Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Action, Camera and Lights

When you set out to make a movie you really have to think about an amazing number of details. I went and saw Avatar the other day and I marveled at the spectacular visual effects in that movie. They truly are amazing. Yet that movie, and every other movie is really just a audio/visual story, the result of putting together thousands of details in a symphony of sense bombardment. When it works, wow, there is little to compare.

Liken's "Jonah and the Great Fish" is a movie because it too will be a audio/visual story. For the film to be realized, it requires working through a lot of details. My guess is that Liken's budget ratio to Avatar is about 1:2,000. So, for every individual working on Liken's Jonah James Cameron had 2,000. Probably more. So, does that mean that his film is 2,000 times more difficult. Probably yes, from a special effects POV, but definitely no most other aspects. I also think when people talk about how difficult the job of president is that how hard could a job be if you have 600 people working directly for you (not the military people, but all of your staff). I mean really.

Try making a movie by yourself or with a few individuals. That requires more than just effort, it requires amazing levels of faith. Each person involved is critical to the success of the effort. Losing even one key member means more problems to be solved. Last night, Dennis and I went at 11:00 pm to the location of our film shoot, the Scera theater. The primary focus was working out how to light the key cyc wall (a wall that you can light against) for the film. Seems that the Scera has a couple too few poles to use to accomplish the goal. The solution was bantered around, but it will come down to money and whether the Scera allows us our solution. We'll have to see.

Money is always a main concern for a Producer. I'm sure the best part of being James Cameron is that you have pretty much an unlimited budget for your productions. I suppose he has earned that with his success. We, on the other hand, are doing all we can to find the funds to finish Jonah. I have to feel that we'll find a way, because the alternative isn't acceptable. Seems that everywhere you turn there are problems to be solved. I think ultimately that is what Dennis and I have honed--our ability to solve problems through concerted action. Right now, I'd say Dennis has solved about 2,000 problems in this production. I'm probably about 1,800 problems behind him and I'll never catch up cause he just keeps solving more of them. He's good at that.

So, this blog is just me musing on Liken's Jonah and our efforts to produce it. We're about 35 days from filming, but we have the added challenge that James Cameron never had, we're also putting on a musical. Now, how about that for degree of difficulty.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Ah Christmas Eve

There is little question that Christmas Eve is one of the best days of any year. As a kid, I just loved the anticipation of Christmas. I loved Christmas. Not as much as say my sister Ruth, but I did love it. I remember one Christmas, my guess is 1973. I must have been about 10. It was a Christmas when I really, really, really, wanted a bike. You know, a bike was the creme-de la-creme of Christmas gifts as a kid. I remember getting two of them. The first was my purple Stingray--what a bike. Sadly, stolen twice living in Hawaii. In 1973, we lived in Cedar City Utah. I can remember that Christmas tree in our house on Kayenta Circle. It was a beautiful tree and that year must have been good for my folks because it seemed like there were hundreds of presents. I guess having 7 kids must do that. I don't think any of my siblings were yet married. Anyway, I was sooooo excited for Christmas.

I can remember in my mind the Christmas tree that year and counting presents under the tree with my sister Ruth, who could tell what every present was by some amazing power. However, she would refuse to tell me, which drove me crazy.

I can't remember much else about that Christmas except that I got a new bike. A 10-speed bike. It was the coolest thing ever. I can still picture seeing it. It looked spectacular. Christmas was the greatest. It's funny the presents you remember. I think my second favorite present was a GI Joe truck that carried my cool GI Joe. I remember it because that year it snowed and the snow was magical that Christmas day. It was soooo beautiful and made even more beautiful by my GI Joe truck that was awesome in the snow. I loved it.

The stocking back then was the real thing. Filled with an orange (tolerable), nuts (somewhat tolerable) and candy (AWESOME!!!). Of course, the candy would include that hard candy and some of it was good, but chocolate was amazing.

This Christmas has been rather remarkable. I can't remember ever receiving so many gifts from friends and neighbors. It has been amazing. There is no way to not gain 10 pounds. Anyway, the outpouring of love has been wonderful. I guess on this Christmas Eve I have to say that I feel good. This has been one of the more difficult years in my life in many ways, but in others it has been great. But on this Christmas Eve I feel blessed. We celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas morning and that is a wonderful gift. I can only imagine that on that first Christmas eve that the whole universe was excited. Probably even more excited than I was back in 1973...maybe.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Diatribe on Sickness or the Lack thereof

A business partner of mine used to always comment that I was always getting sick. I would indignantly respond that I never got sick. He then would reply that I had a cold then so I was sick. But, I ask you, is a cold really being sick. I did go through a few years where it seemed I'd get a cold or two every year. Those colds were certainly doozies. But, I don't think I ever missed a day of work while being "sick." So, I personally believe that being sick means you can't go to work. Sick means that you're pretty much laid up in bed moaning and groaning and thinking that you're going to die. If you only have a sinus headache and a runny nose, that isn't sick, that's being inconvenienced.

