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"RETURN OF AGENT 12" PRODUCTION JOURNAL indie moviemaking blog weblog
The journal is maintained on a palmtop and updated on this website approximately once a week.
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1-11-03 -- Josh and Angus helped disassemble the helicopter and install a fan motor and tail motor -- they did much of the work themselves and I was pleased. Now we have to figure out how to do the rocket pods.
1-13-03 -- a couple of howitzers arrived from Amazon, getting Angus excited enough to blow through his schoolwork at high speed. The howitzers were originally supposed to go on the chopper but they are too big. However they look pretty cool so we'll probably find a use for them.
Building new rocket pods for the helicopter went fairly well, and they are attached now. Angus' friend Avery came over because he wants to be in the movie -- he is 14 but looks 11 and is considerably smaller than Angus. This is in contrast to Taylor, who is 12 but looks 15. Kids at this age are just wildly variable, I guess. In any case, they're all kids and that is about the only qualification we have. So what the heck.
We also got some Skylighter supplies but so far have had difficulty making the metal powders work for us -- I think we use too much. But we tested some coffee creamer salutes and even figured out how to do a decent howitzer fire with a wad of flash paper that has bit of black powder inside. So it was a fun day and Salvage only worried a little.
1-15-03 -- Made a start on the RA12 script, which at the moment has a lot more actual acting in it. May be risky, but what the hell. Give the kids a shot at it. We can always just blow up more stuff.
1-17-03 -- wrote another ten pages of RA12 and I'm still not done. I wonder if there is such a thing as an epic short?
The napthalene arrived today and it works well enough but stinks like crazy and doesn't work that much better than coffee creamer. It came with charcoal which when mixed with coffee creamer gives a much more desirable effect and doesn't smell, so we'll probably use that.
1-18-03 -- obtained a jar of Pyrodex P, which to my delight turns out to be much finer than FF black powder. It also burns slower and more poofy, which means it now has allowed me to achieve my long-sought Tablespoon Fireball for mimiature work. Black powder, at such tiny sizes (about 1/4 tsp) either blew the fireball mix flying without lighting it or (slightly reduced) lit it but didn't get it clear of the container. The 1/4 tsp of Pyrodex does a nice job of getting the coffee creamer billowing. Probably will work with Nap too, but have not tried.
1-20-03 --finished the first draft of RA12 -- at 47 pages, I suspect this project will be a tad longer than the last. But went by Greg's and had a nice chat with Taylor -- he seems to be an enthusiastic filmmaker. We'll see how he feels when stuff is blowing up.
1-21-03 -- We'll need some large boulders for setbuilding and even the fake ones are too expensive. We're going to try to make them, but will have to find a method. I thought maybe expansion foam in a garbage bag, but a test shows that to be unworkable -- the plastic bag seals the foam and keeps it from hardening. We'll have to try something else.
1-22-03 --Tried the hole-in-the-ground method of making a foam rock and this was much more successful, for a proof-of-concept test. We'll see how it looks painted.
The Airsoft guns arrived and they do look too darn real. Angus thinks they are cool so I'll let him mess with them for a while before I take 'em apart and try to make 'em look more high-tech. The dogs are not fond of guns, but at least these don't make much noise.
Angus and I tested and filmed a couple of "tablespoon fireballs" and they seemed to work well enough. Then I tried messing with them on the Mac and managed to do it, though I did crash it twice. But I am learning.
1-23-03 -- got surrounded by excited cast members to whom Angus has been leaking the script. They were full of fun ideas about how to simulate gunshot wounds with red dye in baggies. This had to be vetoed but the enthusiasm is appreciated.
Did the script fixes that Angus and Sharon had suggested and caught a few myself, then took it off to have copies made. Also getting storyboard paper printed up.
1-24-03 -- When I was preparing to BBQ, I could see that Sharon was reading in the kitchen so I thought of a funny gag. I assembled a large coffee creamer fireball and put it in the bottom of the grill, then went in and announced that I was going to light the grill now. Went back outside and touched off the fireball, with a huge ball of flame billowing through the breezeway as I watched Sharon through the window. The fireball brought Angus running from the other side of the house, where he'd seen it light up the whole backyard, but Sharon just rolled her eyes and went back to reading. Just getting too desensitized, these days. But Angus helped me do another one and we filmed it.
1-26-03 -- We had lots of snacks during the Superbowl and I took apart the hand vac to convert it to a jetpack while I watched the game. This was harder than expected. I had anticipated only having to reverse the polarity but it turns out that an impeller doesn't work that way. Reversing the direction just makes it work poorly but the airflow goes the same way. I ended up having to completely strip it down and turn the inner workings around, and I'm still not done. But it is fun taking stuff apart.
Max had friends over and Angus had Michael over. Michael made a cool helicopter with rotating props out of Legos -- where was he when we were building the chopper? I will definitely have to put him to work.
1-27-03 -- Had a cool new Airsoft gun arrive from a place called Den Trinity -- an MP5 with full auto blowback capability and which looks and feels real as hell. Angus had a lot of schoolwork to do but he got through it quickly to get hold of that puppy. Too real for our movie but good to know about anyway.
1-28-03 -- Had five pounds of black powder delivered by UPS this morning -- do we live in a great country or what? Didn't need five pounds, we could probably have done with less than one -- but it was powderinc's minimum order.
1-29-03 -- Rebuilt the first of the two gammaguns and it came out fairly well -- now it looks considerably less real but still pretty cool. And managed to get a tactile switch into the handle to turn on the laser pointer when you grip the gun, which is a kind of cool thing and Angus likes it.
1-30-03 -- Started work on the second gammagun, with Angus helping a bit. Finally learning how to take apart laser pointers and rewire them -- just in time for it to not matter any more. Typical.
1-31-03 -- Finished the second Gammagun and Angus helped with the assembly and was the needed third hand for soldering. Then he and I went off to Wal-Mart to get moviemaking supplies, like an automobile creeper (to use as a dolly) and cheap squirt guns and other things to use as props. Picked up some highway flares and steel wool and ping-pong balls for experimenting with in pyro effects. When we got home another Skylighter package had arrived so we did a few experiments that scorched the garage floor and smoked up the garage. So we stopped for the evening.
We also went to ToysrUs and got an RC Hummer for Josh's birthday present. But he will be told it is also a prop, so he can play with it for a while and then we are going to blow it up.
2-1-03 -- The sugar-smoke mixtures made this morning turned out quite effective, and we are pleased. Also the spark mixture. So with that we can pretty much accomplish everything, though there will be a certain amount of testing still to be done.
2-2-03 -- Angus and I made some Experiments in the garage and blew them up, and we are fairly satisfied. The problem with Experiments is the desire to continue Testing beyond all need, just because it is cool. But I started the storyboard. Craig came over, got his picture for the Web page, and we also set off a cool fireball by the gate. Right through the bars. We were hoping a passing car would see it but perhaps it was just as well that there were none at the time.
And my foam rock looks promising -- but was damn hard getting it out of the ground.
The Columbia burning up on re-entry is a bummer. These things do happen, but it kinda takes the fun out of blowing stuff up for a while.
2-3-03 -- Had to fly to Albuquerque and back on family business, which was a bit grueling but I got some aerial footage out of it through the window. May or may not turn out useful.
2-4-03 -- the Ninja Smoke arrived from Firefox and it is most cool -- gives a terrific effect and makes no noise. We even tried hanging it from a nylon line in the air and that was cool too, so we will have to film some.
2-5-03 -- Cold and windy. Angus and I ventured out once, to blow something up, and Sharon claims this gives her permission to reupholster another chair. I fail to see the logical connection, but I am sure that many women will be glad to explain it to me.
