Just a quick update.

I know, I know, I know...

I have been horrible keeping this up. Work has been keeping me rather busy. Just last month alone, I was logged in over 300 hours. Translation, 10 to 14 hour shifts a night and sometimes over the weekend. Damn Youz, Holiday Commercials!!!! DAMN YOUZ!!!!

As for Personal Demons, It's done, and festival bound to a couple of dozen. We were turned down by Sundance and Slamdance (Which, BTW, was actually a huge shock after seeing the level of filmmaking on the big screen at last years festivals) and the DVD release has been on hiatus because I haven't received the behind the scenes video from the editor of that portion. Sorry to all the people that are waiting so patiently for that. I do feel really, really bad about that.

Because of all the work that has been keeping my time, I have not been feeling creative, so I decided to create an online web series, titled South Bay. Think the O.C. mixed with a little bit of Scrubs for twenty something people. I know, I know... with Roommates, Quarterlife and a slew of other web series, I'm jumping on the band wagon too late.

But for me, right now, this is more of a passion project that will help me flex those creative muscles that have been really dormant for the past six months. If it gets picked up... that's super.

We shot the pilot two weekends ago and it went pretty successfully. For now, below is the press photo we are submitting for the public to see.

Pending any natural disasters or overload in work, South Bay should be premiering mid January 2008.

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So as promised... here is the web debut of the Standard Definition version of Personal Demons with ending credits as intended to be seen in film festivals and the DVD output.

Just as a note, the video is meant to be dark and gloomy with a nior lighting feel to it. Since all computer monitors are calibrated differently, you might not see the true contrast that is screened in theatres and DVD's.





If you would like to view the HD version of Personal Demons, please visit the production company website, 5ive By 5ive Studios, LLC and select Personal Demons.

The video will be uploaded and ready for screening starting September 28th, 2007.



I wanted to thank everyone for their support and I hope you enjoy the film.

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi Everyone,

I know that I have been completely absent in returning phone calls and e-mails I am truly apologetic about that. I haven't been keeping updates on this site either which is a first. I have been so immersed with completing Personal Demons In time for the Early Fall showcase at CSULB while being a full time Editor at the Ad Agency. And now that time has come. The project is ready for exhibition. It’s first screening will be at California State University, Long Beach this coming Saturday, September 8th along with other short films that were created over this past year. The information is down below in obtaining tickets.





Now, I know that this is last minute, but the project was literally finished last night and shipped off this morning. For those near and far that will not be able to attend, Personal Demons will be posted online on the production company's website 5ive By 5ive Studios (http://www.5iveby5ive.com) for online exhibition in standard definition and 720p High Definition and on this very blog site, the Clashing Dragon in web friendly size approximately two weeks after the screening.

DVD Copies will be available for the cast and crew in mid-October once it comes back from the production house and will be mailed to the addresses that you provided. If I do not have your address, please e-mail me at info@5iveby5ive.com where it can be delivered to in the next few weeks.

Through the September 2007 to September 2008, Personal Demons will be submitted to various film festivals. If and when Personal Demons is accepted to a festival, It will be posted on this blog. As of right now, Personal Demons has been submitted to the Sundance Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Thank you all for your understanding and once again sorry about my absence.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Lee
Writer/Director
Personal Demons

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, the rumors floating around are true...

I, Richard J. Lee, have turned to a corporate sellout. I am leaving the game of indie filmmaking for a life of 401K's, matching funds, medical, dental, vision, and a 9 to 5 atmosphere. Gone are a life of insecurities for a posh little office in Los Angeles punching the clock for the man.

But before people get up in arms and wave pitch forks at me, I am not a complete sellout.

For one... I am going to maintain making indie films... but, unfortunately, for the time being, I am going to slow down a bit and the projects will be smaller in scale. And for another, the job I obtained is an editing gig for an Ad Agency in Los Angeles.

Yes, ladies and gents, I am going to be locked away in a office editing away on the commercials you see on television. So in the next few months, if you see a Fox Sports Net, Honda Motorcycles, SoCal Ford, Nestle, or Albertson's commercial... nine times out of ten, I was probably editing that together.

