Where Have We Been?

That has been the question that has risen to the stratosphere over these many long months. The answer is that we went on an expedition with the Argonauts, assembled a robot army, learned how to divide by zero, and worked hard on several new projects, which are on the brink of surfacing. A grand new vision from oogaFilms is treading on the horizon. Are you ready?

Epic Battles on Fold-up Tables

Yesterday was Shooting day.  I didn't feel like blogging last night, too tired.  I met up with Jake and Mark, my crew, and we came in with three Sony HD cameras. That's how oogaFilms rolls baby. Yes, there were issues with finances, that I think has a place for another blog, needless to say I'm meeting with Bert on Monday to work everything out.  But the day wasn't about money, it was about HeroClix. Bert was hosting the King of Texas tournament, which was held in a small retail space underneath the University Towers parking garage.  It wasn't grand, but it was pretty great.  We showed up around 9 o'clock, people filtered in around 11.  Between then we set the cameras and helped another camera man, Josh, who was brought on by Ryan Joseph (again, another story for another blog), set up a room for interviews and such.  I met, with my camera, Aaron, who was organizing some figures and cards that belonged to Bert and was one of the prizes for the tournament.  I talked with him, he was a friend of Bert, and was playing in the tournament.  He had a real friendly nature about him, he didn't have any expectations for himself for the tournament, but was just there to have a good time. 

The heros came in, Jake and I caught them with our cameras. The farthest people that came in were from Beaumont, everyone else were locals.  For those who didn't really know one each other, they got to know each other, there was just a casual laid back atmosphere to room.  Instead of doing a play by play of the events that happened at the tournament, I would like to explore more of the people that I met there.  For the sake of the documentary, I was hoping that I would meet some nerdy or crazy characters there, but I didn't, but that wasn't a disappointment either.  I came to know, albeit briefly, everyone there, and overall, they were good, genuine, fun people.  In fact, they were people I would find myself hanging out with.  They had this hobby, but most just identified it as such, nothing more. Now, it could be that the camera heightened their self-awareness dial by a few degrees, preventing them to really relish in there obsession, but all of them seemed to be level headed people, they all had jobs, families, lives outside of this, but they all had this, and despite there various backgrounds, this game brought them together.  They were all very different people, and they wouldn't be friends under any other circumstances, but they were able to talk, joke, have fun because they were part of the same world, the same world where comic book characters rest on plastic dials determining there attack and defense values on fold-out terrains lined with grid squares the size of wheat thins.  And that was enough.  It came as a quiet surprise that these people, they were just a bunch of guys having a good time, and after the tournament was done, they all went for a beer afterward.  

But, the people that were there did fill certain roles that you could only find in a movie. 

Aaron-the underdog

Arly-the underdog

Eric(from Beaumont)-the rookie

Kevin-the vet

Eric-the vet

Eddie-the vet

Bert-the mouth

Aaron, as mentioned earlier, had no expectations, but, through the four rounds of games, he won his way up to the final round with a 3-1 record.  Every time I would talk to him after a win, he had no other explanation than luck, it was just the luck of the dice, and he was just happy to be a part of the ride.  Arly was a young guy who, when he came in, just said that he was looking for a good time, but ended up being the talk of the tournament, with a nearly unbeatable team of characters, he made it to the championship round, against the veteran Eric, it was a long, quiet game, and Eric ended up winning. The game ended, like most of the games there, with a laugh and a handshake.  

Into the Dragon's Lair

Last night I entered the Dragon's Lair. No, seriously, there's a comic book store off of Burnett Rd called the Dragon's Lair, where Bert Lopez asked me to meet him.  I brought my camera.  After reading some Hellboy, I got to meet Bert in person, he was wearing a pretty awesome Magneto t-shirt with a sideways cap.  We talked briefly about finances, which didn't interest me too much, and after we were done, I asked him if I could film them playing, which he had no problem with.  I was a quiet observer with my camera, I saw these two men play, Bert was off to the side. I felt like an outsider that was privileged to witness an epic battle, while at the same time, they kept an air of lightness about them, its just a game after all. I didn't know what was going on, I heard jargon, they would react to seemingly invisible things to me, but I tried to get as much as I could on camera.  These two men would laugh and joke, banter with one another, they seemed like good buds, they were speaking their own language, in their own world.  The game lasted about 45 minutes, and the winner was decided and they ended with a friendly handshake.  The winner, Mark, took out what I guessed was a score card, or record, and asked his opponent, "So, what was your name again?" They didn't even know each other! But it was the game, they both understood it, and it was the bonding factor between them, they didn't need anything else to get to know each other, because they knew the game.  I was fascinated.  This game brings people together. I was able to interview Mark afterwards, just for a few minutes, and he said the appeal to the game was that he was able to create his own superhero team, combinations that he always wanted to see in comic books but never have.  I asked him how long he'd been reading comic books, his reply was "Well, ya know how kids learn how to read by reading Dr. Seuss? I learned how to read through comic books." 

