Lamenting the Lascivious and Lucidity of Certain Ladies

Ah my droogies, your faithful narrator has been more than a bit busy. Between fundraising for the next feature film (which has already gotten us some decent cash on INDIE GO GO.COM, and shooting a new short in series of shorts, and plus shooting for the PBS shows things are non-stop. Combine the day job work and me is tired.



So I got to work with the Canon 5D Mark II with Greg Sabo. It was a really gorgeous look with this DSLR. It has some minor limitations, but for shorts and quick things, it can be staggeringly impressive. Low light, shallow depth of field and portability… the DLSR craze is very much justified. I immediately converted the footage to a low compression, high quality codec for editing. It will maintain quality better in color correction and effects this way.



Alex the Intern has already done an edit pass on the latest short opus, but it needs some magic, as in the Twitch type magic to make this one shine. I can’t even think about getting to it until next week some time because our annual big editing project came in and I’m ensconced in the trenches of my edit bay toiling away for longer stretches of the day. It’s something basic, but will be pretty cool when it’s done; Might take a while if I get some good sound design, sound mix.



I feel really really good about the ACCIDENTAL ART feature script. It’s in the prime shape to get made. There are going to be some tweaks, etc. when it comes time to shoot it, but I’ve gotten some feedback, etc. and this looks to be the one. If… scratch that… WHEN I get to make this, the movie will be the one I was meant to make. It’s got more of my personal tastes in it that something like HORRORS OF WAR. I’ve been honing the skills to make this movie for the last 10 years. This will be the best movie I can make at this point in my life and career.



I’ve made a momentous decision in regards to this. If this movie does not do for me and my career that I intend it to, then I will no longer pursue being a feature film director. I’ll still make movies, shorts, TV shows, etc. but if ACCIDENTAL ART doesn’t do it, then I’m going to change directions in my career path and my life. I want to focus on things with a certain amount of stability and raise my responsibility. I have made many sacrifices to live the life I’ve lived and to do what I have been doing. I’ve reached the end of this rope, and if this movie doesn’t take me to the next plateau, then I don’t think I have the movie in me to ever be made that will.

That’s it for now. There are people reading this blog that talk smack about me and this is all I feel like divulging for now. More is happening on all fronts, but actual friends know how to get in touch with me.

Kubrick’s Kinetic Kinescope!

As I trudge throw my stack of books to read, I should not go near a Half Priced Books ™. If my car drives by, the money flies out the window and into a register. I picked up 5 new books, one of which is about the master, Stanley Kubrick. Now I love me some Kubrick movies, but there are all kinds of myths about him as a person. This was a book written by the screenwriter of EYES WIDE SHUT.



This book stirred some controversy because it was hurriedly published right after Stanley’s death in 1999. Kubrick’s family immediately denounced the writings as playing up all of Stanley’s eccentricities while downplaying his normalcy. In the documentary his family put out, they went to great lengths to portray Stanley Kubrick as a normal person, which he was for the most part. He was obsessive-compulsive, perhaps even clinically so, but he was not a freak of nature.



The book paints the screenwriter as more of an ass than it does Kubrick as anything other than a very controlling director…. As if no one could have guessed that before reading the book. I like hearing Kubrick’s voice. I have obtained his screenplay draft of NAPOLEAN, something I still haven’t read yet. I also got FEAR AND DESIRE, his first feature, and some of his early documentary work. Fantastic stuff. Stanley had a great eye. His still photography from LOOK magazine blows away a lot of people’s lifelong pursuits in stills.

One of the things in this book that’s great is reading how much he loved PULP FICTION and Quentin Tarantino. I don’t know if Q ever knew this, but I’m sure he’s heard this. Kubrick was also very competitive with his contemporaries, but by the 1990’s, very few of them were making movies. He never considered someone like Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, or George Lucas as “competition” because they were still young upstarts, but they also worshipped Stanley from before they were in Film School; he liked that, obviously.

As a kind of “answer” to this book, I had already read Michael Herr’s book on his experience writing a screenplay with Stanley. It was far kinder than the current book’s view. Still, Michael Herr based FULL METAL JACKET on his own experiences, plus he had already worked as a writer on APOCOLYPSE
NOW.

Anyways, I do like reading anything about Kubrick. It’s interesting to see his world from various people’s points of view.

48 Fastidious Predilictions

For this year’s 48 Hour Film Project in Columbus Ohio, yet again I did not get involved in making a movie, but I did participate in a way. We are doing an episode of FRAMELINES about the project. So I personally followed 3 teams stopping in on the three phases, scriptwriting to production to editing. Scott followed another 3 teams.

What did I see? You’ll have to watch the episode to find out. The greatest thing about documenting is that it doesn’t matter what their movie is like because we’re solely about finding an interesting story about making a movie. The most interesting subjects may not make the most interesting movie. There are many characters in the film community, so we were able to get in on some of their creative processes.