My wife, Coppelia, is inconvenienced today. She has a cold. It is a sinus cold, which have to be the worst of the cold world. It was nice that she was able to get some extra sleep this morning because with six kids that can be a true struggle. But, the cosmos aligned and she managed to get an hour or two of extra morning sleep. Ah, morning sleep. That is the best sleep of all sleep.

Anyway, back to my record of sickness. I think in my 25 adult years that I've been sick about twice. I have to say that health has been one of my best blessings. In my patriarchal blessing it says that I would be blessed with an abundance of health. I received that blessing just before my mission to Haiti, a place where being sick isn't a possibility, but an inevitability. That blessing would prove a miracle to me. I took a bottle of Kaopectate to Haiti (you could do that back then). I remember my first week in Haiti and the other companionship was totally sick. I mean like Malaria sick. They were downing a gallon of kaopectate and the pink stuff just to survive. I vowed then to make my single bottle of K last my entire mission.

Now, here my blog gets a bit disgusting, but life is a bit disgusting at times. On my mission, we had a term for a solid stool. We called them "Statesiders" with the name coming from concept that if you were in the United States that you might expect something solid. But, in Haiti, having a statesider was a minor miracle to the point that if you had a real good statesider you would proudly declare the event to the entire house. I know, elders will be elders. In any case, having the trots wasn't an occasional thing, it was the thing. You just had to learn to deal with it. In the US, if you had those conditions, you'd probably say that you were sick, but I learned that having the hersey squirts wasn't being sick, it was simply an inconvenience.

Of course, eventually, you would eat or breath something and your stomach would begin to suffer. However, I learned eventually that having a tummy ache wasn't that sick, it was just not feeling great. So what if you tossed your cookies every now and then, you couldn't just stop preaching the gospel. If you missed an appointment in Haiti, the individual was really hurt so you tried very hard to never miss one (funny, how it didn't work the other way around). So, on my mission, I went month after month looking at that bottle of K. The contents went down every month as I would sip it from time to time when I was feeling very inconvenienced. I remember one time when my inconvenience was very difficult. Our home, which served as our chapel and had four Elders living there, was filled with Malaria. I was the only one without Malaria. We had no phone in our home and there were only four phones in the entire region of 100,000 people. So, I walked by myself (an odd experience) to call in the troops (aka, the Zone Leaders) to come and save us and take the truly "sick" to the hospital. Apparently, my blessing hadn't provided relief.

On my first attempt, I couldn't get through. When I got back to our home, I found our neighbors doing some sort of voodoo ritual to try and save my comrades. It was a ridiculous situation and I found myself starting to feel real sick. Well, I kicked out the voodooists, "thanking" them for their efforts. I then re-read my patriarchal blessing as I felt my temperature rise to amazing heights while my companion and the other two Elders just wallowed wishing for a release from their pain. I remember praying that I wouldn't need to finish of my bottle of K, or worse yet, go to the hospital with Malaria, which was about a 10 day ordeal. I remember after the prayer that I should go take a shower, which was a cold shower as that is all we had. I did so and then found myself back at the phone center in town (with clothes) and successfully making contact with the Zone Leaders who were on their way to save the day. I actually managed to escape Haiti without ever being "sick." I had a lot of inconvenience, but not sick where you spend the day in a hospital with a needle in your arm and taking lots of odd medications.

I can truly say that I feel blessed with the health that I've enjoyed my entire life. I've gone to the Doctor a few times in my life, but I think I'm on the lower side of the bell curve of sickness. I take about 20 advil a year, which is pretty good I think. In fact, come to think of it, I must have gone through most of the colds of the world, because I don't think I've had a doozy in quite a while. Watch, I'll probably get one next week and think my head is going to explode. Oh well, at least I left that bottle of K with a couple of sips left before leaving Haiti. As for my business partner, may he rest in peace. He got sick a lot. I miss him a lot this time of the year.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Life is filled with "those days" and I'm not just talking about the bad ones. The good "those days" aren't all that often, but they do happen. For me, this probably isn't one of "those days," at least as far as I know. I could be wrong as we're going to meet a guy about funding Liken's Jonah and that would certainly have to be one of "those days" or for simplicity a TD (like a touch down, but this stands for "those days"--got it?!).

