First Green Screen Attempt

The phrase of the day was: "Save the cheerleader, save the world."

Yesterday we had our first attempt at shooting with a green screen. Si Ying needed to do a montage for MMU's prom nite, and she needed silhouettes of a couple of dancers, so she talked to us and we decided to help out. We used 3 1x6m green cloth, and looking for a suitable location was a problem since it was literally just 3 pieces of cloth. We didn't have time to properly attach it beforehand.

Anyway, crew call was at 9am, and I was already in Cyberjaya half an hour before. Fortunately she's already awake at that time, so we went and look at the location (outdoors) to set up the green screen. Problem is, Jarod has yet to show up (stomach ache he says), and he's the one that's having the equipment at that time.

9:30am and still no sign of Jarod. Si Ying's friends, who we know as "That One" and "This One" (previously known as Friend#1 and Friend#2), along with the two dancers (one of them a cheerleader, hence, the phrase) and their friend are already there. Si Ying was panicking since the sky is getting darker. Yeap, it's gonna rain.

Eventually Jarod arrived, close to 10am. We set up the green screen, which took another 15-20 minutes (fortunately) and started shooting. Literally a few minutes into the shoot, the rain came. We scrambled to take down the green screen, packed up and waited. Wasted another hour on that. In the meantime, Jarod went looking for another location, indoors.

He managed to get another location, a lecture hall. Whoopee. Another half an hour wasted on re-setting up of the green screen. When it was all done, there were issues, like slippery floors (it was a smooth wooden stage, and the cloth had to be used on it), unprepared dancers, indecisive director, etc. We started shooting around 11:30am and finished around 4pm. I was told that the cheerleader (insert phrase here) had a cheerleading practice at noon. Crap.

While Si Ying was shooting her silhouettes, Jarod, Nick (who also came by) and I were "shooed" away because the cheerleader was a little shy about dancing in front of so many strangers. We weren't bothered about it anyway, and set up shop in the lecture hall next door. It has a working PC and a projector. Bam! Instant mini-theater. We watched SNL on that thing. hehehe.

That was it. What a day it was. Can't wait for our proper green screen production. :)

No one likes pizza?

We're supposed to have a pizza party this weekend to celebrate our win last week, but... Only 3 people wants in on it? Pizza people, come on! No? You'd rather have mamak food instead? lol

Fine by me. Cheaper for Jarod too. I'm sure he'll appreciate that.

Top Ten Things I Would've Called My Truck

This was on "How I Met Your Mother" this week. I thought everyone should have a good laugh too. Transcribed to the best of my knowledge. :)

10. The Winnebang-go
09. The Pick-up Truck
08. The Ford Explore-her
07. The U-scream Truck
06. Feels On Wheels
05. The Ride-her Truck
04. The 18-Squealer
03. The Esca-laid
02. The Slam-boni
01. The '69 Chevy

Barney rocks. lol

So we did...

Well what do you know, Detained won best director and 2nd runner-up for best film in the open category. To think, we were all somewhat disappointed with the production of this short, pointing out the flaws in everyone involved. We weren't even going to submit this, but we did anyway. Looks like someone liked it enough to give us something. :)

I'm sure there will be an issue as to who is the director of this short. Truth is, there are two, Tony was in charge of the creative production side, while I was in the technical and post-production. As long as he doesn't mind sharing the title, fine by me. I really need to pimp myself to get up the ladder in the industry.

Now I'm a little excited and inspired to direct another short, but I don't know what it will be. I have a few scripts up my sleeve, but they're either too costly or too complicated to produce. Doesn't matter right now, since the team's going to shoot another short using the green screen real soon. Mine can come after that.

Changing names

Dex Masrey. That's the name I've been pimping over the past few months. It all started almost 10 years ago, during the heyday of irc when I had to choose a nickname and using your own name was considered a hefty sin. :P I was watching Cartoon Network at that time and it just so happens that Dexter's Laboratory was on air, so I picked that name. Added a little extra at the end, thus dExtEr^Rr was born.

It evolved into other forms of nicknames such as dexter, dextah, sextah, sexydexy (I know, corny), dex8472, d3x and many more, but somehow Dex DeMarco stuck with me for a while; but DeMarco kinda got dropped, so Dex it is.

Now, for my production team, I've been pimping Dex Masrey, it's even on my business cards. But lately, I'm thinking of using Daniel instead. Imagine this: Daniel Masrey. Sounds more pleasant doesn't it? Dr. Jackson will be proud. :P

A lot of people have come to recognize my name as Dex, hence the tough decision on whether to use Daniel or Dex now. Or both?