Hey all, just bringing attention to the footage that Ed Kanaha from The Stunt People shot. He was on the sidelines on friday and got some behind the scenes footage on his CMOS based FLIP video camera. Its nothing terribly long but he split up each section or so in five parts. This was from the first night of shooting (Friday). It gives you a small glimpse of how we work (if even) but either way it was a cool rememberence of a good shoot. Enjoy! (Its not that exciting really haha, but Ed gives some hilarious color commentary!)


Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcDoFqenWMY

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px_-726DO0E

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4EuuacV15k

This is again, a very long and insightful post on my reflections filming with Leo Kei Angelos, Paul Dreschler-Marttell, Scott Hoffman, and Jose Pacheco. They're all my indie stunt peers and I graciously invited them to be a part of "Those Who Go To Hell". Part 2 of a 4 part blog.

You said I'll see you in September, but that's not long enough for me...

You put a note in my pocket, so it would take care of me...

But that was all...

TEAM INTERNET FOR THE WIN

So in the previous post, I'd explain how I got Leo, Paul, Scott, and Jose to come down, along with Jon and Jay and being able to work with Eric, Dennis, Ed, Ray, Shaun from The Stunt People, and Derek.

Basically it all started with this:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhZG78128XE

Shawn and I drove to Toronto to see Donnie Yen's "Flash Point" premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. There, we met up with Dan Macdonald, Alex Chung, and Dan's roomie Jonny Caines. Madcap filming ensued and hilarious and awesome results were created. The notable thing though was that the first 2 were members of a message board Shawn and I frequent, which was The Stunt Peoples. Sometime in 2007, we agreed that we should start working with other people from the board seeing as how others were doing the same too. So off we drove to Toronto to see this awesome movie and work with these awesome people.

A little time after that, I got a request from one Leo Kei Angelos from Boston to come down to Chicago. Well, he was actually going to pass by as he was helping another guy off the boards, Tim Davids, with his movie and asked for that one night if he could stay with me and film film film. So we did, in the quick amount of time we had:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69s25SuUW74

After all that hooplah and we started kicking off with the noir, I got an email request from another member of the board, Ryan Franklin. He asked if he could fly down and work with us for it, as he was really excited to work with us. This prompted me to ask Leo to come back out to work with us and also Dan and Alex and Jonny.

However, Shawn went one step further. He proposed why not ask everyone? Which prompted an interesting scenario: why not? We figured at the least, they could say yes or no. So off I went, asking those who I was closest enough to talk to and ask if they would like to come out to Chicago. All I really could do was compensate them in some form with money, food, and housing. I figured this year would be the best year to start working with everyone if possible.

So what happened? Everybody said YES! Which was nuts. I didn't expect such an immediate response from everyone, and it was really great to see.

Anyhow, the first up were Paul, Leo, Scott, and Jose. Originally, Paul was going to bring nearly his whole team (2 more people) and Leo. The reason why they all traveled together was because Leo wasn't THAT far away from Paul (Leo lives in Boston, Paul in Connecticut) so they figured they would help each other out by carpooling.

So yes, Paul and crew could only come for ONE weekend to film because of work and school schedules and they basically would have to drive 14 hours here and 14 hours back while picking up and dropping off Leo along the way.

However, the main thing was that we needed a house of some sort. A house or some type of location to fight in or something!

And of course, I couldn't use my house. Too many people and too many logistics. My parents would freak if like 8 people had to stay and bust up their house for a weekend.

So we opted for Shawn's place, seeing as how we introduced it as his character's place anyway. The agreement would be that they would stay at Shawn's for the weekend, and so would I. Seeing as how Shawn lives alone, there shouldn't be a problem about bothering anyone, except the neighbors, with our realistic fight sounds. =P

Shawn then went about telling his neighbors, asking them if it was ok and they were totally fine with it. Logistically, everything was good and ready to go. Leo and Paul confirmed their numbers (Paul would only be bringing two people instead of four) and they were off to Chicago.

Therefore, on a randomly cold and snowy yet turning into lukewarm and freshly thawed February weekend, our visitors from the East coast came by for a visit.

Pull...me...out...

Pull me out Alive...

Pull...me...out...

Pull me out Alive...