It Fell From the Sky . . . and Other Complications

I'm a filmmaker, self-proclaimed. I have no badge or certificate that says so, I just have my short videos posted on YouTube that offer any credentials to this claim, and nowadays, who doesn't have a short video posted on YouTube?

But I love it. I breathe it. If I'm not filming a project, I'm either editing one or in pre-production for another. If I'm doing none of those things I feel uncomfortable, antsy, unnatural, something just doesn't seem right with the world if I'm not working on some kind of film project. As a result sometimes I feel like "butter scraped over too much bread" (Bilbo . . . anybody?), because I involve myself in too many projects, and can hardly find the time to get them all done. Such was the case three days ago on a bright Sunday afternoon. Currently at that time, I was behind in production for a short film I was directing, Delilah, the schedule had nearly gone to pot, and me trying to arrange things so breath would bring this project back to life. I am also editing a stop-motion music video that my girlfriend and I shot a few weeks before. All this along with work and my church responsibilities (which can be heavy). Yes, I was busy, but I was handling it, I made it work, and the gears of time management seemed to be clicking away just fine.

That Sunday afternoon, June 15, I'm over at my friends' house, when one of them, Dan Jones, tells me that he met a guy who is looking to hire someone to shoot a documentary about a comic book convention. That was alot in one breath. Let me tell you what I heard. Documentary. Comic Books. What? Are you kidding me? That's incredible! How can I get a hold of this guy? It didn't matter how full I was at the time, the moment I heard it, it struck a chord within me. This was something that just felt right, and something I couldn't pass up. I would make it work. I get the contact information of Ryan Joseph, and email him as soon as I get home. Here it is, can you hear the excitement in my voice?:

"Ryan Joseph,

Hi, my name is Geoff Yano, and I'm a local filmmaker here in Austin. My friend Dan Jones was looking at a house that you're renting out and he referred you to me about a Comic Book Documentary that you are looking for someone to film. First off, when he mentioned that I was immediately excited, I collected Spider-Man when I was a kid (until my mom threw them all away) and I recently have started to collect again. I am very interested in making such a documentary if you are still looking for someone. I have done several short films here in Austin and have access to the resources and talent to make this documentary into a quality production. I have a website where you can preview some of my past work--www.oogafilms.net. Besides what's on my website, I've also helped film several interviews used for educational purposes for UT, have made promotional videos for local businesses, and was the co-editor for Chaos, a locally-produced feature length film. I am very interested in working with you, if you've already found someone else, or if I'm not what you're looking for, that's fine as well, but either way, please let me know. Thanks!

Geoff Yano
www.oogafilms.net"

I crossed my fingers that this would be convincing enough.

Jump to yesterday, June 17. I'm at work, and I get a voice message from Bert Lopez, who turns out is the main guy that is putting this doc together. And we talk. He was polite, amiable, at least over the phone. He was addressing a 23-year-old punk kid as "sir". And we talked about what this all contained, basically saying that he wanted me to do it. YES! He was even paying me for it, which was great, but this goes beyond money, this is something I want to make, I want to make a compelling story from this scene. Bert goes into more detail of what this actually is. It's a game, not a comic book. It's a game about comic book characters. And its apparently a big deal. Especially to Bert, who was putting together a tournament where people will fly in from across the country to play this game and win valuable playing peices from him. This game is Bert's life and told me that he's "left work behind, vehicles behind, people behind, and even homes behind, but never the game, he's always packed that with him." He said people called it "plastic crack", because the little gaming pieces, the whole idea of collecting them was that addictive to some people, including Bert. Well, all seems well, when he tells me that the tournament is this Saturday. What? I had just made the finishing arrangements to film this Sat. at the Capital building for my short film? This Saturday? Kind of late notice. Was I going to make this work? I thought I was, but there were still some more bumps in the road, and its just Wednesday. More details on the bumps later . . .

Kicking butt

Yesterday some of us met to work on some fight choreography. Geoff (director), Tina (lead actress), Noelene (photographer), and I headed over to Mike (producer)'s house. We started off the night by watching fight and chase scenes that Mike selected from various action films to help inspire us. We saw scenes from the entire Bourne trilogy, Hitman, and a few others. We got some good ideas, especially from the Bourne movies. We also enjoyed seeing some insanely absurd fighting scenes.

We were there to specifically work on a fight scene that involves Tina and I. Geoff had a very specific idea of how he wanted the fight to go. He walked us through it step by step, practicing each one, bit by bit. We borrowed one of Mike's guns at first (completely unloaded), but we were worried about dropping it on Tina's sandaled feet. It'd be a shame to cripple your star a few weeks before filming.

As we went through the fight, Noelene photographed. Once we had learned all the steps, we went over it, again, and again, and again (ad nauseum). Geoff filmed our practice so that we could watch it later, and find places to improve, and such.

It was definitely shaky at first. But we caught on pretty quickly, and while it's still not perfect, Tina's gotten pretty good at disarming me, and slamming into the wall.

I think our practice last night really exemplified much of the production process. We haven't really been getting everything quite right, right away. But as we work more, and get closer to our deadline, everything's starting to really materialize well, and take a very good shape.

