The Waiting Game

Being at the mercy of others, when you're so excited, and so close to being finished with something completely sucks. We are patiently waiting to get into the ware house, so we can get the finale finished(which if all goes as planned is going to be pretty friggen good).

We are looking for a new lead female so we can shoot the House scene, reshoot the scene with the Mustang, and a couple of other important scenes.

Next Saturday, hopefully we will finally be able to get our Chinatown shoot done, and once we get POLICE T-shirts, and I round up the extras, we can reshoot the Crime Scene. I take responsibility for that not being done yet, but I need to make sure we have enough people, and enough clothing for them to wear.

This making movies shit, without a budget, without a legitimate shooting schedule, and without a crew (outside of us), is incredibly hard. Hopefully our next project to be determined after this, goes a lot smoother.

There WILL BE a sequel to this no doubt, but I don't think it will be the next thing we work on, as taking a break from the Lawson world will do us all a lot of good, even if it is just a few shorts things to work on in between while the story is fleshed out.

For those still waiting however, be patient, White Heat will be worth the wait, and there are plenty of ideas we have for screening the movie and promoting it, so bear with us as the tedious process of making the damn thing hopefully comes to an end shortly.

well then

We had a great meeting this week, where Tommy laid out his vision for a bunch of stunts and gags during the climax of the movie. We spent 2-3 hours figuring out the floorplan and got a rough idea of how many props and extras we will need.

In the past couple weeks we've had some fairly annoying setbacks, including cancelling full scene shoot that had been scheduled two weeks in advance. Then we had plans to get some outdoor covereage this past weekend, and a backup plan for other stuff to do in the snow if it snowed. Of course it snowed then sleeted then rained eliminating any sort of shooting.

We were able to get a bunch of random linking footage done, some inserts and general b-roll; so this month hasn't been a total wash. (Barry has been editing the footage together as we've been working, so we generally know if things worked in a scene or if we forgot anything within a couple weeks of shooting)

Scheduling can be such a pain, but really all that stands between us and finishing filming is organizing a couple more chunks of time and money. If anyone out there would like to contribute either their time to be an extra in the three remaining major scenes or give us some cash to buy a few remaining supplies, feel free to send an email to lawsonwhiteheat@gmail.com, (we do take bags of cash with dollar signs on them, celebrity cameos are welcome and product placement is negotiable)

and as always, join the facebook club
and become lawson's friend on myspace
thanks for waiting, we'll be done uhm,
probably before the new gnr cd comes out.
-johnk

Frustrating

So, we had a pretty important scene planned for last night. One we've been waiting to do for probably two months, but due to schedules and location concerns, we were unable to get it done. So, Koziol, myself, Abdi, and some extras were all set and ready to do the scene, but the girl in the scene never got back in touch after numerous tries. It is yet another wrench in the plans and of course a minor set back in the grand scheme of things, but I, like everybody else, just wants to get this damn movie finished and finally show it to everybody we've been telling about it.

The positive note is that the weather is nice out today for the first time in a while, so we will be able to do some out door stuff today and see how that goes.

SOB Coffestache

The Fuck Tally

I went through the edited footage again, and in the 24 minutes or so of video, there are a whopping 97 uses of the F-bomb. The majority of them come from Chief Coffeestache, with RapMaster Reese coming in second place. There is no doubt we'd have an R rating if this was a real theatrical movie. With the ending, if its as good as we want, possibly an NC-17. Who knows. We just dont have boobs in the movie.

By going over what still needs to be shot and trying to estimate timing of each scene and things like that, I still believe the movie is going to hit the hour mark, and go over by a few minutes too. Maybe if we are lucky it will be 70 minutes or so, which for a group of inexperienced assholes, thats pretty damn good.

Ah yah

Good Weekend

We wound up shooting a really funny scene last night and this afternoon. I already edited it and have showed it to Tommy in its 99% completed form. It is very funny, especially considering it was thought of yesterday. I will possibly grab some still shots from it this week and maybe throw it online. Not sure though because I dont want to spoil anything. Maybe I can find one part to use.

