Dee is up at last!

Very frustrating day. Started with an appointment at the hospital to change the compression dressing on my leg. Necessary, painful with stinging iodine dressing and generally a waste of time.

Then a drive to recommended printers to do some Sonoma Dreams DVD covers - nope, their lowest print run is 500. Half hour gone. So I drive to Kinkos and print 25.. Another hour gone. The rest of the day was like that. Now I realize that to put the 40 mins. of DVD extras on the disc will need dual layer DVD blanks - which I don't have. I can either scrap the new Kinko DVD covers, blot out the DVD extras on the printed covers or buy 25 dual layer disks. Groan...

Ho hum. Neither QuickTime 10, QT7, Compressor or even Adobe Media Encoder can make an H.264 version of Pinot. All I get is blackness and clicks. I made a two minute test section - that compressed easily but fell over with the long 75 min. version. Well at least, I managed to make a regular NTSC DVD of the latest Pinot.

In the middle of all this - phone calls to Sonoma Festival - dozens of emails - requests for minor free changes to ancient job, a two hour struggle to get comments onto Mary's Web site. Then her Web menu vanished...

And editing lovely Dee.

Champions of Hope

Up at 6 today ready to shoot COH for the National Kidney Foundation (NKF). Back  at 7:00 (13 hours later) - stopped for more two buck chuck on the way home. Quick I need a drink, PDQ!

Strange how much gets reduced to three letters. WMD for example - even 9-11. Next month I'm going to the NAB conference. Editing this NKF COH job on FCP. Stop. I'm going NUTS (4 letters)

No 2-59 news (3 letters) but I keep lining up interesting people. There must be 25 I could call onIF I HAD A FREE DAY. 2-59 is such a good idea, such a shame to do paying work instead. Now if I were rich!

One of the doctors we filmed today was retiring - full pension - etc. He's 10 years younger than me!

Today we shot about 10 interviews, maybe 12 - I lost track. People were coming and going at an amazing rate. All but  two were green screen. So much easier.

More pain

Now 11:46 at night. The Pinot epic crashed the Mac or the Mac crashed it. It consolidated but forgot the timeline. Oh dear, I feel a complete amateur.

I read Oliver Peters on the Web, he writes for DV Mag. as I do but his stuff is much more serious and I fear he knows much more than I do. But nowhere in his writings or elsewhere do I discover why I have copied the media files but not the timeline they are meant to link to. Trying again now.

Sometimes I envy "directors" who are surrounded by clever people. It's hard to do everything yourself.

Fixing Pinot

Busy today but sadly not on 2-59.

Our Pinot epic is being shown next month. It seems not only a "good idea" but very necessary to check it out. When I opened up the edit done Oct 13 last year, I really wasn't surprised to find missing holes (shots). The data scattered over the 10 disc drives in the system and I never bothered to consolidate the files using FCP's Media Manager.

Some re-links were easy - others impossible. I swapped out a few drives and most missing shots suddenly re appeared. But there were some that were impossible. Oh well, I thought I will find them in the old Oct. mixdown. Nope, the only Oct 13 mixdown is in standard def. and useless. So last night I gave up put the lot on "render" and went out for dinner with our daughter. When we came back at 10:00, the stupid thing was STILL rendering. I left it on overnight.

Today, with a lot of "why did I do that?" I finally got it all together. Took all morning. Now I am consolidating - that copies the whole thing to a single disk drive and keeps ALL the data in ONE place. Then I need to do a High Def. mixdown. Next a SD copy for DVDs - then to burn 25 DVDs. The consolidating is taking for ever. With nothing to do - I decided to create a DVD cover in Photoshop.

I made a print on my Epson - it had two black lines - I cleaned the heads and suddenly it says it needs more YELLOW ink - the one cartridge I don't have.

OK I'll print on the HP. Yikes - the ink is still wet and its all over me. Not only that it looks soft and fuzzy.

It wasn't meant to be easy, was it?

Dust Dust and more ...