REDEEMER PRODUCTIONS AND HYPHEN MOVIES INVADE CHICAGO (HOFFMAN ESTATES, ACTUALLY)

Immediately, after unpacking and getting things situated, we hit it off with random convos and getting to know one another better. Paul is much more open in person, and though not having met or talked to Scott and Jose, they both were really great. Leo of course, is Leo, with his awesome sensibilities and random inserts. I spent the night staying up and studying Collateral and A Bittersweet Life to get camera inspirations going.

The next day though, we started filming and getting everything popping. More or less, most of the guys have been training in attempts to do their best and keep up with Shawn (most people tend to be intimated by his sheer speed alone) but I felt pretty good about going around and directing everyone. The funny thing was, both Scott and Leo brought their cameras and we had our own, so we ended up using Leo's (the one we had was fucking up the tape) and we used Leo's wide angle lens because Shawn's area was such a small space, so we wanted to maximize the area we were covering.

In terms of the actual fight, here's the set up:

By this point in time, Shawn's character Daniel has already fought William (Steven) and Alejandro (Javier Hidalgo). He goes home to get some important papers, but finds that his house is being occupied. He really doesn't have much of a choice though, as the papers are basically his only forms of identity and whatnot so he's forced to go in and out no matter the cost. After dealing with two guys outside quickly (I'll get into that a bit) he goes inside and gets his papers, only to be greeted by Eric and Joseph (Paul and Leo, respectively). At this point, Daniel is tired as shit and the emphasis is no longer on technique or style, but sheer and downright brutality. He uses the space to his advantage and basically goes all out in terms of attempting to kick the living shit out of them to escape alive. Its either kill or be killed and though Eric and Joseph aren't push overs, they definitely have their work cut out for them.

So with that in mind, I attempted to go for more of a Bourne identity type of look, with some shakiness to the camera, but nowhere near the level of the Bourne series. Just enough to give it more of a realistic feel, but I wanted to do the Korean type of choreography which is so much more emotionally and physically invested. Thus there is NO fancy moves, just hardcore get the fuck outta my way or im gonna kill you type of choreography.

Thus, alot of the camera movement is really quick on your feet type of stuff and I also used alot of manual snap zooms (really fast whip like zooms) to emphasis certain blows or whatnot.

The funny thing was, this would be the FIRST fight we'd have shot for the noir, and it wasn't even for episode 1!

Anyway, so shooting was commencing and it became clearer and clearer that it was tough to get this type of style and look going. Seeing as I had NEVER done this before, I was feeling some doubt myself. It really wasn't at all in the performers, but more or less in my own ability to convey what I wanted to convey. I know Shawn himself, being so used to HK like exchanges by this point, was feeling the pressure to execute the look and style as well.

By the end of day one, Shawn had kicked Leo's arm into a wood door about 10 times, thrown Paul onto his floor about 8 times, kicked him in the chest about 15 times, nearly hit his face with Leo's steel baton (It was actually Pauls, and we ended up using it as the start point to the fight when Leo attacks Shawn with it in the hallway), stepped on my feet numerous times (was my fault really), and nearly hit me in the face with the baton (I wanted him to literally rip it from Leo's hand during one exchange). This was all during the course of 6-8 hours or so.

Alas, twas a good day, though I was much too focused and tired as shit to relax like everyone else, but I definitely praised them for their hard work. Leo was beginning to be worked harder than I worked him during our last meetup and though struggling a bit, he definitely was trying.

Paul on the other hand, holy crap! haha. That guy is a stunt monkey. He was very, very, comfortable about doing the falls and whatnot and really, he did a fantastic job that day being thrown and kicked and thrown and kicked yet again. I really praise his experience.

At the nighttime Leo, Paul, and I had a really long and thorough conversation about our feelings towards our peers, our goals and dreams, our situations with film making or stunts in the present, and other talks of projects for the future. I was really happy to have this conversation with both of them, as it really opened them up to me and showed me how awesome and passionate they are for what they do.

You don't have to be afraid...

Of the pain inside of you...

EAT A DICK

Of course the day wasn't without its awesome funny moments. Actually, the funniest thing was the following of a catchphrase from LBP. But i'll explain its brief history.

