Sci-fi film, pre-production

So, it's been a while since I've actually written anything about my own movieprojects. So I thought I'd give a little update on what's going on.

Our main production from first year at filmschool, "En Verden Vendt På Hovedet" (english: "Upside Down"), won the Grand Prix award at the Four River Filmfestival in Croatia a month ago. It was a complete surprise to us all, since we all have very mixed feelings about the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, you can see it here, though it's in danish and without subtitles:
http://www.station-next.dk/film.asp?side=2&id=62&film=7254&show=1

We finished our main production from second/last year at filmschool. It's called "FREYA" and we're all extremely proud of it. We had a pretty 'big' budget on this movie (considering what we normally do, anyway) so we had the chance to play around with the technical part. The movie was shot on a DSLR camera, and some on Super 8. We had some super long days of production (36hours in 2 1/2 days - one day with 18 hours), but it was well worth it. We've had so much positive feedback on that movie, and can't wait to see if it'll be nominated at any festivals. If you haven't seen that one either, watch it here, though again it's in danish and without subtitles. But they'll come eventually:

Last but not lease we've begun pre-production for our first film as last-year students. The criteria for this movie were: 

- It has to be a genre film, meaning we had to choose a genre and write the movie so that it would fit the elements of that genre. 

- We wouldn't get any professional help on the actual days of shooting, like we normally do. 

Besides that, our group of about 20 people was split up into two groups, so we're making two movies in all. 

My group has chosen the (pretty tricky) Sci-fi genre. I'm the sound technician on this set. We've basically got the story down, and the style to the movie, but we're having a few problems with the locations, since they are pretty tricky, and we've got a super low budget this time. But no worries, things will work out eventually, just like they always do. 

Shooting will take place in three weeks, and we've got quite a lot of work to do before, but it's always exciting to see how people work under pressure. =D

Anyway, here's the 'short' update on things. I'll go watch 2001: A Space Odyssey now, for some inspiration!

Sharkwater

Sharks are truly one of the most fascinating creatures out there. Since, well, as long as I remember, I have had a huge interest in sharks, and they have always been my favorite animal. I have watched countless amounts of documentaries on sharks and the oceans in general, and I am just about to begin taking my diving certificate (I actually got it for my 15th birthday, but haven't had time to take it yet).

So yesterday I sat down and watched another shark documentary - "Sharkwater". It was quite interesting, since it delt with a side, not many other documentaries have (of the ones I have watched at least). It delt with shark finning, but in a completely different way than I have seen before. The whole movie had a very personal tough to it, since we are actually following the film director Rob Stewart. In stead of it being a bunch of random people showing some pictures and telling a bunch of facts, we were a part of Rob Stewart's story.
But still he managed to not just tell a personal story, but have a good balance, including a lot of facts and some quite nasty pictures.

But back to the shark finning point. I wouldn't say it was an eyeopening experience for me, since I already was quite aware of awfulness about it, but he did sure have some parts to it, I wasn't that aware of.
I did end up with tears in my eyes at one point; some pictures were simply too disturbing.

The only really negative thing I want to say about this movie, is the narration. It was by far the worst narrator I have ever heard, because of his voice. But you'll have to watch it to see why ;-)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856008/

The newest addition to my room. Still need to name him though! Any ideas? 

One of my goals in life, is to dive along side sharks. I want to see a shark in real life while diving SO much. 

Saving sharks is going to be one of my priorities in life, but at the moment I've just gotta stick to signing "save the sharks" - petitions!

That's why this makes me so happy: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_19065609

Movies watched: August

Here are the movies I watched in August. Would be cool if you guys wanted to start a discussion with me! :'D

AUGUST 2011

2. Legion

4. Sherlock Holmes

7. Die Hard 1

8. Newsies

11. The Incredibles

12. Unbreakable

13. Mulan

14. The Terminal

14. Mulan 2

15. Sleepers

16. Inception

20. Conan The Barbarian (2011)

21. Road to Perdition

22. What's Eating Gilbert Grape

24. True Grit (2010)

25. Inception

26. The Hangover 2

30. Mysterious Skin

31. The Lookout

(of the movies I haven't seen before:)

