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.
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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 | No Comments »
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 »
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Time usually goes fast. But while working on this film, time has just ceased to exist.
I just honestly can’t believe it’s September, it’s all gone by amazingly quick. I thought we would be wrapped by now, but we’re not, and that’s fine. We’re back on track and moving right along. We got another quick scene with TJ on Wednesday, the weather actually looks like its going to give us a break for the weekend, and we’ll get another lengthy, dialogue-heavy scene done on Sunday, an important one, and then we’ll be completely wrapped at Oaklawn elementary.
And things look good for Tuesday to get the final scene with Stupid. (We’re getting to use the word “final” a lot more now, which is unfathomable.)
It also looks like things are going to work out for us to have the rest stop on Sunday the 13th, and we’ll also get some road scenes in the car done on the 12th.
Going to turn some energy back to the radio announcer part very soon, and also get that stuff shot and recorded in a couple of weeks.
Still needing to confirm a convenience store/gas station for the last scenes we’ll shoot, but we should be able to get that done in about 3 days. Otherwise, there’s some small pick-up stuff needed, of course, but if everything goes right, we should be wrapped by early October — not a moment too soon before the chill of fall sets in. The ‘Dead’ will be done dancing. Hallelujah. Then we can head full steam into post production.
Things feel good. Positive. Everyone is still in a good mood. Everyone also has more commitments now, with school started, other projects looming over us and new jobs. But they’re all still committed to seeing this baby through. Everyone has a personal stake in it now. Amazing…
So, heading into fall. And loving it.
-r.
Posted in Inspiration, The Dead Can't Dance, Writing, production, title sequence | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Well, it was a very productive weekend. I did a lot of driving around the area to scout various locations.
Most importantly, though, I drove to Yoder, KS, to try to get permission to shoot at the old airport there. I had found the airport location many months ago, and loved its expansiveness, its isolation. This would be the location for the rendezvous scene near the end of “The Dead Can’t Dance,” where our heroes try to get to for safety and medical attention.
Originally, I had the scene set in Wichita (somewhere). But when I saw the airport I started thinking about it. “Officials” would really want to set up such a haven in the middle of nowhere, away from infested populous cities, in spaces where they could see things coming for miles. So the old airport seemed ideal. And the place had a certain spooky, doomsday-like charm to it.
But the problem was how to get permission to use it. As our shoot date neared, I turned my 2nd A.D. Craig onto it and let him loose. Now Craig is great, he’s a natural talker and is good at networking. But even this was proving difficult for him. I also reached out to the very cool Peter Jasso at the Kansas Film Commission, and he did some calling, as well. Eventually, I gave Craig the info that Peter found through the Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce. Whew.
Craig then spent hours and hours on the phone trying to get ahold of the actual owner of the airport, but kept hitting walls. Eventually, he got ahold of someone from a gliders association that meets at the airport every weekend, and I called him (a very nice man named Bob), and he agreed to meet me at the airport on Saturday and take me to the owner’s house.
I timed it on Saturday, and the airport is exactly 45 minutes from my apartment. I met Bob and we chatted as he drove me around the airport premises and to the owner’s house. But he wasn’t home, and Bob suspected he may be out of town for the summer. He suggested I go back to the airport and talk to the rest of their gliders group, some of whom knew the owner better than he did.
To make a long story short (too late, I know), I talked with the group and they were great, very game and very interested in what we were doing. One of them, Ray, said he’d check with the rest of their board, but that it should be OK if we shot our scene there. Hallelujah!!! An approval, at last.
And while it was a preliminary OK, it was still monumental, especially after all the work Craig and Peter and others had put into trying to get us there. So it was a huge victory, indeed!
Several days later, we now have the official OK for shooting on the premises. We’ll head out there this Sunday, which kicks off the next phase of our shoot (which will conclude August 10 — after this phase, we’ll be about 3/4 of the way done). We may have to work around the gliders on Sunday, but that also might be cool to have them flying in the background. We’ll just have to wait and see.
We’ve also got about 4 people lined up to be military extras (they’re actual military guys who are on a paintball team, so they have the fatigues and very real-looking weapons), and we’ll have a few Native extras, as well. And Loni is looking into getting us gas masks. It’s amazingly just all falling into place!!!!
Well, that’s not true at all, but you know what I mean. But it does feel really, really positive. I can’t wait to get this next phase under way, and the airport shoot will be a great, exciting way to get the shoot kick-started again (especially since I was stressing about how to keep the overall momentum going and keep everyone pumped about the project).
Last night, I stayed up until almost dawn tweaking some scenes in the script to now match our actual locations (the rendezvous scene included). I rethought what will happen with the zombie attack still to be shot at Oaklawn elementary, and I’ve completely rewritten our bar scene, where Guy and Randall discover zombie exotic dancers. It’s gonna be a blast!
I also have a tweaked ending, which I like a lot better and is centralized in one interior location now instead of a road and hospital exterior. Just trying to make it simpler but effective.
Because, WOW, this is a lot of work, and it’s very, very hard. I love it all, but WOW. I gotta keep focused and keep myself pumped, too, and remember to breathe. Sometimes it’s all so very overwhelming. But it’s great.
Taking flight,
-r.
Posted in Inspiration, The Dead Can't Dance, Writing, zombies | 1 Comment »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
A very cool article by Karen Long about “The Dead Can’t Dance” hits Naked City magazine’s online edition today. Read “The Zombie with A Heart of Gold.”
Nice interview with Wade and color from the Independent shoot. Karen informs us that this will be an ongoing series in the mag. Excellent! Our plan for world domination is in effect. Zombies unite!!
-r.
Posted in The Dead Can't Dance, Writing, zombies | No Comments »
