Jimi Lazer Goes to Manhattan

Our feature film, THE LEGEND OF JIMI LAZER, will be showing at the Manhattan Film Festival in June. The screening date is June 27th. And yes, this will be our premier.

For Tickets...
» Click here to get tickets
Date: Thur, June 27th
Time: 7:45 pm
Price: $11

We have a fondness for the Manhattan Film Festival. Our film Under Jakob's Ladder won two festival awards for "Best Film - Period Piece" and "Best Actor" (for Jeff Stewart). It also garnered a lot of attention in the press, with coverage by media outlets such as the BBC and the New York Times.

We actually had three screenings due to the popularity of the film. After the first screening sold out in less than a week, they added a second screening, and finally a third. (See our blog post: Sold out in Five Days...)

We're excited about this new movie, The Legend of Jimi Lazer, which will be showing at the Quad Theatre in Manhattan on June 27th. This film is an adventure/fantasy about a magical guitar that can give you your greatest wish... all at a price. It's a fun movie, full of energy.

We're going to be there. The cast will be attending. Come out and join us. We'd love to connect to old friends (and new!) at the screening on June 27th...

For more info, go to our website at: http://www.cubecity.org/jimilazer_film.htm

Video Village Needs No Table

Tables are nice. Very nice. But when it comes down to it, video village can get by without a table.

That said, a table is very useful. So are chairs. But sometimes, you just don't have luxury or space to set up a table. So you do without.

What do we do in video village? It's the place where people gather to watch the screen of the shot that currently being filmed. Ideally, it's in a separate room or near-by where all the action is taking place. A table is nice for the production binders where crew members madly jot down notes of the various takes. It's a nice place to download footage for use in the edit.

What do we do if we have no actual table? We improvise. We use a chair. Or a box. We sit on the floor. (This can get kinda messy, especially if you're working in a barn.) We put it in a van. Or on a stoop.

It's kinda like a hotdog. You also don't absolutely need a hotdog bun to eat a hotdog. But they do kinda go together. But if you don't have a bun, it's still a hotdog, isn't it?

That's indie filmmaking. Making do with the situation; putting all our effort into making the scene work for the camera. Because, frankly, it doesn't really matter what's happening off screen.

Nobody watching the movie will ever know if we had a table or not in video village.

Related Blog Posts:
An Invisible Crew
Out of Frame
Filmmaking and Where's Waldo

On Set Memories - Part 2

It's time for Part 2 of our on set memories from the film shoot of The Legend of Jimi Lazer. (Missed Part 1? Click here.)

Rubber Boots and Long Days

"Hmmm... having flashbacks to freezing, cold days and wearing rubber boots for the first time in years; and filming in the eerie house. The feeling of knowing you have put in a full, long, good, hard day of work by having your passengers yelling at you as you almost drive through a red light on the way home at night when you are too tired to comprehend!" -- Susanna Klumpenhouwer (crew)

Give us an evil look, Pam
"I enjoyed the scene in the back outdoor entrance where the cult members held Red against the wall; and with an evil look, I closed the door... That was fun! Also the scene when we did the Charlie's Angels pose. Loved it!" -- Pam Yorfido (cast)

Squeezing into small places
"On the seventh day on set, we shot a scene with an elegant, vintage car. It was my job to cue the actors from the backseat. The challenge was, I am almost 6 feet and I needed to make myself invisible on the car floor! I was huddled at the feet of the actors. Tight situations like this are never forgotten." -- Hannah Miller (crew)

Time for some stress-relief
"I especially enjoyed meeting all the wonderful people that I still keep in contact with. I liked the running up and down Clifton Hill with a baby buggy. One of my favorite days was when a group of us went to the Falls and toured around. Great fun! Thanks for the memories!" -- Diane May (crew)
 

Cold, muddy, and gloveless
"I remember the cold. Those first few days of filming, my hands were so cold that I hardly could write notes in the script. I also recall wading through muddy fields. I lost my gloves the first full day on the set. Fortunately, somebody on the catering team lent me some gloves. And I think Susanna gave me her scarf once or twice. What a relief when we moved in to shoot at the Bird Kingdom. It was like we were filming in the tropics!" -- Maria Antonia (crew)

Where'd we put that again?
"Once I had to run home and get boots that were forgotten and once (we won't mention who... Jimi, you know who you are) almost lost his costume bag on Clifton Hill. Not to mention those amazing shoes that had to be glued almost daily, but managed hold on until the bitter end:) Gotta luv 'em. It is funny how we forget things. Like as I was complaining about the weather this month I forgot that it was just as bad, if not worse, last year when we were filming. (P.S. Weren't there a couple incidents of attack birds at the bird sanctuary?)" -- Kim Wiley (crew)

(Missed Part 1? Click here.)

