The Journal of Infinite Triumph

Pooh Bear, Life Skills Debut, UIS

2006-05-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

The other day at work we were blessed to have Whinnie the Pooh visit us. I was scheduled to be Pooh's friend for the night, and my faithful co-worker Jen got to be Pooh. It was a rousing good time for the 6 kids that showed up to storytime.

Tomorrow night in film class we're showing our video projects, which means Life Skills will debut. I'm happy with where it ended up, and the changes I would of liked to made to it were not possible with the group I had. They tried hard and gave it their best, so I wasn't gonna go Nazi on them. In the end it turned out well though, and I'm still trying to find a way to get it hosted online.

I signed up for classes over at Univerist of Illinois Springfield. My schedule is so gravy it's not even funny. Check it!

Monday :12-4pm
Tuesday :12-3pm
Wednesday:12-4pm 6-10pm

Pretty nice! I talked to a faculty member and we got along well and were all nerdy and such, he was quite fun and informative.

I'm working on a few projects I'd like to do this summer. Here's a brief overview of what ya'll can look forward to.

The Capitalist - A short movie I want to do with Mr. Austin L. Ray whenever he is around these parts. A movie critic for a local NPR station comes to terms with his personal contradictions in a stream of consciouness format while we watch him go about his daily routine.

The Man Who Played Poker Against Himself - This one I came up with the other day, and I really don't know exactly where I'm going with it. I think I'm gonna try that whole "Chris vs. Chris" trick where there are two of me in the same frame at times. Either way, it's gonna be interesting to play around with.

Discuss!

Life Skills - Trailer - Featuring The Strokes

2006-04-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

As I attempt to figure out a way to host "Life Skills" online, I've made a small and unrevealing trailer for the movie for your viewing pleasure. I hate how trailers reveal too much about movies, so I reveal very little about mine in them. If this bothers you, I'm sorry. Please enjoy the lovely music.

Video Trailer

Life Skills - Blogging

2006-04-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

After delivering the bad news of delaying Anarchy, I felt compelled to do even better with the video project for my film class, just for my faithful blogger fans (all four of you).

Last night we taped and I edited "Life Skills". It was a total of 9 hours of wonderfully awesome work. In the end, it turned out awesome.

It's a comedy at heart, dealing with a shy aspiring actor who's going to work on a video for a Life Skills class at a local community college. It stars the fellow members of my group from the film class. It was written and directed by yours truly, with him in a supporting role.

I would immediately put it up on YouTube, but the video at full length is 13:30min long. YouTube allows only a 10min max on videos. There are a few options:

1: Put it up as a two part video on YouTube (I really don't wanna cut it in half)
2: Does anyone out there have or know anyone who would host the video for me? The quicktime version would not be much larger then 100mb.
3: Pay $15 and put it up on www.studentfilms.com which is a generally good host, but sometimes has technical problems.

Lemme know what you think. Boo-Yah!

Perfect Harmony

2006-04-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

If anyone out here is a fan of the website "You're The Man Now Dog" then I hope you have discovered this wonderfully YTMND from there. They have taken some of their favorite movies, people, etc they poke fun at, and turned all the situations into a light-hearted and peaceful montage. It show how things, could have been. Either way, it covers everything from Kirk getting along with Khan to Solid Snake not really dying in the game. Check it out, and see how many of them you get!

http://ytmndharmony.ytmnd.com/

I Regret to Inform You

2006-04-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

Anarchy has been officially postponed until... I dont know.

I hate bad news, and I hate even more to give it, so I'll be brief. This weekend we were due to tape, and through conflicts and lack of commitment from the people involved, it didn't happen. I knew that by taking on a project that required 10 actors + extras, it would be difficult to get the logistics together. I had asked all people involved, up front, many months ago, if they were dedicated to the project. They said they were. I said I did not want to go forward unless people know what was involved and what they would have to do. I had laid out a long-term plan that would of gotton the project done before June 7th, when our lead man Mr. Cory Beiermann is to leave for basic training. Unfortunately, 2-3 of the people involved have lost interest. I'm not mad, they have jobs, it's the end of the school semester for everyone. But, that's what has happened. There are still dedicated individuals who want to get it done and are still willing to work, but we've already taped in the house and it would just be too much to take on in what little time we have left to do it (considering, for example, that we need 3-4 weeks notice on when we will tape in order for people to get work off, and even then we have had complications).

I have learned a lot from Anarchy, and I do plan to complete this movie at some point in time, even with different people. I'm gonna work with the 13min of footage we have to make some memorial trailers, plus I might possibly re-edit it all to create a new movie all together.

