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DIRECTOR'S JOURNAL
DAYS 26-30
DAY TWENTY SIX: "Short Story Long" [enter WILLIS]
Call to set - 11am ET
You are standing in front of a mirror in your bathroom, checking to make sure your private areas are free of anything “unfamiliar”. Then the annoying, yet eerie slurping sound of a man’s lips shoveling cereal into his mouth is heard. You turn slowly to find said man has been watching you. Staring dead into your eyes during your private self-inspection.
Meet WILLIS.
PJ Smart is the man playing the character WILLIS, and with such ease of creepiness has done an awesome job. So glad we were able to cast him. His onset enthusiasm to maintain the part and just go for it helped keep things light and amusing. He is certainly a great addition to this cast and will certainly pull reactions from the audience!
Also returning to the set this day were Kim Voutsinos [MOM] and Hillary Pyles [KAREN] who play mother and sister to the lead character [Mike Voutsinos]. They joined us for an external funeral scene and one outside an Emergency Room. This evening became one of much emotion rinsed in sorrow, and commendable performance. The weather even cooperated with us, providing a glorious backdrop to the exterior funeral scene. Hillary and Mike pulled some pretty powerful tears for the Emergency Room scenes as I moved silently behind the lens. Powerful.
Yep, that has to be the word of the day. ^_^
Call to set - 11am ET
You are standing in front of a mirror in your bathroom, checking to make sure your private areas are free of anything “unfamiliar”. Then the annoying, yet eerie slurping sound of a man’s lips shoveling cereal into his mouth is heard. You turn slowly to find said man has been watching you. Staring dead into your eyes during your private self-inspection.
Meet WILLIS.
PJ Smart is the man playing the character WILLIS, and with such ease of creepiness has done an awesome job. So glad we were able to cast him. His onset enthusiasm to maintain the part and just go for it helped keep things light and amusing. He is certainly a great addition to this cast and will certainly pull reactions from the audience!
Also returning to the set this day were Kim Voutsinos [MOM] and Hillary Pyles [KAREN] who play mother and sister to the lead character [Mike Voutsinos]. They joined us for an external funeral scene and one outside an Emergency Room. This evening became one of much emotion rinsed in sorrow, and commendable performance. The weather even cooperated with us, providing a glorious backdrop to the exterior funeral scene. Hillary and Mike pulled some pretty powerful tears for the Emergency Room scenes as I moved silently behind the lens. Powerful.
Yep, that has to be the word of the day. ^_^
DAY TWENTY SEVEN: "The Call"
Call to set - 1am ET
Two phone calls were made here. The first one was a sister calling her brother to tell him that their father is in the E.R., and the second is a young man breaking up with his first love. Two separate phone calls, two forms of heartbreak.
Today was another short day. Smooth and effortless it went. In attendance: Hillary Pyles [KAREN], Mike Voutsinos [DAVE], Dimitri Voutsinos [Asst. Director], and myself. The days breeze by when there’s not a large cast to shoot and when you have talent such as these folks!
The highlight of this day for me was filming what I must say is of my top three scenes. It was an emotional scene where the lead character, Dave stands before himself, starring analytically into his own eyes in front of a mirror . . . a bottle of pills in hand. On set were Mike and his performance & me and my camera. We did two takes of a continuous shot and the second take left me silent for a moment after calling, “cut”. And during the daily playback of this scene, whew silence every time. Intense it what it is. Truly.
Call to set - 1am ET
Two phone calls were made here. The first one was a sister calling her brother to tell him that their father is in the E.R., and the second is a young man breaking up with his first love. Two separate phone calls, two forms of heartbreak.
Today was another short day. Smooth and effortless it went. In attendance: Hillary Pyles [KAREN], Mike Voutsinos [DAVE], Dimitri Voutsinos [Asst. Director], and myself. The days breeze by when there’s not a large cast to shoot and when you have talent such as these folks!
The highlight of this day for me was filming what I must say is of my top three scenes. It was an emotional scene where the lead character, Dave stands before himself, starring analytically into his own eyes in front of a mirror . . . a bottle of pills in hand. On set were Mike and his performance & me and my camera. We did two takes of a continuous shot and the second take left me silent for a moment after calling, “cut”. And during the daily playback of this scene, whew silence every time. Intense it what it is. Truly.
DAY TWENTY EIGHT: "What Did Happened To Slim"
Call to set – 2:00pm ET
Tonight was all about Slim (Ryan Feeley)! And what happened to Slim at the 312 Party. At the risk of giving too much away the scene ended with actor Kassem Baxter’s character (THE KID) phoning 911, thanks to the actions portrayed by Josh and Mike Noonan (THUGS).