I think the day your kids are born is a TD. The day you get married a TD. The day you get your first real job. Every Christmas when you're growing up, a TD. The day you go on your LDS mission, a TD and the day you come home, a TD. One of life's less remembered, but still a TD is the day you get your braces off. I didn't have braces all that long, but I do remember being grateful to have had them (at least I am now) and grateful to have them off. Today, Aria (my 17 year old daughter) gets her braces off. It is a TD for her and we know that being a senior in High School with braces isn't the greatest. She hasn't complained much and she has definitely suffered much. So, her is to Aria's TD. Only four kids left to go and the day the last kid gets braces off that will be a TD for the parents.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Web Conferencing

Today, I experienced my first webconference. At least a serious one. It was me and 2 other presenters talking to a bunch of bankers around the country about the exciting new changes in mortgage lending, namely RESPA. First, although I know that any discussion about RESPA will put most people either to sleep or to death (and I'd like to avoid that), I think I should say something quick about this law.

RESPA stands for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and anyone who has gone out for a home loan has experienced it. It is one of the 280 disclosures that broker or a banker gives you that mean almost nothing to you. Most borrowers want to know two things: do I get the loan and how much is it going to cost. Well, RESPA tries to answer the second one. Unfortunately, it is sooooo complex that there really isn't a good answer. When things get complicated, well, you get fraud. In this case, the government (ha ha) actually tried to make it a bit simplier for us common folk to understand. They have failed, but that wasn't much of a surprise as the whole matter is a off the charts impossible to understand.

However, that doesn't stop the government from trying and who are we to blame them for the effort. Moreover, as a guy who used to make decent money on trying to figure these laws and regulations out, who am I to complain.

In 2008, following the debacle of the mortgage industry, the Housing for Urban Development (the guys who manage RESPA) decided to change the law. Not a small change, but a complete overhaul. Today, I had the pleasure of trying to explain part of that overhaul. You're probably wondering whether I am the right guy to explain the overhaul aren't you? Well, frankly no. But, that doesn't stop me from wanting to get in the mix. After all, life isn't about just talking about what you absolutely know (i.e., an expert), it also includes the spirit of going boldly where no man has gone before (at least no man as in me).

So, there I was struggling to explain things using technology including webconferencing, telephone conferencing and explaining a topic that I'm not all that suited for. It was, entertaining. About like being in the Dentist's office for a root canal without anesthesia. So, I presented for about 40 minutes and mostly read the slides offering a bit of my powerful insight into the issue. Not too easy for me and made me realize why I prefer making movies. It has moments where you don't know what you're doing too, but in the end figuring it out is consider part of the fun. When you're trying to figure out RESPA, your just trying to sort out something that can't be sorted out. And, if you do, you just sit there wondering what you were thinking in the first place when you agreed to try and sort RESPA out. Crazy is as crazy does.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Joy of Puzzle of Liken's Jonah

Making a movie that is going to be simultaneously be produced on stage is rather an interesting challenge. I don't recommend it if you like a life that is like clock work. It is more like one of those puzzles that is made up of a 3-D image that you must solve first to complete the puzzle, but you can only see the 3-D image once the puzzle is completed. A regular conundrum wrapped in an enigma.

I thought I'd start to discuss how I see movies getting made. The stage production is a whole other set of challenges and you'd think that a bunch of individuals (okay, the three of us) that are directly now involved in Liken (one of us actually getting paid) would realize how foolish we are to try both. But, we are and here goes on the film part.

As I see it, there are about 12 primary areas in making a film:
  1. Cast--This is the people that make the project look good. Each have to be hired by an agreement, schedules work out and about 100 other details.
  2. Crew--gets broken out a lot) into every thing that doesn't get its own category but includes people like the script supervisor, 1st AD, Camera crews, etc. All the people that make the project look good, but don't necessarily have to look good themselves (if you know what I mean).
  3. Administration--the truly boring stuff like insurance, which is rather expensive.
  4. Hair and Make Up--the people who frequently make others look good (and bad when wanted) and, interestingly enough, are often quite good looking themselves.
  5. Costume--On a show like Jonah this area is amazingly complex.
  6. Equipment--includes lighting, cameras, jibs, and bunch of other things that I hardly begin to have a clue
  7. Locations and Travel--getting there and getting it set up
  8. Craft-people have to eat
  9. Sets--includes the designer and the guys that build it
  10. Marketing--you have to try and actually sell your product
  11. Post Production--well, this has so much to it where do you begin.
  12. Music--in a musical, well you guessed that this is a important, but there is a lot more than just the songs. You've got score and foley and ADP.
So, those are the main areas. Each involves a few 100 aspects with their own negotiations and steps to resolve and each requires an individual or group of individuals to coordinate and manage. I have always felt that Liken has been tremendously blessed with department heads over those 12 areas who truly care. That is kind of the blessing of a film. Film people actually seem to care about their product. As a Producer of the series, I have the extreme pleasure of trying to bring a team together to make, literally, a miracle. A movie, even a small Liken movie, is a bit of a miracle. We're progressing on this miracle and hopefully, we can actually see it to completion. If you're also a part of it and you're somehow reading this blog, thanks for your efforts to make the miracle.

