Megan and Murray McMillan

Here’s where we were at as of Thursday morning. Tomorrow: images of the costumes.

We’re starting to stack the tubes to create the wall of tubes. So far, the strategy described in the previous post is working.

We’re using an 18-gauge brad nailer (see this and this) to attach the tubes to the wood frame. We thought that would be easy. Wrong. In our first attempt we got about 15 tubes up before half of them fell off and went rolling across the room. In that system we only attached the tubes together and every fourth tube to the frame so that the tubes could be arranged organically. Although we got the organic look, it just wasn’t strong enough to support these heavy 25 lb. tubes.

In our second attempt we nailed “the heck” out of the main supporting tubes, but it still felt weak. We didn’t have the confidence that this system would still work once several rows of tubes were installed above the first row.

After a lot of time scratching our heads, we got the idea to install plywood strips to our 4×4 structure that would allow us to easily brad nail all tubes in all positions (see image above). This created a substantially stronger base while allowing for the required organic arrangement. It worked splendidly.

We find that every complex problem takes at least 3 tries to get it right.

We’ve started construction on the set (actually started last week). This frame has to hold 3400 lbs. of cardboard tubes.

BTW, you might remember that we purchased our first impact driver a few monthes ago. These things are incredible. Ours had no problem driving the the 10″ long 1/2″ wide lag bolts that secure these 4×4’s. It’s a delight to have the right tool for the job.

Last night we rented a 14-foot U-Haul truck so we could pick up the materials for the video set we’re building this week. What you see here is 138 industrial cardboard tubes, 8” diameter, 30.5” long. These tubes are the central building component in the dining room scene.

It took Murray and I three hours, working non-stop, to unload the truck and get those tubes to our studio.

Here is our current 16 frame storyboard for the video we are currently working on.

Here’s the sketch for the final scene in the video we’re working on. It’s a dinner party set surrounded by a constructed environment with a gridwork of open slots. Unlike previous videos we’ve made, the camera will move between two main sets, following the characters until they end up here.

Of course, it’s also a nod to Bunuel’s many on-film soirees.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie [source]

video shoot for The Oldest Song We Know, Tzia, Greece, 2007, photo courtesy of Ali Kazma

We are looking for a diverse mix of male and female actors to perform in our new video artwork, which premieres in Los Angeles in February 2008. We need 4-6 actors who are comfortable with naturalistic acting — less like “acting” and more like “being” — for costumed, speaking roles in an all-day shoot on set in our studio in Central Falls, RI on Jan. 27. We are ideally looking for people who might be interested in working on future projects as well.

This is a volunteer position.

Examples of our work, including previous videos, are available on our portfolio website.

To apply, email a headshot of yourself and a brief biography or resume. Previous acting experience is not necessary. We are scheduling one-on-one meetings in lieu of auditions with potential actors next week (Jan 7-12).

Studio Roof

Studio

Studio Catacombs

We’re currently designing our next video, which will be exhibited at Whittier College in LA in February 2008. We’re considering three potential locations to shoot it: either our studio, the roof above our studio, or the catacombs–read: Bat Cave–behind the studio, which we’re leaning heavily towards.

You can easily imagine the look on our faces when we found this huge unused concrete room that had been paved over in the renovation of the old mill our studio is located in. If you look closely, you can see a person in the back to get an idea of how big of a space this is.