Surviving in Safety Harbor

A Great Many Thanks

2009-12-29T13:35:00.008-05:00

For the past twenty years I've always fancied myself a writer before most any other creative endeavor.

Just over five years ago I realized that my commitment to writing had waned and my output had slowed to a trickle... I was losing my edge. So, I decided to open up my creative faucet by starting this blog with a promise to write an entry everyday for a year. And I did.

And that's how this all started... as a way to get my artistic booty into gear.

Now, five years later, it's coming to an end. So many things have changed over that time.

My marriage moved from 12.5 to 17.5 years. I could not be more happy with my relationship with my wife. We are truly blessed.

My children moved from childhood into young adulthood. My daughter was 11 when we started and my son eight. They have grown into such fine, young, driven, faithful people. I am amazed by them, inspired by them and can't believe I have the honor of being their father.

My understanding of my Catholic faith has grown exponentially over the past five years. What was a small spark has grown to consume me more and more, enough that I put my faith and my passions together into one vocational endeavor called Sonlight Pictures.

Within the past five years I lost my father. His passing, though sad, was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life and which I chronicled on this website. I will never fear death again.

Over the past five years I shot a couple of award-winning projects. The micro-budget digital feature The Box, the first Sonlight Pictures project Club God and the web series Nikki & Babs (formerly Purgatory, USA).

I've watched my beautiful wife become involved with our Lifteen Mass band called Messenger. Her visible display of faith during Mass has inspired many... I know, I've heard it over and over again. They've released a CD and now I get to hear her sing whenever I want.

I've been blessed with good health and consistent employment during this last half-decade. Two things of which I NEVER take for granted.

I've coached my son's baseball teams saw a group of young, talented boys turn into young, talented men. I've seen my gifted son be a better person than a baseball player. He is known by coaches, players and umpires alike for both his competitiveness and his compassion on and off the field.

I've helped my daughter with her acting homework and saw her touch the lives of her friends by her faith and her example. I've grown to love many of her friends as if they were my own children and am awed at their passion for Jesus Christ.

I have been very, very blessed.

On this, the last entry of this five year blog experiment, I'd like to say a few thanks. Granted, over the 1800 or so days of its existence we've had many of visitors. However, there have been a few very consistent followers of this humble acre in cyberspace and I'd like to thank them for their kindness and support.

My Mother - My mom has been the most consistent visitor of this site and, by far, the greatest contributor to our comments section. So, thank you, Ma, for your wonderful love and support these past five years. Her weekly Carolina Chronicles that she sends out via email for the past decade has inspired us all.

Paul - having moved away from the family to Texas and taking our mother's lead, took the Bauer family's first foray into the blogosphere with his now defunct blog called the Houston Chronicles. He's also been a great supporter and consistent visitor to the site and a selfless enabler of my creative endeavors.

KT and Rett - Both my niece Katie and my sister Loretta are about tied with their visits to the website and their comments. They always filled their input with humor and heart-felt support.

Steve, Chuckles, Laura and the rest - For the other family members who made this place a part of their lives, I want to thank you as well! Your witty, wise and timely comments comforted me when I feared this blog was merely an unintentionally selfish exercise by which I would only hear my own voice.

THANK YOU... ALL OF YOU!

Over the past five years, I've shared an awful lot about myself here. Funny stuff, family challenges, growing pains and faith struggles. I've tried to be honest and humorous and I even attempted being insightful at times. Don't know how successful I've been, but I will say that it has been a pleasure to be part of your lives these past five years.

I hope the grace of the Almighty will inspire you, guide you and protect you, not only in 2010 or the next five years, but for the rest of your days.

God bless you all!

My Little Felicity

2009-12-28T10:07:00.001-05:00

My daughter, Dorothea, has started her own blog, named after her Confirmation Saint, St. Felicity.

http://felicityinhappiness.blogspot.com/

Check it out. She's a talented writer :) Yeah, I'm a little biased.

Acting is the Thing

2009-12-26T11:28:00.017-05:00

Christians want to support good Christian films. They yearn for something to latch onto... a group of filmmakers like those at Sherwood Baptist church making films like Fireproof that extols the virtues of saving a marriage. Or movies like Bella, which extols the virtues of saving a child from abortion. Or even The Passion of the Christ, which tells a historically accurate representation of a Roman flogging on Jesus Christ and his subsequent sacrifice on the cross.

Christians want to support films that tell a story they want to see and one that flies in the face of the hedonism that rules the day in Hollywood. They're searching for entertainment that is not filled with sexual innuendo and showcases vices as virtues or lust as love.

If, as a filmmaker, you happen upon such a movement, its important that you have everything in place to ride that large, growing wave all the way to the shore.

Two recent Christian films could be considered case studies of potential Christian game changers, that, instead of the growing into a tidal wave, slowly dissipated into another wave among many due to the same fundamental reason.

Come What May and Pendragon are both independent Christian films that were ambitious and very successful in almost every way. Their approaches were timely and inventive and touched the core of Christian film audiences.

In a growing anti-Christian social and political climate, Come What May had the ingenious approach of attacking the legal case surrounding the Roe v. Wade abortion ruling by having a student in a Christian college tasked with arguing against the ruling in a moot court, which has real judges and/or retired judges in an arena that simulates Supreme Court proceedings. The lead character struggled with taking on the task of trying to overturn Roe v. Wade and was searching for a compromise solution. When forced to face the issue head on, he had to rely on his faith as well as overcome opposing viewpoints on the issue from his own parents.

The script was very well written and, for a Christian film, the production value was quite good. Having access to a relatively new, small Christian college that looked like a historic Ivy League school elevated the look of the film to higher than normal levels. The lead actors were good looking, wholesome young people which was appropriate for the characters.

Pendragon: Sword of His Father is an incredibly ambitious film from home school families that started small, but ended up being massively grand and epic in scale. The film takes place in 411 A.D. when the Romans left Britain and left a void of power that various groups tried to fill by attacking villages and acquiring slaves and wealth. Pendragon follows the son of a village leader that is killed by marauders who destroy his town. At first he is enslaved, then escapes, then leads a group of other fighters to defeat the marauders that killed his father. The film talks about the need to follow Christ's example and that God's plans last more than just one generation.

The film has tremendous production value, with special effects, swords, battles, explosions, etc. It has over 600 extras, full sized sets that look like real villages, chases on horse back and fisticuffs.

Both films were on the verge of being powerhouses. They both garnered tremendous press and support within the Christian film community. Come What May was a selected film of the American Family Association and was offered for sale via the AFA in a number of the AFA's email updates. Pendragon won numerous awards and was written up in a number of Christian film blogs and websites.

The problem that both films struggled with that kept them from being blockbusters was the basic and fundamental issue of acting. Both films had everything going for them, except one of the three fundamentals of film making. When people watch films they need to see it, hear it and believe it. Believing it comes from the writing and the acting. Both films have good scripts, but the acting completely undermines everything else.

It's just an example of how difficult it is to put together a completely successful film. And it also shows that some of the core items, acting, lighting, writing and directing, are at the root of a successful film experience.

In both films, Come What May and Pendragon, once the initial impressiveness of scope and approach wore off, you are still stuck with the core items. Once we grasp the amount of effort and time it took to make the world of Pendragon come alive, once we've accepted it as the reality of the film, the only thing that is left is the character journeys. And the believability and effectiveness of those journeys are fueled by the quality of the acting.

I hope we can, someday, put together a project that has reached some social and spiritual critical mass like these two films, where we can leverage the press and attention, growing one small ripple into a tidal wave of both critical and financial Christian film success.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-22T12:44:00.003-05:00

To my family and friends that have been visiting this website for five years, I want to thank you for your support and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

I hope you all are blessed with an abundance of God's graces this holy holiday and throughout all of 2010.

Microcinema Flashback - Breath Mints, Microcinema and the American Film Market (2004)

2009-12-21T12:12:00.004-05:00

The last of my microcinema articles which was printed online as the microcinema revolution neared its end. This one talks about the American Film Market and the lessons we can learn from it for the microcinema filmmaker. Funny how things had, well, not changed much as far as quality film creation during these years in microcinema. As many amateur filmmakers cried foul at the lack of respect for their work, in reality, most of the product created during this immensely prolific time were just bad cinema.

From May 2004.

*****

Breath Mints, Microcinema and the American Film Market
By Pete Bauer

After the Round table that produced a theoretical "ten commandments" of microcinema, there was some heated discussion on the Microcinema Scene message boards about the topic. One of the outcomes of that discussion was that, as Mike Amato stated so succinctly, some microcinema filmmakers are "Breath Mints" and some are "Candy Mints." Breath Mints are those microcinema filmmakers who want their projects to "smell nice" and would love to make movies for a career. Candy Mints are those who simply have fun making movies and don't have any real movie making career ambitions.

Well, this article is for all of the Breath Mints out there.

For those of you who are hoping that your creative jaunts in microcinema will somehow propel you into the fray that is the Hollywood movie machine, there is a simple way to see if your projects are up to snuff, to see just how far microcinema has to go to reach any sort of globally accepted quality level... attend an American Film Market (AFM).

If you've never been to the AFM, I strongly suggest you attend one. It is the place where films are screened and sold, primarily by U.S.-based distributors to international markets, however there are some U.S. distribution rights that are acquired from domestic and international films too. Everything from the next big Universal release to latest batch of Troma films are there. I attended the AFM in 1999 to see how the process worked as friends of mine assisted their distributor to get our low-budget action flick out into the market.

When you go to the AFM, what you will find is a very large group of below average films vying for the limited international distribution deals. If you can't actually attend the AFM, it wouldn't hurt to at least pick up the AFM edition of the Hollywood Reporter (usually comes out the month of the market... February this year, moving to November next year). In it you will find a lot of information about the films, a lot of advertising for films looking for distribution and a detailed list of every company and the films they have to offer. When scanning this years Hollywood Reporter, some interesting things come to mind in regards to microcinema.

First, some real distribution companies make the absolute worst posters. Its amazing how cheesy these things are. Maybe its on purpose, maybe in some twisted way they sell because they look stupid. I don't know, but there is enough of them that it makes me wonder.

Along with bad posters, there's a lot of movies with actors that scream "this movies going to suck, but at least you'll recognize the name of the star." Names like Eric Roberts, Gary Busey and Lorenzo Lamas come to mind. I've often been of the mind that I'd rather have the right no-name actor in a movie than the wrong name actor. But, that may not help me sell anything. The President of MTI Home Video says in the mag "I'll take all the Eric Roberts films I can find" because they fill a niche market. Scanning through you'll also find out that movies such as Ginger Snaps 2 & 3 are in post-production and that Corman's The Keeper of Time looks A LOT like Lord of the Rings.

You'll also find the estimated prices for worldwide markets. For films budgeted between $750,000-$1 million (the lowest budget covered), for example, you could make:

- between $30,000-$90,000 from the German/Austria market.
- $10,000-$15,000 in Malaysia.
- $2,000-$5,000 in Pakistan.

Compare that for films between $6 million-$12 million:

- you could make $500,000-$1.1 million in German/Austria market.
- $90,000-$150,000 in Malaysia.
- $20,000-$30,000 in Pakistan.

But even in Hollywood, making your money back is hard work. Consider that if you were in the lowest category ($750,000 - $1 million budget) the MOST you could make back (if their estimates are correct in the magazine) if you sold to ALL of the international markets at their HIGHEST value is $1.24 million. For the $6 million - $12 million budget range, the most you could make is just under $11 million. Of course, there are other ways to make money on a film (domestic, etc.) but this clearly shows that international sales has its limitations. I guess the key is to make a movie that LOOKS like $750,000 film, but costs much less. I don't think the technology used in microcinema is there yet, but perhaps someday it will.

What does all of this have to do with the Breath Mints of microcinema? I think you could safely say that many of the films at the AFM are what we most of us would consider crap. But, if you look at the difference in production value, story and acting, most are vastly superior to what is available on the microcinema scene. Granted, the nature of the microcinema scene promotes experimentation and imitation from learning filmmakers. But, I also get a sense from a lot of microcinema filmmakers that because we made a movie over 74 minutes long, people should consider it just as valid or valuable as the features Hollywood churns out. Yet, most microcinema efforts don't equate in quality to any of the features available at the AFM. As sad as a movie like SCI-FIGHTERS starring Lorenzo Lamas and Don "The Dragon" Wilson looks, it would still kick most of our microcinema asses.

In the end, as microcinema filmmakers, we may not give a crap about Hollywood's financial paradigm. Like Candy Mints, we may just make movies for ourselves. But, if one thinks that their next microcinema effort is going to be able to compete with even the lowest quality product selling at the AFM, unfortunately for the Breath Mints, we still have a long way to go.

God Only Wants 100%

2009-12-17T12:51:00.005-05:00

This will appear over at our Sonlight Pictures blog next week, but since it applied to the family, I thought I'd post it here as well.

*****

The good news is that God does not want from us more than we can offer. He doesn't expect us to give 110%.

He does, however, expect us to give 100%... of us... to him.

God wants us entirely, mind, body and soul. He wants us to embrace him with our every goal, hope, aspiration, need, desire and challenge. He wants to lead us down the path we need to take to reach salvation and live eternally in his presence.

Like his chosen people in the Old Testament, that journey may not be an easy one, but a necessary one. When Moses led them out to the wilderness it would take 40 years of a level-setting spiritual boot camp for his people Israel to purge their 400 year connection to the gods of Egypt. God forced them to rely solely on his own mercy to provide food everyday. And when they lost faith, like building the golden calf, they had to pay the price for their spiritual weakness. Even Moses, who answered God's call time and time again, failed to do as God spoke and was punished by not being allowed to enter the land they were promised.

It was not until the Egyptian generation had died away, and their children only born in the wilderness with the strong reliance on God's mercy, did his chosen people finally make it into the land of milk and honey.

The funny thing about offering ourselves up to God is that, well, he will take it.

My daughter, for example, had been struggling with managing her stress level this year in school. We had prayed often and asked for God's guidance. As we neared her final exams and prayed we realized this final exam was not a test of math, but a test of faith. My daughter understood that and accepted God's guidance and went to bed, ready to trust God's will.

The next day, the day of the exam, she awoke with a high fever. She opened her eyes and said "Thanks, God. Still testing my faith, huh?" And he was.

After she took the final exam she waited for the teacher to let her know what was her final score. The teacher scored the test and told her she had failed.

My daughter left the classroom devastated. The result of the test would require her changing her entire college plans. She had prayed and put her faith in God and she failed anyway. She knew God must have had other plans for her. She wept to herself, but knew it was God's will and accepted it. She didn't like it, but she accepted it.

However, it was another test of faith.

As she walked outside of the classroom the teacher ran out after her and told her she had given her the wrong person's results. She had actually passed and received a B.

As her faith grew, God's test of that faith grew. The more she was tested, the more she had to offer more faith. The more she offered faith, the more she was tested. She started giving 10%, God wanted 11. When she gave 11, God wanted 12. Why?

Because God wants all of us. 100%. Nothing less. We are his creation, after all. Why would he want less?

The saints have often complained about God's continual and growing moral tests of faith. I can't remember the saint's name, but one of them said to God, after a very hard moral challenge, "if this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so many enemies."

Think of Mother Theresa. After giving her life to Jesus, she did not feel his presence again, except one brief moment. For fifty years she felt nothing, but lived everyday for him.

Why?

Because God wants 100%. Any amount of ourselves we do not give to God is tainted by our own imperfection. When we offer ourselves up, God must purify us from our own sinfulness by testing us, forcing us to rely on him.

For my daughter, she did not have faith when it came to school work. Her fear was interfering with her faith. When she offered that up, God had to push her more and more until he had finally forced the fear from where she could replace that void with faith.

Our moral journey, our path toward heaven will not be easy because it can't be. We are holding on to too many percentages of our lives, not giving God all of us.

We are his children. He wants all of us. Not just once a week on Sundays. Not just when life treats us poorly. He wants us when we work, when we talk to our kids, when we mow our yards, when we wash the car, when we face illness, when we lose our jobs or lose a relative close to us.

God wants us all. Whatever you can give him, he will take... and wait for the rest.

Microcinema Flashback - THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE... An Example That Anything Can Happen! (2003)

2009-12-14T08:06:00.001-05:00

Two years earlier I had written an article about how to overcome writers block by focusing on the phrase Anything Can Happen. In November 2003 I share a Coen Bros. story that shows just that.

*****

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE... An Example That Anything Can Happen!
By Pete Bauer

I spent last night watching the Coen Brother's film THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE and was surprised at the amount of plot twists that happened in what appears to be a realitively innocuous storyline. It empitomized my belief, in screenwriting, that anything can happen. The film takes place in 1949 and stars Billy Bob Thorton as Ed Crane, a second-chair barber working for his brother-in-law at a three-chaired barber shop. Crane's wife Doris, played by Coen regular Frances McDormand, works as a bookkeeper in a local department store. The store is managed by Big Dave, played by Soprano James Gandolfini, who got the job as a manager by marrying Ann, who's family owns the department store chain.

Crane's professional and personal life are stagnate. He doesn't speak much and doesn't like to be spoken to either. One night, during dinner with Big Dave and Ann, he comes to the conclusion the Big Dave and his wife, Doris, are having an affair. Big Dave is excited that he's about to open his own new store in the department store chain and that Doris would be promoted to Comptroller. Even though Crane believes his wife is unfaithful with Big Dave, he is uninspired to confront it. However, the next morning a stranger, named Tolliver, comes into the barber shop venting his frustration on failing to acquire venture capital to start a new thing called Dry Cleaning. He's already approached and been dismissed by Big Dave and he's ready to leave town. Crane, realizing he's never pursued any of his own dreams, tells Tolliver that he'd be able to provide the $10,000 investment by the end of the week.

Crane then drafts a ransom note to Big Dave stating he knows he's having an affair with a married woman (he does not name Doris by name) and he's demanding $10,000. At a department store party, Big Dave confides in Crane that he's been having an affair with a married woman (not necessarily Doris) and that if the news gets out, he'll lose his job and his dream of owning his own department store. Big Dave believes Tolliver is behind it and the only way to get the money would be to ask Doris to cook the books (embezzle) the get the cash.

Big Dave has Doris embezzle and he deposits the money as the ransom note has stated. Crane picks up the money and gives it to Tolliver, signing contracts for the partnership in the Dry Cleaning business. A few evenings later, after a family wedding that left Doris passed out from drinking, Crane gets a call from Big Dave to meet him at the store. Crane uses Doris' keys and her car and meets Big Dave in his office. He discovers that Big Dave had beaten Tolliver and found out Crane was behind the ransom note. Big Dave then tries to choke Crane, but Crane slashes his throat with Big Dave's lucky knife, who drops to the floor and dies in a pool of his own blood. Not knowing what to do, Crane goes home.

The next day police arrive at the barbershop. Crane, expecting as much, all but confesses before they interrupt him to tell him his wife had been picked up for the murder. Apparently, they theorize, she killed Big Dave to cover up the embezzlement activity, for which they believe she was solely responsible. This is where the story really takes off creatively.

- Crane's brother-in-law and fellow barber gets a loan against the barber shop to pay for the best attorney, played brilliantly by Tony Shalhoub.
- Ann, Big Dave's wife, stops by on the way home from Big Dave's funeral to tell Crane that, while camping a few years ago, Big Dave and Ann were abducted by aliens and that Big Dave had not been the same since.
- In a meeting at the prison with Shaloub, Doris and Crane, Crane confesses to the crime, but it's dismissed by Shalhoub as a ineffective defense ploy.
- On lonely nights Crane finds comfort at his friend's house, listening to the piano playing of his friends teen daughter.
- Tolliver has disappeared. Crane surmises he left with the money and his dreams and his reality are now hoplessly lost.
- Shalhoub hires a private eye who discovers all of Big Dave's WWII claims were false and they would use the potential revelation of that info as the motive, replacing the embezzlement motive.

Ann speaks of UFOs

- As they are about to begin the trial, Doris commits suicide by hanging herself herself.
- The brother-in-law is so distraught he no longer works, so Crane handles the barbershop to keep it out of foreclosure.
- The Medical Examiner tells Crane, in confidence, that Doris was pregnant. Crane tells him that they hadn't made love in years, which means she was having the affair.
- Crane, intent on doing something important, pays for his friends daughter to play piano for a master teacher, in the hopes that she would go on to become a great pianist.
- The teacher states the student has talent, but no heart for music.
- On the drive back the teen girl makes passes at Crane and attempts to give him a blow job, causing an accident.
- Crane awakens to find the police in his room, arresting him for the beating death of Tolliver, who was found at the bottom of a river. The contracts with his name and the money are found and are used as motive.
- Crane gets a loan on his house to pay Shalhoub for defense, but an unexpected tirade by Crane's brother-in-law's during the trial causes a mistrial.
- Unable to pay for a good attorney, the state appointed one convinces Crane to plead guilty and hope for the best.
- He is sentenced to die in the electric chair.
- He dreams of a UFO visiting him at the jail.
- He is walked down and executed.

The amazing thing about this screenplay is that every fifteen minutes or so something outrageously new is interjected. As is typical with a Coen Brothers film, these unexpected and intriguing turns spin a world that seems familiar to most of us into something oddly unique. They take the classic film noir and turn it into their own brand of black and white reality.

The script and the path the storyline travels is a prime example that anything can happen.

The International (2009)

2009-12-08T20:16:00.008-05:00

The International could have been a great movie, but it ends up only being a good movie.

The story revolves around two people, New York District Attorney Eleanor Whitman played by Naiomi Watts and Louis Salenger from Interpol played by Clive Owen. These two people have been actively investigating a large International Bank for years, believing it be involved with organized crime.

Things with the bank seem to have escalated as the investigation has unearthed plans for the bank to purchase missiles.

Director Tom Tykwer does a nice job with the visuals of the film, often pitting Owen against the large, omnipresent buildings that represent the seemingly immovable force that is the International Bank. There are action sequences in the film that are very well done. And the cast is extraordinarily talented.

So, what keeps this good film from being great? Two things which are tied together. I'm not sure which is at the root cause of the issue, or whether they are equally at fault, but the two main issues are the acting of Naiomi Watts and her character/her lines in the script. Not only is her character two dimensional and her lines stiff, but the Aussie actress can't quite pull of the Americanized lines in a believable manner.

The International has a 1970s nihilistic feel to it, that the machine is greater than the man, that the war against large forces are too hefty for one person to overcome.

The International is a good movie, bordering on very good, but it just can't quite make it to great.

Microcinema Flashback - Momentum, Movies and Fearful Moments (2003)

2009-12-08T08:04:00.000-05:00

From April 2003... this is about taking advantage of the momentum you gain on a project once its started.

*****

Momentum, Movies and Fearful Moments
By Pete Bauer

Today, after working 3 a.m. to around noon, I had lunch with my brother Charles near his work. Afterwards he and I shot some exterior Lab shots of his building for the opening of our nearly completed dv feature called THE BOX. It wasn't as if I had accomplished a lot, but it was nice to get something done. Anything done. One of the things I've learned through this project is how momentum impacts your life. After we got done with the principle shooting, I needed a break and took a few days off. Then work became increasingly busy and evaporated any forward movement I had made on the project. And now, it's like starting a lawn mower for the first time after a long Winter. It takes an awful lot of pulls to get the thing cranked up again and it isn't too happy about being bothered. That's the way I felt today. My work schedule has me fighting exhaustion on a daily basis, but I knew if I didn't get the motor on this project cranked up and running again, that it would only be harder to start later.

But once the engine starting purring again, it seemed as if all was right with the world. Plopping that Sony PD-150 on the tripod and shooting some basic shots felt oh so good, comfortable. Made me realize just how much I enjoy this stuff.

So, I've learned that momentum is a critical component of artistic endeavors. I remember reading once that one of the ways to make sure you make a movie is to tell everyone you're going to do it. This forces you into action, which creates momentum and, eventually, you have no choice but to follow through on your word... or fail and lose all credibility with everyone you've told. And with THE BOX, this has certainly been the case. When I decided to shoot a feature, and picked THE BOX as the one to attempt, I was determined to finish it, no matter how it all turned out. I'll admit that, at the beginning, I was very apprehensive as to whether or not I could pull it off... I mean, there are a mountain of things to overcome, challenges to face and adjustments to be made, all of which have to be handled in order to shoot a feature. But, after I made that decision and started telling people about my goals, I found myself surrounded by co-workers, friends, even friends of friends, all of whom, to my surprise, had similar aspirations and who wanted to participate in the project.

One of the potential momentum stoppers in things like making movies is when you are forced to face things for which you are uncomfortable. An old boss of mine once said to me "there are parts of your job you like and parts of your job you don't, but they are all your responsibility, so figure out a way to do all of them well." And that is very true, especially when trying to scrape together the time and resources for a micro-budget feature. Who wants to ask friends and family to help out? Who wants to approach total strangers and convince them that giving you what you want is in their best interest? Not a lot of people. But, if you want to get it done, you find a way to get it done. At some point, when there is enough momentum behind the project, you find that it is more painful NOT asking for something for which you are uncomfortable. That NOT getting what the project needs means you've wasted all of your time up until that one awkward moment.

I read a psychological study on successful people and one of the critical personality traits of "winners" is that their initial reaction is to take on what they're afraid of. Most people are debilitated by fear and never start initiatives, which means they never succeed. However, since a "winners" first instinct is to face their fears head on, they are, statistically, more apt to succeed then the rest. And I was lucky enough to have a real life example... one of my brother-in-laws was once vastly overweight and smoked. When his father died of cancer he decided to change his life. He lost over 150 lbs and quit smoking AT THE SAME TIME. I asked him one day how he had the strength to do that, to take on two seemingly insurmountable tasks at the same time. His response was quick. He said "It simply became more important than anything else."