This next thurseday I'm doing a video for my night film class. I wrote the script last tuseday, it's probably gonna run about 10min and should be pretty entertaining. I'll post it here if it turns out well. I also have uploaded the "Intense Reading" competition to YouTube. I'll get a link on here soon to it.

I plan to continue The Journal of Infinite Triumph, but it will now focus on whatever projects I'm working on at the time.

I thank you all a whole bunch for your support, and the best is yet to come!

In this place called heavenly

2006-04-11T13:21:00.000-05:00

This weekend we continue the taping of Anarchy. We've been having some unfortunate complications. Two of our actors may not be available for all the time we need them. These complications were not their faults, just managers and jobs that don't cooperate. Also there is a chance of rain both days (we'll be taping outside). Either way, we'll do what we can with who we have.

I have come the realization of how difficult it is going to be to get Anarchy done the way we have planned. So, for the sake of being practical, I've making plans of alternative ways to handle scenes that could be problemsome. I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. I'll keep you all up to date on how things progress. One of the leads has quit his job in anticipation of graduation and going to college, so that's one less complication.

Be prepared, come Sunday/Monday I'll have a nice bunch of stills from our weekend of taping.

Total Moisture Control

2006-04-06T01:12:00.000-05:00

Hello again.

I ask pardon for my delay in posts. Here's an update.

We're taping next weekend for Anarchy again. Unfortunately 2 scenes are not going to be able to be done. Adam was unable to get work off that Friday, so we will have to make those scenes up. At that point, we will have 4 scenes to make up including the ones from the last shoot. This is due to the fact that all 10 people need to know about a month ahead of time when we're gonna tape. So if 2 weeks away someone can't get off work, it becomes a problem. We'll do what we can and do it well. Either way, the weekend has 5 scenes scheduled and it should be an exciting time in the pasture taping.

I've started writing a new project entitled High School Syndicate. I believe I have mentioned it here in the journal before. It's coming along nicely and I think it has a lot of potential.

I just churned out the first draft of a short movie idea I had. It's obviously very short, because the screenplay is 6 pages long. I think with a lot of fine tuning it will be a winner. Something more introspective and, nay I say, a wee bit more artistic then the other things I've worked on. Time to see if I can blend entertainment and art.

Snow!

2006-03-21T07:25:00.000-06:00

The first day of spring is upon us, and god decided to send us snow. This reminds me of the ultimate fact that we don't determine when spring begins, mother nature does. I'm just suprised Lincoln Land actually canceled classes. Usually it requires an asteroid strike (at least 200m diameter on impact) to cancel classes. Apparently a little "blizzard warning" got it's panties in a bind. Aw well, I'm not complaining. At least it's only the March primaries for our State. I'm sure the snow won't prevent the poor and helpless in getting out the vote.

Mind on my money and my money on my mind

2006-03-18T14:18:00.000-06:00

I shouldn't listen to Gin and Juice covers...

I'm back to work and the old Barnes and Noble is back running at full speed. In fact, managment bought us pizzas and hot wings yesterday as a thank you for not finding a new job in the 4 days we had off. It was a nice gesture, and business was really slow, so we had free food and time to socialize while shelving and such. I think I spent at least 45min talking with my manager about movies. Good times, good times.

Word on the street is (word being what I've decided, street being when I talk to people) that we're gonna have our second round of taping for Anarchy on Easter Weekend. We'll need two days to tape, and each day taping will take place from noon until we're done or the sun starts to go down. First day we'll need the whole troop plus some extras and we'll have the first scenes with another main character, Howard Johnson played by Adam Bailey. I've scheduled 8 scenes, which will complete the movie up to about the half-way point, plus we'll have some pieces of the end puzzle. In order to give you a feel for what is and is not done, I'll break it down for ya.

Anarchy is comprised of 34 scenes in the script. About 4-5 of those scenes are establishing shots. Scene 7 is the longest, lasting 5 pages in the script. Here's what we have done right now.

Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 6
Scene 8
Scene 9
Scene 10
Scene 17
(need transitional shot)
Scene 18
Scene 21 (rework part)

By the time we do the 2nd round of taping, here's where I would like to be.

Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 6
Scene 8
Scene 9
Scene 10
Scene 11
Scene 17
Scene 18
Scene 19 (montage!)
Scene 21

After the seconrd round of taping out in the pasture, timber, pond, etc... here's again where we should be.

