Free Poker And Filmmaking....

Hello all:)

Well it has happened...there is a free poker league in this state now. Yes it is a good thing but it is also a bad thing.

Allow me to expand upon that.

The tournaments take place at local establishments such as a sports bar, a banquet room, etc. The chips are nearly worthless, you get a $100 chip for a coke, a $1000 chip for a meal. Why is that a bad thing? Well it means that when no one has anything invested people can't be pushed out of hands and the bluff is worthless. Bluffing is a big part of any poker game and it forces you to either play with a premium hand such as a high pocket pair or to get a great flop and pair up or hit a set.

It is great practice IF you play as you normally would in a real poker game. If you get in the moment and get bored and play every hand like your chips were free...then you will lose very very quickly in a real game.

I have not finished better than 4th in a game with 9 people in it. I play a tight solid game where I fold 98% of my hands. I will probably never be a chip leader at a table however I will be there at the end of a marathon game. That style just does not work in a game like this. People are in hands with a 82 off suit and Q3 off. I'm not joking, they are bluffing with hands where the bluff is useless because at least 3-4 people are going to stay in the hand!!!

I am enjoying this however. Despite its main drawback it is good practice provided you don't make a bad habit of staying on throwaway hands.

On the filmmaking front I'm going to a read through at 2pm today for the next project.

Anxiety Is GONE....Time To Get To Work!!!!

That's right my friends!

This morning at a early hour I started the editing process! I have about 15 minutes edited and done with much more footage already digitized!!!

The majority of the credit goes to my photographer friend who really inspired me to just get it started! We really didn't talk about this project but over the course of a few conversations over the past few days something really clicked and work has started!

No more excuses, she helped me realize that I am responsible for the fruitition of this project, the one I began and will complete. If I don't do it no one else will and finally the time has come to do what I started out to do.

I have no anxiety anymore over this project and feel that it will go very well now!
I don't know exactly what happened but the feelings that I have had that has held this project up...the internal feelings of doubt have vanished! I don't know if it was the conversations with my friend or if I was just sick of not getting something done or both but I'm over it and on my way forward!

I am looking forward to the stories from the film fest late tonight or tomorrow!

Report From Film Fest

I just called my friend who has taken a few people from the group to the Barebones Film Festival. He is having a good time and meeting lots of other filmmakers!

I can't wait to hear the stories when they return!

Editing Anxiety!

I've had a talk with someone about this who told me that I just needed to act like someone else shot the footage and cut it all together. I know this is great adivce since I respect and appreciate their opinion very much and they went through a similar situation.

Yes I'm ultimately responsible for the footage even though my mindset should be more objective. Yes I'm responsible for the dialogue and the footage since I wrote it and held the camera.

So what this is is a great learning experience on how to handle this kind of anxiety, no its not laziness. Far from it in fact. If I had someone else's footage I'd have been done with it by now for a project of similar length. In fact I might have finished it the first weekend I had possession of it! I have a good work ethic and go to great lengths to accomplish what I need to accomplish.

Yeah after 12-15 hours I tend to get tired, I admit it freely.

I do believe that if I decided to digitize my footage right this very moment that I could have probably one full quarter of Locker edited this very night.

So what am I scared of?

I'm scared that when someone sees it they will see me as a fraud. They will see me for everything I feel inside in my work. I really didn't anticipate this kind of emotion when beginning this process. I thought I had everything planned out very well and I did have some anxiety before I started to film which I wrote about.

This is different though, this is the finished product and this is what people will see...listen to me! I'm already thinking someone other than my fine actors, family, and friends will actually want to see this movie!!! HAHAHA!!!

What an ego I have!!!

AUDITIONS!!!!

YES the auditions for the next project are in a little under an hour away!!!!

This is exciting!!! We actually have some momentum now and are on the verge of doing some amazing things!!!

Hopefully there will about 20+ people today at the auditions...we shall see but I'm optimistic!