So there you go... my life is going to change as we know it... Is it going to be for the better? Who knows. I know that it is the direction that I want to take though. I have always walked the unbeaten path on my road to filmmaking... maybe it's time to see how the paved roads feel.

As for Personal Demons & Divinity... Not to worry, this is a good thing that has happened. The company I am working for are filmmaker friendly and have told me that I am more than allowed to bring my projects in for assistance from the Ad Agency.... which means help in ADR, help in Post Production Sound Effects, and help in Advertising.

This could turn out to be a great and beautiful friendship...

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Just a quick little update for everyone, since it has been a while.

Personal Demons is unfortunately still in post-production. I am three months behind my intended schedule, but the sad part of filmmaking is that these things happen. Especially in indie filmmaking. Life interupts the intended plans. I apologize to everyone that I have told that the project would be done sooner. The price that we pay for being indie filmmakers. Little money and the promises of free assistance quickly turns into payment needed situations.

And unfortunately, I have bills to pay and also a mouth and stomach that won't shut up if I do not feed it some sort of substance. =o)

The good news is Personal Demons is almost finished. I promise you on this. There are just minor tweaks here and there that I am being picky over and also having to still ADR certain actors.

The other good news is that Personal Demons and Divinity will both be having their premieres in September on the CSULB University Theatre. Stay tuned here for more details as I recieve them. And the other good news is if all goes well, it will be shown at the Director's Guild of America (DGA) in West Hollywood in late Spring of 2008.

From that point on... it is Festival bound.

More information in the next few weeks. Until then, thank you to everyone and their patience. I promise you that it will be all worth it.

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 02:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things have been a little hectic, and I have has very little time to make updates on each project so, I thought I would make a mass production update.

Sorry folks, no images for this one. But on the plus side... I did color code the productions for you. =o)

PERSONAL DEMONS: We have a picture lock on the project and just waiting for the Special Effects to come in. The project is looking incredible and the screeners have been nothing but positive feedback. In late March through the month of April we are going to go in for ADR and post production sound sweetening at a post house in North Hollywood and West Los Angeles. the one downside... Orchestration for the project is on hiatus and pending because we lost our composer because of conflict in scheduling.

WHERE DO THE BALLOONS GO?: This is the CSULB/Sony Premiere Film Festival Short film we shot with Hall of Fame Director, Robert Butler. We are done with the rough cut and picture lock should happen in the next week. Post Production sweetening should be happening at the same time as Personal Demons at the same post production houses. The project has an interesting vibe and look to it.

DIVINITY: We are currently in Pre-Production for this project with a wonderful actress by the name of Paige La Pierre. I am the writer/producer of this project and this short film is set to begin production April 18th through the 22nd. The project will be directed by my always favorite D.P., Alex J. Rodriguez.

LOVE, MR. MAN: Currently in Pre-Production. A short film that I am putting together to be a short and simple shoot to go into production in late May 2007. This is the one where I am going to flex every muscle I have simultaneously... being the writer/director/actor on this project. This is a romantic drama that holds many folds for me. In one hand, it is to mentally prepare me for my feature film, and on the other, it is a project that I wanted to shoot for quite some time.

<3: My feature film project. The project "<3" which is also known as "Less Than Three Hearts, is a romantic comedy about three friends that go through love, life and loss to realize that what matters the most is to have that feeling of love. This indie feature film will star Edwin Hodge, amongst a cast of talented up and coming actors and actresses. This project will mark my feature film directorial debut and is currently set to begin Pre-Production in June and shooting for a production start date of August 2007.... but this one will all be determined by a numerous amount of factors.


So as you can see, this is turning into an eventful year. At the current time, my goal is to have both Personal Demons & Where Do the Balloons Go be done with post production by the end of April. For Divinity, I believe we can have post completed by the end of June, and Love, Mr. Man should be completed with post by the end of July.

Each one of these projects will be festival bound. Four short films, each with their own style and different entries to different festivals. It should become very, very interesting. We'll see how well I keep my sanity. =o).


I promise that the next blog will have some interesting images. Until then.

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 04:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Took a break from getting picture lock for the film and started fiddling with the movie poster. I think that it looks incredible, but then again, I'm a little biased. =o)

The font for the credits on the bottom is a little bit off so I know I want to fix that problem, but other than that, I think that this should be sent into the printers by the beginning of March.