I have a really awesome and wonderful friend that I've grown up with named Elijah Sloane. Anyway, some point during the summer of 2007, he randomly would yell out "EAT A DICK!" in a hilarious manner. I dunno why it was hilarious to me, nor why he would really do it, but it would be random and it etched into my head. He left to Puerto Rico that month with his dad, and because of him saying it at least once or twice every time I saw him, I ended up saying it.

Anyway, that saying spread around to LBP and especially to member Keith Gubbins. After I showed Keith how to properly say it (yes, there was a proper way) Keith INSTANTLY made it his catch phrase. So during the first day, we had Keith, Shawn's girlfriend Pam, and Tony Reddix come by to help out and watch. Immediately Keith started talking it up with the others, and especially Jose, whom they shared lots of martial arts interests and alot of silly humor.

So what ended up happening? We got EVERYONE in that household saying EAT A DICK!

And Jose would take Shawn's post its and write it EVERYWHERE and post it on people and around the house. Paul even posted one on Shawn's back when they were shooting and Shawn didn't notice haha.

Yup. So EAT A DICK became the catch phrase for the weekend.

Take your time Young Man...

Don't you rush to get old...

Keep it in your stride

Live your Life, Live your Life...

POOR, POOR WALL, AND POOR, POOR LEO

So upon the second day, we started the day off with a chinese buffet no less and returned home to get set and going. We didn't have anyone else there but the guys and myself this time so we went all out on shooting. Leo was getting much better at projecting himself and saving his voice thanks to coaching by Keith and for the most part, things were going much smoother. However, we were running out of time as we'd given ourselves a deadline of 11pm - 12am to finish shooting per day and we somewhat started the day late. Plus we had to film Scott and Jose's stuff too. So we filmed up to when Paul is done and then went out to Shawn's stairs/hallway to film their quick scenes.

The thing is, Scott and Jose are really awesome fellows and they were very good sports about having such small roles. Really fun and great guys to work with and totally professional when needed to be. I wondered at how cool it would be to end their quick sequence and thus, I asked Scott if he could take a stair fall. There's about 6-8 steps or so, so It wasn't anything too crazy, but Scott is a very tall man and this hallway was not so tall or long. Plus Scott had never done a stair fall, so there was the thing on that.

Yet he was a trooper about it. Paul coached him, we set it up, tested it out, and went for it!

I shot it, and it was great! The thing is though, it looked too safe and deliberate. I asked Scott if it was comfortable if he did it again and we reviewed the first take and he automatically said he wanted to redo it anyway.

Thus we did, and it looked BAD.ASS. Scott was the man! He totally took that stair flip/fall like a champ and didnt even get hurt.

Next came Jose's fall, which was more like a throw/slam onto a flight of stairs. Shawn's not super great with anything grappling related, so Jose was kind enough to really show him how to do it convincingly. Unfortunately, there was no way logistically to show the fall from a safe angle and thus, Jose would really have to be slammed onto the stairs. Yet Jose was totally fine with it, and after some mishaps with some neighbors and Shawn accidentally slamming Jose's head against a wall, we got the take we wanted.

After that, I wanted to redo Paul's end sequence to get a more convincing reaction from him, and it involved him being kicked against a wall to start it off. I didn't think his reactions were strong enough so we padded him up and I really wanted him to look painful. Problem is, which I should've thought of, is that the wall isn't really reinforced. It's just drywall.

So what happened? Shawn gave a great kick to Paul, and then the wall just CAVED IN upon Paul hitting it. At first it looked like his head might have hit it, but really it was his upper back that caved it in. I could tell Shawn was not pleased at all and I felt extremely terrible for the mishap. I told him I'd get my uncle to fix it and pay for the bill. If I couldnt get a hold of my uncle, I'd just pay whatever bill that Shawn got from someone else fixing it. Luckily, its just a drywall patch and Shawn has the paint. It wasnt deep by any means, but still, the fact the wall broke really made things tense for a while.

Then came the last part of filming and finishing up Leo's section. By this time though, Shawn kept going and I'm pretty sure subconsciously Shawn was irritated at his wall being busted so that amped up his performance level. This threw off Leo though, as Shawn was not only going at him much faster and more energized, but he was actually HITTING him for real hahaha.

