James' Blog

Just Landed (Provided Things Went as Planed)

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:59:00 +0000

I'm thirtyfour thousand feet in the air as I write. My sister is in
the promised land and I'm headed home after a wirlwind trip home--tell
me that's fair! I kid, I've been incredibly blessed and I've recieved
far more than I have deserved in famliy and relationships. Not to
mention experiences and posesions. "Every good and perfect gift is
from above."

If you're reading this chances are no matter how insignificate you
believe our relatioship to be, seriously, I love you, and more than
you deserve. My God has made my heart full. Every person I meet I
can't help but love. Interestingly what gets in the way of my showing
that love is my fear of how I might be precieved.

I've read that people have different ways of loving and even
preferences of how they like to be shown love ("Five Love Languages").
Touch, Verbal Affermation, Gifts, Acts of Service, and Quality Time.
Naturally, I tend to show love via touch and verbal affermation.

Because I've had amazing family and friends that have expressed and
allowed me to express that I love them I believe that I can more
easily express love. One of the things that I often start on a set I'm
working on is saying I love you to people I work closely with. It's
amazing how quickly it catches on and how people respond. It's always
a little scary to throw it out there the first time though. By the end
of the shoot we're all saying I love you.

There is a lot of power in the words "I love you" though. I don't say
it to female colleges unless I'm sure how it is understood. While
dating Danielle we made the decision early on not to say "I love you"
till we were engaged to be married. It could have made things move
faster than we were ready for. When it came time to propose all I had
to say was "I love you," and she knew immediatly.

It intesting that the longer you wait to say it the harder it is and
the more weight it seems to carry, even with friends and family. Go
ahead and give a little love.

What a random string of thoughts you just followed. Next time you see
me let me know if you have any love for me, I'll return the favor and
know you read the blog.

Sent from my iPhone

Since Then

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:36:00 +0000

A grip friend of mine got me on a Hallmark feature for a few days as a PA. A great experience because I got paid and met some great people, some I've been able to hangout with outside of work.

During that time my car died. I don't want to get into it but... I was to blame and it cost us $1800. Had to get a new engine, but chose to get a new clutch and water pump while they had it opened up. Also, finally had them charge the AC! Awesome. Too bad it's been cold here.

My friend Paul Parkinson came to visit for a few days. That was awesome! Bad part was I couldn't take him for a ride in my car. Loved having him. We went hiking and saw lots of native wildlife in Malibu: Deer, ground squirrels, snakes, crayfish, lots and lots of sea anemonies and starfish... and Matthew McConaughey.

This past week I worked for Danielle's company, shooting an interview and made some money. I was even able to pay a friend to help. Making money is always nice, but not always the case.

Soon I'll be working on another feature, but this time I won't be getting money. Should be a great opportunity however.

Me = Gaffer

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:11:00 +0000

This last Saturday I filled in for a friend who was gaffing a short for a director who flew in from Paris to shoot. We only used one light for one scene but still, I was the gaffer. A majority of the time we used screens and bounce boards. The short was shot on the RED camera and this was my first experience with it, beautiful! Check out these two stills from the day.

Jamin Round the World

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 00:26:00 +0000

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

And some others:
One Love
Don't Worry

http://www.playingforchange.com

Insurance Commercial

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:28:00 +0000

I worked 5 full days Thursday(7am-4pm), Friday(6am-2pm), Monday(6am-4pm), Tuesday(10am-11pm), and Wednesday(2pm-12pm) on a commercial for an insurance company... didn't get paid a cent and I'm glad.

Locations: Thursday(Abandoned Hotel), Friday(Sound Stage), Monday(Pool and Outside a Church), Tuesday(store fronts in eagle rock, Park and Gym), Wednesday(Dinner, Apt complex, and closed down two streets for car crash.)

The first day I showed up on set was a quick learning experience. I knew what time I was supposed to get there and where I was supposed to park... but after that I just had to guess and play it confident in order to walk on to set. Luckily, I saw a bunch of trucks and the Loader getting some gear ready in the back of one as I walked up. From that point on I stuck mostly with the Loader.

