Piece of Mind

Done!

2003-06-02T16:14:28Z

Barely. We outputted the final tape at about 11am. We're double checking a few scenes (although it's really too late now) for digital glitches, of which we had more than our share this weekend. But in a few minutes I'll be running the tape to the courier and I can open that 12 year old bottle of scotch I've been saving for a special occasion. Will write soon again. Thank you for this experience 72hfp.

Dino Koutras

Day 2

2003-06-01T03:58:58Z

DV is great. Available light is a wonderful concept. The freedom it opens up is remarkable. But, as I found out today, there is a price to pay. Good god...the technical specifications are incredibly complex and capturing settings mean everything. I, for one, am shooting my next feature on Super 8.

Shots went great today...again. The crucial shot is tomorrow: an 8 minute tracking shot. Am tired. Fading.

Dino Koutras

Day 1

2003-06-01T03:51:08Z

I've discovered that the problems facing this project are not related to time or ability but to something completely out of my hands...weather. I need it to not rain on Saturday. It's vital. As it stands now it's supposed to be sunny today (Friday) which it was, and Sunday and then rainy on Saturday. Murphy's Law, of course, is in effect.

All week long I looked at the long range forecast and planned my schedule around it. I won't go into the details but let's just say that weather prediction has not improved since the first cave man licked his finger and stuck it up in the air. I saw, on Thursday, a weather graphic for Saturday that included the sun, clouds, and some rain. Let me get this straight...it could be sunny...it could be cloudy...it could be rainy. Thanks. You're saying I could go outside, lick my finger, stick it up in the air and have just as much chance of predicting the weather.

Otherwise all the shots went great today. I have the best team in the world, and I thank them. For the record, the first shot was captured at 11:51 EST. All the office shots, the opening tracking shot and the aquarium shot were captured today.

Dino Koutras

Here we go.

2003-05-30T10:31:34Z

As per the rules of the festival I am writing to inform the world of our intention to begin shooting today, Friday June 30th at 12 noon. This will give us until 12 noon on Monday June 2nd to complete a feature length film in only 72 hours.

See you in the funny papers.

Dino Koutras

Stan the cat

2003-04-30T23:38:28Z

You’re probably wondering why I would want to bring up my cat in my film project diary. Well, there’s a reason. Stan is a really great cat. He’s very sociable and we love him very much. The only problem is that he loves to meow. Incessantly. He’s basically a walking meow. Anyway, sometimes he does his meowing at night. As in, the middle of night. As in, when we’re all trying to get some sleep.

Stan tends to spook very easily and we think that, during the night sometimes, he sees ghosts. Whether they’re cat ghosts or people ghosts we’re never quite sure. Either way, Stan gets real spooked and meows up a storm.

The point of the story is that I didn’t get any work done on the project because I didn’t get much sleep last night because my cat was meowing. This pretty much ruined my day.

I have a way of making him drowsy though. I put some gin and tonic in his water dish. He loves the stuff (maybe a little too much). But this has a down side, of course: I lose out on some gin and tonic. So if somebody out there has another method to make my cat drowsy and so sleep through the night please email me at superultramegamanboywonder@yahoo.com. Thank you.

Ben Affleck's phone number

2003-04-25T20:40:22Z

Having gone on another bender since the last posting, not much has been done on the project. The only thing we decided to do was scrap the original idea. Instead of a little family drama, we thought we'd do something a little more exciting. Something in the Bruckheimer/Bay action genre.

After much deliberation, we thought the best approach to take was to do a sequel of Pearl Harbor. We figure the plot, characters, and themes are already established thus saving us some time. We even have a title: Pearl Harbor 2: Not Again! Pretty catchy, huh.

Anyway, if anybody out there has Ben Affleck's phone number (unless his character was killed off in the original - I haven't actually seen the movie) please email it to superultramegamanboywonder@yahoo.com. It's much appreciated.

Gin and tonics or gins and tonic?

2003-04-24T15:04:12Z

When I first found out that we had been accepted into the festival, I freaked. No joke. Seriously freaked. I’m sure many of the other participants did as well. Today, as I finally got over my four-day hangover, I realized I have nothing to lose by shooting and editing a feature film in three days (and having it screened in front of hundreds of spectators) except time, money, and a little dignity.

All in all, no great loss. Sort of comes with the territory of being an independent filmmaker, actually. So “DAMN THE TORPEDOES!” I say (although, that could be the residue of all those gin and tonics talking).

And, of course, full speed ahead. G