This has been a crazy week again for me. Today I shot some footage (known as B-roll) to accompany the interview and other visuals that I will incorporate in the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) that I am doing for my 5th Quarter project. I'm doing it for a for a music producer/sound engineer who has his studio in DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and I feel that it will be a great project because I've gotten more comfortable with AVID Xpress Pro and my instincts as a cameraman today were on point and I think I went away with some truly awesome footage. I have one more day of shooting (the interview) and then production is complete and the post-production begins. Hopefully I can have it complete before Labor Day that way I can fully focus on my thesis project and the pre-production.
Speaking of the thesis film. I handed in my 2nd draft last week and got my notes today. So tomorrow I will hand in my 3rd (and hopefully final) draft to my Script Development Professor. I don't know, but I have a really good feeling about my thesis film and I think if I can secure the locations and cast, I think it will be really magical. So in a few weeks I'm going to post casting notices for actors and crew for the film. I'm really excited!
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a performance at the NY International Fringe Festival that one of my very good friends, Bambi Engeran is performing in with her theater company from New Orleans. It is called "Sustained Winds" and it was PHENOMENAL! I really liked its multi-media mix of theater, dance, song, and photography. I think it's only running for a few more shows at the festival and I strongly suggest you go see it! Check out the link for more info.
On a very sad note baseball lost a legend this week, Phil Rizzuto. He played short stop on the Yankees for his baseball playing career. He will be missed. The world of entertainment lost a great this week as well, Merv Griffin. I remember as a child watching his talk show and I will always think of him whenever I watch my favorite game show, Jeopardy.
Right now I'm home because the subways are not running out of Brooklyn due to the heavy rain that we had overnight. I walked to 4 train stations this morning to be turned away by MTA workers and told that the trains were our of service or MAJOR DELAY. One woman I spoke with in the street said that she was sitting on the 2 train for 30mins and it wasn't moving, so she said "screw it" and got off. (Well, she actually used another expletive, but I was cleaning it up here). Anyway, I'm watching that GORGEOUS Mike Woods on FOX-5 News talking about the miserable weather and the region-wide flooding. But enough about the weather, it' too miserable to talk about (although the sun has just come out)
So much happened since my last post, but good and bad:
- We lost 2 film giants: Ingmar Bergman and Michaelanglo Antonioni. Both directors passed away on the same day, July 30. They legacy of film genius will live forever
- Barry Bonds passed Hank Aaron record yesterday and hit his 756th homerun
- On this end of the country, ARod hit his 500 career homerun (GO YANKEES!!!!!)
- I finished writing a new script. It's a comedy short that I will film for my final thesis and I'm really, excited about filming it because everybody who has read it thinks it's really funny
- I finally saw the new film version of HAIRSPRAY. All I can say is I LOVED IT, LOVED IT, LOVED IT!!!! Seeing John Travolta as Edna Turnblad was worth the ticket price alone
- I gave a speech in my Verbal Communications class yesterday, titled "How to Get on Television Without Having to Eat a Cockroach". It went over well. I just spoke about what I knew and spoke from my heart, although I don't think I'm going to be a political speech writer anytime soon
Speaking of Hairspray, everyone who reads this knows how big of a John Water's fan I am, but I must confess: I liked this musical version better than the Divine/Rikki Lake original. But I think Divine would be proud to see that John Travolta played the role that he originated with such dignity and class. Also, and this is nothing against Harvey Fierstein (who was GREAT as Edna on Broadway), but John Travolta has a nicer singing voice and we all know that the man can shake his ass! As far as the rest of the cast: Michelle Pfeiffer (as Velma Von Tussel), Queen Latifah (as Motor mouth Mabel) and Christopher Walken (as Wilbur Turnbald) were simply great. But I think Allison Janney (as Purdy Pingleton) and Nikki Blonsky (as Tracy Turnblad) STOLE THE SHOW!!!!
Okay, enough for now.