My contact, the 1st AC, was almost always with the DP, where all the action was, so I did my best to stay out of the way and decided that I'd learn how to be a loader. That turned out to be a great decision, the loader was supper helpful and had time to teach me things. He put me to work right away on preparing labels for the film.

For each film stock used during the production we used a different color of tape to label, first the unused canister, then the loaded mag, and finally the exposed film to be processed. The loader put me to work creating the labels that would travel with the film through the whole process. This is exactly what I wanted to know how to do.

Below is an example of what I wrote out (but spread out a little more):

400' "State Farm" M# | R#
8573-316-116-005-12 |
3/31/09 BISCUIT LI |

Film length; Production Name; Mag #; Roll#
Stock# - specific # for each film roll
Date; Production Company; Loader's Initials

We had several film mags and each one was numbered. Once film was loaded into a mag the loader would remove the label from the film canister and stick it on the the mag and write the mag# on the label under M#. This was so that if during processing something was found wrong with the film, like a scratch, we would know what mag may have caused it and could replace it.

The Roll # was written on the label right after or before being loaded on to the camera, the roll number keeps track of what number load is in use. A1, A2, A3, A4... these roll numbers continue til the end of the production. "A" is for camera A... if there were two cameras it might go A1, B2, A3, A4, B5...

It was a good day with incredible food!!!! Breakfast and Lunch were served out of a catering truck and it was really good! If it had been at a restaurant the entree would have probably cost $30. Good tasting.

I learned tons more details like the labeling above but instead of boring you... more, I'll list some highlights.

Learned how and loaded a good number of dummy rolls in the dark room.
Worked with HydroFlex gear and tech, which allows the camera to go underwater.
Helped to create a Film Inventory spreadsheet which saves a lot of time
Prepped the camera and the camera carts one morning by myself
Closed down an intersection in front of the Clean House HQ to stage a night crash scene! Awesome
Made friends
Gave my contact info to the Production Manager to PA
Ate lots of really really good food.

Preping Film Equipment for a Commerical

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:33:00 +0000

Earlier this year Danielle's boss and her husband invited us to dinner, at the dinner they introduced us to their friend who, among other things, AC's on commercials. Their friend was very gracious and when he found out that I wanted to learn film production offered to help. After sometime and a few calls he invited me out to prep* for a production.

At that prep I met both his 2nd** and his Loader***, I also got more acquainted with the Arri LT film camera and was shown how to load a film mag. Awesome experience! Ten times better than going to school. At the prep he asked if I wanted to come on set one of the days that week... this is what I really wanted and hoped he would ask, but it didn't work out.

Next time we talked he invited me to prep for another commercial the next week. "Of course," I said. At that prep I became even more familiar with the gear and how to prep. Again he invited me to set, and this time I was not going to let anything stop me from going...

*Prep - going to the rental house where you are getting your equipment for the production and laying it all out and putting it all together to make sure everything works and that you have everything you need/ordered. (Later I found out that only the AC gets paid on prep day, and the 2nd and Loader show up only to help and keep up their relationship with the AC)

**2nd - the assistant to the AC

***Loader - in charge of film stock, from loading it into the magazines to sending it to be processed. Lowest on the totem pole.

Behind the Scenes with Sharpstone

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:09:00 +0000

Here is a video I took with our Canon 5D while shooting Bill Palmer's short Sharpstone, later to be a part of a feature film he's written. Jeremy Hayward is the DP and Matt Iseman, of Clean House, is Sharpstone.

Sharpstone

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Been helping some friends with a short movie/trailer... here are some pictures from the shoot I've taken thus far. Picasa Web Album (for easier viewing)

Hackensaw Boys in Atlanta

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Last night I went out with some of my Clean House crew to see the Hackensaw Boys. Might have been the best concert I've ever been to...

After the first part of the show they came back out and played a song fully acoustic... then they walked right in to the audience with all their instruments and played another two to three songs acoustic... and they came right to us, we all had a spot on the rim of the circle surrounding them. I thought the can player, percussion, was going to whack me while playing. It was awesome! Later on that night Justin, the percussionist, came and chatted with us all. Turns out, though the band is from Virginia he lives in LA and like me needs to find some work when he gets back in town.

