Projects
Posted by RD | August 30, 2011 12:00 pm
Ongoing Projects and Things indie ...
This Project Page will be a more timely blog of weekly What's Happenin's, and I'll try to provide updates to current ongoing projects.
fyi ... A New Contest has been announced for The Gunrunner Billy Kane. There are two parts to the contest. There will be one person selected for the Desperado role, and there will also be a Guest Director selected who will direct that scene for the final cut of the film. Click the link at the right to find out more.
Currently I have a few things in development, including film and writing (screenwriting and novels which I hope to someday film) ... some of them are collaborations with my brother Bill, an indie director and founder of CiAO, The Consortium of indies, Artistes and Others. This local film group is based in Chico, CA with more than 100 members and associates throughout California.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Posted Thursday 15 September 2011
Finished both shoots and back in Chico.
Fly
On Saturday 9/10 I was at Lake Oroville at 7am for the shoot for Fly. Chris Madrigal, producer had access to a small boat. Loaded up gear and five people, headed for the location, about 5-10 minute boat ride, not far. Beached and unloaded. Back in the boat, and back about a hundred yards to a drop off point next to this very large shale rock sticking up out of the water at the shoreline. It went up for about 80-100 feet would be my best guesstimate. Tall, anyway.
As the boat approached shore, I jumped off the front to the sand. Which also had rocks. One of which my foot hit and I took my first fall of the day. As I was getting up, I turned and the boat was headed for my head. I think the guys on board thought I might die right then... (( haha, j/k )). I did have to fend off the boat to stop it hitting me in the head. I got up, was fine, I'd just lost my balance on the damn rocks - everyone was taking spills up to the rock - along a very small very wind-y trail through a lot of brush (two gouges, two good scratches on my calf).
Then ... The Rock.
The rock was about 40-50 feet high on the shore side. We literally did rock climbing (with no gear), finding hand- and footholds to the top. The view was amazing. Up there for nearly an hour shooting the scenes. Had a great time, great crew, Tanis did a great job.
Clown's Funeral
On Sunday 9/11 (no I did not "celebrate" 9/11, I think we need to get OVER it - it's been 10 years!) -- Brother Bill and I went to San Francisco for Clown's Funeral. Stayed at the Monarch Hotel. It's a nice little boutique hotel, but the manager's are assholes and the wifi sucks. If you can get past that and don't mind sitting in the lobby with your computer, it's great inexpensive hotel and close to everything. Plus, $20 all day parking is literally right next door.Monday morning to the Victoria Theater @ 16th and Mission. Beautiful old theater, original brick walls (with steel beams built inside to hold the building together). Started getting into makeup. Lorenzo did my hair (about an hour), and Inna did my makeup (also an hour or more). Into costume and ready to go. We started shooting my scenes (some involved falling backward onto a pad). Filmed all day, finished up about 6pm and went to get a hotel.
Stayed the nite at the Holiday Inn on Vaness. Very nice hotel, a bit pricey - $200 a nite - but well worth it. Great room, good restaurant with veggie sammiches and salads. Starbucks is right next door (in with a bank so closed early as are mostly things in the Tenderloin - I think that's still Tenderloin - but open very early next morning). I had a veggie burger with swiss and a salad, Bill had just a veggie burger no cheese (he's vegan, I'm just veggie).
Tuesday morning up, checked out and to the theater. Today, we crewed all day for CF. Bill handled the slate most of/all day Monday and Tuesday. Nina and Vi seemed very happy to have Bill there... he has an excellent eye for detail and continuity and helped there a bit. Bill also carries at least a couple of boxes of stuff around that might be needed on an indie set - from duct tape to safety pins to paint to headphones. Turned out Vi needed a second set of headphones and Bill had them at the ready.I got to be a PA all day (production assistant/gofer/do-this-do-that) - and 'music coordinator' for the song while Sean was doing his young Clown stuff on camera (great job) - and extra for a couple of scenes, and stand in for Leo the Magician a few times. That was messy but you'll have to see the film to see why.
Great day !! Long, tiring, my feet hurt lol ... but tons of fun!! Wrapped about 6pm again, packed and cleaned the theater, and got out of there around 730p I'm guessing. And back to Chico.
Thank you !! Nina and Vi and Chris for letting me (and Bill) participate in the film. It was a wonderful experience.
Posted Weds 7 September
Two shoots coming up soon. Fly is scheduled for Saturday the 10th at Lake Oroville. Apparently we'll be heading out on a boat for awhile, to the location we'll be shooting, near some large rock. My part is only a "walk-on" but I have a feeling I'm going to be stuck out there all day.
Clown's Funeral shoots next week. My shoot day is Monday.
I have to be there Sunday afternoon for rehearsals. We shoot Monday. I'm hoping to stay Tuesday and possibly Wednesday to watch more of the film being shot. Always up for a learning experience.
Finally finishing my tv series, Searchers. I've been playing close attention to a lot of programs lately, especially Sci-Fi. Even to the point of timing how long each scene is, watching for the act structure.
