A Visit to Skywalker Ranch

My stepdad Michael J. calls me and asks me what I'm doing Friday.  I ask him why, and he says he he has a birthday present for me: "Do you want to go to Skywalker Ranch?"  He didn't have to wait for my response to know my answer.

A mysterious mecca for film geeks, Skywalker Ranch in a practical sense is nothing more than a really nice post production house, as well as the location of George Lucas' "office" (a super-fancy Victorian dubbed the "main house.")  For more than anything I was ecstatic just to be able to go past those gates.  Those gates actually took us awhile to find.

Michael J. was driving me, his two little nephews, and my good buddy who also loves Star Wars, Peter.  When we drove up to the gate that we thought was Skywalker Ranch, we were told by the guard that this was a different ranch and we still had to drive a few miles down the road.  We only found it after getting lost once then doubling back (it's a very hidden, wooded entrance).  Once we finally made it, the guard gave us directions to something called the archive building, where we would meet our friend and tour guide, Don.  Archive building? Hmm, okay then.

Don Bies was our connection for getting into the ranch.  Michael J. and I were introduced to him in 2004.  Our family friend Erik Jensen invited us to help out on a movie shoot that Don was directing as part of an Industrial Light and Magic in-house film festival competition.  Since that first project, we've been helping Don out annually on "Every 15 Minutes" anti-drunk driving videos he produces every year at a local Petaluma high school.  When he got word that we had never been to Skywalker Ranch, he offered to take us there sometime.  Michael arranged a date, and there we were.

Don was waiting for us in the parking lot of this enigmatic "archive building."  He took us through a couple of offices adorning various Star Wars decorations and collectables, then told us that we weren't allowed to take any pictures or touch anything where we were going.  This got me VERY excited, but could never have prepared me for what we were about to see. 

We entered a large warehouse-type room half filled with tall, metal shelves.  On these shelves and around the entire room was nearly every major and minor prop from all of Lucasfilm's movies; including ALL of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.  I was completely overwhelmed.  Even just from where we were standing, there were too many awesome and familiar props and creatures I recognized from some of my favorite films.

There was a dusty old R2-D2, which Don informed us was used in 90% of his shots in the original 1977 Star Wars.  Across from him were the two Ark of the Covenants used in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Next to that were some of the singing aliens from Jabba's palace, as well as the Super Star Destroyer from Return of the Jedi (which, an interesting bit of trivia, there's a tiny figure of a Nazi soldier hidden inside of).  

The list of treasures went on:  tie fighters, Salacious Crumb, Max Rebo, a cart from the Temple of Doom mine chase sequence, those cute baby Ewoks, A Taun-Taun and Rancor head, some Holy Grails from The Last Crusade, Howard the Duck (hahaha), the chair C3Po was elevated in in Jedi, Indiana Jones' signature hat and whip from Raiders, Lando's little intercom thing he speaks into when announcing that stormtroopers have taken over Cloud City, a thermal detonator, character and ship models from Episode 1, a few original light sabers, that frog thing from outside Jabba's palace, the umbrella Sean Connery uses to scare the birds in Last Crusade, the broken C3PO that Chewbacca carries around on his back from Empire, various alien heads/masks from the trilogy including Greedo, the cage Kate Capshaw was lowered into the lava pit in from Temple of Doom, those iconic green Imperial officer costumes from the Star Wars trilogy, the white dress Marion is forced to put on in Raiders, Tusken Raider masks and gaffi sticks, the mine cart from the chase scene in Temple of Doom, Salacious Crumb (Jabba's little laughing monkey pet, as well as a personal favorite of mine), and the list goes on.

Even though it was implied that we shouldn't touch any

thing, there were a few things I had to sneak in a quick hold/feel of to have that physical connection with.  I had to hold the golden idol from the beginning of Raiders to see for myself exactly how heavy it was (it was hollow).  I had to hold Han Solo's blaster because it's Han Solo's blaster.  I had to touch Han Solo frozen in carbonite to see what "carbonite" felt like.  I also had to pick up Dr. Henry Jones Sr.'s Holy Grail journal, so I could peruse it's pages and secrets (it was the same 30 some-odd pages repeated), as well as The Holy Grail itself, of which there are many.  

After we finished going up and down all of the aisles, we approached a table where a man was sorting through some original concept art from Empire Strikes Back.  It was really interesting getting to see the early incarnations of famous vehicles and aliens which often hardly resembled their final look, such as the AT-AT.  These pieces of paper where definitely the originals; stamp marks put there by George Lucas himself could be seen, designating the designs he liked.

