A Flashback to My First-Ever Job...

It was 20 years ago this month that I began training at the very first company that I worked for...Disneyland!

The photo above was taken by my high school friend Sarina (who convinced me to apply for a job at the Happiest Place on Earth) while two of my instructors were addressing me and other trainees on the various aspects of our job position—which was as Cast Members working for the Resort Transportation and Parking (RTP) Department.

When you go to Disneyland and hop on one of its trams, the person standing at the very back of the vehicle saying "Please remain seated. Sit well back in your seat. Driver, all clear" on the loudspeaker before the tram begins rolling is an RTP officer. That's what I did!

Anyways, I actually worked at Disneyland for only six months...and that's because I wanted to focus on completing my senior thesis film Envious at my college, Cal State Long Beach. The reason why I applied for a job at the Magic Kingdom in the first place was to earn money for my senior thesis film before the Fall 2003 semester at CSULB started.

To read the dramatic story about the making of Envious and why it prompted me to depart from my first-ever job, click here.

And yes, I still have my RTP uniform. Happy Sunday!

Gettin' Closure on LOVE...

Yesterday, I finally binge-watched the third and last season of the Netflix series LOVE.

Needless to say, I enjoyed it very much! It was a satisfying conclusion to the story of Mickey and Gus.

Along with the fact that I thought it was a nice touch that Mickey Dobbs (Gillian Jacobs) and Gus Cruikshank (Paul Rust) tied the knot at Catalina Island (yes, this episode was shot on location at California's famous off-shore tourist destination), as opposed to eloping in Las Vegas, I also thought it was cool that my lead actress from my short film Envious had a guest role in one of the episodes!

Congrats to Sheena Chou—who played Jeanine on Envious—for her role as Patty in episode 3.8: Stunt Show. Happy Hump Day!

Here's the poster for my short film "Envious." Awesome work on #LOVEonNetflix, Sheena! 😄https://t.co/7qil4QynDP#ShortFilm #Filmmaking pic.twitter.com/bT6MGqUZEx

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) September 14, 2022

I remember being this pissed on one of my student film shoots back in the day... 😆

(Not #BrokenTableFilm, FYI)#LOVEonNetflix #filmmaking pic.twitter.com/ZSLM9j7aL0

— Richard Par (@RichTPar) September 14, 2022

Watch THE BROKEN TABLE on ThinkShorts.com!

Last week, I submitted The Broken Table to the cool streaming site Think Shorts for inclusion...and I am proud to say that my short film joins hundreds of amazing indie projects that were contributed by other filmmakers to this online directory over the course of this year. So stoked! Click on the link below to view my suspense thriller, which is 6 minutes, 29 seconds-long:

https://thinkshorts.com/7063/the-broken-table

I intend on submitting my other short film Envious next! Stay tuned.

Video of the Day: THE CARD - My Short Film!

Happy Thursday, everyone! Just thought I'd post my newest project that I worked on after completing Envious last month, which is my other short film The Card! I shot this project back in 2002 (during my spring semester at Cal State Long Beach)—using a Super 8mm camera provided by my school's film department. Unlike Envious, I didn't have a sound mixer and boom operator to work with me on set...meaning that I had to create the audio track (and record dialogue) entirely in postproduction. That was pretty interesting!

I used Final Cut Pro to edit The Card 18 years ago, but utilized Lightworks on the Apple MacBook that my brother got me for my birthday last month to update it. Unlike Envious, I didn't have a version of The Card without its music track—so it was tricky retaining sound effects and the dialogue while also removing the songs that were featured in the original film (these songs being hip-hop jams by Dr. Dre, Warren G., Ashanti, K-Ci & JoJo and Usher). I would have kept the songs if YouTube didn't slap a copyright claim on videos that use trademarked music...but it's all good.

Anyways, here's The Card as presented on YouTube. (You can also view it on Vimeo.) Why did I choose today as the film's release date, you ask? Because tonight is the 2-hour series finale for the hit TV show Supernatural, which I've been watching since it premiered on the CW Network back in 2005! Carry on. (FYI, that's the episode title for tonight's finale.)