TOP 3

1. Inception

2. Road To Perdition

3. Mysterious Skin / What's Eating Gilbert Grape (can't decide)

BOTTOM 3

1. Conan the Barbarian

2. Mulan 2

3. The Hangover 2

Movies watched: July

Here are the movies I have watched in July. Would be cool if someone wanted to start a discussion. :'D


JULY 2011

1. Unknown

2. Takers

2. Rounders

3. Sky High

3. Shelter

4. August Rush

5. Life As A House

6. August Rush

6. Shutter Island

10. Hereafter

11. Tron: Legacy

14. Vejen til Eldorado

14. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 2

16. The Italian Job

17. Catch Me If You Can

18. Batman Begins

19. The Dark Knight

21. The Mechanic

24. Star Wars IV: A New Hope

25. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

26. Powder

27. The Shining

30. Super 8

(the movies I haven't seen before)

TOP 3: 

1. Shutter Island

2. The Shining

3. August Rush

BOTTOM 3:

1. Sky High

2. Unknown

3. The Mechanic

Media exam

So, friday was my media (film education in high school) exam. At the exam you draw a 5 minut clip from a movie, which you have to analyze. Then you get 45 minutes to prepare and finally you have 45 minutes of actual exam. In the 45 minutes of the actual exam, about 25 minutes is spent on analyzing the clip, and the rest of the time is spent on your own movie, which we've made earlier on (check earlier blogs about the movie "(in)Sane").

So when I got there I drew a short film, which was 4 minutes long. It's called "Eksamen" which means "The Exam" in danish. When my classed worked with short films, I hadn't begone yet (I changed schools half ways through), so I had absolutely nothing on short film analysis. Great.
The short film was pretty strange, and I couldn't find the movies plot. Great. I thought I had an hours preparation in stead of 45 minutes, so I was taken by surprise when my teacher told me time was up. I wasn't finished preparing. Great.

The actual exam went fine I thought, but I knew I hadn't analyzed it enough. Then they started asking me about my own movie. I'll have to say, that I really really don't like my own movie, and I was embarrassed to have that as my movie. So, half on purpose half not on purpose, the way I ended up talking about my movie, had a very negative tone, since I thought they thought it was bad too.

After the exam ended they sent me outside the door, while they talked about my grade.
When I was called in they said: "you'll get a 7 (which I believe is C or something like that), and you probably shouldn't do film analysis as a carrier". Oh great, I could just feel my mood sink.
But then they went on: "but on the other hand, you should totally work with film. We absolutely loved your film. You've got so much talent, and we don't understand how you could make that movie on your own (with help from one of my friends) at this level. If I had made this movie, I would have been so proud. You should give yourself much more credit than you actually do, and remember that for the future. We can truly see you have your own style in film making, and..." bla bla bla. After some time they compared me to Lynch and  Hitchcock and said they could really understand why I was a film student, and that I should keep on making movies. Wow.

I still don't like my movie, haha, but I guess I can look at it a bit more positively now.
So despite the grade being shit, what they said totally saved my day.
I don't care if my film analysis of short films isn't too good, as long as people like my film making I'm happy!

Oh, and if I'de drawn anything Tarantino or Trier I had rocked ;-D

May update

Wow, been quite a while since I wrote a blog. So here's one.

I finished editing my movie. The first time I have ever edited a movie, but I think I managed quite well. Final Cut Pro is not that hard to figure out ;-).
When we (Theresa & I) first sat down to edit the movie, we were completely lost, and after finishing the rough cut (don't know what to call it in english), we were both like "Omfg, what is this shit. What have we done!?", but I ended up sitting for 30 hours straight editing it, and I think it turned out alright. Much better than first expected, but not too good = alright!
But hey, it's my first movie ever alone (one other and one actress), and we've had a lot of trouble with the production.
I'll post it here, or twitter or somewhere, as soon as I've had my exam, unless I fail ;-).

Speaking of exam and school. I had my ast official school day last monday. Because I managed to fuck up my school the last half year, I have to take all exams, instead of just some, as everyone else, but it doesn't really bother me. I've got 10 exams in all, and already finished one of them.
June 22 I'm finished with 'highschool' (it's not highschool, but a danish version called 'Gymnasium') for ever. Can't wait!

