Thursday, March 31

[Chris] Yesterday was largely dedicated (in addition to the usual, paid work), to a workshop/seminar on stand-up comedy put on by local comedians D.C. Young and Ross McGinnis. Following that was a screening of films, then the usual IFC meeting. Following that was a "mid-career retrospective" of the films of James Robert Swope, who has been at this about twenty-some years, with a lot of great stuff to show for it. He's a funny guy, and has been funny for quite some time.

Tonight you can watch Song of the Dead in Kansas City at the Tivoli (watch for Jeremy running around Westport looking more zombie-ish than usual) or Rick Schroder's Black Cloud at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. The choice is yours! But choose!

Oh, and if you're sixteen or older, you may be able to squeeze into the Lawrence Arts Center filmmaking class that we're teaching Tuesday evenings starting next week. The choice is your! Knowledge is power!

Wednesday, March 30

[Jeremy] In today's update, I'm going to quote liberally from Beck lyrics. So, bottles and cans and just clap your hands and just clap your hands...

Soy un perdedor, Chris' film Table For Five premiered last night at the Kansas City Comedy of Arts Festival and was incredibly well received. They say that you you can't write if you can't relate, and while Chris has never himself been pregnant, been the one to get a woman pregnant, or (as naturally follows if the first two hold true) been the father of someone who has become pregnant, the characters that he created in Table For Five are very real, and their emotions and responses are very real, which is why the film works so well. When people were laughing, they weren't laughing at the punchline, they were laughing at that little bit of themselves that they could see in those characters.

After the films portion of the festival, there's a destination a little up the road, and it was open mic night where numerous stand-up comics took the stage. A place we saw the lights turn low, jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow. Some were good, and you could tell they'd spent a hundred hours on the miracle mic some on the other hand got a little crazy with the cheese whiz, and you were looking forward to them leaving the stage. It was a good time, and I laughed a lot. I'm looking forward to the rest of the Comedy Arts Festival. You should check out their website, and check it out for yourself, too! I don't want to leave you alone...wearing your wounds, so come out and laugh.

Now comes the end of the update,

the end
o the end
we live again
o i grow weary of the end 

Tuesday, March 29

[Chris] While we gear up for more shooting, Tax Day looms like a vulture. This area is not my forte. I don't quite understand it and what's worse, I'm rather loathe to spend a lot of time learning a system that will ultimately cost me money. But, I do like the fire department to come when my house catches fire, and the police officers that occasionally show up at shoots are quite friendly, so I shall give unto Caesar what is Caesar's

There's another film festival going on in Lawrence, overlapping with the IFC's Comedy Arts Festival in Kansas City (darn it). It's the 2005 Stories-N-Motion Festival, put on by Haskell University students. It starts with what sounds like a very interesting film from Rick Schroder (who acted in NYPD Blue, Pool Hall Junkies, and a ton of other stuff) called Black Cloud which shows at Liberty Hall on Thursday. The other films are at Haskell University, only a few blocks from my apartment, the next two days.

Why oh why must all these festivals converge at once?!

Monday, March 28

[Chris] Is Spring here yet? Can we start shooting exteriors? I'm going to start taping leaves to the trees pretty soon. Actually, there's still plenty to do in the indoor realms, especially now that we've added two new cast members to Air - Joseph Serrano (as Stan) and Doug Kisgen (as Marcus). Congratulations guys, and we look forward to working with you.

This weekend was devoted to Empty Acre and Evil Kansas, both projects, oddly, dealing with malevolent forces inherent to our state. Are there any happy Kansas movies out there? I really want to know. Wizard of Oz doesn't count, since she's trying to escape the state for 90% of the film and all the Kansans are black-and-white hicks.

[Chris] New Comic today. Sorry it's a bit late.

Friday, March 25

[Jeremy] So... we keep saying hummatalk and wallaspeak about this little thing called a feature film we're working on, right? And you keep sayin' yeah yeah, run yer yummer and talk your sillasprech, but where's the goods! Well, first off, we've got more behind the scenes pics for your devourage...

And second, I offer you the first every still pics directly from the film itself -- 1) a still pic of the lovely Megan Carter; and 2) a (tasteful) still frame of Ian Stark and Megan in bed.

Have a good weekend!

[Chris] We're helping on an Evil Kansas shoot for Josh Effron today. Here's the new comic.

I'd also like to clear something up that perhaps needn't be cleared up, but I like to err on the side of caution. If you have worked on the crew for Air previously, and read about other shooting days for which you were not called upon to crew, please don't think that we have passed any kind of judgement on your help before. Many times (especially recently) we are shooting relatively uncomplicated sequences (e.g. - "the hallway") or in small spaces (e.g. - Misti's apartment), and only have room or need for a few core crew members. As the weather warms up, the shoots will get more complicated and we will need more hands on set.