Slim called on his friend Dave (Mike Voutsinos) to assist him, but Dave was preoccupied with the “sins of the flesh, leaving Slim to face the consequences of his lifestyle alone. It’s a good thing Ryan, Josh, and Mike are good friends who have worked together before because the scene called for some unprofessionally choreographed hits that paid homage to our earlier years of playing football in the fields. What did happen to Slim indeed? Well, let’s just say that he may have gotten a little fucked up. And it looks pretty intense on my end of the lens!
Upon Dave’s late arrival to the EMT swarmed scene was recapped by The Kid. A performance that put Kassem Baxter (known for his more comedic roles in the online sketch comedy web series, “Random Acts”) in a light I haven’t seen him in before. He and Mike Voutsinos carried this more serious-tone scene great! This is where our night had ended… Where the day began was something far more different!
There were three scenes scheduled that morning. One was where the character Dave is texting his Lady-love at work, the second is Dave doing some personal, recreational, pastime, “work” at his job (place your mind in the gutter), and the last scene was the effects on Dave after taking a hallucinogenic little fungus some of us know as ‘shrooms. The latter was one of the riskiest and most fun scenes we’ve shot!
The quick, non-incriminatory breakdown of this “’shroom-scene”: [inhale] buck naked running at the camera (frontal) stealing a car driving through the parking lot behind a school (never you mind which one or where it’s at) music blasting speeding through another lot with people wondering who this pink skin naked man is yelling while being video-taped by another man laughing and bobbing around due to a loose seatbelt sharp turns and the facial expressions that of a wild animal in heat being delivered by an actor that gives his ALL every time!
[inhale]
A good day . . . indeed ^o^ [images . . . *o* . . . memories!]
Call to set – 2:00pm ET
Tonight was all about Slim (Ryan Feeley)! And what happened to Slim at the 312 Party. At the risk of giving too much away the scene ended with actor Kassem Baxter’s character (THE KID) phoning 911, thanks to the actions portrayed by Josh and Mike Noonan (THUGS).
Slim called on his friend Dave (Mike Voutsinos) to assist him, but Dave was preoccupied with the “sins of the flesh, leaving Slim to face the consequences of his lifestyle alone. It’s a good thing Ryan, Josh, and Mike are good friends who have worked together before because the scene called for some unprofessionally choreographed hits that paid homage to our earlier years of playing football in the fields. What did happen to Slim indeed? Well, let’s just say that he may have gotten a little fucked up. And it looks pretty intense on my end of the lens!
Upon Dave’s late arrival to the EMT swarmed scene was recapped by The Kid. A performance that put Kassem Baxter (known for his more comedic roles in the online sketch comedy web series, “Random Acts”) in a light I haven’t seen him in before. He and Mike Voutsinos carried this more serious-tone scene great! This is where our night had ended… Where the day began was something far more different!
There were three scenes scheduled that morning. One was where the character Dave is texting his Lady-love at work, the second is Dave doing some personal, recreational, pastime, “work” at his job (place your mind in the gutter), and the last scene was the effects on Dave after taking a hallucinogenic little fungus some of us know as ‘shrooms. The latter was one of the riskiest and most fun scenes we’ve shot!
The quick, non-incriminatory breakdown of this “’shroom-scene”: [inhale] buck naked running at the camera (frontal) stealing a car driving through the parking lot behind a school (never you mind which one or where it’s at) music blasting speeding through another lot with people wondering who this pink skin naked man is yelling while being video-taped by another man laughing and bobbing around due to a loose seatbelt sharp turns and the facial expressions that of a wild animal in heat being delivered by an actor that gives his ALL every time!
[inhale]
A good day . . . indeed ^o^ [images . . . *o* . . . memories!]
DAY TWENTY NINE: "In Through The Vein"
Call to set – 2:00pm ET
With a 2:00pm call we had time to further prepare for the events of the day. This was another day where it felt amazing to be shooting a scene involving something that we had never shot, or performed before!
Mike Voutsinos (DAVE) has had many scenes like this, where he has done something he has never done before in film, during our adventures making this movie and I feel it a privilege to be the man behind the cam going through it with him. This is true also for some of the other actors on this project who have branched out to another level of their careers, their craft, and their mind sets. Every project, every film, every scene can and is a chance for learning and growth and the folks working this project have been treating it as such and having fun while doing so. I cannot ask for much more. ^_^
The night ended with a re-shoot and an added scene involving Lauren Ojeda (ROCK HELL) and Patrick Hickman (TOM). It’s been a pleasure working with these two. We’ve had fun each film day, and this was no different. Whether it was racing against the setting Sun to get the shot, cursing traffic that would stifle a scene, dancing in the street, or wishing we could scream, “Quiet On The Set!” to admiring onlookers who ask what we’re filming and blast music from their crawling cars staring strongly at us (maybe more so Lauren than us cavemen looking roughiens), it was still a hardworking, fun night! Now the hours prior to this . . . something a bit different.
