Red-eyed and Drowsy

The Penis with No Name...

2010-04-15T01:38:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, my penis has no name.

Everyone I know has a name for their genitals. This isn't a guy-specific thing, either, I know the ladies out their like to name their womanhood. I've never really thought about it, but I realized I don't have a solid name for my junk.

It's not that I'm particularly vain about my dude piston (more than any other man) and think it stands out from the rest. To be honest, if shown a police line up of penises I probably wouldn't be able to pick mine apart from other, similar dicks. So in that regards, having a name for it could be useful just in case I was to lose it or something.

However, I think it's time we took a look at why we name things? Let's use people as an example. Everybody, every human being, has a name. We have names because there's a lot of people and if we had no names we would have nothing to identify us in a crowd. And just one name doesn't cut it, we then have to have middle names, just in case someone has the same first and last name as you. Think about elementary school, and how hard it would be for the teacher if he or she had to call roll if no one had any names. Names are necessary anytime you need to identify something in a crowd of like objects.

My penis will never be in a crowd of like objects. Chances are, my penis will never be in a scenario in which there's just too many penises to keep track of. Due to the fact that my penis is attached to me, it makes it even easier to tell mine apart from others, given the off chance I fall into a room full of penises and can't find my own.

PS, I dont' name my balls, either. I'm not saying you can't or that you shouldn't, you just probably don't need to. I will still laugh at whatever silly things any of you decide to name your genitals.

Thank you,
Spencer, Spencer Smith

Repairable

2010-04-13T02:59:00.001-07:00

My buddy **** wrote a note on facebook that really touched me. I know there is a bunch of people in here mentioned who you guys probably don't know, but here it is

"Parts and Pieces and How they Fit Together. That's all I've been seeing lately. The parts of the Mustang I need, the parts that I have. It seems that the only thing on my mind is how all these parts fit together.

I see the parts of me that I enjoy and the parts of me I hate. I see the parts of the girls, that hang out around me, I like and I see the parts of them I hate the most. I see the parts of my friends and I see how we share the same problems.

I wish I could just remove those parts of me I hate: like my self doubt, or my lake of confidence, my fear of talking to people and my negative outlook on things and just get out of my own head and truly be myself.

I wish I could be like Chris and captivate a group of people, or like Spencer and just make friends with such enthusiasm, or Andy and set up a connection with others. I don't know, such a dramatic change like that would only end in destruction mentally, and or physically.

I love Megan's appreciation for Anime and how she and I can talk about weird nerdy stuff. I love Chloe's interest in cars and how she cares about other. I love Jessica's ability to take a joke and how she doesn't let anything really keep her down. I even love Erika's love for video games and technology and not to mention her creativity.

I wish I could just take all those pieces that I like and distill them with my thoughts and dreams and finally have the one thing that I need and desire the most, because I am tired of having a girlfriend by proxy and feeling alone and detached when I'm with my friends."

First off, I'm touched that I would even be mentioned as someone anyone would want to be like. I'm an overall happy person, but certain not one to envy. Second off, it's an amazing look at how **** views the world. For those of you who don't know ****, he's a quiet mechanic who is gracious enough to let us hang out with him at his house. He's smart, funny, but really withdrawn. If you're lucky enough to hear him say something, you should button up and listen.

It's interesting seeing the world as parts and pieces. I only see the world as what it is, currently. I see finished product, so to speak. I understand thinking in parts and pieces (like a mechanic would), but I've never applied that to people. The idea of making the perfect person sounds outlandish and difficult to me. To me, building the perfect girlfriend from the bits and pieces of girls that you like sounds 20 times as difficult as just finding that perfect girl in nature. But to ****, that's preferable, because that's what he does, he takes bits and pieces and he puts them together.

If I was a human mechanic, what parts of me would I take a wrench to and remove? What parts would you take out or upgrade? Would you give yourself a tune-up whenever you felt like you needed it? Would you do it to other people as well? Take out your girlfriend's need to make you change, or your boyfriend's habit of staying out late? Upgrade your parent's body's, giving them a few more years on the road? I hope this analogy isn't wearing on you, I'm particularly fond of it.

Chris posted a comment on this that I found to be a little inspiring.

"Kelly categorized helicopter parts as being consumable or repairable. Nothing in the human body or mind is consumable, all repairable. You dont need to worry about flaws, instead worry about making those parts of your personality work. The brain is plastic, and can be molded to do almost anything. Dont worry about flaws, we all have them and we all work on them. A perfect person would be flawed in that they have nothing to overcome."

