“LOVELY” Rough Cut Update

Week 5 – A Visit from the Dees

Jenn Dees (who plays Luci — the main character in the film) stopped by my man cave to review the current footage (approx. 14 mins and change).  I’ve still got a long way to go before finishing a rough cut.

We had a great discussion on how the story is taking shape based on what we shot and how it’s coming together in the edit.  Some storylines were sharpened while a brand new one was discovered….well, we shot some footage and were not sure how to use it or where it’d show up, but Jenn suggested where it could go and it worked perfectly.  My creative juices are really going after talking with her –  in fact I’m going to experiment soon on some other ideas that were brought up.

After our meeting, I pulled BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, GEORGE WASHINGTON and ALL THE REAL GIRLS off the shelf to do a little studying.

Guten Tag Germany!

Here’s something pretty cool — DISMAL (the film I directed for Fearmakers Studios) is now available in Germany retitled as “BLEED”.

Check out the seriously cool DVD artwork they did for the film!!

I need to find a copy to see everyone talking in German. That would be phenomenal. I’d have to throw a party with the cast just to see everyone’s reaction to hearing someone else’s voice coming from their mouths.

Now I just need pick up another region-free DVD player since this one looks to be PAL Region 2.

DISMAL hits the US in mid-July via On-Demand to all TimeWarner and Comcast subscribers. I’m told the DVD should hit the shelves in late 2009.

Official DISMAL Website
DISMAL IMDB Profile
FEARMAKERS Blog
German DVD Website (It appears to have a Sept 25, 2009 Release Date)

DISMAL – Theatrical Trailer from Kitchen Table Films on Vimeo.

“LOVELY” Rough Cut Update

Week 4 -  Starting up again

No creative progress was made in editing last week.  It was mainly spent backing up all the footage and data for safe keeping.

Editing begins again today.

For Your Listening Pleasure

Man…..John Williams couldn’t be touched in the 70s. This is one of my favorite childhood films — partly due to the amazing lush and epic score.

Some day I’d love to be able to direct such a large-scaled film. It’s going to take a few years before I can even fathom getting to that level, but it would be an amazing accomplishment — and it’s always good to have goals.

Day In The Life of a Director

Just saw this really cool and well produced video diary covering a day in the life of a Hollywood film director. I’m not a huge fan of Shawn Levy films. But my mother-in-law loves his movies.

This clip is a great inside look (as well as fairly educational) for those viewers unfamiliar with certain film positions and terms that are found on a typical set. Mr. Levy seems to have a great command of getting things done. And he seems like a nice guy.

I must also add that I’m really jealous that he’s able to shoot 2 scenes simultaneously on 2 soundstages (oh what a luxury that would be!). He even has a personal assistant, a team of stand-ins for the actors and a dedicated behind the scenes videographer — guess that’s what $100 million dollar budgets can get you.

If you watch this video, just know that my film shoots are just as hectic, but with a lot less people and money to help out. Way less. But just as fun.

Memories…

Someone on Facebook was asking about favorite films that take place in Chicago which sparked ABOUT LAST NIGHT into my head. It’s a guilty pleasure — partly due to Demi Moore being a mad crush of mine when I was a teen…as well as it’s a pretty darn good movie. Again, being a teenager when I first saw it…it made relationships look pretty cool and fun at the time. (Note to my wife: They still are sweetie!)

Then someone commented that ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING was a Chicago film.  That sparked another childhood memory (good old 1987) when I first saw it and fell in love with the film’s opening sequence. There’s something about the unapologetic cheese of the scene — and yet I love its innocence and simplicity to open the film. The “singing in the bedroom” scene has been done to death, but this one somehow gets it right.

Yeah, there’s a lot of bad 80’s films out there — but the decade still had its moments.

PS – other people on Facebook responded with BLUES BROTHERS, FERRIS BEULLER’S DAY OFF….and I actually mentioned THE UNTOUCHABLES.

“LOVELY” Rough Cut Update

Week 3 -  09:25 running time so far….

It took me 4 days to get through a scene that only ended up at 01:18 in duration.  I finally found the tone I needed by not using all the extra coverage that was shot.  It’s pretty raw (which is what I wanted) with just the few shots that were used.

Now working on the opening sequence for the film.

New Website for Kitchen Table Films

Thanks to my brother the Kitchen Table Films website has been updated — which was long overdue.

It has been streamlined and features all the projects and trailers I’ve worked on for the past 6 years….basically since I started getting into the whole filmmaking world.

I love the new layout of the site — and seeing all the project posters on the homepage gives me an odd sense of accomplishment….as well as the feeling that A LOT of work still has to be done as I would love to have at least 15 more posters up there.  So many film ideas….so little time.

Click Here to visit Kitchen Table Films

New Look

Gave this blog a facelift.

I loved the previous layout — but this one has better functionality and is more user-friendly. There are now drop-down menus galore for different categories in the BLOG section….as well as a list of my film projects under the FILMS section.

Hopefully it’s now much easier to navigate and find what you need. Thanks for stopping by!!

David Gordon Green

If you haven’t heard of this filmmaker stop what you’re doing and go rent/buy a few DVD’s — if you dig indie films his work is truly inspiring. SNOW ANGELS, GEORGE WASHINGTON and ALL THE REAL GIRLS have been really influential to me these past few years.

This video features a quick interview with David Gordon Green where he gives some really good advice on filmmaking. There’s a really funny moment in this as well to me as I could totally relate (SPOILER: he talks about the idea of being jealous if he saw a film that he wish he’d made).

As I like to say:
Everyone borrows; it’s from whom you choose to borrow that makes you unique.

He’s definitely one on my list.