Angus got his hair cut and I arm-twisted him into letting Nadia give it highlights. She did a nice delicate job and it actually makes his hair look more natural -- it was such a solid mass of dark brown before.
2-6-03 -- Angus and I did not light off too much stuff, but I did get some more foam to try to complete the foam boulder. I think with a little careful cutting it might be okay. I looked into the artifical ones and they look very good but they are much too expensive -- also too heavy.
2-7-03 -- Did a few storyboard panels and made some Smoke Mix and dug my foam boulder out of the ground. It looks the right shape, we'll see how it paints. Also the Sluggi Nerf guns arrived and they are pretty cool. Again, we'll see how they paint.
2-8-03 -- Did some storyboard work in front of the fire while the captured videos of the clouds shot from the deck were being rendered and burned to disk. Cloud skies are always useful because sky can be anywhere and being able to time-lapse the clouds sometimes gives a shot some extra dynamicism.
2-9-03 -- Did storyboards and also figured out how to take apart the snapcaps that will be the gammagun powercells. Want to make them glow somehow. Tried a blacklight but they are the wrong sort of plastic and filling them with yellow flourescent paint didn't work either. But at least the letters come off with a combination of turpentine and ultra-fine steel wool.
The Nerf machine guns stop after only one rotation, no matter how much you pump them. This makes sense from the nerf-darf standpoint but for movie props we may have to motorize them. We will see.
2-10-03 -- Picked up some tiny batteries and LEDs and made a test Gammagun bullet. Tight quarters, but got it to work. The snap caps are red plastic so I tried a white LED but it was too white -- the red LEDs work better. However, I only have one of them so I will have to get more. Took longer than I expected -- these things always do -- but still managed to get some storyboard pages done.
2-11-03 -- The Gammagun bullet has been lit up now for 24 hours and is still going strong. Guess my fears of a tight window can relax.
The new gun arrived today and it looks scary real. (Naturally, Angus thinks it is cool.) It will take some work to revamp it into a more high-tech weapon. It was purchased under the hypothesis that it -- being an 8MM weapon -- might fire those Sprite Bombs. And it does, but they tend to explode in the barrel, causing the gun muzzle to actually have bursts of flame. This, while interesting, is not what we wanted. We wanted to use the Sprite Bombs as bullet hits, since they shatter in a spray of sparks when they hit a wall or hard surface. But I got some brass tubing that we can cut down to short lengths and fasten to a board like pan pipes. A sprite bomb in each and a blast from the compressor blowgun should fire them fine. We'll see.
In the meantime, the gun will be revamped and probably become Commander Stix's gun if it turns out well.
2-12-03 -- Pouring rain all day. Huge lake in the backyard. Angus and I threw some Navy Seal firecrackers in it, and then tried crackle bombs, but they didn't work. However, after we sealed them up with hotglue and coated the fuses, they did. Sharon finally made us stop because she said the dogs were worried.
Started working on the revolver, trying to de-real it enough to be acceptable. Got some new batteries and LEDs from the Shack. Also did some more on the storyboard. Ended the day watching the first of the old Thunderbirds episodes, which was -- I am pleased to say -- about as cool as I remember. Even Angus was impressed by the wealth of detail in the models and sets. And they blew up stuff pretty well too. I noticed they had the same problems we had with the bluescreen washing, though they worked it out. And I also spotted some of the ways they dealt with the problems. Fans, smoke charges rather than flame, etc. Ingenuity at work.
2-13-03 -- The Dr. Vengeance guns arrived today, along with holsters which we will experiment with. Only was able to get a few storyboard panels done, but they are fun ones, where Commander Stix gets knocked against Agent 12. Angus has been reading the boards when I am not around, and I expect he will give me a hard time on these panels, but that is the point.
2-14-03 -- A box showed up from UPS but it was not toy guns or explosives this time. Just Teaching Company tapes, which Angus thought was a dirty trick.
Did a bunch of storyboard work today, and tried some more smoke mixtures. It looks like just the standard powdered-sugar-and-potassium-nitrate 50-50 mix works the best, at least for fast smoke. The coffee creamer mixture is better for smolders. We also fitted the tactical holsters on Angus. With a little adjustment via a razor knife we got them trimmed of loose ends and able to accommodate the larger size of the modified guns. They are also reasonably priced, which is a plus.
2-15-03 -- Got a fine strainer and a small cheap kitchen scale, and they turn out to be just the ticket for accurately mixing sugar rocket and smoke comps. The results have been quite pleasing to us and quite upsetting for the dogs, which is a good sign all around. Picked up the tripod from Mark -- he couldn't fix the head but at least he was able to get it off, and now it can be replaced.
2-16-03 -- The refilled Estes engine exploded backward -- I think I made the core too deep -- but we had more success with just hand-ramming the propellant. The thrust is minimal but the effect is what counts.
We also played with coffee creamer smoke, deciding that 2 parts coffee creamer to one part potassium nitrate works well. Mixed with ball juice and dried is simplest, but we also mixed it with an extraordinarily tiny amount of water (it still got very liquid) and baked it in mini-muffin cups at 250 degrees for an hour (convection.) The end result looked and smelled delicious, light golden brown crispy things like an Italian cookie, but which when ignited give off a slow, steady volume of smoke for quite a long time. Angus calls them Detonation Films' Smoke Cookies.
You might imagine Sharon's reaction when she saw me taking out a tray of fresh-baked smoke bombs from the oven, but you would be wrong. About all she did was roll her eyes. It was Max that freaked out. "You're making BOMBS!? In the OVEN!? I was gonna EAT one!" Easily rattled, that boy.
2-17-03 -- Sugar rockets with nozzles seem to be trouble -- I think debris builds up in them too fast. But the hand-rammed ones were okay -- kinda cool. We also made some more smoke cookies and I took a short MPG of Angus with a lit one.
2-19-03 -- Made melted-sugar smoke bombs which turned into carmel, as the instructions predicted. However, although they work they are only mildy impressive and are much more work than the coffee creamer bombs and cookies which work better.
On the other hand, we did grind up some leftover Valentine's candy hearts and used them to make a sugar rocket engine with some of the scrap aluminum pipe -- just a static fire but it looked awesome, thundering flame and billowing smoke. Angus termed it "Burnin' Love" and we videotaped it and put it on the website.
Boarded three more script pages -- had to get more storyboard paper. But I am halfway through now.
2-20-03 -- Angus and I tried a sugar rocket bound with ball juice and found again that such fuels burn much more intensely than standard -- we will continue to experiment but they are almost too good -- the hand-rammed ones may work better for our purposes. They don't thrust but they smoke more.
2-21-03 -- Angus and I mixed up some rocket formulas and Tested them assiduously, (along with a run to see Daredevil) and then we came back and blew up more stuff. And then Sharon came home and found the dogs nervous wrecks for some reason. We have no idea why. But she gave them hugs and they felt better.
2-22-03 -- Angus went over to Craig's to work on another film. He was there all day, while I assembled fireball materials for the evening. Sharon said she had a long chat with Max about Technology, which left her glad to be old, though Max was enthused. We were blowing off fireballs the whole time but they were so quiet no one noticed. Which is what I like. Ed and Brenda and their son Michael came over to participate, and even helped tidy afterward, which was appreciated. But though the camera lens shows a few spots we got some good footage, I think. Even the dogs were not too scared.
2-23-03 -- Angus was busy all day shooting a movie with Craig and his friend RJ, and they came over to our place to edit it. They did an astonishingly good job too -- some real talent there. They need to finish the sound so they will probably come over tomorrow. Meanwhile, I did some storyboards.
2-24-03 -- Angus started inking the board and he's doing a very good job. Big help, plus he made sixty bucks in one day and blew it all on videogames. Fine by me. Long as he's having fun. I posted some of the stock footage to the website for other people to use.
