Super Spectacular Uber Summer Blockbuster Fantastic

I am a sucker for action flicks. While I love artful, thought-provoking films (my most recent favorite that I think falls into this category is "The Fall" by Tarsem- a really touching and beautifully shot film), I also love pigging out on popcorn and watching slick effects, exciting chases... basically being "entertained" for two hours in a dark, cool room. This summer, I was taking a class on making sound/music for film and multimedia. I have since dropped it. It was a time-sucker class in which the "teaching" was "here is a keyboard, here is the computer, here is the program you need, now play around with it and make stuff." This is fine, but I have all of this equipment at home and access to online tutorials for all of it, so this class was kind of a waste of time and money. Also, it's been a while since I was a student. It's hard for me to make any video project that is "just enough" to get a grade. I kind of like work that looks completed and professional and that takes a lot of time to do. It's not something I can just "do" on a weekly basis with a full-time job.

Still, I did finish one project. Behold! The blockbuster to beat out all blockbusters! Even this one feels a little unfinished to me, but it's a spoof, so it doesn't bother me as much. Our assignment was to download some video and put some music to it. Here's a great ad for Apple. I got stuck on their trailers page. I started noticing visual "similarities" to all of these trailers. I downloaded as many different ones as time could allow and edited them with Quicktime Pro (this was part of the assignment, I would never choose to do this). I then played sounds and put music to it with Garage Band (which I loved). It took me a couple of hours to do, once I knew what I wanted to do. Enjoy!

Dope Sheet

Also called an exposure sheet or x sheet. I prefer the term "dope sheet" because it kind of sounds dirty. This is a much simplified version of said sheet that I used for my "Obama in 30 Seconds" video (it's official title is "America Speaks"). All I was doing was lip sync, so I really only needed a way to chart the sounds for the mouth animation. I also added some visual cues for the eye elements. For film, this sheet would have a bold horizontal line every 8th frame (film plays at 24 frames per second, so each second gets split into three sections). I just animated this one for 30 frames per second, hence the bold line every 10th frame (though technically video plays at 29.97fps, but this piece wasn't long enough for that to throw me off). Also, this animation only contained one level, but that's not where you would place the action. Actually, now that I really look at it, I'm totally misusing this sheet, but since I was the only animator and the entirety of the art department, I think it's okay! The point was the lip sync.

I recorded the audio and imported it into Adobe Premiere at 30(ish) frames per second. That way, I had auditory and visual cues at every frame to tell me where the speaking sounds were. First, I listened for the hard consonants. They make a distinctive click at whatever frame they start. I'd write the consonant into the dope sheet. After that, I kind of filled in the rest of the sounds, indicating their length in frames on the sheet and drawing a line through the silence.

This particular animation was done in Flash only because I didn't have the proper setup to get everything aligned properly on paper (though all of the original drawings were done with pencil on paper and scanned into the computer). Because of this, my dope sheet became my best friend. It would appear that Flash has a habit of playing the video and the audio at different frame rates, so I just had to trust that as long as I had the "m" mouth shape where I had heard the "m" sound on the video that everything would sync up later! Luckily, it did. There's probably a way to fix this, but I don't have enough interest in Flash to figure it out.

In the meantime, I'm saving my money for a 2D animation program called Toon Boom. Flash wasn't meant to be a real animation program and Adobe hasn't seemed to catch on the the fact that people want to use it in this way (though the rumor is that they will at least be including inverse kinematics* tools in the next release of Flash). *the short answer to what this is is that it makes legs move like proper legs rather than blocks of wood on hinges.

Obama in 30 seconds

It's a little late to be posting this- voting closed a long while ago. I felt it was appropriate, though, seeing as how it looks like Mr. Obama is going to be our Democratic nominee. It's also appropriate because, well, I actually have time to post it! It looks best if you click play and then the little "monitor" icon in the middle of the right hand side to play it full screen. It was drawn in pencil. At such a small size, it's pretty hard to see. I made this for moveon.org's contest called "Obama in 30 Seconds." Obama was my second favorite Democratic nominee (and no, Clinton was not my first, though I liked her too). I really do like the guy, though, and I'm happy to vote for him. Politics aside, there was a $20,000 prize (redeemable in video equipment) and it gave me a chance to play with character animation. I drew several pictures that I scanned and animated in Flash. The lip sync was a little tricky because Flash seemed to want to play the video and the audio at two different frame rates, so I just had to trust my dope sheet (I'll try to post a page from that tomorrow and explain what it is). The animation is a little... basic... but it was my first full-blown character animation with lip sync and it was supposed to look "grassroots" (which is now an adjective). It's really amazing to see a character that you drew come to life before your very eyes. Carl Fuermann was the voice of America.

