Hot Rod Girls Save The World Editing

Started Scene 75.

Hot Rod Girls Save The World Editing

Scene 78 is done. I also compiled the last five scenes until the credits. Very cool seeing the ending of your own film completed.

Hot Rod Girls Save The World Soundtrack

Finishing up Scene 78. Wrote new music for the open part of this scene, where the girls pull up on a car crash and shooting along an abandone dirt road. I finally got to use this magazine rack that I rescued from a dumpster back in 2000. The place where I worked at the time was throwing it away and as I was moving it back to the dumpster area, banging it on the floor, I notice it made a wicked percussion instrument.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Yes I believe in Christ which isn't a contradiction for a hardcore musician. I also believe in reincarnation and I don't think that's a contradiction either. A friend of our family is in South Korean. She said that Christmas is a popular holiday in Korea. Something obvious in a way, but something that I hadn't really ever thought about. She also said Christmas is getting more popular in China. That seems really strange to me. We also had a light dusting of snow and slush on Christmas Day. Not enough for the kids to play in, but nice to see the snow flakes on Christmas.

Hot Rod Girls Save The World Editing

Finished Scene 44 and began on Scene 78.

Hot Rod Girls Save The World Editing

Working on Scene 44, I came up with this interesting still from the forest shoot. It's amazing how good the Panasonic AG-DVX100 still images look. A great DV camera.

Hot Rod Girls Save The World

Lindsay C. came over to the studio to do a little ADR work on the film. She did a complete read through, beginning to end of the HRGSTW screenplay. This was not synced to the video tracks, just a straight reading, mostly for non-synced narration and an animation sequence.

Killing Machine E.P.

Got a decent rough mix of Killing Machine plus finished the first remix. An E.P. with both versions will be out in the next few months.

Destrukto Ray

Finished the Destrukto 2050 Deluxe ray beam penetration bit of the Big Party scene. This 10 second section of the film took 4 days to edit! I created a glowing red orange circle in Illustrator and then imported it to Final Cut and made it pulse and sized it to the frames of DV. This wasn't easy as the camera was zooming into the window area where the party goers are looking. The shot was a jerky hand held deal so I had to find a reference point in the frame and try to keep the circle in that area, simultaneously making it larger as the camera zoomed in. Whew. When it was done the circle looked to "animation like," so I added a copy of the DV footage on the top layer of the edit, set at a 30 percent opacity level. This gave the effect that the red circle was behind the window glass. I then added a color diffuser to make the circle glow more- kinda like the moon does on a foggy night. I mean- what the hell would a giant ray beam shot at the earth from 33 light years away look like?

Hot Rod Girls Save The World ADR

J Maki came over to the studio to finish off some Dialog Replacement for HRGSTW. Started editing on the big Party Scene. This scene has a few difficult edits including minor special effects when the Destrukto 2050 Deluxe ray beam penetrates the earths atmosphere at the party, sound sync for the band DragStrip Riot and the very cool cat fight between arch rivals Vikki Lee and Jo Leene.

HRGSTW ADR

Kris Nedopak came over to the studio again to finish off her ADR work for Hot Rod Girls Save The World.  

Super Amanda

Amanda Casabianca (AKA Super Amanda) began vocal work for the Kill Switch...Klick song "Killing Machine," remotely down in Northern California. She will record the vocals in a studio down there. This song is a key tune in Hot Rod Girls Save The World. I ran into Amanda on You Tube. Posted some nice comments about the Go-Kustom TV clips, then we got to talking about music and one of our fave bands- The Who, which is a big influence on my music.

HRGSTW ADR

Kris Nedopak came by to do some ADR for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. She is helping replace some broken dialog in various scenes. 

Dodge Polara

Here are a few pics of my 1968 Dodge Polara I just bought and actually just put it up for sale because Chris Darland has found a 1966 Dodge Charger body that we can build up into D.B. Petty's car for The Legend Of D.B. Petty (prequel to Hot Rod Girls Save The World).

HRGSTW Editing

Still chugging away at Scene 38. Also finished the rough arrangement for Killing Machine. The lyrics are being difficult to nail.