I'm not laughing because its funny (well it is a bit) but I mean poor Leo could really do nothing but take it. On the first day, Shawn had to hit Leo near the face with an elbow, so we padded up Shawn's elbow in case he accidentally hit him. However, Shawn took off the pad at one point, forgot to notify me, and during some more takes, he REALLY clocked Leo in the mouth.

This time however, Shawn slammed Leo into his wall hard, he hit him in the face some more, he kneed him in the chest area, and at the end part of his section, Shawn was choking him for real!

Poor Leo took it like a trooper though and never complained, though Shawn did feel really bad once he found out he was hitting him for real. He felt terrible actually and apologized the rest of the time constantly for it.

Anyway, we finished up Leo's section smoothly and the fight was done! Though we had cut about half of what I had originally written, I still felt really good about it and yet very, very, unsure about what the hell I just created.

Nonetheless, everyone was relieved shooting was over and though a bit long and very hard work (mostly on Shawn and Leo) everyone felt really happy with the effort they put in.

To spend our last night together, I went with the guys to Dennys (Paul and Shawn opted out to sleep early as Shawn had work the next day and Paul had to drive) and we had a really great time chatting it up about anything and everything. After some hilarious moments and insults thanks to Jose, we went back to Shawn's and ended up watching The Running Man (an old Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi film) because Leo had never seen it and both Scott and I demanded that he did.

I stayed up with Leo and helped them pack and get their stuff out once it hit morning. We all had hearty goodbyes and I really thanked each and every one of them for coming out. Afterwards, I cleaned up Shawn's place, vacuumed and tidied it up back to near pristine condition and finally knocked out from exhaustion. Sometime later that night I was taken home.

Immediately I edited everything and brought out a rough cut of what we shot. After some final critiques and thoughts, I re-edited constantly until I got the right amount of lighting and contrast and the final verdict was that everyone was VERY happy with they saw. They really enjoyed the look, the feel, the choreo, their performances, everything! So to me, who still felt uneasy about how to think about the scene, was feeling much better in its execution so long as everyone else enjoyed the final product.

I want to get into it

Let's do it (do it)

I wanna see you move it

So move it

So let's just get into it

Let's do this (do this)

Can you feel the music?

TO THE EAST COAST GUYS, YOU ROCK!

Of course nowadays I really enjoy that scene because I finally pushed myself out of my little box to try something new and I really appreciate everyone's efforts to try their best to give me the type of look and feel I was attempting to show. Honestly, though it was hard work and there were some mishaps here and there, the shoot went so smooth and the performances were very wonderful that really, there was nothing to complain about at all! Well...save for the wall hit XD

Anyway, I owe a great big debt to those fellas, and while there was no time to take them sight seeing or film any Team Internet stuff, we really got to be closer and really talk about alot of personal insights on each other and have some really wonderful conversations. Definitely, I see all of those guys as my brothers and I can only continue to praise their work ethic, their attitudes, and their commitment and passion for the art.

So at that time, we decided to show the guys from the board that would be involved in the project how everything came out. The response was mixed, but in a positive way. It was different, it was well executed, but definitely not HK. The rest of the guys wondered what was next, who would do what, where, and how.

My ultimate goal in these meet ups is to create characters that really stood out uniquely to the person playing them in terms of look, style, performance, and execution. For this house fight, I really wanted more of a simple Korean based (or even American based) type of fight and I really felt that Paul and Leo could pull it off well.

The next ones up would be Jon and Jay, though at first Jay wasn't sure if he was coming out or not. Then again, that's a different story for a different time...

Hope you enjoyed reading these anecdotes and theres only two more blogs left! w00t.

Thank you again if you have reached this far. =D

And the people go

Bom-Bom-De-Bom-De-Bom-Bom

And even if she is

I dig her so...

De-Bom-Bom-De-Bom-De-Bom-Bom

And even if she is so

I dig her so...

From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Mexican.

*WARNING!* This is a very personal insight on my experiences creating and filming "Those Who Go To Hell", LBP's film noir project thus far. Obviously you have the option to read it, but keep in mind it's all experiences, good and bad or inbetween or which ever, so just an fyi that is this LONG. Very, very, LONG. This is ONLY Part ONE. There will be FOUR blogs, including this one. I hope you enjoy. =D

You put a note in my pocket, said be good to yourself, and that was all...