What's your thoughts?

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 02:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pretty much completed the rough cut for Personal Demons. It is about 90% accurate to the storyboard mock video I made of the film a while back before I started blogging about this project.

I say 90% because I had to make changes in the script on the fly as we were shooting and also the performance from Mitra Avani (Michelle) completely exceeded my expectations on what she brought to the table and made me want to change the moments to strengthen her resolve in the film.

So 90% is a little less accurate and more like my original vision is about 90% accurate.... my excitement and happiness about the outcome of the film is 110%.

At the rate that we are going, and if sound sweetening, the score, as well as post sound mixing goes according to plan, we should have a completed cut done and ready within the next two months.... which would be about a month and a half ahead of schedule... That just puts a smile to my face.... =o)

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 04:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh.... my.... God....

The one thing that I have not had to deal with ever is sound sync on a film. It might be because I have always synced directly into the camera and had a back up, but this time, I decided to do sound separately, just like the pros tend to do it....

Let me tell you... syncing sound is the work of the devil. I'm about 240 shots in with another 50 or so more to go.... and my mind is going to mush and the ears feel like running away and hiding for a month. It's not because of the actors... their performance is the ones that are making this entire ordeal somewhat enjoyable...

It is watching their lips frame by frame trying to sync the sound together so that it doesn't look like a badly dubbed Asian action film.

I figure that in about three hours I'll be done and I'll be able to assemble a rough cut in a day or so. Wish me luck!

Below is a screen cap of my computer staring at Final Cut Pro HD wondering what I did to make it suffer with me syncing sound.

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am currently heavily in post-production with Personal Demons so I haven't been able to update the main page of my website or even create links and everything. But I did put up a splash page for the short.

It's nothing fancy, but at least it has an image up there now. Here's the website address:

http://www.5iveby5ive.com/personaldemons

or you if you are lazy like I am, here is the link to the site

I've also added a few more pictures for your enjoyment, mostly of he crew....

Continue reading "the Splash Page..." »

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry for the lack of blogging over the past two or three weeks. As it came down to the wire with the flick, there was a lot more to do, very little help, and very, very little time.

All in all, the production was a great success. The actors in this film far exceeded my expectations with their abilities and their professionalism. There were many a days when we went into overtime and the days became long. Mitra Avani, the lead in this production was especially the trooper. I don't think that I will ever be able to say enough about this woman, nor be able to express my gratitude over her professionalism and kind heart.

Continue reading "the First Wave of Images from the Personal Demons Shoot" »

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

the Set is coming along nicely. I'll upload more images later in the week. the Bathroom is moving along and the tiles should be in place in the next couple of days as well.

Two days ago, A-Rod and I started putting up the storyboard wall so that we can see what we have in store for us during filming. In general, words can not explain the awe we were at. There are going to be some intense days upon us. So you have the general idea of how intensively prepare for my productions:

The Shot List/Storyboard wall is well over 10 feet wide and about 5 feet tall.

I know, I know... it's a little extreme, but then again, I have always been told to over prepare preproduction so that production moves much more smoothly.


Keep a look out in the next few days for more exciting pictures.

Also, Thank you to all those who have contributed to the the "Personal Demons" Short Film Financial Donation Drive.... Your generosity and thoughts are always greatly appreciated.

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

the Three walls were leveled off and smoothed over on the second day. The group took the third day off because for them, they were working almost 16 hour days for the first two to make sure that 75% of the set was completed before Alex's Father had to take off back up to Northern Cal.

Continue reading "the Building of the Set (Day Four)" »

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 02:06 PM | Permalink

Building of the Set for the production of Personal Demons happened today. I wasn't part of much of it... scratch that... I wasn't part of any of it... but my DP/Producer/Set Designer/All-Around Bad Ass Mamma-Jo-Hamba Alex Rodriguez, Steadicam Operator/Set Constructor/Grip/Superman Nick Shundo and I-Bow-Before-Thee-For-Driving-All-The-Way-Down-From-Northern-California-To-Help-Build-My-Set Alex Rodriguez Sr.

Continue reading "the Building of the Set (Day One)" »

Posted by Richard J. Lee at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)