Starlings in the Slipstream

As the last few rays of the Summer sun pour in before the semester begins, so do my friends from afar. Tonight, Derek gets back and I am overjoyed. He's a very dedicated animator and one of the most honest, doggone decent people you'll ever meet. You can find his blog here and if you ever have a flat tire, he'll help you out with a smile. Tomorrow and this weekend bring in a few other pals of mine, and I can't wait for them either. Root beer floats sound good to me and maybe I can convince one of them it's a good idea as well. Today was fun filled and busy in that I have started planning out a short film with two other people. 4.5 hours of breaking down the script, analyzing characters, mapping out the story and physical progression of the characters throughout the location, and some laughs as well. I have high hopes for this short and trust it will go well, knowing that the director and cinematographer are tops. We work quite well together and I definitely want to start another short as soon as this one wraps( Funny that I say this considering not a thing has been shot yet, but filmmaking can be an addictive pleasure and I'm always looking to score). One thing we discussed at length today was casting, which is very crucial to the success of any film, short or feature, budget or shoestrings. I wonder how many people come to audition for us, and hope for the best and brightest have an interest in the project. The film has 13 speaking roles, and each plays an important role in tying together the relationships and themes throughout. So yeah, need to find 13 good actors or people that can fit those parts pretty soon. If you know any guys or gals between the ages of 19 and 30, please let me know! The goal is shoot sometime during the first two weeks of September if that helps you in your decision making at all. Also, we are looking for a Spanish speaking couple if you know any. Positions in the Art Department still need to be filled if you have an interest in set design or just like making and arranging things for kindly bearded taskmasters like the director. I'm pretty much done with this post and imagine I'll write something at the end of the weekend recounting my experiences doing some volunteer work and letting you in on my Root Beer Float recipe (it's shockingly good). Seeing District 9 tonight and am excited for that. Saw The Hurt Locker last night and thought it was great (to the friends I forgot to call, well, I forgot. Sorry. Really). Will see Ponyo tomorrow and possibly 500 Days of Summer as well. I might have to start wearing sunglasses indoors to fix the sting in my eyes from staring at the cinema screens. Oh, and a plug for my friend Jake's blog. Still the funniest thing I read online, and you should read it too.

The Initials BB

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

I wanted to compare my Summer to a rose and how stress and thorns are unfortunate things, and I wrote it out to be very poetic, but then I realized how lame that is. Point is, I am stressed out. What's causing this are two things: A feature film I'm deeply involved in and a short film I recently got thrown into working on. I'll spare you the details, but I'm close to stretching myself to the fullest. Add one more responsibility and I might snap and fly off into the stratosphere. Speaking of spheres, there is one thing I've been having a ball with (ahahahahaha?). I've been working on my senior thesis short film which will be shot a year and a half from now most likely. It might seem like I'm starting too soon, but I want to make something great that can get me some recognition, respect, and most importantly a job and the importance of it has been weighing on me enough to start on it. I've begun writing out music for it on guitar and piano, which really sets the tone of the story which I've also been writing. The music and words are going together great enough that If I get stuck in one area, I can usually pull myself out of that creative hole by working in the other. I think I can write a really great score for my thesis and if I can get all the right parts together far in advance for it, I might have a chance of doing something I'll really love and appreciate. Another reason why I'm working on it so soon is so that I can get all of the props, locations, and all around randomness figured out before the issues of finding actors come about. So if any of you know a fork lift operator or somebody with access to a trained elephant, let me know. Seriously. It's going to be epic.


Also, started listening to this dude. He's French and awesome.