Chugging Along

Well, I figured it's time for me to talk about the production. My job in Delilah is … um … I do the … uhh … well, it's all very important.

The production is doing very well. We've had a few auditions, and casted all but one of our roles (yours truly is playing one of the goons). In my role as …, I sent out casting calls, organized audition times, and notified those who were cast, and generally was sort of the director's emissary to the cast, like an assistant director (or at least, assistant to the director).

For the past few weeks, I've been heading up the effort to get the squibs working. This involved playing with chocolate syrup, tubes, air pumps, balloons, condoms, fishing line, super glue, and duct tape. As Geoff mentioned in a previous post, we finally got them working as we combined several ideas and resources.

On Sunday, our location scouting went fairly well. My group scouted several public places for crowd scenes, and public meeting scenes. We looked at a local hospital (and played on the helipad), the Capital building (and had to pass through a "Save Darfur" concert to get there), a few buildings downtown, and the Business School on campus. At the Business School, Tina (our star) and I somehow got ourselves locked in a stairwell, and had to leave through an emergency exit. Luckily it wasn't one armed with an alarm.

We found a few good spots, some really great windows and hallways in the Capital, and a stained-glass window in the hospital. We tried to get into the Convention Center, which we think may work perfect for one of our crowd scenes, but it was closed.

On the Hunt

Yesterday was location scouting. Seven of the crew came, so we split up into two groups and explored what Austin had to offer us. Both parties were on a mission to find the right locations for certain scenes. This film requires a specific look and feel, and if the locations don't fit right, it will ruin the film. I need the backdrop of this film to match, to compliment, to supplement, to make the picture whole. One very important location is the abandoned building where Copperfield is interrogated by Saul and his men. Arthur, Russ, and I searched and found some very suitable places. Our first was an abandoned building that we saw on our way to another place. It took us forever to get there because it was in the corner of several loops and turnarounds. It was an abandoned building alright. We found a way in through a side door, and tentatively walked around. It brought me back to my high school days when my friends and I would go urban exploring at night through creepy buildings. This one was rather decrepit and ripped up, it had a very "I am Legend" feel to it. But it still wasn't quite right. The next destination was provided by Arthur, where an old abandoned elementary school was, this place was eerily amazing. It was several buildings/classrooms in an open green field, (very akin to "The Others" village in LOST), and it was dead quiet, no activity anywhere. We would went through some of the buildings, these provided a better look than the last one. But still not quite what I wanted. It had a heavy post-apocolyptic look, school supplies, children's drawings, and the like were scattered in the rooms, like everybody just got up and left. I was so impressed with the whole place that just from the location, it inspired me with a feature length movie idea--"Zombie High". Yes, I indulge myself sometimes. it was a great place, a good back up, but still not good enough. Our last stop was a building that I just found a couple of days ago, near campus. It was an old abandoned shoe shop, we found an open door, and it was perfect! The naked floor boards, dusty windows, and stained walls just oozed Ezekial's "cloudy and dark day"(34:12). We're in the works of contacting the property owners, wish us luck in getting it locked!

location scouting

Well the good news is we found a zombie infested high school. It was a school for the deaf... they never heard it coming. We had to break into a few places to get to the locations we wanted but in turn we found a couple of great spots, (including a few that we see every day but never really thought about) Somehow through a wierd twist of fate both the groups ran into each other unplanned on south congress, I guess south congress really is that cool.

And it starts . . . in the middle

Much like this film, I start this production blog in the middle, in the midst of everything. I’ve been meaning to start this blog ever since pre-production started, which has been underway for about three months. Tina, the co-writer, and just finished the fifth draft fo the script, which is under the scrutiny of revision from outside parties. This is really the first time we’ve let the draft out amongst other writers. Right now I am writing on my lab top out at the “shop” which is Mike’s, our exec producer, garage. Tonight has been one of our best pre-production workshop nights yet. I say that because everyone is heavily engaged with different aspects of the film. Right now, I have Jake, a crew member, reading over the script, critiquing it. Arthur, the AD, and Russ, gaffer, are drying the spackle that they just applied to the “bullet-hole wall”, a practical effect that we have puzzled over for months, and as of last week, finally mastered the concept, thanks to the hard work of Arthur. We now are trying to figure out the squibs, we’ve already done several tests tonight, but to no avail. This squib is made of tubing, with a valve, connected to an air compressor. We’re filling the tubing with chocolate syrup, and then releasing the valve. The problem is that the “blood” is spraying out, instead of bursting out like a gunshot wound. So we’re fiddling with different settings.

I’m the luckiest director right now, cause I got a crew that is dedicated to get this film, and making it the best it can be.
A recap on the end of the night--
It was nearing the end of the night, and we had done several tests with the squib, still to no avail, it was a mixture of the wrong pressure, the wrong size hole, the wrong amount of syrup, etc. It was getting late, and we were going to do our last test for the night, not really expecting it to work, but giving it one last shot before we try again next week. We made some final adjustments, and it worked BEAUTIFULLY! TRIUMPH!! We all celebrated, it was awesome. Then we went to Dan’s to watch the return of the office!!!