Filming Leonardo DiCaprio in Paris with Gawkers

 I was out shopping with my mom today when

 I noticed a group of paparazzi with big lenses and a film crew set up with lights and giant reflectors. I asked my mom if we could go look.  I have worked on location in a film, and I felt  for the actors who were working in font of the crew and all of us the Paparazzi and the Gawkers which includes my mom and I!
I do not know which project Mr. DiCaprio is working on here in Paris, but he was moving fast.

A Very White Paris

It rarely snows in Paris, but, when it does, everyone is excited, kids and adults alike. It has not snowed like it has in these last few days, for ages.

The Champs de Mars is particularly splendid, (the park in front of "La Tour Eiffel"), it is right next to my house so I am lucky.

It is as if the whole park has covered itself up with a white blanket, waiting for spring to arrive. There is something very pure in the whiteness of the snow.

I feel like the snow is calling me.

"As a dove's feather, it shines, gleaming, sparkling,
as the stars in the night sky, in the sun's magnificent rays"

Copyright all rights reserved, 2010/2011 Chase Davis

Shakespeare In Paris

Can you believe this?  This is the theater I went to last night. I went to see " As You Like It" By William Shakespeare in ENGLISH! in the middle of Paris.

It was fantastic The acting and the stage coordination were amazing. The lighting and the use of shadow  really interested me. I am studying Shakespeare For My IGCSE. This production was a good experience for me to see, and  I understood it. They did have subtitles for the non- English speakers, and I even helped translate for some of the French people sitting near me, it was fun.

My Big Little Movie The Sequel

Yesterday We had to go back to Normandy to re-shoot some scenes, it's months later, and

I am taller than i was last time we shot these scenes. The film got ruined.
We Had another great time. It was good to see the crew again.

I saw some of the rushes. The movie looks great!!!!

Take a look See the Film vimeo.com/33127666

My director, Oliver McGarvey,  is really talented.

A bientot

Chase

My Big Little Movie Experience Starring Me

Wow! I have just had the best and most exhausting experience ever. I just finished my third movie here in Paris. You might not think so, but this is a very demanding job both mentally and physically.  Even  for me who swims daily in my school's special sports program.  Talking about schools, I am sure you are wondering  how I managed to make a movie, with everything I have to do; school, swimming, homework...

To coordinate this intricate multi-location shooting schedule with my school schedule was very complicated.

Sometimes, one of the members of the crew  would pick me up from my house, take me to the location  where we were filming in the morning,  I would attend school for a half day,  and then I would be picked up again from school and escorted  back to the location, where we worked late into the night. Well it was not easy, that's for damn sure, and my grades suffered. Even though the director tried extremely hard to make sure I did not miss too many hours of class.

Working and preforming in front of  a crew of twenty two people

might appear stressful but it isn't, you get used to it.

Shown here are the dolly tracts, and  the camera mount for a slow zoom.

It's thrilling to go on a location in a place that's not home, and sleep somewhere else other then your familiar bed, well, that's what I did when I went to Normandy with the crew.  Of course I was a bit homesick.

Film making is a collaborative process. Every single person's job must be executed well, and in a coordinated fashion otherwise there is no movie.  For example, the people that lay down the dolly, which is the thing that looks like train tracks that the camera man uses to roll the camera on, could do this faster then their own shadows. If there was a problem with the lights the technician,  who we called the light god, would  come and fix  any lamp before we could blink an eye. This, crew, was, amazing! All the things they had to think about and coordinate, wow! All I had to do was rehearse, remember my lines, and act. It was very rewarding to be part of the bigger picture, each of us doing our part.

 I learned a lot. I got to observe first hand what it actually takes to make a movie. Now when I watch films I am seeing them with a deeper understanding and appreciation of what is really involved.

I was very lucky to work with such a good crew.  This is an experience I shall never forget.

 

Hidden Faces in Paris

Are our faces who we really are, or who we are trying to be?

The expressions on our faces us are sometimes different to what we say, but who is telling the truth the word or the face?

There are faces everywhere in Paris.

They are hidden, hidden from unseeing, eyes that are
too befuddled to see what's in front of them.

Even if they are laughing in front of us trying to steer your attention towards them.


Still many of us don't see them, we only see a face, just a face.

Look again , this time let's take in what we see, let's see the beauty residing in the human face and representations of it.



Some people feel they need to change their face with make up and other such things, not knowing how beautiful they really are.

You should see the ooh la la look they give me when I tell them that!

Don't hide, look.

(Ne vous cachez pas regarder.)

French School

Back to school annee scolaire 2009/2010

My school is actually a castle. I am in my second to last year of French middle school which is four years long rather then three like American Junior high school. This year is a decisive year the cumulative grade counts as one third of the Brevet des Colleges. This is our first professional diploma which we need to get into a Lycee ( high school).

The street view of our school. It is massive , it fills an entire city block.

We count down until graduation staring with Sixieme.

Age	Grade	Abbreviation
11 -> 12	Sixième	6e
12 -> 13	Cinquième	5e
13 -> 14	Quatrième	4e
14 -> 15	Troisième	3e
Lycée (High school)
Age	Grade	Abbreviation
15 -> 16	Seconde	2de
16 -> 17	Première	1e
17 -> 18	Terminale	Term or Tle

This is how it goes If you are lucky enough to pass all the tests and follow the academic route.
Otherwise one goes to the vocational schools. All this is determined next year when we sit the Brevet exam. This is a big deal. There are no second chances in France.

By the way my school has a beautiful courtyard inside the castle

We call all this going back to school la rentree.

I made another small film this past summer it is a pilot for an animated series. I did the English voice acting it was a lot of fun in the studio with headphones, and a screen! This film is going to an international animation festival in Denmark. They hope to pick up international distribution.

Cheers,

Chase