THE CHALLENGE:

Make a two hour full feature period drama bringing back to life the 50's hotrod era, entirely by myself and on a no budget, having never been to film school and never made a film before.

One daring renaissance woman and her camera.

Accept no funds from investors - Never sell out - Never consider short cuts - No matter how hard it gets.

Retain complete artistic and cinematographic freedom. Remain true to my vision.

Make a film that is pure Labor of Love.

Complete it in three years OR DIE TRYING.

This is guerilla indie filmmaking at its best, and purest.

SHARE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE HERE.

This is my blog, where I say it like it is. This is what it took to get here.

Enjoy! And please tell others about DEUCE OF SPADES. 

NEWSFLASH:

THE DEUCE OF SPADES ONLINE STORE IS NOW OPEN

 Fans of DEUCE OF SPADES can now buy an advance copy of the film and merch!!!!!

The goal? To generate the money needed to print the first batch of DVDs. Advance DVDs will be special, I will hand number them, autograph them, as well as have the main stars of the film sign them. And they will be first to be shipped out when the film is released.

Currently I have raised 65% of the funds needed, so I need more to step up to the plate and land a hand. If you have followed this blog and film progress and have felt in the least bit inspired by my story, you can now make a difference and help me take this film to the finish line!

VISIT THE ONLINE STORE HERE.

Thank you for your support!

YES!

Thanks to the help of the panasonic USA Guru, who has flown to my rescue, I am SAVED!!!!

He figured out a way to get the job done AUTOMATICALLY. As in: I won't have to do a damn thing except.... PRESS ONE BUTTON.

Dang. I feel spoiled, lazy (and blessed) now ...

I guess I was wrong whan I said there was probably no easy way to do this. And being WRONG has never felt so GOOOOOD.

I am SOOOOO HAPPY. I just saved myself about 3 weeks of hard work.

Just click on the button and let the computer do it all... Oh yeah... Sounds like music to my ears....

I think I'm gonna start the process and go eat dinner and watch a good flick. Maybe even have me a glass of vino.... Oh yeah... I'm styling now!

AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggghhhhhhhHHHHHH

My high pitch scream instantly shattered all the windows in a five mile radius.

Dang. I had no idea I could yell that loud.

I'm sitting here with Andrew, sound engineer and we are both baffled. I thought I had ironed out all the problems and was ready to rock and roll.... No such luck.

RETREAT RETREAT!!! Fold back!!!! Leave the dead and wounded behind!! SAUVE QUI PEUT!

We have been at it for 4 hours now. I am tired, hungry and now, CRANKY. .

Actually, not really. I am tired and hungry, yes, but I find myself very ZEN about the whole fiasco.
What's going on is very complex. Should I bore you with the details and even attempt to explain this in a way that makes any sense? Maybe not, but I'll give you the highlights: It goes something like this:

@**&%$ PCs are not compatible with @**&%$ MACs, @**&%$ Vegas is not compatible with @**&%$ Panasonic camera, @**&%$ Vegas is not compatible with @**&%$ Nuendo, @**&%$ Pro convert custom scripts are not compatible @**&%$ with vegas, in short:

NOTHING IS COMPATIBLE WITH @**&%$ ANYTHING ELSE. (pardon my eloquent French )

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.

(I think the neighbors spent their whole evening cleaning up broken glass" LOL  

I can tell Andrew is a bit aggravated and discouraged. I crack a few jokes and smile. Basically I actually expected that, on our first attempt, NOTHING would work as planned.

And basically, in a nutt shell... I WAS DAMN RIGHT.

I called my buddies who are experts in Vegas and they too were puzzled. None of their suggestions worked. At around 11PM, we all gave up and hang up our cells. Andrew went back home and I finally got to eat dinner.

While eating.... I was thinking.... Hhhhhmmmmmmmm... And then....

What if I did this and then went there and did that and then returned to this folder and did this and then removed that and then repasted this.... Would THAT do the job??

I tried.

It did.

This is a lot of gyrations and would mean HOURS and HOURS spent patiently converting each sound file of each edit.... And would take basically... Like... FOR-E-VER...

BUT....

It would work like a charm.

So I got started. I did two scenes. I can see that some scenes will take a long time while others will be converted in a mere 5 minutes . I am happy I figured out a way out of this deadend. With a little luck, some of the BIG expert in US might have a better way, but my little ant gutt says: "Probably not" and once again I will have to move another mountain on my little ant back.

Oh well... Anything for the film.

At least I know what I'll be doing for the next 3 years LOL... ... But seriously, I am planning to do REEL 1 that way and see how long it takes me and how well it works. I believe it will be worth the time invested. I think I can get REEL 1 completed by Sunday night. This way Andrew can come back Monday and hopefully convert REEL 1 successfully this time and take it with him to start the mixing process. .

Below: Johnny Callaway is but an extention of me: Pedal to the metal and we brake for no one and nothing. Photo taken by me with the Canon 7D I bought 3 weeks ago. Oh YEAH!

I looked down and the current seemed pretty strong. The water would be deep and very cold and I am sure falling in it would not feel too good at first, but it could not possibly feel worse than how I felt when I found out all my film computer files became corrupted and would no longer open... And I may have lost weeks of work in a mere instant.

Sure hope this rock is heavy enough to take me down to the bottom... All the way...

I am standing on the ledge of the Long Beach bridge, with a rock tied to my neck, ready to take the leap.

I am tired of working around the clock, tired of jumping through technical hoops, tired of fighting, tired of being a filmmaker.

It ends here, now.

Ok here we go... On the count of three...

ONE..... TWoooooooooOOOOooooooo.....

...

Ah rats. I can't quit now! I am SOOOO close to the finish line. Ok Faith, Take a deep breath, take that silly rope off your neck and come down that slipery ledge.

It's gonna be a long drive back to West Hills LOL. I think I'll take the rock with me, as a souvenir

OK, so maybe I am embellishing a tad, but jumping off a bridge is pretty much what I felt like doing last night. After two whole evenings spent until 1AM working on preparing REEL ONE for mixing, the software suddenly decided to hijack my hard work and took me for a wild ride!!

I closed my project and was no longer able to open it.The screen would blink and flash and studder...   

Anxiety started tearing at my stomach. OGHHHHHHH... I tried to open individual files, but all of them did the same horrible blinking... GNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH...

I suddenly felt very discouraged...

SAY WHAT??? Meeeee???? Discouraged?????

