MY DIARY OF "THE MAKING OF"

------------------------ 4-11-05 -----------------------

This will be the first entry into the beginning to The Behind the scenes of The Fountain, the new film by Darren Aronofsky.
With the obligation of copyright laws and my connection to the filmaker and company it will all be at the discretion of them and the film studio as to what i can actually post on my site. Im guessing not much but ill find out.

I shot about 200 hours of footage using a small 3ccd Panasonic DV cam, a Canon XL-1, and for most of it with a Panasonic DVX-100A shot in 24p.

I was on set every day shooting bar the earlier days for monetary reasons and prior obligations. I also captured close to a thousand photos with a small Nikon 995 digi and a borrowed Canon 10D, very graciously from the set photographer (Takashi).

Im not sure if this page will be closed due to liscensing issues etc. But i might as well start something now.

The film was being shot all in Montreal, so .....not being too far from NYC, i drove. I travelled on my own dime in my own car, actually borrowed for a length from my sister, whom without her I would NEVER be doing what i did. I stayed with Darren and with a couple other friends of mine who were the main players of the films production. At least until i had aquired my own small studio in a very quaint neighborhood of Montreal.

I dont want to go into heavy detail now but lets just say i made it through the filming process, almost quitting a couple times out of car trouble and 31 year old confusion with my life choices.

Now while Darren and Jay edit with the rest of the NYC crew there i sit in my parents basement in Massachusetts trying to log all of the footage that I shot sourrounded by woods and wearing cold finger tips.

Needing to be back in NYC but not the annoying hastle of finding an apartment and moving etc. Ill try to keep updating this with new Fountain articles and if possible photos of what i did up there. Yet again not sure if i can put anything up. Not wanting to spoil the intensity of this film in any way.

Here are a couple articles that ive found of interviews mainly. It will give you an idea of what this film is about and who the players are in this unbelievably intense production. One is from Comic Book Resources, and the other is an article that i took off Suicide Girls website.

 

------------------- 6.22.05 ---------------------

Ok here i go again.

being in NYC and editing the first of 6 behind the scenes shorts for the DVD. This one passed Darren and Eric's approval with only a small amount of rework..Yeeehaw.

Now its time to send this bitch off to Warner and rub it in their faces.

MOney. Niko needs to move back to NYC and not be living off his sisters rent while shes in Iraq.

Im going to put up some of the faces of the main players in my world at the Fountain up in Montreal.

Also look into Aint It Cool News. this has got to be one of Darrens biggest fans. cool look into the sets too.

---------------------- 6.28.05 -----------------------

I've been editing the old footage in Australia and all i can say is.....THAT FUCKING SUCKS! Wow Brad. you REALLY are a loser. Its like watching footage of a meeting inside The World Trade a year before it collapsed.

sorry Darren and Eric and Ari I guess it was hard to realize just how far you guys had got. eeep.

Its also Really hard not to put Brad bashing into the making of....oh man..

OH yeah if you want to read the letter that the Australian crew wrote to Brad Pitt. It's here.

------------------------- 7.21.05 -------------------------

So one short finished and Hollywood is shining down on me, supposedly "They" liked it....hahhha...whatever the fuck that means. Almost finished with the second episode which is about their ill fated trip to Australia. Darren said the first episode rocked which makes me happier then anything Hollywood would tell me. the respect level is ummmmm hahah yeah.

Darren and Eric just went to Comicon in San Diego and previewed the first 10 minutes of the film to a bewildered audience. Saying they still dont get it. Hahahahhah Oh Darren. well we shall all see i guess. Ive seen the whole film being shot and i still havent a Freakin CLUE.

Heres a couple new links about Comicon. And the Audio mp3 of the Q and A.

------------------------ 10.13.05-----------------------

So supposedly this film aint even gonna come out till early next year. I asked Eric the producer when the tralier would come out and he didnt even know. Ahh well..

I do know that i will be done with my films as of 6 hours from now! i made my Oct. 15th deadline with a day to spare!

They will be 6 short films with a bonus super long seventh if Warner seems so inclined to buy it of all the outtakes etc. The films are set out in chronological order.

maybe an hour and twenty minutes long.

Darren and Eric and Ari are set to review them all next week so i will get more in depth notes and probably wind up cutting some out. so it will be shorter im guessing.

it felt really wierd to make the credits though. like its all coming to an end sheesh. One year later EXACTLY to this week i left for Montreal. crazy.

Im going to master all of this as best as i can here on my Final Cut system then ill go to Orbit where they are posting some of the actual film in NYC and get all this shit put onto Digibeta for the Warlords of Warner.

Ill probably film another set of interviews a follow up basically. and interview Brian Emrich the sound designer and Clint soundtrack guy. just to have it.

we shall see what happens next. my life RULES!