CREATION

I remember that growing up, I've always had a fascination with loner characters. Something about the cool headed, or sometimes not so cool headed character who relied on wits and skill and sheer determination, and throughout the course of his own events, you would find out what makes him (or her) that person. Sometimes they lost everything, or gained it all, and nonetheless, the stark contrast of these revenge tales in their black and white or grainy quality of color opened up a world to me that even when the chips are down, when people shit on you and you have nothing, NOTHING, to hold you up, sometimes you can find within yourself, a strength of memory, moment, or inner self and push past what limits you. To me, watching films like Le Samourai, Hana-Bi, A Better Tomorrow, Taxi Driver, Vertigo, Le Cercle Rouge, Stray Dog, and Chinatown, were utmost pinnacles of good and bad, tough times, and perseverance. To me, growing up and watching such films took me out of the sometimes hostile outside environment I lived in. It showed that even though life can suck very hard, principles can always win out in a person if they believe in it.

If you believe, you can accomplish. Always.

It was the imagery, the encompassing straightforwardness of the story, characters, development, and violence.

Violence, next to the characters, is what I identified with the most. And it wasn't out of sheer thrill or enjoyment, it was simply because I was used to it. I understood. The type of environment I grew up in was filled in violence to varying degrees. People in the neighborhoods matched these types of characters, they were human. They weren't some guy who had a mansion or lots of money or whatever. These were the guys around the corner, the person working hard to better themselves, the kids looking up to people getting loot, the kids just trying to get by in school or better. These people exist, and I've seen it in some form or another.

I remember watching "A Bittersweet Life" after I had watched Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Old Boy. I remember being SO encompassed by this movie, made by this director who at the time, had directed a hilarious comedy and an impressive thriller. Here, he let loose with his style, his story of a simple man working through his way in a simple manner, only to be lead astray for one moment. One moment! And then it's over. Shit hits the fan, he is forced to survive in ways he didn't think possible, and in the end, for what? Over a disagreement. Over nothing. And its interesting to see and know people like that personally and imagine the main character as them. His story and time is yours. I was floored and I loved every minute.

It wasn't until I had gone through a spring and summer of growth that I hit a wall. I literally didn't know what to do next, stumbling along and attempting to do half assed attempts to bring everyone together until I saw one trailer:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shA00_9i3YQ

It blew me away. Not because of its stylish look but because it reminded me of something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. And it hit me like a wall. I've always enjoyed noir, I've always enjoyed the look, the feel, everything. I felt I could do it, I felt like it was possible, as crazy as it seemed.

I even asked permission of Micah Moore simply because I felt it was totally disrespectful to just come out of nowhere. But I didn't want to do Dogs of Chinatown. I wanted to do A Bittersweet Life. I wanted to push my ideas out in the forefront. This wasn't some funny video for college. This was more than just the hobby, this was the real deal. This would show myself, my peers, my fellow members of LBP what I was capable of at this time. I wanted to mix the sensibility of what I loved from film noir with the look and style of A Bittersweet Life. I wanted to show I could do drama. I could do action. I could have actors and stunt performers and everything and do this on my own and show people it IS possible to make something decently entertaining if you have the passion for it. I boldly set out to create essentially a 45-50 minute film that would be split into (originally 7) 4 parts. A 4 part webisode series that would eventually be mashed together as one whole complete film and put into festivals. The ultimate goal was to mix this sensibility of american and asian and everything in between. This would be my homage to noir, my homage to korean and hong kong films and their action, and my start to a new beginning of actual filmmaker (I hoped). This was the creation of "Those Who Go To Hell".

Life being what it is, We All Dream of Revenge...

Open your eyes for a second...Just to roll them at me...

I stared straight into the sun, something to concentrate on.

EPISODE ONE

I instantly poured out the info to the group. I made up characters for everyone, made up a basic outline of story, plot, I started writing out the scrīpt, and I immediately wanted to shoot tests. Light tests, fight tests, everything. So we did. Tony Reddix supplied equipment through Depaul university and he would continue do to so (along with Keith Gubbins) to continue to supply equipment throughout ALL the shoots during the project. I got my group going and we shot tests on the DVX which you can see here:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=marnmdxV3BM

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBBUu47nbkg

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl7FQjb73rk

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuc_DmAh83U

Instantly, the response was immediate. People stood up and took a grand, grand, notice. They liked the look, liked the feel. It was different. I was serious, it was bolder, it instantly hit a groove in people.