Hey. I never said I was "per-fect" (just darn close LOLOLOL )

And so it was that at 11PM, after a long day spent working my day job at the office and long afternoon spent working on the film at home, and after eating my dinner at the computer, I would have to start everything from SCRATCH. Figure out what went wrong, find a way around it, resolve the problem and rebuild REEL ONE from scratch. Rebooting seemed to help and I was once again able to open individual scenes (shhheeeeeesh - that was close)... Fortunately, practice makes perfect so the second time around, I did things a bit differently and worked around the risky area, and recreated REEL ONE in only 25% of the time it took me to create it the first time around.

HA!

Also, just so you know, I have security back ups of every file from my film, so we are always safe . That said, I had done quite a lot of manute editing adjustments over the last week to achieve Picture Lock, and had not yet backed up those new changes... GRRRRR.... (I have now though, you can be sure of it!! LOL).

At around 1AM, I had successfully cleaned up the mess and now I am still able to have my meeting at 4PM tomorrow (after work) with my sound engineer to convert files for their pro studio software. So I am still on target and on shedule, despite all. (Told ya I'm a bulldog).

NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!

And never - EVER - jump off of bridges with heavy rocks tied to your neck, on a whim. You might regret it later .

Googling, calling, waiting on hold, picking brains, leaving no stone unturned... Why must I always jump through technical (fiery) hoops? I have a huge learning curve to attack and only 2 days to climb it. the amount of information I will have to cram in my little head is enough to make a big man curl up in a little ball and cry for his mommy.

but I'm a bulldog. now that I bit, I ain't letting go... NO MATTER WHAT...

GRRRRRRRRRRR....

That's what I've been doing for the past two days. RESEARCHING. I am a woman on a mission.

The mission? To figure out how to extract DEUCE OF SPADES sound files out of my home PC and to a pro Mac platform... And live to tell the tale .

Some said it was not doable. Other said it was impossible.

NOTHING is impossible.

While everybody is claiming that unless you are on Final Cut Pro, you cannot make a film, I, of course, had to think outside the box and use a home PC and Sony vegas to cut my film. Which Vegas did beautifully, by the way. .

Then they all said: "Oh yeah? Well wait and see, you'll never be able to get out of the Vegas environment."

Now I am going to.  X 2

Took a lot of phone calls but now I got the answers and a plan of attack. One more battle for me to fight, and hopefully I won't get obliterated in the process ... Looks like the task is not impossible afterall, but requires special weapons, a good amount of ammunitions and... BALLS.

I got the balls, the pro studio has the ammunitions. Now all I need is to obtain the weapon and we go to town .

My Baby is leaving the house. My precious little baby, whom I have been nurturing for three years now, is going to go out there in the world... And hang out with the big boys...

Dang. Who could have ever imagined??

I worked on preparing REEL 1 until about 1 AM last night. While working on my REEL, I was also uploading image sequences up to New York and Santa Monica, to two of my CGI artists.

Tonight I finalize REEL 1 and save it, with all its sound files in one central folder, ready to be moved to Mac platform.

Wish me luck!!!

Soon as REEL 1 leaves the house, I go back to fine tuning PART 2 of the film. The second half. It's about done but I'd like to watch it one last time and I am sure I will find another 30 items I want to tweak one last time before picture is locked. Patrick and I will be sitting down and watching it together and I will note his comments. It's good to have a fresh pair of eye look at edits. Sometimes people have good suggestions, but I find that for the most part, my instincts are right and many of what they suggest simply does not work for me. So i will ignore those suggestions and only implement the few that seem to indeed, improve the film.

Editing is a very personal thing, and each editor has his/her own sensibility, rythm and feel. What seems rushed to one looks too slow to the other... There is no right or wrong way, there is only one artistic vision and it is mine. So I'm gonna make sure it is preserved. And since no one owns me, cause I financed my own film, I am FREE .

And FREE is how I want to remain.

Below: Look up "Free Spirit" in your dictionary and you might see this photo

My fiilm is like a runaway train and I'm running after it. No matter how fast I'm running, it's still ahead of me... I can never really catch up.

Oye.

So much work to do and only one person to do it and only 24 hours in the day. Which brings me to telling you a little fairy tail today...

(SOUND CUE: Pretty fairy Tail harp music)

Once upon a time there was a village at the foot of a very high, rock mountain. And the mountain was so high it hid the sun all day. The village grew dark and cold and the crops stopped growing, and people started leaving...

So the town gathered and decided to hire someone to move the mountain. They approached big companies that had big equipment, a thousand workers, dynamite, cranes, bulldozers, big rig trucks... Surely they could tackle such task.

But the big companies laughed at the villagers. They could not affort them. There was not enough money to be made to move such a large mountain for such a small village. And the big companies would not give the villagers the time of day.

Then a little ant presented itself. The villagers laughed at the little ant.

"I'll move your big mountain for you and let the light shine upon you once more" said the little ant.

The villagers, once they were done laughing, padded the little ant on the head and said: "Sure little ant, sure... Ever moved a rock mountain before?"

"No" said the little ant.

"Know how to move a rock mountain?"

"No" said the little ant again "but I am smart and I'm sure I'll figure it out real fast"...

"But you're just a little ant. No little ant has ever moved a mountain before."

"Well I guess I will be the first one to, then." simply replied the little ant.

The villagers shrugged and figured that if the little ant was so dellusional as to think she could actually move that mountain, to let it take a crack at it. After all she could not hurt anyone by trying, right? Some of the villagers made fun of the little ant and some of them even wanted to squash it. "We hate insects" they said.

The village went back to it's dull life. The sun never rose and the crops were still dying. Many forgot all about the little ant and it's willingness to move the mountain.

A few years went by. While everyone in the village was eating, sleeping, getting married, falling in love, partying, snoozing on the couch in front of their TV set, the little ant was diligently working away, all alone, night and day and moving grain of dirt after grain of dirt. It was relentless. It never stopped, it never slowed down, it never gave up. It worked through winter, spring, summer, fall and winter came back around and the little ant was still working. A few other insects landed a hand to the little ant occasionally. Many got overwhelmed and left, some talked about helping but did nothing and a few others found they simply could not handle the gigantic task and ran away. A little beatle did stick around and helped move pebbles out of the way... But for the most part, the gigantic task still fell on the one little ant's shoulders (or lack thereof LOL).

Many of the villagers now had completely forgotten about the little ant... But a few went to the mountain one day, out of curiosity, and noticed a big chunk of it was now gone.  They watched the little ant moving huge chunks of rock on it's little back. Each chunk was 20 times the size of the little ant.

So they started to believe in the miracle and started talking about the little ant. Soon people came from all over the area to see the little ant working away.

One morning, the sun peaked over the top of the mountain and one ray of light graced the village. The villagers came out of their houses, puzzled. They noticed the mountain seemed less high... And they too heard about the little ant's efforts and started believing. They started telling everyone about the little ant and looking forward, everyday, to that little ray of sunlight warming their hearts.

