arite, arite, arite...

first things first, sinatra is blasting away as i wake up on this fine morning.

just wanted to put in a quick director's file entry that i actually wrote on a piece of paper on the 18th. check it out.

my brother was flipping through channels and he stopped to watch "The Sandlot".

I immediately started paying attention to the way this film is shot.

It's quite interesting how slapstick-y some of the framing, blocking, and sound is.

here's an example i picked up on. i assure you that there are many more.

we see a low-angle medium close-up shot from behind a young boy.

we see the outline of his shoulders and head. beyond his frame, is a seemingly gigantic fence.

we hear dog-barking and immediately we are lead to the exact place the director wants us.

it's an interesting way to "fake it". it's also a good way to say something with limited resources. the director was very effective in communicating his message.

another thing, i wrote about this a week ago but never put it online...

i've been paying more attention to the way people speak. no, that doesn't mean i'm walking around eavesdropping. well, it might BUT, i don't actually care about WHAT they are saying. just HOW they speak. When I took STAGES at North a few years back, we had to do an exercise like this. I learned a lot from it then. To this day, I still find myself thinking about that stuff. I mean, it's something I can still learn from. As someone who is not extremely confident in writing realistic dialogue, it allows me to pick up on patterns and other subtlties of common speech.

anyway, that's all for now.

write again soon.

e

sinatra is great...

if there is ever a morning that i think is going to suck, i put on some sinatra and all of a sudden, that morning just sucks a little less.

can't help but feel inspired by him.

work and stuff

so i've been seriously neglecting this thing. sorry bout that. time to catch up a bit.

since september, i've been cutting promo's for artists like Shontelle, Hinder, Lloyd, Fatman Scoop, and some others. it's been keeping me pretty busy (and pretty antisocial) but i need the money. i'm also shooting a promo for Caitlin Krisko as she records some new material.

i'm saving up. i turn 21 at the end of this month and it'd be a dream come true to buy a SCARLET. you can find out more about this camera on their website... www.red.com
it's pretty phemonenal technology, and the owner is only continuing to hype it.
he has created an open forum online where fans can speculate about their upcoming announcement. the owner has a way with words... "Come Nov. 13th you will hear more than you ever expected... then you will have to wait again (for delivery). The message will be more than you could have ever dreamed. Then the wait will be..." he likes to leave us all on the edge of our seats.

anyway, this past weekend, i helped out on a music video. It was being directed by Randy Scott Slavin, who is family, and has been my mentor for many years. The video was for semi-newly-signed Atlantic Records recording artist Ryan Star. He has his Atlantic debut coming out in 2009 titled "11:59" and the video was for the song that'll prolly be the first single... "Right Now"
The shoot was a lot of fun. I'm not the only one who felt this way. Can't wait to see a cut.

last thing - i'm gonna start using this blog to post some things for my directing class. as an ongoing assignment, we're supposed to make a "director's file". in essence, a blog of noteworthy observations and such things made as a director. first thing of note is this website... http://www.gointothestory.com/ it's moderated by a fairly successful screenwriter and is a great place to read useful and relevent material.

gotta get back to work. talk soon.

e

oh yeah... i bought two domain names. sites will be coming soon.
just waiting on some web developers i've been in talks with.

www.westeggproductions.com
www.eSpotFilms.com

www.rstar.net

at the start of july 08, i had 3 videos on my youtube account.

i now have 21 posted.

check it out.

www.youtube.com/nopr03lem

oh yeah, i'm also being featured on www.rstar.net

ballin'

e

Sept 11, 2008

Sorry I haven't written in a long time. I'm going to try to start writing regularly again. In my screen directing class, I've been asked to keep a "director's file". Since it's meant to be kept like a journal, I'll prolly use this as a means to share what I find.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, I feel that it's appropriate to write today, September 11, 2008.

It's been seven years since one of the most shocking, and tragic days of my life - the day I realized the vulnerability of New York, and furthermore, the United States of America.

It was a really scary day. I was sitting in my high school's library. The TV Studio I had helped build was located in the back room, so it was my usual hangout during my free time. They had a TV with basic cable for the library staff and I remember hearing the gasps. I thought it was a joke at first. I guess that was just an optimistic hope. Ten minutes later, my eyes were glued to the TV and quickly starting to water. I wasn't the only one. Everyone was shocked by the horrible thought. They were innocent people just spending a normal day at work. They probably ate breakfast the same way they did the day before. It's unimaginable. Well, it was unimaginable seven years ago. In reacting to this day of horror, we, as a country, united in declaring a war on terror. It seems like the country has been on a steady decline since. The war, amongst other things, has drained our economy. A country, once united in an effort to survive and rebuild is now united in counting down the days til our president leaves office.