And, in the end, it's that simple. So, whatever obstacles he feared when facing those two challenges weakened dramatically with the death of his father. Suddenly, the pain of NOT changing far out-weighed the challenge of facing his fears, of changing his life, of facing failure.

And though my brother-in-law's struggle is on a much more noble scale, the same basic principle holds true when making a movie. You will be faced with situations you don't want to face, with fears you don't want to challenge. But, if you have enough momentum, enough riding on NOT doing what is uncomfortable, than "it simply becomes more important than anything else." And you do it.

And the funny thing is, when you look back, you realize that the fear was much greater than the reality.

Audio Bible

2009-12-07T08:52:00.006-05:00

I don't remember when I first became a fan of old radio programs... sometime in college I think. Thanks to the internet, over the last few years I've been able to accumulate over 100 old radio shows, including shows such as Casey: Crime Photographer, Philip Marlowe and Barry Craig: Confidential Investigator.

What I love about old radio programs is that they take you beyond the simple written word and allow you to dive into a world made up of real life sounds with actors playing the characters in such a way that your mind fills in all the blanks and you can watch the show unfold before you in your mind.

It's that love of old time radio programs that makes me so excited about buying the audio bible called Word of Promise. It's a King James version of the bible done in audio theater format. There are sound effects and over 600 actors playing the numerous parts, including Jim Caviezel, Michael York, Richard Dreyfus, Max Von Sydow, Gary Sinise, Marcia Gay Harden, and on and on.

The bible comes alive when you listen to Adam take his first breath and hear Noah building the ark. The story moves at a very quick pace and it's entertaining and immersive in quality.

Over a year ago some of our fellow strong believing Catholics would get together every Sunday evening and watch Jeff Cavins' The Great Adventure bible study. It's a great, wonderful bible study that condenses the grand salvation story of the bible into 14 critical narrative books. It shows you where the other books in the bible compliment the main narratives while not losing sight of the primary story being told.

The problem I've had with the bible study is that it is 24 weeks long and I've never been able to finish it. Life would always get in the way. So, it occured to me that if I could record the audio from Cavins' DVD bible study as well as the appropriate audio bible sections required for the study using the awesome Word of Promise series, I could make an audio series that I could listen to in the car or at home, where ever it is convenient.

So, I've spent that last month putting this together. I hope to have it completed by Christmas. So far it is a wonderful experience. On the way to and from work I've already listened to Genesis while moving through three of Cavins insightful and inspiring bible studies.

The only downside is that, since the audio bible is a King James version, it does not include Maccabees, which is in Catholic bible and covered in the Cavins study. I guess reading one book out of the bible instead of listening to it won't hurt me too much. :)

As I told my wife the other day, I know I've changed as a person when one of the most exciting purchases I've ever made has been the Word of Promise bible study. It is an amazing tool that literally brings the bible to life.

Combine that with Cavins' deep and educational insights as to how each book ties to the next and, in the end, with Jesus Christ, will give me an understanding of the bible that I have never had before.

Microcinema Flashback - Things My Nine-Year Old Daughter Taught Me About Acting (2003)

2009-12-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

From March 2003, lessons I learned from my daughter, Dorothea, during the shooting of our DV feature called The Box.

*****

Things My Nine-Year Old Daughter Taught Me About Acting
By Pete Bauer

When shooting the DV feature, THE BOX, one of the main characters ended up being played by my nine-year old daughter, Dorothea. Even though she had never acted before, I knew she was perfect for the role because:

she took direction well,
she has a natural talent with words
since she was my daughter I could make her work whenever I needed. :)

It was through coaching my daughter in THE BOX that I came across some things that may help other micro-budget filmmakers working with non-actors.

The entire purpose of "acting" is to look like your NOT acting and that's where non-actors get into trouble... they try too hard. But here are some tips that you can use to get a stronger performance out of your non-actors.

Relaxation: This is probably the hardest things for a non-actor to achieve. Relaxation comes from comfort and the fact that you're using non-actors means that, more than likely, you're dealing with people who haven't spent a lot of time in front of the camera. So, getting them to relax in front of it can be difficult. This tension often manifests itself with a nervous giggle or an incessant smile on their face. And then they'll "act" for you, which is exactly what you want to avoid. So, here are some things you can say to non-actors to alleviate the pressure:

Tell them that you'll shoot as many takes as necessary. If they need 100 takes to get it right, fine, no problem. And, for most non-actors, it may take 10 or 12 takes to get them comfortable.
Tell them that your sole job is to make them look as good as possible, which is true, and that you'll do whatever you can to help them do that.
Let them understand your appreciation for their contributing to the project. Let them know that, without them, this couldn't happen and empathize with the awkward situation they're in.
When they screw up, joke with them, keep the atmosphere light. If they sense you're at all tense or frustrated, they'll lose whatever relaxtion they've acheived.
One final thing you can try is, after a take, tell them that you got the take you wanted, but that you want to do a couple more for safety. Even if their last take was lousy, when they think that you've got a take you can use, they'll often sigh and you'll see the burden of acting lifted off their shoulders. You'll find that they're suddenly relaxed and these next few "safety takes" are the ones that will end up in the finished product.

Know Your Actor's Weaknesses: It's important to know what your actors can and cannot do BEFORE shooting starts.

Have your actors run lines together, going over the scene again and again. Let them do this for as long as they need, because it will save you a lot of time when the camera's rolling.
While they're running lines, throw in some direction (move here on this line, don't get so angry, etc.) See how they respond. You'll get a better idea as to what will and will not work, what type of direction they respond to and what they can't process.

You should also find out if they are "first take" actors or "last take" actors.

First take actors do their best work on the first take and only get weaker and more stilted the more they redo the scene.
Last take actors get better and more relaxed with each take and their best performance is the last one you shoot. Fortunately, most actors fall into this category.

Find out if your actor prefers "line readings" or more subtle direction.

A line reading is when you say the line exactly as you want it to be said, with the tone, inflection, urgency, etc. The actor will then copy how you said the line.
Some people need to make their line readings their own and you'll need to make them understand why they're saying the line... which leads me to the next category...

Lines vs. Logic: Most non-actors spend a lot of energy worrying about getting their lines right... too much time and it shows. Bad acting doesn't come from how they look, but how they sound... their words just don't sound believable. This usually comes from putting too much focus on making sure each word in the sentence are in the proper order instead of understanding exactly why they are saying what they're saying. It's like turning a line "Can't you show me how you feel?" into something as daunting as memorizing "5463 511 58914 654860644 654699." When you see an actor investing more time in the order of their lines than in the meaning behind them, try the following:

Take a moment to make sure they understand the logic behind the words. Make sure that they focus on WHY they are saying something, as opposed to the exact words they are saying. If a scene is written well enough, and the actor can understand the logic behind their lines, then they will eventually understand that the only appropriate line to say next is "Can't you show me how you feel?"
That understanding of logic also needs to work for a scene. In THE BOX I had one long scene that had to be shot in single take. So, I went through it with the actors, breaking the scene into sections, or "beats". I explained the logic behind the words and the logic behind the beats. So, instead of them having to memorize a LONG scene, they put together a bunch of short beats that made sense to them. For example: The first beat you want to make him angry. The second beat you want him to apologize. The third beat your are sorry for pushing him too hard.
Let them paraphrase. Unless an exact line is necessary for the plot, if you see an actor is stumbling over words, then tell them to put it into their own words. Simply ask them "what are you trying to say?" They'll first try to recite their lines, but don't let them. Tell them to tell you, in their own words, what they are trying to convey. Then, tweak the line to fit how they feel comfortable saying it. This allows them to take ownership of the line, they feel like they're contributing and their performance will be more believable. And, what you'll usually find is that, once they put it into their own words, they eventually end up using your original dialogue, except they now understand what they're saying.

These are a few tips that I learned when directing my daughter and other actors in the making of THE BOX. Nothing pulls an audience out of a story like bad acting. So, do everything you can to get the strongest, most sincere performance you can from your actors. In the end, you'll have a more successful project and you'll be living up to your promise... to make the actors look as good as possible.

Tick... Tick... Tick...

2009-12-01T14:53:00.005-05:00

Well, here we are... the last month of this blogs existence.

Since I've been turning these blogs into books, I've indulged myself a bit by posting some old, but entertaining articles about microcinema from a few years back... I wanted to have them documented somehow and this seemed like a practical way.

But, I will be adding some blog entries here before we close up shop.

I am very active on our Sonlight Pictures blog, so don't be a stranger over there. Would love to hear your comments about our thoughts and our projects.

So, enjoy the last 31 days of Surviving in Safety Harbor.

It's been a long five year run. Enjoyable, challenging and fun.

Microcinema Flashback - Front Row at the Saints and Sinners Film Festival (2002)

2009-11-30T08:57:00.000-05:00

Our short film Justice was showing at the local Saints and Sinners Film Festival in August of 2002. Below, I share my thoughts on the unique experience.

*****

Front Row at the Saints and Sinners Film Festival
By Pete Bauer

While the rest of the REwind community was recuperating from the 2002 RMAs, I attended a similar festival in St. Petersburg, called the Saints and Sinners Film Festival. The festival was very well attended by a varied group of independent film fans... everyone from metal goths, to tan yuppies, to spike-haired punks, to parents and grand-parents... they were all there to support local micro-budget filmmakers. Held in downtown St. Pete at the State Theater, this usual haven of up and coming metal and rock bands was quickly transformed into an underground, indie-edge style showcase of aspiring filmmakers, with uncomfortable chairs, over-priced drinks and pizza and a great amount of enthusiasm and communal support... it was perfect.

Saints & Sinners The festival started at 4:00 p.m. and the line formed around the block. Though there were some kinks in actually getting people into the theater in a timely manner (after all, it's frickin' August in Florida! Open the doors early and let us get in the air conditioning!), no one seemed to mind. The festival, which separated the entries into non-horror (Saints) and horror (Sinners), showcased projects made by Florida filmmakers. Feature projects were interspersed with shorts and the festival concluded with the premiere of TOXIC AVENGER 4: CITIZEN TOXIE. As most of you know, I am not a fan of horror movies... at least the real bloody ones, but I really wanted to show my support to the fest so I sat quietly, hoping I wouldn't get grossed out. And, to my surprise, I wasn't at all. The Sinner projects were horror, but not gory, which I appreciated.

Now, I'm not sure if this was intended by the festival organizers at Renegage Films, but the best of the line-up came within the first four hours of this ten hour event. The fest opened with a local shot-on-video pseudo-documentary called BLEED, which was eerily like THE LAST BROADCAST. It was a nice project to start the festival and the audience was eager to show their support with appropriate hoops and yells. It was then followed by an effective film short called UNRAVELING AMELIA, about an old woman's trip into insanity as a result of being snowed in at a remote cabin. The highlight of the fest actually came from one of the guys at Renegade Films. He was home with the kids one day and threw together an absolutely hilarious and adorable short called WONDERBOY. It rocked! Other quality films were IT'S ONLY YOUR IMAGINATION and the very funny Clerks take-off called CLARKS, which ended with a hilarious homage to THE BREAKFAST CLUB.

Other projects were either not effective or just not that good. CHILD OF THE APOCALYPSE, about a Satanist having the Anti-Christ, though trying to be satircal look at tabloid media, was far too blasphemous for my tastes. And LOOKING IN THE FISHBOWL, a Crystal Reel Award winning short film, was very funny, but seemed to go out of it's way to bash Catholics. Being a card carrying Catholic, I couldn't help but ask the simple question... WHY? I'll never say Catholicism, or any other religion, is perfect. But, attacking any of them without it actually meaning something just seems lazy and a waste of a good story-telling opportunity. Falls into that oh-so-typical "rebelling against the institutions" thing that just isn't that original to me... so high-schoolish... rebellion-lite. But, that's just my opinion.

As all of you know, I have GREAT respect for anyone who can put a film together, not matter what the end quality. We've all been there and know that even unsuccessful projects take a hell of a lot of work. That being said, the worst short of the day was easily a mafia story called HIT & MISS... it was obviously their first effort. Shaky camera moves, bad audio, bad logic and bad framing all combined to make this one that will quickly fade from my long term memory. And one of the most memorable shorts was called GOOD GOLLY MISS DOLLY... it was so bad, it was charming. The story, about two hillbillies arguing over the love of Dolly (a peeing goat) was memorable because one of the guys kept his face down the entire time, obviously reading the script (which was visible on the table). It was hilarious. You end up loving those types of things even more because you know that these people have had no real training, yet are still driven to make movies. It was inspiring, in an odd sort of way.

Now, I'll admit, I must be getting old, because I could not make it through the entire festival. I ended up leaving after CLARKS at around 11:30 p.m. Unfortunately, there were some shorts I really wanted to see, but my eyes were starting to glaze over and I was struggling to pay attention. I didn't want to do the filmmakers an injustice by not paying attention, so after 7 1/2 hours I hit the road and headed home.

Major kudos go to the guys at Renegade Films for all the time and effort in pulling this whole thing together. I'm sure Jon and the Linns know what a Herculean task that can be. I was pleasantly surprised at the overflowing crowd that attended the event. There's obviously a larger mirco-budget film community in the area than I had expected. The only real down side was that I was hoping the event would have lended itself to being more conducive for networking with like-minded filmmakers. However, the nature of the venue and the tight schedule limited that opportunity. Perhaps, in future fests, there will be more of a chance to just hang out and talk shop with other filmmakers.

From what I hear, the guys at Renegade are trying to get together another festival... perhaps as soon as November. So, any micro-budget filmmakers out there, especially those located in Florida, make sure to submit your stuff and plan to attend. If the upcoming fests are as successful as this first effort, it can easily become one of the top mirco-budget festivals in the country... second to the RMAs, of course!

Microcinema Flashback - Godzilla vs. Bin Laden (2002)

2009-11-26T08:54:00.001-05:00

September 11, 2001 changed the world. It changed everything.

One of the more important areas which were effected were public sensibilities to the military and to mass destruction. Still healing from the wounds of the tragic events from the year before, I talk about how Hollywood would have to change with the times in order to remain relevant.

*****

Godzilla vs. Bin Laden: The Re-Evaluation of the Hollywood Blockbuster (2002) July
By Pete Bauer

I took my daughter to the local public library the other day and found that they had recently added DVDs to the things one could check out. I wasn't in the mood for anything thought provoking, I wanted some mindless drivel. It had been an extremely long work week and I needed some mental down time. So, I picked out one of the biggest, expensive and unsatisfying examples of Hollywood drivel I could find, 1998's GODZILLA.

Ever since the terrible events of 9/11 I've been wondering how that would spill into the public's cinematic appetite. Since that day, I had not seen an abundance of philosophical changes coming from Hollywood (Sum of All Fears, Collateral Damage), so I wondered if anything had really changed. I wondered if something as truly horrifying as what happened in New York and Pennsylvania last September was going to have any lasting impact on the movie-going audiences. I thought that, if America had not truly lost its soul over the past 200 years, we would, as a people, no longer need the irrelevant fluff we so eagerly purchased from the media outlets previously in order to fill our lives. That films, television and books would some how take on a more meaningful purpose. I was afraid to think that our decades of excess living in a land where generations had lived with a war-less history, that we would have lost ourselves irrevocably to the baser urges of mankind.

And then I watched GODZILLA.

It was while watching this super-fictional attack on the New City of the north that I finally noticed the stark differences between "what was" and "what is" after 9/11. There was no escapism for me in watching a monster destroy people-filled buildings, or the military flying through the city in a desperate attempt to save human lives. And the jokes of the political ramifications of a Mayor ordering the evacuation of the city now seem so hopelessly out of place... almost offensive when considering what Mayor Guiliani dealt with when real-life terror impacted his city.

What used to be found as amusement or flights of fancy, such as destroying skyscrapers or blowing up well known landmarks, are now so morally inappropriate, so misplaced, so hollow and weak that it cemented in me how the world had truly changed. Prior to that awful day we were so distant from true life horror that it took a gigantic monster destroying a larger than life city to merely whet our appetite. Now, it's almost embarrassing to think that anyone would find such a story entertaining.

Years of the consistent devaluing of human life, of adding body count for cinematic impact instead of layering the true human stories that fill each of those dead bodies, culminated in the fact that we thought of it as nothing very important to watch a monster wreak the largest of body counts, for people to be stomped on like insignificant bugs. And that the killing of men and women serving in the armed forces was somehow an effective punch line.

Oh, how things have changed.

Does that mean there should be no more monsters in the movies? Of course not. But, what I hope it means is that America, and perhaps the world, are more in touch with the substance of their existence and to expect more from their escapism... to layer the stories with a touch of humanity as well as entertainment... that we have moved permanently above the expectation that the highest we should expect from our entertainment is the lowest form of our existence.

At least, I hope so.

Microcinema Flashback - The Hollywood Recycling Center - One Man's Classic is Another Man's Paycheck (2002)

2009-11-23T11:50:00.000-05:00

From May 2002...

Imitation may be a sincere form of flattery, but in Hollywood, I think it's simply a shortcut to payday.

*****

The Hollywood Recycling Center - One Man's Classic is Another Man's Paycheck
By Pete Bauer

When you're pounding your head, trying to think of new story ideas, does it ever feel like that you have nothing new to offer? That the idea in your head is really just a re-tread of an existing film? Don't worry. This happens all the time. Sometimes, new ideas are hard to come by, even for the most lauded of screenwriters. Take Robert Towne. Here's a guy who's written some of the most important, critically acclaimed films in the history of Hollywood. He's written or helped write such films as Chinatown, The Parallax View, Marathon Man, The Two Jakes, Tequila Sunrise, The Firm and many more. He's also written two of my favorite recent films, Mission: Impossible 1 & 2. Just a few weeks ago I rented both MIs on DVD, watched and enjoyed them both. Then, last night, I plopped in one of my all time favorite films, a film that I had not seen in years... Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. I was stunned to find out I was actually watching the original Mission: Impossible 2. Let's look at the similarities:

The stories revolve around government agents (Cary Grant in Notorious and Tom Cruise in MI2) who are asked to get to know a woman, a non-agent (Ingrid Bergman in Notorious and Thandie Newton in MI2), whom the government wants to enlist to assist them in a critical mission. Both agents quickly fall in love with these beautiful civilian women before they are told the specifics of the mission. As part of their job, both women are asked to rekindle an old relationship with an ex-lover (Claude Rains in Notorious and Dougray Scott in MI2) and must even agree to sleep with them, if necessary. Both ex-lovers are men who were desperately in love with these women previously, to the point that their partners (Leopoldine Konstantin, who plays Rains mother in Notorious and Richard Roxburgh in MI2) fear they are clouded by their lust and love when their old flames suddenly reappear back into their lives.

Once undercover, both women agree to meet with the agents for the first time at a horse race, where the ex-lover watches them from afar, then approaches them just as the agent leaves. Both women are successful at their espionage (Bergman gets the key to the wine cellar in Notorious, Newton picks the flash disc from Scott's pocket in MI:2). However, both women make a slight, critical error (Bergman doesn't get the key back on the key chain in time, Newton slides the disc back into the wrong pocket) which arouses suspicion in the ex-lovers. Once the men verify the women are traitors, they are unable to tell their cohorts in crime for fear of repercussion (more so in Notorious than MI:2). Both women are then poisoned (Bergman by the tea she drinks, Newton by injecting herself with a virus) and both agents must come to their rescue and save them before the poison kills them. Both of the women are saved from their missions in the nick of time by the agents, whom they love and who love them. MI:2

Stunning.

If there were only a few similarities, it would be different, but the first half of both movies are almost identical. The climaxes vary widely due to the style of the directors (Hitchcock and Woo), but the storylines are identical. The only major difference in both stories is that Grant, when he finds out what Bergman must do on her mission, refuses to admit his love for her. Where as in MI:2, Cruise makes a point to tell her that he'd rather her not take the mission because of his feelings for her. Hitchcock's love story is much stronger because it adds an entirely different level to the story. Grant's and Bergman's relationship is brutal at times and you want her to know that he really loves her just as bad as you want her to complete her mission and get out of there. But, beyond that and the directorial styles, the films are nearly identical.

Even though I think we need to tell the most compelling, unique stories possible, when Hollywood recycles, it also includes their screenplays (I won't even get into the whole Casablanca vs. Barb Wire fiasco). So, the next time you come across a great idea that may not have been all that original, remember that HOW you tell your story appears to be more important than WHAT your story is about. If someone as truly talented as Robert Towne can, maliciously or not, turn Notorious into MI:2, then you can certainly turn your favorite film into something uniquely your own.

How about Raging Bull as a sci-fi musical? Or Citizen Kane as a sitcom starring Gary Coleman? Or The Sound Of Music Television. And I'm sure Towne won't mind if I turn Chinatown into Universal Soldier VIII! After all, a man has to make a living.

Microcinema Flashback - Defining Your Style (2001)

2009-11-19T08:47:00.000-05:00

In the early phases of the microcinema revolution there were a lot of film makers who made films for the sole purpose of making them, but with no other artistic goal. I would be hard pressed to find the difference between one filmmaker and the next because most of them simply plopped their camera on a tripod and started shooting.

So, in November of 2001, I try to inspire new film makers to try not only to tell a story, but to tell an artistic one as well.

*****

Defining Your Style
By Pete Bauer

For any new low to no-budget filmmaker, I think there is an important question that should be asked. What makes me so special? What I mean by that is, why should anyone watch your stories? I am a firm believer that humans are storytellers by nature. We love to hear stories, make up stories, and watch stories. We see stories in paintings, in poems, in music and in sculpture. We listen to stories in gossip, in sharing memories and in relaying our hopes and goals. And filmmakers feel the instinctual urge to tell their stories with moving pictures. But, the question we should all be asking ourselves is what is going to make the way we convey our stories that much more unique and effective than the other wanna-be filmmakers out there?

This is something that I think most starting filmmakers often neglect to define within themselves. Part of this is understandable. We usually spend the early part of our "careers" learning the skills necessary by copying filmmakers we admire. We make our own personal versions of Scream or Star Wars or Indiana Jones. But, once we've grasped the basics, we should start trying to define who we are as filmmakers, how we tell stories, how we are to effect the audience, because, in the end, our primary goal as a story teller is to illicit emotion from our audience. Failing to do so means our attempt was unsuccessful at the most basic level for nothing screams failure louder to a filmmaker than a passive audience member.

Filmmakers have a seemingly infinite variety of ways to affect the audience. Some filmmakers choose a tense, realistic subject matter to illicit emotion. They'll convey stories of abuse, or drugs, or poverty or family crisis. Others choose a more fantastical way to illicit emotion, through horror or gore or science fiction. Some combine a little of all of these in thrillers and conspiracies and deception. We pick a genre that fits our strengths and our tastes and pursue making the most effective story possible. But, again, we should be asking ourselves, what makes me so special? Out of all of the low budget horror films out there, what will make mine stand out, what will make my story my own personal contribution to the genre. There are many horror directors out there, but only a few Cravens or Carpenters. There are many thriller directors out there, but only a few Hitchcocks or DePalmas.

When people think of Hitchcock or DePalma or Carpenter, the term "genius" is often attached in some fashion. But, are they a "genius" because they were born with an extra filmmaker gene or are they a "genius" because they have truly defined themselves as storytellers? And is this definition by accident, by some deep-seeded instinct, or is it, rather, because they are that much more thorough in creating their visual imagery? I think their "genius" comes from 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Hitchcock, for example, never just "filmed" the scene. Every single shot was evaluated for it's emotional impact, either on its own or how it fit within a scene. Nothing was shot just to get the shot. Every angle was chosen as part of a whole to create the maximum impact to the audience. In Dial M For Murder, for example, the scene where Grace Kelly is attacked is divided into three 30 second sections. Pre-Attack, Attack and Post-Attack. Each section is 30 seconds long, because Hitchcock wanted the audience to understand that the attack was it's own event within the entire story. Just like the overall film, he wanted the attack to have a beginning, middle and end. And he wanted it defined in 30 second segments so that the audience, on a subconscious level, would understand that this unique, important event, had it's own life.

How many of us think to that detail in order to create the maximum effect on the audience? Granted, that's a daunting task, but it's worth it if you want to be anything above ordinary. I don't think it's by coincidence that the more effective filmmakers are also storyboarders. Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg, the Coens, etc., they all storyboard and take the time, before hand, to define every shot, to make sure that the way that image is relayed on the screen is as potent as possible.

So, when your throwing together your next low to no-budget film, make sure you take the time to define your style, to determine what's going to make you so special? Will it be your story or your effects, your imagery or your characters? It can be anything, but make it stand out. Make sure that, when people hear about your next film, that they are immediately aware of the unique opportunity they have to view your work. The budget has many limitations, but it shouldn't impact your style. Each of us is a unique creature. Our job is to relay that individuality through moving pictures.

And, then, we will have our own cinematic voice, our own unique, defined style.

Microcinema Flashback - The Three Most Important Words A Writer Needs To Remember... (2001)

2009-11-16T08:45:00.000-05:00

Writers block is one of the hardest things to face as a writer. Nothing is more daunting than a blank page. In November of 2001 I offer some advice for writers on how to overcome it.

