Reshoots

We got most of the cast together this weekend and shot a few new scenes for the ending as well as a few inserts. As glad as i am to have the movie basically done, there was a sense of melancholy as well. Things are definitely winding down and people are drifting off to other things. We shot the very first scene and the very last scene. Now I need to get the movie down to 90 minutes by the end of February.
Check out photos from this weekend's shoot.

loose ends

Things are really coming together nicely at this point. I think we actually have a movie here. This weekend, I am lucky enough to get the chance to bring the core group of actors back together and shoot a revised ending. Something just wasn't right about the ending as it was in the script. On paper it might have been fine, but once I got a chance to see the characters brought to life, something didn't feel right.

So Monday morning, I woke up and banged out 7 new pages. That's what we're going to shoot this weekend. Weather permitting anyway. I'm also going to try to cram in a few shots that will just smooth things out at various places in the movie. Once again, this is a complete luxury that is only made possible by the fact that we are shooting on DV.

Current timeline for finishing... revised cut by the end of february. Digital effects done by the mid-april. Final cut on May 1st. I'm going to try very hard to stick to those dates, but I originally thought we be done shooting by the end of October, so what do I know.

I love the green screen

We spent most of Saturday shooting green screen segments for a music video for THE AMERICAN BOYFRIENDS. Shooting went very smoothly, but the experience was somewhat surreal. The Oscar Mayer wienermobile was parked outside. Matt entered some kind of Oscar Mayer contest and won the Wienermobile for a day along with some cash. The cash was spent to finance the music video. I put up a quickie image gallery here.

editing

Here's a frame from the sequence I'm working on right now. Claire stalked by cowboy. Watching this sequence makes me feel really sorry for Jessica. Jessica - If you're reading this... SORRY! It may have sucked to film, but the sequence is great.

I'm also in the midst of a full redesign for Cinema Eye. Our traffic continues to skyrocket and I am trying to streamline things a little bit, not only to make it look and work better, but to hopefully reduce my server bill. Thanks to the Cinema Eye community for all their support and enthusiasm for both the website and SEX MACHINE.

Microcinemafest

I've wanted to attend Microcinemafest since the early days when it was called CAMP REWIND. This year it is relocating to Chicago and I will definitely be there, SEX MACHINE in hand (pun intended).

The official dates are going to be August 8-14. Supposedly, information will be up at www.microcinemafest.com over the weekend.

misc.

Put up a minisite at www.sexmachinemovie.com. I should've put something up a long time ago so I would already be in the search engines, but oh well. Keep an eye on that URL because as this LiveJournal phases out, all Sex Machine related informatoin will be available there.

Spent way too much time today getting the rough cut out to DVD. I need a G5. I need to figure out a faster process.

Right now the rough cut is clocking in at around 2 hours. The goal is for it to run no longer than 90 minutes with credits. I truly love editing, but the amount of work ahead of my is a little bit overwhelming.

Talked to John Howell today about the additional scenes I want to shoot and he is up for it even though it will require him to shave his head one last time. He is swell that way. His performance really anchors this movie and the additional scenes are a way of giving his character a little more resolution.

Two new contests are up at Cinema Eye. Traffic has exploded recently. The first spike was the Roy Frumkes article, but we didn't fall off as much as I thought we would. The numbers are getting stronger every day, which is good news for when it comes time to really promote SEX MACHINE and future projects.

2004 recap ... hello 2005

This post is kind of like one of those lame year-end Christmas letters that people send out. So, if you're into it, read it, otherwise skip it...

Rough cut is done. Everything came together really well. Now we are going to schedule a couple days of shooting for inserts/reshoots and the promotional photo shoot. I am going to burn a DVD of the rough cut for John S. today so he can start scoring.

In a few days this LiveJournal will phase out. The friends-only component of the LiveJournal will remain. So you will still be able to see the really good stuff and read my intoxicated postings there. There will be a series of much more in-depth articles at Cinema Eye leading up to the release of the movie. I have already set up message boards for Asphalt Planet there as well. The official Sex Machine site should be going up soon and will have links to all the articles that appearing on Cinema Eye and elsewhere.

2004 was a pretty mind-blowing year. We ended 2003 wondering what the hell was going on with CLOUD SYMPHONY and whether we were going to be able to find any Japanese actors for the movie. Then as we finally cast it, the movie swelled into a huge shot-on-super16mm production complete with grip truck, professional crew and expensive transfer. Casting on SEX MACHINE occurred at the same time as CS was wrapping up production. We edited CS while in production on SM. CS premiered with a temp score at DeadCenter Spotlit and got a very good reception. Despite several setbacks we got SEX MACHINE in the can and now the rough cut is done.

In non-movie production stuff, Cinema Eye really exploded this year experiencing a 76% increase in readership over 2003. We scored a cool article with documentary filmmaker Roy Frumkes (Document of the Dead). This is one of the coolest things yet for me personally because Document of the Dead was one of the first filmmaking documentaries that really got me excited about the process.

Our advertising business has also done well, despite several months of incredible neglect. Thanks to all our clients who have been very understanding during the SEX MACHINE production.

2005 looks to be even busier.

I will definitely produce and direct one more feature. There is also a web series that I am pretty excited about that would allow other filmmakers to get involved in a collaborative capacity. I hope to convince as many of the SM cast and crew to go with me to a couple of the crazy film festivals we will be screening at. I plan to travel as much as humany possible to make up for no travel in 2004. And I am definitely launching 2 more sites in the first quarter of 2005. These should both complement what we have going on with Cinema Eye, but require a little less day-to-day maintenance.

Anyway, thanks to everybody who has helped out with the projects in 2004. It's been great getting to know a lot of new people who are just as passionate about art and filmmaking as I am. that's really what it's all about for me.

composition

There are many artistic principles that we have tried to implement in SEX MACHINE. One of the most important is Breasticle Composition. Shogo has become a master at positioning breasticles in the frame for maximum artistic impact. It's similar to the rule of thirds... except with breasts. The following photo should serve as a great example.