View from the bridge

I haven't yet seen Flunky: the footage, but there's a chance I may get to do so tonight.

Am I excited? Well, actually, thank you for asking. Yes. Yes I am.

Flunky- the word cloud

From Wordle

Editing ongoing

Editing seems to be going slowly. Post-production, huh?

The edits

Link

Right now, as I type this, Bernardo is in an editing suite, somewhere in Brussels. What's he doing there, you ask?

Editing.

He's currently cutting, chopping, stirring, mixing and basically sexing up Flunky, for your enjoyment and edification.

The picture above was pulled more or less at random from the internet, and may or may not accurately represent the environs in which our fair director is working. If I had to hazard a guess though, I would guess that it is slightly less well-appointed, more utilitarian, with less ergonomic seating.

The point is: we be moving forward.

Two thousand and Flunky

It's 2009. We're almost one-twelfth of the way in. which might have you panicking, thinking 'OMG, I had such big dreams for this year, and it's already slipping away'.

Fear not, I encourage you to think of this year as a glass, not 1/12 empty, but rather 11/12 full.

I hope that relaxes you. I know it fills me with serenity, calmness and relaxation. All at once.

OK, enough with the pep talk. I know why you're here, you're clamoring for news of Flunky.

Here it is: so far it has not been edited. But between the holidays, the bout of wintry weather, and a post-production plan still in development, that is hardly surprising. And like I said, time is (still) on our side.

I'm meeting up with Bernardo on Thursday, for our first meeting of this fresh new year. After that meeting expect a flurry of activity followed immediately by a finished product, wrapped in a bow and delivered to your house in the middle of the night.

Is it just me, or does the air in 2009 smell of promise, honeysuckle, and smiles?
It isn't just me is it? I thought not.

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.