While shooting for the show, Scott actually fully JOINED a team that needed help. Of course, when you know Scott and how inoffensive he is and that he helped Sam and Sean’s team, two of the nicest guys, no one will go “boo” about this. If it had been me however, I’m certain it would have been the controversy of the year, but alas, I do not give a Shiite about such things. If I was a cameraman and I was covering Katrina disasters, I’d drop my damn camera and pull people into the boat. Scott did the right thing.

The 48 Hour Film Project has become something really special here. The friendly competition inspires a lot of razzing, but also support. Shane Howard drove his lights to Sam Javor’s team on Sunday to help a competitor’s team make their deadline. That’s classy.



Coolest thing I saw? An iPad Slate that worked like a real slate, but with digital entries. Kinda cool, I have to admit. Other than that, over 75% of the movies were shot with the new DLSR still cameras that shoot video. This new trend is indicative of the new movement of “digital”, where they are no longer calling it “video” because there is no tape involved.

Facebook is alive with pictures from everyone’s projects. Congrats to all, it looks like another great year of movies.

help make ACCIDENTAL ART the feature film!

Just go to http://www.indiegogo.com/AccidentalArt and take a look around.

We've got the videos,

SCENE:


PITCH:


So thanks for taking the time to consider our project!

Sanctimonious Sweethearts and Scurvy Dogs

I finished them both, and on time. I don’t like waiting until the last minute, but since these are not-for-profit ventures, they took a bit of a backseat. There was a technical glitch with the LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV pilot, which meant my system crashed and I lost 3 hours work. To prevent this again, I kept working at it obsessively until it was complete.

As of my last writing, I was complaining of the lack of idea for the background to my hosts for LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV. I shot these lovely ladies against greenscreen, but had no idea what to put behind them. Leyna came by and in about :15 seconds, she gave me the inspiration to make what I needed. From there, I had 4 different backgrounds designed, created, and rendered in about 2 hours. That eased my mind quite a bit. It also looked pretty kick ass; so many thanks go out to Leyna.

Now I need to immediately shift focus into the short(s) I’m about to do, and also the feature length movie I want to do next. We’re 2 scenes away from having the most solid draft I’ve ever had. Some support is coming from the most unlikely of places, so we’ll see what happens in the next few weeks. I’m going to be slowly rolling out more info and plans on how I want to get this done.

Something was brought up to me recently. Someone who has observed me more from the outside over the years, and has just started to be a friend, approached me about how I am perceived versus what I am actually like, at least like now. I’m not interested in how I am perceived. Who cares? I’ll get judged on my actions and my work. People making any other assumptions or assessments don’t really interest me. I’m not trying to win a popularity contest, nor am I running for Prom Queen of Columbus Film. The things I need and want, I can get with or without the consensus of the cool kids in the film scene.

I’m about the work. The dichotomy is that I’m doing a TV show that requires me to know what people are up to and to even help put a spotlight on their activities. I’m prepared to ignore the peanut gallery. I’m certain there will be allegations of favoritism or prejudice. I have no obligation to anyone or anything beyond making a TV shows that I want to see. I will be unaffected by the talk behind my back that inevitably starts. Knowing its coming has won me half the battle.



I picked up a DVD yesterday for the movie BLACK HAWK DOWN, one of the best movies of the last 10 years. I already owned this movie, first from the initial DVD release, then the EXTENDED CUT DVD, then a BLU RAY. I’m not inclined to buy a 4th copy of the same movie, but this was the 3 DVD set and it was only $6 at a Dollar General. I wanted it because the 2nd & 3rd discs include a 2.5 hour documentary on the making of the movie and another feature length documentary on the actual events. I love my BEHIND THE SCENES discs. I have a 255 disc flip folder of various DVD’s that relate to the MAKING OF for movies. This is my 3rd RIDLEY SCOTT set of discs to go along with KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and GLADIATOR. Ridley’s movies are usually very well documented, and I like his style a lot. For a guy in his 70’s, Ridley Scott is still in top form.

Aggregating the Advert

Well she left me. I got used and abandoned. Sometimes she does this. She just ups and leaves when I need her the most. There’s nothing like getting your teeth kicked in by someone you love and care for. I’m staring at a deadline that can’t be escaped and all she can do is think about herself and not about me and my needs.



I’m speaking of course about the muse. I need to come up with something to put into a giant sea of green and I just can’t think of what to put in it. I was even contemplating some form of white, as in a digital white cyke with gradients, etc. but that stinks of desperation. It might also be my only answer if that mythical bitch doesn’t come back to visit me and give me inspiration in the next 48 hours.

