The Use of Metaphors

Hello readers!

Just got back yesterday from hiking up to Half Dome in Yosemite and what an experience! But more on that later.

Updates:

I recently signed up for a class offered at the San Francisco Film Society on how to apply for grants as an independent filmmaker. I'll be taking this course with my producer, Virginia, in November and hopefully this'll help me raise funds for production. However, from what I understand the application process for grants, even when you win them, takes a long time. Therefore, if I do get awarded grant money it most likely will go toward postproduction. Again, the money I'm trying to raise and or save now is going strictly to the production costs of the shoot. Many people forget that it requires a lot of time and money to edit, sound design, and do visual effects and or graphics to finish a movie properly. So I advise other budding filmmakers to take a course like this as grant money can be the difference between a shot movie and a finished movie.

As for an update on my promise to sacrifice certain things until the production is over, that's going well for the most part. I'm getting in really good shape, I haven't lost much weight but I know for sure that I'm getting my cardio stamina where it needs to be. Also, the battle with my addiction to soda is slow and steady. I seem to have leveled off to one soda a week. Nonetheless I hoping to go further and be able to say in a few weeks that I made it a whole month with out

it!

The camera which my DP, Jon, and I agree we're going to use for the feature may soon be within grasp. I'm currently researching what it would take to lease the camera and or buy it outright by splitting the cost three ways between Virginia, Jon, and myself. All three of us have a need for a quality HD video camera but don't want the heavy burden of buying it alone. So pooling our resources together would allow us each to use the camera when we need it while saving a us money and potentially earning us money.

Half Dome as my Metaphor

As you all probably know metaphors are often used in literature, speeches, theaters and movies to connect to seemingly different things and or topics to show a resemblance to one another. Well this weekend Half Dome was a metaphor for me and the journey I'm on to make my feature a reality. Here's the story.....

At the beginning of September my brother, Mike, asked me if I'd be willing to hike up to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite for his 35th birthday on the 27th of the month. He warned me that it was a grueling 17 mile hike and the last 500' were on a cable system which if not climbed right could mean certain death. Being the acrophobic person I am I kinda laughed and said he was crazy, but I didn't say no.

He gave me time to think it over and as I did I realized it'd be a great way to motivate me to get into shape as I promised I would for the sake of the movie project. Therefore, I accepted my brother's challenge/invitation and began training for the hike by doing three weekends in a row of 5-10 mile hikes. When I finished doing my 1st hike up Mt. Diablo I thought I was stupid to think I could do Half Dome. I was sore as hell! But after the 2nd Mt. Diablo hike I regained my confidence as I did it faster and wasn't as sore when done.

So Saturday the 26th we drove to Yosemite. It was me, my bro, and his good friend Cyrus. We camped that night in the valley and woke the next morning and began our day long adventure at 6:30am.

The first two miles of the hike were miserable! I don't know if it was the nerves, or the lack of sleep, or the banana I ate, all three but when we started I was fighting back the need to puke. Plus the first two miles were the most physically demanding of the hike. You climb tall stair after tall stair and it just annihilates your energy. Not 30 mins. in and I was thinking of quitting. There was no way I could do this all day. But something in my head just told me "DON'T GIVE UP!"

It sounds cheesy I know, but that saying and the fact I didn't want to ruin my brother's birthday wish compelled me to take the next step. So finally after about an hour and a half into the trek I started feeling better. I was the slowest one in our group, as we hired a guide to take us there and back, but damn it I was doing it!

We got to "Sub-Dome" around 1:30ish and there before me were the cables to the summit. The problem was, there was a traffic jam on them and we only had a limited time to reach the top or we'd be hiking back in the dark. So we didn't waste time and got in line and began the scariest part of the adventure. Did I mention I'm scared of heights?!? Again, the only thing that got me on those cables was not wanting to let down my bro or myself and the hard work I put into getting that far. So one by one we climbed.

About halfway up my back started to spaz, my feet were burning from the pressure, and the line was still moving much too slow. Mike, who was right behind me, started complaining that his arms were getting tired too. All these things you don't want when you're about 5 yards in each direction to certain death!

So my bro and I had to ask ourselves if we should just turn back or risk climbing to the top? Either decision did not look good for either of us at that point but we had to do something. Cyrus, like the madman that he is, said "Fuck this!" and went out the cable system and climbed it up along side it risking his life to beat the lines and make the summit. Which I'm happy to say he did.