St. Louis in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:04:00 +0000

I've been back from St. Louis for a week now and finally got to putting some pictures up, these are in order and there are a good 120 of them so if you're only a little bit interested click through to picasaweb and just check out the thumbnails.

Here's the run down:

Our hotel was right next to the Arch and the Cardinal's Stadium.
First night I went out with some of the guys and saw Scott Joplin's and Chuck Berry's old houses along with some other touristy sights.
Second night (didn't bring my camera) Mike, Jeremy, and I went to a Blue's Hockey game. Spent third period in the second row, only $11. Spent the rest of the night getting soaked while walking around looking for a convenience store.
The house we were at had three monkeys... sadly I only got pictures of one of them.
Sunday, our day off, Mike, Jeremy, and I went to a big St. Louis event. The Mardi Gras Dog Parade! Then we walked to the Bud factory and got a tour... ended up being a long night tasting beers and having fun with the camera.
Monday I went in to work even though I wasn't getting paid so that I could shoot on the C camera which isn't in use on Monday... the producers to advantage and let me shoot some good stuff.
Monday, finished reading the "Shack." Pretty good.
Monday night I joined up with some of the older guys and went searching for BBQ. We found Smokey O's, it was closed but the smell was too good to leave so we made a back door deal and brought the food to the hotel lobby. Super Good! Ate too much and felt sick all that night, even after three of us went to a small bar to hear some New Orleans style Blues.
Tuesday night went out again with a group to hear some more blues and celebrate another episode and city under the belt.

Hawaii Pics

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:22:00 +0000

Hawaii

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:19:00 +0000

I just got off the flight from hawaii and I'm now in a cab on my way back to Burbank. It was quite an experience. We stayed in a nice hotel in Wikiki called Outriggers, it was in the middle of all things downtown and on the beach with the famous Dukes connected to it. This trip was my first ever work trip and I must say it's quiet nice to get perdium... Especially when most of your food is served for you anyway. :)

Hawaii is beautiful and my job is a hundred times better than PAing, at least for now. Part of my job was to look after the gear and that meant keeping most of it in my room. I easily had a quarter million dollars worth of gear in my room everynight.

Besides getting to better know my crew mates and stayng up late signing kareoke one of my highlights was getting to hike one of the many ridges and see a waterfall. I've got lots of pictures from that. I'll post some pictures and more stories once I get a chance to catch up on
some sleep.

Love, James

Sent from my iPod

"Yea, but it wasn't in a bad way."

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:06:00 +0000

The Remnants from John August on Vimeo.

Click on Vimeo in the bottom corner to see in HD.

The pilot for The Remnants, written and directed by John August. Starring Justine Bateman, Michael Cassidy, Ben Falcone, Ze Frank, Ernie Hudson, and Amanda Walsh.

It was shot during the WGA strike in February 2008, using the SAG internet agreement.

The project is currently in development with 60Frames in association with NBC/U, so it could in theory become a series at some point. Either way, we had a good time making it.

Beautiful Video is Back Up

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Watch it now if you couldn't see it last time. It's my favorite song on Phil Wickham's "Singalong" album, which is amazing the whole way through... and free.

Danielle's First Lipdub - "Be Ok"

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Danielle's First Lipdub - "Be Ok" from James Kanka on Vimeo.

Ingrid Michaelson - "Be OK"

Danielle wants it known that she didn't know all the lyrics and that I kinda forced her to do it anyway. :) BUT, at least the next one will be easier.

Plus this was fun because it was shot on our new Canon 5D Mk II. Can't edit HD too well so I used Streamclip to downconvert.

Update: Danielle's blog

Bam! My new Video Setup

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:05:00 +0000

From Thousand Words

The 5D Mk II arrived and I've added some things to it. I'm very very impressed by the quality. The shot above was taken at 6400 ISO! Sweet looking grain.

Favorite song on "Singalong"

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Update: I just watched three times in a row, you owe it to your self.

Update: I just watched it again and it reminded me that I got in trouble the first time I played it for Danielle. I had just picked her up from the airport, after she was gone for a week, and I wanted to share the album and particularly this song with her. However, she just wanted to talk, so it didn't end well when I turned it up and said, "listen to this song."