I'm trying to fix Pinot. Tricia is taking off two layers of wall to reveal shiplap.

The computer is rendering Pinot. Which means that whe I tpe all he lettrs are elayed - so do I stop rendering and type on regardless?

Diversions

So there I was happily making 2-59s which I love doing - and suddenly REAL PAYING work gets in the way and now that I have a festival screening, I'm resurrecting my Pinot epic.

Yesterday I made a huge mistake of using an ancient Firewire drive to transfer the Wednesday's UCSF shoot. I thought it would be something John could collect and use. Nope. His car is broken down (again!) - then I think the drive is too heavy and maybe fragile to post - I don't want to drive to SF, I'll copy the data to a 32 GB Flash card and post that. Good idea - no.

The file simply wouldn't copy. I suspected the Flash card would not take a 12 GB file in one go and broke it up into 3 GB segments. Something that should have taken a few minutes was now an hour drama. Even worse, no matter what I did, the first section wouldn't transfer. I found it. there's huge glitch in the data. Go back to the original tape. It's good. Re transfer. Recopy to 32 GB drive. Get the picture. Two hours or more gone.

And in between, phone calls, emails, Tricia's mum in hospital, out of hospital, in again.

Then Dee arrived with her Flip camera to give me the shots of Angel Island I need for her 2-59. Of course she had wiped the camera memory clean - the files are on her laptop which is at home. Another disaster.

I thought the PO closed at 5:30. Got there by 5:15. CLOSED. Bummer. Use the machine. I think I missed the post.

Back to resurrection for the festival...

Pinot was edited in 2008 and early 2009 - then in Sept. '09 I decided to recut it with extra shots and a new sound track. Consequently the the data is scattered over at least 5 drives. First collect the drives. Some shots are missing when I try to re-link I am pointed to NKF 2oth Anniversary. Huh? How come some Pinot shots are on a National Kidney Foundation drive. Worse. I had put all the NFK stuff on an old drive and archived it. Where's my stuff? Help!

Finally at about 7:30 the whole computer crashed. Good. I can eat dinner and drink.

So too busy to shoot 2-59s - I have 20 lined up! Almost too busy to edit those already shot.

Pinot Premiere

Good News!

The phone and emails didn't stop this morning.

Most exciting was a call from The Sonoma Film Festival telling me that our film would be shown on Sunday April 18. Oh there's a party meet 'n greet Friday 16th, Oh there's a Premiere Party in honor of you and your wife Saturday, 17th - and oh - there's an End of Festival Party Sunday night.

I spoke to Jamie - the winemaker - who is coming with Kristen AND a case of wine - the same vintage as seen being harvested and crushed.

All too exciting!

Working Today

A real paying job!

As usual I check out my equipment the night before. I always do a trial run with lights and sound before a paying job. It all works . I pack it up.

1: Chromakey green screen.

2: Lighting case which includes the rifle mike and a fold up stool and a reflector.

3 & 4: Two cameras (protection if one dies on me - yes, it has happened more than once - spilled water stops a camera dead) - in fact today I took my Flip Ultra HD camera - so that makes three.

5: Tripod.

That's five items.

I knew something was missing. The mike XLR lead? Power extensions? Make-up? Spare lamps?

In the middle of the night it comes to me. No tape. I have no tape!

First thing today I drive to Costco in Novato and buy 20 Sony miniDV tapes. Get home. Pack the car and drive to San Francisco. We collect John and I drive to UCSF hospital not far a way. John & Tricia take the equipment in while I park (which I could write a blog about). Anyhow, once parked, I get to the third floor just as Tricia is setting up the back light.

The area the hospital has given us is an end of corridor lit with masses of daylight. "Don't bother with lights, we'll use the natural daylight."

Tricia suggests using a reflector and finds an IV stand to hang it from. Magic! I take a movie and stills with my Flip camera.

There are fluorescents on the ceiling left and they add some light gold backlight. We set up in five minutes flat. Not a single light used - except the hospitals fluoros.

