But sometimes you get what you need – came on the radio in standstill rush hour traffic.  I was belt singing along, happy as a clam until I noticed my cheeks were wet.  Wow – so I really am a girl after all!   I had actual tears of joy streaming down my face.  Today I feel like I’ve given birth to my firstborn – and without some messy baby with which to contend – score!

Today it was just me, Shane and trippin’ in a room to the finish.  It was getting scary – we were quickly running out of time, another client was due in.  You could cut the tension with a knife in those final 40 minutes.  But he did it, bless that beautiful boy.  It felt like we’d gone on a journey together by movie’s end.  We shared a big hug before parting.  I felt he was as invested as I was.

He was truly amazing.  He worked several days while I was out of town as well, toiling away with such great attention to detail.  I could tell he was making the same movie as I.  His instincts were perfect.  He knew just what I wanted without having to ask.

I hope we get to make a movie together again.  Thanks, Shane!

Kenny and I had champagne, steaks, wine and beer in an all night celebration.  I chatted excitedly on the phone with teammates Agustin, Cliff, Ian, Brian and Circus.  We’re all family now.  We’re on this journey together.  What a ride!  Is there anything more wonderful than making films?

I don’t even mind this morning’s hangover or the fact that I have to drive back to Santa Monica yet again (yuck!) to drop off our master at Copyright Video (yay!)

I’ve been waiting for this moment so long – picture locked and the luxury of putting the film in somebody else’s expert care.  It felt too good to be back at Riot, sorry, it’s Company 3 now.  They did color correction on Death in Charge and Meat is Murder.  I so love this process.  It’s too much fun.

Our telecine artist this time is Shane whom I already adore.  As he was flipping through the movie, he beamed.

“How cool to get to work on a real movie for a change!”  he commented.  And this from a guy who works on big blockbuster Hollywood films?  It was love at first color correction session.

He loves the puppet scene in particular and even dragged in a co-worker to check it out, declaring our film an “instant cult classic.”  I knew I’d met a kindred spirit.

Ian Strandberg came to join the party and it was amazing to see the before and after difference.  It’s not just the evening out of all the colors, it’s the added contrast that adds depth to each shot, the stylization, the brightening and darkening of different sections of a frame.

Shane would push a knob I named the “yucky button” that showed the before from the after shot.  Too cool.

We got through about a third of the film in one sitting.  We set looks for the different scenes and completed a few in their entirety.  The time literally flew by.  Man, to think some people get paid to do this.  It felt like vacation to me.  Not sure when we go back for the next session.  We may not make the deadlines we’d hoped to.  But when all is said in done, what’s another couple of weeks?  At last it feels like we’re really going to have completed our first feature.  That’s pretty effin’ nifty!

I was going through some old posts on our online cast discussion group.  Kenny (who plays “Joe” and is also now my roommate in our happy “armaghetto chic” pad in L.A.) invited his co-players out for a weekend at his parents’ place in Granger, Indiana.  This event would forevermore be known as “trippin’ fest 1.”  (trippin fest 2 & 3 would come two years later…)

As the posts about the upcoming event got increasingly rowdy and lascivious, and knowing it was still a whole month before our shoot, I felt compelled to write some amusingly naïve words of caution about conflict-prevention in pre-production, Oh boy…

JUNE 12, 2006

Hey again.

Glad it looks like many of you can make it on the 24th and, Kenny, I know you’re just being playful, but I’m gonna get a little den-mothery on y’all for a second, so please bear with me and my prudish ways.

While I think it’s great everybody’s going to get together, bond and likely engage in some party-like festivities, I would suggest that nobody get too drunk or otherwise unusually chemically-altered together as different folks react differently under such circumstances and it’s really important that we all remain on comfortable, happy terms with one another.

It’s going to be an intensive 2 weeks of shooting and that’ll suck if people have already had altercations (is “Living in Oblivion” on the suggested viewing list? if not it should be – a perfect example of this occurs.)  We’re all being thrown into fairly intimate relationships very quickly as it is and we don’t want to risk any early misunderstandings. God, you have no idea how it pains me to be writing these words. I feel so old and lame right now. Ugggh.