Don introduced us to the guy sorting through everything as Jonathan.  It turns out that Jonathan was actually J. W. Rinzler, LucasFilm archivist and author of such books as The Complete Making of Star Wars, and The Complete Making of The Indiana Jones Trilogy.  This actually got me quite excited, as the making of Star Wars was the one thing I was asking for last Christmas.  Jonathan was super nice, and told us that he was there doing research for The Complete Making of Empire Strikes Back!  I can't wait.  

The Archive building was definitely the highlight of the visit.  After leaving there, we toured the rest of the compound.  We ate lunch, walked around the main house (where George's office is upstairs), saw a scoring stage, and bought some Skywalker Ranch merchandise at the store.  

All in all, probably the best birthday present ever.  

Done and Done

Not only is this class over with (sadly), but so is college (even more sadly).  I do have to say, though, that unfortunately one of the things I'll remember most from the class is the only real bad thing from it... and that's this quote from Brant which can be found in his guide on making independent films in the book "Putting the Pieces Together: The Graffiti Model for Indie Filmmaking."  Brant says "don't move to LA and try to 'work your way up' (i.e. working crap jobs on crap movies for crap pay, hoping to get promoted to be First Assistant Nobody one day).  And please don't go to film school.  Save the money and make a movie instead."

Wow.  While it may be too late to ditch out on film school (I'm graduating in two days), it does scare me what he says about LA.  I've been planning on doing what Brant describes exactly, and I thought I was super lucky to have a chance to get one of those entry level jobs.  It's just so damn disheartening to hear that... I don't know.  It does feel like the right thing to be doing right now... I mean, would it be really so bad to have a paid job, while getting real-world experience in the field you want to pursue?  

I think while Brant's words may not have totally discouraged me from making the move, they did encourage me to, no matter how busy I may be, keep working on my own artistic chops; whether that involves writing a script, editing my own projects, playing a large role in a friend's film, whatever.  Just as long as I don't get bogged down.  So, yeah, I guess his words of wisdom did have a positive effect, albeit not the intended one.  

Thanks! Thank you both for sharing your experience and knowledge, it is very much appreciated. 

The pope in the pool should watch out for that glacier while laying pipe to save the cat from the black vet

I finished reading Blake Snyder's guide on screenwriting entitled "Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need." While I initially found Snyder's casual writing style a breath of fresh air in it's simplicity and laid-back voice, after awhile I have to admit it did start to become more grating. Mostly this just occurred when he was trying to be funny, but really he was just coming across as being over-opinionated to the point where he was sounding a little full of himself. For example, this happens a lot whenever he's bashing the movie Signs (which he does like to do a lot).  Okay, so the movie may have it's flaws, but the way he just so unabashedly rips in it as if he is the ultimate say in what is good and bad in films kinda got to me.  He even goes as far as to encourage anyone who disagrees with him about the film to challenge him via email.

The thing that's probably most unique about his screenwriting guide when compared the vast amount of other books on the subject that are available, is his quirky examples for remembering certain rules when writing a film.  The title of this blog is a mashing of five of these examples.  As silly as they sound, they really do work for remembering the rules of screenwriting.  I remember studying for vocab tests in high school, and how a trick I'd use to memorize the troublesome words was to come up with a phrase or trick to remember them by.  This tactic, in theory, is exactly the same as Snyder's technique for remembering such rules as: in order to make your protagonist likable, have them do something at the beginning akin to "saving a cat."  I like his goofy examples, because it truly does help me memorize the rules he lays out.  

"I'd give my left ass cheek for a piece of black cloth"

It was a week ago this evening when I was acting as 1st camera person for a shoot that truly was a once in a life time opportunity.  2008 marks the 35th anniversary for one of my all time favorite films, American Graffiti.  To celebrate this occasion, the town where they shot most of the film, Petaluma (which neighbors my home town of San Rafael), decided to go all out for their annual American Graffiti/classic car celebration.  They decided to stage a re-enactment of the famous scene where a cop car gets its rear wheels pulled off as part of an gang initiation Richard Dreyfuss' character takes part in.  So it was my job to frame up, and then shoot as similarly as possible the original shots from the film.

What was so cool was how I could use background references since it was the exact same location for lining them up.  In the big stunt at the end, I was able to determine where about the camera was originally placed based on the angle of the theater marquee in the background as well as the angle of the sidewalk in front of the lot where the cop car pulls out.  In the instance of that same shot, one of the original cameramen from the film take a look at my set up and confirmed that it looked like that's "about where they had it" back in 1972.  Here's a video on the event, which probably will give a better sense of it than I can (I'm the one on the right who yells 'rolling!'). 

Oh yeah!  That video reminded me of another extremely cool aspect of the evening.  Academy Award winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was there a part of the original crew.  Out of the all the original crew who was there, he was definitely the most kind, approachable, and down-to-earth.  He gave me some personal camera direction, as well as was nice enough to sign an American Graffiti still of mine.  William Maley, gaffer on the film, was there to recreate the original lighting setup as best as possible.  Bill was the extremely surly one of the bunch.  He's the one who was the source of this blog's titular line about how he'd give a portion of his behind for a piece of black cloth in order to help filter some lights.  

