Like Spinning Leaves

ghost blog

2008-04-04T10:50:00.001-04:00

man it's been a while. gonna have to wait a bit longer yeah?

Reformat The Planet trailer up

2008-02-05T09:15:00.000-05:00

REFORMAT THE PLANET trailer from 2 Player Productions on Vimeo.

Official Selection SXSW 2008

Been Living Under A Rock?

2008-01-20T17:51:00.000-05:00

You have if the following is news to you:

"Natural Causes" and "Reformat The Planet" are now official selections of the South by Southwest film festival...

...this could be a good year.

Updates Coming Soon

2007-12-27T16:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry guys. Busy times. Oh and this happened:

SabrePulse // Blip Festival 2007: The Videos from Paul Levering on Vimeo.

What a Day/Week/Month/Year

2007-11-07T03:31:00.000-05:00

3:32am.

We are entering the final phase of putting together the Blip Festival '06 Video Collection DVD. Between working all day on Push and editing all night for Blip, things have been pretty insane in recent memory. Paul (L) has been holed up in our apartment (Owens moved into Dave's old room on Saturday) for the past few days, slugging down Maker's Mark and mapping out the DVD navigation tree. I'm not sure he's actually slept...Oh no wait, there was one night where he supposedly got 8 hours (I've never seen him log more than 5 in one go)...Just typing about it makes my head spin.

In any case, save a few exceptional outings, I haven't had what I'd call much of A Life so I'm looking forward to having (at the very least), my weekends back. Kind of.

I really want to write more but our call time is in a few hours and I want to get at least two solid hours of sleep before going to work. I can't have a repeat of Friday, that's for sure.

Long story short: towards the end of a 16 hr day, I fell asleep and the producers grabbed my camera and filmed me passed out while my boss leaned over me and said, "On my dime! look at him! fuck you, Docu-boy. Fuck you." ::end scene::

yep.

oh, the pulsewave show was fun. if you missed the open mic, then you are a fool.

PULSEWAVE!

2007-10-16T23:13:00.000-04:00

Hosted by 2 Player Productions. It's going to be insane. Come.

(full info page here)
http://pulsewave.8bitpeoples.com/

The "First" Transport Is Away

2007-10-16T22:58:00.001-04:00

The Blip Festival documentary is officially on its way to compete for a coveted spot in next year's South By Southwest lineup. All we can do now is wait.

In other news:

The Behind The Scenes for Push has been in the works for a little over a month now. Principal Photography starts a week from tomorrow. Not too much to say on the matter (for a number of reasons) except to say that it is currently our highest hurdle in the race to finish all 32 videos for the Blip Fest 2007 performance DVD we plan on selling at this year's festival. To make a long story short, all I do now is edit.
Yesterday, after a full day of work, I sat down and cut away at YMCK for an hour two, passed out, woke up at 6am, and finished the rest before getting ready for work around 9. The good news? Owens and I have been turning them out at a pretty fast clip. In the last three days or so we've taken care of Neil Voss, YMCK, Bit Shifter, Herbert Weixelbaum, and an amazing, jaw dropping Jeroen Tel video that Owens seemingly pulled out of nowhere. There's one cut in there that will probably end up being my favorite moment from this entire project.

So yeah, that about sums things up for now I think. I'm told I might be seeing some more Natural Causes stuff next week. Fingers crossed.

Natural Causes: The Teaser

2007-10-02T12:12:00.000-04:00

Just a taste:

Co-written/Co-directed by Alex Cannon/Michael Lerman/Paul Cannon, "Natural Causes" marks my first experience as Director of Photography on a feature length narrative film.

Mark Denardo Make Music

2007-09-21T07:22:00.000-04:00

Long overdue but we've been a little backed up here at the 2pp chop shop.

Mark Denardo
"Gears"

I think we agreed to shoot this event if he promised to play this song...? As you can tell towards the end of the video, it was indeed raining. Unfortunately, this cut his set a bit short but we're happy to have some of it online for others to enjoy.

what else what else. not much I think, outside the usual. Levering's working on a 2 player productions site to tide us over until we get an actual designer to help us out. That's pretty much it. I imagine the next few months will be incredibly taxing but returns should be high.

more on this as I figure it out.

what did You do last night?

2007-09-16T10:39:00.000-04:00

Receptors @ Pulsewave: The Unannounced Duet

The evening at The Tank was, as always, awesome. Also: After the show, I screened the Covox video from the Blip Festival Performance DVD for the in-crowd and it went over pretty well. Good to know some interest in the product is brewing.

Not much to report otherwise. I'm sitting on a mountain of footage from various projects that needs to be edited and I have no clue where to begin. Ah well. Work on "Push" starts tomorrow. I'm going to spend the next two weeks holed up in a little room in Tribeca editing the daylight hours away...which is...really different from...any...other day...yeah.

TENORI-ON!!! + Updates

2007-09-13T22:34:00.000-04:00

So this has nothing to do with anything aside from the fact that I want one. I want one NOW.

I will literally spend hours curled up with this thing by a snowy window. they're out of stock on the moment but I signed up for email updates. Stay tuned.

Here's some news while I'm here:

One: We're going to get started on the next LDE project, "Push" asap. Possibly monday. We'll be shooting a bit of preproduction and editing Tennessee footage simultaneously. Principal photography begins in about a month.

As a result, Two: We're really going to have to step up the editing process for the Blip Festival Performance DVD (are we still calling it "Blip Festival: Galaxy Tonite" ???). For those of you outside of The Know, we here at the 2pp lab are hard at work on a dvd featuring a performance video from each of the 32 artists/groups that performed at Blip 06.

Because we're submitting the documentary to various festivals this year, we are prohibited from screening any of that material at Blip 07. However, to avoid showing up empty handed, we decided to ramp up production and have this thing pressed and ready for the merch table by this year's festival. It's going to be hell juggling this with Push but I'm up for it.

If all goes according to plan (which is to say, if we sell all the copies from the first run of printing), we should be left with enough to FINALLY own our own camera + a few accessories. About time.

Oh, and let me just give a huge nod to Don "No Carrier" Miller. He's programming a series of demos for the DVD menu design among other things. To get a small taste of his wizardry, here's the e-flier he whipped up for last month's Pulsewave. (music by Nullsleep)

If that doesn't make sense to you, all will be explained in time. For now, my thanks to our many talented collaborators -- it has, and continues to be, an honor.

and because you make the effort to read my little ramblings, here's a look at the trailer I'm putting together for said DVD. Ideally, this will be playing on a loop on a small tv at the merch table next to a towering stack of dvds.

and if i see this video embedded anywhere else, I will be forced to use the Cerebral Bore on you.

Sup

2007-09-12T15:28:00.001-04:00

I know the whole Natural Causes thing was kind of anticlimactic since I never updated once principal photography wrapped but these have been busy times for 2 player productions (as evidenced by the time line above). I'm really pleased with the way things have turned out. The first cut is but a shadow of the streamlined version we are now submitting to Sundance.

Off it goes.

The real (read: more practical) battle begins as we clean up our act for South by Southwest.

More on this as it develops.

Natural Causes

2007-08-26T12:35:00.000-04:00

For once, I waited to talk about something.

I'm writing from the set of "Natural Causes," a feature length narrative* I'm doing the cinematography for. I won't bother getting into details and nerves. Just know that these are untested waters / learning experiences / etc.

one good thing: finally wading into the deep end of shooting/lighting for HD after getting my feet wet with the Delirious series.

We wrap in 9 days. We'll see what happens.

*!?!

Daft Punk'd

2007-08-10T10:12:00.001-04:00

The other night I get a call from Jason about shooting the Daft Punk show at Keyspan Park. Hopeless optimist that I am (in secret), I assumed this was going to be a small production (the shoot, not the actual concert) and that some consideration (not a lot, just some) was given to who was hired for this particular gig. I thought yes, a whole new set of people who enjoy shooting & electronic music -- surely someone would be interested in (eventually) talking about Blip Fest. I burned a fresh copy of the movie. Just in case.

I tried to apply (supposedly) learned life lessons and not tell too many people about it but I couldn't help myself. It was only when I told Dave that I learned it was actually a fairly open call to tens (if not a hundred+) of, well, Anyone With A Camera really. Feeling slightly dejected, I decided to go anyway -- it'd be stupid for me to miss out on a free show and really, you never know who you're going to meet on any job. Besides, the packet of information I received from one of the organizers said that there would be a direct correlation between how early you show up and how close you'd be to the stage. If the cause is sufficient, I never mind a little wait so off I went.

When I arrived at Coney Island, they had just set up the videographer registration tent but they told me they wouldn't start assigning people till 5pm (still a few hours away). I went and stood in (created?) a line that, prior to my arrival, was comprised of one other like-minded person. It's funny how easy it is to spot one of your own. Not just because he had a camera but because you could tell from any number of superficial details and the fact that he also showed up as early. Anyway. where was I?

Right. So we wait and we wait. Again, for reasons I can't fully articulate, we instantly agreed that the people who were running this thing could care less about the fact that we were waiting and wouldn't respect that. And, like clockwork, at 4:45, they started assigning the first jackass to walk up to the table without so much as a word or a look in the direction of the only people who had been there for the last few hours.

We rushed over and got in line. I think, that's okay, even the 3rd assigned position is bound to be quite close. The first two people ahead of me have their spots shown to them on the seating chart. First guy gets a spot by the stage on the left, Guy I Waited With gets same spot on opposite end of the stage...I get assigned to the back...of the stands.

There was literally no one else there at this time and judging by the sheet they looked through to find my name, there were at least 120 other people who had yet to show up.

At first I was surprised. I tend to, at least, it is my perception that I, generally take most things in stride...remaining calm. Trying to see the good or useful in a situation. Without thinking, I immediately contested the issue.