Another year went by and now the sun was pouring more and more each day onto the village...

Finally one day, the mountain was GONE. The villagers celebrated and all were singing the little ant's praises. Crops started growing again and people wanted to move back into the village and the village prospered once more.

So the little ant was summoned into the village and the head huncho then walked up to the ant and said:

"So you moved the mountain, great - but what took you so damn long?"

Morality of the story: The next jerk who makes a smart comment about my taking three and half year to complete my film gets kicked in the nut sack.

Oh one last thing: After the head huncho got kicked in the nuts  the rest of the villagers all surrounded the little ant and thanked it and asked:

"But...How did you do it?"

And the little ant simply smiled and said: "Faith can move mountains!"

Photo below created by HAMB member V8steel. I thought it was too good to pass LOL.Notice she is wearing little combat boots HAHAHA!

Last wednesday we broke our blog daily visitor record !! Almost 500 people came by in one day to read about my filmmaking adventures.

Wow. I had no idea I was THAAAAAT entertaining....

Then again  ... hehehehehe...

Roaming around at the GNRS a few days later, I was sitting down, minding my own business, stuffing my face with one of those extremely decadent grilled smoked beef sausage sandwiches (yeah, you guys who went to GNRS know exactely what I'm talking about here, don't you!! )... The sausage was twice as big as the bun (??) and I was still trying to figure out how to eat this without making a total ass out of myself, when hunger prevailed and I took one huge premature bite which ended up being a bit more than I could chew (story of my life?? LOL).

I look up, a nice gentleman has just sat down at the table and is now smiling at me.

ME (caught with a mouth full)... "mhhhmmfh fhfhdofyyf ??"

HIM: "You are the girl who is making the movie right?"

ME: "MMHHhhhhhhmmm grrrrellllpppp"

HIM: "It is YOU! This is great! I have been following you for a long time now! Everyday at my lunch break, I read your blog while eating my sandwhich"

(no, no please don't mention eating any sandwhiches right this instant... I'm still trying to figure out how to move the bite I took out of mine around so I can finally chew it and - with a little  luck - swallow it)

(Other note of interest: I could have swore that reading my blog entries about the struggles involving each shoot would be enough to cut anyone's appetite")

ME: " MMHhhh slurp GGrrrrlllllpppppfff ?? "

HIM: "Yes! I am a great fan. I am hooked on your blog!! I bought your DVD and I can't wait to see the film!!"

I finally manage to swallow.

ME (finally articulate): " It is a great pleasure to meet you"

HIM: "I'm sorry... I didn't understand what you just said"

LOL - must be my French accent LOL... Did he really say that? NO, not really silly, I was just pulling your leg.

HIM: " I recognized you right away! From looking at all the blog pics, you know..."

Well, I see my infamous reputation precedes me HAHA!

It was truly a pleasure to meet him, as well as the few other fans who also spotted me, recognized me and walked up to me to shake my hand that day. Signing autographs is one I am not quite used to just yet.  But it's fun. I guess I'd better get used to it quick though, cause from the look of it, everyone is talking about my filming exploit  and those who aren't yet, soon will be ...

The GNRS was wonderful but also rather exhausting and I quickly found that my injured knee resented me for not consulting it prior to taking the decision to go to the show and walk all day. I am paying the price for it today. Will this thing EVER heal???

Probably not.

Ah the price we pay for the film...

Now here's another story from the trenches. for those of you who are new to the blog. My going to the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) was like coming full circle.

For was it not here, three years ago that the little light bulb went TILT inside my head?

I had registered the deuce for the show, for the very special 75th anniversary of the deuce. At the time I was hesitant because it necessitated me to take 2 days off of work to drive up there and set up my car display etc, plus registration costs plus RV parking cost, plus gas, plus food... And money was sparse, since I had just bought the deuce.  I almost voted against it but at the last minute I thought to myself: IF I MISS IT THIS YEAR, I WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER 25 YEARS before the Deuce celebrates a birthday again (it would then be the centenial of the deuce).... And I might not be alive by then ... So I said "to hell with it, I'm going" and I made it happen.

Now check this funny story. Funny how life works... They asked us to do a nice display for our cars. I decided to do an EL MIRAGE DRY LAKE display. Was at a car meet two months before the show and overheard a friend of mine saying he;s going to GNRS. "Oh cool I'm going to!!" then I had to open my big mouth and ask him (out of curiosity) "So, what's your display gonna be?"

"El Mirage dry lake" he says. ...

Oh noooooooooooooo....  RATS! CRAP!!! DARN!!! Oye.

He had NO IDEA he had just pulled the carpet from under my feet. I didn't want him to think I had stolen his idea so I decided to abandon it and try to think of something else. Something no one else would be prone to think about.... Something like....

Making a video about women and roadsters??

So I did. I made my little documentary, about one hour long, and finished it JUST IN TIME to drive out to the show. I mean litterally. I burnt the DVD all night and drove up at dawn to the show.

That little documentary, shot on a $300 camera, from the hip, edited at home on a $60 software, was to charm the audiences for 4 days at the show. I had a blast filming it but had an even BIGGER blast seeing people love it, watch it, laugh because of it, get excited, engaged, happy.

I was hooked.

And THAT is when I thought to myself (such little innocent thought it seemed to be at the time LOL)

LIGHT BULB: Wouldn't it be CRAZY to make a home made feature film??? One person does it all. Woud be a REAL CHALLENGE... Probably real hard to do...

(exactely how hard, I was not sure, but I definitely found out over the next three years!! LOL)

Two weeks later, I dived right in.

The rest is well beyond history ...

Below: "Last of the Hiboy Girls" my little home made docu - and NO it is not available to the public... but maybe down the road after DOS is released and all, I might make it available, just for laughs.

Back to GNRS, I was about to leave when I bumped into a lady who was my neighbor at the show back in 2007. she remembered me, and my little documentary.

"Oh hi!! It's good to see you!! how are you, what have you been up to?"

Funny you should ask ...

So I told her about DOS. And I told her, "Remember my little docu? Well... I've kinda GROWN a LOOOOOOT as a filmmaker since. You'd be surprised".

She nodded but I doubt she believed it. So I SHOWED her the DOS teaser and I must say she was like:

YOU DID THIS?????

Me:  Yop. Sure did Ma'am. Me. Little ol' me. Me me me me me me

It was way cool to see the look on her face.   

Her husband and her loved the clip and I left the GNRS with not only a smile on my face, but also two new fans

Amen.

It has been very fascinating to witness the birth of a Mini Deuce of Spades, mini challenger and now, mini 35 Ford truck.

