What's up Blueroof Nation? I know it's been a couple of days since I've posted anything and I'm sorry about that. So let's get busy on the catch up. When last I left you, I was telling you about the concert on Thursday where I lost my keys. The next day was Friday and we were once more on set for Trapped in the woods. I called off Uncanny Fans and Astonishing Flashbacks this week so that we could get a lot done. I'll post an old episode of Wolfcast that Lawrence was on where we talked about movies so that we don't miss a week. But I called them off so that we could get some of the day scenes done before going back out to the woods. Once more things did not go as planned. One of our actors had to miss the first scene so we couldn't film it. Than he called and said he could and it was a big mess. Turns out he couldn't make it on time so I cancelled the pods for no reason.

We went out to the woods and started filming the big scene we missed last week. We only got the first half done before our star and producer got into a screaming match and we all had to go cool down. It was an interesting turn of events but it didn't end the night. We got back to work and were making good time until the generator started humming and we had to call it off. This coming up weekend was supposed to be the cabin scenes but instead we are trying to finish the woods. Hopefully we can.

Saturday was supposed to be the last day of Larry's film as well. Almost everybody was there. One of the actors who lives in Austin was running a little late so it pushed stuff back a little but once he got there we blew through that scene. It came out really good. The next scene is where we started to run into problems. We couldn't find a room that looked right. It ended up taking us hours just to get set up. Once we got the room and set it up the scene wasn't bad so we moved on to the cages. The hot cages that made you feel as if you were going to pass out and die. Everyone was uncomfortable and we all knew that we had the biggest scene in the movie coming up next. We were trying to get the cage scenes over with as quickly as we can while still being good. I took the wide shot and first close up and Larry took the next close up. We only had three more close ups to do. I was filming Larry's when I noticed a spot on the lens. Turns out it was on the sensor and we had to refilm all of the cage scenes. We didn't have time to film the last scene so that got pushed back a couple of weeks. I'm hoping I can make the shoot it just depends if we are filming that day for Trapped in the Woods.

So I've been a huge fan of Foreigner for a long time. My all time favorite  song is Juke Box Hero.

So when I heard they were coming to Dallas with Kid Rock I was beyond excited. I mean who doesn't love Kid Rock. I was all set to buy my ticket but Ashley said her friend was buying us all tickets and not to worry about it. I asked if she was sure and she said yes. So I put my faith in these people. The day before the concert I find out they aren't planning on picking us up until 10 minutes before the doors open. I suggest we go on without them but they have the tickets. I knew then and there that things were going to go south and sure enough, they did. They showed up late. We got to the concert a half hour after Foreigner took the stage. I didn't come for Kid Rock, I mean I'm a fan and all but I was there for Foreigner! Then the girl we were with wanted drinks before we found a place to sit and I hear in the distance Juke Box Hero start to play. I rush over to the grass so I can watch my song. It was amazing. I then saw three more songs before they left the stage. It was fun.

Now it was time to find everyone else. I had to track over the sold out concert up and down looking for them. Ashley didn't have her phone and I had no one else's number. I finally found them and wish I hadn't. They wouldn't shut the hell up. They kept yelling and screaming. Not about the songs or anything but about random shit. They were acting like we were in the fucking club. I could barely hear the concert I was at over their yelling. Kid Rock wasn't on the top of his game. His voice was giving out on him. But being the truly great artist that he is he still gave one hell of a show. If it wasn't for the annoying people I was with I would have enjoyed it a hell of a lot more. On top of everything else they made us leave early. We missed the first half of the concert and they made us miss the ending as well. Why the hell did we even go? For the life of me I couldn't tell you.

If that wasn't bad enough, I lost my keys. The key to my apartment, the extra car key, the only mail key, the key to everything at my old job and the key to my old job's cash registers. I don't know why I still had those keys I haven't worked there in years but I still had them and now they are all gone. The concert wasn't the worst because of the performers but due to the company I kept. What a waste of a day.   

So a lot of editing SFX is extremely hard. It takes a lot of hard work and practice. Training yourself on programs like Maya are all but impossible. I've been working out it a few hours a day and really wish that I had someone to train me. But where do I go? For After Effects I took a class. Half way through the class I had figured out more about the program on http://www.videocopilot.net/ than I did in class. Is there a website that trains you on Maya the same way?