After the formal sit down interview - I wire the doctor up 2-59 style and walk around the hospital shooting until we are over whelmed by hospital security guards. "You can't film here!"

It doesn't matter as that was the last shot.

Pop Up #2

What a different world it is. My ex Ward, Andrei who lives in Moscow, commented on my Facebook page that the second row tool tips disappears off the screen on his 13" MacBook. He's right. They are too long for a 13" screen and unlike regular text you can't scroll down.

Back to the drawing board. Another two hours gone. Fixed! The second and soon to be third row pop ups now go center screen. I changed to red boarder to logo yellow and enlarged it. Here's the result.

Top row and second row. Who's a clever boy?

Finished (almost) cutting Dee. I need some B roll shots. Dee will take them tomorrow. She's on Angel Island in the middle of the Bay. Not the easiest of places to get to for an extra shot or two.

Good progress. Slow but steady.

Tomorrow a real job - in fact the first of a series of paying jobs for The National Kidney Foundation. Good. The Marin County tax is due next month.

Better Pop Ups

When I discovered how to create tool tips (the pop ups on mouse over) I was thrilled. Now a week later, I can see they need more work, a title and perhaps a photo.

It's 8:00. I haven't had breakfast.I really know nothing. So I kept adding things. The page would crash. I'd go back and whittle the code down until it didn't crash.

Lo. I have a title bar. Now I can add photos. Change the font.Time flies.

By the time I'm happy it's 12:00 noon. And I still haven't had breakfast!

It's a huge improvement. I'll do Dee after Brunch.

Today's Shoot & Edit

Today I went off to the "wound nurse" by myself. Tricia had received orders for duvets and cushions and was busy. Pity. I really needed her.

The appointment was for 9:30. At 9:25 I was in the waiting room about to wire up and test the radio mike system. Suddenly Rebecca, the nurse, appeared and moments later I was in a reclining doctor's chair going up. The radio mike was in my case on the floor. Oh well, I thought, since she is right next to me, I can use the on board mike.

Gee after all these years, of course I should have simply asked Rebecca to wait a moment - got the radio mike and wired her up. The sound is passable but there's a lots bumps and rattles from the mike on the camera. If Tricia had been there, getting the wireless mike from my case and on to the nurse would have been easy.

It's OK. But not my best. Still it is kind of weird making a video while a nurse is changing dressing on your leg. Next week I see a different nurse. Maybe I can film her too and combine the best. That would be wacky.

After leaving the hospital I had the post to do (Tricia's cushions), some shopping and a gas tank refill. It seemed to take hours and I really wanted to get back to see what I had just shot and edit the three un-edited 2-59ers.

I transfered the nurse and started to cut Miriam. I shot about 10 minutes no more. I liked the walk in and out of the garage and the bit where she says she's going to have dinner parties; for strangers! Chop, chop, chop and it was 3 mins 16 seconds - it's as easy as that. It wasn't hard to find 17 seconds to remove and then clean up the edits.

2-59 exactly, even I was surprised.

I always want the person being filmed to be happy. So I was relieved when Miriam emailed:

I love it!!! You did a great job, I'm impressed. I will link to it from my blog next week.

Tomorrow - I will edit Dee and Freda and get our Ford Pickup working again (don't ask) as we have paying job on Wednesday.

Comments

Out of the blue I decide that each 2-59 video has to have a poll or rating system and viewers comments.

Naturally I Google how to do it. Now you'd think the answer would be oh so easy. But no.

First off, I was looking for a plug in or feature for GoLive - the software I use to create the 2-59 site. Wrong. There's nothing.

My frst find is a free "comment" script. I download it - it fully of techie goobley gook. Says add this to your SQL database. No I won't. SQL means trouble. Not for me, this is too raw.

Next, I find The Commenter - it's only $19.95. The website says © 2008, which is a worry. Their demo lets you add a photo but not one from your computer. Can't add videos. Overall it seems cranky - bad vibes. Just not "it." I hate it.

