A Guido's version

I met Ryan in my former apartment in Westwood, also known as "The Cave", in the spring of 2010. Due to the obscure and depressing sadness of that house - a dusty hole that never saw the vital light of California sun - we suddenly became friends, when we realized that we had a lot in common.

Maybe it was our sheer passion for good music. Maybe it was our strong will to become, someday, creative and successful professionals in our fields. More likely, it was our shared desire of killing ourselves sometimes, if things don't go right.

I met him when he was still planning that masterpiece that will be remembered by future generations as "Turning Point". It was just a script, no actors, no budget, nothing. A script and a quite peculiar wannabe-director, at that time compulsively obsessed with online poker and insanely addicted to a stupid song called "Rub it on my titties".

Ryan and I met Tyler the day we went to see a live show of Mono, an astonishing instrumental-rock band from Japan (although some think they don't create music in Japan). Tyler was a little boy, fresh-off-the-car from Vegas. Also, I was there the first time Ryan auditioned Melanie, in a sunny afternoon in downtown Burbank. I was there when the three main characters got to meet for the very first time, in Hollywood. I saw dozens of changes in the script, I saw it growing, turning from a piece of paper into a real project. I saw Ryan freaking out multiple times, sometimes due to legitimate reasons and incidents along the way, sometimes just cos he's a f*****g weirdo.

And over the time I got to meet the rest of the crüe: Matt, the stoner-not-stoner-anymore; the mysterious yet cute Sean (which now is lost in the middle of America); and one of the most complex organisms Mother Nature ever designed: Chase Winniford. Other than that, I'm proud of having been able to connect Ryan to my good friend Jason from Phoenix; fun to think how our absurd spaghetti-western network provided Ryan the right person to deal with the sound for Turning Point.

I've been holding mics, and managed the slate board several times, with an outstanding expertise. I also acted, in the middle of the California desert, in one of the most (if not the most) important and crucial scene in the movie, as a member of Wang Bang, delivering my line with an enchanting performance. That performance will give me the opportunity to be on IMDB, quickly becoming a worldwide known Hollywood superstar.

This experience taught me a lot: the true value of friendship, the hard work and dedication necessary to give the world a product of quality, the amazing power that well coordinated teamwork can give to every project. But more than everything else, I've learned about "apple boxes", and how and when they are used in the business of magic, a.k.a. the entertainment industry.

-guido-

Turning Point

Concerning the production:

There's a unique transformation on the road.

When your existence changes for a moment and there's more freedom in your car than in all the world.

Between the points of A and B, there's a bond that can't be broken, where individuals mold into one and there's a shock treatment of the soul.

You remember what it's like to be at liberty with your thoughts and not with the worries of the world.

The road means freedom and innocence, you're either running away from or running towards.

It allows us to be more human, shed our obligations and test our boundaries.

Those precious moments we're allowed our insanity and to be at ease with the worry of not knowing what to do in life.

Laughter is less a reservation when you can run across the highway at 3 am and piss on fires miles away from nowhere.

In these moments our souls emerge.

They don't have to hide away, buried by obligations and society's curses.

I'm grateful I got to witness others simply being human and that it was an experience we all got to have together.

Thank you to everyone, I'll forever enjoy the vacation from reality and the memories made while filming this movie.

~Chase

Sean

The sun is trying to come out. The few inches of snow from last night are starting to melt off. And I am definitely not in California. It would have been great to be apart of Turning Point till the end but I'm glad I was a part of what bit I was. Ryan asked me to get all sentimental. He's a very sensitive chap that puts on a "F.U. if you don't agree with me mentality". This isn't meant to be a jab at him. I'm simply saying. He's not that hard, actually very soft and mooshy.

Being a part of the pre-production process and shooting was a good challenge and fun. There were many hours of work put into it and many hours of standing at attention on set. My boom Op, Chase takes the cake on that, besides his little nap on the ground in San Francisco. Bailey did a great job D.P.-ing. He took it seriously and listened well to Ry-jans direction. The cast I did get to work with were great. I may have formed a few man crushes over the course of the shoot....(to Chase's aunt if you're reading. That doesn't make you gay...too gay) Now Guido. Where would we be without our sexy ethnic friend? His absurd comments that would make Ry-jan blush were wonderful. It was good having him around so I could feel less hated by the rest of America for being Mexican.

Now the Grand Finale (BUM BOOM BUM BOOM!) Ryan J. Moser. Some may refer to him as nuts. Some may consider him out spoken and loud. Some creative. Some whimsical. I would say I agree with all of those statements. He has done a great job putting together his project, which has now become our project. I hope the desire to tell this story will lead to telling many more. I hope our love for the arts will develop, mature and grow so that a good storyteller will become a great storyteller. Most of all I hope that everyone attached to this film will come to love the craft, work, people that this life will bring before them.

Sean

Haters Gotta Hate

So this is going to be a double edged sword. I'm basically hating on haters so does that make me one of them? And if so, does it make me better than them? Hmm...

I'm basically prepping myself for the haters that will be attached to my project in the not too distant future. I quoted Chuck Palahniuk in a past post and I think I'll put it down again for emphasis. "Until you can create something that captivates people, I'd invite you to just shut up. It's easy to attack and destroy an act of creation. It's a lot more difficult to perform one."

I really enjoy/hate reading reviews on Netflix. I find it amusing that the Internet is an open forum where everybody is anonymous so the true trolls of the world always seem to creep out. My one observation and real question of the trolling haters is why do they always seem incapable of basic grammar and spelling? How critical can you really be in life when you can't even communicate properly?

I'm going to make a Netflix quote and just presume it to be one of my first reviews for my film. So all you readers can feel enlightened to what I am unleashing to the world. Be afraid! Be very afraid!

"What an total wast of time, just about the worst movie ever. Nothing happens, nothing. No story, no connection to the characters, just nothing."

So there you have it. Quoting a troll on another movie and I assume they will assess my film with ever such pizazz as well. If my film is ever lucky enough to see the light of day.

I would love to see the film this guy/gal would pen onto paper. Must be a true savant.

-Ryan.

Neutral

My emotions have neutralized from last night. Sleep probably helps.

I also made my repair which only cost me 10 hours of my life instead of 80. It was definitely needed and very important so it was worth it.

Now it's time to move on to the next problem. I'm not exactly sure what it is but there is always one waiting around the corner.

-Ryan.

Logan

Great to be a part of the film. It was really neat to witness the organization for the shooting of this film first hand. This was the first time I have experienced something like this as big as it was and was very intrigued by the whole process. Hope it was as satisfying to everyone else who was involved as it was to me. I applaud Ryan for putting up with all the stress that he endured through out all the film as it looked almost painful at times. Great job for putting it all together Ryan

-Logan

Swings

Right now I'm on a downswing with emotions. It's what always happens when you get up and are happy. Now I'm a heartbeat away from spontaneous combustion.

Why might you ask? Because I have 80 or so hours of work I have to put into fixing one shot in the film. The amount of expletives I want to write down right now is incomprehensible.

My brother sent me a new song so that's at least a bit of happiness. Sounds great so I get to have the pleasure of figuring out a place to put it in the film.

Really no point in this post besides documenting my current depression. I used to be such a happy person. I really need to go back to a lifestyle of not caring about anything really soon. This project is killing me. I have seriously developed a frown line from it.

I'll shut up now.

-Ryan.

Final Day of Shooting (3/6/2011)