I’m presenting my two TV pilots at the end of this week and I’m still putting together what should be the easier of the two episodes. Well, it isn’t. I have no idea what to do with the greenscreen elements I’ve been shooting this past week. I’m officially out of ideas. I’m mulling over some white-ish ideas but that seems lame. I also don’t have a title sequence or even a remote concept of what to do with one.

My brain is effectively jell-o right now. I can’t think. I can’t concentrate. I’m sleepy. I’m tired. I’m worn down. Nothing is relaxing me. Friday night I watched AVATAR on Blu-Ray, simply because I could turn my brain off for 3 hours with this brainless entertainment. I had only seen it once in 3D, and to be honest, I preferred it in 2D. In my opinion the whole new 3D thing is a fad, not the salvation or future of theatrical releases. It’s mildly entertaining, but story, character, and meaning supersede spectacle every time. Can you imagine a Woody Allen movie in 3D?

Anyways, FRAMELINES is done. The intro and title sequence are doing well in responses. I just put out the first real story, focusing on Mickey Fisher from Ironton Ohio. This guy is an inspiration. Mickey rocks and has made some of my favorite low budget features, period. Scott shot, directed, and edited this with our intern Alex Newman.



We’ll be screening the first 30 minute episode of FRAMELINES tomorrow night at the INDIECLUB COLUMBUS meeting. It should be interesting to see how people react to it. From what I’ve seen from the intro and Mickey story, we’ve got a good show. My sights have gotten a little loftier with the final product of the show than I originally intended. I thought a UHF station with limited reach would suffice, but the show is better than that, thanks in large part to the efforts and participation of others.

Maybe in a few weeks I can make a happy announcement about where and how to see the show(s).

Dubious and Perfidious

I am burning myself out. I am working on the feature length script for ACCIDENTAL ART. I’m promoting FRAMELINES, the 30 minute TV series I just finished yesterday. I’m working on the LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV and getting that pilot episode ready. I’m about to shoot a couple small shorts. I’m hustling to get some more paid work in the door. I still get some freelance work, usually all at the same time or it is a drought. All together, this makes for a singed and strangely happier Rossman.

I guess I want to describe some of my motives behind the TV shows. FRAMELINES is yet another one of my philanthropic ideas. I want to help legitimize the filmmaking movement that myself and my peers are involved in. Getting a widely viewed and accessible magazine style TV show on PBS all over our state felt like a good way to do that. Making a TV show that features human interest stories and Mickey Mouse explanations about the basics is one way to get our work known to people who otherwise not ever take what we do seriously. Somehow, being on TV makes it “real”. This show is not about me, but about all the great stories and ways in which people make movies. So far, I’m really happy with the show as its progressing. I love when you can exceed your own expectations.

Then there’s the educational aspect. The filmmaking tips and basic instructional elements are something that has been important to me for years. Gaining a public forum to put these out there on broadcast television in an easily digested format seems like a perfect fit.

Overcoming personal differences to interview someone objectively because they are doing good work, even though they might have acted like a 3rd grader and called me names behind my back, or to ask for a short film from a moronic ass because it’s still a good movie, these are all obstacles. I guess I’ll have to be the bigger man and just try to do good work and not worry about the rest. I’m far more interested in the big picture. I believe in success without competition, as in a win for everyone, not just me.


A backlog of used books in my queue

There is no outlet or wide audience for a lot of the short films, so a short film compilation TV series makes sense to me. Even with Public Access 8 years ago, it was a way of reaching thousands of people with your work. Doing yet another variation of that idea today, I’m going to try to reach as many viewers as possible with a multi-state show that really gets people to see the short form movies. The crux here resides in trying a more radical idea in a more conservative format. I predict I’ll have to actually edit two completely different forms of the show, one more conservative, and another more hip and aimed at the key demographic of 18-34 year olds.

Like I said before, sometimes the Muse comes in and I can straddle her and make her my bitch. When she comes, I make the most of it. None of the petty politics or idiotic things people say or do matter when you can create something that lasts forever. All the nonsense, and even the irrelevant people will be forgotten, but the work will be there until the end of time.

Framelines

Your faithful narrator has been busy. I occupied this fallow, low income time with many projects. I finished the pilot episode to 1 of 2 TV series. I just worked a ton of long days editing together the whole 29 minutes, including graphics, intros, and even shooting some last minute greenscreen and studio work. Now on to the 2nd series pilot!

Sunny 95’s Dino Tripodis hosted the show for us and we had 5 distinct segments to the show. A Filmmaker Profile where we look at someone’s body of work and interview them, a Spotlight On segment where we look at a person or place or group and get a quick story on that, filmmaking tips, like the ones I’ve already made and that Scott Spears has made, then we go On Location for B-Roll heavy interviews with a movie during pre-production, production, or post-production and get an inside look, and finally my baby the Roundtable discussion.

