Drama – Full Version Now Online

So I had been pushing Timeca to do a short for some time, an incredible actress with a million great story ideas. “Drama” was one she had mentioned and one that I fell immediately in love with. Maybe it’s because when I was a kid when I told my Dad I was getting picked on he said “What do ya want me to do about it? Ya gotta stand up for yourself”. The next day I did, got my ass kicked. Anyway, as I was saying, we had bounced around a lot of ideas and this was actually part of an longer story she had thought of doing. From the first time I heard this particular part of the storyline I thought it would work really well as a short, picking up from when Drama gets out of bed and walks by her Auntie who’s passed out, ending with Drama’s moment of self-realization in the mirror, perhaps not exactly Norman Rockwell but a slice of life nonetheless.

Took me five months to convince Timeca to go for it and once we decided to do this it was cast, found locations, shot and edited within a week and I really couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out. We got incredibly lucky with the casting, only auditioned 6 girls for the parts of Drama and the bully and don’t think we could have found anyone better had we auditioned 100. Huge props to Ann Woodward (Drama) and Gianna Redeemer (the bully). Both just amazing and incredible to work with, I know we will be seeing a whole lot more of you two!

Of course Timeca rocked it, never had any doubts about that, and never had any doubts about her screen love interest of the moment played by Aaron Spivey-Sorrells. For those of you who watch “Friday Night Lights” you’re probably familiar with his work, he’s appeared in every episode except the pilot as Coach Spivey. We were all nothing but flattered that he was interested in being a part of our humble little short.

As for the making of stuff that I like to babble about, we shot this over one verrrrrry long day and picked up a few shots over a couple hours a few days later. Because of the nature of this one I wanted to keep it with a more real/doc type feel and opted for a handheld look. A little ironic that two of our actors were from Friday Night Lights (Timeca has also made an appearance on the show) and I went with the swishy sway cam but what can I say? When it works it works. My favorite shot of the whole piece is the shot coming off the roof. Took us awhile to find a location and when we did winded up with one that didn’t have rooftop access.

Thankfully, Austin Habitat for Humanity did have a trusty old lift truck that hoisted us up two at a time with our equipment so we could get the shot I wanted.

Side note, the song playing in the background while Drama is running from the other kids was a song called “Get Low“ by First Class Fresh who Timeca’s son, Elgyn A. Chandler Jr. is a member of. The group makes a guest appearance as the boys who tease Drama as she’s walking by. You can see the music video I did for their song “Wobble House” here:

First Class Fresh – Wobble House

This was shot on a Sony EX1 with a Letus35 extreme, edited in Sony Vegas.

Rex Robards Behind The Scenes – Music Video Shoot Timelapse

Just for funsies decided to set up my little Canon to get a bit of timelapse from our shoot last night (4.8.2010). This was for the band performance part of a music video I’m currently directing for Rex Robards song “Whiskey Wrote This Song”.

As for this shoot, had a great time even though I froze my butt off. Got down to somewhere in the 40’s and since the day had been so friggin gorgeous I totally talked myself out of bringing a coat, lesson learned. From now on if it’s on outdoor shoot I’m bringing a jacket if its 100 degrees out.

We’re shooting this one on a RED, whoot! We’ll be picking up the storyline shots on the 27th, can’t wait!!! Expect to see the finished video within the first couple weeks of May.

Great crew, great band, great song, what more can ya ask for?

… besides a coat.

Shot with Canon T2i with a Opteka Timer Remote, lens was the Tokina 11-16MM F/2.8, imported image sequence to Sony Vegas. Did a couple push-ins in post but that was about it for this one. Keepin it simple!

Dog Park – Canon T2i Test Footage

My first little DSLR vid.

After much himming and hawing over getting a 5D or 7D for quite sometime now I finally got lured into the world of DSLRs with the release of the new Canon T2i.

Had my first chance yesterday to go out with my friend Matthew Iha to do a little testing. I can’t pretend that I had any clue what the hell I was doing as the footage will show. It was all pretty reckless, just grabbed the camera and headed to the dog park on Town Lake here in Austin. The profile was the default and we were only using the kit’s EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens. Most of it was shot 1080 24p but did manage to work in a couple 720 shots to try slomo in post.

Would have had this online last night except that due to my noobishness ran into major headaches trying to edit the native footage. Today after downloading CineForm’s Neo Scene, transcoded the files to avi and re-editing it from scatch in Sony Vegas all is right with the world.

Hope you’ll forgive the not so great footage and hasty edit. Overall I loved it. Defiantly not the right camera for all situations but loads of fun. I think the main thing I didn’t like was the lens but today I got the Fotodiox Pro Adapter Philip Bloom mentioned in one of his blogs that’ll allow me to use some of my old Nikon lenses. think that will make a big difference. Will post some more when I get a chance to play now that I know how to edit this stuff. =)

Music : The Cult – Peace Dog

Open Letter Regarding “Drama”

I would like to address a couple of comments made on our short film. I do not, by any stretch of the imagination, believe that children should be encouraged to fight and further take great umbrage with any who would imply that I ever would. What I do believe is that people should be encouraged to stand up for themselves and not be controlled by the bullies of the world.

As I’ve stated elsewhere, although a particular piece deals with an particular issue that does not mean that it is advocating the negative aspects of that subject. Conversely, exposing the subject allows it to be discussed, hopefully in a rational and productive manner. As an example, the film “Precious” exposes child abuse and incest. No reasonable nor responsible person could think that “Precious” advocates in favor of the topics it so couragously dealt with.

In “Drama,” the Auntie is by never meant to be a role model and is not presented as such. No one could possibly feel this film is a lesson in good parenting. At the end of the fight, Drama does not throw up her hands in victory, she is not raised upon the shoulders of her peers, they are not chanting her name in support, she doesn’t embrace her Auntie and does not look happy even with her Aunties praise. And if you missed incredible talent and nuance of the wonderful young actress Ann Woodward performance, when she looks in the mirror it’s a bittersweet recognition that she does indeed have inner strength. This was a critical and quite deliberate choice in the story. There is no smile, no gloating, there was no satisfaction in her triumph yet, perhaps for the first time in her life, Drama realizes that doesn’t need to run, doesn’t have to hide, and has the strength and courage to no longer be victim. One may argue that her path to self discovery was an unpleasant one but often in both life and art, that path is.

If you would like to voice your support by leaving a comment we would appreciate if you would do so directly on our page at the Nikon Festival here: Drama’s Nikon Festival Page

If you would like to vote for Drama and require instructions on how to do so you may find them on our site here: www.votedrama.com

A huge thanks to everyone who has been supporting our piece and who understood it without explanation.

Sincerely yours;

- Ray

Raymond J. Schlogel

Nikon 140 Second Film Festival

Just a quick little post about a little 140 second shot film entitled “Drama” we did for the Nikon Fest. I’ll be posting the actual video here with a lot more details and a long list of credits and thanks but for right now just trying to get the word out so you good folks might go give it a peek and hopefully leave a little comment. I’m not sure but I think that right now they are going by views and comments. After that 50 will be chosen to move on to the next round. So here’s the link and feel free to spread it around! Not especially easy to tell a whole story in 140 seconds but I think we did a pretty good job if I do say-so myself! Hope you agree!

Click Here To See “Drama” And Comment!