No, not the heavy metal group Vio-lence, I'm talking about violence. Especially in American society. Admittedly I'm a hypocrite when it comes to perpetuating violence. Look at Fratricide and tell me some emotionally troubled person won't be influenced somewhat by the band's images and themes.
Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.
1973 - Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his own rifle to show Jack.
2006 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1973 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.
2006 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.
That being said, I read the above post on a message board recently about how things were compared to 1973 vs. 2003. Needless to say, there are a LOT of differences and it disturbs me sometimes that people don't recognize that these changes in lifestyles were not necessarily "choices" but an evolution in ideas and values over the past 30+ years. Sure, it would be great if we could live like we did back in those days (who am I kidding, I was born in 1974) but life goes on and things change.
Since the birth of this nation we (the USA) have reveled in violence (i.e. the African-American holocaust during post-Civil War reconstruction to the government approved genocide of Native American tribes). The advent of television and film has only further glamorized the violent life styles of street thugs, prison inmates, mafia bosses, etc... Violence has been so ingrained into our society that when a person is shot or a news story breaks on a violent event, we're glued to the TV. But buddha forbid a woman accidentally reveals her breast on television. All hell will break loose and suddenly people are proclaiming our morals are being flushed away. I suppose if she had been shot that would have been acceptable.
The numbing of our youth to violence and its harmful repercussions is an extreme problem with no easy resolution. Jack can't bring a weapon to school because he's probably not bringing that weapon for show-and-tell. Johnny and Mark can't get into a fist-fight after school because they have no limits on how far they should go. Just pummel until bloody and unconscious or dead. We're seeing children as young as ten beating homeless people almost to death.
I don't think every young person is a lost cause. There are smart kids out there who have great parents. Unfortunately they have to contend with increasing ignorance and stupidity every day. If you've never seen that movie "Idiocracy", give it a watch. America may just be headed down that path no matter how impossible it may seem.
Get yer heads out of your third point of contacts!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
In the Works: Last Four Series
My old Army pal and best friend Jason had a fantastic idea around 2002. Why not write a script about our funny military experiences? Our funny stories were hilarious (to us at least) and would transfer well to the big screen. We even ventured to dare to compare our endeavor as a cross between MASH and SGT BILKO. Excited and with only a minimal knowledge of how to write a screenplay, we sat down and began pounding out pages upon pages of material. I left to head back east on Xmas vacation that year and when I came back, Jason had finished!
I read through it, laughed, made some minor adjustments and decided to post the script up on a peer review website. The website shall remain nameless, but needless to say Last Four was panned. The reviewers acknowledged the comedy and admitted to laughing out loud numerous times, but were overall unimpressed since there really was no central story, plot, etc... Who knew you had to have that crap in a movie??? One critique was especially harsh and it's really hard to take that kind of criticism. I don't know if Jason ever read the reviews (I think there were 4) but I decided to remove the script from the website and sulk. Our baby had been crushed under the ruthless weight of people who wanted something else that we failed to give them. Last Four was shelved as a screenplay.
Fast forward several years to now, 2007. Only with time and study does one perfect his craft. I read more books on writing screenplays, attended college courses on screenplays, and read screenplays as well as studied movies more intimately than I ever had. I took this knowledge and punched out a script, read it, and trashed it. I wrote another one and trashed that as well. Good ideas, poor execution. My real baby started with a script called "Age of the Dead". A zombie flick in the vein of Day of the Dead and 28 Days Later, I incorporated a Mad Max sort of feel and created a maddening world that hovered either on decay or the rebirth of a new civilization. Going back to the website where I had posted Last Four, I submitted "Age of the Dead". As I waited in dread for that first review, my stomach was in knots. I knew someone would destroy me much like they did Last Four. But I was pleasantly surprised. "Age of the Dead" wasn't panned at all. In fact...people actually liked it. Sure there were a few critiques here and there, but they were professional and courteous. Nothing like the salad tossing I received on Last Four a couple of years ago.
I'm involved with other projects as you know, but now with a better knowledge of story and character, Jason and I are reviving Last Four. Not in a full feature film format (shit that's a lot of Fs) but as "webisodes" or sitcoms designed to be shown on the Internet. We've been hammering out logistics which has been our biggest concern but story ideas are forming and in development. I've begun writing the first episode which has gone rather slowly. My excuse is of course that I'm still heavily involved with Abigail as well as Fratricide. Both are valid excuses. I'm thinking of actually turning what I have over to Jason and give him a chance to formulate a story and put something down on paper. What I have is okay, I just haven't had the time to pour what extra energy I have into it (YET).
Be on the lookout though. Last Four is coming and it's going to make you laugh so hard you'll poo your pants. You might want to wear some adult diapers while watching an episode. Either way, keep your eyes peeled and ear to the ground and keep checking back here for more updates.
