Juniper and other things that annoy me

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





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



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



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



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



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



Time to celebrate someone else’s birthday tonight.



Peace,

Ross

of

Rossdonia,

Land of the Spooning Weasels

Paris et l'amour de cinéma

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



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

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

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

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



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



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



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

Adieu,
Pierre Jean Ross

IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM on DVD

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

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

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

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

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

- Peter John Ross aka Sonnyboo

Rotating the Axle of Confabulation

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

More on that later.

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



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



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



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

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



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

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



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

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

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

The Guild and How they Got their Cashola

I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan. After recently getting the DVD of DR. HORRIBLE'S SING ALONG BLOG, I finally discovered the web series THE GUTHE GUILD written and starring Felicia Day.



For their first "season" (albeit 10 3-5 minute long webisodes) they primarily existed on PayPal donations... which I thought was illegal, but I'll have to look into their exceptions and how they did it. Now SPRINT advertises for 6 seconds at the head of each video and they are making decent money on the DVD sales and other advertising.

Everyone wants to try to turn the microcinema, camcorder shooting into some kind of profitability. THE GUILD has succeeded in that regard, but it isn't just a fluke. Some forethought and marketing went into their success.



Now the two most significant things in their business model to me was the niche marketing of gamers, formerly D&D geeks/current World of Warcraft and Everquest fantasy online role players who have an unhealthy addiction to their gaming to escape reality. A specific marketing target with crossover appeal made a perfect genre that was otherwise not being addressed. How many TV shows focus on that group and mocks them with a tender and loving touch?

Far more importantly, the writing is stellar. Absolutely witty and sharp, Felicia Day's talent as a writer and the importance of good writing in the end result of a "good" product cannot be understated. She followed the indie film commandments of writing for what she has access to for free, a restaurant, some apartments, a house, etc.; nothing too extravagant. In the current season 2 episodes, there are dolly shots and some obviously higher production values, but still looks almost the same. Filmmakers overlook that “normies” aka normal people don't really give a shiite about the slightly off lighting or framing in the earlier episodes of THE GUILD because they cared about the characters and situation.



I like THE GUILD series a lot. It was no accident, nor was it the luck of the draw that got this web series to be fiscally viable and very popular. The combination of niche marketing and sincerity in writing that made this a success on many levels.

CLICK HERE to watch THE GUILD

Pejorative Sagaciousness

I’m finally done sharing my cheer with the various families. I’m cranky and sleepy, but I’m going to party with some friends tonight. At least I have some new Blu-Ray’s and DVD’s to keep me company. I can finally see the extended cut of 24:REDEMPTION, the new Kevin Smith “A THREEVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH” which has been hilarious so far, and of course DEATH PROOF in HD along with INDIANA JONES and the inaugural Blu Ray CRITERION COLLECTION which is Wes Anderson’s BOTTLE ROCKET, which I cherish. The highlight is DR. HORRIBLE’S SING ALONG BLOG on DVD with “COMMENTARY: THE MUSICAL”. The sounds of Cannonball Adderly belting on the sax have set the tone for my weekend and I want to just take a day to myself and watch some movies in peace.

Once we get to January 2nd on through the rest of the year, I won’t have much time to rest or relax. Things will start to get busy rather fast. The wheels rotate ever onward and I’m ready. Several ideas ferment like a fine wine. Committing them to writing has been less and less cumbersome of late.



Some end of the year stats, as The Tale of Years in Rossdonia would not be complete.

The Cowtown Film Series was successful on many levels, including financial (although I need to still get a check from the theater… my bad). It was more work than I set out to do, but it was worth it. I feel good exhibiting the features and helping where I could with seeing some movies get completed that might not have otherwise. I am committing to doing another run of features in 2009, I just don’t know when yet. It won’t be 10 weeks, that’s for sure.

As already stated, I defeated my enemies. Those guys suck. Apparently, this statement in an earlier blog was taken out of context and ruffled feathers of people who fancy themselves my adversaries. I can think of nothing funnier than some guy I haven’t even taken into consideration or months got riled up, wrote blogs and then posted a multitude of comments all over my Funny or Die account because he so arrogantly thinks that I was talking about him. Imagine the arrogance it takes to read a blog and assume they are being addressed by capriciousness and vague notions.



Speaking of my blog, I average around 140 readers a day on all the various sites combined. That’s surprising. I only write these both as a cathartic expression and because I hate the impersonal sending of the same emails to friends and family of what I’m doing with a “cut and paste” function {CNTRL-C then CNTRL-V}. I have found that posting a blog and updating people via that conduit has been effective for the 10-15 people I intended to reach when I started. Now I had no clue so many other people were interested or reading. Even more confusing is the anguish and obsession it spurs in the few readers that are more akin to Lee Harvey Oswald than my more normal onlookers.

