Camerado Movie and Media Production

Just a quick clarification regarding the Okay Guesthouse, which appears in an earlier post and therefore seems to be a de fact positive report on the place: I left the Okay Guesthouse originally because 1) my stuff which was being held there was stolen, supposedly in a safe room. But when I came back, I found my papers missing, English teaching materials gone and scattered, etc. Later, the owner found my PADI scuba card and returned it to me 2) the thin, suave Khmer guy who works there (and some others) can be a real prick, very insulting and condescending. This I personally experienced last March wqhen he was so rude that I nearly got into a scuffle with the bastard...yet, yesterday (which is why I must clarify today) a friend of mine who had stopped by to ask directions to my place, in the Local Adventures building down the street, was rudely waved away as the guy told her: "what , do I work for you?" *This is AFTER I set up a friend of mine to stay there for ten days tw...

Hello all-- HAven't been updating the blog so much lately for several reasons: 1) I don't have INternet at home anymore, until/unless i get new service which thus restricts me to Internet cafes 2) Have been busy teaching this new video class at Royal University of Phnom Penh as well as working on my own other projects, bidding for a new NGO doc 3) Have been making most entries in the form of the hardcopy diary, HURRICANE... Somehow, I feel like I'm pulling away from the blog since the blog isn't tactile, and I'd prefer to print up a few hundrd pulp paperbacks out here of my experiences in the form of HURRICANE (which has been the ongoing production diary of the making of our most recent feature, SUSAN HERO, as well as other assorted "experiences") Also: the nature of bloggin is inherently exhibitionist, and I'm not sure I want to continue in this direction exclusively. BUT, with this having been said, hello again from Phnom Penh, where the new introdu...

Back from teaching at Royal University of Phnom Penh, where I'm helping put together (and teach) their brand new video production course in their communications department...am modelling some of the excercises on my own old days at NYU. Have just started building up a DVD library of movies which I think are solid, can be learned from -- and which can be acquired at the Russian Market (bootlegged) Amongst them: Taxi Driver, Lawrence of Arabia, Eraserhead, Star Wars, Rashoman, and others. Meanwhile, back in New York, G has just about finished tweaking the cut of Susan Hero, now with the 500Gigs of HD in hand, brought graciously back to NYC from Cambodia by my pal Cormac Creed who was just visiting here. So, as of today, Susan Hero has been submitted to a few fests, basically the ones who waived the entry fee due which I needed to request due to my slim Cambodian salary (though huge by Cambodian standards) Basically now waiting to hear what happens with the current fest submissions, n...

So, the one and only CC was just over for a visit form NYC; hit Angkor temples, had a great time and alas, it's sad to see him go. Anyway, also gave him the 2 250G hard drives containing all material and programs for Susan Hero. Next stop for him is NYC, where he'll give the drives to G who will take over the fine edit, mix, titles, and general finishing work (although I'm still trying to find a way to go back to oversee the final output) Thus, a watershed event in Camerado's second feature, Susan Hero. Have submitted it as is to Rotterdam and Florida Film fests...we'll see what happens!

Now that the NGO doc (link to trailer to be posted soon after it's official release here, it's very sensitive material) is don, I've been able to focus all efforts solely on Susan Hero and am now within sight of it completion. Goal is to have a solid working cut ready by Halloween, then ship off to the US to have some sort of work in progress screening there as well as here in Cambodia. Can't write much, have been writing instead in the hard copy making of diary, HURRICANE, now a year and a half old and 310 pages long! Speaking of which: what is up with all the hurricanes? Came up with the title HURRICANE last year during what seemed to be a strange peak year for Hurricane's now they seem to be getting worse and worse each year... Musct go now and change my underwear. Bought a pair of "XXL" down in Sinnoukeville last week, but they are SQUEEZING my balls off...I wonder who deemed them to be XXL? (Strange Cambodian underpants)

As I have been hauling ass to finish the NGo doc and also the rough cut of Susan Hero...have been writing instead mainly in the non-online journay HURRICANE, which is now over 300 pages--a real testamanet to the gruelling process of making Susan Hero which has led me from NYC to New Mexico, to Cambodia. Finished the NGO doc finally! Trailer link to be posted soon. Now taking a break in Kompong Som, back to Phnom Penh in a day or two.

(From a package of DORCO brand razors I bought the other day) The features of Dorco "DORCO" By adopting micro grinding method which is far different from the existing grinding methods, Dorco "DORCO" could have the edge of curve and tooth shape that assures comfortable feeling while shaving and long durability. The lubricant oozing out from the lubricating strip attached to the top cap of Dorco "DORCO" reduces friction between the razor and skin and prevents skin damage while shaving. [Diagram] Two blades are positioned in such a way that the first blade stretches your whisker out as it shaves the whisker and then the second blade shaves the remaining portion of the whisker for a perfect shave.

