Wise Words

"Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."

--Satchel Paige

Life Changes

Once crossing over 40 I realized I had to decide how I wanted to grow older. Gone are the days where your body forgives your every sin. After seeing my weight slowly escalate every doctor visit over the past year I decided to make some changes which, collectively, have made a great impact.

The first and most effective change I made was to no longer eat anywhere that has a drive-thru window. It is AMAZING how much better I felt within a week of giving up fast food.

• I gave up caffeine.
• I drink about 1 1/2 Qt of water a day.
• I drink V8 everyday.
• I drink fat free milk.
• Limit my portions involving cheese.
• I take vitamins.
• I eat more fiber.
• I've almost eliminated red meat, focusing more on chicken, turkey and fish.
• I eat more protein and less carbs.
• I floss every night.
• I exercise at least 3 days a week.
• I limit my portions of sweets far more drastically than ever before.
• Pretty much eliminated chips and pizza from my diet.

My previous health issues have already damaged my long-term health, so I need to do my best to take care of what I have left. So far, these changes have been great. I feel a million times better. And, surprisingly, making these changes wasn't that difficult. As Bob J. said, "it just becomes more important than anything else."

And he's right.

Forgiven Storyboards Completed

Today at lunch I finished the storyboards of our Christian short Forgiven. The end tally is 135 pages containing 356 individual shots.

My hand hurts.

Forgiven Storyboards

Way back when, I was watching the making of one of my all time favorite flicks, Raiders of the Lost Ark. During this behind-the-scenes documentary I learned about storyboarding... the process of sketching out each shot individually before shooting the film. I later learned that Hitchcock, my favorite director, used storyboards heavily as well.

Since then I'm adamant about the use of them. As the saying goes, paper is cheap. So, anything you can put on paper before filming is much cheaper than trying to figure stuff out on the set, both in time and resources.

The process of storyboarding a movie can be a very long process. A simple written scene can translate, visually, into a rather large number of individual shots rather quickly.

For the DV feature The Box, it took two three-inch three ring binders to document the over 1200 shots sketched out by hand that were used to shoot the film.

With our short Christian film, Forgiven, so far I've storyboarded approximately 20 pages of the 30 page script and consisting of 248 individual shots. To illustrate (no pun intended) here's a shot sample of the script and some of the storyboards I've sketched out.

Here's the section of the script.


And here are some of the storyboards for that section.







I've given myself until the end of the month to finish storyboarding this short. That's not a lot of time.

One has to think of what you're trying to elicit, visually, and how best to present the shots in sequence to reach that emotion in the audience you are trying to achieve.

So, if the average continues, I'll need to finish over 100 shots for the remaining third of the screenplay in order to complete the storyboarding process in the next week.

Time to sharpen those pencils.

Gaslight (2007)

As part of my daughter's responsibilities for her performing arts high school, she must attend 30 hours of activities in support of the theater outside of school. So, the family and I scoured the local theater scene and found that the Eight O'Clock Theater was presenting the 1938 play called Gaslight.

The plot involves a trouble married couple in the upper-class England in the 1880's. The wife, Bella Manningham, seems to be struggling with her sanity... a possible genetic gift from her mother, who died insane years earlier. The husband, Jack Manningham, is both manipulative and, yet, patient with his wife's apparent paranoia. He is, however, rough on the lead servant, Elizabeth, and overly flirtatious with the younger, sexy servant, Nancy.

Bella is certain of her own eventual mental demise when, one evening, a former police detective, Rough, arrives to spin her a totally different story.

Gaslight was one of the first plays to elicit suspense very successfully and was the inspiration for plays and films such as Dial M for Murder, Wait Until Dark and Deathtrap.

The Eight O'Clock Theater's production of Gaslight was excellent. The demanding role of Bella was played flawlessly by the tremendously talented Melody Craven. Her character was so full, complete, and three-dimensional. There was not a false note during her impressive and memorable performance. As an added bonus, she was also my daughter's acting teacher at Ruth Eckerd Hall and was happy to see DC after the show.

Melody Craven, Stefanie Lehmann
and T.J. Gill

As my wife said, it was nice to see that those teaching our daughter to act can also act themselves. Also in the play was a fellow theater high-schooler Stefanie Lehmann, who was convincing as the saucy servant Nancy. Her statuesque presence on and off the stage leaves quite a mark. I look forward to seeing her in future productions.

Also exceptional in the play was T.J. Gill, as Rough, the funny and determined ex-police detective. He has the ability to be both dramatic and comedic within the same scene. His performance captured just the right note of drama and comedy, allowing the audience to exhale in laughter when the tension of the play had built up.

Also very strong in the cast was Colleen Marvel, as the head servant Elizabeth and Trey Ryan, as the ominous husband, Jack. A great amount of praise should go to both director Rand Smith, who managed the play to great affect and to set designer Tom Hansen, who's set was beautiful.

So, our first foray into the local theater scene this year was a great experience with wonderful performances.

Gaslight ends today, so, like all plays, both good and bad, performances evaporate as soon as the last curtain drops. I'm glad we got to see this production and I look forward to future Eight O'Clock Theater productions.