*****

The Three Most Important Words A Writer Needs To Remember...
By Pete Bauer

All writers eventually face a common, simple, deadly foe... writer's block. And writer's block usually comes down to one simple problem... we don't know what happens next. We may have an idea of what we want to happen, but not how to get there. So, we sit and stir and fuss and sweat and stare at the blank page trying to figure out why the words stopped coming. And the longer we sit, the more insurmountable the writer's block becomes until it evolves into the writer's second deadly foe... procrastination. Unchecked, days and months may pass with the empty page still waiting for the next injection of creative inspiration. If never overcome, the result is another unfinished project that sits in your desk drawer, reminding you of a great idea that was never fully realized.

In order to keep myself from sliding down that slippery slope, I've tacked three words above my desk. They read ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. I have found these three words to be the most important words as a writer. Because, in reality, the blank page has no preference to what you place on it. It doesn't care. It's just a void that you're trying to fill and you can fill it with anything... absolutely anything.

Most writers will tell you that writing can often be a contradictory experience. When we start, we usually have a good idea of where we want the story to end up. But, once we begin writing, the characters slowly take on a life of their own. They become real people, with wills and attitudes and tastes and needs so when you get into the meat of the writing process, you're not so much writing as you are taking dictation from the characters who are now telling you what should happen next.

It's moments like these which are both the most rewarding and the most frustrating. You feel like you've got the wind at your back as the spirit of inspiration takes you down unplanned paths to exciting places you didn't expect. Then, suddenly, you find yourself wondering where the hell you are and how the hell you're going to get out? It's no longer the issue if this is where the story should lead... the characters have told you as much. Your job is to take it to the next step. To figure out… what happens next? If not careful, these are the moments where writer's block rears its ugly head. You can easily get stuck between your original vision of the story's path and the new one the writing process has created.

And, it's at that moment, that I look on my wall and read the words ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. And it frees me. It wipes the creative slate clean and allows me to let the story travel wherever it needs to go. Because, on the blank page, anything can happen, to anyone, at any time. It may not be the original intent, but it is what's right for the story, what's truthful to the characters, what is necessary for the fruition of the plot.

So, if you're ever faced with trying to figure out… what happens next? Remember, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. What's the most dramatic? What's the most appropriate? What's the most effective? It can be anything. And it's that freedom, that unlimited supply of possibilities, that is the greatest reward we get from this frustrating, inspiring and, ultimately, satisfying process called writing.

Microcinema Flashback - A Cry For Help... (2001)

2009-11-13T10:33:00.004-05:00

I've always envied the horror film genre. Their fans are the most loyal and most forgiving. The market place may increase as public taste fluctuate, but they never dip into obscurity. I think you can be pretty successful if you can shoot good low-budget horror. Unfortunately, I've never really liked the blood and guts horror flicks. Just not my thing.

In this article from October 2001 I ask for help on understanding the appeal of this odd, but loyal film genre.

*****

A Cry For Help... As Blood Spews From My Neck.
by Pete Bauer

I need help... understanding... education. I have to admit something that may offend some of you... but I hate horror movies. Not scary movies, not spooky movies, not boogy-man movies, but the blood splattering, in your face, knife-plunging, decapitation gory movies. I know there are a lot of people in this world who find some sort of entertainment from such films, otherwise the local video chains wouldn't be stocked with Children of the Corn VII! But, I just don't get it... never have. And I need you fellow horror-film fans to explain it to me.

I remember when Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and other flicks came out. I saw a few, but always found myself spending more of my time closing my eyes during the bloodfests than watching and finding enjoyment from it. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm too in touch with my sensitive side. Maybe I need an injection from the Wes Craven testosterone factory.

Don't get me wrong... I love suspense movies, scary, creepy, watch-out-for-the-bad-guy-behind-the-door films. The original Halloween is one of my favorite films of all time. So, it's not that I dislike the genre, just the more excessively bloody versions of it. Halloween worked so well for me because the graphic events are more implied than visual. It made me imagine... create what's going on as we hear the knife stabbing the older sister... we only see the knife through the eyes of the child's mask and since I have to fill in the gaps with my imagination, it makes it much more real than watching some clever special effect happen in front of me.

After the initial attack on Halloween night, the setup of impending evil, the rest of the movie is really a stalker movie. He follows Jamie Lee around, standing ominously across the street in shadow or near the clothes lines... scares the living crap out of you. Even the last act, where all of the bloody mayhem ensues, is handled with restraint and is incredibly effective as we see this evil finally unleashed.

I guess my problem comes from the point of the attacks in these types of films. Cheaper versions of the genre just throw a bunch of scantily clad beauties in a central location and let the hacking begin. Obviously this works well. This standard storyline is repeated over and over again by just about every level of filmmaker and it always makes money.

But, again, I just don't get it. I get offended seeing a knife plunge into the chest of a woman who's only crime is that she's in the wrong shower at the wrong time. I get offended when I see a guys neck slashed, blood spurt out and his head fall next to his lifeless body. Part of me has attached some sort of humanity to these characters and their loss, no matter how annoying the character is, is still a loss. That's just the way I am, I guess. I don't see them as plot devices that need to be hacked into oblivion, but people being killed. And, people dying gruesome deaths offends me.

Maybe I'm just a frickin' wuss! Maybe I need to go through another round of puberty. But, that's how I react to gore-fest films. Now, I avoid them at all cost. I remember back to something my Dad said to me when I was young... "watch out what you put into your brain because you can never get it out." So, I weigh the value of allowing certain images into my head and seeing a water-logged Jason return for one more vivisection just doesn't seem a logical use of my brain... don't think I gain anything from experiencing the imagery.

Again, help me here. I'm not judging, I'm not criticizing, I'm just trying to get it. I'm trying to understand where the enjoyment is for fans of horror. Is it that you don't attach yourselves to the characters and just appreciate the effects as a fellow filmmaker? Does it tickle some dark fancy within you? Is it "just a frickin' movie" and I should get out of my cinematic diapers? Give it to me straight. I can take it. I know many of you make horror flicks, and from the response, apparently they're very successful. I'd love to see the works of Timberwolf Digital or Eric Stanze or a variety of other filmmakers out there because I LOVE low-budget films with an edge... as long as it's not the edge of a large kitchen knife with blood dripping from the end.

Hell, I'll admit it... part of me is a hypocrite. My first film was a Super 8 slasher flick where we got all excited that we were able to get a knife with blood on it to look real. So, I've been there as a filmmaker making the best effects we could with bailing wire, some chewing gum and loads of food coloring. And I envy people who can make films in the genre with continued success, on any level, not so much because of the story that they're telling, but because they have tapped into a profitable niche market. If it was in me, I'd make a billion lesbian vampire flicks and retire... but I just can't tell that type of story. It's not in my genome.

So help me out... help me understand what so many people see that I, apparently, just don't get. I'm a fellow filmmaker with a cry for help. Just educate me before you dissect me and feed me to your relatives at the next holiday gathering.

Bucco Bruce Makes a Comeback

2009-11-11T14:52:00.003-05:00

The Bucs had an unexpected win over the Green Bay Packers this past weekend, welcoming in the Josh Freeman era as the Bucs franchise quarterback.

The Bucs chose this weekend to play in their throwback Orange and White jerseys with the famed Bucco Bruce on the side of the helmet.

Initially, I thought I would not enjoy seeing the Bucs in their old style uniforms because of my childhood full of watching bad football in creamy orange... players like Vinnie Testeverde or Jack Thompson or Errict Rhett...

But to my surprise, I really enjoyed seeing the old unis. It was nostalgic.

Where the creamscicle uniforms were once a symbol of winless football, this weekend the Bucs got their first win of the season while wearing those bright threads and while also honoring Lee Roy Selmon for putting the Bucs legitmately onto the football map.

Throwback Sunday ended up being a good time all around.

Good win, good uniforms and good memories... well, some good memories, at least.

Microcinema Flashback - Writing What You Know... Second Best (2001)

2009-11-09T08:34:00.002-05:00

From August 2001.

*****

Writing What You Know... Second Best
by Pete Bauer

There's a common, useful theory for new screenwriters which is to "write what you know." This means to write about your own experiences instead of trying to write a space-epic-horror-musical. The purpose of this exercise is to allow the writer to learn to write without having to do a lot of real pre-writing work... since you're writing from your own experiences, you don't have to do a lot of research, character development, etc. If you've been a waiter for three years, then write a script about waiting tables. If, like Kevin Smith, you worked in a convenience store, write a script about Clerks.

And, as your experience grows, you will find your older scripts could use an injection of your newer life lessons. For example, Steven Spielberg, who wrote and directed Close Encounters of the Third Kind, stated that, now that he has been a father, he never would have written Close Encounters the same way. When he made the film, he was young and single, without any children. So, he had no issue with the main character, played by Richard Dreyfuss, deciding to leave his family to go do some intergalactic galaxy hopping with the nearby aliens. However, now, as a father and truly understanding the love and attachment a parent has for their children, he stated he could never write that Dreyfuss would leave his family. His real life experiences have taught him that it just wasn't believable. And any parent will tell you he's correct.

Like all new writers, I wanted to set the world on fire with my creative genius, but I found my first two scripts falling outside the world of believability. The first, Undetected Risk, was a script about college kids who accidentally receive a top secret satellite transmission. The second, Mirage, was about brainwashing experiments that turn average citizens into assassins. Both had enough quality substance and structure to know that I could write thrillers, however, both stories took place in a shallow world. Both took place in the only world my limited imagination could create. Since I was so young, the only brainwashing and government secret stories I had seen were on television, so most of my stories were written with those pre-fab TV worlds in mind... and in the end it meant my stories offered nothing truly original.

So, I decided to take the phrase "write what you know" to heart and wrote a romantic comedy about a drama student (me) who is dealing with the struggles of a college relationship, called A Moment In The Moonlight. It was based on all of my failed relationships I had to overcome during my college years. After writing this script I realized two things: One, that my characters were much more believable, and Two, the world they lived in was real and unique. Even though the script in its entirety is not spectacular, the experiment, the process of "writing what you know" was extremely helpful. It allowed me to grow as a writer by letting me focus on the process of actually writing 120 pages instead of struggling with trying to create characters and a world from scratch.

However, there's a serious downside to this that I have noticed more and more lately. As the proliferation of DV shorts and features stream from all of the creative minds across the nation, there are more and more stories about filmmakers. About filmmakers unable to make films. Of course, I'm certain that these were done because they were "writing what you know." But, I've got to tell you, most people DON'T CARE and CAN'T IDENTIFY with filmmakers. They see them and the process of filmmaking as uninteresting and they see filmmakers as necessary, creative freaks. So, they could care less about the struggles of a filmmaker. They only want to see the finished product... a quality film that allows them to escape their everyday lives for a couple of hours.

If I see one more story about a struggling screenwriter, actor, director or producer, I think I'll vomit. I love making movies and I HATE watching stories about filmmakers... because, who cares? So, you're having trouble making your movie so you write about a filmmaker having trouble making a movie... unless it's because your potential financiers are actually Iraqi Underworld or something exciting, then why would I want to watch a story about your struggles when I'm having filmmaking struggles of my own. And if I'm not a filmmaker, then why should I care at all? Because, the reality is that usually the writers of these filmmaker stories aren't really good enough to make these types of stories universally appealing. It's a niche market that very few people are interested in.

Does that mean you shouldn't write about the struggles of filmmaking? No, the experience you gain from writing about it will make you a better writer for your next story. But, for God's sake, just don't make a film about it.

Hollywood still hasn't learned this lesson. They find any story about filmmakers as some sort of satire about their own lives. But, in the end, very few of these stories actually ever make any money or rarely bring any true notoriety to the writers and directors. Now, for some reason, the average public IS still fascinated with the lives of the stars. And, trying to cash in, Hollywood decided it would be interesting to make a film about a star and the whole Hollywood-Star experience. So they made America's Sweetheart. Considering the talent on and off the screen, this thing should have been a blockbuster. However, it got mediocre reviews and luke-warm box office receipts. Because, like I said before, NO ONE CARES. Every once and a while some of these stories have enough edge to be successful, such as Swimming With Sharks, Living In Oblivion, and Misery (a writer wrote about a writer). But for the most part, these stories are not appealing.

The writer we could all learn from in overcoming this dilemma is Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone. Serling was a genius and he wrote the bulk of those classic episodes. However, when he started to get creative burnout near the end of the series run, instead of writing about writers having burnout, he wrote about burnout in general. He wrote about advertising executives or plumbers or husbands having burnout. He turned his own experiences into something everyone could identify with simply by changing the employment in which the main character was experiencing the burnout. Suddenly, we participate in the pressure and helplessness of the characters because we think they are just like us... average people who happen to be having extraordinary experiences.

"Writing what you know" is a great way of getting new writers into the writing game. But, when you decide what to shoot, please, please, please choose a story about something you know... second best.

Microcinema Flashback - My Safari to the Land of Foo (2001)

2009-11-02T08:08:00.000-05:00

I had an idea once... after the advent of cable television and before the advent of the internet, I thought that film makers from across the country could use cable access channels as their own personal syndication option for their shorts and feature films.

Here was the concept... At that time, cable companies, by law, had to provide a channel in the lower tier (usually below channel 20) that was dedicated toward local programming. The cable companies had to make available the equipment for citizens to shoot their subjects and the channel to air them.

So, if you could get a film makers from all over the country to sign-up with their local cable access channel, we could combine our film projects into a single program and self-syndicate it throughout the country, one cable access channel at a time.

In Boston in the 90's a group of college students were already using their local public access channel to produce and showcase their own short film work in a show they called Fade to Black. The group, which called themselves Pangaea and Random Foo, were exceptionally prolific and were on the cutting edge of the microcinema revolution in the late 90's.

They made their shows available for sale on VHS tape. I purchase them and took a weekend to watch all of their stuff. Here were my thoughts...

From February 2001...

*****

My Safari to the Land of Foo
By Pete Bauer

It's official… I have been Foo-ified. I have immersed myself in the land of Foo on the continent of Pangaea and have lived to tell the tale. A few weeks ago I received, in a simple USPS box, a collection of 13 Fade to Black episodes, containing a total of 33 short films. I, like many of you, had heard so much about the ravenous filmmakers of the greater Northeast and wanted to experience what all of the fuss was about. So, I shuffled off my humble check to the friends of Foo and have watched all 13 episodes. (Episodes 14 and 15 have since been completed, but I haven't seen them yet).

First, I should state that I am of the belief that if anyone out there is capable of completing any project, no matter how long it takes and no matter what the end quality is, that you deserve a sincere round of applause. Any of us who have tried, failed and tried again, to make a short film know just how many obstacles stand between the simple idea stage to the completed film stage. Beyond that, I look for ingenuity in concept, implementation or presentation. I expect the basics (visual composition, a steady camera, competent acting, adequate sound) as a minimum and hope for more.

Now, what I'm not going to do is review each project individually, because, to be honest, I'm not that good of a reviewer… and that really wasn't the point of writing this article. But, I will share my overall experiences in my short, intense visit to the land of Foo. First, let's start with the obvious… VOLUME! These guys crank out more titles than some porn distributors! It's amazing the mere volume of work that is done by this dedicated group of people. I marvel at the fact that I'm able to complete one project a year. These guys have completed over 50 and have made available over 30 in the Fade to Black series. I know it's been said before, but that's frickin' amazing. Nuff said.

Second, let's talk about originality. Overall, the stories these guys/gals are telling are quite original in concept. Some are supernatural, some are funny and some are straight dramas. Do they all pay off as well as they could in the end? No. But most of them get pretty darn close. And with each project, the scope of the stories appear to be growing, which is nice to see. And Jason Santo seems to be the Stephen King of the group, prolific and with a non-conventional edge to his stories. And, again, the skill of the way the stories unfold has continually improved with each project, which is critical.

Third, let's talk about production value… and I'm not talking about available skin on the screen (and I'm excluding Santo shirtless). I'm talking about the quality of directing and camerawork. To be honest, in the beginning, this concerned me slightly because there were a lot of times, I thought, where shaky hand-camera work could have been replaced by a steadier tripod with no ill effect, I believe, on the shots being attempted or the time it would take to shoot it. But, more importantly, they have continued to improve in this area.

As you move up the Fade to Black food chain, the quality of the direction and camerawork steadily improves. There is more visual direction, more emotional impact created by the shots selected. And that's important to me and stems from my own personal bias. I like visual directors more than others (DePalma, Hitchcock, Bay, etc.). I like seeing style along with substance, so I tend to gravitate to projects which do the same. And the Foo camerawork has improved with each project, which has led to more effective editing and performances. If there were no visible growth in their ability to direct, then I would have been concerned. However, with each new project they seem to be expanding their horizons, raising the bar and attempting more ambitious projects. Otherwise, what's the point?

Fourth, let's talk about acting. The Foo ensemble has a nice mix of personalities. Each have their strengths and, for the most part, put themselves in a position where they can showcase what they do best as actors.

However, I must take a moment to point out the two best actors in the group, in my humble opinion – Jason Santo and Dan Gorgone. Good acting, on any level, consists of two basic things, relaxation and commitment. Relaxation in the sense that the actor relaxes into the role, you never feel like they are pushing or "acting" but merely being someone else. Secondly, commitment, which is important when portraying a normal role in an odd story or an odd role in a normal story. In order for those things to work, the actor has to commit fully to the role or situation, no matter how weird it may seem. By committing, the audience buys into it because the actors have fully bought into it. And both Santo and Gorgone succeed at both of these things. To my surprise, they are equally adept at both comedy and drama. Santo has an intensity that makes me wonder if he'd kick my ass if I ever meet him in person. Not that he'd have a reason to kick my ass, but he just might because of a bad chicken parmesan or something like that. And, I must add a special nod to Gorgone, who can be a frickin' nut in one film, a humble husband in another and then a scary stalker in the next, all convincing… chameleon like actually. He's got it all together.

Out of the plethora of stories I've watched over the past few weeks, I'd like to mention some of my favorites stops in the land of Foo (in alphabetical order):

51 – Nice direction, solid acting, good story. Good work.
Friends of P – Funnier than when I saw it the first time over the internet. Goofy and fun.
Hell Awaits – Ambitious, intense, well done.
House Rules – when this started I was afraid… I thought it was something someone threw together when no one was home. But, I was wrong and the humor and story were so well done that I was laughing out loud. The voices were great, the humor was tremendous. Hilarious.
Just Dessert – Funny story is infused with new, quality acting talent.
Killing Time – Nice camerawork, story and acting. Good work.
Marisa – Nice visuals, good direction, great implementation.
Paths – Excellent. Nice visuals, nice story, and Gorgone spooked me. My personal favorite.
The Quiet Day – Nice visuals, simple and effective acting, nice story.
Sykes Tangent and the Angel of Death – Great story idea, great villain, can't wait to see where this series goes.
Twice Upon A Time – Epic with lots of fisticuffs. Good use of combining an old film project with a new idea.
Voice of Reason – Excellent acting, nicely directed, excellent story.
Wordbox – Interesting, unique story, nice cinematography, good acting.

When you look at the massive work of Foo/Pangaea, you could try to focus on any number of reasons as to why this group is so successful. But, I believe the greatest thing these guys and gals have going for them is an overall sense of enjoyment they bring to their projects. You can tell that they love doing what they do. The love they have hanging around with each other, being friends and making movies. Out of all of their accomplishments, this is the one that I think most of us would envy. It's rare that you can get a project finished. It's even more rare that the experience is rewarding on a creative AND personal level. And it's even more rare that you could repeat that success with the same people over and over in a way that showcases not only your talents, but your long-term friendships. When people look at what makes Foovies so special, it's not only the volume or the consistent quality of the work, but comradery that they share on and off the screen.

So, thanks for the enjoyable trip to the Land of Foo. I look forward to the next stop on your never-ending journey.

AFM 2000 - Day 4

2009-10-31T08:43:00.000-05:00

AFM – Day 4
2/25/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

I woke up around 7:00 a.m. and started working on the script. The only thing I had to do today (besides finish the rewrite of the script) was have lunch with a dear old college friend, Jennifer. So, in the morning I worked on the re-write while Jenni tried to schedule a meeting with the foreign investor, Showcase, our Casting Director and her and Jeff. I finished the re-write around 10:30 a.m. It did what we needed it to do and Jenni would have the rest of the weekend to tweak it more before giving it to the investor on Sunday.

Jenni and Jeff, needing to run some errands (or just get away from me – I'm not sure which) and they dropped me off at the SAG building where I was to meet my friend Jennifer for lunch. I had tried to contact some other college friends, Dave and Sunday, but their phone number was now some auto place or something. So, I made my way up to the eighth floor (eighth floor again… hmmm) and Jennifer greeted me with a big hug. She looked exactly the same. I looked fat. She had told me that she had been exercising a lot and had actually lost weight. I silently blamed her for my weight gain since our college days, knowing deep down that her fat had been mysteriously transferred to my body over the last 12 years.

We went next door and ate at Koo Koo Roos. I offered to pay (I'm serious... you can ask her) but she insisted on paying for it herself. I realized I just may get through this trip with cash to spare! But, dinner still awaited. Jennifer and I spent lunch catching up on the past twelve years of our lives, talking about writing, the film industry, family and goals for the next 10 years. It was a great lunch and I wished we hadn't waited so long to get together.

You can see the effects of
prednisone on my cheeks.
Thank goodness for Remicade.

Jenni and Jeff picked me up and we headed back to the AFM so they could meet about casting. With Adrenaline, there's a basic cost of making the film, let's say $2 million or something like that and depending on what actors you get, the budget will be effected. So, they wanted to meet to determine what actors would fit into the fictional $2 million dollar budget, which actors would bump it up another million or so, and what actors would bump it up yet another million and so on. This is all part of the plan in determining funding and budgetary needs.

So, we arrived at the AFM and I got to meet our Casting Director Harriet Greenspan, who read Adrenaline and had LOVED it! She told me that it was one of the only scripts she had ever read where she couldn't put it down and read it all in one sitting. Granted, she could have been bold-face lying to me, but she seemed like a very sincere, genuine person (yes, there are some of them in Hollywood) so I believed her. This probably makes me a sucker.

While they all met, I again strolled the halls of the AFM, taking more pictures, checking out which old TV star was starring a new disaster flick headed for Asia. As the evening wore on, we all ended up back in the lobby of the hotel. Bill Suchy, a fellow Floridian filmmaker, had flown in that morning and was going to take my bedroom/editing suite for the rest of the festival. While we waited for the meeting to adjourn on the eighth floor we talked a lot about writing, experimenting and using Digital Video as a low cost way to test our writing and directing abilities. It occurred to me, as the evening continued, that there were about five people in this entire room that were cloned to make the hundreds of people around me. There were the tall blondes with large breasts. The short brunettes with large breasts (I see a trend forming). The X-File look alikes. The hippie/European long haired guys. And the old guys who've been in the business so long they don't give a crap what they look like.

We finally all headed to Arnold S.'s restaurant, Shlotzies (or something like that), for dinner. Knowing that I'd been a total mooch since arriving and also knowing that my paycheck would have direct deposited by now, I insisted on paying for Jenni and Jeff's dinner. After we all induldged in some seriously good and expensive food, the bill came. But, it was all on one bill, I would have to charge it since I only had $4.87 cash on me, I couldn't afford to pay for EVERYone's meal and Jeff wouldn't let me pay for his and Jenni's anyway! So, I opened my wallet and threw the remaining four dollars I had onto the table as part of the tip and walked away feeling like week old pond scum.

We hurried out of the restaurant at around 9:15 p.m. My flight started boarding at 10:00 p.m. and was to leave at 10:30 p.m. Traffic was tight, I was tense and I REALLY didn't want to miss my flight home. Just when all seemed lost and the traffic was a near standstill, Jenni did some industrial strength thinking and drove around a parking structure, by-passing a ton of traffic, and exited right into the loading area for my airline. I gave her a quick hug and rushed into the airport. Jeff followed me up to the gate. I gave him a big hug and thanked him for all of his generosity. It was really great to see them after all this time. My trip into the world of filmdom was coming to an end and I appreciated the detour away from my everyday.

Flight 96, non-stop to Tampa started boarding and I was surprised how full the plane was. Every row had at least two people in it, so no one could stretch out on all of the three seats. I had a window seat, which I thought was a good idea, but I just couldn't enter that blissful slumber. Part of the problem was that I couldn't get comfortable… another was that I was anxious to get home and see my wife and kids… and another was that this small oriental gentleman seated directly in front of me continually passed gas in his sleep. Toxic gas. Intrusive, oppressive, oh-my-God-I'm-going-to-die gas. But, the guy was unconscious… what could I do? So, I turned my head and tried not to breath too deeply for the four hour trip home.

My wife and children waited for me at the airport baggage area. It was 5:45 a.m. and my loving wife pulled our kids out of bed just to pick me up. They were all glad to see me and I was thrilled to see them. On the drive home I recapped the trip with my wife as my kids fell back to sleep in the back seat. When I got home I plopped the remaining $.87 onto my dresser before diving into my familiar, comfortable bed and slept one of the deepest sleeps of my life.

I guess if there's one thing I learned during this trip is that, no matter what stage of the process you're in (pre-production, production, post, distribution, etc.), you are still your best salesman. You are still the one who has more passion and belief in your project than anyone else. You still have to keep working the film, making sure the distribution company is on the same page you are, pushing them, networking, making contacts... it doesn't appear that there is ever a stage in the process when you simply let go of the project. It's always yours. That's why it's so important that your first feature be something you are passionate about because you are going to live with it for a very long time.

Remaining Cash: $.87

Until next time...

