Long Enough To Have A Baby

It's been quite some time since I last posted anything. Nearly 9 months now. Hopefully, this post will help you catch up on a few things.

Shortly after my last post, I started my Digital Cinematography class in which we shot the short film "Tribute" written and Directed by my friend Edson Florez.

Long hours and plenty of hard work was put into this short considering we had to build and stock a convenience store. After only one day of lighting and building, we had two days to shoot. I personally think that we put together a great looking set and did a great job in preproduction. We had very few problems during principle photography and most everything went off without a problem. The biggest problem we ended up having was with our lead actor. A mere two days before principle photography was to begin, our intellectually challenged lead actor decided to "do his own stunt" on another shoot and ended up breaking his collar bone. Fantastic. We were able to secure a last minute replacement and our shoot, luckily, was back on track.

With that completed, we were able to start editing. We had one month get our edit completed and turned in which, to me, was ample time. At the end of the 4 weeks, we screened each edit and voted for the best. My friend, David Acampora, had decidedly the best edit and his was shown. In the end, I think there were a lot of problems with the movie and not everything was thought out before we started shooting despite the fact our preproduction went so smooth. In any event, you can decide for yourself.

Tribute from David Acampora on Vimeo.

Next up was Documentary Filmmaking. This class excited me because I had a wonderful idea for a documentary. I wanted to gain access to NASA's Kennedy Space Center and film a Shuttle Launch from a mere 3 miles away. We ended up agreeing that documenting the end of the Space Shuttle Program was the best possible subject considering that it ends next year. After painstakingly contacting every last person who works at NASA, we finally found out who can give us access to the Complex 39 Press Site. First, we needed news gathering credentials. This was taken care of by contacting PBS in Orlando. Rather enthusiastically, PBS agreed to sponsor our documentary and even show it on TV once it was completed. With everything in order, we submitted our applications for clearance to NASA and they were quickly accepted.

Not only did we get to wander around Complex 39 and meet some pretty cool people, we also got to drive straight up to the shuttle and take a picture. Not only that, but we got to meet up with Hubble IMAX 3D cinematographer James Neihouse. After a few quick questions, he agreed to become our Technical Advisor for our documentary considering he has put cameras in space. Quite impressive. James also took this picture of me and my crew standing in front of the Space Shuttle. Sweet. With everything in order, we started shooting. It quickly became the longest, most stressful week of my life. Starting at T minus 4 days, the crew, myself included, were only able to get around 10 hours of sleep over 5 days. Needless to say, it was exhausting. It was however, some of the most fun I have ever had in my life. The project, while the 7 minute version for class was completed and submitted, is still being worked on and will be completed early next year. The documentary will be submitted to Cannes Film Festival then move on from there to pretty much every film festival we can think of. For the time being though, here is the completed seven minute version that was submitted for class.

Grounded: The Future of NASA from Jordan Lanham on Vimeo.

Finally, let's look at what I have been up to for the past 4 weeks. I am currently in preproduction for my script "Precious Cargo". It's pretty much a pulp comic style space western in the same vein as "The American Astronaut". We just completed all of our paperwork and are currently working on building the set. While a lot has been done, we are still struggling to get everything ready for our shoot days next week. Not all my news is good new, however.

Last Monday, my apartment was robbed and all of my brand new film equipment (tripods, cameras, lenses, audio recorders, microphones, etc.) was stolen right from my living room. It wasn't exactly the best day of my life to begin with and when I got home I discovered I had been robbed. Wha-hoo. The police have been informed but I really don't think the equipment will ever be found. Which is kinda depressing. Hopefully, insurance will cover the gear and I can get most of this back.

Well, that's about everything. Hopefully you learned something from my experiences the past several months. I'll keep everyone updated as the time draws near for principle photography on "Precious Cargo"

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I'm Sorry Dave...

So it's been a long time since my last update. School has just been dominating my life. This is the first month in a long time that I have actually been able to sit down and do something I want to do.

I just finished my production Lighting I & II classes and I'm wishing I could go back. I was on set for up to 8 hours a day sometimes and really miss the sound stage.

Last night, however, was a good night. A friend of mine informed me that a local theater was playing 2001: A Space Odyssey. I had to go. Thankfully, he paid for my ticket and I headed out.

I rushed into the theater and sat down just as the movie started to play. The theater went completely silent as the opening music started to come up. It was an amazing sight. Watching 2001 on the big screen for the first time and finally watching a Stanley Kubrick movie for the first time in a theater was an awe inspiring sight. The colors were so vivid and the image looked like a painting.

