Bringing In a New Year

With a BANG! and a BANG!!

Anyway, even if nothing ever comes of this. I'm so thrilled that this footage finally gets to see the light of day. Everyone did such a great job. This is just a small example of the great things that we can achieve when given the right tools to work with. It bodes well for future endeavors.

We're going to begin fundraising efforts early next year (2009!) and so we hope that anyone who's a fan of what we're doing here will jump onboard and help try to make this dream a reality.

There are a couple more scenes coming, and these scenes are hopefully the first steps toward achieving great things in the coming year. 2009 is gonna be a big year for everyone here at Amateur Hour. And by everyone I mainly mean myself. It's my resolution to really kick it up a notch in 2009. Redoubling my efforts. Leaving nothing on the field. Insert your favorite euphemism here. But I have a good feeling about '09. So everyone stay tuned.

The Amateur Hour Website is officially up and running. Scenes from youtube will be making their way to the site shortly, and will be a general catch all for everything Amateur Hour. Whatever that exactly is.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2009!

Gears In Motion

For the first time tonight, I saw something I wrote on film (not counting the viewing window of the camera while we were shooting). It was a great feeling to say the least. I've been at a point recently where I really needed a spark in my life to keep the gears in motion, and I definitely feel like I got just what I was seeking in that tonight.

Needless to say, we got the updates we needed for Final Cut, to see our beautiful footage, and beautiful is an understatement. Breathtaking perhaps? I was totally floored by Brian's editing skills. He really brought it together in a big way. By the time I got around to getting a look at it after we got our technical issues ironed out, he was already half done editing half the scenes. Hats off. The man's a genius. Or a savant to say the least.

And now that we have footage with which to work with, I'm also proud to report that Matt is also masterfully bringing the website along. Might have something we can show people post hence. Weeks of prolonged inaction punctuated by a flurry of happenings. Seems to be the order of things.

Here's to driving the wheels of progress forward. Gung ho!

Got Another Thing Coming

Not too much new to report, just seemed a crime to have gone two plus weeks without an update.

Editing on the footage we shot is still coming. We've had some trouble viewing the footage on the computers we plan on editing on. It looks like we just need a newer version of Final Cut Pro. It only costs $1600. Shouldn't be an issue. Ugh. Why must everything be so complicated. Now I can see why people go to Hollywood and sell their scripts so they don't have to deal with this stuff. One day. One day.

But in a bit of good news, we are now the proud owners of our own website! Nothing there at the moment, but in time it will host all of the scenes we shoot, and the trailers we make, and possibly even the home of this very blog. More to come I assure you.

More information as it becomes available. Shock out!

Weekend Wars

We wrapped up an amazing weekend last night at my apartment. I won't repeat the previous post's platitudes, other than to thank everyone who participated once again, and to thank Stephanie, who did an amazing job acting with us last night, it was great to have her along. Also once again thanks to Alicia who in addition to her great work behind the camera, also took some great pictures for us behind an entirely different camera, so thanks to her I can show everyone how it all went down.

I have a ton of pictures, and I'm in the process of putting them up here.

The Spotlight Falls...

On the big shooting weekend! After much buildup and anticipation we began filming Amateur Hour Today at 11:05 AM PST, October 25th, In the Year of Our Lord 2008.

Filming went really well today. We got some good pictures that I will post later on this week. Someone ran off with my camera at the end of the day. We started shooting in an alley behind The Little Red Studio off Denny Way in Seattle. Our first scene was Sean (Brian Sutherland) and Aven (Zach Mack) in their car, getting ready to pull a job. Luckily the gods of film and creativity were smiling on us today and provided us great weather to shoot in. Things went surprisingly smoothly. Endless thanks to Peter Feysa, our cinemetographer and his lovely assistant Alicia Boggs. They did a great job setting up all the equipments and getting some truly amazing shots. The actors could have been reciting the alphabet, and I think it would still be interesting to watch, thanks to some great shooting (and obviously some great acting, but that's still to come).

After we wrapped up in the alley (Did I mention I accidentally stepped in vomit?) we broke for lunch ("Hi, I'm Jonathan Shock, writer of Amateur Hour, and when I break for lunch the only thing that fills me up right and gets me going again is hot, tasty, Zeek's Pizza. It's Zeek-Tastic!") we headed back into it, actually ahead of schedule!

We met up down at the Wooden Boat Center, got permission to shoot, and got to work. The weather was absolutely breath taking and I think the shots that we got are really gonna jump off the screen. Brian and Zach both also rose to the occasion and really brought their A games. I really almost felt like I wasn't doing my job because I really barely had to give them any direction. They were both on cruise control. I couldn't be more pleased.

Beau really helped me out in the Assistant Director role, so thanks to him as well.  And also to his dad who fed us all and let us use his sexy ride as Aven's car.

I'll stop gushing but it really is an unspeakable blessing to have friends, many of whom are recent friends, who can all come together in a weekend, and accomplish something great, for no greater motivation than they believe in the work. And for that I thank each and every one who are helping to make this possible.

Anyway, now that we've all had our hug it out magical moment...

More good work to be done tomorrow. Luckily a much lighter day. Casting call is 3 p.m. We'll snatch a couple exteriors, do a quick scene at Outback tomorrow, then it's back to the apartment for the big Sam/Sean scene tomorrow night. If things go half as well as today, I'll say it was a near flawless weekend.

Today was definitely a full day. Less

Getting Down to the Nitty Gritty

Big Aven/Sean rehearsal last night. Went late. Got alot done. It's all really starting to come together. Still lots to do today before we start filming... TOMORROW! AAAAHHHH!!!

We actually might have found our Melony last night at an Italian Restaurant. Sounds like a Hollywood story if you've ever heard one, right? More to come on this as it develops.

I feel pretty good about where we're at though. Zach and Brian had a nice long rehearsal last night, and Brian and Stephanie had one on Wednesday. Everyone's really kicked it into another gear here and it's fun to see. I think this weekend should go pretty smooth, weather allowing. Come on Seattle sunshine, I know most people think you're a myth, but don't fail me now!

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures last night but I grabbed a couple pictures of Brian and Stephanie's rehearsal on Wednesday. Or, if you wanna go one better, you can watch what the scene is gonna look like, we also filmed it and Brian cut it together. It is still a rehearsal so it's rough, but I think it looks great. Check it out.

Amateur Hour - Rehearsal scene

Anyway, off to run some last minute errands before tomorrow!

More Headshots

The man himself. Brian Sutherland. Who will be playing Sean.