With the above basis established, I think I'll be able to discuss what is going on in our world of Jonah and how we're progressing. I think we're progressing quite well, but really, a few more miracles are going to be needed.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

You know as I listen to the lyrics of Let it Snow I get this overwhelming sense that life was a bit simplier back in 1945 when Sammy Cahn wrote the lyrics. Here they are:

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It doesn't show signs of Pausing,
And I've bought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I'll hate going out in the storm!
But if you'll really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we're still good-bying,
But as long as you love me so,
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!


What great lyrics. Of course, they're completely unpractical these days. I mean who actually has a real fireplace that uses real wood? I'd have to simulate the dying fire at my house, which not only looks pretty darn good, but blows the heat out at you.

So, back to Let it Snow. I enjoy the great workout of shoveling snow. I think there are four classes of people with respect to snow management. You have the who cares group who basically do the absolute minimum on their walks and driveway. You have the snowblower crowd and they range from the modest blowers to those that can cast it like 200 yards. Then you have the elite crowd: the guys with the ATV or whatnot that have blows attached. These guys have it made and they seem to want to go and do every house in the neighborhood. Finally, you have the purists, the guys that use a shovel and go at it. I'm in the last group. I think this is the same group that likes to push their own mower on the lawn. The DYI and suffer group. That's me alright. Of course, I've forced my three sons into the cause, but its good for them right.

I just love pushing snow. Of course, when I first moved to Utah in 2004, it hardly snowed the first year or two. When it finally did snow big time, I noticed that my super cool neighbor would get out there in a T-shirt and just go to town on the snow with his shovel. Me, I was totally decked out in the 42 layers of insulation and clothing. Now that I've lived her 5 full winters, I'm pretty much in one layer, a hat and gloves. The real key is having the right footwear. I bought my boots about 20 years ago on a visit to Utah and they're amazingly awesome. I think they're called Sorels, but what do I know other than that I've never had cold feet.

Speaking of not having cold feet, you know we're making Jonah and it is amazing to me that we might be able to actually put it on stage and film. I plan on spending most of my blog time on Jonah, but suffice it to say that if we actually do film this, it will have been a total miracle. Here's to miracles and snow. Let 'em happen.

Monday, December 7, 2009

A weekend of not chasing rainbows

So, there I was Saturday morning lying in bed. I only sleep, at best, about 7 hours a night. I just don't seem to want/need/desire much more. So, I wake up and I'm thinking to myself, "self, what are you going to do today." I have had a feeling lately of malaise. It is a real feeling based on the fact that I haven't accomplished that much this year. Not for a total lack of trying or wanting. I have wanted to accomplish a lot this year, but every effort seemed to go nowhere. I mean we spent efforts chasing every rainbow that came our way. If there was a chance of revenues we pursued. Ultimately, every rainbow we chased seemed to dissipate into whatever rainbows dissipate into when you get right there.

When I was a kid in Hawaii I actually remember chasing a rainbow and actually having the feeling of running right through it. I can still remember where I was when that happened. It was pure childlike magic. Anyway, for 2009, I didn't or haven't caught any rainbows. Somewhat frustrating, but then about a month ago a friend sent me this email with a powerpoint presentation. I didn't look at it, but then about a week or so ago I remembered getting it and thought I should look at it. Don't ask me why, but I did. Well, the powerpoint is one of the most viewed in the world and it provides perspective to suffering and challenge by juxtaposition western life with the conditions in most third world countries. Having lived in Haiti and revisited it a few times, I can attest to the suffering part. The Powerpoint is called Melhor_mail2.pps and should be viewed if you need perspective.