Finally the end came and Dave was reborn. The music hit the high notes, blared through the speakers and I started to cry. This was something I have been wanting to see since I had first seen the movie ages ago on VHS in my friend AJ's basement.

I walked out of the theater in a trance and just didn't know what to say. It was amazing.

All I could do was cry...

Welcome to Florida

Well, I made it. A full 3 days of driving and almost a week of unpacking but I finally made it. I've had a few seminars over the week at school explaining the ins and outs. It's been pretty intense. I've also been to Cocoa Beach and Patrick AFB to visit my friend Mike. It's been an eventful week. However, it is now time for school.

Classes start tomorrow and I'm in for a long haul. Tomorrow I have class from 9.00 to 12.45 then on Saturday I have class from 9.00 to 17.00 (9:00AM to 5:00PM)! Oh joy.

I'll update everyone on Sunday. I'll be in Titusville Saturday night to watch the Space Shuttle launch. Hopefully I will have pictures or video for you all.

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Well, this is it. My final day in Fort Collins, Colorado. For the remainder of the day I will be packing my things and moving my life into the back of a U-Haul truck. I'm excited to be moving on with my life and striving toward my goals.

I am, however, saddened. For all the friends I have made over the years, be it Algiers, Discount Tire Co., MetroLux Theater, film friends, both local and in Denver, and others that I met in various places, I will miss you. We have shared so many memories throughout our time together and I will never forget them.

Tomorrow I will be leaving and driving for 3 straight days. I will do what I can to keep everyone updated. The next time you hear from me, I will be 1,900 miles away.

However, keep this in mind. This is not "goodbye", it is "see you later". I will be back in November around Thanksgiving and I want to see everyone.

But for now, see you all later.

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Autobot Rape

Several years ago I saw a rather ambiguous trailer for the Transformers movie. It was a mere 17 seconds of footage that depicted a Decepticon destroying the lost Mars rover. It sparked my interest but I still felt the movie would be campy, cheesy, and most of all, pretty damn lame. Well, nearly a year pasted before the movie was released and as I sat in the theater watching it, my preconceived notions were discarded. I thought to myself "this is not at all how I had envisioned this...". It had action, romance, drama and most of all, it had giant kick ass robots beating the shit out of each other. I enjoyed it.

Well, I sat in the theater tonight, waiting for the Paramount Logo and the ever so identifiable sound of the Autobots as the stars came flying at the screen. I got very excited. Then the movie actually started...

From the head of Reel 1 to the tail end of the print, I was in agony. The movie became everything I feared the first one would become. Allow me to elaborate.

It starts by describing the relationship the Autobots had with primitive humans and why we can find drawings of ancient spaceships on cave walls. It then foreshadows a war that would soon break out amongst the Autobots, the origins of the Decepticons. Fast foreward to present day.

Sam is preparing for school. He is leaving for college and ultimately decides not to take Bumblebee. I mean, who would want to take an awesome, beautiful 2009 Camero that also transforms into a robot to school? Not me. This occurs just after the kitchen appliances turn into Decepticons and attack him. Oh, and there is a dog humping another dog here somewhere. No joke. It is never brought up again.

Next scene: Sam arrives and school but leaves Meagan Fox behind. They plan on having a long distance relationship which Fox is hesatant about. Then Sam is attacked by a Decepticon that takes on human form and... wait, stop everything. Sam is attacked by a DECEPTICON that TAKES ON HUMAN FORM?! I'm pretty sure it is well established in Transformers' lore that the Autobots, evil or not, can only take on the form of machines. Apparently, I'm just dead wrong. Anyhow, he gets attacked / raped by this Decepticon Vixen and is chased around campus until she is finally destroyed with no explination of where the hell she came from or why she looks human. Oh and Sam's mother eats pot brownies in here somewhere.

Why are the Decepticons still after him? He finds a shard of the All Spark stuck in his jacket from the first movie and touches it. It transfers information into him which he interprets as a language of some sort. Why this never happened in the first movie is beyond me. He starts seeing symbols which causes him to apparently read extremely fast. It would put Johnny 5 to shame. Anyhow, its the information in his head the Decepticons want. Also, his room mate is, conveniently, a conspiracy theorist and is constantly looking for videos of giant robots.

Optimus find Sam and they head off on their great adventure. And then Optimus dies. Right after Megatron is brought back to life using a piece of the All Spark that was under lock and key in the most state of the art bunker with the most state of the art security systems. The Decepticons basically walk in and take it. And one of them is a puma or lion or something.

