Made up - photo

Photo by France Dubois

Office worker D speaks

This email, penned by one of our extras, really sums up the excitement around this project. I therefore commit it to record in it's entirety. This, he will learn, is one of the perks of being famous.

"Here is another picture of me on the set of "Flunky" - in this still, I am being directed by the, uh, director on which, um, directions, i should take...

You cant see it too well in this shot but I had been given a stack of papers with graphs and charts on them but my PC was opened initially to Word. Well, I closed that, opened up Excel and proceeded to recreate my hard copies onto an Excel spreadsheet. And so when it was time for my close-up, Mr. Deville, I was so locked into the mindset of Office Worker Number D, with his back-story as an Ivy League educated closet homosexual with dyslexia who also has a martyr complex and hates Jewish Mexican midgets, that more than one of the crew noted how good i was - the word "natural" was used too i believe.

But that's just how i do my acting. Some call it method acting. Others call it new school. Some call it De Niro-esque. I refuse to put a label on this awesome power that I have harnessed - The Power of Acting.

But if you feel it necessary to give it or me a name, how about you just use: "Hollywood". So, for example, "Shane Hollywood" works. Or even, Shane "A-List Red-Carpet Tinsel-Towne Bright-Lights" Dempsey if you are not into the whole brevity thing.

Flunky is scheduled to be released to a limited number of theatres at the end of January 2009. I'll keep you posted as my big screen debut approaches.

And before you ask - yes. Yes, we can still be friends even though I am going to mega-popular in just over 6 weeks."

This film is going straight to the big time, and you're all coming with us. Thank you for your hard work - even if it came 'naturally' to you.

UPDATE: As has been brought to my attention, the likely directions being given by the director are: "Be more like Office Worker E." (Seen here, as in the film, in the background.

The other Flunky

This short film Flunky (the one we just filmed, which is the subject of this blog) is not the only film with that name. I learned this because I googled "Flunky film."
Right, like you never google yourself.

I discovered that in addition to this blog dedicated to the short film 'Flunky', by Bernardo Camisao and written by Ryan Millar, there's another, similarily titled, short film.

A Japanese film from 1931, called 'Flunky, Work Hard!' According to the review on Slant Magazine It is "the first surviving work of director Mikio Naruse, his eighth film chronologically and available only as a 38-minute digest version created for the Japanese home market." It is also described as a "near masterpiece."

Even though that 75-year old Japanese Flunky sounds extremely rare, the comparisons will be ineveitable. I'm sure years froms now ceneastes will be asking each other 'which is your favorite Flunky?'

As an artist, that's something I'm comfortable with. As an insecure, inexperienced writer and film actor... well, I'm not so sure...

A man and his mittens - photo

Photo by France Dubois

Lean in, to seem keen - photo

(Photo by France Dubois)

Perfectly coiffed - photo

Phot by France Dubois

Boss and piranha - photo

Photo by France Dubois

Low levels of job satisfaction - photo

(Photo by France Dubois)

The director speaks - photo

All photos by France Dubois

Lights and Sound - photo

All photos by France Dubois

Janine at her desk - photo

(Photo by France Dubois)

Blu in Berlin

Blu

I came across this image via Wooster, of a giant wallpiece in Berlin by Blu. Synchronous.

Flunky has been shot!

The movie has been wrapped, with all principal shooting finished. I hear it looks good. These photos sure do. I will post more soon...

(All photos were taken by France Dubois)

Day 1: Saturday Shoots

After a mere 12 hours, a big part of the film is finished. And by finished, I mean shot. Which is merely step one (actually step 321) in the journey to "filmdom."

As soon as I get the photos from our official set photog I'll post them. If the movie looks as good as the photos we're in bidness,

There's plenty more coming... but I gotta go to bed.
Filmmaking is tiring, even if it largely consists of sitting around.

Lights, camera....ACTION!

Today was busy. Bernardo and I traveled the entire perimeter of Belgium. A distance of over 80 kilometers!

It was fruitful. We were graciously provided with all kinds of filmmaking equipment which I'm assured is very important in the making of a film. The equipment included:

An awful lot of lights.

Microphones and mixer (in soundman fannypack)

A camera and monitor

And more stuff to come tomorrow...

Including actors, make-up and hair people, and caterers, set decorators, and... stuff.

It's awesome already. Tomorrow it'll be more awesome. Bernardo has explained to me that the important thing is to have fun. That sounds like the right attitude, so I'm going to sleep on it.

Making History

The film is taxiing down the runway. The passengers (and the pilot!, and the crew) are all excited for the long dangerous journey into cinema history.