This of course, excited my taste and made me realize I definitely was going about a right track. So I set to finishing the scrīpt and pushed to shoot, which we did.

I always considered this a vehicle for member Shawn Bernal. It's not that I didn't consider the rest of the group to be good enough, but Shawn had SO much potential and because of his lack of experience and age, I felt that at this point, he HAD to, had to do something. People had to notice him. What made this decision even more so is during working with him on our previous short, For The Win, and especially Ruthless, our john woo short. His dedication to the craft, to the group as a whole, for so little the time he was there, he always and has always put 100% into the group. For someone that joined a mere 4 or 5 months ago at the time, it was astounding to me how much he really cared deeply. I had to repay him. I had to make use of his talents and push him to do more. People had to take notice.

Shawn Bernal became my Daniel Vicente, my Lee Byung Hun to Sun Woo. If there was one thing I wanted to do with this film, it was to show that Shawn Bernal was the man and you should stand up and notice.

Now of course, this wasn't just Shawn's show and his demo reel alone. Every component had to be right. Every person picked had to fit and thus, I wrote people out specifically catered to the behavīors I saw, the characters I felt they could portray, and the ranges I wanted to see in people. I believed and still continue to believe in these people. All my LBP members I had written out things for them. My main actors Chad Sheveland, James Bezy, Allison Carvalho, and Lucas Neff, I believed them. I knew that Shawn alone couldn't be the key, because ALL of these people would help to create a new (and hopefully refreshing) unique product.

So out I set forth. I went with my trusty and ever so worthy companion Tony Reddix, who without his help, I could not have been so confident in pursuing my camera angle choices, and Shawn, and started filming in his apartment. Thus was the creation of Episode 1.

And though I had said to myself, I wanted this film to be put up by November 28th (my 21st birthday at the time) I was hilariously overjudging myself. What I didn't realize yet was that this was just more than a little project. This would become my love letter to my skills in film making at the time. I took my time on EVERYTHING. I made sure as much as I humanly could at each time that I had the right shot, the right light, tempo of movement, frames, style, etc. All by memory. All those images of noir and themes and presentation came pouring out as I shot at Shawn's apartment.

It was even clearer in editing that once I put the black and white on and saw those opening images, I had something wonderful on my hands. At the time and probably true to this moment, it was easily the most beautiful shots I've ever produced. This capability made me want to shoot for more, push for more artistry and look. I knew what I was doing, but it could be oh so much better each time.

Thus with the opening 5-7 minutes, I showed it to my actors which whom I nervously approached (in hopes they wouldn't scoff at my ideas and consider it) and I believe that they were happy and liking what they saw. They immediately became very excited to start working and doing their lines. Yet we wouldn't shoot the main conversation between the main villain Patrick Keller (Chad) and his cousin in tow, Brendan Gideon (James) until early NEXT year.

Yet when we did shoot, it was very, very, interesting. I had never, ever, directed other actors in line acting before besides LBP and especially with the actors I was dealing with who never really did film or had some film experience, but had way more acting experience than me, needless to say I felt somewhat overwhelmed. I just hoped in the back of my head, I directed them fine, I was clear, not sounding like some retarded kid who didn't know what he wanted to do. Yet the great thing was Chad and James were wonderful. They were so professional, so easygoing and committed and they pulled out some FANTASTIC stuff. I was very pleased to edit their scene because their chemistry from just working together over the years and just seeing how much fun they had with it really made me want to push for more out of my direction and camera. Thus, I was even feeling greater knowing that after I edited it for them, though they were critical of their actions on camera, they overall enjoyed the work and were excited to do more.

I mean though we ended in 2007 and started up in 2008, we already had a good half of the noir done and really all we had left was the major climax and fight. We figured this is easy! We got all the HARD stuff right?

Oh boy, how much that would come around to slap me in the face.

First off, our awesome garage location and idea in the scrīpt which was agreed by everyone, yea we did some tests, yea it came off good, yea all our schedules were fine, we went to go shoot. We were ready! We were amped!

