KOB Shot of the Day #58: Friday Night Lights

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Walking back from the 3rd "10-1" of the night (the wetworks did NOT agree with 2nd meal last night and I was paying the price...what, TMI?) I was rushing back to set and just had to stop for a moment and gaze on this monsterous, glowing sight in the distance; what we've all constructed out here w/ ideas & elbow grease. For the past week, flashes of the climax from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS kept creeping back into my head, reminding me to smile through the sometimes tough times, forging ahead. Even at the end of a hell of a week, it was an sight like this, one removed from the fictional story we're telling visually and more about the process & the tale of this beast being birthed, that will make it all worth it in the end. I gotta admit, I found myself in awe, even after days working within it. Pretty F'n cool....

...and then the lightning came, just to close out the Martini with one hell of a light show. Felt like the right capper to the night and week.

Thanks to everyone for another week! We've officially crossed the halfway point in the shoot...Onward through Evermore!

Night night,

Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #57: How 'bout some head?

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

A mere taste (a smidge if you will) of some of the evening's set-dressing...and this was just at the "head" of the night (ZING).

Very surreal evening. Fighting loss of appetite (which is competing with lack of sleep for the gold medal right now) I found myself hastily shoveling down a 2nd meal half-sandwich at 3am, standing alone for a moment, surrounded by bodies, body parts and pools of blood...a gallon of which I enjoyed dispersing around the area myself to um, fill the frame.

Best part? I couldn't stop smiling.

...and its only gonna get stranger. Fight on.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #56: Mag rims 'n Raindrops

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

See those wheels? Mint.

See those looming clouds? Totally Lame.

Knocking on the nearest wood as I write this (dont be cheeky now...) but the weather for our mostly outdoor shoot has been, sucky short nights aside, pretty wonderful...especially considering my last show was 23 days of rain that was supposed to be set in one day of sunshine. But today's gusty wind and sporatic, unruly bouts of rain actually forced us to go to a "cover" set, one that didn't require the massive floating light rig over Evermore, which always make me feel like I'm on the set of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS or COCOON, due to its massively glowing (and floating presence). However, there wasn't much cover here either by our Trik'd out Van in the parking lot set (our only alternate scene we could shoot to make a day) and we were constantly fighting the weather and barely made said day, the "martini" rolling right down to the last drop of time.

Despite the snafus, got some really GREAT performances and visuals. The steadfast cast/crew, despite the last minute change of plans, really rolled with the punches, and I think we all walked away happy with the scene. Just so hard when the clock is ticking, the sun is your hard out & there are natural forces working against your doings putting a damper* on things, just glad to have a Fellowship who know how to hustle and help us make it happen.

Onward!

Joe

*Pun intended.

KOB Shot of the Day #55: Zahn's Poppin' Cherries...

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

HUGE effects day; lots of stunts, gore, monsters, warring extras, severed limbs...you name it, we probably had it in shot. One friendly face amongst the stress and strife was Sir Steve, who came in on a day off just to hang out and pass out a batch of freshly picked cherries he got today, which he happily distributed amongst the crew and huge cast of LARPers with a big grin on his face (when he wasn't taking pictures of things we dare not show off now, tee hee). Not only were the cherries delicious (and Im NOT a fan) but it was such a nice gesture, even on an off day, to see Steve out there with us, supporting us all the way. The whole team has been behind us, even in our darkest moments, always being encouraging, serving up some great ideasand rolling with the punches. This was, pardon the pun, just a cherry on the top of the night. Sorry, I had to.

A classy fella, to the end. I bow in your honor, Sir.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #54: The Battle on "A" & "B" (and sometimes "C")

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

It can be both fun and frustrating to shoot on multiple cameras; Great because you double your shots, can ramp different speeds without having to mimic the action over and over as much and just get more dynamic coverage in less time, but you also have to practically cross your eyes to catch EVERYTHING, and having 2 or even like tonight THREE cameras on what is the beginning of our "War" scene can sometimes make things even more confusing and constricting as to where you can place said cams.

But damn if it aint a blast playing Battle with friends,both new and old. Challenging but fruitful night.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #53: The Simple things

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Nope, nothing special, just like today. Tried to sleep, failed. Tried to check out a movie, which was just one big FAIL. So, walked around the park and found myself entranced by this water fountain configuration for more than 10 minutes. Funny how simple things like water pouring out of a cement circle can be the more interesting thing your eyes fall upon on a particular day.

Tomorrow....we fight!

