Downshifting to Second

Someone once told me that I use a lot of car-analogies. I find that they help explain abstracts to a confusing idea- like taking that slow turn so you don't spin out of control. I slipped that one in on purpose.

In anycase, the production goes on. This weekend, originally scheduled for a night shoot on a motel parking lot, is being used for some rehearsal time with our two leads, Laron and Katherine and a supporting actor, Chris Harvey. There are a few dramatic elements that I wanted to address in two totally different situations, plus it will be fun working with the actors to flesh out their characters. I'm excited, and I'm sure they are too.

An old friend of mine (who is a graphic design professor at a local college) asked if it would be okay for his students to design a poster/dvd/logo for our movie. He told me I didn't need to use any of it if I didn't want, but I said "Hey, you never know what some of these students can do!" I am covered on the graphic design end (being a professional and all), I'm not stingy- if somebody comes up with something that will knock my socks off, I'll probably use it. It's always great for a beginner's portfolio anyway. He had referred our fantastic Jennie Finlayson... so I always trust Josh.

Well, lots of work ahead. More as it comes in!

J.Maestas
Writer/Director "Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions/Black Hawk Entertainment, Inc.
www.lostskies.com

Lock and Reload

Since production is idoling (I hesitate to say "on-hold" because we are still getting shot elements together and earning money to shoot it- it may be volunteer but it still costs money to do these things), I've taken advantage of the cancelled dates to start writing again.

Many artists call it "filling up the well". There's a tendency for your imagination to build up a tunnel vision when you become focused on one thing for too long, that when you need to shift gears you stall out. I have been wanting to finish Corner of the Mind's Eye's script to a feature length version for some time, but I became heavily involved in pre-production of the short for months on end. Now, while injuries heal and non-COTME obligations are fulfilled, I have began exploring where the main character will go as his whole perception of the world unravels before his eyes... and it ain't pretty.

New characters, locations and plotlines emerge weaving a sinister web of conspiracy and mystery. Crowfoot has become the linchpin- and by unwittingly pulling himself out of the structure both sides of the conspiracy panic as all they have worked for begins to crumble.

Meanwhile, in the real-world, we've taken a strategic retreat to regroup. I realize I am being vague about "injuries" and "obligations" but really, it's to protect the privacy of those involved. No one needs to know the personal business of others, right? It is frustrating, I admit, but hey, like John Lennon said in his song "Beautiful Boy" - "life happens while you're making other plans" (I probably mangled the song title and the verse, but you get the point).

What some call obsticles, I prefer to call challenges. I like challenges, it makes things interesting. If it were easy, everybody would be doing it, and it's the challenge that makes it great. It's the challenge that makes everyone involved great. It's the challenge that will show on screen as passion for the art, and THAT is what will make this film truely great.

I know this- deep, deep down in the marrow of my bones.

So, what's the point to all this rhetoric? Well, it's the great big question of "How long is the wait?" The short answer is two-fold; soon before the cold sets in (like within a month), OR if we miss that mark, next spring.

The long answer is no one wants to have their name on something that turns out like crap because it is rushed. I know that when I rush an illustration, it looks like crap. When I rush a script, it's confusing and boring. It really is the old axiom: Fast, good or cheap- pick two. Well, we have no money and it HAS to be good... so there you go.

In the meantime, like an insomniac, take advantage of your sleeplessness seeing it as an opportunity to catch up on your reading and refill the well.

J.Maestas
Writer/Director "Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions/Black Hawk Entertainment, Inc.
www.lostskies.com

Production Week Three: Bring a Psychic to Work Day

Holy Cow! What an intense day. I was on set for 11 1/2 hours- from set up to tear down.

The talent here in Utah is incredible, and I mean cast and crew.

