Paris: Finally Finished (fingers crossed)

Eiffel Tower from the Trocadéro. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Hello hello.

We've had a fairly busy last 10 days, and after this evening I should comfortably be able to say that the Paris portion of the film is in the can (which is like 90% of it).

The ending was re-written and a B-story was added. Our first few days were spent re-shooting the ending with our lead actress, as she had another project to get to. I flew from San Francisco to New Jersey, then New Jersey to Paris... hopped on the RER train into Gentilly, met up with everyone here at the studio, had about 30 minutes to get settled, then we started rolling.

The remainder of the week we worked with our lead actor/writer (as well as a new actress) on the new side story. It was challenging.

A big problem with not having much of a budget is that we have to shoot where we can shoot. That means spending hours on crowded riverbanks - take after take - trying to avoid loud boats, loud people, rain, onlookers, lighting issues, potential security issues, etc.

One of our scenes took about 8 hours to wrap. The scene is only about 5 minutes long.

This scene is about 4 seconds long. Yet we needed 5 takes. I labeled the slate accordingly.

The majority of our people are now gone, leaving Keith and me here in this art studio on our own. We spent the last day and a half doing some much-needed sleeping in, some pub-drinking, some bicycle riding through the city, some wine drinking, some photography, and some Formula 1 race-watching. After our mini pizzas come out of the oven, we're gonna jump on the Metro with the RED camera and go film some establishing b-roll. Then tonight we pack up, and jet back to San Francisco tomorrow morning.

Band photo.

It's been a blast. At the start of 2013, I surely didn't see myself going to Paris this year... and definitely didn't see myself going twice. Now it has become a running joke that we'll all just be right back here in a another few months to film something else.

To my clients who have been patiently waiting on their wedding photos, thank you! I'll have them to you soon.

Enjoy some of these photos, and I'll see you guys back in the States in a couple of days.

-Clay

Out and about during Nuit Blanche. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Night Filming.

Keith and Kevin discuss... something.

This time Kevin brought a remote-controlled quad-copter for arial shots. We crashed it a lot.

...like this:

Sunrise shot.

My roommate. He watched me while I sleep across the room. Good guy.

Awkward filming moment. Barbara, Kevin, and... me (technically) in the back.

Still Alive! Just Plowin' Through...

Hey folks.

It's wedding season. It has been, and it will continue to be for a bit. Which means it's Editing City here in my office, on top of admin stuff, bookings for next year, and traveling.

Going back in my calendar, I realized I've traveled a lot in 2013. Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Paris, Istanbul, Lake Tahoe (again), Denver...

Lancaster Bros. during our first filming outing in Paris last April

...and guess what? My brother Keith and I just coordinated flights and are headed back to Paris in about 3 weeks to finish up the movie we are working on. Time was crunched last trip (3 weeks is pretty ambitious for even the most indie of films) so we missed some shots that we needed. As I understand it, our writer/director has revamped the storyline and added some new stuff, so all of us are headed back to finish up.

There's a couple more weddings to shoot before the trip, more weddings after the trip, then I'll be headed to Florida for Thanksgiving (which is also my birthday this year) to see my parents' new house.

To top it off, one of my good friends (an exchange student from Berlin that I met in 1996) is in town visiting. I had not seen this guy in 16 YEARS, and after a few minutes it felt like nothing had changed:

Martin & Me last week

Oh, and for the first time in my life I actually beat a Zelda game:

Here are some of my other favorite moments since I last updated:

Shot promos for Tracing Figures... a band that contains two of my former band mates from years ago.

Seeing my family at our reunion in Vail, CO. That's me with my cousin & uncle.

Dusk on Lake Tahoe

Got to shoot Gillian's wedding, who is an old friend from our high school choir days

Vail, CO mountains as the lightning storm started coming in

Aimee & Paul's wedding in Mountain View

Taryn & Brian's wedding reception

the moon in Tahoe

It's been a blast so far! Gonna be hard to top the events of this year when 2014 rolls around. Then again, I said the same thing last year.

-Clay

Back Home and Not Slowing Down

Hey hey.

This post is gonna have a lot of photos. So bear with it. Although, I am a photographer... so maybe you should expect it.

After 3 weeks in Paris, we were able to wrap all the filming we set out to wrap. Long days, lots of wine, but a ton of fun. Very glad I decided to join the project.

Me (left) with my brother (center) filming Kevin for a quick scene on a bridge in Paris

screen shot from the film

We even had a few days left to take a toy remote-controlled boat around the city and drive it in some famous waterways (at the Louvre, at Luxembourg, in front of the Eiffel Tower, etc).

Kevin drives our speedboat at the Louvre

After saying our goodbyes to all the wonderful people involved, Kevin went back to Los Angeles, my brother Keith left for London, and I caught a plane to Istanbul.

It was my first time in another country by myself, and was quite an adventure. If you've been keeping up on all the news lately, Istanbul is the center of an uprising that is involving a lot of police brutality. It all started a couple of blocks from where I was staying 3 weeks ago, so it's weird to see all these places I recognize on the news.

New Mosque in Istanbul. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Among the people I met over there, I got to know this rap artist from Tunisia. He liked that I did camera work, so we did a small photo shoot on the Bosphorous waterfront one evening:

After sharing a bunch of beers on a rooftop night after night, looking at the river, he and an employee of the hostel (where I was staying) came up with a music video concept and asked if I'd film it. I figured "why not?" and it was certainly an interesting day.

After a good 17+ hour travel day, I finally arrived back in San Francisco after being gone for almost a month. My new condo was still packed away in boxes, so I immediately set to work getting my new home set up. I still need some sort of blinds for the sliding glass door, but the rest is pretty much good to go!