(Note: heated/bigoted/negative political comments to this post will be deleted- sorry, but that's what every blog seems to become these days and no one ever said mine was a democracy! I alone hold the power of comment approval! Mwa ha ha ha!)

Day Ten - VACATION!

Much needed, I might add. Today, my roommate Alicia woke up with a fantastic idea: let's go to the beach! She didn't really need to convince me. I think I was in my bikini before she even finished the sentence! (you couldn't ask for better lighting than this)

I spent the day passed out in the sand (with my broad-spectrum sunscreen, I might add- high praises for Bliss Lab's "The Big Screen 30SPF" spray-on sunscreen which did not smell bad and kept my pale skin pale). It was easily the sunniest day of the festival and although the water was cold, I managed to get a couple of good body surfing turns in! Alicia and her friends managed to finagle their way into P. Diddy's small private party the night before where they got to hang out with the likes of Lindsay Lohan and the uber-hip. Yes, her "girlfriend" was there and no she wasn't drinking- I was given the tabloid dirt LONG before it came out in the gossip mags, which I think makes me almost the coolest person in the world. The coolest, of course, is Linz herself, then the girls who were actually there, and then me.

I enjoyed listening to their stories, but I was glad that I had spent my evening on a quieter, more introspective note: watching Michelle Williams portray Wendy in Kelly Reichardt's new film "Wendy and Lucy." She was fantastic (and there in person, I might add- swoon). In fact, I can't remember the last time I felt so connected to and moved by an actor's performance. She is now on my list of "favorite" actors. The film was very sad, very quiet, and very good (Lucy is her dog- they are traveling to Alaska so Wendy can find work when her car breaks down in Oregon and she has to confront the reality of her finances and situation- I don't do spoilers, so I'll end it there).

After relaxing on the beach and eating ice cream for lunch, I realized that I still needed to return my rented cell phone, so I ran back to the palias, slid beneath the closing gates, and returned my phone, having just enough time to text a friend about dinner. Okay, the gates weren't closing. That was just an Indiana Jones flashback. After that, I got my last free Nespresso coffee, a free bottle of mineral water, a free glass of wine and a free glass of Asti, both from Piedmont. I finished the day with a fantastic dinner of mussels in white wine broth, calamari and tiramisu and topped it off with a glass of armagnac (my favorite French liquor- after wine, of course). That was one of two good dinners I had in Cannes. The dollar doesn't get you much these days. In fact, I was a bit disappointed with my cuisine experience in Cannes. Not that I have anything against omelet sandwiches and cheese paninis, but it gets old when you eat them every day. When you're visiting the country of haute cuisine, you would like your $18 to get you a little more than a salad with cheese (not an exaggeration). The free coffee helped make up for that, though. :)

My festival days ended the way they started, with a bang:

I'm definitely happy to be home with some built-up steam pushing me to seek funding for my own film. Only time will tell if I was able to help LOOP. This experience was a mix of excitement, frustration, and education and I feel quite a bit more enlightened about the film industry. I'll share my thoughts on that in the next post.

Day Nine- LOOP Can Cannes!

I was a nervous wreck all morning! I downed about five of these free coffees that they offer folks in the palais (really excellent futuristic style stuff from "Nespresso" coffee cartridge machines) and passed out the remaining postcards and bookmarks like a madwoman! I ran into a friend in the palais and made him pace through the halls with me. I was getting nervous because I wasn't seeing anyone going into the screening room. My roommates (who I thanked in yesterday's post and thank again here) showed up- all smiles with their necklaces aglow. I was expecting to walk into the screening room and only see the four of them. I was shocked to see the room half full! It's impossible for me to know who ended up watching the film, but people with market badges get scanned at the entrance and Pericles tells me that nine different buyers/distributors ended up on the list of "scanees" in a 40-person screening room, along with about ten people that I had given special invitations to!