Sometimes I can pull a rabbit out of a hat. I think I did that with the title sequence and intro to the show for sure, but possibly with the show as a whole. I was deeply inspired by the show VIEWFINDER in Cincinnati, but I wanted a completely different format, a magazine style show that went on location and legitimized the indie film movement as it is today. Scott came up with a great name for our show, FRAMELINES.

Here is the opening and title sequence for FRAMELINES

Framelines Opening Title Sequence from Framelines TV on Vimeo.

Bequeathing Asperity

I am keeping busy. I have more projects than I have time for. I widdled down the 3 TV shows to 2 total. I have had the conundrum of trying to figure out what to do this year, as in should I do a more ambitious short before attempting another feature film? What about the dwindling income? I have found answers and some have found me.



Scott brought us an intern at the studio, an ambitious film geek named Alex. He’s been a godsend for us, as a lot has gotten down since his arrival. Funnily, his hard work makes me feel like doing more work, so I try harder and get more done, especially on my own works.

Alex took an interest in ACCIDENTAL ART, after seeing the recent re-cut. He had not seen it before and I pitched him on what the rest of the story is. Then that lead to him seeing the whole script. This took us down the road of him taking a crack at a draft.



I think by this weekend I’ll have the draft of this script I always wished it would be. It’s no offense to any of the great writers who took a pass at this, but it’s about very preferential things. I want this script to be something very specific and I’m only partially capable of writing that.

Now ACCIDENTAL ART is now online. Dig this,

Accidental Art from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

Pythagoras and his silly Numbers

A 2+ year project has finally happened. We removed the kitchen set from our studio, so I quickly put together a shoot in that space that I had intended for several years. I needed some depth and room to make it happen which was not possible with an entire kitchen cabinet corner sitting there. Our studio converted nicely, along with a lot of love and care from several people, we will have a fully functional set place soon.



A television show has long been gestating for us. Over 2 years ago, we shot segments for this program. We’re not only editing these, but we’re also creating new content. I have set a deadline for early July to get the first pilot episode completed. I’ve already got a handful to make that happen. My brainchild segment is one of the 5 anchor pieces. I love Jon Favreau’s DINNER FOR FIVE, but did not want to be a ripoff. I modeled this on filmmaker panels I’ve attended and been on over the years, but in a more casual way. I am moderating these, but I don’t want to make it about me. It’s about the topic or movie we’re covering from Ohio filmmakers.



We did a 4 camera shoot and luckily there is a kick ass multicam editing part of Adobe Premiere, even in HD. I have started using this to edit even 2 camera shoots because of its ease of cutting. Another great upgrade to the CS4 (specifically 4.2.1 upgrade to Premiere Pro) is a DVD to Timeline ripper, which is incredibly time saving. I can bring a *.VOB file directly to the timeline from a DVD or DVD’s VIDEO_TS folder to the timeline, and then export it to any format I need. Since I can create a nearly lossless AVI file with the Matrox codec, this means a lot of saved time and great quality from DVD. Normally DVD files don’t edit well because they don’t have the whole frames, so I tend to capture them analog via component video, but this direct-to-timeline way is quicker and superior picture quality.



Soon I will have the pilot episode of this show put together. We shot enough roundtable discussions for the first 3 episodes. The other segments will be a focus on various film related items for Ohio filmmakers. Hopefully we can make it educational, yet entertaining enough to bring in “Normies”, meaning normal, non-film people.

Why is it when my income goes down, my ambitions and projects multiply? Things take longer than they used to. I’m less obsessive-compulsive than I was even 3 years ago. I like my time off and relaxing a bit. I blame “V” for chilling me out. I can’t take my cats with me to the studio, so I want to spend more time at home and I don’t like to work at home anymore. I’ve divided the two worlds completely.

Looks like I will be shooting some new narrative works within a few short weeks. I’ve got so much to do and not nearly enough time to do it, but I’ll manage to make it all work. Especially with a lack of paying jobs. A part of me is still a workaholic, so this just means manufacturing more work via self imposed deadlines. I’m a self motivator.

Fractal Asperity

Why is it taking me so long to do another feature film? That’s easy to answer. I don’t want to just make another film. I want to make a good film. This starts with the script. Choosing a script or writing one is also easy. Getting a great script is extremely hard. I want my next feature film to be great, not just good and definitely better than the movies I’ve made before.

I have raised my own bar. I do not want to compromise the quality of the movie unless there is no other choice. I don’t need another mediocre movie. I only want to make movies of a surpassing quality. This is all subjective of course, but I have my own standards to live up to.

The culmination of my decade of making film must be used to service a story. In reading my 8th draft of my intended next feature, ACCIDENTAL ART, I am not pleased with it. It starts great, there are a few very small bits in the middle that are good, and it ends great. That’s not good enough for me. I want it all great or it’s not worth doing. I have been working on this since 2006, on and off. Mostly off. My mind has to be in a place to deal with all the issues left undone.



