Life of Kyle Prohaska

Today was a pretty good day.  I started it off with a Slimfast as usual, and headed to Church in time to visit with people before the preaching began.  Pastor Billy lit up that pulpit today.  I’ve never seen him so intense, and I’ve seen him REALLY intense in the past.  He really hit a homer with that message…awesome.  The part that gave me goosebumps was when he was talking about our current government and that if the government asks him to do something unGodly, or wants to force him to do something against the Will of God, etc. etc. then he “cannot follow.”  He said those two words with so much power it knocked me out of my chair.  It was like my “Pastor Billy Respect Meter” hit 10000, lol.  I love that guy, like the uncle I never had.

Afterwards I headed over to Devans with Jason to just hang out for a little bit as it would be my last chance to before I left.  We just sat around, listened to some tunes, Jason played on the guitar and we heard a few of Vinnie’s songs.  He was so awesome.  He jammed hard and was so into it you could see it on his face.  No matter what the song sounded like or the guitar, or even him it didn’t matter….he was rocking it and enjoying himself.  I stared at him and smiled, I’ll miss the little guy. :/  On the way out of Devan’s driveway later we ran into Matt Scibilia who was just showing up to say hi to Karin.  I haven’t seen him in over a year or more and it was nice to catch up.  It seems he’s heading to Nashville as well soon, to play drums with his brother (talented musician Marc Scibilia…listen to his DEMO for Sideways on the site here.)  I said goodbye to Jason and dropped him off back at the church.  There was a few things left to do before I was able to pack…

I went to Kevin’s to let him know I was ready for him to head to my house.  We needed to record a voice over for the film.  At first the mic didn’t work and we were a tad worried.  After going to buy new batteries and trying everything it turned out a little button on my firewire audio interface was hit and wasn’t supposed to.  Thank goodness that was all, I was getting a little batty.  We got that done quickly, talked for a bit and Kevin left…not without a handshake and hug of course.  I’ll miss him too

Next was the worst part of the day, packing.  It didn’t help that it was like 89 or so outside and humid so by the time the car was packed I was dripping head to toe with sweat…yuck.  Finally I took a shower and hopped into bed.  Tomorrow I leave, *sigh*  I’m excited but it always stinks to leave home.  It’s only my second time doing it and that’s enough for a lifetime.

Today was an odd day.  I was fighting two different feelings all day.  I went to church at Reality LA for a second time and sat alone towards the middle.  The message was great and it was the first time I got to hear the lead pastor there.  I’ve listened to him on podcast so I had a good idea of what I was in for, but seeing him in person made it very different.  The message really hit home with me as it was about using your gifts.  I loved the worship and everything afterwards but I’m still not comfortable there.  I feel like I did at Vintage in NY the first year or so.  I’m pretty insecure honestly when it comes to new places, especially if there are tons of people around my age there.  I feel weird, like everyone is looking at me, etc.  The whole insecurity thing that I’ve had for a long time.  I shed it eventually in new places but today was just plain weird.  When I left service I didn’t know who to talk to, I just stood there in my suit coat staring at groups of people wondering who to go after.  I finally found some people I know to say hello to and chat it up a little bit.  I’ve met some really great people in the last week.  There are so many attractive girls out here, it’s ridiculous.  Pastor Tim talked about singleness today as one of the gifts we have.  It is a gift for sure.  You can do so much as a single adult that goes away when your married or have kids.  I do find myself more and more hoping for that special someone to come along.  I think part of it is I really want someone I can share things with and get to know on a deeper level.  I have yet to really open up to anyone about a lot of things, whether it be my parents, close friends, etc.  I really can’t wait for that time to come.  I look forward to having someone to cherish, share things with, listen to (important part there), etc.  It’s going to be great.  Singleness is indeed a gift and it’s not a gift I want to return to sender either, but I just hope it doesn’t take a long time to find someone.  I’m 21 I know, calm yourself…I realize I have plenty of time.  I just don’t want to get married at 30.  If it’s Gods Will I wait that long or longer, then fine.  There’s nothing wrong with a healthy sense of hope and longing though  Your out there somewhere!

