ENTERING THE THIRD DIMENSION (get your 3d glasses!)

I'm very excited today because in preperation for a brand new upcoming sci-fi epic that I'm about to shoot, I've gotten to follow in teh footsteps of some of the greatest filmmakers of our time and test out a 3D camera! I did a lot of different sorts of tests with Judy as the test subject. We hit a few rough spots, but overall, we gleaned a lot of important information that's really going to help make my film a success.

I can't believe how much I lucked out in getting this camera. I was afraid that the shooting schedule wasn't going to line up and we weren't going to be able to even make any movie! But luckily one I started working my producing magic, things really fell into place. Meeting the right actors helped too.

ENJOY THE 3D TESTS!

Casting is a window to other possible futures

Judy and I had a casting session for my new movie and it was an amazing and eye opening experience. If you have never had a casting session I think you should because it brings a completely new view to all of the things you hold to be sacred about the movies you love. When you see a number of talented actors and start to picture them in your film, possibillities start to shine in front of you. It is like WHAT IF I PICK THIS ACTOR? Or WHAT IF I PICK THAT ACTOR? You see the ways each actor could start to shape the final product and how they could make you change your mind about this character or that character or this scene or that scene.

I have been thinking a lot of quality writing techniques and sci-fi lately so here is a neat way of thinking about it = every actor is a possible choice and there are thousands of actors in the world. If you have two actors in your movie you could pick a thousand different actors for both of those! So you have thousands of options to do your one movie.

Then think about all of the movies you have scene and all of the actors in them like Vin Desel or Merol Streep. The movies would be totally different if the dad from HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS or the mom from HOME ALONE were in them instead! All of the movies you know and love could be completely different movies right!? It is a mind blowing idea and one that is very rearely discussed.

So when you go to a casting session and see all of the possibile choices, every one of those actors could be in it and they would make different results. Choosing an actor is one possibiliity from a list of choices and every other option would be a different future.

Casing is a window to see that future.

Kickstarter is forcing me to write spoilers!

What is this world coming to everyone?

I was putting together the kickstarter campaign for my new classic sci-fi epic I am working on, and it was pretty much ready to go. It struck the right balance of being informative to you, my reader, but not revealing to much information to make the movie not still excited.

So, I was ready to go, but I got this message back from the kickstarter people:

Hello Peter,Thanks for submitting your project to Kickstarter.Your project is looking good but there are a few things that you will need to work on before moving forward.Provide a more detailed plot synopsis. It's a good idea to provide as much information as possible about your project. Speak as clearly as you can regarding the project you hope to create and how you plan on achieving your goals.Provide a breakdown of what the funding will be used for. Providing clarity on how backers will be helping you will be important in your success.Once you've finished updating your project, let me know and I'll have another look!Regards, Zack I don't know what to think about this. I made some changes but i definately didn't want to. It got me thinking about all the movie trailers you see all the time. The Tom Cruise movies do it the worse, I think. They just tell you everything that happens in the movie before you see it, and you just leave the theater thinking about watching something on netflix or something because you don't know what those movies are about as much. I hate spoilers. Why would I want to reveal to you my plots and work when that's what you pay your money for?! I just can't stand it, and I would expect Kickstarter to respect my wishes as an artist more than they did. Maybe I will change the plot so no one will know. How do you feel about spoilers?!

Timers vs. Freedom

People like you and me are free. That is the concept of freedom but it is just a disguise for the truth. The sun comes up and down and the moon comes up and down and hours and minutes and seconds pass. Before you know it, days are over and then weeks and months and your life ends. So if you look at it that way time is actually the thing that keeps us from being free. This is pretty mind blowing stuff isn't it?! I have been thinking very artisticly today and this is something I have been working on.

But you know what really brings it to our attention is timers. Have you ever watched a clock countdown? It tick tocks over and over until the time is up and then you have to do the next thing (whatever the timer was going for). When the timer ends you are shocked back to having to do something else. In some ways if you think about it the timer ifeels like a rope that titens around your neck.

That is why I don't wear a watch and I try to pay very little attention to what time or day it is because I want to have that freedom of not having to realize the time and how that relates to freedom. I really recommend it. Lately I have been coming face to face with it (something about my grandmother but you may remember from last year I am not going to say much about that because I don't want her mad at me on the blog) quite a bit, and I remembered more than ever that I hate timers. I choose freedom over timers.

People say time is relative. But freedom is the opposite and it feels at least real if there are no timers!

Classic sci-fi epics

As you know by now I am working on a big new imaginitive sci-fi epic film that I will be writing/directing/acting in. In order to get it right from the ground up I have been doing some research into some of the classic sci-fi classics of the past. I think there are certan things that are very important to have in any quality film but especially on screen in a sci-fi fantasy world. You've got your evil villain figures (army generals on other planets, deranged mad gods, owners of specific infused crystals and all powerful gods are the most common types) and your classic heros (usually an earth originating man to make sure and capture the attention of the main audience for the movie, if you have never thought about that before), great environments and amazing costumes.

I am going to go right out there and say it, old sci-fi movies are flat out better than new ones and I thnk I have a theory for why that happened. First and formost Old sci-fi movies were made on really small budgets. Modern movies are made for millions of dollars, but the previous generation of movies were usually made on much smaller salaries and were much more creative because you can't just throw money at the problem when you dont have money! Second, the music was always really great and imaginitive like the music from Star Wars or Fraggle Rock, stuff you can sing for years and years. The costumes were also really expertly sewn by teams of seamstresses and designers that had a great variety of cloths that have since become rarer. Over time things are harder to do and now movies tend to use computers to achieve the results. I am exciting and enthusiastic about computers but that is because I still have a grass roots approach to my work and I am not throwing money at it. What I plan to do is use some of the modern resources and my indiependent spirit to bring a new take on the classic twist!

Here is a list of great classic sci-fi movies that I would recommend if you want to get prepared for what I am offerring:

• Star Wars (there are at least 3 of these)
• Star Trek (there are at least 10 of these)
• Planet of the Apes (both of them are good)
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (never seen it but it looks good)
• Soilent Green (I fell asleep during this one)
• Blade Runner (I feel asleep during this one too)
• Fraggle Rock (more of a TV show)

What is your favorite sci-fi movie?