It's been seven years and I'm still hoping every day that we'll get through it.

e

p.s: those of you that know me know that i'm not interested in politics. i have, though, started to think about this election and i simply don't wanna write about it. the honest reason why is because I personally don't have faith in either pair. like i said above, i'm just hoping we get through this gigantic hole we're in.

been kinda sick all week.

it sucks.

gotta try and do work.

gr.

my last post was my creative writing assignment.

it was a paper i'm pretty proud of.

unfortunately, it offended someone close to me so i took it off the web.

sorry if i disappointed.

e

rochester

just spent the weekend in rochester taping the band, Walri.

they're awesome. i highly recommend 'em. i'll post videos as soon as they're cut.

unfortunately, i got back from rochester a lil off my game. been feeling kinda sick.

hopefully tomorrow will be a better day than today was. i'll write again soon.

(possibly even later tonight if i do my creative writing assignment and post it)

e

I LOVE NEW YORK

if theres one thing i learned in cali, it's how much i love new york.

just kidding, kinda. i mean, i def did think that but i learned a ton more than just that.

anyway, it's been almost a week that i've been home now and it's been intense.

i'm taking 9 credits over (five-week-long) session two.  BizLawII, Creative Writing, and Math. 

Frankly, I feel pretty good about the semester I can say I'm now 20% done with.

Anyway, I've got a lot of things in motion right now. 

hunter, my (untitled) short film from cali, freelance gigs, and some other surprises.

it's all pretty exciting and i can't wait to share more. for now tho, that's all i'm gonna give ya.

i go to rochester tomorrow to shoot the legend, Amos Rosenstein's new band, Walri.

i got a writing assignment to do this weekend. when it's done, i may post it. we'll see.

e

Goodbye Cali...

and so, four weeks later, the trip is winding down.

it's now friday morning, july 18.

zach is on his way to the airport as i write.

tomorrow, i'll be leaving as well.

sunday, luke and beth will take off.

as i think about the last month, it becomes hard to single out any defining moment.

as the spring semester at hunter was coming to a close, i found myself thinking about LA.

i needed to come out here. i needed to see what its like.

all in all, i'm glad i made the trip.

it's been a learning experience on all fronts.

i think i'm coming out of here with a lot that i can be proud of.

it's been fun, LA. 

See ya in January!

e

The video you've all been waitin for!

ME V.S ZACH!

zach goldstein knows...

so zach hasn't showered in about 6.5 days...

we're about to start day 2 of his shoot. we shot his first day on friday.

friday night, we had more close calls than we could count. 

we had 3 seperate run-in's with cops - two of them for jay-walking. 

who would've thought? (no worries tho, no tickets or fines were issued) 

the car's headlights might have been left on by soMEone. 

as a result, we had the pleasure of looking for a jump at 2AM in downtown Pasadena. 

Luckily, we found a drunk mexican gent with the attitude "today you, tomorrow me".

Did I mention it took an hour to find the lot we were in?

They all look the same! I swear it!

TO REWIND FOR A SECOND, between friday morning (shoot) and friday night (pasadena), we had an EPIC roman candle fight. VIDEO COMING SOON! KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED!

Yesterday, we went to Laguna Beach. 

It was a really good time/ much needed stretch of the legs.

Originally, we were gonna go to Venice Beach.

After a night of drinking, we decided to sleep late and Laguna is closer. 

In the end, we concluded Laguna is Great Neck if it were a beach town.

Anyway, last thing. We've decided to push Zach to produce an online segment called "Zach Goldstein Knows..." You see, Zach Goldstein DOES know EVERYTHING. Don't you dare tell him any different! He knows dammit! (this segment will never happen but it's officially a running joke)

ANYWAY, off to the desert. catch y'all later.

HOME IN A WEEK!

e

that's a wrap => hollywood

today was pretty fuckin awesome...

the class took a trip to hollywood.

we were on a mission.

first, Plaster City Digital Post. Chief Knowledge Officer Michael Cioni gave us a tour of his top notch facility. Aside from all the standard post-house items, he has the premiere RED camera post-production house. He showed us a montage of RED test footage that blew everyone away. It was incredible!