The Bare Bones film fest in Muskogee is this week. I am planning on attending with the group and leaving Thursday and coming back on Sunday after the awards ceremony. The last project The Secret of Ivy Headstone is up for a best actress award and best first picture or I believe. I'll get the exact nominations today and update this post if I'm wrong.

Anyway it is an exciting opportunity and I plan on talking about Locker when I'm there and doing some editing!

Footage Reviewed!

Yes I'm nearly done reviewing a lot of the footage. So honestly there just isn't a lot to report in the editing front other than I believe I'm going to upgrade my PC to do the bulk of the project.

Auditions for the group horror anthology project are this Saturday and I'm excited to be working again so soon! It is four seperate stories (Three with an interconnecting story) that will be a lot of fun!

I don't usually do this but you have to check this Star Wars III fake trailer out! It is hilarious!!!

http://www.sequentialpictures.com/moviestarwarsepisode3.html

A Nice Weekend!

This has been a very nice weekend!

The weather has been pretty sweet, I have looked over more footage and think it will go very well, I have had a couple of conversations with some friends which really made my weekend much better, and I have looked over a few of the pictures from the Locker shoot and am pretty happy with them!

(The photographer did an amazing job!)

They are going to make a pretty good press kit!

I have been encouraging the next project, those auditions are coming up this Saturday!
I think it will go pretty smoothly and plan on helping out and getting more experience with this project! I'm excited about it as well!!!

Although I don't have a stake in the next project other than probably shooting it, I think it will go well and is a promising project! I think it will be shot fairly quickly and with our collective experience going up and getting better, this could be the best project yet!

Footage!

Alright I have watched some of the footage and I think I have everything I really need to make this movie a real movie!

I think I am going to have two actors come back and redo my ending fight sequence, it wasn't bad but I think it can be better and a bit more brutal and disturbing. Besides that I think I have enough footage and enough takes to make a movie!

I plan on beginning to edit Saturday....maybe Friday night if I really get with it!!!

Finished!!!

That is correct ladies and gentlemen!!!

I shot the entire film almost as I had planned...in one day with a very tiny amount of light and in one very VERY cramped setting!!!

We were about four hours behind when I had originally thought we would be finished, I was planning on three o'clock and we wrapped up around 7:30.

I had every line shot, got every shot I had planned on, used up four tapes, bought 30 cheeseburgers, and had a great time!

I'm exhausted.

Not in a bad way but in a very good way but I am used up. I ate one time today and had a 16 ounce coke. I'm beat! I had on the steadicam rig most of the day and my back is hurting very badly, the muscles are just tired and worn out today!

Yes, it was a good day!

It's Time

Yes its time to go.

Extra Time For Preparation!

I've decided to take Friday off to get my supplies for tomorrow together. The best way to get over the anxiety I was having all week is to just prepare even more and get out and get my supplies together!

So I have compiled a list of stuff I need. I have taken my microphone cables and cleaned them and put four socks on my mic to get rid of a lot of the rustling ambient noise to focus on the actors instead of the noisy fans inside the locker.

I think that will be overkill however I want the dialogue to come across as loud and clear. I want the locker itself to be overlit so that I can get all of the detail I can to begin with and tone it down in post to darken it if I need to.

I'll keep the script with me inside the locker so I can keep track of what has been shot and I'll probably need some gloves as well.

The batteries are charging so I am going to be well prepared for that! I'll need two batteries for each shoot, one for my monitor and one for the camera.

I know I'm rambling a bit but I am just trying to go over every single thing that could happen that I am not prepared for and get prepared for it.

I have some very good people around me, some fine actors and good friends. My thanks to you all who have helped in the process!

My next step after tomorrow will be the post production (editing and duplication) and then the fun stuff of assembling the press pack and sending everything off to film fests and agencies! I'm especially blessed to have another fine addition to the team who has been taking pictures of the process so far for the press kit!