I've got a year left of filmschool, so I'll just be working and making movies this next year. Yay, gonna be fun, I hope ;-D
Speaking of filmschool. We're almost finished with our main project, "Freya", and june 15th we're going to be walking the red carpet at the largest cinema in Denmark, "Imperial", for the premiere. Yay, one of the most fun days. Can't wait!

Well, that's enough for right now. I'll post something again soon, when I've got something interesting to write ;-)

Production, day 2 - finished!

Yay, finished shooting today, and everything went rather well. Thought it was going to be a super long day, but we were finished shooting after 5 hours. Everything went pretty smoothly, and even the change of location went without problems!

Editing starts tomorrow, and I've got a week to finish the project. I'm a bit nervous. It seems like there's something missing, like there's something we've done wrong, but can't imagine what. hm
Excited to see how it turns out too. Looking forwards to seeing if people actually get the story, haha.
Oh well, lets hope ;-)

Got two hours before I can go home. Hm, time to watch a movie I think. :'D

Production, day 1.2

I guess you could call this production day 1.2. Cause it's the second day of shooting my exam project, but it's an entirely new script.

Met Theresa at the hotel (location) 2 hours before our new actress showed up, and had to rewrite the entire script, since we only have one actress now, and not two. 1 1/2 hours later we had a new script, and was ready to shoot. It actually turned out pretty good I think, and shooting went pretty smoothly. Fantastic!
We shot almost half the movie today, and tomorrow we're shooting the rest.
Looking forwards to seeing the final product (that is, I need to edit it first ;D) but this project has really stressed me out.

Speaking of being stressed out. I'm so fucking tired right now. Didn't sleep well last night, due to being worried about the movie project, and had weird dreams again, plus waking up every half hour checking my clock all paranoid.
Been laying in the hotel room for about 3 hours now, 'cause I really dont feel like going home =/ been watching Floating, one of Norman Reedus' first movies. It was really good, you should all watch it! =D
It's 9:30pm now, and I really should head home. But just don't feel like it. Don't feel like going home to a house that doesn't quite feel like home =[

Oh well. 'nuff of that! Here are a few pics of my new super awesome hoodie!
Sorry about the retarded face, but I'm tired ;D

New blog coming up tomorrow! =D

FML - update!

So, things are just über shit!!!
Here's an update on how my film is coming along AND how personal things are coming along.


FILM UPDATE
So, one of my actresses called me and told me she was really sick, and had to have surgery and afterwards stay in the hospital for 10 days. Which means that I have to find new actresses and shoot all over. Luckily it was only 1/3 of the filming that we had finished, but it's still 6 hours of work. + we have to make new arrangements with the hotel we're borrowing and my filmschool, which are lending us equipment.
I got a maximum of two weeks to finish the film, before handing it in. SHIT!


PERSONAL UPDATE
Things are getting worse here too. Actually, I had had some really good weeks (well, one at least), but I've been having really fucked up dreams lately. Friends dying and stuff like that. Last night I had a very realistic dream, where my parents were fighting, and my dad left. I woke up at 5am and between 5am and 9am, I've been waking up every half hour, checking my clock completely paranoid (which is really weird, since I didn't actually have plans before 2pm), and at 9am I was finally woke up by my parents fighting in the next room.
When I finally got out of bed I had a really strange feeling that I had done something wrong, or something bad was about to happen. I tried to remember everything from yesterday (was pretty drunk), but couldn't really remember anything that would give me such a feeling. Since then that feeling has gotten worse and worse, to the point of me actually feeling physically, and not only mentally, down.
BAAH!


So, here's a little update. I'm super stressed out about what to do =(

(In)Sane, day 1

So, first day of my production, "(in)sane" is over.

This time the crew consists of my friend Theresa and I, and two actors.

Everything went quite well today. Took some time to get started, but when we first got started, everything went smoothly. Every take was perfect, so after just 2 or 3 takes of each shot, we're on to the next one.

We shot the two most difficult and intense scenes of the movie today.
Before we started shooting, I was super nervous about how everything would work out, since we hadn't actually met the actors, but they did a great job.

Due to some problem with the shower, we couldn't shoot the shower scene today, but that will be done tomorrow.
The hotel we're borrowing are really friendly. We're staying there for free, and they let os borrow another room tomorrow for the shower scene. Super!