Anyway, so I've been lamenting my "suffering" and failure to catch financial rainbows these past few, well, months when I realized that even my lamentations don't measure up to anything of value. How's that? Even my lamentations are weak. So, there I am on a cold, but rather nice weatherwise December morning lying in my bed, which, by world standards, is fantastic. Anyway, I was thinking to myself (wait, now I'm repeating myself), well actually by now I was answering to myself, I'm going to do something today. I thought through the various projects and decided on one that I thought that with some effort I could finish in one day. I could remodel our sad little half bathroom (which I visit about every blue moon, but it does come in handy for kids). So, with the help of "my boys" we went to it. I really hadn't even thought of doing the bathroom till that morning, but as I got going on it around 8:30, it just felt right. By 10:00 we had the walls cleaned, by 11:30, we had fixed the holes that I put in back in 2008 to fix the sliding door that had broken. We patched the holes with this cool spackle that is pink when it goes on and whites as it dries. Very nice stuff. Anyway, then I replaced the faucet (awful looking) and started painting.

I'm a terribly fast painter. Not that good, but then I realize that most people don't really focus on paint and even a rushed paint job is a lot better than the mess that was in that room. Anyway, I'm fast, but a lot of it gets on me. I see those pro painters and am amazed at how little paint they get on their clothes. Well, first coat was done about 4:00 p.m. and I started installing a new light and some fine other fixtures. About 7 pm I was pretty darn tired, but wanted to finish. I had to blow off a fun night at a comedy club, which my brother chastised me for not going. But, I was going to see this challenge finished. Put the 2nd coat on and then started decorating it around 9:30 pm. I have to say that the bathroom is pretty sweet and fantastically awesome if you saw how awful it looked before.

More importantly, I reestablished that I can actually accomplish something. Sometimes you have to do that even if for yourself. Kind of like this blog.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Today is December 4, 2009

Another beautiful Friday here in Utah. Amazingly, it really hasn't snowed this year in Utah (where I live at least) and it is December 4th. So, while it is the Christmas season, it hasn't quite felt like Christmas. Well, at least its cold. I'd have to say that I'm not a huge fan of the cold. In fact, I prefer to feel absolutely hot. I love the feeling of being in my car with the heater on and its about 150 degrees in the car. Probably a bit much for most, but alas, I like it hot.

My brother Dennis and I just finished a response to an RFP (that's code language for a bid) to the government. It was no less than 100 pages of hoop jumping and frankly that is just the beginning. We have to register with about 5 companies to submit a "Small Business" bid. The government is one huge mess of paperwork. But, if you want to play their game (and I really don't) then you have to jump throw their hoops. It is rather impressive if you like that sort of thing.

We're making progress on Jonah. We have this wonderful thing where Jonah is going to drop from the sky into our Ocean stage. Of course, to get this done is rather complicated by insurance. We're pretty confident that it can be done, but we'll have to see on the pricing. On other Jonah fronts, we're closer to getting artists signed and the sets are looking rather spectacular. Perhaps, too spectacular as it was pointed out to me that it will take some time to actually get them built on stage and that a simple up and down for a traveling show might be a trick. It is interesting to have to put a show and film together at the same time. I think most people if they could imagine all of the details would say that it is impossible. But, here is to impossible.

My daughter Aria came up with, I would have to say, the most logical career choice for herself. It just makes so much sense. She wants to own a florist shop. This makes such sense as she is phenomenal with people, excellent in marketing, has a strong business sense and loves flowers. I think that this is pretty cool.

I've decided that I blog better than I can write a journal and while I doubt it ever gets read by anyone, I can take all of my blogs over the years and make that my journal. My Dad is writing his life history one year at a time. He is up to 1969 now. The details from either his memory or, more likely, his notebooks that guys back in the 60s used to always keep handy is rather impressive. He knows how much money he made and how many movies he saw (not to mention a bunch more details). I'm so impressed. I couldn't remember what movies I saw last week. I have the worst memory unless there is a number associated with it. I'm pretty certain that when I'm "really old" that I'll be mumbling numbers one after another. I can still remember my first bank account number (1532108659) back when I was 18 or so. I type it all the time when I'm on a keyboard with a 10-key. Strange isn't it.

The lights are up at our house. I'm getting better at not obsessing over lights when some of them go out. I've tried a few times to actually repair those stinking, twinkling, bedeviling things. They're rather impossible to fix. Yet, I know that there was this guy who every year fixed the lights for the Los Angeles Temple. He said he would fix about 20,000 lights every year of the 200,000 lights. Amazing. Apparently, I need to get more practice as I've never successfully fixed a string of lights. My current technique is to try and shake them into working. Surprisingly enough, it has worked a few times. Kind of like banging the TV back when. That actually seemed to work.

Last, but not least for today's entry, I'm preparing for the Mapleton 21st Ward Young Men's version of "A Christmas Carol, the 8-minute version." Should be quite the fun.