My first endeavor back in the States was shooting the Napa Bottle Rock Music Festival. We interviewed a lot of cool people on theFIVE10.com, including Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam, comedian Jim Breuer, and some of the cast of the Daily Show.

Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction at Bottle Rock. Photo by Clay Lancaster

Then I jumped straight into wedding season, and have had some wonderful couples so far. I have a LOT of editing to finish:

Finally, yesterday was the international release day for Ben Folds Five: Live, which showcases a photo of mine on the front cover. I'm thrilled to be a part of it, as BF5 has been one of my favorite bands for about 15 years. I see my photo popping up all over the internet... iTunes, Amazon, Target.com, blogs, magazines, etc. It's crazy.

Ben Folds Five Live on Target.com. Cover photo by Clay Lancaster

Ben Folds retweeted a photo from Japan that shows a big in-store display:

Ben Folds Five Live store display in Japan. Cover photo by Clay Lancaster

...to which he said to me (via twitter):

Super cool!

We're almost half way into 2013 and this year has been nuts for me, but really exciting. New home, new travels, new people, new accomplishments, new projects, new clients... and this is also shaping up to be the best year for my business since I started it.

Thanks to everyone who's been so supportive, and thanks to everyone who's found my work good enough to throw your hard-earned cash at it :). It means a lot.

Makin' Progress!

First off (it was finally announced, so I can talk about it now) one of my favorite bands of all time, Ben Folds Five, is releasing Ben Folds Five Live... their first-ever live album on June 4th. The coolest part (for me) is that they got a hold of me to license one of my photos from their tour this past January, so now my work is featured on the album cover:

Ben Folds Five Live. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Secondly, filming has been extremely successful so far. Some long days in there... lots and lots of walking & train-hopping around Paris, lugging video & audio equipment everywhere we go, shooting in the rain, etc. But last night we managed to wrap all scenes that involve our lead actress, Ms. Barbara Probst (good luck trying to read her wiki if you don't speak French). We've lovingly renamed her to "Blahblah".

After filming all day yesterday, we celebrated with a large dinner for cast/crew/friends and a lot of wine. Like, a lot. Some of us are hurtin' a little this morning.

Enjoy some candids from filming so far!

Kevin discussing a character with one of our actors

Filming on the Metro with Barbara Probst and Kevin Clark

Heated discussion in the studio with Barbara Probst and Kevin Clark

Yours truly monitoring some dialogue audio

I look thrilled to be a part of this scene.

Left to Right: Keith (cameras), Barbara (lead actress),  me (sound), and Nadia (script supervisor)

Notre Dame evening.

Clay Lancaster, Kevin Clark, and Barbara Probst

Lancaster brothers on the train after a day of shooting

April (Filming) in Paris

This phase of 2013 is a slight departure from what I am normally involved with.

My brother was hired to shoot a film in France, and haphazardly sent me a text message one day saying, "Hey! you should come to Paris with me and be my AC (assistant camera operator)"... to which I thought for 2 minutes and replied "...ok, I'll go."

It was that random.

So over the last couple of weeks I've been in the process of moving into my new place, had a wedding to shoot, and filming & editing for another video project... all while planning a trip overseas. A month-long trip, no less.

With a bag (full of clothes and equipment) and a backpack (with a camera, lenses, laptop, chargers, hard drives, etc.) I caught an 11-hour flight to Paris earlier this week to meet up with my brother and our writer/director, who were coming in from the first round of filming in New York.

We are staying in Gentilly, in an art studio owned by Keith's friend Jonathan (an artist/art-history professor here in France). Each room is full of giant canvases, sculptures, prints, lithograph equipment, paint, and chemicals.

Sprinkled in are laptops and power cords. There's even a full (real) human skeleton assembled in a wooden closet in the room where I sleep:

We have 3 weeks total to write multiple drafts of the script, cast our actors, run rehearsals, plan shooting schedules/times, and scout locations. Our days so far have consisted of a LOT of walking around Paris and jumping from train to train, with our "down-time" being filled with script revisions and read-throughs. We have cast our lead actress already, but still need to fill a few other roles.

Keith & Kevin discussing the first draft of the script

It's an experience, for sure. Sometimes tiring and stressful, but so far it's been a lot of fun. Filming starts tomorrow.

Changes for 2013

It's been nuts lately.

It's currently 3:30am and pouring rain... and I love it.

I just wrapped editing for 3 wonderful weddings. I was flown to Las Vegas to work with a country artist on a video project (the guitar player on his record is also the guitar player for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill), finishing the rest of the video shooting and edits this week, shooting a wedding next weekend, and then flying to Paris two days later to work on a film with my brother.

THEN, after 3 weeks of filming, I'm headed to Istanbul by myself... just because.

...oh, and somewhere in there I have to move from my apartment to the condo I just bought. Ugh.

So check it...

My good buddy Todd is a painter, and graciously took a day off work to help me paint my new place.

...11 hours of painting, sore/swollen hands, and 150lbs of paint. Here are some before/after photos:

Subtle, but lighter ceilings and darker walls

flare

bathroom flare

It's my first time as a homeowner, and as you can see I decided to spice it up a bit.

So what about the rest of my activity?

Well, I went to Las Vegas to work on a project with this guy. Was treated to too many drinks and a little VIP action in the process:

I also did some lovely wedding work, like this:

yours truly... scouting the location.

It's been fun. And stressful. But I think a new life starts soon!

Hope all of you are well :)

-Clay