Part of the problem is going at this alone. I like collaboration, but a script is such a personal and private thing. I’ve tried working with writers, several on this screenplay. Only one has worked out well, but I get derailed pretty easily when it comes to writing. I even did a table read of this last draft. I have a recording that has been on my hard drive for 3 years unlistened to because I am afraid of the massive amount of work that will proceed from this.

My first feature film left me wasted, emotionally and energy. My physical condition has deteriorated immensely. I have gout, about 40 more pounds of fat, substantially more gray hair and a lot less of it on top of my head. Now I am losing teeth. Getting old sucks. I’m almost 40 years old. That’s not young anymore and I failed to take care of myself at all.

I don’t want my only finished feature film to be HORRORS OF WAR. I love the movie like it’s a child, flaws and all. It is special to me and taught me a lot and still has some shining moments, but overall it is not the best film I can make. I can do better. I know how to make a better movie now. So maybe I will.



The cruel mistress that is serendipity visits me on occasion. Sometimes I can make that bitch do what I want, sometimes she controls me. I feel like taking her by the reigns and not letting go until I’m done. In the last week or so, I’ve grabbed her by the horns and a lot of good has come from some simple conversations.

I’m not inspired by competition. I’m just not interested in the drama or how two faced people have become. To have a “friend” compliment you to your face after you’ve helped them to having that same person consistently bash you behind you back is not something that interests me. Cowards and weak-willed individuals will never gain the respect of their peers or achieve anything worthwhile in life. Or maybe they will. Either way, it’s got nothing to do with me directly. I don’t care if other people make movies, have success or not. It’s none of my business what other filmmakers do or don’t do, say or don’t say. I’m staying out of the social bureaucracies of local film for now.

None of this junk helps me make a movie. I’m just not that interested in being friends with film people right now.

Revisiting the Revisions of Revolt

I am a tinkerer. I like to revisit my old works and sometimes re-edit. If I see something I suddenly feel needs changed, I change it. I don’t like to do this on some levels because I should focus on new works, not the old ones. Therapeutically, I have ceased doing these types of things for the most part. There are exceptions…



I went back in and re-edited a bit of ACCIDENTAL ART, my latest real piece. I had a legitimate reason (excuse). Since the festival run is starting to slow down on this, as I won’t shell out much more money on festival submissions and the free invites have started to wane, I decided that if I put this movie on the Internet, it needed to be trimmed some. I thought a “web edit” was called for because the attention spans for the WWW, and the experience of watching it on a tiny screen versus in a theater with other people is very different.

So I went ahead and did some trims to the first half. The problem was, now I think it is a vastly better edit and I’m not going to use the original edit anymore. I only got rid of 3-4 lines, but somehow I think the movie moves and feels WAY better. We get out of the first scene quicker and we didn’t REALLY lose anything in terms of performance or story. Looking at the movie now, I let things meander, as in the actors have redundant lines that are unnecessary. I wrote the lines, and then I directed them, so this is all on me. In the end I can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner; as in 7 months ago when we edited it the first time. Sometimes I’m not that bright. Most people I’ve shown the new cut to have no idea I changed anything, so that is actually a good sign.



So probably around July I’ll put this movie on the web.

As I have mentioned recently on this blog, I’m doing three separate TV shows regarding film right now. The “call for entries” for the short film show has been a bit overwhelming. DVD’s and tapes are coming in from all over the country already. I’ve been busy digitizing a bunch of movies and preparing for the show all week.

I made this little promo because I had never made anything with the virtual white cyke and I had this idea I wanted to try in Adobe After Effects. It works for me. It’s a little :08 little ditty with some tricks gleaned from Video Co-Pilot.net and even the music is from the Pro Scores pack from Andrew Kramer. I thought something silly visually and impactful and dramatic audio would make a fun little bit. Take a look:

The Kubrickian Phase

For a little over two years I’ve been struggling with how it feels to be liked and hated with such intensity, and usually by strangers. I tried to say I didn’t care, but I obviously did. Looking over blogs of the past few years, since I’ve been blogging a journal for 6 years or so, you can clearly see someone who cared a lot what other people thought of himself. Things have changed though.

I can say in all honesty I don’t care anymore. I’m going to do what I do. I’m not interested in how other people will think about me. I do have an interest in how they feel about the work, as in my film work, but I won’t spend any of my time thinking about how people feel about me. It’s not my job to try to convince anyone to like or not like me or to change their minds about who or what I am.

If someone wants to buy into the mythology and rumors of days long gone or even the wild interpretations of my motives for doing things, I cannot be held responsible, nor do I have any need to change their mind or work to convince them of anything.

I have found a peace that I have not known in my life. I am uninvolved in most of the dramas in my film community. I tend to leave my laptop at work even on weekends just to get away from filmmaking as an all consuming thing. I want to live something more of a life, so I’ve taken up bowling for fun. I love it, even though it is minimalist physical activity; that is still an increase for me. I take little interest in what other people do or don’t do, as it has no affect on me.

