Stage 13 & Persephone Shoot

Thursday, I visited Dan Ackerman at his studio, Stage 13. We discussed each shot in my storyboards including the lighting set-up, greenscreen blocking and overall layout and equipment needs. Of course, this is only a preliminary breakdown and review… but it was nice to troubleshoot a few issues and concerns I had. Dan is an amazing resource and we discussed many shots in-depth.

Afterwards, I enjoyed a drink with the talented Jeremy Joseph, animator and owner of Headache Films. We discussed the finer points of compression through After Effects and the horrific display of consumerism when it comes to plastic pasture holidays such as Easter… and the demand for us to purchase these dino-spunk eggs for a one-stop candy cradle with an eventual demise in trash city. I think it would be grand if we just stuck with doing traditional egg painting followed by the midnight thrill of throwing them at our neighbors houses… but that’s just me.

After a fine drink and conversation – I was off to see Atlas ShruggedPart I in theaters. This piece of soap-trash film was directed by hack Paul Johansson (who is playing the lead antago-pronist John Galt), adapted by some dude I don’t care to look up right now, and was horribly acted by some Wal-Mart employees. It was an abomination and embarrassment to the already, highly controversial book written by Ayn Rand. I never compare books to movies… ever… but man, this really was a chowderhead project.

I won’t try to analyze any of the schlemiel director’s story points or directorial decisions because, truthfully, if you don’t understand what Ayn Rand was trying to say in her books… then you’ll never understand it. It has nothing to do with what most politicians and activists think, and truthfully, I don’t care regardless and have no desire to convince anyone otherwise, much less debate it because she just wrote books which were enjoyable and unique to read… even though she was a psychopath.