I’ll post more about the short film when we finish editing it, but just wanted to post up a couple of pictures. As a little back story, I’m working with a group at my theater, WCT, to create monthly short videos. Sometimes they go well. Sometimes they don’t. This would be an example of the latter. I got to the location and was the first one there. The person who was supposed to star ended up not showing up due to a hangover. Worse, he was the one with keys to the law firm where we were supposed to shoot.
We had the lighting equipment, camera, sound stuff, and people (well, there were only 4 of us – but still) for the day, and couldn’t not shoot. We ended up shooting instead at Marc’s apartment.
My responsibility was supposed to be holding the boom mic. But when the main guy didn’t show up, I got the lead. Which meant on the car ride from the original shoot to my house (where I changed into a suit, and shaved from massive side burns with a lot of scruff to a uniform beard) to Marc’s apartment I was supposed to learn my lines.
I imagine someone who’s been acting on a regular basis would have no problem with this. It was all of 6 pages of fairly simple dialogue. But line memorization is not my strong suit, to put it lightly, so instead, I spent the time between takes memorizing the last two lines.
I’m sure the next shoot will go better. And who knows? This might even still turn out.
But I wouldn’t bet on it.
I’m looking forward to the next shoot where we’ll probably be doing my own script.
Worst case scenario? We use this as a benchmark from which we drastically improve.
Expect a guest post from Elaine when this thing is done – for the real story of the sweat and tears that went behind this.
It took a full day to strip down 40 minutes worth of footage to these 4, and I’m really happy how it turned out. It’s so much better then any other travel video I’ve seen. I just wish I’d done it right after the trip, rather than over a year later. Here’s the video:
I had a lot of fun editing this together, and I’m looking forward to doing the same for my trip to Israel later this month.
I’m convinced everyone who installs wordpress, and isn’t a professional web designer, goes through exactly the same hell I just endured. Here’s the sum up:
After spending the last 4 months teaching classes on how to use Social Media to help businesses, I figured I should actually get my own act together online. I like my old site, but it was time to move on. I assumed it would take about a day and a half, but I have a tendency to underestimate by a factor of ten. Which is to say, I’m entering the third 12 hour day, and fully plan on dedicating another two or three before I’m close to done. This factor of ten thing destroys me at times.
I gutted my site and installed a wordpress backend. It’s the first time my personal site is using a template, and I don’t regret it for a second. It’s the content that matters, and for $35 it was worth it.
Why not take the free route? Three reasons.
Fewer sites will use it.
David, the theme creator, provides fantastic support.
It’s only $35. I can handle that.
David has responded to everything posted on the support forum within 20 hours. He’s absolutely fantastic, and that alone made it worth it.
I’m still uploading content and figuring out exactly how to structure all of this, but I’m excited to have an online identity where everything is finally tied together.
Doing what I do best, I’m currently in the thralls of delaying getting any real work done. Apparently there was an internet meme for a while that completely passed me by: face morphs. In no other form have a seen a better example showcasing the difference between facial structures. As someone frequently sketching faces of all sorts, it’s fascinating to watch the changes in the cheekbones, the space between the eyebrows, the slant of the eyes, the size relation between skull and face, the five places on a nose that are different from person to person and a slew of a dozen or so other features juxtaposed. While I was aware the differences existed and have studied them a lot, seeing them like this really puts the differences in a new and fascinating light.
I ended up watching a bunch of these. Time well spent. Face structure are so cool.
short film, animation, Apparently this has been floating around on the blogosphere for about a week now. Amid from Animation Brew described it as an “Epic Mindtrip.” It was created at the Fame Festival in less then a week by David Ellis and Blu. Experimental animation at its very best.
I’ve been searching for this film for over four years, ever since I first saw it at Syracuse. I’d forgotten who made it, and “Neighbors” isn’t exactly the most googleable of terms. It’s one of the most brilliant and one of the first examples of stop motion out there, winning an Oscar back in 1952.
A film that understands exactly where I’d love to be. I laughed. I cried. I loved every second of it. One of the best shorts I’ve seen in a very long time. Now I’m off to compliment as many people as possible.
The type of short that gets turned into a feature. Missed the talk at Comic Con, but looking forward to the release. If Tim Burton produced it, how bad can it be?