The UNCLE PETE videos were what I wanted them to be. I am pleased artistically and business-wise. They are in contract to be represented along with HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS via a Canadian-British agency that license short films for TV, web, cell phone, etc. I’ll give them a chance, as I’m still getting money from my old representation, but I’d like to see how different companies do. I’m thinking of dropping BIG FILM SHORTS as a distributor. They have been later and later on payments. Now they’re incommunicative at all, so I’ve stopped recommending them for representing short films. BLIP TV has been consistent and now matter how big or small, the checks come in quarterly and they always clear. I still made over $1,000 overall from short films for the year, and that’s just from my old material. Now that I have and will have more material as the 2009 goes on, I’m hoping to see an increase in income for shorts.

I’ve been working full time as a director/producer/editor for over 7 years as my sole income. Getting paid to do what you love to do has been one of my greatest accomplishments. It didn’t used to pay that well, but lately it has gotten better. I’m surprised the economy downturn hasn’t pinched my wallet as hard as I thought, but it has hit some and will continue to decline in ways for several months. I think more people would find their bliss if they could do what they want. My sincerest thanks to Scott Spears for making the last 2 years much more stable and reliable.

I can’t believe still that IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM is done. That’s something that was looming forever. I think subconsciously I was not giving my all into new projects or moving on until that was done. I promised myself it would get done. No one held my feet to the fire. Not many even cared I was doing it, but it meant something to me. Soon it will be on sale on AMAZON.COM (in a few days no less). Once I laid this puppy to tape the other day on a DVCAM master, it was like a release. I started deleting all the duplicate files on my internal and portable hard drives, knowing I’ll never have to need these again, and I was relieved. It was an invisible chip on my shoulder that needed released into the world.

GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND was another one of those albatrosses that needed to be taken away. We finished it, we screened it, and I deleted it. Seems like I have established a nice pattern for finishing feature length projects. This one was bittersweet in that the director wanted nothing to do with it, but so many other people involved were thrilled to see it complete. Giving Tim Lucas, an executive producer on the film, a DVD when he came to town was just as big a goal as screening the film. His closure meant as much to me as George’s.

The Cats of Rossdonia live on. My life with felines grows and develops into a strange and twisted tale that boggles the mind. I have learned much of unconditional love both for and from my little boy Vladimir Jack Bauer and his little black heart.



2008 was the year of shedding the past for me. Fulfilling all of my old promises, cutting loose the negativity, defeating my enemies (those guys suck), and moving on. I have plans. No one can stop me. 2009 will do it.

Conflagrations of Incendiary Individuals

I am so immature. Today My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I stopped off at McDonalds on the way to a Xmas family thingy. Whilst there I was getting a refill of my Orange Lava drink and a small 5 year old boy with both his parents was saying “I want a fruit drink! I want a fruit drink!” so I says to the kid “Oh yeah, well I HAVE a fruit drink….” And walked away. Moments later, as I sit back down with My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ I hear that same kid screaming at the top of his lungs in protest. Apparently he didn’t get his fruit flavored beverage. Well kid, it sucks to be you because I got another refill after that. I so rule and the only thing that kid did better than me was suck and go thirsty.


Last night I wrote four chapters of my new book. It’s a dissertation on multimedia today, how we got here, the affects of it all, and the influence of popular culture upon itself. I have thoughts, and I want to get this out there too. Some of my writing about television have been picked up and read. I was surprised to get a phone interview over a blog I wrote about the state of television today (several months ago) and it was printed in Media Biz’s last issue.

Speaking of which, several events in the world of Television need to be addressed. First off with NBC’s announcement that Jay Leno will move to prime time will have ripple effects on the traditional TV business model. A little backstory, a few years ago Jay Leno discussed with NBC a possible retirement date of Spring 2009. NBC, in the interest of saving money decided not to revisit the conversation with Jay to see if he was still going to leave and just pretended it was a done deal and announced it. Conan O’Brien is set to take over the Tonight Show as was pre-ordained. That is until Jay Leno decided he didn’t want to end his run.



Combine this with a completely altered landscape of network television. Execs fully acknowledge that the business model has been changed permanently. The Internet is not just a fad. If last year’s writer strike proved anything, it’s that people have a lot of alternatives to the old reliable network TV. DVR’s and Tivo ™ have also reshaped the landscape in a way that even VCR’s didn’t do with 90% saturation in the market in the United States from the 1980’s to the last few years.

