So we got the auditioners squared away, busy working with each other or regular cast members. Then Lou Nogueira of The Dojo, Wolcott, Ct, showed them a three-move routine, which they practiced with cast members, while I and the cast kept our collective eyes on them to decide who would take which open role...
The camera for this episode was held by Jeremy Salig, and the music is by Dr. Bronko Von Johnstein. The Sprawl fight clothes Lou and I are wearing was provided by the Sprawl Fight Shorts company
Showing posts with label lou nogueira. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lou nogueira. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Monday, September 14, 2009
Heck of a weekend!
We shot the "Captain Zorikh plays a gig" scene at an actual gig at Otto's Shrunken Head. Then we showed the Tag-Team match at the bi-monthly Movie Madness Sunday at the same place.
The gig was a glorious trainwreck. I had wanted to form a band entirely of fighters from the movie, but some of them were not available, and some of those that were had a hard time getting to rehearsals. I needed to have a good gender ratio to match the theme of the movie, but it seems to be difficult to find rockabilly keyboardists and drummers in this town.
Finally, between people I have worked with, people I knew, people from the movie, and some last-minute networking with Frank Wood outside Otto's Shrunken Head, I wound up with a band, using the "Death Star Repairmen" name, consisting of myself on vocals, guitar, and harmonica, Eli Maniscalco on bass, Avery Man and Nicole Giunta on Saxophone, Isaac Everett and Amanda Tree on keyboards, Grace on drums, and Becca Hasselbrook on cajon. The entire band got a grand total of about 15 minutes of rehearsal as a unit before hitting the stage at Otto's.
Everything was late. We were the first band for the night. The house keyboard was locked up, the mikes were not out, the gig booker was late, the house manager was not present, and there was no one there to see us yet. Fortunately the camea people were there.
We got everything set up. The cameras were ready, audience arrived, more audience were hooked in from the other room, the band got on stage, and we blasted away, almost fully unencumbered by excessive preparation. The crowd was into it, the cameras were rolling, and we got through the two songs twice.
The camera crew consisted of Evelyn, M. Green, Matt Rosen, and Fred Smith.
After the set I hung out with Patrick Devaney of "Zombie Hunters" and several others, including Lou Nogueira, the "Guru" of the Underground Team in the movie. We had a rip-roaring time discussing making movies,and more, until we all crawled home.
After having avoided alcohol for two weeks to prep my voice for the gig, it was good to drink again.
Then on Sunday we screened the Tag Team match in two parts as well as "Zombie Hunters, Episode 6."
Though the turnout was lighter than in previous screenings, it was enthusiastic. We even drew in a few people from the bar who were not aware of the screening at first. It went very well. The Tag Team match got the desired reaction from the crowd. They were with the action all the way through. When Kristi-Lynn spun Doug on her shoulders, they cheered. When Big Vince proposed, the laughed with the hones guffaw of the recognition of the absurdity of the situation. When Captain Zorikh hit the mat, they cheered. And the applause at the end felt like genuine enthusiasm.
the screening was sponsored in part by the Big Apple Comic-Con, October 16-18 in NYC.
This all inspires me the keep on working, keep on digging, and get this movie done!
The gig was a glorious trainwreck. I had wanted to form a band entirely of fighters from the movie, but some of them were not available, and some of those that were had a hard time getting to rehearsals. I needed to have a good gender ratio to match the theme of the movie, but it seems to be difficult to find rockabilly keyboardists and drummers in this town.
Finally, between people I have worked with, people I knew, people from the movie, and some last-minute networking with Frank Wood outside Otto's Shrunken Head, I wound up with a band, using the "Death Star Repairmen" name, consisting of myself on vocals, guitar, and harmonica, Eli Maniscalco on bass, Avery Man and Nicole Giunta on Saxophone, Isaac Everett and Amanda Tree on keyboards, Grace on drums, and Becca Hasselbrook on cajon. The entire band got a grand total of about 15 minutes of rehearsal as a unit before hitting the stage at Otto's.
Everything was late. We were the first band for the night. The house keyboard was locked up, the mikes were not out, the gig booker was late, the house manager was not present, and there was no one there to see us yet. Fortunately the camea people were there.