I mean I've found a few videos that help you with bits of it. I mean if it wasn't for the videos I wouldn't have even figured out how to move around the page. For the life of me I can't figure out why everything is so complicated on that program. I figured if I can just learn how to use the program than I could do almost anything on film. Maybe the only thing I can do is keep working at it day in and day out.

I don't know what is wrong with me. It has been days and still my head is killing me. It can't be the lack of caffeine can it? I mean when I cut back from 2 litters to nothing it was hardly any pain what so ever, but when I had a few cans of Dr. Pepper and then stopped again its like the end of the world. I just wish my head would chill out and let me think.

Hey Blueroof Nation, I just want to apologize for missing the past couple of days. These days have just been blowing by. On Friday we had our second day of filming, although I just found out that we have to refilm everything from day one. Oh joy! Saturday was the second to last day of Larry's film. As for yesterday, I felt like I had the worst hangover of my life and the best part? I didn't drink anything!

I think it came from the fact that a while ago I stopped drinking Dr. Pepper and the last couple days I slipped and started drinking it again. Yesterday I went back to not having any and my head felt like it was on fire. I've never been in so much pain in my life. Even today I still feel like death but at least now I can think and concentrate.

So day two of filming was a crazy day. One of my actresses told me last minute that she had to leave by 9:30. I reworked everything to make it work out and then she didn't show up till 9:10. I was so stressed out but she was a sport and stayed a few more hours. I had to cut one camera angle and a few scenes to be filmed later. The stuff we got was really good, well I don't know about the audio because our audio guy took the recorder home with him. We started to set up the last scene but our generator went out and we lost the light. It was a night full of hardships and set backs but what we finished was good. I'm happy with the hard work of all of our crew and cast so far.

The second to last day of Larry's shoot went really good. It was far out in the middle of nowhere. The cast was amazing and me and Lawrence were the crew. We were out there till about 2:30 AM when Larry wanted us to film another scene that would take four more hours. It would have killed us. Thankfully we pushed it back till the last day of shooting.

Sometimes you just have to wonder what drives you. What makes you strive for the things you want and what prevents you from going after them? Why is it that sometimes you work so hard that you push everything to the side to make you goals and then other times you push your goals to the side to do something as basic as watching tv? My willpower seems to shift on a dime and I need to find a way to control it, not be a slave to its whim.

I know for well that the hottest fires burn out just as fast as they start, every relationship I've had thus far has burned hot and fast. How do I keep the fire just as bright, just as hot but keep it from burning out? These are the questions I find myself asking more and more the older I get.

In order to build Blueroof Production up to the extent that I know it can reach I have to keep working. I have to put everything on the back burner and hit the desk as often as I can for as long as I can. Now that I am in the final weeks of my friends film and the first couple weeks of my own I am starting to see just how hard it is to get everything done but I will not let that stop me.

So today me and Ashley interviewed a few different actors. We have finally finalized the cast, which is great seeing as we started filming last week. Our new actors will be great additions to our already great cast. Today was the first time for this film that we have auditioned people that we didn't already know. It was a really interesting experience. One of the actors is a comedian and was bouncing off of the walls. I can already tell he will bring a lot of energy and fun to set.

This Friday will be some of the  most important scenes and one of our new actors first day. I'm really excited and beyond nervous for it. I have to admit that I am a little disappointed that I won't get a chance to play Will. I have been planning on playing the role for about 3 years now and to be this close to filming Will's first scene and have it be someone else instead of me playing the part. I know that it's what's best for the film but the actor in me is a little jealous. My good friend Lawrence from The Uncanny Fans, Astonishing Flashbacks and Sunnydale Live will take over for me in the role. I know that he can do an amazing job. I just wish I was having the chance to act again. I never really thought of myself as an actor but the more I get the chance to act and even worse when I'm not given the chance to act, the more I learn that I really do enjoy it. As much as I love being behind the scenes I love being in front of the camera just as much. I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that I'm a big ham and love getting attention.