Scenes 1-14
Scenes 17-21

After that, we have the biggest and baddest scenes left to do. Which include our climactic battle sequence as well as the wonderfully sensible resolution to the story. Can you dig it? Yes you can.

Damage Report!

2006-03-17T02:44:00.000-06:00

Here is an interesting picture I found depicting the trail of destruction through Springfield caused by the tornadoes last sunday. Apparently, there were two of them. For those of you unfarmiliar with Springfield, I edited a key to help you locate where I reside.

More Pictures!

2006-03-15T18:03:00.000-06:00

Straight out of a dream

Well I promised more pictures and here they are. As always there is spoilage with the pictures. I would of had them up earlier but blogger was being difficult with uploading pictures. I know it seems like there is a lot of Francis (myself) and Valjean (Justin) but we taped all the house scenes, and the house is there's. In a few weeks once we do another 8 scenes or so there will be some new faces and old faces alike, so this is our moment of limelight in the Journal.

On a completely separate note, you may have heard (or experienced) that Springfield got hit by a nasty storm accompanied by a Tornado or two. My place of employment hopes to have power back by Friday, and if not, I get paid for my lost time either way. My friend who works at Best Buy says it will be several weeks before they re-open due to roof damage. It was a nasty event, which I of course, slept through. My apartment was out of the main line of fire, but you may have seen reports on the damage on the national news on Monday or Tuseday. Either way, a rare and amazing display of the destructive force of mother nature.

That's what friends are for

Francis apparently didn't find it funny.

He's gonna live a long and happy life...

Occupied! Occupied!

A Mid-Chase Moment

The in between

2006-03-14T13:58:00.000-06:00

Even in the midst of Anarchy, I always entertain myself with little projects along the way. Considering we won't be taping again for 3-5 weeks, what is a man supposed to do when he craves fresh video to edit. Well, remember that drunken video I promised you?

I have been working through a lot of random footage in order to document our drunken experience. It is fun because I don't work with a documentary style much, and I have some silly ideas I wanted to try out.

Cory had given me a tape with about 10 min non-drunken footage, and 30min drunken. I used the first 10 minutes to create the opener. As I was watching the footage, I had texted Cory while I was at work. He reads off the text message and Justin procedes to mock me. Therefore, I took the subsequent footage of him comparing his girlfriend to other women and edited as a subtle yet light-hearted revenge.

All in all it was quite fun, and I'm going to get it all ironed out and put it up on YouTube. I think it will have to be a private video on there because Cory, as always, is naked during part of it.

There have also been requests for more pictures from Anarchy. They will be posted soon.

Aeroplane over the Sea

2006-03-10T13:06:00.000-06:00

Well besides minor tweaking, all the scenes from the last weekend are edited. They were compiled into a single chronlogical video (including the Prologue and Credits, which are all done on the computer) and burned to a DVD for everyone else to see. Right now Anarchy stands at a 13min production. I'm guestimating the final product will be in the range of 35min.

After some of the boys viewed the material they were very happy and excited. There was a unanimous decision to rework about half of a scene. I talked to mother about stealing the house from her and father for a few hours. Plus we didn't get two scenes and a transitional shot done. It will work out though, it's nothing to roudy or demanding, but they aren't scenes that we're willing to discard.

I've started trying to schedule the next taping. It will be in the first 2 weeks of April. It would be another full weekend of work. We have 8 scenes to do out in the pasture/timber/pond/field. This includes many of the introductory scenes for the characters, as well as shots of a 4th party of which no one here has scene yet.

All in all, people are excited and they wanna get it done and get it done right. That, my friends, is awesome.

Success!

2006-03-05T23:28:00.000-06:00

An awkward moment for the team

The weekend was a great success. We exceeded expectations and people rised above and beyond the call of duty. There were some rough moments, considering our lead Mr. Cory Beiermann was ill, but he fought hard and was never afraid to do another take of him screaming his head off. We managed to pull off drama, satire, action, and violence. It now appears that if we keep this up, Anarchy will be what we all hoped it to be. Here are some pictures from the weekend to tickle you. I am going to do my best to balance interesting pictures, without spoiling whats going on. So, bare with me.

Francis and Valjean take to reading after a satisfying meal... very satisfying

Angus gives Roy a pointer during a group discussion

Someone's in trouble

A chase scene like no other

The look heard round the world

Antici.... pation!

2006-02-28T17:04:00.000-06:00

We tape this weekend. There have been scheduling problems, but they have been settled. Now, if only to plan for the drunken orgy that will follow taping on saturday...

