Welcome 2011. You've probably noticed I've been busy doing anything but writing a blog entry. Here's a little update for my die-hard readers in completely random order.
During the rest of 2010 I have:
1) Discovered that Canon EOS sucks. Really sucks if you want to make films. Seriously it's evil. Don't buy it. Throw it away.
2) Had a pleasure of working with hollywood legend Stephen M. Katz ASC, that's right he is one of those guys who put some mysterious 3 letters at the end of their names. Sounds extra cool if I can say so myself. It was fantastic to meet him and work with him. Oh and he filmed "Blues Brothers" by the way.
3) Took part in probably one of the funniest independent projects in Poland called Skarlans. Very good fun and atmosphere and I hope something nice will come out of it.
4) Won polish independent film award for... best script, which still seems surreal, cause I was an editor, director, steadicam operator, fajita chef and now a writer. I honestly need to make up my mind what I want to do.
Those were the best film times in 2010. I hope 2011 will bring more exciting stuff. I'm back to writing now. Till next entry.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Thursday, 15 April 2010
A little bit off-topic
I'm going to write not quite about filming in Poland today, well maybe more about what should not be filmed.
As most of you know during last weekend a terrible tragedy took place. President of Poland, his wife along with nearly 100 other government officials died in a plane crash. For me and every one I know here in Warsaw it was a total shock and still is. Nobody could believe how on earth something like that could happen. How a country can loose its' core in one moment as a result of an accident.
"Don't put all the important people in one aircraft" everybody says. I'm sure we learned that lesson now after the tragedy. What came after ? First two days - shock, tears, confusion and also some kind of unity we lack here during an average weekend.
Later on it all turned into further mass madness and hysteria. Argues about right places for presidential burials started and every day all the media are showing one repetitive show, which goes something like this:
A plane arrives, soldiers salute, coffins out, one after another, crying families, conduct through the city and all accompanied by the most depressing music I've ever heard. I am very sorry for all the families that lost their loved ones, but truly are this images should be filmed ? Those are intimate moments, personal tragedies and through the television screen it is all changed into some kind of grim reality show.
People who died were public and historical figures and sadly they all passed away. They are gone forever. For me personally it was a great loss, although before the tragedy I didn't know my president as a really happy and cheerful person. I didn't know he was always smiling, making jokes and he loved animals. When he was alive nobody was showing him in so positive way. Hell I am sorry that I've never had a chance of meeting him, cause the news says he was the coolest guy in politics. Why they didn't say anything like that when he was alive ? It seems if you really want to be loved by the masses, dying is the most sensible thing to do.
But enough of this, as one wise man wrote in these difficult times both hysteria and cynicism won't get us anywhere. What this tragedy once more showed us is the old and simple truth. Life is fragile. No matter if you're a homeless jakie or a president in this final moment, we are all equal. We should befriend our death when we are here, because she is always close. Some nights if you have too much whiskey and look behind your left shoulder sometimes, just for a brief moment you can get a glimpse of her smile. Smile back if you can.
I also was wondering is this ceremonial madness really necessary? When I look at it I should be saying goodbye and celebrating my own life, my own moments. Instead I feel sorry that I'm alive, looking at all this. If I died I wouldn't want a ceremony like this ever.
So here's a deal. When I die here how's my funeral should look like:
1. There should be no depressing music, instead some good DJ maybe playing proper electro, or electro house or whatever is good at a time.
2. People at my funeral not necessary have to wear black. Ideally they should be dressed like pirates but dress code is optional.
3. They can cry if they want, but I prefer laughing. They should just have a good time, drink some good whiskey, or beer, talk and dance.
4. I would like some mexican food at my funeral party - tacos for everybody!
5. A don't want any religious ceremony taking place at my funeral, well maybe only members of the church of flying spaghetti monster can praise it's ultimate noodleness.
6. My funeral party should be posted on facebook as an open event. People are allowed to bring friends. Especially the ones dressed like pirates.
7. I don't want any coffin. My body should be cremated and my remains scattered somewhere in the mountains. Himalayas would be perfect, but I don't insist, I'm dead. I will be happy with any nice mountains. After scattering of my ashes I would like the people involved to have a dram of Talisker whiskey from the beautiful Island of Skye.
8. I do not wish to have a any burial ground with my name on it. The wind in the mountains is fine, cause that is where I belong.
That's it. It's actually sounds like a cracking funeral. I wish I could be on it.
As most of you know during last weekend a terrible tragedy took place. President of Poland, his wife along with nearly 100 other government officials died in a plane crash. For me and every one I know here in Warsaw it was a total shock and still is. Nobody could believe how on earth something like that could happen. How a country can loose its' core in one moment as a result of an accident.
"Don't put all the important people in one aircraft" everybody says. I'm sure we learned that lesson now after the tragedy. What came after ? First two days - shock, tears, confusion and also some kind of unity we lack here during an average weekend.
