many thanks to all who came out to the show thursday night! we appreciate your support and laughter. special thanks to topper's pizza on lyndale for letting us murder one of your employees and to jimmy, not only for the use of his apartment but for his love of america...
-rita
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
i made a child cry today...
...and for that you should come see our show. next thursday, december 6th. it's at 10:30. it's at the bryant lake bowl. tickets are $10 and should be reserved ahead of time. you can do it online at www.bryantlakebowl.com. none of these are lies. come see it. it will be wondrous...
also not a lie.
-rita
also not a lie.
-rita
Saturday, November 17, 2007
an important public service announcement
Kurt Russell has something to tell you.
If you didn't catch it at our last show, here's the special pre-show message about a very dangerous medical condition.
Starring Ross and Ivy. Directed by Eric. Written by Hannah.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
holy balls, y'alls!
it's here. part 2. thursday, nov. 1st. 10:30pm. doors at 9:30. bryant lake bowl.
come. see. it.
seriously, we promise measurable moments of delight. we've even ventured into the genre of awkward softcore porn. you just never know what you're going to get!
i ask you: is such sweet anticipation and mystery worth $10? oh yes.
check it out; you know you want to..
come. see. it.
seriously, we promise measurable moments of delight. we've even ventured into the genre of awkward softcore porn. you just never know what you're going to get!
i ask you: is such sweet anticipation and mystery worth $10? oh yes.
check it out; you know you want to..
Sunday, October 21, 2007
latest trailer
NEXT SHOW - NOVEMBER FIRST!
Here's a tantalizing glimpse into the dark and passionate world of Neutrino Twin Cities. Call and reserve tickets asap.
Friday, October 5, 2007
One show in the can
Sweet sweet happy day. We had our first show last night, and it went almost eerily well. Everybody in the cast and crew had a fucking awesome time, and hopefully everybody in the audience did too. The turnout was great, and it warmed our little hearts to see so many people there.
For anybody still wondering, Halsey's molestation and torture of Tim took place in the basement of the Bryant Lake Bowl, directly beneath the audience. That basement is a toasty warm chamber of humid love which caused us all to sweat like pigs, esp. after sprinting three blocks. Eric's slippery director sweat almost made him lose his headphones at one point while leaning forward to film.
The only real criticism I heard about last night's show was that there was a lack of "love." When asked to elaborate, the audience member giving the note said they would have liked to see some kissing and/or making out. This, to them, is an important element of cinema that we completely missed. So, in the interest of pleasing future audiences, I encourage people to comment on this post and let us know which actors they'd like to see kiss. No promises. We're just looking for consumer feedback.
I was on team C. Teams A and B, if you're reading, any filming adventures that are blog-worthy? Comment and tell your tales.
Thanks to everyone who came out to see the debut. We're already getting primed and excited for next month...
-Hannah
ps here's a really fantastic article that USA Today ran about us. Thanks, Pete, for bringing this to our attention.
For anybody still wondering, Halsey's molestation and torture of Tim took place in the basement of the Bryant Lake Bowl, directly beneath the audience. That basement is a toasty warm chamber of humid love which caused us all to sweat like pigs, esp. after sprinting three blocks. Eric's slippery director sweat almost made him lose his headphones at one point while leaning forward to film.
The only real criticism I heard about last night's show was that there was a lack of "love." When asked to elaborate, the audience member giving the note said they would have liked to see some kissing and/or making out. This, to them, is an important element of cinema that we completely missed. So, in the interest of pleasing future audiences, I encourage people to comment on this post and let us know which actors they'd like to see kiss. No promises. We're just looking for consumer feedback.
I was on team C. Teams A and B, if you're reading, any filming adventures that are blog-worthy? Comment and tell your tales.
Thanks to everyone who came out to see the debut. We're already getting primed and excited for next month...