AFM 2000 - Day 3

2009-10-30T08:38:00.004-05:00

AFM – Day 3
2/24/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

It was Thursday and a big day for us. First, we had the RWA screening at a local AMC theater at 1:00 p.m. Second, we got a call that morning that we were to meet with the foreign investors that afternoon after the screening. But, first, we had to get there. And on the way down the interstate we ran into one of those classic L.A. traffic jams. Fortunately for us, there is a carpool lane, which was completely empty. Apparently we were the only people in the state that actually drove WITH someone else in the car.

On the way into the hotel entrance we passed the Troma people singing and dancing and making a lot of noise. They were dressed in their Troma character costumes (Kabuki Kop, Toxic Avenger, etc.) grooving to accordion music. Only in California can you see a man dressed up in a Kabuki outfit bump and grind to a Lawrence Welk-ish tune with a mal-formed melon head and a scream queen.

We arrived at the AFM around 10:30 to meet up with some people who were going to join us at the screening. Grady Bishop, our stunt coordinator on RWA, got in contact with some of the great women from the Stuntwoman's Association of Motion Pictures and they agreed to come out and help push the film. Nancy Thurston, Elle Alexander, and Cheryl Bermeo were all there to help us out. Originally they had planned to recreate the wheelchair down the cable stunt outside the AMC theater where the screening was to be held, but due to nearby construction, this had to be called off. I asked Nancy why they were willing to assist us and she said, "The more advertisement for women, stunt women, women directors, any woman in any part of the industry, we love to support." She also stated that it's hard enough for women in the entertainment industry and that they need to help each other out as much as possible. Their generosity and time were greatly appreciated. They were going to take our poster and postcards and hand them out in the front of the AMC, so, they donned some RWA t-shirts and headed for the theater.

Before they left, however, security had come to us twice about our RWA poster. Trying to enforce the "don't flaunt your stuff" policy, they told us we had to turn our poster toward the wall or else they would confiscate the goods. We tried to explain that we were handing it to these women to take with them (which was true), but they didn't buy it. We knew they were only doing their job, but we didn't see them stop the Troma people from dancing and singing through the lobby or tell some woman with a pet monster to take it outside. The best we could figure out was that you weren't allowed to display your film (i.e. large poster), but if you dressed up wacky and people initiated conversation, then you were then allowed to hand them a postcard and flaunt your film to your hearts content. A gray area, sure, but life's full of 'em.

Chris Templeton, RWA's lead actress, arrived and we then all headed to the theater. We got there a little early. We checked in with the stunt-women who were busily handing out postcards to anyone who walked by. Jeff and I then took a stroll down the main street and headed to Borders bookstore. On the way there we ran into a little guy (a friend of the stunt women) who handed us an RWA postcard and said "hey, you wanna see a great action movie?" Jeff kindly pointed out that he produced it and I pointed out that I co-wrote it. He smiled and walked on, going up to the next person.

After a stroll through the extensive film book collection in Borders, we continued down the walk and ran into Gregory Von Hausch, who is President of the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival. For those of you who missed that episode, the RWA showed at the '98 Ft. Lauderdale Film Fest and won the Sunshine Celluloid Award. Gregory said that some little guy pushed an RWA postcard in his hand and asked if he wanted to see a great action film. Gregory said he tried to explain to him that he showed the film at his festival last year… he was certain the guy didn't believe him. You gotta love the little guy's enthusiasm for a film he's NEVER seen!

It neared lunch and Tracy, Olga, Chris and I headed across the street from the theater to Lago's for some lunch. The menu said they had pasta and a salad bar, but after seeing the meals, I wasn't too sure what they were serving. The ladies all got the "salad" bar, which was really like some food freak show with unpronounceable names and weird tastes. I tried to order a simple dish, fettuccini and chicken, but it came out looking different and tasting slightly off. I ate it anyway because I was starving.

Our lunch was interrupted by a parade of picketing janitors fighting for the right to higher wages. Thankfully there was no mop-water spilled or stain remover shed… it was a peaceful demonstration. Tracy and Chris had to leave early because a TV crew showed up at the theater, so Olga and I had a nice meal discussing many things. It was a pleasant lunch. I tried to pay (no, really) but Olga said Jeff insisted he pay for the meal.

The screening finally neared and we made our way to the theater. Outside the Mulder and Scully buyers approached, exiting an AFM shuttle bus dressed like attendees at an FBI convention. Postcards were given out aplenty. The little guy (I really have to get his name) wanted to know if he could sit on the shuttle bus and hand out the postcards to the buyers as they entered/exited (I LOVE his enthusiasm!). We thought that may be a bit intrusive, but we agreed he could hang out where they dump the X-File look-a-likes out and pummel them with advertising.

Ned McLeod, our handy-dandy entertainment lawyer, and John and Susie Millonig some of our executive producers, were in town and showed up for the screening. It was good to meet John and Susie. They are really great people. They've spent the last 12 years building a missionary in a village down in Honduras. They are almost complete and will move to a new village and start again. Great people.

We made our way into the theater and I was deeply disappointed to find out that Snowcaps were not sold in this theater. A movie without Snowcaps? What is this, Russia? Disappointed, I continued on, chocolate-less, and sat in the back of the theater. The way these screenings work is like this… there are about 10 movie theaters that are showing AFM films during the week. Each of the films the distributors want to show gets one, MAYBE two screenings during the AFM. So, during our screening there were other AFM films showing on each of the other screens in our theater… and there are also AFM films at all of the other screens at all of the other theaters all at the same time. So, we were pleased to have about 50 people attend the screening. It's not uncommon to have people come and go during these screenings. Some may spend 10 minutes in one film, 15 in another and 30 in yet another, getting a feel for if the film could sell in their territory. If they want to view the entire film they can always get video copies from the distributor later. We were very happy to have only two people leave after the first ½ hour and the rest stayed through to the end. That was very encouraging.

After the screening the rest of the people were now hungry, so we headed back over to Lago's for some post-screening feeding. Those of us who had lunch earlier indulged in some serious desserts while the rest of them played mystery-food roulette with the menu. This was the first time I was able to meet Isaac, who plays Mo in RWA. He had just finished a gig on the new Charlie's Angels film (like society needs THAT to be a feature film). I asked him what type of roles he's been getting and he stated most of his characters were morally challenged (i.e., bad guys). We joked that, someday, he could get a role where his character yearns to cuddle.

Also, during lunch, dinner or whatever this was, I got to meet and talk with Scott Dobbie, a director who's interested in directing a script I wrote called One View Only. Jenni ran into Scott a while back at a DGA event. Scott said he was looking for a script like Silence of the Lambs… Jenni immediately thought of One View Only, sent him a copy and he loved it! He's working on getting financing and all of the other stuff that goes into getting a film made. Jenni and Jeff will produce the film if he gets the cash in place. I tried to pay at this meal too (stop snickering, I'm serious), but Jeff insisted on paying for this meal too.

After eating we headed back to the AFM and met with our would-be foreign investor who, at this point, will remain nameless. First off, you don't want to jinx a thing like multi-million dollar financing and Second, you don't want to risk pissing off a guy who may invest in your film and Third, it's just not kosher in filmdom. So, we had a good meeting with them and Showcase. They stated that they needed the re-written Adrenaline to review with his people when he goes back home and we agreed to meet the next day with our casting director to discuss possible directions we want to go in casting.

On the drive home we got stuck in traffic again. The half-hour drive took about an hour and a half. On the way home Jeff cracked the whip and said that we should work on the script changes that night so we can make sure and get him a finished re-write before the guy goes back to their country. We didn't want to delay the process of getting financing at all. We also needed to do it before I left for home, Friday night.

So, Jenni and I stayed up as late as we could and worked our way through about 1/3 of the script. Before going to bed, I got on the computer and entered the changes, then crashed.

Remaining Cash: $4.87

AFM 2000 - Day 2

2009-10-29T08:25:00.000-05:00

AFM – Day 2
2/23/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

My mind tried to wake me up at about 3:30 a.m. PST, thinking I was back home in my own bed, ready to go to work. However, it didn't take long to convince my body that a couple of hours more sleep would do me good. I knew these next few days would be packed with events, so I took every opportunity to rest up.

I finally awoke around 9:00 a.m. and found the rest of the house still asleep. Along with Jenni and Jeff, Olga, Jenni's mother and Tracy, who worked with us on RWA, also lived in the house. I would soon learn that, in L.A., no one gets up very early and everyone stays up very late. So, I started to search the kitchen for some breakfast fixings, but didn't feel comfortable rifling through their stuff, so I plopped on the comfy couch and watched Sportscenter.

After a little while, Jeff awoke and we combined to make some delicious eggs and potatoes for breakfast. I then filled my time taking a tutorial on Final Cut Pro on their new Apple G3 machine. By 11:00 a.m. Jenni and I were out the door and heading to the AFM. Jeff would catch up with us later.

The first stop was the Directors Guild of America so Jenni could pay her dues and drop off some tickets for a Guild party. Inside I attempted to take some pics, but the Guard quickly informed me that "taking pics inside the DGA without approval was strictly verboten." The lobby of the DGA has three theaters (Video Theater, Theater One and Theater Two) and I was only able to snap a pic of the outside of the Video Theater. Even though the Guard was distracted by some workers setting up for a Showtime party in the lobby, I didn't want to get Jenni in trouble, so I put the camera away and we headed upstairs to accounting.

We left the DGA and headed, through town (not via highway) to Santa Monica, where the AFM was being held. On the way there, my EST stomach started to growl and Jenni pulled into a McDonalds so I could feed the beast. I was left with four dollars and some change. One more meal like that and I was headed to the ATM.

The sun finally broke through the clouds as we arrived at Loews Hotel about two blocks from the Santa Monica Pier. After some haggling with the valets, we were allowed to park the van ourselves and we headed into the hotel. When you enter the lobby you are accosted by people hawking industry rags (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc.) There are tables and tables of free industry publications that are yours for the taking. We made our way past the publication gauntlet and entered the lobby, where I felt like I had entered an X-Files convention. Everyone (distributors and buyers alike) was dressed in black, wearing long black trench coats and talking continuously on cell-phones. Mulder and Scully could have been standing right next to me and I wouldn't have noticed. Having been born without the hip gene, I was wearing color (green and tan), which made me look like a tourist. I didn't realize I should have dressed for a funeral. This is an important tip to would-be filmmakers. At ALL social events, wear black… you can't go wrong with black.

One of the first people we met was Mark Bruder from Bruder Releasing, Inc. (BRI), a domestic distributor. He had contacts with getting films into the Blockbuster chain, HBO, Lifetime, etc. We talked about the niche appeal this film has with handicapped viewers and he already knew the numbers, which was impressive. He took a copy of the film and told Jenni that they'd meet at the end of the market.

In the lobby we also hooked up with Dan Murphy, who is good friends with the Farley brothers (Something About Mary) and Jenni. He agreed to help us spread the RWA word and hand out postcards with RWAs poster on the front and a synopsis and screening times on the back. We would later learn that such overt advertising at the AFM is a faux paus. But, ignorance (no matter how temporary) is bliss, so we handed him a pack of cards and he headed into the thick lobby crowd while Jenni and I headed up to the eighth floor to meet with Showcase. In order to enter any of the floors where the distributors are located you have to have a badge with your picture (I think they cost around $400 each!) The blue badges mean you're a distributor (ours was from Showcase) and the green badges mean you're a buyer. Thankfully, I look enough like Jeff's little photo to get away with using his badge… now I'm not sure if Jeff should be offended by that or whether I should.

Every U.S. based international distributor takes one of the hotel rooms, sets up shop and the buyers strolls from one room to the other, watch videos, dvds, listen to pitches and determines what they think they can sell back in their territories. Jenni and I made our way up to 807, this weeks temporary home for Showcase, where we met with David Jackson, president of Showcase. He was a very nice, straightforward man. We talked about RWA and Adrenaline and tried to finalize a meeting with the foreign investors. He said he was having dinner with them that evening and would try to finalize a meeting with us then. He then went on to describe some of the humorous film investment schemes he had heard (diamonds for collateral, bad escrow deals, etc.) The funniest story was of a director who met with some middle-eastern "investors" who would only fund the film if they could put life insurance on the director. The director declined their offer and ran as fast as he could.

Jenni spent the rest of the afternoon up at Showcase while I strolled the halls checking out all of the distributors and films. It was amazing to see how many films were made that no one in the U.S. will probably ever see. It occurred to me that known to semi-known actors work a lot more than we realize. There were hundreds of films that fall into many of the standard formulas (action, blow 'em-up flicks and sci-fi alien-esque thrillers, sexy soft porn and horror/satanic themed films) that the average U.S. film fan will never see.

Distributors ranked from the ultra small (offering only one movie full of no-names, which were probably friends and local actors) to more "legitimate" distributors, like New Line and Miramax. And some celebrities came to push their films as well. There were a lot of actors that fit into that "oh, I know them from something somewhere but have no clue what their name is" category, a few that you knew well, but still didn't know their names (like the black guy who played assistant DA in the early years of Law and Order and the main hunk on the new Baywatch Hawaii). Then there were the ones you knew like Gene Simmons of KISS (pushing Detroit Rock City) and Jean Claude Van Damme (pushing a tender love story between a man and his injured puppy – yeah right, he was there pushing some action flick with a numeral at the end).

Other sights of interest were the plethora of silicon enhanced mammories, the hosts of calogen filled lips and the sad sight of the aging Hollywood insiders who try so desperately to look 20 and are failing miserably. The last group was truly sad and made me glad that most of the people in Florida let gravity take its course and look the better for it.

That night we drove home, slightly frustrated that we weren't able to nail down a meeting with the foreign investors, and finished the evening by eating some delicious beef stroganoff prepared so expertly by Jeff and Olga.

Remaining Cash: $4.87

AFM 2000 - Day 1

2009-10-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

Back in 2000 I had co-written a screenplay for Jenni Gold called Ready, Willing & Able. When the low-budget film was completed we tried to sell it at the famed American Film Market, where distributors from across the world would come to see what was available for distribution in their areas and countries. I wrote a journal of the odd and memorable experience. Over the next four days, I'll share that journal.

*****

AFM – Day 1
2/22/00

Excerpts from Pete's personal journal.

Ten bucks, two carry-ons and an e-ticket were all I had as I entered the airport for my 8:17 p.m. flight en route to California. I had 13 dollars when I got there, but my wife took three of them in order to pay for the privilege to leave the Tampa International Airport parking garage. The ten left wasn't enough to survive the next three days in L.A., but was all I had, since I had remembered getting everything for this trip, except cash! I decided to see how long I could stretch out the 10 bucks before succumbing to an ATM and their exorbitant fees.

About three weeks ago, Jenni and Jeff called me and asked if I would be available to come out to L.A. in order to attend to the American Film Market (AFM) and meet with some potential foreign investors about some re-writes they wanted to make to Adrenaline. After securing some vacation time from work and some understanding from my wife, they booked me on a flight out there. This year the AFM runs from 2/23/00 to 3/1/00. Due to some family obligations, I could only make it Wednesday thru Friday, so, in order to maximize my time out there we agreed to give me the red-eyes to and from L.A.

So, Tuesday night at 8:17 p.m. I took flight 1249 to Chicago. I arrived at O'Hare airport with just enough time to board flight 127 out to L.A. The flight from Chicago to L.A. was mostly empty, which allowed me to take the entire row of seats and attempt to sleep while trying to ignore the metal seatbelts digging into my back. I arrived at LAX at about 12:30 a.m. PST, which was 3:30 a.m. my time. I was exhausted, yet excited to be there. I knew this trip would allow me to forget the daily grind I left back in Florida and play filmmaker for a couple of days. It's these little moments of indulgence of doing what I want to do (filmmaking) that allow me to do what I have to do (my real job) without going creatively postal.

Jenni and Jeff got there about 10 minutes after I arrived. I was surprised to find it rainy and cold. This was L.A. after all, where it never rains, supposedly. Unprepared and without a coat, I shivered until I spotted Jenni's van approaching. Jeff was exhausted from working the past 36 hours straight finalizing a post-production gig, so he hopped in back and attempted to snooze on the ½ hour trip back to their house. Jenni and I caught up on everything and set out our plan for the week.

The primary goal of the trip was to finalize, as much as possible, the foreign investor's concerns about script changes needed to Adrenaline. Their original notes wanted a past love interest added from one of the existing characters. After some thought and a re-read of the script, I believed that this change would actually benefit the script. Jenni was more skeptical. She kept asking me "well, if they don't end up funding the film, would you still keep the changes?" I kept saying "yes" because it added a sense of normality to the group of characters and gave a more satisfying conclusion to the story.

I could tell she wasn't completely convinced, however she trusted me and we talked about our secondary goal, getting RWA sold to foreign markets at the AFM. The AFM is basically a market of middlemen. U.S. based international distributors (i.e., Showcase, New Concorde, New Line, etc.) meet with foreign-based distributors (or buyers). These foreign distributors buy the rights to the U.S. films and then try to sell it to their markets (t.v., theatrical, etc.) in their territories. RWA had a screening scheduled for Thursday at around 1:00 p.m. so our goal was to get as many buyers as we could to attend the screening.

We got back to the house after 1:00 a.m. PST, but I was feeling the 4:00 a.m. EST in me screaming to get out. After a quick tour of the house, Jeff pulled out the sleeper in a small sofa located in their front room, which doubles as an editing suite. After unpacking, I collapsed onto the bed.

Remaining Cash: $10.00

A Prediction?

2009-10-27T13:25:00.003-05:00

During the latest debacle that is the Bucs season, my family and I were lamenting how bad they were playing. We were all feeling hopeless.

We mused that if they had to put the Bucs season on a single picture, it would be a take off of Obama's famous Hope picture.

Personally, I like Raheem Morris a lot. I think his intentions are pure and he is doing the best he can. I do question whether or not he was the right guy at the right time.

No matter who they would have hired, it would have been a tough season. Gruden left the team cupboards barren of talent. Gruden/Allen drafted horribly and Gruden didn't have the patience to develop young talent. Allen's picks were under performers or pure busts (Gaines Adams, Dexter Jackson). Plus, the Glazers appear to be in a credit/cash crunch since leveraging themselves to the moon and back to buy the Manchester United... BEFORE the economy took a dump.

We knew we were all in for a rebuilding process anyway... we just felt the new regime would have some sort of plan.

I hope Raheem and the team succeed. But, this level of play sure is a reminder of the Richard Williamson school of football. And that ain't pretty.

Microcinema Flashback - The Last Broadcast Revisited (2001)

2009-10-26T08:01:00.001-05:00

From February 2001 I discuss how the film The Last Broadcast was a much better no-budget film than the financially successful Blair Witch Project. Since this article, I have actually been in email communication with Lance Weiler, who started a website called the Workbook Project. The WP is an "open source" website for do-it-yourself filmmakers. Lance, who has always been on the forefront of the evolving independent distribution model, used the WP website to share all of the information he and others have collected on how to best get your indy film out there.

*****

The Last Broadcast - REvisited
By Pete Bauer

This past Monday afternoon, as I recovered from an all night drive from a family event in Atlanta, I sat on my couch and watched The Last Broadcast on HBO. This film was made back in 1998 by Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler and is an example of all that is potentially right with amateur, ultra low-budget film making.

I remember reading about it and visiting their website when the film was first completed. I remember that they spent only $900 on the film and used this new, cool technology called Digital Video. I remember reading that they were the first film digitally distributed, via satellite, to a few select art film houses across the U.S., including the Enzian in Orlando, Florida. Then, life went on and the dreaded Blair Witch Project reared it's ugly head. At first I thought it was The Last Broadcast renamed. But, later I fell for the hype and build-up of the Blair Witch Project only to go away from the theater thinking it was one of the most overly-hyped ineffective uses of my time, exceeded only by another pathetic little film known as The Phantom Menace. But I digress...

The Last Broadcast was not so effective because of its use of DV or Adobe Photoshop or any technical wizardry. It succeeded because it had a great story and they used their financial limitations as creative solutions instead of artistic excuses. There's a quote from Robert Rodriguez that goes something like this... "You're gonna come up with problems everyday on your set. You can get rid of the problem one of two ways - you can do it creatively or you can wash it away with the money hose. You got no money, you got no hose." And Avalos and Weiler formatted their film to fit their limitations. Their idea was to shoot a fake documentary... which, by now, has become all too common. But, what was so effective about it was the way they let the story unfold.

Unlike "Bore Witch," this story had a plot and every character in the film was believable and convincing. Broadcast succeeded because it treated the documentary like a mystery. If you've ever watched Nova or Front Line (yes, that means you'd have to be watching PBS), then you would see the best documentaries made today, because they don't bore you with fact after fact, they give you the problem or task of the documentary and lead you down a path that unfolds like an Sherlock Holmes tale. I mean, if Front Line can make an hour-long documentary on mathematical proofs interesting, they can do anything! And the guys from Broadcast used the same technique. They give you the end of the story, then relay the beginning, unraveling the plot slowly and effectively, leading you down one path, only to change courses and go down another, and so on.

Unfortunately, the brain trusts behind Hollywood did not deem Avalos and Weiler worthy to grace them with the winning indy film lottery ticket which, instead, went to Blair Witch. And because of the similarities of the stories and the "controversy" behind which film came out first (for the record, Broadcast came out first), these two vastly different film watching experiences will be forever linked. As a matter of fact, you can get a new DVD 2-pack with both Blair Witch and Last Broadcast!

Lucky for Avalos and Weiler, this tactic may finally expose which are the better filmmakers. I've never understood why the makers of BW have ever received accolades... I mean if the dialogue was improvised and the camera work was done by the actors then what exactly did the "directors" of this film do? But, I digress... again. My point of this rant is this, we should watch Broadcast to see what is possible with very little. It's a perfect example of how, above all else, a quality story and effective use of limited resources can create a compelling and believable film. And perhaps those Witchidiots who purchase the 2-pack will stumble across Broadcast and realize that the "B-side" is the vastly better film.

I visited the Internet Movie Database before writing this rant to discover that Avalos and Weiler have done nothing since Broadcast. I hope that, when we create something so effective out of virtually nothing, that we are treated better by those in "the know." I know most of us live in a world where we feel that if we're just given a chance to show our talent, that we'll be able to make a living at this whole movie making thing.

However, if you compare the way Broadcast and Blair Witch have been treated, you'll have to come to the unsettling realization that, though it may take talent to make your mark, you'll need a lot more than talent in order to do this for a living.

Kids Journal - 05/02/05

2009-10-23T22:05:00.001-05:00

Gabe had his first communion this past weekend. It was so beautiful. The night before we went over the first Passover and how it was tied to the Passion and the Eucharist. After he received, he sat next to me and leaned in say "Just to tell you, when I was waiting to go up there, my heart was beating so fast I thought it would pop out of my chest!" It was very touching. The whole experience made me cry. Gabe looked at me and said "Dad, I've never seen you cry before." What better way for him to see that for the first time than tears of joy of him in union with Christ.

Love ya,

Dad

Microcinema Flashback - Exploding Heads and Bare Naughty Bits (2001)

2009-10-19T10:55:00.001-05:00

In this article from January, 2001 I talk about how using an audience's imagination can be far more powerful than showing an image onscreen.

*****

Exploding Heads and Bare Naughty Bits
By Pete Bauer

The primary goal of filmmakers is to evoke emotion from their audience. Those directors who've admitted as much and tailored their films to maximize audience reaction (Hitchcock, Spielberg, etc.) have often been criticized for being so effective at it! As if it were some sort of flaw to actually make an audience cry when they were supposed to. Somehow, because they were able to effect every audience member (not just the illustrious critics), their work has sometimes been disregarded as "popcorn" or "light-weight." It seems that, only after they're dead or they make a dark film are they actually applauded for their talents.

Directors can use a variety of ways to evoke audience reaction. Depending on the subject matter, directors can use shock (exploding heads) or sexuality (bare naughty bits). In my opinion, however, the most talented directors use neither. The most effective directors use the audience's own imagination. Of course, this depends on what type of genre you're shooting. If you're shooting a horror flick, splashing a little blood or creatively exercising some digits from the body may fit the bill. The most powerful true horror films utilize the audience's imagination more than special effects. Halloween, for example, was so effective because there wasn't that much blood, just that scary shadow across the street, seemingly staring at you. And sometimes, exploding heads is just what you need. I mean, Saving Private Ryan was brutally violent, but it was World War II, after all. The violence had a reason. But, sex and violence are used best when they are trying to create a cinematic atmosphere, not as gimmicks. If there isn't a real reason for it, then utilizing the audience's imagination is the best course.

I believe that, in most instances, the weakest choice a director can make is to show a naked breast or show someone getting killed. The most erotic scene for me was in The Last Emperor where the Emperor makes love to his two wives. They move and twist and moan and turn, all completely covered under silk sheets. You only see unrecognizable movement and hear pleasure, but you imagine what's going on under there and that is what makes it so effective. Sure, the director could have chosen to shoot it like any number of bad late-night Cinemax sex/caper flicks, but the director chose a subtle way to portray the scene with maximum impact. If you show it to me, I react to it. If I imagine it, I help create it and truly feel it with you. The latter is always much more powerful.

And I guess that's what the great directors do… there is not one shot in their films that is not there for a specific reason. If the shot is a long shot of two people talking, it's for a reason. If it's a CU of hands fidgeting at a table, it's for a reason. And the great directors' reasons are beyond just setting the camera up to get it shot. Each shot is there in part or in whole to make the audience feel something. Hitchcock, for example, decided in Dial M For Murder that the scene where Grace Kelly gets attacked needed to be a separate "event" in the film. He wanted a beginning, middle and end to the scene that the audience, whether consciously or not, would know that the violence was over. So, he structured each part of the scene to last 30 seconds. The part where Grace Kelly answers the phone is 30 seconds, the part where she is attacked is 30 seconds, the part where she recovers from the attack is 30 seconds. He did the same thing in Psycho with the shower scene, except each part of the attack was 40 seconds in length. How many of us take that much time to determine how best to tell each scene? It's daunting!