Screenplay

Got my newest Hot Rod Girls Save The World screenplay proof copies back from the printers. Look pretty good. Found a few more typos and will have to fix before the final pressing. Honestly this book is just a mechanical movie blueprint. The dialogue is funky and because I kept having to rewrite scenes in the field and because of continuity issues, areas of the work seem patched to-geth-er (as well they were). After finishing the Maps for Anywhere Washington, I definitely decided to write the next story, The Legend Of D.B. Petty (prequel to Hot Rod Girls Save The World) in novel form- then edit into the screenplay. The world of Anywhere is pulling me in. I keep getting flashes of scenes from the next movie and bits of dialogue in my head. I have written several chapters, but didn't like the directions, so I started over again. D.B. is a complex character and I haven't found his voice yet. Some characters aren't as easy as others. His mentor Dusty Mile has already made a few character changes that I didn't expect. That's a good sign and mean that the characters are coming to life in my head. Sounds nuts, but that's how it works for me. Especially since these characters are not based on friends or acquaintances. Speaking of friends, Amanda Casabianca has agreed to do the vocals on the new Kill Switch...Klick song Killing Machine. She will record in a few weeks in Davis, California. This is a remote project, which can sometimes be difficult, but since it's only vocals shouldn't be impossible to get a great sound.

HRGSTW Editing

A typical Space Garage on Planet Moosha Maa.

Buhgabaa makes his "Earth Rockerboy Costume.

Since my last post nearly a month ago I (events not listed in order) lost a external hard drive, recovered most of the external hard files, helped my Mom move up to Seattle from California and done extensive animation work on Scene 38 for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. 

June

June already- say what? Anyways finished two more scenes for HRGSTW. Revamped another. Moving right along. Uploaded my book on Amazon. Waiting for the proof copy. If it looks good it's available.

Interns Please

Man this month slipped away! Working on scene combination for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. I now have a few 10 scene stretches that mesh very well. It's one thing to edit a stand alone scene, it's another to group it with it's adjacent scenes and have a working section of film. So far so good. Also built a slot car track for our arts school, coordinated a long distance interview for Melinda Miles for Go-Kustom TV and proofed a long distance photo shoot by Lurleene Luxe for Go-Kustom Rekords. I need 3 assistants to keep the pace. Some day.

Directive 51

This is some serious shite! Heard about it on the internet and Coast To Coast AM. Presidential Directive 51 (White House Press Release) has now made President Bush into Supreme Dictator Bush! Goodbye USA hello ECG (The Enduring Constitutional Government) In the case of any catastrophic event in the US or abroad, Bush has signed a Directive stating that the Executive Branch will control all branches during this Catastrophic Emergency. This is to ensure that our Constitutional Government survives. Say what!?! Since when has a Dictatorship morphed back into a Democracy? Once the power is centralized (as it has been becoming) then it stays that way until another Catastrophic Emergency arises (usually a revolution by the people). I am not a conspiracy theorist, just a concerned American. This has gone to far, and the mainstream media has said nothing about it. You would also think the Congress would be pretty upset about a Directive that intentionally excludes them from the Post Catastrophic America. Thing is the President makes the call as to what is a Catastrophic Emergency. Anything from a Katrina like natural disaster to another Terrorist Act. At this point I can only shake my head.

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day Momma! I've been condensing scenes for the movie and assembling sections to see how the various scenes fit together. This is the beginning of the end. I've also revamped the Hot Rod Girls Save The World Screenplay with a Third Edition. New Cover Art, extra movie stills, Anywhere, Washington Map and Character Bios. Rented the Peter Gunn TV Show DVD (part one of a two part set put out by A&E). Wicked! Big Dodges, Chryslers and Plymouths with huge tail fins cutting through the night, film noir black and white style, beatniks, gangsters and mob bosses. This was a great show! The Henry Mancini music is unbelievable. I gotta buy this set, Also watched Deja Vu (very good), The Queen (boring), Flushed Away (excellent), The Last King Of Scotland (scary & an incredible story). Did I mention I'm shopping for an Agent to pitch the Anywhere Trilogy? I started writing the prequel to Hot Rod Girls Save The World, The Legend Of D.B. Petty: Street Racer last year as well as taking notes for the sequel Memories Of The Planet Earth. I think I'm going to write D.B. as a novel first (adjusting to a screenplay as I go), so once it gets published it will be an easier sell to make it into a film. I'm going to need $40-50 million to make this film properly. A similar budget to remake of The Dukes Of Hazzard. Mostly for the car crashes, stunts, set construction and to secure major major talent. Of coarse Memories will be even more as it is ALL SPECIAL EFFECTS. It all depends on how Hot Rod Girls does at the festivals and box office. Look for the Hot Rod Girls Save The World Comic Book and Coloring Book later this year. 