All I want to do now is more work. How other people want to perceive me is none of my business quite frankly. I’m not going to go to many MOFA (Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association) meetings anymore. I’m getting plenty of social outlets and I don’t feel my physical presence will do much, as in I see the people I want to see whenever I want to anyways.



I’ve entered what I am calling my “Kubrickian Phase”, which is not to do with comparing myself to the master himself, as it is that I don’t want to be in the public much and I’ve clearly changed my output of work to be more about quality than quantity. No, I do not think everything I’ve made is golden. Some of my movies are quite bad actually, but I’m okay with that. Those are what I made at a certain point in time and with whatever skills I had at that moment. I won’t abandon these pieces as if they didn’t exist, but I intend to improve and make better films. I drew a line in the sand and I want my work to be better than what I made in the past.

In the near future, some of my new projects will start to go public. There are three separate TV series in the works, all with broadcast outlets. The first one, a short film compilation show that I am calling LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV will probably hit first. Already, I have enough material for 6 of my first 13 episodes of one hour shows. Within the first 24 hours of making a call for entries, I got several options of expanding the show from 4 cable markets in Ohio to several more states and several more prestigious copyright holders of short films contacted me about submitting their catalogs.



The other two shows need more gestation before I announce anything, but along with TV, I have come up with another idea that I’m going to move on sooner. I wanted to do something with actors where I can help promote some of the better acting talent we have in Columbus and an anthology idea occurred that came together in no time. I’m still selecting the other directors and working with writers on the scripts, but this seems like another project that will be popular one it gets finished later this summer.

So, in the end, I am busy. I have my nose to the ground and I’m doing work. A lot of my vices are dwindling away and all that is left is a desire to do better work and to live a little outside of movies.

‘S’allright.

- Ross

Rare Film Books

I love books on filmmaking. I devour a few books a month on the topic. Half Price Books and Amazon.com used are my new best friends. I can find rare and hard to find books for next to nothing. This week I’m getting two used books that I’m looking most forward to.



First on deck is ALIENS THE ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY. Talk about rare, this was released in the 1980’s and only in the UK. James Cameron’s opus, often forgotten that it’s his because it’s part of someone else’s SciFi series. Storyboards and concept art along with the shooting script in full color; I can’t want to have this one to my collection. I love illustrated screenplays. There’s a new ALIEN ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY from 2002 from the UK that I’ll try to acquire next, but it’s still a little too high a price for me.



Speaking of which, a rarity I may never be able to afford is THE ILLUSTRATED BLADE RUNNER with a ton of “Ridleygrams”, thumbnail sketches by the director himself. As well as some Syd Mead graphic design essentials and this is a book that sells used in crappy condition for over $300. I still want it for my favorite film of all time, as I have most of the other books regarding this film.



My 2nd purchase this week came via discovering it even existed by seeing it on Phil’s shelf in his office, as our filmmaking book library is very similar with a lot of the same titles. I fell in love with the Wachowski’s V FOR VENDETTA adaptation of the graphic novel. I had no idea there was even a book covering “from script to screen” for this. Since I watch this movie at least twice a year, I figured I would thoroughly enjoy a book on the making of the movie.



Another hard to find essential reading is another UK only publication. I love my 2 copies of Robert Rodriguez’s REBEL WITHOUT A CREW, but in less than 2 years after its publication, he wrote another book about the making of his 2nd, even harder to find film, ROADRACERS, a Showtime original feature for cable. His book “ROADRACERS : THE MAKING OF A DEGENERATE HOT ROD FLICK” sells also north of the $300 mark and is well sought after being that it was only published in the UK. I know I’ve wanted to read it just to see more about the process of someone’s SECOND feature after having done the first on indie, with a then unknown Salma Hayek. In theory, it should be a fascinating read, but I might never know as the price is extremely high.



And my final rare book mention is the non-fiction book FAST TIMES AT RIDGMONT HIGH by Cameron Crowe. Yes, he is a filmmaker and he wrote the screenplay to the movie, but this book is an expansion of an undercover article he wrote for Rolling Stone that the film and book are based on. Cameron Crowe, at 29 years old, could still easily pass for a high school student and he did research for this article and eventual book for several months. This one goes for $50 on paperback or so because it never got reprinted. I saw a physical copy for sale at a rare book store and that’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to reading it.



I love my MAKING OF STAR WARS coffee table book. Some reviewer sold their copy here in Ohio on Amazon and I snagged it for only a few dollars and it was a $75 hard cover. This fall the comprehensive MAKING OF EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is due out to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of that film. Hopefully I can get this new book on another bargain hunt.

