Behind the Podcast – Episode 5

Laura’s Blog Entry

Well, this month’s recording was a much smoother experience. We turned off the air cleaner! Hooray for us! So the sound quality is pretty darn good. It was quite fun to gab all about music in this episode. It’s something we discuss all the time, so this is just a snippet of what it’s like at the Smith dinner table.

Guess what? The Radio Shack picture frame we mentioned isn’t readily available right now (at least in our neighborhood). We stopped by there today to pick up a couple and found out that they only stock them at Christmas. Yikes! We’ll have to find one elsewhere. You are bumming us out today, Radio Shack!

I was pleased to find that the fake site for The Bitter Apple is still live, so go read the menu. This was all the work of the Depechemode.com webmaster, Daniel “The Brat” Barassi.

How about a few things to watch? We talked about The Six Million Dollar Man, so has anyone seen this:

Hmmmmm.

Neil mentioned his entry for the Battlestar Galactica video contest. I thought I’d put up a link to the other film his team worked on together. It is a short, done last year for the 48 Hour Film Project. It won Judges’ Honorable Mention as well as the Audience Award.

The parameters for this project were that the film had to be written, filmed and edited in 48 hours. Each team was assigned a genre, a specific prop and line of dialog that had to be used. Here’s what they got:

Genre: Buddy Movie
Prop: Hard-boiled Egg
Line of dialog: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

You can watch the film here. It’s only about 5 minutes long. I guess the best way to describe it is quirky. Oh, and the music was written within the time frame as well. I think only the wonderful Josh Seurkamp could have come up with the song “Wheelchair Friend.” It is brilliant!

And now, something that is much overdue; I give you The Gallery of Guys Neil Finds Attractive. Be careful – so much attractiveness in one place may not be good for your health!

George Clooney

Martin Gore

Trent Reznor

Ewan MacGregor

Orlando Bloom

BSG Video Contest Part 6

Neil’s Blog Entry

Well, things are moving along quite swiftly these days in the Battlestar Galactica video contest. Props are starting to appear, audio work is being done (several scenes involve the use of a voice-over), and sets are nearing completion. It’s hard to believe that we’re this close to the start of shooting already.

Yesterday, I sat down with my friend, Dave, who will be playing our lead character. He explained to me the back-story that he’s developed for the character. It was really cool to get a glimpse into his creative process and how he’s figuring out just how to play this guy. When he finished, I knew that we had found the perfect person for the role. Dave also recorded the main voice-over part yesterday. It was great! It sounded exactly like what I heard in my head as I was writing it.

The completed storyboards have been handed off to Susan and Bill, who have begun to layout our shooting schedule. Susan will be keeping track of what needs to be shot and when, leaving me free to concentrate on directing. The photo below is the production schedule that Susan has put together.

We will be having our read-through on Thursday, May 3rd and then we start shooting the following week. I think there’s a little bit of concern that we won’t have enough time on one of the shoot days so we’ve scheduled a pickup day – and we’ll probably talk about that more in the next day or so. But all in all, everyone is very excited about working together on this project. I just know it’s going to be a blast.

That’s it for now.

May Podcast Teaser

Laura’s Blog Entry

New episode coming on Tuesday! We are geared up and ready to record. Some things to look forward to are music discussions of Dave Gahan’s solo work, our favorite things about Nine Inch Nails, and the amazing music from “Battlestar Galactica.”

We are playing Venus Hum, They Might be Giants, and music from the “Battlestar Galactica” soundtrack, so listen in, will ya?

http://smithsoccasional.podshow.com

iTunes

BSG Video Contest Part 5

Neil’s Blog Entry

I got back from NAB in Las Vegas on Thursday at about 1:00 in the morning. Bill and I went to check out all the new video production gear and software goodies. It was a really great trip and I’m glad I got to go.

Monday was the first day and was way too crowded for my taste. It was like taking all the people at Disney World and putting them into a space about a quarter the size. Tuesday was better and we got to talk to a bunch of people about cameras and software, etc. We also got to take in some seminars. Bill took some on lighting and I took some on After Effects (the compositing software I use).

Everywhere in Vegas there’s construction. This is a shot from our hotel window. Alas, the unfortunate El Rancho Hotel and Casino. We barely knew ya! But I’m sure something more extravagant and tasteless will have taken its place by this time next year.

On Tuesday night, we had dinner at the Harley Davidson Café. Best Bar-B-Que in Vegas, baby! Not to mention all the motorcycles on display – suspended from the walls and ceiling. The Harley Café is also boasts the “world’s heaviest flag.” A 7-ton, 37 foot American flag made from 200 lengths of chain. Very odd.

So, anyway, on to the BSG Video Contest: According to our production schedule, I have about a week to finish the final storyboards before we gather everyone for a script read-through. We’ll be making sure that we’re not missing any little details before we start shooting.

The construction of one of our set pieces is well underway thanks to my friend, Jay Elliott. Bill suggested we do a little alteration to make sure the set was “camera friendly,” but it looks great! Which is a big relief to me as the set plays an important part in the ending of our story.