The three star cars of the film are currently being greatly honored by being immortalized in a one of a kind 1/8th scale rendition. Each model is hand made from scratch and represents hundreds and hundreds of hours and quite a bit of $$ too, to complete. Behind each model, a talented, top shelf modeler, all great fans of DEUCE OF SPADES and all, excited to be able to contribute in some way to the film. They have been a pleasure to deal with and I am very excited by the progress made. Here is the lowdown.

1- DEUCE OF SPADES ROADSTER

Great progress has been made, despite a serious surgery which kept Robert out of commission for a while. Despite the pain, he immediately went back to work on the build. Wow. Someone as insane and determined as I? I didn't think it possible  - But I stand corrected LOL. The deuce is starting to look like a car now, here are some photos of the misc parts, thrown together and currently held together by a rubberban (or two)... Buick finned drums had to be made from scratch, by the way...

here you see artist creating the hair pins, also from scratch:

another view of the deuce as it currently stands:

Close up of engine and wheels:

This is SUCH A TRIP. It's like looking at a Mini Me of my deuce!!!! What a great job!!

2- THE CHALLENGER (29 RED ROADSTER)

Meanwhile up in Canada, things got severely delayed when Canadian Customs decided to Hijack the body sent from the US to help the build. Body was MIA for what I believe to be about 6 weeks. MANY MANY phone calls and Stomach ulcers later , it finally "showed up" at the modeler's doorsteps  and now the build can finally move forward. This is where we are at currently:

Great work!!! Needless to say Jerry is completely ecstatic to see his roadster immortalized. He too, cannot wait to see the model in person.

3- 1935 FORD PICK UP TRUCK (Tommy's truck)

By far this build posed the biggest challenge, being that no parts what so ever exist for this type of truck, probably not a very popular model, and until DEUCE OF SPADES, it had never triggered any interest from any 1/8" scale modeler. But that of course was then and this is NOW. Thanks to the film, the popularity of all 1935 Ford Pick up trucks is about to sky rocket!!  

A daring modeler stepped forward and took on the incredible challenge of recreating the truck, as seen in the film. Progress on this build are expected to be slower due to the complete lack of pre-made parts what so ever. But then again... Maybe not?  Here are the latest:

Frame had to be made virtually from scratch:

Completed frame:

The truck bed is then made and fitted:

then a gate is made and added:

Next, fenders are created:

Here is the bed with fenders now

A rear end is made and all three elements are now being fitted:

Hats down!! What a great job in deed. I am sure Peter, whom I have not heard from in a long time now, must be very excited to see his truck honored in such a great way.

A few of you fans have asked whether they will be able to purchase these models, I regret to say that the answer is NO, these models are not for resale. Only one model of each car is being created, solely for the purpose of promoting DEUCE OF SPADES, so if you want to see them in person, you'll have to attend one of our screening, where they will be on display.

Special thanks to Bob, Robert and Joe, the three wonderful modelers who are working very hard to get this project completed. Hopefully they will be done by the time the Grand Premiere of the film comes, around May / June 2010 .

 I'll keep you posted of progress.

As I may have mentionned it last week, Patrick sent four young up and coming sound mixers to my house on Thursday 01/16 to screen the film and evaluate whether they woudl like to donate some time to help professionaly mix the film.

They came, they saw, I conquered LOL.

My phone rings today and it's Patrick. He's happy to share the good news: All four mixing engineers want on board. And Patrick is in too.

ANOTHER DEUCE OF SPADES MIRACLE!!!!

This is an unbelievable opportunity. One I could have never hoped for. Yet it just "happened".

So basically my film is going to be mixed by people who work for all the big names, and let me drop just a few like... Quentin tarantino and Adam Sandler and...

Well, you get the idea.

We discuss the details and what in store for me over the next couple weeks. More work, and a huge learning curve.

Sign me up!

Let the Fairy Tale resume....

below: An incredible opportunity for the first time minuscule filmmaker I am.

6:30AM - Jerry and I are slowly driving across the dry lake. Emphasis on SLOWLY. It's so damn cold neither him nor I can feel our fingers and I'm not about to add wind to the equation by speeding in these freezing cold temps. We've decided to make it easier on ourselves by not moving truck and Trailer, so we are actually hauling all the gear needed to film in the roadster... Resulting into a rather comical set-up that looked something like this:

The sun has not risen yet, but it's about to so ONCE AGAIN, we are racing against the clock (I told you some things never change!). This morning we are to refilm a shot done last June, also at dawn and hope to God the light will match. I got my radar on and am able to locate the exact shrub I filmed at last time. And let me just say this much: there are LOTS of shrubs in that desert LOL.

The sun is about to rise as we pull in front of our special shrub.

"Hurry! Let's move the gear here! Where's the mirror? Where's my hair brush? Where's my red T-Shirt? Where (etc etc)..."

I delegate to Jerry the task of affixing the monitor to the camera while I get situated and fix my hair to match the hair do I had last June (or at least hope to)

We are now ready. Which is a darn good thing cause the Sun waits for noone, not even indie filmmakers who have to wear 4567676075026576765 hats.

Let there be light said the Lord... And the light WAS...

ROLLING!

This morning I am going to do my best Prairie dog immitation LOL. Take upon take, I hide behind the shrub, then pop up and hide again. What once was an easy task no longer is because now I have two blown knees and no longer can kneel in any way shape or form. So basically I am doing push ups... Oyes.

below: I have turned into a little gopher

The light is per-fect. 30 some takes later I am finally satisfied. Oh, did I ever mention? I am damn picky. I am pretty happy that i did not bump into any scorpions, lying down in the dirt right next to some large holes, inside which God only knows what monsters lurk. Probably CAMEL SPIDERS... But honestly, I don't really care. I eat Camel Spiders for breakfast.

"Did you hear that?"

'THAT' would be my stomach growling. Once again, starved. A little Camel Spider, with some garlic sauce sure sounds pretty good right about now but they are no where to be found.... In fact... A rock, with some garlic sauce sounds pretty good right about now ... Hey ANYTHING can taste GOOD with some garlic on it .

But I digress (again) LOL.

Hungry or not I must put up a good face for the camera:

And besides I don't look like I've been missing too many meals these days. It's all this darn sitting down all month long editing that's packed up the weight on me ... All 5 pounds of it....

PS: I wonder how my camera would taste, with a little sprinkle of garlic on it?

HHhhmmmmmmmm...

9AM - We are now done with filming and ready to tackle the next task: Our second photoshoot.
Jerry hops back into the deuce, with gear and I drive us to the center of the lake where I am to take promo shots of the deuce and also some of me behind the camera (and IT'S ABOUT TIME I DID THAT!!!). The sun is now up and the lake bed, which during the rainy season looks like glazed ceramic, is shining before us like an ocean... Gorgeous sight in deed...