Jay Leno is going to be Monday through Friday, but at 10:00PM, thus eliminating 5 hours of programming… and their production costs. One hour dramas, which typically play the 10:00PM timeslot and have for decades, these cost a lot of money, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million per episode. In some cases, the shows are not owned by the network themselves, so DVD sales and syndication returns belong to someone else. Warner Brothers produced E.R., the 10:00PM slot holder for NBC for 15 years, and NBC (now NBC Universal) doesn’t see a penny from DVD boxed sets or the repeat airings on TNT, or whatever Turner cable network airs the syndicated episodes.

So what does this mean? NBC is cutting down their programming and annual production budget by a significant percentage next year. If they are successful, the other networks will follow. With the recession in full swing with little sign of let up anytime soon, expect cable networks to similarly cut back.



And now for some MORE bad news in Television. SAG, the Screen Actors Guild looks to be promoting the idea of a strike for all union actors in January-February 2009. Last year’s writer’s strike was crippling to the industry and it has not fully recovered from the aftershocks. One of the things it revealed is that the current crop of the most coveted demographic of 18-35 year olds are a fickle bunch. Take away the shows they like, they are more likely to replace them with something else than demand a settlement. Everyone loses.

So if SAG goes on strike, it’s my belief they might hurtle the television industry into a more permanent loss of viewership for the future. If shows like 24 or LOST get interrupted by a strike, the fan base might just hang up their spurs and call it a day. There is a chance that since the majority of the membership of SAG is day players and the people who need the minimum wage for union actors, the strike might not go through. These are the people who cannot survive the current economic climate without a regular payday and hopefully don’t want to cut off their nose to spite their face.



Everyone can lose in this scenario. It’s the wrong time SAG. I understand that they are fighting for revenues of the future, but they aren’t there with the Internet yet. Fight for them when everyone can afford the struggle, not now. The tactic of trying to squeeze right now won’t work and the studios deep pockets will get lean soon enough.

This isn’t even taking into account the basic idea that the entire system of television has been eroding for decades. Once advertisers figure out that they are not getting their money’s worth from commercials because less and less people are watching, but they are paying more and more money – watch out. Television’s business model is outdated and crumbling before us.

Disavowing Jurisprudence

When things move again, they move fast and mightily. On my plate already is post production on a quick green screen short I tossed together this past Thursday night. I wanted to make a commentary on the ever giant Wal-Mart and the media. I was greatly inspired by seeing a TV “news” segment that was glorifying and miraculously sponsored by a hospital during the 11:00 O’clock media coverage that used to be called journalism. This cynicism and sick sense of humor keyed off a new bit. I wrote it quick and called in some actors.

Today I shot the background plate for one section of this bit. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ has been tinkering with IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM documentary relentlessly since the screening a little over a week ago. She wanted to re-order all the scenes to make it flow better, plus we really agreed with most criticism from the screening which was that the Fly-On-The-Wall B-Roll segments were too long. They cause the overall pacing to drag and people lose interest. I think these sections could be equally effective in less than half the time.

The other thing needed was more on Post Production. I short-changed the entire process in the documentary that played. It was 3 minutes of montage with a quickie voice over to cover the entirety of post. Now we took some of the existing “educational” web docs and fashioned them into the movie proper. Sections on ADR, M&E Tracks, and why & how we deleted scenes fit into the scheme. The actual “editing” process is still skipped a bit, but on a DVD I can use the WebDocs of editing as bonus features.

Speaking of which, the goal is to sell DVD’s of this documentary and DVD as an educational tool. Many people who want to get into making a feature length film can get in depth with the process and really feel what it’s like to take the plunge. Creative and practical decisions with footage make for a demonstrative movie at a budget level more people can relate to as opposed to the huge multi-million dollar productions that are beyond more people’s grasp.

The final touches and clean ups for My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™’s edit are completed and we’re about to start the encoding for DVD process later tonight. Last night I worked on the DVD art and setting up the distribution with Amazon.com. My goal of 90 minutes has been met, and we’re even 3 minutes shorter than what played barely over a week ago at the Cowtown Film Series, and that’s with 14 minutes of new material ADDED to the movie. It’s another feature I produced, and that’s a goal met.



On the downside, I reviewed footage from much earlier in the year. I had always intended to do this short film but since it relied on snow, it was incredibly difficult to put together. I gave someone a shot at D.P. and after supervising the first few shots I gave over the reins and focused on working with my 7 year old actor. I digitized the footage shortly after that and was disappointed, but didn’t feel rushed to edit this piece. As we enter winter I wanted to re-examine it after not seeing a frame for months. Looking at it now, the footage was not as bad as I remember, but it still falls very far below the standards I am setting for myself for the future.