I found myself wanting to go do something today but didn’t know what, and there was nobody to call really.   Everyone I knew was going to the service after the one I went to (I went to 9am), so I was kinda stuck.  Eventually I left after meeting some nice new people I hope to see next week, and headed home.  I took some wrong turns on purpose just to see some of Hollywood.  I think on the way home is when I felt more comfortable.  The rest of the day was very relaxing.  I actually like driving in LA.  Just like driving at night (it’s magical here) I love driving on the highway here.  When you hit traffic it kinda sucks but beyond that I like the drive.  It’s nice weather, your tunes playing, it’s the weekend, your hair is moving in the wind, etc.  It’s nice.  Not having anywhere to really be is nice too, just cruising

When I got home I got into more comfortable attire, and watched a movie.  I picked Titanic since I hadn’t seen the whole thing in years.  Now I remember why I liked that movie so much.  I have seen it dozens of times, and this time it was just as great to watch.  The film might be a little old fashioned in terms of some cliche used, but it’s a beautiful movie.  While watching I just surfed the net, talked to some folks, cleaned up my room a little, etc.  I cleaned my bathroom a little bit to get some dust off of the things I hadn’t cleaned yet since I got there.  Dust doesn’t collect here like it did at home, having a 100 year old house has it’s share of downsides.  You dust something off, wait 5 minutes…and it’s back.  Here you vacuum, dust and wipe things off…and they stay that way for a while.  I also went into the kitchen and cleaned the sink, counters, stove, etc.   It really needed it and looks nice and shiny now  I didn’t do much the rest of the day besides sit around.  I went to Sushimon for some food to bring back home.  I like that place and the food is good.  I used to have this dislike of Chinese/Japanese, etc. food because the places always seemed dirty and shady to me.  This place is clean, the people are nice, and the food is good.  I’m getting more and more situated here as time goes on.  Driving without the GPS definitely makes you feel a bit more grounded.  I just hopped in my car to go get some food at a place I knew of, which is a new thing since I got here.  I’m still punching addresses into my GPS to find things I need.  This time I just got dressed, got in my car, and cruised down the road to get food.  Window down again, music playing, all that stuff.  Today definitely felt like a relaxing weekend type of day.  Yesterday really felt more like a work day with all the errands, traffic, etc. until the day was over and I got to visit with people and see a movie…then it was good.

I also worked on the edit a little for Standing Firm.  It was the first time in a few weeks since we finished shooting.  I captured the last shooting days footage and did a rough edit of the main scene we did.  It was Kevin’s cameo and I think he did a pretty good job.  I knew he could do it!  That leaves just 2 more scenes to finish before I have a first rough cut of the entire film.  Some stuff missing of course but every scene will have a rough edit of some kind once I get those two done.  It’ll be nice to finally sit and see the whole thing from beginning to end, regardless of what is left to do.

Overall a pretty good day.  I look forward to meeting one of the other managing partners of PureFlix this week.  His name is Mike Scott.  I already met David White last week, and Byron while I was in NY.  I’m not sure if you guys knew this but one of the other partners is Randy Travis (yes the country music star).  Russell Wolfe is in AZ at their main offices.  Hopefully I’ll get to meet him someday, perhaps on the set of a movie they do if he ever stars in one again.  Who knows, time will tell.  So what is my impression of the job so far?  It’s hard to say.  I have a pretty boring film on my hands right now at work, with really tough to do VFX shots that I have to finish, and I’ll be completing the edit and coloring the film really quickly this week because Bryon wants it released soon.  It’s hard to say what I think of the job at the moment.  I haven’t had a lot to do honestly since I got there, and nobody but Vance and Brittany have really been there to give me things.  Perhaps things will change a little once Mike gets back in the office.  I think it’ll take a few months of doing to really find out if I could stay for a while or not.  For right now I’m sticking with it, doing the best I can, and that’s all I can do.

