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11-2-00 "Good Company!"

Tonight we had our second production meeting on "The Hunt". Tom and I met with my cousin Joe, Jason (works with Tom's wife), and Jon (Comedy Sportz/Comedy City workshop buddy of mine). We all met at Good Company in Appleton. We all laughed and even came up with a few great ideas that I'm working into the script. We tried to set up a bit of a schedule but I'm not sure if we can do that yet as we don't have our full cast yet. Regardless we're shooting for Sunday for our first shooting day!

11-4-00 "Comedy City Troupe Picnic!!"

I decided to get up to Green Bay to catch a Comedy City show. Two of my friends from the last workshop actually are now members of the troup. After a great show I was on my way home when somebody yelled my name from across the street. It was one of the Comedy City guys who was interested in the projects we're trying to get done. I talked with him for a good fifteen minutes then decided to go with the troupe to a little restaurant for conversation. I sat with two guys that would both make excellent characters for the project and I couldn't shake that though. Unfortunately I may have offended them with a rather off color comment on my part. That's right, call me a dumb ass! That's what I get for trying to be funny!

11-5-00 "The Big Shoot!!"

Jon came over from Green Bay today and we actually got some shooting in!!! Ooooooh! Most of the shots we got were beautiful. Crystal clear and sharp as tacks!! We did have a problem with some color bleeding with the blaze orange hunting jackets! Tom and I both knew that could be a problem. I'm hoping to get some students to assist me with the remainder of that sequence because that would be one heck of a chunk finished!! The workshop at Comedy City went well until the absolute last part of the show. I stepped off the stage and rolled my ankle right over. This dropped me like a wet bag of potatos! By the time I left I was able to walk on it pretty well but as I began to drive home the blasted thing started swelling and swelling and swelling! By the time I got home I could barely put any weight on it. The whole thing was the size of a big grapefruit! Isn't it funny how fate is trying so hard to keep me from finishinmg anything? First I get ripped off for $2700.00, then the first day of shooting and I have this stupid freak accident! Go figure! I am not stopped yet!!

11-6-00 "Sore Ankle!!!"

Well, school today was a bit of a bitch! The kids were great and very sympathetic after I showed them the horrible swelling and bruises that are now my foot! It was nearly impossible for me to get anything done today as moving around was truly a pain! I did get that last remaining part of the script figured out!!!!!! I think it'll bring everything to a nice quite end before we really let the audience have it right in the face!! I really can't tell you what a joy it is as a filmmaker to plot out sequences that play with the audience's understanding! I love to do that with my artwork as well! By the end of the day I was actually able to put weight on my foot and it was bearable. I hope to get out in the woods tomorrow.

11-9-00 "SNOW!!!!

Today I had to go in for parent teacher conferences. My heart sunk as soon as I looked out the window... snow! It's like everything is trying to shaft me! All week the weather has been horrid as I wanted to get out in the woods and wrap up the shotgun scene. Total uncooperation on Mother Nature's part! I also hoped to get a lot more done with the movie but I had over twenty parents come in for visits. That's way more than ussual. I think I may have solved the confussion of creating a dummy for us to run over in the truck scene. One word... sound effect (OK that's two but I'm not backspacing now!) I'll fade to black just before the body is run over and throw in some brutal sound effects. Also, I turned the brightness down a hair on the television and the footage worked great! No more blaze orange bleeding!

11-10-00 "That's How People Die!!!"

Today was very productive!! Cousin Joe and a student of mine (Tyler) helped me wrap up the shotgun scene. We got shots I could have only hoped for had I shot alone. We got a great crane shot using Tyler as a body double for Jon. He's smaller but I think it'll cut together seamlessly! I can't believe how huge I look on screen. I'm a real pork belly!! I thought I'd been loosing weight but not according to the camera! Crap!! Get this folks!! We had a near mishap on the set today! The shotgun in the shotgun scene BLEW UP!!! The barrel must have been plugged or something because it blasted a chunk right out of the side of the barrel! If my hand had been on that spot, I'd be missing some fingers today!! Scarey!! It was a great shot though except I swore like a sailer when I saw what had happened so it can't be used unless it gets cut! Man, the making of this project is sure going to be interesting!

11-11-00 "Final Cut Pro!"

I drove around the countryside today getting a few shots. I went down to a deer farm in Little Falls to get some great shots of a monster buck! It will not cut in perfectly but I think I'll do well enough to get the point accross. The rest of the day I piddled around with the camera getting my brother's motorcycle races onto a viewable tape. I also spent quite a bit of time working with the program Final Cut Pro. I used it to capture a bunch of clips and try to edit. It's confusing but I think I could edit with it. I came to the conclusion that I'll need a faster computer. Mine runs at 266 megahurtz, I think. I should be at 400 or 500 if possible. I don't see myself buying a new computer so I'll need to look at getting a newer proccessor. More money, more money. More money!!

11-17-00 "Whitewater Theatre Festival"

Took a group of girls to a great festival Thursday and Friday! I saw an incredible production of "The Crucible". Wow! Also got some great tips on creating bruises and cuts. Snow comes to drive me mad! That and this darn editing program! The guy at the store keeps telling me that it just needs to be tweeked. I can't help but think I need to get a whole new processor. I'm getting grey before my time!!! Oh ya, I'm trying to get all my Herb Kohl stuff written up for the teacher's award. That is a real intence mess of writing there my friends! Oh well, at least X-Men comes out in a few days! Anything on the film? No!