On Set Memories - Part 1

It's the one-year anniversary of filming The Legend of Jimi Lazer. Here are a few memories from some cast and crew about being on the set. (Watch for Part 2 next week!)

Cue the mist...
"It had been a hot day of shooting (we had a lot of weather during the shoot–the first day was very cold and wet). For the scene, Jimi was sitting outside on a mound of dirt. To say "suddenly" sounds cliché, but suddenly a strong wind blew in and with it a fog, dark clouds and a temperature drop of about 10 degrees. We all started to run and grab things that might blow away and head for cover. I was seriously thinking we were about to get hit by a tornado. The next thing I knew, we were called back to set up. Mann wanted to use the strange weather as part of the scene. For the next half hour we filmed about 3 or 4 takes of Jimi with dark skies, fog, and wind. I told someone that this is a million dollar shot. I’m sure it would have cost that if we had to make our own fog and wind and everything. And then it passed; the sun came out and the air warmed up again. It was an awesome moment and we couldn’t help but feel God had stepped in as our Art Director." -- William G. Hobbs (crew/cast)

Battling the lint ball
"The most challenging scene for me, and the one I now remember fondly, is my big scene at the horse farm... cold, damp and freezing. Wearing a thin black suit. In between takes, they brought a blanket to warm me up... when I went to resume shooting, the blanket came off and I was like a lint ball from the blanket! The funny thing was, there were 2 or 3 people lint rolling me to clean me up to get back to the shoot. They were fast, efficient, and funny!" -- Jim Yorfido (cast)

All in a day's work
"Trying to keep up with Freedom's choice of bolo vs clerical collars, and knowing where his hat was and if he was wearing his glasses kept me on my toes! Realizing I forgot to get the necklace back from Zmoothie and tracking it down before Maria figured it out was another fun moment." -- Susanna Klumpenhouwer (crew)

A clean set is a happy set
"When I offered to help out on the movie set, I said I could sweep. I ended up doing more than that. But on the fourth day, I finally got to sweep. It was in the attic of a barn and was so dusty!" -- Hannah Miller (crew)

Safety first
"Huge safety precautions were taken when a scene called for us to try to ignite a bonfire with lighter fluid, but it simply would NOT catch fire. Eventually a pit was dug, filled with newspaper and soaked generously with GASOLINE! This, obviously did the trick." -- Dave Mullen (crew)

Being in the moment
"Being on set was a great experience. Everyone worked very well together, making it a more enjoyable and efficient filming process. The greatest moments we shared couldn't have been planned. Just being in the moment and contributing to the film was a blast and I couldn't have asked for anything more than that. I'm looking forward to the film and more success to everyone for many days to come!" -- Paul Hoerdt (crew/cast)

More memories coming in Part 2...

Filming Jimi Lazer

Today marks the one-year anniversary of getting the first shot of the movie The Legend of Jimi Lazer.

We were actually working with a skeleton crew on this date, as most of the cast and crew would not arrive on set until April 23rd. The location? Niagara Falls. The time? Very early in the morning. Magic hour.

We wanted a magic hour sunrise shot. And since we had Jimi Lazer (played by Robbie Beniuk), we decided to get this shot in the can and crossed-off our list. This shot was called our "Rockstar Walk up the Hill."

That early in the morning... it's pretty quiet on the road. It was also pretty cold.

But fortunately, not raining (as it did for the rest of the shoot, but that's another story). Even the mist over Niagara Falls was behaving; you can actually see the falls in the background (unlike the day we did a test-shot of this where the mist was so heavy, you couldn't even see the water moving at all).

This was a fairly relaxed shooting day, not nearly as hectic as the days that would follow...

Related Blog Posts:
The Legend of Jimi Lazer
No Ordinary Guitar
Magic Hour in Haiti

4 "Must Read" Books for the Passionate Independent Filmmaker

This is a Guest Post by Ian Agard of ianagard.ca. If you would like to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Is your film career worth 30 minutes of your time every day?

As you make your professional journey through the film industry, you will encounter both challenges and uncertainty that might leave you feeling hopeless and discouraged. But there is always an answer/solution to any problem you might face as a movie director, producer or scriptwriter.

