The Bullet List (Day Two) - Airport scenes

My little brother came up from Christchurch for a couple weeks with his girlfriend so we went out for couple dates and all 4 of us played pool, bowling, futsal nights, restaurants, theme park and lots of Fifa and board/fun games.

Also have been focusing hard on work, eyes on the prize, heart and my mind. And this sunday recently completed the round the bays marathon, 8k so great entry point and haven't really trained so was a little worried but in the end finished, really should have done better. Was kicking myself, thought had 2 k to go but it was the finish line! Conserved way too much energy, next year I will get a much better time, this year it was 49minutes which was disappointing for me, but first time :) So OK, for now ;)

Anyway, Little brothers returned now, and no other distractions so I can return to focusing on the dream and step 1. Finishing The Bullet List!!

Since Steve was teaching a class this afternoon we planned a quick shoot and all the scenes at the airport were shot today.

Scouted the domestic terminal when I picked up my brother a couple weeks ago but far busier today, just that time I guess. Parking still cost me 9 bucks even though I tried to stay under an hour but hey, can't leave my car out in the open lest it disappear thanks to security. To be honest I was surprised. I thought we would have been stopped or asked for ID or permits or something as we were putting our bag on the baggage carousel and taking it off again as well as just loitering around the airport but because my camera looked touristy and we weren't suspicious or troublesome(I hope) we weren't asked to leave or noticed so that worked out OK and we got the shots we needed which was great!

Paticularly proud of this shot as wrote smoke bursts from the tyres in the script so surprised to actually get it on film, nice!

After I dropped Steve off I returned to the airport to wait fro planes to land/take off and get some footage for some cutscenes. So overall got all the shots we needed for todays schedule. Tomorrow is Day 3 and the gun fight :) scripts good, let's hope it turns out that way :)

Prepping for Bullet List. Day 1.

I have confidence! If nothing else, this dream of being an action film maker/actor is all I have. I have had a good week at work getting my targets and some closed sales and had great compliments from customers, you're the man! This boy, he's number one! Can I buy you a coffee? All sorts. Feels good but my heart rumbles at this day job knowing deep inside it's not what I want to be doing with every fibre of my being, the only thing holding me back is me and the decisions I make, so no more indecision's because even that is a choice unto itself. I choose to make it happen, now.

So after much procrastinating/time budget issues and fear of failure I have finally set in motion The Bullet List. All week I have been thinking about this project, when it is done and finished I can use it to make an IMDb profile, cut into a show reel and fund-raise for my first feature, I can see the road and where it will lead me but first I have to START it ;)

 I'm still a little iffy on the Bullet list script as I'm sure I could have done better but I'm done waiting and if I keep tinkering it'll never be finished. It's better to have a prototype than an idea on paper. I don't want to be THAT guy, the OCD and  perfectionist type. I love to create, to get out there and do it, so here goes....

Tomorrow will be Day one of the shoot. From looking at my schedule I have 18-25 days (extra days depend on the fight scenes if they stretch out or not.)

 I have casted Toutai in the role of Dean, SIS Super chief and good friend Steve Heke as my opposite, Special agent Johnson. The day will be made of three set ups, at three different locations that feature conversations between the two. I thought it would be easier on all of us if we tackled the dialog/drama stuff before we head to the action scenes as I want the action scenes to be special and I want to sort out some cheap tables and stuff to break when we shoot them.

It will be shot out of sequence obviously to take advantage of the cast's availability and at the moment this will be all of 'Dean's' Scenes. I will post some screen shots when I have them next post.

I'm so excited/nervous. I'm pretty worried as I'm only using my JVC camera. (below) and I only have to one battery at the moment (trying to track down some extra's) so hoping it holds out for me, it almost ran out when I was shooting No Way out some months back and had to rush the last scenes, no rushing this time, It's going to be done right!