I'm sorry but we're trying to maintain a random pattern of dispersal.
Then why did you guys tell us we'd be closer if we came earlier?
We have to make sure we have all the angles covered.
But you've got like 100 more people coming -
- we don't know that for sure
You saw me waiting here for the last few hours
Look. Do you want to see a free show or not? There are plenty of people who wouldn't mind having your spot.
Fine. Fuck it.

Obviously that last bit was thought not said but man was I steamed. You know, I'm sure graver offenses have been committed at my expense in the past but I don't think I've ever felt so offended in my entire life. Obviously I wasn't going to try and verbally distinguish myself from anyone else as a person who shoots things for a living but even so, wtf?!?

I seriously considered stealing their tape, scalping my ticket (people were walking up and down the line muttering "i'll pay 100" "i'll pay 125"), and just going home. And, just to kick me while I was down, Twist Gondry (yes, brother of Michel and yes, also a music video director) walked by the registration tent and grabbed a slice of pizza. I quickly looked over a PAs shoulder and scanned the call sheet. He was directing this shoot for a Daft Punk video (you were 3/4 right, Paul).

I paced around the boardwalk angrily for a while and wolfed down a hot dog and thing of cheese fries from Nathan's (we all deal with rage differently). It takes an hour to get to Coney Island from my place. I didn't come all this way and wait all this time for nothing so I decided to go back and wait in line with everyone else who had stand tickets.

Eventually I settle in my reserved seat and am only ever so slightly mollified by the fact that the stage is not as far away as I remember it being when I saw Bjork there a few years ago when I was still living in Philadelphia (turns out the other guy I was waiting in line with went to Temple - Drexel's pseudo "rival" in town as far as film schools go). Still, it's bullshit.

Anyway. I shot what I could and got some okay stuff but I know none of it's going to see the light of day. They had so many cameras there, I wouldn't blame them for throwing out about half of them without even watching. They only gave us one tape and told us to hit record and shoot, without pausing, for the full hour. So as soon as I had filled mine up, I reached into my bag and grabbed an extra tape of my own. At the very least, I have 15 minutes of footage (in which I tried to condense all the various shots I had managed to get in the previous hour) that I can now (maybe) slip into my reel and label it as Daft Punk DVD footage. It'd certainly be more honest than most lies people pad their resumes with.

Oh, and this has nothing to do with Jason because, as they say, "he's my boy" but he didn't show up until about 2 and a half hours after registration began and they gave him a spot in the field among that wild, churning crowd.

Damn it all.

Anyway. I'm going to pull some shots from what I got and post them here in a bit.

Gina Gershon Sex Tape

2007-08-10T10:08:00.000-04:00

I'm the one by the door wearing the shameless plug for pando.com (whatsup Mr Swimm).

Whispers of Monday + A Culkin to round out the series.

Delirious Marketing

2007-07-13T18:17:00.000-04:00

Something cool happened today.

But the whole thing started last night.

I was on my way to a chiptune show when I got a call from fellow Brooklynite/Filmmaker/OE Fan/Etc Chioke, asking if I was available to shoot today. Naturally I said yes. Not just because it's nice to get away from the doldrums of editing (hey, Sunlight, how's it going?) but also because I've been meaning to work with Chioke on something ever since I served as the last minute boom operator on this little gem last year.

I'll admit, I was a little confused at first. From what I could make out on the ever-crackling squawkbox I call My Cellphone, it sounded like some businesspeople types wanted to put together a little promotional piece for [X] and they wanted it shot in the style of The Office (take your pick). Great, some annoying white collar vanity project, I'm thinking. Whatever, Work is Work, no point in being picky or judgmental, etc. At the very least, I had enough faith in the fact that Chioke was directing to know that it would at least be fun(ny) and interesting.

So that night I get the call sheet and skim over the list of talent. Mr. X as A, Ms. Y as B, Tom DeCillo as Tom DeCillo, yes yes alright.

*beat*

::eyes snap back up a few lines::

That's cute. Some actor named Tom DeCillo. I wonder if he's supposed to be playing writer/director Tom DeCillo (of well deserved Living In Oblivion fame). Then I start reading the script and it dawns on me: Holy crap, Chioke somehow managed to convince Tom DeCillo to make this web video about him confronting a stingy pair of Marketing executives from Some Big Hollywood Studio in order to promote his upcoming film Delirious.

The short version of the story is that Chioke went to a screening of the film and stayed for the Q&A with TD. TD (told you this was the short version) ends said Q&A by saying that they have no money to market the film so the people in the audience should tell their friends. Chioke goes up to him and (as only Chioke, as far as I know, can) says something to the effect of "Why don't you call me and we'll make some no-budget web videos featuring you and the actors in the film and I'll send it to all my media/film blog contacts and spread the word"

He hands him his business card (which he slipped out of his pocket and kept in the palm of his hand before he even opened his mouth) and the rest is history.

Soooo this morning I watched a little thing they already did between DiCillo and Steve Buscemi. It was funny, my suspicions were confirmed, and I got considerably excited.

And I apologize for how how anticlimactic this is but I don't want to look sillier than I already do by going over the sequence of events, beat for beat.

We show up, shoot it, have fun, and call it a day an hour and a half early. I wish every gig could be like this.

I'll post a link as soon as it's up.

All that being said, go see Delirious on August 15th!

iPhone Day

2007-06-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

The good ole boys at Olde English celebrate the iPhone launch in fine style.

+ I shot some of it.

Nullsleep Street Performance

2007-06-22T19:02:00.000-04:00

this happened yesterday afternoon

what else can i say? lookin' to get Bitshifter & Denardo up soon

sting operation

2007-06-18T09:51:00.000-04:00

this was just for fun. something we tried to play in the background during this song at Blip Fest but it didn't work out unfortunately.

more importantly, anamanaguchi.

Frag And Clear

2007-06-07T08:29:00.000-04:00

Busy times what can I say. The truth is I've been putting off an update because there are some pictures I'd really like to post but the cable for the camera is at my sister's place. Soon though, I think. In the meantime, here's where we stand:

Broke But Busy So Perhaps Not Broke For Too Much Longer.

That's probably the most concise I've ever been. Current editing projects (read: $) include a promotional video for a novel, digitizing someone else's home movies, and a personal documentary of someone else's international adventure. Not the most gripping endeavors but they (will hopefully) pay the rent. If anyone needs me to shoot something during the week, let me know. That was embarrassingly shameless. I'm going to leave it in as a reminder to never do that again.

We've been screening the Blip Festival doc for a lot of people and so far the feedback has been great (which is not to say that it's all been positive (thankfully) but that it's all been constructive/helpful). We're hoping to have a more solid cut done by the end of this month before we start showing it to some money folk in hopes that they'll be willing to pay for things like a sound editor and graphics. After that, it's festival time.

There's a pretty interesting one in Spain that we've got our eyes on: In-Edit. It caters specifically to music documentaries so I think that might be our best bet for now (the promised land of SXSW isn't till much later). Other contenders are Woodstock and Slamdance. But perhaps I'm getting way ahead of myself.

I'll leave you with a bunch of fragments from various unfinished projects.

Videodremone - Part of the BKuarium series. temp track by M. Sanchez
Cloud - Testing out an effect for the Blip Fest doc. temp track by J. Novak
Battle In Heaven - video "scratching" (or) Fun With Keyframes
Scroll 32 - A quick overview of who played Blip Fest (with 2 unintentional exclusions). This is only the tiny tiny seed of a larger idea. An arbitrary number of frames was chosen and each clip was cut to the same length and placed in no particular order. Excellent portraits by M. Becker.
I Can Edit To Kanye? - Part of the aforementioned book promotion. I would recommend watching the first 28 seconds and leaving it at that - the rest was the result of landing the gig on extreme short notice so I was unable to have any input as far as ensuring sound and picture quality goes. No hard feelings of course...Just could have given the client a better product. What's most important is that I finally have something I can put on my reel for nightclub promotion gigs...if you can find the right people in that world, they tend to pay out the ass for video work.
Element Labs - And finally, a portion of the Blip Festival raw footage we gave to the guys at alinear so they could show the pixel board in all it's glory. Really I'm just posting this because I like the first shot of Bud Melvin (greetings from Brooklyn to Rio Rancho, BM),

Right so I think that about does it. I've got some more video ideas cooking...those will undoubtedly end up as scraps in some future post...still, looking forward to it.

Firecracker Alley

2007-05-20T23:19:00.000-04:00

Whatever happens between now and Wednesday, we'll crawl out of the wreckage with a cut of Blip Fest done. Arrived in Jersey last night at the makeshift 2 player production office more commonly known as Paul's apt. Not much to comment on beyond absurd amounts of editing. It looks like we've already suffered a casualty - Paul's just collapsed in front of his computer. poor bastard. ah well. back to work. this blog's getting nice and crappy. might be going down to south carolina for a weekend to shoot something about a famous photojournalist from the civil rights era.

...

2007-05-10T15:32:00.000-04:00

hey sorry for the lack of updates. We're trying to get a cut of Blip Fest done by the end of this month. More on this as it develops.

Not much else going on. The piece on the condo construction will begin shortly. I'll be checking in twice a week as what is currently a hole in the ground becomes a luxury residence on the upper east side. Should be interesting. Always up for learning about new things.

Gotta run for now. Can't edit well in a filthy room so I'm cleaning like crazy.

Steady/Hold/Hold/Hold/Now

2007-04-29T02:28:00.000-04:00

Well this is it. I've got about 12 hours left before I need to stop editing. I've finally been doing this long enough that I can say, "Well, as they say in the business," after this day is done, It Is What It Is. Indeed.

I'm tired if you can't tell. Not good when it's 230am and you feel like you're only just getting started. I will say this though: I ate alligator flesh today. Not bad. Kind of spongy.

Why are we doing this again...?*

2007-04-27T11:25:00.000-04:00

So last night I was educated on the ways of the hedge fund and the absurd amount of money their owners make.