Flunky may not go down in Capital 'C' Cinema history. But it is an historical project. For me as writer and actor, certainly. And for the others as well. It's a big deal. And hopefully, it will all come together and be brilliant and thought-provoking. It will certainly be a learning experience.

Did I mention the part where we are just two days away from invading the office location and kicking holes in the walls and painting shit and moving shit to places it doesn't belong and basically swinging our dicks around like a big-shot Hollywood production? I didn't? OK. Fine. That last part isn't true anyway. But the first part is.

Cafe Belga

Flickr - two dudes at belga, hugging.

Cafe Belga is where this project began, and it remains our touchstone.

The first time I met with Bernardo and Sofia it was at Cafe Belga. Where we discussed the script, and decided to make it a project. It was back to Cafe Belga on Tuesday night, to meet with crew and get to know some of the people who will be working this weekend.

Producers, the writer, the director, two actors, makeup, sound, lights, set decoration, and the DOP all came together for beer, cheese, and shoptalk.

If I had to guess, I would surmise that it won't be the last time we end up in Place Flagey. I dunno... It wouldn't be a bad place for a film screening, for example.. I'm just saying.

Solutions Labour Solutions - logos

Solutions Labour Solutions, the fictional company where the movie takes place, needed a non-fictional logo.

Andy "Shortcut Kid" McAlpine came through, as he always does, with some hot hot options. Above is Option 1, and the likely victor, with the second after the jump.

Much as we like this second version, it may in fact, be too awesome and eye-catching. The side-hanging banners are not something I'm used to seeing, which is both rad and fresh. But this company is not necessarily on the cutting edge of design, so we may go with the other - still modern and quirky - spin on a classic logo style.

If you want proof of how not cutting edge this company is, you'll have to check out the photos of the location. It is bizarre and beautiful. These may not be available yet, but they will become available.

Directors Note - Bernardo Camisao

Director’s Note - Bernardo Camisão

Flunky is more than a short film
When someone accepts to be enslaved what more can we do but cry? It’s absurd, strange, and at the same time, pitiful…
But, if we think it through… maybe this is really a situation to laugh at!
Well, in the comedy Flunky we will all witness these mixed feelings. Because our poor hapless Marco has slavery in his fate; the good ol’ traditional slavery.
And fiction is never far from reality…

Flunky is a short film that can act as a powerful metaphor in today’s economy. The individual is a central figure in the world of the job market. This small project is an attempt, through comedy and visual strength, to make our point.


Flunky is a Brussels project
This film is an attempt to emphasize the strong cultural presence of the new Bruxellois: people who come from Canada, Italy, England, U.S.A., Burundi, Portugal, and beyond, all are part of the cultural fabric of the city we call home.
Flunky has the characteristics that make Brussels the city that it is now: a mix of diversity, education, culture, and tolerance towards others.

Flunky is an artistic venture
When Ryan first showed me the script, I found it compelling because of its theme and the way he approached it: fast, funny, sharp. A simple story like this could be transformed into a powerful artistic vehicle.

Flunky is a low-budget film
When we decided to embrace this project, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But that pushed us to roll up our artistic sleeves and get our hands dirty. We poured all of our strength and determination, as well as our extent of professional experience into making this project a reality. Flunky possesses contemporary characteristics of the filmmaking process: digital, cosmopolitan, urban, fast… But without forgetting hard work and the everlasting values of poetry, entertainment, and capital “C” Cinema.

Magic Thirty - Crew

Even if this barbershop quartet got their top five favorite barbershop quartets together, they would still be outnumbered by Flunky.

Bernardo showed me the crewlist and we're thirty people. Thirty people on set.

This film has grown from humble beginnings to still-humble pre-production, but including a whole lot of people - make-up, sound, wardrobe, lights, catering, etc. Thirty people!

30. That's a lot of people.

For comparisons sake:

-A professional football match consists of 22 players and 3 officials. That's not 30. We're bigger than a professional football match. (Not including spectators).

-A barbershop quartet is only 4 people. Our cast and crew is the equivalent of 7.5 barbershop quartets.

-Jesus had 12 apostles. We have more than double the amount of people it took to get Christianity rollin'.

-A jury is 12 people. These 12 people are the perfect expression of the ideals of justice. We have many more than twelve people. i.e. we are Doublejustice!

BONUS:

- If you put the Marx Brothers (Groucho, Gummo, Zeppo, Chico, and Harpo), The Three Stooges (Larry, Moe, Curly), Abbot and Costello (Abbot, Costello), Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Grumpy, Bashful, Chuckles, Darling, Doc, Wheezy, Dingo) together in a room, the cast and crew of Flunky would not only outnumber them, but also win in a slapfight, though there is no scientific way to verify this.