Nineteen people might not sound like a whole lot until you read my previous posts and see what LOOP was up against! This little film was competing with Steven Soderbergh's "Che" and about thirty other screenings slated for that time slot! I've been to other screenings in the market- even some with far better marketing campaigns- for which five or six people were in the audience. Some folks were speechless (it's an intense film- particularly where it leaves you), but others had quite a bit to say. I was told they loved the editing and the direction (one guy was shocked that it was directed by the director of "Redneck Zombies," which is a film he claimed to love and had no idea it was connected to "Loop" in any way). The effects got some praise, too. Of course, I was standing right there, so they had better said they loved them :) !

It took a good day for all of this goodness to really sink in. I left the theater a little shell-shocked and desperate for a beer! I was disappointed by the dismissal I personally received by some "friends" who didn't bother to show up after feigning excitement, but more on that later...

I felt this was a victory for LOOP. We may not have those "super delegates" of the film industry yet, but it's gaining momentum with the people. Only time will tell.

Days Seven and Eight- Guerrilla Filmfare

As the screening of LOOP approached, I had very little time to blog, so forgive the lateness of these posts! After a good talk with Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma Entertainment, I felt a little better about my feelings for Cannes. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one who felt that it was an epicenter of film sleaze and that the real independent voice is getting lost in the so-called "low-budget" corporate conglomerate "independent" film world that includes companies like Miramax and New Line. Not that I have a specific problem with these companies or even the giants like Paramount and Warner Brothers- I like quite a few of the films they produce, but there should be room in the world for the "under $5 million" filmmakers such as Pericles and myself, too. The term "independent" is losing its original meaning more and more these days.

LOOP is the real deal, though. I have no idea what the budget for this film was, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't even close to $5 million! The marketing team at Cannes consisted of... well... me. Without a mini-Cooper with the painted logo of the film parading up and down the Croisette, a $200,000 party in a hotel lobby, full-page ads in Variety and a crew of market-savvy sellers and schmoozers sitting in a rented booth, LOOP was something of an underdog in a very bizarre world.

Case in point: I took an hour out of my over-busy schedule to help the guy who wanted me to do animation while I was at the festival (see my post from day two). He booked a 140-person VIP screening for his film (yes, those are expensive and tough to fill). He managed to get a couple of attractive interns to help him push the film. He managed to set up a "hot" (his term) party complete with shuttles that would take people from other parties to his own (for a documentary on Dante's Inferno- I bet Lindsay Lohan was just DYING to go). He even offered me a 5% finder's fee if I sold his film (which I had not even seen and had no interest in pushing). Yet somehow getting the actual film on DVD for the screening (meaning he had no film to show) was a last-minute priority...

With a mix of irritation, annoyance, vigilance and pity (mostly pity), I agreed to help him burn a DVD with Encore on his laptop. He offered to pay me back with dinner, which I refused. I only accept food as payment for the truly poor and passionate filmmakers of the world. All others must pay cash. After he made fun of my name (ha ha- it sounds like "Corney!" I bet kids made fun of you in school), I vowed to avoid his film screening and him for the remainder of the festival.

Aggressive measures needed to be taken. With this kind of well-paid competition, LOOP needed to become the Barack Obama of Cannes! What's a girl to do?

Shine, of course!

Courtney Hoskins at the American Pavilion, Cannes

I took a deep breath and went out on the streets, telling everyone I met (particularly if they had blue market badges with purple (buyer) stripes) about LOOP! Pericles sent me hundreds of these glowing necklaces to which I affixed stickers detailing the web site, screening date, time, and location. The American Pavilion students loved them and helped me pass them out (particular thanks to Alicia, Barrett, Amber and Brittany- my roommates whose names I'm sure I just butchered- for their extra support).

Courtney Hoskins and friends representing LOOP at Cannes

I managed to pass out hundreds of postcards, bookmarks, necklaces and bracelets in the film market before I was escorted out by security (it is "strictement interdit" to do marketing in the market if you haven't spent thousands for a booth- yet another little f*%& you from the money holders). I had no idea, so I made my apologies and leveled with them to find out just how far I could push the law. I discovered that I could stand outside of the palais doors and pass cards out to whomever I wanted...

...provided that they not drop them within 10 meters of my person. Such a thing is forbided

Still, I was able to distribute the rest of the day's propaganda, saving a bit for the next day for the last minute "what should I go see crowd." I ended these rather triumphant days by watching "Blazing Saddles" outside on the beach. The film was actually projected on 35mm film and looked great! It was much needed comic relief and brought me back to reality.