In the meantime, if you're absolutely burning to do something right now, feel free to e-mail us, and I'm sure we can find (heh, heh) something for you to do.

Thursday, March 24

[Chris] Apologies for the late update. We had a little date with free Arthur Bryant's lunch today, thanks to a well-placed business card in a fish bowl at said establishment.

I feel I should a) distinguish what of Jeremy's post yesterday is fiction and b) give my thoughts on the LA trip, since I said I would do so.

a) Most everything Jeremy said yesterday is true, with one exception. It is true that we are not moving to LA anytime soon, that we got to play with stuff (specifically, practice loading mags) at Panavision, and that we shared popcorn with The Enigma and Katzen at the Kansas City Firecracker premiere.

The untrue part: Rocky Balboa did not help out with the post yesterday. It was actually a rather intelligent puffin disguised as Rocky. The confusion is understandable as, by all accounts, the puffin has a lot of heart.

b) The LA trip was good, if a bit brief. Jeremy, in necessarily nebulous terms, talked about meeting with people, so I will discuss, in more specific terms, the city itself.

There's kind of an energy in LA, like a smog-conducted electricity, that I could find appealing. Plus, you're immersed in the film industry. There's a finishing house on each and every block - almost as many as there were fly-by-night pharmacies in Tijuana. This large amount of production would be great in terms of resources - can you imagine getting your film processed and returned within a day?! - but would I want to live in a city deluged with filmmakers? Not so sure. I mean, as I proved at the lunch table earlier today, I love barbeque sauce. But I don't want to swim in it.

I think as a resident I would be much like Jeremy's high school friend Sharad, who now lives out there, getting a master's degree in social work at USC. He took us by the Hollywood sign, the Kodak Theatre, and Sunset Boulevard with the clinical disdain of a driving instructor checking my ability to signal a turn. But on Venice Beach at sunset, with a cool breeze carrying bits of the Pacific Ocean and music from street performers, he grinned with a hitherto unshown contentedness and said "this is what I love about LA."

New comic tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 23

[Jeremy] It's a Rocky kinda update today! In case you don't know who Rocky is, Rocky, why don't you introduce yourself:

Rocky: Hi.

So, Rocky and I are going to give you the update for today. A lot of things happened out in LA (no, we're not headed that way to stay - we're staying here and making movies), and we talked to a lot of great people - actors, producers, directors, etc... and most of them with connections back to this area. I don't think I'm going to name them specifically, because they were kind enough to take the time to talk to us about our film, but I don't want to imply that they're tied to it in any way. I would, however, like to thank everyone who did talk with us. Your advice and help is greatly, greatly appreciated.

Wait... what's that Rocky?

Rocky: You like having a good time...?

I'm not sure what that means, Rock. Anyway, also a big thanks to Panavision for letting us go in and play with PanaToys.

Rocky: Eh? You got a boyfriend?

Well, no I don't Rocky.

Rocky: Well, then gimme a kiss.

Sorry, Rocko, I'd rather not.

Rocky: Ah... I feel like a Kentucky Fried Idiot!

That's okay, Rocky.

Rocky: You know, I wish I was a canine sometimes.

I know, Rock. I know.

Life seems a little odd sometimes. Like three days ago, we were having coffee and chatting with a celebrity who's stopped every day of her life by fans, the next day, we're in Mexico because we wanted some Mexican food, and yesterday, I'm sitting in a movie theater in Kansas City sharing popcorn with The Enigma and Katzen at the premier of Steve Balderson's Firecracker. And now, I'm talking with Rocky Balboa, and he's spraying himself down with Castor Oil.

Rocky: Hey, do you think this stuff smells like a man?

Sure, Rocky. Sure does. Glad to be back in Kansas, so we can get back to work on Air. Yo?

Rocky: Hey, yo!

Yo.

Tuesday, March 22

[Chris] Well, we're officially back! We had a great trip. I'll have to tell you more about it in a bit (maybe later today... maybe tomorrow). Right now we're on our way to the premiere of Steve Balderson's Firecracker this afternoon.

Hope you all had a good weekend. I'll tell you about my impressions of LA (and, briefly, Tijuana) in the near future.

Thursday, March 17

[Chris] I have a confession to make. I have never been to Los Angeles. I have never even been to California. I've been many other places outside my home region including Florida, Georgia, New York, Italy, and Israel. But I've never been to the Babylon of movies itself.

Well, that changes today, and, of course, it happens to be on the eve of the first ever Kansas Film Summit right here in Lawrence, right at my place of part time employment. Ain't that something? I do seriously support Midwest filmmaking above anything else. Timing's just bad on this one.