Next week, in addition to finishing the storyboards, I plan to on checking with all of our pre-production people – props, costumes, etc. – to make sure they’re all on track for our read-through.

That’s it for now. More next week.

Now Playing

Laura’s Blog Entry

I got this idea from fellow blogger and DM fan Liz on her blog she calls “Los Angelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness.”

She listed 7 songs she is currently listening to. There is apparently some formal rules for this – you get tagged by someone and then tag 7 other people to find out what they are listening to. I have never been big on games, so I am stealing the idea, without all the tagging.

Shiny Toy Guns
“Le Disko”

Don’t know much about this band at all. Got this as a free single of the week on iTunes. Love, love, love this – one of the best dance songs I’ve heard in some time. Fresh, techno-y, with a dose of attitude.

The Blow
“Come on Petunia”

This has got to be one of my favorite bands that I found in the past year. I won’t say too much here as I am saving it for when we play them on the podcast in June. To me they sound like they do whatever they want, whenever they feel like it. Now that makes for some good art – if you know what you are doing – and they most certainly do! This song incorporates a cover of the Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” into an original song. It’s from the album Poor Aim Lovesongs.

Deee-Lite
“Groove Is in the Heart”

Boy does this one take me back. Back to the days of going out dancing 3 nights a week. Before mortgages and carpools and packing Barbie lunch boxes. I popped this on the other morning for my Pilates workout. Quite effective. I was so busy seeing if I remembered the lyrics that the pain took a back seat. The album could sure use a good remaster, though.

Suzanne Vega
“Caramel”

This is actually on my list of top ten songs, ever. I think Suzanne Vega is widely overlooked and underappreciated. Guess it’s the “Luka” syndrome. She is an amazing storytelling songwriter and I really respond to her bare vocals. This song is a jazzy little number off the Nine Objects of Desire album. I also love the song “My Favorite Plum.” She has a new album coming out and I am so looking forward to catch up with her stuff.

Depeche Mode
“I Am You”

This album (Exciter) has been played a bunch lately in my car. I think maybe it fits my laid-back, jazzy mode of late. This song is interesting to me on a couple of levels.

“You have bound my heart with subtle chains
So much pleasure that it feels like pain
So entwined now that we can’t shake free
I am you and you are me.”

On the one hand, isn’t this what you want someone to say to you? Sorta? On the other hand, I find myself thinking what is response to all this adoration by the person being sung to? Is the sentiment returned in full amounts or is it an uneven situation? As usual, a Depeche Mode song raises more questions than it answers. Hey I’ve only had 6 years to analyze this song; think I’ll ponder it for another decade or so.

Saint Etienne
“Shower Scene”

Guess I am on kind of a jazz jag these days. This band has a jazzy, retro, electronic vibe. I listened to the album this song is from, “Finisterre” on my walk this morning. I was afraid it would be too downtempo, but it fit my stride perfectly. The album is very cohesive and has a good flow. If I gave cocktail parties I would definitely play this album to go along with pretty drinks in pretty glasses.

Imogen Heap
“Angry Angel”

Can Immi do angry, or what? Her songs are so powerful, clever, creative, inventive and real, all at the same time. This song makes me want to tell someone off – for all the right reasons, of course! I may have to do something drastic if I don’t get to see her live at some point. She has a lovely blog about the writing of her new album – which she is working as we speak – isn’t that the best news ever? This song is off her first album, “ I Megaphone.”

Enough, already! Go listen to some music yourself…

Leaving, on a jet plane…

Laura’s Blog Entry

Neil was off at 3AM this morning to catch a plane to Vegas. What is the point of living in a city with a large airport if we always have to drive to Dayton, Louisville, Lexington, or Indianapolis to fly somewhere? It just costs too much to fly from here. What a drag!

Anyway, he left Mari and I a fridge message:

When I last spoke to him he was at the Vegas airport waiting for a cab in “the longest line I have ever seen.” Good luck with that!

Now I have 2 nights to watch old “Masterpiece Theatre” DVD’s! Yipee!

BSG Video Contest Part 4

Neil’s Blog Entry

Relief! The casting is complete! This morning, I notified our cast of their individual roles. And because my friends are so great, letting everyone know wasn’t as hard as I had thought it would be. All they wanted was to be a part of something a little out of the ordinary… something that would be a lot of fun to do.

So anyway, our main character, whose name is Ray, will be played by my good friend Dave Eberhardt. Dave is an awesome musician and handles a lot of the audio editing here at work. Recently, Dave and I talked at length about the character and how he would approach his portrayal. I was impressed by his desire to really know where this character is coming from… to find pieces in the script that he could relate to from his own personal life and translate that to playing Ray.

Susan, Bill and I are very excited about having Dave as our lead actor. We feel he will bring the depth to the character that is needed to tell the story we want to tell. What is that story you may ask? Well, so far I have been very quiet on the script and storylines… and that will continue for the time being at least. It’s not that I think someone is reading this to steal our ideas or anything like that. I’m not arrogant enough to think that would actually be a possibility. Rather, I don’t want to get the story out because I don’t want to ruin the experience of watching the video when it’s finally completed. I believe we have a great story that deserves to be told well and I don’t want to take anything away from that.

