iLounge.com and NYtimes.com: Clerks II director commentary track to be offered on iTMS

Clerks II director commentary track to be offered on iTMS

From ilounge:

Director Kevin Smith has recorded a commentary track for the upcoming Clerks II movie, which he says will be available as a free download from the iTunes Music Store. Smith said the commentary download will allow fans of the movie to take their iPods to the theater and hear the directors thoughts in sync with the scenes in the movie.

From The New York Times:

He has been cultivating fans on the Web for years, using his production company's site and his own online diary. In an ingenious new ploy, he has recorded a commentary for "Clerks II" that will be available for free download on iTunes, encouraging viewers to take their iPods to the theater for a second viewing.

Just another example of Kevin Smith's cutting-edge approach to filmmaker-audience interaction; if you haven't already, check out the film's awesome video-blog, Train Wreck.

As I'm sure I've said before, I think we would be well-advised to harness the power of the iPod when it comes to getting our stuff out there.

By the by, this reminds me of a similar tack that Wonderfalls creators took when they released this internet-only commentary for the original pilot episode of that show, featuring co-creator Todd Holland and cast member Katie Finnernan. [Link from JossIsAHottie.com/wonderfalls]

How to be an awesome blogger

How to be an awesome blogger
Originally uploaded by dreadfuldan.

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, but since I'm a more frequent blogger than some, I thought I'd post this pic (from someone else's flickr) that I thought might help some of you that are stuck. This is stolen from Dan Murphy, but I think it more than applies to our situation.

"You'll be more inclinded to update regularly if it doesn't feel like a school assignment!"

Have fun with your blogs, people: they don't have to be work!

We start editing tomorrow, w00t!

And Keagan danced on...

Let Me Tell You About It... wrapped yesterday following a fairly successful shoot. Many lights went bust and were irreplacable, but I think we managed to pull it off. Then we had a wonderful night last night as we celebrated various things, including the departure of Laura and the general fun we've all been having. Drinks were had, stories were shared with chips... good times. And no, Keagan wasn't there.

Set the scene

Set the scene
Originally uploaded by JCriquet.

Just a quickie to say that I am currently in the process of uploading some of Suzie's photos to flickr. It's so incredibly late, and I don't have time to add tags, descriptions, and all the stuff that I love to add. Not just yet, anyway. But the pics are up now, so go right ahead and check them out; they're better than any of the photos I took for the whole of the shoot.

More photos coming soon!

I just recieved a disc chock-full of Suit Up! photos care of the lovely Suzie Lemmey. Quite simply, they put all my photos to shame. It's a real bummer she couldn't have come for the whole shoot, because she has a fantastic eye.

I've spent the weekend with many a Mappie, having nuded up for Adam's film and then gone out with others later that night. Fun was had, wine was consumed. All I want to do now is get these photos up for you all to admire; sadly, my little sister needs the computer now, so I must depart and post them later.

Tomorrow is Stan's shoot. I've got the necessary doctor's paraphernalia sitting in my car, at the ready. Cheers to Adam, Suzie, Stan, Alan and Paul who made this such a fantastically fun weekend.

Dub be good to me...

I'm currently in the process of dubbing our footage to DVD. Alan's here too, keeping me company while we drop his footage onto VHS. You might say that with a DVD, I have technology on my side, but I actually have no idea how to work this damned DVD-burning machine. Let's hope we get it all on there without any issues. I so hate having to do three-and then-some-hour tasks twice.

suitupmyspace

I've been playing around with MySpace the last few days. It's quite good fun, and yes, it's addicitve. Since MySpace is going to play a part in the distribution of the series, I thought it best to start vocalising its existing presence on the massive monster that is MySpace right now.

I've made it easy for you. Click here to go to the Suit Up! MySpace or (a more tempting option) click the picture below to add suitupmyspace as your friend on MySpace.

That's all there is... there isn't any more...

In the end, everything went off without a hitch, and that's it; filming is finished.

