Antigua Udpate #3

Well yesterday was fun. We didn't have to start shooting until 6pm, so I had some time to go out with my parents and hang out for a bit. We went to this place called Stingray City, which is a penned-in sandbar about a mile off the shore, where you can go and swim/snorkel with the stingrays. It was actually really cool. We got to feed them dead squid, and while I was getting swarmed one decided that it wanted to climb over my back for a shortcut to the squid. Let me tell you, wearing a stingray as a cape is a pretty damn creepy experience! ;) Unfortunately, I was too stupid to bring Shab's underwater camera housing with me to videotape it, and the only thing we have from the experience is a picture that looks like I have Down's Syndrome, and alittle bit of footage that my dad took from the dock of me and mom.

The shooting last night went off without a hitch though, and today, we're looking forward to own lead actor arriving here from Montreal, and a lasagna dinner that my folks are graciously preparing for the lot of us.

That's it for now,
Peace!
Joki

Shooting Day One: Report

We made it through, and nobody got killed! By my standards, that's a pretty good day at the office! Even though the odds were stacked against us, we still prevailed. Even though one of our actresses was 20 minutes late, a few of our extras decided not to show up, and our first batch of shots took us a full hour behind schedule with the lighting setup, we managed to get all 16 shots off for the 2 1/2 page scene that we had to shoot. A short scene that required a LOT of coverage and shot variation. It took us a while, but it will be worth it once we bring it in to be edited.

We ended up using my parents as extras, sitting at a table in the background, so it was a good chance for them to see how everything works on set and what kind of business I'm trying to get into.

I'm lazy right now, but I'll have some pictures up as soon as I can find time, and hopefully I can edit together some of the behind-the-scenes footage and post that up on YouTube.

I'm sorry to keep promising and not delivering, but life is hectic... and plus Natalie still hasn't given me those photos, so blame her! If you're really in dire need, then you can check out the Halivantigua site, with PICTURES posted up on there from both Antigua and from each of our final project sets for VFS.

I'll get back at ya' soon!
Peace!
Joki

Problem in Paradise

Well we've just become the innocent victims of the digital video Format Wars!

If trying to wrap our heads around 24F vs. 24p vs. 60i with Pulldown (be it 2:3:2:3 or 2:3:3:2) wasn't difficult enough; as if trying to grasp 4:2:0 colour sampling, and HDV recorded with a 15-frame GOP compression, with pixel shifting from 1440 horizontal pixels (at aspect of 1.33) to 1920 pixels (st aspect of 1.0) wasn't enough to ask already; we just came to notice that one of our HD cameras doesn't shoot in the same resolution as our other does!

Originally, HD footage was set at a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels (aka 1080i/p -- 'i' meaning 'interlaced', 'p' meaning 'progressive', which relates to framerate; don't worry about that though!), but somewhere along the line, some asshole decided that he was going to create a lesser format with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels (aka 720i/p) and call it HD as well. As you can see, there is a sizable resolution discrepancy between the two formats:
The problem now is that we had scheduled previously for us to use both cameras to shoot shoot some of the scenes and save time on setting up new camera positions for each shot. Now, we have to work twice a hard, and overhaul our daily schedules if we hope to get everything shot in time.

It's going to be an interesting production, that's for sure.... :D

(And yes, I realize that there are maybe 3 people who possibly have the slightest clue about what I'm talking about.)

Other than that, check out our website at http://www.freewebs.com/halivantigua/!
It's just brand spankin' new, and it's got some pictures and stuff on it too!

Update #2

Well the other day, we met this really cool guy who owns a sound studio down here; Steve Jackson, of Pelican Lodge Studios. This guy sure can talk, and he's got so many insane stories to tell. This guy's been all over; from producing multiplatinum records for the likes of Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and The Police, to being a roady/tech guy for have of the big bands of the 70's. Now he's basically set up this studio for "retirement" down here in Antigua and he basically said that he'll let us use his studio for audio recording, and even borrow some of his equipment saying, "You probably can't afford my rates, so at the end of it, just pay me what you think is fair to pay me."

This is the type of guy you need to interview. Doesn't matter what you interview him about, he's probably got a story, or something to say about it no matter what.

Preproduction is inching along as well. We go to picture this Sunday, so everything needs to get put in place ASAP if we want this to move smoothly.

I've been learning how to import, capture and edit HDV (High Definition Video), both through the process of trial and error, and through copious amounts of reading online and in books, in order to get ready to edit, and realize if there will be any possible problems that could present them self in the post production stages. It's best to nip those problems in the butt now and save myself the headache in the future.

The last piece of news: My parents just flew in tonight. They're probably on their way to their hotel right now. We'll meet up with them tomorrow though. It's going to be helpful to have a few extra bodies to help out with the few days of shoot that they're going to be here. :D

That's it for tonight.
Peace!

Antigua Update

I'm sorry that I still don't have pictures up on here to show you guys, but Natalie is just a big meanie and won't give them too yet!!