That’s it for now. I’m off to Las Vegas (Comment from Laura: He says it’s a work thing!) in a few days so I probably won’t have much to report until after I get back.

BSG Video Contest Part 3

Neil’s Blog Entry

OK. I lied. We have one more actor to test early next week so we can’t make a decision on the cast just yet. Ah, well – that’s just more time that I can be in angst about it. Seriously though, I feel much less stressed about the casting than I did yesterday. Bill and Susan and I sat down and talked over the screen tests today. While we all have different opinions on this and that, we all seemed to agree on things overall. That said, all of that may change once we see the test next week.

Bill, me and Susan (the pre-production, non-stressed out versions).

Bill and I sat down this afternoon for several hours of storyboarding. I opened up Apple’s Pages software for the first time ever because I read online that they had a storyboarding template and I don’t have any money to spend on storyboarding software. The set up was fairly straightforward and soon I had a fully formatted script in storyboard form. Plus, I was able to put in images from the BSG video clips that I plan to include.

The storyboarding went great. We were able to come up with what we hope will be a very interesting look for the video. We talked about the relationship of camera shots and angles to what’s happening on the screen and in the head and heart of our main character. It was a fascinating discussion; and while I now have more notes and additional shots to add, I think we’ll make a better video because of it.

Storyboards, notes and doodles

So over the next week, I will be finalizing the storyboards and deciding on a cast. And the week after that, Bill and I will be headed to Las Vegas for NAB2007 (convention for video professionals). Should be fun – if we can actually manage to stay out of the casinos in order to see anything. Just kidding. I’m really not much of a gambler. But I do plan on renting a scooter while we’re there and taking a ride out into the desert.

That’s it for now. More as it happens.

BSG Video Contest Part 2

Neil’s Blog Entry

Today we had our screen tests with our actors… which I guess is the polite way to say “auditioning my friends.” Bill, my director of photography, and I gave each of the actors a few different scenes to do… and now I find myself in the job of casting director. Not something I like very much at all. Each one of the actors gave a great performance, and each one highlighted certain aspects of the characters that I hadn’t thought of before.

So tonight, Laura (my own Mrs. Ron) and I sat and watched the tests over and over – stopping occasionally to talk about something that one actor did particularly well, or some element of the performance that we really liked.

I guess I didn’t realize how hard this casting decision would be. It actually kinda sucks. But I know that a lot rides on the acting and so I’m really trying to be objective and not let my feelings for my friends get in the way of this decision. I’m about 99% sure of who’s going to play what role as I type this, but I do want to confer with my line producer, Susan, in the morning.

And speaking of the morning, tomorrow Bill and I will be storyboarding the shooting script. I love doing storyboards. When I was a kid, I used to have a book containing the storyboards and script from The Empire Strikes Back. It was really cool. I wonder whatever happened to that? Anyway – we’ll be going over the script, shot by shot, and figuring out camera angles, lighting plots, etc. Maybe I’ll post a couple of boards when we’re done if they don’t give away too much of the story.

That’s it for today. I’ll have more as we move further into production.

Violator Is Rockin’ Basement Cleaning Music!

Except if you subtract time for all the dance breaks…

Laura’s Blog Post

I am rewarding myself with some computer time (beats eating an entire pie) after working in the basement that I like to refer to as THE BLACK HOLE. Things go down there and hide, not to be seen for 13 years. Or they form colonies and procreate and stuff. I am on a purging streak again (beats developing an eating disorder).

Today’s basement treasure… found on the top shelf, above all the painting supplies – a small box of cassettes. Here are the titles. Draw your own conclusions:

Madonna: The Immaculate Collection
Synergy: Games and Audion (subtitled Electronic Compositions for the Post Modern Age) My, that even sounds interesting!
Kate Bush: Hounds of Love
Stray Cats: Built for Speed
The Best of the Art of Noise
Dead or Alive: Youthquake
The Fixx: Walkabout
Laurie Anderson: Home of the Brave
‘Til Tuesday: Everything’s Different Now
OMD: Sugartax
Neil F. Smith: Three Days in November (Who’s that guy, and how did he get in here?)
Ekimi: Ditty
The Phantom of the Opera – Vol 1 and 2
Star Trek: Music from the Original Television Soundtrack, Vol. 2
Soundtrack from Twin Peaks
James Bond: 13 Original Themes
Edward Scissorhands: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Duran Duran: Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Who can be the first to guess if this was Neil’s collection or mine?

These will soon be off to the neighborhood record store, “Everybody’s Records.” (Yes, they still call it a “record” store. I used to go there to get my DM 12 inch singles. They would play them for me so I was sure I was getting the version that I wanted.) I read on their website that they have a “cassette room.” Maybe they’ll want some of these.

OK, on with the purge. Think I’ll go shred some documents. Life is good!