11-19-00 "Rain Rain Go Away!"

Day two of official group shooting. We tried to get some footage shot but it continued to rain all day. We got some cabin interiors, A bar room interior (At JR's Saloon in Big Falls, thanks Jay!!) and a few exterior shots that will probably need to be redone. Oh well, something is better than nothing. We also had an assistant cameraman, Jon's buddy Tony. Thanks Tony!

11-21-00 "Movie Day"

Today I got to sit in class and watch 'X-Men' with my kids! (read the following in a sarcastic mannor) It was a real bummer too because we didn't have dolby surround sound. All we got to use was the video projector to make the image about 6 feet by 8 feet. Before you get the idea that I played the movie instead of teaching my classes let me correct you. The whole school was involved in movie day. Besides 'X-Men', I picked up 'Gladiator' and 'Chicken Run' last night. I can't wait to see my film projected! The little I finished with my ultraslow program looked wonderful so I'm hoping it will all work out for the best. It seems that everything else in my life is now taking priority over my movie! Bummer! That is not a good thing, I must be patient!

11-25-00 "Christmas Lights!"

Helped Mom put up Christmas lights today and I only complained for a little while! Actually, when we went around the table for Thanksgiving two days ago we all said what we were thankful for (yes, we do that in our family). I said that I was thankful that I still have my mommy around (as she had a tumor removed earlier this year). That was about all I was thankful for though! Dude! That sounds so bitter! That's not me! Please bear with me for a little story...

The other day I was coming out of the comic store in Appleton and this little shadow comes at me from across the darkened parking lot. "Mister, can you borrow me a dollar?" the shadow called out. At first I thought this might be a retarded woman coming at me but as the shadow got closer I realized it was a little boy in about fourth grade. His eyes were full of tears. He repeated his request, "Mister do you have a dollar I can borrow? I need to ride the bus and I don't have any money."

I immediately replied, "When are you going to pay me back?" I didn't believe him.

"I don't know." he quietly said.

"Well, I don't know you and I'll probably never see you again so I'm wondering when you'll pay me back."

He didn't know what to say. Now let me quickly say this, I deal with little greasy kids all day long and they lie to you on a continuous basis (not all my kids lie, just the little greasy ones). I didn't believe this kid and I wanted to make sure he wasn't working on some kind of scam. I pulled out a dollar.

"I'll give you this dollar but if I find out you're lying to me I'll kick your ass! I'm a teacher and I'll find out! If you lied to me I'll find where you live, come to your house and kick your ass! (I actually said that)

In my own way I was trying to set this kid on the right path. Honestly!

"Is it worth it? I asked.

He looked up at me for a few seconds the burst into tears. "No!" he sobbed!

The only problem was, I knew at that point that he was telling me the truth. He totally misunderstood what I had said. Oh man, I felt terrible! I didn't mean to scare the kid. I only needed to find out if he was lying or not.

"No kid, see if you're telling me the truth you don't have anything to worry about!"

"I'm telling you the truth!" he sobbed.

"Alright then, I believe you."

I shook his hand and gave him the dollar. He ran across the street to the bus stop as I yelled to him, "Make sure you're always telling the truth!"

I wish I would have appologized to him for scaring him so bad! I'm sorry little guy!

The events of this last year (particularly being ripped off $2700.00 from some A-hole in California) have affected my life! I don't like the fact that I've become so untrusting! I'm one of the most giving people you'll ever know yet I find myself being more reserved! I'm going to need to look at myself and try to overcome some of these feelings! Maybe the Christmas Season will help me? I'm not a monster, folks! Honest!

I don't think we'll be making this year's deadline for the Madison Festival. Crap! I'm waiting for deer hunting to get over so I can get into the woods again and shoot! I finished my Herb Kohl Teacher Fellowship essays today so I can get back to the proper prioritizing! I don't think I'll be winning that this year either. I just can't capture on paper all the things that take place in my classroom. The results of the first level of Project Greenlight are coming out soon also. I can almost say for certain that I won't be moving on to stage two. I overlooked the recomendation that said, 'Don't send us scripts that are sure to be big budget'. Oh well! Again I ask myself, what the hell am I doing!!

11-29-00 "DV Devious!"

My collection of DVD's continues to grow. When I get them on my shelves they seem to breed like rabbits! I decided I needed to get a DVD player a few months back because they had so much 'behind the scenes' stuff. I tend to absorb that information! My first DVD was 'American Movie'. It's the flick about Mark Borchardt and his quest to create his movies. I met Mark down in Madison at last year's film festival. I ran into him three times on State Street. He called me the 'film dude', it was cool. Anyway, I owned that DVD for almost three months before I ended up getting a player. That's being pretty patient for me! 'American Movie' is hilarious! I identify with the star of the flick to a great extent! I hope to run into Mark at this year's festival (even though I won't have anything there!) and rap a few seconds on some plans. Who knows... Tom and I could make a great subject for 'American Movie II - The Quest Continues!'.

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