Here are some fun photos of Theresa and I from today. ;D

Trying out the mirror effect

Theresa

"Alexis" and I

"I'm on to you!"

"This is AWESOME!"

Looking forwards to day two of shooting tomorrow! :D

Film update

Here's a quick filmupdate!

I'm doing a short film for my exam in school. I'm making it alone though with help from a good friend of mine outside of school. 


I thought it was going to be hard finding actors and location, since we're only two people making the project, and we're making it for my school. But things went much more smoothly than expected.

We didn't have a room to do casting in, so we decided to get people to send us videos of themselves and casting them over skype. A bit tricky, and we knew alone that would keep some from answering.
7 actors replied the the mail I sent out, and they all seem really cool. Deciding tonight who to use.

Location was a bit more difficult. 3 locations are needed:
- Bedroom & bathroom
- Dark room for a hospital
- Park & street
Park and street is obvious. The dark room was found pretty quickly too, since Theresa (the other girl in my group) had a great cellar. The bedroom and bathroom was much more tricky, since non of us had the perfect room. We decided to write some hotels, though not thinking anyone would actually lend us a room, since we can't pay them, but two hotels replied that ofc we could lend a room. Great! One of them is Hotel Scandic, which is probably the one we're going to use. It's a 3-4 star hotel, and the rooms look great!

Besides that the only thing we need is equipment. Haha. But hopefully that won't be a problem. Lets hope!

We don't have a lot of time, actually it has to be done in about a week. So filming will take most of next week, and then we got the editing. Gonna be some looong nights, especially since non of us are 100% confident in Final Cut Pro. But I guess we'll learn.

So, here's a little update on my exam project. Will post the finished production, once in june, when the exam is over!

"Shut your ass"

Things just went from bad to super bad!

Can't stand this anymore. I feel so trapped. Trapped and confused about my own thoughts and feelings, what I should do and want to do, about love and hate.

I'm reaching the limit of what I can take. I can't do this anymore.
The fucking constant guilt feeling, the bad self esteem, the fucking constant fights, the harsh tone, I just can't take it anymore.

I was asked today if I was coming to a family easter lunch -thinger. And as soon as I said no, I was yelled at, so ofc I got angry and was then told: "shut your ass". Wow. I don't know what to think. What makes a parent use those words when talking to their child. I am simply in loss of words and thoughts.

I've got so much anger in me, I don't know what to do about it. For every day that goes by, I get more and more anger, and the love I'm supposed to have for my family is replaced by what feels like hate.

My life seems like it's just one ... bad/evil circle (or what ever the english expression would be. Danish: ond cirkle). Too much bad stuff going on, and almost no good stuff. Argh

Well, I decided I'm going to make a video blog soon, telling what my actual problem is, since many people don't know what is actually going on, but just my feelings.

>.<'
I need something good to happen to me! :(

The things you never say

It's funny, there's always something you really want to tell your parents, but don't. Something you time after time want to, but just can't get yourself to do.

When I was younger I think it was "I love you". I have a hard time saying those words sometimes, not because I don't mean it, just hard to say sometimes.
But now a days it's something else. Now a days it's "Fuck off!". Seriously, I just feel like saying it aaaall the time >.<' ,  but just can't get myself to say it!

"Freya", day 3

This was the final day of production.

I wanted to do this blog when I got home yesterday, but a barely got in the door before I fell a sleep!
The day started out pretty good. The weather was fantastic, I had gotten 5 hours of sleep, had a nice breakfast (well. It was ok ;D) and cleaned the studio/Station Next up before going to location.
Location was a bar/concert place called Stengade. I love that place, been there quite a few times, listening to music. We were filming the concert scene there, for our movie.
Everyone was really stressed out, and there was a lot of waiting =/ but we got everything we needed, and the actors did a fantastic job!
We had a band play there too, The Basterd Kind. Was nice with some music ;D!

It's been a really nice weekend, as usual. Love the team!! Can't wait to see the finished movie at the premiere, in the cinema when we're done. Yay.
But it's been a really tough weekend too. I got 7 hours of sleep in total from friday to sunday, and we did about 37 hours of production, with barely any breaks (of course we slept in between, but besides that).