An extremely bright satellite passed overhead, causing me to notice the stars that had broken out from behind the clouds- the real stars, from which we all come, famous or not. In the end, it doesn't matter how much status we are given here on this planet. We are all human. I try to keep this in mind, especially when talking with people who have some kind of "power" over what I want to do. Later that night, the almost-full moon crept up from behind the ships on the water, seeming larger than life. I tried to photograph the effect to no avail- it's an illusion that only exists in the mind, just like human "star" power. I'll write a post about that little optical phenomenon later.

Day Six- War and Peace at AmPav

Just thought this was an interesting combination of invitees at the American Pavilion: Buddhist monks and Navy sailors on the same beach!

Day Six- Second Wind...

...though none of it is hitting my sails. I'm just not impressed anymore. Now I'm beginning the major marketing campaign for LOOP- Walking through the palais and scoping out potentials, standing around, passing out postcards to whomever will take them, much like the tour bus drivers. And like the tour bus drivers, I can promise a ride, albeit an artistic and intellectual one, but a ride nonetheless. Unlike the tour bus drivers, I believe in this ride. I'm not looking for fare, I want to share!

I think LOOP is fantastic. I think it's amazing that Pericles has put this together in two years with zero budget and massive amounts of love. THAT is what makes a great film, in my opinion. I worked on this project not because it was presented to me as "it will make you big" or "it's the next 'Blair Witch Project'" or any other such bullshit, but because the director was straightforward with me and asked me to help, appreciated my vision and gave me the freedom to really cut loose and let my imagination run wild. I can't say enough good about it.

And unfortunately, it does not have the representation it deserves here in Cannes! I'm no good at this marketing and self selling crap.

In fact, although the red carpet is glamorous and it is exciting to be a part of all of this, to see the stars and all that, I must say this: the Cannes Film Festival is the oil slick of Hollywood! All of the schmoozing, lying, gawking, "fakiness," standing around and hoping to be accepted... I know it's a part of the industry, but it is not a part my mind plays well with.

I do best with the panel discussions, where working professionals talk about what they do. The parties are making me ill. As is this infected wound on my heel (because I don't usually wear heels)...

So this entry was my diatribe against the Wall Street end of filmmaking as well as my love letter to LOOP. Not much festival news. I ran into some interview with some... star, but I've given up on trying to identify them.

Oh... and Rachel Leigh Cook was who I thought was Kirsten Dunst. I suck at this form of star gazing! And you can't even see the ones in the sky from here!

Day Five- Hitting the Wall

So today was the big Indiana Jones premiere and all I felt I could do was sleep! I am still seriously jet lagged and did way too much too fast when I got here. Plus, the access/no access security check point stand in a line all day thing really wears you out after a while. It’s like going to the airport for fun. Even the lawn is "forbidded" here:

This is actually a common complaint of festival-goers. Nothing is explained to you here. Access to certain places seems to be granted and denied at the whim of whoever. Not only that, but there’s this fatalistic attitude that goes along with the whole thing- as if nothing can be done to make anything clearer. That’s just the way it is. “This space is now closed,” one guard said to me. “Oh, okay. Well, what time is it usually opened?” I asked. “Not now.”

Oh... Thanks for the help. I guess as long as it's not "now," I can go in.

Indiana Jones was a mob scene. I was pushed from one end of the carpet (no access) to the other (limited access) and then back again, all the while being accosted by people demanding if I had “un ticket de plus” that they could have. I ended up being late for the big red carpet entrance and had to wait as the movie stars made their way up the carpet. After all, the last thing you want in a picture of a star on the red carpet is a normal person in the background! Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but this meant that by the time I got to the top, I was ushered into a sort of overflow room and wasn‘t allowed to sit in the larger theatre. This was an extreme disappointment to me, as I went to great lengths to secure a ticket in the main auditorium so that I could share the film with its director. That was the whole point, in fact. I didn’t quite see the point in reserving a ticket if the space was not… reserved. I still got to see the film, but no Spielberg. I’d have just gone to the earlier screening that did not demand formal dress if I had known that would be the case. Still, I think I looked okay- even though my phone somehow skewed/warped the image…

Courtney Hoskins at the premier of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I'm really not that diagonal...