Video of the Day: ENVIOUS - The Short Film!

Happy Halloween, everyone!! Just thought I'd end this month by sharing my short film Envious...which I shot over 16 years ago and finally got around to completing thanks to this pandemic. Me being able to finish postproduction on this project is thanks to the Apple MacBook that one of my brothers bought me for my birthday three weeks ago. All of the media files for Envious were saved on an external hard drive that's formatted for a Mac (since I initially edited this film on a Mac G5 computer back during college in 2004), which I couldn't access because every computer I owned after that was a PC. Thanks to the MacBook, I was able to put finishing touches on Envious that took about three weeks to accomplish. It was only the sound design that wasn't completed yet.

Anyways, that's enough backstory for my senior thesis film from Cal State Long Beach! Here is Envious on Vimeo for your viewing pleasure—while it can be watched on YouTube as well. Depending on how I feel next week (due to this Tuesday being...Election Day), I might be in the mood to begin working on another project that I initally shot in film school too. I'll provide details about this in the near future. With that being said, enjoy Envious! And have a great and spooky weekend. Though in terms of politics, next week will definitely be scary as hell! Carry on.

ENVIOUS - Short Film from Par Man Productions on Vimeo.

Photos of the Day #2: My New MacBook!

Just thought I'd share these pics that I took of the 13-inch Apple MacBook I ordered on eBay last week...courtesy of one of my brothers, who bought it for me as a birthday gift! The MacBook arrived at my house yesterday morning. Despite the fact that it's used, the laptop is working great! I installed the Final Draft 9 scriptwriting program and the Lightworks video editing software (which I used for my short film The Broken Table) last night. I totally can't wait to do filmmaking things with this computer!



Of course, the main reason why I wanted to get a Mac was to have access to the external hard drive that I used for my projects back in film school (at Cal State Long Beach) 16 years ago. The hard drive was formatted for the Mac G5 that I edited my film Envious on back in 2004...and unfortunately, I haven't had access to this project's media files since then because I mainly use PC computers. Next week, I'm getting an adapter (which I ordered on Amazon) that will hopefully allow me to connect the Firewire cable of this old hard drive to my MacBook. If it works, then woohoo! Sound-wise, Envious has been incomplete for the past 16 years, and I've been yearning to complete it since then. Once Envious is done, the sky's the limit! Can't wait to see what other video projects I'll create with my Apple computer. Happy Friday!

NASA / Tony Gray

WHY I’M GLAD THE SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM IS NO MORE... Earlier today, the orbiter Atlantis safely touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida...officially ending a 30-year-old program that resulted in the launch of great observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the creation of a giant orbiting research outpost known as the International Space Station (ISS). While there are lots of folks out there who think that the space shuttles could’ve safely flown for many more years to come (which they most likely could have), I’m glad the program has ended. I’d prefer if people debate on how many more useful years the shuttles have than actually risk losing another of these amazing vehicles in an accident that would obviously conclude the program in a tragic and disgraceful note. But there are other reasons why I’m glad the space shuttle is now fully retired.

I’ve been interested in the space program since 4th grade. I’ve been interested in movies for just as long—with me growing an interest in filmmaking after drawing storyboards for my own submarine thriller upon watching The Hunt for Red October at the theater in 1990 (when I was also in 4th grade). It was filmmaking I pursued in college...and it was between early 2003 and mid-2005 (from the time I was in film school at Cal State Long Beach to me starting a cool 1-year employment gig at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood) that my interest in the movie industry was at its strongest. I worked on various short films, wrote feature-length screenplays, edited videos (on Final Cut Pro, but mostly on Windows Movie Maker, heh) that I shot using my old Fujifilm still digital camera and even worked on another short film that starred a gangsta rapper one of my college classmates knew. I got my first real job in the entertainment industry in October 2004 before starting work at Paramount Pictures in July of 2005. (Sorry to toot my own horn like that...just trying to make a point.) The reason why I could completely focus on my work in the entertainment industry at this time is because there was nothing major happening in the space program between early 2003 and mid-2005—due to the 2-year hiatus caused by the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

