COMMENCE PRIMARY IGNITION

by Russell Johnson

Three days after principal photography, David has been working at a feverish pace to get all the footage captured and ready to edit. By Tuesday afternoon he already has a rough cut pieced together and I head over later that night to check it out. After watching it, two words; it's funny actually four words, it's funny as shit! We haven't even done the Stromtrooper voice overs yet and Dave was just working with raw audio. I couldn't stop laughing. Once again I can't say enough about the acting which is spot on and the visuals look great thanks to the HD camera and thanks to James Ochsenbein our DP and Greg Smith who worked their asses off on the set to get all the shots we needed which leads me to...

We did, or rather I should say, I missed a couple of shots during filming. But in the true spirit of Star Wars we are going to go back and digitally fix them so that they work. We shot 12 pages of a script in 8 hours which is nearly unheard of, maybe not so much in the indie world but, definitely by Hollywood standards and I will take solace in that for my screw-up. I should have been more careful with the shot list but there is a lesson in there for all you new directors (and obviously one for me as well). So those couple of problems aside the film works great! The rough cut clocks in around 9 minutes or so and with opening crawl and ending credits shouldn't run any longer than 12 give or take. We also, changed the title, or more aptly fixed it. Star Wars: Episode IV.V, The Unknown Discovery. The scene we shot literally takes place or would take place just about half way through Episode IV, hence the .V

Dave also starting piecing together the first teaser trailer which we should have up on the site soon. It's just as funny although by the trailer you would think this is highly dramatic piece. Most of the trailer is cut from footage of Episode IV and is dead on any of the actual Star Wars trailers. There is only one single shot from our film in the trailer, which by all rights, is the topper of the whole thing and once you know the context, never has one shot said so much or be so humorous. We finally settled on a logo color for the film which initially was going to be red for the Empire but by accident Dave grabbed a blue and it looked awesome so we went with that instead. All in all the project is right on schedule and we hope to get in this week to get the ADR done for the troopers, Justin Durban should be able to get on the score soon after if not by the end of this week.

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DAY 1: PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

by Russell Johnson

We arrive on set at 8:30 a.m. Shooting begins at around 9:30. The set is a rundown apartment building in an old house and except for a few minor set-up differences between our set and the Pulp Fiction scene we are spoofing, the first master shot gets off with out much difficulty. We've got prop burgers that had been purchased from Wendy's approximately 12 to 14 hours earlier and amazingly they are holding up fairly well. (Rent the documentary Super Size Me and you'll understand why.) We shoot the master in about 4 to 5 takes and one of the most masterful acting jobs comes from Jared Durban who mimics the death of Roger (aka Flock of Seagulls) flawlessly. Although I can't say enough about the overall acting performances from all of our actors. The Stormtroopers have the toughest task at hand being that they must mimic the Jules and Vincent characters without ever seeing their faces or hearing their voices. Marvin became the hardest to cast. I called and actor in Louisville at 7 am that morning to see if he would come down (about a hour drive) and do the part. He was up for it but I ended up taking him out of it. It was not my intention to do so but I felt guilty for him about to make a huge effort for such a small part. Got to work on that part of my conscious or I have no future in Hollywood, but I might make a good Project Greenlight director. They have proven in the past, no spine required. So, by the time we start shooting a kid who shows up to watch who is a mutual friend of a production manager we've worked with in the past gets the role. Marvin is now a Catholic school white kid. We figure we can fix it in post but we have to give him credit, the kid stepped up and pulled it off so we'll keep him as is.

The first series of shots gets wrapped up around 1:30. Lunch arrives. 6 pizzas, 3 pepperoni, 3 cheese. No meat Friday for the Catholics and lent observers on set plus it's easy on the production budget. We hit the reverses about an hour later. We had already used 3 of the six now nearly 20 hour old hamburgers with the table throw. Two complete burgers left. One for a close-up insert, one that needs a bite taken out. I volunteer and pray that I wouldn't regret it. Thankfully no major bathroom brakes needed at least as of this writing. Now you're probably pondering how a Stormtrooper eats a burger without removing his helmet. All I can say about that is pure comedy!

The rest of the shoot goes off without any major problems. Harold Littrell plays the Brett character and he pulled it off as only a pro could do. Hard to do considering a Stormtrooper is in his face saying he tried to fuck Darth Vader not easy to do without losing it. Finally we get to Justin Durban who plays the guy who busts out of the bathroom screaming "Die motherfuckers!" We all nearly pissed ourselves with laughter. The he takes the ultimate bump by pulling off the same blow back from getting blasted by the Stormtroopers as in the original Pulp Fiction scene. Watch that shot in Pulp Fiction in slow motion and you can see how funny that shit really is. Once again taking one for the team.

We wrap around 5:30 and have shot 12 pages of a script. Once again the motto rings true, "we don't fuck around." We head back to the offices to watch the tapes and everyone agrees that we got what we needed. I personally felt we got all that and got even better performances, coverage and footage than I had even been hoping for. Great day of filming! So, I drag myself home around 7:30 just in time to watch Duke go down to Michigan State. Not a bad day, not a bad day at all!

Stormtroopers, basketball and nudity

by Russell Johnson

We end up over at Dave's house on Sunday during the NCAA Tourney. They have a big screen HD TV set so it's hard not to watch but we manage to tear ourselves away long enough so we can get cracking on the Stormtrooper suit. We ordered this thing on-line and it arrives in a million pieces. The helmet was a daunting task in it's own right, so we decide to work on the suit first. That was a much easier process although a tedious one. We call up Dave Silvernell (otherwise known as D) who has the other outfit. He has the helmet together but not the suit. So with all resources handy we have at least one complete suit to work with. I hadn't seen the helmet yet and of course that's what makes the whole frickin' thing work.

While we wait for D. to arrive we head back downstairs to watch with much dismay as both Louisville and Duke advance in the NCAA. Curse you Pitino! So we peruse the latest issues of Playboy and Maxim the latter of which had a awesome spread of Jennifer Love Hewitt, now if she'd only follow in the footsteps of her former Party of Five co-star Neve Campbell and loose the lingere. But I digress.

Anyway, D. shows up to raise our spirits with said Trooper helmet and we attach the final piece to a very patient fully outfittied, sans helmet, Matt Raney who will play Stormtrooper TK221, (yes we have names for them, you wouldn't?). With the helmet on we marvel at what is a true Stormtrooper standing in front us. Matt reveals several times that a longtime childhood dream has been fulfilled, as it has for all of us. There are some tweaks that have been yet to be made some paint, the O2 canister needs building, and few bells and whistles, but just this test makes the reality complete. We also have to wait for our blasters to arrive and they still need painting. Once they are I may take aim in hopes that I can vaporize Pitino and J. Hewitt's clothes. Into the night, we head off, D and Dave to work on the unfinished helmet, me to do some touch up on the lower body piece and Matt to dream of his on camera Star Wars moment.