Bootcamp, Being a soldier extra for a US feature film and Phonecall Update:)

"C-130 Rolling down the strip.
Airborne daddy on a one-way trip.
Mission unspoken, destination unknown.
They don't even know if they'll ever come home.
Stand up hook up, shuffle to the door.
Jump right out and count to four.
If my main don't open wide.
I've got a reserve right by my side.
If that one don't fail me too.
Look out ground, I'm a coming through
I'll hit the ground before you do!
Pin my medals upon my chest,
and bury me in the leaning rest.
When I get to heaven.
St. Peter's gonna say.
How'd you earn your livin?
How'd you earn your pay?
And I will reply with a little bit of anger:
Earned my pay as an Airborne soldier"

This is just one of the army cadence's we sung while running during PT for our boot camp for Emperor, a feature film starring Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones shooting here in Auckland city soon.

I am one of the extras being trained for some of the military scenes with Matthew Fox (who is a really nice down to earth guy by the way) and our military advisor (also done pacific and band of brothers) has spent the last 2 days teaching us parade terms and executions and weapon handling, as well as other things we needed to do to portray authentic 1940's US soldiers such as smoking (fake cigs thank god since I don't smoke), dart throwing, typing on typewriters/whiteboards, manners and practices (e.g. hats off inside unless carrying weapons), talking on old school telephones in American accents and army codes.

We also trained in uniform, I have to say i enjoyed wearing it, it reminded me of Jet Li in the Enforcer. I think it was the cover (hat). Plus I enjoyed carrying the Thompson or carbine or whatever it was that i ended up holding, we went through so many different weapons I can't remember their names, But working as a team through set drills and tactical formations was fun.

Basically, in a sentence, For a fan of Medal of Honor: airborne (me), this is a dream come true :)

Though I can't share more detailed specifics of what we got up to or the scenes they will be used in, I can share this picture of my haircut I had done on set for the role :) lol. (which now means PHONECALL is delayed indefinitely, damn. had tons of pick ups to do...) and the sunburn in the shape of an upside down V (Illuminati tat! jk) from marching for hours in the sun and forgetting to sunblock that area. Sonofa-! lets just say- its raw to the touch ;) on another note, I miss my hair, not only does it seem more colder but I feel more thuggish as well as soldierish. Grow grow grow! :)

Phone Call update; We shot the half of the climax fight scene on Wednesday, unfortunately we didn't get to finish shooting the bridge finale as shooting in a public place means public have access which as a no budget filmmaker is a nightmare if they aren't in the script. Anyway, below I have a screenshot to share with you guys :)

Anyway, going to start shooting my short film for my SAE Definitive next week, I had to scrap Job 23 for later in the year as my course advisor suggested the audience won't be able to figure out enough about my story. I tried to add more dialog but It took away the arty show not tell images I had written in there. So I wrote a new (4th draft for a Definitive) story called TIMEFISH. Great title huh? Will post some screenshots as I shoot them, An action/scifi/comedy. Will be strange with this new haircut but hoping my facial expressions can get the humor across :)

Until next time we meet, Live out your dreams and God Bless you ;)

ActionStar shooting continues...and some good news :)

I managed to talk the wifey into more camerawork today so I could finish what I started yesterday, Day 2 of trying out Parkour! So after digitizing I decided to share some more screenshots with you guys. I have to shoot some pick up shots tomorrow for the intro theme of my web series as well as a couple more tricks if I can find the right environment and then I will be done shooting for episode one. Also tomorrow I will be shooting the end of Phonecall, which is great :)

After we finished shooting what we could in the hour or so we had to kill, I bought wifey some Maccas as promised, As vain as i am and never one to miss the opportunity I posed for a pic, M for Matt! :)

When I got home later that night I discovered I got an email from my agent for an audition for a small part in a major feature that shoots in Auckland soon, excited and terrified at the same time, Post more as it gets more concrete :)

My SAE News item and A Glimpse in Shortland St

Above is my news piece I did for our school news show assignment, I had to cut an interview out that I had in the original piece with an EB sales chick as she didn't want her views on you tube, which was OK, I'm in it for the marks but I interviewed some friends so I posted their bits here on my blog for them, and for you guys of course so when you see a fake news thing in one of my films you can say you've seen my very first one ;)

I been watching Shortland St on demand to see which scenes they ended up using from the days I turned up, after much heartbreak finally managed to find a scene, Episode 4867 which aired on Nov 1 :) Took some screenshots to share with you all ;) Proof I'm not bullshitting I have done extra work :P
They have 3 cameras running at the same time, so what they end up using is at the mercy of the editors in the editing room, the other 2 shots i recognized this week I wasn't seen in. But I'm happy I can finally say I was on NZ TV in some capacity.....here's to more opportunities :)

cheers!

Our class 3D assignment, "Magicians Duel". Check it out ;)

In the story of 2 magicians with a score to settle, ones old-school, one's a new school street magician, who will win? The class wrote, filmed and edited the first minute or so then we each had to design our own 5 second minimum ending with a 3d element. Spoiler alert for most of their endings - Me or Keanu Die (not good for our self esteem guys lol), but not in mine, or Keanu's lol.

For the record, I don't have the patience, passion or drive to do 3D or After effects work ,and though I did it for this assignment and the many more to come, I do it with the knowledge one day I will be in the position to pay to have someone do it for me :) My respect goes to those who do these jobs and do them well, mine was only a small effort but drove me to the brink :) All those buttons, co-ordinates, variables and keyframes. Anyway, to watch my version click on the link below :)

In other news, I have written 3002 words now for my 1500 word essay (up from the 2,200 i had before watching Mission Impossible 2 again for the 5th time, still love it :D), I plan on asking my lecturer what bits to cut out, as i might have spread the net too wide for the question. Also, the Music Videos finished, now just doing the coloring and effects, and have just started training for the SF project so i can pull off my written choreography in October after that 'job' I hinted about for October, I go for a fitting on Tuesday, hopefully I will learn more about the part then. :) Til then, I'll leave you with a quote and Keep making those positive decisions!


Winner's Blueprint for Achievement;

BELIEVE while others are doubting.
PLAN while others are playing.
STUDY while others are sleeping.
DECIDE while others are delaying.
PREPARE while others are daydreaming.
BEGIN while others are procrastinating.
WORK while others are wishing.
SAVE while others are wasting.
LISTEN while others are talking.
SMILE while others are frowning.
COMMEND while others are criticizing.
PERSIST while others are quitting."

-William Arthur Ward