Sure, there were the Spirit and Opportunity rovers launching towards Mars in 2003, me submitting my name that same year to fly on the Deep Impact spacecraft to Comet Tempel 1 in 2005, Spirit and Opportunity landing on Mars in early 2004 and the Cassini spacecraft entering orbit around Saturn in July of 2004...but these awesome unmanned missions still didn’t attract my interest as strongly as watching 7 astronauts suit up and soar to the ISS or HST on a technological marvel like the space shuttle. I was on the computer watching NASA TV when Cassini did its Saturn Orbit Insertion Maneuver, and cut out practically every newspaper article there was about the Mars rovers. But it's human spaceflight that had the greatest impact on me.

Slowly but surely, my interest in the space program started to outgrow my passion for moviemaking in mid-to-late 2005. The launch of space shuttle Discovery on STS-114 (the first flight since the Columbia accident) in July of 2005 was an exciting time—but I started my job at Paramount Pictures that same month and wasn’t totally distracted by the Return To Flight mission then. My interest in space exploration quadrupled upon learning in late September of 2005 that I could’ve had my name fly to Pluto onboard NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft [I missed the opportunity by about two weeks...and grew obsessed with searching for the next robotic space mission that I could have my moniker on (which would be the Dawn spacecraft before it traveled to asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres)]. But what really diverted my focus away from nurturing my film career was the space shuttle officially resuming flight operations in the summer of 2006...when Discovery flew on the STS-121 mission. The countdown clock at the very top of this Blog was born in the days leading up to the launch of STS-121...and if you visit my archive section for July 2006 and onward, then you’ll see that the number of posts I made about spaceflight exploded tremendously once NASA was back to work constructing the ISS (starting with STS-115).

So almost 6 years after Discovery’s launch on STS-114, the space shuttle program is now a thing of the past. After half a decade of keeping track of ISS assembly missions, now is the time to get back to focusing on my film career (which has stagnated considerably). Sure, I’ll still be distracted by upcoming robotic missions such as Juno (which launches to Jupiter next month), GRAIL (which launches to the Moon in September) and the Curiosity Mars rover (which launches to the Red Planet in November), but hopefully there won’t be anymore space-related events that preoccupied me as much as shuttle flights did. NASA’s Space Launch System is scheduled to lift off for the first time in 2016 (don’t hold your breath, though)...with the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle along with it. So for the next five years presumably, I can focus on pursuing and advancing my career in an industry I wanted to be part of since watching a Tom Clancy novel-inspired submarine thriller on the big screen in 1990. Hopefully. Not to sound selfish—but human spaceflight's uncertain future in this country may be a blessing for me, personally. That is all.

TODAY marked the second time in five years that I ran into Teary (the make-up artist for my senior thesis film Envious in college) and her sister Bri at a movie screening I worked in Orange. Unfortunately, unlike in 2005, they weren’t able to get tickets this time around since they showed up several minutes after we reached capacity inside the theater. I quietly told Teary and Co. that they could still join the line...but my co-worker had to eventually turn them away since we already filled up on their demo (RE: Asian) for this marketing screening. I don’t know what makes me feel worse; the fact that I had Teary and Bri (plus two of their friends who they showed up with) wait in line for nothing, or the fact Teary somewhat made me feel bad when she asked "You still work here?" when she saw me. Hmm... Probably that second part. (This October marks six years since I started working at this company.) Bri and one of her friends (who I knew since college as well) did look back at me and wave as they departed, while Teary just waved without turning her head while continuing to walk off (oh well). If there’s an upside to that question Teary asked me, it’s that at least she remembered we ran into each other at that screening in '05. Thanks for having a good memory, babe. Ignore the fact that last sentence about Teary in the previous paragraph didn't exactly put her in a positive light. Still love ya.

