Shot of the Day #49: End of an era...

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

Pretty eventful day yesterday...

Little man got his checkup (everything is lookin' A OK) and then afterwards, Bri, Jan (Bri's mom), Remy and I stopped by the WB studios in Burbank, where Bear had invited us to witness the FINAL Orchestra session for the series finale of BSG. Being the huge frakkin' nerds we are for the show (Jan? Not so much...but she was stuck on the ride) we couldnt pass up the opportunity to see Bear do his thing one last time, even if we were only there for 15 minutes before it was time to dash. I was lucky enough to see him on the Eastwood Soundstage a few years back with my friend Yale, JUST when i was getting into the show, and even then, when i had no clue what the hell was going on when they showed playback of the footage they were scoring (it was the rescue on New Caprica, BTW), I was blown away at how symbiotic McCreary with with the show. In many ways, his music is also a character, the greek chorus if you will...with more percussion. But if this was the last time he was going to do it, we couldn't miss the opportunity.

When we walked in the orchestra was in full swing, and luckily, the techs purposefully left the video playback off the big screen so nothing would be spoiled (thanks!)...and who should be sitting behind Steve Kaplan, Bear's long-time engineer/partner-in-crime as he was calling takes behind the soundboard? None other than Gaeta himself, Alessandro Juliani, who had a BIG part in this last series of episodes (and an amazing arc overall in the show, he was great). Dunno why he was there, but he was, and Bri and I got a little geeked-out at the sight of our "one-legged friend" (see the show to know what I mean).

Bear was with the orchestra on the huge soundstage, waving his hands like a madman, getting every moment right. I was impressed how nuanced they were with each take..."Too breathy on 67" or "On 19, we heard a slight emotionless beat there, can we do that again?" "Amanda, can you go a little more Stylistico on the next one?" (actually it was a word LIKE 'stylistico' but I forgot it). Very impressed. These guys aren't frakkin' around.

Oh, the music? If its any indication, this final episode will be absolutely mind-blowingly epic. Bear himself has said its been the most challenging set of compositions he's ever done and what we heard was nothing short of aural magic. I can't wait to see it laid onto the picture on that final episode, and it will surely be a bittersweet affair for all, being that its one of the best shows on TV....ever.

Shot with iphone. Click to enlarge.

Remy was also impressed with the music, as he snoozed soundly as the music swelled. We've noticed the kid is a big music fan...cause when it's big and loud, he's calm as a lake. This kid RULEZ!



Afterwards we got to see Bear for a moment and he looked tired but filled with pride, walking into the booth going "Not bad, huh?" Not bad indeed, Sir McCreary, your modesty is well noted. I cannot WAIT to work with him again. Much thanks for the invite; even if we were only there for a tiny slice of time, it truly was an honor to be there to witness the end of history being made before our eyes. So say we all.

Speaking of which, after that we raced home, I "evacuated" and then was off on the road again, this time to my first script meeting to (TITLE WITHHELD). I was kinda nervous, being that this was the first time since my final pitch meeting that i got to sound off on my wild ideas for the flick, but my nerves were quelled the moment i met with the guys again. I can confidently say that it was one of the BEST script meetings I had ever been part of, and it only made me even more excited to get this puppy runnin'. After the meeting, I got in the car, CRANKED the metal (Black Dahlia Murder, Strapping Young Lad, a little Slayer & Dillinger Escape Plan for those playing along at home) and drove him with a shit eating grin on my face.

Overall, it was a good day.

Oh, also watched DEAD SNOW when the gang went to bed. Fun, but I guess I was a little too hyped over it when when the credits rolled I kinda just shrugged. Personally, any movie that plays Sundance, even the Midnight program emits an air of alt-quality & prestige (in the past, movies like THE CONVENT, THE SIGNAL & JACK BROOKS played and I dug them; GRACE also played this year and I loved it) but DEAD to me felt a little slight, yet tried too hard at points to be EVIL DEAD-ish and came off more TROMA-esque (not necessarily a bad thing). I guess the promise of Nazi Zombies was too much to hold an entire film, but there were some really cool moments, to be fair. If you're looking for Snow-based Euro-trash horror, I'd actually recommend COLD PREY, which was much more effective. Just my two cents...rub them together if you will.

So, there you go.

Joe

PS: Sorry if this posted late; Internets went down last night so it got post-dated. Ma bad.