Then I find a comment program from Cube software, all full of nice colors - looks more pro. However it's $39 and in the community section there are people asking for refunds.

There's a box on the site that says watch the video but there's no video. Huh? There are people on the support section complaining that there's no documentation. Do I really want to give this developer in Montenegro my $39? No I don't.

Then I discover ECHO. They give you a 30 day trial for free. Good. The © is 2010. It's used by big names.

Go to bed at midnight after putting comment boxes to every page and then posting my own comments. Great!

Please write a comment on 2-59.com. Thanks.

Angel Island

3:00 and just back from Angel Island in the Bay.

Still less than two weeks since I started and things are getting out of hand. Miriam from yesterday still isn't edited. I want to re-cut Karen and re-shoot Tricia doing something more than sitting in a chair.

Today I'd planned to shoot Dee on a Seqway. No deal - she wouldn't do it. No matter, she was fine without it. But since we were there on the island, I shot Freda who works as a nurse 4 days a week and does the Segway rides on the weekend.

Now I have three un-edited pieces. I'm shooting another tomorrow and one on Monday. If I'm not careful, I have five un-edited items. My plan is to shoot and edit one a day. I can't fall behind like this.

I've lined up about another ten "victims" - fortunately without confirmed dates. Four real paying jobs in the pipeline (nothing to do with 2-59).

I need a drink.

Miriam

We were just about to leave to shoot Miriam and I checked the DV Magazine Web site - OMG - the article I wrote yesterday is up already!

http://www.dv.com/article/93200

That's the difference between print and the internet.

Today was very sunny and the warmest day this year.

We arrive at Miriam's place in Piedmont, which looks like Beverly Hills, expecting to shoot her making pastry. That's her passion and she blogs about it here:

http://www.lauracarmen.com/

So I was surprised that the kitchen was empty - if you know what I mean.

"It's such a beautiful day, can we film outside?" OK - I'm easy.

So I film her potting some plants. Nice, she looks great and we have a good chat. I'll cut in a video from her blog.

No time to edit it today. Maybe tomorrow.

DV Magazine Panic

Each month I write a page for DV Magazine. I like to think nobody but Tricia and the editor of DV read it. Assuming that there's no-one out there cares, gives me the freedom to write what I like. So it's of kind of blog except I get paid and I write only 700 words. A bit like the 2-29 concept. I try to hit the 700 word mark - maximum over is 15 = 715. Of course on 2-59, I hit the mark to the second.

I’m good, I’ve written two Production Diaries, “The Diceman Cometh” for April’s DV issue and “Dead in Dorking” for May’s.

Yesterday, an email from the high ‘n mighty DV editor, David Williams.

Hey Stefan, I want a Production Diary about NAB for our special NAB issue. You know some funny NAB stories. Don’t worry, we’ll use “Diceman in Dorking” some other time.

Write NAB stories? He wants funny ones? No way…

I take my MacBook Pro outside onto the deck. I start typing. The sun sets. It gets cold. I've written three articles and all three are crap.

This morning I'm up at 3:00. That's a.m. middle of the night. I try to get back to sleep, worrying about the new article that's needed by midday.

Then I have it! By 4:00 a.m. it's 90% written and I'm asleep again, I'll post it here once it is on line.

Here's me at NAB in 2008 loking at myself in 3D.

Karen and Bug are UP!

Took no time at all to cut Bug's piece. 2-59 is such a good idea as I could have easily cut 6 minutes of Bug and his yard. I've emailed the link to him. No response.

Karen's edit taking longer - I want to work in some footage of her in the vineyard, maybe at harvest. I have so much from our Pinot 90 minute documentary.

St. Pats ™

Great morning. Woo Hoo it's warm at 8:00.

I was impressed that Trip had a ™ trademark on his BioCharm ™ bags of charcoal.

How much to register a ™?

Google it. Apparently ™ is an unregistered trade mark. Huh? It's free. Anyone can slap on a ™ on anything! The same as I can © 2010 this blog. Now if you want an ® that's $500 or so for a federal ® but only $70 for a Californian ®. My poor head spins. I'll go free.

