Production Updates, Announcements and the Monday Movie Meme

After a brief hiatus, The Monday Movie Meme will return in two weeks, on January 28th. I’ve also narrowed the potential editors for my short film down to two guys, so one will hopefully be selected by this weekend. I’m currently logging (hours of) footage -- a tedious and sometimes frustrating, but necessary, task so as to aid in a smooth post-production process.

I’ve been assigned to devour the Oscars for The Lamb sometime between now and February 24th. I have to cover the Best Original Score category, so that should be fun.

Also, remember when I participated in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge last spring? Well,  a few months ago, I accepted an invitation to become a host for this year’s A to Z Challenge! That means I am among the 12 co-hosts for the 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge headed by the main host and founder, Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out. There are lots of administrative, organizing, developing, monitoring and general oversight duties that goes along with the hosting position but rather than bore you all with those details, I’m going to sum up the fun and most important part of this event...

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is an annual blogathon that takes place in April where bloggers here and abroad post a blog every day centered on a different letter of the alphabet. Since its inception, the A to Z Challenge has been growing by the number of participants each year. There were well over 1,700 participants in 2012 and this year is expected to be bigger than ever. Anyone (yes, including YOU) can participate. More details can be found at the A to Z Blog. The sign-up list opens on January 30th.

Here are the Co-Hosts for the 2013 A to Z Challenge:

Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out
Tina Downey at Life is Good
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro Zombie
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0
Matthew MacNish at The QQQE
Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought Too Small
Nicole Ayers at The Madlab Post
Livia Peterson at Leave It to Livia
L. Diane Wolf at Spunk on a Stick

Last but not least, I will be introducing you all to the cast (and maybe a few crew members as well) of my short film, in the coming weeks. I also realized that the King Dong series slipped my mind over the holidays, so we will be revamping that as well. If there are any actors who you would like to nominate for a spotlight, let me know and I will get on it as soon as I can.

As always, thanks for reading. You guys (and gals) rock!

The Daniel Craig “Method” of Filming a Scene - Do Whatever Works! #indiefilm

"Method actors suggest that you do sense memory exercises every time you do a scene. I use every method I can. Whatever works, I'll use." - Daniel Craig on his nameless role in the gangster film "Layer Cake."

While initially shooting the main scenes for a short motion picture that I’m working on, it has become obvious that some of the rules taught in schools and books about production need not apply to this particular project. Blocking scenes -- an often essential part of the moviemaking process, is one of these rules. Most filmmakers, film professors and related experts will probably tell you that blocking is necessary for everyone including cast and crew to know where to stand or which directions to move in a scene.

Yes, blocking makes things move quicker and easier since people know how they are going to fulfill whatever role they’re playing (acting, makeup, focus pulling, cinematography, etc.) in the production. I won’t deny that. Blocking can also cause confusion, divides focus and lead to actors forgetting other important parts of the scene, such as the dialogue -- something that was brought to my attention this month. On this current project, I’ve started to realize that sometimes, blocking is not a useful method for which to set up some of the scenes that we’re shooting.

British actor Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond in “Skyfall” does not adhere to one particular method of preparing for a movie scene. Instead, Craig utilizes whatever helps him get into character for the particular role and production that he is involved in. Perhaps, it would do many filmmakers some good to take a page from his book of setups and preparation -- including me.

For the most part, it does not matter how you get to your destination, so long as you make it there. What started out to be so simple in concept became a little more involved than I anticipated. Now, I must adapt and adjust where necessary to make sure that the bigger picture is not lost in the shadows of minor details like whether a guy sips his cup of tea before or after he walks through a door. It doesn’t really fucking matter -- just get him moving; and no, this scenario is not from the production I’m in the middle of now. That would be too easy.

Thank You all for visiting and interacting with this blog. I know that it’s behind on the Monday Movie Meme (let’s just skip this week, ok?) and the King Dong series among other posts. I will do what I can to keep this thing going and not lose my mind in the process.

If you have any requests with regards to these blog series or any others (movie cocktails, reviews, festivals, events, interviews, etc.), feel free to send them my way.

Fears, Filmmaking and the Jeremy Renner Factor

Actor Jeremy Renner who stars in "The Town," “The Bourne Legacy” and “The Avengers” won't be held back by fear -- not his and especially not anyone else’s.

Jeremy Renner at "The Bourne Legacy" Premiere. Photo by Eva Rinaldi"That emotion conquers love, and that makes me sad." [After years analyzing the roots of his own fear] "finding out what I was afraid of, what stops you in life, what gets in the way." - "Fear is just not a part of my life -- so much so that if it's involved in somebody else's life and they're close to me, I won't be around them." - Jeremy Renner (in The Hollywood Reporter)

One of the most important takeaways from Jeremy Renner's quote about fear is not that it merely gets in the way of living life, but rather, how the presence of fear in others can stifle our own path -- if we allow it.

Knowing that fear holds us back, it seems senseless to adopt the attitudes and beliefs of people who try their best to convince us that we cannot achieve certain goals -- when deep down, they are probably insecure about or unsatisfied with their own shortcomings, complacency or disappointments with how life is turning out for them. These people are dream killers who would rather see their fellow man down and out than bear witness to someone, somewhere, actually making it!

So, identifying the solution is pretty simple, right? Just change the people that you are around and in doing so, your circumstances and outlook on goals will likely improve. A big problem arises, however, when the fear isn't coming from an outside source. How do we solve the problem of being our own worse enemy? This question has been ever present in my life recently, as I find that all of the pieces of my short film puzzle aren't fitting together the way I want them to.

I've wondered if I should just hang the whole thing up, if maybe I'm not supposed to make movies - or even direct them. I've wondered whether I'm meant to pursue another unrelated field in the arts or change my direction and start over in an entirely different industry altogether. I'm also aware, however, that many of my doubts regarding filmmaking stem from fears that were created by no one other than me.

Consistency in execution, particularly, making the visual interpretation of my script be just as good, if not better, than the screenplay that I think I took way too long to complete is a fear that grows with every setback, door closed, budgetary limitation and lost day that I experience while trying to get this movie off the ground.

I have no interest in making a movie just to make one or to be able to say I made one. I want to make a movie that elicits the same enthusiasm as the screenplay from which it is based upon. If that cannot be done, then I don't even want to bother making it. That's just it though -- we can't predict the future, so in the case of my film, I'll never know what kind of results or audience response will come from the production unless I keep it moving either beyond or through any fears and stay out of my own way.

Its much more productive to operate from a place of unrelenting ambition or forward thinking than it is to operate from a place of fear. Adopting the latter mindset makes us much more likely to fail and even critically acclaimed, award-winning Actors such as Denzel Washington knows that the quickest way to guarantee failure is by not trying to succeed at whatever it is that you want to accomplish -- whether that be in entertainment, sports, business, parenting, spiritual growth, relationships, dieting and nutrition, traveling, education or any other part of life that tickles your fancy. So, failure is not an option and I can put efforts into staying away from all of the fear inducing, dream-killing people in the world but I still cannot run from myself.

What are your thoughts on fear?

Have you adopted someone else’s (a parent, neighbor, family member, friend, co-worker, etc.) fears? If so, has it helped or hindered your life in some way?

Has fear ever prevented you from participating in a recreational activity, traveling to a particular destination or pursuing something of personal or professional interest?

Jeremy Renner is the October 2012 King Dong. He succeeds Gerard Butler on the throne.