I think that's memorable enough to put on facebook. It's a great thing to say to anybody that is concerned about their own flaws and the flaws of others.

I'm at 33 days on set.

Thank you,
Spencer, Spencer Smith

NewFilmmakers LA and More....

2010-04-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Uber-sorry for the lag in posting dates. I meant to be throwing up a post a lot sooner than this, but shit began to fly off the handle and we all know what that's like.

Wrapped Cellular Diaspora just last weekend. Easily the most difficult thing I've ever shot, just painful communication all around and i spent a good amount of my time doubting myself. As a key grip or a gaffer I don't find myself doing that a lot, I'm pretty confident and on my shit cause I've been doing it a while and I've been through most of the motions. But I'm completely new to DP-ness, so when shit got crazy, it got to me. I'm glad I had such an amazing crew around me to help me out, like James, Chrisko, and Shannon the AD, who ended up doubling up as my AC. All in all, a great time had by all and the footage looks AMAZING! Im so proud of this work, I can't wait to get it on my reel. The finished product is going to look great, clean cut and festival ready.

Speaking of festivals, I volunteered a month ago to shoot an interview on the RED for NewFilmmakers LA. Well, the DP position turned into a gaffing gig, and the RED turned into an HVX, so it wasn't all it was cooked up to be, but it was the most fun I've ever had while calling it work anywhere. The first night I just helped the director pick up camera and audio then drive it back to Gower Street Studios, where we are shooting. For those of you who don't know, Gower Street Studios was formally Columbia Picture Studio, and was the first Studio established in Los Angeles in 1911. The stage adjacent to the room we shot in was home to From Here to Eternity, Heroes, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and The Sarah Silverman Programme. Once equiptment was dropped off, I got to stay for the little party where all the directors screened, had a lot to drink, and met a lot of really cool people and some very ambitious filmmakers. The program was so good, easily one of the finest collections of shorts I've ever seen (and they do this every month! ). One documentary, called "Eye to Eye" was a Chapman project shot in Africa about the gorilla trade that's leading to the extension of the gorilla population there. It was shot by Niko Wiesnet, one of the Chapman DPs i've worked with. Niko is a powerhouse behind the camera, so I was not surprised by the moving images that played across the screen.

I'll try to have a post up in the future faster

Thanks,
-Spencer, Spencer Smith

Acne on my chin

2010-03-24T01:55:00.001-07:00

I'm finding that I always break out right before a stressful few weeks.

Gaffing Thursday night,

equipment pickups Friday morning,

shooting Saturday and Sunday,

than midterm reviews starting Monday.

The weekend after, I'm shooting, then I"m spending all spring break gripping for csun, no rest days.

All this while keeping up with my photography, and keeping in touch with my friends

Is this how everyone else's life is? I mean this delicate balance between work, and school, and friends...it seems so much more worth it for them, since they get paid right now. I am currently working in the hopes of achieving a career sometime in the future. I dont' get the instant gratification of being able to afford Subway, or to buy my friends presents, or to have a set schedule ahead of time of when I'll be working and when I won't.

I can't take the day off ahead of time. What if someone wants me to come aboard a project? What if it's important, or I owe them a favor? How am I supposed to maintain relationships with people I care about, when in reality they're not the priority. My job is. A job that doesn't pay me anything, just the promise that "as soon as this gets picked up, we'll bring you on full-time". "Once investors see this short, we'll bring you back on to shoot the feature." "This'll make a big splash at the festivals, of course you'll be invited to the screening." Those are all bullshit, I've heard them a million times and I still sign my weekend away to it.

I'm sorry if I sound very unappreciative of it all, I love it, every bit of it. But I'm scared that I might just become this joke. This guy who tried so hard, and gave up his entire life, and in the end just ended up living at his parents house, begging for more food and gas money. I'm already a joke to the kids at school, I'm already a joke to the kids at ICF, I want to say that I'll prove them wrong someday, but I don't see that happening anytime in the near future. Maybe I'm just a morbidly obese fish in a small lake, and I think I'm a moderately healthy/athletic fish in the great big ocean.

I'm sorry, I've really tried to put in an effort to not make this blog my weepy little diary, where all I do is bitch and moan. I just wanted to vent that out before saying that I'm an awesome person and I'm incredible at what I do, this month is going to kick ass, and once it's done I'm going to look back and be proud of the work I've done and the standard of excellence I've kept it to.