Later on it all turned into further mass madness and hysteria. Argues about right places for presidential burials started and every day all the media are showing one repetitive show, which goes something like this:
A plane arrives, soldiers salute, coffins out, one after another, crying families, conduct through the city and all accompanied by the most depressing music I've ever heard. I am very sorry for all the families that lost their loved ones, but truly are this images should be filmed ? Those are intimate moments, personal tragedies and through the television screen it is all changed into some kind of grim reality show.
People who died were public and historical figures and sadly they all passed away. They are gone forever. For me personally it was a great loss, although before the tragedy I didn't know my president as a really happy and cheerful person. I didn't know he was always smiling, making jokes and he loved animals. When he was alive nobody was showing him in so positive way. Hell I am sorry that I've never had a chance of meeting him, cause the news says he was the coolest guy in politics. Why they didn't say anything like that when he was alive ? It seems if you really want to be loved by the masses, dying is the most sensible thing to do.
But enough of this, as one wise man wrote in these difficult times both hysteria and cynicism won't get us anywhere. What this tragedy once more showed us is the old and simple truth. Life is fragile. No matter if you're a homeless jakie or a president in this final moment, we are all equal. We should befriend our death when we are here, because she is always close. Some nights if you have too much whiskey and look behind your left shoulder sometimes, just for a brief moment you can get a glimpse of her smile. Smile back if you can.
I also was wondering is this ceremonial madness really necessary? When I look at it I should be saying goodbye and celebrating my own life, my own moments. Instead I feel sorry that I'm alive, looking at all this. If I died I wouldn't want a ceremony like this ever.
So here's a deal. When I die here how's my funeral should look like:
1. There should be no depressing music, instead some good DJ maybe playing proper electro, or electro house or whatever is good at a time.
2. People at my funeral not necessary have to wear black. Ideally they should be dressed like pirates but dress code is optional.
3. They can cry if they want, but I prefer laughing. They should just have a good time, drink some good whiskey, or beer, talk and dance.
4. I would like some mexican food at my funeral party - tacos for everybody!
5. A don't want any religious ceremony taking place at my funeral, well maybe only members of the church of flying spaghetti monster can praise it's ultimate noodleness.
6. My funeral party should be posted on facebook as an open event. People are allowed to bring friends. Especially the ones dressed like pirates.
7. I don't want any coffin. My body should be cremated and my remains scattered somewhere in the mountains. Himalayas would be perfect, but I don't insist, I'm dead. I will be happy with any nice mountains. After scattering of my ashes I would like the people involved to have a dram of Talisker whiskey from the beautiful Island of Skye.
8. I do not wish to have a any burial ground with my name on it. The wind in the mountains is fine, cause that is where I belong.
That's it. It's actually sounds like a cracking funeral. I wish I could be on it.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Polishing...
...first draft of E N D L E S S treatment. I am never satisfied. Unfortunately there is still a few pieces of the puzzle missing. Something is not quite there. Close but not quite.
Those details absorb my mind throughout the day, evening, night, even in my sleep.
At least I'm on the right track... but I'm really slow. Polish Film Institute has a next session closing in less than two weeks. There is no way I will have even something to show to the possible producer in such close deadline and also I don't like to rush things. I will be prepared for the next session application deadline in June.
For those who became fans of the movie on Facebook - I really appreciate your trust in this, as I haven't given up any information about its content yet. I promise to change things soon and publish a brief synopsis of the story.
Stay tuned.
Those details absorb my mind throughout the day, evening, night, even in my sleep.
At least I'm on the right track... but I'm really slow. Polish Film Institute has a next session closing in less than two weeks. There is no way I will have even something to show to the possible producer in such close deadline and also I don't like to rush things. I will be prepared for the next session application deadline in June.
For those who became fans of the movie on Facebook - I really appreciate your trust in this, as I haven't given up any information about its content yet. I promise to change things soon and publish a brief synopsis of the story.
Stay tuned.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
E N D L E S S
Why did I call my new film 'E n d l e s s' ?
Because I knew it will be endless amount of work. I've already spent few months thinking about it, then about a month writing just a draft of a draft of an outline. Then looking for producer, money, etc. you get the picture. This is never going to end.
But don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. On the contrary. I know exactly what to do with my life and my time.
However researching the subject, and getting deeper into the story I started thinking that everything is a dream. An endless one. As soon as I get to grips with this thought I will write something more interesting about the film I promise.
Because I knew it will be endless amount of work. I've already spent few months thinking about it, then about a month writing just a draft of a draft of an outline. Then looking for producer, money, etc. you get the picture. This is never going to end.
But don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. On the contrary. I know exactly what to do with my life and my time.
However researching the subject, and getting deeper into the story I started thinking that everything is a dream. An endless one. As soon as I get to grips with this thought I will write something more interesting about the film I promise.
