece and have that give and take like you’re supposed to have with an editor. I wish I had more editors that I could approach to work on my stuff for free, but the best ones are too expensive these days.



Not much else going on. I feel like I’m knocking these “past due”, or “pending” projects down so I can keep on trucking. Work is busy this week (a nice change considering how dead it’s been of late). One of our annual big projects that dominate my life for about a week and a half has hit and “V” is NOT taking it well. 12-14 hour work days are unusual for me and my cat doth protest. Loudly and as soon as I walk in the door.

Last night My Sexy Girlfriend Veronica ™ went to see the new TERMINATOR movie. Dinner came out quicker than I realized and we had 30 minutes to kill in the empty theater. Out came my handy ZUNE ™ and we watched a DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART in the theater with one ear piece each. That passed the time with actual entertainment as opposed to re-reading the same 6 “trivia” slides. Is it really trivia to ask “What Oscar ™ nominated actor returns in this summer’s ANGELS AND DEMONS?” whilst showing a picture of Tom Hanks? That’s not trivia; it is trivial. Anywho, I’m getting some great usage out of the new toy my friend Moe sent me. I have also used it to walk a mile each day for the last 3 days during a break from the long work day. I am in piss poor shape and I need to address that even more.

Until next time,
Peter John Ross

Relationship Card™ ® ©

RELATIONSHIP CARD - 4 min
http://www.vimeo.com/4620796

a troubled couple tries to work out their emotional credit with the new Relationship Card ™ ® ©


starring George Caleodis and Amanda Howell

written by Joanne Fromes and Peter John Ross

directed by Peter John Ross

produced by John Fromes

cinematography by Scott Spears

assistant director - Rachel Hanna

key grip - Derek Rimelspach

art director - Leyna Haller

graphic design - TJ Cooley

special thanks to
Andrew Kramer & www.videocopilot.net

© Copyright 2009 Sonnyboo Productions

Relationship Card from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

A Cantankerous Buffoon

I inserted the new pickup shots into the new short film I’m working on. It’s only been 3 months. WOW, I feel better though. They fit in very well for continuity, but far more importantly, they make the edit flow much much better. The performance fit like a glove and it’s amazing to have an actor acting against no one (me) in a pickup and in the edit, have it seamlessly feel like these two people were interacting on the spot. What I am most pleased with is my discipline to make sure it was right before giving up on it. Even 2-3 years ago, I would have accepted the error and just went with it instead of working to correct it and make it as good as it can be. I’m glad I have raised my standards on myself.

Friday I worked until nearly midnight on the graphics. I started to find that groove place. I made major headway and got about a 3rd of the shots done. It feel better to have some FX that need tweaking in place even though I might have to re-do them or replace the shots later. The piece begins to come together more cohesively.

At the end of the night, I put the movie to Quicktime ® in 1920x1080 24P so I can view it at home on Ye Olde 42” LCD TV. Now, talk about an eye opener. The amount of detail you see blown up at full resolution jolted my eyes a bit. Things I thought too small to be concerned with blared up and smacked me. I need to type 24 pages of what should have been a tiny word scroll on screen. I have to paint out 3 millimeter long logos that I never saw before. High Definition means more detail and that translates to a lot more work and effort. There’s no skimping in HD.



ZUNE – My buddy Maurice sent me an unsolicited gift, a 300 gig ZUNE from Microsoft ™. This is one of those cool gifts because it’s something you might not ever go get yourself, but it’s a really damn cool toy. It can play videos, music, and you can store pics on it too. My sole complaint (not to my friend, but in the design) is that it’s really odd about getting the accurate video settings, so most of my videos will have to go through 2-3 steps to get them on the damn thing. Now that I’ve got the best settings, I’m putting about 100 hours worth of video of various things on it tonight and tomorrow.