So 2-59™ it is from now on.

And © 2010 Stefan Sargent to boot.

Ye all be warned.

Busy Day

Tricia has to go to Petaluma to collect some cushions from a shop. Last year and the year before 2008, we had filmed a vineyard run by Chris and Karen London. I knew Karen would be a good person for 2-59.

I could either use something from previous shoots but I really want to stick with the wide angle handheld style. And the stuff I shot before was usually Karen with Chris, Karen with Jamie - not Karen talking to me - the cameraman.

I phone Karen - she says come over. We drive there and discover Karen with a huge cattle trailer stopped on the road about a mile away from her vineyard. I pull up. We both jump out. I alway keep the camera loaded and ready to shoot. It's running as I walk across the road.

The next moment Karen is in there with what seemed to be was a bunch of angy bulls who didn't want to go into the trailer.

They were actually cows with sharp horns. It's dangerous. I expect to see Karen gouged. Not a good time to interview - we did that back at the ranch/ vineyard. Exciting and fun.

I can't wait to edit it.

Half price lunch at a Petaluma Irish pub. Half price Mondays and Tuesday. Worth the drive just for that.

Coming back we pass Heritage Salvage, Passionate Purveyor of Planks, Patina and Provenance. We'd been there before. They rescue old wood and "junk" from demolitions and sell it. Their yard is full of amazing thing - like ancient farm equipment.

I get out of the Jeep and see a man who obviously belongs there. "This your place?" "Yep" "I'd like to film you." "OK, given me a moment to see what this customer wants."

It's as easy as that! His name is Bug. That's right, Bug. He disappears on a bike and comes back. Tricia adds a radio mike. "Stay on the bike, Tricia will drive and I will shoot from the passenger window. We do one circuit and then film some of his old rusty, metal flower pots and pig feed fountains. Good stuff.

Finally we go to see the"wound nurse", Rebecca at Kaiser. We'd met her before when I landed on a wine glass (don't ask). She wants to leave my falling hood wound "as is" but decides that the three week old gash on my leg "will never heal" - is much more serious and binds it up tight, foot to knee.

"I should be filming you." "OK. Come back next Monday 9:30. I'll change the dressing. You can film me doing that."

So far I have 25 people lined up. Not one refusal. In fact they don't even seem to care what it's for. The best ones (like Bug) haven't seen the 2-59 site, don't know what to expect - don't give me a prepared speech.

Before 'n After

I get out of bed eager to turn on the Mac Pro. I knew the Google Search panel had to be wrong. I could find words in the site with ordinary Google but not my own "Search The Site" box.

In a minute I find it. I had typed search 2-59.com.com. Oh dear .com twice! Nine pages to fix. Now it works!

I also want to change the masthead. Make it smaller and on the left. Looks better. Progress.

From Google cache here's a very early Home page (the first) and today's effort.

Tooltips

Busy busy - no new shoots - I spend the day lining up people and working on the Web site.

First thing, I put up Ashraf's speech on YouTube. He's thrilled but wants the first 32 seconds cut out. If only YouTube would let you revise a video. No; you have to delete it and go right back to square one. There must be a reason. The 116 hits on the first one simply disappear.

I make DVDs for the National Kidney Foundation and Bonnie Addario Lung Cancer people. Suddenly I'm a Duplicating Dept.

It's good to get back to 2-59. I decide to revise the home page with portrait type photos rather than 16:9 wide screen stills from the video. After all the site is about people. So portrait - not landscape. Also this way I can fit 25 to a page. Let's see - that's only 40 pages for 1,000 videos.

Lunch at Baja Fresh, Corte Madera. Warm day. We sit outside. We meet Burton by chance. Line him up for a shoot. Anytime he says.That's five for this week.

Back home - I decide to crack Tooltips. It's tough. From 3:00 to 8:30. Finally I succeed. Woo Hoo! The problem is that if there's a " ' " in the pop up line it all falls apart. It's hard to write anything without a ' ... Take the word "It's" for example. Nowhere, I mean nowhere, does anyone say - you can't use a ' .

