Warner Brothers lot!!!! Pictures finally!!!!

Pictures: Warner Bros: http://csuchico.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034739&l=c63cf&id=29904207
My Apartment: http://csuchico.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034741&l=bf7fd&id=29904207


Here's my address in case you want to write me:

870 W. Adams Blvd. #41
Los Angeles, CA 90007

Write me! I don't hear much from the outside world!

So I went to the Warner Brothers lot today and it was A-W-E-S-O-M-E-! I got to see all the sound stages (not inside all of them) and a ton of sets, the little museum they have, and the prop room.
So first we got the little public tour. Our tour guide was this little guy who reminded me of Michael J. Fox. You could tell he loves his job, he was very knowledgeable about the lot and had a lot of enthusiasm. He showed us all of the sound stages, including the 3rd biggest one in the world, where they filmed Poseidon and The Perfect Storm. They can fill it with a ton of water with this HUGE tank they have underneath the stage. Later we saw a ton of props from all kinds of movies, big stuff little stuff, cheap stuff, expensive stuff... I asked him about stuff from The Matrix (if you know anything about me, you know why) and he showed me some stuff lying around (like some statues that were used in the 2nd and the 3rd film that I actually recognized). He showed us Martin Sheen's desk from The West Wing, and we got to see the batmobile from Batman and Robin and Trinity's motorcycle from The Matrix 2 and 3. We stopped to go into this little museum they have for tourists, and they had some stuff from 300. Towards the back I could see two shiny gold objects that looked familiar. Upon further inspection I realized I was staring at the ACADEMY AWARDS FOR BEST PICTURE: THE DEPARTED. Ridiculous. The other Oscar was for Happy Feet. So cool. I couldn't believe that the were in the back just behind a plastic case...doesn't WB have some kind of awesome trophy case for this? And why doesn't The director or someone get the actual award? Maybe WB gets it for the museum for a while or something... Another highlight was getting to see the "recreated" Friends set, which was amazing. They said it was the same set, just moved different a different place more accessible to the public. The only downside to our tour was not getting to see any big productions going on. This is because it is summer, when most big movies are being released, not filmed. Most sound stages were in the process of construction, building the new sets for TV shows for the fall or new film productions. The one big movie, you may have heard of with some guys like Spielberg, Lucas and Ford (should I now include Labeouf in that list?) is going to be filming here at some point. A lot of props had tags (props have tags so the props crew no which sound stage to move them to) with the word "genre" on them, which apparently is a code word for the Indiana Jones 4 film. It's apparently still WAY down on the DL and they don't want people to know anything about it...so they don't even tag it as IJ4. We heard it is possible that some filming may be happening in a few weeks when we are back to do some shooting.

After having a burrito (which actually wasn't way over priced like I was expecting) and talking about film ideas with classmates and our Student Assistant Edward (who is a 3rd year grad student at USC originally from London) we went and got the VIP tour of some of the sets that we will get to shoot on.


The Director of Operations of WB actually walked us around and showed us a bunch of sets. We saw sets for a Jungle, Suburban type homes, a bunch of Gilmore Girls sets, the sound stage for Studio 60, the set for Two and a Half Men, and a bunch of others. The set that I really want to film on is an exterior called "Henessy St." where some of the Batman movies were filmed. The alleyway fight scene with the jetpacks from Minority Report was filmed there to. If I'm lucky enough to have my story idea picked to be chosen as a movie, or chosen to Direct a film, I just may get to shoot in the same place as STEVEN SPIELBERG. Oh we also happened to see a little bit of shooting going on, some guys were filming this dude doing this minor stunt, he was jumping out some window backward onto this nice big pad and there were filming him from above. It was pretty cool to see...

After seeing all of the sets we went back and worked on the ideas we had for our stories. This was the most stressful part of my time here. We were sitting in this big conference room at one of those huge tables that seats like 30 people. Apparently when they were filming Ocean's 13 at WB, this room was used as a little poker room for the cast so they could develop their chemistry and camaraderie. Pretty cool I was in the same room as that cast. Anyways, we all started pitching our ideas, I had one that I thought was pretty cool, I don't know how well it went over, I didn't feel too good about it right away, but some guys told me afterwards they liked it. Basically, here's how it goes: Everyone is pitching ideas tonight and tomorrow and e-mailing them to the class, our Student Assistant Edward, and Daniele our professor. Daniele and Edward are narrowing them down to 8, and then the class votes and chooses four to film at WB. So here's what I'm nervous about. The "golden triangle" is Director, Producer, Writer. I REALLY want one of those jobs. I'm pitching my idea, and would love to work on the crew and help shoot a movie that was my original idea, considering I may never get an opportunity like this again. If I don't get an idea picked, then I REALLY want to direct (just like the rest of the class). You have to pitch this to Edward and Daniele, and they pick the four directors. Basically you have to show them why you should Direct whatever film. If I can't do that I want to Produce, which I think I would be really good at, because its basically organizing logistics and getting the machine running. (The director is the engine, the writer designed the car, and the producer is like the gas and the oil. All are necessary...but different. Hey, I kind of like that analogy...) There are other cool parts that the crews (the crews for the four films are 6 people each) have, like Director of Photography (the guy who shoots with the camera), cinematographer (lights stuff) picture editor, sound editor, marketing... But this opportunity is SO huge and I don't want to be stuck with anything outside of the big three. I'll have my chances in the future, but not anything like this, for a LONG time. So...basically wish me luck, and hope I don't get screwed.

Meanwhile, I have to come up with an idea and film a one minute silent continuous (no cuts) film this weekend. So needless to say I'm kind of busy. Tomorrow we have a 3 hour tutorial on how to use the cameras, Saturday we have a 3 hour tutorial on the editing stations. I'm CRAZY busy, but I love it. This is the life I want, and as much stress and pressure there is in this business, this is what I love. I don't think I could be this busy absolutely ALL the time (I haven't even plugged in my TV yet, which, if you know me, is nuts.) So there you go, there's what I'm up to for the moment, now, I've got to go develop my idea, I'll keep you all posted. Cross your fingers.

Monday we go back to WB again, so that's pretty cool. Alright, annnnnnnd SCENE!