Artistic Filter Added ;)

I went to work today to start my last week at NFBC.  I’ve been there over three years on staff.  I can’t believe its been that long.  The first day our new Pastor preached on a sunday was my first taped sermon and we never let up from there.  Thousands of DVD’s sold to countries all over the world, it boggles the mind.  Started it all in my bedroom with my little PC and a 1 to 1 burner…whoda thunkit?

I’m really excited to leave though, it’s a lot of routine and I need some artistic changes before I go batty.  They’ll be OK though they got enough people to keep it pumping.  I hope they have many more years of success in that ministry and reach more people than we every did while I was there.  Reach for the stars!

I got some other stuff done at home today but mostly just relaxed.  I watched part of TAKEN with my mom which she rented and downed some awesome Chinese food we ordered.  I scarfed that stuff up really quick.  I tried to get another good profile pic of myself today and came out successful.  You probably take 50 pictures of yourself before you find one that is at a good angle with good light that you don’t look like a moron in.  We have this window at our house with white curtains that act like a soft-box for a picture…so that’s where I took it.  I look good….  

I met with Kevin today to go over some things for the film.  I’ll be working on the film in some capacity the next 3 days.  ADR tomorrow, Last day of shooting on Weds along with my Gaffers interview, ADR with the rest of my actors on Thursday and my Pastors interview, then we are DONE.  This week is gonna be bittersweet!

Btw, I just got sent this by a friend of mine and it rocked my world!  SO AMAZING.

Buddies for LIFE

I woke up this morning feeling pretty tired but ready to get things done.  I had lucky charms for breakfast (woo!) and packed up my car to head to Kevin’s.  Today was our last day at Kevin’s home to shoot, and it was bittersweet at best.  We had two small things to do but they were very important to the story.  The last scene Eric and Rob did together was up in the bedroom and it went off without a hitch.  They work so well together now.  Eric is a talented guy, and he shows it more everyday.  Today he did something he’d done in the past but because it was a harder scene it surprised me a little.  He didn’t have Rob to look at for his lines.  Rob was preparing for one of the hardest scenes he has downstairs while Eric did his side of their first scene upstairs alone with nobody to play off of.  That really shows Eric’s talent as an actor, able to do scenes without someone to bounce off of, he just creates the moment himself.  It’s great to watch.  When we got downstairs we had some trouble as the speech Rob had to give was serious in tone and rich in meaning.  We eventually got through it and wrapped the day.  It was odd as we started packing up.  I felt very strange, I couldn’t believe we were done at the house.  So many days spent there busy, angry at times, upset, happy, overwhelmed by the power of God, etc.  So much had happened in that home in the past year.  On our way out we got some pictures of myself, Shaun Smith (Gaffer), Rob Reisman (Dave Corwin), and Eric Stevenson (Steven Corwin).  I’m glad we got those photos, I’ll cherish them forever.  Even when I went to lock the door, Shaun and Eric were talking in the parking lot and I walked into the house to stand in the kitchen one last time just to soak in the moment.  I won’t shoot here again, it’s over.  We have one more day left, and it ends at the church.

When I got home I immediately cooked a few hotdogs to eat because Eric followed me home to finish his ADR.  We did really well and burned through things like mad.  As soon as we got a process going things moved quickly, and we got everything we needed in 5 hours.  That isn’t half bad considering the amount there was to do.  Not much by Hollywood standards but in this case some scenes had difficult lines that were needed…not just “yea” or “yes” or “no.”  One of the scenes is a COMPLETE dub which means the entire production track will be replaced.  That means not just the lines need to be perfect, but the background noise, clothes rustling, footsteps (synced obviously), etc. all need to be placed and mixed properly to sound coherent and real.  Eric did a fine job and when it was over we had a nice hug, haha.  I’m excited but sad to see him go…it’s bittersweet at best.  He is going to Korea for a year to teach English so regardless of him being done with the film, odds are he’ll miss any premiere or anything of the sort.  I pray the Lord keeps him safe as he travels and works there.  When he pulled out I walked to the window to catch a glimpse of him one last time.  I’ll miss him.