2-26-03 -- Kludged together a ball mill out of a large plastic jar and the BBQ rotisserie -- made some rocket fuel with fructose using it, but fructose burns unimpressively. Does okay, but regular sugar works better. We also tested a couple of well-dried sugar rockets that had been bound with ball juice but they exploded again. That stuff just burns too fast.
2-27-03 -- My milled rocket powders are fabulous -- I am a convert. Had to do much writing but the new rocket tubes showed up and had to be packed and used, of course.
2-28-03 – Had to fly off to London for a meeting on a possible Thunderbirds series. Very exciting, given that it was one of my major influences growing up. May learn a few tricks as well, since it will involve Blowing Stuff Up. Will be gone for a week.
3-8-03 – Bought cool Thunderbird toys in London. Managed to box up toys and get to airport -- plane not so cramped as last time and slept almost whole way home, as is proper. Were greeted by both wives and Greg's kids, and I set off a firework before we had even gotten the luggage out of the car. Good to be home.
3-9-03 -- Sharon off to airport at 4Am but it was okay for me, still on London time. So I drove. She called once from Nashville and the boys and I have played with toys and explosive-making apparatus all day. Angus' card to me was hilarious, I must put it on the website.
3-10-03 -- Angus and I stripped down T2 for rebuilding, went to the scrapyard, picked up a new wagon (with pneumatic wheels) and went to Gelson's. Also tried filming a sugar rocket flyby but it went too fast. Will have to tone down those nozzles. Nice to see they work though.
3-11-03 -- Busy day for Angus and myself. After schoolwork, we began serious work on a small Thunderbirds shoot, but we also wanted to use it as a reason to get many things that we knew we'd need for later productions anyway, like fluorescent lights and a nice wagon with pneumatic wheels. So we did this, and Angus assembled the wagon (by himself, and with quiet pride) while I assembled the lights. We hung the bluescreen, and Angus painted the War Table in Chroma Blue, and we rigged the rear rockets on Thunderbird Two (involving some soldering and tricky hiding of ignition wires) but when we actually filmed it it fired almost perfectly and looked totally Thunderbirds cool. Angus thought it was even better because our flames were bigger. So though it was a simple shot really we felt very jazzed. And we even got it done in time for karate! Did a few storyboard panels, and Angus has been getting better ad better at inking them.
3-12-03 -- Angus and I got caught up in trying to get the Thunderbird Two toy to take off, and this entailed three different attempts and the entire day. But we got a nice one at last, in the evening, and from two different angles, too. Angus also learned how to solder, a good manly skill. I must say it gave me a new respect for Gerry Anderson -- getting four widely-spaced rocket motors to fire simultaneously is not easy, nor is keeping the heat and flame generated from damaging the model or melting the lines supporting it. It was actually a lot easier just to blow stuff up. But we learned a lot, and Sensei Wayne even came over to watch part of it. But the dogs Did Not Approve, even though they got a Hike and Salmon, and Salvage is sleeping outdoors tonight because the night smells of jasmine. And the garage smells of Bombs.
3-13-03 -- Angus and I got our last shot -- the T2 flyby -- after only one glitch where one of the two engines failed to fire. Fortunately I had made extras. We also drove around getting shots of the sky with moving trees by clamping the camera to the convertible rollbar. Then it was dump 'em into the computer time and although pyro against bluescreen is always a pain, the new screen and lighting work much better. This was all just fun, but it will be useful knowledge.
3-14-03 -- Finished the Thunderbirds Homage video and posted it on the Web, where it has already garnered some kind remarks. I think Thunderbirds fans were just hungry for anything they hadn't seen a zillion times already. But even as such we learned a lot, and the new bluescreen and lighting techniques are definitely a big improvement. Also picked up the Agent 12 one-minute theme from Frank and so I can start cutting the "sizzler reel" now. And Angus and I saw "Cody Banks" which we actually enjoyed.
3-15-03 -- Rainy all day. At least gave me some time to work on the storyboard. Also experimented with mixing napthalene and black rubber into the rocket fuel in an attempt to get black smoke. So far what I get is gray smoke and a terrible smell, which is probably not worth the trouble. But the salt-and-pepper napmix does do a decent small fireball, though there is still a lingering scent of mothballs. Was drying out some star mix in the oven and Max came down because he thought it smelled like chicken. There are probably few households where the children open the oven, stare suspiciously at the contents, and ask "Can I eat this? Or is it a bomb?" But survival instinct is strong around here.
3-16-03 -- Will and his son Gary drove down from San Francisco and we shot a short film -- still needs to be edited but we got the footage. I think Will was astounded at how long it took to get 20 shots. As he put it, he's framed houses in the same amount of time. But the footage looks cool and should be fun to assemble. Gary was very brave even when we were blowing stuff up around him.
3-17-03 -- Assembled the camcrane, which looks cool.
3-18-03 -- Edited the little film with Gary for most of the rest of the day.
3-19-03 -- Finished editing the "Showdown" vid and made copies.
3-21-03 -- Did some storyboard work, including some work at the dojo during promotions, which as always took an hour just to get underway. So at least I was able to put it to use.
3-22-03 -- Sharon says Kitty runs and hides now whenever she sees me. They learn. The dogs are happy to see me unless I go in the garage, which makes them nervous. Made a new batch of Smoke Cookies.
3-23-03 -- worked on storyboards and sugar rockets. However our attempt to capture a wire-streak image of them failed when both rockets CATOed. Sometimes that happens.
3-24-03 -- Started trying to put together the "Sizzler Reel" but that first involved rebuilding the movie from the mix and removing the music. Then I had to get the visuals from the external hard drive, and of course the complete version is too big to work on my computer. So I used the Mac to break it down and then dropped the mixed track to put in just the dialogue and SFX. Of course this alone took all day, but now I can get started.
3-25-03 -- Started more work on the sizzler and got yelled at by Sharon for being too loud, which hurt my feelings. But she is heartless and cruel by nature. Angus and I are experimenting with making black powder, just to see if we can. Goodness knows we don't need it, but it is an Experiment.
3-26-03 -- Now it is windy and dry, so Sharon has asked me to turn off the ball mill for the night lest there be a spark. I felt this was reasonable, especially since I had just had a test ball-juice-sugar-rocket explode on me with a loud bang. So I was willing enough to comply. Finished the first cut of the sizzler reel and will try to get headers and tails on it later.
3-27-03 -- Angus' black powder works pretty well but it is too windy to blow stuff up.
3-29-03 -- In the afternoon Angus and I did storyboards and Craig came over in the evening and we blew up more stuff. (Napthalene fireballs straight up.) A day well spent, though not if you ask the dogs.
3-30-03 -- Stuff blew up. Craig spent the night. It was funny -- when Craig went out the the garage, one thing caught his eye immediately. "You've got a crane!" he said, lust radiating from every pore. Obviously a future filmmaker. I told him he could use it when needed. Mixing up some stuff to try with epoxy to make black smoke, and also did a storyboard panel or two.
4-2-03 -- Finished the outer structure of the jetpack and it looks damn cool, practically like it would work. The ignition devices have not been added but it is still debatable whether that should be integrated into the jetpack itself or fired from offscreen. Angus would probably prefer to have control of that himself. I know I would, if I was wearing it. He and I also experimented with making sugar rocket mix out of powdered cocoa, but it appears only marginally successful. We'll have to try lemonade powder next. Or Tang. I wonder if they still sell Tang?
4-3-03 -- I spent another couple of hours working on storyboards. One thing I'm discovering is that working in the recliner is tough -- I keep dozing off. I switched to the dining room table and got considerably more accomplished. Discovered that Dixie cups make great containers for coffee creamer fireballs. Not sure what to do about this, but it is cool.