Editing

What a quick weekend. Tony Ririe came over to do his voice overs on Saturday (for HRGSTW) and we began our taxes for 2005. Worked on taxes all Sunday and almost have 2005 completed. We had Einsturzende Neubauten: Liebeslieder DVD playing in the back ground. I have been a casual Neubauten listener over the years, but this DVD really puts into focus the impact the band (or performance art troupe) has had over the years in the avant-garde and industrial music genres. Worth exploring more. Multi-tasked (calculator in one hand- computer keyboard in the other) and finished Melinda Miles Go-Girl Pin-Up Spotlight. It's one of the best I've done so far

Major Matt Mason

Major Matt Mason...found this jpg on the internet that brought back childhood memories. In the late sixties everyone was space crazy, what with the Space Race in full swing and men going around and then on the moon. It was a very exciting time to be a kid. Major Matt was a space hero action figure made by Mattel ("Matt" Mason- coincidence or conspiracy?) Anyway I had all the toys and it inspired me (and most of the kids on my block) to want to become astronauts when we grew up. I have to ask- What the hell happened America!?!? I can not believe we don't have a real Moon Base or a colony on Mars right now. It was in the cards. Then we dropped the ball with Vietnam and the country fell apart. So did the Space Program. It makes me wonder how complacent human beings really are. Now we worry about money and money and money. How much does that Space Ship cost? What is the financial return. Greed without a vision. It is our undoing and may be our downfall. To think we had the stars within our grasp and then spent thirty years fretting about the expenses. Such a retarded species is human kind. Maybe the new Chinese Space Program will light a fire under the worlds ass. It seems America is so competitive (like that spoil rich kid in class who always has to win every game he plays) when it comes to being the center of attention. If the Chinese make a Moon Base then we'll have to have two- to show we are twice as good.

Melinda Miles

Took a little editing detour and started on a Go-Girls Pin-Up Spotlight for Miss Melinda Miles- a real life Pin-Up and Hot Rod Girl. Weekend Movies- The Sex Pistols: Filth & The Fury (must see) & Leonard Cohen- I'm Your Man (also must see- how about Leonard Nimoy-I'm Your Alien...) 

HRGSTW Editing

Finally finished scene 33. Turned out harder than anticipated. Another in the HRGSTW rough cut column.

Saturday

Saturday The Fourteenth. It's sunny outside. Started rainy and got sunny. There's a saying in Seattle- "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes." 

Movie rentals - Children Of Men (Clive Owen is the new Charles Heston), The Promise (I wish I could fly around like that, especially with a sword in my hand and a cloak of eternal life wrapped around my fat ass), Einstrurzende Neubauten: Halber Mensch (with added Butoh BBQ- I love that firecracker dance). Did I mention CHUCK HESTON! Omega Man, Planet Of The Apes, Soylent Green. What an "Armageddon Bad Ass."

HRGSTW Editing

Friday the Thirteenth. It's raining hard outside. Good computer editing weather. I spent the last few days doing back story development for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. Mostly map making and character layout for the prequel. I needed a little break from the current editing...but now I'm back on Scene 33. It's a nuts and bolts kinda scene, nothing fancy, no action.

HRGSTW Editing

Finished Scene 2. This one was really difficult- as it's all on the planet Moosha Maa and every frame is special effects. Features a quick performance by Psycho Charger. The premise is Earths TV and radio waves are disrupting Mosshian Intergalactic TV reception. The signal that is "the last straw" is the Psycho Charger video.

Movie rentals for the week Devo- The Complete Truth About Devolution (cool and quirky) & The Laurel & Hardy Collection (extremely slow by todays standards but funny).