After the film, I ended up by the back exit where the movie stars and their entourage leave. This is where I had seen Woody Allen the night before. I decided to stick around, just in case Stevo and the cast decided to show up. I ended up in the paparazzi mob- which is not a place I ever wish to find myself again. And that’s about all I got photos of:

I did see the back of Goldie Hawn’s head, Faye Dunaway, some guy named Giles, some woman named Denise (or a guy named Denny- it’s hard to tell with the French accents) and a woman who looked like Kirsten Dunst (but who I don’t think was). I think the people from the film had left by the time I got there. No Spielberg.

Oh, there was one famous woman I did see: Salma Hayek. In fact, as I mentioned, I arrived at the same time as the stars. We had to move around the red carpet to get to the steps. When I arrived at the steps, I heard the paparazzi scream “Salma!” I turned to my right, and there she was. So, we climbed the red steps together and we left the film together.

This is particularly funny to me, as Salma Hayek and I have a bit of a “history” together at Cannes: When I was an intern here in 1999, I got to be “the list holder” for a swanky party- if they didn't have their invite, they came to me. This beautiful woman was sent to me because she didn’t have her invitation. She looked at me, perplexed. “Hayek? Salma Hayek?” What can I say? Her name wasn’t on the list! I didn’t know what to say. Luckily, a herd of official people ran out of the party to grab her and bring her in, saving me the embarrassment of putting her in an armlock and throwing her out (I'm mean like that). Still, I felt like an idiot. Telling her she wasn’t on the list was bad enough!

Flash forward nine years and not only do I know who she is (heck, one of the companies I worked for in New York did the special effects for Frieda), but here we are on the same side of the fence this time. Only, I was the one denied entry and no one ran out to grab me and bring me in…

That and the film made it a good night. None of the access/denial crap mattered once the movie started. I loved it. I think it’s going to get a mixed reception by the fans, but this fan adored it. It was fun, and Indy and... yeah. I thought it was good.

Day... wait. What day is this?

Aaaaalll right! Giggity giggity giggity! I'm too excited for Indiana Jones to do a real recap of yesterday. Like I said, I had to stay up until 3:30 in the morning to get them so I was a bit tired the next day. In fact, that day, which I believe is day four in my adventures, could be summed up in one word: frustration.

I got up to see an older Japanese film that was playing in one of the sidebar festivals. I stood in line for a while to see it and was impressed that the line was so long. I finally got settled into my seat only to discover that it was the same gloomy/creepy Turkish film that I saw the day before! Because they close the doors on all of these screenings, that pretty much ruined that time slot for movie watching.

I wandered around the market looking for folks, unable to find them. I will post a picture of the insanity that is the film market as soon as I find my USB cable. Updated- USB found. Imagine about 30 hallways like the two below. And this year is supposed to be a "quiet" one here:

I went home and got dressed up for the evening. Then the sky opened up and dumped rain on everyone, forcing me to spend an unreasonable amount of money on an umbrella.

I wandered some more, waiting for some friends to get out of a screening. We grabbed dinner and tried to get into some parties, where we were repeatedly denied access.

But I don't particularly care about all of that. Like I said, I get to see Indy. After tonight, though, I will be a bit more aggressive about the marketing of LOOP (which includes muscling my way into parties where I think the buyers might be hanging out).

Oh, and I also happened upon Woody Allen and his entourage being herded into their private cars after his screening. He was the only one I actually recognized, but Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Patricia Clarkson were apparently there. Again, photos are forthcoming (though I don't think they include any recognizable stars).

ZOMG! Holy Crap! Cool, cool, cool!!

Know what this is? It's a freaking ticket to see the world premiere of Indiana Jones- with the cast and crew- tomorrow night!!!

I had to stay up until 3:30 in the morning and do some clever math to get it on my own steam, but it is the most coveted thing in this whole town right now! Needless to say, I'm guarding it with my life.

Day Three- Cannes Tryptophan

Or an extremely gloomy, slow and visually boring film from Turkey. Get it? Turkey? Tryptophan? Yeah, lame joke. I knocked it down a notch today. The festival is 12 days so it's important to pace yourself. I saw "Three Monkeys" from Turkey. I didn't care for it. It had most of the visual elements that make me physically uncomfortable: vomit, rape, and a deformed little naked alien-looking kid who just stood there and whispered and look creepy.

Then, I saw "Tokyo." Well, I saw the first two of the three films that make up "Tokyo." The first was directed by Michel Gondry. Loved it. The second by Leos Carax. Loved that one too, though it was completely different. I missed the third part by Korean director Joon Ho Bong, but I wanted to make sure I gave myself enough time to fight for my Indiana Jones tickets. More on that in a bit...

