The point of this blog wasn’t to get my nuts licked, though that is appreciated—thanks, Sasha. The point was to give some of my collaborators a chance to talk about their own work. 

I used to think that movie shoots had to be difficult, that they had to be frustrating and painful and if bridges were burned or feelings were hurt then so be it—it was all about the film. I look back on that mindset and I cringe. What’s important to me now, is that I work with people I like and never want out of my life.

That’s the real secret to productivity. Everyone who has guest-posted here has in common a very low tolerance for bullshit. They were all people who I came to at point or another, told a crazy idea to, and responded with: “Awesome; let’s do it.” 

Peter mentioned in his post about how shooting on our sets goes fast. That’s true but it’s also a matter of perception. On a normal set, progress seems to move at a glacial pace because there’s a very strict order of command and the people at the top of that command remind everyone of the pecking order every chance they get. I like to think though that on our sets everyone feels involved. 

Robert Altman once said that he’d keep making movies even if he didn’t have a camera. I think he meant that the joy of moviemaking is in the people you work with. I couldn’t agree more. My goal with Zoochosis is to make the kind of movies I like, while having the same fun we all had when we were kids running around with movie cameras and pretending to be dinosaurs.

That sounds silly but I guess it’s not really because we’re doing it now. We’re having fun.

I am a newcomer to the whole PScott filmmaking experience and am one of the cinematographers for “Zoochosis Presents: Bears” and the upcoming “Animal Rescue!”

Patrick works FAST and having two cameras working all the time is sometimes the only way we can make our day.  I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with cinematographer, Diego Diaz on both projects not only because he’s a talented DP but because there is someone else on set to share the pain.  It’s a good pain though, the kind of pain you forget so when Patrick asks you to collaborate on another project you smile and say of course.  

I am primarily responsible for all the over-cranked stuff (slow motion) on both projects. We shoot this stuff with the RED One and are often times shooting between 90 and 120fps.  Most of “Bears” was shot at 120fps on a 3’ camera slider in about 2 hours on a grassy knoll in the middle of a forest….I mean busy college campus.  Patrick and his team are always a pleasure to work with and that’s why I keep coming back for more.

www.peterjsoto.com

Hello my name is Maneesh Raj Madahar. I reside in Los Angeles CA. The world is a fascinating place and all things contain a knowledge. Much time has passed since working on “Maneesh”. Very strange to have a film named after and focused on yourself. 

Patrick Scott is an intelligent and driven man. It was challenging working with Patrick because he is deeply invested in cinema and required Maria and I to meet him at a certain level of intensity. The scenes involving Maria and I required a lot of time to really articulate an honesty. Patrick wanted this to emanate from the chemistry between not just the characters but from us as people. The project was intended to be a comedy and it was fun doing slapstick and being surrounded by heavy crotched ripped men but certain scenes had some deep emotional resonance. In fact the sausagefest sort of brought up my own feelings of inadequacy. Parts of the film give me a sense of watching the real Maneesh expose his flaws and faults. I am a huge fan of Cinema Verite and New Wave Godardian aesthetics and Patrick works within these frequencies and frameworks. There was a growth in my ability as an actor and I thank everyone involved for the experience and especially Patrick for having faith in me.

 Very strange to have a film named after and focused on yourself. 

Short documentary:

“the smaller the movement” a documentary created by Maneesh Raj Madahar http://vimeo.com/28980852

Hey!

Stefan here, the one that wrote the music for “Thanks, Smokey!” I hope you enjoyed it!  
When Patrick approached me to write the score for the film, long before he even had a shooting date, he told me about the story about this guy who sees sheep, and other animals a bit differently :)  For you guys who have seen the movie, you can only imagine the reactions on peoples faces, whom are listening in on Patrick pitching this film to me, at a cafe on the westside, where we were sitting at the time!  And, we both were mostly laughing throughout the whole thing.  They must have thought we were bestiality porn producers (hahaha)!

Anyway, so the music was mostly conceived before the film was even done (a little unusual for film scores).  The basic track you hear on the film, the bass, drums, and percussion was done before Patrick starting shooting, partly so the dancers could movie in rhythm with the track.  At first, we were going to use some wah-wah guitar to make it more of 70’s porn music score.  But, as soon I saw the movie, I knew that wouldn’t work.  I always wanted to feature the Swedish Key-harp (Nyckelharpa), from the old country, in a film score.  But, I never had the chance use it, and I usually get turned down when I mention it.  Not with Patrick, he jumped at the idea!  And, it worked out well.  It’s not much different than when I featured the Saw (yes! a regular handsaw) on another of Patrick’s movies; The Migration of Clouds.  
I think I am running out of Swedish instruments, to feature in Patrick’s movies.  Any suggestions, anyone??

p.s: the soundtrack “Thanks, Smokey!” for will be available any day now, on iTunes, Spotify, Napster, Rhapsody, Emusic, Amazon, V-Cast, Last.fm,and more. d.s.

Yo, I am Sessy the web designer for Zoochosis. Art for me is what trash is to seagulls; we cannot help but roll around and bathe in it all day. My work consists of doing lines upon lines of code and trying to get these monsters out of my head and on to the canvas.

For zoochosis we wanted to make a site that was epic and memorable. We also wanted to make sure visitors did not have to filter through a bunch of bullshit/ads to get to hilarious content and art. We also wanted to make zoochosis available on all platforms. So, we killed “the Flash”. And good reddens. Flash needs to meet up with IE and gtfo of the web. I am sure we all can agree on that.