Gonna post some pictures from the production on my facebook page, and when the movie is done I'll link to it!

Until that, I've got to finish my other filmproject.

"Freya", day 2

Day 2 of production - the loooong day.

After sleeping for 2 hours, I got up at 7am, having a quick breakfast and briefing with the others, then off to location. Meet there at 9am, which was a hospital. Luckily we were able to borrow the entire department of hospital + a bunch of equipment. Fantastic!

Shooting took forever and ever. Though as always people were concentrated and worked hard. Everyone was good at helping each other, but it took a long time. Lunch was the only break we had, and it was only about 20 mins, then go on. We finished out there at 6pm, then home to Station Next, have sone really nice Tai food, mhmm, and then shoot some outdoor scenes.
Took a hell of a long time to set up the lighting for that, so we ended up finishing at 1:30am. Wow.
But it's pretty good looking so far!

Off to bed as fast as I can, and maybe catch 5 hours of sleep... If I'm lucky.
But hey, no complaining Amanda - making movies is fantastic!

"Freya", day 1

First day of production. Always exciting!
We're filming the main production of our second year at Station Next.

Station Next is the filmschool I attend. Fantastic opportunity for young film-interested people. It's an after school activity, where we meet once a week and learn how to make movies, and make two productions a year. We're taught everything from directing a film to cinematography, lights, sound, editing, PR, etc etc. Besides that, we've got a lot of professional people helping us, in all three fases: pre-, production and post-production. It's a three-year film school, and I'm in my second year.

Well, we just finished day one. Met friday at 3pm and had to shoot a school concert scene, very stressful with all the small kids, but we managed. We finished filmin at that location at about 8pm, got back to Station Next, had a quick dinner, and then filming from 9pm to 11:30pm. Wow, looong day. And it was SHITTY cold out, buuut we managed. Nothing tea, blankets and a good mood can't help! =D

Bradley Cooper

I met Bradley Cooper today!

Usually hollywood stars never visit little boring Denmark, but today Bradley Cooper was here, introducing his new film "Limitless". Unfortunately I didn't get to see the movie, was totally sold out 2 hours after it was announced, but I turned up to take some pictures of him and people, and got one of him and me too.

I'm not that big a fan of him, not that I don't like his acting, thought it was brilliant in "The Hangover", but never really followed him before. But always exciting to see a famous person! =D

Then I can go home and dream about that one day being me, having 1000 people screaming at you, wanting to have your autograph and picture, haha. That would be awesome!

Oh well, here's a pic of me and him. I look a bit goofy though =D

And that wa the random blog of today!

Shower thoughts

I love taking showers. But what I love even more, is sitting on the floor in the shower, while the hot water is running and just thinking. Letting go of my thoughts and feelings, and just relaxing.

While sitting there today, I thought about my future.
I'm in my last year of what we call gymnasium. It's like highschool. I've got:

80 days left until I'm finished with school and exams
44 days left until my first exam
21 days of regular school left
10 exams + 3 test exams

And I just can't wait!

But what to do afterwards. There are so many things I want to do.
I want to travel around the world, I want to try all sorts of extreme sports, I want to take my drivers licence, I want to take my diving certificate, I want to dive with sharks, I want to join military for 4 months, I want get a good paying job, I want to make more of my own short film projects, I want to work on a real film production, I want to move to the states. I want to experience life.

Man oh man I can't wait!!!

It's nice having a smile for once. Not because my problems have gotten better. Not at all. But some times there's just less of the bad stuff than other days.
Smiling is nice! =)

Dream world

So, I managed to completely hit the bottom. Everything just fell a part, and there was nothing I could do about it. More and more things piled up inside me, until I finally broke down.
It felt like nothing I have ever felt before, I couldn't see any way out of it.
It felt worse than I had ever tried before, which of course is a lie. But it's been a month since last time I felt so down.

But crying helps. Am feeling better now. Luckily.

I was asked what helped me keep my head up. What gave me energy to get through the day. What put a little smile on my face. What convinced me that there will be an end to this.
Well, I dream a lot. I'm constantly living in my own little dream world. Dreaming about my future, about how things should be. Dreaming about a better world.
I got a wild imagination.