We got everything set up. The cameras were ready, audience arrived, more audience were hooked in from the other room, the band got on stage, and we blasted away, almost fully unencumbered by excessive preparation. The crowd was into it, the cameras were rolling, and we got through the two songs twice.
The camera crew consisted of Evelyn, M. Green, Matt Rosen, and Fred Smith.
After the set I hung out with Patrick Devaney of "Zombie Hunters" and several others, including Lou Nogueira, the "Guru" of the Underground Team in the movie. We had a rip-roaring time discussing making movies,and more, until we all crawled home.
After having avoided alcohol for two weeks to prep my voice for the gig, it was good to drink again.
Then on Sunday we screened the Tag Team match in two parts as well as "Zombie Hunters, Episode 6."
Though the turnout was lighter than in previous screenings, it was enthusiastic. We even drew in a few people from the bar who were not aware of the screening at first. It went very well. The Tag Team match got the desired reaction from the crowd. They were with the action all the way through. When Kristi-Lynn spun Doug on her shoulders, they cheered. When Big Vince proposed, the laughed with the hones guffaw of the recognition of the absurdity of the situation. When Captain Zorikh hit the mat, they cheered. And the applause at the end felt like genuine enthusiasm.
the screening was sponsored in part by the Big Apple Comic-Con, October 16-18 in NYC.
This all inspires me the keep on working, keep on digging, and get this movie done!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Week 11 Report
On Week # 11, everything came out in the wash.
The cast member who had problems with two other cast members had written himself into an agreement that prevented him from working with those cast members, and since I would lose four other cast members if I lost those two, and losing those particular cast members would disrupt the storylines that I had been building and fight routines that had been established, I decided that I would lot get rid of those two members. So he dropped out, and one other cast member went with him. The first of those two cast members who left was not so difficult to replace. In fact, I had pretty much already replaced him. He had been absent a lot lately, and Lou Nogueira had stepped in and been present on those days that he was out. Even when he was in, he had deferred to Lou a lot. The other cast member was tougher, as she was part of the "Romeo & Juliette" sub-plot I was writing in. But Nicole Giunta joined the cast in time for Week #11 and took over that role.
I also put out some casting notices and got a surprising level of response. I got experience competition grapplers and MMA fighters, Jerry Mendez had referred a few of his grappling and MMA friends, and I even got contacted by the former Israeli Pro Wrestling champion and the agent of Brimstone, a well-known indie pro wrestler.
I had invited these people to come to a particular "underground wrestling party" in Manhattan as well as the rest of the cast, and got a great turnout! the cast members were able to get a sense of the scene that I was coming from with this movie, and I was able to see these potential new cast members in action.
So on Saturday I had 6 potential new cast members lined up (including Nicole). Lou and I put them through some paces with the cast, and then I conferred with the cast as to who would get which role. In the end we were able to use each and every one of them to fill a hole in the cast.
Specifically, we needed to cast a new Tybalt. Stephen showed in his wrestling the kind of desperate fury that I thought such a character would have. We needed a new trainer for the "Legit" team. Bret showed the legit credibility such a role required. We needed three referees and someone to fill a hole in the "Legit" team. WE had the auditioners improv refereeing three different matches (this also gave three pairs of wrestlers the opportunity to practice their routines under performance conditions). After this we were able to select a head referee. Looking at the cast, I decided that the other referees would be supplied by the two teams, and that they would start off the tag team match.
Together with Willis, Oscar, and Yusif, the three of us some days earlier had set all the matches for the tournament and the tag-team match that we were to shoot on the 25th. I told everyone in the cast what those final matchups were and the order in which their fights would go, and set them to working on their routines.
When that work was done, we gathered up the mats, the "Underground" team, the cameraman, and the PA's, and headed up to Tagine, where we shot the "Underground Fight Party" scene. The three preliminary fights there (Vincent vs. GA, Bundy vs. Kamikaze, and Sandra vs. Lee) were all well prepared, with only my match with Yousif someone improvised (I have found myself so busy doing everything else it takes to make a movie that I have had precious little time to actually work on my own fights. Note to self: don;t let that happen in the future). Lou proved invaluable, giving us good grappling advice. He also was able to do his trick whereby he caught an orange thrown at him while blindfolded. Jeremy Salig manned the camera, and Debra PA'd with great dexterity and sensitivity.