I think the purpose of the portable media device Zune was a not so subtle attempt to get me to exercise more. Shows that I might otherwise sit on my ass to watch, I can watch while walking, you know at the park so I can ignore nature. I have a weekend long delay on starting any real exercise because of the technical glitches of getting stuff on the damn thing…



I watched the Blu-Ray of the DAVINCI CODE, an extended cut of the film. I read the book, loved it, and was lukewarm about the movie the one time I saw it in the theater and never wanted to see it again. Since the sequel (prequel book, sequel movie) ANGELS AND DEMONS is about to come out, plus I have 3 years of distance from the book, I gave it another whirl. I liked it a LOT better this time. I couldn’t remember anything added to this movie, but there’s 26 minutes of new material in it. I guess it stays remarkably loyal to the source material and this viewing was so much more enjoyable (mostly because of my LACK of expectation).



We went and saw the new STAR TREK in IMAX. I liked this a lot too. I’m not a Trekkie or Trekker, however I can see some serious continuity errors on many levels, but you know what? I DON’T CARE. If all you care about is how it wasn’t possible to identify a Romulan by site in 2231*, then you don’t enjoy movies they way a normal person does. This movie was for normal people, not Trekkies. It moved at about a million miles an hour, but the first sequence was incredibly well done and emotional to boot. It still did not dethrone WRATH OF KHAN as the greatest thing TREK has ever put out there, but if the only 2 movies of STAR TREK anyone sees is this new one followed up by WRATH OF KHAN, the franchise might warrant more respect.


Enjoy the days,
Peter John Ross


• I have no idea Trek timelines, so if this inaccuracy is notated by you, then you are a TREKKER…

Superfluous Necessities

FINALLY, I got to do the pickup shots for the next short. It’s only been 3 months…. All because of a stupid mistake I made during the shoot itself in that I forgot to shoot these elements. So with a skeleton crew, minimal lighting and one actor named Amanda, we got ‘er done in about an hour, mostly in setting up the lighting to match as best as possible. I had my handy laptop with an HD copy of the movie in Quicktime up on screen to match everything as close as possible. I had one minor change in performance on the delivery of one of the lines from the original, and the rest was repeating as close as possible what we did before in February.


Today, I already digitized the footage, yet again using the PAL 25 Cineframe mode from Sony, and converting it to true 24P with my handy Cineform codec. Then I edited it into the show timeline proper pretty much right away. I have been seeing this in my head properly for months, but now I can show it to people properly. I never used to be a perfectionist the way I feel now. I want things to be far better than I have let them be in the past. Scott matched the lighting fairly well and Amanda had the exact outfit and worked her hair into the same look. I was amazed at how flawlessly the new footage cut into the old shots. More importantly, the flow and edit of the first 1 minute of the new piece isn’t nearly as awkward and bumpy. I had some audio trickery to do, but that only took a few minutes.



This week I have made major headway in the graphics animation, but even then I’m seriously way behind. I doubled the amount of completed FX shots, but that’s just an illusions I tell myself that means I have 4 done instead of 2. That’s 4 out of over 100 shots that need extensive graphics and animation. The hardest part was deciding HOW to animate and the basic scheme for the rest. When you have limitless options, the choices get harder to make. I’m somewhat happy with the choices I’m making but I might consider some revisions at the end of the basic animation to see if someone with more talent than me can swoop in and make some tweaks and improvements.

I haven’t even started to think about the sound design and music, although I think music will be sparse, the sound design will be as intense as the graphics. One of the tricks I’ve learned in my few short years doing this – never let a visual go without some kind of sound. It adds weight and gravity to the animation. Would the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or the robots in Transformers be believable in all their CGI madness without the incredible sounds that ground them to a form of believable reality? Of course not, but it’s amazing how few people take that into account. Even something as simple as moving titles has a more tangible “oomph” if they make a sound as they go round.


Life is a journey with endless possibilities. I love where things are headed. There’s a lot to be proud of in the near future, if only the clock would slow down a little for me…
You know what? Van Halen III was not as bad as it seemed 11 years ago. No, it’s nowhere near the magic of David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar, but it wasn’t the complete suckage I was lead to believe it would be.



“V” and Coussette are well. “V”has trouble adjusting to schedule changes and so he rebels by biting my arm when I sleep to ensure a timely awakening and getting some form attention, even if it’s negative. Coussette just gets louder as she gets older.