SIX YEARS AGO TODAY, I graduated from California State University, Long Beach. Being a film major, one of my teachers mentioned that if no one in my class made a movie within five years, then we should find another profession. Of course, I wonder if this excluded the senior thesis film that I made in college back in 2003... Or the videos (which you can view on this page) I made using my Fujifilm digital camera... Um, probably not. However, I did write two feature film scripts and two short scripts (one of them almost got made in 2007, but didn’t because the director and I had to keep replacing the cinematographer since the previous ones we chose kept flaking out. That's the disadvantage when you can't pay your cast and crew on a short film gig) since 2004. (I've typed seven feature-length screenplays overall...including a Star Wars "fanfic" script.) I’d write more screenplays, but my Final Draft CD broke last year and now I have to buy another one. I’d edit films, but I don’t have Final Cut Pro. Windows Movie Maker is fun to use, but it’s no FCP, haha. Anyways, that’s my update for what I’ve been up since I graduated from college...filmmaking-wise. I currently work at a marketing firm that conducts test screenings and press junkets for some of Hollywood's major movie studios. I used to work at Paramount Pictures back in 2005-'06. I was in the one-year-long Page program, but it's all good. Later.

Rest In Peace, Bro... Just thought I'd pay tribute to my former college classmate, Bryan Paz, who passed away due to very unfortunate circumstances last Saturday. He was 31. The photo above is from the film shoot for my senior thesis project, Envious, back in December of 2003. Bryan was the director of photography on my production. We were both film students at Cal State Long Beach from 2002 to '03. The drawing above is by the brother of his girlfriend, Katherine. Awesome artwork. You'll be missed, bro.

64 MILES AWAY... I’m back! I returned from my trip to Florida and The Bahamas yesterday. Overall, it was a good trip. I visited Key West in the Florida Keys, saw alligators in the Everglades, drove past Miami, and took that cruise to Nassau City on The Bahamas' New Providence Island. So how will I rate this 7-day sojourn? If I were to grade it, I’d give the trip a B-. Unfortunately, while The Bahamas cruise was really enjoyable (nothing beats sitting on a lounge chair on the main deck at night and watching the moonlight reflect off the ocean. Well, except having a hot girl sitting next to me on a nearby lounge chair. And both of us possibly going back to my cabin for some good lovin'), the main reason why I went on this trip was to go to a place 64 miles away from Orlando: Cape Canaveral. A.k.a. Spaceport USA. A.k.a. Cape Kennedy. A.k.a. Kennedy Space Center. I was suppose to visit America's 'gateway to space' on Tuesday after returning from my cruise and driving to Orlando, but Tropical Storm Fay screwed up everything. Kennedy Space Center was shut down that day (along with most of central Florida... Yes, including Disney World), so all I did that day (and yesterday, before I went back to Fort Lauderdale to take the flight back home to California) was stay in my hotel room and watch updates on the Weather Channel. What fun. On the plus side, though, at least Fay didn't turn into a Category 1 hurricane when I was in Orlando! Whatever. F*ck you, Fay. So now, much like getting rained out when I was filming my college student film Envious in 2003, or my first attempt at skydiving being thwarted because of cloudy weather in San Diego in 2005, I’m left wanting to go back to complete what was left unfinished because of Fay: Visiting America’s Space Coast. Gotta save money now... By the way— What should I book first? My flight? My hotel room? Or my rental car? I'll check. I'll visit you, soon enough...

WHY THIS YEAR REMINDS ME OF 2003... This is a facetious entry, but I just wanna point out certain events that took (or are taking) place this year that reminds me of a few moments four years back.



JUNE 2003:
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim reach the Stanley Cup Finals but lose to the New Jersey Devils in 7 games.

JUNE 2007:
The Anaheim Ducks reach the Stanley Cup again...and defeat the Ottawa Senators in 5 games to win their first NHL championship.



JUNE/JULY 2003:
The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity are launched on what would be very successful missions exploring the surface of the Red Planet. As of this entry, both of them are still up and running well. I could’ve had my name on two DVD’s that are currently onboard the landers they touched down on...but I wasn’t aware of the online name submissions campaign when it took place in 2002.

