Finally saw "Borat" last night on DVD. Funny movie for sure, but I also think it's a tad too mean spirited for my taste. Now, some of you who know me might think this an odd statement coming from my smartass mouth, but I did find some of the situations hard to watch (knowing the people he was interviewing weren't in on the joke). I much prefer mockumentaries like "This Is Spinal Tap" or even my film "Hit" where the main characters make fun of themselves - NOT other people.
But, all-in-all it was a very funny movie.
One really interesting thing to me as a filmmaker was the fact that the "film" was shot on HD video using the Panasonic Varicam. The HD was then transferred to film and I thought it looked great (we shot "Killing Down" on the Varicam). You could really see the difference when they'd cut to some of their "B" camera angles that were shot on smaller, consumer grade interlaced cameras and also when they showed the actual news cast footage that was also shot on interlaced video.
Panasonic didn't really promote the fact that the movie was shot on their camera I think partly due to the controversy surrounding it. Again, I thought it looked great and no one would know it didn't originate on film.
Check it out if you haven't seen it - and the DVD extras are good too - A LOT of deleted scenes that didn't make the final cut of the film.
-Blake
I'm in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico on a corporate editing gig. It's tough work, but someone's got to do it... :) See my edit setup below...
My laptop Avid is near the balcony so I can see view of ocean, etc.
A wide screen LCD TV was in room, so I'm using it as an edit monitor (nice!). 
And just in case my back gets sore I'm 3 feet away from a jumbo jacuzzi spa.
I'll be back in the States next week and focusing on my movies, but for now I'll enjoy Mexico and this "tough" editing gig. :)
-Blake
In the last few weeks I've been to Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Rico, Chicago and in about a week I go to Cancun, Mexico - then a few weeks later to Las Vegas. All these have been or are corporate video gigs. The Vegas trip is for NAB (National Association of Broadcasters). Why am I detailing this? Well, I haven't had much time to work on The Movie side of my life. Been trying to "make a living". :)
But, this weekend I have been able to work on the screenplay for my Next Movie. I've mentioned it a few times here, but still can't give aways too much info. I will soon - when the script is done. I can say it is going VERY WELL. I really like where the script is headed. The writer recently gave me the Final Draft file (been reading PDFs), so I've been tweaking and playing with it some. I find this easier sometimes. Just do it yourself instead of giving pages of notes. It's been a great collaboration and I think it's going to be really good.
If all goes well I hope to shoot in late summer or early fall. We'll see. Things take time and cost money. Time I have...
-Blake
Click link below for the latest TXMPA Newsletter:
http://www.txmpa.org/newsletters/February_2007_TXMPA_Issue_3.pdf
Did you know?
• The current number one at the box
office, Ghost Rider, takes place in
Texas, but was shot in Australia.
• “The business is leaving Texas for
other states.” Lt. Gov. David
Dewhurst
• New Mexico’s incentive program was
worth about $8 million four years ago.
Now, it’s in excess of $450 million.
-Blake
Here's a link to a PDF of the film schedule on the AFI Dallas website:
http://www.afidallas.com/docs/Final_AFIDIFF_QG_07.pdf
This looks to be a well organized, well thought out, and well, a nice looking event. I have several filmmaker friends with films in the festival.
David Maddox - "The Box" - screenings March 30 and 31
Bill Sebastian - "Midilothia" - screenings March 26 and 30
Jon Keeyes - "Living & Dying" screening March 27 and 31
Chris Hansen - "The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah" - screenings March 24 and 25
For more details about these screening and others please check out the schedule.
-Blake