Perennially Didactic

It’s already been a very busy week. I went to Cincinnati for a TV interview about my last book and the other things on AMAZON.COM for sale. I didn’t even solicit this one; it just came to me. I’m amazed I own a car that can make 2 trips to Cincinnati in 2 weeks and not die on me. Viva La Employment!

Thursday night, I judged the high school film festival again. There were fewer entries, but the quality increased. I think that’s a sign of success of Lisa Dale-Press, the teacher. If the students actually LEARN, then the success shows. Every year I’m impressed by what high school kids can do in their spare time or with an elective. This is the opposite of how I feel towards many of the newbies and wannabes in my film community. I guess it’s because they don’t seem to learn anything or progress at a microscopic level. Ironically, some of the movies the high school kids did rival (and surpass)

Social Networks, like the now passé MYSPACE, and the current fad of FACEBOOK have an amazing ability to RE-connect people. Several people I knew over 20 years ago in a long forgotten chapter of my life living in El Paso Texas have literally started to haunt me. I say “haunt” because VHS home movies we made in junior high (9th grade was still Junior High in El Paso) are now surfacing in their video pages. I haven’t felt embarrassed since my birthday party when a movie I worked on anonymously credited me by name on YouTube and I was showing off how bad the movie was and BAMM! There was my name.

I can laugh at myself. I don’t mind that these videos are out there. Forgive me if I don’t promote them as feverishly as I do my current works, but I think it’s humbling to have something truly humiliating out in the world. The worst part is the “music videos” we made for Van Halen songs… before I learned how to play guitar. I really did learn to play most of the Van Halen catalog in the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s. Now even some of our “narrative” sketches are making their way online. I forgot so much of what I did then, that these are a surprise to me.



I do remember one thing we did. We did a spoof of a sci fi movie, the name escaped me until I was told it was going to be online soon, “Space Herpes”. Even though it was 5-6 of us fooling around with a camcorder, I recall coming up with how to shoot this linearly (a term I wouldn’t learn for 17-18 more years), and edit in the camera. We took one of the guys and had him be both the bad guy (wearing a Darth Vader Mask) and would “cut” (meaning stop the camera), then shoot the other angle of him still there. I had some innate knowledge of how to do this without any schooling in it. It was as if something else was driving me, or some ghost whispered the ideas into my head. I wish I had listened to that voice more and continued to do something with it then. I lost 15 years of productivity to the wanderings and muse of the song.



Ah, well. As the Talking Heads once said, These Memories Can’t Wait. I cannot change fate or time, at least according to Daniel Farraday who (SPOILER ALERT) may or may not be dead.

At least I can now see that not all my time in El Paso was bad. I made some friends who were good people, and still are I think. So much of what I remember of my time there was nefarious at best, but these are good memories.


Happy thoughts,

Peter John Ross

A Timorous Disposition

Now I’m truly done with this short, REFRACTORY . I let the movie ferment for a week; now I made the final adjustments today. Nothing major, just some minor clean up and tweaks. Probably the most significant thing I did was trimming a shot and add a few quick flashes of something else. I have Megan making a sudden movement forward and I now cut the shot before she stops, whereas she clearly stopped before the shot ended.

I like this piece. It’s not for everybody. Not everyone will like the choices made, but I accept that. Overall, it’s something a bit darker and more dramatic, but it is something I like and relate to in some weird way.



This past Saturday was interesting. No less than 3 film projects were running at the studio at the same time. Shane Howard did some technical work converting frame rates for the feature film MINUS ONE. Rachel Hanna edited on her segment from DREAM 13 while I did some graphics on the next Sonnyboo short. I love that every single editing machine was working and creativity was abound. It made me feel like a lot was being accomplished, even when we horsed around and conversed. That’s what editing sessions should be if you’re not being paid, so I love having fun and chatting, but still getting work done.