Apparently there's a guy who makes a million dollars. A day.

*jk

Our Stuff On MTV.com...("again!")

2007-04-24T19:32:00.000-04:00

In quotes because Last December, it was Video Games Live on MTV-Owned GameTrailers.com. This time, 2 Player Productions is seeing a little face time (Paul's face anyway) on the actual page.
You can click here to see the episode (watch out for two incredibly annoying and unavoidable ads). Basically, the clip gives a quick overview of chiptunes (with demos/interviews from Mark Denardo, Bubblyfish, and Anamanaguchi) and the significance of Blip Fest with Paul's interview tying the whole thing together.

I know it seems a little odd to get excited about exposure on a network that is, from a philosophical standpoint, so divorced from the one we're covering but it doesn't mean I'm not grateful (thanks to Jack & Tob(e)y for putting the piece together).

That and it never hurts to see one of our team's name in print.

I'm especially amused by how companies that exist in name only can be granted a small shred of legitimacy by being set in a bold typeface in the bottom third of a frame. One of these days we'll actually have to become incorporated...

It's a shame that there's no mention of our actual documentary in the piece but hopefully they'll be able to slap on a link to the Blip Festival's page if nothing else. Not too much going on otherwise. The Wedding Thing is shaping up nicely. Talking about starting some sort of videography service with the bride. Good working relationship. All very difficult to say. Everything's so up in the air...and the Bent Festival is this weekend...too much.

once May gets here, all I want to do is see the sun for more than the six minutes I spend walking to and from the health food store and, more importantly, work on Blip Fest. That's enough for now. Did you see Hot Fuzz yet? Don't download it. It's one of those things you need to see with an audience.

Here's The Rub

2007-04-24T10:06:00.000-04:00

The Unwelcome Week has arrived. The busiest of bus...ies. (Busies?) When this tape finishes rewinding I have to stop so I'll get right to it. In less than a week, my schedule will go from Plaid back to Kind of Human. The editing task before me is massive: 25 hours into 25 minutes but everything post Sbox pales in comparison so I guess I shouldn't really complain...Still, we had months to cut that, not one week. The good news is I'm being paid in trade for overtime. This includes a free massage (first time, yeah). Your only assignment between now and then is to see Hot Fuzz. Gotta go.

more on this later

2007-04-20T00:26:00.000-04:00

just got back from shooting a launch party for a luxury condo. After meeting/seeing/interviewing various celebrity/socialite-types, I am haunted by the fact that I will never fit in to their world but comforted by the fact that I have no desire to do so. The only thing that they have that I want is the small army of people carrying around delicious finger food on stylish black trays.

it's obvious that i'm exhausted. i will write more in the future.

Brazil Postponed!

2007-04-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

You heard it here first. Owing to [x], the documentary on the tribe in The Amazon has been moved to later this [y]. Like New Mexico before it, this is the last I will speak of it until I'm there...or, in the case of the Internet Cafe-less rain forest, until I'm back with pictures.

No other news to report.

Blip Fest Interview

2007-04-13T18:51:00.000-04:00

Not much time for an update. PL had his interview over at emTeaVee today for this program. They were doing a little piece on the chiptunes scene and our Blip Fest documentary. I only got to sit in on it for a the first third or so because of a doctors appointment I had to run to. Haeyoung, Mark, and Pete (all performers at the festival) were also there to talk about their individual approaches. Wish I could have stuck around there and wish I could stick around here but I've got too much to take care of before going to Brazil on Sunday morning. The end.

PS - Bud, I don't know if you're reading but this is an apology-in-advance if they keep the part where it says you're from Arizona (sorry).

Too Early Too Late

2007-04-08T06:19:00.000-04:00

A night hasn't passed like that in a long time.

With the exception of a series of breaks that add up to no longer than 90 minutes, I've been importing selects from the 20+ hours of footage for Wedding Story (really have to think of something less ridiculous sounding...damn working titles) for the last 14 hours. I've still got a lot to go through before my Later Today Deadline so I'll try and keep this brief.

Really all I wanted to say is that certain elements of my more recent history have been a welcome change. Pulling an all nighter used to be synonymous with sloppy term papers, pointless exam cramming, and a miasma of general self loathing. Now it's for a paying job in a field that isn't a safety net or a second choice but something I've wanted to for over a decade. I know, this is quickly turning into a sentimental and steaming pile.

Point is, as far as work goes, things have really shaped up over the last year in a way that I'm actually proud of. May not seem like much of a milestone but trust me, the feeling is not a familiar one. I'll be sure to consult this entry when the work dries up and I'm back to eating Ramen and eggs like when I first moved to the city.

(If you stick your head out the window and look to the right) this is what the view from my bedroom looks like right now.
That, coupled with a soundtrack by The Boats makes for a pretty perfect morning.

back to work...

post script: Also, in a moment of weakness at around 3am, I had to resort to chugging a Red Bull and chasing it with a MDX (mostly for the placebo effect) but, how the hell do you people drink this crap? I feel like my teeth are disintegrating...

Keep It Secret. Keep It Safe.

2007-04-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

It is just as I feared.

Every so often, I like to poke around the IMDb message boards for movies I've worked on / will work on to keep my eyes open for production/release updates or links to press coverage. As far as TN goes, there was one user in particular who seemed to know quite a bit about the day to day and I often tried to guess which member of the crew he/she was.

Well, I was in for quite a surprise when I noticed that one of the threads mentioned the start date for our Behind The Scenes (???). Intrigued I read on (you can see the short post here). It was business as usual until a couple of details caught my eye: "two main characters stretched out on the runway as planes pass directly overhead?" The 'No Prostitution' sign written in green marker in the topless bar? The fact that "Heartbreaker" was half-nakedly danced to later that evening?...they were all taken from an old post of mine on this blog!

Exactly what I didn't want to happen. Well, not exactly exactly. Thankfully, the individual had the decency to leave out my name, occupation, and (most importantly) a link to this place. So, to "jeane_a79," I say this: I'm not going to bother with withholding information (now that I know some of it may appear elsewhere) so long as you continue to refrain from mentioning me or this page (for the sake of my job and, by extension, more info for you if nothing else).

That seems a fair trade, right?

ps - for the record: MC never poked her head in to the bar to my knowledge. It was merely an assumption. Definitely didn't happen while her song was playing.

Up the Updates

2007-04-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Initially, this blog was created to keep my friends updated on the current status of my many projects. Those were boon times - morale was high, cynicism was low, and we were (as LD loved to say ad nauseum) "fixin' to blow up."

Of course now, a little over a year later, I know better.

One after the other, prospects floundered and diminished to the point where I almost stopped being grateful that anything was happening at all (note: it never got to that point...just asymptotically close). Tennessee was steadily delayed for a year after we were "definitely going next [x]," Behind Shadowboxer never saw the light of a cathode ray tube, and PLAY is pretty much dead in the water at this point while we (try to) focus on Blip Fest.

But "prosperous" (i say this cautiously) times are upon us again. I have more work than I can handle and (what feels like) even less time to manage it. However, in the interest of keeping myself motivated, I will try to hold myself to a certain standard. We already know what a disaster Blogging Every Day is so I'm going to start off small with updates twice a week. As a subset of this resolution, I will try to make them every Sunday night and every Thursday morning but I won't be as firm on those - just a helpful guide.

Of course, this means I have to have more to talk about so what the hell I'm going to just make the leap and start commenting on films I've seen* and general thoughts on other related matters. I know I'm joining the ranks of countless others who assign a disproportionate amount of value to their own opinions (not any of you guys) but know that I'm doing this without a trace of self importance.

As always, this was meant to serve as a means of communicating with my friends (since, sadly, I don't have the time to keep up with everyone as much as I used to) so, at the very least, I can say my intentions were good.

The other half of it is that I need to get off my ass, read up on what's being made these days with what technology, and just see more films. Hopefully this will jump start this process. I don't have a lot of free time between now and Saturday morning but at some point after that, I expect to have seen something new and either recommend or warn against come Sunday night.

*this should be interesting since you all know how I like a good nap two thirds of the way in (the point where, in my opinion, 60% of the things I see just fall flat). So if I managed to stay awake through the whole thing, it probably means it's got something going for it (in my book of snobbery anyway).

I Only Missed By One Word

2007-04-03T20:34:00.000-04:00

Nearly two weeks since my last post, I know. Things these days have been crap to say the least but I'm also so busy I've barely had time to catch my breath and process it all. Going to be pretty sour once the laughter stops. Looking back on the last couple of entries, it's amazing to think that so much has transpired in the last 13 days. So much to tell. I don't even know where to begin. I'll work backwards from the most recent entry.

MTV
PaulPaul&I had a meeting with a sr edit0r @ MTV dot calm (google makes me nervous) to discuss the possibility of a series about gaming/music culture that was stripped of all the goofy bits n skits that characterize your average gaming show. PL likes to sum it up as having the same feel as Insomniac with Dave Attell but with circuit benders and chip musicians instead of hookers and alcoholics. Unfortunately, the meeting was kind of a bust but with a consolation prize. We showed them some stuff from Blip Fest and they agreed to run a little segment on the scene and our movie, giving appropriate links to both. It's nice but not particularly high on the list for a number of reasons. The two most important being that em-tea-v is something of a dying breed these days and the kinds of kids who frequent the site aren't going to give two shits about what we're interested in.

BRAZIL
So as I've mentioned before, there was only enough room for one of us to fly into the Amazon for the short piece about That Tribe. Unfortunately, PO won't be able to acquire his passport (and therefore, his visa) in time for the trip so now I'm going. I want to make it very clear that regardless of who gets to go, I think it's a piss poor idea. If anything, it's even worse that it's me since I feel P has a better idea of how to put a cohesive documentary together. I just know how to spin eye candy and, even then, my low appraisal of myself hovers just between Crippling and Able To Function (not fishing, seriously).
But really, we were hired based on the quality of our collaboration. And because I'd like to think that our combined efforts are greater than the sum of our parts, the potential to screw this up is too great for me to not feel anxious. I leave the Saturday after next for one week. Naturally, it's the worst week for me to be 100s of miles away from a system with Final Cut Pro on it.