By the end of it all, I not only was still buzzing from just how awesome it was to be playing such a big role in the recreation of a scene from one of my all time favorite movies, but after having met and worked with both the like of Wexler and Maley, I got a new appreciation for how important it is to be working with good people whose company you enjoy and who you can respect on a professional level, as well.  Now that I'm just a couple weeks away from finishing my four year stint at UC Santa Cruz, I really am happy for the wonderful wonderful filmmaking atmosphere the school has provided.  I've met and worked with a lot of great people whom I hope to continue to do so with post-college, and as well have had a solid amount of professors from who I learned a lot and will always be thankful for all the time they've helped me. 

Does it really have to end?

Watching American Graffiti again before the shoot reminded me that yes, it really is ending, change, and eras coming to an end, is just a part of life. 

Happy days!

Star Wars is everywhere (and I don't mind)

Star Wars really is everywhere.

Tonight's episode of the no-skills-needed game show Deal or No Deal was Star Wars themed.  I've never actually watched the show before, but I couldn't miss this event simply because it had to do with Star Wars.  In the episode, the role of the "banker" who offers the contestants a changing cash prize if they choose "Deal" was played by Darth Vader.  A platoon of Stormtroopers as well as a few dozen models dressed as slave girl Leia were the ones holding all the briefcases of money, and special surprise guests included Carrie Fisher, Chewbacca and R2-D2.  The two contestants each had their own stories for how much of an effect Star Wars has had on their lives.

One of the two contestants said that the movie taught her that anything is possible and you can achieve your dreams.  Now, having learned about how Star Wars closely follows all of the classic rules that make a "great" film laid out by the likes of Blake Snyder, it's cool to see that the movie inspires and entertains people so effectively because of its simple story of a nobody who goes on an amazing amazing adventure.

I'm no exception to the masses who have fallen in love with  Star Wars.  I absolutely adore those films, and now I know it is largely due to how they were written in a way that so closely follows the rules of screenwriting.  Those rules truly are for getting a story across that we, being the emotional beings we are, can form a connection with.  This makes the film pure escapism and entertainment, which is why I love it, which is why I don't mind that it is everywhere... my favorite example being from this Japanese television ad from the early 90s featuring George Lucas himself.

April 17th readings

In chapters 6-10 of Syd Field's "Screenplay."  While doing the reading, I picked up on how his writing style involves the use of so many detailed, lengthy examples.  At first I found this kind of hammering in the point.  For example, when discussing how to go about "Setting Up the Story and how important it is to do so within the first ten pages of a screenplay, he includes within the text the first ten pages of "Chinatown."  Right afterwards, though, he pretty much sums up everything within those ten pages and their relevance.  I eventually and appreciatively realized that this is not only a method of hammering in the point, but of also providing plenty of illustrations by which to help you remember his lessons by.  I know I'll never forget what plot points are because I now know exactly where they are in "American Beauty" and "The Matrix;" two modern and successful films I am familiar enough with.

I can already tell based off of reading the first part of "Save the Cat" by Blake Snyder how much I enjoy his informal style, straight-to-the point, style.  It helps me to stay focused when I feel that the writing is completely focused.  It is reassuring that he's pretty much relaying the same points Field makes in his book because it supports that the rules laid out truly are the golden rules of what makes a screenplay successful. 

My First Entry

In Syd Field's book on screenwriting I'm reading for class, he references films like "Fellowship of the Ring," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and "Thelma and Louise."  Pishaw, I say.  Yeah, these are great films, but I know that Syd's techniques are true beyond these films because of how well they ring true with one of my all time favorite movies, "Pee Wee's Big Adventure."  The thing that Syd stresses the most (at least in the first five chapters) is how everything pretty much revolves around how the protagonist must have a goal.  Then, the movie is about how a bunch of crap happens to them that makes it more difficult for them to reach their goal.  Pee Wee's goal is to get back his stolen bike, and the whole movie revolves around his misfortunes and misadventures when trying to do so.  For me at least, this example really exemplifies how simple yet important this rule in screenwriting is.

In other news, I watched my professors' film "Quality of Life" about a week ago now.  I really enjoyed the fact that I was able to get caught up in the story even though I don't fall into the niche market of graffiti artist the movie aims at.  I think I'm going to enjoy the DVD commentary even more, because what I find really interesting (pretty much with all films) is the story behind the making of the movie.  And for a DIY (do-it-yourself) film, I think the making of could be especially educational.  Glad I'm taking a class on it!

More to come.

Happy Days.