----------------- Feb 19 2006 -----------------

Since Blogs make me want to vomit. i am reduced to this every 4 months or so. if anyone actually gives a shit at this point. wow im actually talking to myself. ahem

anyway. im finished with 'Fountain, Death and Rebirth' which i have titled it. Darren and Eric have signed off on it. So its now waiting for Orbit who i hired to master it. i just need access to their 3 thousand dollar Kona card and 15 thousand dollar digibeta Deck. one day.....one day i will ascert TOTAL control. ahem. ok enough. its a really amazing piece of work i must say. i havent ever seen anything quite like it. well people will probably think its crap. but Darren said he really dug it and so did everyone i showed it to. including Chris Nolan who was about to hire me for Prestige till Miramax decided to be GAY once again (surprise surprise) and say no to behind the scenes. oh well their loss. Fuckem. Nolan and Aaron Ryder -the producer were cool as hell though. and thanks to my mate Hugh J who was the one who got me the in and pushed my name all the way. ruling. So now im moving back to NYC. East Village. where i will continue to edit Fountain stuff. including a Post/edit/sound chapter. which im sure they will want to include. but wasnt in the budget. yeah this fucker is free labor as of now.

i will be the computer Jedi all summer. passing out candy like the internet Crack dealer.

waiting for Fountain to come out. then i can shop the DVD to studios in LA and NYC.

i can wait. i have to.

until then. anyone need a Mac Jedi?

by the way the Trailer for The Fountain can be seen HERE.

and some kid from LA's blog on Fountain

----------------- June 8 2007 -----------------

Wow.. well alot has happened in a year. Fountain has come and left the theaters. and now the DVD has come out. Amazing how much mixed reviews came from the film and funny enough, the DVD. Most of it being that the transfer sucked and that there was no commentary. Warner Bros has just dropped this bag like a sack of 6 from White Castle. Once it failed too much at the box office (not much of a surprise there seeing as the movies 'Wild Hogs' and 'Happy Feet' were some of the biggest attended) hooray for shit films and hiding from our problems etc etc etc. yawwn.....
seeing how its my blog i guess i can rant. it also doesnt help to have Black Flag playing in the background while i write this.

I've heard really great things from a bunch o people on my film... and people that actually dont even know me! hahahah im not used to that. but I've heard a bunch of emails from people wanting to hear Rob's music from my movie. so i just rebult my website.. hence this refreshed blog... and am adding some of his music to the site to check out. I also put in a 3 minute clip of my movie for people to see if they havent seen the DVD yet.

Also, awhile back i asked Darren about the commentary and he said that there wasnt going to be one on the DVD.. whu?? huh? it really didnt make any sense why except for the fact that maybe Darren didnt want to do one personally... so i left it at that.. then further down the road i actually asked him .. what the fuck? its so easy and cheap etc etc.... and the fans dig that.. and he said.. oh no Warner didnt want to include it... HA! no shit. wow.... and since the DVD was already past the master print phase there was nothing we could add. Then i thought.. gimme a break if Flaming Lips can pull off that double album/stereo thing... ill just record it and then let the audience figure out how to press play on two devices... durrr.... so after a couple of reschedules... i finally was able to pin darren down.. i recorded him in his apartment with my new HVX200 with a lanyard and shotgun mic and filmed the laptop we used to watch the film, so i could use that as a time reference.

and ZING. it was all good. I spent a couple days editing it and pulling out all his coughs and phone rings and tried like hell to pull out some of the sirens but alas.. we didnt spend a dime on it so a ADR sound studio was out of the question. so take it how you like..

He really did a great job on it and doesnt spill his guts like many were afraid he would do. he will give you hints. i still have no clue what the freakin movie is about. I just know it makes me sad. and thats good enough for me. kinda like Tetsuo made me sick to my stomach and The Shining makes my feet sweat and Irreversible makes me happy... huh? sorry.. anyway. raw emotion which you cant get from a movie that often, if any at ALL!

 

so biased aside... Darren asked me to be his Set photographer on his next adventure as well as the behind the scenes man. So now i try to get into the union with the help of Matty. And just landed a gig editing and shooting the making of a Japanese remake of a Thai film called Shutter that my friend Luke wrote. so i get to scare the shit out of myself making creepy ass music and interviewing ghost photography people... WOOOO at least for the next couple o months while Darren settles in on his next one. More to come on that. i think its a choice of three films he has rolling closer to production.

Also in regards to more of the Fountain extras etc. i shot soo much more footage that i didnt use. i want to make a whole post production film where i interviewed Clint and talked to him about his equipment and how he recorded it all. and to Brian the sound designer about micing Jaguars for the Papas growl with the flame sword and all his insane instruments he used etc etc. also have a rare interview with Jay Rabinowitz the editor, who usually doesnt do interviews but i bribed him with candy and he goes into the crazy schedule they had to deal with etc. So if Criterion feels like doing something with this.. i have WAY more stuff to show. anyway. we shall see.

In the meantime the commentary should be up on Darren's own site soon.. ill have a link on my site. i just need him to find out his lost admin and password so i can upload it. yup.

Stay tuned.