Wedding Story
Several degrees of Tennessee separation landed me a pretty interesting gig that has dominated the majority of my time since my last update. Long story short: I'm putting together a short documentary for an engaged couple about their roller coaster of an 11 yr relationship - interviewing family and friends (including this guy). They're finally tying the knot next week and they want to play this thing at the their reception at the end of the month. There's way too much to tell about this project so I won't even bother. They're great people and I'm having a good time working for them. The editing is going to be a little daunting given how much footage there is and how little time I have to put it together but the days are going to pass one way or another so we'll see what happens.

Building a Legacy (working title)
Now, that project isn't even over but they've already recommended me to a close friend of theirs, JG. He's a surprisingly altruistic real estate developer putting up a couple of luxury high rise condos on the upper east side (i know i know, whats so charitable about that...trust me, he is). One of the buildings (well, the model apt anyway) is set to launch while I'm in Brazil. So as far as that goes, I'm just putting together a profile of his company and their philosophy for his personal use (maybe extending to a post on their website). The real project is going to be a more in depth documentation on the construction of his next project a few blocks away. It's just a hole in the ground right now but he wants to capture a behind the scenes look at real estate development in Manhattan 2007. Could be pretty interesting given what a character this guy is. Takes me back to when i first began pondering the potential of working for LDE.

(Wow. That was three years ago next Thursday. I'll have to remember to write some sort of Docuboy thank you letter with the other guys. Really wouldn't be anywhere without those guys.)

But yeah, the best part about the Development Documentary is that I'm finally getting paid something closer to what the average money grubbing, union loving videographer makes these days.

Ok. this is why I haven't updated in such a long time. I wanted to clean my room and actually cook dinner and it's already 930pm. I guess cleaning will have to wait. agh.

Also, Alanis Morissette covering "My Hump" ?!? Surprisingly, this is genius.

Hey it was a surprise to me too.

2007-03-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm off to our meeting at MTV to discuss the idea of a series about gaming culture...

...?!?

more on this and everything else later.

IMDb Credit #2

2007-03-12T11:38:00.000-04:00

Now in the correct department. Ah, Nunsensations, you maker of days and spinner of dreams.

Crap.

2007-03-09T16:36:00.000-05:00

Paul got tails. I could have used that $750.

Lazy Bastard Friday Afternoon

2007-03-09T15:53:00.000-05:00

Been almost a week since I got back. Feeling decreasingly weird about it as the days go by and I have some downtime to just do nothing but scale and topple all 16 Colossi to my heart's content.

My memories of the shoot seem exponentially further and further away. On Sunday, it was just a day ago. On Monday, a week ago. Tuesday, a month, etc. So now, a century later, I can barely recall 6am crew calls with breakfast served a half hour earlier. I'd be sad about it but there's just too much other crap to worry about.

Namely This Brazil Thing.

From The Top: As we were filming the behind scenes stuff for Tennessee, Owens and I would pull certain humorous clips and beauty shots to cut together a short video to sort of recap the entire experience. This would then be played for the crew at the wrap party and, theoretically, for a few short hours anyway, everyone would love (read: not hate) us and forget about the fact that we were constantly underfoot and carefully documenting every time they got in trouble with each other for one reason or another. But seriously, it was our one opportunity to have our position validated in the eyes of Basically Everyone.

As per usual, things had to go through The Boss for his approval. Not that we minded of course, there was nothing so scandalous/awesome that we would have really minded losing. As the DVD began spinning in his trailer, a bunch of higher ups began filtering in unexpectedly: The Investor, Some Producers, The Director...even The Director's Wife. I'll skip on the ego stroking that leads up to the factual objective part where people where, after it was over, people were left in or close to tears to the point where we were kicked out immediately.

Apparently some favorable things were said and, on the final night of filming, The Boss says The Investor would like to speak with me. Long story short: She and her husband (charitable billionaires) support an I-Guess-Ancient tribe in the middle of the Brazilian rain forest. This essentially amounts to paying people to not cut down the part of the forest where they live and have lived for ages without any of the trappings of modern society. The crazy part is that they want us to fly down there with them in April to document their involvement with these people in hopes of getting other Money Folk interested in lending a stack of thousands or two.

At least, I thought it was us.

The tiny plane they'll be taking to fly deep into the jungle only has enough room for one of us.

Paul just showed up and we have to flip a coin for who gets to go. shit.

Strangers In The Fields

2007-03-02T23:32:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of filming on Tennessee.

The title of this post had nothing to do with anything, it's just the name of the Bill Fay track I'm currently listening to. But, what the hell, I'll try and weave some sort of bullshit connection. I've got about two minutes to write so I'll keep it short.

I've never been as eager to get back to New York as I am right now (and now, and now, etc) but there's the obvious drawback of having all these new people (with whom I only just started to become genuinely friendly) jerked away to be seen again who knows when. Thankfully New York is a place that people in this business frequent or at least end up in at some semi-foreseeable point.

Up to this point, we've mostly been a general nuisance on set. We don't have a job that has any actual bearing on the production of the film which always sets us slightly apart. In a way, we're little more than glorified gawkers with the exception of our knowledge of Final Cut Pro. Tonight is the night where we (hopefully) get to show everyone that what we did wasn't a colossal waste of time and that we have some degree of competence. We've prepared a video to show at tonight's wrap party. One that shows all the places we've been, highlights all (or as close to it as possible) the crew members, and some of the funnier moments from production...

well. I'm out of time. My next post should be from Brooklyn.

Exit Wounds

2007-02-25T11:56:00.000-05:00

quick update from the Albuquerque airport. On my way to Nashville for the final week of filming for Tennessee. Kind of ready to get this all over with and get back to all things New York.

I saw a bagel out here that made me want to cry.

Flying Hoagie = ...Success?

2007-02-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

When (sorry, if) you think about how the wealthy must live, you (or at least, I) tend to imagine something along the lines of Dean Martin in that movie where he has a circular mechanical bed that rolls him towards the opposite side of his room, tilts up, and gently tips him into a giant swimming pool full of bubbles.

In the back of your mind, you know scenarios such as these aren't that far off the mark but it doesn't actually register until you witness it firsthand and say to yourself, "wow, people really do do that."

Yesterday, a very large box (actually, several boxes taped together) from The Higher Ups in Philadelphia arrived addressed to a Higher Up (also from Philly, originally) on set. I know the title of this post, much like the working title of The Usual Suspects ("Keyser Spacey"), kind of gave away the ending but the package was filled with all the trashy (read: delicious) comfort foods the City of Brotherly Love could muster.

As the box was being torn open like a nintendo 64 on christmas, there was some speculation as to what the gift had in store. Sure enough there were sodas and snack foods synonymous with the region like Frank's Black Cherry Wishniak and TastyKakes, respectively (click here for more) but none of that was particularly impressive.

It wasn't until he pulled out a soft, vaguely roll shaped hunk of plastic that things took a turn for the absurd. Not only did it contain a giant, fresh, and picture perfect italian hoagie, but a little vial of oil as well. They even went the extra mile by wrapping the bread in a different piece of vacuum sealed plastic so the meat wouldn't make it soggy on the flight from Pennsylvania to New Mexico.

And yes, there was a cheesesteak too. No word on whether it was Pat's or Gino's but I can only assume it was the former since the rest of the package didn't seem hell bent on offending the decent average joe's culinary sensibilities (like everything from Gino's does)...I'm kidding of course, I could care less about that ridiculous rivalry.

So it's true. Rich people really do fly food across the country for other rich people.

Also, speaking of flying, rich, and this movie: I have no idea if this is true, but I feel like we would have heard about it if this had actually happened.

Off to set.

Also, Ent3rtainment Tonight sucks. More on this later.

feh

2007-02-13T13:13:00.000-05:00

not much has been happening over the last two weeks (hence the lack of updates). Shooting has been pretty straightforward and there aren't any major events of which I can speak. We passed the 15-hour-day mark yesterday...today looks to be more of the same since no other day has more scenes scheduled...

I'll probably have something more to say when it comes time to shoot the car chase scene...something about exploding dirt...?

I did get a chance to see some of the dailies though and aside from the great photography, this looks like it's shaping up to be a pretty decent film. I'll withhold my final judgment till something is actually cut together but there's some good acting afoot.

Starting to get homesick.

Just Shake The Stripper'sHand

2007-02-01T10:11:00.000-05:00

Then leave. Right away.

There isn't much I can say about Moriarity, New Mexico. Most of it was blanketed by a fresh snowfall but I get the feeling the average passerby wouldn't have even noticed the placed existed if it hadn't been, if that makes any sense.

The location of yesterday's shoot was located just off Exit 203 on 40 East. It consisted of three things: A Diner, A Seedy Motel, and A Topless Bar. That's it. Oh, there were the fun, family themed camp grounds on the opposite side of I-40 but other than that, snow just stretched on towards the horizon in all directions.

I want to recount some crazy story from the set but the truth is, this crew is so organized that we're having a pretty tough time as far as the documentary goes. Anytime a problem crops up, it gets resolved so quickly and so efficiently that the dramatic tension just falls flat on its face.

Still, this first week has been pretty basic so I shouldn't expect too much. There's still a car chase, stowing away on a freight train, a fight scene or two, and the two main characters stretched out on the runway as airplanes pass directly overhead (Wayne's World?) to look forward to. Speaking of car chases, I am sad to announce that B. Mac is no longer part of the cast. They're still working on alternatives (they have until next week till his character begins shooting) so I won't say who for now. But where was I...