AUGUST 2007:
The Phoenix Mars Lander is launched on what will hopefully be a successful journey to the north polar region of the Red Planet. The lander is set to touch down on May 25, 2008. My name is on a DVD that is onboard the spacecraft. Go here for more details.



OCTOBER 2003:

A series of wildfires plagued Southern California and took the lives of at least 13 people. I remember I was working on a film shoot in Long Beach one day...and the set was completely covered in ashes. We were filming out on the parking lot for an elementary school.

OCTOBER 2007:
A series of wildfires once again plague Southern California...with more than 1 million people displaced from their homes and 1,155 houses destroyed (as of this entry). The situation is so bad that I woke up one morning this week and saw red light shining through the window of my bedroom and reflecting off my walls. That red hue was caused by smoke as it obscured the rising Sun. Keep in mind I live more than 30 miles away from the nearest blaze.

FALL 2003:
This entry is pretty amusing...to me, that is: I met Teary- err, Sherry during a film shoot in September of that year...and would go on to work two more productions with her over the next two months, before she finally did make-up work on my film Envious that December.

FALL 2007:
Go to this entry to know why Sherry is in my thoughts again! Her, along with Susie, are actually the two Asian girls on my mind right now, haha.

Just thought I’d share these with y’all.

AS IF HALLOWEEN COULDN’T COME SOON ENOUGH!!! So anyways, I was browsing through my MySpace buddy list on Sunday, and saw that this one girl I know—let’s call her "Sherry" (though if you really want to know what her actual name is, go here, here, here and here)—was dressed as Elvira (Mistress of the Dark, if you want me to elaborate) in her photos. And you know how Elvira, or the ladies who play her in pop culture, shows major cleavage in her outfit? Well... Sherry nailed that down to a "T"! Use your own imagination as to what "T" stands for. MY GOD!!! Keep in mind that when I first met Sherry (four years ago in college), she was very camera-shy. Point a camera at Sherry and she reacts as if you’re aiming a Glock 9mm at her. This is despite the fact she is one of THE most attractive ladies I’ve ever met. She’s a make-up artist...and yet she’s more photogenic than most of the actresses and models she does make-up work on. All I can say is...expect her to post even more photos of herself in that costume till Halloween. And that damn holiday is still 8 days away!!! Ugh... What’s scary (don’t really think that’s the right word to use) is if Sherry really starts to flaunt her stuff on MySpace from now on. The reason why I say it’s scary is because of the fact there’s a difference between seeing provocative and/or nude or semi-nude photos of a gorgeous woman I’ve never met or have feelings for, and seeing provocative and/or nude or semi-nude photos of a gorgeous woman I’ve known personally for a couple of years... She knows that I like her (though I haven’t seen her in person since the summer of 2006)...and now she’s starting to post these kinds of pics online. Can you say...hot and bothered??? When I first added Sherry to my buddy list two years ago, all she had on her profile was a bunch of artwork (nicely painted, I might add...assuming she’s the one who painted ‘em) and not one photo of herself. Then for some odd reason she deleted her profile earlier this year, and a few months later, created a new one. I knew something was amiss when I saw that the default pic on her profile was of her! Not some obscure painting...but of her! I heard that Sherry broke up with her boyfriend earlier this year, so I wonder if that had something to do with her deleting her first profile and having a sudden change in, um, choosing which photos to post online? Dunno... But it sure makes my heart beat fast when I think if Sherry will post up sexy, non-Halloween-related photos after October 31st. Let’s wait and see... I'd post a pic of Elvira here to illustrate my point, but you know... The last thing I want is to get the urge to log onto MySpace right now and admire those sexy photos of Tear— err, Sherry. Calm yourself down, McParno.

I worked a test screening at The Block in Orange today, and I ran into Teary (the make-up artist for my senior thesis film Envious... How many times did I mention that film in my journal entries already?? Anyways) and her sister Bri there. They were among the people recruited as general audience members for the screening! Boy, was I surprised. This pretty much supports why I like working in Orange County...you, or at least I'll never know who I'll run into while I'm in that area. And yes, I'm only talking about girls. I could care less if Kobe or Dennis Rodman live in Newport Beach (No offense to one of my friends who's a big Kobe fan and frequents this page, haha). Hi Teary and Bri, if you two ever read this.

