Infinite State Automaton

I have this afternoon off from work. I had expected to be working from 4 am through to 4 pm with a two hour break in between, however, this shift has now been shuffled to Wednesday from 4 am to 3:30 pm. This means I can catch up with my blog now.

Yesterday was the first day of actual filming. It was really cold! I sincerely expected for rain to come in and end it all, but in the end we were lucky and it didn't come at all. A quick recap - I am working with Rodney, Mick, Jamie, and some other people who I haven't met yet to compose this video. Rodney is the director, Mick is the lead camera and audio guy, and Jamie and myself are actors. I found out yesterday that Rodney had previously released 'Thrash Bus' and 'Thrash Bus 2' which were, basically, old, junk cards driven around in farm yard paddocks. The cinematography (I think that is a word) was really well done; it looks professional. Some of the footage was exceptional, and although the music was lifted straight from The Matrix it fitted disturbingly well. Most car chases in movies start with a beautiful, expensive car, that slowly has bits of it chipped away as it exchanges blows with other cars/parts of the city/bullets/rockets/pedestrians/cyclists/garbage bins. Thrash Bus starts with a car that they got from a junkard that still goes (but is not roadworthy) and parts fall off during filming for no apparent reason. You know, windscreen wipers, rear vision mirrors, that kind of thing. It's not a serious film and the 'plot' was strung together AFTER the filming.

Rodney also talked a bit about Urban Golf, which I incorrectly reported as 'Urban Gulf'. He explained that the premise of the movie is about a group of six golfers of excellent calibre and ability, but thus far unrecognised by the professional golfing community (due to a number of specific incidents that had them barred from playing professionally), who band together at night to play golf. Since they are barred from normal golfing greens, they tee off...from someones front lawn...and play across the city to a designated position elsewhere in the city where a temporary hole has been placed. It's basically mini-putt-putt golf, on a city scale. On the way they have to deal with the many, many obstacles that will be encountered - balls that land in pools, in people's backards, gutters, rooftops, that crash through car windows, etc, etc. It looks like a lot of fun. I hope I get to work in it.

So, yesterday. Saturday night I stayed up quite late and drank sake. At some point I had the brilliant idea, "Hey, this bottle is so close to being empty, why don't I finish it?" This kind of thought got me in to a lot of trouble later on when suddenly I was too drunk to remember what I was doing, where I was going...at the time I was playing WoW and had promised to put together some items with my smithing skills for Raziri to disenchant. I don't remember what happened. I remember getting on to the gryphon to fly to eastern plaguelands. Then it was suddenly the next day and I was in bed, still fully clothed. When rational thought returned to me and I discovered it was...hmm...seven hours later, I realised 'omg, Anna was waiting for this stuff.' So I got up and farmed the thorium I needed and mailed them off to her. Luckily I was spared Raziri's epic wrath, and Malachiel lives for another day. Eventually his usefullness will expire and that will be it for him. So it goes.

This took me to about noon, when I suddenly remembered, 'Oh, I was doing something Sunday...' CRAP! I had forgotten I had the filming starting in an hour. My house was a mess! The original plan was I was going to help with the filming, then there would be a three hour break, and I was going to clean up/shower during the break, and then the second part of the filming would take place in my bedroom. What actually happened was that filming took a lot longer than expected, and then they rolled straight over to my house and...oh God, I had cups and cans and bits of paper and dirty laundry everywhere. I managed to clean it all up in about five minutes, but it was so embarassing.

The actual filming was a lot of fun. I was manning the b-camera, while Mick had the a-camera (because he knew what he was doing). You can see some of the photos as well as the script and some other goodies at that site. As you can see, I need a hair cut and a shave. The not-shaving was deliberate; it's intended that my character (Jackie. OK. I am seriously being typecast in all of these things. Lords and Ladies? My characters are sex crazed wizard/evil coachman thug/various gender confused evil elves. Aside from the wizard (A young Ridcully), all of those character suffered injuries and/or death (Coachman: Knee to groin. Elf 1: Stabbed in gut by Queen Magrat. Elf 2: Head crushed by angry Librarian. Elf x: Number of small rolls in production that also involved various crushing and/or stabbing deaths, also, one especially fun 'crossbow headshot'. OK! As You Like it - Evil mobster Brutus. Later, wrestler Charles who likes the mens more than the ladies. Later, beaten and probably killed by the main actor, Thorrin aka Orlando. Exception: Corin the sheepherder was NOT evil or sex crazed. In this current film, I am evil. It's so much fun. But just once I would like to be a) not evil and b) not scantily clad) have some kind of defining feature to make me obviously older than Jamie, my younger brother (apparently). Obviously at 2x years old, Jackie is still living at home, so, it's a little embarassing for him. However, I really do need a hair cut. My last day of working out the front for Donut King is Wednesday. I will look forward to not having to wear pink again. So, hair cut will be Friday afternoon or on the weekend.

I never know what to say to a hairdresser when she says, "So, how do you want me to cut your hair?" Tips are appreciated.

My main role on the day was to provide a second camera angle and also for stereo audio. We did several takes (maybe five or six) for each shot and later Rodney will go through and pick out the ones he likes best. We did this for the main shots of Jamie leaving the school and arriving again, and for a couple of shots as he walked through the streets. Later I put on some shoes and pants that the pursuer will be wearing and they took a few shots of me being menacing and evil. Much later on...oh someone is here. brb.

Ok. My plans for the day are now "Parents are here, do stuff." So, I'll add more later...