The graphics work on the next short is killing me. Each shot takes about 2-3 hours to create, animate, and then render. Part of what gets me is that I have too many options on the animation I can do. How do I have the graphics appear on screen and then leave the frame? They can get small into infinity, they can move off screen up, down, left, right, or they can just fade off. Then there are the colors, the placement, framing, and trying to come up with a thousand little tiny graphics to fill in the spaces. This reminds me of the screens in the back of the bridge of the Enterprise where someone has to create all that crap that no one looks at but everyone sees. Unfortunately, I’m that guy. TJ made the main graphics, but I’ve got nothing for the small, illegible stuff that fills out the frame. Getting the pickup shots I need (all 2 of them) are on hold as the actress loses some of her tan from vacation. No problem as without the graphics, I’m in no rush to finalize this.



Last night I made the trek down to Cincinnati for a SOFA meeting. That’s the SOUTHERN OHIO FILMMAKERS ASSOCIATION, a good group of people. The movie theater where they gather was a 1941 building all tricked out with modern stuff, still retaining its original designs and style. I highly recommend people get out and mingle with other filmmakers, even in other parts of the state. Building bridges and sharing resources are what can make a better whole.
I love inspiration. It’s impossible to truly know where it comes from or why it strikes in the way it does. I’ve had an idea for a movie for over 10 years and I wait for them to grow. Much like the short with graphics I’m working on, sometimes the ideas just need to finish themselves before they come together. Half baked ideas are never as tasty as the ones that ripen just right and get consumed when everything comes together. Describing this half baked idea to someone else opened up a ton of fresh ideas and a fuller picture came into focus for me. I’m using too many metaphors, but when I don’t want to discuss details and still have someone understand something of what I mean, this is what I do.


Anywho. Good day to you all. I’m going to make bread and eagerly await a final render.

- Peter John Ross

Anagrams and Deviant Art

I have a minor secret. I want to tell people, but devilry and not a small amount of childishness prevent me from being forthright. So I came up with a fun way to delay the inevitable revelation.

Here are two anagrams, a free DVD of the latest Sonnyboo HD shorts to the first to get them correct:

am so free man, join

and

sore Nina Joss



The answer to one of these is also the password to seeing the latest sonnyboo produced short film, directed by Joanne Fromes on VIMEO.COM. http://www.vimeo.com/4110271


Refractory from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

I named the short REFRACTORY, as the word significantly relates to the subject matter. Here’s a secret, I like big words; as if the titles to my blogs were not a giveaway to that little secret. A huge hint to the anagrams is in the paragraph above, as one of those words is in both…



I finished the edit today, at least for now. I am tinkerer, so I expect some revisions and changes at some point. Thank God for a Terabyte drive because for color correction I used uncompressed video files. I chose a vignette look for this to emphasize characters and it worked out in my opinion. The images were pretty good as is, with a consistent color and look. I chose not to over process it too much. I pulled about 15% saturation from the overall image to “depress” the look. We set out to make a green or blue tint, but since the location was primarily red and burgundy, that really didn’t work out so well. I’m not at all disappointed, though.

To emphasize some dialogue and other points, I digitally added two small camera moves. The beauty of HD is that I can manipulate the images a lot in post to do this. I had not considered these camera moves on the day, but here I am 9 weeks later popping in tighter, zooming in. I love the control that editing has over the whole process. You can rethink almost anything and in the High Definition world, we have latitude to affect the picture a lot with little loss in quality.



The music should be sparse. In some ways the sound design and score is same thing here. The sound design is rhythmic and musical, and the music is more ambient and environmental. I love a good sound mix, and one of the lessons I have learned over the years is to bring the volume down and keep it balanced so that you can boost it later more cleanly. If you go for the volume it distorts and no matter what you do later, you can’t un-fuzz the sound, as opposed to being a tiny bit low, you can boost it cleanly.

I’m sending this out to a few peers for review before I make it public. I don’t know if it will be a web video for a while. It’s a drama and not the most appealing to the masses or of interest to many, but it was a story I wanted to tell.

I knew that all I needed was a day or two with a solid block of time to just hone in and focus. I had no new Blu Rays from Netflix, no TV shows to catch up on, and no lingering freelance or day job work handing over my head. I wasn’t particularly in the “mood” to edit, but without these distractions I was able to zero in and get ‘er done.