For two hours nothing works. I think it is a major mistake of mine. The demo pop up boxes work but mine don't! I start shortening my copy and suddenly it works (I had deleted a ' ). So now there are words like "cant" and "its" without their 's - crazy.

I scrap the old vertical menu and make a better one without people's names.

To bed. Yawn...

Sunday March 14

Today is Daylight Saving Day. Up late - or is it up early? Who cares? It's Sunday.

I'm writing this blog and transferring last night's tape. Ashraf had employed two other camera people to shoot the event. I'm doing it for love. I enjoy shooting. Interesting watching the other two doing things I would never do. I like to get in close. So close, I was bumping the dancers! One guy was a tripod way back person. The other guy more like me except he didn't have a wide angle.

They didn't seem to be filming the amazing flowers and the F O O D - so I did that.

Ashraf's outfit - what can I say?

I re-cut Stephen's piece with the new clip and posted it to the 2-59 site here.

Sunny day - but COLD. Brrrr... Am I spoiled? I expect California to be hot in March.

Tricia wants to walk the neighbor's dog, Buckley. I think it might be a 2-59 opportunity and take the camera. I seem to have lost an aerial. It was in Ashaf's crazy jacket.

A 2-59 opportunity? Hmmm... In a way it is. we meet Dee. Wired her up (Dee was our old downstairs tenant). But she clearly doesn't want to do it.

"Come this Saturday to Angel Island," she says. Good that's another shoot lined up,

I give up on the walk, the camera has got heavy. Dee and I go back to our place for a couple of drinks. Show her three of my recent 2-59 shoots. She loves Alan! Suggests that I have more info on the home page - yes! Tooltips. I'm working on it - from here. Can't be that hard.

Felix (our youngest) drops in during dinner. With him is Ghazi.

"Can I film you?"

"Yes"

Sweet thing doesn't even know what I mean. My guess is she will be brilliant. Stay tuned. Booked for next Sunday. Booked for Saturday is Dee. Tomorrow I'll line up Andy, Ashraf and Miriam. Another five. Great. Only 989 to go.

Saturday March 13

This morning morning cleaning up 2-59 menus and the home page.

Trying to do Tooltips. These are the little pop ups you see on Netflix, Funny Or Die, when you rollover text or a photo. It's Javascript. Oh dear, maybe some other day when I figure it out. Would be nice to have on the home page. Mouse over photo and up pops all the info.

Add a Google search box for the 2-59 site only. Sometimes it works, others it doesn't. Hmm...

At night we go to the Civic Center. There is NOBODY like Ashraf. Here's just the top of the invitation.

I'll film him next week and the lovely Miriam as well. They both agreed to it at the ball.

"How many people are you shooting?" says Ashraf.

"My goal is 1,000."

"You must be crazy."

Takes one to know one.

I've also lined up Andy from our local supermarket and he will get his cousin to appear. That's four for this coming week. I might try to resurrect a few others , like Jamie - I've got a good bit that could easily be cut to suit.

Friday March 12

A paying edit. Almost a relief from the total focus on 2-59.com.

I'll skip the details as this is a 2-59 blog. I put up my edit on a secret URL - client sees it, loves it - posts it to their Web site for the world to see. 'Nough said, we can do the invoice.

I get back to finishing Trip.

I'm always amazed at how 2-59 is a good total running time. Sure it could have been five minutes - but what extra could have been conveyed. The story about biochar in the Amazon? Maybe how much better BioCharm is compared with ordinary charcoal or fertilizer but then it would be an infomercial.

I think the essential message is all there in 2-59. Trip is happy with the result.

Next!

Thursday March 11

I edit Stephen and Alan.

I need clips from Stephen to cut into the video. H sends me links that simply won't download. I use yousendit.com - which is free and fool-poof. Stephen wants to do it his way.