A Sedulous Artifice

My long dormancy will soon end. I’m about to embark on several projects and all of them have their individual challenges. I hate that word “challenges”, at least the way it has replaced the word “problems”. Regardless, your faithful narrator has a full plate and none too soon.

First on deck, finishing a TV show pilot I’ve been working on just nigh of two years. Scott Spears and I have been tinkering with this show and idea for so long, and we’ve already shot a bunch of segments, but we have no edited a single one. I was unmotivated because the anchor to the show could not be shot whilst we had a giant kitchen set in our studio. Now that this monstrosity has finally been removed; it wasn’t even 30 minutes later I started booking crew for the shoot. We’re going to do a 4 camera studio shoot and I’ll do the camera switching in post because software allows a great multicam edit function.



Simultaneously, I will be putting together two separate TV shows for a different network and I will need to shoot some intros and start to gather up content. If you have a short film, or preferably several short films, that you want to show on TV, by all means drop me a line and let me know. These will have to be broadcast TV friendly, so no bad words, no nudity, and nothing that sucks. Given that there are many good shorts over 20 minutes; I’ll even be seeking those too. Exposure is always a good thing. So if you’re interested in getting your movie seen, let me know. I’m going to ask several of the more attractive actresses to host this show in my stead.

Similarly, I want to finish out the CREW JOB DESCRIPTION videos I started. I have several more to shoot. Again, I’m going to find some pretty girls to be on camera instead of me. That tends to make more people watch them. I don’t really care if technicians get upset, as they aren’t trained to say lines and no one actually wants to see them on screen. The target is people who have never made a movie before, so why people with experience care is beyond me.

Then there is an outlet for feature films too. I’m going to be editing some features I have access too for broadcast. Again, no money, but with proper work, an ambitious filmmaker could make the opportunity something more. Print press and something to use to entice a buyer that is what people who want to work their projects can do. I’ll be on-camera talent for this show, which I don’t particularly like, but I’m cheap and available.



My personal exposure is about to go up. I was not looking to get more in the public eye much. In fact, I wanted the opposite. I’ve entered my self-imposed Kubrickian phase. I want to focus on quality, not quantity. I’ve already done a lot of shorts and even worked a few features. My desire at this point is to make things that I am proud of and that exceed what I have done in the past, at least in my own opinion. These projects are more side projects.

I felt I needed to warm back up. I shot ACCIDENTAL ART in late August and have not shot anything since. As a director, I need to stay in shape. Before I embark on another big shoot, I want to scrimmage a little. I have come up with a mini-web project that suits this need. I am deciding how to put it together as a whole, but I think I can show off some of our local acting talent in a short form that is simple to make, but elegant in its execution.

After these enormous targets, I have to decide if I want to make an ambitious short film or proceed with my next feature film. There are benefits and downsides to either choice, but so far, there is no clear path. At least I can be distracted by many weeks of hard work and organization with these other projects before I have t make a decision…

Peace and goodwill towards men and women and cats.

R.I.P. Hollywood Video

The home video store chain HOLLYWOOD VIDEO just went under. The death toll must be ringing for BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO soon. This is not good news for the independent filmmaker. The business model of the video store has been decimated by the mail order DVD service like NETFLIX and video on demand services, also NETFLIX and AMAZON.COM. What that means to the indie filmmaker is that one of our biggest revenue sources has just faded away into dust.



In the late 1970’s VHS (and the Sony Betamax format) started to bloom. It was close to $1,000 for a player (not even recorder) and to buy a tape of a Hollywood movie title was $79-$100. Within a few years, a crop of home video rental stores opened on every street corner, especially in small towns.

As years went on, VHS decks dropped in price to under $30 each. VHS saturated the market until 98% of the homes in the U.S. had a VHS deck and more than 75% had more than one.

The studios and the home video market had a great deal for almost 20 years. A movie gets released initially for $100-$120 per tape, but it’s not made available to retailers just yet; only to home video stores for rental for about 6 months exclusively. After that, the tapes are released to retailers for $15-$20 and also to cable TV.

There were thousands of video rental stores in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Because of the $100 per tape cost of the Hollywood big titles, they would need to fill their shelves, so they also needed more new content on shelves when the big movies were rented out. This created the DIRECT TO VIDEO business. Movie that were made, never intended for movie theaters, just filling shelves at video stores and also might wind up on Cinemax at 1:00AM.

In the early 1990’s the “indie film” boom started to happen. With SEX LIES AND VIDEOTAPE, RESERVOIR DOGS, EL MARIACHI, CLERKS, SLACKER, BROTHERS MCMULLEN, and all the movies that created this new market for finding unknown talent, there was a new influx of material on the market. A whole new aisle appeared with a new type of movie that was floated by the need for content at stores and press to hype these movies. It was making so much money for these small businesses; it was doomed to be incorporated.