The sole inhibitor wound up being my kitty “V”. Every time I’d start to cut, he would cry and whine, demanding attention. He was not satiated to sit on the desk and be pat. He brought me many toys that apparently I was meant to play with along with him. Luckily the later processes required a lot of render times, so we could play fetch or in “Cousette’s Cave” (which is me holding a blanket over our heads whilst holding a flashlight). In “V” world, if I am home, my sole purpose is to be his playmate. Cousette is perfectly happy to lie in a ball nearby and pass out.

Starting this coming week, I have one more short film to complete. That includes some pickup shots and one helluva lot of FX shots, but at least it’s edited already…

Now I am to dance the dance of joy, pantsless as usual. Mayhap My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I will get around to watching CASABLANCA on HD tonight. Or maybe I can get THE SPOONS ®; it is after all the Zombie Jesus Holiday weekend.

- Peter John Ross,
- All loosey Goosey
Great ZOMBIE JESUS!

Ardently Pithy?

I finally took a day off from work. I stayed home, tried to get some sleep, and the real goal was to edit on these short films shot now several weeks ago. In the blink of an eye, 2-3 hours can disappear as if it was a fleeting moment when moving footage and selecting takes.







I just finished a rough cut and the fine cut of one of these new shorts. By the end of the weekend I’ll have the color correction, score, and sound mix done too. I realized today what my hurdle was, aside from the obvious lack of time. This was the first short I’ve worked on where I was overwhelmed by good choices. Since this was a very short script and we had an entire day to shoot, I explored ideas and performances. This, in the end, gave me in some ways, too many options. I’m much more used to have fewer choices that are good to great. Here I had two women who were giving me variations and all of them usable and interesting. It made the editing go much harder than usual, combined with the higher volume of footage to sift through.



The style of directing I am used to has more economy to it, which has its downsides too. It makes for faster turnaround times, but not always the “great” material. I am shooting for “great” from here on out. If something is not 100%, then I have to work harder to make it 100% and I will not accept less than that anymore.







For NEWS OF THE WEIRD, I offer up some strange tidbits. On AMAZON.COM, my books are for sale. Not new news, but what IS odd is that some store in Florida is selling “special edition” copies for $35+. What makes it a special edition? There’s no email to ask, nor do I have any idea how he’s getting copies outside of buying them himself and that somehow makes them special. Similarly there are used copies of some of my DVD’s from another seller in Seattle that sells my movies in a “collector’s edition” for more than double the retail.



I google myself. In every way you can imagine, I do this. I’m a marketing whore and I want to know what I do that works and what doesn’t. I keep track of my webstats, even when some of the info disturbs me. The disturbing thing is the reading habits for this blog. Some people read this more than once a day. I don’t read my writing or think anything I have to say is worth reading every single day, so why are some individual readers tuning in and re-reading this so often? What is the appeal? Maybe some can answer this for me. I can’t even get My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ to pay attention to one of my long winded stories, so why are some people reading.



On the plus side, I can see several education institutions adding my sites and material to their websites. Either as links to the instructional videos, the free music, storyboard templates, or even the articles, I keep finding links or mentions. The University of North Carolina to USC have all had links to my site and videos. WOW. Seeing my name or site appear in formal syllabus for classes from high school to university film schools, I cannot help but feel honored.







I do worry that some of my formerly philanthropic desires are coming to an end, at least as far as most of my regional filmmakers are concerned. Not too long ago someone was asking about the twitchy handheld filmmaking style. They wondered if it had a name. It does. It’s called Cinéma Vérité. The fact that I know this is a testament to how much research and constant study I do on film. I’m not a genius, nor am I better than anyone else.



The oddity that has occurred is that I now feel displaced. I did not come up the ranks of film school or any form of higher education. I am self taught, and I my history with filmmaking is rooted in the do it yourself, microbudget, digital video desktop editing revolution of the past 10 years. Unfortunately, very few of the people who are a part of this “revolution” have a clue about cinema history, or even technological aspects. They just think because they watch movies and TV that this somehow qualifies them to make a movie. It does, just not necessarily a GOOD movie.