4-4-03 -- After breakfast stopped by a health food store and picked up something called Birch Sugar to experiment with. Then when I got home more Bomb Stuff arrived. Big fun! Angus and I had made rocket fuel with powdered Country Time lemonade mix and it turned out really well, with spectacular flames -- I had been wondering about this, since the valentine hearts sugar rocket had worked so well. I suspect but cannot yet prove that the citric acid somehow helps things. I'll have to pick some up and try adding it to a standard sugar rocket. In any case, the powdered zinc that arrived turned out to be great stuff added to rocket fuel -- gives a rolling greenish flame and billows of smoke -- very evil-rocket looking, so we are pleased. And this was just a rough test. Also got a real ball mill with two barrels so we are mixing two more batches of sugar rockets -- one with birch sugar and one with Dextrose, which also arrived. Then I did two more script pages of storyboards. So it was a Good Day.
4-5-03 -- Did storyboards today, getting past Page 40 in the script. Had to go get new storyboard paper printed up. Angus took a sheaf of originals off to a sleepover, planning to ink some of them during quiet moments. Finished the rebuild/customization of the Commander Stix pistol. So it joins the other weapons on the Prop Shelf.
4-6-03 -- shuffled out to the garage to putter with the jetpack, wiring it so that Angus can fire it himself, plus a safety switch. Got that done anyway. Went back in and suggested to Angus that perhaps instead of bothering with wires and harness I should just mix up some perchlorate rockets. Angus is not very heavy and with luck we should be able to get him twenty, thirty feet in the air before they burn out. If we do it over the pool he should splash down safely enough. To his credit, Angus merely nodded and said indicated it was worth a try, while his mom had a heart attack. Angus explained to her it was a joke.
4-7-03 -- Still felt a little ill, so took a sick day, but that didn't stop Angus and I from testing the jetpack. The thrusters blasted a lot of smoke but they'll need nozzles to give it enough distance. In any case, the ignition system works. Tried the AP/zinc mixed with epoxy and it is sort of scary stuff -- a huge blast of flame and black smoke. In fact, a passing police car came to investigate. But they were just making sure I was okay. It looks like it would work for our Rocket of Doom but it may also be more than we want to deal with. Further careful testing needed.
4-8-03 -- Got a nice call from Austen about the trailer and Angus and I tested a few more black smoke mixes, with middling success. Did another script page of storyboards.
4-9-03 -- Angus and I even made a successful batch of thermite that we ignited in the backyard. It flared with brilliant heat, burned about an inch into a 4x4 we had spanning a hole dug in the backyard, and left a puddle of molten iron which Angus is now keeping as a souvenir. Picked up some ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) since we suspected it was giving the lemonade rockets the extra kick. Sure enough, it seems to do the job, so we are going to add it to our Secret Formula. We'll get Angus off the ground yet. Managed to do a few more storyboard pages as well.
4-10-03 -- Dropped the trusty videocamera today, trying to get it onto one of those blasted Quick-Release mounts (which I have come to despise) and now we are getting some glitching. Doesn't show up during taping, just in playback. We did a side-by-side test of sugar rockets today and discovered that lemonade and birch sugar were about the same, though the birch sugar burned a couple of seconds longer. This may have been just quantity -- I wasn't particularly careful about exact measurements when loading the tube. In any case, either will work and we'll probably go with whichever is easiest. We filmed this, and also the Thermite Cupcake, but the video is glitched when I tried to capture it. Removing the tape and replacing it didn't help, though video taken after that seems improved, though still with occasional artifacts. A concern, but God knows the camera has already been through so much we should just be grateful it has survived this long. Did some storyboards -- down to the last five script pages.
4-11-03 -- Angus and I made a Loud Noise today. We took an empty plastic soda water bottle, drilled a small hole in the lid, inserted a fuse, glued it in place, and put a couple spoonfuls of "golden powder" (vitamin C and potassium nitrate) in the bottle. Then we screwed the lid on and turned the bottle upside down (so the powder would be on the fuse) and lit it and backed away. I'm not sure what we expected. I rather expected the cap would pop off. Angus figured the bottle would just melt. But what happened was the bottle burst, kind of like a balloon but with the loudest bang I have heard in years. My ears hurt for hours afterward and Sharon was furious. I had to call the neighbors to apologize. At least their dogs were inside. Ours almost didn't care. They've grown too blase to do more than quiver, these days. The camera seems to be working okay -- it was the tape that was damaged somehow. (Fingers crossed.) Have inserted a new tape -- the old one was about full in any case.
4-13-03 -- Drizzly rain. Turns out damp weather is bad for making pyrotechnics, as things get damp. Who knew? Finally finished the rough of the storyboard. Woo-hoo! 240 pages or thereabouts; gonna take a lot of pushpins.
4-14-03 -- Rainy. Too damp for bombs. Probably just as well. Inked some storyboard pages.
4-16-03 -- picked up some new epoxies and casting resins, and mixed up a few rocket fuels but have to let them cure overnight. Angus' new red glasses arrived today, so we filmed some tests with them against the greenscreen to see how they would perform. At least they are tighter against his head and look cool.
4-17-03 -- Inked more storyboard panels. Mixed up some black smoke engines -- added just a touch of aluminum to make it burn hotter -- hope it doesn't screw things up. And got some steel to try to make a stand for Angus to use during jetpack scenes.
4-18-03 -- Angus and I also finally got a decent Evil Rocket mix, and about time too, since Sharon was about fed up with Testing.
4-19-03 -- I'd rigged up some thrusters for the backpack and we got a couple of shots -- stood Angus on the rectifier on the front sidewalk for good bluesky BG. Full gear; shades, guns, costume and jetpack. Sure stopped traffic, especially when he fired the thrusters. I think some people were expecting him to actually fly. But we may actually have gotten some useful footage and at least the thruster design now works. Time to start getting shots.
4-20-03 -- discovered the birch sugar (Xylitol) rocket fuel melts down quickly but turns black -- very interesting. Did some more storyboard pages.
4-21-03 -- Angus is 14 today! And Queen Elizabeth is 77, but we know what the real priorities are. He and I went to the mall and got him some new Agent 12 shoes and pants and a shirt just in case the one we ordered doesn't work out. And then we went home and painted some bluescreen flats and made some smoke bombs. The sky was not good for jetpack shots but now that we have a complete outfit we are ready to roll. May start with the helicopter though, just because miniatures are fun. And to get it out of the garage.
4-22-03 -- Angus is eager to get started. I wanted to nap but he got me to start wiring the chopper instead. Now the tail rotor works. And our portable bluescreen sets up nicely.
4-23-03 -- First day of production! Just a shot or two of the helicopter, and even those may need retakes because of the reflections, but the crane seems to work and so does the helicopter wiring.
4-24-03 -- repainted the helicopter so it would be less reflective. Then we grabbed a few shots of the newly-repainted helicopter in our pyjamas.
4-25-03 -- Angus and I went off to the scrapyard and found this really cool magnet, incredibly powerful -- but they would not let us have it. They use it themselves for identifying steel scrap. But we found a whole bin of blank dogtags, so Angus got a handful, and I found some brass doorknobs to use as milling media. All for two bucks. So we felt good. Then we went to Fry's for micro-rocket engines, and Angus got some games with his own money. After that to Green Thumb for stump remover (potassium nitrate) and sulfur dust (sulfur) and then home again. Experiments with the results show it to be less effective than the stuff from chemical supply houses but workable in a pinch. Good to know. Finally home again, and we started shooting helicopter shots this evening. A nice, if low-budget, crane and dolly is wonderful -- I've already forgotten how we lived without it. Did all the pre-pyro stuff. Now we start blowing it up.