-Hannah
ps here's a really fantastic article that USA Today ran about us. Thanks, Pete, for bringing this to our attention.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
f you guys!
hey everyone---
as a phantom member of the NTC, i would just like to say that if you come to the show on thursday, i might be in it. i'm sorry. or maybe someone could come up with some elaborate plot to have me never seen on camera. we shall see...
check it out.
rita
Monday, October 1, 2007
T-minus four days
who saw the second trailer at IAGG last night? It'll be online soon if you suck and missed it. Houchin cut this one, and damn if he isn't the most talented toothless, middle-aged, bald african american man I know. Corey's chest exhibitionism took the day again. It's really going to suck in winter when the dudes have to stop taking their shirts off for every scene, because that's like a good 20% of the show's comedy right now.
OUR SHOW OPENS THURSDAY, PEOPLE.
Thursday.
Go ahead, shiver with anticipation. Eeee!
OUR SHOW OPENS THURSDAY, PEOPLE.
Thursday.
Go ahead, shiver with anticipation. Eeee!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
THE TRAILER EXISTS. AND RULES.
In my humble opinion. As one of its creators.
The kids at Improv A Go Go were kind enough to let us screen the first NTC trailer last night. Dave Jennings heroically showed up at the last minute and fixed the sound, so the ten hours Eric and I put in earlier in the day paid off, and people actually watched, laughed at, and hopefully enjoyed it. We set out to make something that was both cliche and totally weird, unique and representative of Neutrino TC. What did it? I think the combination of "O Fortuna" as a score AND some footage of Corey waggling a sock dangling from his crotch.
Eric's going to add some extra magic to it, and then we'll post it online so people can enjoy it again and again, download it and make screen caps of Corey's nipple.
-Hannah
In my humble opinion. As one of its creators.
The kids at Improv A Go Go were kind enough to let us screen the first NTC trailer last night. Dave Jennings heroically showed up at the last minute and fixed the sound, so the ten hours Eric and I put in earlier in the day paid off, and people actually watched, laughed at, and hopefully enjoyed it. We set out to make something that was both cliche and totally weird, unique and representative of Neutrino TC. What did it? I think the combination of "O Fortuna" as a score AND some footage of Corey waggling a sock dangling from his crotch.
Eric's going to add some extra magic to it, and then we'll post it online so people can enjoy it again and again, download it and make screen caps of Corey's nipple.
-Hannah
Thursday, September 20, 2007
box girl in the dumpster room...
...another glory-token from one of our rehearsals. it's amazing the props you can build in under 3 minutes.
hey, so oct. 4th is three weeks from today. our first show! hooker whaaaat?! if i used terms like OMG i would use it right now with some degree of earnestness. then i would punch myself in my face. we are rapidly approaching what i have grotesquely termed, our "soft opening" (i learned that from top chef... so so so not ok) in which we open the show up to audiences and work out all the kinks and mayhem. that will now be my band name if ever i have one. that, or soft opening...
anyway, point at hand: our first 3 "preview" shows---the FIRST THURSDAY of every month, oct. thru dec. 10:30pm @ the bryant lake bowl. $10. come see it. help us sell out. make some dreams come true. in fact, if you come to see the show and say you heard about it from this blog, troy zimmerman will kiss you on the mouth. no strings attached. come to the show. do it.
soon the city will be splattered with our publicity and hope. not to mention some awesome neutrino trailers made by some of our finest. be prepared. be excited. we are...
ellipses.
-rita
ps---does anyone want to know what god died of?...
hey, so oct. 4th is three weeks from today. our first show! hooker whaaaat?! if i used terms like OMG i would use it right now with some degree of earnestness. then i would punch myself in my face. we are rapidly approaching what i have grotesquely termed, our "soft opening" (i learned that from top chef... so so so not ok) in which we open the show up to audiences and work out all the kinks and mayhem. that will now be my band name if ever i have one. that, or soft opening...
anyway, point at hand: our first 3 "preview" shows---the FIRST THURSDAY of every month, oct. thru dec. 10:30pm @ the bryant lake bowl. $10. come see it. help us sell out. make some dreams come true. in fact, if you come to see the show and say you heard about it from this blog, troy zimmerman will kiss you on the mouth. no strings attached. come to the show. do it.
soon the city will be splattered with our publicity and hope. not to mention some awesome neutrino trailers made by some of our finest. be prepared. be excited. we are...
ellipses.