We've got to head back to Topeka for a bit of clean up before our flight takes off this afternoon. I'll share my impressions of LA either as I'm there (if we have Internet access and time) or once we get back next week. But be wary of what I say - by then I might be just another Hollywood phony!

Wednesday, March 16

[Jeremy] Yesterday was great! Everything went as scheduled and the actors were all so wonderfully dead-on -- Ian Stark, Megan Carter, Susan Crawford, Bob Campbell, Andrea Schroeder and THE Chris Blunk -- thank you all for being so great!

And the crew -- Steve Deaver (UPM), Patrick Rea (AD), Michael Stoecker (Gaffer), Misti Boland (Script Super), Mark Yeazel (AC) -- also all rocked out loud!

Today, we have to take equipment back to KC, clean up in Topeka, edit for a project due tomorrow, mail all sorts of stuff, finish transferring video to the official Air external hard drive, go to editor Mark von Schlemmer's place (near Baldwin), start editing footage, get a rough cut of a couple scenes edited together, do ADR work with the actors, and pack before leaving tomorrow for LA for meetings.

We've got some behind-the-scenes pics from yesterday's shoot uploaded. We'll try to have links up by tomorrow. In the meantime, thanks again to everyone for all their great work, and we'll see you next week!

Tuesday, March 15

[Chris] Welcome to a production day. Think about us as we roll camera on our leads (Ian Stark and Megan Carter), plus some walk-on performances by the lovely Andrea Schroeder, the always reliable Bob Campbell, the wonderful Susan Crawford, and a mystery cameo from someone near and dear to my heart.

I can't wait to put up the "after" pics of the hallway, so you can see the wonders worked by Sally, Sara, Caughey, Jeremy, et. al.

Thanks to everyone who auditioned for us - we had a great turnout and some excellant performances. We'll be in contact in the next week or so. If you would like to hear about upcoming auditions, make sure and sign up for the Through A Glass mailing list.

Monday, March 14

[Jeremy] I've now had 5 people tell me that I'm crazy in the last three days. People are awesome! We wanted a red hallway that leads up to Sarah's apartment, and Erin from the film commission found a great, long hallway in Topeka on the floor that was once taken up by the Kansas DOT, but is now empty and going to be renovated in the middle of April. We couldn't paint it, so we went to the Lawrence Paper Company and they donated huge rolls of paper that we painted, cut, and then section by section taped to the walls all the way down the hall. It's been a huge undertaking, but now the whole thing is red, and it looks great! Also changed out all the flourescent lights with specially color-balanced tubes and today, (the day before we shoot), we're ripping up the carpet from the office next door and lining our hallway with it, and then building an elevator at the end of the hallway.

At the same time, we also need to pick up equipment from Kansas City (tripod, dolly, track), sit down with Patrick Rea (AD extraordinaire), and we're auditioning a few more people who couldn't make it to auditions on Friday for the roles of Stan and Marcus. The film is also coming back tomorrow, and we need to get the keycode video version of the film transferred from digibeta uncompressed onto our harddrive, so that we can try to start editing and have a couple scenes put together before our whirlwind trip to LA, starting Thursday.

Huge, huge, huge thanks to Sally Cummings, Sara Huslig, Eric Caughey and Steve Deaver for helping with the hallway undertakings, and also a big thanks to Peter Jasso and Erin Schroeder of the Kansas Film Commission for coming in for hours on end with us as we worked.

Tomorrow, we shoot!

Friday, March 11

[Chris] The hallway is coming along nicely. We'll put up some before and after pictures when it's completed, which will probably be about five minutes before the camera rolls on Tuesday.

Good luck to all auditioning tonight! We look forward to seeing you all.

If this batch of auditions didn't have a role for you (such as female roles), you can still drop us a line and we'll make sure and tell you about upcoming auditions. There should be some for female roles in the near future.

Congrats to Patrick Rea for his short Hell to Pay getting in Palm Beach International Film Festival!

Thursday, March 10

[Chris] Today is another hallway day! Update to come later.

Wednesday, March 9

[Chris] Today is the deadline for the Comedy Arts Festival in Kansas City (info on the In dependant Film Coalition's website). They're looking for films, animations, stand-up, live improv, pretty much anything so long as it's funny. So if you have something ready, send it in today! Though, between you and me, I bet if you drop them an e-mail they'd take your submission over the next day or two. So, do so at your own risk.

Don't forget - Air auditions this Friday in Shawnee. Drop us a line if you want to audition.

On the business front, we're set up to do a commercial for Set 'em Up Jacks, a fine sports bar here in Lawrence. We'll be shooting it during the upcoming basketball tournament season. We'll let you know when it's done so you can stay glued to the TV looking for it.