From what I've seen of the footage (about 3 of the nearly 4 hours shot), it's going to be a massive task, wading through the crap to pick out those little nuggety bits of deliciousness. But I think the product is going to be good.

I've spent the last few days recovering from the shoot, putting the occaisonal foot up, and doing a relentless and totally unnecessary overhaul of my Flickr account and patching the subsequent holes in my Blogger account (an ongoing task). Other projects happening soon are the customisation of this very blog and the beginnings of the editing process for the show, not to mention the start of the show's dedicated website.

I'm getting up early tomorrow morning in order to start getting some of the furniture and other crap out of the set and back to their respective proper homes so that eager first-year mappies can scurry in and make my masterpiece their own. Vive la révolution. Vive la progrès. Vive le MAPS.

Day #4 - A tight squeeze, then an easy breeze...

Things went well today, but I can't really comment at the moment as my brother is in desperate need of the computer. I will perhaps write an entry on our non-Internet computer and then post it later. For now, though, there are quite a few photos now up on Flickr. Check 'em out - I'll fill in the blanks later.

Day #2 - grooving along, with things running fairly smooth

Another day down, and with very positive results. I'm very happy with how things went today; I'm apprehensive about tomorrow's shoot, because I keep thinking we've forgotten something, or that we're going to get to the edit and have forgotten shots. It's all baseless worry, really; Adam's doing an excellent job as 1st A.D., keeping me in line and on schedule. Maxx and Lisa had some problems today with bulbs that kept bursting and that, in Peter's absence, couldn't be replaced. Good on you guys for finding workarounds. The rest of the crew have been phenomenal in their efforts, and the cast are just wonderful. I think we're starting to find our groove.

Interesting happenings:

• bulbs bursting with no replacement
• getting locked out for 20 minutes of lunch with no teacher around to let us back in
• Lynda braving the cold to do her underwear scene in the morning
• trying to tune the TV unnneccessarily (Guy pointed out that the VCR was off).
• not having a minder's costume prepared for Trav and changing the script to accomodate this
• only having the two laundry bags
• the fridge defrosting and possibly damaging one of the costumes
• funny, last-minute set dressings

In spite these problems/occurences, they day went smooth and was lots of fun. We got through a lot of shots today, and we've got even less tomorrow. I think I'm a bit more prepared in terms of what we need on set tomorrow. I think. Eep. Tomorrow is the last day in our beautiful hand-made set, and I'm hoping that it goes well.

Like an idiot, I forgot to take any photos today, save for one of my odometer when it read 666 (I'll post it later). What a heel. There will be more photos tomorrow.

Day 1 - tardy director, tension, tap sawing and locker attacks

Jesus. Long time no post.

Today we started filming on our completed set. We've had to do schedule re-shuffles on the fly and juggle actors up to the last minute. I was late on set to my own film; the feeling when I got on set, it might've been my own funeral. Once the camera started rolling, though, and tensions started to loosen, I think things started to get better.

My crew were fantastic. Everyone was helpful and willing to help me create what I've had in my mind for the last five months. It's a beautiful thing. Thanks to all of you for such a productive first day. My actors have been great too; we had some hilarious moments, and they've been very accomodating for their bumbling sophomore director. :D I do hope things stay that way. I'm still a young director, and I've still got a lot to learn. But that's what this is all about, and as long as people can appreciate that, I think we'll all get along fine.

I'll try and post later tonight with some pictures and such, but at the moment all I can think about doing is crashing. We'll see how we do.

Update:
Interesting occurences from Day #1

• Arriving late
• Sawing a tap in half in desperation to get it to stick on the wall
• Last minute set dressings in general
• Getting everyone in costume for the first time
• Emily finding Lynda a very helpful website for her Norwegian accent
• Managing to pare down Louise's call times so that she doesn't need to come in Wednesday
• Trav kicking the shit out of the locker - it's in the show, but I had to mention it.