-rita
ps---does anyone want to know what god died of?...
Monday, September 3, 2007
a general report
This is kind of a rambling post to make up for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. We've been busy rehearsing, and mostly just thinking really deeply and furiously, trying to digest what the honorable Matt Donnelly taught us when he visited on August 18th and 19th.
We're rehearsing in Calhoun Square these days, basing our operations out of an empty room in the office corridor behind the cooking classroom and Comedy Sportz. Tuesday nights from 7 to 10 are spent dashing around the mall and surrounding streets, trying to time things correctly and figure out how to tell stories the Neutrino Twin Cities way.... whatever that means. We're still figuring that out. Matt gave us some excellent tools for scene work, story building, camera movement... a big, full toolbox is what we have. Our job now seems to be to take those tools and build a show that is as strong as possible -- AND make Neutrino feel like something uniquely ours as well.
One of the best things I've gotten out of this project so far is the opportunity to work with improvisers from different "schools." I come from a predominantly short form background, having been raised since early adolescence on a diet of Comedy Sportz and dreams. I've had more long form instruction and experience in the last few years, but nothing beats doing scene work with the kids from the long form side of the tracks. I think the collision between varying styles of acting and storytelling is going to yield some really cool results on film. NTC is made up of people from a number of different smaller improv groups, all of whom know each other with varying degrees of familiarity from taking classes at the Brave New Workshop, or working there or at Comedy Sportz. I get the impression that this makes us unique among the Neutrino cities, since other NVPs have been started by groups that were already formed and had worked together before.
I hope to have some photos soon for this sad, black blog. Tomorrow's rehearsal may yield some images.
-Hannah
We're rehearsing in Calhoun Square these days, basing our operations out of an empty room in the office corridor behind the cooking classroom and Comedy Sportz. Tuesday nights from 7 to 10 are spent dashing around the mall and surrounding streets, trying to time things correctly and figure out how to tell stories the Neutrino Twin Cities way.... whatever that means. We're still figuring that out. Matt gave us some excellent tools for scene work, story building, camera movement... a big, full toolbox is what we have. Our job now seems to be to take those tools and build a show that is as strong as possible -- AND make Neutrino feel like something uniquely ours as well.
One of the best things I've gotten out of this project so far is the opportunity to work with improvisers from different "schools." I come from a predominantly short form background, having been raised since early adolescence on a diet of Comedy Sportz and dreams. I've had more long form instruction and experience in the last few years, but nothing beats doing scene work with the kids from the long form side of the tracks. I think the collision between varying styles of acting and storytelling is going to yield some really cool results on film. NTC is made up of people from a number of different smaller improv groups, all of whom know each other with varying degrees of familiarity from taking classes at the Brave New Workshop, or working there or at Comedy Sportz. I get the impression that this makes us unique among the Neutrino cities, since other NVPs have been started by groups that were already formed and had worked together before.
I hope to have some photos soon for this sad, black blog. Tomorrow's rehearsal may yield some images.
-Hannah
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
don't play dead on the greenway...
so, last night we had our first encounter with the minneapolis police dept.
Q: what's the worst time for this to happen?
A: just as mike hadley is slowly removing his shirt from his body and i am yelling "take that, demon!"
...and that is pretty much how it happened. my character had inadvertently thrown another character over a bridge. as tim h. lay draped in a maroon shrug on the cemented greenway, bikers and rollerbladers passed with confusion and concern. apparently, some of them phoned the po-lice. well, according to said po-lice, a "bunch" of them called.
so here's my question: why didn't any of them freakin' stop then, huh? not concerned enough to interrupt their exercise?! seriously. unless of course it was the one lady who did stop to ask tim if he was ok, to which tim answered "yes, we're just shooting a movie. i'm fine." if that lady called then she's a damn idiot because dead people don't talk.
we have begun our larger rehearsals now with the "starting team" of actors including: dan hetzel, fred beukema, aric mckeown, tim hellendrung and corey anderson as well as us, the core. (if i have spelled any of their names wrong, it was on purpose and to teach them a lesson.) we have all been getting used to improvising with each other, as some of us have never worked together before, as well as the ever-arduous task of getting used to improvising in front of a camera. it's all been going pretty well so far and everyone seems to be gelling quite nicely together. nothing but rainbows and hearts and apocalyptic zombie pox...pretty sweet.
so, to all you greenway goers out there: if you see a dead person in your way, look around for an effing camera before you call the cops!