Tomorrow we shoot the scenes where Captain Zorikh first comes to train with the "Legit" team.
The cast member who had problems with two other cast members had written himself into an agreement that prevented him from working with those cast members, and since I would lose four other cast members if I lost those two, and losing those particular cast members would disrupt the storylines that I had been building and fight routines that had been established, I decided that I would lot get rid of those two members. So he dropped out, and one other cast member went with him. The first of those two cast members who left was not so difficult to replace. In fact, I had pretty much already replaced him. He had been absent a lot lately, and Lou Nogueira had stepped in and been present on those days that he was out. Even when he was in, he had deferred to Lou a lot. The other cast member was tougher, as she was part of the "Romeo & Juliette" sub-plot I was writing in. But Nicole Giunta joined the cast in time for Week #11 and took over that role.
I also put out some casting notices and got a surprising level of response. I got experience competition grapplers and MMA fighters, Jerry Mendez had referred a few of his grappling and MMA friends, and I even got contacted by the former Israeli Pro Wrestling champion and the agent of Brimstone, a well-known indie pro wrestler.
I had invited these people to come to a particular "underground wrestling party" in Manhattan as well as the rest of the cast, and got a great turnout! the cast members were able to get a sense of the scene that I was coming from with this movie, and I was able to see these potential new cast members in action.
So on Saturday I had 6 potential new cast members lined up (including Nicole). Lou and I put them through some paces with the cast, and then I conferred with the cast as to who would get which role. In the end we were able to use each and every one of them to fill a hole in the cast.
Specifically, we needed to cast a new Tybalt. Stephen showed in his wrestling the kind of desperate fury that I thought such a character would have. We needed a new trainer for the "Legit" team. Bret showed the legit credibility such a role required. We needed three referees and someone to fill a hole in the "Legit" team. WE had the auditioners improv refereeing three different matches (this also gave three pairs of wrestlers the opportunity to practice their routines under performance conditions). After this we were able to select a head referee. Looking at the cast, I decided that the other referees would be supplied by the two teams, and that they would start off the tag team match.
Together with Willis, Oscar, and Yusif, the three of us some days earlier had set all the matches for the tournament and the tag-team match that we were to shoot on the 25th. I told everyone in the cast what those final matchups were and the order in which their fights would go, and set them to working on their routines.
When that work was done, we gathered up the mats, the "Underground" team, the cameraman, and the PA's, and headed up to Tagine, where we shot the "Underground Fight Party" scene. The three preliminary fights there (Vincent vs. GA, Bundy vs. Kamikaze, and Sandra vs. Lee) were all well prepared, with only my match with Yousif someone improvised (I have found myself so busy doing everything else it takes to make a movie that I have had precious little time to actually work on my own fights. Note to self: don;t let that happen in the future). Lou proved invaluable, giving us good grappling advice. He also was able to do his trick whereby he caught an orange thrown at him while blindfolded. Jeremy Salig manned the camera, and Debra PA'd with great dexterity and sensitivity.
Tomorrow we shoot the scenes where Captain Zorikh first comes to train with the "Legit" team.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Week 7 video Part 1
Here is some video from week 7. This was the week that Sam and his team of Martial Arts Madness fighters were competing at a mixed martial arts tournament. So with a smaller cast of attendees, and with Lou Nogueira leading the training, we learned a new sequence and continued working routines.
Stay tuned, because in the next video, we will finally learn a little bit about the cast members themselves.
Stay tuned, because in the next video, we will finally learn a little bit about the cast members themselves.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Location, location, location...
So it looks like we have almost all the locations we need for the movie in the works, if not locked down.
I just spent a few minutes chatting with Sensei Louis A. Ruiz of Goshin Ryu Traditional Shotokan Karate-Do. He has said that we could use his dojo for shooting the scenes of the "legit" grappling team.
A friend of mine who works in a warehouse in Brooklyn has agreed to let me use that space for the big tournament scene, and Lou Nogueira has said we could use his mats. However, bringing those mats down here would be a task so...
Lou has offered that we use his dojo in Connecticut to shoot the tournament scene. I will be visiting it soon to check it out.
Tagine has agreed to let us use its basement for the "Underground party," I just have to come up with a certain amount of money to pay for food for the cast and crew that they would provide.