Now who needs a drink, and maybe some proactiv?

Spencer, Spencer Smith cer, Smith, porn, photo, movies, key grip, grip, gaffer, DP, festivals, film, Los Angeles, stress, acne, proactiv, drink,

Photoshoot with Sushi! Part Uno

2010-03-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I just wrapped up a photoshoot with Jessica Wallace, aka Sushi. I kind of went into it without a concept or anything, so I just tooled around with some poses and such in the studio at CoC.

I really didn't like what I was getting in the studio. Whenever I'm working in a vacuum like that, I feel really limited. I wanted to take some more environmental work, but I haven't been able to reserve any of the strobe lights. The assignment requires us to use the strobes, but there's only three to checkout and there's 30 kids in the class. So I kind of, maybe snuck out the photo studios strobes out into the hallway and had a little fun out right outside the lab.

We found this peep hole in the wooden wall, out by where there's construction in Mentry Hall, I figured it would make a pretty good concept.

After that I ran out of time on the lab at CoC, but me and Jess still kept taking some pics. I will post those next time, but you can check some of them out on my flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/spencer_spencersmith

Or you can always visit my facebook photography page

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=798308629&aid=81087&s=40&hash=a6046e1ea5f9a59ac55f2c544ba19ba1

Please go ahead and check out some of my advertisers. I get paid if you click on them and check them out, and hopefully a few of them are selling something you could really use.

Thanks guys,

Spencer, Spencer Smith

Memorable Quotes

2010-03-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Memorable quotes

"There is a reason for everything, and everything has a reason"-Andy G.

"There ain't shit you can do about it. Just roll with it"-Christopher Knight

"Casual sex-less"-Andy G

"One time Alex was walking down the street with an erection. There was no survivors."-Chris Knight

Plenty Of Fish

2010-03-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Here's an actual message I sent to this girl

...on the dating website, Plentyoffish.com

To: _______________

Subject: Aloha

Message:

Hey whats up, I was just online
and I couldn't help but notice
that you are looking for an
intimate encounter. Would you be
interested in being double teamed
by me and a buddy.

She has not yet gotten back to me, I'll keep you guys posted. She's 19 years old, 5'1", and a gemini. Her interests are art, poetry, and being alone.

Thanks

Spencer, Spencer Smith

Carie's photo session

2010-03-18T22:18:00.001-07:00

FINALLY!

Uploaded all the photos from my shoot with Carie and Johnny Morely. Here is a sample of what's up

I'm looking forward to shooting again on Monday, maybe with some better ideas and some good concepts. I'm working with Carie again, but I would love to work with some other models.

What else do you guys want me to blog about? Let me know, I'd like to oblige.

To see more of my photography, check out my facebook album at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81087&id=798308629

as well as my Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spencer_spencersmith

I'm just starting out as a photographer, so I'm hoping to track my progress as I get better and better.

Lates, guys!

Spencer, Spencer Smith

Johnny Morely's photo shoot

2010-03-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

Helped my buddy Johnny Morely with his photo shoot today in the studio. I took some of my own photos, but he's already got some up, so I figured I'd share them with you. Follow him on flickr at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jkmorley/

Model is Carie McGrath

I'll put up my own stuff in a little bit, I just need to upload. It's honestly not as well thought out or creative as this, but I'll get there.

Thanks!

Spencer, Spencer Smith

Via Formspring

2010-03-17T01:13:00.000-07:00

How is Inglorious Basterds bad? I forgot you have the capacity for a film like that, you can make a much more rich, intelligent, fictional film depicting propaganda and good vs. evil or evil vs. evil. You're a bit amateur and pretentious, I think.

I've never said Inglorious Bastards is bad. I loved it. I don't think it's Tarentino's best, however, when compared to such films as Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill series.

Amateur and pretentious? I'm like 19 dude, I don't think I've experienced the full gambit of life to be anything but amateur and pretentious. I think just the idea that you think you can identify flaws in my personality based on my liking of Inglorious Bastards is pretentious.

2 hours ago Delete Your Response

Can you say pwnd? Now, can you spell it?

22 Days

2010-03-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

Hokay! Another weekend, another couple of days on set.

I was filling in for a buddy of mine and managed to piss off a UCLA crew. They didn't take too well to me barking orders as a key grip when it's my first day on the job. Whatever, it happens, I live and I learn. I had a short temper that day cause I only got a couple of hours of sleep, plus I was kind of competing with this other guy who I guess thought he was more entitled to the spot than me. No worries, I'll flake this one off. Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass.