Oh man did we not get ANYTHING done. It was terrible! Everything went wrong logistically, the location was terrible to work with, and we realized the hours would suck so much ass to get it cleared out that it was simply not worth the trouble. It was our first big wall.

Until our savior Mr. Tony Reddix stepped in with the wonderful idea of using the Depaul CTI center. It was indoors, open very late, easily accessible, much quieter, and plus it was a FILM BUILDING! Everyone would think we were students and no one would bother us. It was simply too perfect.

We looked around and after much searching, found our area. Found our ROOM. We had a WHOLE boardroom to ourselves to do wonderous things. Immediately everyone got excited again and we set off to shoot. We spent about a whole month getting the set up for the shots in the building, outside, and all leading up to the confrontation between Daniel Vicente (Shawn) and William Cheng (Steven Fung).

Though set up could take a while, and our hours were only from 4pm - 10:45pm, it still was good time to get alot done, and we did! Until we hit scheduling walls.

That was one. But we figured hey, its fine, and its manageable! As long as we have quality stuff.

Yet our biggest crutch, which we didn't expect, was the school itself.

You see, because the boardroom is public domain to the building, we figured because it was a random boardroom, not many would use it.

Oh how wrong we were.

Constantly we would come weekends on end, for months on end, to a room that didn't even allow us in because people used it up THE WHOLE TIME.

Then sometimes when we would get in, say around 6 or 7, the boardroom would be fucked up to shit and we would spend AT LEAST 2-3 hours in many occasions attempting to get it to as close as possible, what it looked like before. I had made a motive to keep this movie not only consistent in style and look, but make sure I REALLY paid attention to detail. I really wanted to show I cared and really cared about the film as a whole, so humanly possible, I was a one man writer, producer, director, DP (director of photography, or main cameraman), prop master, fight choreographer, stunt coordinator, and continuity checker. I was so precise and articulate at times and anal about the randomest shit that many a times the group would be like WTF!? But in the end, it shows off. You'll see.

However, the process became so daunting. Too daunting at times. Attempting to deal with scheduling, school, work, filming, directing, choreographing, coordinating, it was all too much! I was losing constant sleep, my demeanor became irritable as time progressed, getting frustrated at simple things and focusing so much on what we didn't have. As much as we got done at times or as much footage as we got till we were near the end, it was becoming increasingly clear that it was consuming me. All I did was film, care about film, lived and breathed film and nothing more. It was very sad.

 I'm not proud of the person I became. I was becoming more and more nervous at how long it was taking. All I was thinking was I gotta get this done, I have to get this done, my actors are gonna leave, the group is getting tired, I'm getting tired, this is bullshit, this room sucks, this day sucks, whatever. It was all negative you know? All selfishly one sided.

I really do apologize to everyone. To Ruben, Javier, Shawn, Steven, Tony, Keith, Angela, Anthony. I really do apologize that at times I just became a downright ass. I cared so much about doing good that I stopped having fun and took it out on many of you.

This is really why episode 1 isn't even done now. We took a break because it was clear I was digging myself into a very large hole and it took one member of the group to let me know that I had to stop now or dire consequences would await. Then everyone else opened up, and opened up hard.

It wasn't always pretty hearing what I heard being said, but I deserved every word and emotion. I deserved to know how I was treating others and how it was affecting my work. It made me extremely, extremely, sad and doubtful and I almost wanted to quit right then and there. But alas, my group talked me out of it and we agreed that perhaps it was best to take a break. I mean during the time we were shooting episode one, we had shot a fight for episode two with Leo Kei Angelos (from Redeemer Productions), Paul Dreschler-Martell, Jose Pacheco, and Scott Hoffman (from Hyphen Movies) and two fights for episode 3 with Jon Truei (from Surprise-Terminated Films) and Fernando "Jay" Huerto (from Jabronie Pictures). All these guys either drove or flew out from their respective states and I put them all through either weekends or weeks of nonstop filming in my drive to be better, to be perfect.

I'll explain in the next post as to why I asked them all to come out, but the fact of the matter is, I was becoming a crazy monster and my group basically told me to shut the fuck up, realize what I was doing, and to stop it.