Anyways, a quick update on things:

Yesterday, we went prop shopping and decided that we might as well go and donate some blood for a blood drive that Shab's mom, Faye, helped to organize. I ended up pumping a pint out in under 5 minutes. That, combined with the incident of the technician cutting the blood bag tube on the wrong side of the clamp and seeing blood gush out all over my arm and the chair made me feel pretty woozy, and I just about passed out. :D We also managed to tie up some loose ends with actors and extras and locations now, so everything is sort of starting to come together.

Today, we shot some test footage to see what the possibility is for us to composite/imply a storm in the background of a scene in the movie using special effects/editing, without making it look cheesy as hell. So we'll see how that turns out.

Aside from that, nothing new.
I must depart though,
Peace!

In Antigua

Okay, well we've been here for about a week. And I've got a mixture of cool stuff and really shitty stuff to report on. I'll try and keep it brief, because I don't really feel like torturing you all right now...

Shitty thing: Our Actor/Writer decided that he wanted to pull out of the film (after his flight ticket was already paid for, I might add) after Luke basically told him that he was actually going to do his job as director, and DIRECT the movie. Daniel seemed like he was a little to into the script that we wrote for us, and not willing to trust the role of the female lead to be directed by anyone other than himself. So no negotiation, no discussion, just an agrivated email, stating his resignation as actor.

Less Shitty Thing: Daniel let us keep the script so at least we have something to work with.

Good Thing: We got a casting agent in NY -- a connection of Luke's -- and she's looking for some actors for us.

Real Shitty Thing: I had my computer formated before I came here, to get it up and running properly, but some how, all my files didn't get backed up properly at the shop, and now I find myself missing 2GB worth of photos from the 8 months I spent in Thailand! So needless to say, I'm pretty pissed about that, and really the whole thing is kind of making me feel a little sick...

Good Thing: Shab, Luke and Bert (Shab's dad) had an interview on national Antiguan TV this morning to talk about and hype the film a bit. It went good, not much else to say.

Cool Thing: We went to Shab's old primary school and talked to the grade 4-6's about what we do, pursuing there dreams and all that good stuff that role models, such as ourselves, are supposed to do! :D We had a little film related exercise for them to do, and answered some questions. At the end of it, we each spent 20 or 30 minutes signing autographs for the kids -- which was hilarious, and just plain out of control! Half the kids even made us give our emails, so I'm fearing that I'm going to get hundreds of emails tomorrow; Natalie already got on from one of the kids, asking if him and his brother could be actors in our movie!

Okay, I going though, there's still lots of things to do in the morning. I need some sleep, and I'm feeling really shitty about the Thailand photos (and who knows what else, that I haven't noticed is missing yet). So I'm going to get some sleep.

PEACE!

PS. I'll try to get picture up online here ASAP!

In Hali

I'm just in Halifax right now, staying at one of my school friends/crew member's house (which is crazy!), and we're flying out tonight to Antigua. So Luke, Natalie, and I will be flying on Luke's dad's private company jet -- yeah, I know; rediculous, right? :) -- and meeting up with Shab and his family at 8:00 at night, Antigua time.

After I had a go at writing the script we gave it to another guy who has worked with one of my instructors at VFS on his feature that he just shot. So this guy, Daniel Lione, has given us a first draft of his version of the script, which we all like quite a bit. All we need now is to have a meeting to discuss some things and make a few minor changes and to clarify a few things. Daniel is also going to be our lead actor in it, so we'll be seeing him down in Antigua.

But yeah, I guess what's going to happen is that we're going to take the first couple days down there to check out pretty much the entire island and assess our location status, and shit like that; get everything worked out for our shooting schedule; check out all the equipment that Shab has down there and get everyone familiar with how to operate/manage it and stuff.

We've split up credits for the movie now and I am a combination of Assistant Director (keep production running smoothly, on time and under budget during shooting; work with the crew and dictate setup and stuff while the Director is working with the actors, or doing whatever), Unit Production Manager (line up all the stuff that the AD needs to know when production starts; arrange locations, actors, crew, schedule, budget, etc. in pre-production), Gaffer (in charge of setting up the lights, and telling other crew what to do with the lights to meet the requests of the Director and the Cinematographer) and Script Superviser (make sure that everyon scene has been shot as scheduled, keep people on time, log timecode and tape/reel numbers of shots for easy access in post-production/editing).

So needless to say, I've got a lot on my plate with movie, and a lot of stuff to do. so it's going to be pretty damn busy, but I'm still looking forward to the rush. :D

Oh yeah, and I'm officially a Director of a company!
We got some legal work worked out so that the company owns the movie and we all own equal shares in the company, so that we're protected against liability and other stuff, and so that one of us can't just turn into a major dong and try to get more reparation for the movie than the others. The company name right now is 3222324 Nova Scotia Ltd... We didn't have a name at the time of registration, so we just took the default company name. We're going to be renaming it Halivantigua Ltd. because the other name.... kinda blows! haha.

That all I have to talk about so far. I'll keep the blog updated while I'm in Antigua... Hopefully...
I'm out. Peace!
Mathew Joki Esq.