In other news, worked the final day of the Drifting Away shoot with DP Aashish Ghandi. It's probably the most intensive shoot I've worked since Jackrabbit in Big Bear, I'm proud to have been on the last day of an amazing production process. Plus that's probably a pretty impressive IMDb credit, if it gets that far. Stoked to see what the final product looks like!

Only a few more weeks till I shoot on the 7D, and there's still so much to do! O man, I'm so nervous!

Yay! Work!

2010-03-11T01:21:00.001-08:00

I have been so busy since the start of the year. I'm at 20 days on set, and it's been crazy fun.

I buddy of mine who I've been working with invited me to work on her DP project, a spec commercial for Monster energy drink! I worked best boy all weekend, night shoots. Ironically, we had to Monster to drink to help keep us up at night. The concept of the commercial was that a guy tries to build a jetpack, but it doesn't work. A mysterious old man with a red laser eye shows up and tosses him a Monster, and he's good to go.

It was shot on the Canon 7D, which I'll be shooting on next month for the short "Cellular Diaspora." I'm really stoked about this camera. I really didnt care for it at first, but HDSLR is really growing on me as a medium. It's all the HD of a more expensive Prosumer camera like the HVX or the HX-A1, but all the depth of field that comes with shooting on 35mm lenses. Unfortunately, that makes the whole shooting process much more complicated. The depth of field is shallower on still lenses than on cine lenses, and it's harder to control since that's not what still lenses are designed to do. You need a really good 1st AC, and everyone needs to hit their marks.

On the last night of the shoot, we had to put up with an LAPD helicopter flying overhead. For about 4 hours, the police were circling a house that must have been maybe a block or two over from our location in Glassell Park. Good thing we weren't getting sound.

I can't wait to see how the commercial comes out. Wrap party this Friday! followed by a key grip job and then I finish up working best boy on Aashish's AFI thesis, "Drifting Away"

Google WAVE

2009-12-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

So the other day a friend of mine, Chris Knight, sent me an invite to Google Wave. Now, I wasn't really sure what Google wave was, so I did some research and came across the best youtube video for explaining exactly what Google Wave is:

I'm Spencersmith01@googlewave.com now. It's really great. I mean I haven't been able to use it quite

the way I want to, yet The best application I see for this is on the creative meeting/conference format.

Say Im the DP on this new feature-length film. I'm in school all week, and the

director is in another county or something, The production designer is at another

school, the producer doesn't talk to us about anything but money, and the editor

and VFX guy doesn't want to be involved really until the end. ALL of us could be

in on the "Wave" that represents all communication about this film. The director

can attach the script to it, so everyone can access it. He can post things similar to

creating a "look book", giving both me and the production designer ideas for color

schemes and lighting patterns. We can upload similar photos and youtube clips aboard

to show the director what we think will work for the film. The VFX guy can see the

stylistic choices we're going to make,even before we start filming,and start working

on the green screen backing or the CGI elements ahead of time. And if we do something

the producer things will cost too much money, she can effectively watch the

whole conversation, figure out how and why we came to whatever expensive

conclusion we came to, and come up with a quick fix while knowing the context of

why we made that decision. Once we're done in production, the editor can reference

the wave if he gets to a place where he's not sure what comes next, and chances are

we've talked about it and he can find out what the director's plan was for that situation.

And because it's a feature-length film, the wave would be an invaluable resource to go

back to if production hits a roadblock or an unforseen complication, since it can allow

us to problem-solve somewhere off-set and on our own time. We dont have to stand

around a cold location, trying to figure out our problems right then and there just because

we're all present at the same time. We can just have the same conversation on the

wave, in the warmth and comfort of our own home

Plus, if we're all online at the same time, it can work a little bit like an AIM conference,

only more streamlined and organized.

Now granted, all this can be achieved by current technology, I.E. email, phone calls,

conference calls, and the like. But the benifit of Google Wave is having all of those

elements in one, easy to read and interpret layout. It's a streamlined and efficient

solution to the very dangerous, very real problem of miscommunication.

Please click on the ads, I get paid for it now

-Spencer, Spencer Smith

summer's almost up...

2009-08-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

Don't cry because it's over

Smile because it happened.

-Arron Lemos, high school film teacher

NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY!!

at least until September. School all other days. Even Friday. Burn.

