on TOUR with WHEATUS…

Good evening fans of the strange & abnormal…

I’ll be your host for the next half hour… or however long it takes you to read my latest ramblings…

A few days ago, I decided to break free of the 140 Character limit set upon me by the evil TWITTER GODS, I am now free to ramble in longer sentences for your pleasure & amusement here in the good ole traditional blog format…

Tonites BLOG-O-RAMA is dedicated to my side project, a feature length documentary I am producing called ‘WHEATUS, YOU MIGHT DIE’ which I shot single handedly on a very special piece of filming equipment, the CANON 5D mark ii… The Canon 5D has recently become some what of a fashionable piece of kit since the producers of the hit TV series ‘HOUSE’ used 3 CANON 5D’s to film the season finale of ‘HOUSE’… And YES, the whole episode… then with George Lucas using it along side his 35mm cameras in his movie ‘RED TAILS’ it has quickly become the INDIE filmmakers camera of choice… but lets face it, the picture quality is absolutely stunning… true HD has never looked so good… & my documentary is the WORLD’S first feature documentary to be shot using it… Hmmm, I think we already have a marketing strategy…

for any filmmakers out there who are reading this blog for any CANON 5D trivia: here is an incredible article from PHILIP BLOOM who took his CANON 5D mark ii to the skywalker ranch: http://bit.ly/b4HRoD

There was a few downsides to shooting on the CANON 5D mark ii, which is why filmmakers are using it creatively for music videos, short films & feature films, there is a reason its not used to make documentaries, especially feature length documentaries… but luckily for me, I had done my research, 90% of the problems that come with shooting with that camera, I overcame because I was prepared for, the other 10% was problems that came up in the field which I wasn’t prepared for… without doing a whole blog dedicated to the CANON 5D mark ii… I am currently in the process of writing a special e-book which covers all my research & my months worth of shooting experience, to hopefully help any future filmmakers avoid any costly problems… e-book COMING soon… send me an email if this ebook interests you @ adlane@indywood.co.uk

To give you a slight tease sensation, my next blog in a few days is dedicated to my ‘INDYWOOD MOVIE PROJECT’ with some pretty amazing NEWS & updates, but that’s for another day my friends… lets just call this a mid blog tease… haha

Ok, back to business…

HOW DID I END UP ON TOUR WITH WHEATUS? for a MONTH? I hear you all ask…

Well to cut a long story short, me & Brendan AKA WHEATUS, go back quite a few months, he approached me about doing some original music for my feature film ‘INVASION OF THE NOT QUITE DEAD’ and in all honesty, I was like, WHEATUS, Hmmm, I know that name, why do I know that name, so I hit wikipedia, as I do for all my general knowledge these days & couldn’t believe it when I saw that it was the very same band who had created such hits as ‘TEENAGE DIRTBAG’ & ‘LITTLE RESPECT’ back in 2000… it then occurred to me, this band was no stranger to me, in 2002, I was lucky enough to see them perform live at my STAFFORD UNIVERSITY may ball, so when I hear ‘TEENAGE DIRTBAG’ it takes me back to the month that I had to choose a certain LIFE changing PATHWAY, so talk about going full circle… 8 years later I would go from being in the crowd to being on stage with them… AMAZING…

anyway… after many emails back and forth over the months, me & Brendan struck a bond, we was both fighting the INDEPENDENT fight & doing many of the same things… when I say the same things, I mean using the internet to promote our independence & not my in-ability to sing in front of large crowds…

a few months ago I got word that WHEATUS would be doing a 25 day long tour & ending in Austria, which was actually the only place in the world ‘TEENAGE DIRTBAG’ was a #1 hit…

SO HOW DID I GET ON THE TOUR? I hear you all ask impatiently as I have now rambled on again…

OK, so a few cheeky emails went back and forth, basically me asking if they could do a special night dedicated to my ‘INVASION OF THE NOT QUITE DEAD’ movie in LONDON, big promotion, me there with a camera & doing a few quick interviews after wards to help promote the project, when I got an email back saying that it wasn’t a problem to film the evening, I then sent another email saying, what about if I was to drive to a few of the shows around KENT & film them & do some interviews so I could put together a little documentary… the next email to come back was a very excited, ‘YES’… So me being me & in full cheeky mood, I just came straight out & said, what is the chances I could join you guys on the full tour & film a proper documentary covering everything that happens in a warts n all feature documentary… I got an even more excited YES… & the rest as they say is history…

The tour itself was amazing, a truly once in a lifetime opportunity & having the chance to film the entire 25 days was beyond incredible… the band & everyone on the tour, can only be described as a very close nit family & it didn’t take long before I felt very at home with them, like I said, a truly amazing adventure… I will probably get into trouble for saying this, but on the first night a certain film was put on called ’9 SONGS’, my innocence was taken away from me very early on in the tour, haha…

This documentary will basically show the INCREDIBLE struggle the band has had to break free from a record label & remain ALIVE & KICKING for 8+ years, it also covers the risks of touring & in an interview in AUSTRIA the day before the final gig, Brendan said something I will never forget regarding the risks of touring… ‘YOU MIGHT DIE’, ‘MANY BANDS HAVE’… I am just glad he said this at the end of the tour… haha

I have been working on a teaser promo for the feature documentary which will go live in a couple of weeks, in the meantime, I have uploaded a sequence that will never see the light of day due to the guys singing heavily copyrighted songs, but god bless YOUTUBE for not caring so much… so until Paul MCcartney shuts us down, I hope you enjoy the clip… which was completely spontaneous, its the only time on tour a song just broke out with everyone joining in… one of my favourite moments captured on camera but unfortunately won’t ever be included in the final cut, welcome to the frustrating world of filmmaking & obeying the rules…

for now, this is AD LANE, signing off…

take care guys…

Pls FOLLOW us on twitter: @WHEATUS.doc NOW

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