4-26-03 -- Grabbed some bluescreen rockets and then Angus and I set up the ammo-box scene. This was delayed by the tripod holding the crane breaking. But we bolted the crane directly to the wagon and it actually is much sturdier now. Plus, as Angus says, it looks like it was meant to be that way. It is less tall, but then so are our actors. We set up the ammo box scene and blew it up, and it came out great. We shot it from two angles and the shot looked so cool we played it back several times. Then we went off to Linda's party. Came home hours later to discover the night clear and windless -- I had been waiting days for such. Lit off a bunch more rockets for stock -- and then discovered to my horror I had taped right over the ammo box scene! Angus was off at Michaels but I hastily reconstructed the scene -- fortunately, when we blow things up they are not actually very damaged -- and shot it again. This time was even cooler, though the propeller was slower. However, it won't be seen much and I can always double-matte it in with regular-speed footage since I was shooting from a tripod. So we can hope it's okay. Let this be a lesson though -- always capture cool footage right away and burn it to disk. Note: Need more disks.
4-27-03 -- More helicopter footage obtained. The Sidewinder missile barrage worked better than we really had a right to expect, and the plasma missile hits on the weapons bods were really cool. Always glad that Angus' camera is there for backup. Even the dogs don't mind much, since the noise is pretty minor.
I was trying to change the position of the helicopter on its stand and I accidentally dropped it. Smash on the concrete floor, bits of it flying everywhere. I was aghast, so stunned I couldn't even swear. We had worked days getting that thing filmworthy. But Angus, who was there, just said in a reassuring voice -- "Don't worry, Dad. It's just a model. We built it once, we can build it again." Which was a great deal of comfort. And as it turned out, he was right -- the much of the helicopter had been designed to snap together, and it was these parts that had gone flying. It was back together in less than an hour, with only some minor gluing and repainting.
4-28-03 -- Got the last helicopter shots, including blowing it to smithereens. Rigging the shot took me three hours and it was over in less than a second. But the footage was cool. Michael Tsang came over to watch. Then Angus and I struck the set, took everything apart, threw away the debris and returned the garage to almost normal. Sure was tired by the end, though.
4-29-03 -- As an experiment, used the stump remover to make black powder. Actually seems to work pretty well.
4-30-03 -- Got a cheery call from Big Finish saying they liked the "Agent 12" script. Always nice to hear. You know they have to be cheerful, surounded by nude women all the time. All writers should have villas in Ibiza.
5-1-03 -- Inked many more storyboard panels and numbered the whole board.
5-4-03 -- had a few hours to try to do everything I meant to do today -- pasted up and copied the whole helicopter section -- forty pages in and of itself -- so at least that far ahead.
5-7-03 -- Angus and I pasted up the storyboard for the chopper sequence on a couple of flats and it is in my room now.
5-8-03 -- ran off to the mall and inked forty storyboard pages, and Angus inked half a dozen more, so there are only a few pages left. Burned a few more scenes and pinned the disks up. Starting to look familiar. Also tried a Xylitol melt rocket which works pretty well -- I'll have to jot down the recipe.
5-9-03 -- Spent the day melting and assembling rocket engines, painting set gear, and getting ready for the F-12 shots. Will have to wire the car for its own effects, since it'll have to be wired anyway and may as well give Angus the buttons. My ignition mix seems to do the job okay, and a brief test of a small rocket thruster looked cool.
5-10-03 -- Sharon went off to meet her mom in Claremont, and I seized the opportunity of her absence to melt-cast a bunch of sugarthrusters for the F12, a process she objects to because of the smell of hot sulfur.
5-12-03 -- went out in the garage and used the old T2 motor to wire up the chaingun on the F-12 to spin automatically. Plus soldered some wire and clips for the thrusters, but will need a proper button and some lantern batteries. In the meantime Angus and I are milling a new batch of Xylitol fuel.
5-13-03 -- melt-casted some heavy-duty Xylitol thrusters. Burned one more chopper scene to disk and cleaned up some more board. Just a few pages to go.
5-14-03 -- wired the F-12 for thruster ignition.
5-15-03 -- Big day. Angus and I decked him out in full Agent 12 gear -- including jetpack -- and hiked up to Pride Rock, with him carrying all his equipment plus the tripod and self carrying the camera case and an aluminum extension ladder. It was quite a hike, and of course hot. The Shots came out nice though -- I did forget to turn the mike on again for half of them, but it hardly matters since we'll have to ADR them anyway. However, the mike does show itself well -- it really works nicely (when on.) The jetpack itself wasn't supposed to light off -- we'll do that part later. But we loaded it anyway, just for grins. However, it failed to light -- turns out I broke the wires to the thrusters when I put the nozzles on. Tested one of the thrusters later as a stock shot -- man, they are intense. Got that mix DOWN, we have. But probably just as well they didn't go off, with Angus atop a fifty-foot rock. Then long hike home, arriving sweltering hot and exhausted to fall in the pool. We also painted the other side of the bluescreen in chroma green, so we have both to work with now.
5-16-03 -- I had Angus and Craig scrub off the upper deck, which I then primered a section of. Lowes mixed me up a gallon of floor paint which is supposed to be a fairly close match to Chroma Green. Still waiting for the primer to dry, though.
5-18-03 -- Angus and I painted a section of the upper deck chroma green today, and it was bright, hot work. Then I repainted the jetpack stand to match the chroma green.
5-19-03 -- Angus and I got some jetpack shots, but it got too hot to continue with anything other than editing.
5-20-03 -- Our first green-pinned (finalized) shot today -- the shot of Angus launching into the air from Pride Rock with the jetpack. Very cool. Plus we got some interesting letters from another filmmaker who specializes in ingenious cheapness and has fun ideas of his own, and a band in Monterey Park that wants us to do a video for them. All fun responses.
5-21-03 -- Angus finished his schoolwork promptly so we could go off to Tri-Ess Sciences, which I was hoping would be a good local supply for the chemicals we need, but the guy who ran it was very adamant that he couldn't sell us anything. His choice, of course, but at least we still have the Internet. I do object to that kind of paternalism when we are already trying to be as scrupulously safe, honest, and unobtrusive as possible. But as Angus said, the guy mixed it with humor and didn't appear to be happy about it himself, so maybe it is just the way things are. But I think in the long term these regulations are preventing boys from becoming the rocket scientists of the future and it is a sad thing. We did get some fuller's earth and a butane torch though, and Angus got a crystal-growing kit, so the trip had its upside as well. Started mixing more Xylitol fuel because I think we're going to be getting a lot of jetpack shots over the weekend.
5-23-03 -- Picked up some black paint and painted the garage floor for stock shots, and also picked up the copies of the boards. Got some foam board to pin up the whole thing. Really should have gotten some more primer and green and thicker board for making a surround greenscreen, but we'll try to fake it with what we have. Melted down some longer-lasting xylitol thrusters and used the leftovers for some smaller ones for the stock. Updated the web page with some "low budget tips and tricks" and got a message from Austen about getting into the Agent 12 stuff.
5-24-03 -- Angus and I took advantage of the cloudiness to do all the jetpack shots that took place on the greenscreen stage -- cloudy days are ideal because of the lack of shadows. Josh came over to help, and we got literally dozens of shots and went through my whole stockpile of thrusters. Now to start sorting all the footage. Josh had some footage of his own he needed help capturing, and also needed some help with some small bullet squib hits for the dirt, so I made him up a couple with the caveat that Angus had to do handle them so I knew they would be safe. Saw the footage afterward and noted that they did exactly as requested and the squibs worked just fine, so that was nice.