I was getting the attention today during the read through. The two new actors both kept telling me how much they loved my script. It really made me feel good to hear people tell me how much they like my work. I worked really hard on the script so hearing someone tell me they enjoy it and that it's really good makes me feel like everything I do is worth it. It helps me feel like I am on the right path and should continue to move forward.

So producing a film is a lot harder than I ever dreamed it could be. Not having a budget makes it that much harder. We have all of our outdoor locations locked down but the cabin is proving to be a lot more trouble than I could have ever dreamed. We need it for four days. Hopefully we can get one for not too much and have everything shot on time.

Not only is finding locations proving harder than I thought but the ever shifting cast is being a real nightmare as well. I guess this is what indie film making is all about. We have two new actors coming in to the film and I can only hope they get along with everyone else on set. Avoiding drama is always the number one goal. Because of this I wanted to keep my crew small. Now that has backfired as well. One of my crew didn't turn on the mic while recording our first scene and so now I have to take over running crew as well to make sure everything comes out correctly. Meaning I can't star in it like I was supposed to.

We have one day down and nine more to go and more problems than I ever would have dreamed. Yet for some reason I'm still hopeful and optimistic. Everything is going to work out! Just wait and see!

So I've been trying to figure out my schedule and I'm seeing a flaw in my ambition. I've started so many projects, a lot of which involves other people. The problem is these people are involved in many of my different projects so the time we have available to do everything. We are on set two to three days a week and we have four podcasts. I need more time in the day to get everything done. As it is last week I had just enough time to do everything and it was a short film day to start us off. Even still when the recorder messed up during Astonishing Flashbacks we had to now skip this week.

Ambition is a good thing. It helps drive us to doing more. To turning our dreams into a reality but some times you over reach and have to readjust. That is what is happening here. I won't stop any of the projects. I will just find a way to make them all work together. It might kill me in the process but I'm determined to do everything I set into motion.

What's up Blueroof Nation? Yesterday was a fun day on set. Not on my set but I was back on Larry's set. We have been off for a while due to the 4th of July but it was good to be back. I don't know what it is about being on set and setting things up that just makes me feel so alive. It reminds me of being back at Traders Village when I was supervisor. I was always running around problem solving everything and making sure that everything went smoothly and came out correctly and that is what being on set is like. If you have never been on a set, keep in mind these are indie sets, real sets might be different but these sets everyone does everything. You have to be able to see what's wrong and correct it on the spot. There is no time to walk away and figure it out because you are dealing with so many different people and their schedules.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that part of my love of it is the power. Somehow on every set I work on I end up in a position of authority and I do love to make the choices and be the one making things happen. Maybe that is just who I am as a person. If you get to know me in real life I am really easy going and my philosophy has always been live and let live. I don't try to force my opinions on other people, well unless you dare to insult Joss Whedon or Kevin Smith or you support Disney Wars. Give us Legends! But mostly I don't throw my weight around. Although don't try to convert me, because while I don't talk about my faith and I am by no means a hardcore Catholic I am one and I'm getting tired of everyone trying to teach me A) about how other religions are better or B) that there is no God. Not to be an ass but I use to study religion a lot and probably know more about it than the people who don't shut the hell up. My point about this rant is if you attack me and my faith that is the only time I will bring religion up in a conversation. But you don't attack me and I could care less what you believe or how you go about your beliefs. But for some reason when I'm working, on set or at a job I tend to take leadership positions. That side of me just comes out. Well Best Buy not withstanding. There I went out of my way not to be a leader type and maybe that is why that job was such hell for me. That or those people are just assholes. Never go to the best buy off of 183 in Irving Texas.

This blog has gone sideways. Sorry about that but what I'm trying to say is if you have never been on set you should try to make it. At least once. It is a great experience. Now don't get me wrong, a lot of the time you will just be setting there watching the same thing over and over again. Unless you are acting, directing or working on the camera you spend more than half the time doing nothing. But when you are working you are WORKING! Even a year ago I never wanted to be running the camera, I knew how to I just thought it was boring but more and more I'm falling in love with operating it. I still don't know cameras. If you ask me what kind I use I'll look at you blankly but I've figured out lenses and I'm getting better and better and creating cool shots.

I'm ready to get back to filming Trapped in the Woods! And I'm beyond excited for you guys to watch it!