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #52: Boo Radleys Rulz.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Any store I walk into and THIS view is the first thing I see is a sight for sore eyes. Enter Boo Radley's a novelty shop I've been hearing about since I got here but only today forced myself to walk around and wandered in. The place literally sells "bric-a-brac"; funky, geek-chic STUFF but with a slightly cooler edge (i.e. Retro lunch boxes, outdated toys, hipster coffee table books, etc) but it felt so good to just wander around the store for a moment...and how can you not love the name? Made me smile thinking about Boo Radley & reading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in the 5th grade, one of the few books from school I actually have had repeat readings with (come on, would you EVER re-read THE YEARLING or THE ODDYSEY? Exactly). The movie is also pretty fantastic, but the book is just sublime. So is this geektastic store, another wonderful little find while on our Quest....and come on, THE HERO AND THE TERROR poster!?! Win in my book.


Keeping up with the MOCKINGBIRD theme, the (very good) coffee house next door was called Atticus.
Harper Lee, Respekt.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Onward,

Joe

PS: Finally met someone very special today. I can't wait for you to as well ;)

KOB Shot of the Day #51: There WIll Be Blood...Lots.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

...Courtesy of Casey's Guacamole Gun. Ever since I saw Friedkin use it in the opening of FRENCH CONNECTION, I've always loved the effect and boy did we put the bitch to work. Here's a 10th of the "art" on display.

A furious, fantastic day-er, Night. We hustled like heroes and this one juicy moment is just the gory cherry on top. Moments of Epic Fantasy, 70's Suspense Thriller & the Splatterpunk genres all honored this eve, with a lot of hard work from an amazing cast and crew. I already miss some of them...

Again, so strange not to be at Comic-Con after going 5 straight years (almost all for different reasons) but feel like we're at the very least doing the Geek community proud with our efforts here. Hope to see you guys there next year!

It wasn't an easy week*...but a well-earned final night to close the week out. Sleep now, night night.

Onward,
Joe

*Understatement.

KOB Shot of the Day #50: Art with Oliver.

Sent from my iPhone, click to enlarge.

Introducing Oliver, one of the set-dressers for KOB that Im always passing quickly between shots and who is one of the many doing a hell of a job. Always on standby with a piece of green, a styro with blood and make things appear/dissapear from the frame. We had a fake bathroom made and here he gave the walls an um...."authentic" look? Great guy to have on-set, that's for sho'. Hard day. Good stuff. Can never anticipate ANYTHING on a film set.

Onward,

Joe

PS: Ooh I love being so J.J. Abrams right now....hate Im not at Comic-con, but the madness is worth it.

KOB Shot of the Day #49: Standing by...

Sent to iPhone, click to enlarge.

Between take props chillin' out, taking a 5'er been a heated, dramatic scene we're setting up now....looks like a real doozy of a scuffle huh? Just wait.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #48: Hammering coverage.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

The "brought in" atmosphere hovering just above our heads and twisting through the grass was purely Hammer Films. We all reminisced on our favorite from the famed genre studio (Mine would be WTHE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) and then shot more 0's & 1's in the Mist. Darabont and Peter Cushing would be proud.

KOB Shot of the Day #47: Short 'Knights'

SHot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Tonight commences 4 long weeks of short nights, gonna be a rough one. The sleep schedule officially sucks.

Tonight we're gettin in it heavy...

KOB Shot of the Day #46: Movie Night #1 - "Two Old Friends"

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Invited a bunch of the cast over for a little "Movie Night" to watch AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON before we delve into week 2 of shooting. Some had never seen it before or in a while, so it was a blast to watch it with new friends & some alcohol. Even seeing it for the 204th time, it's still inspiring and got me psyched up for this week. Might have to make this Movie Night thing a Sunday night tradition....

Now I'm trying to stay up as late as possible tonight since we go to night hours starting tomorrow, dreading turning into a Vampire for 3 weeks. But the shoot must go on...into the darkness...

Onward to another week!!!
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #45: Perfect Saturday Situation.

SHot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

...Pot of coffee, new book to read and a bunch of tickets to INCEPTION tonight...

Just the right kind of brain candy I need right this moment.

Onward,
Joe


*which felt like Michael Mann and Kubrick remade eXisTenZ, and I think I loved it; need to see again asap, as per usual with Nolan.

KOB Shot of the Day #44: The Eye of SaurJuan...

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

...always watching. Watching...smiling...thinking about the Yankees...

...Just one of the Fellowship keping our shit together & the ship sailing. God bless him...and that's not just "waxing his car" (Sorry for the steal PTA...that's a Y.P, not an M.P-DAMMIT, I did it again!).

Made it through our first big week of shooting KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM. Holy.Shit. 'Tis was a battle but we fought with courage, strength & burned some major 0's & 1's. Thanks so much to everyone in The Fellowship up here, we live to fight another day/Night....whatever...what day is it??

Onward!

Joe

PS: My Script Supervisor (and college buddy, now fully solidifying that the world is so small it's practically Nano) Robb Foglia took this of me while on one of our "hot sets" and strangely, the picture came out a little odd. I wonder why...
Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

KOB Shot of the Day #43: Big "P.M.P."-in (a van)

\Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Monitoring video in the back of a hot, tented van during a little "Poor Man's Process", which is sometimes essential to control the lighting...and of course not get into an accident during a moving shot. Not ideal but when time and money is a factor, its a day-saver.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #42: Choices, Choices...('10 reprise)

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Tough picking the right hue for Supernatural body fluids...