-rita
Q: what's the worst time for this to happen?
A: just as mike hadley is slowly removing his shirt from his body and i am yelling "take that, demon!"
...and that is pretty much how it happened. my character had inadvertently thrown another character over a bridge. as tim h. lay draped in a maroon shrug on the cemented greenway, bikers and rollerbladers passed with confusion and concern. apparently, some of them phoned the po-lice. well, according to said po-lice, a "bunch" of them called.
so here's my question: why didn't any of them freakin' stop then, huh? not concerned enough to interrupt their exercise?! seriously. unless of course it was the one lady who did stop to ask tim if he was ok, to which tim answered "yes, we're just shooting a movie. i'm fine." if that lady called then she's a damn idiot because dead people don't talk.
we have begun our larger rehearsals now with the "starting team" of actors including: dan hetzel, fred beukema, aric mckeown, tim hellendrung and corey anderson as well as us, the core. (if i have spelled any of their names wrong, it was on purpose and to teach them a lesson.) we have all been getting used to improvising with each other, as some of us have never worked together before, as well as the ever-arduous task of getting used to improvising in front of a camera. it's all been going pretty well so far and everyone seems to be gelling quite nicely together. nothing but rainbows and hearts and apocalyptic zombie pox...pretty sweet.
so, to all you greenway goers out there: if you see a dead person in your way, look around for an effing camera before you call the cops!
-rita
Monday, August 6, 2007
there's a monster at the end of this book...
...and it's an effing life-sized video camera constructed from cardboard, duct tape, and a dream.
this is how a portion of the core spent their sunday afternoon. the costume is designed to be worn over the torso of a gangly runner for our publicity photo. this camera-man (or lady, although i don't think hannah or i are going to bare our legs for the sake of this photo) will run throughout the streets as our photographer chases after, hoping to catch the perfect shot.
it promises to be delightful, enticing, and logistically difficult.
stay tuned...
-rita
this is how a portion of the core spent their sunday afternoon. the costume is designed to be worn over the torso of a gangly runner for our publicity photo. this camera-man (or lady, although i don't think hannah or i are going to bare our legs for the sake of this photo) will run throughout the streets as our photographer chases after, hoping to catch the perfect shot.
it promises to be delightful, enticing, and logistically difficult.
stay tuned...
-rita
Friday, August 3, 2007
"Are you guys shooting a Puffy video?"
Here's a bare bones account of our last rehearsal - things are getting busy. We've planned a rehearsal with all our actors for next Tuesday. We decided that before that rehearsal, we should add in the element of TIME CRUNCH to our approach to this structure.
So earlier this week we met at the Bryant Lake Bowl to rehearse. This time Matt Houchin joined us. Houchin is a film maker and all-around indie media mogul (I just made that up. Matt, if you'd like to be characterized with a different phrase, please let me know...) who performs at Comedy Sportz Twin Cities with all us Core folks.
We figured out a loose timetable for the show -- basically a schedule for each team's runner, mapping out how many minutes are available for each team to shoot and deliver each of their three tapes. Then we hit the street. The challenge: do practice runs pretending to be team A, B, or C, giving ourselves a time limit to see if we could do this Neutrino thing as fast as we'll need to for the show.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that it's actually not impossible to shoot a decent 5 minutes of improved film in under 15 minutes. It's not *easy*, but it's not impossible either.
Mike, Rita and myself were in front of the camera. Matt directed. Eric and Troy did both. We all switched off being the "runner," aka keeping time.
At this rehearsal we discovered: To do this show, you have to be able to do math while running down a dark street, looking for pools of light to shoot in. Multi-tasking...