I took care of the technical ends of LOOP today- making sure the Beta screener was in the right hands and that people who should see the film have been invited to do so.

Unfortunately, I ended the day's adventures dealing with a French creep who was waiting at the bus stop, trying to explain to me why I have to go get coffee with him.

No pictures today. But then, do you really want a picture of boredom and creeps? It's too bad my day was bookended in this way. I really did enjoy "Tokyo."

Day Two- Kung Fu and 3D Love

The day started with me attempting to get some work done in the American Pavilion, or AmPav as the folks in the know call it. It’s difficult to write when people sit down next to you and start chatting, but it can be worth the frustration. One person offered me a job… here. He wanted me to do some animation for him on the film he is screening in the market next week. The thought of stopping all festival activities to do AfterEffects work does not sound appealing to me. I’ve politely declined. A couple of times... I sat in on an AmPav panel discussion about 3D. I don’t mean 3D animation, but actual 3D where you wear the glasses.

I must admit, I am a convert. After realizing how doable 3D is these days, I began seeing my whole film in 3D and it was pretty exciting. I'm seriously considering going down that road. The guest celebrity speaker here was James (Jim) Cameron- participating via Skype. I read part of a recent article he had written in a video magazine, so I knew that he was intimately familiar with the technology he is using, but I was still impressed. He spoke briefly about "Avatar," which I really can’t wait to see, but spoke more about industry trends and technological possibilities. He's passionate about what he does. It was inspiring and contagious. He was "there" with his DP and basic... genius guy, Vince Pace.

James Cameron and Vince Pace talk about 3D

Then, it was the red carpet premiere of Kung Fu Panda! I have to admit, it wasn't number one on my list, but it stars Jack Black and Angelina Jolie, who were kind enough to pose for me the last time they were in an animated film together and in Cannes (my pictures from 2004- Angelina Jolie, Jack Black and Will Smith on an inflatable shark). Plus, it was an animated film about Kung Fu. How could I not see it? Now that I have chilled in the same "room" as them and watched a movie, I think that officially makes us "friends." George Lucas and Dustin Hoffman and Lucy Liu and countless others were also in the audience. I didn't get many pictures of the stars (yes, Sue, Brad Pitt was there), but if you've ever wondered what it's like on the other side of the paparazzi cam, here's a bit of a photo rundown:

Approaching the tapis rouge:

J'y arrive!

on the other side of the lens:

and up the steps I go:

Me- red carpet in the background! Thanks to the english women who took my photo!

my outfit (I got this for the screening of LOOP because of the cranes printed on it, but I thought it was appropriate for Kung Fu Panda because... well... Kung Fu! Crane style is one of my favorite styles:

You know, I've made jokes about the two types of stars that I like, but I thought it was funny to see just how brightly they glow:.

My phone doesn't zoom, so I had to take a picture of the screen:

Fireworks on the croisette (the main street of Cannes):

Fireworks from the rooftop poolside party.

I decided to do a crane-style pose in my crane-style dress in honor of Kung Fu Panda:

You can see from the photo that I'm carrying my trusty fish purse- my festival favorite. I was photographed twice by some fashion magazines because of it.

The film was okay, by the way. Nothing new for anyone familiar with Kung Fu movies/stories. I thought the idea of having animal characters for each animal style was pretty cute. For the most part, the animals seemed to behave true to their style. I liked it a lot, but it was definitely not a "phenomenal" film. Part of me wondered why Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan were even cast- they spoke all of three lines.

Cannes Day One- Setting Up

A helicopter just landed in front of me. I can’t see who got out of it, but an entourage met them at the landing pad and rushed them off from beneath the blades. I find this amusing. You see, I, too, was brought here by helicopter. Many many helicopters, actually. I modeled a swarm of 3D helicopters that got me started working on LOOP. I never would have guessed that over a year later I’d be representing the film at the Cannes film festival. And yet, here I am. And I’m excited.

After my flight ordeal, I was both exhausted and jet lagged. I slept in until about 11:30. Eventually, I figured I should get up to get my festival accreditation and cell phone, so I dragged myself out of bed. My hotel is about 2.5 miles from the palais where most of the festival activities take place.

