Team Internet Blasts Off At The Speed of Light! (Episode 2 Reflections)

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.

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