As an improvisor who doesn't know when to fucking shut up and let the scene move, I was helped a lot by Matt's style of improvisational film directing. When he picks up on something that he thinks needs to be shown instead of talked about, he just CUTS. This led us to add more action to our scenes. Hadley ate some crab grass from somebody's yard, I soaked my bosom in a sprinkler, Boersma got stabbed by a "sword," aka dirty wooden stake from a construction site, and Eric rode on Mike's back and berated him for half a block.
We also incorporated some serious special effects into this rehearsal's films. Matt went all Sam Raimi and did a shot from the POV of a sword flying through the air towards a moving target (Neutrino=athleticism). Troy's segment had teleporting aliens and a UFO (aka cell phone moving through the upper corner of the frame). Shit got cine-MATIC, yo.
For this week's person-on-the-street quote, see the subject line. The guy who asked us this said it in a friendly, gently mocking tone. It was delightful. After this rehearsal, I personally got three reports from friends around town that had either seen us running around the Lyn-Lake area with Eric's camera, or who had heard from others who had seen us. Is this just because I have bright pink hair right now? Will this Neutrino show thing lend all of us an air of local notoriety as "those camera nerds who run around uptown?" WERE we shooting a Puffy video without even realizing it?
So many questions. ..
-Hannah
p.s. The 35W bridge collapsed the day after this rehearsal. I mention it here because, in addition to serving as a reference for other people trying to mount Neutrino Video Projects in the future, this blog is also meant to be a personal historical document for all of us working on the show.
So earlier this week we met at the Bryant Lake Bowl to rehearse. This time Matt Houchin joined us. Houchin is a film maker and all-around indie media mogul (I just made that up. Matt, if you'd like to be characterized with a different phrase, please let me know...) who performs at Comedy Sportz Twin Cities with all us Core folks.
We figured out a loose timetable for the show -- basically a schedule for each team's runner, mapping out how many minutes are available for each team to shoot and deliver each of their three tapes. Then we hit the street. The challenge: do practice runs pretending to be team A, B, or C, giving ourselves a time limit to see if we could do this Neutrino thing as fast as we'll need to for the show.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that it's actually not impossible to shoot a decent 5 minutes of improved film in under 15 minutes. It's not *easy*, but it's not impossible either.
Mike, Rita and myself were in front of the camera. Matt directed. Eric and Troy did both. We all switched off being the "runner," aka keeping time.
At this rehearsal we discovered: To do this show, you have to be able to do math while running down a dark street, looking for pools of light to shoot in. Multi-tasking...
As an improvisor who doesn't know when to fucking shut up and let the scene move, I was helped a lot by Matt's style of improvisational film directing. When he picks up on something that he thinks needs to be shown instead of talked about, he just CUTS. This led us to add more action to our scenes. Hadley ate some crab grass from somebody's yard, I soaked my bosom in a sprinkler, Boersma got stabbed by a "sword," aka dirty wooden stake from a construction site, and Eric rode on Mike's back and berated him for half a block.
We also incorporated some serious special effects into this rehearsal's films. Matt went all Sam Raimi and did a shot from the POV of a sword flying through the air towards a moving target (Neutrino=athleticism). Troy's segment had teleporting aliens and a UFO (aka cell phone moving through the upper corner of the frame). Shit got cine-MATIC, yo.
For this week's person-on-the-street quote, see the subject line. The guy who asked us this said it in a friendly, gently mocking tone. It was delightful. After this rehearsal, I personally got three reports from friends around town that had either seen us running around the Lyn-Lake area with Eric's camera, or who had heard from others who had seen us. Is this just because I have bright pink hair right now? Will this Neutrino show thing lend all of us an air of local notoriety as "those camera nerds who run around uptown?" WERE we shooting a Puffy video without even realizing it?
So many questions. ..