Buenas Dias,

-The newly dedicated to school Spencer Smith

48 Hour Film Fest...

2009-08-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

is this weekend...I'll let you know how it goes

Thank you,

Spencer Smith

2009-08-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

Wrapped Corrugated Hearts. That's a shoot that should've lasted longer. I think it's the first time I've enjoyed shooting so much, I'm not sick of making the movie once we wrap. Even when I love the people I'm working with, I really get sick of working on a single project for too long. Corrugated Hearts seems to have broken the mold. I really liked showing up to set every day, I always kinda felt bad when I left, like I was missing out on a big party or something.

I'm doing a thing with Mole for Discover Channel. They're doing a doc or something on the Industry, and they're spending time getting footage of Mole, in addition to Panavision and a few other companies. I might be on TV! It airs in November or something

My mom keep pressuring me to demand to get paid. I don't think she understands it doesn't work like that. Nor does anyone have the budget to pay me anyways. W/e, I'll find work somewhere

Today I think I had my best day ever at Mole. I was just so on top of it, but I was still learning new things. It really worked out well, plus I met some of the new Mole kids. The school we had in, the Art Institute, really knew their stuff. They were smart, quick, and had a lot of positive energy. Really rooted for each other and participated. Nooney and Frank are both Art Institute, I might look into them more. They might be the caliber of film school I want to be at.

Music video almost done. Rachel had a mini-freakout on Sunday. Didn't get camera, I have a hunch the videographer lady screamed at her. It happens, I hope she's ok. I strongly suggested Josh get her a good deal of ice cream and meditation. She's gonna make it through this if she can just relax when she can. Being a producer is a crazy job, not everyone is cut out for it. I think Rachel's totally cut out for it, just starting a little out of her depth. In ten years, I could honestly see her being a well-earning unit production manager. She just needs some practice, learn how films are put together.

So now, my mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find a camera by this Wednesday, or suffer the film ending with a shitty ending. I want to keep using HD, but I really don't know who I can get it from. Diego says he's down, but he's super-hard to get in touch with. Adam and Raj for sure can't hook it up. Adam's cameras are rented out and Raj is in Texas (I'm so jealous! rofl). I might be able to call a favor from Chris Warren, and I'd love to have him on my set, but not unless I could hook him up with gas and food. It's a very far distance to go just to let me use his camera. Chrisko's team is shooting on his A1, so for sure not that, and Jas is busy. I think that might just be a run-thru of my entire list of HD contacts.

I might just have to have them suck it up and rent. The fee is about 200, for almost any HD camera (i/e HVX-200). I actally can't really find a Sony FX-1 online for rental. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. I've got one (1) day to find something. If I rent an HVX, i'd be on my own as far as learning how to operate. I could maybe call Adam in just to help me learn how it works. Who knows. But if we rent, I want to do the Stoney Point footy as well.

Urgh! long blog! Lots o shit going on! I want a camera, so I dont' hve to call in crazy favors!

48 Hour Film fest this weekend, joining Chris and his crew. Doing an entire production, from developtment to publish, in just two days. This should be fun, an entire weekend in the inland empire. Not the summer vacation I dreamed, but at least I get to work with some fun, hard-working people. Seriously, I'm gonna have a great time this weekend.

Thanks for reading!

-Spencer Smith

craziness!

2009-07-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

So I've been a pretty busy little bee recently.

Working on 3 films

-DP on the Josh Robin "Awake" music video

-Gaffer on Billiemarie's "Corrugated Hearts"

-Gaffer on CSUF Indie feature "Right Where Everything Belongs"

I think the Josh Robin music video is haunted

in the course of filming, 3 crew members had to drop out due to serious medical conditions

(i.e. ear surgery, bug bites, mysterious possible cancer)

we've fired one A.D.

and somehow, someway, we've managed to kill our director's pastor, making him drop out a day.

RIP, Brendan's Pastor. lol

"Corrugated Hearts" is amazing. I'm working under a DP named Nooney, who really knows how to get the best out of the DVX-100. I really like the way my lighting looks in her footage. Damn, calling it my lighting. She's really telling me all the things to do. She's created a great look for the film, I just wish there was more to film. This is some of the most fun I've had working.

Corrugated Hearts footage

I wish I had some good stories to tell, but I can't think of any.

lol

O well, I guess this is mostly just another update on what's going on. I should give you guys a full scoop soon.

mucho gusto

Spencer, Spencer Smith

?

2009-07-17T01:05:00.000-07:00

I'm working on two films, I'm being invited to more. I've got my license, I'm going to parties, I'm eating lots of food, I'm meeting a lot of people. I'm a director of photography, and I've got a budget! I look good, I feel great, I'm confident, and I have never been this popular in my life...

