Script Update

Unfortunately I have very little to report on the script front. I have had very little time to actually sit down and think about anything except the many tasks directly in front of me. Such is the life of a dad. I am settling into my new gig routine and am hoping to make some significant inroads into further polishing my masterpiece in the coming weeks.

Guilty

Yes I am very guilty- for the few that may read this blog, my brief hiatus could have foreboded another extended period of silence, but really, I have been very busy. After Aniya was ill two weekends ago, both my wife and I also fell sick- the wife was up all night either last Mon or Tues which meant I also did not get a lot of sleep. I also worked like a mad dog this past weekend- all day Saturday and then I pulled a double working on hoops and did not return home until 7:30 am Sunday morning.

On a more positive note, I have been shooting video for my Converse spec. The footage I have captured is much different than what I initially had in mind, but this is also the process of art. There may be a few more shots I need to capture, but I have enough to start editing and figure out what I may be missing, if anything at all.

For the record, I would like a shot of my daughter sleeping either next to, wearing, or being somehow protected/watched by the Converse shoes- let's see if I really need this shot once I get into the edit.

Weekend Update

The weekend was good- apart from being up most of Friday night since Aniya was sick and not getting nearly enough sleep after my long work day Thursday, it was a great weekend. I also got some shooting done for the spec commercials- I think I have two good commercials in the pipes- one for Converse and the other for either Trek or Giro bike helmets. I probably shot half of the footage I would need for both specs, but I would also prefer to get more footage when the light was better- the weekend the light was very flat as it was cloudy both days.

Aniya's Midnight Emergency

At around 1:42am, I heard a frantic "Ro, I need you now"!

I rushed upstairs to find my daughter throwing up all over my wife.

After using a couple of towels, a quick rinse off for both Aniya and wife, and a trip to the basement to wash away the evidence, Aniya is doing much better and on her way back to sleep.

Being a parent obviously entails a lot of firsts, and tonight, it was the first time that Aniya threw up, except for when she was just months old with her occasional breast milk eruptions. I am glad that it was just vomit and not something more serious, but it was still scary and my body is still pumping from 20 minutes of extreme concern I just experienced.

We have no idea why or what triggered the vomit attack, but we hope that it is and will be a one-off my worry is slowly subsiding - hopefully it is and will be a one-off event.

Finally a day off

The Travel Show is finally over! It also means that today was a day off, but it was over before I even knew it. In the end, I worked 18 hours on Thursday- came in to work at 9 am and did not leave until just before 3 am Friday morning- it was a grind but I think the show came out looking great.

I did have to get up early to walk Gabru this morning so I spent part of the day in a bit of a haze, but I feel great now and very excited that I have the entire weekend ahead of me! It's also supposed to be beautiful- hopefully the opportunity to shoot part or all of my spec commercials presents itself.

Still Working Too Hard

I am still getting killed by this edit job finishing this Travel Channel Show. I was actually late this morning- slept through my body clock. My wife and kid are upstate yesterday, today, and tomorrow. As a result, I had no natural alarm clock in the form of wife, baby, or dog to wake me bright and early as usual. I only woke up at 10:34 AM after my wife called saying that my producer was looking for me. I think I managed to get to work by 11:30 which is quite remarkable.

I was supposed to be there at 10. It's the first time ever. Really.

Grey Day

Today was a very gray day. There was a little snow on the ground this morning and it snowed off and on all day. We just had a quiet relaxing day at home for a change- both my wife and I took naps during the day when my daughter was napping.

A grey day also means I didnt shoot anything with my daughter either. I could have- but I would rather use natural light and even shoot a little outside when it's sunny and the opportunity really didnt present itself either. I guess I shouldn't be surprised I haven't completed a spec commercial yet.

It's all about this coming Thurs-Fri which are not only supposed to be warm days, but they are also 2 days I am not working!

Tough Week

This past week was basically a hell week at work- just a ton of hours during which I managed to get a horrible head cold. I probably had a slight fever sometime between Wed-Fri but the worst was that I had to pick up lines of VO for the show and I was so stuffed up I sound horrible.

For a little more info of what I am working on at work- I am finishing an episode of Exteme Destinations for the Travel Channel. I am working on the episode about workplaces- some very cool digs indeed. It made me think about the tiny offices I sometimes work in and realize there are some really cool places to work. The producer is awesome and the show turned out really good as well. We have three more fix days this next week and the show should be done. In the edit world, shows and edits can over for days and days at a time. My first job in NY was actually only supposed to be a two week gig- it wound up being a six or seven week edit.

Brain dead

The script and writing are coming along well, but tonight, I am completely brain dead. At the last minute, I was offerred and accepted an edit job finishing a show. What that really means is that I was signing on to the last week of a television show where all the final touches, changes, and adjustments must be made. Generally, there are a lot of changes, which is standard, but as a fresh editor who has never seen the show or the material, it is a difficult task to catch up and fix segments that you have never seen.

It is just part of the territory- I went into it knowing the week could be like this. Hopefully the worst is over and I can get some writing in tomorrow night.

Shoe Spec Commercial

The weekend was not as productive as I would have liked, but I did begin to shoot some b-roll for one of the shoe commercials. It wasn't much, but there was decent light in my daughter's room this morning so I arranged all of her shoes on the dresser and shot b-roll- pans, close-ups - the usual stuff... as for how the commercial will actually go it is anyone's guess- whatever idea I have in mind will most likely never reach the silver screen. Instead, it will depend more on the day I choose to shoot and just what particular mood my daughter might be in- I plan on being inspired by my daughter's actions and I will adjust on the fly.

Script Update

Script is coming along slowly but surely. The blog process did really help me out- simply by forcing me to organize the story linearly when I wanted to explain to people the idea. As it turns out, I was not so far off the mark- most of the scenes were in the correct order. The problem, it turns out, was that I was jotting down/ noting/ writing scenes as they came into my head, irrelevant of order. I knew that these moments were good and deserved to be considered for the film, but by doing so, the sheer number of ideas and notes somewhat overwhelmed me and I felt a little lost as to where the beginning, middle, and end was.

My job from here is to start from the beginning and make another pass at the whole script and refine scenes that have already been written and then add new ones to help the story make sense.
It will be the third or fourth pass in what will probably wind up being a 20-25 pass script, maybe even more.

Another commercial idea

I may have mentioned that Aniya really likes to wear her bike helmet as an article of clothing. Tonight, she found her helmet tucked away in the closet and wore it around the house for the next hour - running up and down the hall and bouncing around like a 2 year old should, and it got me thinking.

Wouldn't a great commercial for a bike helmet be for all the uses one can get out of the helmet not even on the bike?? She uses it for horse back riding, riding in her stroller, it protects her when she runs into the wall (for fun), and just looks pretty cute on her! The end page tag for the commercial could be "Giro. Protecting you one kid at a time"

That slogan I am sure is used by a very large and recognizable company, but for me, that tag will work fine. I am trying to produce and edit and have almost 10 commercials to my credit. All of the commercials will be on youtube and all the free video websites I can put them on to generate any type of buzz and exposure. I have to keep the dream alive.