Ah yeah, the topless bar. I didn't bother to look up the name (foolish, because it would have been hilarious, I'm sure) but the inside was everything you could possibly hope for in strip club in The Middle Of Nowhere, New Mexico. The decor (if you can call it that with a straight face), the patrons, the scantily clad girls from the local community college...all of it smacked of Hollywood artificiality - I really thought I was on some sort of carefully studied (perhaps even overly so) film set...but no, these people were the real deal. There was even a crude hand drawn sign over the front door that read "No Prostitution" in thin green marker.

I know what you're thinking, what business did I have in there (the woman in charge of catering certainly had some raised eyebrows and "What Would Your Mother Say?" type queries for us later)? But understand that it was the only place large enough to accommodate the crew for meals throughout the day. So that morning, while I was eating a vegetable omelette 10 yards away from a dance pole while listening to AC/DC's "Hell's Bells," I didn't think it could get any more surreal.

It was topped only by the director leading "me" (read: the camera) away from the set in the diner, through the kitchen, and beyond a back door that opened up directly into the back of the topless bar where a hefty woman in a fluorescent pink (black lights and all) g string was gyrating to Rammstein's "Du Hast." Not that anyone in there realized it was completely inappropriate to pair attempts at arousal with a rejection of traditional German wedding vows (thanks, Internet!) but whatever allows for the most pelvic thrusts I guess...?

Even weirder was after we had wrapped for the day and Owens and I stopped in for a quick sip before embarking on an hour long trip through a snowfall so thick and fast that it was just enough to be a serious hindrance without becoming downright dangerous. Sorry that wasn't really a sentence. But yeah, we were in there for all of 10 minutes when MC's "Heartbreaker" came on. If only it had happened an hour or two earlier when she (undoubtedly) poked her head in for a laugh.

As for the stripper? I didn't catch her name but she approached the table where Owens and I were seated (Space Balls 2: The Search For More Money) and we introduced ourselves. A word of advice to my friend Jason if you're reading this: Steer clear of titty bars in Moriarty. You're only going to remind that poor freshman girl of the two guys who booked it about two seconds after she smiled and said, "I'll be right back."

Eve of (Self) Destruction

2007-01-28T22:55:00.000-05:00

Well, getting ready to turn in.

Tomorrow is the first day of principal photography on Tennessee. Aside from the occasional bump in the road, things have proceeded along a considerably smoother track than the last time we went down this path. There are a number of things I could attribute this to but they'd all probably get me fired so it's best to let it be for now.

It hadn't occurred to me since I decided to write this sentence but I'm kind of looking forward to the pre-dawn call times, the seemingly interminable 12-14+ hour work days, the constant feeling of "hurry up and wait" that seems to define the making of any film with a budget exceeding $1,000. Maybe it's just the 3 catered meals a day and all the traveling to places I'd never go otherwise.

Things have slowed with the Blip Fest editing...eh, not much to report otherwise.

tired. hopefully I'll have something worth saying after the first day of shooting. good evening.

blast level 3

2007-01-23T00:10:00.000-05:00

too lazy for titles today. just picked the first thing itunes' randomizer came up with. A weekend of cutting yielded two more Blip Fest videos (one for Bud Melvin, another for Portalenz). At this rate, things should come together in a timely fashion.

There's a The Album Leaf show here in Albuquerque on Wednesday so I definitely won't be missing out on that since the list of activities in this town seem to lie somewhere between Nothing and Not-Being-Hit-By-A-Flaming-Blimp-Counting-As-Something. Naturally I got us lost on the way to an open house at the brand new studio in town....apparently it's one of the premier production facilities in the country. figures.

Things with Tennessee are going fine. Thanks to the trust we've established over the last few years since we first started working with LDE, we're able to be present for a lot more. Today we got to sit in on and record the table reading (the cast actors get together with the writer/director/producer and read through the entire movies and discuss)...an interesting process that many don't ever give much thought to if they even know about it.

What else what else...I'm getting a little tired on account of notmuchsleep last night. Our good pal Stephen (with whom we bonded as production on Shadowboxer neared its conclusion about 2.5 years ago) should be in town tomorrow. That'll be fun.

Entourage/USK

2007-01-20T23:43:00.001-05:00

Eh. The lack of updates is owed largely to two frustrations. One was pure hell, the other is a bit of a masochistic pleasure. Long story short, I spent a stressful couple of hours (stretched over two days) trying to restore some lost information on one of my boss' computers.

The other involves synchronizing multiple angles of the same performance from the blip festival...In case this wasn't made clear earlier, I brought a bunch of Blip Fest tapes, my new Western Digital 500GB drive, and my computer to New Mexico. The plan is to edit all weekend and shoot for Tennessee during the week. Owens and I will probably take one weekend off before we leave NM to investigate the surrounding mountains so that's something to look forward to.

Anyway, getting back to the other frustration: Editing. Because the particular act in question (Portalenz) didn't really have individual "songs," but a steady and organic development of various themes and refrains over the course of a 30 minute set, I'm trying to condense the entire thing into about 5 minutes by isolating each progression, deleting the parts where they repeat them, and then stitching them all together...it just barely makes sense to me, don't worry. The good news is that, when done correctly, it works well. Well enough that it's worth the pain in the ass, anyway.

So my enthusiasm for the project was supposed to carry me through the night but I feel a headache coming on. I already cut one video today for Bud Melvin (I've got a link to a track of his a few entries back...) so maybe that's enough for now.

Things are proceeding as usual with preproduction. money. casting. etc.

Some snow today. And a so so burrito. I'm sleeping.

More editing tomorrow morning. Maybe something a little more laid back?

Live From New [Mexico], It's...

2007-01-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

I had to actually wake up in Albuquerque before I felt confident enough to say that the Behind The Scenes documentary for Tennessee has finally begun.

From what little I was able to see from the window of our descending airplane and our ride from the hotel to the production office, I can already tell that the combination of rock formations and various points along the earth's rotation around the sun are going to produce some very exciting visual results that stand a chance at living up to the hype of all my google image searches of "new mexico desert sunset."

So we've come in towards the tail end of preproduction. The cast is arriving, fittings and rehearsals will fill up the space between now and next wednesday when principal photography begins. I believe there are roughly 20 days of shooting planned out over the next few weeks but that's always subject to change. I know it seems odd that the film is titled as it is when we're only spending a quarter of our time in the state of Tennessee but, given my current surroundings, I have little reason to complain.

Oh speaking of casting, Owens and I were met with quite the surprise when we looked over the wall of headshots of all the actors in the film. Well, I'll let the picture speak for itself.

He's only playing a small part as far as I know but I gotta say, those two or three days of Bernie Mac are going to be amazing.

You know, the whole reason I decided to start this blog was so I could provide day to day updates on Tennessee. Took long enough.

VGL On GameTrailers.com!

2006-12-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

Wow. I can't believe it actually happened.

click on the image boxed in red above when you get to this page

I'm so accustomed to teases, delays, and broken promises...I don't know how to respond to this.

So the trailer was released last night. Over the next month, Game Trailers has the exclusive rights to release Episodes 1-3 on a weekly basis. After that, everyone else (at this point: VGL's official site and MTV) will be able to post it on their respective sites. I'm still holding my breath on those but it's hard not to take this as a sign of encouragement.

I'm a little distracted at the moment with houseguests and such but I wanted to post about this before it was too late.

One cool thing: In the 12 or so hours since it was posted, it's already been seen 10,000 times. My favorite comment so far?

"Hey Tommy, I think this is great, will be even BETTER if it featured some heavy metal/rock bands to perform those game-songs. But for me it's all futile, because you will never go to Israel. Damn, nothing interesting ever happens here."

- BillyWicked

(4 Nights) x (8 Bits) = 32 Sets

2006-12-10T12:35:00.000-05:00

I think this picture does a pretty good job of summing up the spirit of the Blip Festival.

About halfway through his set, Tristan Perich descended into the audience with his drum kit in tow and invited everyone to get on stage so that he'd be completely surrounded by a throbbing mass of head bobbing. As people made their way around, I quickly jumped up and staked my claim on the spot directly behind him, shooting out into the audience with Tristan's back in the foreground.

Just I was getting situated, I felt a tap on my shoulder and found Random getting my attention on someone else's behalf. I looked off to where he was pointing and saw Paul L standing on top of a speaker and motioning wildly at the one dinky clamp light we were using to light up the performers from the front (clearly, there was no shortage of backlight) so that I would turn it towards Tristan.

So that brings us up to date on the picture.

As for the rest of the fest:
(open this link in a new tab/window and continue reading)
What can I say? It was amazing. Easily the most fun I've ever had shooting anything. In all honesty, it may not be some of the best camera operating I personally have ever done (self deprecating/biased/bullshit, etc) but the projection work coupled with the LED display created such incredible visuals that an armless man armed (hah) with a cell phone camera could still come away with great looking footage.

I won't bother with doing a write up on each act because really, how many different ways can I say "that was (expletive used as an intensive) (positive adjective) (# of ! of your choice)" ? Loyal readers, more or less, know the deal by now - musicians using sound chips from gameboys/nintendos/etc to create original music, so I won't bother getting into all that.

However, I should mention some of the other more unorthodox (not that there's anything orthodox about Chiptunes to begin with...) performances. For example, you're currently listening to "Sun Salutation" by Bud Melvin - one of my favorite Artists I'd Never Heard Of Prior To The Festival. I can just see Banjo and Gameboy on their 50th anniversary, talking about how they met on a blind date through their mutual friend Bud and knew, right then and there, that they had finally found their other half. Brings a tear to your eye, right? More like a smile to the ear.

Other moments of intense greatness came from Kplecraft, a duo from Japan (I should quickly mentioned that people, aritsts and audience members alike, came from around the world for this thing) who supplemented their gameboy compositions with live performances on alto saxophone and bongos. Others introduced (to name a few) kazoos, vocals, guitars (electric & acoustic), and PC keyboards to mix.

