Suddenly He Sees!

Final contemp video to showcase is IN DA HOUSE!:

In Blindsight

This is the story of a blind guy who miraculously gains the ability to see! It's based on a real story that we made up in our heads, although it's possible that this actually happened.

Behind the Scenes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually this is pretty much commentary.

• My original idea for the film had the same tone as a Will Farrell / Adam Sandler movie, plus an episode of My Name Is Earl. Sorta turned out like that not really? And ironically, I'm not a big fan of Adam Sandler, but I can totally imagine him blind.
  
• The first scene was gonna be in a super market, but shooting in a house is about 6x easier. Also, we could film at night even though it's supposed to be morning (which is what happened).
• That cereal box in Thomas's grocery bag is open. Haha Let's assume his character was munching on his way home.
• Thomas walking home was the second scene we shot.
• The idea of running Thomas's hand against the wall was from the movie Daredevil.
• WHY THE HECK did we choose the house with mirrors all over the walls?? It's like those carnival mirror mazes in there!! (But not really I could easily find my way around.) That explains all the weird angles we had to get. Look closely and you might catch a glimpse of the camera or light in the reflection.
• We were supposed to film a quick scene showing how Thomas and Jonathan met a la flashback, but we didn't have the time.
• Thomas had to change his shirt because that scene was filmed out of order on different days and he wore different shirts. Yeah, in the movie it really makes no sense at all.
• Jonathan is naked because "underwear" was a requirement for the film. Wait, why did we have him take off his shirt too?
• The first person views were filmed by me and Craig. Bonus points to whoever can figure out which one of us filmed which scene.
• Originally we were gonna have scenes of Thomas physically showing Jonathan all the cool stuff in the house, but Jonathan wasn't there at the time, so we shot the scenes with me as the body double. Yup, Thomas was telling me about the stuff as I stood to the side with just my arm in the frame to make it look like Jonathan was really there. Not sure where that footage is now.
• "I can see clearly now, the pain is gone" (song by Johnny Nash) was the required song lyric for the film. However, Thomas messed up and followed with the line "I see all my obstacles!".
• And again, Thomas had to change his shirt to match later footage.
• The VERY FIRST scene we shot that wasn't in the movie was Thomas running into the girl's bathroom because he doesn't recognize signs after he got sight. Yeah it was at an early stage and we weren't really sure where the movie was going...
• The chase scene music used to be the theme from Benny Hill.
  
• If you watch the sky during the chase scene, it gets dark quickly because the scene took so long to film. (We were gonna refilm the end of it but didn't have the time.) Actually almost EVERY scene was annoyingly difficult to shoot because daylight savings always turned the lights off fast and early.
• They watched Saw II before they watched Saw I, not sure how or why that happened. In other words, they saw Saw II, then saw Saw too. (HAHA.)
• Thomas was supposed to break down after an un-shot scene (yes another) of him running to the library and realizing he can't read the books because they don't have braille (which is why he mentioned it as his "favorite activity" in the beginning).
• In the emo montage, the orange and yellow toy Thomas is playing with was in one of the body double scenes that got cut.
• We filmed a scene with Thomas and Jonathan making up and becoming "buddies" again, but Mr. Z hated it, and it WAS admittedly corny. So out it went.
• "Float On" by Modest Mouse was TOTALLY going to play at the happy end scene, but it had to get booted down to just the credits.
• HOLD THE PHONE... I accidentally uploaded some of the audio for the never-used make up scene! It's at 14:45, the very end of the clip. Hehehe that's awkward.

Ahhh I'm gonna miss that class.

Thanks for everyone who helped with the film!!

Credits on the Vimeo page!!

I... I love Vimeo...

Trust the Hoe

After 2 years of script writing...

2 years of auditions...

3 years of production...

5 years of post-production...

10 years of anticipation and hype...

15 hours of bathroom breaks...

and 6 lines of immense exaggeration...

The Trust the Hoe video is now up online! Yeah it's the one up there.

Since Youtube quality is pretty poopy, I uploaded the video onto Vimeo. If it gets skippy at all, just pause it and rewind a little, and it should work fine. (Also, comperessing the video cut off the beginning part. This film is not called "Rust the Hoe".)

REMINDAH, this was made in the spring of 2009 for Contemporary Media. Here are some interesting tidbits OH OH like behind the scenes. This is the bonus disc of the Kanga entry's Collector's Edition box set.:

• I wrote about 2/3rds of the script. (Craigo wrote the rest.)
• About 3/4ths of the script was actually filmed.
• About 3/4ths of the filmed footage was actually used in the movie.
• Scenes never shot: Darren doesn't know how to use a lawnmower, Darren adapts to hardcore music, Ms. Saucedo parties because Darren quit.
• Deleted scenes: Crunches on a ladder, Darren's chronic tardiness
• The character "Darryl" was coincidentally named before we got Darren to play it.
• I think only Yangstuh got that "rafflesia arnoldi" reference. Brownie points, man, you get brownie points.
  
• "Day 1" was filmed in Fullerton.
• The close up on Darren's sub-level terrain planting (Day 1) was filmed in Diana's backyard.
• We lost footage of Darren messing with the plant a little to make a pen out of it.
• Originally, Craig actually fixes Darren's wrist cramp.
• Craig eats grounded up Oreoes, not manure. Yuummm... peanutbutter Oreos...
• The phone conversation was originally longer, with Craig watering that plant in front of him.
• That's Diana's foot thingy BTW. Because, yknow, she's a runner.
  
• Most of the white wife beaters belonged to Ryan. I think he said he had like 200 of them.
• The original version didn't censor the "Don't Trust Me" song. Mr. Z no likey.
• We refilmed the very last scene because the lighting was yellow-bad.
• At the VERY end after the credits, there's a whimper that we were going to use for when Craig broke his ankle. As you can see, we went with a grunt that's a little more manlier. Also, I don't think Craig really liked it. (But I sure did.)

So yup, huzzahs all around! I really enjoy "behind the scenes" stuff, so if you do too, then THERE YA GO! And gjob to everyone who was a part of this movie! (Credits on actual Vimeo page.) I shall upload In Blindsight on another day for another post.

Now someone go put this sucka on IMDB.