This puts me in a quandary. I will absolutely not use a frame of this footage and if this short is to be resurrected, it will be re-shot entirely. The stars may not ever align to make this happen again, but I would rather not release anything that is below my current standard of quality. I have to tell my nephew that this piece will never be done. That is not something I look forward to, but I can’t do it. I don’t even have enough footage to cut something together just for him. I don’t blame the D.P., as it was my shoot and making sure the shots I want are there is my job, no one else’s. Let’s just say that my trust of camerapersons understanding me has gone down. I will be absolutely sure I’m getting what I want for all my projects. This is a stinging reminder of my role with the camera as a director.



I’m hoping to get a sole music cue for my new little greenscreen experiment, and I have to create some graphics, plus key in the back ground and I will have a new piece on the market by the end of the week, if not sooner. I love having a greenscreen and studio I can just walk into and shoot on next to my edit suite. I don’t want to take these things for granted and not only let them inspire my creativity, but I need to ACT on these inspirations.



I love being burned in the flames of inspiration right now. 2009 looks to be quite a kick ass year; recession be damned. This year, I defeated my enemies, drank their blood, and sang the songs of victory to the lamentation of their women and children. Next year I conquer more worthy foes and loftier goals. My banner is raised, as are my standards. Let’s just watch as it all unfolds.

To my acolytes of Boo,
I wish you the best

Peter John Ross

Idyllic Permutations

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ has been ill all night, making for little sleep. After the last month of various ills on my own behalf, I can now return the favor. Plans for chicken soup, bedtime stories, and the TLC enter my purview.

COWTOWN has officially ended. I delayed the final screening for various reasons, not the least of which was my inability to walk at the originally designated time. Combine that with factors that contributed to the delays on the documentary, and we had a recipe for postponement.



I did finish the feature length 92 minute documentary. I felt rushed and disinterested. So much of anything relating to that movie feels like it is “of the past”. I am a different filmmaker now. I see so many things I would do differently now and the helplessness of being unable to change them just creates a pool of disappointment, even though there are many things I am still proud of.

After the screening, as sitting with an audience with a movie for the first time will do, I was bequeathed many ideas and concepts for improvement. I was little motivated to act on them, but My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ has been, so she took over a massive re-edit of the documentary. So far, I would say it is greatly improved, but I had no intentions of screening this again. It was simply something I said I would do and I wanted to finish it. I keep my word. I promised to make this movie and it has less to do with anyone else’s expectations or interest as it was to placate my inner promise.

I do have the potential of releasing a DVD of the documentary, as more of an “educational” piece for indie filmmakers. It would be something I sell on the website or possible through AMAZON.COM. The idea of potentially sending it to a few small festivals has also been suggested. I’m not as enthused as I was, but the newer edit seems to have potential.

It’s amazing how you lose sight of things from your original intent to the final product. I had a “MAKING OF SCENE 6” documentary early in the film, even though it took place in post production, which is a major weakness of the overall documentary. We had little to no coverage of the post production process, so I threw together a small, short segment on it. I knew it was short changing the process, but My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™had the idea of placing in some of the educational Web Docs to tell more of the story of post production and I agree that it is a good idea, as long as we keep the running time around 90 minutes. That means major cuts to other aspects of the documentary, which generally is a good thing since the movie feels “long” and not in a good way.

The movie already has a massive re-ordering since the screening and the “B-Roll”, fly-on-the-wall segments are being chopped down to half the run time to avoid redundancies and a sense of being “boring”. All I wanted to capture was the sense of what it’s really like to be on set of an indie film and I think I achieved that, even in the “first draft” edit that screened.

I now feel free to move on though. I have a shoot this Thursday night for a new quick clip, something in the world I feel compelled to comment on. I need to get a few shots to finish off a short I started last March, although quite frankly, I’m disappointed in the footage shot, but it might be salvageable.



I’m writing a new book, I have several new small & large projects “in development”, meaning I really am working on creating a few shorts and planning the next year’s production schedule for what I want to get done. Now that I’m back on my feet (literally and figuratively), I want to get started on the next phase.

I met with an old Bank One buddy for lunch the other day. That sparked so many ideas. I realize that I don’t really know too many normal people anymore. Most people I spend time with are a bit Bohemian, not at all conducive to the writing about normalcy. To hear the names and remind myself of what the “normies” are like really help inspire me, both to write and tell stories about. Some people are made for mockery and others to be exalted.

And one last stain of vitriol to be addressed… I find it completely refreshing to see some of my worst enemies yet again palely following my footsteps. Nothing in life makes me feel more pleased than to see some of these people, who complain bitterly and loudly about how I do things, and then turn around and use these same methods of marketing and promotion for themselves. Sometimes my methods work, at least they work for me. For some to cry like babies that it’s shameless self promotion, and then do it themselves; perhaps they need to consult a mental health physician as the self loathing might be indicative of some real problems.