My bro and I, on the other hand, decided we couldn't be that bold and turned around. We safely returned to the entrance to the cable system and sat wallowing in our defeat. I honestly held back tears thinking I'd ruined my brother's birthday wish and dream to make the top. We sat there a while, and suddenly Mike and I realized something. The line was a lot thinner. My bro picked up his bag and said "I'm going for it!" and I told him to "Do it!" I really wanted to follow him, but I something told me to stay back, which I did.

So like a rage induced Rambo, Mike tore it up those cables and got to the point we stopped at in about one minute, when it took us about 20! Next thing I know he's almost at the top, and then I couldn't see him anymore so I knew he had to have made it! I was relieved.

The guide recommended I get a head start going back down so I left, disappointed I didn't summit but proud nonetheless I made it that far.

The hike back was even longer that the hike there and after all the energy it took just to get to Sub-Dome, it knew it was going to be just as tough getting home. But we made good time, after my brother caught up to me I got a bit of a rush hearing about what he saw up top. I lived vicariously through his success.

We made it back to the car around 7pm, 12½ hours after we started. We did 18 miles total at an elevation change of about 5,000 feet for a total height of about 8,836 feet. This was by far the most physically demanding thing I've ever done in my life and the best part about it is that I was fully expecting to be immobile and energy-less the next morning. But to my surprise I felt better than I had in years. Two days later and I still feel great!

So what the hell does this have to do with the feature? Again, this trek was my metaphor for what I am and will go through to finish my movie. As of right now I'm doing the "training" similar to the pre-hikes I did before going to Yosemite. But the production will be much like getting to Half Dome. Full of hard, sometimes self doubting, work but I now know I have the mental focus to plow through whatever problem comes my way. I may not have gotten to the top, but I know now what I need to do to ensure I do it the next time. Which is precisely how I see this first feature film.

The film may not be a blockbuster success, but I know it'll be a major accomplishment nonetheless. Just like making it 99% of the way to Half Dome is nothing to laugh at either!

So there you go folks. Go out there and find your Half Dome! Then once you do use that to inspire you to follow your dream, whatever that is. You will never regret the hard work you put into hiking the path to your life's ambition.

FORWARD!!!!

-Gustavo

Food for Thought

Hello readers!

I must start off by saying this week was a bit crazy as many unexpected things prevented me from focusing on feature film stuff. So updates will be short this week.

Updates:

So looks like Love, Concord is in the lead for the title of the movie. Many of you posted comments on the blog, or emailed me, or Face Book messaged me your feelings and that title was overwhelmingly well received. However, before I sign off on it I'm going to do one last poll on a final list of contenders for this movie's name.

Organization is Key.

Part of why I have few updates to write about this week is because I took a paid gig on a shoot this past Thursday. I was basically a glorified photographer's assistant and a data manager on the shoot. What was being shot was photos for a shoe company's ad campaign and HD and 16mm footage for a behind the scenes/webisode type thing.

I started working at 7:30 am and didn't get off the clock until 12am. I worked 16 and a half hours on a shoot that was suppose to end by 9pm. Why did I slave away and work well past the time I was booked (besides wanting to be paid)? Because this shoot was one of the worst planned shoots I've ever been on.

For instance, at the first location of this production day there were about 10 models, 5 crew members, 3 make-up artist, and various staff members from the shoe company on the set and only one case of bottled water. Needless to say by 1pm we were out of water with no replacements in site. To add insult to injury, we were suppose to eat lunch at 1pm, did that happen on time? Nope! Not only that, but we didn't eat until around 5pm because we wrapped the first location 90 minutes late because the DP wouldn't hurry up! And no one put pressure on him to do so.

All this brings me to the point about how important a production's planning will determine it's success. Granted this one day shoot won't suffer much from running 14 hours versus 12, but imagine if this became a habit on a 6 day production week? Morale on the set would crash and burn.

Therefore, I want to insure my readers, and most importantly my crew, that I won't make the same mistakes. I can promise that my production will be meticulously planned as I wont' stand for wasting anyone's time.

And I especially won't ever starve my crew on my set. One thing I've always taken pride in is how well my crew is fed. I don't settle for crappy fast food or pizza every day like on other low budget movies. I serve up well catered meals both because it's my way of thanking the hard working volunteers and I'm a food snob. The only time pizza or junk food is served on my set is if it's a majority request or it's an unexpected emergency.