 Also this week I bought the matrix trilogy as my wife hadn't seen it yet, since I quote jokes from it all the time. Watching it again I realized how much it had inspired me first time round, the philosophy, the action, the fleshed out characters and the excitement at new possibilities. This is definitely how I wanted my films to be. Awesome!

Don't lie, we've all tried it ;)

Shooting Day One starts tomorrow. Here we go!

Introspection. To Act or not.

Monday. I'm sitting on the bus, running one hand through my hair, the other resting my mp3 player on my lap while listening to Skyler Grey's 'build a monster'. I'm staring past the window at the rain as it falls against the backdrop of a blur of shopfronts and suburbia and wondering how the hell did I get here again, is this a time travel bus? 10 years ago I was doing this damned same thing, busing to school, listening to Eminem on my Walkman, head full of dreams of being a famous rapper. Witty wordplay and interviews aside I would be seeked out for my knowledge, and summoned for my company. I would stare out that bus window at passersbys and be like 'That'll never be me, I'll never be a rat race player, I have dreams'. Yet here I am, ten years later. Same jerking bus, same beats, same attitude.

But I've got a lot to be thankful for, and I know why I never made it as a big time rapper. I didn't have a story, I never had a life or experiences that I could share and revel in. No rags to riches glory, no horrifying  upbringing but shit, its been 10 years, I've done a lot of living in that time believe me,  now I got a story.

                    Wednesday. Its my day off today, and like I joked with my customer a couple of days ago, it always rains on my day off. Its raining today, did I make that happen? Probably. Bad attitude.

I slept in this morning, then gambled with my car, driving it to the mechanic, risking the engine blowing up. Its been leaking coolant and DIY stop-leak couldn't fix it. I just had it warranted and registered a couple of days ago, premature celebration I guess. At least if it blew up I'd live my action star dream for a couple of minutes ;) (I just called the mechanic, hes sent the radiator away to get looked at, no car until tomorrow at the earliest, its been a week, one extra day wont kill us)

I arrived home, had last nights leftovers for brunch and watched 'Painted skin'. Donnie Yen was awesome as always, even if it wasn't primarily an action flick, the story was good and as tragic as most foreign films I used to like. With my job I don't really get to watch as much a spectrum of films as I used to, but I'm not a student anymore. I'm a career man. Pfffft. Forgive me for being cynical.

Sitting in front of My dusty computer ( I really should clean it) I stare at the screen. The cursor blinks at me. Again. and Again. I don't know what to write. This is supposed to be my screenplay structure. 30 to 40 beats of what should end up being the story of my feature film debut. Ive tentatively called it Fight Me. And I'm designing it so I can shoot it with my savings, the people I know, the locations I have access to and the abilities I have or can learn. Parnell Rise (my web-series) didn't really go to plan (budget/schedule and free casting being the main issue) But again, I'm stalling. Am I afraid of success? 

                    All of my dreams seem to burn and crash around me. I wanted to be an artist, I knew I was good at it, so I stopped trying and decided on something else. Logically, (really?) I chose Rapping. But its a social game, a macho game, a costly game. Things didn't work out. I changed paying jobs from store man work to sales. Sold Karate memberships for a while, learnt some Karate, decided being an Action Star was my true calling. INSERT: 4 YEARS LATER

I've done alot since making that decision and this dream is arguably the closest I've ever come to of achieving one of them, Instead of staring at the mountain and glory that awaits I need to just look at the steps in front. Finish the structure, finish the script, sort out locations and budget, sort out casting, shoot the film, edit the film, sell the film and reevaluate. So here I am, sharing with you my feelings. Am I ready for success or failure? Or am still scared to make the decision? More time is lost to indecision than bad decisions....

Who am I kidding? The decision was made for me when I moved to Auckland, every time I see the city I'm reminded why I'm here, to be a filmmaker, Though I've done some temp work and now work full time to make cash I HAVE done film work, and worked towards my career, yeah it was extra work, but hey, it's still immortalized. I been on TV, I've done work on a US film, I feel I've paid my dues, so screw it. Fight me, here I come :)