It felt like my act structure was off, so I've done some significant rewrites on the latest draft. I originally started writing Episode 1 ('The Temple') for an hour show. Epi 1 and Episode 2 ('The Temple - conclusion') have now been combined into the (approx.) one and a half to two-hour pilot. The third episode ('Raptor Rex') is written but needs a bit of work to finish it out. I've also been shifting some scenes into episodes I and II for more continuity into Episode 3.
I love writing this, and I've started on two of the short projects Bill and I are developing. Wish I was a bit more disciplined about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Posted Thursday 1 September
Reposted from Facebook :: Popeye Theophilus Barrnumb
Ten Phases of Indie Filmmaking
1. Development: "I know! Let's put on a show!"2. Wild (irrational) Enthusiasm
3. Pre-Production by the Few, or the One
4. Disillusionment -- (And then, Reality set in...)
5. Production: PANIC! (and Hysteria while you're at it)
6. Search for the Guilty
7. Punish the Hardworking and Innocent
8. Post-Production: Where did everyone go?
9. Praise, Honor, and Reward the Nonparticipants & Non-Involved
10. We have a Film!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Currently In Production ~
A Clown's Funeral
– shooting: Monday 9/12 through Friday 9/16 in the Bay AreaA Clown's Funeral is my fourth indie film project (chronologically). I play Henry, The Old Clown.
Nina Tsang, the director, was working on A Midsummer Nightmare - The Betrayal, and during a break she mentioned to me that she was getting ready to film her Master's thesis film project. She asked me to be involved and I enthusiastically said yes.
This particular version is not the original version she asked me to do. For various reasons some changes were made. However, I believe she still wants to do the original film as she wrote it and I hope she keeps me in mind for the same role of Henry.
My shoot date is scheduled for Monday September 12, 2011. Vitalie Ungureanu, DP/cinematographer on Midsummer, is also shooting this one. I'm hoping that I'll be staying another day or two if possible for some of the remaining shoot to watch the process. My brother Bill is going down also. We take any advantage to watch and learn the various aspects of indie film; from makeup, to shot setup and lighting, to directing. Inna Mathews is doing makeup. Mine I think is particularly good. Thanks Inna.
Help the Director, Nina Tsang, with her fundraising efforts at indiegogo! Thanks ...
Fly
Fly is my fifth indie film, a production of Not Quite Hollywood in Chico, CA – a film by Shawn Dyer. Fly is currently shooting on weekends in and around Chico. My shoot day is Saturday September 10, at or near the Limesaddle Marina on Lake Oroville. I play the Spectator. It's a small walk-on part I was asked to do.~ Currently In Development ~
MEMEMEME
This 5-10 minute comedy short film was inspired by a story told to me by a couple of cool guys I met out in the desert once. Bill and I are thinking it could, possibly, maybe sorta make a good webseries. It's about the life of a lonely, somewhat socially-inept state park ranger who has been sent to live and work in a remote campground area of Northern California. As the camping season unfolds, we meet the (sometimes stranger) people he encounters who are going camping for some of the most interesting reasons.
I'm hoping we might be able to collaborate on this project (or others) with Matthew Maitland, an actor near Los Angeles whom I met while in the casting contest for Gunrunner Billy Kane. Bill and I have also discussed it might be interesting to collaborate with others who might like to try writing an episode, or be involved in some other way. If you're interested in somehow working with a potential webseries, please go to the Contact page (the top menu) and send me a note about it.
Creators: Robert Donnelly (Producer/writer) and Popeye Theophilus Barrnumb (Director/writer)A Mojave Green Production in association with Stone Faux Productions
Welcome
(working title)
— A SciFi web series with Paranormal themes about a man who has lost his memory, is being pursued by several people, and to whom very strange
things occur along the way.
We're not going to say much more than that here.
Creators: Popeye Theophilus Barrnumb (Director) and Robert Donnelly (Principal/Producer)
[in development]
Jack Sparrow: Xombie Hunter
— What does a wanna-be indie filmmaker do after the Xombie Apocalypse?
An entry for the 6:66 Horror Film Competition
Creator: Popeye Theophilus Barrnumb (Writer/Director); Robert Donnelly (Principal)
[in development]
Make It Stop, Please
(working title)
— A 30-minute documentary about discrimination, harassment and retaliation against Federal Employees in the United
States Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior.
Produced by: Popeye Theophilus Barrnumb, Lesa L. Donnelly and Robert Donnelly; Written
by Robert Donnelly and Popeye Theophilus Barrnumb
[in development]
Searchers
Searchers is a Sci Fi television series that has been a few years in the writing. It is scripted in a one-hour format, and currently I have the 2-hour pilot episode completed. A third 60-minute episode is written but not completed as yet.
I have always hoped it might be picked up by HBO or Showtime, or in the alternative SyFy Channel; in the least alternative, one of the cable networks.
Right now, I need to get the last bit done and Get an Agent... anyone know any agents?