Anyway, I’m not saying “just say no” here – I’m merely suggesting you not say “yes” to too much. Let’s keep very open lines of communication. And if there are likely to be any romantic hook-ups, as has been known to happen on past sets with sketchy results, probably best to wait to surrender to hormonal urges until after the shoot. Again, I know this is lame talk and you don’t need this lecture. Chalk it up to my obsessive compulsive nature and a couple incidents from the past that still haunt me.

Also, while I am very cool with people exploring their roles together and workshopping the script a bit when I’m not present (though of course I’ll be there for trippinfest – just try and keep me away!), it needs to be very casual, meaning – I don’t want anybody directing anybody else’s performance.

Playing around with blocking ideas and discussion is great. However, I reserve the right to direct. I am very open to your ideas and see our film as a collaboration and not “the Devi show,” but as you will come to see, there are definite things I’m less flexible about and it’s easier if we work together on them from the get-go.

Okay, I’ll remove the broomstick for now and cease the unnecessary lecture. Something you should know about me is I have an annoying tendency to state the obvious sometimes. This is no reflection on you guys or any indication that I don’t have confidence in you.

It’s pure obsessive compulsion (like when Agustin tells me about performing a monkey necropsy before preparing our lunch and I feel compelled to ask him if he washed his hands. Of course he did – I know it, he knows I know it – but he also knows I need to ask anyway.) Maybe we should add a few episodes of “Monk” to the suggested viewing list so you’ll know what to expect from me behavior-wise….

Thanks for your understanding.

cheers,

Devi

Needless to say, even I did not heed all of my own sage advice.  It’s hard to recall exactly what all happened that crazy weekend, but I’m fairly certain a very good time was had by all. More importantly, much happy bonding occurred and if anything I think the experience only added to the authenticity of the characters’ relationships with one another.  Ironically, Nicole (Jizz) couldn’t make it, so even she was in character as the “party-pooper” that weekend.

Our day shoot went well.  After the previous day’s blowout, people were walking on eggshells a bit with me, but I think it worked in our favor to some degree.  They were reminded this was work and not just play.

In retrospect I think some of the time management issues on our set really just came down to the fact that everybody really enjoyed one another’s company.  Sometimes it was hard to believe that what we were doing was actually work.  It was really a lot of fun.

But behind the scenes, Agustin and I in particular had a lot of pressures – he ran all over the place making sure we had everything we needed – food, supplies, people where and when they needed to be.

I was constantly editing in my head, making sure we were getting everything we needed and that it would cut together, constantly reworking the schedule, cutting back, reorganizing.

And still no sleep.

But this day it felt like we were finally catching up.  The front seat scenes were easier to shoot the back of the van scenes simply because we had fewer options of what we could shoot – not a lot of space in the front cabin of a van.

I had requested that all cast and crew assemble before dinner as I needed to talk to them.  I publicly apologized for my behavior of the previous evening.  I told another monkey story to explain what happened…

When Agustin and I were shooting this documentary in a rainforest in Bali, I watched a bunch of careless tourists walk through a group of monkeys.  The tourists gawked at this and that, not being particularly careful where they stepped.   One tourist failed to see that he had stepped on the tail of a monkey.  The victimized monkey squealed in pain, ran up to the first tourist she saw and gave her a bite on the leg.  The bitten tourist was horrified, she had done nothing to deserve this treatment.  She probably hates all monkeys now, never realizing what had actually transpired.

I asked people to please mind my tail and I would make a point to keep my fangs to myself.  Thereafter, I wound up taking a “time-out” any time I felt stress taking over. I still do that on set when need be.  In the long run, a few moments alone to clear my head ultimately saves us a lot of time.  It also serves as a good signal to cast and crew that they need to buckle down.  We also established the 60-second rule.  Nobody is to speak to me for 60-seconds after I yell “cut after each take.  This allows me a moment to process – what worked or didn’t work about the shot, the performance, continuity, etc.  Otherwise, if people start talking at me right away, I often forget important details.