I'm everything I ever dreamed of being.

...Why am I not happy?

Something's not working out for me.

I feel hurt, and I don't know why. I just feel like I'm

all

alone.

=(

It's all going to be Ok in the end. If it's not ok, it must not be the end...

Is it wrong to be mad at other people being really happy. Does that make me not a nice guy if I want what everyone else has? I've got to watch myself, envy is a sin. So is pride. And it's both to think that I deserve to have all the dice rolling in my favor at any given point in time.

This'll pass, then things will kinda suck again. I'm gonna look back at this summer as the greatest of my life.

-Spencer, Spencer Smith

Heat is on

2009-07-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

...on this Josh Robin music video. Tommorrow I pick up rental equiptment, via mucho help from Jake. Veronica and Chris have had to drop out (={) due to Chris' massive ear surgery. Me and Brendon still have to go over the new layout for how we're going to shoot the piano scene that serves as the first scene.

I'm having almost no difficulty converting to the music video meduim. It really get's you thinking about the editing ahead of time, so I really now exactly how the shots should play out in the grand scheme of things. I don't get that in regular narrative films.

Pretty intense day of getting everything tight. Just replaced Veronica (can you replace Veroncia?) with an old schoolmate of mine named Julia Gerrman. She'll come in and temp until either Veroncia can come back and AD, or I can find a permanent replacement, maybe with a little more experience. Veronica has a good reason to take this one off, she's got to look after Chris. He really has needed this very serious ear surgery. He's gonna be a little off balance with it for a few days, so he needs the help. I might swing by and say hi, if I get the chance. Hopefully he'll be back up in very little time.

Also got camera and 1st AC locked. His name, Diego Miranda. He owns a Canon XH-A1. He also has photo class experience, which will help if we do any focus pulling. Also, he's a damn good guy. All the time I've spent kicking with him I've thoroughly enjoyed. I'm going to really enjoy having him around on set.

Also bringing in Lindsey Rappaport as gaffer. I don't think she has a lot of experience outside of camera, but she'll be working with a familiar light. The 1.2 HMI par. Good light, at least the Mole-Richardson version is. I love the Mole version, probably one of my favorite lights ever since me and Erick worked Big Bear. I'm not sure what Wooden Nickel is hooking it up with, so long as it works and doesn't flicker too bad. Its a magnetic ballast, so it's gonna make a heluva lot more noise than I want it too. Nothing bad about that, we're not using the audio from these clips.

Mole-Richardson 1.2 HMI par

I'm also working on getting Veronica's friend Yvette onboard as a Script Supervisor. I feel we really need one to justify having a slate.

I need to meet with Brendon one more time before I'll feel 100% on shooting. I really like shooting with Brendon, once we start talking and getting on the same page, we know exactly what we want and I feel a lot more secure about what we're doing. Next up after this is the huge, expensive party scene. We gotta know our shit on that one. That ones way scarier if we mess up. And we won't mess up. We's got this. This is gonna be a damn good music video.

Mikey snubs me on facebook...

2009-07-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Spencer

have you ever Bible-slapped someone?

4:20pmMichael

Oh, all the time, it's my favorite hobby.

4:20pmSpencer

i concur

thoroughly worth its weight in Bibles

we should go sometime

like hang out at the mall

and Bible slap people

itd be dope

4:21pmMichael

I don't hang out. I do things.

4:21pmSpencer

we'd be bible-slapping

4:21pmMichael

Hanginf out is for stoners and skaters.

4:21pmSpencer

that's a thing to do

800 thin pages of the Holy Word

right in people's faces

small Bibles

huge Bibles

any kind of Bibles you want

the amount of fun your having

is proportional to the size of the Bible you're slapping with

4:23pmMichael

I gotta get going, I'll talk to you later. Sorry to run.

4:23pmSpencer

this might make it to the blog

this conversation

it'd be dope

4:24pm Michael is offline.

equation

2009-07-09T00:36:00.000-07:00

I like pussy. I like movies.

This is an accurate description of myself.