Anyhow, we are slowly getting back on track and getting the coverage we need until we get the go ahead on the warehouse scene. Since the weather is finally not deathly cold too, we can head back and reshoot an important scene we need. It is coming along quite nicely, and shortly I will get in touch with my friend Tina about the photo shoot for the posters.

This has been a great learning experience, and now we know that the entire process, if we want it to be pretty good, takes time, effort, and a lot of patience if you want a quality piece of work. (quality as in how it looks, content is up to the viewer. you will all love it though if you like our sense of humor)

Blood Test

DOUCHEBAG...

http://coffeelaughs.ytmnd.com/


how kyle has been spending his day off...

Can't Duck the White Heat

Our friend Tereck at work, has a studio with a friend of his. They produce rap and hip hop and are currently working on an album. Abdi (Badi) has been on top of things as far as trying to make connections with anybody who might be willing and able to contribute music for the movie.

For the past month and a half, maybe two months. We've been hearing from Tereck about how the song is coming out, and finally on Saturday, it was available to be heard for us. We didn't wind up getting a copy until tonight at work, and on the ride home we listened to the song over and over.

So we have a legitimate rap song, produced specifically for the movie, with White Heat being said numerous times throughout the song, which in my opinion is pretty damn cool! Not only do we have the blessing of Ravage to possibly use some more of their shit, but now we have a real rap song. Abdi is also trying to finagle a song from another guy he knows.

This thing is coming along pretty sweet if I could say so myself, and many thanks to Tereck and his friend Slim, who made the song for us. Also, nice work on Abdis behalf for making connections and hooking up the movie. Sweet!

Chief Coffee-laughs

Back to the Lawson

This weekend, we are finally getting back to the grind and working on the movie. This Wednesday is a meeting where we are figuring out exactly what needs to be finished, so we can finally get back to shooting the movie.

The weather has been a real drag for everybody, and I suppose the possibility of a nice snowstorm in the next couple of days isnt going to bode too well for the upcoming weekend. No more excuses however, we have to finish this fucking movie.

I am tired of sitting on all this great footage and I am sure everybody else is as anxious to see the finished product as we all are. Trust me, the wait will (possibly) be worth it, depending on your opinion of rediculous action/comedy movies with tons of vulgarity, tons of blood, and tons of naked chicks!

All of that is in the movie, minus the naked chicks. We dont know many chicks who will be in the movie in their clothes, nevermind out of them. HA!

Anyhow, be on the lookout this week for hopefully another update of something relevant.

Ah yah

Effects Tests

Greetings once again from the Lawson Labs!

Last night John, Beavis, and I did some tests with the air pump to see how our blood spray will look on camera. Overall I am very happy with the results. It took a couple of tries with a few variations but we finally got a great, over the top spray of blood. The hardest factor to negotiate is the amount of blood. If there is too little blood in the hose, nothing comes out. But as some of the tests proved, too much blood sprays out for a hell of a long tme. It was hilarious.

We also tested out a modified sport top bottle that will create pulsating bursts of blood from an amputated stump. I think it will work really well.

John was taping the tests and hopefully will be able to make a short video out of the footage and have it on here pretty soon. Until then, here is a picture of my t shirt after the first successful test of the air pump.



Thanks for reading!

-Tommy

The Warehouse

Hi, everybody. Today, as Barry mentioned below, we checked out a warehouse where we will be able to shoot the final sequence in the movie. Beggars can't be choosers in a situation like this so I am grateful that we have been offered the place to use. It is smaller than what would be ideal in my opinion, but as I just said, I am in no position to look a gift horse in the mouth. I think with creative camera work and good editing we can turn the space into a seemingly larger area. It will be a good challenge.

I am excited that we have a space to work in. I am excited that the movie is almost ready to hit the last stretch of filming. And I am excited about the oncoming media blitz. We all have grand ideas of papering the city with ads and teaser info and such. But the recent Aqua Teen ad campaign/terror threat that hit Boston the other day really got us thinking . . . probably in the wrong direction. So, if you happen to be riding the T and you spot a man in a fabric muscle suit disarming bombs, don't be scared! It's just Lawson saving the lives of the innocent! He's making the world a safer place for you and yours. And if you're lucky, after he dismantles the device, he will give you a flyer to a screening of Lawson: White Heat! What a hero.