On Day 4 we all made up, I think this was the day we established our workflow.  We learned to balance the fun with the work.  We got a lot done.

At peace with things, I was sure I’d slip into blissful slumber when we got home.  Yeah, right.  Another sleepless night.  Doesn’t that lead to madness eventually?  Time would tell…

All work and no sleep makes Devi a grumpy girl.  The day shoot went well actually.  The local sheriff had given us permission to basically shut down a highway and let us shoot with our actors holding open containers of (empty of course…) beer cans.

BTW, we highly recommend our featured beer – it’s called Warbird.  David Holmes, psychology prof in Fort Wayne, Indiana makes it.  He used to can it, but they’ve since gone to bottles.  Really good stuff, though as Zed points out in his production blog, it’s better served chilled than sitting around in a hot van for hours on end.

But back to the shoot….

Ian Issitt, our d.p., and I had one of those shared moments of filmmaking bliss.  We were set up on the road by a cornfield and getting this great shot of blood dripping onto the pavement.  It felt like we were in a David Lynch film for a moment – vivid colors in the Midwest with shady characters.  Circus-Szalewski who plays Red was in fine form, bringing his charmingly menacing character to life.  We were positively giddy.

“Damn this so rocks!” I commented.

“Yeah it so does” Ian responded.

They were simple words but somehow it was a deep moment.  We exchanged one of those smiles that says, “We’re experiencing the exact same thing – there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, nothing else I’d rather be doing.”

The best was a bit later when we were in the back of the van shooting over Kenny’s shoulder as he was supposed to gun it past Circus who’s standing in the middle of the road looking ominous.

Kenny asked, “You really want me to gun it?”

Ian nodded, “Sure.  I got the camera in place with sandbags, it’ll be fine.

So Kenny guns it and me, Ian and the tripod with the camera all go flying.  Fortunately nobody, and more importantly no expensive equipment, were damaged in the fray.  Ian and I laughed so hard we had tears running down our cheeks.

“What the fuck were we thinking?”  he proclaimed.

“I have no fucking clue, “ I replied wondering how we possibly could have thought a few sandbags would do the trick.  I guess the elation of filmmaking made us think we and the camera were invincible.

Our evening shoot seemed to be going okay at first.  We were a bit behind schedule, but we had an easy scene to shoot – the bong scene.  I figured we could get it done in under an hour and move on to the next scene before our FX were ready to shoot. We had to schedule shooting around very time-consuming FX, so it was crucial to be ready for them once they were ready for us.

We blocked out the scene and Ian I. was tweaking the lights.  Then the lights went out:  a problem with the generator.

“No worries,” Ian explained.

He and Erin and Elyse – our camera team, would resolve the situation in under 5 minutes and we’d be good to go.

Some of the cast asked if there was time for a cigarette break.  I told them, “Sorry, but no.”  We really needed to get these two scenes done before FX call and a 5-minute break is never really just a 5-minute break I’ve learned.

However, once 5 minutes had passed with no sign of restored lights I said, “Okay 5 minutes.  But I need you right back.  Don’t go far.”

10 minutes later, cast and camera team were nowhere to be seen.  I sent Joe, our A.D. out to fetch them.  In the meantime, Heathyr (Mickey), our only non-smoker, picking up my tense vibe, entertained me by going through the whole scene playing all the characters.

20 minutes later, still no cast or crew.  I went in search of them outside the cabin.  I briefly contemplated that maybe some weird cabin in the woods scenario had occurred.

I found Agustin who had been briefed of none of this.

“Where is everybody?” I asked.

He seemed baffled.  “Why aren’t you  all in the cabin shooting?”

“Good question.”

We eventually rounded everybody up.  Somebody had to take an important phone call, somebody had to wait on line for the outhouse, and so forth.  As best I could gather people simply lost track of time.