We park, set up and I start to snap away, shot upon shot, for the next... Five hours????? Once again, losing track of time, completely engolfed in my photography... On and off, I hand the camera to Jerry who lends me his finger to snap the shots so I can be in front of the camera... Good job Jerry!! Jerry is getting better and better at all this. he is starting to get the right feel as far as framing the Granger way goes... On and off I double check what he snapped and make necessary adjustments... "No! Don't zoom out, simply back away! I want the shallow Depth of Field!!"

I come up with a few interesting concepts hehehehe:

2PM - We really can't stand the hunger anymore so I decide to call it a day. I now have another 300 photos and I am satisfied . Let's go eat a bite. I also intend to go visit my friend George after lunch before we head back.... But that was before I glanced South, at the horizon....

"JERRRRRRRY??????????? Are you seeing what I am seeing?"

"Yep. I am seeing what you are seeing"

We're both standing next to Houdini the trailer, staring at the sky: It ain't looking good kids! Omminous, black low clouds engorged with rain are crawling upon us ... SAY WHAT???

"Shit Jerry, I think it's gonna rain!!!!!!!! But... weather.com and i-phone weather BOTH said Partly cloudy until Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!"

PARTLY CLOUDY MY ASS.

We franctically pack everything up, I bundle up and hop in the deuce and we smash the gas pedals in unisson. Damn. Sure hope I can beat the storm home.

DREAM ON FAITH.

We had no driven more than 8 miles that a rain drop hits me point blank on the forehead...

"Ohhhhh shhhhhhhit"

And then it was like God opened up a big old dam and suddendly all hell broke lose.

Rain is falling non stop on the deuce and me. My goggles are now covered with drops, making it really hard to see the road. I speed up and the wind factor starts to repell the water sideways off my goggles. Guess I'll have to drive extra fast today if I want to make it home at all. Ironically, we are driving STRAIGHT TOWARDS THE STORM.  x 2

It figures.

40 minutes of non stop rain later I hop on the 14 freeway. I have never driven under pouring rain on the freeway with bias plys and without a windshield before. I can't help but wonder what will happen. Will I be able to see? Will the deuce lose traction and spin on me? I hear Johnny Callawya's voice inside my head:

"I'll be just fiine"

Johnny you'd better be right about this one!

I'm now driving 60 mph on the freeway and my rear tires are making rooster tails about 12 feet high (and I am just quoting Jerry who was driving behind me and saw them). I can't see the road. I have to put my chin down and keep my face at that odd 45 degree angle so that the water will actually slide off of my goggles fast enough so I can see the road. So far my body is not wet. The speed is creating a sort of vortex and keeps most of the water out of the deuce. In fact not a drop on the seat... I can see rain on the louvers though...

I am wearing no less than 45637650376 layers of clothes: A T-shirt then a long sleeve shirt then a wool cardigan then a ski suit then a B3 bomber jacket - also a mexican blanket on my lap. On my head, a ski mask, ear covers and then my WWII aviator leather cap. Oh and gloves, too.

It will rain without every stopping for the next 60 minutes.

You should have seen the faces of other drivers on the freeway that day. Bundled up as I was, only my eyes were showing, and with the water rolling down my googles, I doubt any of them coud see them and notice I am a woman. They must have thought: "that dude is insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I concur.

But I'll be darn if I'm gonna get off the road and hide. I'm gonna drive all the way to my garage door, under that rain and take it like a man ... well.. Sorta LOL.

I pray God to keep the deuce and I safe and get us home in one piece. I am aware of how dangerous this situation is.

To add to the mix, the rain, at 60 mph hits my face like a million little knives, and is simply put: DAMN PAINFUL....

45645643075607637603760234756435638756483562 ouches later, I finally reach the Topanga Canyon offramp. Relieved.

I figure I am now out of harmsway and trouble but I am wrong. Now on surface streets, I quickly find that without the speed vortex, ALL the rain is pouring down straight on me and the deuce and within a matter of about 1 minute or so I no longer can see ANYTHING AT ALL. Water is now sipping inside my goggles!!!!!!!!  I am completely blind and have to pull over. Jerry looks white.

"Oh my God Faith I was so scared!"

ME- Grouchy - "I'm fine - I just need some God damn papertowel, I got to wipe the inside of my googles"

No easy task, cause it's still raining dogs and cats.

I will drive the next 6 miles having to pull over every mile or so to wipe the inside of my googles. What's happening is that the leather padding around the glasses of the goggles is now soaked with water and acting like a wet sponge, leaking inside the lenses. ... The deuce and I are both drenched.

About a half mile from the house I finally get so fed up I take my googles off. Can't see a thing, rain is hitting my eye balls ... AH FOR HEAVEN SAKES!

I resort to putting my gloved hand before my eyes and peeking between two fingers, carefully driving the last few hundred yards.

As I pulled up the driveway and hit my garage door opener, I felt both relieved and proud.

TODAY I HAVE EARNED MY WINGS AS A ROADSTER PILOT.

After wiping down the deuce, who got a good carwash, courtesy of God , and telling him "thank you for taking good care of me and bringing me home safely" I went inside the house and started to undress. I found that almost all my layers of clothes were drenched, except for the last: weeheee that was close. The marshmellow outfit had kept me warm though so I did not fear pneumonia.

"I'll be just fine"

Jerry was a sweetie and did not want me to lift a finger to help him unload. Fortunately we did not have too much gear this time around.

Home sweet home... Holding my two dogs never felt so good before. Sure glad I made it back safely. Thank you God!

below: the deuce and I - a tight little team ready to brave just about anything.

9AM - Our little convoy meanders through quiet residential streets until it finally stops in front  of Chris Simmons house. A door ring later he appears, looking rather sleepy ("Late night, yesterday"), a lens, lens filter and memory stick in his hand.

God bless his heart!

The audience will note, for the record, that Chris just officially saved my ass. And shall be remembered for it. . Ahhh the good man. I give him a huge hug and send him right back to bed.

I hand the camera bag to Jerry, behind the wheel of the Tundra, now towing Houdini (master of escape), my little travel trailer. Houdini will be our home for the next two days while we camp out in hostile territory aka: Camel Spider country, aka El Mirage dry lake.

I jump behind the wheel of the deuce, fire up the v8 and let it rock me all the way to the lake bed. It's darn cold but my many layers keep me from hypothermia. "I'll be just fine"

Timothy is already waiting for us by George Callaway's dirt road, our usual rendez-vous point. No, not related to Johnny Callaway, but where do you think I got Johnny's last name from?

Hehehehehe.

I pull out my hair and make up bag and... Do Timothy's hair.

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE... 