Today we head to Topeka to begin work on apartmentizing the officey hallway, devastating all grammar in our path.

Other than that, remember the Kansas Film Summit is coming up a week from Saturday. Ciao!

Tuesday, March 8

[Chris] Sorry if anybody has been checking these early in the day. I'll try and update these a little faster. Yesterday was fairly eventful as we start to organize for next week's shoot. Last night was a lovely screening of local film work at Liberty Hall, courtesy Matt Toplikar. Much joy for all.

Today is the last day for our kids' filmmaking class at the Lawrence Arts Center. Their film is complete - I'll see if we can put it up here some time. It's probably the best sci-fi extravaganza to be filmed entirely in and around the arts center.

The class is being offered again for the Spring quarter (starting in three weeks) for both kids (5th-10th grade) and adults (ages 16 & up). By the end of the eight-week course, a film will be finished by the class. Plus we have a pizza party at the end. You like pizza, right? Everybody likes pizza.

Monday, March 7

[Chris] A large percent of the weekend - a very large (but productive and fun) percent - was devoted to production on Patrick Rea's Empty Acre project. The film is really coming along and the performances alone are going to make this film stand out from the usual low-budget horror fare.

Thanks to all that we've heard from regarding auditions Friday evening. Anybody that is interested in auditions, find all you need to know on this page here. If you want to set up a time or have questions, by all means, contact us.

An e-mail update should be coming out soon. Info on joining the e-mail list is here.

Friday, March 4

[Chris] Brand. Spankin'. New. Comic.

Recap of pertinent info from yesterday: any male actors out there who are interested in parts for Air can find info on auditions here. Big thanks to those we've heard from so far. Anyone in the Lawrence area interested in doing some locations work look here.

Yesterday we continued the search for junked cars that match our own cars to double in the movie. See, we want to have a scene involving some damage done to cars, but don't relish the thought of knocking our own around. Besides, if we wrecked them on film we probably couldn't collect the insurance. The multi-talented Ian Stark is helming the scrap yard search in addition to acting in the film in addition to attending pharmacy school. Geez. I'd be happy with doing one thing well.

Happy weekend to all, and to all... a, um, happy weekend.

Thursday, March 3

[Chris] All right, we've got an official date and time for auditions for three male roles in Air (don't worry, ladies, your time will come again soon). The details are on the official Air site, specifically in the Cast section. If you would like to set up an audition time for Friday, March 11 between six and ten PM, please send us an e-mail. Hope to see you there.

As for crew information - we are still looking for a locations manager in the Lawrence area.

We've got our next big shooting location and date. Now we just need to make an office hallway look like an apartment hallway. Or, alternatively, change the script so the character lives in an office. There's always two solutions to any problem. Three if you count giving up*.

And finally, I'd just like to thank Spring for making a comeback. I see Robins a-bob-bob-bobbin' and blue skies. There is no possible way that we could be in for more wintery weather. This is clearly here to stay.

Hi, I'm not from the Midwest.

* Giving up not available from Through A Glass Productions.

Wednesday, March 2

[Jeremy] Ah, Mr. Sunshine strikes again... no, again, not Chris. Yesterday was the second day of filming Air that we decided we would only shoot if it was sunny. This is because we have the luxury of taking our time - a little bit. I only want to shoot if it's going to be perfect (or at least as close to perfect as we can muster) and yesterday, with the morning sun pouring through Misti's apartment window, it looked great. Ian Stark, as Dan, also did an exceptional job, as always.

As for the kids we're working with on the fine art of filmmaking, we wrapped production on their first short. A sci-fi extravaganza, featuring a mad scientist who turns herself into a tiger and then heads to Pluto, and the scientists and outsider bounty hunter who have to save her from herself! Look for it in a theater near you - or, if not, we can see if we can put on a screening somewhere. Either way, we've gone one more class with these kids, so we're going to screen it, and then most likely eat pizza, because what's a better way to end a class with 12-year-olds than pizza?

Today will be spent getting materials ready to remake this hallway into a lovely residential, apartment hallway for Air... big project, and one we want to get done by the end of next week... here goes!

Tuesday, March 1

[Chris] Busy day ahead today to kick off what looks to be a busy month. Thanks to Mr. Sunshine (that would be the Sun, not me) we'll wrap a location today (Dan's apartment). Then we'll teach the kiddies at the Lawrence Arts Center this afternoon.

Info on the upcoming auditions will be forthcoming. Also, we're looking for a dedicated locations manager, preferably in the Lawrence area. If you are interested in either of the above items, please contact us. Our e-mail accounts do not bite.

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