Witness the madness!

Afterwards I quickly got ready for C.O.R.E. which is a college age+ group ran by some friends from church.  We had some fun times while I was there.  Some of the guys decided to goof around afterwards, I naturally stood by and just watched laughing at their goofiness.  I can be goofy but the last thing I wanted to do was roll on the floor and get all sweaty before going to a movie.  I went to see Star Trek again with my friend Sam.  It was great the second time around.  Very few movies get two tickets out of me, this one was worth it.  Sam liked it so I’m glad, it’s probably the last movie we’ll see together before I split.

On the way home I decided to text Devan and see if she was up for the shopping tomorrow since I had ruled it out due to Eric’s ADR (we thought we wouldn’t finish and he would spend the night).  But it looks like the shopping is on for tomorrow!  Woo!  Finally!  I can get some snazzy new clothes before I move.  I’ve been waiting to go shopping for REAL for a long time.  Not just like a new shirt or jeans but a wardrobe of sorts.  Clothing I like to wear and I enjoy wearing.  I don’t own a lot of clothes like that, almost nothing now that I’ve gotten rid of so many that don’t fit or are just plain ugly.

Today was great, tomorrow looks to be even better.  I gotta clean out my car though before I leave, it’s a DISASTER.

Today was unusual.  I went to work at normal, and got some things done.  I had to leave early today to go pick up the equipment which was left at Dave Gifford’s house in Youngstown (since we thought we would be shooting there last week we left it there).  That gave me the opportunity to take that nice drive along the river I normally talk about enjoying on Sundays.  It was weird because it felt like a Sunday simply because I was making that drive.  I picked up the stuff and went home, passing a few school busses on the way.  After I got home I rushed to get all the equipment out of my car to try and figure out where to shoot Aaron’s scene in the next hour.  I tried a few places and settled on the dining room.  I hadn’t really planned on being in there again since we have shot there before.  Both scenes involve Aaron in the dining room and it’s supposed to be two different locations in the film.  Odds are you wont tell since I’m much closer on his face in this one and at a different part of the room.  It should come out fine.  I also had no sound person so I clamped the boom pole into position via two stands.  It held up well since he didn’t really have to move much.  The scene was actually really important even though it was just a short conversation on the phone.  We shot maybe 30 minutes or so of footage which is a lot considering the scene will probably be a minute.

After that we got the sound equipment upstairs to try out the ADR process.  Aaron only has a few lines so it was a good test run.  However, the scene he had to dub had him way far back in frame, making it really hard to see his lips.  I had to zoom into the footage 200% to see his lines.  This was a scene because of weather I needed to quickly film and get it over with.  It’s something you would have a lav mic on the actor for since they are well out of boom range.  We’ve known we needed to dub this for months (we shot it summer last year for Pete’s sake) and just now have the time to start the ADR.  It went pretty well and we’ll see how it mixes together.  I’m trying to get a feel for this and so was Aaron.  It’s one of the rare scenes I need to totally recreate everything and throw out the production track.  Dialog, footsteps, clothing, background noise, and in this case car doors, car starting, pulling away, etc.  Even a few folks walking in the background will probably need a thing or two.  LOTS of work to be done on scenes like that…luckily there is only three.  That isn’t good but isn’t bad considering what we thought it was going to be just a few short months ago.  We finished his lines in about an hour and we both left.

I went to Vintage (which I was late for) and hung with some friends afterwards at Applebees (as is the norm).  It’s a fun time, and I’ll miss it.  I have three Vintage outings left, and three Sunday mornings left.  Hopefully my last Sunday I’ll be able to actually sit in a pew (something I’ve only done maybe 3 times since Spring 2006).  It’ll be weird but I’ll love not having anything to worry about on a Sunday.  Just come and be a church goer…what a concept!