Revamping

Spent the last few days revamping the Go-Kustom Films section of this website. It needed a once over.

BEFORE & AFTER

Before

After

Went back and revamped Scenes 14 & 22. The music and filters didn't sit right with me- kept bugging, so I just dived in and re-did both. Sometime you have to say it's "done" other times you have to realize it's just not cooked enough. Tough call when your doing it all by yourself. Movie list- Stranger Than Fiction (better than I thought it would be), Made In Sheffield - The Birth of Electronic Pop ("Don't, Don't Ya Want Me..."), Eragon (ummm excuse me "Dragon Riders Of Pern" r-i-p-o-f-f. But what would have made that movie f'n kewl would be having cameo appearances by The Ewoks as "Ye Old Dragon Snacks"). 

HRGSTW Editing

Finished Scene No. 77 for HRGSTW. This one is a short car chase with music by the Invisible Surfers. Short, Funny, Cool. It's on our You Tube page http://www.youtube.com/gokustom

Love Hate Editing

Some days I love this film, other days I have to drag myself to the computer to edit. The last few days, I get excited to open the files and start the editing process. I think because I can start to see the whole film taking shape. Not just one or two scenes, but a completed whole.

Incidental Music

Great CD tracks arrived in the mail from a European surf band. Inspiration for several scenes.

Allergies

Allergies...arghhhh. I am definitely going to an Acupuncturist this year. Last weeks film list- Casino Royale (interesting new direction and actor for Bond), In The Mirror Of Maya Deren (fantastic- Maya's a big influence on my Film Style), Black Flag Live (not so good audio), Double Vision Presents Cabaret Voltaire (I kept this from last week), Lord Of The Flies (Original B&W -"Piggy!!!") Marie Antoinette (excellent).

Editing

Did a quick edit job on a two year old Go-Kustom TV episode about The Second Annual Hot-Rod-A-Rama in Tacoma, Washington. I need the footage for the DVD of Hot Rod Girls Save The World. The first interview with Tony Ririe shows how we got to know Tony (although I met him at a DragStrip Riot show some time before- and he said he'd be glad to help with the Rat Rods for HRGSTW). The footage will also be on The Best Of Go-Kustom TV Volume 5 & 6 (due out later this year) as well as on our You Tube page http://www.youtube.com/gokustom  

HRGSTW Editing

Finished a very cool cameo scene for HRGSTW with The Bad Things. In this scene they are busking in front of the Kustom Grill & Cafe and get busted by Detective Lloyd. No handcuffs, just a good verbal lashing- "You know the drill - no permits, no busking, now hit the road you Beatniks!"

Ack!

Crap- dumped tea on my computer keyboard and lost the direction keys and lower numeric key section. I use these alot in film editing. Double crap!!!

Allergic Reactions

Allergies are hittin' me hard. I never used to get them- but now it's every Spring. Last for about a month. Rented (Thank You Blockbuster Online!) a Cabaret Voltaire Collection called aptly - Double Vision Presents Cabaret Voltaire. This is where my affection for industrial electronic music began. Not this video collection, but the song Nag Nag Nag (which is on this DVD). Rivetheads the world over own this band their very existence. As influential in some circles as the Sex Pistols. Anyway- it really got me excited to start the new KsK album - Ugly Noises. I set the Last Transmission album aside for awhile.

Beatles Weather Report

"Good Day Sunshine...Good Day Sunshine." I still love The Beatles.

HRGSTW Credit Sequence

Started the credit sequence for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. It's not until you start writing things down that they become real.

HRGSTW Editing

Finished Scene 72. It's a strange one, but works. Alot of odd audio effects. Movie list for the last two weeks- The Devil & Daniel Johnston (sadly excellent), The Science of Sleep (awesome), Lord Of The Flies (1963 version), Sketches Of Frank Gehry (long but decent), Vertigo (Hitchcock was amazing), Tenacious D and the Pick Of Destiny (Fun-nny, recycled Sifl & Olly especially the Rock Off W/ Satan, but still worth the price of admission), Fail Safe (the serious Dr. Strangelove) & Viper: American Legend (for my son).