I tried to get a week-long bus ticket, but the tabac where one buys such things was closed. I decided to walk:

Basic recap of my day: slept till noon, walked a couple of miles along the beach under the warm Mediterranean sun, collected access badge for biggest film festival of the year. Oh, and did I mention, boys, that the beach was a topless beach?

Yeah, it was a hard day.

I'm all official now. I missed out on the opening film, Blindness, but there are hundreds of others, so I'm sure I'll see something good eventually. A couple of quick pictures from the opening of the festival. This was the arrival of all of the judges. Natalie Portman is in there somewhere.

Panic attacks and hospitality

It's always a bit terrifying when the plane starts lurching back and forth and dropping several feet while the engines rev and struggle. Especially when the only information given from the pilot is that all passengers and flight attendants need to take their seats and securely fasten their seat belts immediately. And even more especially when, as I mentioned before, you have been re-watching the first season of Lost and joking about crash landing on a desert island (only we were over Detriot). I think this scenario is the very reason Xanax was invented.Needless to say, I took a pretty decent dose of it. Once we were out of the turbulence, I was able to sleep a bit. The food was awful, the sleep sporadic... really a terrible flight.

And then there was London. I love the English. The terminal in which I was waiting for my next flight offered pedicures (not free, but reasonably priced). I immediately signed up. It was fantastic.

While I waited for the paint to dry, I got to sit in a fancy massage chair (which felt eerily human). I pulled out my laptop and tried to connect... denied. Another "pay as you go" type of wifi. When I brought this frustration up to my pedicurist, she fetched me an Ethernet cable and made me tea. Loverly....

Of course, this is posted a day late because I became SO relaxed, I panicked when I looked up and saw that my flight was bording and pulled the plug on my connection...

The Terminal

Only without Tom Hanks or Catherine Zeta-Jones or any comedy, drama or story of any kind... Well, the last part is not quite true. There's always a story. Even if you have to delve into the inane to find it. And I do. A lot. Six hours is a long time to have to sit at an airport.

I have to confess something: I am a total tech toy geek. It’s an illness I’ve had since childhood. When the MacBook Air came out, I wanted one. I didn’t want to pay thousands of dollars for it (and what's the point if you can't get that solid state drive), but I wanted one. I think I found a reasonable compromise.

My latest purchase is the ASUS EeePC. For $360, I get the smallest damn laptop I’ve ever seen. It weighs two pounds and is… well, look (and I have small hands):

It comes with Windows XP and (fairly zippy) wireless internet, AND, to my shock and glee, a built-in web cam and microphone (we were right over the Grand Canyon here):

The tradeoff is that it has no disk drive and an extremely small amount of storage, but for blogging and keeping up with e-mail, it's perfect. I have my iPhone (the last manifestation of my tech illness), but I’m terrified to do anything online with it while I’m in Europe- international roaming rates are… pretty high.

This should keep this blog sufficiently supplied with tales and pictures and videos throughout Cannes. As long as the free wireless I was promised is really free. I had to do some hacking to get it for free here at LAX.

A new adventure dawns...

I’m tired. It was impossible to actually sleep last night. I was fussing over my baggage weight. I got a large bag with swiveling wheels so that I could carry the publicity material for LOOP as well as my costume changes for the festival (and the makeup and hair care products/devices that entails). Then I realized that combined with my own luggage, everything weighed about 75lbs. There is a 50 pound-per-bag limit for checked luggage before you are charged an extra $50-$100. You can have TWO such 50lb bags, however. I ended up packing a 25lb bag within a 50lb bag for easy transport and split them up at the luggage counter. Problem solved. I don’t know why that makes them happy, but it does. That and putting your shower gel bottles in a ziplock bag...

I took the bus at sunrise to get to the airport where, after pulling my matryoshka luggage trick, I stood in the security line for an hour and argued with them over why it was NOT okay for the Betacam screening copy of LOOP to go through the x-ray machine. “It should be okay,“ said he. “Should be.” Well that makes me feel better. It’s only like the most important piece of this trip… They finally agreed to a hand inspection explaining that for security reasons everything MUST get x-rayed but that they were doing me a favor. Meanwhile, my pencil sharpener (read: razor blade) managed to miraculously get through these "magical" x-rays… Not that I intend to use it for evil. Unless I draw an evil character, and even then, I’m sure I will be putting him to good use.