We shot the entire day at KTVX news studios on the second floor. I owe an extremely large THANK YOU to General Manager David D'Antuono, whose generosity in letting us use the KTVX studio for these scenes will give Corner of the Mind's Eye a very high production value. Once the film is finished, we hope to show Corner of the Mind's Eye on their public access station "The Hive TV". To the left, we can see Doug Guibord, Don Spainhower and Lisa Briggs on set in the “Senator’s Office.” A bit of behind the scenes, here: Don was one of the first Television Anchors and Reporters here in Utah back in the 60’s. His stately manner was perfect for “the man pulling all the strings“.

A huge thanks to Doug Guibord and Lisa Briggs for sticking around and helping with crew duties. Doug is one of the premier fencing artists in the state, and Lisa’s enthusiasm for filmmaking really brought the energy level up on the scenes.

A huge thanks to Chinyere Interational for sending a few of their highly talented people: Kosuke Aoki, Christina Cooper and Gregory Augustin. They are are very talented and we expect them to go far in the entertainment field.

Thank you to Nikki Moe, Kelly Hiatt, Yolanda Arrey, Jessie & Jaymi Hampton for their involvement, patience, talent and grace. We had a lot of fun and Tracy even had twins Jaymi and Jessie Hampton play a trick on me by shouting "we'll be your Huckleberry Girls" in unison as Crowfoot strode past them during the office scene. It was funny... but paybacks, Tracy... paybacks... ;)

All were patient and excited, and their responded well to staging the scene and hit all their marks, and played up on any improved stuff we did.

Then there’s Walter Platz and Laron Wilson. Walt and Laron came in the night before to shoot some “secret monitor” video (as you can see in the senator’s monitor here as 1st AD Todd McGowan dresses the set) and rehearsed a very dramatic scene between Crowfoot and his boss Aberly. The heat he got out of that scene, which we shot in HD yesterday, was very dramatic. Their lines were mouthfuls, but they strode through it with power and intensity. We had some explosive scenes with Walt throwing his weight around, and I even offered him a doughnut for his efforts : ) (Tracy about lost it when I offered him one, though it was meant innocent enough). Walt is a great talent, and you can hear him as a radio announcer on Saturday mornings. Walt and Laron have another scene that needs to be shot in the near future. Laron rocked as usual.

The crew, what can I say. These are my peeps. What a great bunch, I have such an affinity for all of them. Allison McGowan came on set and was instrumental as my personal assistant, taking my calls and corralling cast and crew members, and even gaffing in one of our more complicated dolly-shot scenes. Todd McGowan- the locomotive, or is he motivated-loco? He’s great and tireless. Jennie Finlayson was first after me on set and of course was fantastic in everything I asked her to do. Matt Hamblin- willing to get his hands dirty and definitely helped out with some of the graphic needs that needed to be done, gripping, lights, and everything in between.

Special thanks to Wade Francom who came in and did a fun steadi-cam shot for us. I’ve worked with Wade before on pre-production for American Junkie. Also a huge thanks to Sandi Raines who helped with getting the agent’s badges put together.

Then there’s the one and only Tracy Smith- watching him work the JVC-HD camera is like watching a concert violinist play a concerto. It’s some of the coolest stuff I’ve ever seen.

And then there’s my wife Charlotte, again, being patient with my unavailability during these shoots- feeding us and just being the doll she is.

Due to a non-film related injury for one of our lead actors and work schedules of some of our crew, production is on hold until Tracy and I can come up with a new plan of attack. We still want to wrap production no later than the first of November. With that, next week's Diner Scene has been postponed until further notice.

Many of our elements and resources are coming together, however. I have secured an RV for a travelling "homebase" for cast and crew services when we're out on location. It’s older, but it has been rebuilt inside and out and looks as good as it did the day it rolled out the factory. Tracy and Brian have secured the JVC HD camera for the rest of production. We're facing challenges, but we're meeting them head on.

Get ready, ‘cause here we come.

J.Maestas
Writer/Director “Corner of the Mind’s Eye”
Lost Skies Productions / Black Hawk Entertainement, Inc.
www.lostskies.com

Production Week Two: A day at the Crowfoot's

Wow. All I can say is wow. I will get to why in a minute.