Update 3: Now this is probably deserves another post but the power of the song above made me think of another song with a totally different vibe, but still sung to God. Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt." Probably the best cover and music video ever. He's so honest in delivery I dare you not to tear up.

Update 4: Looks like it was too good to be true... they took down the first video. I'm assuming they'll post it again later because they've been releasing each song from the album slowly and this week they strangely released two songs. When it comes I'll post it.

It's a Camera

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:44:00 +0000

Danielle and I are now expecting a new addition to our family... a brand new Canon 5d Mark II! We are very excited, surprisingly though Danielle is probably more excited than I am. I've been a fan of the 5D for a while but I'm a video guy primarily and there is no way I alone could justify getting one. But, since Danielle has been enjoying our Rebel so much and now wants to pursue photography more she's been wanting a new camera too; then the Mark II came out with its HD video. (BTW. I highly recommend getting the previous version of the Canon 5D now, a superb camera for only $1,500-- kinda ridiculous seeing you could make that in a day with it.)

Well as the saying goes, "buy once, cry once," and we did try as we paired our purchase with a 580EX II Speedlight, 24-105mm f/4 IS USM lens, and a UV filter. Saddly they didn't have anymore batteries but it can wait a little.

What's next? Maybe

Sell my Canon XHA1**--HD camera, my laptop, and possibly my desktop. Then buy a Mac... tommorow I'll find out which products Apple is refreshing. And maybe a MSI Wind.

** I love my camera and the 5D is not a replacement but I'm in a different place now where I don't feel it's nessecary to have my own camera anymore. There are so many people in the area that have their own gear and are always in the need for good stories. If I were to have a good story I'm sure I could find the equipment. Also, for the types of jobs I'm looking for I don't need to have a camera.

Ever Play Video Games?

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 07:07:00 +0000

This is how you look. I've played shootem up video games growing up, in fact they were my favorite, but watching the faces with the sounds... it kinda disturbing. It's amazing what we find entertaining!

I'd seen stills from this before... but here is the video from New York Times and it's much more powerful.

My thoughts.. er John Hodgman's thoughts on Prop 8

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:20:00 +0000

via. Daring Fireball

John Hodgman:

I have confidence that, in no short order, Prop 8 will be repealed, and the gay marriage debate will look as absurd at the miscegenation debates of the 20th century do now. I have confidence this will happen not because it is merely right, or because the electorate will suddenly love gayness, but because opposition to gay marriage has no logical foundation in a civil society that is premised on equality.

Only I would take out the word, "merely," as italicised above, to insinuate it is not right. Our government has done many good things for us, however, do not put faith in any government to restore morality, it couldn't even if it wanted to. I'm thankful to be reminded of that. I'm not particularly worried myself, I put all my hope and faith in Christ Jesus. Not in Government, but "In God We Trust." But, I still hurt for those who do not trust in God and are drifting further from Him with nothing to hold on to.

Surprise Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:08:00 +0000

Danielle's dad surprised her by showing up from Michigan without warning. Of course I knew about it and found a way to capture it on video. :)

Christmas Surprise from James Kanka on Vimeo.

Moving Up

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:07:00 +0000

This past Tuesday was the last day of the season for Clean House. So now I'm at home with no work till I find some more work or Clean House calls me back for the next season...

Today I got the call from Clean House and I've been promoted to Assistant Camera for the new season which doesn't start till Jan 18th. I'll be part of a new traveling crew which as of right now means I'll be spending 10 days a month for the first three months on the road. January I'll be in Honolulu, February: Saint Louis, March: Dallas. I'm very excited to have a new position, make more money, and to be able to travel to new places but I'm sad that I'll be leaving Danielle alone.

Praise God. Good News on the home front.

Christmas Video Card

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 20:23:00 +0000

I dig this family's Christmas greeting.

Wishing You a Merry 'Vintage' Christmas! from Jared Foster on Vimeo.

Prop 8: The Musical

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:49:00 +0000

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

If you would have voted yes on prop 8 what would have been your response to these people? These are the people that I work and live with.

BTW: I think it's funny.

Cute

noreply@blogger.com (James Kanka) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:51:00 +0000

found this from following a link from the husband's video...

and this one with his cute daughter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NXclg93-V8