Editing Alan is so much easier. While I am waiting for Stephen's clips, I try to stabilize the wobbles in Alan's video. I have three expensive programs. Trouble is, none of them work as advertised. Apple's SHAKE is the best but dead slow. I used it in Pinot but they were 10 second shots. After two hours wasted, I left it as shot: camera shake and wobbles.

By 7:00 pm I have Steven's clips - finish and post to the 2-59 site.

Alan sees himself and emails back saying how much he likes it and how the wide angle lens is as good a Steadicam. Perhaps the wobbles weren't that bad. Of course, I was watching it here in high def. on a 20" pro monitor while Alan saw it on a small computer screen.

Stephen emails back - says he's "embarrassed" but doesn't ask me to take it down. Then sends me a link to Scarlatti K.2 on YouTube which he played live on camera. Maybe he likes it after all. I'll cut it in.

Tricia lines up our inventor friend Trip, who lives up the road.

I go over. Trip wants to start in his garden and launches into the history of biochar and why it is such a good thing. "No Trip, you are sounding as though you're doing a pitch to a venture capital company. Just tell me. I'm a neighbor who has dropped in."

I keep interjecting goofy questions. Eventually he tones it down. I wanna see the biochar machine, his invention. "Can we see the machine now?" Eventually we go through the house and there it is looking all very low tech.

Down the stairs to his finished product. Try interviewing, filming and walking down stairs - my arm is still in bandages and hurts.

The shot I like is Trip, the genius inventor, filling a one lone bag from a crummy bucket. Says it all.

Wish I could have done a 2-59 on Edison.

I need to edit Trip tonight as I have a paying job tomorrow.

Wednesday March 10

I've always wanted to "shoot" Stephen. We keep talking about it. I think we had in mind a real documentary, you know an hour or so. Would be good for festivals. Well frankly after the money I wasted on film festivals for my Pinot film - I've gone cold on festivals.

Pinot: Escape from Wall Street is a good film, yes I know I made it - but I also know that it is OK.

Why didn't the fests. want it? Beats me. Maybe because they hate Wall Street traders. Maybe because our trader says the F word all the time. Maybe because there's no "cause." Nobody is starving, killing dolphins, saving the world from global warming, having autistic children... I digress.

Anyhow Stephen has always avoided doing the big deal STEPHEN MALINOWSKY doco. so when I emailed that it would be a only 2:59 video, he agreed. Come at 3:00.

We start on his deck. "Why did you have photo's taken of your injury?" Trouble with shooting Stephen is he's so tall. 6' 4" at least. "Let's go inside.."

Stephen does his thing. All one take. Then we go upstairs where does his Music Animation Machine programming. In all, I shoot 10 minutes, that's a 3:1 shooting ratio - rare in the new world of video where "film stock" costs nothing and folks shoot 500 hours to get a finished hour. Honest.

"You should film Alan, my neighbor," say Stephen.

Knock knock. Alan opens the door. I turn on. He's great. This is really what I had imagined. Spontaneous stuff from ordinary (you know what I mean) people. Everyone has a story to tell.

How I hate those TV interviews you see all the time. Once you light a location with a zillion lights and bring in three cameras - all reality and spontaneity vanishes.

So my stuff isn't perfect, there are lens flares, camera wobbles but it is REAL.

Tuesday March 9

Disaster!

I'm on my way to see Cissy. I stop at the D Street Post Office to post T's Rough Linen duvet (the one with the buttons) to Singapore and when I get back to the car the battery is flat.

I phone T. She drives over in the Jeep. I open up the hood and put the jumper leads on and the next thing WHAM!!! It's dropped down onto my arm. Ouch! I though I'd cut my arm in two.

It's not broken but the skin is ripped off. T says she san see "fat". Scary. We abandon the Ford pickup and go to Kaiser Emergency.

Oh dear $180. Double ouch. And we pay $1,399.04 a month, that's for both of us. Next to the mortgage, our biggest outgoing.

Kaiser is fast with excellent service. In London it would be free but you'd sit there for 4 hours before anyone could see you.