We got everybody back in and tried to get shooting, but had 2 more light failures.  Finally, it was down to 15 minutes before the FX were scheduled to be ready.  Shit.

I figured if we at least got the one scene done, we could pick up the second one after the FX scene.  So, Joe locked down the set, called everybody outside and the FX team down in the basement on his walkie talkie,

“Quiet on the set!  We’re shooting this bitch”

I called “Action!.”  It was going great, that is until thunderous screams and applause from the basement below exploded.

The FX team had had some big triumph and couldn’t contain themselves.  Unfortunately, they cost us our shot.  They burst up the stairs to show me their latest masterpiece, completely unaware of the storm that lay in wait.

I lost it.  I yelled at nobody in particular saying some pretty terrible things about incompetence, people not taking things seriously, that the film would never be completed and what the fuck did we think we were trying to do.

Everybody looked at me dumbfounded.

The rest of the evening was tense.  We were way behind and things did not run smoothly.

This was the first and last time I ever had a temper tantrum on set.  While it was not entirely unprovoked, it was entirely unprofessional.

Not too surprisingly I didn’t sleep a wink that night/morning either.

Day 2:

The good thing about insomnia is it gives a girl time to rework the shooting schedule which would become a daily and sometimes hourly occurrence as various challenges made Plans A and plans B go by the wayside.

We got a lot of good stuff on day 2, but it was already starting to feel a bit overwhelming.  Our shooting schedule meant principal crew call at 11am every day, day shoot until 5-ish, then a break until the sun went down, crew call at 7, shoot at 8-ish until 5:45 am.  Those made for some seriously long days.  We had tents with cots surrounding the cabin and woods for those blessed with breaks, but certain key crew members worked around the clock.

I should probably mention that our credits in the movie seem downright asinine really.  I wish rather than trying to assign one or two specific titles to each contributing member of the team we simply could have put one title:

A Film by…

then the list of every cast and crew member in alphabetical order.  We all took on so many different roles as needed that to try and define any of them seems an exercise in futility.

But I digress.  Day 2’s biggest mistake was serving pizza for dinner right before the big spaghetti dinner scene that took place in the sweltering cabin kitchen.  D’oh!  I thought Zed was gonna wretch as he shoveled forkful after forkful of not so “ludalicious” spaghetti in his mouth in the numerous takes, poor thing.

I had it in my mind that I wanted to pay homage to that famous “That 70’s Show” 180-degree panning shot which proved far more difficult than we anticipated.  I shudder to think how many takes it took, how many carbs were consumed, and all for a shot we ultimately chose not to even include in the film – oops! Sorry, Guys!

But bless our cast; they endured.  Night 2 was a great shoot.    After, I was so looking forward to a good night’s sleep at last, but no such luck.  Day 2 of principal shooting was also day 2 of insomnia for me.  Oh well, as Scarlett o’Hara sagely reminds us, “Tomorrow is another day.”  And boy was it…

It must have been 90 degrees in the sunny field where we parked the van to shoot all the scenes in the back.  Between every take we handed the actors ice water washcloths to wipe away the sweat.  Then make-up would have to do touch-ups.  It was a slow and sweaty process.  Lauren, fondly nicknamed “Boom Girl” by her doting male fanbase on set, nearly got heat stroke standing in the blazing sun for hours on end as she diligently angled the boom inside the van.  You can see in the movie how Zed’s t-shirt is dripping in sweat.

Shooting in the cabin at night with tons of lights in the cramped quarters (and windows that had to remain closed lest loud crickets interfere with sound and moths flying in interfered with the picture) did not cool things down any.

However, morale remained high.  We were only slightly behind schedule by the end of day one, which is not a bad thing.  The first day is almost always the most inefficient we’ve found.  That’s when we’re still getting into the swing of things, learning how the new team works together, easing into this new world.

By the time we got back to “camp trippin’ “(i.e. our house where the majority of the cast and crew were crashing), I was sure I’d sleep like the dead.  Unfortunately, that would be my first night of insomnia. Great.