Returning to the topic of planning, this is one of the many things I taught my video students. In fact many of them were shocked as to how much pre-production paperwork I required before I green lit a production. But in the end many of them returned from their principal photography to exclaim how all the planning made a world of difference in the success of their shoot.

So allow me to teach you non-film folks a key position that makes a significant impact as to whether this happens or not. The position is called the 1st Assistant Director (1st AD). What's with the 1st in front of the title? I'll get to that in a moment. The 1st AD is in charge of running the set of a production. This person cracks the whip by getting all the different crew members, department heads, actors, etc. in and out of the set at the right time in a safe and efficient manner. They do this, among other managerial things, so the Director can focus on the important artistic decisions that need to be made on the set. Without a strong leading 1st AD a production will become a slow, inefficient mess.

Now, the 1st aspect in this position designates the level of command they have as there are more than one Assistant Director on a well run production. The second one would obviously be called the Second Assistant Director (2nd AD) but the third one is actually called the Second Second Assistant Director (2nd 2nd AD). Only rarely are there Third Assistant Directors, and it takes an epic film like the Lord of the Rings trilogy to necessitate that much. The lowest AD position on a movie is called an Additional Assistant Director, and again, are rare and only for movies with huge cast members and or production demands.

The importance of a strong 1st AD is one of the first concerns I brought to my Producer Virginia, but she has assured me she has thought of it also and how she thinks she'll be able to get someone to fill the position more close to the start of principal photography. Now that is a crew member I'm looking forward to profiling on the blog, until then we'll just have to wait patiently.

Well that wraps it up folks. Have a great week everyone and wish me luck on my hike up Half Dome this weekend.

Forward!

-Gustavo

Who Says Movie Making is Easy?

Hello readers!

Just got back from Mt. Diablo and boy are my legs tired! Well, got back Sunday but the legs are still feeling it.

Updates:

First off I got to give a big shout out to two people who've been busting their humps for the production, Monica Angulo and Angela Groppetti Kluver. Both have been hard at work searching for Concord High cheerleader uniforms from circa 1997 and have found three already! Monica has been emailing and Face Book messaging like crazy to find not only the cheer uniforms, but prom dresses from that era for the movie as well. She's also been feeding me tips on how to better market the movie and myself.

Angela has also presented her cheer coach talents to the production by offering to choreograph the background cheer leaders in a key scene of the movie. She has also mentioned being able to fill out the cheerleader extras with some of her actual students.

Awesome job ladies! Thank you!

Speaking of CHS I recently spoke to the current Principal about the possibility of shooting there next summer. The good news is he seemed open minded about the project. Plus, my biggest fear was he would say CHS would host summer school next year, but as of now he says it depends on the budget issues California has been having. The quasi bad news is he directed me to the permit request form on the school district website and it stipulates that the production would need an insurance bond. Yikes! So that's another hoop I'm going to have to jump through, eek. Any insurance specialist out there reading this? No, seriously email me: gguardado@gmail.com.

The final update is I've been meeting regularly with my producer Virginia and DP Jon and both have been giving me excellent feedback on the script. We've been focusing on logistics of scenes in the script and both have pointed out how I need to start scaling back my grandiose ideas. They've been very good about not simply agreeing with me, and that's vital. I honestly feel a director's success depends on his or her ability to work with people willing to disagree with them. It's like the emperor's new clothes, if no one says anything to critique you, you're gonna look bad (as an example I offer George Lucas's movies post divorce to Marcia Griffin, the only person who probably ever openly told him some of his ideas sucked).

Making Movie is Easy!

This is what I use to say on shoots in film school whenever we hit a seemingly insurmountable snag on a set. Mostly because I'm a smart ass, but also to remind the crew that movie making actually isn't easy; it takes hard work and sacrifice.

One of the first things I taught my video production students was "making movies is not for the faint at heart." The with a plethora of movies, TV, DVDs, and other visual media; people take for granted the work which went into making it. Sure, part of this is because people are not interested in knowing how movies and TV are made. However, a little curiosity to learn how artistic productions are created can lead to a better appreciation for the craft.

For instance, when I was shooting a project; I amazed a visitor to my set after explaining to him that the shoot we had been doing for three days was going to make up three scenes in a 15 minute movie.

To illustrate further; pick any movie in your DVD collection and realize that for every minute you see of the finished film on screen, the movie makers probably shot 10 more minutes you won't see.