5-25-03 -- Another perfect day for shooting but Angus and I were so exhausted from yesterday that we couldn't work up the energy. As it was, Max and I hauled the F-12 up to the deck -- a massive chore in itself -- and I pasted up all the rest of the storyboard pages, taking most of the day and practically wallparering my entire office.
5-26-03 -- Since it was also the Memorial Day Block Party and my mom was coming over, there was precious little film work done. Just a couple of stock shots and starting a new Xylitol mix. Josh was trying to finish his film and I assisted with his questions on inserting lens flares. He did a good job too -- his dad brought over the end result and we put it on VHS.
5-27-03 -- Had to do Real Work most of the day, but did melt down some more thrusters to start capturing elements. The plan was to film them tonight but karate -- with tough Irish Sensei Jacob was so exhausting I could not do anything but be glad I survived. As it was, Sensei Wayne accidentally put me in a sleeper hold during a grapple and I blacked out for a few seconds. Scary but interesting. Did give Mutzie a copy of the board, but it is a massive tome and don't expect her to read it. Exported a few more jetpack files and will burn them to disk in the morning.
5-28-03 Hot and sunny. Salvage and I hiked up to Pride Rock to get background footage with the long pole and the camera and did the best we could. Salvage could not climb up on the rock with me, but messed around happily in the brush and came right away when whistled for, so she received Praise. And even though we took the short way, entering up by where Josh lives, it was enough for us. In the evening we did some stock thrusters up on the deck. Max loaded a new version of Final Cut on the Mac, so I will be trying to work with that.
5-29-03 -- got engrossed in a jetpack shot which was looking cool and ended up tweaking it most of the day. Plus Josh called for some help on Premiere. Plus had to do Real Work. So it was a full day.
6-1-03 -- Big day. Not every day one builds an entire EFX studio AND gets some shots the same day. But we did it. Greenscreen everywhere, lights mounted on an overhead track (actually my 30-foot extension ladder on supports 12 feet off the ground) and in the evening Josh and Craig helped get some fine shots, including the 2-inch thrusters which worked just dandy and were impressive as hell. But I am flat out exhausted and ready for bed. Forgot to buy coffee -- will have to use instant tomorrow.
6-2-03 -- Hot after a cloudy start. Another one of those mornings which would have been perfect for filming if we hadn't already been exhausted. But a Vilma day anyway, which means Chaos. As it was, I added some more lights to the overhead rack and put the flourescents on stands. Did a pile of Real Work, so I am feeling less pressured there, and am trying to round up the cast for Publicity Photos. This means getting outfits for Mutzie and Josh, and doing it quickly.
6-3-03 -- Cool and cloudy and still in the morning, so Angus and I seized the opportunity to get a pile of good F12 shots while the light was good and the day was cool. Had about an hour and a half of good shooting before a wind started to kick up which blew the greenscreen around, so we knocked off. We had plenty to capture and begin working on anyway. Went to look at two jackets Mutzie and her mother had picked out for Commander Stix and put on reserve. Both were good but I liked one better so I bought it and took it off with me. Also took a copy of the CDA logo in to Printing Safari so they could put it on a shirt for me. It's to be Tech Officer Scott's uniform. In the evening we set up the garage for still photos for the Big Finish promotional materials. Brian came over to have his photo taken and his father took a copy of the trailer with him. Angus got his photo taken afterward, in full gear.
6-4-03 -- Spent much of the day photoshopping the photos of Angus and Brian, and then began editing together the jetpack footage to make sure it would work. Seems okay so far. Max was able to fix Will's computer, but there still seems to be a problem connecting it to the network so he is going to replace a few more parts. After karate, Mutzie and Josh came over around seven for their photos, which didn't take long and I was able to clear out the garage again.
6-5-03 -- Cool and cloudy almost all day. Angus and I seized the opportunity to get all the remaining F-12 shots, up to the point where it launches missiles. These must be captured and sorted and then we can get the rest of the shots. The weather is supposed to stay cloudy through the weekend, which will help.
Wrote up the Gadgets and Gear section for the bible, then spent the rest of the day working on the promotional stills. Took them into the dojo, where people thought they looked pretty cool. Tweaked them further when I got home and set them on a web page for Austen.
Got a nice letter from a guy down south who does radio-controlled boats and other such coolness. Will have to give him a call tomorrow. Such people are useful to know.
6-6-03 -- Worked on the Agent 12 bible and added images and posted it on the site for approval. This took most of the day.
6-7-03 -- spent most of the day capturing, sorting, and starting to burn to disk all the F-12 footage we have so far. It takes hours to do this, and it is never as much fun as running around shooting things, but it is the only way I personally can keep track of where we are. But I did rewire the F12 thruster ignition which had gotten burned away in the last shoot, and picked up a new steel creepy-crawler to replace the plastic one, which has started to collapse under the combined weight of Angus and the F-12.
6-8-03 -- Spent the day running around Simi Valley trying to scout possible locations. Stopped by the Church at Rockey Peak and noted that several people from the dojo were there. They gave me the name of a pastor to speak to regarding using the parking lot for a couple of moving F-12 shots.
6-9-03 -- Too wet to shoot so Angus and I covered all the equipment and I started milling some mesquite charcoal to see how it works for effects.
6-11-03 -- went to the Laundromat. Had to wash the big tarps we'd painted green, as wadding them up all damp had not done them much good. They are better now, but I'd forgotten what a grind laundromats are. A homeless guy out front was trying to hit people up for cash but he was so hammered he couldn't even stand, he was just lying in the lot. Police came and tried to get him to move, but ended up calling for paramedics. He was waving cheerfully as they took him away. A nice Mexican lady who was running about seventeen loads at once helped me fold one of the tarps, which I appreciated. Angus helped me fold the other when I got home.
6-12-03 -- Angus and I got many F12 shots today and what with all the climbing up and down stairs with equipment and clambering up ladders and yanking that go-kart around I am tuckered.
6-13-03 -- Set up the helmet so it would rise in the air via pulleys and counterweights, but had to wait until night to shoot. Then we were eaten by bugs. But we got shots and I backed up some old stuff onto the external and cleared some space for the new. Angus and I are mixing up some new Xylitol rocket mix -- this time using stump remover as we are low on KNO3, but it should work pretty much the same. Added a bit of iron oxide because I had seen some mention that it assisted in burning. Catalyst. May not, but will add some pretty red color and probably won't hurt.
6-14-03 -- Spent the day melting down rockets -- tested one, Angus had requested that we use sugar rockets for the plasma missiles if at all possible, but they turn out to be not quite strong enough. We make them more for looks than thrust.
6-15-03 -- Angus and Craig and I got many shots today, including standing Angus on Mark's mailbox in jetpack garb and also firing the Plasma Missiles. The doctored engines (Angus was a bit nervous about using standard engines) gave a funny "poot" and fizzled, so we used real ones and it worked fine. Angus was very cool.
6-16-03 -- some magnesium powder showed up from Pyrotech.org and what with experimenting with that (too hot and bright for us, I fear) and smoking up the garage getting thruster stock was basically occupied all day.
6-17-03 -- Spent the early part of the day melting down and casting the xylitol sugar rockets -- used magnesium powder instead of aluminum this time, and they seem to burn more vigorously with fewer sparks, so they will probably be good for getting stock footage. Of course, the footage we already have is pretty good anyway. But any excuse, and I wanted to try the formula. Also had to get it done before Sharon got home, because she's not fond of the hot-sulfur smell. The remaining melt that wasn't cast was rolled by Angus into pea-sized balls and will be used as stars and gluons.
6-18-03 -- Swept up the garage and discovered Angus had already donned his outfit for shooting. So we did a ton of karate stuff against the black screen, and also got some of the opening shots. Kenpo Three over and over again wore him out though, and I think he took it out on me at karate -- I had a Private and it involved Diving Rolls and now I am sore.
