sonnyboo

Yup. I’m still working a lot. I’m not even getting weekends off at all either. Not a lot of break in the routines. Last night I could have stopped working when I got home from the studio or I could finish the oft ignored ETERNAL teaser trailer for the Derek . I chose to work through it. I got ‘er done. I just screened the full 1080 file to the Derek and he was pleased. It’s just a teaser trailer, but I enjoyed the graphics work and some of the new FX work I put into it.



I purchased some software and tutorials from VideoCopilot.net and it has greatly modernized my After Effects work. I have not gone flare crazy with some of the specific elements, but I definitely got into the style of these because there are some graphics and animation styles I greatly admire and it’s easier to do now. I highly recommend VideoCopilot.net for anyone doing animation or titles (or any basic after effects/compositing) work.

Well, each day my prediction for the economy starts to move eerily closer to being reality. With $5 a gallon gas being predicted by July and the job market puckering up like a buttocks holding roll of quarters in a fraternity pledge initiation – we can expect things have not yet bottomed out.



Yesterday I shot the behind the scenes interviews with George for UNCLE PETE . By some fluke I asked him during the questioning if he wanted to do more and he said yes. I’m the one that wants to retire UNCLE PETE and not do anymore, but one thing I wanted in the originals that we never did was a sidekick character. I really wanted a puppet co-host and there just wasn’t the time to make that a reality. Now… that may be more possible than I thought, and in a way that will shake the foundations of the online movie world.

I stumbled on an idea that would take the UNCLE PETE series into a very very dark, scary place where most comedians won’t tread. Maybe we’ll do it, maybe we won’t but I ordered a puppet online today, so maybe we will. This idea might get national attention, not all of it good, but what the hell. Why not? I’m deeply inspired by Family Guy and South Park, so going in the direction of those fearless steps; I just might go for it. Stay tuned and maybe you’ll get wind of the new idea. Then again, I might not do it at all if something else enters my depth of field.

I have these two friends, Bret and Linda, who have always been on the cutting edge of discovering the new trends and obscure comedy, especially from the British Isles. One of the things they showed me from 2-3 years ago was GARTH MARENGHI’s DARKPLACE. I stumbled on some YouTube vids of this and it got me through a long day of mundane editing this past weekend. I’ve GOT to get the DVD’s of the whole series. It’s the most perfect spoof of 1980’s television I’ve ever seen. Classic, great humor. In the late 1990’s and the last few years, UK television has been more accessible to US audiences, whereas in the 1980’s and before that, it always seemed to be very niche and specific to colloquialisms and internal. With SPACED, THE OFFICE, SMOKING ROOM, and a few others, the universal humor has been cutting edge and very relatable.

The documentary looks to be finishing ahead of schedule in some areas, and a lot more work in others. I think we’ll be shooting “dramatic re-enactments” for some of the holes created by the edit and to make the story more visual. TJ’s animated stills in 3D are breathtaking. Even with over a hundred stills, it won’t be nearly enough. I’m hoping to have a 3-4 minute version to demo for the author in the next month or so. We’ve already got music from Arya of Chopin and with the first few animated stills, I feel confident that we’ll knock her socks off. I can feel the Emmy ™ in my hands within a year or so. Won’t that be a hoot? So I’ll be able to change my post script to Emmy™ Award Winning Filmmaker. I’m not a Cylon, but I still have a plan….I want an Emmy™ and I think I can get one for this project. I’ve already got a few thousand dollars invested in My Fiancé’s project and I am producing it with her.



I worked in a viewing of the original RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. I wish they had never made any sequels to this. The first one was perfection. So many real locations, and when they were on a sound stage, Norman Reynolds added so much realism to the production design (nonetheless Dougie Slocombe’s lighting of said stages). I have seen this movie hundreds of times (literally) and I only got “out” of the movie on one occasion where I realized how much they were cutting a scene months apart on 2 continents back and forth. It was seamless and perfect. I wish Hollywood would go more towards the “realism” of this first film and divert away from the overly fantastical elements like LARA CROFT or NATIONAL TREASURE crapfests.

I need some time off soon. If for nothing else than to relax and let my mind ease off the “work mode” of editing for other people. I’m not doing enough to keep my creativity alive. I have to start feeding the muse or she might starve. I have so much to write and prep, but I’m so convinced the economy is going to drop, that I keep putting it all off. Combine that with financially supporting my Sexy Fiancé, and that makes one hard workin’ narrator. At least money isn’t as much an issue as it once had been.

I’m still working and digitizing. I happened to have a break where one machine was burning DVD’s and the other was capturing a 79 minute tape. So I was able to jot these thoughts and ideas down for a bloggy blog.

Peace my friends. And may the good news be yours!

Peter John Ross
Sweating in the heat