What can I say? Some people are followers no matter how original they think they are. It’s no wonder most people don’t waste any time taking them into any kind of consideration.

An Interesting Television Business Decision

Last year’s writer’s strike caused an interesting thing for FOX’s show 24, which I love dearly. Now, the reason I enjoy the show is because I immediately stop worrying about the concept being “24 hours” and “real time”. If realism will destroy your enjoyment of a fictional show, then this ain’t for you. I got into the show on DVD a few years ago because Scott Spears tipped me off that Buy.com had season one on sale for $15 including shipping and for a 6 disc set, that’s cheaper to buy than it is to rent, plus I could sell it for that amount at a used DVD store.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I were hooked right away and Netflix © kept us going until we caught up with the current seasons. I’ve liked Kiefer Sutherland since THE LOST BOYS and STAND BY ME in the 1980’s and his JACK BAUER character has been a source of acting challenges with range for him that I enjoy watching.



24 starts shooting like every other TV series in the fall even though none of their episodes begin airing until January. They do this because they feel that the show is much more effective with the audience to consistently get new material every single week with no breaks for all 24 episodes. This even affords them some double episode weeks and really gets the anticipation going from start to finish. Shows like LOST are emulating this model because shows that are highly serialized demand audience attention for continuity, etc.

Last year, 24 got off to a rough start. They had a highly publicized halt to their production. Supposedly, they were breaking their difficult show model and were going to do 24 hours, but not all in a row. So 6 hours in this city, then a week later, 6 hours in another city, etc. The original intent was going to be the first 6 hours taking place in & shot in AFRICA and the next 6 hours in Washington D.C. The writers & producers felt each year being in Los Angeles was limiting and they were right. The formula was getting a bit stale, so breaking it up and moving it out would have been better.



So, the problem became that FOX was deeply concerned about shooting in Africa for real and knew that the budget would skyrocket, so just as they were about to pack up and leave, FOX pulled the plug and told them all to re-think the season minus the Africa segments. Since the show doesn’t premiere until January, this wasn’t an emergency per se, but they did have a lot to catch up on and re-do to alter everything they intended. So they re-tooled, re-wrote and started off with the Washington D.C. segments and laid the Africa stuff as backstory that occurred off camera between.

They got 7 new episodes in the can before the writer’s strike kicked in for 2007-2008’s season, then the writer’s strike set in for months. Even when the strike was over, a show like this cannot catch up, nor can they do less than the “24” episodes that is the core of the show’s concept. Kiefer Sutherland also had to serve a jail sentence for drunk driving, and it all worked out.
The decision was to completely hold off any producing any new episodes until the 2008-2009 season.



So cut to the new season, FOX has already invested in 7 fully produced episodes and wants to continue where that left off. That means for the current season they have a surplus in their budget for 7 episodes and taking after another TV series, NBC-Universal’s Sci Fi Channel BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, they offered the producers a chance to make a one off 2 hour TV movie for 24 called REDEMPTION. They could use the majority of the 7 episode surplusmoney to produce it, and the writers/producers decided to dust off their scripts and ideas for the AFRICA storyline. NOW they get to produce the African storyline with even more budget, not conflict with the 24 hour real time aspects, and get the backstory for the new season as something we can visually see with high production values.



Still following the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA model, used to do their 2 hour movie RAZOR in 2007, this 24 movie REDEMPTION will also get released within a day or two of its airing on DVD in a longer, unrated producer’s cut. Since the new season doesn’t start until January, they can still satiate fans with new content in the fall with this made for TV movie. Given what neophiles and the compulsive nature of fandom, this idea has real brilliance. The buildup hype for the new season, using annual production budget surplus, and then offer it as a retail item immediately for the big cash return. It’s genius, if only because the product is good.

Next week I’ll be watching the broadcast, then probably renting the producer’s cut, and getting psyched for some Jack Bauer terrorist ass kicking since it’s been nearly 2 years. I love these ancillary products like the TV movie for things I’m into. It deepens the mythology of the stories I like, it creates alternative revenue for a dying industry, and it’s just feeding the fans desire for MORE of anything.

Electoral Pinings

Today, I voted. Seemingly this would be an innocuous feat, but I’m 36 years old and I have never voted before. In my youth, I vowed never to vote as a stand against several things; I hate the two party system which denigrates the entire concept of “democracy” as to me it becomes simply a less obvious and only slightly more voluntary monarchy of sorts. The second reason I never voted was because of the Electoral College. I find the entire concept, created in an era when it was blamed on technology as a way to supersede the real counting of ballots for such a large collection of supposedly free peoples.

