Day 1-April 8, 2004

Director's Diary

    First Day of shooting is probably one of the most nerve racking days of production. So many things can go wrong way before the camera rolls. Well, today had several problems hehehe. The day started with me (the Director) prepping the set (which is making my one room apartment appear empty). I had to move the mattresses of the bed frame and put them up against the wall so I could have some room for the camera. After setting the set I got to play phone tag with Justin (the producer), Greg (Tim), and Scott (Stan). At first Scott couldn't shoot so shooting was cancelled and I told Greg and Justin that its over. Of course a few minutes later Scott says he can film, but Greg can't, than Greg can. This back and forth thing really sucked, but they showed up and I set up the lights. The lights used for this shoot was a two headed work light from Sears another work light and a desk lamp....OOOH Budget!

    Now before just shooting the scene, I decided I'd get the actors into character and rehearse the scene and block it out. Scott was pretty into the role and started to improv...(normally I welcome improv, but everyone wasn't comfortable with the source material just yet). Greg was ready to just rush into filming since German Connection was done that way to give it more of a B-Movie quality. I hooked the camera up to the TV so I had a Monitor to check out the framing and the focus better, Camera monitors Suck...they just do, trust me. So after Three hours of hardwork we called it a night with only three shots done. So yeah shooting definitly was nerve racking, but not the worst day of shooting I've ever had (that had to be one of the last days of the German Connection). So good news is everyone knows what their doing, but the bad news is my room is stuck in its current disarray...Oh and I kicked Greg's ass at Atari Football.

    -Miller Out!

Producer's Diary

    Producing sucks.

    -Justin

Day 2-April 22, 2004

    Director's Diary

    Day Two...yeah second day of shooting happens TWO WEEKS after the first day, hmm could there be any problems at Dead Dog View? Yes there is a problem its called scheduling conflicts. Today is basically reshooting the scene in my room which is still a wreck because silly me thought we would film soon. Scott also was late for shooting today (Lawn care for the rents), and felt his character should wear yellow nylon shorts. So Justin and I decided his shirt should exemplify the characters personality, so I ripped up and stained a white t-shirt for him to wear. Watered down Yellow Mustard works charms. So shooting started around 6:30 (5:00) was the plan and things were going smoothly, since Justin and I rehearsed the scene with Scott earlier in the week (which lucky me got to see Scott's privates). This time around I made a window dub of the shoot so I could come up with an EDL (Edit Decision List) later without wrecking the MiniDV tapes (they break easily).

    So the acting was good, the lighting good as well, the camera work good as usual. So where is the conflict? Probably morale, everyone seemed to go through the motions, Scott wanted something to eat, Greg was bored in between set-ups and played with Justin's palm pilot, I was just aggravated that this wasn't done sooner, and Justin had to put up with all of us. So to break up the mood we had a pizza break. We returned to filming with a full stomach of Energy and Hope...or maybe it was just me, Scott ate too much and got tired, Greg's girlfriend Becka came over which prompted everyone take a girlfriend break...except me...(sniff sniff...Just kidding). So yeah Scott and Justin called their girlfriends and Greg talked to Becka, and I continued filming and got some wicked cool insert shots. When the girlfriend break ended we continued to film for awhile and than just when we were on a roll the camera started acting up. The camera felt the battery was in wrong and it needed to be reattached. So after a few minutes of frustration on me and the camera, it felt the tape heads were dirty as well. So I was like "Bullshit the tape heads are fine Fucker!" and decided to play back some footage...well I was wrong they were dirty since half of the screen is green! So everyone felt it was time to quit...so we did....Tear.

    -Miller Out!

    Producer's Diary

    Producing still sucks. You're everyone's bitch, that's why.

    -Justin

Day 3-April 26, 2004

  Director's Diary

    Okay, so things haven't been running too smoothly with production. Morale was at an all time low and trying to organize everyone's schedule so we could continue filming was taking its toll on me. Justin picked up on this (was it a sixth sense or me just whining for a couple of weeks about it, I'm not sure) and suggested that I work on the montage with Greg for today. This of course is a good idea, many times during German Connection, Greg and I worked together by ourselves and got a lot accomplished. So first things first, Justin and I started to transform his room into Tim's room. The hardest thing we found was to cover up the walls so it looked different from Stan's room, so I quickly made some signs...yeah they suck I know, but they'll work. After that was done Justin wished me luck and went off to his night class.

