[TWP09] Envy

I'm really happy with my wonderment writing/acting debut. When I wrote this for Wall Street I was a little worried that we would get kicked out of the location by security guards but none of them moved a muscle. We did get interrupted twice by outsiders during the shoot- once by a man who wanted to know if we were actually shooting a movie on something that looks like a phone, and the second time randomly by a woman who asked Mauricio (in Spanish) what the name of a building next to us was. We couldn't get one wide shot that we planned because the sidewalk was completely stuffed with people - spring break or something - but we got all the shots we needed for the story and I think it goes together quite nicely.

Making the sandwich was delirious fun. I ended up making a bunch of them because once I had a pyrex full of cheese-glue I just couldn't stop myself. I put them all on a plate in my kitchen and was able to convince my roommate that I found them in the fridge.

Alison

[TWP08] Fat

This was by far the hardest wonderment for 226 to make. First off, we only had one camera, instead of our usual two. Then I was a bit hungover and Jeff was tired from working on his research. That made it really hard for us to remember our blocking and lines. It took us 30 minutes to get the first shot done (which is the opening shot to the piece). Then once we got to my big speeches, I kept forgetting the exact wording and stumbling all over the place. The only part that was easy was the end which we did 3 times (1 time I forgot where I was then screamed fuck me into the camera…I am thinking of a wonderment call outtakes…too macro?)

Greg Allen did a really nice job writing this one. His original script didn’t have a real opening so I came up with the whole running in matching outfits bit, with some input from jeff. Then Jeff helped tweek the end a bit and that part about Victorian times and modern times is a hybrid of ideas from all three of us. That is my favorite part though! When there are a group of us all trying to make the script better by playing around with the exact wording, making it fit our speech patterns and trying to make it work even better. I love it. I feel that if I was ever a real actor, wriers would hate me because I would change almost every line in order to make it feel more like me…

Anyways, so yeah, we went over an hour to make this one which is why there is no tail time ID. I think it was about an hour 25 minutes. But to be fair, we used none of the footage from the first 25 minutes, so it was still sort of shot in an hour. Also, because we knew we were running long, we just got one take of everything so editing became a breeze because I was like…”well that’s the only take we got. I guess it works!”

I really like the way it looks. I think we are starting to find our “Wonderment” style. It is sort of a dirty form of doc-realism that takes the time to frame stylish shots here and there. As we keep doing these, I feel that that energy and visual structure will grow stronger.

Thanks Greg for the submission. I hope you enjoyed it.

--Bryan

06 - Work - Bryan's take

I know that this isn’t my Wonderment, but I wanted to add a bit to what Eli said and just, you know, get in my two cents. I feel that to date, this is our best Wonderment, and that is not to belittle any of the other ones. However, I feel it best captures that sense of personal insight into a completely personal experience that is then shared and discussed analytically in order to get to some sort of deeper understanding and meaning. It’s also very funny.

Then stylistically I feel it is the best one yet. I really love the idea that it starts almost as an internal monologue in Eli’s head…”really mark Jacobs…really. You are paying people for this!” And then moves into a dialogue where he expresses that frustration. Great. Also, the place we shot it works perfectly. I love the top down light and the chillin’ on a box look.

Well, I could keep rambling but let’s just say that for those of you who want a good example of what a Wonderment could be…check out Work. Then check it out again!

-Bryan

[TWP05] Valentine

This was a short idea that I have been kicking around for a long time. Now that I’ve been single again for a little while, I keep wondering how it was that I convinced myself that I HAD to be with just one person. It really stuck me as odd. There seemed to be some sort of mindset that locks one into the idea that this is the right person for me right now. This is what I wanted to explore. What if you were on a date with a person who you liked to hang out with, but knew you didn’t love. How can you explain that? How does that even work?

To that end, I started to work through the idea that there are 3 kinds of people in the your life: friends, lovers and the one you love. I guess that is the end result of my wonderment, and in some ways, the end result of hours of thinking. I wish that I would have taken some more time to sketch out the backstory and perhaps flesh out our characters a bit more, but I was supervising a reality tv show at the time and we did this one night after work. I am still surprised that I had the energy to do it at all.

Big thanks to Katie for being such a good sport. I thought she was terrific and adds great charm and class to the wonderment. I am hoping to get her to write one that I would only be too happy to realize.

--Bryan

[TWP07] First Impression

So, this is a very special one despite its small length. It is our first non Bryan/Jeff/Eli written wonderment. The very talented Margot Arakelian wrote this little diddy about a first encounter. I thought it came out really well. Jessica De Kler, as usual, did an outstanding job of acting, and Bryan and Jeff helmed the cameras.

I personally like this one because it is our first female perspective and that is something we need more of in our wonderments.

Eli

[TWP 06] Work

"The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one."
Oscar Wilde

Well once again I broke the rules. The b-roll stuff I shot during the beginning wasn't filmed during the hour of shooting, but it was under 15 mins of footage and it still fits into our hour worth of filming.

[TWP06] Work

Work is essentially me just spewing my frustrations I have with my job. As an event electrician many of my jobs have me working on ridiculous things. Many of the examples I say are true in terms of high end event production; some of it is a fabrication.

I would like to thank Edith Blackman for doing a superb job of acting and Bryan and Jeff for shooting, what I believe, the best looking Wonderment yet. The montage opening comes from three separate shows, Marc Jacobs, Y3, and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Enjoy,
Eli Sands

First Wondie Award

Jeff here. I am proud to announce the first Wondie Award! Since I am now the first person to have written two produced Wonderments, I am giving myself a Wondie Award, for being the most prolific Wondermenter.

Thank you, thank you.

You know, it's really not about the quantity. It's not even about the quality. It's about the weighted mean of quantity and quality which produces the largest number of entertaining moments - or entertoments - through the least amount of effort.

Jeff