Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to the gloriously glorious music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, his cello concerto, to be specific. And I feel we should have gloriously glorious music to accompany this important news flash: It is December. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is December, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that December will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. December is, for me and others, including dear reader Jane, a birthday month. It is also a holiday month what with Hanukkah and Christmas and other such things. And you know what I’ve been saying: Light and sanity, light and sanity, and, of course, Sanity Clause. We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com. Other than that, this music is so beautiful that it’s beautiful and a lovely way to end the fun and interesting day known as yesterday.
Yesterday was a fun and interesting day. I think I got around seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, maybe a bit more, but it was a restless sleep, as I had so much going on – you know, ABS, Active Brain Syndrome. Once up, I answered e-mails and there were a lot to answer, I believe we began shipping both Lolita, My Love and Irving Berlin Revisited – I do know we’re shipping all the US orders first, then the overseas, but there are a LOT to ship so I’m sure it will go out in waves all week. Then I relaxed, did some work on project two, shaved, had an egg on a bagel sandwich, and then it was time to mosey on over to the mail place, where I picked up some packages but no important envelope. I must say, I get quite nervous when it hasn’t arrived by now, but they usually send it around the 28th or 29th and if that was the case it might not have gotten here this fast – praying for today because with things as they are, we need all important envelopes to arrive on time. After that, I moseyed on over to the theater to shoot Doug’s holiday playlet. I got there early enough to go over all the lighting with our lighting guy, so that was good, we got everything set, and the cameraman got there at four-thirty. I told him what the first set-up would be, so he got ready for that. The actors also arrived then, I chose their wardrobe, and I must say, we took our first shot right at five, after walking the little scene first. I kept the shots very simple because it’s a simple piece and five hours is not a huge amount of time. We were able to make a nice two-shot master angle, and then two over-the-shoulder close-ups on our two actors, one of which I did at the same time that we did the two-shot, since we had two cameras. That saved a lot of time throughout. And we got the other close-up very quickly. I had to shoot all the scenes between those actors and one other first, because it’s a memory piece and an older version of the character remembering stuff. There were three little living room scenes, and we got all three pretty quickly, then there was an additional scene in a gym, which we had to just shoot against a black wall with a little lighting on it, since we didn’t have a gym.
Two of the actors were done after that, and our leading lady went and put on some older age type make-up and new wardrobe – that took about twenty minutes. Then we began the scenes between those two characters – the interviewer and our leading lady. Those set-ups were also very simple – a nicely composed two shot (which began wider and moved in on the first bit of action), and a close-up on the interviewer at the same time. There were five of those little scenes, only the first of which was of any real length. Then I shot our leading lady’s close-ups for each of those scenes. For her final shot, I went to a wider angle that featured both actresses, and slowly moved in on her final speech. That worked out really well, I think. That was it for the actors, and we took one final shot of the Christmas tree that will be the show’s final image. I also got a few insert shots just to have them. So, we got it all done in less than three-and-a-half hours and really more like three if you deduct the twenty-minute break for the new make-up and wardrobe. We also had a proper sound person, so that was good. Everything is being uploaded to Dropbox for our wonderful editor, Marshall Harvey.
Well, you see, I just had a long telephonic conversation and now I must hurry up and finish these here notes, mustn’t I? Yes, I must because to mustn’t isn’t an option. Where was I? Oh, yes, when I got home I ordered food from Granville – Uptown Mac-and-Cheese – chicken, asparagus, and mac-and-cheese. It arrived twenty minutes later and was great and a perfect capper. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched the first half of one of my all-time favorite motion pictures, The White Sheik, a film by Fellini, or a Fellini film, however you want to look at it. This is part of a new Fellini box set from Criterion, with mostly brand-new transfers – this one’s 1000% better than their horrible DVD version, which was way too dark and was missing two key title cards – end of part one, beginning of part two – those are thankfully in this new transfer. I have a UK DVD and there are a couple of things I have to check on it that seemed weird to me, but the new transfer is quite nice and I’m very pleased so far and so far I’m very pleased. Then I began these here notes, had the telephonic call, and now I must mush on.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll hopefully pick up an important envelope that I pray will arrive, I’ll eat something fun, I’ll work on project two, proof charts (we’re down to the final two after she finishes what she’s got), do some stuff for the Kritzerland show, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is more of the same – Kritzerland show stuff, shipping CDs, projects one and two stuff, and whatever else needs doing.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, hopefully pick up an important envelope and packages, eat, work on project two, proof charts, do Kritzerland show stuff, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Fellini – I pretty much love everything through 8 1/2 – after that, not so much. But I’ve always dutifully seen every film he’s made but his output just got too “Fellini” for me, frankly, whereas his first period of filmmaking is almost all perfection. Interested to hear your favorites. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we welcome December and pray for light and sanity, and, of course, it is my fervent hope and prayer that December will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. Now would be the perfect time for all of that.