New site, new logo... new job?

Looking for a job now... and who would have guessed: the t-shirt logo for "born to be wireless" ended up becoming my personal logo. Now you can see it on the site http://www.mateoprado.com where you can also find my resumé and may be give me a hand finding a job.

Postproducing

Meaning we already produced the hard part. Theoretically.

But there is Dan, watching a second rough cut that needs some work... music, credit secuence, more days of shooting... just kdding. We won't shoot again until we are ready for episode 2.

Thanks to all of you who stopped to watch and give your opinion. It was heard and ignored. Get ready for the premiere.

First rough cut

Well, today I had a first rough cut of the first episode. Jamye, Meesh and Aglae were the privileged audience that gave some useful feedback. It has to go from the 8 minutes long it is now to 4.30... some stuff has to go, and then there will be very interesting blog postings with the scenes that didn't make it...

On the picture... the first reactions... we had to substitute Jamye with Fran to balance the result... if not there would have been to many thumbs down. It kills the suspense.

Eventhough she voted, Fran hasn't seen the cut... but we live in the United States of Fox News... since when objectivity mattered?

It's a wrap

New shirt

I finally got a FreeWirelessT-shirt...

Actually I have 3.

I'm happy about it.

Polished

To see how it evolves... thanks to John Figueredo we will have soon a screen to start printing t-shirts. Stay put to get yours.

Two week break

For two weeks our day jobs and a documentary have kept the team away from the project. Next week we should be getting back to the regular shooting habit of one-day-a-week.

Until then, I advance a design specially made for tshirts. Ted will be wearing one on episode 2.

DAY 3

Another day of shooting. Karl, Ted, Dan and Meesh, thanks for coming. I wonder if the elephant is aware that he will be appearing in an internet sitcom. Probably in more shots than anyone else.

Probably two more days to go before we have the first one. As you may know we get 3 hours of shooting every week. Next sunday it won't be possible to shoot, but we will figure out something to meet the weekly quota.

I found out that Captain S is not the only series being done for the internet around here, in the neighbourhood. I found this great little sitcom called We need girlfriends. Let's see if we can contact the creators and coordinate a screening of the three shows here at Freeze Peach once the first episode is ready... aiming for March 18. Sunday.

Check this blog for confirmation.

So easy...

I didn't know it was so easy to create your own merchandise... check the store and look at this sample of t-shirt... I bought one for me. I don't expect anyone to buy any... I mean, I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't mine... also I will be able to compare the quality of this online do-it-yourself thing with the ones Rollerblade John is making for us... with a press he owns. That IS art, this is merchandise. T-shirts with a logo.

Casting call from feb10

As I said, funny stuff, mostly from people we already knew...

DAY 2

Ted was sick and Dan was out of town. Cassandra did her webcam lines. And Steve jumped in to improvise some stuff. Cool, cool.

Here's the video of the sound checks...

Giving back

The result of that crazy improvisation from two weeks ago. Lily acting, me standing as if I was acting. Aglae directed and David held the camera. Thanks for that, guys.



Organic filmmaking group meets every saturday from 4 to 7 at the café.

Back to the origins

Here's the shortfilm that started it all. Let's do the deep male imaginary voice again...

In the year two thousand and five... or was it four? Whatever... let's do another take. Long, long time ago in little café of the galaxy... a little camera was recording... It was Christmas time, and the organic filmmaking movement had just started.

Kevin, Sandra, Meesh, Lucho, Matt... all those who were there are now, or will hopefully be, involved with the episodes of Freewireless Café. Rumplestilskin is like 'grandpa' for this series.

DAY 1

Precedes day 2. What else can I say.

Great acting from our talent: Cassandra, Dan and Ted. And thanks to Shawn, Ana Maria and Meesh for making it.

I made a picture of the group to prove they made it at eight thirty AM!! And if I don't take a couple of extra shots with myself, nobody would have ever believed I was actually there too. In the pic, someone is missing: some sort of commitment with a big studio who is after him... right, Ted? ; )

We shot three pages... warming up for what's to come. Next shooting day: sunday.

Are you ok?

Steve smokes his cigarettes, studies film and helps me out, sometimes.

This is from today. We were setting up the shots for tomorrow. Tests and stuff... and then all of a sudden...

A winged elephant cruised the air.

: )

Oh, and Matt wants me to say he took this picture. Like it must be the first good picture he makes or something.

So, how did it go?

May be because of the short notice, may be because I didn't hang the poster in enough places... not too many people showed up. That is the half empty glass.

But the few that showed up were pretty good. Even some of the regular customers of the FreezePeach auditioned and we were surprised with their training and skills in dramatic arts. It seems true what they say about New York, "you can't spit without hitting an actor".

Aglae and Kai were in charge of the casting. I hope they enjoyed it enough to repeat in a few weeks.