Still hard working and a bit of fun in the mix, yet the mood was smothered in seriousness. When doing this scene involving drug use I tried to balance a voyeuristic feel at first, before then moving in on the actor to draw the viewer into his personal space, and almost go through this feeling he’s experiencing for the first time with him. The title of this journal, “In Through The Vein”, is due to a syringe, what it contains, and its injection into a vein. Nothing more to say, except Mike Voutsinos played his part on point and Dimitri Voutsinos (Asst. Director) concocted the grittiest dirt water looking liquid ever to be sipped by a syringe! For our first scene of this sort we did pretty damn good!
Shit was serious.
Call to set – 2:00pm ET
With a 2:00pm call we had time to further prepare for the events of the day. This was another day where it felt amazing to be shooting a scene involving something that we had never shot, or performed before!
Mike Voutsinos (DAVE) has had many scenes like this, where he has done something he has never done before in film, during our adventures making this movie and I feel it a privilege to be the man behind the cam going through it with him. This is true also for some of the other actors on this project who have branched out to another level of their careers, their craft, and their mind sets. Every project, every film, every scene can and is a chance for learning and growth and the folks working this project have been treating it as such and having fun while doing so. I cannot ask for much more. ^_^
The night ended with a re-shoot and an added scene involving Lauren Ojeda (ROCK HELL) and Patrick Hickman (TOM). It’s been a pleasure working with these two. We’ve had fun each film day, and this was no different. Whether it was racing against the setting Sun to get the shot, cursing traffic that would stifle a scene, dancing in the street, or wishing we could scream, “Quiet On The Set!” to admiring onlookers who ask what we’re filming and blast music from their crawling cars staring strongly at us (maybe more so Lauren than us cavemen looking roughiens), it was still a hardworking, fun night! Now the hours prior to this . . . something a bit different.
Still hard working and a bit of fun in the mix, yet the mood was smothered in seriousness. When doing this scene involving drug use I tried to balance a voyeuristic feel at first, before then moving in on the actor to draw the viewer into his personal space, and almost go through this feeling he’s experiencing for the first time with him. The title of this journal, “In Through The Vein”, is due to a syringe, what it contains, and its injection into a vein. Nothing more to say, except Mike Voutsinos played his part on point and Dimitri Voutsinos (Asst. Director) concocted the grittiest dirt water looking liquid ever to be sipped by a syringe! For our first scene of this sort we did pretty damn good!
Shit was serious.
DAY THIRTY: "Broken Glass, Everywhere"
Call to set – 5:00pm ET
If there was a scene in this movie that required some sort of protective cover, this is the one. (Well the Day running in the woods could’ve used some eye protection too [inside joke]).
Another serious Day this was. A three man team set out to destroy a bottle and a mirror. That was the highlight of the day for Dimitri Voutsinos (Asst. Director/Co-Producer), Mike Voutsinos (DAVE), and myself. Seeing as how making this movie truly independently has been a test of our skills and a building of strengths each day of filming, I can just imagine how shattering glass into countless shards was a great release for Mike. We only had one shot and he hit the mark on point!
This was after delivering a pretty intense solo performance that has Dave confront himself before we get a look into his past where the root of his actions today stem from.
With about 87% of the filming complete and editing started, I am looking forward to these upcoming final days of filming. Seems we may have saved some of the best for last. We’re not there yet, but once we get there I know that I will look back at what was done these 30-something days with much pride and with much learned. With a look forward all the same.
Proud, of the possibilities envisioned.
Knowledge, to act on these possibilities.
Hmm, so far if we were all full time film makers we would have filmed this movie in one month! Something to think on, eh. Day 31 here we come!
Call to set – 5:00pm ET
If there was a scene in this movie that required some sort of protective cover, this is the one. (Well the Day running in the woods could’ve used some eye protection too [inside joke]).
Another serious Day this was. A three man team set out to destroy a bottle and a mirror. That was the highlight of the day for Dimitri Voutsinos (Asst. Director/Co-Producer), Mike Voutsinos (DAVE), and myself. Seeing as how making this movie truly independently has been a test of our skills and a building of strengths each day of filming, I can just imagine how shattering glass into countless shards was a great release for Mike. We only had one shot and he hit the mark on point!
This was after delivering a pretty intense solo performance that has Dave confront himself before we get a look into his past where the root of his actions today stem from.
With about 87% of the filming complete and editing started, I am looking forward to these upcoming final days of filming. Seems we may have saved some of the best for last. We’re not there yet, but once we get there I know that I will look back at what was done these 30-something days with much pride and with much learned. With a look forward all the same.
Proud, of the possibilities envisioned.
Knowledge, to act on these possibilities.
Hmm, so far if we were all full time film makers we would have filmed this movie in one month! Something to think on, eh. Day 31 here we come!