It was heart breaking. Definitely the right thing to do, but heart breaking when you do finally realize all the shitty, stupid mistakes you did. When you realize that you did more hurting them than really helping them. The worst of it all? They put up with it! They tolerated me for as long as they could before putting me in my place. That's probably the worst memory of it all.

So approximately, we have about 9:52 or so of Episode 1. Honestly, with credits, it'll probably be around 14 - 17 minutes. It's NEARLY done. After my trip to Boston to help out Leo, we will definitely finish it and definitely start on the other parts for the acting. I was originally shooting in order (something I always do) and it was clear it was taking too long, so I really want to maximize my efficiency with time and get more done and HOPEFULLY (crossing fingers and not making promises) that we'll be done by the end of the year or early next year with ALL of the episodes (which is four).

Anyway I digress. The wake up call which I sorely needed but put me at a standstill. Though what we got in the bag was GREAT and I really love what we all as a group have done, it really showed me that I wasn't giving it back. I thus took a month off and cleared my head and made it my mission to try to show the group that I wanted us as a whole again, that I wanted people to come and enjoy themselves at practice (which we nixed by the way once we did the noir shoots) and that I wanted people to feel involved in this project because my intention ALWAYS, ALWAYS was a LBP project. Yes this is very personal to me, but I know that I can't and won't ever be able to make this without the wonderful group I have and consider so dear and close to me. I needed my brothers and this project is my heartfelt homage to LBP. This is showing the true power of everyone. From performance to range to acting to fighting to stunts, whatever! This is showing what we all are capable of at this moment.

2 years time I have watched us all grow into something much bigger than any of us imagined and I am so, so, very proud of everyone. I really do appreciate everyones efforts daily and though at this point, its very, very, hard for all of us to get together, even with my doubts I always know that in some way or form the group can always be whole again when it needs to be.

Thus, at this point in time, I am deathly nervous and afraid yet excited at the same time to start again. To finish. To begin that process. I really hope that we can do it. I KNOW we can do it, but I would like to see it done. I would like to show that all that worth WAS worth it and all that hard work was not me, but them! Everyone else. THEY make the film, not me. Them. I present the idea but they are the ones executing it. I can only humbly be in their debt for the rest of my life.

Episode 1 is nearly complete, and this blog has only just begun. I'll continue on with the other parts which deal with my experiences work with Leo, Paul, Jose, Scott, Jon, Jay, and The Stunt People!

Until then, if you've gotten this far. Thank you. Really. I wrote this mostly as a reminder to myself to stay motivated and realize I have done ALOT for this project and so has the group. But if you've cared enough to read this until the end, I really am grateful. Thank you.

Till next time! =D

And if you turned it on you'd find, I've written you a thousand times...

You would do anything, you'd give up everything for God knows why...

I just can't stay till your gone. I won't wish you well, I won't see you off.

I won't try to call if I see you in my mind.

I'll say to you, It's not your fault...

From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Mexican.

Hey all, so sometime ago, like almost a month ago just before we left to SF, I got approached to do an interview for LBP last minute by Joel F. Rosal. Joel's a fellow actor I got to train and work on with while doing Ruthless and Shawn also knew him from before while doing a short film with him before he met us. Anyway, Joel went on to join an indie media group mostly covering local talent in Chicago and showing it from an asian-american community perspective. So being that Joel runs the media section, he asked us to do an interview for him. You can find it here:

http://fishbowlmediachicago.com/Alist_online/joel1week.html

The youtube link is here in case it doesnt work for some people:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLwYShtSMas

Oh yea, and if some of you are wondering, it was up before but now Ruthless is BACK online on youtube:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPUWRMTj4us

Shawn and I recently traveled to San Francisco to meet up Eric Jacobus from The Stunt People and other members to have them be a part of our noir project, "Those Who Go To Hell". Here's some pics from that:

And here's some pics from the finished product, along with other pics from other indie groups around the nation:

Along the way, we filmed some silly stuff to put up online. Though we were only there for 5 days, we filmed ALOT, and every day in fact. But it turned out great! You can check out the video here:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBlTjjiH-nc

DOWNLOAD: http://www.mediafire.com/?w24tzlzdmnz

And here's some pics from that:

Hope you enjoy! We had a great time filming this and Eric was a really wonderful host and lovely to work with. Hopefully the whole noir series will be done sometime late 2008/early2009.

--Manny