Thursday, July 8th, 2010
After six months in the making, my dear friend and collaborator Wade Hampton has finished his short film/music video “GOODING: No One Gets Out Alive,” and all of us involved couldn’t be more ecstatic.
I’m just happy to see Wade complete a new film (he’s been wanting to work on a new one, and our friend Gooding had wanted him to do a music video, but nothing really gelled until now). It was a pleasure being on Wade’s set, and the photography by Wade and rock star Lonny Quattlebaum is superb. I’m very happy to be involved with the project.
It’s honestly also the only time you will probably ever see me in a cowboy hat. But, you never know…
Please check out the film, link it on to others and enjoy. It’s 15 minutes of wonderful weirdness, so be prepared. “Experimental” would only begin to describe this work. I’m terrible at this kind of filmmaking. Wade soars. (The film will also be shown before our special Halloween screening of “The Dead Can’t Dance” on Oct. 29 at the Orpheum Theatre.)
Cowboy mosyin’ on,
-r.
Watch “GOODING: No One Gets Out Alive”
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing, postproduction | No Comments »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
As i start work on my next script, I also am looking for funding opportunities.
This time around, I am going to actively hunt for grants. It’s a lot of work just finding them, much less filling out all the applications and getting your sample reel together, etc. But as I find them, I’ll try to post them here.
Just today, I completed an application for a grant from the Native Arts and 
Cultures Foundation.
There’s also a website devoted to helping artists raise money for their projects, but in a collaborative way. Indiegogo helps bands, visual artists and filmmakers raise money to fund their work by letting “fans” throw some change their way via PayPal. You can read about anything that raises your interest, and if you feel like it, you can toss a Fiver their way (or whatever). Every little bit helps, and believe me, it’s much appreciated.
Also found a cool new blog that I am going to start checking a lot called DIY Filmmaker Sujewa, which offers links and news of interest to filmmakers doing it all themselves. Which is, you know, me. It’s pretty cool.
Also, in our own film news, our Special Halloween Encore Screening of “The Dead Can’t Dance” will be Friday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m., again at the Orpheum Theatre. And my good friend Wade Hampton’s new short film “GOODING: No One Gets Out Alive” will debut next week. It’s pretty awesome. And I’m not just talking about the scenes I’m in, either. Ha.
TTYL,
-r.
Posted in Inspiration, The Dead Can't Dance, Writing, preproduction | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Shipped “The Dead Can’t Dance” off to five more festivals in the past couple of weeks, and our IMDB page is now live!
Other than that, just waiting to hear when we will screen at the First Peoples’ Festival in Montreal so I can book my flight. We’ll hear soon, I hope.
And production is nearing a wrap on Wade’s music video/short film for Gooding’s “No One Gets Out Alive.” I think there’s one more scene with me, and then it’s done! Well, principal photography, anyway.
Blogging will be sporadic, as my home computer is in the shop for the next 2-3 weeks, which is driving me crazy, but it’ll be nice to actually be able to burn discs again. Saw D.P. Jerod this week briefly when he came by to borrow the HVX-200 camera for the week, and we chatted briefly about some upcoming projects. And we had a mini reunion of the crew last week, so it was great to see everyone and hang out again. Makes me miss being in production.
Speaking of, I finally have narrowed down the next script I want to write, so I start prelimary concept-thinking this week. It’s an interesting process, where I start shaping the characters out of clay (figuratively speaking) and molding who they are and why they’re in the story. Ready to dig back in…
So, good things happening. Don’t forget to go the IMDB page and leave a rating, or go to the Facebook and leave a comment or review. If you wanna.
Happy Mid-May!
-r.
Posted in Film festivals, Inspiration, The Dead Can't Dance, Writing | No Comments »
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Today is my birthday. And about now I usually start pondering the universe and how I fit into it. Well, I usually do that just about every day, but even more so around my birthday.
I think it’s going to be a great year. I really enjoyed my other double-digit years. I was 11 when “Star Wars” came out, and that movie changed my life. I think for the first time, I saw that the universe was massively expansive.
When I was 22, I was still in college, and my last year of it was a blast. I got my first really great acting role in Lanford Wilson’s play “Angels Fall.” I got to play a really, really confused character, and I think that role taught me a lot about acting. How to focus, how to be subtle. It was theatre in the round, so the audience was literally at arm’s length. There were “windows” hanging, and I remember I had to look look through them and “see” the desert. And I did see it. The far-reaching sands, mountains in the distance.