    Shooting was a lot of fun Greg was more than ready; I had the lights set up and gelled and everything. The shoot was pretty easy I did a set up with Greg doing an activity for a minute or two with different emotions. We probably had more than enough footage after an hour, but we were having so much fun we continued anyway. We took a dinner break and got some subs.....mmm that was a good sub. Justin returned from his class later and was a little nervous that maybe we were just goofing around, but I showed him some footage and he joined the fun...now if only the rest of the shoot will go like today.

    -Miller Out!

    Producer's Diary

    Producing SUCKS! But, it's not as bad as "Literature and Film." That class sucks it hardcore, don't ever take it.

    -Justin

Day 4-April 28, 2004

Director's Diary (Or Adult Store Shady Customer Diary)

    Well, Justin pointed out something we forgot to shoot for the montage, and that was Greg was supposed to munch on nice edible panties...well since all of us were fresh out we had to go buy some. I was not in the mood to go out and buy edible panties and neither was Greg, but Justin insisted and he is the producer and all (personally I thought about making edible panties out of fruit roll ups but call me crazy). So all three of us piled into Justin's Rav and drove on over to the Adult Store...sooo as soon as we walk in Greg decided to look over the titles while Justin and I looked for the elusive edible panties...the cashier noticing Justin sort of just standing there asked him what he wanted which Justin responds "Oh we're (meaning him and I) are looking for some edible panties." Okay so of course the cashier has quite a fine picture in his head and I'm picturing throttling Justin's neck, but then I'd fail the mission of getting the edible panties. Justin thankfully picking up on his mistake quickly explains the situation "It's for this movie that were making." "Oh really a movie?" questions the smirking employee. Justin who is now just digging a hole with his words tries to save the situation at hand with, "Yeah, it's a comedy and a character eats them." By now Greg has come back along with several other customers who are interested in finding out what the hoopla is all about. The cashier of course wanted to know who is going to eat the edible undies, upon learning it was Greg he responded (cleverly) "Well you got the teeth for it." The joke didn't seem to catch on to many people, but it was good. So now we got to look over the different types of edible panties and different flavors, the cashier suggested Tuna flavored panties, but the joke didn't seem to catch on either. Well in the end we all agreed on Watermelon flavored Crotchless Edible Panties and headed back to the apartment.

    Well shooting was pretty tame in comparison, but entertaining nonetheless. The panties oddly enough were a quarter inch thick and they were as tough as shoe leather. I felt bad for Greg since he had to really bite down on the sucker and use both hands to pry the damn thing so he could get a bite well good ole Greg got about 4 or 5 bites of the sucker. The whole time Justin and I had a good laugh about it and decided we should both try it so Greg didn't feel so sore about the whole thing. Well Justin tried first and he started chewing on it like a dog trying to chew Peanut butter sandwiches. Of course while he was biting down on this tough panty he started to drool all over it, thus exempting me from having to chow down on the beast and thus one of the most hilarious days of filmmaking came to an end.

    -Miller Out!

    Producer's Diary

    Producing SUCKS! But, not as much as edible panties. Seriously, don't go near them. I take back my "ingenious" idea of clothing all Somalian children in edible panties, which would solve their clothing and food shortage. Bad idea, they taste like shit. Just parachute them some Chef Boyardee. MMMmmmm...

    -Justin

Day 5-April 29, 2004

Director's Diary

    Okay...How should I tell this...well production was not going as well as we had hoped for and scheduling was a bit too rough. So after shooting Greg munching on some tasty edible panties (see last diary entry) Justin and I decided it was time to tell Scott that it just isn't working out with him. Soo Justin and I went to the bar to meet up with Scott and tell him the news, Justin was a bit hesitant on the idea of letting him go in fear of some bad feelings from Scott about it, well Scott was understanding and was somewhat relieved that it was all over. So now the question was who will now play Stan. Well lucky Justin the producer got the job and got right down too business and decided to shoot the very first scene that we were trying to finish with Scott a few weeks prior.

    Well surprisingly everything went pretty smoothly, some of the shots we had taken before did not need to be retaken so it was only certain specific shots. Greg knew what he was supposed to be doing already and Justin wrote the script so I didn't have to do much coaching at all which was nice. Surprisingly indeed that the shoot went well. And now thankfully I can change my room back to the way it's supposed to be...Thank God.

    -Miller Out!

    Producer's Diary

    Producing SUCKS! Acting...is ok, I guess.

    -Justin

Justin now wishing he didn't write such shitty lines.