It amazes me how many films on cable simply relay the story instead of telling the story. They have the standard long shot, medium shot, close up for every scene. They move the camera in on the main actor once or twice a scene, if that, and then go onto the next scene. The camera remains usually stationary and at eye level. It's like I'm stuck watching the graduate projects from the "TV Movie of the Week" film school. As directors, we all look at the pages of a script. They're basically generic. There's some explanation of events, but the actual scene is created by how the director puts each shot together. I know, especially in amateur filmland, that, due to time, resources or other limitations, sometimes the only thing we can do is set up the camera, get the shot and then get the hell out of there. But, if we do that more than not, we're doing ourselves a disservice.

We have a great opportunity to experiment as amateur filmmakers. Actually, there is no better time to experiment because no one is breathing over your neck waiting to see if your vision is going to give them a return on their investment. I hope that every time someone plops in one of our flicks into the VCR, that we are able to move them, in some way. That we're able to engage their imagination and make them an active participant in the film-watching experience. That we make them laugh when they're supposed to laugh, cry when they're supposed to cry and cringe when they're supposed to cringe. Then our accomplishment moves beyond the fact that we got the project done... but that we got it done well. And then, maybe one day, we all will be called "pop-corn" directors. Then we'll know we're doing it right!

The Demon Files Journal - March 1994

2009-10-16T08:16:00.000-05:00

March 21, 1994

Well, it seems like projects never end. I've been really busy over the past few months trying to get work and writing INDEPENDENCE DAY (Note: After the release of the Will Smith I-Day, the title was changed to Cold Storage). I really like I-DAY and it's a better written script than ONE VIEW ONLY. I entered I-DAY into the 94 Houston-Worldfest and I hope to hear some good news in a few weeks.

As far as TDF goes - I was talking with Pam Ginsburg, who is now the script supervisor on MY BROTHER AND ME. Well, she wants to get into post work, like editing. And she has talked to Karen Powell and to Operations about learning to edit. Well, if all goes well, and she is able to learn to edit, she's going to learn by editing TDF. Right now I'm trying to get the tapes transfered to Beta, in case we're able to use the Beta decks. I'll have to get the Lord's help on that.

DC's really cute. She said 'mama' for the first time this past weekend. She said 'dada' about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, she doesn't know what they mean or how much we loved those words coming out of her mouth.

Back to TDF. Paul was telling me that the man who created BABYLON 5 on tv has outlined the first 100 episodes! That's amazing. But, it makes the show so much better than STAR TREK TNG or STAR TREK DS9, because not everything is solved in the last five minutes of the show. On B-5, some questions are raised one week and answered four weeks later. There's a nice sense of mystery that TNG and DS9 really miss. Anyway, after hearing about the outline, I was like, hell, if he can outline 100 shows, I can expand TDF to 13 without much problem.

So, I went through the script and I was amazed at how little was covered in the seven episodes, and how much material there is to expand on for the new six. There were so many things about the characters and subtlties of the plot that were in my head, but never put down into the script, so expanding shouldn't be that much of a problem.

We're going to expand Ivan's involvement in the script by an episode. We're basically going to turn episode 4 into two seperate scripts. We're also going to add a episode where Poole and Nicole, while hunting the demon, stay in a hotel or something that held passionate events for them at one time in their life. I'm going to add an episode with a friend that Poole met on his travels that happens to come into town, revealing a lot of his hidden past. There's also stuff about the death of his parents and about Ed's underground network of friends that I want to work on. So, I'll keep you up to date as I find out.

Until next time...

PFB

Happy Birthday Gabe!

2009-10-15T10:59:00.003-05:00

My son turns thirteen today! He's officially a young man.

I am very proud of my son. He is compassionate and thoughtful and bright and athletic and caring. He's a better person than he is an athlete and he makes me laugh using his own unique sense of humor.

I am so blessed to have Gabriel Bauer as my son. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful gift. May you always guide him and give him strength, protect him and give him wisdom, inspire him and give him hope.

Happy birthday, my son! Welcome to adulthood.

The Demon Files Journal - November 1993

2009-10-15T08:15:00.000-05:00

November 4, 1993

Here ye, here ye. As of November third, in the year of our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Three, the rough cut of The Demon Files was completed. After spending $80.00 at the Editworks to do the first four hours of the rough cut editing, I was fortunate to find out the Edit 3 here at Nickelodeon was put back together. After some strategically placed conversation, I was able to finagle the use of Edit 3 for absolutely NO MONEY!

Thank you Lord!

The first day of rough cut editing in Edit 3 happened October 29th. I found out that day that I could use it for free and asked if I could begin that night, during off hours. They said yes. So, that night I started at 7 p.m. and finished at approximately 12:30 a.m. The following Monday, November 1st, I edited from 7:30 p.m. until 3:00 a.m.!!!!! Dea was pretty upset. It was funny. At about 2:30 she beeped me. I call her back and she says "This is ridiculous!!!" Not Hello, Hi, How's it going! Fortunately I was on the last scene, so it only took me another 1/2 hour. Then, Tuesday, November 2nd, I went down to Edit 3 and placed the Voice Overs and the train noise.

What do I think about it? Well, I think, for the most part, it looks pretty good. It's nice to finally see all of these pieces of the puzzle put together in the correct order. Some of the sound is problematic and the visuals aren't top grade, but overall, I'm pretty happy. After the first two edit sessions I wasn't too happy. I told Dea that I wasn't sure if I was a good director. I thought I could tell a real good story, but I wasn't sure I could actually pull off directing it. But, once I laid down the VOs and edited the final action piece together, I felt better about myself. What I really need the next time is a lot more money and a lot more time. It was so hard getting everything packed into the few days. And the space, not to mention, the heat, made even the most efficient plans eventually waver in a pool of sweat.

I must admit I was pretty surprised at how long it took to edit the show together. Editing took about about 16 hours. That's about 2 minutes of finished product per hour of edit time. And that's a healthy chunk! Usually it falls into the 1 minute per hour area.

I'm going to "premiere" it at the next Starving Artists meeting, which is scheduled for November 16th at 7 p.m. over at Chris Linn's house. Steve Holland, who worked as cameraman for most of the shoot, is going to see the rough cut tonight after he gets done working for promos.

I was quite amazed how much the VOs really helped the beginning. Without them there's about 10 minutes of nothing, just images of a guy sitting at a train station. But now, with the VOs, the character's movements and actions have some sort of meaning. Music is the next step. I was going to use Jack Sloss, but he bagged me when I needed him to do some music for Fred Sommers of Sommersports (for the triathalon I filmed for him). The way he handled it was such unprofessional attitude, that I'm not sure if I want to work with him again. It was as if it was a huge hassle for him to do it in the first place, and when he didn't return my repeated calls when time was getting short, well, I think the actions speak for themselves. I'm going to call Randy Glass, an old college buddy who's working over at Epcot Center, and see if he can put something together. I'm not sure what his equipment limitations are, but I know for certain that he could do the job. With music, the piece should really come alive. Especially the transitory scenes.

My next step is to get the original footage transfered to 3/4" or Beta (depending on what I can afford) and work on finding some place to edit for nothing. After that I'll get the real music on, put the sound fx and fix the vocals, and then try and raise money to shoot a real pilot.

As far as ONE VIEW ONLY, Universal (basically for USA Network) passed on the script. A man there really liked it, but his boss didn't. It's now at a place called Wilshire Court Productions, which is some part of Paramount. Mike Fields (the guy at Universal) said they have similar tastes as his and that it should get a good read over there. Pete Bailoff said I should hear something back by the end of this week, but I probably won't here anything until after Thanksgiving. If it's bad news, I probably won't hear anything at all.

Dea, DC and I could really use the money. Clarissa ends in a few weeks and there are NO OTHER JOBS LINED UP AS OF NOW!! I hope the script sells before CHRISTmas. That would be the best present the Lord could give. Dea is so miserable up here in Orlando. I wish she would try to make it work here. She's just fighting it and fighting it, but I really think this is where the Lord wants me right now. I don't feel any pull away from here. And, unfortunately, there's nothing I can really do for her. I've offered, asked and begged, but I can't do things that she needs to do in order to make herself feel good inside. I just keep praying.

DC is a beautiful child. Yes, that's part the proud father speaking, but a lot of people have remarked on how pretty she is. Everyday she grows, the more love I have for her. She is so adorable.

Well, I have to get back to work. I will keep you informed of any further developments, exciting or not.

PFB

November 5, 1993

Well, tomorrow is Paul's birthday. He'll turn 32! Boy, we old get old quick (not that 32 is old, but that 18 doesn't seem that long ago). Steve Holland had a look at the rough TDF and he liked it a lot. He had minor problems with it, the biggest, which by comparison is pretty small, is that Poole shouldn't go back to the library for a second time. That should be cut as it is redundant. We should just move on to the next scene. After reviewing the tape again late last night (as we didn't get out of work until midnight! - ya gotta love when Mitchell, the Executive Producer, is in town) I thought he had a good point. It does seem a little redundant. It would actually work better, if I really wanted to keep the transitory scene, to have him going to the library after the Caldwell house scene (which is what I think I actually intended, but never really thought much about it - you know, it like works in your head, but it's not until you get another objective look at it that you see it the way you intended). Overall, I'm pretty happy with the directing. It's a competent Directing 1 attempt, but I've got a long way to go to become the master story teller in the same class as Hitchcock (which would fit around a Directing 10 class!). I think, for what I wrote, I told the story well, but as far as constructing the story as to best exploit the audiences feelings, well, I've still got a long way to go. I would need to set-up the audience better, by giving them more information.

I'm reading a great book called "Suspense Thrillers: Films in the Shadow of Alfred Hitchcock." It's tremendous (unfortunately I left it down in Clearwater when I visited last week - and it was just getting really good, too). I was at the point where the author was discussing the guilt factor in suspense thrillers. See, the director must manipulate the audience so that they 1) want the main character to do something (which eventually gets him/her into trouble) and then 2) makes them feel guilty when the main character, after doing what the audience wanted them to do, is put into danger. Like in Rear Window: We all want Jimmy Stewart to look out at his neighbors, we've all wanted to do that. But, when it gets him into trouble, we feel guilty because it's almost as if we forced him (or "willed him") into doing it, which led him to danger. And talk about feeling helpless. There's nothing more effective than basically placing the audience inside the helpless character of Jimmy Stewart - what a master Hitchcock was. TDF is more like a suspense-mystery, not so much like a suspense-thriller. Since I wanted to write a serial cliffhanger style series, I needed the audience to discover a little each scene. I'm not sure that if I gave the audience all the information (which you do in a thriller), they could wait 13 episodes for the character to finally realize what you've known for the entire season. So, in order to keep the audience in tow, and in the character's shoes, I wanted them to discover a little at a time, as the characters do. But, in debt to Hitchcock, I gave them a lot of clues that they could figure out before the characters do, which should produce that "thriller" aspect.

I still have to expand the seven episodes I have now into 13. Maybe, in doing so, I can turn it from a suspense-myster to a suspense-thriller. We'll see.

Also, as shooting went into the late hours last night, I was watching the rough TDF in Chris Gifford's office when Neena Beber (the head writer and co-producer, and a hell of a nice woman) came in and caught me watching it. She was intrigued, but I was embarassed. I told her it was just something shot on Hi-8 and she said "Oh, I have a lot of friends who do stuff like that" so I promised her she would see it before the Clarissa season ends. But, not to leave her empty handed, and perhaps help me in selling the script, I asked her, before she left, if she liked thrillers. She said it was her favorite genre. Well, I gave her my ONE VIEW ONLY script, told her it got fourth at the Houston/Worldfest, and that I'd like her opinion on it. So, after she reads that, and, hopefully, thinks I have some modicum of talent, then I'll show her TDF so she knows I'm not some uncredible wanna-be. If she likes it and has someone she thinks I should give it to, I'll call Pete Bailoff a call and tell him about it. She'll probably read it over the weekend.

Well, I gotta get to work (again). I'll write again soon.

PFB

The Demon Files Journal - September 1993

2009-10-14T08:14:00.002-05:00

September 15, 1993

Well, a long time has passed and almost nothing has happened. Edit 3 has been out of commission since filming ended and won't be put back together for some time. I found a place (Video Production Center) that has an offline 1/2" straight-cut for $20/hour. That's not a real bad price. I'm pretty sure I could finish it up w/in 5 hours, or $100. Unfortunately, Dea and I have had absolutely no money. Things are so tight that we almost ran out of food. It sucks.

I talked to Shelly Maxwell about the CPN job down in Clearwater. Things look pretty good. I'm hoping that something will happen by the end of the week. Dea and I really need to get out of here. Even though Nickelodeon seems to be going in the right direction with the addition of Albie Hecht in charge, I just can't afford to work here anymore. Plus, Dea and I have no friends. I mean, I have a lot of friends here at Nick, but they're on a different level. They either gay, or single. Both of which don't lend itself to doing things that a couple with a 2 1/2 month old can do. I haven't told Chris Linn about my decision to move, if indeed the job becomes available, but at this point I don't really care. We have almost zero personal relationships with people in similar circumstances.

On the writing front, I decided that my next project will be a short I wrote called DREAM STATE, and will be filmed on Super 8. It's about 20ish pages long and I want to film it on color film, but I may have to do the B & W thing if I can't study up on color lighting/temperatures etc. I really need to get into the film arena. That's the only way I'm going to learn anything.

As far as TDF goes, I'm very frustrated. I really wanted it done by Christmas. Perhaps that's still within reach, but unless I get this offline done soon, then that day will come and go. I really need the offline cause I want to see many things: 1) if the storyboard, or the picture I see in my head, works when actually filmed. 2) What all of the sound problems are and how/if they can be corrected. I went to a seminar on the equipment in Audio 2 here at Nick and they can fix it, but it would be for a pretty hefty price. Only if the end product was really worth spending that much money on would I actually do it. 3) I need to give Jack Sloss a copy of the offline so that he can start working on the score so that the tweaking process will be easier. Since I've never had to work with a composer before, I would like to give myself as much padding with time/creative necessities as is possible.

So, until I get the damn thing offlined, nothing's happening. If only Bob Swan could donate another $100 to the cause. Can't really ask him though. That falls into the category of "WAY OUT OF LINE."

Well, I'll keep you informed if anything happens. Patience is not a real virtue with me. I should probably work on that.

PFB

The Demon Files Journal - August 1993

2009-10-13T08:13:00.001-05:00

August 9, 1993

Well, it's a WRAP! We finished shooting TDF on Sunday at around 3 p.m. The week was long and hard. So, sit right back and enjoy the tale, the tale of a...

It all started on Sunday, August 1st at around 8 a.m. My brother Paul Bauer (camera), Chris Linn (playing the character of Ed), Allison Lyons (audio) and myself (Poole/Director) moseyed our way down to the Arnold Palmer Hospital parking garage. We set the camera (provided by Karim Mitef) on the tripod (provided by Chris Linn) on the top floor of the garage and filmed Chris (as a anonymous driver) dropping me off and walking toward Ed's garage/home. After a few takes of that we used the $30.00 dolly I bought from Builder's Square 2 down in Brandon. We placed it on three pieced of 3 x 4 plywood and shot the close up of Poole's feet exiting the car, and dollying back to show Poole walking away.

After that we set up a shot with the camera's view through a bunch of strategically stacked loading flats and filmed Poole walking toward the garage. That shot turned out very nice. Then we again set up the plywood on the ground for a dolly shot of Poole actually walking up the ramp to Ed's garage. We put some more flats in the foreground to give the dolly shot an extra sense of movement. We ended the location shoot with some audio shots of the car arriving, dropping Poole off, and driving away, as well as just some ambient sound of the location to use to cover possible sound problems when editing.

We then went back to Chris Linn's garage where we filmed the interior of the garage scene. We started with the dolly shot of Ed telling Poole about his drug-sale-gone-bad story. It took quite some time to get it right. The rest of the day is mostly a blur, with the exception of the dolly shot closing out the scene of Poole saying "I need you to go to Apopka." We had to do that about a million times. We got done between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., exhausted from the intense heat felt all day. It wasn't the smartest thing to schedule a shoot during the first week of August, but it was the only time I could get the actors, so the suffering was worth it.

Monday turned out to be a day of rest. I went to the Orlando Public Library to shoot the library scenes, but it was amazingly busy for a Monday morning. There were a lot of school kids around and the library wasn't too keen on the idea, so it turned out to be a day of just resting.

Tuesday was a light day. Steve Holland (camera) and I filmed Poole arriving in his home town down at the train station right next to the location we used for Ed's garage Sunday morning. The shots turned out really well and I'm very pleased. Later that day Sarah Peacock arrived and we rehearsed, made some nice discoveries about the characters, and then had a very deep and lively discussion about religion and society.

Wednesday was a day in hell. We filmed the Caldwell house and attic scenes. We filmed the Attic scene first in Jym Buss' garage. Ali couldn't make it that day, so it was only Sarah Peacock (as Nicole), Maggie Rasnick (as Caldwell), Steve Holland (Camera) and myself. It was stiflingly hot in the garage and the shoot seemed to take forever. Jym forgot to leave me the key, so I was going to have to drive out to Nick and pick it up. Fortunately, the Lord was shining down on us, cause Jym's new roommate showed up and opened up the place for us. I have to tell you the heat in the garage was amazing. It was so draining. Even though we had spent a good 4 hours in 110 degree heat, we kept saying "Man, it's hot!" like it was a new discovery. It was amazing. After the Attic scene we filmed the interior of the Caldwell house using Jym's dining room. The shots turned out nice. Then, we finished the day filming Nicole and Poole arriving at the house. I'm really quite happy with the shots.

When I got home, around 3:00 p.m., I was absolutely exhausted. Sarah went to visit a friend in Daytona and I crashed on the couch. About an 1 1/2 hours later Rachel Tench arrived. When I woke up I felt like I could've slept another eight hours. It literally took me another three hours to "wake up." It turned out the Steve Holland had a similar experience. We later realized that we probably had mild heat exhaustion since we didn't really drink a lot of fluid while we were sweating to death in the garage. We didn't make that mistake again.

We expected PB to arrive in town around 4. Rachel and I waited until 8:30 and she went to sleep over Maggie Rasnick's. After a few agonizing hours and increasingly frantic calls to his home in Miami, PB arrived around 10:30 p.m. He got a late start and had to fight traffic all the way up. I was quite relieved he was okay. I went to bed as soon as I got off the phone and struggled to wake up the next morning.

Thursday went very well, even though the workload was quite heavy. Steve and I had gone over the shots the day before and came prepared. Since we were filming in Chris Linn's garage for the police station scenes, we were determined not to have the same experience we had the day before in Jym's garage. It was also a great help to have Ali there for the audio. It's amazing what one more body can do to speed up production.

Anyway, the day went very quick and very well. We got done around 4 p.m. The highlight of my day was when Dea, my wife, and DC, my one-month old, came up to see me. I was so excited. When they left that night I was incredibly depressed. Just when I was getting comfortable with my baby again, off they went, back to Clearwater. It was very hard on me. And I'm sure being totally exhausted at this point didn't help either. As far as the filming goes, we got some really good shots. I'm sure this won't turn into another HOMESICK. If all else fails, the shots will be interesting and intriguing. It was a good day and the garage didn't really get hot until around 4 that night.

Friday was reminiscent of THE TERM PAPER. We started around 6 p.m. inside Chris Linn's house. Steve was unable to make it and Ali had to work, so it was only Paul, Sarah and I. Things started off slowly. Sarah, being a morning person, started to fade quickly. Paul, not used to the efficiency Steve and I had developed, started off lackadaisical. I, on the other hand, realized the long night we had in front of us. After the first scene (the Cafe scene moved to Nicole's house at dinner), which should have taken only an hour to shoot, ended up taking about 3 1/2, I decided a little directorial sternness was in order. After Paul and Sarah started joking around while we were trying to get a scene shot my face filled with controlled anger and said "Look, we need to be a little more professional here! I don't want to be here all night!" then I quickly walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. When I returned their focus had changed and we worked hard and consistently through the night. We ended up finishing at 7 in the morning! It was long, tiring, and mentally exhausting. But, again, we got some really good shots.

We got back to the apartment and showered. Sarah drove home and Paul and I prepared for Bob Swan (Miles) to arrive. He got there at 8 a.m. and we went to the Winter Park train station to shoot the opening of the story. As Paul and I were entirely exhausted at this point, the filming went quickly and efficiently. Again, the Lord shined down on us, and we were lucky to have a train arrive as we were finishing up, so we have a nice shot of Poole waiting for the approaching train. Bob then treated us to a much needed breakfast at the IHOP and Paul and I went home and crashed. After about 5 hours we woke up and saw "DAVE" at the dollar theater. It was a tremendous movie. On the drive home we both felt bad because we weren't the best of company for Bob. We were just so exhausted.

Sunday, we ended our shooting! We started by getting the Lake shots for the Voice Overs. Then, after we concocted some blood from Karo Syrup, flour and red food coloring, we filmed the opening murder scene at the lake behind our apartment. That went surprisingly easy. We then went to the library and sneaked the shots before anyone could stop us. After that we came home and did the newspaper article close-ups and the close-up of the knife marks in the floor for the Attic scene. Paul then left around 3 p.m. After about a 2 hour nap I got up and did the voice-overs. I wanted to do something that night, but I was so tired, I really couldn't.

Today, I'm back at Nick and I'm dubbing the Hi-8's onto VHS on Chris Gifford's machine while he's up in New York. Then I'm going to make a rough cut on the editing equipment in Edit 3, if I can scam it. I hope to have the tapes dubbed to Beta this week, if things are slow in the tape room. I'll keep you informed.

Until next time. PFB

Tourney Wins

2009-10-12T11:33:00.003-05:00

Gabe has started to readily improve at his new level of baseball. He's been hitting the ball extremely well. This past weekend he only had one at bat where the ball was not struck with force. In one game he hit three line drives deep to the outfield, but two were caught for outs.

So, even though it doesn't look great on the stat sheet, it does show the improvement we were trying to achieve this year.

The nice thing about playing 13U baseball (meaning 13 and under) is that a combination of things levels the playing field.

13U means that no player on the field is older than 13 years old.
13U plays at major league distances (60 ft mound, 90 ft bases).

Unlike 12U where the fields are little league sized and some of the players have hit puberty early and can dominate on a smaller field, in 13U, no one is big enough or strong enough to dominate on this field.

Domination can reoccur in the upcoming years, since the field will remain the same size, but the players will get better and stronger. But, for right now, wins and losses come down to simply execution.

This past weekend we spent in Plant City where our team came in third place, going 3-1 in the tournament. Gabe and his teammates continue to grow and improve. It's exciting to see his passion for the game and his exceptional gifts for the game continue to flourish as his competition gets better. Even elite teams in the area have been asking about him.

It makes all of the hours at the ball field worth it.

Microcinema Flashback - Note to Self (2000)

2009-10-12T08:46:00.004-05:00

Also from December 2000 are some lessons learned on our first official foray into microcinema with a short film called Justice. We tested out the theory on a bad flick called Raw Footage, but Justice was the first attempt to really tell something with an intent greater than just getting something, anything on film.

*****

Note to Self
by Pete Bauer

Well, as I wrap up JUSTICE I made a few mental notes on the things I've learned from my experience.

1) My wife loves me so much she allowed herself to be in this project even though every atom in her genome screamed in protest. She HATES being on camera, but she did it because the project meant a lot to me. And, that sacrifice meant infinitely more to me than making the film itself.

2) My best friend defined the term "best friend" by always being there, whatever day, whatever hour necessary to complete the project. Without him, or my wife, this thing would still be collecting dust in my desk drawer.

3) Along those same lines... spending time with my family and friends to make this project is worth the price you pay when you do these no-budget things. Their dedication drove me to complete the project while overcoming surgery and hurricanes. Leaving it unfinished devalues their sacrifice for the project and I couldn't let that happen, no matter how convenient dropping the project would have been.

4) After promising myself that I'd never act in any of my projects again, I was forced to take over a role abandoned by my brother and it made me realize the reason I'm ALWAYS in my projects... because I know that I'll be there when the director (me) needs me. You can't really say that about many people in this world (except for #1 and #2).

5) Storyboards saved my life. When shooting with no money and no time in places you don't have permission to be in, it's easy to get distracted and lose your train of thought. Having storyboards made sure that every shot I needed, I got.

6) Editing while you shoot rocks. Non-linear editing makes the process much easier. Every night, after shooting, I'd digitize and edit the project. I'd immediately know what worked, what didn't and what shots to add to fix it. And the fact that you can actually do all this stuff on a crappy little computer is amazing in of itself. Just a few years ago all of this would have been impossible... or damn expensive.

7) If a scene doesn't work either cut it or reshoot it. There's no excuse for keeping a shot or a scene in a project that will only undermine the purpose for shooting it in the first place.

8) MPEG-1 quality sucks. I had viewed most MPEG-1 projects on my computer from the web. It looks a LOT better using the pixels on your computer than it ever does "blown up" on your television. But, since the goal of the project was to use what I got, then I'll suck it up and take my lumps when everyone pans the thing for looking so pathetic.

