Shit Just Got Real (Episode 3 Reflections)

This is yet another part detailing the experience working with Jon Truei of Surprise-Terminated Films and Fernando "Jay" Huerto of Jabronie Pictures after I had invited them to come down to Chicago to be a part of "Those Who Go To Hell". Part 3 of a 4 part blog.

When I first saw you baby, I wanted to die
Me and those dreaming eyes of mine, started to cry...
Then I'd dream, wishing my fantasy, would soon become a reality...

WELCOME, MASTERKILLER67

As stated before, I had invited out Jon Truei and Fernando Huerto to also be a part of this very large scale project of ours. Seeing as how well the house fight with Paul, Leo, Scott, and Jose went, as well as considering that these fights were more HK like in their choreo, I felt much more at ease. In fact, I felt so confident, that compared to the house fight, i opted not to write down choreo and just make it up on the spot. I figured that if its the usual HK stuff we did, and with these experienced fellas (not that the guys before weren't as or better experienced, just different type of fight/logistics) I would go through the fights no problem.

No problem at all!

You see where this is going, right?

Anyway, so I had each fighter for about a week and a half length. Jon would come first, then as soon as he left, not more than 3 days later, Jay would come in. In terms of shooting days though, I only had 2-3 days for the project, then one day for each person to do fun stuff on film. The rest was to relax and rest.

Thus Mr. Jon Truei comes in like a whirlwind of fire! haha, well he IS highly energized just about all the time, but the interesting factor is that I have known Mr. Truei for about 3 years! Actually, he was the very FIRST person I talked to about film making online more as a peer than someone I looked to for advice or critique. Not saying that Jon isn't GREAT (which he is) but that he was the first person to make me feel more like I was talking to a fellow friend and we shared many interests and passions and for his age (at the time he came, he was 17, and when I started talking to him, he just turned 16 I believe) he was quite mature and had TONS of great potential all around. Of course I HAD to use him haha.

So of course, we always talked about working with one another and finally, through some careful maneuvering, we managed to convince his mother to literally allow him to fly alone and spend a week or so with some strangers he never has personally met.

Like I said, Jon is a ball of spitfire. I didn't think he would be THAT bubbly and upbeat, and LOUD haha, but he sure was and is. After picking him up and taking him back to my place to get settled, we had Keith come by and we spent the day into night just chilling and watching various movies and causing a ruckus in the household (which the parentals weren't too pleased about). Then we slept in a bit until we got picked up by Tony Reddix to go back to Keiths apartment to start shooting, as we would need to film the whole weekend there to get everything we needed.

Oh Baby

Won't you please be my...

...Subject

ARE YOU READY TO BE A MAN?

So to prep for our long weekend shoot, we brought some video games over to Keiths, got a White Castle 30 sack pack because Jon has NEVER eaten a slider before and thus we subjected him to the hilarious horrors and effects that he had to endure. (He ended up liking it though no prob) and we waited for Shawn to come by after work to get started.

So I explained most things to Jon and we went through in order to get started on what we needed.

And thats where problems started arising.

As we would go about shooting and I setting up for my shots and whatnot, and getting things in order, Jon would start questioning me. And not questioning about what my methods by any means, but basic questions about what could he do to help or even throwing out pointers. I didn't mind at all, and told him that it wasnt necessary, but thanks for trying to help, I know what I'm looking for.

Yet he somewhat persisted on doing this throughout the night.

You see, Jon is used to doing most things himself and having to get everything organized and keep tabs on everything because no one else will. I don't blame the guy at all for caring alot about what looks good and what doesnt. He's normally used to dealing with people who accept less than.

However, I don't work that way, and I almost had to consistently remind him to stop asking me those questions. It's not that I got offended, but I really just wanted him to relax and act as opposed to try to direct the scene. It's not like he went out of his way to be like that, its just it was like having an unnecessary second hand.

So after finally telling it to him straight, it settled down and we were doing fine. Things were going good, if not much better, and we continued along and stopped after it got too late.

Along the way hilariously during the night, Jon somehow plugged the toilet and it spilled all over Keith's bathroom. Thus Jon and I had to hilariously go out and ask a gas station and then 7 eleven for paper towels and get cleaners and such. Not to mention it was March and it was COLD AS SHIT haha.

So we started on the next day after going to get Shawn and Jon some breakfast (chinese food no less) and this was the big acting portion of everything. You see, out of all the guys I asked, Jon and Jay's characters correlate with one another and their fight is supposed to intercut back and forth along with their preceding dialouges before hand. Thus they didnt have that many lines, but a good amount of them to build their character and motives (as the others arent as important, and their use was more for building a uniqueness through their performances).

Anyway, so I felt we got off to a good start and I was more of a stickler this time about performance and really trying my best to give the guys direction on their acting and being as specific as possible when needed. However, what I didn't expect was how much time it took AND for what was to come with Jon.

You see, Jon is quite experienced in screen fighting and knows what to look for and definitely has an eye for it. However, he's never been fully tested in the sense of really having to show everything he's got in a scene and bring that character to life, as opposed to you know, looking like normal Jon Truei. Yet with his background in theatre and his experience, I figured it would be easy, right?

Nope.

Not that Jon was like terrible at it, not at all, but I simply expected SO much from him that I failed to realize in my own head that hey, he's only human, still young, and still learning! It's not like Jon ever complained or anything, he tried REALLY hard all the time and had a great attitude about everything and really tried his best to make sure he could get it as good as possible.

But for me, it wasn't enough sadly. Keep in mind, for those who have been reading these, that in the Ep. 1 blog, I said my group were the ones that told me I should really settle down and stop being a dick. Well, this and Jay's thing happened before they told me these things, and though as you'll see soon, I did apologize and talk to both guys, I still to this day, feel really bad about everything.

Yet I digress. All in due time.

So yea, though Jon was being great and trying hard and working towards getting down falls (which he'd never really done before and in so much succession) and working towards showing a more full range of character, I wasn't having it. I just thought it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Jon had such a short fight not because he wasted the time we had, but I DID. I underestimated his ability and instead of just going with the flow and working around his flaws at the time, I tried to force out what I wanted and that took FOREVER. Not to mention it didn't help I wasn't the most pleasant person at the time.

Thus, we finally finished his fight and that was that. We had some more acting stuff to do at an outside location, but that would be for later. For now, my stress level was gone, but not forgotten.

We spent the next day at Keiths getting all the dialouge done and man oh man, when I found out what Keith and Tony taped while Jon did his dialouge, that was the funniest shit EVER. I'm going to put it up one day, to tide people over as a behind the scenes thing. But its HILARIOUS and I love Keith and Tony to death for doing it.

On Jon's final day, I spent it taking him around downtown Chicago and showing him various PK spots and down state street. At night, we ended up filming the rest of his acting stuff and his Team Internet fight. There especially, I made that man work, work, work. Yet I think it definitely showed. Would you like to see? Here it be:


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hFcUU1EARU