The Thrill Of The Shoot

I have officially kicked off the first day of shooting for my next project. And really excited. Dropped the negative off at Fotokem and got it back today. Scrubbed through the footage, and the look of film is indescribable. I seriously have no clue as to why anyone would shoot digital. The lens I use costs a fraction of big expensive glass and...on celluloid, it looks on par with what's out there. The sharpness. The color. The gloss. Fuck. I miss it.

And the thrill of shooting movies. In fact, I think I've been going about this all wrong. The first day was at my friend Betsy's home. She lives in the hills of Echo Park, a now rebuilding artist community. Her view faces trees and wide open spaces. And is surprisingly quiet. She is in a world all to herself. It IS totally like a treehouse, and so well hidden, you feel L.A. has disappeared. There are people walking outside, in the bright sunshine. Beautiful people. I hate being the ugliest person walking in public. But, they drink Kambucha drinks. Parents pushing their kid in a stroller. It reminded me a little of Sierra Madre, near Pasadena. Anyway, I don't have assistants, camera loaders, sound or anyone. And we moved fast. Granted, I shot what amounts to 1/8th of a page in the script, but it took 2 hours to knock it out, and we were out of there.

Speed. That was it. I recall shooting another pickup day to "Afro Ninja." This was after all the trailers, and caterers and makeup and everyone was long gone (days ago). It was me, the director and a few assistants. That was it. A lens and my camera and we breezed by the day's shooting. It got me thinking how much bullshit pomp and circumstance there is to making movies. The shit you don't need. You just need to move fucking fast. Personally, it was also the best looking footage I shot of that movie. And it was also the most exhilarating, since we were moving so fast. I equate it to a band of guerilla warriors in the jungle moving slick-like and efficient. Instead of the bombastic rolling army that made too much noise.

This is absolutely how I like to work now. And I think the results will show.