9) Newly acquired access to an MPEG-2 digitizer made me realize that I'll probably end up re-editing this thing all over again once the thought of recreating months of work no longer nauseates me.

10) It always takes three times longer than planned to shoot a scene.

11) Creating music from Sony Mixman is easy and challenging at the same time. If it would only give you the ability to view your work in seconds instead of beats, life would have been SO much easier. I had to develop the virtue of patience in order to survive this process.

12) The hardest thing to maintain over months of shooting is the length of your actors' hair.

13) When acting in a project, never agree to use the clothes you like best. After wearing it off and on for six months or so, you'll end up wanting to burn it in ritual sacrifice to the gods of wardrobe.

14) Never have characters park their car in an empty parking lot. It looks extremely unrealistic. The only thing it conveys is the place they're going to is closed.

15) Direct with confidence. Amateur actors feed off of you... if they think you know exactly what you're doing, they do whatever you want.

16) Nothing can compensate for a story with bad logic... so fix it before you shoot it.

17) Getting people enthused enough to be in your project is not that hard. Keeping them enthused six months later when they're in the last scenes that need to be shot is MUCH harder.

18) It's nice to know that what you actually imagine in your head actually works on film/video.

19) You've wasted everyone's time and effort if the project is left unfinished.

20) You've done something right when your simple little premiere party costs more than your project.

JUSTICE sat in my desk for almost 10 years before finally getting done. It's evolved a lot since the original storyboards, hopefully for the better. But, no matter what the end result, the process of making the thing has been a great learning experience.

I can't wait to start on the next one...

The Demon Files Journal - July 1993 Part 2

2009-10-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

July 19, 1993

Well, things continue to slowly come together. Met with John Bauer and Don Koehler, Sr. to discuss incorporations, articles of incorps, selling shares, etc. It was very helpful and gives me a plan to help make Bauer 8 Productions and Echo Filmworks real entities. It was nice to talk about the business aspect of this stuff. I work on the creative side so much that I never think I'll actually make any money at this. But, after talking with them I have a game plan, a structured path that I can take to start the process of actually making a living at this stuff.

Talked to Shelly Maxwell and found out she got the job approved for her assistant at CPN in Clearwater, Florida and now she is going to try to secure the position for me. It may be a hard fight, but Shelly's got more energy and will power than anyone else I know. If she can't pull it off, it can't be pulled off.

Dea and DC are spending the next few weeks down in Clearwater with her family, who just moved into a nice 3 bedroom house. For a rental house it's very nice and spacious. I miss my wife and child very much. I was supposed to be down with them, but Chris Gifford (my boss) started me work on getting time codes for scenes that they want to enter in the ACE awards. Unfortunately (kind of), he started me on this Thursday. Well, there was no way I could pull off getting it done in two days, so he had me work another week, which is a Godsend, cause Dea and I desperately need the money. But, I will miss them very much. Even the two days I didn't see DC last week were hard. I mean, she changed so much in those two days. It's strange being a father.

One last thing. Dad Koehler, after moving into the house, was able to take everything out of the storage unit he had. Well, lo and behold, he has an extremely powerful light. So, the bright light problem I thought I was going to have, especially when filming the Attic scene with silhouetting Caldwell and the shafts of light in the garage police station scene. But, with this light, my problems may have been solved.

One more thing. I realized on the drive back to Orlando that there are some days that I may not have a cameraman. I know that sounds incredibly stupid, but with all of the other specifics I've had to deal with, I forgot about the obvious. It's just, that when ever I've done a project in the past, I've always had either Chris L. or Paul to camera for me. Well, they both have lives and jobs now and since the bulk of the filming takes during weekdays, that could be a problem. Chris Linn and I are meeting tomorrow night to make sure everything is scheduled correctly. Hopefully, that will include the cameraman. We'll see. But, even though I'm concerned about it, I know the Lord will provide. I mean, He wouldn't have everything fall into place EXCEPT the camere man! I just have to be patient and have faith.

Well, that's it for now. Paul is on vacation in NC, John is on vacation in PA and NC. I'm not.

PFB

July 20, 1993

Well, the days keep going by and I still have so much to do. I still don't know about the dolly thing. Lee Ann Larsen, who's working on "Legends" with Chris Linn, was going to check with her friend over at Disney, but I haven't heard anything back yet. How do you press someone to do you a favor? Well, that's my problem. I can't, really. I have to be patient, I guess.

Also, I made some additions to the script that I would like to state. I have two problems with the main character. First, his shame. It's mentioned in the first draft and since I haven't rewritten it yet, I have yet to address Poole's shame and such. So, a way I thought I could show what state of existence his "past" has put him in I decided to add a little bit to the Miles/Train Station scene. When Miles is sleeping as Poole writes in his diary, Poole will notice a couple bucks sticking partially out of Miles' pocket. Quietly and skillfully, Poole will reach over and steal the money. But, (as not to make Poole a total dick for stealing money from a bum) Poole ends up sticking one dollar back into Miles' pocket. I was worried that stealing from a bum would be too much, but it states clearly how bad this guy's life is and what he has to do to survive.

Another problem I had with Poole was his relationship with Nicole. Since the location and equipment won't allow me to shoot the scene as I want, I'll have to add another scene. The original idea was to show Nicole and Eric talking in the interrogation room. The camera would then pull back and show Poole looking through the window on the door, turning away in pain at seeing Nicole and Eric so close. Since Chris' garage won't allow me to shoot the scene that way, I've added another scene which also solves another minor problem I had. See, Nicole and Poole go up to Apopka to see Caldwell in the morning. They then go to a cafe at night and discuss it. The scene ends with Nicole saying they had to leave, because she needed to see Eric in the morning. Well, it makes no sense to have them at a cafe at night since it's only 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive max to Orlando from Tampa Bay. Also, the next scene was Nicole and Eric in the scene mentioned above. Well, that takes place in the morning also, and I thought the audience would have some confusion determining the day change since the Caldwell scene and now cafe scene, and the Nicole/Eric scene all take place in the morning. So, I added a scene after the cafe scene. Poole will be reading a xeroxed article of the Caldwell stabbing when he looks up, noticing that Nicole has fallen asleep on the couch. He smiles, then stares at her face, his strong love for her overwhelming him. He'll then get up, cross over to her and slowly move his face within inches of hers, their lips almost touching. Just as he is about to kiss her, he stops himself and steps back. He wakes her up, she goes to bed and he sits alone, depressed, etc. This, I think, better establishes his relationship with her as well as solve the time/day change problem I mentioned earlier.

Well, it's pay day. I have to go to the bank and to Consumer Credit to drop off a money order. Talk again soon. PFB

July 21, 1993

Well, I've been filling my depressing times away from my beautiful wife and newborn child by working as hard as I can on TDF. Yesterday had it's good and bad points. The bad was that Matt Day is going to Florida State University today, not in a few weeks as he had originally planned, so he will be unable to help on the project. Chris Linn and I went out with Matt and a few of his friends to Julie's Lakeside and chatted and stuff. It was a lot of laughs. The good was that Steve Holland, a very funny guy who's working on Welcome Freshman here at Nick., is on hiatus during filming week and he will probably be the cameraman throughout. We're going to look over the schedule and make some decisions there. After we figure out which days he can do it (hopefully all of them), we're going to go over the storyboards and discuss the shots.

The next person I have to get in contact with is Mark Rickles, to see if he can do sound. I really want him to do it. I trust him very much, he's very competent. I know this sounds bad, but I hope he's not working that week. I'm also trying to get Ali Lyons to help me during the first part of the week, before Rachel Tench gets in town and can take her place. The prayers just keep going.

I got a call from PB this morning around 8:00 a.m. He had to call so early because he's working some really strange hours. He liked the first script and is going to read the rest now that he's back from vacation. He also said he'd send me a picture so I can make the fake newspaper article. He's planning on coming up Wednesday, August 4th so we can rehearse the day before we shoot all of his scenes. If all goes really well, he could be outta there by Thursday afternoon. He's not planning on leaving until Friday morning, however, just in case the gods of video are against us.

Got a letter from Jennifer Cook the other day (actually addressed to Chris Linn and I since she didn't have my address). She's in South Africa working on a show for the Family Channel, a voice coach for a German actor. She'll be there until December. It's weird how people just pop into your life every once and a while.

I'm going to call Shelly Maxwell today to see what's happening on the job front. Since I'm going to be in Clearwater next week, I want to set up an interview for the job during that time. After that it will be very difficult to fit it in as Clarissa starts up in late August. Like Dea said to me last night, she hopes that when she comes back to Orlando after vacation that its in order to pack. God, I sincerely hope so.

Also met with Chris Linn after going out with Matt and friends. We discussed the schedule and found out that he will be unavailable for almost the entire filming. How convenient. Unfortunately, the show Legends is filming that week and it's going to be hard for him to work less than 12 hours a day, let alone help out on our day shoots. The next big prayer? NO RAIN DURING FILMING. If it rains, I'm seriously screwed. You don't think the Lord has that bad of a sense of humor, do you? I hope not.

Well, that's it for now. Until later. I've got a big list of things to do today. Hope I get them all done. It's getting down to crunch time. Adios - PFB

July 22, 1993

Went to KMart and picked up the handcuffs for PB's role (Eric) and some clothes pins for lighting purposes. Talked to Paul in NC and he's said he should be available for the Sunday August 1 shoot of the Ed and Poole scenes.

Got a call from Pete Bailoff today re: my One View Only script. He was very excited about the idea and thought it was very marketable. He said that it needed some structure and dialogue work, but that the idea was very good. He is going to talk to an important person at New Line pictures, as well as a cable company and a movie of the week person. He's going to see if he "can get you an option" on the script. He said I should know something in the next few days. WOULDN'T THAT BE COOL, TO SEE A SCRIPT I WROTE ON THE SILVER SCREEN? Too weird.

Well, that's about all for now (isn't that enough?). Until tomorrow. PFB

July 23, 1993

Pete Bailoff called again re: One View Only. He said he liked a lot of the aspects of the script, especially Michelle's lure toward the video camera and the lure/danger relationship it has with her. He really liked all of the "red herrings" that I have out there (it could be Eric the club owner, Jack, the delivery man, the husband, the Pizza Man, etc.). He does think, however, that rewrites are in its future, but he doesn't want me to do that yet because he wants to see if someone will pay me to do it first.

He is also going to send me a form to sign which basically gives him the right as "producer" to pitch the idea for a year period, after which I can try to get someone else to pitch it for me. Basically, his agent is worried that Pete could be doing all this work for me and I could have some other producer try to pitch it too. So, he's just covering his ass. He said if I didn't understand any part of it, or if I wanted to omit some things, or add some things, just to call and we would hammer it out. He's doing a project with New Line right now and is talking to them, as well as Universal Television, which did his "Quicksand" USA movie with Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson. He's talking to them too. I should receive the form early next week. Don't worry, I'm going to read it very carefully.

Talked to Bob Swan, down at Aero Nova. He'll be playing "Miles" in TDF. I gave him his call time and costume/make-up notes. So, he's fine with coming in August 7th, at around 9 a.m. It's been a full few days. Now, I'll be off work for the next two weeks and will be putting this shit together. Come on Lord, keep things going, and KEEP THE RAIN AWAY DURING SHOOT WEEK! Thanks.

Until next time. PFB

The Demon Files Journal - July 1993 Part 1

2009-10-10T08:07:00.000-05:00

July 1, 1993

Last night was very profitable. But first, on the home front. No baby. The kid was way over on Dea's left side of her belly and you could feel it's butt. It was so cool. I can't wait until I can hold my child in my arms. Then, it will finally be a part of me. I can't wait.

Anyway, last night I went over to Chris' house and we practiced some different scenes using his Dad's camcorder. The first thing we did was to try a nylon over the lens. One layer was nice. Two layers was like a fog (good to remember for future look). Without a nylon it looked way to crisp - too "video" looking. So, we're going to go with the one layer.

As we practiced with the one layer of nylon over the lens, I noticed just how sensitive the lighting becomes, because at certain angels the light reflects off the nylon, giving it a nice glow. But, due to the reflecting and such it will be very important to match the lighting with each shot. Not an easy feat.

The first scene we practiced was Ed's Garage scene. We tried some different shots I re-storyboarded yesterday and they'll work really well. It was nice to block a scene and practice the shots on video. There are so many things I noticed when watching the video that I'll be able to correct or compensate for when we really shoot, so it'll be a great time saver.

After that scene we quickly placed the camera in the spots for the shots during the first police station scene. Again, this was helpful because I can see what I need to hide, what I need to light, etc.

The last scene we played with was the final attack scene where Nicole becomes possessed by the demon. We made some slight adjustments on some of the shots so they would better give the feel I was trying to get when I story boarded. Chris liked the shots and thought they were well planned out. I was happy to see that they actually worked! Now, I can't wait to actually start filming this thing!

I still have a lot of things I need to do. Last night I realized that I have to buy at least 2 powerful flood lights to show through the garage air holes and I'll also need to get some diffusing material so there aren't any hot spots, but general light coming through the holes. With some baby powder and some powerful lighting, the shafts of light will nicely hide the garage door in the background.

Well, that's about it for now. During lunch I'm going to review the tape we made last night to see if there are any other things I need the take note of before the actual shooting begins.

Oh, one more thing. Rachel Tench (who'll play both Kasey and Caldwell) called to say that she couldn't actually come for the entire week as she had planned because she really needs to work Mon and Tues so she can pay some bills. The weird thing was that she actually felt bad telling me that she couldn't come for the whole week because she needed to work to pay bills! I was like, c'mon Rach, we've been friends forever. Whatever you need to do we'll work around. I mean, she's doing me a favor here. It was sweet for her to call.

Anyway, that's all for now. Maybe more after I view the tapes.

PFB

July 1 - continued Video Notes:

I looked at the video Chris and I shot last night, stopping on certain frames to study the background and lighting situations and here's what I got:

- Need white reflective boards, especially for the train location under the overhang.

- In the Police Station scene, when Eric enters the room and Poole stands into the frame, the lighting should basically be from here:

It looked good on the video, giving shadows, etc. I liked it.

- When Rachel as Kasey sits in the back as Eric and Poole talk, and the shafts of light land at her feet, hiding her face in darkness, perhaps a little back light from the back side like so:

This would make her presence even more visible and we wouldn't lose the top of her body entirely.

- Need this shot:

When Nicole gets possessed and Poole enters the kitchen, Poole should walk up to her and stop, but the camera would continue in slowly. I don't have a shot where he actually stops behind her and this would add to the tension as the audience would know that she's got the knife, etc.

July 2, 1993

Well, Paul and I talked at length yesterday over the phone discussing the way to build a cheap reusable crane. After faxing down a thumbnail sketch and explaining it over the phone, Paul decided to work on a more in depth plan and price the parts for it at Builders Square II. Well, he called me this morning and faxed me up a copy of his plans. They seem solid and the option to expand it even more, making it more versatile, is also possible. Unfortunately, the price tag was around $60, which is a lot more than I wanted to spend.

I know this sounds cheap as shit, but I was only hoping to spend $25. I'm going to see if they have any throw away wood that I can pull from the dumpsters here at Nickelodeon. The plywood alone was the most expensive part of the set-up. I really like the design though. I think it could really work.

Speaking of scamming, it seems everything happens for a reason. I had walked out to my car after work yesterday when I realized that I forgot to put some stuff in Chris Gifford's office for safe keeping. Well, when I came into the building Jeff Wilson was getting into the elevator. I asked him where I could get light diffusing material for the lighting, as Chris Linn and I had discussed earlier. He asked how much I would need, I said not that much, so he proceeded to give me three rolls, one of "spun" which is nylon fabric-type material. The next was similar, except more like a thin, white plastic, used for the same thing. The last was a thick red/amber gel material. He said, "cut off what you need and give the rolls back." So I did. It was another example of the Lord providing. Thanks, big guy.

This weekend is the 4th of July weekend (which is also Dea's due date) and I'd like to spend some nice time with the wife, enjoy and relax and maybe even get some sun. I'm so white it's scary.

Well, gotta go. Until next time.

P.S.- Need to go to Home Depot tomorrow and check out crane materials.

July 8, 1993

Well, it finally happened. On Tuesday, July 5 at 1:45 a.m. my little girl was born. Dorothea Catherine (aka DC) was born at Arnold Palmer Hospital, healthy as a horse, and as hungry as one too. She is the light of my life and I get excited just thinking about her now.

Now . . . back to the show. I'm creating a shot list based on the storyboards. It'll be extremely helpful as I make sure that everything gets shot. Last night as I laid in bed I thought, if I'm going to rent a doorway dolly for $100, then there has to be a way to build one for under that. I have some ideas. I'll talk to my brother Paul about it.

I have to get back to the shot list. Will write again later. PFB

July 12, 1993

The latest and greatest from the family front is that DC is really cute, sleeps a lot, is a real good baby, but can cry like the best of them.

On the TDF front, I'm having second thoughts about building my own dolly. I can't afford to NOT have it work if we build it. Unfortunately, I can't afford to rent it for all of the days I need it.

July 13, 1993

Well, sorry about yesterday's short entry. Had a lot of work to do.

Anyway, yesterday, as I was leaving Nick., I stopped by Chris Linn's office and after a good round of deserved Disney bashing/horror stories, I explained my concern about building a dolly and how if it didn't work I then wouldn't be able to afford to rent one for the days I need it. Well, Chris' new "office mate" said she had a good friend over at Disney who may be able to let me use one for nothing. If so, then the streak will continue. I have a good feeling about it, so I hope it all works out. I'll keep you informed.

I have set up the shooting schedule on Calender Creator Plus here at Nick. I have all of the shots spread out over about 10 days. If the weather cooperates, all shoud go quite well. I may even be able to squeeze in some other shots if we get ahead of schedule. I just keep praying and the Lord keeps providing.

I watched THE TERM PAPER this morning. It was a lot of fun. The music adds so much to the comedy. Especially at the end, when the Star Trek 3 music is screaming, accentuating the importance of his race to turn it in on time. I really liked it a lot.

Also, I called around for different editing prices. The offline I can probably do for $35/hour on VHS if I really feel as though I need to do it at a suite. I can probably swing that with some home ingenuity and a couple of VCR's. The 3/4" editing will be around 700/DAY!!!!!!! I just gotta keep looking. If I keep praying the Lord will keep providing.

That's it for now . . . PFB

Matt Maher - Alive Again

2009-10-08T20:35:00.003-05:00

I finally picked up Matt's CD! Yeah!

The Demon Files Journal - June 1993

2009-10-08T08:04:00.001-05:00

June 28, 1993

Well, I'm here at work, doing as close to nothing as one can do and still get paid for it. My boss, Chris Gifford, producer of "Clarissa Explains It All," is on vacation in France at the moment. Fortunately they've agreed to have me work for most of the summer break, which makes Dea extremely happy at the moment.

As far as THE DEMON FILES goes, things are slowly coming together. I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for any of this. I'm leaving that up to the Lord - he hasn't let me down yet. Of course, the biggest thing on my mind is that my wife has yet to give birth to my kid. Everyday we hope and everyday Dea gets more uncomfortable. Please let it happen today!

Chris Linn and I used his Dad's camcorder to record some of the locations yesterday. After scouting out the Orlando bus station for the Miles/Poole scene in the beginning of episode one, we decided to change it to the Winter Park train station. We recorded some different angles and I realized that I'm going to have to re-storyboard the entire scene to compensate for the new location. After the train station we moseyed (sp?) over to Lake Ivanhoe. After reviewing with Chris what shots I wanted, he suggested we use another lake, down the road from where we live. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of this lake, only that it has a nice flat area where we can film the stabbing. It'll be weird, though, cause the lake's surrounded by these beautiful rich people's houses. So, we're gonna have to go in early, film it quick and get out as soon as we can. We'll probably shoot that Saturday morning. I really need a solid shadow for the shot, so I'm going to have to check out the sun's location. I just pray it'll fall into our shooting needs. If not, I'll think of something else, maybe reflecting the murder off of the rippling water on the shore. Something will work.

Last night, while Dea took a late afternoon nap, I went into the babies room and read the script and character of Poole out loud. It was the first time I started looking at the script as an actor. If there's one thing I learned from HOMESICK (actually, there were plenty) is that once you start acting out the script, you have to put the goals as a writer behind you and focus on what works as an actor. The character you wrote may not be the character you act. It seems when the words are spoken and the action starts to come alive, well, the entire script takes on a life of its own. Rehearsing made me want to work with the other actors, reshaping, sculpting the script into something that will work. I can't wait until we read through and discuss the scenes. It'll be quite exciting.

Here's a list of the things I either need to get or do:

Check out rental places for dollies that can made into doorway dollies.
Buy high quality Hi-8 video.
Get an anchor necklace (waterfront shops at Universal?)
Buy white and black sheets from Salvation Army.
Get three knives, two of which are identical.
Guard uniforms?
For Sale sign
Polaroid film (continuity)
Contact paper for Attic Scene
Flood lights
Chains for Eric in Prison (Home Depot?)
Handcuffs (toy shop?)
Teapot (Salvation Army)
Scar makeup
Tea cups
Need picture for pseudo newspaper article (from PB)

June 30, 1993

Well, on the home front, Dea and I thought last night was the night, but we were wrong. She went to her weekly appointment and was 4cm. Went to the triage, they wanted her to walk around. She walked EIGHT HOURS, but didn't efface or dilate anymore, so we had to go home. Dea was pretty depressed. I'm just aggravated. Anyway, as Dea and I were walking on top of the parking garage at Arnold Palmer Hospital, I came across a way to solve the Ed - Storage Unit scene.

Across from the garage is a bunch of small warehouses/loading docks. Well, I'm going to have Poole get dropped off there then walk over to one of the garages and knock. Then, from the inside of Chris' garage, I'll film him opening/closing the door (with overexposing or back lighting to hide that his front yard is in front of the garage) and use his garage as a whole, as opposed to building flats and only using half of the garage.

If the warehouse doors are much larger than Chris' garage, then I'll try shooting from an extreme angle at Chris' house where you don't really see any garage door, only him standing at one and banging. I'd have to use the extreme angle because his garage door is painted white and the ones at the warehouses are primer brown. My only problem with the extreme angle shot is that, more than likely, there will be background seen and it would be different from the one shot at the warehouse. So, Chris and I are going to fool around with maybe taking a picture of the warehouse that SHOULD be in the background and attaching it to the camera, lining it up with the side of his house. Then, if we shoot from a long shoot, but zoomed in, than the background would then be out of focus. Hopefully the picture attached in front of the lens would have the same looking 'out of focus' and we could basically mask the background that way.

My next concern is, since we are also using Chris' garage for the police station interrogation room, that I'll have to light it much differently. I think, since Ed's storage unit is really just a garage, I'll light that fully. But, with the Police Station shots, I'll only use one or two light sources, creating dark shadows, and perhaps a little more mystery. It'll also hide the fact (we hope) that we're filming in a garage (that also looks a hell of a lot like Ed's place). I especially want to take advantage of the decorative air holes that are in the side wall of the garage. If I can light that well enough and maybe get a little smoke it could add interesting shafts of light while, at the same time, hide the garage door in the background.

My next problem, how to I fill it with smoke? Can't afford a fogger. Oh, the life of the no-budget filmmaker.

I re-storyboarded the opening sequence that used to take place at a bus stop, but now takes place at a train station. I think it will work well.

I checked the sunlight situation at the lake and, unfortunately, the sun rises on the other side of the lake, so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle that. I may have to find another lake to shoot it at. You know, it just occurred to me that, perhaps Lake Concord, behind our apartments, may be able to be used. I think the sun will be in the right position for that. I'm just not sure if the buildings and/or trees will keep the sun from shining through. Also don't know if there's appropriate shore line to do the shot as I see it in my head. I may just need to rethink that too! My storyboards are just becoming suggestions at this point. Oh, well.

As I get closer to filming this thing I am studying movies, tv, etc, trying to see, in specific terms, what works and what doesn't. Even though I've always loved movie soundtracks with full orchestration, I am even more impressed as I study, just how much movies can add to a scene. Seemingly boring scenes silent become filled with tension with the steady sound of violins. I'm really looking forward to working on the music with Jack Sloss.

As far as post production goes, I'm not really thinking about that right now. My most important job is to get the damn thing on tape and transfer it to some higher format. What would be ideal (and also a miracle) is if I could some how get Shelly at CPN to let me use the equipment. But, the more I understand how Nickelodeon works the more I think that would be impossible. I mean, you need tape ops, editors, paintbox at times. Just too many people to scam. But, I also don't know CPN's exact set-up. Maybe they have an offline editing suite with lower formats or something. One can dream. I'll just have to see what the Lord provides.

Just talked to Chris on the phone. He suggested perhaps baby powder for smoke. I think I'll try that tonight. I'm going over to his house to check out the garage, maybe play with some lighting and bring along some baby powder. Jeanne Simon, here at Nick., said that renting a smoke machine is not that expensive. I'll have to look into it.

My next problem is the library. Don't know if I'll be able to pull it off here in Orlando. There's a library downtown that's close to home, but I've never been there. Don't know how receptive they'd be to me loading in a doorway dolly and such to film a few quick scenes. I'm going to try and stop by Saturday morning. If the microfiche is located in a back area, perhaps I can fake the dolly part and just sneak the camera in there, or, if they let me, do it in the back where no one would really see. Just have to wait and checkout the layout of the place.