At 33, I started writing my first script, which became “Dancing on the Moon.” I had no idea what that would lead to and I never, ever imagined that it would actually become a movie — that I directed, no less. That first attempt at writing a script opened up an entire new world, and got me into two writing labs at Sundance, almost unheard of for a first-timer. Those experiences taught me wonderful, invaluable things about the craft of writing, analyzing movies, the film business — and myself.
Now, at 44, my latest movie is almost done. I’m anxious to show “The Dead Can’t Dance” to the world, I just hope the world wants to see it. I really hope we have a great festival run, that we get into some great places. And I still want to take it on the road on tour, possibly in the fall. I’d go door-to-door showing my movie if I could. We’ll just have to see.
It all feels promising. And looking ahead, I can safely say I have no idea what’s in store. It feels like I’m about to step off a cliff. Let’s just hope I don’t crash.
The clock is ticking,
-r.
Posted in Film festivals, Inspiration, The Dead Can't Dance, Writing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Here’s an early peek at new posters for the Orpheum premiere. They will go to the printer in the next few days, then prepare to see them EVERYWHERE. Hopefully.
Otherwise, sound designer Sergio and I have run into a few small compatibility problems in our work flows. Mainly, I can’t export the correct files from Final Cut Pro that he needs to do his audio mixing work. (If this doesn’t make your head hurt, here are the details: I can’t export an OMF file from FCP with timecode intact and unflattened audio because the file exceeds 2G, which is “unsupported.” I tried exporting the whole timeline as a Quicktime file then re-exporting that as an OMF file, which worked but the tracks came over as AIF, not WAV files, and everything was flattened instead of being separated into its own waveforms — dialogue, music, sound F/X, etc.) Geez, that made my own head hurt just saying all that.
Arrrgh. Technology bites me in the ass every time. But we’re working on it, and I think we’ll have a solution soon. It doesn’t help that he’s in Lawrence, I’m in Wichita and that he leaves for New Mexico soon, but we’ll get it, dammit!
Promotion-wise, I’m slowly revamping the Harmy site, and have uploaded a new trailer to YouTube (but I’m still not happy with the quality, gotta do more research there now, too), as well as refining the posters. Need to design some T-shirts, too, and get those ordered. There’s just not enough time in the day! A guy’s gotta see “Lost,” ya know?
Plus I was head dancer at a powwow last weekend, and I’m still sore! I was literally dancing all day, and I’m just not in shape for that. I’m not in shape to stand all day, much less dance.
Anyway, things are moving along, one way or another. So, onward!
-r.
Posted in The Dead Can't Dance, Writing, acting, postproduction | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
On Wednesday, we finally were able to get the final scene with Stupid, the good zombie, played by my dear friend Wade Hampton. So I’m pleased as punch to announce that WADE HAMPTON IS WRAPPED on “The Dead Can’t Dance.” (The pic is from the Independent School shoot, which seems like years ago.)
And as we get closer to wrapping up principal photography, things are getting emotional for me. Believe me, I want to wrap this baby up for good, but I also hate to see it end, in a way. We’ve all become such a filmmaking family, getting to know each others’ quirks, strengths and personalities. I’ve had the very good fortune of stumbling onto an amazing crew and I hope the friendships we’ve developed keep growing.
Especially with Sir Christopher and his family, whose farm near Udall is where we shot all our exterior road scenes. We are now wrapped at that location, as well, and I hated to see it end, just because he and his family are such great, warm, inviting, gracious people. Making this film has certainly been an adventure, but what has made it great is all the people we have come to know and work with, all sharing in the same pursuit: to make a movie and tell a story.
On Sunday, we’ll get an interior car scene done, then on Tuesday we’ll get a quick bar exterior scene. Then on Oct. 6 and 7, we’ll travel to Oklahoma to get the Quik Stop scenes. And then, lo and behold, we will be done!
I just can’t believe it. I’m excited and overwhelmed at the next stage, too, though. This is going to take a LOT of post work, but I think I’ll really enjoy it. This is the phase I love, where it starts forming the actual movie. Then there’s lots of audio and foley work to be done as well as digital effects. Just another phase of the adventure, and it’ll be great.
For now, I’ll enjoy the few shooting days we have left, and focus on organizing a wrap party. And I need to set up some photo galleries and cut a trailer in the very near future.
I have a line in the movie, where I tell Stupid, “So long, buddy.” I really hate to be done with him. But I love that we are, too.
Dancing to the finish line,
-r.
Posted in Inspiration, Picture editing, The Dead Can't Dance, Writing, acting, postproduction, production, title sequence, zombies | No Comments »
