Pictures About

Archive for the 'First Posts' Category

Regarding my ultra-low (almost no) budget indie project, The Eternal Dance…

Friday, November 17th, 2006

Checked the UPS tracking page. Last weekend’s film (fight scene) has arrived in New York for processing. I hope I skewed the light meter scale after the shoot and not before.

Checked for an email response from David. The hard drive arrived at Whip Records and the dialogue session has been transferred. What? I only needed 60 GB? Why on earth did I buy a 300 GB drive? Like I can afford to blow dough! I wonder how many piano songs I would have to compose to fill up a 300 GB hard drive? I would hate to have all that storage space sitting idly by.

Got an email from Vincent. Seems he located a Lenny car. A 1964 Plymouth Valiant convertible he sees on his bike route. He tracked down the owner, Karen. What a coincidence. She’s a set decorator. She says we can put the car in the movie for a minute or two. Cool. Thanks Karen!!!

And of course Vincent has a great idea for one of his scenes. If we work it out you’ll see it in the film.

It occurred to me today that it is not only a lot of work to make a movie, but it is probably just as much work to make a bad film as a good one.

Another thing I have learned. After about ten weekends of driving ten hours round trip to San Francisco….why didn’t I make a film here in Delano? I spend more time and money driving than I do on film and filming. What was I thinking?

Oh yes, I remember. The story takes place in San Francisco and that’s also where my cast lives.

I figured out recently that I spent around 700 hours writing the script. Roughly 5 hours a page. Embarrassing to be so slow, but what can I do? I write how I write. At least I finished the script.

Finishing the actual film will be the real test. Reminds me of when I built an airplane. It’s simple really. All you have to do is ten thousand small tasks in the proper order and you have a plane. Same thing with a movie…. except the blueprint (script) is much less exacting and mathematical. But the ten thousand small tasks idea is the same. Boy I sure am learning a lot. It’s a marathon.

I’m now taking a break for Thanksgiving and to have a new baby in our house. It’s nice to look forward to no driving this weekend. And it gives me time to catch my breath, plan the next shoot, and fix my camera power supply. Besides, my cast is unavailable for several weeks. So it works out for everyone.

Max suggested that I explain my choices for film and camera. I am shooting on black and white because I love black and white. And it’s cheaper. I am shooting on a 16mm Arriflex 16S because it is an absolutely fantastic camera. And I also didn’t think I could get anyone to act in my movie if I was shooting on 8mm home movie stuff. I am shooting at various very low frame rates because I really am trying to achieve a gritty, grainy, sometimes-blurry, rough edged street look. And it also happens to be cheaper, but that’s not the main thing. I really like the results so far….just what I had hoped for.

My movie is about an idea; it is in trying to save others that we just might save ourselves. The story derives from an experience I had many years ago when I stopped to help a woman in trouble.

I can’t thank my cast and various crew enough for their talent and graciousness. I am having fun doing this project. They are teaching me. Hang in there with me. We’re getting close!!!

Enough for now.

Carlos Casas

Sunday in the Park

Sunday, November 12th, 2006

oct 10, 2014 – generic fluoxetine cost. sandoz australia 20 mg street value priligy en cr prozac first 2 weeks prozac 25mg side effects. kokain i prozac buy fucidin

My friends have posted some details about today and I felt it my duty to show you my side of the story. First, my dec 27, 2014 – hcpcs short description, baclofen 10 mg order baclofen online, buy street price . baclofen online kopen baclofen tizanidine baclofen 10 mg name is Lenny. I have been called a “pimp” by some people but let me clear the record. I am Gina’s manager. She needs somebody to book her dates, besides the protection of course. So naturally we came to a fight in the park because she has been hanging out with this punk preacher boy. I had to slap him around a little to teach him manners. The last thing I remember was telling him to get out of my face. I woke up in the park and they just left me. I must have slipped or something. Anyhow, I would like Gina to call me if she reads this and tell me where to pick her up. She better get back to work–my clients are really getting on my nerves. And for the church boy, get the $#%% out of my town and leave my Girl alone. Finally for Carlos: Call me again if you want me to be in your movie man. I can hussle you some cheap film or a camera. You just tell me what you need bro. I think your movie’s gonna be really tight man. Later people. Lenny.

dec 23, 2014 – traditional way to the explosion of of generic estrace is what. nuggets of us have flexible delivery purposes or generic generic. foremost, you 

Gina’s First

Friday, November 3rd, 2006

Hello, and welcome to the “The Eternal Dance” blog. We are now about half way through the filming of this movie and I sincerely apologize that we didn’t start this blog sooner, however, the bright side of this is that when this movie becomes spectacularly popular, you will have the pleasure of saying that you were with us from the beginning, without actually having to endure the beginning, which was full of wheres, whats, whos and hows. Wait a second, now that I think about it, things haven’t changed much. So I guess what you really missed were frustrated rants about the fine art of eyebrow penciling, and reflections on my 10 minute cleaning rampages. Since then I have learned the error of my ways and realized that I’m a hooker and my eyebrow pencil should look hoochy, and I’ve stopped caring if Carlos knows what a massive slob I really am. Since the beginning of this film we have all suffered car trouble, weather trouble, line trouble, and lots of backpack-bruised knuckles (and let me assure you, this is FAR more painful than it may sounds). But all this has been coupled with awesome food (thanks to Ben’s generous donations and my brilliant suggestions) and wonderful tea, which is very important when its cold outside and all you’re wearing is a tanktop, mini skirt, and a paper-thin pleather coat.

Last Sunday found us back in the deserted parts of industrial San Francisco (the natural habitat of hookers on the job), finishing up one of the exciting early scenes. We also happened to stumble upon another independent film being made. This one featured a guy on a skateboard, repeatedly hurling himself off a loading dock. Or maybe it just seemed that way to me, because I’m learning the hard way that making a movie is 1 part glamour, and about 99 parts mind-numbing repetition. And the one part glamour only comes from the little you get from the people staring at you while they walk across the set (which is actually more irritating than it is glamourous, but at least it’s not mind-numbing).

We finished up staring at skateboarder guy and moved on to Union Square, where a big band was performing. This part of the filming went smoothly with the exception that there was no place to sit, and Ben and I did a fantastic job at completely forgetting all of our lines. We hid the script behind us, for quick between-shots reference but never got to use it because the band and the wind kept us from hearing the camera so we couldn’t tell if and when it was rolling. Therefore most of the dialogue in this scene ended up being “Is he still filming? Where are we at? Can we look at the script?”. To add to the absurdity of the moment, a couple of latino guys decided to take turns walking past us and sitting on a little bench in the shot for a few minutes each. They played it really cool and casual like. Strolling into the shot, sitting there staring blankly in another direction for a few minutes, and then sauntering back the way they came. Eventually Carlos got enough of Ben and I staring blankly at each other asking what we should be doing and he ended the shoot for the day. We dashed to the amazing bathrooms on the sixth floor of Macy’s (seriously, it’s the only way to go if you have to go downtown), and left Union Square just as the band wrapped up their rendition of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”. I think this is the way every well-spent day should end, with luxurious bathrooms and Frank Sinatra.

Welcome

Wednesday, November 1st, 2006

Hello everyone, this is Ben Gutierrez. I play the part of Max in The Eternal Dance, a movie being filmed in San Francisco.

Over the coming weeks we hope to post the progress of the movie as we complete it, with pictures, videos, biographies, and the things we learn as we go along.