Well, that's about it. Until next time. PFB

The Demon Files (1993)

2009-10-07T08:00:00.003-05:00

This project was originally shot over a two-week period on Hi-8 back when that was the no-budget state-of-the-art format of choice. As a writing experiment, I wanted to see if I could pull off writing a serial, like the old Captain Marvel, Dick Tracy types of serials from yester-year. So, my brother, Paul, and I hashed out a story about unrelated vicious murders with a common, evil thread. The end result was a 13 part serial called The Demon Files.

I was working at Nickelodeon Studios at the time and my television co-horts loved the serial script so much that they suggested I try to get a pilot made and in the hopes of getting it turned into a TV series. Instead of just giving out a script, I thought it might be more effective to actually shoot a "rough draft" of the first installment, Episode One: THE POSSESSION.

So, I pulled together some of my old acting cronies and got some of my Nick friends to help me out. My wife had just given birth to our daughter and was gracious enough to spend the week of shooting at my in-laws house. The entire budget of the project was $450.00. I was able to edit in the straight cut Edit 3 facility (VHS to VHS) at Nick at night (no pun intended).

Personal Note: My brother and I have always felt we were part of some sort of cosmic creative intuition, because we have often come up with story ideas only to have them made by Hollywood in some other fashion. In high school we, along with others, came up with a story called Lonely Time about a time-traveler trying to change his future by changing his past... then out came The Terminator. We made some satirical commercials on VHS, only to see similar versions on HBO.

And after having shot The Demon Files, I remember sitting in the living room and watching FOX. They had a promo for a new show, with the original episode about a man and a woman investigating unrelated murders which are mysteriously tied together... it was called The X Files. So, I called my friend Chris, who was one of the Producers of The Demon Files, and bemoaned that I was to be, yet again, a day late and a dollar short. But, we kept the name... cause... dammit, we thought of it first! Sure, The Demon Files, in the end, is nothing like The X Files, but the similarities between the original episodes were too eery to ignore.

Our Second Basking in the Son podcast is now online

2009-10-06T11:52:00.001-05:00

Please check out our second Christian Film podcast called Basking in the Son! hosted by Dorothea.

You can listen to it over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog website.

Microcinema Flashback - When Your Friends Stink as Actors (2000)

2009-10-05T08:38:00.000-05:00

Having shot no-budget flicks before and having been a professional actor for quite some time, I thought I could offer up some practical advice for novice filmmakers working with non-actors on how to get the best performances one can muster using raw, but unpolished talent.

From December 2000...

*****

When Your Friends Stink as Actors
by Pete Bauer

This is a problem we've all faced. You have a great idea for a project. The story is unique and cool and everything, but the only people you can get in your movie for free are your friends. They have many tremendous talents, however, acting isn't one of them. What can you do? Well, here's a couple of suggestions:

1) Do It Anyway - The premise here is you don't give a crap that your friends can't act and you go with what you got. This often happens because, in the real world, sometimes we don't have a choice. It's either use your friends or don't make the film. So, you make the film and pray for the best. The plus side is that you're shooting the flick. The down side is that you'll either have a crappy short, you'll delete most of the dialogue before shooting, or you'll have to do your best to save it in editing. This is the best approach if you're looking at your project as an experiment in film making (writing, directing, style, etc.).

2) Rehearse Until You Puke - Rehearsal, for the most part, is a good thing. Every shoot ends up rehearsing in some fashion, even if it's right before you start recording. But, if you can afford it, setting aside some time specifically for rehearsal can help. For people with semi-talent, this is a good way for them to hone their skills. However, this takes time, which, like money, is usually in short supply. Plus, some people are better NOT rehearsing, because the more they rehearse the more they sound... well, rehearsed... and less believable, less spontaneous. And if you're using real actors (see below), you should hold at least one read-through (where everyone sits around the table and reads the script out loud) and one rehearsal (where you walk them through what's gonna happen and how you're going to stage it). You have to know your actors and their limitations before determining how deep your rehearsals should go.

3) Make an Action Flick - This works because most of the film is action anyway, so you don't have to suffer from your friends trying to act. Because the real problem with non-actors acting isn't their face, but their voice. It's how they sound that makes you buy it or not. Even the slightest hint of "Look, I've memorized this line and I sound like I memorized it instead of just thought of it" pulls the audience right out of the film and makes them wince uncontrollably. So, action films work because your friends just have to run, jump, shoot, blow-up, etc.

Also, try to keep what I call "Arnold Lines" out of your films. These are stupid little lines Arnold S. says that replaces supposed wit with stupidity. Example: Arnold sets a guy on fire with his ass. Arnold Line - "He looks a little hot under the collar." Roger Moore did a lot of these during his stint as James Bond and the series hasn't recovered yet. Only Arnold can pull it off... sometimes. More than likely your friends won't be able to pull it off either.

And it doesn't have to be an action flick. It can be any flick, actually, as long as you structure it with minimal dialogue. Visuals are always better in movies anyway. Which goes to the next option...

4) Mute It - This is my favorite option. Don't have any dialogue at all. This was almost mandatory when shooting in Super 8 and it shouldn't change much if you're shooting in Hi-8 or Digital 8. Granted, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish, but film is supposed to be a visual medium anyway. You can tell ANY story visually. But, it's a lot harder. It's easier to have the girl say, "I love you." It's much harder to show it visually without being corny. But, that's the reason to take out as much dialogue as possible. It forces you to think visually. Plus, you can yell at your friends while you're shooting, telling them what they're thinking at the time. That way they look like they just thought of it because you just mentioned it to them... you walk them through their thoughts so they don't have to. We did this exclusively on JUSTICE. It made shooting a lot quicker because I didn't have to worry about sound interrupting the scene (car horn, airplane, drive-by shooting, etc.). Just act like you're going to have to shoot your movie in a library and then figure out how to tell the story the way you wanted.

5) Echo It - This is something you should only do if you have no other choice. And, you really have to shoot your project correctly in order for this to work. But, you say all the lines for your actors before they say it. In the acting world, this is called giving a Line Reading and real actors hate it. For example, your actor keeps saying the line "But what about how I feel?" and you want them to say "But what about how I feel?", stressing the action instead of the pronoun (which is ALWAYS a stronger choice). So, what you do is set up the shot, have them look at the other actor, then you say the line as YOU want it to be said and have the actor echo it back to you, saying it over and over again until they get it right. This is much more time consuming, but you can get a vastly stronger performance out of novices if they, and you, have the patience for the process.

6) Go Pro and Pro Bono - This last option is the most obvious. Get real actors. As long as their not affliated with SAG, you'd be surprised how little you have to pay a real actor to act. Many times, you can get them for free. Real actors love to act. Just like any other skilled professional, they'd rather be working on their craft than sitting around doing nothing. So, ask real actors. The easiest way to "audition" local actors is to see their work. If you want to get real actors for little to no money, you have to support their profession, or appear to support their profession. So, go out and see some local plays. Those actors with talent, make sure you stop backstage after the show to tell them how you liked their performance. This is common practice and actors love positive feedback... that's part of why they do the job. Introduce yourself as a director who's throwing together a project. If they show interest (which MOST actors will), tell them about it, tell them the story line, see how they react. But, the most important thing is to tell the truth. If they ask how much it pays, tell them "nothing", but you'll feed them, give them a copy of the finished product and they'll have something that will stand out on their resume.

7) You can also hold auditions. This costs you nothing but an afternoon. When you publicize your audition make sure you state that you're NOT going to pay them anything, but they'll get a copy of the finished product. Actors currently not acting usually have flexible jobs, in case a gig comes up (that's why so many of them are waiters or temps). Working actors usually work everyday but Monday, so, if you can, schedule the audition from Monday afternoon through the evening. Actors are not morning people, so never schedule it in the morning. The worst that can happen is no one shows up to audition. More than likely, however, someone will. And they may be perfect.

As Jason Santo mentioned in one of his articles, in the real world image is everything, so be professional and act professional. Don't hold the auditions in your house, but find a location that looks like you have something to offer. Most auditions happen in empty theater stages or offices, so get access to an office or even use a warehouse or garage. Anything is better than auditioning in someone's living room while you're little brother plays Play Station in the background.

And, remember, whatever promises you make to actors, deliver on them. The acting community is a close knit group. You don't want your name or company given a bad rep or you'll never get any good actors. However, if the experience is positive and they enjoy the process, they'll be back and they'll bring their real actor friends with them.

We all have friends. Unfortunately, we all don't have real actors as friends. So do the best you can. Set yourself up to succeed by recognizing the limitations of your resources (time, money, talent) and utilize them correctly. Remember, it's not about settling for less, but making something out of nothing.

Homesick (1988)

2009-09-30T08:58:00.001-05:00

Ah, Homesick. For a long time, I hated this project. Not so much that it's all that bad, but that it's so much less than what I had envisioned it to be.

I had been in the theater department at the University of Florida for four years and had been surrounded by plays. So, when I wrote this script, it wasn't so much a movie, but a play on video. A little too wordy, not too interesting visually... and that means the acting had to be solid and the story had to be excellent.

The acting, for the most part, is competent. However, the story is average. It was my first real script... my first attempt at trying to convey a real plot and it suffers from a lack of focus. The story, about a son who comes home after a long absence, had one major flaw: the conflict was between a father and son and the impact of alcoholism on their relationship. But, instead of writing a story about the son confronting the father, it's about the son sharing this long-burning conflict with his mother while the father is not there... an inherently weak dramatic choice. But, you learn by doing.

The reason behind the visual cinematic weakness of Homesick was due to the fact that this was the first project that I didn't storyboard completely. I tried to use a shot list instead of storyboards. What I learned is that I am much more visually creative when I have time to flesh out the storyboards than I am while on the set.

We shot the project in a friend's house over a single 36-hour period. It was exhausting and I'm surprised how well the performances held up, considering how exhausted we were. I used my acting friends from college. Most of them came prepared. One didn't know his lines. Another did it in spite of the fact that she was recovering from having her wisdom teeth removed... what a trooper! I was able to convince a local cable producer, Amy Laakman, to get involved in the project. She was aching to do something creative and we shot it on 3/4" video. In the end, the project suffers from lacking of preparation (no storyboards) and lack of sleep (missing shots which are not noticeable to anyone but me).

Personal Note: During the same weekend of the shoot I was also running the light board at the Constans Theater for UF's summer show Something's Afoot (I think that was the name). After shooting for 36 hours straight I had to go to the theater and run the light board. I was so tired, I laid across the chair with my hand up on the light board. The girl handling audio would wake me when a light queue was coming up and I'd bolt up, hit the queue and then lay back down.

The Job Interview

2009-09-29T12:18:00.005-05:00

Here's another skit I've made... will probably air on a future Theater of the Obvious segment during a Basking in the Son podcast.

****

The Job Interview
By Pete Bauer

JANE

Next?

DENNIS approaches the desk.

DENNIS

Hi, my name is Dennis. I'm here for a job interview?

JANE

You've come to the right place. Our company is growing leaps and bounds.

DENNIS

Company? You mean the government.

JANE

It's all the same now-a-days, isn't it? Government, company, unions, politicians... the lines are so blurry now, I've lost track. So, what job did you want to interview for?

DENNIS

Well...

(opens up paper)

...you listed quite a few here. Here's one I think that I could do very well. Treasurer. I have an extensive background in accounting. I actually ran my own successful accounting firm... that is before the economic downturn. I'm well versed in all of the various state tax requirements and-

JANE

(interrupts)

-Have you paid your taxes on time?

DENNIS

Yes!

JANE

Every year?

DENNIS

Of course!

JANE

Oh... well, that's too bad. We're really looking for someone that hasn't paid their taxes to manage the treasury.

DENNIS

I... I don't understand.

JANE

We're the government, sweet heart. We follow slightly different rules than the "little people."

DENNIS

I see...

JANE

Any other openings spark your fancy?

DENNIS

Um... yes! Well, I see here you are looking for someone to help define safe schools. Well, my mother was a principal for 40 years and I spent most of my college years helping her with-

JANE

(excited)

Ooo, that sounds good. Let me ask you a question! Let's say a student, 15 years old, comes to you and says that they're having intimate relations with an older man. What would you do?

DENNIS

Oh, that's simple! Such an act would be statutory rape. Therefore, I would counsel the student, while notifying the authorities, so the older man could be prosecuted for such a horrible crime with a child.

JANE

(disappointed)

Oh!

DENNIS

What?

JANE

You were so close! But, no, the right answer is to do nothing. Or, in certain cases, actually encourage the relationship.

DENNIS

But we're talking about rape.

JANE

"Rape." What is "rape" now-a-days?

DENNIS

Well... I think they've written laws about that.

JANE

"Laws." What are "laws" now-a-days?

DENNIS
Okay...

(scans paper)

... what about health czar?

JANE

Uh-huh...You're too healthy.

DENNIS

How about Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee?

JANE

You paid your taxes.

DENNIS

Health and Human Services Secretary?

JANE

Taxes!

DENNIS

How about Green Jobs Czar?

JANE

Ooo, are you a capitalist?

DENNIS

Of course!

JANE

Too bad.

DENNIS

Well... is there anything available that you think I'm qualified for in the government?

JANE

Oh! It says right here you are currently a lobbyist.

DENNIS

That's right. I was afraid you'd ask me about that. I know the President stated he wouldn't hire lobbyists. He said it wasn't ethical.

JANE

"Ethics." What are "ethics" now-a-days!

(smiles)

So, when can you start?

Microcinema Flashback - What I Want To Be When I Grow Up (2000)

2009-09-28T08:22:00.001-05:00

In this flashback article from November of 2000, I delve into my own internal struggle of not reaching my own personal expectations, no matter how unrealistic they may have become.

****

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up
by Pete Bauer

One of the most common challenges young filmmakers have to face is unrealistic expectations. Not of their abilities, but of the time frame of their success. As the elder statesman of this group (I'm assuming as I'm just over 30) I can tell you that when you think things should happen and when they will likely happen are two very different things. Take whatever time frame you have in your head for when you think you should be a success and multiply it by five.

Jason Santo's article "Well, I'm Kinda Doing What I Want..." was stunning to me because, only a few years ago I went through the same internal struggle... "am I selling out?" By who's definition are we defining "selling out?" The way Hollywood spews out its hype, if you're not a feature director by 21 you're over the hill. That's crap.

Not everyone can be a prodigy like Spielberg or Orson Welles. That's what makes them so special, because they are so far outside of the norm. The reality for every single person I know in show business that has had ANY sort of lasting success (i.e., working regularly) is that they have dedicated 10 years of hard work to becoming an "overnight sensation."

That's the average. And that's working at it everyday.

Probably the most important thing I've learned about people so far is that they do what they want to do. Never pay attention to what people say, only to what they do. If people want to lose weight, they do. If they want to change careers, they do. If they want to get out of a relationship, they do. It's about priorities and pain. When something becomes painful enough, you change, whether it's a career, a relationship, eating habits, etc.

So, if you really want to be a major film director then move to Hollywood, learn how to kiss people's asses and work your way up the food chain. Start as a runner (getting coffee, running errands) on any studio shoot and go from there. I've been a runner before and I've met people who think they're too good to be a runner. But, to quote a friend of mine who's a VP at Nickelodeon Studios, "If you can't run errands right, what makes you think someone is going to let you do anything else?" EVERY person I've met who works behind the camera, including the VP, started out as a runner, so don't expect the rules to be different for you.

For me, it took me a LONG time to realize that what I was saying to people was one thing, but what I was doing was something else. I kept saying I was going to move to California and start my way up, but the reality was that I was doing the exact opposite. It took me quite some time to realize that my wife and, at that time, newborn daughter were more important to me and the reason I wasn't moving. I realized that it was more painful to me to move my wife and kid across the country just so I could be a runner than it was to stay put for a little while and just focus on writing. I realized that raising my child (and now children) in a safe area with family nearby was more important than trying to reach some unrealistic time frame of success.

So, I refocused my energies and decided to write as much as possible. Recently, I've decided to add shooting no-budget flicks to my creative plate. I've finally realized how the realities of my life are going to fit into my life-long goal of being a filmmaker.

Whatever you really want to do, you'll do. Just recognize it and accept it, then go from there. This isn't a sprint, but a marathon. It's not important how long it takes to reach your goals, only what you're doing while you get there.

All of you making shorts and features with your friends right now will become much better story tellers when your opportunity arrives. If you keep plugging away you WILL get your opportunity, so be as prepared as you possibly can. Shoot as many projects as you can. Become a better writer, director, actor... whatever you want to do. Do it as often as you can. Like anything else, you'll get better the more you do it.

I spent years focusing only on writing. I've had a modicum of success at that and I keep working at it. Now I'm also focusing on directing and creating as many no-budget projects as my time and resources will allow. If you're truly passionate about telling stories, then you're in it for the long haul. Just keep focused on the goal and you'll reach it...

THE TERM PAPER (1986)

2009-09-23T08:52:00.002-05:00

This is a personal favorite of mine. My short film The Term Paper is about a college student who realizes, at midnight, that a major term paper is due the next morning.

This was based on a true story. My girlfriend at the time, Sue AmRhein, had to write a term paper. She started by using her electric typewriter (personal computers were available, but expensive... poor college kids didn't have them as they do today... boy I sound old!). The typewriter broke and she ended up having to finish it by handwriting it on lined paper. I took that experience, added about 10 more obstacles and story boarded the whole thing.

We actually shot this film on film! Super-8 silent to be exact. My brother, Paul, and his wife bought me a Super-8 camera as a present for getting accepted into the College of Fine Arts at UF. So, I story boarded out the story and bought the film. We shot it over a single weekend in June of 1986. I rented a couple of lights, but really had no idea what I was doing. Ended up we could have used only one of the lights, because it was so strong you couldn't see the effects of the other two lights on the film. Again, another lesson learned.

The end result is a 30-ish minute film, costing about $400.00, that still holds up today. Digitizing this project is a lot more lengthy, because the transfer to video has caused some color distortion. There's a company out there that does flicker-free digitization of films. I'm going to have this gem transferred to DVD soon.

Personal Note: At one point in the story, the Student kills a cockroach crawling across his dining room table by dousing the creature in an immense, non-stop shower of bug spray. Moments later, his cigarette falls out of the ashtray and onto the trail of bug spray, causing it to ignite, travel across the table and lighting his incomplete term paper on fire. Paul was working as a Chemist in Shands Hospital and got a hold of pure alcohol.

Did you know that when pure alcohol burns, it's invisible? I didn't either. Paul did. But, that's why he ended up an Analytical Chemist. Anyway, it's the impurities that cause the flame. So, we added a WHOLE bunch of salt to the alcohol and set up a trough out of aluminum foil on the top of the outer edge of the table. Since the camera would be below the table, looking up, you wouldn't see this aluminum trough traveling around the table top.

So, we roll camera, pour the alcohol and light it. It works great! The flame slowly travels from one part of the table to the other. In the end, I believed that I could simply blow this flame out. Bad assumption on my part. In the film, you can actually see me try to blow the flame out, see it still raging and mouth to myself the word "Shoot" (but not "Shoot"). The flame ended up being MUCH larger than we anticipated.

Fortunately, we were prepared. Mike Beckett, a friend and fellow actor in the short, was standing by with a fire extinguisher. He sprayed the fine powder all along the trough, reaching the end. However, a small flame still survived, and the entire trough went up in flames again. Mike hit the flames again with the sputtering remains of the extinguisher and it, luckily, put the fire out.

The room was a total disaster. We had to take all of the furniture out of the house, wipe off the extinguisher powder and vacuum the entire apartment. In the end, though, it's a pretty cool effect!

And, after all, isn't that the point?

Microcinema Flashback - The Grass is Always Greener (2000)

2009-09-21T10:09:00.006-05:00

Near the end of last century, when I first started moving from professional entertainment production to independent film production, I got involved with the microcinema revolution. For the first time in history you could shoot your own project, edit it on a computer without degradation, create your own DVDs and distribute them over the internet. It was a brave new world.

I got heavily involved with a couple of new websites at the time, primarily one called REwind Video. Funny thing is, Jon Ashby, who started REwind with his friend Wally Fong, recently interviewed me about Club God for his new website Common Film. It was the first time we had actually spoken to each other, even though we had known each other online for 10 years.

Anyway, back to history... after some time of trolling the microcinema scene forums and websites, I started contributing articles which were published online. The first one is from October 2000 and was before I moved into Christian film with Sonlight Pictures. I realized later that the Lord was using my years as a microcinema filmmaker to prepare me for Sonlight Pictures.

Since this blog will be ending this year, I thought that I'd take some time to officially document these prior online articles here in what I'll call Microcinema Flashbacks. They'll also eventually land in one of my blog books for my kids. Not that they're great reading, per se, but more about where I was as a filmmaker on my own faith journey.

I'm publishing them here in all of their original glory. There are words I wouldn't use today in them as well as a youthful, independent attitude that has dulled over the years, but the points of view certainly do express where I was as a film maker and as a husband and father during that time.

They'll be a lot of references to film companies and filmmakers that have long since abandoned their hopes of being professional filmmakers and settled down to a normal life. Amazing how things change in a decade.

****

The Grass is Always Greener
by Pete Bauer

The one thing you can count on in life is that you're never satisfied. It's what's helped mankind overcome hardships, put a man on the moon and make the Porky's films. And when you and your buddies get together like the Little Rascals to "put on a show" you always wish you had more time, more money and, for some, more talent. Some of you are reaching for the ultimate goal of making a living making movies. I think we'd all love that. But, take it from someone who's been in television and film, making films with your buddies is some of the best times you'll ever have. Not only do you have creative control, but you also have the most important factor... fun.

I've been writing feature screenplays since high-school. Some have been bought, some have been made and some outright suck. I took my first dip into real filmdom when I co-wrote a film called ADRENALINE with a director friend of mine. She worked for years trying to raise the money to do it the old fashioned way and it was taking too long. So, she got with some stunt friends of hers and came up with a premise for a film. We banged out the script, READY, WILLING & ABLE, scrounged together an amazingly small amount of money and they shot it two years ago on film. It's got foreign distribution and they're still looking for domestic. And now they're back to the original cause, raising money for ADRENALINE again.

So, when I look at the big picture, I realized that I've been very fortunate. I've been able to live in the "dreaded" real world while my friends have done a lot of the grunt work in LALA Land. My friends been able to pound the Hollywood pavement while I've been able to stay in Florida, married and with a couple of great kids. In a lot of ways, my RWA co-horts are my heroes... their dedication and time involved in pursuing the completion of RWA has been amazing to me. But, in the same respect, I don't envy them at all. The day-to-day networking and ass-kissing seems inconceivable at times. I've participated as much as possible, but it didn't take me long to realize that I'd rather spend time with my children then with somebody who knows somebody who may have an uncle who just won the lottery and who may want to invest in a film that is important for my career, but not important to anyone else. But, in the time it's taken to get one film made and another working toward financing, a lot of you have made scores of short films. If your anything like the frenzied people at Random Foo and Pangaea, you've made 50 films in that time! So, the question is, who's better at telling stories? The people who made one film or the people who've made 50?

And the sad fact is that business of show business stinks. I went out to LA to go to the American Film Market and I've got to tell you the distribution process is offensive. In many ways it's legalized prostitution. You see so many people all trying to do the same thing and selling their creative souls in the process, each one trying to snatch the money out of the handful of people who have it. The end result is a mish-mash of similiar films with low-end actors in predictable stories. At least within the limited budgetary scope of RWA we tried to be unique in the characters and action, but, in the end, this probably hurt us more than help. And as broadband becomes more available to internet users, the distribution chains will evolve and you won't have to sell your soul to get someone other than your family to watch your stuff. REwind Theater is a perfect example. So, there is some light at the end of the distribution tunnel.

Everything comes down to priorities and sacrifice. And at this stage of my life, until I get an ungodly inheritance from some Uncle I've never met or my wife and kids decide they don't need to eat anymore, I've rejoined the ranks of the Amateurs again (and since I've made so little in filmdom so far, this isn't much of a leap). I've gone back to my Super-8 roots and have decided to "put on a show" called JUSTICE. When I'm done, I'll open it up for public scrutiny and mockery. I'll learn from it and move on to the next one. After all, we all just want to tell stories. Some are better at it than others, but the point is that we each have something to say. Do I still want to make "real" movies when I grow up? You bet. But, I've realized that getting my friends together to shoot a harmless flick is some of the best fun I can have.

Enjoy the process, enjoy the friendship and enjoy tapping into one of the basic human urges... telling stories. Because, we all know, our films probably aren't going to change the world, but they will change our world.

Baseball Lessons

2009-09-17T08:48:00.010-05:00

There are a couple of things I love about baseball. One, I love spending the time with my son at the field, watching him do something in which he excels. It's wonderful to see him work hard, focus and overcome challenges to be a leader on the team.

Gabe pitching.

On a greater scale, the other thing I love about baseball (and this really goes for all team sports) are the life lessons that the kids learn through the process. I'm sure they won't even appreciate the lessons they're learning every practice, every game, but it is exciting to see them put them into practice.

Talking to the kids before the game.

When you're dealing with a group of young boys who are moving into young men, there is an opportunity there to set expectations higher and in the right direction. Children want to be grown-ups so badly, they just want to know how.

So, we spend a lot of time talking about personal responsibility. For example, younger, immature players, when the make an error, will whine and complain about how it wasn't there fault, there was this reason and that reason and blah, blah, blah. We've explained to our team of 13 year olds that young men, responsible men, take responsibility for their actions. If you make an error, admit to it, own it, and let your team you know won't make the mistake again. It's okay, you're going to make mistakes, it's how you react to those mistakes which shows your character.

Chatting with players in between innings.