After I got home I took a bike ride.  Three times around the block, hustling all the way lol.  I gotta get rid of this chin I got, it drives me nuts.  I think this new haircut has actually made me even more conscious of my face.  The haircut is kinda roundish so my face looks more round to me in the mirror.  I gotta get the face off my face, yuck.  Honestly, I normally lose it there before anywhere else so hopefully I can actually get some sort of jawline showing a little easier in the near future.  Yea I’m body conscious…sue me.

G’night, I’m bushed and gotta get up at 7:30am to shoot at 9am.  Here’s hoping for a good shoot!

Today was a Sunday so obviously I was getting up for church.  I arose at 9am ready to start the day but alas, no clothes to wear.  I’ve been rotating shirts for 2 weeks now, I run out of clothes QUICK.  Luckily I found a nice new dress shirt in my closet I don’t think I’ve worn before and put it with the suit and outfit from the wedding yesterday…instant snazziness.  I taped the service as usual.  This was my 2nd to last time filming Pastor Billy.  Over 230 sermons later, my time is almost over.  I’ve taped every service besides 2 or 3 since April 30th, 2006 (Pastor Billy’s first sermon at NFBC).  Two more to tape (a guest next week), and his last one I’ll do on the 17th.  It’ll be bittersweet I’m sure but I’m glad to be rid of it.  Time to move on, and leave the Media Ministry to thrive on its own steam

Brad & Jen

When church was ending I ran a little ways up the aisle to get some shots of people in pews I need for the film.  They give you funny looks (who wouldn’t) when they have a camera near them.  I wasn’t really pointing at any of them, but using their bodies as pillars I guess you could say.  I was shooting through them zoomed in on others across the sanctuary.  I got a shot or two I think I can use…thank goodness.  I only have a few to get it right!

I went out to eat with Jen & Brad after church.  We went to the Brickyard (my favorite place to eat as of late) and we had a great time.  They are such awesome friends, and I’m jealous of them haha.  They love each other so much.  It’s all over their faces, in every glance and smirk.  I’m always staring at them and they always catch me doing so, haha.  I can’t help it…it’s just too cool to watch them interact.  I tease Brad every once in a while when his wedding day is.  They are PB&J, and they know it!

After that I took my the long way home again, enjoying the drive and the weather along the river.  I’ll miss that drive I think, although I may find another I enjoy even more!  After I got home I worked on our edit a little bit and called Kevin to come and meet.  I sorta edited with him sitting next to me and we actually got some good stuff done.  I get motivated when Kevin is around so I’m glad he was there.  I probably got more done with him just sitting there and me commentating than I have in a long time by myself.  After he left I got even more done tightening up some edits and getting some scene transitions done.  Later came the big one, when I got an email from Bill Ebel (editor of Fireproof) with a new edit of a scene I had been waiting for.  It had been a long time since I had heard from him so I wasn’t sure what was going on.  I was relieved to get the email.  He explained he was overloaded which I figured so that was no problem.  The scene was good and I did some tweaking and some color correction and other things to get it more refined.  After that I tackled some audio problems.  That scene worried me a lot but surprisingly I pulled a rabbit out of the hat and smoothed it out pretty well I think.  I didn’t know I could do that LOL…and it was one of the scenes I was worried about the most.  Woo!  I’m glad to have that behind me.  The scene isn’t done by any means, it needs lots more work, but the worry for it is pretty much gone.

Well that’s about it, 3 days of shooting this week coming up.  The way things worked out it’ll be Tuesday here at my house with Aaron for a scene he has alone, Rob by himself again on Wednesday, and lots of people on Thursday in our last huge day.  Beyond this week we’ll have 2 small things to do at Kevin’s house and the day at Dave Giffords that got rained out.  Many more days (as always) then we thought or planned for but hey…you can’t control the weather OR people schedules.  It’ll be fine.  Also Tuesday will be a day we start tackling ADR.  Aaron ironically will be the first to give it a real try.  That is funny since he is normally the last one shot, the hardest to schedule, etc.  I hope we get all of his stuff done that day in a few hours.  He doesn’t have a lot, just a few lines.  Here’s hoping!  What a great week it’ll be if we knock all that out of the park!