The "wrestling room" in the LGBT Center is available for a very affordable rate, and we can use that for one or two important scenes.
I still need to nail down a weightlifting gym for a couple of shots and I would like to use a bar around the corner for one scene, but I can adapt with both of those locations.
I just spent a few minutes chatting with Sensei Louis A. Ruiz of Goshin Ryu Traditional Shotokan Karate-Do. He has said that we could use his dojo for shooting the scenes of the "legit" grappling team.
A friend of mine who works in a warehouse in Brooklyn has agreed to let me use that space for the big tournament scene, and Lou Nogueira has said we could use his mats. However, bringing those mats down here would be a task so...
Lou has offered that we use his dojo in Connecticut to shoot the tournament scene. I will be visiting it soon to check it out.
Tagine has agreed to let us use its basement for the "Underground party," I just have to come up with a certain amount of money to pay for food for the cast and crew that they would provide.
The "wrestling room" in the LGBT Center is available for a very affordable rate, and we can use that for one or two important scenes.
I still need to nail down a weightlifting gym for a couple of shots and I would like to use a bar around the corner for one scene, but I can adapt with both of those locations.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Week #6 Report
This week we moved ahead. After learning a new takedown/submission/escape sequence, and having the cast members work on their competition routines, we did some group improvs.
I divided everyone, including the instructors, into two groups. I assigned each group a "Captain Zorikh" stand-in, an "adversary" and a "gatekeeper." I told them that the scene was set at an underground wrestling party where Captain Zorikh challenges the adversary. She accepts the challenge ad wipes the floor with him. Then the gatekeeper invites CZ to come train, if he wants to be taken seriously. in group A, a had all of the New Era wrestlers and several other cast members, as the party attendees, Lee Boria as the Adversary, G.A. West as the Gatekeeper, and Jonathan Rodriguez as the CZ stand-in. In group B, everyone else (mostly Sammy's crew, the Kung Fu kids, casting respondents, and the individuals I had personally invited) was the party attendees, Elizabeth Vergara played the Adversary, Sam as the Gatekeeper, and Douglas Ahammer as the CZ stand-in.
After a few questions, the cast took the ball and ran with it. They took the story and the action further than I had expected, and though they did misunderstand a direction or two (perhaps I was not clear enough in explaining myself) but by doing so, showed me stuff that I had not thought of.
I also handed out the story treatment of the movie to everyone, and explained to them a little bit more about where the movie came from, and what we were looking for as an Adversary for CZ.
This week also welcomes Lou Nogueira to the family. He will be acting in the film and assisting Sam with the training. Lou is a Judo, karate, and BJJ black belt, member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame, and multi-time champion of several martial arts and grappling disciplines. You can see more about him at http://www.thedojoonline.com/ablou.htm
I divided everyone, including the instructors, into two groups. I assigned each group a "Captain Zorikh" stand-in, an "adversary" and a "gatekeeper." I told them that the scene was set at an underground wrestling party where Captain Zorikh challenges the adversary. She accepts the challenge ad wipes the floor with him. Then the gatekeeper invites CZ to come train, if he wants to be taken seriously. in group A, a had all of the New Era wrestlers and several other cast members, as the party attendees, Lee Boria as the Adversary, G.A. West as the Gatekeeper, and Jonathan Rodriguez as the CZ stand-in. In group B, everyone else (mostly Sammy's crew, the Kung Fu kids, casting respondents, and the individuals I had personally invited) was the party attendees, Elizabeth Vergara played the Adversary, Sam as the Gatekeeper, and Douglas Ahammer as the CZ stand-in.
After a few questions, the cast took the ball and ran with it. They took the story and the action further than I had expected, and though they did misunderstand a direction or two (perhaps I was not clear enough in explaining myself) but by doing so, showed me stuff that I had not thought of.
I also handed out the story treatment of the movie to everyone, and explained to them a little bit more about where the movie came from, and what we were looking for as an Adversary for CZ.
This week also welcomes Lou Nogueira to the family. He will be acting in the film and assisting Sam with the training. Lou is a Judo, karate, and BJJ black belt, member of the Martial Arts Hall of Fame, and multi-time champion of several martial arts and grappling disciplines. You can see more about him at http://www.thedojoonline.com/ablou.htm
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