An important lesson to learn about filmmaking is that you can make a movie without money if you have a lot of time, and you can make a movie in much less time if you have a lot of money, but trying to make a movie with almost no time and no money is asking for trouble.  Of course, trouble starts with “T” which rhymes with “D” which stands for Deviant Pictures.

We had 16 days for principal shooting.  Since our cast and crew received no financial compensation and most had to take time off from paid gigs to work on it, we could hardly ask them for any more than that.  Had we been shooting on a sound stage with ideal conditions and a team of seasoned professionals to run second units and so forth we would have had time to spare.  But, naturally, we did not.

What we did have was a family of dedicated kindred spirits fighting for a common goal.  We wanted to make the best movie we possibly could with the resources we had and we wanted to have fun doing it.  I’d like to think we’ve succeeded.

The van scene calls for us (well, me) to have some weed chillin. But now Devi’s flippin cuz we don’t have anything. I mean, really, for this being a movie about getting buzzed, these guys aren’t very on top of it. So, I pop out to the ride and grab my good shit jar, which is at about ¾ of a tank. I bring it back up to the set, present it, and no one seems to realize it’s actually real marijuana.

We’re just about to roll when I have second thoughts. Was it that, being the moral chap that I am, I figured some of these stiffs might be a bit pissed that they’re all unknowingly handling real, illegal drugs? Fuck no. This shit was PRIMO and I would hate to have to choke the shit out of the guy in charge of props when it turns up missing. So, I withdraw said good shit jar and we end up using oregano…which I might add, looks nothing like real marijuana.

Today was a glorious day in the acting career of Zed Wilson. That itself is hilarious, because I am not an actor. Everyone else in trippin’ is, though, which made me feel really nervous when we first started shooting. Every member of the cast has had some acting experience, and most have them have been in a few shorts and features and shit. They’re pros. I, on the other hand…not so much. I mean, I can act like I’m not high, or act like I’m paying attention, but as far as taking direction and remembering lines and all that shit, it’s all new to me.

Luckily for me (and the overall quality of the movie) I really don’t have to act, so much as I just do whatever the fuck Zed would do, given the situation. Considering I myself am that motherfucker, it works out. Even though I’ve read through the script, I haven’t even looked at it since we started shooting, really. Devi and I agreed beforehand that I had liberty to change my lines as I saw fit (e.g., the words bogus and tubular are NOT part of Zed’s vocabulary) so I usually just ask what’s going on in the scene and go from there. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, are not so fortunate.

Anyway, we’re shooting this scene and we just can’t click. Devi’s stressed, cast and crew are stressed, it’s hot as fuck in the cabin, and you can just smell somebody ready to snap and walk off the set. So, Devi, being the brilliant matriarch she is, gets this idea that we should just shoot a couple improv takes to chill out. Some of the crew seem even more pissed off about it, like we’re wasting time now, and I’m kind of expecting someone to throw something at me during the next take.

So anyway, she says, “action1″ and I’m sitting here with my guitar talking to Holly and Mickey. We somehow get into this conversation about chicks making out, which somehow turn into growing weed. As Mickey suggests we grow some plants, I’m reminded of an old Hamster tune called ‘Horticulture is a Helluva Crime,” which I wrote after my boy got popped with like 40 plants and got locked up for 90 days. I grab my guitar, start jamming…you know, Zed Wilson type shit. Somewhere in the middle of this I had like, completely forgot that we were filming a movie…I guess I was just used to lights and camera being everywhere by that point, plus I was kind of high from earlier.

Anyway, I play this little diddy, we talk a little bit more, and Devi says, “Cut!” As I look up, I see this giddy smile on everybody’s faces, and the same people who I thought might storm out of this bitch five minutes ago look like fat chicks who just won Oprah tickets. Apparently, this little scene was all it took for everybody to chill the fuck out and get back to having fun. For a scene to have so much gravity, you’d expect an experienced actor who understands his character and motivation and knows his lines and all that shit to be involved. But, a stoner kid with a guitar can work even better, especially if you catch him in his natural habitat!