I broke my vow because the last 8 years have sucked. Plain and simple, there has been suckage. I am a pragmatic anarchist in terms of how I view politics. The real problems of society and especially America at this point all revolve around a greater problem than pointing fingers at any one person or even small group of individuals. I also believe that one man/woman can make a difference to make a, forgive the cliché, change.



Unfortunately, this year looked to be a tough decision. In 2007 I started paying attention to the the maverick, John McCain. He looking into his past and his history, I would have really believed in him as a man to rebel against traditional Republican nasties, but still be conservative where it counted. Then the last 6 months have him undoing everything he used to believe in to cater to a Republican base. THE DAILY SHOW, unlike the formerly respectable media, actually showed a montage of things he said from 1999-2007 and played them back to back with Summer 2008 speeches of John McCain and he has gone 180 degrees the other way. He doesn’t believe in what he’s saying now or he changed his mind, either way, he’s not someone I would then trust in office, nor is that something I find respectable. He’s not evil, nor do I find him to be a bad person, but he’s not earning any respect, and now not my first vote.

What happened to the media being watchdogs? Why aren’t they really attacking some key, important issues? Why do I have to get a sense of justice from a comedy show? The “news” if they dare to be called that, has become “info-tainment”. Whole networks or individual shows now cater to specific points of view and warp facts & reality to the point of creating mistrust in the news. I can’t stand either polarizing side at this point. It appears that the Associated Press and Reuters are about all that’s left of news organizations that try to leave their politics and views out and just report facts, and even then they still fall prey to the sway of press releases and rumors, only not as often.

The state of the world today and how it affects me directly got me off my ass (the tubby one) and into the booth today. My goal was to get up and go to the polls between 9:30AM-11:00AM because by my logic, all the early go-to-workers will be done and I can beat the vote-at-lunch-crowd too. Also, I guessed the lines would be down because of all the early voting, that including My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ this past Sunday, who braved a 4+ hour line. Today we go to the polling place and I walk right in, no lines outside. They direct me to the 3 windows broken down alphabetically, and there’s no line for “R”, so I then go right up to one of the 20 voting machines, more than half of which empty await voters. I cast my votes and got on out of there. I guess this is NOT the experience of waiting that I was expecting. I had brought a book, some juice, and a mindset for waiting.



Even though the electoral way of voting seems futile and the unfairness of getting to only select one of two candidates chosen for me, I still felt it necessary to vote today. It seemed important and could make a significant difference to how things are going to go. I voted what I believe to be best for the future and to make the most impact in a positive light.

I’m inundated with editing work, all of which keeps me from working on the documentary now less than 2 weeks from playing in front of an audience. YIKES! Time is NOT my friend. I want to take a week to myself when COWTOWN is done. It won’t happen, but it’s what I would like.

Anyways….

- Peter John Ross on Election Day

Farcical Results

Week 7 is done for the COWTOWN FILM SERIES. Each week I get happier and more nervous. I’m still not done with my documentary, even though I’ve made some progress. I’m just looking forward to the end of the run. What the hell was I thinking? TEN WEEKS! What a dumbass I can be.

We had a technical glitch to start the show. I had bought John Whitney’s JVC deck that plays DVCAM tapes. I used it the week before for the main show and it worked flawlessly. This week, during the trailers, the audio was dropping in & out every other word. I waited until the trailer ended, then already had the other Sony DVCAM deck waiting on standby underneath it (as I don’t trust technology 100%). I got the S-video and audio cable switched out in less than a second, got the tape to eject no problem. I inserted the tape into the new deck and hit PLAY. After a second, it immediately powered off and showed me an ERROR MESSAGE – ERROR C32. I unplugged the deck and plugged it back in, holding down the EJECT button (an engineer’s trick I learned is that eject gets a priority if you are holding it down when the power comes up). Nope. No tape. I tried this 6 times and eventually it spit the tape out. Not eaten (thankfully). Pushed it back in and then it played flawlessly for the rest of the show.

Now that was in all about 3 minutes, but that is an ETERNITY with a live audience sitting in a dark theater staring at a black screen. Now, my backup is to have a DVD player on standby with the whole show on a DVD-R just in case I lose both decks, but that’s triple redundancy and NEVER a bad idea. People are paying MONEY ($) to see these movies, so I owe it to them, as well as the filmmakers, to ensure that their movies play, and look as good as they can. I’m not some wannabe punk that pretends to be a filmmaker; one day I want to be the real deal, so I try to present like the real movies as close as I can.