A year ago today, I completed production on Envious. Near the end of the day, my assistant director was bugging me about getting my last remaining shots filmed as soon as possible, since he (and everyone else still on set, haha) were missing the Super Bowl. Funny stuff. They only missed Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction...

A year ago today, I got rained out on the third and supposedly final day of shoot for my senior film project Envious. Technically, this was a blessing in disguise... Otherwise, without being disgruntled or distraught or whatever I wouldn't have been able to warrant the sympathy (That sounds too negative. Make that 'pity') of my cast and crewmembers, who were willing to help me out on the pick-up shoot that took place on January 31st and February 1st of this year. And technically, with the number of shots I had planned for my film, there would have been no way in hell I could've gotten everything done in just three days last December! So having it rain during my production helped persuade my classmates and actors to deal with my masterful directing just two days more, haha! Just kidding. For more info, go to the links I provided in the Sunday, December 12, 2004 entry below. ... Oh, and sorry Christina. Didn't mean to have that last entry on you sink to second place so quickly.

A year ago today, I began shooting my senior thesis film Envious at CSU Long Beach. Just felt like mentioning that since I miss school!! No I don’t. If you want a full account on my production shoot (not bloody likely), go to my journal entry for February 17, 2004. And go here for some nice voyeuristic pics of my cast and crewmembers. Just kidding...about the pics being nice. Later.

I went back to Long Beach State today just to pay a visit (that, and buy a new CSULB window decal and Alumni license plate for my car), and needless to say...GOOD GRIEF!! So many HOT CHICKS on campus!! Of course, there were obviously hot chicks there even when I was still a student, but I didn’t realize just how blessed my school was until I graduated from the place. Damn, look at what I lost! I knew I should’ve taken some extracurricular classes this semester, hahaha. Anyways, it was really cool stopping by CSULB...so many memories (yea, yea— I stopped by the classroom where Duyen and I had the Geology class together many years ago, and I passed by the grassfield that I used for the opening scene and football sequence in my student film Envious). Sentimental bastard, am I...haha. I only ran into one former classmate while I was there (I actually saw her at a film shoot more than a month ago. She took part in the commmencement ceremony with me last May but will officially finish her classes this semester). Well, I also ran into another student I know at the film department...but he was being a punkass. “What are you doing here?” he asks, deadpan. ME: “I’m here to get your mom’s phone number, you little biatch.” Just kidding, I didn’t say that. Though I wish I did, lol. Anyways, that’s all. Don’t know when I’ll stop by CSULB again however... It’s not exactly the same as driving only a mile or two to my old elementary school, or several miles to Bishop Amat, my high school alma mater (YES, I need to move out of the house). CSULB, on the other hand, is a brisk 20-30 miles away.

Fullscreen is for monkeys. I don’t even know why people continue to buy this butchered version of a film on VHS and DVDs. What— Is it because in widescreen versions you obviously have the two matte lines at the top and bottom of the movie frame? Well BOOHOO, you’re breaking my heart. "Hey, I don’t want the widescreen version of The Passion of the Christ... Those two black bars are on the screen!" Loser. People who prefer the fullscreen version of a film (A.K.A. the film with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio format...A.K.A. "pan-and-scan") over widescreen are just as lame as people who don’t like black & white films ‘cause they’re “old” (more on this diatribe tomorrow). Think about it… What would you rather have…the two matte lines on the TV screen or an image that is only half the size of what is on the original theatrical version? I prefer the two matte lines on the screen anyday. Now, if the reason why you’re holding off on buying widescreen-formatted films is because you want to buy that nice-ass, WAY-expensive High Definition 16:9 Widecreen TV from Best Buy first, then that’s different! As long as you let the fullscreen version go the way of…um, I dunno, all those species of insects in the burning Brazilian rain forest (8-track tapes and the Dodo bird are clichés), then it’s all good. If you wanna see a pan-and-scan film, watch a broadcast of it on network television!