Curious about the last one?

Unfortunately, this video had to be removed for legal reasons. Sorry kids.

Click Image to see Nullsleep perform "Her Lazer Light Eyes"

This video is merely a rough cut but will appear in the feature length film we're planning (more on that in a sec). Because we had three cameras shooting simultaneously for the entire show, I was interested to see how a straightforward cut would look. Basically, I synced up the three clips (only using the footage from that song) and cut them as thought I was editing live television on a switchboard. It turned out pretty well for a first cut but we'll go back later and grab select shots from other songs in his set and place them where appropriate. Nullsleep's will probably be the most difficult to fine tune in that regard since he only used the keyboard for one song. Still, should be fun.

As for the feature: Our first priority is putting together a feature on the festival itself. This will include a song (in full) from the 10 artists that best portray the wide variety of acts present at the festival. This will be intercut with behind the scenes footage of all the artists hanging out and a group interview with the three guys who put the whole thing together. Once that's ready to go, we will begin sending it around to various film festivals that cater to music performance documentaries (South By Southwest is a good example - I read that the piece about Los Lonely Boys was well received there although I don't know if it's about them in general or based around one performance). I should mention that we will show a little bit of the remaining 22 acts to give a full sense of the scope but, due to time constraints, we can't give everyone their full 15 Minutes...er, more like 4 or 5 but you get the idea.

After the feature: We immediately begin work on the DVD. From the very beginning, this was always meant to be the end result of all our efforts. We wanted something that people who missed this year's show could pick up and, more excitingly (to me anyway), be sold at next year's event. The DVD will also include a ton of supplemental material highlighting the work of all the projection artists (which, unfairly, often goes un or underappreciated) and a short explanation of how the LED board is programmed. There were also some workhops at the festival (during the day) that break down how this music is made so that will definitely find its way in there. I'm sure there will be others as time goes on but those are the big ones we have planned so far.

In addition to all that: To show all the artists how much we appreciate them, we will cut a video for all 32 musicians/groups. They can put it on their website, on youtube, wherever. Should be a nice way of a) showing our gratitude for being allowed to film this epic event and b) get our fingers and names into a bunch of different fan bases.

okay this entry is getting too long. there's more I could say but I'll stop for now. And just incase there was any doubt, know that Random brought the house down.

Brip Fest!

2006-12-03T16:08:00.000-05:00

the final night of Blip Festival has arrived.

The past three days have been pretty amazing.

My attempts at articulating praise worthy of the event fall pathetically short so I won't even bother.

I'll put it to you this way: In the days since the festival began, I've nearly drained my bank account, taken a sound beating in the battle against carpal tunnel, and my PowerBook died but I remain positive and excited about the next 8 hours.

now I just have to figure out how the hell I'm going to get a computer and drive to edit all (truth: half) this footage.

Expect Delays

2006-11-04T18:24:00.000-05:00

Right so as expected, there's no link to either MTV or Gametrailers.

We're still waiting to hear back on the format they want.

But this is exactly what I was talking about. This is why it's so hard to get excited about anything.

I'm going to keep this entry short out of disappointment.

But before I go, here's a link to a short piece of what remains of our Shadowboxer documentary. I've never really heard of MoviesOnline but it seems pretty run of the mill. I want to be more enthusiastic about this but, after looking at that list of other videos ("Interview Flushed Away Directors" "Hugh Jackman talks Wolverine" & "Jack Black is NOT the Green Lantern" ), it's hard to imagine anyone giving a crap about "L33 Dani3ls* & The Zebra."

*damn you google.

What Dreams May Come And Go

2006-10-27T16:39:00.000-04:00

I've often pointed out (the obvious by stating) that nothing in this business is certain unless it's already happened. And, even then, some things remain unclear. Our experiences with the Shadowboxer documentary are a testament to this.

2 years ago, HBO, Showtime, BET...they all once held the promise of our debut into the industry with a fairly no holds barred and sui generis "Making Of...". Now you have to buy the Canadian version of the DVD to see a (seriously compromised) third of our original hour and forty minute documentary. We never ended up going to document The Mule in Amsterdam with Stephen Dorff and Sean Astin. We should have been trekking across the country shooting the documentary for Tennessee a year ago but they still have yet to lock down a firm cast to this day. Everyone's always "interested" and they always "love what they've seen so far."

These all seemed like broken promises and I became increasingly frustrated with each new setback. But I've come to realize that it's not about acceptance. It's about recognizing this as an inherent part of the process. In other words, I shouldn't have expected otherwise when everyone else goes through the same thing on a regular basis.

All that being said, you can understand why I remain skeptical about gametrailers.com (essentially the apple.com/trailers of the video game world) and MTv.com picking up the trailer and episodes we made for Video Games Live. Tommy outdid himself this time and hooked us up with spots as front page features on both sites. We actually just finished applying MTv's notes to the trailer so it can go online next week and I still think it's all some cruel joke. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't jiinx it by dreaming up pessimistic scenarios...Yes. Let's stop here and just be happy.

Oh wait. Just so there's no confusion about all this (since some people have asked), there is currently no money involved in this deal. There's a possibility that MTV will ask us to combine the 3 episodes and develop into a full 22 minute episode for their network but we'll see how this goes first. According to their stats, during the three weeks our videos will be up, they expect about 15-20 million unique visitors. An extreme exaggeration sure but at the very least, it could very well mean 1 million unique visitors in actual figures...so yeah, that's...ehhh... good.

Other things worth noting: my cousin at illusivemedia is currently designing a great website for 2 player productions to coincide with the release of the webisodes. I'll be sure to post a big announcement once it's ready. We're all in Jersey at Paul's place right now. Seeing Dino from Chromelodeon, Anamanaguchi, and The Depreciation Guild tomorrow night in Philly. Should be a good time.

Also, I got a crockpot for my birthday yesterday. Good looking, msb. It's going to be a hearty winter.

Blip Festival: Intros'n'Addendums + Other Things

2006-10-19T15:08:00.000-04:00

Longest dinner of my life.

Hopefully, this entry will effectively complement and provide closure to the last two posts. I've been pretty vague about things so let's see if I can tie up some loose ends.

Blip Festival (Nov 30-Dec 3)
I think it's safe to say things are pretty much confirmed for our involvement with a four day festival celebrating all things chiptunes *. We're going to cover the entire thing and release it as an official DVD. We're still working out the details with The Tank and 8bitpeoples (the festival's parents) regarding ownership and distribution but the time for that will come later. For now, I'm just glad that a) it's happening and b) we're covering it. The day after he told me about it (approximately one month ago, after the last Pulsewave show), I emailed the Tank's director of electronic music to express our interest in shooting the event.

Apparently, they were just talking amongst themselves about hiring a video crew for documentation purposes. I was relieved to know it was going to be us but horrified that it was such a close call. Because really, if I had to deal with losing that gig to someone else in addition to finding out about the other documentary within the same week, I may have slipped into a very serious 2-or-3-day depression (during which, I'd probably do and say really stupid, regrettable things).

But why the big fuss? If you bothered to follow the link, you'd see that the Blip Festival is the biggest event (30 artists from around the globe and counting) this particular music scene has ever had anywhere in the world for as long as it's been around . And, given how rabid the fans in Japan and Sweden are, it's an incredible stroke of luck that it's happening right here in New York. Those who know me know that I don't particularly care for the concept of [God]'s Will or whatever brand of fatalism people subscribe to these days but I have to believe that I did something good to end up as the benefactor of this kind of coincidence.

Right so, the process of putting together a feature length DVD and distributing it internationally is going to serve as an excellent warm up for what we can expect with Play. That and the show is almost guaranteed to blow my mind.

Olde English Rules

This next bit has next-to-nothing to do with me (save the three or four frames in which I can be seen) but is more important than anything else I plan on talking about in this particular entry. The guys transformed the multipurpose room in our apartment into the set for a featured video on youtube.
It's only been up a few days but the View Count has already climbed past 216,000 and garnered a number of #1 Honors. Impressive and definitely deserved. If you haven't seen it and could use a good laugh, check it out (hi-res version).

Video Games Live

I just got back from a few days of editing with the guys in Jersey. Things are finally nearing some sort of forseeable end with the VGL Webisodes. We've got versions (ranging from Done to Possibly In Need Of A Complete Revision) of the trailer and all three installments cut together and plan on having everything wrapped up by the end of next week. I'll have more news on this after that point in time. And, speaking of official DVDs, Tommy is planning on having the Brazil performance filmed by a professional crew with real equipment (cranes, jibs, etc) for an eventual DVD release...we're seeing if we can get in on the editing process since he mentioned that he wanted us to be involved in some way.
PLAY

With everything else that's been going on, we've gotten a little sidetracked. Once this Video Games Live stuff is over, we'll focus on finishing the press kit...that is, assuming there's any time between then and whatever prep we need to do for Blip Fest.

---

Right so I think that's it for now. Hopefully, I'll find some spare time to cut together a video for one of the artists performing at Blip Fest and see if they'll play it in the background for that song in lieu of the work of the projection artists that will be part of each night's performance. Won't say who for now. time to go.

Shouldn'a Left You, Left You, Without a...

2006-10-12T16:39:00.000-04:00

Things have been quiet for a while for a number of reasons. To be completely honest, a lot of that can be attributed to alternating bouts of procrastination, excessive gaming (Dave just bought Okami), and playing catch up on some editing. But more important than all that is that the fact that I wasn't ready to talk about a lot of the stuff I wanted to tell you.