A few ounce of my magic goop later, his hair will stay in place for the next two years or so (give or take a day or two HAHA!). I've always wondered what's in this shit. My guess is: Super Glue, cement and epoxy. But I could be off by an ingredient or two.. Or three .

No matter: It works and that's the only thing that counts.

Timothy Luke is debriefed on his upcoming dangerous mission: To metamorphosize into Johnny Callaway once again, complete with bad ass leather jacket, bad ass deuce and... Bad ass pout.

I am glad to see his recent stay in Oregon has packed a few pounds on him because he had lately become too skinny to pull off a good Johnny Callaway look.

"Put some weight on Timothy! You look like a skinned cat!!!"

Well, not anymore. He's put not only some weight on but some muscle as well, and got his healthy 'Southern California hot rodder driving a topless car' tan back.

Oh yeah. This shoot is going to rock.

I pull out my weapon. I am now armed and dangerous.

below: Timothy Luke gets debriefed, now sporting the Johnny Callaway hair do and wardrobe.

Something blinding catches the corner of my eye: It's Jerry's smile. He's happy to be here today, to be back on the set of DEUCE OF SPADES. That's a smile worth immortalizing, the smile of a HAPPY man in deed so I snap a quick shot hehehehe (I told you I was armed and dangerous) .

"Let's get this show on the road kids!"

I am now glad I didn't chicken out last night and cancel the shoot. I had told God I would trust Him and figured he would not let me down. 

He didn't.

The weather is perfect. I have a nice light layer of even clouds that is producing a softer, diffused light that the Director of Photography in me is going to LOVE.

I start to snap away. From extreme close ups, to medium shots, to wide angle shots to action shots...

The 7D is like an automatic weapon spitting out photos like a kalashnikov spits out shells. I know, cause I've fired one more than once. And was almost killed by one too - but that's another story for another blog entry.

Johnny Callaway is running full blast straight at me and the 7D is snapping about 4 shots per second, all of which in good focus. Dang.

I am lying on my side, my cheek against the dry lake surface, shooting and panning sideways, piece of cake . Compared to filming, taking photos is a walk in the park.

I'm a machine. Despite my badly injured knees, I keep getting up and down and up and down... Jerry gives me a hand up now and then, when I really can't get back up. My damn left knee is still a mess. Maybe I'll have to see a doctor afterall.

The sun is now setting and every second counts. It's getting cold and Timothy will once again greatly suffer. I am now wearing a thick jacket but he is out there with a mere short sleeve white T-shirt and both his arms exhibit serious goose bumps syndrom.

"You OK Tim?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

So I keep snapping. I'll snap until the sun is gone and snap some more until the light is gonne. The 7D performs amazingly well in low light (which is why I picked it, cause I am a low light, low fill ratio kinda DP).  I am doing the shoot in partly manual mode, compensating for overexposure by the camera's over zealous sensor.

NO - I DON'T WANT IT BRIGHTLY EXPOSED. I like MOODY, I like DARK... I like DRAMATIC.

Keep your happy, bright exposure for the sid coms, shall you?

The 7D is fighting me a bit but I'm sure that within a few shoots she'll know who's boss.

aka: MOI.

A few more trippy shots and I have to call it a day. I could up the ISO some more but by now the photos would be too grainy for posters and besides my Lead man is going to have hypothermia any second now.

below: A small audience of two LOL is patiently watching the shoot. Occasionally they talk. "Quiet on the set!". I need absolute silence and concentration when I work. They now comply. At some point I glance and see them both on their i-phone, texting or maybe looking at i-phone photos of me laying in the dirt with my camera sideways... Must be quite a sight. HAHA!

"It's a wrap! Go throw a jacket on Tim, you look blue" LOL

Timothy Luke is as always a good sport and a pretty tough actor. No Hollywood sissie boy here. What do you expect? The boy grew up on an Oregon Farm. And I love him for it.

"You guys want some warm soup?"

"Nah, we're gonna head back right now cause I have to head up to Oregon tomorrow"

A big hug later I watch Johnny Callaway drive away in a.... 2008 VW??? Shhhhhhh... We won't tell a soul. It's his friend's car, so we'll let it slide .

Meanwhile, Johnny Callaway's deuce is parked next to Houdini and looks right at home in its natural habitat: The dry lake.

I am now tired. I didn't realize my photoshoot lasted about 5 hours straight without any break of any kind. Felt like one hour to me.

Jerry and I camp out on the dirt. It's warm inside Houdini. We have some clam chowder and a bit of food... It's good to wind down.

"So what time do we have to wake up tomorrow?"

I think Jerry must, by now, really dread asking me that question cause the answer is never pretty.

"6Am Jerry. I want to be ready to roll camera as soon as the sun rises."

Jerry does not flinch. Hanging on my set has given him balls of steel...  

We hook up the 7D to the TV set I brought and watch the photos. Oh yeah. That's JOhnny Callaway alright! 450 shots and one out of two is promo poster quality???

I could have done worse.

Below: Johnny Callaway, and American Icon - as captured by me that day.

When the going gets tough, little sissies get to crawl up in a little corner and cry for their mamma.

I'm no little sissie.

From the look of things I could swear that something out there does not want me to do my photoshoot. But I'm gonna do that God Damn photoshoot no matter what and against all odds.

And that "something" out there is gonna have to live with it.

This blog is a story of perseverence, determination, resiliance and... A little insanity, too. Cause let's face it, without that "Little insanity" there is no way in hell I would have ever a)- tackled making a period film on my own and with zero financial back-up and b)- pulled it off.

As my good friend and (as I like to call him) gardian Angel Allan Songer once said: "She is maniacal: She is making her own film"

Being insane has never been so rewarding. And today it is going to, once again, save my fannies.

Friday January 15, 2010 - 9PM

I'm still reading my new Canon 7D manual and trying to figure out how to use my camera. I basically had only 3 days to get my shit together and tomorrow is the big shoot. My lead man Timothy Luke McReynold has come all the way down from Oregon for this shoot and if I miss this, I won't have another chance until late February. So this is it. Take a deep breath Faith, you're a bright kid (oh wait - I am no longer a kid? OK well, one out of two is not so bad...   ) you'll figure it out.

My camera is consistently messing up it's exposure and the photos are coming out looking... Crappy???  I am perplexed. I decide to call Canon. The nice man on the other end of the phone lights my candle (pun intended HAHA): Bel Air Camera goofed when they sold me the Tamron lens. According to Canon, it is not truly compatible with the brand new technology of the 7D. I am hesitant to believe this (hey they are probably saying this so I'll buy a Canon lens instead  - Do you think I am an idiot???) - But I must admit, whether I like it or not, that he may very well be right in this instance. He has me take the lens off and do a full reboot of the camera. "Don't shlap that lens back on now, or you will mess up all the settings again. Use the recommended Canon lenses."