Now I have to wait at LAX for six hours before I actually leave for Cannes, which is then a ten-and-a-half hour flight... Why I am going from Colorado to California to France (well, London, then France) is a long story. Suffice it to say, I’ve only completed the first few hours of my journey and I’m already tired.

We hit some heavy turbulence leaving Denver. That’s pretty normal going into the mountains (that rugged terrain makes all sorts of exciting air currents and is one of the reasons you hear of planes going down in the mountains). I don’t like flying. Actually, that’s not true. I love flying. I don’t like the idea of crashing. It doesn’t seem like it would be pleasant. Probably shouldn’t have brought the entire first season of Lost on my iPhone, but… I suppose if I had to crash, it might as well be with Jack and Sawyer and Kate and the gang of cool characters on that show. Especially Sawyer… ahem.

Wormholes and time warps and magical islands notwithstanding, my only major obstacle getting to France should be fatigue.

to pack or not to pack...

What a question! What do you pack to a 12-day film festival that goes from casual to black tie in a matter of hours?The answer: a lot. And an adapter.

More updates to come...

Ulterior motives...

Although I'm excited to represent LOOP at the Cannes market, I have to admit, I have ulterior motives for attending the festival as well. Countless films will be celebrating their world premieres there and I plan to see a bunch of them! I try to save the big Hollywood production-type films for when I return to the states. I mean, the great thing about attending a festival like this is getting the opportunity to see foreign/independent films that might not even make it to the U.S. market... That doesn't mean that I'm not going to try to score a ticket to the red carpet premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull..."

I'm totally geeking out over the thought of sitting in the same theater with Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Shia LaBoeuf, and Cate Blanchet to see the premiere of the next Indiana Jones (the first of which being a film that really sparked my desire to make movies)! Scoring a ticket might be a bit difficult, but I already had one co-worker agree to bust me out of a French prison, so I will try everything I can to get in!

I also wouldn't say no to a ticket "Synchdoche," Charlie Kaufmann's directorial debut, "Che" by Steven Soderbergh, "Palermo Shooting," by Wim Wenders or even "Kung Fu Panda." Actually, I wouldn't say no to a ticket to just about anything. I'm hoping the technology works with me so that I can keep up-to-date on my blog.

And now for some new news! LOOP at Cannes!

That's right! Real, realtime, new news! Next Monday I will head overseas for the 2008 Cannes Film Festival! THIS is why I have been such a blog slacker lately. When I traveled to the festival in 2004, it was mostly for fun. This time, I will be representing a film that I have really been working really hard on. The film is LOOP by Pericles Lewnes.

Now I know I have plugged this film before, but since then, Pericles has been generous enough to let me go to town with visual effects... and I have! I have gone rotoscope-crazy!

For those of you who do not know what rotoscoping is, I'll put it like this: it's like tracing, only you trace over every single frame of a movie (by the way, video is roughly 30 image frames per second, meaning one 8 minute scene (which each still above represents) contains about 48,000 images...)

Now, I didn't do all of the inky, graphic novel-looking stuff by hand. Most of that was automated (most of it- though I might add that "automated" does not necessarily mean "easy"). What I did do frame-by-frame was trace over the "real people" to cut them out of the graphic novel-looking background or vice-versa. There are usually MUCH easier ways to do this- typically involving keying out some shape or color (think bluescreen), but the scenes were not set up that way when the film was shot, so I had to do it all by hand. Yes, my hand hurts.

I will dedicate an entire posting to the art of digital compositing at some point, but for now, the most important thing is LOOP is playing at the Cannes Film Festival and I am happy to represent it! I am very proud to be part of the team that put this film together. Pericles has done an amazing job to pull off an independent film worthy of attention and I hope it receives a lot of it at Cannes.

A little over a year ago, now, Pericles and I competed in the prime time disaster that was On the Lot (think American Idol for film directors). He had posted a question to the forum asking if anyone knew how to do 3D animation and if they thought they could make a helicopter. He had no budget, but I saw it as a great learning opportunity. So I taught myself Maya. Which is insane, but yes, I did it (incidentally, it is now one of my favorite programs). It took me a while to do, but I modeled the helicopter, textured it, and composited it into the scene:

(The Loop section of this video starts at about 2:10 into it)

Pericles and I have never met in person. We have never even spoken over the phone. Despite physical obstacles, we have managed to pull off some pretty slick visual effects using e-mail, snail mail, ftp, trust and probably some sort of strange psychic something or other. I can't wait to see it on the big screen!