Maybe all train cars should have this:


Speaking of bad ideas, our production company (Evil 1985) may have a future project lined up. Our very own John Koziol will risk his health in a $10,000 bet to rapidly lose weight and then gain 200 lbs! We will document the entire process. We'll see how good an idea this seems later, but as of right now it's a terrible and great idea.

We wish John the best of luck.

Lawson rarely speaks, but when he does it is usually to order more french fries for John Koziol.

Thanks for reading.
-Tommy

Slow goings

People went and looked at one of the warehouse spaces today. I showed up a few minutes late and missed the inside, but they said it looks good and thats good to me. I just want to get this thing finished to be honest.

We havent been keeping up in the past three weeks for whatever reason, but hopefully this is the spark plug we've needed to get our asses back on track.

There isnt really too much left to do, outside of the ending, Badis house, some coverage/montage shit, and a reshoot of something that came out poorly, but we just havent done anything. Maybe I will be able to throw together another set of bloopers, or something to that extent to get something out there since its been so slow. Who knows.

Cant wait to finish, and start doing something else

update

So, we took last weekend off, which I will be quite honest, was awesome. I think we all might have needed a break to recharge our batteries a bit.

We dont necessarily have THAT much left to shoot for the movie. There is a small scene in Chinatown, Badis house, and we are reshooting a Crime Investigation scene because what we shot isn't the best it could be.

Other than those, we obviously have the ending to shoot. The ending of the movie is going to be a HUGE undertaking for us. We are waiting for word about the possible warehouse/building we may have to work in. If we get it, its going to take so much pressure off of all of us, and we will know we are coming in on the home stretch for the movie. The ending sequence is a good chunk of the movie, as everybody knows we are attempting to have one of those amazing (or as amazing as we can do with no money) gun fights with buckets of blood, and a body count full of gruesome deaths. Hopefully, we will be able to bang that out in a few weeks once the location is secured.

Other than that, we have small shit, like establishing shots and things like that to get, which wont take very long, but we have procrastinated in getting because of that reason. It is all mostly little connecting footage and things like that, which in theory we could get on any given day, with the right people around.

So the hope is still that the movie will be all set for a spring release. Once "principal photography" (to try and sound professionaly) is finished, I will finish editing the movie, while Tommy and John work on the score and music, which I've heard some stuff and I think its pretty cool. Either way, it is coming along, I just wish we had a budget and a legitimate shooting schedule from the get go so we could have finished already. Those are the breaks when you're doing your first movie with no budget, and a guerrilla mindset.

Look for movie posters, stickers, and all that other promotional shit to pop up at some point too. Once we do our photo shoot, all bets are off and the hype machine will be in first gear.

Riveting

myspace and other shit

Go to Myspace.com/lawsonwhiteheat and add us as a friend.

RapMaster Reese also has a page. Trying to get some silly promotional stuff going for the movie, so in theory we are all going to have myspace pages for our characters. myspace.com/rapmasterreese.

Also, we've begun the shitty process of reshoots for certain scenes. Sometimes things either dont look great, the sound sucks, or it just wont edit together well so you have to go back and start from scratch. While the process isnt fun, its a necessary part of the movie making ordeal we got going. Too bad it finally bit us in the ass that winter weather is actually here. We will be freezing our nuts off from now on. Bogus

Update

So last night, we had our police station shoot. We did a bunch of different things, including the big interrogation scene. I think everything went pretty good, and it was a pretty fun time being in a professional office building, acting like jackasses. Anyhow, I know it is usually just me being paranoid because I don't want to miss anything when we are shooting, but I always get concerned that we missed something. I will find out in a little while when I put all the footage on the computer, but I am pretty sure it will be alright.

here's another. . . I'm bored

Lawson is my Muse

Hi! I was playing around with a program called Comic Life and made what I think are some pretty fun pictures. These aren't official posters or anything like that, but hopefully you get a laugh or two.


Thanks for checking us out! Lawson will always fight the good fight!

-Tommy

Lawson, COLORADO

While vactioning in Colorado, Kyle sent this in from the road.