We also talk about criticism. We explain that there are two types of criticism, the truth and someone who just doesn't get it. If it's the truth, no matter how that information is delivered, it's still the truth and the player knows it as such. So, if it comes from a coach yelling during a game or a fellow player trying to help out, the truth doesn't change just because you don't want to hear it. Be open to it, accept it and learn from it.

If criticism is from someone who just doesn't get it, and you don't recognize it as the truth, then thank them and ignore it. It's that simple. Don't fight it, don't get into an argument about it. Just move on.

Another lesson we talk about is controlling your anger. We tell the kids, that baseball is a game of failure. People who go to the hall of fame fail 7 out of 10 times. You have to be able to control your response to failure. You're allowed to feel any emotion you want, however you are not allowed to express it any way you want. That's called sportsmanship.

And, of course, the concept of teamwork. As part of a team, they realize that if they make a mistake, they all suffer. If they make a great play, they all succeed. If you help someone make a great play, we all succeed. If you sacrifice for the team, they all succeed.

And, finally, we talk about raising their expectations about themselves, about not wasting time in practice and about enjoying the game of baseball for what it is... a game.

The fruits of our labor,
Gabe hits an in-the-park home run.

I love watching these young men grow and improve as both players and people. It is the greatest gift of coaching... not the trophies or wins, though they are nice, but the time with these kids, watching them move from childhood to adulthood.

P90X

2009-09-15T10:32:00.009-05:00

Back in the day, about 20 years ago, I used to work out a lot. I'd go to the gym five days a week, working out about three hours each day. I was trying to be a working actor at the time. My body was my product. My acting talent the other. So, like any other businessman, I spent a lot of time making my product the best it could be.

While spending so many hours in the gym, I was fortunate to have met and learned from a lot of professional body builders. Some of them where on steroids, while others were not. You could tell the difference. It wasn't subtle. However, they all had insight into proper work out techniques... not only in what exercises to work on, but in what order. The goal was to create muscle confusion.

What is muscle confusion? Well, God has made us with exceptional adaptive skills. It's what has allowed our species to have survived all this time. The more we do something with our body, the more the body becomes accustomed to it. We become more efficient, the work less stressful. Our muscles first grow, then adapt.

This is problematic when you're trying to get in shape or build muscle mass. You eventually reach this plateau where you no longer see results.

Overcoming this standard problem is the genius behind P90X. Tony Horton has put together a wonderful, tough and comprehensive workout program that does a few things very well...

First, it breaks down the exercises into bite sized morsels. Each exercise usually lasts under one minute. As he says in the exercise program, "You can do anything for 60 seconds!"

Second, it's always challenging. He shows you numerous ways to do the same exercise, depending on your strength level. So, no matter where you are strength wise, it remains applicable. And that goes the other way too... after finishing the 90 day plan, I still couldn't do what the advanced people could do.

Third, the DVDs are very well designed. You can use the same DVDs in various ways... with Tony talking you through it, with music and pointers only, with music only, with nothing. So, you don't get bored with the DVD because you've heard the same thing over and over again. After a few weeks, you'll use the music with pointers option the most. Keeps it fresh.

Fourth, Tony's entertaining. You'd think that it would be difficult to listen to the same guy say basically the same thing day after day, but Tony is an entertaining guy. And he pushes you to do better, but never more than you are capable. His phrase "do your best and forget the rest" is a welcomed reminder as the workouts push you.

Fifth, it's brilliantly designed. The workout DVDs are broken up into specific sections (Chest & Back one day, Plyometrics the next, Shoulders & Arms the next, etc.). You're always working more than one muscle group and you'll switch between the two. On Chest & Back, for example, you'll do mostly push-ups and pull-ups. But there are about 10 different types of push-ups and about six different types of pull-ups, and he mixes them up so you're not doing only push-ups and then only pull-ups.

You do a series of DVDs covering your entire body for three weeks, then you have a rest week where you do non-impact/non-heavy lifting exercises like kick boxing or stretching. The second month you start an entirely different set of DVDs which work the same areas, but in different combinations and using different exercises... which is what keeps your muscles confused, so you never reach the plateau.

After another rest week, on the last month you do a combination of all of the DVDs in different orders again. Again, to keep your muscles from getting complacent.

The results have been great. It was the only exercise program my wife has ever completed. Six days a week for three months, she and I did the exercises. In order to make sure we never gave up, we promised to do at least one rep of every exercise, no matter how tired.

It is amazing how much stronger and healthier we are. We've both lost inches and gained muscle. I've lost about three inches in my waist, my wife much more.

After a break where we had to deal with the air-condition being replaced, collapsing bathroom walls and the start of baseball, we've worked P90X back into our schedule. This time the kids are involved to...

I never thought I'd see my wife and kids working out with me at the same time, all lifting weights, all doing push-ups, all doing kick boxing. It's a very cool thing.

Granted, after two surgeries and 20 years, I'll never have the body I had when I was an actor, but I have not felt this healthy in over a decade. P90X is one of the most amazing workout programs I've ever done. It does all the right exercises in the right form in the right combination in a way that makes you want to complete it. As we like to say in our house, it is evil genius. Genius in it's design, evil in the amount of work it expects you to complete.

We've now made it part of our daily lives. We want to keep what we've built up and perhaps even get stronger and healthier. At this point in our lives, waiting to start tomorrow isn't really an option. We're not going to be any healthier tomorrow than we are today.

Thankfully, Dea saw the infomercial and was inspired to buy the program. It has changed all of our lives for the better.

The Home Stretch

2009-09-15T10:21:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm at it again. The writing is on the wall... or the blog, one might say. We're now in the final stretch of this blog. I've been using it for the past few years as a way to document our lives and converting them into books as keepsakes for my kids.

I'm sure, when they look back, they'll enjoy reading the events and the challenges facing us. I think they'll find funny the things that were on the top of our minds and the old fashioned thing called a Blog.

I'm not giving up blogging (see Sonlight Pictures Blog), but I am going to give up this blog. We're sharing our stories, pictures, videos on things like Facebook. The technology has evolved and that is where it should be exchanged.

The value of this blog from a personal life interaction with family members role, it has obviously diminished. And that's okay.

Change isn't necessarily bad, it's just different.

So, I'll close down this blog at the end of the year. Only 107 days away.

I'll try to update this more in order to finish with a bang. But it's time to move on. However, you can keep up visiting us over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog to see the challenges we're facing as we try to live our faith through film.

Lest We Forget...

2009-09-11T07:18:00.004-05:00

We probably all remember where we were when the planes flew into the World Trade Center eight years ago.

But do we remember what we did afteward? As a nation we filled the churches. We sought comfort from our faiths and our neighbors. We stood fast ready to combat the evil that had confronted us.

Are we still doing that today?

What a Difference a Year Makes....

2009-09-07T20:57:00.003-05:00

At this year's Cocoa Beach Labor Day Challenge baseball tournament we had two teams travel down there... one was for players age 12 and the other for players age 13.

Want to know the difference between boys at age 12 and boys at age 13? Want to see the tell-tale change that puberty initiates?

Exhibit A: The second night at the Hilton hotel, packed full of baseball players, soccer players and volleyball players all competing in various tournaments.

After dinner the 12 year old boys went up to one of the hotel rooms where they all played Play Station. Still boys.
After dinner all of the 13 year old boys hung out in the hotel lobby talking to teen girl soccer players. Young men.

One year apart, yet their interests were so greatly different. Hormones are a powerful thing.

Slow Updates Apology

2009-09-02T12:08:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the snail's pace of updates here on the blog. Life has been very busy.

Recently our air-conditioner needed complete replacing. As mentioned earlier, our bathroom needed complete replacing. Dea then hurt her back (she's better now). Gabe has started travel ball again (that's 5 nights a week). DC has started college (loves it) and Gabe has started 7th grade home school (likes it).

I have been blogging a bit, over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog, where we've shared our first podcast of Basking in the Son as well as entries about faith struggles, script writing and capturing moments of inspiration.

We're finally near the very end of the negotiating process for distribution of Purgatory, USA. We hope to have the paperwork finalized in the next week or so.

This weekend some of us will be traveling down to Cocoa Beach for a baseball tournament. Being so busy has left little time for screenwriting, which is frustrating, but I hope to get back into the swing of things as soon as I hand off all of the deliverables to the distribution company.

So, I apologize for the slow blog entries.

And, finally, please pray for us for a special intention. There are some really strong, difficult moral challenges occurring in my extended family and it is taking its toll. Any divine assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Kids Journal - 03/05/04

2009-08-27T14:08:00.001-05:00

March 5, 2004

My dearest children,

Well, this weekend was very busy. First, we are in the final stages of getting our kitchen redone. Over the past few months we had extended the kitchen, dry-walled, textured, had cabinets put in, tile replaced and today the counter tops have been put in. Thank God. We've been living about a month without a sink... washing dishes out in the garage has been a pain in the butt.

Also, this weekend, Aunt Dawn came down with Kelsey, Rachel and Sarah Jo. We had a nice dinner last night at Nonni and Poppy's condo. We ate burgers and it was the first time that all of the Koehler kids were there at once, including Caleb and Mikahla (I'm sure I didn't spell that right). It was a fun time. Last night we also went and watched Nonni perform in a bell choir at a local Methodist church. I videotaped it for her.

Tonight we're going to have Movie Night at our house. I'll pull down the movie screen and we'll show a movie on the big screen with all the kids... should be fun. While we're doing that, Poppy, Dawn and Dea will be out having dinner... a traditional father/daughter event. Nonni and I, with Delie, will be home with the kids watching a movie.

The weekend started out pretty eventful. Mommy was trying to finish some quizzes for her online statistics class, so around noon the rest of us went on bike ride. We stopped by the convenience store in downtown Safety Harbor and bought some snacks. We then drove bikes down to the Safety Harbor Marina. Gabe, you ended up falling on a barnacle and severly cutting your leg. It was really bad. So, we went to the bathroom and I held a paper towel hard against your leg so that it would stop the bleeding. I borrowed a lady's cellphone and called Mommy. She came down and took us all to the hospital. Trish got our bikes and Poppy went to our house, as Dawn was about to arrive.

You ended up getting 26 stitches Gabe. But, I was most impressed by just how tough you are... truly amazing. You were mad at yourself for falling, but you weren't crying about the pain or anything. I carried you into the emergency room and they put a bandage on there until the doctor could stitch you up. You were more worried about getting the shot to numb your leg than anything else. To lessen your anxiety, I leaned over you, covering your view of the doctor and the nurse, while Mommy stood over your as well. Right as the doctor was about to administer the shots, you said politely "Excuse me, excuse me, Doctor?" "Yes" he replied. In the midst of everything going on you asked "Doctor, how many years have you worked here?" Everyone burst into laughter. The Doctor replied "ten years... longer than you've been alive." You thought about it for a moment and said, satisfied "Okay."

After the shots went in, they stitched you up and we got home around 6:00 p.m. Because you were cut with a barnacle, they were worried about infection, so they gave us a prescription. I had to go to four pharmacies to finally find it. I bought that and the supplies needed to re-bandage and care for you leg. Then, around 7:00 p.m. I got you, Kelsey and Rachel ice cream I had promised them (DC, you were out at Jessica Robicheau's confirmation ceremony at her church). I then bathed you, Mommy and I re-bandaged your leg, then we got you to bed. I joked that "it was the longest bike ride I've ever taken."

Thankfully, you'll only be out of baseball for two weeks. And, it won't keep you from your family trip to Disney world tomorrow. Poppy needs to get a wheelchair anyway, so you'll either get your own or you'll sit on Poppy's lap. Either way, you'll be able to go, but not have to walk around a lot. The only downside is that you will have to skip out on the swimming pool, which is a shame because Mommy picked out the hotel specifically because it had the coolest pool.

In other news, for the first time in their combined history, Mommy actually fit into one of Dawn's pants. It was amazing. Two things will probably come out of it... the first, Dea will continue to work on her health with new inspiration... the second, Dawn will immediately go home and drop 5 sizes because she won't be able to handle that Dea, the historically "chubby" one of the family, is the same size as herself. :)

DC, you were very distraught during Gabe's adventure. You could tell when I yelled to you at the Marina "DC, we're leaving RIGHT NOW!" that something was very wrong. You were so distraught. On the drive to the hospital, you were crying in the front seat and finally burst out "Can we at least pray or something so I can feel better!" It was very sweet. We were all praying to ourselves, but we prayed together.

Overall, things have been going well. We finished THE BOX. I'm seriously considering making a company called Lighthouse Cinemaworks to make Catholic based television and microcinema feature products. I feel it may be the culmination of my creative calling. We'll see.

I'm also nearing the end of two novenas... one is a novena I started for my God children (Matthew, Jonathan, Chaz, Aislinn and Sarah O.). The other is a 54 day novena for the spiritual health of our country. There are so many secular forces trying to change the foundation of this country and it is very bothersome. Fortunately Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST has reinvigorated the Christian community and we are now standing up for our beliefs. After all, 87% of all Americans are Christian... the country should reflect that belief.

Well, that's it for now. I'm at work and have to get back at it. But, I long for the time to spend with you two. If I had my way, I'd be home with you guys all the time. I love you so very very much!

With love,

Your father

Allegiances

2009-08-26T08:08:00.004-05:00

My son, Gabe, really wants to play baseball for the Florida Gators. He's got five years to make that dream a reality, but, for whatever reason, his collegiate allegiance has always been to the Gators. Probably has something to do with the fact that I graduated from there and, in his lifetime, they've won three national championships.

In any event, last night we were talking about checking out colleges for our daughter, Dorothea, and that one of those stops would be to Florida State University. My son hopped into the conversation "I'm not going."

"Yes you are" I replied.

"I'm never going to FSU!" he retorted back at me.

"If a school offers to pay for your education by playing baseball, you'll go anywhere" I challenged.

He looked at me, a knowing half-smirk on his face. He finally succumbed, "Well, if I go, I'll be a SemiGator."

That was the best he could offer. 1/2 Seminole, 1/2 Gator = SemiGator.

I guess that's better than being a GaNole.

Kids Journal - 12/26/03

2009-08-20T06:07:00.001-05:00

December 26, 2003

Well, yesterday was Christmas. Its probably the last Christmas that both of you will have that Santa Claus magic associated with it. DC, to be honest, you're probably already past believing in Santa Claus, but you hide it well. And Gabe, you are full blown into it.

For Christmas Eve we drove down to John and Irene's house. This year there was only Mom and Dad, John and Irene, Laura, Catherine and Merrill, and our family.

Gabe, you spent the early part of the evening getting golf lessons from Grampa. I'm so glad you two can share that time together because he's getting older and probably won't be around for many more years. His Parkinsons disease is taking its toll and he'll be less and less likely to be able to interact with you in a way that you can appreciate at your age. So, the fact that you were able to get out there and hit some golf balls with him in John's front yard meant a lot to me and my Dad.

DC, you spent time with the girls, but I think you were a little bored, since there weren't any kids around your age.

We ate dinner and performed our Christmas holiday tradition of blessing the tree, singing carols, kneeling at the nativity scene by family while the others pray over you and getting in a circle and wishing each other Merry Christmas.

It turns out this has been a Bauer family tradition for over 50 years. Amazing. We'll continue it with our family as you get older.

That evening we went over to the chapel (as you may remember, John's house is next to a Catholic retreat center) and celebrated Christmas mass.

DC, you were getting an allergic reaction to Mulligan, Irene's dog, so Mom gave you Benadryl. You were knocked out for most of the mass and slept in Mom's lap.

Gabe, you were in charge of the big flashlight and lit the way from John's house on our walk over to the chapel. You were so cute. You felt a great obligation to handle the flashlight correctly and guide us.

After mass we left and went home. On the drive home you, Gabe, were very concerned over whether you'd be on Santa's good or naughty list. You and DC have been fighting more lately and you actually wrote a letter to Santa asking that you not be on the naughty list for fighting with DC and that, if you were on the good list, Santa would get you two Play Station 2 games and a Backyard sport computer game. Dea, knowing that this was one of the last years you'll believe in Santa, made sure I fulfilled your request.

So you got two Play Station 2 games and Backyard Soccer. When we got home Gabe you were just bustling with anticipation. It was very cute. After we tucked both of you in bed Dea and I went to the bedroom and wrapped Santa's presents.

As we were about to come out Gabe bolted out from the back of the house (almost catching us) and Dea asked what you were doing up. You responded "I thought I heard a clatter." It was so funny. I never heard the word clatter used in a real sentence, only in the Twas the Night Before Christmas story. After we got you back into bed, we put the presents out, ate the cookies, drank the milk and went to bed.

One of the gifts Mommy got for you, Gabe, was a drum set. I used to have a drum set in high-school and college. I eventually had to sell it in order to buy food. So, Dea thought it'd be cute if you got your own drum set. You love it and everyone, including DC, plays it often.

Gabe, you also got some sports clothes and some pirate toys, which you like after watching the film Pirates of the Caribbean.

DC, you got a lot of clothes and jewelry and a password journal 2. You were very excited. We have so much fun together.

You know how seeing you grow into a woman can be concerning to your poor old Dad, so you play it up. Its a funny joke we have between us. You have my exact sense of humor so you and I find the same things funny.

Gabe is getting there with the sense of humor, but he's not there yet.

Later on Christmas, Mommy made this great meal and we had Nonny and Poppi come over with Trisha and her 6'8", 21 yr old son Patrick (nice kid). Later Mark, Lorna, Billy and Danielle came over, which was fun. Delie and DJ couldn't make it because Delie's family is in town, but they came over Christmas Eve morning to exchange gifts with you and us with Caleb.

All in all it was a great, fun holiday.

I love you both very much!

Dad

You Can Listen to Our Podcast - Basking in the Son!

2009-08-18T12:02:00.003-05:00

Please check out our Christian Film podcast called Basking in the Son!

You can listen to it over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog website.

Kids Journal - 08/14/03

2009-08-14T07:01:00.000-05:00

August 14, 2003

Hello my children,

I forgot one more thing from yesterday. DC, you have this cute way of expressing your up coming menstrual cycle. Instead of calling it your period, you call it your dot. So, yesterday you come into the room and say "Mommy said when I get my dot I can shave my legs and pluck my eyebrows... but if I get a unibrow before I get my dot, then Mommy will pluck my eyebrows for me."

I said "You can't go to school with a unibrow?"

You said "No!"

I said "I did."

You replied, "You're a boy, Dad. I'm a girl! Girl's can't have unibrows!"

"Yeah, you're right." I replied.

Ah, the conversations one has with your children.

I truly love our relationships. I love how much you and I talk, DC. I love that you share your concerns with me and rely on me. I know that it won't always be that way, but I'm loving every minute of it while it lasts.

And Gabe, I really enjoy playing baseball with you. You are such an incredible learner when it comes to baseball. You have always take direction very well, immediately turning what I say into the appropriate action. If only you would do that with the OTHER parts of your life! :)

I am so truly blessed to have you both in my life!

Dea and I went to dinner last night on a "date night" and I told her just how blessed I feel having you guys in my life. She stated she wished she was more touchy/feely... which she's not. She wishes she could return your open affection, but it does not come naturally to her. Don't get me wrong, she loves you, but she's not the huggy/kissy type. You guys get that from me, because I a "mush."

When we came home, Poppy had just put you to bed and I went to tuck you guys in. You both told me about your first day of school and how everything went well. Mommy told me you, DC, ate lunch primarily by yourself... I just don't know why you are so shy. You have so much to offer. I hope someday you realize that.

And Gabe, when I tucked you in you said "How was your date night?"

"Great." I replied.

"Short?" you asked.

"Yup."

"Where'd you go?"

"Shells" I replied (a seafood restaurant).

"Ick! I don't like crab and fish and stuff! All my friends at school like crabs, but I don't." you stated.

"Have you ever tried it?"

"No..." you replied.

"Then how do you know it tastes bad? Maybe it'll taste as good as chocolate ice cream tastes to you."

"Maybe I'll try a little bit..." you said holding your thumb and index finger a millimeter apart "... a speck. What's it taste like?"

"It's hard to tell someone who's never had it... it has it's own taste. How would you describe chocolate ice cream to someone who's never had chocolate?" I asked.

"I don't know" you pondered.

"Well, when they finally tasted the chocolate ice cream, I bet they'd love it."

"Yeah..." you thought "...okay, I'll try crab... a speck" you answered. Then I tucked you in and you both went to sleep.

Those little conversations I just love. I have always loved asking kids questions because I love to hear how they think, what goes through their mind. It makes some of my most special memories.

Dad

Dad's 80th Birthday Memories

2009-08-09T06:20:00.000-05:00

You know, it's been a few years since my Dad's 80th birthday. For that celebration I came up with a couple of Top 10 lists to add some humor to the festivities. Here they are:

Top 10 Games to Play at Your Father's 80th Birthday Party

10. Name That Child.

9. Pin the Smell on the Elderly

8. Where's My Inheritance?

7. Toots and Bladders

6. Spin the 16 Bottles of Over-priced Prescriptions

5. Those Aren't My Teeth!

4. Who Wants to Be 81?

3. Speed Napping.

2. Kick the Bucket

1. Blind Man's Putt

Top 10 Things I Learned by Watching My Father Play Golf

10. I Hate Golf.

Top 10 Memorable Father-Son Moments

10. As a child, pulling me into the bedroom and giving me the okay to punch Charles whenever he made fun of me.

9. Refusing to buy a lawnmower wheel for a dollar and, instead, making me carry a rope attached to the axle to keep the mower level while Charles mowed the yard.

8. Hitting golf balls at my head so you wouldn't have to pick them up yourself.

7. Allowing my friends to walk into the house with you in your boxers and your pony trying to escape the barn.

6. Breaking my braces headgear and making me bleed in a "friendly" slap fight.

5. Changing my childhood bedroom into a computer room the weekend I left for college.

4. When my Crohns first acted up and I had lost about two pints of blood at Joe's second wedding rehearsal, so that the hospital wouldn't charge your medical insurance, dropping me off at the entrance to the Emergency Room, where I went in, gave them my name and immediately passed out.

3. Knowing Dea and I were staying at your cabin for a week for our honeymoon, you decided to return three days early.

2. When I was a teenager, interrupting my 1000th viewing of the same Star Trek episode to call me lazy.

1. Missing my one and only Little League Home Run (no, I'm not still bitter)

Kids Journal - 08/13/03

2009-08-06T06:59:00.000-05:00

August 13, 2003

Hello my children,

Well, today was the first day of school. DC, you're entering 5th grade and Gabe, you're entering 1st. This morning, before you left, I sat down with each of you and discussed the year ahead.

DC, you can often fall into a "wounded duck" mode, or "woe is me" mode, which drives your mother and I nuts. That's because, at home, you are so funny and smart and self confident and I expressed that you needed to let those things show this year. I explained that how you act the first week of school will determine how people treat you the entire year. So, I hope you take that advice to heart.

And Gabe, I explained that you had a big year ahead of you and that expectations were going to be high. First grade is a big step in the learning process and that it may get hard some times.

You looked at me and said, "Dad, you know what's gonna be really hard?"

I asked "What?"

With a wave of concern on your face, you said "College!"

I laughed and said "Let's just get through first grade, okay?" You agreed.

Then, for fun Gabe, I had you call Mommy into the bedroom and I explained to her that she had a big year ahead of her with the kids school and her school, house projects... she just looked at me and said "you're an ass."

It was funny.

Anyway, it's off to school! Another new year! Another exciting year!

It makes me so proud to see you leave the house chanting "First day of school! First day of school! First day of school!"

Love,

Dad

Faith or Faith & Works

2009-08-05T11:42:00.005-05:00

I was reading about the poor and tragic events that occurred in Pennsylvania where a deranged man shot and killed three women in a fitness class. One of the statements reported from his blog was the following:

"Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell."

That must be the most extreme understanding of the difference between Faith and Faith & Works I have ever seen. As most people know, the Catholic Church believes it is Faith & Works that are required for Christians to live their lives according to God's teachings and, after the split by Luther, the Protestants determined only Faith was required for salvation.

Almost all Protestants I know take their Faith and convert it into Works (missionary work, evangelical work, bible studies, prison ministries), they just don't call it that. However, this disturbed murdered took something so completely out of context, ignoring reliance on Jesus, on loving your enemies, on loving your neighbor, on offering your sacrifices to God, on carrying your own cross... it's sad that someone could have misinterpreted something so obvious to most Christians and used it to ease the weight of his own evil actions.

The older I get the more I realize that context is often more important than the content.

Bathroom Finale

2009-08-05T08:04:00.003-05:00

Okay, we're pretty much done with the bathroom. We have some sealant work to do on the shower grout which we'll do this upcoming weekend, but for the most part, the bathroom is done... THANK GOD!

Here are some picks.

Shower

Floor

Vanity and Toilet

New Vanity

I hurt, I have scraped, cuts, pulled muscles and stretched tendons. It'll take a week or so to fully recover.

But, at least we're done... almost.

Making Progress

2009-08-03T21:29:00.004-05:00

Well, after many 'o hours of work and toil we've finally made a lot of headway on our bathroom. We have the tile up in the shower and the grout done in most of it. We have the vanity, sink, mirror and new light done. The floor tile and grout done. All we have left is the fan and the toilet.

We went with the white subway tile
because we liked the look and they were cheap.

It's been a long, long job, but Dea and I have learned a lot. She and I have enjoyed spending our time together. I would often think of mom and dad working on their house in Tewksbury or John and Irene working on their house in St. Pete.

We hope to have everything done in a few more days. Travel baseball starts in a week, so we have to be done by then.