Great.

I ain't got a recommended Canon lens. It's Friday 9PM and all Camera stores have long closed their doors. I got to be at El Mirage tomorrow by noon, so I have to leave Woodland Hills by 10PM no later and shopping for another lens is not something one can do in 5 minutes... So basically: I'm screwed.

10PM - Chris Simmons, another fellow indie filmmaker and CGI artist gets a text from me: CHRIS HELP!!!! since he got 7D, he got Canon compatible lens. A basic 18-135 but it will do just fine for this shoot.

I pray he gets my text in time and is willing to let me borrow his lens at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

Meanwhile, earlier that day I zipped by Fry's to purchase a second memory card. Cause right now all I got is 16GIG and I worry it might not be enough for a two day shoot. The young saleman seems rather cocky. "Where did you buy your memory card? How much did you pay for it? Oh!!! You got ripped off".

Note: I hate salesmen. Salesmen and politicians both... Oh wait. They're one and the same LOL.

The guy is already ticking me off and we have not even looked at memory sticks yet.  This is going to be a long night. Very proud of himself he sells me a stick - for a quarter of what I paid for mine. Seems too good to be true. I wasn't born yesterday kiddo. I've got red flags coming out of both my ears and nostrils right about now. I decide to try to not be too much of a pain in the you know what and go along with the nice salesman's wonderful advice - against my better judgement.  Hands me a sheet, and sends me on my way to the register, at the very other end of the store. 10 miles later I am at the register. Dang, this is a big store. I think I got blisters on the sole of my feet now . The nice lady behind the counter hands me the prize: I look at this thing and go: "Are you sure that's the stick he sold me?" "Oh yes" says the nice lady.

I'm looking at this thing and its TINY.

Now when I said size doesn't matter, I didn't really mean it. I was just trying to make you guys feel better, please don't believe everything I say .

I'm like: "No fucken way. This looks much too small. Something is wrong."

So I haul my fannies back to the Northern emisphere of the store and 10 miles later land on the back of the unsuspected salesman.

"Huh... Are you SURE you sold me the right stick????"

He gives me his most sparkling cocky salesman smile: "YES!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS"

I see. So he's adding insult to injury?

Now he's on my shit list for sure. Take a deep breath Faith, afterall he is a Salesman at Fry's so he must know something you don't know, he must be right, maybe I AM the retarded cousin when it comes to photography's latest technology???

I migrate back south, all 10 miles of them, my tail between my legs. And soon land back in front of the nice Lady who is glad to take my money and hand me the SMALL memory stick.

Hmmmmmmm...

I get home, pull out my 7D pull out the memory stick....

 ????????????????????????????

What the f..... ?????

No way this thing fits inside this camera. Maybe 10 of this thing, glues together, might fill the memory card slot space. but one surely ain't gonna do it. HA!

 KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

It's now 11PM and I have no lense and no spare memory card and a photoshoot of the utmost importance TOMORROW morning.

Can someone please show me to the corner I am supposed to curl in so I can cry for my mommy??

I am PISSED.

I logon on to the weather.com website to check for weather, because even on that end of things, it's not looking good.

"They are predicting rain Sunday night" said jerry.

 Fortunately, weather.com and my i-phone both seem optimistic. NO rain until Tuesday.

 At long last some good news! It's not like I would want to be stuck at El Mirage, two hours away from home, in my fenderless, topless and windshieldless 32 roadster with a storm over my head.

I may be maniacal, but I'm not THAT maniacal .

A glance at my lack of watch confirms the fact that I'd better go to bed and get some rest now.

Parts of me wants to call Tim and call the whole thing off. I'm getting cold feet. If  show up there without a lens after having dragged him all the way down from Oregon I'm gonna look like a total jerk.

I curse all salesmen on the planet, say my prayers and go to sleep.

Or at least try to.

Tomorrow is gonna be a loooong day.

Below: the Canon 7D and two of it's more popular compatible lens - none of which are truly long enough for me - cause I'm a long lens cinematographer. Cause size matters LOL.

Keeping busy and relatively out of trouble in Filmland.

Yesterday was spent nursing a sick tummy. I knew I should have given that left over filet mignon to the dogs... But ate it instead... Perhaps the green fungus growing out of it should have tipped me off regarding the rather questionable "freshness" of above mentionned item. But hey, they say "you got to eat your greens" ...

Stomach on a bottle or not, I edited all day. Made huge progress. Finalized most of everything.

At 4PM, Kelvin showed up and we sat down, turned the lights off and hit the PLAY button. And I got to watch the entire film top to bottom in one setting and finally have a look at the "Big Picture" now incorporating the many refined adjustments I had done over the last week. I was very pleased. I had anticipated Kelvin would like the film.

I was wrong. He didn't like the film.

HE ABSOLUTELY LOOOVED IT.

We then watched it again to talk about scoring, where some was needed and made a list of scenes that could use some underscoring. To my surprise, the list was short. Looks like music is already well dialed in in the film, but there is room for some more here and there. We both agreed that sometimes silence was much more dramatic than big music and that "less is more".

Looks like we will start work on the scoring within the next 10 days or so.

Kelvin seemed genuinely excited about the film: "I would be honored to be part of this project". I picked his brains about the plot, and found that all the improvement I had come up with over the last few days had really paid off as he got it 100%. I got to see my new shots filmed last Sunday and was once again amazed at just how wonderful they look and what a big improvement it is over the older shots I previously was using.

Earlier that day, got a phone call from Patrick who confirmed he now has a team of 4 sound mixers interested in checking out the film. So next wednesday it is. If they like the movie they will come on board and work on the sound mix can begin. Good job Patrick!!

Today I had a very long conversation with my other Entertainment Lawyer and got a crash course in film business. It was very enlightening. I found that I do know a lot about Copyright laws and Copyright infringement, he was impressed. Could be because one of my oldest and closest friends happens to be one of the top Copyright attorneys in the world. And he taught me well.  The good news is, films are very well protected against piracy. Illegal Video duplicating can cost one as much as 5 years in prison and $250,000.00 fine . Ouch. So don't fuck with my film . As for using photographs of my film, set, actors, cars, without having proper written release from me, it consitutes an immediate Copyright ingringement. Let's not even talk about Intellectual property. And could be very costly to the person who knowingly attempts to duplicate or distribute or commercially exploit the photos . So here again I am very well protected.

So far so good.

Later today I took off my legal hat and put on my photographer's hat and played around some more with my new canon 7D. That thing kicks ass! there are lots and lots of settings though, and after this second session I think I know about 70% of them. I should be good to go.