John Whitney’s MEASURED SACRIFICE got good reactions, as it’s a high end piece. I wish more of these pretend wannabe camcorder jockey’s could have seen this. It’s the kind of movie they think they’re making, but actually surpasses expectations. John has vision and skills. So few people actually understand and know what it is a DIRECTOR does. They are WRITER/PRODUCERS who think they are WRITER/DIRECTORS, but are completely clueless as to what DIRECTING actually is. In some ways they think just photographing the scene is enough, or worse that “cool shots” are what make a director. The INTENT and MEANING of the camera as a storytelling tool get wasted on these fools, and their “films” are little more than sad attempts. I only wish these types of beginners had a respect for seeing people’s work and being able to talk to them about HOW they achieve the same goals only at that much more professional level. We’re talking about similar budgets and yet one looks like a real movie and the other looks like a junior high talent show, yet they both strive to be “professional”. To have the opportunity to see these kinds of movies and then TALK to those filmmakers, and NOT do it seems to me to be as ludicrous as not learning from cinema history. Some people are ignorant, so what can you do? NOTHING, or blog about their ignorance.

Since we had a ton of SHORTS before THE FUNNY MAN from Mike McGraner, I played most of the TELEMARKTERS and UNCLE PETE’s and that’s the last any of these will play at the COWTOWN series. Again, UNCLE PETE killed, and the TELEMARKETER shorts played well, in fact the ending with the crying telemarketer got the first public reaction I wanted. It’s a risky ending with showing a cute (very very cute no less) Telemarketer crying her eyes out. This ending usually meets with silence as the audience doesn’t 100% know how to feel since we’ve been bashing these fairly off screen anonymous annoyers. This screening, after seeing most of those shorts play interspersed with other shorts and genres, the ending bit with the crying was met with laughter, but that specific guilty, almost politically incorrect “Oh Oh Ohhhh” laughter, and as I recently discussed – the laughter is infectious so more people joined in with those giggle-starters. I was complimented a lot on the UNCLE PETE shorts, as I didn’t take credit at any point or do any kind of Q&A for those. More and more people said they want to show people those online and spread the word. So my goals of going VIRAL may still happen, just taking even LONGER than I expected to occur.

I finally got rid of WINDOWS VISTA ™ on my basement computer. Unlike the last desktop that had that atrocity, this one was easy to remove with my XP discs. The last time, the Windows XP disc didn’t recognize the VISTA ™ partition and I had to get the hard drive manufacturers disc to format the drive and nuke the partition before I could install. I hate WINDOWS VISTA™. I think it’s a piece of Shiite and a waste. I do enough processor intensive work that I need a workhorse and I couldn’t care less how pretty the desktop is. I clear off any color, black background, with the most basic, unobtrusive work areas and I need every ounce of memory and resource to go towards my video and film work. On the same machine, my editing computer in the basement, with 2 gig of RAM, I saw over 1.5 gig of RAM being used just sitting there with WINDOWS VISTA ™, but the exact same machine using WINDOWS XP ™, it only uses 344 meg of RAM. That’s around 20% of the memory being used otherwise. The machine now runs literally 4x-8x’s faster depending on the process. Needless to say, SCREW VISTA™.

Now that some of the posters have started to come in and seeing how the designs look in print, I’m happy. We’re going to get some HORRORS OF WAR posters printed for the screening, but I had so much trouble with the IN THE TRENCHES poster, that I almost gave up. I wanted something classy and minimalist. Thanks to Photoshop ™, people tend to “over” design. Simple sometimes equates to elegance. There are so many people out there claiming to be graphic designers with no eye for composition or colors or just a general concept of aesthetic. I wish I could do more, but alas, I’m just not that interested. I only do what I have to do out of necessity.

My first attempt was mediocre to ugh.



This to me is precisely what I described above. Too busy for the same of being busy, like I have to use as many images as possible to get the idea across because I like each of the images individually. I was NOT happy with the design. It simply wasn’t what I wanted. I can’t explain it beyond the fringes of describing why you prefer one color over another or a flavor of ice cream. I didn’t think I’d have it in me to do what I wanted. As I have said, I am not a graphic designer, nor am I particularly proficient with Photoshop ™. Then I saw this DVD design that reminded me of some old MILES DAVIS album covers from the 1950’s and 1960’s, that I got deeply inspired and took a shot. Here it is:



And I came up with this because I was inspired by the truly elegant layout:


NOW I was happy. This was simple and what I feel is iconic for what the documentary is about. Neither John nor I are in the picture on the poster, but it’s not about ego. I wanted to show a photo that I felt encapsulated the idea of being “behind the scenes” of a low budget film. Jason Morris’ photo was perfect. To make it hold up to being poster sized, I chose to “stylize” the photo so that at its magnified level, it would have sharp, clean edges on everything. I dig it for its simplicity.