Does this = my favorite movies are movies about pussy?

no.
I don't feel that way at all.

this is obviously a flawed description of myself. I won't describe myself like this anymore.

but it is accurate. I like pussy. I like movies. Those are both true statements. Why is it that they don't equal a third true statement?

maybe this is what I'm doing that's incorrect.

pussy+movies=movies about pussy

cause that's flawed. That's not true.

maybe it's more like

what I like=movies/pussy, relative to time.

which is to say
what i spend my time doing, in a perfect world, is movies, when I'm not spending it with pussy. my time is divided between the two.

maybe there should be more factors. Maybe a man is made up of the two things he likes; one aesthitic, one biological.

maybe the equation should be:

what I like, in terms of time=movies/pussy/food/drinking/hiking/photography/listening to music

I feel better already. I'm not half the pig I seemed to be in the last equation.

@Andy, would you consider this a thought experiment?

I bet this looks very pretentious

-Spencer, Spencer Smith

Blue jeans, motor oil stains, no shirt

2009-07-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

So now I am officially a cinematographer.

officially

I just wrapped "Lucas" with Luis Gavi and Carlos Camacho. It was a lot of fun to do, I love working with those guys, but it was some pretty intense shooting. We moved through a lot of setups, and there was no time to think about the French reverses we were pulling and the way that would effect screen direction. I hope I don't fail at DP.

In the course of shooting, the duo had yet another unfortunate incident similar to the car accident they had during 48 Hour Film Fest. In one scene, a girl gets taunted with a power drill, then gets the bit through her thigh, her shoulder, and then finally her face. A really awful way to die, yet it shot right, it's beautiful on camera.

My lighting in action as an actor starts to go at it with the dummy

While shooting the master shot for that sequence (we had a dummy in waiting to do the actual drilling for the CU), the actress got her hair caught in the power drill. Anything that didn't get ripped out of her scalp was tangled in the actual power drill machinery and she had to sit there while Luis deassembled the power drill and got her hair out. The actress, Sam, was such a real trooper tho. Stayed real calm, and didn't freak out when she found out she had a bald spot the size of a fifty-cent piece. In fact, she came back the next day and finished production.

Crazy 4th of July weekend. Spent most of it with Natan.

Friday night, we went to Alex's house and played ping pong. Chris and Andy and Co have recently discovered a love for the game, and now it's the thing to do over at Alex's. Andy's real good cause he took a semester on it at COC, it's like he's recieved special training or something. The rest are all really stratigical and put a lot of thought into how they play, a lot more thought than I do.

In the course of the several hours we spent there, I realized just how much I such at pingpong. Natan recieved the nickname "Huggy" after he told everyone that yes, he's a tree-hugger. It's a good sign if they give you a nickname.

After Chris' house we blew some time with Travis at Hollywood and Highland. He was kicking it with Geoff, the father of Jess' child. The first words out of my mouth to him was that he is a dooshbag and a coward. Needless to say, that set a very negative tone for the rest of the night.

I also meditated on the beach. Deepak Choopra, eat your heart out.

I won't even talk about the fourth of July. Cottonmouth is a killer. Nuff said.

that pretty much brings me up to date on this past week, some upcoming things are

-Billiemarie's "Shortcircuit Nicely" short
-Josh Robin music video (DPing!!!)
-getting new tires for my car (it's out of commession)
-Chris Warren, from Silent Night, starts production on his first Indy feature!
-my continued attempts to look good naked (NO such thing as TMI!)

O, I'll feed you baby birds
Spencer Smith

My DPness

2009-06-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so right now I"m DPing a short film with my friends Carlos and Luis. They are Kennedy and ICF class of 07, and are a lot of fun to work with. I'm really excited, this is my first time DPing, and it's a big job in it's own little way. I'm having to rent equiptment in order to pull off what they want me to, and I have to play with stuff I've never used before. I also have to learn the GL2, a camera I've honestly never liked. But it's a good camera, and I should learn it sooner or later. I'm really glad Alex Bleyer from Devil's Co is helping me out (praying he doesn't get too sick). The script calls for a really creepy "Kill Room", so I'm really going to go through a lot of trouble to make sure you never see too much of the room. The sooner you see the monster, the sooner you realize it's just a guy in a mask. Same goes for a kill room that is really just a room next to Luis' garage. so I need to make certain that i can control the light from going everywhere, or else ruin the mood and the believablity of the film.

I just sent out an email with a request for a wall spreader and two c-clamps. They're gonna email me back a quote any second now. I need to talk to Corwin and ask him to teach me how they work. I really don't want to run up too much of a bill on this gig. If I do a good enough job, they're bring me back on another project they're working on this summer. I really like working. There just isn't enough summer for all the work I want to do.