Having filmed for two years doing focus, exposure of each shot 100% manually, it would be an understatement to say that I am very comfortable with using the camera in full manual mode. But the P program is pretty cool too cause you can alter it some after the camera does it's initial computation. the 7D will shoot up to 8 photos per second.... Dang, feels like an automatic weapon....  And has less recoil than a Magnum (yes, I've shot one before).

Well, that's about it for now kids. I got to pack up and get ready to head out to Fillmore for my photoshoot this week-end. Should be a blast. If you behave I might post a few new photos on here, too hehehehehe...

This is my blog entry for today: "Today, I blogged. I blogged ALL DAY"...

What the heck? I'm blogging about BLOGGING now??? I need therapy LOL.

Other than that, I played with my Canon 7D a bit more while at work. Compared lenses. Experimented. Really feeling comfortable with it now. I should be ready for saturday.

Meanwhile, got a phone call from Patrick and things are still moving forward on that end. He has gathered a crew of up and coming sound mixers to work together on my film, under his expert supervision. He will be bringing them by my house next week so they can see the film. This morning I finalized Scene 27 part 4 (while awake this time LOL) before heading out to work. I am about to leave the office now and go home to edit some more. At this point, I will watch the entire film and make sure my scene transitions are still OK, cause contracting and expending individual scenes usually messes the transitions up and lately, contracting and expending scenes is all I've been doing, so I continuously have to fix my timeline.

Current film length? 119 minutes!!!!  Who knew?

Below: Mr. Wilson survived so far the axe and has not ended up on the cutting room floor, which should make my friend Garth Rattliff, who plays Mr. Wilson, happy . Although a very small character in the film, we all have grown very fund of "Mr. Wilson" and not having him there would seem, in deed, sacrilegious!

I walk out of my meeting with my entertainment attorney with a migraine. All this legal stuff is overwhelming. So much paperwork, so many things to protect the film from... How quickly people abuse of your trust and how greedy humans can be... So you make contracts, lots and lots of contracts. Contracts for actors, contracts for location owners, contracts for car owners, contracts for crew members, contracts for graphic artists, contracts for CGI artists, contracts for consultants, contracts for... Contracts???

Whatever happened to honor and doing business on a hand shake? Used to be people would just shake hands when they agreed to something and that was good as gold. Now you have piles of contracts and people still will try to screw each other at every turn. Where is this world going??

Fortunately, my lawyer is duely impressed by the pile of contracts I just dumped on his desk: "Wish more of my clients were as thorough and organized as you"

Turns out I did my homework and looks like my ass is very well protected in deed. There will be no problem obtaining Errors and Ommissions insurance, without which a film cannot be distributed by a reputable company.

"I am going to staple a contract on my forehead and if you want to say hello to me, you have to sign it"...  I recently told my good friend and production assistant Jerry.

Now I'm stuck in heavy traffic on Sepulveda, racing against the clock to attempt to reach Bel Air Camera before they close. I barely make it. I have only 15 minutes left to select all the gear I need to become my own self contained kick ass photographer.

While the nice salesman rings me (OUCH) his aunt, how owns the joint, engages in a conversation with me in French. She's from Belgium. We talk about DOS and next thing I know I am showing her the teaser, which I carry close to my heart, in my beloved iphone, everywhere I go. She is impressed. She keeps asking me the same question over and over again: "So this is really your first film? You have never done a film before? Not even worked on any other film before?" the answer remains the same : "Yes it is my first film and No I had ZERO experience when I started working on it." She compliments me on the cars, lead actor and cinematography. Turns out she knows a distributor and suggest I contact them... Lately seems I have distributors coming out of my nostrils LOL... Which is, I guess, a good problem to have . Finding a reputable, competent one will be another story, though. I ponder whether I even want to get distribution and how that may affect my film... I weigh the good and bad of going such route... I search my heart for the answer... And pray for wisdom and guidance.

Now with $3000 worth of camera and lens in hand, I zip up to fellow filmmaker Chris Simmons for a crash course in how to use my brand new Canon 7D. I'm running out of time: Saturday I am doing a big photoshoot with my lead man Timothy Luke (previously known as Tim McReynold) and I need to kick serious ass, cause this is for our movie poster. Previous shoots done with photographer and his camera did not yield the results I was hoping for so I am taking over behind the camera. Now armed and dangerous, I'm ready to rock n roll. OH YEAH!

Some people have pajama parties, we had a Canon 7D party. Each of us holding our rig in hand and snapping photos of the same objects, using different lenses and settings, comparing our results. Pretty soon Chris is shooting me shooting him.  We're really having a blast. In an hour I have learned everything I need to know to get me rolling, including all the manual settings, as I suspect I will be mostly using manual mode, knowing me. I am really in love with both the camera and the lens I picked. Stretching from a 18mm wide angle to a 270mm super long lens the lens is truly versatile and has a nice look to it, comparable to my 100mm Nikon prime lens. Plus it does macro, which is vital for me and has image stabilisation. What more do you want? Speed would come to mind, as the lens only goes 3.5 to 6.5 which means it is slow. But it's a small price to pay for super shallow depth of field which as you know IS MY LOOK.

Went home at 11PM after turning down an offer to go have some drinks with the boys. I'm tired and still have work to do. I sit down in the studio and work on scene 27 part 4... Halfway through it I find myself falling asleep... I am still watching the footage but my brains has checked out and no longer registering anything I am looking at, really...

OK puppies, beddy time! Cody and Kaya, my two dogs, know the drill real well. Every night it's the same thing. Kaya will escort me out of the studio into the bedroom and wait there, I have to go back to the livingroom to extract Cody from his lazy dog position, curled up on the couch. I'll have to call him a few time before he finally condescends to get up and come. He drags his heels down the hallway, cause he's 1- Lazy and 2- scared of Kaya (who can blame him? LOL) He dreads entering the bedroom cause Kaya gives him the "I want to tear your ear off" look. She's very possessive of me. Invariably I'll scorn her: "Kaya! Leave it! be NICE!" Cody will sneak past her and jump on the bed. Kaya waits until I am under the covers to jump on the bed too. Usually Cody will snuggle up to me on the right side and Kaya will lay next to me on the left. Kaya gives me little kisses while I pet her and Cody lays his head on my shoulder... And that's usually the last thing I remember because next thing I know, I wake up and it's the next morning and time to do it all over again...

Below: Kaya's Great great great great great great great great great grandfather, Mr. Dingo.

Below: Kaya gets ready to eat the photographer: "Don't even think about thinking about getting anywhere near my mommy"

below: I eat people...

Below: A much less threatening doggie on her spare time , here doing her best Rain Deer immitation...

Here, brown nosing again

"We won't tell a soul "

Stop it mom! You're suffocating me!!!