Anyway, just thought I'd post these, a couple interesting observations about the metallic object I found in the jungle near Kebal Strung: 1) the compass on my Swiss Army knife spins wildly whenever I get within 4 or 5 feet of it 2) This morning when I woke up, I found a great deal of condensation on the surface, and a pool of water had formed around the base. It was cool to the touch--whereas everything else was room temperature (that is, warm to hot) Planning on taking it to the Royal University of P P next week, to have it looked at, determine at least the source of the inscriptions, its composition, etc.

Was back up North in the jungle near the Sesan river doing some reshoots fro the NGo video, and one of our assistants came across what looked to be some wreckage of a downed American plane from Kissinger's Cambodian bombing days in the jungle... ...the perplexing thing is, the material looked very new, was very lightweight and--I know this sounds cliche--was covered in strange markings. It was neither Khmer nor English, nor Russian. No one had any idea what it came from, but none of the guides would touch it. Anyway, we took it to the local border station, but I brought a piece back here with me and I hope to post a picture of it online tomorrow.

As I ride the humble Daelim motorcycle through the streets of Phnom Penh at night, perhaps on my way to Zeppelin Rock and Roll cafe, I catch glimpses of some shuddering moments I left behind: travelling all the way from New Mexico to New York for two job interviews, one with my Alma Mater (NYU--a mediochre use of bucks and time)the other asa potential DGA Trainee. The first, I went and interviewed buyt never even heard back from them, never even received a "thanks for coming", this again from my own Alma Mater... The other, well I made it to the next round of the very selective process, bu tthey kept asking me, based on my resume: "You like to make films, do you think you'd be happy in this program where you'd just be supporting a production?" YES--I thought and said, dying for a break, a gig in my field after starving for so long out West trying to push the picture forward. I remember the anonymous, mean highways of America...one time, Rich and aI slid off...

Yea, verily I chip away at the indigenous doc whilst I continue cutting Susan Hero; as for the latter, now figuring out how and when to load the second half of the material (15 more hours) which will be the final batch of material needed to make the picture ocme together. Will I make the Sundance submisison deadline in October? Hope so, but if not, then f*ck it, the movie's ready when it's ready. Some limitations are: very few NTSC decks to be had here, and I need one to load this NTSC footage. The Windows machine functions well, though Quicktime is a more robust format I think than .avi. Besides this: no more teaching, that gig ended as mentioned ( I think), some late night sessions at Martini's restaurant / girl-garden, installing software, troubleshooting systems...am back to the Internet cafe since we're changing our service provider, over here in Kampuchea you have to pay by the Megabyte for web traffic and this can lead to the usual corruption and overcharging ...

Rode merrily to Monirith's place to rent his deck only to discover that Allan' canon camera tapes wouldn't play on the Sony deck to to an incompatibility issue: thus, when my true nature required me to swing vine to vine, I was stuck as a computer geek AGAIN trying to figure out the problem. Finally Monrith and his younger bother showed up with a camera to use as a deck, but battery issues kept usdown. He then calleda friend who brought a new camera--but itwas a Sony, and it suffered the same fate as the deck! Finally, Monrith's friend bring s another battery and charger for the first camera, thus I can load the crucial footage-- But then the digitzer from Premiere Pro flunked out-- So then I fired up Sony Vegas andused it's digitizer, with the hope oflater importing those clips into Premiere-- But then I discovered the original clips wouldplay after all (sorry, iBook nowusedforBlog as windows machineis digitzingas Iwrite,and the iBookhas a bad space key) Went...

After much research and scraping, bought a new windows workstation which I'll use to cut the NGO gig; nice machine, fast Asus motherboard, nice graphic card, etc...problem is I'm a Mac guy and never owned a Windos machine, thus many quirks and annoyances...two hours spent trying to network them together til my eyes got sore from the screen, felt like throwing both into the bamboo pool... Lots of stuff happening though, new gigs appearing based on the first one, which represents lots of cas$h if I get them. Paradoxically, I'm once agaiun down to my last few dollars after getting the machine setup, after getting my visa extended (another six months, in case I head up NOrth again to do something remote, want to have it already)...also offered a gig (tentatively) as a game producer for a reality TV show which will be shooting in Vitenam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. The job of the game producer is to skip ahead of the rest of the crew with a technical sidekick and translator ...

Rick Sherman, pal from NYC and BookWars days, taught me once in his scattered apartment on Houston Street, how to do Powerthought. It's a kind of magic, and I don'tbelieve in magic, but I started doing it again and it has its place. Closest I can call it is a kind of creative visualation...now that I strated doing it again, things are going OK [Cause or Effect?]