(Images courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox)

Now, what got me to dislike the 1.33:1 aspect ratio in the first place was me buying the fullscreen VHS version of the film Independence Day (above) in November of 1996. I showed my dad the movie when he got back home from work, and while watching it, I noticed that he wasn’t as into the film as I thought he would be. Of course, it may have obviously been that ID4 is a big pile of sci-fi crap (though I still enjoy the film), but I also attributed it to the fact the full splendor of the images (especially during the action sequences) wasn’t showing on the TV screen. From there on out, I vowed that every film I bought would be in widescreen. Of course (I like saying that), I didn’t really practice this till I began buying DVDs. I bought Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan in their fullscreen incarnation on VHS…and I, um, cough-cough (how ‘bout them USC Trojans?), bought Titanic in fullscreen VHS as well. Of course, James Cameron is a genius in the sole fact that the way he framed the images during filming actually allowed everything that you see in the widescreen version of the movie to be visible in the fullscreen version AS WELL. If you’re watching the fullscreen version of Titanic, you’ll notice that there’s considerable empty space at the top and bottom of the images, and that’s because those spaces were matted off (a.k.a. covered by the two black bars) for the theatrical release! Pure genius, Cameron!!


(Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount)

Anyways, where was I? Oh yes… Fullscreen SUCKS. I urge my readers out there (ALL 10 of you. Just kidding… Look at the hit counter at the bottom of this page, haha) to forsake the ghetto “This film has been formatted to fit your TV screen” version and go with the “So what do you prefer? The 1.85:1 or the 2.35:1 aspect ratio?” version. Me? I prefer 2.35:1. But I shot my short films The Broken Table and Envious in 1.85:1, haha. Oh, and using the Final Cut Pro editing software program, I matted my first student film, a BLACK & WHITE cinematography project (creatively titled Cinematography Project), with BOTH 1.85:1 AND 2.35:1 matte bars. It’s SO COOL that that film, which was shot in fullscreen, was framed well enough for the other two aspect ratios to be compatible! Parno rules!! Just kidding. That is all.


Dumb & Dumber: One of only a few films enjoyable in both the fullscreen and widescreen formats!

(Images courtesy of New Line Cinema)

From the TIME.com article previewing the upcoming Star Wars DVDs: ...And the frail 32-year-old (George Lucas) with a galaxy of ideas in his head seems near implosion. As Mark Hamill recalls, "He really looked like he was ready to burst into tears." As a recent film school grad who had to endure a main actress walking out after the first day of shoot on my senior thesis film Envious last December, forcing to cut short the shoot on the third and supposedly final day of filming because it began raining (and I was filming outside), and being forced to dish out a thousand dollars more for my pick-up shoot (which I couldn't do till 6 weeks later because of winter break and legal reasons with the film department), I think it was that comment made by Hamill which convinced me why Lucas should do everything he could to have these films meet the vision that he originally had for them. The TIME article points out that the 1977 version of Star Wars was a joy for fans but a reflection of the anguish Lucas went through to make it. While most of my actors and close friends say that they (supposedly, heheh) enjoyed my film after I gave them copies, I myself am reminded, when I watch my own film, of how pissed I was (and don't ask me about the tears part) when it began raining during my shoot...and of other things I wish I could do to fix my film (such as stick to using ONE film stock as opposed to two because of continuity reasons, and not having a main character wear something drastically different from what they wore at the start of the film since the audience won't know that that's suppose to be the same character from the previous scene). So more power to Lucas. Don't let the nostalgia of people who obviously weren't on set to help you get this movie made (but those are the people that made Star Wars popular!! Well woopty-friggin' doo) prevent you from fixing something that you struggled to make in the first place. The bottom line: Creating a film is a highly emotional process that most non-filmmakers can't completely appreciate. Update: And yes, I found a replacement for that actress...6 HOURS before I was to begin Shoot Day #2! Update #2: 1,000 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq as of today, and yet there are online articles about Kerry being behind in the polls. We Americans sure are stupid.