-Hannah
p.s. The 35W bridge collapsed the day after this rehearsal. I mention it here because, in addition to serving as a reference for other people trying to mount Neutrino Video Projects in the future, this blog is also meant to be a personal historical document for all of us working on the show.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Sunday in the park with the core
We've started Neutrino Twin Cities with a small crew of five people, known as "the core." The core consists of Eric Knobel and Mike Hadley, our producers and starter-uppers, as well as Rita Boersma, Hannah Kuhlmann (your bloggers) and Troy Zimmerman. We decided to call ourselves the core because we love Hillary Swank.
Today the core met at the Bryant Square Park for some practice with the camera. We've discovered that directing is much harder than we thought it would be (well, actually we've discovered that everything is much harder than we thought it would be), so Eric has stayed behind the camera to let Rita, Mike and I focus on learning how to improvise on camera.
Of course we had to eat a meal and discuss tons of stuff before actually rehearsing. That's how we roll. Mike's improv gets exponentially better after he's had a beer, and we can usually rationalize dining on rehearsal time as "scouting locations." Sadly, we found out during today's location scout that Galactic Pizza has an open mic music thing during our show... so we probably won't be able to shoot there. :(
After experimenting with forced perspective to make it look like Mike was a hobbit drinking out of a cave troll-sized glass, we took to the streets and shot some scenes.
Here's what we learned today: Watching people have realistic conversations on the street is fucking boring. We were happiest with the scenes in which we got broader and less reality-grounded, while staying committed. We also tried our first "person on the street" cameo. A gentleman with a large number of missing teeth was watching us shoot outside Rainbow, and earned himself a close up and a line of dialogue.
TOOTHLESS GUY: Are you shootin' a movie scene or something?
ERIC: Yeah, we are.
TG: Oh my god, you blew my mind.. and I didn't even have a part.
ERIC: Do you *want* a part?
ME: yeah, you can be in our movie!
TG: Oh, I don' know...
ERIC: Just say "There go two lovebirds," and look at those two walking away.
TG: I don't even have a key, what's my key?
ERIC: Um... your cue is when I say "Action!"
TG: ahh, okay, I can do it.
ERIC: Action!
TG: There goes two lovebirds... ah HEH HEH HA ha ha... (big grin at the camera)
It was awesome. Toothless guy added something to the scene that I think I will call "Neutrino Magic." Eric made the point that the audience will enjoy watching us take risks like that, and will really enjoy it if we take risks and it pays off.
We need to find a house or apartment to film in. We came to that conclusion for the millionth time today. Should we place a Craig's List ad? Should we rent a cheap studio? Should we focus on getting all three cameras first, and then worry about locations?
The adventure continues...
Today the core met at the Bryant Square Park for some practice with the camera. We've discovered that directing is much harder than we thought it would be (well, actually we've discovered that everything is much harder than we thought it would be), so Eric has stayed behind the camera to let Rita, Mike and I focus on learning how to improvise on camera.
Of course we had to eat a meal and discuss tons of stuff before actually rehearsing. That's how we roll. Mike's improv gets exponentially better after he's had a beer, and we can usually rationalize dining on rehearsal time as "scouting locations." Sadly, we found out during today's location scout that Galactic Pizza has an open mic music thing during our show... so we probably won't be able to shoot there. :(
After experimenting with forced perspective to make it look like Mike was a hobbit drinking out of a cave troll-sized glass, we took to the streets and shot some scenes.
Here's what we learned today: Watching people have realistic conversations on the street is fucking boring. We were happiest with the scenes in which we got broader and less reality-grounded, while staying committed. We also tried our first "person on the street" cameo. A gentleman with a large number of missing teeth was watching us shoot outside Rainbow, and earned himself a close up and a line of dialogue.
TOOTHLESS GUY: Are you shootin' a movie scene or something?
ERIC: Yeah, we are.
TG: Oh my god, you blew my mind.. and I didn't even have a part.
ERIC: Do you *want* a part?
ME: yeah, you can be in our movie!
TG: Oh, I don' know...
ERIC: Just say "There go two lovebirds," and look at those two walking away.
TG: I don't even have a key, what's my key?
ERIC: Um... your cue is when I say "Action!"
TG: ahh, okay, I can do it.
ERIC: Action!