One of my favorite quotes from film school was "It takes hard work even to make a bad movie!"; which couldn't more true. Good or bad, whenever you watch something in a theater or on your TV, you can be rest assured that many people worked long and hard to get it made.

To bring this full circle, working hard isn't limited to moviemaking. There's something about finishing a collaborative artistic effort that creates an uncommon bond. Whether it's the group effort to bring a play to life, shoot a movie, or TV show; when it's all said and done the experience teaches you something about yourself.

This is my way of encouraging those of you reading this to join me in my movie making adventure. Even if you come to watch for only a little bit, I promise the experience will not only teach you a lot about how a movie is made, but a lot about who you are as a person. I look forward to the new bonds that will be created, and cherish those with the people who are working on my production. I can't thank you all enough!

Lastly, I really need your help and thoughts on naming this darn movie of mine. The following are some recent ideas for a title and one of them I feel strongly in favor of (not gonna say which one). What I need is for you guys to tell me which of the titles jumps out at you positively on a gut instinct reaction. And which title do you like least. Oh and visualize the titles written in a funny 80's graphics type font. Feel free to share your thoughts and or title alterations on the comments board, or email me, Face Book message me, whatever is easiest. But please reply somehow, the lack of a title is killing me.

1. Love, Concord

2. Gerry's Conquered Love

3. Conquistador of Love

4. Diablo's Advocate

5. Gerry's Advocate

6. Playing Gerry's Advocate

Well that's all folks. Until next week.....

Forward!

-Gustavo

Painting with Moving Pictures

Hello readers!

Latest Updates:

My producer Virginia, my DP Jon, and I met last week to discuss the script which is in it's 4 draft. To be exact the latest draft is 4.2 (as Virginia pointed out, my draft system is very Mac-ish). We talked about some story issues it has, the loss of the Colosseum, and shortening it. Virginia made a very strong point that the current script is much too long. Therefore, as I begin writing draft 5.0 I will be eliminating scenes which are truly unnecessary and reducing dialogue wherever I can. Which will be difficult as I finally felt the script was at a place where it made sense plot-wise as well as character arch-wise.

We also decided to start meeting once a week as often as possible until the production begins to thoroughly prepare for the shoot in June.

Earlier that same day Jon and finally color corrected my latest short movie "Marta's Last Exit." What color correction is, is a what filmmakers do once the final cut has been done to perfect each and every shot of the film to look its utmost best. It's kind of like fixing your photos with photoshop or iPhoto, we either bring the highlights down or up, raise the contrast, sometimes we add or subtract a specific color all in the name of beautifying the shots to their best and making them match better as well.

I must say, while I was completely satisfied with the videography for "Marta's..." as it was straight from the camera, the color correction Jon and I did completely blew me away. I didn't think we could improve upon it, but now each shot looks so rich and clear I'm anxious to share it with an audience.

What's the next step for "Marta's...." well I'm glad you asked. I'm finishing up dialogue sound editing and then finally I'll be passing the project over to a sound designer. What the sound designer does is build the soundtrack with background effects, sweetens the original sound with added depth, and basically helps create the auditory environment we hear on and off screen.

And I'm happy to say my close and long time friend Peter Kerns, also a CHS grad, will be working on this for "Marta's...." Peter has been anxiously awaiting me to finish the cut of the film as he offered his services many months ago. So I'm happy to say I'm very close to passing the film to him and once the sound is done the only thing to remain will be mastering the film to an HD format and exhibiting it to a hopefully crowded audience.

Light and Motion:

Since, I mentioned earlier how I color corrected my latest short I thought I write about the "look" of the feature film. What's meant by that term is how the photography gives off a certain feeling that helps exploit the mood and emotional response the director wants out of its audience. Take a popular movie like Schindler's List for instance. They shot that in black and white in an era where 99% of Hollywood films were made in color. Why did they do that? To set the appropriate tone and mood to a very serious and dramatic movie.

Thus, this is an important consideration to be made about a movie before a single frame is shot. Being my movie is a dramedy it's tough to put a finger on how to best set the visual tone of humor mixed with tones of drama. But as it stands now I'm using movies like American Beauty and 500 Days of Summer as a basis of influence. Both are great examples of cinematography and both are dramedies, and both set a very high bar for Jon and I to achieve.

So if you want to get a some what of a sneak peek at what we aim to make my feature look like, watch those movies. Again, we won't have the budget to achieve some of the amazing feats of lighting and cinematography they did, but if all goes well our film's photography will have the same visual impact and emotional response on the viewer as theirs.