"There will never be a new problem. Somewhere... someone had the same problem as you, find the solution and wrote it down in a book."
-- Will Smith

Here are 4 must read books for any passionate moviemaker:

1) Reel to Deal: Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film
by Dov S-S Simens
This is an easy and informative read. Very inspiring for someone who's interested in making movies. Especially for independent film producers. I really like his advice about "first make a movie, then make a deal".

2) The Film Director Prepares: A Complete Guide to Directing for Film & TV
by Myrl A. Schreibman
Loaded with a vast amount of useful information for newbie film directors ranging from topics like directing actors to camera coverage to how to be professional and efficient onset.

3) Rebel Without a Crew
by Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez is the modern day king of D.I.Y. moviemaking. His book chronicles how he made a feature film for $7,000 that launched his film career. What I love about this book is Rodriguez cuts through all the Hollywood noise and b.s. and gives you real, honest, useful tips on what you really need to succeed as an independent movie director.

4) The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider's Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers
by Karl Iglesias
Based on conversation with successful working Hollywood script writers like Eric Roth, Akiva Goldsman, Ed Solomon, Nicholas Kazan, Leslie Dixon, Scott Rosenberg, Gerald DiPego, Steven DeSouza, Tom Schulman, Michael Schiffer, Amy Holden Jones, Robin Swicord. This book gives you the real deal about the daily routes and how to break into the industry tips from the writers of many of today's top Hollywood movies. I really loved what Ron Bass (Rain Man) had to say about succeeding as a screenplay writer.

[Photo by roeyahram]

---

About our Guest Blogger...
IAN AGARD is a screenwriter and blogger who loves movies so much... He does online movie reviews. http://ianagard.ca

The Legend of Jimi Lazer

The Legend of Jimi Lazer (working title: Resurrection of a Guitar Hero)...

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Easter Movie Mania

Just like Christmas, Easter-time brings its own holiday movies. And while you'll find some variation in the picks on various websites, you often find the same movies keep popping up.

(Probably because -- unlike Christmas -- there just aren't as many Easter movies out there.)

Well, here's a list of some of the more popular films for Easter and Passover. And just as each of these movies tell a story, each also has a story in the making of the movie...

Ben-Hur (1959)
William Wyler took on the job of directing this film because he wanted to do a Cecil B. DeMille type picture. Wyler, who is jewish, used to joke that it took a Jew to make the ultimate film about Jesus Christ.

Easter Parade (1948)
Starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Although she had been a star for years, Judy Garland had never met Astaire before, and was afraid to speak to him until they were properly introduced.

The Ten Commandments (1956)
Just under 5% of the film was actually shot in Egypt. When he asked the Egyptian authorities for permission to film there, Cecil B. DeMille was pleasantly surprised to find out they were fans of his film, The Crusades. "You treated us [Arabs in the film] so well, you may do anything here you want," they told him.

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
Filming the crucifixion scene almost had a tragic end. The Roman soldier who nails Christ to the cross is an Israeli actor who spoke very limited English; he thought Ted Neeley (who played Jesus) was actually supposed to have nails hammered through his hands! Just in time, director Norman Jewison saw what was happening and screamed, "No! Not in the HAND!"

The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Much of the movie was shot with a speed above the normal 24 frames per second, thus creating a sense of relative 'slow motion' in most scenes, which gave the performances and events more weight and drama.

Time Snags

We've hit some snags with regards to releasing the trailer for our new feature film. A lot of reasons for this, but partly (mostly?) due to the fact that we have had to give our attention to so many other things. (Deadlines approaching... some that came earlier than we expected.)

Time snags; that's usually how it is with filmmaking!

So... it may be some time before the movie trailer will be ready. But we'll do our best to get it out soon. In the meantime, check us out on Facebook. We just recently created a fan page for CubeCity.

(We're also beginning a campaign to beef up our Facebook presence. Posting more often. More pictures. More interaction. And, yes, we'd like to interact with you, our loyal fans, there as well as here.)

So, if you haven't seen our new page... go to https://www.facebook.com/cubecityent

(And don't forget to click the Like button.)

Now, back to work!

Trailer Coming

We're currently putting the finishing touches on a movie trailer for our newest feature film.

And we're hoping to get it online by next week.

For you, that means seeing some footage from the movie. And of course the new title.

For us, that means finding the video and audio clips that best encapsulate the movie as a whole.

The trailer is a taste of the movie. A sample of what you're going to see when the movie is released. Where the movie is about an hour and a half, the trailer is only about a minute and a half. That's not a lot of time. So, you have to be picky. There's lots of footage in the movie that isn't in the trailer.

So, with that said, we continue to plug away. And yes, the trailer is coming... Soon!