Just coming back from looking at computers,need to get a Windows machine to edit the new NGO job. With my savings from teaching,and the rest of the advancemoney, I'll have just enough to squeak by with a decent machine. Still moving forward onSusan Hero, which I'll continue to edit on my old Mac laptop (keyboard dying too). Thus,I'll have two dedicatedmachines for each project. Am pitching a couple more projects, incl oneabout UXO (unexploded ordinance) and the devastating effects on the local populace -- who often seek and harvest these deadly items for 500 Riel a kilo just for the metal! Sometimes they use the explosivesinside for fishing, actually. Below, see pix from one ofmy local playmates, Ritsa!

Quickly, before I forget; here is a link to the production stills from our recent shoot up NOrth in Ratanakiri province: http://www.camerado.com/docs/ratanakiri_alienation/index.html Now, I want to let you all know I have just made a momentous decision while eating a prawnburger for lunch; I have decided to quit my remaining teaching job and focus 100% on this NGO doc and Susan Hero. ** That is, I'm taking the Kierkegaardian leap of faith back into ONLY making movies again ** I can't help it: my inner voice told me very strongly to do it, and by the time I finished the prawnburger, I knew what I had to do... Three cheers for Kierkegaard!

Back after a week in the forest of Northern Cambodia, working on the doc about indigenous land issues. Listening to Black Sabbath here in my modest lair/office and regrouping: although Phnom Penh is a small, laid back town compared to New York --which is to my liking -- it's a whirring metropolis compared to Ban Lung, the provincial capital up North and biggest town in reach of the indigenous villages we'd been exploring. Thus, I go from a Tampuan village with pigs,. gourds, and old ladies with sagging tits, to the comfort of my Phnom Penh lair where I now peck, deal with SPAM and some important emails, and assess cash flow for finishing this project. Also, now once again cutting Susan Hero, which I'm chipping away at as best I can given the continually changing circumstances of life here. [will post pix from the Ratankiri shoot soon; needto update my system software first ] Before leaving though, had a striking dream about my (long deceased) father which I must relate bef...

Check out some frame grabs from one of the tougher scenes cut so far, and it's still only rough since I haven't added the material of Dr. Morell on the road [EXT Car shots] Seen below are grabs of 1) Dr. Morell (played by Dr. alan Rice) shaving just after arriving in New Mexico 2) shots of Javier Appollinaire (jaime Estrada) and Susan Hendricks (Drea Pressley) at work in the Meadowlark Movie House. Also pictured is Sanghpop Elpee, Susan's boss (played by Carlos Cabarcas) In this scene, Susan decidesto call Dr. Morell for the first time. Although his ad indicates he works with livestock for ranchers and horsebreeders, he is also now offering his cloning services to bereaved pet owners...which is why Susan, diatraught after the recent loss of her daughter, decides to call him. Javier can only listen in as Elpee, her overbearning boss, homes in and disconnects the call: "We can't make calls on company time..." Susan flips out and soon thereafter she does somet...

Not much more I can say. And I am not being melodramatic. Nor am I a rich guy from Connecticut with a hidden trust fund. I'm a guy who was reduced to a bowl of PHO a day as I slowly, trickingly, watched my money run out, after a year of unspeakable trials and tribulations trying to get my second feature off the ground. [read the physical, unrated diary, HURRICANE, to get a better idea] The grave economy in New Mexico led me to take the last desperate gamble: already reduced to Food Stamps, with my money almost gone, and screwed over by Rainbow Media and Kelly Devine to the tune of $2500, I decided to take a chance and come to Asia mainly to get some teaching experience, so that my skill set (already too narrow: film and TV? C'mon) might become more marketable. This followed months of looking for work in New mexico where the employers all agreed that "we can't hire anyone with the war goin' on and all" Nearly simultaneously do I get greenllit for the NGO doc ...

Rainy season has begun; yesterday on my way back from PTC computers with some new memory for my laptop and a power brick (backup power), some of the streets were flooded to the tailpipe of my motodriver's machine...certain streets we had to turn back, or take wheezing, wayward sloshing loops through streets on higher ground. Am now burnt out and flu-ish. Taught a lot these past few days, been meaning to quit one or more of the gigs but had to wait to make sure they all panned out an became "solid" with the new terms. Anyway, I have one particulalry huge class (over 50 students) , at the end of the day, and by the time I was teaching that class yesterday I was feeling detached, dizzy...once when I turned too quickly to point to the board, I saw a quick star flash across my vision. At one point I had to lean on the desk to remain standing without wobbling, and I did this as casually as possible. In the end, I played the tape a lot and let them do primarily listening exerc...