More Snow

More snow. This is the snowiest Winter I have ever seen in Seattle. I've lived here since 1989. Schools are closed and the roadways are a mess. 

HRGSTW Editing

Scene 72 is under construction. Also fighting with Wikipedia's editors about my listings for D.A. Sebasstian and Go-Kustom Rekords. I started them as a way to keep the Kill Switch...Klick page concise and separate, but they say it's a COI (Conflict Of Interest) for an artist to start an autobiographical page. At one point they threatened to kill all the pages, even though I didn't start the Kill Switch...Klick page. Now they want to re-merge the pages. Kinda defeats the purpose but what's an artist to do...

Birthday Wishes

 Happy Birthday Liz Taylor, Ralph Nader & Chelsea Clinton.

Slot Car Madness!

1/32nd scale Slot Cars are cool. My sons Viper is on the left. My Cobra Daytona is on the right. My daughter also has a Viper. We just bought a small Scalextric track and plan on starting a weekend racing club.

HRGSTW Editing

Scene 8 is done...except for a quick pick-up shot. It can make it with out the shot, but I want it in there.

HRGSTW Editing

Still working on Scene 8. I thought I would be done last night, but the rendering time for this one takes forever. Every little change I make takes like 20 minutes to render. I am still using my older 733 G4 which is much slower than current Mac's (like 1/4 the horsepower of a 2 Gig machine), but I hava no money to upgrade right now.

HRGSTW Editing

I developed crazy new filter effects set for Scene 8 of Hot Rod Girls Save The World. I combined 4 different filters to create a "Comic Style." I may also use this filter combo to create the actual comic that will be out later this year. Took three days to develop the effect. The scene is close to finished. I may release it (with Faith & Diseases permission) as a stand alone music video.

Coffe

Coffee is good.

Bill Murray

Bill Murray.

Moving

You never realize how dirty your place is, until you move. Shite under the furniture, little creepy things, plastic pieces to something or other, dust bunnies (ever see the kid show The Big Comfy Couch? ). Lovely.

Studio

Moving the studio and most of our stuff. Can not edit...can not edit...must edit the movie...must...edit.

Snow...

Round three of the Seattle Snow & Ice Storms. Couldn't drive anywhere in the morning, but the roads cleared a bit by mid-afternoon. I dig the snow, but his is getting old.

HRGSTW Editing

Working on an Alien Scene for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. The Mooshian background was made out of space & car parts pictures composited in Photoshop with the neonish details drawn in Illustrator. The actor under all that latex is none other than Kill Switch...Klick drummer Mike Ditmore. Two more scenes rough cut.

Snow?

On the way to picking up the kids from school today, nice sunny type weather. Half way back- a major dumping of snow. Within 20 minutes of heading out, my van was sliding all over the place. Another round of the big Seattle Snow Storms.

Busy

Busy busy week. Finished three more scenes for HRGSTW. Uploaded new videos to iFilm and Uncut Video. Noticed that our You Tube videos have over 5,000 views in the first month (that's combined). It also seems that the views increase exponentially as your video channel get noticed. Is this the future of home entertainment?

New Years 2007

New Years Day. Spent most of the three day weekend making a DVD backup for all my movie files for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. I was literally teathered to my G4 for two and a half days. I had to change out the DVD's in the drive every 20 minutes. The burn spanned 103 discs! I used Toast Titanium 7 which allows you to burn spanning multiple discs. In between running back and forth to the computers DVD burner, I watched hella movies with the kids yesterday. We had blown up two televisions right after Christmas, so a bought a new flat screen TV. It's not the HD killer TV, it's just a 29 inch with a flat screen. Anyways we decided to have a movie day...all day...yesterday. This enabled me to monitor my computer and re-lax (it will help me to relax!"). We watched Barnyard (interesting- though predictable), The Ant Bully (nice little animated film), Water (incredible Hindi language film about India's abused Widows), Stoked (wack film about pro skater turned killer "Gator"), Theramin (excellent documentary about Dr. Theramin inventor of many electronic gadgets including a musical instrument called...you guessed it The Theramin) and Fast & Furious I & II (my sons movies).