A New Setup

2006-02-22T14:02:00.000-06:00

Look! Not only is the microphone a wonderful directional boom with a 20ft cable to complament it, but now can be attached directly to my camera and connected with a much more practical 1.5ft cable which just came in the mail. It's a wonderful setup which will assist in several shots. Now we are only a week and a half away from the initial shoot, the trial-by-fire if you would. I'm not quite sure how everyone is doing, but I'm gonna talk with the boys and make sure we get outfits bought, lines memorized, and characters understood. This it it, we are almost to the point of no return. Booyah!

The Power of the Party

2006-02-21T17:16:00.000-06:00

The video from the party will be on here in a week or so. As a teaser, this is a picture of two party patrons who were not drinking. Gotcha boner yet? I do.

Y Control

2006-02-20T13:53:00.000-06:00

There isn't much to report. The weekend was well and full of drunken happiness, there will be an entertaining video on here soon for all who are bored. We also have a microphone test video to show you soon. I'm trying to keep the filesize small, but to not compress the audio (so you can tell how superb it is). We have two weekends until we start taping Anarchy. Go Team!

... And There Was Much Rejoicing

2006-02-16T14:38:00.000-06:00

Here she is, and its all I hoped for. Everything works out, and later tonight we'll be doing test shots to see if it's gonna be as flexible as I hope it will be. Also as a side note, the shock mount (handle thing) attaches to the top of my camera, which means good news for audio pick up if the camera is in a very mobile hand-held shot (like taping up close during a fight for example, or chasing someone through a house... not that these things would occur). Joy!

For All my Suicidal Friends

2006-02-16T11:42:00.000-06:00

I have a theory. A theory that if, any living person is at the point where they are willing to take their own life, just show them this picture. This picture, I believe, could prevent 90% of suicide cases. Now I am a person who is horribly allergic to cats and I frankly don't like them. If a cat crosses the path of my car, I am tempted to hit it. That's how sour the relationship is between myself and felines. However, when I first saw this picture, happiness entered my world. I proceded to show it to other Barnes and Noble employees. They all agreed, it's a fantasticly wonderful picture of a cat. I then visioned three psychologists sitting in front of a suicical patient, contemplating what to do. They ask "Do you want to kill yourself?". The patient replies "Yes" in desparation. The lead psychologist then flips around a large 8x10 photo of this picture. The man immediately laughs... followed by a growing smile, and then breaks down into joyous crying as he embraces the photo of the cat, no longer despairing at the world.

Please everyone, when life gets you down and it's gone pitch black, just look to the picture, of this wonderful cat.

Decent Days and Nights

2006-02-14T20:30:00.000-06:00

An update on my love for online shopping: It's okay... as long as the company you work with isn't run by jackasses.

I canceled the microphone order from one website and ordered it through a new one. It has worked just fine, and I've recieved confirmation that the Cable has been shipped. So that's wonderful. Now I set here eyeing my large bag of spare change I've been collecting for 8 months now, wondering if it has enough value to get Chris a new battery (since the only one I have has a full-charge life of around 90min).

I've got the Scene Papers done for almost all of the scenes scheduled. Now we need to focus on getting wardrobe ready, then lines memorized, and I think we might be ready for the big weekend. I'm taking time to talk with the actors, at least once, to prep them and discuss there scenes and characters. I'm about half-done there.

In the meantime I've started doing notes on another story idea. It's a story about the universal need to fit in and control relationships, told in a semi-realistic manner. It deals with high school drug dealing being organized into a teenage crime syndicate. I think it could actually have some depth to it and seems a lot of fun in my head. We'll see what happens with it.

Youtube

2006-02-13T17:41:00.000-06:00

You'll notice there is now the option of watching a small video titling and introducing my blog. It was simply a fun test of the many wonderful and open-ended (did I mention free) options a person gets with Youtube video hosting. Check the left link bar for links to some videos I have uploaded that we have done before. I will be experimenting with the possibilities of Youtube for a while, so bare with me, and give your opinions. I won't leave the video on the top indefinately.

I have come, a few miles

2006-02-13T17:10:00.000-06:00

Online shopping is a wonder as much it is a curse. The microphone order had problems, so I canceled from that website and re-ordered it from another. The cable for the microphone has been confirmed and will be shipped shortly (apparently they don't process orders over the weekend). The mini-dv head cleaner should be in within a day. Nothing too exciting will be happening until after the weekend of March 3-5th. After then we will be in the money. I've distributed schedules and reports of characters' lines for the scenes we have scheduled to everyone who needs them. The picture above is one of my personal binder, with script and schedules in it. Thrilling isn't it? I know I get an erection everytime I hold it.

