Not really afraid or hateful...just sounded like a ketchy way to update my blog. Not that anyone reads it anyway...but that's not why I do it Huh?
The past 3 months have been incredibly dense - Gemini Division in full green screen production mode, the CG budget has been slashed to be virtually untenable as far as making cool stuff...BUT that's my job to make light and beauty out of nothing, gold from lead, the alchemists power. Digital Alchemy.
School is over...at least as far as formal classes go...but my project and thesis are incomplete. I'm working on them as best I can...but my time is so excruciatingly limited. Since May 1 - I've basically been on set supervising the shoot to make sure we can do the CG. It is hilarious to me to realize that I have never been on a live set before - all my work has been in animation or video games. But it is equally amazing how common sense and a basic understanding of the principles empower me to get the stuff done. It's totally guerrilla style - no intense motion control measurement camera data blah blah de blah...it's: Block the shot, set the lighting, mark the stage and shoot. Repeat. Fast. and Faster!
The DP and the Grip/Gaffing crew are exceptional - I am sure that the bar for me and future endeavors has been set very high by these guys. The DP is Bob Seaman and his lighting and shot composition are incredible. In a very real way it's now our job on the CG side to not screw it up. The lighting is fantastic, the acting is superb and we have the "festival of Coverage" necessary to have the shots to tell the story.
I can't say enough about:
- Porf, Cal, Big Bob, Jim, Bernie, Paul (DIT), Joe (Sound), Nick (teleprompter), Tracy, Eddie, Carrie, Andrew, Denise and various Sim stand-ins - Our own edit team Tyler and Bryan; Production: AXE, Alissa, Fannius and Leslie - just amazing folks. Annie and Rachel (makeup and Hair) , Ann and Michelle (wardrobe) and Robin Lippin (casting). Wow what an experience...and then to have the story by Brent, Andy and crew...just awesome collaboration.
On the director side, we have Stan Rogow and his consultant is Neal Israel. I have learned so much from Neal I think my head is going to explode sometimes. The direction therefore has been fantastic and our collaboration tighter and tighter. Just a great experience for my first time shooting.
Meeting and working with the actors has been a real pleasure - genuine warmth and camaraderie. Rosario Dawson is as beautiful inside as she is out..I brought McKenzie and Savanah onset with me and she was just fantastic with both of them - and they enjoyed that experience for sure. "Hey what did you do on your vacation?" "I hung out with my dad on the set of Gemini Division" Great memories all the way round.
That's about all I can stand to write. I MUST finish my thesis and project...must complete the process and attain my MFA.
Almost forgot: I am signing a lease tomorrow on 2000 square feet of industrial space in Lake Elsinore. I am creating, with God's help and my families blessing, my own studio- finally. alphaZED studios lives. www.alphaZEDstudios.com
I get to sleep at home every night, eat dinner with my family, wake up next to my wife, and work 5 minutes from home. There is a greater purpose at play here...one that is affirmed simply by the fact that this great blessing is happening at all...against some powerful odds.
14 years ago I left Massachusetts, a start up consultancy I helped create (Altitude, Inc.) and came west to California to seek a new life. I've found great blessings come from commitment and faith...and stepping into the unknown. I feel like I've been blessed with restoration and blessings beyond my ability to receive...and now I am once again starting my own studio. Feels great to be alive...with a mission and purpose.
D_