I read through it, laughed, made some minor adjustments and decided to post the script up on a peer review website. The website shall remain nameless, but needless to say Last Four was panned. The reviewers acknowledged the comedy and admitted to laughing out loud numerous times, but were overall unimpressed since there really was no central story, plot, etc... Who knew you had to have that crap in a movie??? One critique was especially harsh and it's really hard to take that kind of criticism. I don't know if Jason ever read the reviews (I think there were 4) but I decided to remove the script from the website and sulk. Our baby had been crushed under the ruthless weight of people who wanted something else that we failed to give them. Last Four was shelved as a screenplay.
Fast forward several years to now, 2007. Only with time and study does one perfect his craft. I read more books on writing screenplays, attended college courses on screenplays, and read screenplays as well as studied movies more intimately than I ever had. I took this knowledge and punched out a script, read it, and trashed it. I wrote another one and trashed that as well. Good ideas, poor execution. My real baby started with a script called "Age of the Dead". A zombie flick in the vein of Day of the Dead and 28 Days Later, I incorporated a Mad Max sort of feel and created a maddening world that hovered either on decay or the rebirth of a new civilization. Going back to the website where I had posted Last Four, I submitted "Age of the Dead". As I waited in dread for that first review, my stomach was in knots. I knew someone would destroy me much like they did Last Four. But I was pleasantly surprised. "Age of the Dead" wasn't panned at all. In fact...people actually liked it. Sure there were a few critiques here and there, but they were professional and courteous. Nothing like the salad tossing I received on Last Four a couple of years ago.
I'm involved with other projects as you know, but now with a better knowledge of story and character, Jason and I are reviving Last Four. Not in a full feature film format (shit that's a lot of Fs) but as "webisodes" or sitcoms designed to be shown on the Internet. We've been hammering out logistics which has been our biggest concern but story ideas are forming and in development. I've begun writing the first episode which has gone rather slowly. My excuse is of course that I'm still heavily involved with Abigail as well as Fratricide. Both are valid excuses. I'm thinking of actually turning what I have over to Jason and give him a chance to formulate a story and put something down on paper. What I have is okay, I just haven't had the time to pour what extra energy I have into it (YET).
Be on the lookout though. Last Four is coming and it's going to make you laugh so hard you'll poo your pants. You might want to wear some adult diapers while watching an episode. Either way, keep your eyes peeled and ear to the ground and keep checking back here for more updates.
In the Works: Fratricide Demo Part 3
I took my first trip to Ohio this past weekend (March 16-18). Hellfire and I worked on song arrangements with the session musicians and had an interesting photo shoot.
First off, I don't enjoy flying as much as I used to. Maybe it's age but I hate sitting on a plane for 3 hours feigning to be interested in what the person sharing the seat next to me has to say. Granted the trip TO Ohio was much more exciting than coming back. I think I wasn't exactly relishing heading back to my regular job the next day. I did supplement this disappointment by drinking a shot of JD and downing a glass of Budweiser at a bar next to my gate. I love solving my emotional problems with alcohol. Kids, there's a message here somewhere.
Ohio was cold. I mean, as soon as I stepped off the plane in Columbus, I saw my breath and it chilled me to the core. Normally this wouldn't be a problem as I usually can scam a way to find someplace warm. But the cold came into play when we did our photo shoot. On that later.
I flew in Friday evening and Hellfire and I almost immediately jumped on the guitar to start hashing out riffs. By the time we hit practice on Saturday, we had a pretty good idea of how things should go. Kellun, the drummer, and Curtis, the other guitarist have a pretty damn nice home and their basement was ideal to jam in. Kinda smelled like cat pee but I attribute that to all the cats...peeing on everything. Be that as it may, I already had an idea of how Bastards and Prayers would sound, but when they jammed out No One Conquers... and Attention to Orders, I thought that was the shit. We made a few final adjustments but I think the arrangements have been nailed down. My original plan was to jump on guitar but since Hellfire had been jamming with these guys more and they had a rapport, I figured it was best if I just tried to orchestrate things from the side while figuring out bass lines. All in all, a very killer jam session that lasted about 4 hours and the time went by pretty quick.
After that came the infamous photo shoot. We met at the photographer's apartment around 5:00 PM and started to get "geared" up. I have to admit I felt like a stooge putting on my "corpse paint" at this guy's house, but he and his girlfriend were very cool about it and accommodating. They've obviously dealt with freaks before. The only real stare down we had in that area was from the photographer's next door neighbor who looked at us like we were from Mars. I guess that's to be expected though since most people don't go out looking like we did.
We drove for about 15 minutes into the ghetto of ghettos in Columbus, Ohio. Both Hellfire and I had real semi-automatic weapons we planned to use as props for the pictures. We were happy that we had them because we may have had to really light up the place should the natives have gotten restless (we did have full magazines just in case). Luckily it seemed that most of the inhabitants of the area were indoors sheltered away from the cold so we didn't have to lock and load.