6-19-03 -- put in an hour or two editing the footage of Angus doing Kenpo 3 against black, which I am hoping to use as a main title sequence.
6-20-03 -- Angus and Nick and I got the remainder of the opening sequence shot. Filled the garage with coffee creamer smoke to make the lasers show, and the result looks pretty damn cool if we do say so. Now Nick and Angus are charging around outside making their own movie at night.
6-21-03 – Sharon’s Birthday. Deliberately took the day off from production.
6-23-03 -- Got up at dawn and finished some Real Work and sent that in, but felt under the weather for the day. Barely had enough energy to burn a bunch of scenes to disk and edit the karate solo sequence and build a bazooka. Discovered after it was nearly complete that I had used a usually-closed switch by accident -- a test with a small ignitor went off in my hand while I was clipping it in. Rewired it with another switch, same thing. Finally had to dredge out some completely different and much larger switches and drill some larger holes and wire that in. Seems to work now. It's only going to be used for a couple of scenes but we got intrigued with the project.
6-24-03 -- still a little under the weather. Nonetheless, managed to complete construction of the bazooka and we tested it a couple of times on film. As expected, the rockets arc down pretty fast -- especially because we have to cut the fins way down -- but that is actually more desirable than the alterative and the shots looked cool.
6-25-03 -- tried to investigate some Simi Valley industrial spots but none that were available were much better than the garage, which is free. Some new pyro supplies arrived and I experimented with them and then tried to shoot some stock in the evening. Not sure how much of it will work out -- the wind was slight, but it was enough to be a problem. Got some decent tiny explosions but they may not be any better than that which we already had.
6-26-03 – Started constructing the CDA HQ set in the garage.
6-27-03 -- building sets in the garage today -- always makes it feel like cool stuff is happening. Built two walls and the boys did major work on them, fastening down the panels and adding all the screws and painting them. I still have to design a functional door -- since this time they have to actually open and close occasionally instead of just getting kicked in -- but we'll work something out. The boys are up late finishing all the footage for their "splinter cell" video. Nick is dressed all in black and I came home last night to discover him in the garage. Scared the poop out of me for a second. Worked out a decent formula for the cutting torch prop -- Xylitol seems to just plain work better than Sorbitol, no question. Smells better too. And doesn't get all sticky from the moisture in the air. So since VP Discount seems to be stocking it now we will continue to use it. Got a bit cooked working on the sets -- I was assembling the 2x4 frames outside in the sun while the boys attached the panels in the garage -- so I personally was pretty worn out. But Frank let me come borrow his spare Maxtor drive so I was able to back up a bunch of stuff off the iMac and clear off some room.
6-28-03 -- Angus and Nick stayed up past 2Am getting their movie shot, but they say they finished and have dumped it onto the iMac for editing. Myself, I spent the day trying to work out how to make cool sliding "Star Trek" doors on a nonexistent budget. But progress has been made. This is the weekend that fireworks go on sale at Fillmore, but for the first time we have decided not to go. The stuff we make is more interesting, safer, and less likely to annoy the neighbors, being quiet. Plus we have an actual use for it. So we've thrown some more mix on the mill and decided to leave it like that.
6-29-03 -- Mark is back and he gave me the car seat to use for the helicopter - I took it over to Greg's. Built more on the CDA set and painted some of it -- it is starting to look cool now. Got the sliding Star Trekkie doors to work in a fashion -- they will be operated by 23rd-century technology, namely a small child standing behind the wall. Also cast a few thrusters and finally got some decent 3/4 stock footage.
6-30-03 -- Angus was over at Michael's for a birthday, but I did more work on the set. Added some lights which make it look sort of cool but sort of like a bar -- I may take them off and use them for the proton cannon instead.
7-1-03 -- Took a bunch of stuff over to Greg's -- two loads, in fact -- in preperation for chopper-set-building. Got misters as well and tried them on the HQ set but they just made things slippery and couldn't be seen so I took them down and put them on the porch instead. Angus agreed with me that the lights looked wrong, so they have been taken down as well. They will serve for the proton cannon.
7-2-03 -- Went over to Greg's with Angus to begin assembling the chopper set. With the help of Greg, Taylor, and his friend Chris, we got the whole thing banged roughly together in a single day, and though we still have some painting and buttons to add, it is looking cool in a typically cheesy sort of way. The kids were a lot of help, too. Taylor already wants to keep the set for his own use after we are done, but Greg says no. Started "rusting up" the set in the garage by spraying soapy water and rust-colored paint at the same time and it looks cool. Have to remember that.
7-3-03 -- Angus and I spent the day over at Greg's finishing up the chopper cockpit; Taylor and Greg assisting. Taylor had been at a sleepover and of course was dragged out but quickly rallied -- both boys did a great deal of work and I was proud of them.
7-4-03 -- There was a brush fire up in the hills (which, as I took pains to point out to people, we had *nothing* to do with) and what with that and our general desire to lay low on the 4th we did no real fireworks of our own. Spent the day getting ready for the shoot tomorrow at Greg's.
7-5-03 -- Angus and I got up early and went over to Greg's with all our equipment and managed to get all the shots done without completely wrecking their house. And with only minor damage to Taylor, who had his pants slightly burned by sparks but found it exciting. Even Greg semed to get into the fun of it, but I got the strong impression Leisa is just glad Taylor and the house have come through it more or less intact. So far, anyway. The shoot wiped me out as they always do, and the rest of the day was spent Resting, though I did go by Frank's to hear some music, and checked out a garage area behind Mary's office which could be useful.
7-6-03 -- Captured the video of Taylor from both cameras. Looks good so far. As always, I wasn't paying much attention to Angus during the shoot, trusting him to operate the second camera on his own. Blessedly, he did quite well, getting solid shots with a good choice of angles, and some of them better than my own. Always nice to have backup, and some of them will definitely be used. Brought the car seat back to Mark, but the rest of the helicopter stayed at Greg's. Any chair will do; I left the seat cover there as well.
7-7-03 -- Tried to do that shooting-through-the-door scene today but attempted to do it with fuse and the styrofoam of the set caught fire. Fortunately we always work with a hose handy. It was doused before there were any problems but it does serve as a good reminder that we must always be careful. A test of electrical ignition showed this works much better (as usual) but we have to delay for a day while the set is repaired. Josh came over and hung around all day, mostly in the pool with Angus. I gave him some scenes to add muzzle flashes to.
7-8-03 -- Sorted a few of the McFarlane takes.
7-9-03 -- Filmed the "shooting through the door" first shots and this time it worked well. Punching blasts (I loaded the squibs with coffee creamer for a hard fireball effect) and no fires. Angus and I both filmed and Angus's shots turned out better. Then I prepped for tomorrow, painting the floor and literally trapping myself in the garage until I could signal Angus to open the main garage door so I could sneak out. The dogs are nervous about the painted floor and are sleeping outside.
7-10-03 -- prepped for the night's shoot. Angus had karate and then we went home to find Josh already on set. He brought over some of the footage he'd been adding muzzle flashes to and they looked quite promising. We shot through the rest of the door and got most of the Angus/Josh stuff -- and then noticed my mike wasn't on. But by that time Boo Boo and Mutzie had arrived. Boo Boo and his sister Feifel did sterling duty behind the scenes as door operators, and then Boo Boo did his role as well. Mutzie had all her lines memorized -- she's very serious. It was fun seeing all the kids together though the more of them there are on a set the more they have to be reined in, or they start giggling and goofing around. We still got through in good time, even though it was hot, and the new mike (when on) appears to give good results.
7-11-03 -- The entire day was spent capturing, sorting, and burning the footage from over the past week; always a long process. Still not quite done. But have to keep on top of it.