There have been a lot of empty promises regarding updates over the last week so, to all those to whom it applies, my apologies. Here, in no particular order, is what's going on:

[8-Bit] Not To Be Confused With [Play]

Doesn't really make sense to start anywhere else. If you and I haven't spoken over the course of 2006 thus far, you should know that I've been working on Play, a documentary about video game music. It covers the progression of music within games, exposes the various niche genres it's spawned among a generation of musicians who grew up with Mario, and examines the effect it's had on more "mainstream" artists (Beck / David Bowie, if I had to rattle some examples off the top of my head).
We'll be speaking with professional composers from around the world, video game cover bands, rock/funk/jazz/rap/etc groups'n'aritsts that incorporate 8 bit sounds into their work, independent musicians who repurpose old video game hardware to create their own original compositions* (see "Random" in the Recent Video section on the left), and so on and so on. Sounds interesting...it's been going on in one form or another for nearly 25-30 years but it's still very underground...your average viewtiful joe hasn't really seen it before, right? Wrong.
About 3 weeks ago, Owens, M, and I went the September Pulsewave show. Pulsewave is a monthly event held here in New York at The Tank, a non-profit performance space. For the most part, it caters to the Chiptune crowd (see * above). This would be the first Pulsewave show we'd attended where we weren't filming the event. We were free to relax and enjoy the music. It was one of those rare moments where you're almost guaranteed a good time. Unfortunately, that was also the night we found out someone else had already made "8-Bit," a documentary about the cultural impact of video game music, and it was premiering at the MoMA in less than a month.

You can insert whatever metaphor for shock your comfortable with here. I think the sensation of a sock full of loose change to the groin is appropriate. Actually, that little montage in the beginning of Return Of The King that shows how Smeagol withered away into the Gollum we all recognize and love works too. And we wept, precious.

But not for long. The guys came up to NY and we saw the film. It was good. But it wasn't our film. We were dealing with a much broader scope. It was as though they had taken a portion of our intentions and stretched it out into a feature. I could break down the entire kaliadescope of emotions I felt leading up to, right before, and during the movie piece by piece but what's the point? Speaking in the most basic terms, 8-Bit takes a more PBS style art critic approach and keeps its distance while our perspective is on the same level as the scene...more of a paean to video game music.

anyway, there's a lot more to discuss. I'm meeting some friends for dinner. I'll be back.

Bizzy Busy Busey

2006-10-04T11:14:00.000-04:00

Things are moving along nonstop. I don't have much time to write. The poetry festival went really well. Working on what seems to be an incredibly elaborate Olde English video today. Meeting with Bit Shifter tomorrow to discuss the details regarding 2 Player Productions creating an official DVD for Blip Fest, a 3 day chiptune festival in NY dec 1-3. Shooting audience reaction shots for a taped Broadway (possibly Off) performance on Friday & Saturday. Sunday I get back to working on webisodes for Video Games Live. Continue cutting together the EPK for PLAY a week from today when Paul and Owens come back to NYC. Making plans to go to Virginia Beach for a few days for the end of Ramadan. Possibly having a party. Possibly leaving for Tennessee by the end of this month (cue howling studio audience)...no really, this is the one solid bit of info we've had in a while and it doesn't come from the production company. Apparently, Mariah C. (damn you, google) has cancelled the UK leg of her tour to do the movie. A drastic move.

Ok have to go.

I also finally bought Only Revolutions. Don't know when I'm going to have 5 spare seconds to read it.

The Departed

2006-09-26T03:21:00.000-04:00

3:15 am. Final color correction done. Laundry folded n shelved. Suitcase packed. Bed made with freshly washed sheets, pillowcases, and comforters. Long Warm-To-Cold shower. Ears thorougly q-tipped.

Enough neuroses have now been satisfied to result in a deep and relaxing, albeit short, sleep. I will conclude this entry in the style of Dr. Manhattan.

It is five hours from now. I am having breakfast and getting ready to leave. It is six days later and I am coming home after a long day.

So long.

be back oct 1st

Hell Patch / Prosperous Times

2006-09-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

Things have been busy. No particular order.

Yesterday, I picked up my First/Definitely-Not-Last feverdreaming shirt designed by the (seemingly) effortlessly talented Laurence Laufer.

click here to see detail

Now I finally have something gamey to wear for this month's Pulsewave show. I'm always reluctant to buy any mass produced video game tshirts because the odds that one or two other people in a room of 50 will be wearing the same thing are too high. Because I live within 30 miles of a Hot Topic (who doesn't these days?), having a shirt custom made seems to be the only viable solution. I know it's silly to worry about Indie Cred once you've reached your 20s but with this crowd, a good shirt is like a flag. It's memorable (if it's unique) and invites conversation. That comes in handy when you're looking to meet potential subjects for a documentary you're working on.

At the very least, I can spread drum up some business for Laurence.

Speaking of Pulsewave, I can't express how good it feels to be attending tomorrow night's show as an audience member for once. I'm sure I've talked about how covering an event with a camera really removes you from the actual experience so I'll leave it at that and move on.

What else...? Like every other film-person-with-a-blog out there I feel compelled to mention that Sven Nykvist passed away the other day. I lack the eloquence and authority to deliver a fitting eulogy so, in the true fashion of my generation, I will link you to his bio page on imdb.

PA GIG

Jason got Owens and I spots as Production Assistants for the camera crews covering this year's Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo Village (Stanhope, NJ). I'll be leaving next Wednesday on the 27th and returning Oct. 1st with a nice chunk of change in my pocket. Rural Setting + Fall Weather + Contacts + Money = something to look forward to.

Of course, it means that we're really going to have to work around the clock on cutting stuff for Video Games Live.

VGL

I may or may not have mentioned this ealier but my external drive had a brush with death the other week. I was able to recover all my important Final Cut Pro project files (which preserves all my editing) but lost ALL the actual footage associated with those edits...this means hours upon hours of re-importing everything...an arduous task I'm not exactly thrilled about. I could have paid someone to do a full retrieval but that would have cost me about $1,300 since they price according to the size of your drive and I have a 250 GB drive. Thankfully, I'll be able to afford a new one with the money from the poetry PA gig and use my current one as a backup since I no longer consider its firewire 800 ports reliable.

Anyway, back to VGL. Owens is coming back to NY tonight and we're going to cut the remaining 2-out-of-3 "Webisodes" for promoting VGL. The trailer we put together will be released Oct. 1st and the 3 Behind The Scenes shorts will be released one at a time over the following three weeks. This will all lead up to their UK show in November. Best of all, he will put "2 Player Productions" front and center for this stuff so we can expect some more myspace friends over the course of the coming month.

Talking about this next part may be a bit premature so I'll keep it brief. Tommy wants to put an actual DVD of the performance together for distribution. 5 or 6 cameras, cranes, jibs, the works. Long story short, he wants us to be involved in some capacity.

So yeah that's pretty cool.
I really need to get to work.

Crazy Times

2006-09-21T03:25:00.000-04:00

Hm. It's about 3:40am right now. I'm getting to the point where I won't be able to feel fatigue for another four or five hours if I don't go to bed now.

2 Long stories short:

Owens and I went out to Philly yesterday to meet up with Jim for a few days to work on our latest LDE assignment. It was the first time all The Docuboys had been together in about 7 months and probably close to a year since we all worked together on something at the same time. We cut together the first version of "Inside Shadowboxer," a new bonus interview (a good one this time) with our boss that will be featured on the Director's Cut DVD for international distribution...sadly, many of you probably won't see it since I imagine they'll be giving it the olde PAL treatment. Typical.

After parting ways with Jim on, what was it...tuesday? Levering picked us up and we drove up to Brooklyn. We've spent the last 30 or so hours completely immersed in all things PLAY. We've been cutting together our Electronic Press Kit & indulging in unhealthy levels of optimism regarding the film's potential and planning out the office we hope to buy with the money we hope to make from the film we hope sees the light of day let alone gets made.

Ok I should stop before I talk about how amazing that office would be...actually owning a townhouse with a screening room / editing suite, small scale recording studio, and meeting room with the top floors reserved for living quarters we'd never have to pay rent for again?

(Alright stop, you moron.)

imdb

2006-09-18T18:41:00.000-04:00

it's not much (right now) but it is me.

They could have at least mentioned I was operating camera even if it was like...H, I, or J Cam...

Tip Me Over, Pour Me Out #21

2006-09-17T11:01:00.000-04:00

The webcomic I guest illustrated is up:

TMOPMO #21

The interview with Bitshifter/Nullsleep/Tugboat went well on wednesday. Things have been pretty busy with the Docuboys reunion (first time we've all been together in about 7 months...probably longer in a working context). I'll write some more some other time...

Piram

2006-09-07T09:49:00.000-04:00

the show I'm going to on sunday will sound like this

What's The Rumpus?

2006-09-06T12:06:00.000-04:00

No time for entries today. Today is devoted to TMOPMO.

It's probably for the best. I just watched a Coen brothers movie yesterday so I'd be tempted to make my writing as quirky as possible only to fail miserably (lame).

In the meantime, check out this awesome animated homage to classic arcade games.

Svankmajer must be proud.

Also, saw Ratatat for free last night. Good times.

Pleading Insanity

2006-09-05T08:26:00.000-04:00

I just spent more money than I should have on nosebleed seats at a concert featuring living legends of the jazz world. Some people would pay that price just to sit in the aisle if they got to see Masada (John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, & Joey Baron). Truth be told, I wouldn't be one of those people - not at this price. I am, however, willing to spend this much to see not one or two but four incarnations of Masada. In addition to the original group, there's:

Electric Masada - John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Ikue Mori, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron, Kenny Wollesen and Cyro Baptista

Masada String Trio - Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander and Greg Cohen
&
Kol Nidre featuring the Masada String Orchestra conducted by John Zorn

My friend Kaveh is pretty sure that his drum teacher has seen the likes of Miles Davis and Tony Williams live and still considers Masada to be one of the best shows he's ever seen...I'm kind of trembling in disbelief and excitement. It's going to be a little weird going alone and I imagine I'll be surrounded by a bunch of older people who really lived this scene growing up (which means I won't be able to hold a decent conversation with anyone) but I'll just shutup and enjoy the music...

this is next sunday.