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
working up and downs and... Christmas
It's been a while, but not updating blog usually means I am busy with something else and this something else is usually filming, and filming makes people happy and happy people make the world happy and happy world is good. Usually.
So Filming in Poland has kicked off pretty quickly compared to Filming in Spain which hasn't kicked off at all. I have been here for 3 months now in Warsaw town and my recent project were the following:
- University Lipdub for Warsaw School of Economics, great fun filming and I could finally push myself to the bone with my steadycam. The results were to say the least awesome, 95 thousand views on youtube 5 days after publishing. My graduation movie in which I put all my blood and sweat compared to that looks miserable with only 3 thousand views during over 3 years time !!! And even the mainstream TV News Station mentioned our story a few times. You can see the clip here:
LIPDUB VIDEO
If you are a University and you want a gifted steadycam man - then I am as always for hire.
- Another project required me to go to London, which was a good fun adventure also. I haven't been there for a while and it was great to be in a city that looks like a vibrant city with lights and colours, not post nuclear waste-land with zombies like Warsaw. The documentary was for TVP Kultura channel and featured many talented polish artists in many galleries across London and Oxford. It required me a lot of running with steadycam through the fields chasing people dressed in the golden suits... I know it sounds weird but it will make sense eventually when I post some footage.
- I have also nearly finished a music video for a band called Masskotki with my filmmaker friend Krzysztof. We ended up with a lot of juicy footage, all shot on Canons 7d and 5d. I hope it will be ready soon, because I am excited to share it with you.
More good news. I have won the 1st prize at yet another film festival, this time in Warsaw, which was ace because I wanted a big screening here and I got one finally. One of the judges liked the film so much that he managed to get me a screening in the television - TVP Kultura mentioned before again. So this is it guys... years after the final shot, after a months of editing, sending dvds, months of bad luck and no-replying-to my emails people it got finally there - to the TV screen. I am so excited about it that I guess I can retire now, work on workshops for filmmakers about how to do a movie with a mop and a bucket and get it out there, only 3000 £ for a weekend session for the rest of my life. But no...
Not everything was so great after all. Over the TV Channel TVP Kultura the dark clouds began to gather and the new CEO of TVP (the public TV in Poland, sort of what is BBC in UK) has basically ceased all production in 2010 for the Kultura channel, that means the companies I've been working with this month will stop producing programmes, and will stop employing me, and there will be less filming, and usually when that happens I am not happy and when I'm not happy the world is bad also. Bad very bad, bad.
So there you go nothing is ever easy and there are more challenges for new year as always (last year there were more for the following as well... I ran out of storage space for challenges long time ago anyway).
I will write some more, soon because I have some theories about why all the companies I work for end up in big shit over time, but for today it is a long post already.
To conclude I wanted to show you a Christmas music single which I think is just great. The song is called "White wine in the sun" and it's written and performed by Tim Minchin
Youtube single
Enjoy and have a happy Christmas
So Filming in Poland has kicked off pretty quickly compared to Filming in Spain which hasn't kicked off at all. I have been here for 3 months now in Warsaw town and my recent project were the following:
- University Lipdub for Warsaw School of Economics, great fun filming and I could finally push myself to the bone with my steadycam. The results were to say the least awesome, 95 thousand views on youtube 5 days after publishing. My graduation movie in which I put all my blood and sweat compared to that looks miserable with only 3 thousand views during over 3 years time !!! And even the mainstream TV News Station mentioned our story a few times. You can see the clip here:
LIPDUB VIDEO
If you are a University and you want a gifted steadycam man - then I am as always for hire.
- Another project required me to go to London, which was a good fun adventure also. I haven't been there for a while and it was great to be in a city that looks like a vibrant city with lights and colours, not post nuclear waste-land with zombies like Warsaw. The documentary was for TVP Kultura channel and featured many talented polish artists in many galleries across London and Oxford. It required me a lot of running with steadycam through the fields chasing people dressed in the golden suits... I know it sounds weird but it will make sense eventually when I post some footage.
- I have also nearly finished a music video for a band called Masskotki with my filmmaker friend Krzysztof. We ended up with a lot of juicy footage, all shot on Canons 7d and 5d. I hope it will be ready soon, because I am excited to share it with you.
More good news. I have won the 1st prize at yet another film festival, this time in Warsaw, which was ace because I wanted a big screening here and I got one finally. One of the judges liked the film so much that he managed to get me a screening in the television - TVP Kultura mentioned before again. So this is it guys... years after the final shot, after a months of editing, sending dvds, months of bad luck and no-replying-to my emails people it got finally there - to the TV screen. I am so excited about it that I guess I can retire now, work on workshops for filmmakers about how to do a movie with a mop and a bucket and get it out there, only 3000 £ for a weekend session for the rest of my life. But no...