Day 6-April 30, 2004

Director's Diary

    Okay so now things are finally turning around on this production we shot Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and now Thursday we were filming again. This is really great because we now have momentum and are starting to get somewhere with the shooting. The footage we shot so far looks good as well so that is lifting everyone's morale. So we decided today to shoot Tim's apartment when Stan comes over. So once again we changed Justin's room around and gelled up the lights and we were ready to go.

    Well, we pretty much shot the scene in chronological order so as to help the actors and I really get into the scene and do it right. I also was determined to get as much as possible in a single shot. In the German Connection I had a lot of cuts and it at times, seemed schizophrenic, so this should be a nice change in pace and bring out better performances from the actor's. Greg nailed Tim's emotions yet again, though Greg was tired which his character is supposed to be. Justin took awhile to warm up to the scene, but once he finally got rolling he did a pretty good job. I had a lot of fun just sitting back and watching them work out the scene...that and watch Justin try and eat 2 donuts in less than a minute several takes in a row! We also got probably one of the only one takes that will be in the movie (which was an action shot and the actor's did their own stunts)! So at the end of the day we accomplished another scene and made another step closer to finishing the shoot. Thankfully we got these scenes shot and done, since Justin and I are both moving out of the apartments within a few weeks, so luckily we don't have to worry about that anymore.

    -Miller Out!

    Producer's Diary

    Producing SUCKS! Acting sucks too, because it's hard. I know, I didn't think so either.

    -Justin

Day 8-May 4, 2004 (Day 7 was just boring insert shots)

Producer's Diary

    Stunt driving is sweet. I think I clipped a girl with my side mirror, though. Don't worry, she didn't catch my plate #, so it's cool.

    -Justin

Day 9-May 5, 2004

Producer's Diary

    No Director's diary for this day, sorry. Actually, I'm writing this on March 29, 2006, almost two years since this shooting day. Time f**king flies, man. I remember this being the last day of the semester and most people were busy packing up, but Jen Kurtz, Jen Newby and Jim Cargill were nice enough to stick around for a quick day of shooting. It was very, very hot in Kurtz's room and the lights didn't help matters any, so I was always turning on the fans between takes. Jen had to be "naked" in this scene, so she wore some short shorts and a tube top and we arranged the bed sheets to sell the illusion that she was bare ass (Actresses don't like when you ask them to really get naked, especially when you're not paying them).

Without giving too much away, Greg had to cry in this scene, and being the amateur thespian that he is we decided things would move faster if we used Visine tears. Only problem was, the damn lights kept evaporating the tears before we could get the camera rolling! But after some trial and error, we got our shot, and it was totally awesome.

We then shot some quick things in my Toyota Rav 4. We had trouble blocking out Mike's reflection in the car door, but other than that, things went quite smoothly. It was a solemn day, because for most of us, this was our last day of college and we were well aware that it was downhill from there. But we weren't too depressed-we had a multi-million dollar movie on our hands!

-Justin

...and the rest.

Producer's Diary

    Later that month, we shot a jail scene using the Kutztown laundromat, capturing it in all its ghetto beauty. Greg and Michael Harbach banged out the scene pretty quick, and the only problem we had was the hum being generated by the soda vending machine. So I unplugged its ass.

    The following Sunday we found a gas station that was closed, and shot another scene (actually, we had to shoot it twice-the first take came out unfocused). The audio was painstakingly redubbed during post-production, because the strong winds that day completely blew out the audio.

Another day that May we shot the last scene of the movie at Mike's house, which involved Mr. Miller's talented dad, Mr. Miller. Stills of this scene are shown below.

I won't get into the horrid details of post-production, but it was rough. There was a great deal of audio dubbing to be done, and it wasn't easy getting the dialogue to sound natural (everything sounded like we were recording in a million dollar studio). Worst part is, we didn't even start post-production until that August!

When we presented a cut of the movie to our friends, they were not too kind. Evidently, a lot of plot details weren't made clear enough, and the movie seemed to drag in parts. So, in April 2005 (an entire YEAR after we last shot anything!!) we shot a new first scene of the movie at my parent's place at Delaware beach. I made sure it included every possible piece of exposition the audience would need. Once Mike edited that in, we did some more tweaking, trimmed off some fat, and were left with a 24 minute, pretty decent dark comedy.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Been fun,

-Justin

Mike feeding Greg lines for the umpteenth time. Never work with an actor with advanced Alzheimers.

Action!

Hey, I can slack off for the last caption.