I’m becoming very cynical about the people, especially in my region here in Ohio, and whether or not they will amount to much. Without foundations in cinema history, understanding the mechanics of filmmaking, and real experience making movies without the benefit of learning from professionals (not pretend professionals who think because they watch DVD extras or solely read books somehow qualifies them to be a Pro), I just don’t see many of them ever progressing. There are exceptions of course. There are always the diamonds in the rough, but they are being buried by the masses of talentless wannabes with camcorders and no clue.



Some of my peers, the actual professionals, have been on me for years to stop trying to teach or even interact with the amateurs that are trying. I fought it because I related more to these “Backyard Kubricks” than I did to the professionals I have been working with for 10 years. In the last few months I find myself no longer desiring to impart what modest knowledge I have locals. I feel like I’m giving away an education to deaf ears, or simply wasting my time.



Then again, I have always had this unending drive to share. Every time I learn the simplest of things, I’d share it in a blog, a reply, an email, or on a website, an article, whatever. Can I really turn that off like a faucet?



Check out the adventures of “LITTLE GUY”, a kitty from Columbus Ohio whose adventures have captivated me for a while.





Little Guy from Dave on Vimeo.





Little Guy gets up on the Roof from Dave on Vimeo.





Critter Update from Dave on Vimeo.





Little Guy - Agent of Misfortune from Dave on Vimeo.

Indiana Jones and the Creative Process

Lately I’ve been on an unintentional INDIANA JONES kick. I watched RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK a day or two before seeing CRYSTAL SKULL. I intended to watch all three of the movies, but after RAIDERS, I didn’t really have any interest in the other two.
I got INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL on Blu Ray for Xmas. I still haven’t watched it. I saw it at the midnight screening of the first night and haven’t seen it since. One of my greatest fears for the film would be the over-spectacle trying to compete with THE MUMMY trilogy or the TOMB RAIDER movies, which to me are grossly exaggerated CGI fests with little to no heart and soul. Unfortunately my fear became somewhat realized with the 4th Indiana Jones movie. Now I didn’t HATE the movie like most fanboys and even the majority of my peers. Don’t get me wrong, I hated the whole Alien-extra dimensional thing as much as anybody else, but I’d rather see a decrepit, aging Harrison Ford doing this than put up with a cheap imitation with Brendon Fraser or even Angelina Jolie in a tight form fitting outfit (hey, I’m secure enough in my heterosexuality to admit this).



Part of what I am coming to realize as my years increase is that many of the things I liked or accepted as a youth are just not with me today. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK changed my life just as much as STAR WARS had. This movie is as close to perfection as a film can be. It plays on the emotions just as much as it titillates the eye with action. What most people don’t see in it now is how subtle the supernatural is in that film. There really is only a few subtle hints with the Map Room (which is not supernatural, but it’s almost laser like), then the Ark of the Covenant burning off the German writing on its own box, and then the big FX spectacle at the end. The film is so grounded in reality and so believable, we the audience were ready to take the leap of faith for the ending being an FX and supernatural extravaganza. The same was not true for me in any of the sequels.

RAIDERS was taking itself seriously. There was no detail overlooked and so much passion was put into every aspect. From the incredible dialogue that gets out exposition at every turn without ever being hokey was a miracle of writing. Set design by Normal Reynolds melded the real exteriors in the desert with his sound stage work in London, nonetheless matching Hawaii (pretending to be South America) to those same sound stages. I’m still floored by these simple Hollywood tricks, as I’m so into the STORY and the CHARACTERS, that I forget I’m watching a movie. That’s not true with any of the sequels.

I don’t hate INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. What most people don’t grasp is that it is a Prequel to RAIDERS. RAIDERS takes place in 1936, and TEMPLE OF DOOM clearly states 1935 at the beginning (shot 3 years later). Supposedly this film helps explain how Indiana Jones goes from being a grave robber to a legitimate archeologist. Now I’ll be the first to say that this is nowhere near as good as the first film, and to be honest the action just goes way beyond reality with the mine car chase and some of the other elements, but I didn’t hate this film.