Onward,

Joe

PS: Our love goes out to a fallen one who left us too early. We will fight on in your honor, Brave Warrior.

KOB Shot of the Day #41: Peter's on-track

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

SO hard not to show any pics that would be considered "Spoilerish", so I guess its gonna have to be some shots of our sexy crew (for now). Here's Peter Green, our seasoned & quick-witted Camera Op on his dolly track while we set up a "big" scene, one of the few during the day...night's are gonna be one hell of a challenge with the short hours, but we will make the best of it.

Time: an even more precious commodity for filmmakers than even money. Time more than money can afford you your vision, this is a lesson learned "on the day".

Forward,

Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #40: Stand-in By...

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

2nd day...tough being in a practical location but we powered through and got some great stuff. Here we have Shyann & Brandon, our "Second Team" which are the stand-ins that help the various departments work on setups without the actors present (i.e. "First Team") to make the process go faster and easier on all. God bless 'em...

Onward!
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #39: Merry Sunday Movie House!

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Sole day off before a big week back into it so had to run errands and cam across this old-fashioned movie house that made me miss the good ole days. Im guessing they dont have 3-D IMAX and 7.1, but there's always such a wonderful charm about these old places, brings back memories of walking into one of these places and on the left...one screen; on the right, the ONLY other screen...now its 20 screens and nothing good playing usually.

If I get a chance, Im gonna hit this up next weekend (AFTER we see INCEPTION of course). Could be a nice reward after fighting the good fight.

Onward to our first big week!!!
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #38: Picture's UP!

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Apologies for it not being more "Spoilery" (wont find those here) or all that compelling an image, but just seeing this here sent a shock of electricity up my spine and into my heart.

We couldn't have had a more fantastic first day of shooting. Just being in the thick of it again was so exciting, and we couldnt be working with a better cast and crew to bring this story to life. I know full well not every day will be Sunflowers and Sunshine and it's gonna be one hell of a challenge, but just having such a great day to kick off the adventure was invigorating, inspiring.

I'm ready to Rock 'n Roll...may the cinema gods shine upon us.

Onward!
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #37: Armor Thy Self, Battle Awaits!!!

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

More camera tests w/ actors, make-up, props, "armor", etc; loving the RED camera more and more every day. Helps having such an artist like Sir Sam and his great crew behind the glass and glow.

We start shooting tomorrow, wish us many broken legs (except the Stedicam guy....he's got a BUSY day ;) )

Onward into Battle!!!

Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #36: Choose Thy Weapon...

Shot with iphone, click to enlarge.

Our "Knights" in training, various weapons being chosen, various moves being maneuvered, much fun to be had amongst the hard work and madness.

For a moment, the pain of the process melted away...and smiles ran large. Good times.

Onward,
Joe

PS: Taken by Producer Mark Burton during LARP practice...
Shot with Blackberry, click to enlarge (But I'd rather not)

KOB Shot of the Day #35: Eye see you...

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Onward,

Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #34: Tech Scoutin'

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Long, exhausting day, between Tech Scouting each location for the first half (seen here are some of our illustrious Fellowship hashing out our master plan) to go over the nooks and crannies and the second half of the day doing our huge all dept. production meeting where further details are hashed out. Great stuff, and working with a killer team, but my brain is mush right now. So much to do, so little time....but we trudge on!

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #33: My Monday Mantra...

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #32: Celebrating our Indie Spirit

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

View outside The Avenue as I grabbed some grub to have a nice(?) working holiday alone.A week out from shooting, I can celebrate the 4th next year, right? It'll be worth it.

Plus, we're making an Independent movie anyway, so that's gotta be related somehow, right?

Have a happy and safe 4th!

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #31: 3-D Rudux w/ D.P.

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

Seeing TOY STORY 3-D again with Sir Sam to remind ourselves what it's like to walk out of a movie smiling because of great cinematic storytelling. Sadly no IMAX (thanks Twilighters) but still so inspiring...

In a week...what's been 2-D on the page and in our heads becomes 3-D. Insane.

Onward!
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #30: When it rains...

Shot with iPhone, click to enlarge.

...we deal.

Onward,
Joe

KOB Shot of the Day #29: Flareality

Shot from iPhone, click to enlarge.

Sir Sam testing out flare filters in the office. Being a huge flare snob since DIE HARD & even as far back as the Doug Trumbull era of flares (BLADE RUNNER, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, etc.), its a thrill for me thinking about and designing the smallest elements of storytelling down to aspects like visual imperfections usually frowned upon 20-30 years ago. Love this shit.

Can't believe its July. The time draws neigh. Battle awaits...

Onward,
Joe