"I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then one day, I got in" - Kevin Flynn, Tron

sun. 27th of march

I just had dinner with my family. And it felt awkward as hell. I felt sooo uncomfortable sitting there eating and talking with them. I have no idea what has gotten into me. =/

So I left them to their stories and now sitting in my room listening to a song, I always listen to when feeling down.

Don't know what to do, 

life seems so empty, without you

Don't know if it's true, 

you didn't want to hurt me, desert me

It's funny how a sad song can make you feel better...

I wish things...

... were different. Easier. More exiting and less exiting at the same time.

I'm going through a pretty tough time atm. Drastic changes in my life which has really changes me mentally too.
I walk around in my own little bubble. My own little world. Not really sensing the world around me or the people in it. I keep to my self, don't talk much to anyone. It's the easiest way for me, and the best atm. I think...
I can barely talk with my parents. I can't have a normal conversation, 'cause I have a hard time controlling my anger. That was shown tonight when I got pissed at my mom for not hearing what I said. She started crying.
I'm not really sure what to do, but I'm sure everything will get better soon. Well, at some point anyway.

What a day...

Woke up after sleeping very little, but super excited about the competition today.
Got to school too late, so missed half of my sports/P.E. lesson, which sucked. My teacher wanted to talk to me about my grade in P.E. and she fucking failed me. I'm so fucking pissed!
After that I reminded my english teacher that I had to leave class early, since I had the Nordic Championships to fence. She got fucking pissed at me, and stomped away cursing. I though "fuck this" and left straight away. Was in a fucking bad mood and wished I had never gone to school!!

Came to the fencing hall and had a good day there. Ended in the finals with a pretty good Icelandic fencer whom I have never fenced before, and she had a lead of 8-3 at the break. She ended up winning 15-9. I knew I wouldn't win before the match started, but I am very pleased with the result. So silver medal for me in the Female-Juniors comp.

Countdown...

to Nordic Championships 2011 in Sabre Fencing. 

Wow, can't wait!!!

Been training pretty much lately, and I think my fencing has been pretty good too, so can't wait to come out and try it off ;D

Friday, saturday and sunday here I come!

2011 so far.

I'll start my new blog out by writing about my 2011 so far.
It's already been quite an eventful year and a lot of both good and bad things have happened.
I won't write about all of it right now, but most of it will come eventually.


For the first time in years I had a fantastic New Years Eve. Nothing better than celebrating with a lot of good friends. Crazy guys some of them, but all in all a fantastic night! A very good way to start the new year!

The first weekend of January I went on a summerhouse trip with my class. Really fun. Lots of drinking and partying. We actually went because we had to write a yearbook about everyone in the class. Lots of story telling and laughing. But I realized that I really don't have a lot in common with most of my class. Too bad.

The last weekend of January I went for a fencing trip to Stirling, Scotland. One teammate, my coach and I went to the Stirling University Cup. We didn't have any expectations before we went, and weren't really planning on winning anything, but just having a great time. I've never been to Scotland before so that alone was very exiting. But we ended up winning the team competition, and my coach one the individual comp. and teammate came in second. Great! I met my coach in the quarter finals and was eliminated there, too bad, but was a great comp. all in all! And I even got to meet up with a friend I met in Iceland last year.

In the beginning of February I went to a Combichrist concert. They truly are one of my favorite bands, such great music and such a great live performance. Can't wait to see them again next year!

In mid February I had my first ever real photoshoot. I was really nervous and had no idea what to do, but we ended up taking some pretty nice pics. I might link some at some point.

Last weekend we had an all women fencing weekend. Sabre fencing in Denmark is not very big, and there are barely any women fencing (we're about 3). So getting together with 50 women and fencing foil and epee was fun. Not my choice of weapon, but it's nice to try something different sometimes, and I'm not even half bad at it (hahaha). Hope to see more events like that!


Besides that,
- I went to see The Fighter. Wow, fantastic movie - the acting, the story, everything was really good.
- I went to see A Clockwork Orange at the cinema too, God I just love that movie!
- I stayed up all nights to watch the Oscar's. Congratulations to all the winners, and especially Susanne Bier for winning and Oscar for best foreign film.
- I found out that Norman Reedus is one of my all-time favorite actors, and created a Twitter so I could follow him. :D