That's all for this week gang! Until next week.....

Forward!

-Gustavo

Mucho Amor!

Hello readers!

Wow! What an awesome turn out at the fundraiser! But first I must give extreme thanks to my producer Virginia and her mother Mary Anne for opening to their beautiful home to the event. I'll never forget their sincere generosity.

I also want to thank everyone who came and the many people who tried to come and still made donations and or gave me some moral support. There's more fundraisers to come so I'm sure everyone who wanted to come will have a chance to attend one. Here's a link to more photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17057609@N02/

So who won the prizes you ask? Well here's the list:

#6 DVD bundle: Jimmy Freeman

#5 Two movies passes: Megan Johnson

#4 An airbrush full body tan: Lisa Sullivan

#3 A one hour massage: Amanda Gillespie Baker

#2 A custom haircut and blow dry: Lisa Sullivan

#1 Grand Prize: William Sonoma wine decanter, bottle of Justin Siena wine, and tasting kit: Monica Angulo

So here's what happen at the fundraiser. Everyone who arrived was greeted with a warm plate of the delicious Mexican food my wife Sandra cooked and prepared. My mother made her famous Chirmol, a kind of Salvadoran Pico de gallo salsa, which everyone devoured.

After eating many people browsed my DVD collection and picked up excellent condition used movies at a fair price. People also helped out the cause by paying $1 for a game of pool which my producer Virginia conveniently had in her garage.

Next we screened my first short film I made at LMU "Chicas on the Way."

After the short I gave a brief presentation about the feature film project. The only new info I added in the presentation that hasn't been mentioned in the blog thus far is that I really need help with rounding up vehicles from the late 80's or early 90's to be used in the movie. I don't need them to lug equipment, they'll be used as "screen cars." Meaning they'll either be in the background or may be driven short distances by actors for a scene.

I also could use help with collecting prom dresses from circa 1997 so all you CHS classmates if you still have your dress and would be willing to loan it to the production please contact me!

After the presentation we did the raffle which was a lot of fun and exciting (see the pictures).

In between the major events I was lucky enough to socialize with all my friends and family who came. I also truly enjoyed meeting my producer Virginia's friends who came to show her and me support for the project. Out of these new introductions I may have found a few actors to play parts in the script as well as a potential crew member!

Lastly, most people went for seconds on the food as we had a lot and of course it was delicious!

The fundraiser raised over $400 from the raffle, DVD sales, and outright donations alone! I want to give a special mention to my mother Mila Calvo and brother Michael, who both donated a sizable amount of money on top of the $400. Other people made donations after the event as well so in total the production earned roughly $700!

This is amazing people! Thank you so much!

Now not to sound ungrateful and while $700 is a fantastic start, it's still not enough. Hence I'm hoping with your help the next event will be an even bigger success. To put things into perspective I've saved about $15,000 in the last 5 years for the project and I'm hoping to double that with a combination of applying to art grants, saving my personal earnings, and fundraising. So the goal is to reach $30,000 before the start of the shoot on June 13th 2010. The next fundraiser is scheduled for early November so keep posted for the precise date and time as we'll announce on the blog in the near future.

The Loss of a Location

So this week I want to talk about a location issue I'm having with the script. In the current and previous drafts of the script I had a scene that took place at an A's game in the Oakland Colosseum. When I wrote it I always heard a voice in my head that said "how the hell am I going to pull that off?" Well last week I finally went about trying to lock that location down. I contacted a very helpful person with the A's organization's media services department. She set about trying to grant the production permission to shoot their next summer and things seemed optimistic for a few days. But alas, yesterday she emailed me stating the minimum rental fee for the stadium would be $20,000! For an empty stadium!

Being that sum is 2/3 of my projected budget for my movie there's no way we'll be able to get the location. But all is not lost. In fact losing that location has allowed me to rethink the scene's importance and I've already come up with a solution that would not only be better financially, but story-wise it would make more sense.

The moral of the story here is sometimes having a very limited budget forces you to be more creative than if you had money to burn (ahem, cough: see Star Wars prequel trilogy). So all you fellow artists out there, use your defeats as way to improve your art instead of just letting it crush your spirits.

Well folks that's it for this week, I got a birthday to go out and celebrate so thanks again to everyone for the massive amount of love and support you're sending to me and the project! Next week I will be hopefully announcing a newly casted character and any other stuff that pops up. Until then....

FORWARD!

-Gustavo