Bad news first: no storyboards today. They will happen tomorrow, over coffee, as planned. Three pretty cool things though:
1. Up above you is the new title card for The Broumvirate, a "subdivision" of No Budget Productions, given credit because it is the sector of No Budget that is the primary driving force behind "Our Story." Unlike most subdivisions, this one is not called "Windy Acres" or "Falling Creek" or something similar.
2. Daniel Dockery, a producer for "Our Story," has started a production diary for his own film "Eyes on Me" that I had the privilege of helping him write. I will be producing it as well as playing a small role. I highly recommend you view the blog and subscribe to/bookmark it, as we're all very excited about the project.
3. Payday is tomorrow, so I will be putting in an order for a Poor Man's Steadycam (I would build it myself, but I don't have a table vise). When it arrives, I want to try and borrow a buddy's camera and give it a test run on the thing to see how it performs.
Anyway, on with the show.
In many ways, me and Zaque (pronounce it Zach or Za-kay, he won't care) are the same person, both personally and in terms of how we write.
Thankfully, there's enough difference there to create both an interesting friendship and an interesting creative partnership.
I first hooked up with Zaque, no homo bro, through the Appalachian State Filmmaker's Association. Our first big project together was, as you can see above, the "Stalin and Hitler" series. However, we soon realized that we both don't just dig comedy; we love writing. We love the creative process, and the complications behind it, and the heart and the hard work and the blood sweat and tears that goes into truly creating something. This, not dick jokes, is how me and Zaque clicked. To this day we'll still have conversations about films and books and not just say "Dude, that was awesome," but rather, try to go deeper.
At least as deep as we can as amateurs.
This came in particular handy when we filmed "Too Human," the first script of mine ever filmed that, due to my overambition, ended up being very embarrassing. The movie still exists on my hard drive, but it has been technically disowned by me. Zaque did a great job, considering he usually plays really outlandish roles: he was somber, poignant, and truly morose, as most people are when facing the zombie apocalypse. However, the film collapsed under that very same premise...difficult to portray in the way I attempted to for around $0.
Zaque writes very weird stuff. Extremely dark gallows humor, extensive allegories, and characters with mysterious motivations. Essentially, he's a vulgar Samuel Beckett. However, despite all this, he still has a great knowledge of what goes into a traditional story, and was able to put this knowledge to great use after the horrendous premiere of "Too Human" and to help quell my shame.
See, "Too Human" was filmed in a sort of flashback context, in which a survivor of the zombie apocalypse narrates his meditations on history, humanity, and loneliness. At the end of the film, he decides to let the zombies take him in what is supposed to be a sort of existential metaphor for falling into the forgotten depths of human history. It was hard to watch for several reasons, namely the awful special effects whenever we actually see the zombies. In the original script, they were not supposed to be seen; however, I ended up trying it because I was overambitious and way too confident.
Zaque, after the disastrous showing, suggested to me that if he were to reshoot it, he would expand upon the "flashback" aspect by showing the survivor speaking into a camcorder during some of his monologues instead of simply wandering around like I showed him. Zaque, unlike me, seemed to realize that shots of campus as a deserted place, on our budget, do not resonate well with people who live there. He also reassured me by saying that, yes, the idea was good, and that I wasn't stupid, and that the movie simply failed because I thought I could do too much with the idea...and I knew he was right. This kind of grounded, level-headed thinking is coming from a guy who wrote a play where people sit on a couch and spout dick jokes and end up getting killed by someone's mom...and it's all supposed to be a symbol.
Yet, he possesses that much common sense.
Zaque also really recognizes heart in stories too, and if there's one thing I can brag about with "Our Story," it's that it definitely comes from there. This, I think is why Zaque said he loved the script so much: he appreciates that facet of the film, that I tried to make it real, and that I tried to be sure it contained as few cliches as possible. Considering the things that come out of this guy's head, I'm guessing he somewhat values originality.
Zaque's enthusiasm is also a valuable asset for us. Daniel once compared him to Jay-Z: the guy is just friggin' everywhere. Writing, producing, collaborating, and generally lending a helping hand wherever he can, Zaque is always onboard for everything we do at full force.
In addition to this, Zaque also brings forth a large amout of technical knowledge to the project. He is one of around three people in the ever-expanding No Budget fold that actually knows how to edit and is really good at it (seriously, you should have seen what he had to work with in "Stalin and Hitler," the guy's a beast!) I will be editing "Our Story" on my computer in Premiere CS4, but I know if I run into trouble or need help making a tough call on a cut, I can just call up Zaque and he'll be willing to try and help. Thankfully, he also knows a LOT more about lighting than I do.
So there is Zaque, the man behind the moustache. I would love for him to adapt "Our Story" as a symbolic story of fishes eating palm trees in the Antarctic.
Just kidding, that's a horrible idea. And he knows it.
No idea what I'm talking about,
-JD
There are no updates for the Pre-Productive Organs today.
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