Not everything was so great after all. Over the TV Channel TVP Kultura the dark clouds began to gather and the new CEO of TVP (the public TV in Poland, sort of what is BBC in UK) has basically ceased all production in 2010 for the Kultura channel, that means the companies I've been working with this month will stop producing programmes, and will stop employing me, and there will be less filming, and usually when that happens I am not happy and when I'm not happy the world is bad also. Bad very bad, bad.
So there you go nothing is ever easy and there are more challenges for new year as always (last year there were more for the following as well... I ran out of storage space for challenges long time ago anyway).
I will write some more, soon because I have some theories about why all the companies I work for end up in big shit over time, but for today it is a long post already.
To conclude I wanted to show you a Christmas music single which I think is just great. The song is called "White wine in the sun" and it's written and performed by Tim Minchin
Youtube single
Enjoy and have a happy Christmas
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Get sick people!
One of my favorite artists - actor, comedian, director 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, author of amazing films like "Hana-bi", "Dolls", "Zatoichi" and recently "Takeshis" has started his career a as stand up comedian when another artist suddenly fell ill, and he went on stage in the man's place.
Kitano soon embarked on an acting career, and when the director of "Violent Cop" fell ill, he took over that function as well. So the lesson from this short biography is simple. I just need to wait until some cameraman, dop, director, whoever gets ill and then I will take my chance and prove to the world that I as good man for the job.
So wish you all lovely people from the industry - get sick! The swine flu it's spreading in our neighbor Ukraine, so take a deep breath, kiss your girlfriends or boyfriends or just random people on the street more often and with some passion.
No hard feelings, but I'm kind of desperate here to work.
As for other news - my Steadicam skills have improved dramatically.
Kitano soon embarked on an acting career, and when the director of "Violent Cop" fell ill, he took over that function as well. So the lesson from this short biography is simple. I just need to wait until some cameraman, dop, director, whoever gets ill and then I will take my chance and prove to the world that I as good man for the job.
So wish you all lovely people from the industry - get sick! The swine flu it's spreading in our neighbor Ukraine, so take a deep breath, kiss your girlfriends or boyfriends or just random people on the street more often and with some passion.
No hard feelings, but I'm kind of desperate here to work.
As for other news - my Steadicam skills have improved dramatically.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
If this scene doesn't work, the whole movie won't
... which sometimes happens to be a case with things I do in my daily life. If something fails, all the other activities which led to it had no sense whatsoever. At the moment I'm at one of these turning points, when the main scene is at hand and if I screw this one up, I might as well not bother... but no pressure!
I spent yesterday trying to figure out how to fly a steadicam... after about 3 hours I managed to balance it properly so well done! After another 3 hours I even got a few decent shots which wouldn't cause the audience to throw up. So all going well - another 2 weeks of training and I will be ready for the world... I hope the world will be ready for me as well.
I've watched some polish films during the last few weeks, starting with independent cinema at Zawiercie Film Festival, then Wojna Polsko- Ruska and Cafe Rozdroze and just a thought I had after watching it all:
We need seriously smile more, be happy, no matter what. Maybe it is a simple message, but I believe it can change a lot. Most of our modern cinema in Poland is so miserable that you wanna drown yourself in a toilet bowl after watching any of those movies. Even All Secrets is way to depressing for me to watch now. My own child.
So get over it then and keep smiling.
Keep smiling when your money is running out and you haven't been able to get a decent employment for more than a year now.
Keep smiling when your film equipment has been gathering dust on the shelves, because nobody wanted to use it.
Keep smiling when the weather is so shit in October, that you haven't seen the sun for 2 weeks.
Keep smiling because you are working on a comedy, and that is all what matters.
I spent yesterday trying to figure out how to fly a steadicam... after about 3 hours I managed to balance it properly so well done! After another 3 hours I even got a few decent shots which wouldn't cause the audience to throw up. So all going well - another 2 weeks of training and I will be ready for the world... I hope the world will be ready for me as well.
I've watched some polish films during the last few weeks, starting with independent cinema at Zawiercie Film Festival, then Wojna Polsko- Ruska and Cafe Rozdroze and just a thought I had after watching it all:
We need seriously smile more, be happy, no matter what. Maybe it is a simple message, but I believe it can change a lot. Most of our modern cinema in Poland is so miserable that you wanna drown yourself in a toilet bowl after watching any of those movies. Even All Secrets is way to depressing for me to watch now. My own child.
So get over it then and keep smiling.
Keep smiling when your money is running out and you haven't been able to get a decent employment for more than a year now.
Keep smiling when your film equipment has been gathering dust on the shelves, because nobody wanted to use it.
Keep smiling when the weather is so shit in October, that you haven't seen the sun for 2 weeks.
Keep smiling because you are working on a comedy, and that is all what matters.
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