Now I was never a big fan of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. I felt the “McGuffin” (the Hitchcockian term meaning, the item that serves as a plot motivator) of the film being the Holy Grail rang somewhat hollow. What bothered me; even in 1989 was the very cartoony way they dealt with action and how unrealistic it started to become. When Indy and his father arrive at the Berlin airport, it looked more like a Warner Brothers cartoon, and when they drive into a crater from the Messerschmitt plane and get out unscathed and dust off, I truly hated what the series had become.

Next I found and read the Frank Darabont script for Indiana Jones IV, entitled INDIANA JONES AND THE CITY OF THE GODS. I’m a huge fan of Frank Darabont after SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE (and even THE MIST). As many people already know, Frank was a writer on the YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES, the TV series by George Lucas that really was more of an educational show than a real drama or action series. Frank developed into an amazing writer and director in his own right. Frank was understandably upset when George Lucas trashed his script for the latest Indiana Jones feature and was quite vocal about it. I thought for sure it would be every bit as amazing as Frank’s normal writing, but sadly I prefer the movie that was made to what his script turned out like. I was shocked to be disappointed in a Frank Darabont Indiana Jones screenplay. The basic plot is the same, but many of the minor players are different, and sadly I was really disappointed in both this scripts and the final movies’ dialogue with Marion Ravenwood. Ugh, someone should have asked Lawrence Kasden to at least make a PASS at the dialogue, as that is his greatest strength as a writer. He did after all have a strong hand in her character’s creation. Her name is his mother’s first name (Marion) and a street they lived near (Ravenwood).

I read the coffee table book on the making of all 4 Indiana Jones features by J.W. Rinzler and Laurant Bouzereau (Spielberg’s most common chronicler of Behind the Scenes). It was insightful and a nice overview of some detail on the making of the entire series. Luckily I bought it used as this puppy costs a lot.

Next, I found a used copy of THE MAKING OF RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK from 1981 by Derek Taylor. I’m done reading this and it has been a great in depth read at various perspectives of a semi-outsider on set writing about what everyone does and how it plays a part in the whole. Since I’m much bigger fan of this first film, I enjoyed this a lot as a standalone read.



Now I’m reading the transcripts of the story conferences for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK with Lawrence Kasden (screenwriter), George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. Lucasfilm had taken the cassettes and someone internally typed them up, and now they are on the Internet where they are being enjoyed by many.

For several days these three guys sat around and talked out the screenplay from the earliest concepts to detailed scene descriptions. What will shock most readers is how evocative George Lucas’ visual descriptions are of some of the scenes and how intact they are in the final movie(s). Also, they had the mineshaft chase from TEMPLE OF DOOM and several other ideas that wound up in all the other films discussed in these early meetings. The original name being “INDIANA SMITH” changing to “INDIANA JONES” by Spielberg because of the Steve McQueen movie “NEVADA SMITH” being too similar, and other tidbits are brilliant.

THIS should be required reading for any aspiring screenwriter, as it is indicative of the creative process when you are hired to write a screenplay for a director and producer. Most movies are made from a story idea from the PRODUCER, not a spec script written by a writer and sold. A screenwriter has to adhere to what the producer and director dictate, so reading a fairly extensive transcription of several of these story sessions was insightful in a way that most people will never know. For those hoping to make a film within the industry and not some homemade, “let’s put on a show” no-budget indie film, then this should be a priority to obtain, print, and immerse yourself in it.



Seeing how the germ of an idea from the writer, producer, or director gets bounced around the room and then winds up being written in another form demonstrates the collaborative process. Combine that with the insights from the previous sources (books, DVD extras, etc.) and seeing how it is then filmed, and you have a complete view of the creative process of what goes into making a movie.

Sooner or later I’m going to watch KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL again. I’ve only seen it once, so I’d like to give it another chance, but I already know that basically I wish they had never made a sequel to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. It was too perfect and worthy of Oscar ® consideration while the sequels are pale imitations with too much action and nowhere near the passion and heart of the original.

- Peter John Ross