We covered quite a bit of unusual set ups today. Crowfoot is a widower, so we needed to generate memories today through home video. The actors improv-ed all the home video footage and actually handled the camera themselves.

With that, we had 2 set ups at the park with Allison McGowan (Nadine Crowfoot) and Laron Wilson (Joseph Crowfoot), and 2 at “Frank & Rosie’s” house. Here we see (from the left) Kayla Maestas (Kayla Crowfoot), Niki Pace (Rosie Crowfoot) and Allison McGowan enjoying a break during set prep for the upcoming night scenes.

After lunch, two of the scenes were night scenes, so we draped off the windows. The scenes were far more formal since they were scripted. As you can see by the pictures, no easy feat! Brian Gerber, from One World Media Productions played spider-man by draping off this kitchen window which is a good 15 feet up. Helping him was our 1st AD Todd McGowan, making sure he didn’t fall (folks, don’t try this at home!). Looking on was Corinne Maestas, the director’s (my) daughter - who is one of Joseph Crowfoot‘s four nieces.

Laron Wilson and Albert Huerta (Frank Crowfoot) playing brothers, rehearse their lines, and the scene was extremely tender. The temp today was in the high ninety’s, and we had no real ventilation with the windows being taped off and we had to keep the air-conditioning off because of sound. So everyone was so professional and really pushed it beyond any limit we could have hoped for.

Amazing day. The children were fantastic and very natural. The actors, what can I say… with the quality of performance I’ve seen, we’re on our way to a very great movie. Plus, it was fun. Extremely fun.

Thank you to everyone who has come out- Haley Pardo (Haley Crowfoot), and her mother Heather Taylor- what fantastic people. Haley is quite talented, so don’t be surprised to see her become famous some day, and Heather pitched right in to help with so much of the behind the scenes stuff and for toughing out the rough scenes. Quite extraordinary to be sure.

Thank you to Allison McGowan for her charm, wit and inventiveness, Katherine Joan Taylor for her flair and complete immersion into her role, Niki Pace for her gracefulness and incredible sense of timing, Albert Huerta for his tender-heartedness and the ability to bring forth an empathy like no other, Laron Wilson for his utmost professionalism - man you rock!, my three daughters Kayla, Corinne and Sarah, who amazed everyone with how natural they were and how willing they were to take direction and have fun with the long day.

A great big huge thanks to the crew- Tracy Smith for his steady experience and guiding hand, Brian Gerber for his ingenuity and daring-do (and for using his head- literally- see right), Todd McGowan for his humorous tenacity and willingness to do the dirty jobs, Jennie Finlayson for her enthusiasm and willingness to do the mundane jobs, and last, and certainly not least, my wife Charlotte Maestas for feeding the crew, baby-wrangling, set-prep and putting up with me :) and she did this all with only four hours of sleep.

And with that, wow.

We had a scheduling change, so there will be no shoot next week. Our next shoot is the office scene on August 19th.

J.Maestas
Writer/Director "Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions/Black Hawk Entertainment
http://www.lostskies.com

Meet Chloe Saddler

Katherine Joan Taylor couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of Lost Skies Productions’ Corner of the Mind's Eye. She has been acting since she was nine years old, but only recently discovered her love of working on camera.

Her recent film credits include Roommates Rule for Canopus Films in New York City, and Dream Castle with Igloo Productions in Chicago. Other favorite roles include: “Lulu” in Theatre X’s The First Lulu and “Everyman” in an all-female cast of Everyman that was performed in Shanghai, China. It was the first time Everyman, a medieval morality play, was ever performed in China.

In Corner of the Mind's Eye, Katherine will be playing "Chloe Saddler", intrepid tabloid reporter who befriends Joseph Crowfoot after he rescues her from a vicious armed robbery in a roadside diner.

Katherine's interests include cooking, hiking, running, shooting big and small guns at paper targets, learning new things, and playing with her dogs, Petunia the Chihuahua and Bear the Rottweiler.