For the upcoming film ACCIDENTAL ART, I wanted very much to have a SAUL BASS style poster. In the year since that poster was made and designed, I’ve started to see posters that are similar and greatly inspired by Saul’s stylistic designs, IE BURN AFTER READING.



Styles and interests are cyclical. What goes around comes around, and this is true in popular culture over and over again. Geek becomes sheik at some point. The trick is riding the wave whilst being true to one’s self.

That’s all I got for now my dear readers.

Your faithful narrator,
Peter John Ross

Posters, Politics, and Pricing

Okay, so I’m getting ready (finally) to screen HORRORS OF WAR and IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM at Cowtown on November 13th. Part of what I am doing, and what I have asked the other filmmakers to do, was make and print posters. I decided I wanted a special edition poster for HORRORS OF WAR exclusive to this last and hopefully final exhibition. Since the film fits the “Grindhouse” style, we went with some grungy midnight movie style posters of yesteryear.



I wanted to give some tips on printing, as I’ve been doing posters for movies and screenings for 8 years. Now, some basic information people need to be aware of are as follows:

1. Movie Theater posters (called “one sheets”, not to be confused with the 8.5”x11” ONE SHEETS used in selling a film) are 27”x40” (length by height).
2. Real Movie Theater one sheets also have a reverse image on the back because they are usually illuminated from behind in poster cases outside and inside the theater.
3. An early, pre-release poster is called a “TEASER” or “TEASER ONE SHEET” with a simple design or concept style.
4. Smaller posters, especially reprints, are 23”x35” in size. These are what most posters you buy rolled up in bins (Spencer’s gifts anyone?).
5. 11”x17” legal sized posters are most often used to plaster walls and phone poles.

Getting your own poster printed can be a very pricey. I prefer to work with local printing companies. I feel like people give giant corporations enough money and there isn’t enough cash heading into the pockets of smaller, personal companies. So I am definitely willing to pay 10%-20% more for local work to the mom & pop shops. So in the past, when buying 27”x40” posters, they cost between $35-$45 each. Yikes, kind pricey. Today I was pricing those and shops were also trying to stiff me with a $25 one time “file” fee for having to deal with any kind of digital file from me. That means $60 for the first poster.



I have been using CAFEPRESS.COM for a while and without a doubt most of their products are greatly overpriced, and the quality of merchandise tends to be mediocre to poor. But they do offer a 23”x35” for only $17.99 and that’s a deal. The quality of the product looks amazing. I did a SONNYBOO poster, some earlier HORRORS OF WAR posters, etc. and the look pretty top notch. Paper quality, detail, and text all have very sharp properties. Their shipping is pricey, but they also tend to be fairly quick on turnaround too. I am going with them almost exclusively. I give them **********, the whole ten stars.

So lately, I’ve been collecting up posters for my own movies or movies I worked on. I’ve got the cool GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND poster because I like the color scheme and very simple design. I never dreamed when I was a kid, with the many STAR WARS one sheets on my walls that I’d ever own a movie poster with my name on it, especially a movie I either worked on, and even more unbelievably a movie I MADE. I frame my posters and it inspires me to keep working harder and get better as I make more movies.



Now, I’m struggling with the design for IN THE TRENCHES. I want simple and elegant, but my ideas keep getting too complex to quickly. I saw a CRITERION DVD cover art that might be a great inspiration for the aesthetic I have in mind. I’m also really into the BLUE NOTE RECORDS jazz LP designs from the 1950’s, and I like those color palettes and styles.

I do NOT consider myself a designer or particularly good with Photoshop or anything with print. This is not my forté so thankfully Phil Garrett stepped up to do the main designs for HORRORS OF WAR, but I’m stuck on the IN THE TRENCHES poster.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica and I went with my father to see “W.” and it was okay. I agree 100% with most reviews that I don’t know who he made the movie for. It wasn’t scathing enough for liberals and it wasn’t flattering or sincere enough for conservatives. At the same time, it is a good film, but I’ll bet it suffered from the highly compressed shoot to post production schedule. As is usually the case with Ollie Stone, we can expect to see a “director’s cut” or special edition on DVD later when he has more time to comb through and make more informed decisions on the cut. Someone asked me why this film was put out at all if it won’t affect the election. My response was that it’s really meant for the opposite; the film benefits from the election, not the other way around. If they released this in January as George W. Bush left office, less people would care, and it will be less potent. It’s all about timing and they wanted to cash in on the box office of being the first film to take on a sitting president in 100 years.

Peace out my friends,
- Ross