The warehouse we arrived at was humongous and something straight out of a gangster movie. Demolished and desolate, it was the perfect place to shoot evil soldiers from Hell dedicated to the eradication of humanity. The sun poked through the clouds once, but eventually a cold gray bleakness settled in. It fit the mood of the area we were in perfectly. I only wore fingerless gloves and the gloves weren't really gloves, but just a flimsy piece of material you can buy at a Halloween shop. So as the shoot progressed, my fingers became increasingly numb from the cold. As the sun descended, I was shaking. I'm surprised I didn't blur the camera because as much as I wanted to, I couldn't stop.
We did eventually wrap the shoot as the light of day was almost gone and finding our way through a dark warehouse in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio was not exactly a bright idea, no matter what kind of hardware you're packing. Hellfire and I jumped into his SUV and the heater was turned on full. Feeling was returning slowly to my poor frozen fingers and we both started to vigorously remove our "corpse paint" with baby wipes. One of the reasons we were doing this is because the natives were starting to come out.
As we turned the last corner and reached the relative safety of the state highway, we were all ready being yelled at by a few. The most prominent phrase being "Get the fuck out of our neighborhood." Unbelievable? I guess if you're sheltered and think this country of ours isn't flawed in any way, then yeah, it is unbelievable. But after seeing the squalor of these neighborhoods, it's no wonder the inhabitants have their shitty attitude. If I lived on the margins of society and knew the government only cared about supporting it's top 1% instead of helping the rest, I'd be pretty fucking pissed too.
Back on subject, I scrubbed my face so hard with those baby wipes, my skin was literally raw. I did look pretty hawt with some of the black around my eyes. I should use that as my new "look" instead of the usual "douche bag" one I sport now.
That was a long day. I hit the hay around 2:00 AM that night and didn't wake up until 11:30 AM. Hellfire drove me to the airport later that day and I was back in California by that night.
Currently Hellfire's trying to sift through the many shots that were taken and create a promo picture and whatnot. We've been kind of butting heads on this the past couple of days as I think the ones he has chosen are sub-par at best. Also they're the ones where I look like a total douche bag (fitting since that what I'm usually accustomed to looking like). I'm not very photogenic so the few pictures where I look cool are the ones I want other people to see (obviously). We'll come to a compromise eventually. My biggest concern is that recording will go smooth. That's scheduled from May 11-14.
Monday, March 5, 2007
In the Works: Abigail Screenplay Part 3
All rejoice and bow! The first draft of Abigail was completed on February 26, 2007 and clocked in at 104 pages. Of course if page numbers were the sole item that screenwriting was concerned with, we'd be done! Unfortunately there has to be a story, plot, blah blah blah. You know, all that "I want to care for the characters" crap.
Joel and I have thrown notes back at each other today and I'm now about to begin the 2nd draft which will hopefully be ten times as better.
Wow, not much else news on this other than that I'll start writing again tomorrow.
Sweet.
Joel and I have thrown notes back at each other today and I'm now about to begin the 2nd draft which will hopefully be ten times as better.
Wow, not much else news on this other than that I'll start writing again tomorrow.
Sweet.
Complete: 3 Days Short Film
I think I'm going to call "3 Days" officially complete and put a tiny checkmark by it on my list of things to do. I've mailed off copies to people that were involved with the project and to others who were generally interested. There won't be a "debut" party and more than likely no kind of festival viewing.
Why?
Don't get me wrong. I am very proud of my first "real" project. The people I worked with were great and the experience was eye-opening. But upon further review (I've already been self-deprecating about it up to this point, why stop now) I don't feel it's exactly festival material. "3 Days" suffers artistically and technically. I went in with an idea and the finished product, while better than say ..."Gods & Generals"... it still failed to deliver. I would say "Hey! Let's put this sucker back on the chopping block and re-edit!" But let's be realistic. It took this long to put the most viewable footage together to create what we have thus far. To attempt a re-edit would be like beating a dead hooker.
I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that I haven't heard back from a couple of people. A verification that they have at least received the film would be nice. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised though since during the time it took Brett and I to put this thing together, I rarely gave any updates at all to anybody. My just due if you will.
Be that as it may, perhaps I'll leave the directing to other people and concentrate on screenwriting. I've been doing that longer anyway.
A big thanks to everyone for their support. Now on to Abigail!!
Why?
Don't get me wrong. I am very proud of my first "real" project. The people I worked with were great and the experience was eye-opening. But upon further review (I've already been self-deprecating about it up to this point, why stop now) I don't feel it's exactly festival material. "3 Days" suffers artistically and technically. I went in with an idea and the finished product, while better than say ..."Gods & Generals"... it still failed to deliver. I would say "Hey! Let's put this sucker back on the chopping block and re-edit!" But let's be realistic. It took this long to put the most viewable footage together to create what we have thus far. To attempt a re-edit would be like beating a dead hooker.
I have to admit I'm a little disappointed that I haven't heard back from a couple of people. A verification that they have at least received the film would be nice. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised though since during the time it took Brett and I to put this thing together, I rarely gave any updates at all to anybody. My just due if you will.
Be that as it may, perhaps I'll leave the directing to other people and concentrate on screenwriting. I've been doing that longer anyway.
A big thanks to everyone for their support. Now on to Abigail!!