Companies like BLOCKBUSTER, WEST COAST VIDEO, and HOLLYWOOD VIDEO started to gobble up the profitability of the mom & pop independent companies. Similarly, megastores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy started to specialize in movies.

Then DVD entered the scene. In order to crack the VHS nut, DVD’s started the day and date release and pricing. When the movie was first released on VHS, there was no exclusivity for DVD, so the lower priced retail DVD was put out at the same time as the rental. Mathematically, if you watched the movie more than twice, it was the same price to rent it twice as it was to buy the movie. Rental costs went up, retail prices went down. This started the demise of the home video market.

Enter NETFLIX and the mail order movie rentals. You have one small hub covering a large area, with one bulk price for the rentals. Also, AMAZON.COM is the retail version of this. They don’t need to have a lot of copies in stock of no-name movies, and because there is less demand for those titles, they need even less copies than the retail rental stores.

This is how independent filmmakers got boned. In the old business model, we could sell 1 single copy of our movie to tens of thousands of stores and make a profit. Now with Netflix, Amazon.com, and even Best Buy and Wal-Mart going to online retailing, they only buy literally tens of copies of a movie without name stars or a theatrical release. They have made the system more efficient and put a lot of people out of jobs and films without an audience.

The current home video market as it stands in 2010 is simply an extension of big business Hollywood movies. Why spare the shelf space with 10 alternate titles when you could have 10 more copies of the latest Hannah Montana movie? The reality is, they make more money this new way. It’s no different than the megaplex theaters. They have 30 screens, all the more to show the latest comic book adaptation on more screens, not offer more choices. It makes them more money, so why change it?

Sure, we can sell our own movies on AMAZON.COM or stream them as pay per view on YOUTUBE now, but without the big corporate marketing machine, unless the girls are very pretty and wearing very little, the profit numbers are still no where near the industry as it was in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

This is all going to spin the popular culture cycle back to 1994 again when the public gets sick of regurgitated swill and TV show remakes. Everything is cyclical and the desire to see something alternative and the profitability of the independent film will return. But when?

It gives me hope to see something like THE RAVEN. A posh, amazing looking movie that I found more entertaining (and technically better in many ways) than the last 3 seasons of HEROES on NBC, with better effects work too. Done for under $5,000 to boot. What the studios and networks are churning out and what an indie can create has narrowed.



I have no idea what the next big independent surge will be. I don’t know what the new business model will be. All I know is that the old ones are dead in the water and have no chance at survival.

Film Score and Dedication

One of the most simple, yet effective ideas in a score was exemplified in the LETHAL WEAPON scores, primarily by Michael Kamen with Eric Clapton on guitar and David Sanborn on saxophone. What made the themes and melodies ingenious was not the brilliant musicians, but the concept of having the guitar and melody represent RIGGS (Mel Gibson’s character) and the saxophone represent ROGER (Danny Glover’s character). Each had a distinctive melody and instrumentation for their differing characters, and when they come together in the story, the melodies and instruments complement each other perfectly.



This continued on into the other 3 sequels to the movie with similar degrees of success. For LETHAL WEAPON 2, a more jazzy form of the melody worked because the character of RIGGS was taken in by the family. In LETHAL WEAPON 3 a more acoustic approach, both because of Eric Clapton’s affectation with the acoustic sound at that time, as well as a softer, more romantic RIGGS in the story worked in favor of the film. I don’t recall anything about LETHAL WEAPON 4 except Jet Li played a bad guy and not one note of music is in my head from that one. Sorry.



The composer, Michael Kamen, was never one of my favorites, even though he was the composer for such films as DIE HARD (1-3), ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES, X-MEN, THREE MUSKETEERS, and more. The only original score of his that stood out to me was to DON JUAN DEMARCO. It was his most unique and original score to me, with depths of emotion resonating. I initially hated the Bryan Adams song “Have you ever loved a woman”, but upon hearing it in context with the movie, I loved it and the score.



Michael Kamen was considered the “Rock-N-Roll” orchestrator. He started with the album PINK FLOYD’S THE WALL and went on to work with Aerosmith, Queensryche, Queen (for soundtracks to FLASH GORDON and HIGHLANDER), David Bowie, Rush, Def Leppard, Metallica and of course Sting. To me he was great at arranging, but his weakness was melodies, but when a rock star provided him with a great melody, he found endless ways to reinvent that and orchestrate it.

The Lethal Weapon soundtracks re-iterate this theory. Eric Clapton and David Sanborn provided Michael Kamen with amazing melodies that he created a wonderful series of film scores to; they supported the film, the characters, and made something good into something great. That’s what an original score should do.

Michael Kamen died in 2003.

I started off as a musician. All I wanted to do from the time I was 5 years old was write music for movies. Now, the idea of working on music does not appeal to me in the slightest. In my efforts though, I do get to work with composers and musicians on the soundtracks to my own movies.