TG: There goes two lovebirds... ah HEH HEH HA ha ha... (big grin at the camera)
It was awesome. Toothless guy added something to the scene that I think I will call "Neutrino Magic." Eric made the point that the audience will enjoy watching us take risks like that, and will really enjoy it if we take risks and it pays off.
We need to find a house or apartment to film in. We came to that conclusion for the millionth time today. Should we place a Craig's List ad? Should we rent a cheap studio? Should we focus on getting all three cameras first, and then worry about locations?
The adventure continues...
Monday, July 23, 2007
location, location, location...
tonight, while troy gallivants along the boundary waters fulfilling his rustic fantasies in some sweet keens, the rest of us met to get down to some hardcore detailing. in addition to finalizing cast and directors we realized we needed a solid list of scouted locations. because when you think about it, we could do that scene in the restaurant. oh, and then there's the scene in the restaurant. but what about a scene in a restaurant...
curse you midwestern 10:30 and your lack of open retailers and good light!!
we need to find that late night dentist, church, jail cell, veterinarian, auto body shop, store, etc.
bill's imported foods, if you're reading: open your doors!
however, we did scout a well-lit park bench and the inviting crook of a tree. so there's that scene.
so, hey, if you're reading and not creepy and live near the bryant lake bowl---let us know. we want to come into your apartment.
-rita
curse you midwestern 10:30 and your lack of open retailers and good light!!
we need to find that late night dentist, church, jail cell, veterinarian, auto body shop, store, etc.
bill's imported foods, if you're reading: open your doors!
however, we did scout a well-lit park bench and the inviting crook of a tree. so there's that scene.
so, hey, if you're reading and not creepy and live near the bryant lake bowl---let us know. we want to come into your apartment.
-rita
Thursday, July 19, 2007
3 heads and a bag of bottles...
hey everyone:
well, round 2 of NTC set out to bitch slap our first rehearsal and, in a way, i think it did. we all gathered in the angst and anime of troy's lovely studio apt. and started to discuss the challenges of improvising in front of a camera. for example, each of our fragile egos and energies suffer because we have know immediate gratification from the audience. we just have to trust that the "funny" is working and that the audience inside the theatre is excreting gleeful belly laughs and applauding our brilliance. very hard to do for performers used to being on a live stage...
and thus we began.
we decided to try shooting indoors for the evening (we all justified this by claiming we needed the experience and that troy's place was an ideal "set"...but really we wanted to avoid the sweltering thick that awaited us outside on the streets of minneapolis). we discussed the intricacies of sound indoors --- i.e., equalizing all spaces by turning every noise-making object off and what not. troy and i took a gander behind the camera this time---troy being an experienced director, I being an ape with a movie picture machine.
troy found challenges in adjusting his directing experience to "directing"/cutting/film editing improv. when is the right time to cut while still allowing the actors to maintain the emotion and flow of the scene? how do you set up the next 6 minutes of filming a scene in 30 seconds since you can't go back and re-shoot if it doesn't work? etc, etc... ah, improv time crunches!!!
i, on the other hand, found challenges with walking, looking, listening, buttons, light, and not breathing too loud all at the same time. which brings me to my
NEUTRINO FUN FACT I LEARNED TODAY:
say "cut" after you hit pause. ha ha...hmmm....
so yeah, that's about it. scenework was a little more solid and interesting this time without the vast, disarming roar of the outside. for example, mike and hannah pumped body milk for an adopted baby; troy and eric had a scantily cloaked marital argument; and mike, troy and i cuddled in a bed with a bag of recyclables. that would have been far more embarrassing outside.
good loving cuddle times...
cut!