7-12-03 -- Sorted and burned all the footage from Thursday. Took all day, but a nice stack of disks to show for it. Also trying some golden powder with aluminum mixed in, just to see what happens. It's milling now. And ordered Final Cut Express from Amazon. Would be nice to be able to use the iMac for more than just capturing and sorting footage.
7-13-03 -- After breakfast with the boys, Max and I, working as a team, got a cable run up to his room and an ethernet cable run down, and thus installed the wireless network up there. From that vanatge point it reaches all the needful computers, including Angus' and there was much rejoicing for an hour or two until RR went out again. But at least it is done, and hot work it was, too.
7-16-03 -- Spent part of the day cleaning up the garage getting ready to construct the new set. HAve to find out what Max did with my drill, though.
7-17-03 -- Sharon and Angus ran down to Colleen's for a get-together. They are spending the night. I planned to utilize the time in rebuilding the garage set into a new set, but realized after they left in the van that I needed the van to bring home those huge styrofoam sheets. So instead I picked up some switches and other minor electronics to try to make the prop cutting torches. Plus I baked my own softwood charcoal from the meleuleca trees, and it is milling now. Experimented with using psyllum husks for making meal powder, and the results are encouraging. Also tried lethicin for fireballs, but that was a dud. Oh well.
7-18-03 -- Sharon and Angus were still down at Colleen's and I stayed up way too late the previous night, so slept in and then accomplished little. But did mix up some more meal powder and got some small fittings for tablespoon fireballs, which can now be done fairly reliably. THen stayed up too late fighting with the family computer some more, which Angus has managed to completely clog up with junk. Oh well, it is old anyway.
7-19-03 -- went off to get more foam sheets to build new sets. The shots Josh added muzzle flashes to came out great -- I am very pleased with him. Tried to start rebuilding the set but discovered my old drill-driver had given out -- went to get a new one but of course it had to charge. In the meantime messed with some pyro mixtures and some footage. Angus and I got a needed door-closing shot or two, and I was able to track down the chopper footage I was missing.
7-20-03 -- Angus was over at Michael's so Max and I had breakfast, but we picked him up afterward and we all went over to Mary's office to help cart the stuff out of the garage. The guy whose stuff it was -- Jack -- was very nice and even though he had to make to trips, we did end up with a very promising space. Angus and Max were both hard workers. Put my new drill-driver to work and took apart the garage set, starting to rebuild it into a corridor. And also started cleaning up an F12 shot, tidying the greenscreen, smoothing it out, and adding a ground shadow. Still need to add dust and muzzle flashes -- but will see if Josh is up for doing them.
7-21-03 -- Made pulverone, and using the sifter worked well. My meal powder -- made with ball juice and psyllum husks -- also worked well. Tried adding it to a fireball and it gave it quite a kick, more than I expected. Fun but too vigorous for our use, will be scaling it back. Started building another wall for the corridor scenes, and it is drying now. Final Cut Express arrived, so I am excited.
7-22-03 -- Angus and I worked on the corridor set and got most of it done -- it just needs painting now.
7-23-03 -- went out to stick screws in the set and paint it. Also made some stardust that turned out well. Makes for a good effect in small fireballs. Burned more footage to disks -- some overlooked chopper shots. The Final Cut Express has been installed -- barely begun playing with it but I like the look of the interface.
7-24-03 -- Angus had spent the night at Craig's and the two of them were feeling vigorous, so we went over to Lowes and then MAry's to start doing the greenscreen room. The boys did almost all the work themselves, with me mainly supervising and fetching drinks. They were very hard workers for five straight hours, and we got all the styrofoam sheets up and primed. Then we left it to dry before painting it green. Big job, and hot work. But as we were tidying up, we heard an ice-cream truck go by in the alley outside and Angus managed to flag it. Just the treats needed after a sweltering job like that. Angus' present of an Airsoft shotgun arrived and it is very cool. He likes it quite a bit, I think. Plus I got some little plastic balls designed to be filled with bombstuff which are cool.
7-25-03 -- invented a cool new black smoke mix with some PVC powder that just arrived. Also fired up Final Cut Express and struggled with it for a while before finally getting it to do what I needed -- cut together the beginning of the opening but went out to get Josh's stuff to cut in and now the program crashes on startup. Sigh. It must be my magnetic field.
7-26-03 -- Angus and I went over to Mary's and painted the greenscreen room green -- took a few hours, but not bad. And finally worked out my smoke mix. Tried to do editing but the Mac is seriously down -- Max is working on it. And my machine kept crashing -- I thing I need to convert the blowing dust stock to another format. But Sharon and I walked the dogs, and I tidied up in general. Mike Davis, of the miniture power boats, called and he will be visiting tomorrow with his son Harrison.
7-27-03 -- Mike Davis and his some Harrison came up to visit, bringing with them a selection of miniature power boats. Harrison was thrilled to meet the real Agent 12, and also to swim in the warm pool. Angus did a great job of keeping him occupied, and even though Mike and I had never seen each other in person, we got along great.
7-28-03 -- installed some lights at Mary's, so it was a productive day. Spent the evening editing the opening sequence. Still have to tweak a few things, but it's getting there.
7-29-03 -- We shot the corridor scene tonight, which went well. The kids were all much more relaxed and we picked up some lines that needed redubbing from the previous night. The dry ice was interesting but not very visual, and Mutzie spilled a chocolate martini down her front. A likely addition to the blooper reel. The crane works quite well for getting smooth shots when I can handle it right. Even Max helped out in sliding doors open and closed.
7-30-03 -- Wasn't feeling well -- shoots always take it out of me -- so simply made some charcoal from 2x4 chunks (which by the way shows interesting promise for drifting sparks) and Angus and I went off to see T3, which we thought was fun. Began sorting through the footage from last night, getting the shots together. Will burn them to disk tomorrow.
7-31-03 -- Angus and Josh were shooting their own little movie which involved blowing up Josh. I helped. Then we shot a scene for RA12 which also involved blowing up Josh. Came out cool. Josh spent the rest of the day in the pool.
Sharon still gone, house still lonely. But the Maltese method black powder made with 2x4 charcoal is very comforting. And that same charcoal does an awesome job mixed in with coffee creamer. We just make them in a small dixie cup, but they work quite well and are free of anything that might shatter. The dixie cups don't even get scorched.
8-1-03 -- Sharon is back home. Angus is over at Josh's and took an armload of weapons with him. Glad they are having fun.
8-2-03 -- Max and I brought the F-12 down from the deck, a task which despite the removed railing was still almost fatal. But we got it done and of course now we are Smug. Sorted and cleaned up Sharon's Cloud footage and am now exporting it to files for burning. Lots of footage but since we'll probably speed it up we need lots.
8-4-03 -- Did Real Work, plus worked on the garage set, and sorted the rest of Sharon's cloud footage and shot some Air Burst black smoke effects.
8-5-03 – Most of the day was spent dealing with footage, editing another sequence and burning all of Sharon's clouds to disk. Also posted some more stock on the website for others to use. Tried one last airburst using an empty prescription bottle, but the lid was too tight and it was too loud. Also, the black smoke burned to white because of the pressure. So stick with looser packaging.
Mark said the Remington power loads should work fine as blanks in a .22, I got some and tried them out. The strongest ones did in fact give nice muzzle flashes, so we filmed some and put them on the site. These are mainly because Josh wanted them for his own use -- I still prefer the one-step-away-from-reality of lens flares for our project. But glad to help out. Most of my cast is gone at the moment -- I will have to resort to shooting Angus stuff.
8-7-03 -- Got some work done and some editing but spent more time updating the web site and answering e-mail. Angus and I took the crane over to Mary's to get ready for shooting in the morning.