After, EFILM Digital Laboratories. This place has 14 Arri Laser Printers. Those things make 35mm screen prints from digital footage. In addition, we watched a demo reel with footage from camera's of every quality from DV to 2K.

Both studio tours were really informative and fun.

Before leaving Hollywood, we went to the famous PINK'S. It was okay.

In other news, I finished filming my short on Wednesday. The day went smoothly.

I'm hoping to have a rough cut of the short film before I leave California.

Zach starts shooting his film tomorrow. He had a plasma cannon built. It's pretty cool.

We're probably gonna go to Venice Beach on Saturday. Haven't been to the beach here yet.

tons of shit to be excited for. this weekend will be a lot of fun.

happy 24th birthday to my brother, Corey. 

check out his music at www.myspace.com/CoreyJay

write again soon.

e

BIG DAY, BIG NIGHT, BIG DAY, SLEEP, BIG DAY, SLEEP, BIG DAY, SLEEP, BIG DAY, SLEEP

So... it's the fourth of July. 

Pretty important date. 

To start, theirs that independence thing.

It's also a week til my brother's 24th birthday.

Lastly, it's the start of an INSANELY BUSY EXTENDED WEEKEND...

===>Today was Master Lucas Reibstein's first shoot day. 

We shot about 60% of his film today from 9am-6pm. 

I shot behind the scenes stuff. Twas fun.

When we wrapped for the day at 6pm, I bought and popped off some cheap champagne. :-/

After catching our breaths from the long day of shooting, we went out to see some TNT.

It was like walking through a minefield. Fireworks were going off left and right.

==>Tomorrow, I have my first day of shooting. The plan is to get the hard stuff out of the way.

I'll be shooting a scene inside of a moving car... 

Yes, We're using a car mount. 

Yes, it's gonna be awesome.

We're also shooting some stuff at the hotel. 

I've requested some pretty tricky lighting though.

===>Sunday, Luke will finish shooting his short.

==>Monday, I shoot the rest of my short.

===>Tuesday, I've been cast as the male lead in Paul's short.

Paul's a first grade teacher in Compton that is in our class for the summer.

He's a super cool dude. He grew up in Hawaii and has always loved film.

==> After Tuesday, we'll have a couple days of class before Zach starts shooting his short.

So far, it's been a lot of work and just the right amount of play. 

For now, I've still got my sanity. Check me again after Monday.

e

preliminary casting session complete. final casting far from. WALL-E!!!!

so this morning we did a little bit of casting. we saw some good actors and actresses but remain far from done. we still have lots of people to meet with in the coming week.

after casting, we took a ride to pasadena to meet up with lukes buddy, louie. very cool kid. used to work for NASA and stuff. the four of us (louie, zach, luke, and i) went to see Wall-E.

honest review of Wall-E: two thumbs up.

made me feel like a little kid. was really innocent and cute yet thought-provoking.

taught me that a cute lil robot can save the world from turning into new jersey.

after Wall-E, we grabbed a couple of brews at the "The Yard House". supposedly this place has the worlds greatest amount of beers on tap with 250. not sure if i believe that. 

can anyone tell me differently? please do.

either way, i had a beer called 'Delirium Tremens' which was quite tasty and then had an even better drinxperience with 'Spanish Peaks Honey Raspberry Ale'.

It's been a good, relaxing day. 

Tomorrow, I get thrown back into the madness of a work-filled week of pre-production.

time to get to bed.

e

CASTING IN PROGRESS...

i've posted an ad on craigslist... i've gotten a bunch of replies already. really excited. 

i'll write more later.

e

BLOGSITE #22299754

i've done xanga, livejournal, myspace blogs, and all that good shit. time to make a blogspot.

in my endless search for the blogging site that sates my needs and keeps me hungry for blogging AND, dare i say it, maybe even Vlogging!?!

I've been in Los Angeles for about a week now. I'm out here til July 21st making films in HD. Luckily, I didn't come out here alone. I'm here with two of my buddies, Zach and Luke. both cool dudes...

Over the next 3.5 weeks, we'll each shoot and direct a short film in High Def. We started writing earlier this week and have been steadily taking the steps through pre-preproduction since.

I hope to post pictures, stories, and updates on this blog. Maybe even a webisode, if not, some movie clips of our adventures.

After I leave L.A, I will try to keep this thing alive but for now, Enjoy!

miss the east coast a shit ton.

-e