-rita
well, round 2 of NTC set out to bitch slap our first rehearsal and, in a way, i think it did. we all gathered in the angst and anime of troy's lovely studio apt. and started to discuss the challenges of improvising in front of a camera. for example, each of our fragile egos and energies suffer because we have know immediate gratification from the audience. we just have to trust that the "funny" is working and that the audience inside the theatre is excreting gleeful belly laughs and applauding our brilliance. very hard to do for performers used to being on a live stage...
and thus we began.
we decided to try shooting indoors for the evening (we all justified this by claiming we needed the experience and that troy's place was an ideal "set"...but really we wanted to avoid the sweltering thick that awaited us outside on the streets of minneapolis). we discussed the intricacies of sound indoors --- i.e., equalizing all spaces by turning every noise-making object off and what not. troy and i took a gander behind the camera this time---troy being an experienced director, I being an ape with a movie picture machine.
troy found challenges in adjusting his directing experience to "directing"/cutting/film editing improv. when is the right time to cut while still allowing the actors to maintain the emotion and flow of the scene? how do you set up the next 6 minutes of filming a scene in 30 seconds since you can't go back and re-shoot if it doesn't work? etc, etc... ah, improv time crunches!!!
i, on the other hand, found challenges with walking, looking, listening, buttons, light, and not breathing too loud all at the same time. which brings me to my
NEUTRINO FUN FACT I LEARNED TODAY:
say "cut" after you hit pause. ha ha...hmmm....
so yeah, that's about it. scenework was a little more solid and interesting this time without the vast, disarming roar of the outside. for example, mike and hannah pumped body milk for an adopted baby; troy and eric had a scantily cloaked marital argument; and mike, troy and i cuddled in a bed with a bag of recyclables. that would have been far more embarrassing outside.
good loving cuddle times...
cut!
-rita
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
first post
Hi! Welcome to the official blog for the Twin Cities Neutrino Video Project, or NTC for short.
As of today, we are exactly one month away from our first actual performance.
Tonight was our first rehearsal. We've had lots of meetings, and of course we've all improvised together countless times before, but tonight we took Eric's camera out on the street near what we hope will be our venue, and tried filming some make-'em-ups.
The results? Well, you can't just call them good or bad. It's complicated. (Historians note: the first time something is referred to as "complicated" in this blog. It's going to happen about three million more times before the party's over.) Mike and I had our first crack at directing, aka filming/being behind the camera, and all of us had a chance to try acting for the camera. The results were entertaining, sometimes sucky but always educational. The main thing we learned is that this project is going to be CHALLENGING. And we each have a million new things to learn. Eric gave us a little tutorial on how to use his camera and not destroy or damage it in the process, and then experimented with different ways of using Troy's bicycle lamp to light the scenes after the sun set.
Perhaps someday, the cinematic treasures we produced tonight will see the light of day. In the meantime, I'll close this short entry with a Neutrino Twin Cities fun fact.
FACT I LEARNED TODAY: Get in the the habit of putting your lens cap in an easily accessible pocket. Whenever you're not shooting, the cap should be on to protect your fragile friend, the lens.
Soon, we'll write more about our search for the right venue, setting up/designing a rehearsal schedule, and casting the show. Until then...
-Hannah
As of today, we are exactly one month away from our first actual performance.
Tonight was our first rehearsal. We've had lots of meetings, and of course we've all improvised together countless times before, but tonight we took Eric's camera out on the street near what we hope will be our venue, and tried filming some make-'em-ups.
The results? Well, you can't just call them good or bad. It's complicated. (Historians note: the first time something is referred to as "complicated" in this blog. It's going to happen about three million more times before the party's over.) Mike and I had our first crack at directing, aka filming/being behind the camera, and all of us had a chance to try acting for the camera. The results were entertaining, sometimes sucky but always educational. The main thing we learned is that this project is going to be CHALLENGING. And we each have a million new things to learn. Eric gave us a little tutorial on how to use his camera and not destroy or damage it in the process, and then experimented with different ways of using Troy's bicycle lamp to light the scenes after the sun set.
Perhaps someday, the cinematic treasures we produced tonight will see the light of day. In the meantime, I'll close this short entry with a Neutrino Twin Cities fun fact.
FACT I LEARNED TODAY: Get in the the habit of putting your lens cap in an easily accessible pocket. Whenever you're not shooting, the cap should be on to protect your fragile friend, the lens.
Soon, we'll write more about our search for the right venue, setting up/designing a rehearsal schedule, and casting the show. Until then...
-Hannah
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