Guy Behind the Guy

Would you believe me if I told you that both of these guys have girlfriends? I didn't think so.



This photo was taken almost exactly 5 years ago today, on the closing night of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. If you can believe it, that's me on the right. I had just spent 6 months living in Spain and made the trip up north bringing with me my excitement to meet new people and my gorgeous flowing mane of hair. On the left is Jay Bender; a guy I met at the festival, a movie geek from upstate New York with whom I found I had a lot in common. It turned out to be a fortunate meeting for the both of us, because years later, Jay has become my editor and has cut all of my projects (psst..look over here------>). For Jay I have become....uh....well he's cut all my projects. My presence in his house is a gift.

When I showed up at Jay's place in Sherman Oaks on Tuesday night to begin editing the Hella video, I was nervous about the results. It had nothing to do with Jay's ability, which have been well documented in various niche trade magazines and non-televised award shows, but more with the serious possibility that I had not done a good enough job shooting the video. Given that this is my first video for a band on a record label, my first video for a band with a real following, and my first video that I am positive will get press and lots of views, I was a little scared. I have to say, as well, that as I drove home at 5:00AM on Wednesday morning after spending 6 hours studying the footage, I didn't feel much better. Well around 5:00PM yesterday, all of that changed. We are about half way done cutting, and the video is so much more than I imagined it could be. Thanks in part to Spencer, Josh, Zach and Aaron's ability to improvise (under my strict guidance, of course), the video is funny, strange, at times scary and very enjoyable. Jay's ability to find those moments, put them where they need to be, and show me all available options is truly priceless (which is good, because he's not getting paid).

If this video is a success, which I really think it will be, Jay will have been an enormous part of it. Many times I think that filmmakers want to take all the credit themselves. I like to do that as well, but this time I just can't.

Jay is also a director himself. Check out his handiwork here.

Another One in the Books

Sorry I haven't updated, I have been pretty exhausted. I spent the weekend shooting the Hella video at my parents' house in Sacramento. It was a terrific experience, and the guys were great to work with. I am a bit nervous only because I like them so much and want them to like it. I leave for LA tomorrow to edit with superstar Jay Bender, and once it's done I'll post it. Hit me up in the comments if you want photos.

Low Budget Diary

Producing a low budget music video (or any film, for that matter) is a tough endeavor, especially when some crew members are long distance. On this job, we are shooting in California, with the producer still in New York City until tomorrow night, and the cinematographer about an hour North of Sacto at his parents' house. The band is scattered all over the city, while the de facto leader is on vacation in Canada. All of these things must come together by Friday morning when we begin shooting. We must pinch every available penny that we can, so we are looking for things for free. We need an old bike for a prop, we need a camera, and some memory cards for the camera (memory cards are the new digital video tapes). We also need crew members for free, which is hardest to find. I am ending up asking friends to come out and help, which is great, but most, if not all of them, have never been on a film set before.

Things are starting to get hectic and I am beginning to feel very nervous. I have made a shot list with which I am confident, I have even designed a schedule. Making the schedule is something that, under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be responsible for. Given the low budget and the lack of crew members, however, it falls under the umbrella of things I have to do. In any event, I have prepared very well and I am confident with the idea. This happens with me every time I begin to shoot something. I get nervous and feel like I can't figure it out. That anxiety goes away usually the morning of the shoot and I enter this zone and all of a sudden it is lunch on the first day and we have done 10 shots.

On the Secret 6 video I had no idea how I was going to shoot any part of it. I hadn't storyboarded it, I hadn't done any kind of shot list, and I hadn't even thought about a visual style. The only thing I had done was scout locations and figure out where we were going tp shoot. We changed the location for the house the night before we shot there, so I had only looked at it once. Luckily this time I know the location really well (it's my parents' house), and I have a great sense of how I want it to look. I hope things turn out all right, as this is a huge opprotunity for me to shine and have lots of people see it.