Next step, tomorrow's shoot of episode one.

Casting Call

If you know anyone who might be interested... this saturday between 4 and 7 we will be casting possible actors for the series.

Also you can always send us a cellphone video directly to our email address: borntobewireless@gmail.com

Subtle

Dan, look at the lens of that camera just like you knew the answer to any question. The sitcom is going to be a hit... and they have to see the fire in our eyes.

The what?

Organic filmmaking

Saturday february 3rd. meeting.

We read thru the first FWC episode, and then decided to play with a little video camera and try to do a small scene... we divide the roles and guess what... i end up being an actor. But I couldn't stop smiling even when i was supposed to be mad at the other character for cheating on me... Next week I will have a first rough cut.

Lilly did pretty well on her role, Aglae directed and David filmed. We used Chris's cell phone and Frank dropped a couple of ideas from the door as he passed by.

Check the photo... and wait for the film.

Barista

Every coffee shop has a barista.

Some of those baristas have hats.

Those hats are sometimes too small.

But sometimes they just look small.

And stories intertwaine.

Here...

Oh, and this sounds like a fucking trailer. Doesn't it?

Reread it with a deep male imaginary voice... and watch this picture.

Surprise!

Theo discovers the picture that was taken while he was sleeping... and Matt enjoys showing it to him. So cruel.

No mercy from the baristas of the Freeze Peach. Meesh was the one taking the actual photo. He didn't even show up in the scene... Theo must be looking for him.

The original pic is on the freezepeach blog.

Animator

Here is the talented artist who will do the opening for the sitcom. He also happens to be my old roommate. I introduced him to his wife months before they decided to move together and kick me out. I think I won't freelance as a matchmaker anymore.

I haven't mentioned his name. The same as me. Jose.

And I owe him some tylenols. Sorry for that. And thanks for everything, man.

Look at a rough of the initial animation.

This is a sample of his work.

First YouTube full experience

Yesterday I posted my first video... well, in fact four of them, but the most important one was something Dan and I shot at the café recently... he was improvising with a character he created called Kevin Mossovich. A pretty talented artist that Kevin guy, I'm gonna try to convince him to be in the sitcom... what do you think, Dan?

Why?

Why a sitcom about the café? Well let me give you an answer...

Last wednesday we had the home office at the FP, from 10 to 12. As usual I made it almost at 12, but there I found a couple of great stories. One had to do with tatoos and the meaning of the world. Tony, one of the regulars, has all this tatoos on his arms. They represent formulas that mean a lot, but I don't quite understand, let's see if he adds a comment explaining them. It took the flash of camera to bring us back to reality from the world of maths and variables and prime numbers. Holding the camera is Kai, my current roommate.

Then the second story I don't remember. But surely it will come up in some way on one of the chapters for the sitcom.

Future memories

Also comes to my mind Lucho's draft of original chapter one. Our international writer, from Venezuela. He was the pioneer to come up with the concept of "organic filmmaking" which should be copyrighted by now... but you know, you let it pass and then you forget. Right, Lucho?

Remember this picture? You took it, pointing the camera at yourself one random day at the ditmars stop of the N train... enjoy.

Write as much as you can

Jayme helped me out with the first drafts of the script. And this are the four attempts of making a picture... it was always me who appeared to have my eyes closed. But Jayme's patience was good enough to keep smiling after the photo shoot.

Previous meeting

Not so organized, but still lots of fun.

We tried the cell phone as a tool to send video to ourselves. The plan is to do an open casting call on which you can upload your performance from your cellphone camera to You Tube and we will pick the characters that will be introduced in new episodes of Free Wireless Café from the submissions. The specifics on how to do it will be available soon.

Send an email to borntobewireless@gmail.com if you want to be notified.

By the way, Ana Maria... do you think you could write down the plot we spoke about?

First Organized Meeting

Nancy brought some organization to the project. On the picture, right after the meeting, we can see the effect of the first script on both of them... although none of them has actually read it, nor what they are holding is the actual first script. Dan is working on polishing chapter 1.

Stuff on You Tube

Well, I was checking other stuff online... things I wish I had made, and I came across a couple of good ones on You Tube. Coincidentally they were both about the same thing: Mr. Deity and God, Inc. Both have 5 episodes so far, and they look pretty good.

One, two, three... check.

Let's see how the blog works... It'll be in the place of the website until the first episodes are ready.

This are the pictures that I used temporarily to design the web. It almost feels that these pictures were specifically taken for the website... Ted and Sara will be probably appearing in the show... but John is not even an actor, I just came accross his picture on the Freeze Peach's blog. The others I found online as well: here is Sara's and this is Ted's.

Also you can see the temporary design of the Free Wireless Café website. Feel free to point whatever you think is not clear... thanks a lot.