The original site went through tons of different layouts. Which was a pain, but the good kind of pain. For me, reworking projects is the only way to get the best outcome. I am happy with the final look of the letterboxing with a panoramic feel. The best part of this project was the Zoochosis logo. It has the sense of bold madness that is being contained by the black negative space. Zoochosis is and will be a mad cage of animals and humans.

You can check me out at my site or drop me a line at sessynine@gmail.com 

RIP my turtle friends

The weeks I spent shooting with Pscott had me leaving each day wondering what sort of hyper-sexual suppressed demon was yet to come.  On set of Save Miranda! we had finished shooting Rick sucking on a biscotti with the precision and care of a seasoned oral veteran. 

While on set for Thanks, Smokey! I had my teeth painted with hollywood grade white-out so the camera could see my (extra) pearly whites.  In person it makes you look like a paste eating neckbeard with an appetite for mountain dew code red.  This coupled with the fact that everyone knew I was there to hump a sheep made it rather difficult to chat with the scantily clad dancers.  My romantic scene was still to come, I had to focus.  Was it used to people?  Was it a girl sheep? What if it kicked me and ruptured a testicle?   After  having some alone time with her before we shot, those nerves were settled.  She was a true professional.

One cloudy morning in August I was talked into playing a leather clad bear by Pscott.  I showed up on set, disrobed, then was dressed in some leftover leather ware and waited.  I was dwarfed by the other, also hungover, bears on set.  After introducing myself I learned that because of my stature I was qualified as a cub.  When it was our turn in front of the camera Pscott got right into it.  Dig through the garbage, fight the other bears, dazzle the lens by tonguing empty honey and peanut butter jars.  Being the cub I was destined for the scraps of garbage and had to stay away from the big bears lest I get in the way of their better scraps.  That morning remains a blur, but I know I left with dirty knees.   

Having worked with Pscott for a few years, he’s helped shape a few of my projects.  Check this out and see his influence for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHr3pn3qeOc

People like Pscott help keep this world weird.  They force us to think in a different direction, an alternative to tradition.  They offer underhanded challenges to those otherwise left undisputed and content.  

Hello, my name is Diego. I’m a photographer and cinematographer. Patrick and I have worked together for several years now. I’m not a big fan of his cat, Jesus. His shoots are always fun which is why I still work with him. Otherwise I would ignore his phone calls. 

We shoot primarily with Canon DLSRs. With these cameras we are able to get away with so much more for less money. The majority of our shot ideas come naturally while we are on set. We don’t limit ourselves with shot lists and we’re constantly changing things while we are shooting. For some reason a lot of people are afraid to try this but it really works for us. When people know exactly what they want, it makes everything come naturally.

We like using multiple cameras to save time and get more coverage at the same time. To be honest I was never a fan of this technique until I started working with Patrick. I can’t imagine how many shots were saved because we had another camera rolling.

I’m terrified and excited to see what’s next to come out of Patrick’s messed up head. Just keep watching and we’ll keep making.
Diego Diaz

www.diegodiazphotography.com

Having not done too much choreography for film, but been on screen in other’s projects, I readily accepted the offer from Patrick for Thanks, Smokey. The fabulous factor for me here was that Patrick knew exactly what he wanted, making my job wonderfully easy. From gestures to hip swings to the batting of an eyelash, he knew how every movement was going to give off just the right air of sex appeal and innocence. I was able to translate his ideas into dance vocabulary for the girls to interpret, as they did so well. I roped my friend Alanna into the project, and as it turned out the camera couldn’t get enough of her sultry pout and big blue eyes! Thanks, Alanna.

We posted audition notices on several sites and even crashed an American Apparel casting call to swoop on some lovely twenty-somethings for the shoot. These lovely soon-to-be sheep were cast perfectly. Again, making my job easy! The costumes were so simple yet powerful…Patrick knew somewhat what he wanted for a costume, but as we played with the baaaashful (sorry, had to) behavior of these unknowing sheeplettes, the pulling of the sweater down over the undies then the sneaking it back up again idea was born. The sexy and timeless “all alone in your room with no one watching” notion inspired me to create the 60’s-ish monkey towards the end of the sheep dance, creating a build and release to parallel our main character’s impulsive action. All about the power of suggestion. And speaking of that- our German shepherd- all she had to do was sit there. But that slight wag in her hips, little bounce and sway, chin down and eyes up was carefully crafted. I think I had the most fun with this character, knowing this was going to be one of the last images the viewer would see. Less was more. Had to be all in the eyes.

Can’t wait to get dirty on the next PScott set.

Hey there kids! My name is Sasha Gransjean, you may know me from the popular Telemundo show, 12 Corazones, and from such Zoochosis classics as, Maneesh and Animal Rescue. I’m here today to talk about my experience making out with porn stars working on the set of Maneesh!

PScott chose to cast me in Maneesh because he knows the truth about my ancestors, they were monkeys. This came in extra handy in filming oh.. I dunno, fifteen or so continuous two camera takes (in which I was always eating bananas!). That’s right, this kid doesn’t spit. I was also surprised at how little of my hangover the camera was able to pick up, that’s probably because PScott always has first class people on set to make everything look beautiful (I almost fell in love with a dog on another PScott set after seeing her in the monitor!). The freedom to fling my own poop while we were shooting was only further sweetened by having an experienced director around to help me fling it in the right direction, and with purpose.

As if I haven’t licked his nuts enough already, I also greatly appreciate PScott encouraging me to do some of my own directing. He really is a doll. If only he had breasts, there really is something about a man with breasts.

http://twitter.com/#!/sasha_sexypants