Filming is off.

We go home - I take a photo.



I decide to shoot Stephen. I email him. Tell him my tale of woe. Send him my photo.

He sends me his.

Monday March 8

Tricia is happily sewing on buttons to her rough linen duvet. Finally the orders are coming in. I film her and cut it down to 2-59.

As she's sitting this is less of a run 'n gun shoot. Come think of it, it's not run 'n gun at all. All very informative but not what I had in mind. Interesting. I think I'll re do it. Something that let's T's personality shine.

That after Vanessa comes around. She's keen to do it and we have fun as she creates her video blog. When I starting editing, she stays on recording her own blog.

How come none of the science fiction writer ever foresaw the internet?

Two days - and I have three videos up on my new site.

I lineup my daughter, Cissy and hubby George to shoot tomorrow.

Sunday March 7

Wow, it's Sunday again (today is actually Sunday March 12 - I just want to recap the last week day by day). It's been just a week since I thought of this and it's been a roller coaster ride.

It all started the week before. Tricia and I had been booked to film (I'm going to write "film" as "video" just don't sound right) - booked to film George K. at Esalen. We'd did one last year and it turned out rather well.

Some jobs are better than other - Esalen is right up there at the top. The perfect location. Great food. Full of people like us (PLUs). Not forgetting the "clothing optional" spas and swimming pool.

Well it was cancelled. Poof! My week destroyed. What to do? Another week cleaning up my edit room. No way. I can do no more for Tricia on her Rough Linen Web site. I am three Production Diaries ahead of the latest published one. It was rapidly coming down to reading a book and walking the dog.

There I was in the shower last Sunday musing:

I'm a filmmaker - I should make some films. Well dah! But it was a good thought.

What's a filmmaker if he isn't making films?

So what subject? People are interesting. We have an inventor up the road, there's Burton, Susanne, Peter. Wow, I'm surrounded by interesting people.

I go to lunch. Talking to my daughter (she's interesting too). "It's got to be short. No more than 3 minutes."

I get home, test the camera and walk around to Mary's place. It takes at little convincing, "I'm not dressed for a video, the house is a mess, it's low tide... " Then she says,"Yes!" Whoah, my first victim. I wire her up and start filming.

Done. It is better than I'd hoped. Mary's personality comes across.

Filming like this looks easy - it's actually quite tricky as I try to look at Mary - eye to eye - but of course I also need to check out the camera viewfinder - and besides that I also need to see where I'm walking (I'm often walking backwards).

I return home. Sit outside on the deck with a glass of two buck Chuck. Now what? I need a name.

Hmmm... Three minute films? PeopleFlix? 180 seconds? They're awful. Terrible.

Hey! Why not a second less than 3 minutes? Two minutes and fifty nine seconds...

I go inside to my computer. Log on to Godaddy.com (an inspired name) and type in 2-59 (2:59 isn't permitted). 2-59.com - ENTER!

2-59.com IS AVAILABLE

Now to find a Godaddy discount code. 30% off. Good. $7.00 to register. Must be worth it.

Click. I've got 2-59.com. This is all too easy.

I've "got" Mary's video too, filmed in my handheld run 'n gun style. Now to edit the shoot which ran about 10 minutes - all one shot - to just 2 minutes and 59 seconds.

Run 'n gun means no lights, no tripod (or monopod) with a lot of camera movement - no sitting down interviews. If it's a person talking, I pop on a radio mike and try to conceal the wires. I perfected the style (perfected... sounds wrong, but you know what I mean) when I shot my New Orleans Stomp documentary idn 2000 and 2001. I wired up John McCusker and wandered around his jazz tour shooting.

I transfer the video to my computer. Find the start of take one. Run forward to the 2' 59" point and cut. Amazing. It's a clean hole. Exactly 2' 59" 00 frames.

I add 2-59.com to my server. Do a home page. Upload Mary. I'm there. All in a Sunday afternoon. There it is, right up there on the Web. Somethings were meant to be.