I worked with Luis and Carlos once before, when they did "Idea Diarrhea"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOCmfqKMgmM), a film done for the CSUN Campus Film Fest. They get really crazy when they shoot. At one point, they ended up have to recast in the middle of the night, so they went to a strip club with about $300 and proceeded to look for an actress. I dont think anything that crazy will be happening on this film, but who knows. Here's to pulling all nighters making movies!

Wish me luck!
Spencer Smith

WOW...

2009-06-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

...summer's boring
lol

jk, it's actually been pretty fun

I got to go see my friend Natan and his band play at the Canyon Club in Agora Hill's. They sounded damn good, and I was stoked to see all their fans come out and support them. It was their biggest show to date.

In addition to watching them play on stage, I'm also cooking up a great music video for them along with the bands manager and this High School kid who's alread directed a feature. I'm DPing the project, mucho fun! Popping my DP cherry! Earlier before the show we did some location scouting and found some great places to shoot. The manager wants us to take the production to La Jolla, to shoot a lot of it, but me and Brandon aren't sure. While the idea of a road trip is intriging, it's a big pain in the ass to move everything there, find the places to shoot, and then pack up and head back. And then if we get there and don't like what we see, it's on us to tell everyone to get back in thier cars and go home. I'd rather keep everything in LA and not spend the gas money.

I"m losing major gas money on looking for trails. it's a lot of driving, and most places want you to pay a parking fee. I looked at some topo maps of the valley. Turns out there's three trails coming out of O'Melvany park, only two that I knew about. Plus there's a whole bunch that just spring up in the neighborhood around the park. Not to mention Reseda Point, which honestly looks really boring but w/e i'll hike it. I might head down to Chatsworth park and hike up their, but i really don't have fond memories of that park, so I probably won't. But the rocky trail is reallll nice.

Hung out with Travis a couple of nights ago. Helped me wear in my car. Side is now covered in puke and red wine. Long story, not even very interesting. Good part is I learned another trail that like him and two other ppl know about. I'm now one of those two other ppl. I'd love to tell you, but it's a secret.

Travis

still looking for stuff to do, havne't been to any parties or anything. Adrian said that now i had a car, he'd take me to raves. But he was rolling when he said that, I'm not sure he remembers. lol
I'm really bored out of my mind most of the time, I realy am

Yours Truly,
Spencer, Spencer Smith

WOW! What a night!

2009-06-06T03:22:00.000-07:00

So tonight was the College of the Canyon's student showcase, the best of the best from film, broadcast, and animation. What a night! I saw so many great films, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the quality of these films. I was massively intimidated by a few of them (cough cough "Maestro" cough cough). They all told great stories, and they looked pretty gorgeous most of the time. I don't think I saw one I didn't like.

I was then more surprised when I won the Outstanding Achievement in Film: Fiction award. I was really really stoked, when Dave got up to award it I thought it would to out to Brandon Harris who did Portrait of a Monster. I had to go up there, I don't think I've ever won anything before. =]

Afterward, I wasn't really invited, but I went to the bar with Chris, Veronica and Yvette. Resa and Jamie went too. Everyone was there, it was pretty packed, and by the time they started carding I had already spent two hours there and someone got me a drink. I was really happy. The bar was by a bowling alley, and apparently everyone goes there every Friday. That's just where they hang out. That's pretty dope, not gonna lie. I've never seen my teacher's drunk, so that was fun. I've also never seen my teachers sing karaoke, so another thing I learned. Dave and Carl have great voices, I forgot what they sang, but they sang great! lol

After that, I got to go to Carl McLaughlin's place with Veronica and Chris. Veronica wanted to drink this night, so Chris got her a few margaritas at the bar. She downed them in a row apparently, so she spent the rest of the night recovering. So that's what she was doing while me ad Yvette just kind of hung out with Jay(Carls roommate and fellow CALARTS film grad) and smoked hookah. Pretty amazing night, I think. Had a lot of fun, met a lot of people, and won an award. Somehow I don't feel satisfied, like I don't understand it. Something's missing from all of this. I'm not sure. I feel incomplete, and it's nothing anyone's else did. I feel like everyone's been nicer than nice to me, I'm super proud and happy. But somethings not brewing right in my mind, like it's more of a big picture discontentedness. I hope it doesn't play out badly on my Yosemite trip. URgh. I just can't put my finger on it.

O well, here's to meditation and feeling better,

and to great nights like these happening more often!

outties!

-SSS

p.s. I'm initially SSS from now on

those are my full initials

lol