Well, a bunch of stuff happens and they end up meeting Agent Simmons from the first movie who ends up being the only person who annoyingly drives the "story" forward. He ends up sending everyone to Egypt to look for an item called "The Matrix" or something like that. Oh and Sam's parent's are captured while they are vacationing in Paris. Insert "another stupid robot joke about humping or someone being a bitch" here.

They get to Egypt and find out that the leader of the Decepticons, essentially Megatron's boss, has it in for the humans and he wants to destroy the sun using a machine he created on earth about 14,000 years ago. Before he could use it, though, the Primes steal the key to this machine and bury themselves in the desert, never to be found again. Some more stuff happens and they find The Matrix with the help of an old, and I mean personified as old, Autobot who turns out to be an SR-71 Black Bird. I'm not kidding. He walks with a cane and makes "You kids stay off my lawn" style comments. Who wrote this shit? Oh and another pointless shot of a small robot humping Meagan Fox's leg.

They discover that the Pyramids at Giza are actually hidding this sun killing machine and Megatron's boss, The Fallen, decides he needs to start it up. Sam ends up dying and then seeing the ghosts of the Primes who sacrificed themselves to... ok, really? He sees the GHOSTS of ROBOTS! And this SOMEHOW brings him back to life. He runs over to Optimus' body which has been transport to Egypt and he brings him back to life. Something about earning something and not just taking it. I don't know. This whole scene never made sense to me. Insert dramatic life and death scene with constant interruptions by 2 EXTREMELY annoying Autobots that are nothing more than the robotic versions of stereotypical gang-bangers. Pathetic. Please understand at this point that I am not racist, I only find it insulting that they would use a stereotype to base a character on. It reminded me of the crows in Dumbo, you know, the BLACK birds that spoke in a very stereotypical fashion. I'm sure the African American community was thrilled to see their people debased to jive talking, moronic robots.

Well, Optimus kicks The Fallen's ass and the movie ends. That's it. My biggest complaint?
Whatever semblence of a story the writters intended for the movie was completely lost with the constant interruption of dogs humping, high mothers, nonsense Decepticons, stupid jokes, and the general fact the EVERYONE IN THIS MOVIE PLAYED STUPID UNTIL THEY BECAME IMPORTANT! EVERYONE! If someone was not important to the scene, they provided the roll of the overused comic relief until the time came for them to say something important, then it was all business. What were the other characters doing at that point? SOMETHING STUPID or what Michael Bay sees as funny.

Fuck you, Michael. Fuck you.

2/10

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Start Picture

I looked at my calendar today and realized I only have 8 days until I leave for Florida to attend Full Sail University. For those of you just tuning in, my name is Jordan and in 2 weeks I will be starting my first, wonderful day of film school in sunny Winter Park, Florida.

Why did I create this blog? So people back home can see my progress and then laugh.

My passion for film started back in 1995 when I saw the film "Apollo 13". Not only was the movie well made, but it also struck a chord with my geeky, NASA side. I soon found myself attempting to create similar images using my parent's home video camera. To no avail, I moved onto Stop Motion Animation using clay figures and sets. My curiosity moved back to film as I started high school. I first tried my hand at acting and quickly realized I did not enjoy seeing myself on screen. I then moved behind the camera and directed my first movie entitled "Purdah". It ran over 20 minutes and was rather popular amongst my fellow classmates. I continued directing until my graduation in 2004, at which point I began to focus on my skills as a DP (Director of Photography). It was that summer that I DPed the short film "Flowering Moments of the Mind" which helped define my style as a cinematographer.

The summer of 2005 was spent in Estes Park, working as the "video guy" for a local sports summer camp. My work was so widely enjoyed, I started my own company with a good friend. We co-owned "Dream Weaver Productions" for over 2 years. The spring of 2006 began my first professional work. I DPed for the short film "Rain" which was shown at the Colorado Film School and discussed. The following spring brought over 15 shoots for which I gaffed. The most notable being "Le Chat Orange" which was recently selected for the "15 Minutes of Fame Festival of Shorts" in Palm Bay, Florida. That fall, I worked on the student film "Grave Mistake", the last for some time.

My film life became rather stagnent until last January when I began filming shorts with my friend Max. He and I created 4 short films that we intend on showing at various festivals. The most notable being "The Traveler" which premiered at a festival in Pheonix, Arizona.

That about sums it up. My past as a film maker condensed to a mere 3 paragraphs. Now it's full steam ahead. I don't know what the film industry will throw my way but...

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