Sound Check

2006-02-10T17:17:00.000-06:00

I bring glorious news. I have ordered the a nice shiny new Azden Shotgun Microphone and the cable to connect it to my camera. It's a wonderful piece of technology, long researched I have to discover the right balance between price and performance. It will do very well for what we need, besides, Anarchy deserves external Audio. Don't you love a good scene in a movie that, when silence falls, is filled with the whine of the tape deck inside the home camcorder? Good times, Good times.

Get Into the Game

2006-02-10T02:14:00.000-06:00

Well I've decided to get everyone into the game. Here's your primer.

Some of my comrades and fellow creative genius's were setting about their high school lunch table and had fantisized about a skit we could do. Having done a handfull before, it was not a rare idea. This skit was to deal with a world in chaos, kind of a Mad Max like movie. Except it would invovle us as a group, with power struggles and mischief of all sorts. It quickly died off as a failed idea on the drawing board table.

Nathan Hitchings came to visit me at my new apartment for the first time a few months later. We cuddled up on the couch and enjoyed watching the movie Primer. After having our brains fucked I threw out that we should try to develop that mad max, anarchy movie they had discussed before. We drew up characters using everyone in the group, taking their normal personalities or quirks and exploding them into psycho-paths with issues. We tamed the shrew a bit, and ran with ideas over the course of about 4 hours. They 5 pages of notes in my notebook that followed would turn into a 32 page screenplay 2 weeks later entiteld "Anarchy".

With a first draft done, I began to slowly talk to different people in the group in order to get their opinion and ideas. After integrating everyone's good ideas together, and with advice from others friends (Julie Holburg gets a bit thank you!) we stumbled upon a final story. The 34 page screenplay was copied and distributed, and people finally realized that "Holy shit, we're gonna try to make a movie".

It's been almost a year now since the first ideas started to bubble from our brains. We are soon to leave the wonderful world of Pre-Production and slide desparately into the scary realm of Production. Everyone has taken care of business and on March 3rd, 4th, and 5th we are gonna tape the first 9 of 34 scenes. Considering that 5 of those scenes are just establishing shots of a location to show the passing of time, we'll have 1/4 of the movie done if all goes well. I'm ordering an Azden shotgun microphone tomorrow (plus cable!) and distributing a schedule plus packets with the appropriate lines to the appropriate scenes for the characters that have them.

As a final step towards the organization of the weekend shoot (which will be all of the in door shots for the movie) I'm doing a shot-by-shot packet for each scene scheduled. I'm basically listing every little detail as to keep things organized and going well. I've adopted the following standard:

-----
Scene X

"Title for DVD Menu"

Character List
Shot List

Shot Number : Angle, Distance, Viewpoint, Characters In Shot
- Dialouge
- Action
Shot Number 2...
-----

It works quite well. It allows me to see how we can tape it in the most efficient way possible. I'm sure that thought has your pants a pop'in.

On a more entertaining note, I've taking all the songs currently planned to be used in Anarchy and edited them to as they will be employed, and created a massive 17min MP3 file that is our current real-time sound-track (minue the quiet points in between). Which leads me to my next point that the guestimated running time for Anarchy is around 40min.

Cory "Mr. Hollywood" Beiermann put it best when he said "lets try to incorporate as many styles and genres into Anarchy as we can". I never realized how true that was. Here is our current list:

Comedy, Drama, War Movie, Romance, Horror, Western, Science Fiction, Music Video

Also our goal is to offend or take shots at as many groups and peoples as possible. Here's the current list:

Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, Conservatives, Religions, Liberals, Blacks, Gays, Men, White Trash, Women

I'd like to consider myself an equal opportunity offender. Then again, its all in good fun, because comedy never comes free.

So I think that gets everyone up to par on whats going on. Now hopefully my posts therein after this will make sense. As for me, I am going to bed.

Greetings Everyone

2006-02-09T21:58:00.000-06:00

Okay...
So this is going to be a journal for the progression and development of the movie Anarchy. If at any point I come to a crossroad of decision, or just want to vent some happy frustrations, this will be the place it shall occur, in order to form a more perfect union, and in accordance with the fact that most people don't want to listen to me talk about it in person (since it is the only thing on my mind anymore... that and puppies, lovely lovely puppies). Danm that was a long sentence. To entertain you, I have posted a picture of me in a cool man stance with the children's book character "Froggy" that was at Barnes and Noble tonight for Storytime. Froggy was being played by my co-worker Tara. Here's a another picture of me in a fit of passion with Froggy.