SO...it's been a while since I've 'blogged'...let's see.
First, I guess I should talk about the production of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog LIVE I was involved with this summer. When I first heard it was happening I was so excited about it. I mean...it's DOCTOR HORRIBLE. The material is brilliant and not to boast or anything, but the music feels like it was written for me. I relished at the thought of the character work I would have if I were cast in the title role. And then when it happened my excitement gradual became muddled with fear, doubts, and anxiety. I mean...this is the perfect example of me 'biting off more than I could chew'. Hell. The whole production was like that. A lot of 'first timers'. And the drama. God the drama. Don't get me wrong...we pulled together a fabulous performance AND it was for a good cause. We raised money for Tornado victims. But holy dammit the road getting there was littered with bullshit and bear-traps. I have nothing but love and fuzzy thoughts for the production crew and cast but I swear to the Gods that I seriously wanted to strangle more than a few of them here and there. And none of it is personal. It's all because of the production. I cared for the production so much that when things weren't going right and it was the direct result of someone else's actions, or inaction, it boiled my blood a little bit. BUT...again...it did come together and I'm proud, as it were. It was certainly a humbling experience and I feel like it really helped me to grow in a multitude of ways and for me, that's what counts. I don't get involved with projects unless I'm going to get something out of it, and I don't mean compensation or any of monetary gain. I mean, the satisfy the gamer-geek in me, EXPERIENCE POINTS! And I feel like I 'leveled up'. Hopefully, the DVD we get from the performances will be worthwhile enough to look back on fondly. And if nothing else, my new nickname is 'The Doctor' and that's just a little bit of terrific in my book.
ConCarolinas came and went and was awesome. Made some great contacts there.
Hmmmm, let's see...OH YEAH! Did the 48Hour Film Project again this year. Went in with the Adrenalin Group as the writer and director. At the kickoff we all met and hung out, had a few beers until they started to genre drawing. When our turn came we got...wait for it...Period Piece, much to our team leader dismay(all of our dismay, really), so we went for the wild-card genre. From that drawing we got Drama. Woo. So, we went back to the hotel and I got to work, with good ol' Mr. Bill Mulligan and in a few hours we had a solid story and script. Our film, 'Broken', was about a man who inadvertently holds a restaurant full of people hostage when he goes in to murder his would-be girlfriend. The shoot was arduous. They say never work with animals or kids. And I know why now. But aside from some roughness here and there, we got it done and put together. We were also lucky enough to make it into the judges 'Best-of' list. Out of 42 films we made it to the top 19 which is pretty cool. We also walked away with the 'Best use of Prop Honorable Mention' Award, which is also pretty cool. All in all, it was good and I've had a few offers for spots on teams for next year. So...we'll see.
What else? Oh, I'm the First Minister of Personnel Engineering for the Steampunk Convention "Contemporal" happening in Durham next summer. That translates to 'Casting Director' for the Con. Okay...so Think: Renaissance fair. Renaissance fairs have a cast of characters and there is usually a story arc throughout the fair that fair goers get little glimpses of here and there. This Convention is going to work like that. The Convention will be a 'port' with an 'airship docked' at it and the various characters will be meandering therein interacting with one another and the con goers with a continuous story pervading the Convention. It should be fun. The group is cool and seem genuinely happy to have me on board, which is great. It's always nice to feel wanted and appreciated. Oh, and speaking of Steampunk I'm also assisting the production team for a Steampunk 'Much Ado About Nothing'. I'm building some props for them as well as lending a helping hand to the over-all design of the show.
Speaking of Conventions I'll be attending several more Horror/Sci-fi/Film conventions this and next year. As of now, I am a Special Guest for Con Nooga in Tennessee, again, and Mysticon in Virginia. That's exciting. I like that whole experience and hope to keep doing it more and more. I'll be submitting guest applications to several other cons as well. Once I get a few other projects under my belt I'm hoping to become a more desirable attendee.
Speaking of projects I'll be working with the MadOnes Film group of Greensboro in the near future. I've developed a solid rapport with the head of the group, Jaysen Buterin, as well as various others within their tight little network. They're all good guys. Funny, creative, and passionate. I look forward to working with them. Speaking of projects 'Perception' is still in post, currently, but should be done in another month's time, I think. We've got a new guy doing our digital effects named Steven Buono. He seems like a nice chap, talented too, and genuinely enthusiastic about the work. My lead, Kevin Teachey, who is also doing our score, got a boss new music program that sounds oh so sweet to my ears, so that's exciting. This year should be good in terms of work, just hoping some of these projects will pay off monetarily.
I think that just about does it.
http://www.madonesfilms.com/
http://www.stevmbuono.com/
http://contemporal.org/