New Video: 8 Bit Genocide

2006-09-02T17:29:00.000-04:00

Alright well, this is hardly a new video since it was shot* about 2.5 months ago but the image quality is a small step up from youtube and I promised to put it up a while ago.

So here it is.

8 Bit Genocide
[*by Owens and Jason]

Everytime I watch this video, I feel a sharp pang of regret over not being there.

Otherwise, things are slowly picking up again. Unfortunately, we had to scrap the Bitshifter/Nullsleep/Tugboat conversation for today - just couldn't pull everyone/thing together. We're going to try again for wednesday night. I'm taking it as an opportunity to really crank out some other things that have really started to gather dust on the shelf of my hard drive...namely the 30 minute cut of Video Games Live but also the 2 Player Productions website. I'd type more but I don't know what else to say.

"And i...Loved it."

2006-08-31T09:48:00.000-04:00

[Wisdom*]/ver10

When I took it out of the box yesterday, I felt like Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade when (he thinks) he's holding the Holy Grail. The score, the lighting, the soft focus...everything.

I know buying it was a ridiculous luxury expense but now that I've already enjoyed it on a perfect nighttime bike ride through the abandoned industrial backroads of Bushwick and on what is now a painless subway commute, I'm confident that I did not choose poorly.

*Incredible dork that I am, my ipod, external drive, and computer are named after the three pieces of the Triforce.

Post Script: Ugh. It's sad how this contest is slowly transforming this work blog into a more personal one but what the hell: I walked out my door this morning feeling happy for the first time in a long time. I suffer (in a completely non-clinical way) from reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder. The second the air gets colder/crisper, it's like waking up from the greatest nap of your life. Everything just feels better - I feel sharper and more productive while remaining relaxed and level headed. This is going to be a good Fall, I can tell.

Good Block / Bad Block

2006-08-30T09:58:00.000-04:00

Bad Block:
I don't care who's doing what songs. The cover of the soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas by the likes of Fall Out Boy and Marilyn Manson is not a good idea. Look it up if you don't believe me. I can already hear Patrick Stump mewling his way through "Jack's Lament" and Manson's same tired slurring and moaning (peppered with bouts of larynx shattering screams) bastardizing something like "Oogie Boogie's Song." Arggh...All I can think of in response to all this is the baby boomer I walked by in the West Village who, without a hint of irony, exclaimed, "W. T. F., right!?!"

Good Block:
Tomorrow's my last day in this office. It's as close as I ever hope to get to understanding the plight of the Wernham-Hogg gang. Also, I spent a good amount of time on TMOPMO last night and actually moved from the sketchbook to penciling the actual panels. Hope to finish inking tonight. No firm decisions on the interviews this weekend but we shall see.

I really need to buy a digital camera.

Sluggish

2006-08-29T02:13:00.000-04:00

It's about 2am right now. Just got back from some quality DVD Authoring/X-Files/Cold Pasta time with Jason...and when I say "quality," I mean dozing off in a reclining chair everytime something renders for longer than four minutes only to be interrupted by Jason tapping me on the shoulder inbetween pages of Astro City.

This would be a lot more enjoyable if I didn't have to put on a tie in 5 hours and waste the best part of the day at a desk.

They're In The Archives

2006-08-28T06:54:00.000-04:00

I used to keep track of PLAY's myspace hit/friend count on a weekly basis. It's been over a month now. Let's check it out.

Okay, my last recording was on July 26th:
696 friends (+24 from the previous week)
6082 (+321...)

Anytime we had any sort of publicity, whether it was the VGDJ podcast, the myspace interview, or the article in Metro, I would make a note of the date and see if it had a noticeable impact on the numbers.

Alright let's see, in the last month we've gone up to:
759 friends
7316 hits

hmm. I suppose that breaks down to something resembling our weekly average...an average that has consistently shrunk over the past month or so...make sense - this hasn't been a great month for production save that one meeting we had.

Alright, I suppose this qualifies as a post for now, lame as it was.
4 more days.

A New Olde Video

2006-08-27T08:40:00.000-04:00

And when I say "new," I mean May, 2006.

Father-Son Talk

( R.I.P., My Life In Park Slope).

There's something up with the image quality that makes me think we shot this with two different cameras but I honestly can't remember anymore. What I do remember is watching young yuppie families react to a bag of human blood. It's just about as funny as it sounds, no more, no less.

PLAY

I have cause to be excited. After a nearly 5 week hiatus, things are back on with the vgm documentary. The current tentative plan involves the other guys coming up to my place this weekend to shut ourselves in and edit, shoot, and sleep video games. This could also be the weekend we do the Bitshifter / Nullsleep / Tugboat conversation - a missing key element to our Electronic Press Kit. Rather than have a straight on, static shot interview, we're sitting these three guys down for a conversation. Jesse (Tugboat) will be our plant of sorts, asking the questions we come up with beforehand to get the katamari rolling and then take it from there.

Should be cool.

Warning Signs

2006-08-26T10:26:00.000-04:00

Clearly I never came back to address/edit the filler post from yesterday...what a shame. I get the feeling that's going to happen more often. Not that anyone reading this could care less but it does upset me.

PLAY

Deciding on a company logo for 2 Player Productions has proven to be a pain in the ass. We've been toying around with a number of ideas over the last few months but can't seem to settle. Below is an example of the kind of thing we've been tossing around and tweaking.

And, regardless of what the design is, criticisms like "phallic" "suggestive of homosexuality" or "won't look good on a business card" always find a way in there. Unfortunately, no combination of the readily available symbols (!@#$%^&*) can sufficiently convey my hair pulling frustration so I'll just leave it at this sentence and move on.

According to this morning's round of emails, it seems as though we're leaning towards going back to the simple, original two player arcade button. Apparently, the test audiences who have mistaken it for a restroom sign can "[get fucked] in the ear." Amen. Levering's got a good idea for an animated logo. More on that when we finish.

TENNESSEE

I actually had a dream about this last night. There was a phonecall. Pack your bags, we've got tickets to fly to New Mexico on November 1st. Most people don't remember a majority of their dreams. Unfortunately, the pure elation I felt upon hearing that news remains vivid and firmly entrenched within the folds of my frontal lobe. This disappointment will haunt me for the rest of the day.

Doorknob? Did we really say that?

2006-08-25T07:45:00.000-04:00

Here's my "safety" post for the day. I really hope this doesn't end up being it.

I'm Telling You Now, I'm Telling You Now

2006-08-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

Come September 12th, it's quite possible that, outside of film work, I may enter a very serious period of isolation for a few days.

Only Revolutions

A few years ago, a friend let me borrow Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves. I'll spare you the details of our sappy love story but just know that I don't think I'd ever been that consumed by a book since James and the Giant Peach, the first book I ever read in one sitting. I still remember how just one word at the end of a chapter gave me genuine chills, the slow, nauseating horror that crept over me as I decoded an encrypted letter contained in the book's text, and turning off the bedside lamp as the sunlight gradually filtered in through the curtains of my cousin's room in Bangladesh on the morning I read the last page.

Unfortunately, the book (along with the rest of my luggage) was lost en route to The States somewhere in depths of the Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Telling my friend I had lost his (and, for a time, my) prized book was one of the more embarrassing things I had to endure during my college years. Occasionally, I'll mentally revisit this incident and slap my forehead, remembering that, over two years later, I still have yet to replace it.

Perhaps I'll grab a copy when I pick up Only Revolutions.

One Week Away From Retirement...

2006-08-24T11:33:00.000-04:00

If the ole movie cop cliche is true, today is the day I die.

Hopefully I'll go out like the officer at the beginning of Last Action Hero (Favorite Second Cousin Frank's house blows up, impaled by palm tree, etc. incase you've forgotten). Who am I kidding? Surely everyone remembers that cinematic milestone.

But yes, it's true: There is officially one week left till I leave my first "Real World" job. Following a brief vacation (possibly DC), I'll be hitting to road everywhere within the triangle created by Westchester, PA, Virginia Beach, VA, and Franklinville, NJ to meet up with my partners and really bury myself in work that actually matters. You can expect more relevant updates once that period begins.

For now, you'll have to settle for this filler crap.

I don't even have a link for you today.

Post Script:
Katamari Damacy 3 should revolve around restoring Pluto's status as a planet.

Sub Xerox

2006-08-23T08:04:00.000-04:00

Hmm, this will have to be it for now incase I don't get a chance to update at work. Still, I shouldn't leave you emptyhanded.

Incase you haven't already seen it: How the New York Times looks to The Right Wing.

CollaboRaizin Part II

2006-08-22T11:17:00.000-04:00

Hey remember when I shot those video backdrops for Raizin's play? Well it's time for an Ocean's Seventeen style reunion. I'm guest illustrating an upcoming issue of his web comic: Tip Me Over, Pour Me Out.

It felt good to break out the sketchpad yesterday. Can't really remember the last thing I did beyond the casual doodles I rely on to get me through work. The smell of India Ink in particular was like an old friend.

I remember a time (4th-6th grade being the peak years) when a lot of people thought I was going to be comic book artist. It was one of those things were everyone makes the same reasonable assumption about you and you just kind of shrug your shoulders and accept it because you're too young to know any better. But given the relationship between Comic Books:Storyboards:Cinematography, I guess it does make sense.

I think TMOPMO is the closest I'll ever really come. Like so many others, I've daydreamed about an Ender's Game movie for over a decade (burn in hell, Wolfgang Petersen). I even got as far as writing part of a screnplay a few years ago. Of course, I have no delusions - they were just the idle musings of a fanboy. But it wasn't until recently, say about a month ago, that I thought what I could do was make it a graphic novel. I would be totally free from the input of others, budgetary restrictions, and having to deal with finding not one, but a handful of brilliant child actors (Kubrick knew).

Anyway, I don't want to get too carried away with that right now. The point is, TMOPMO is just what I needed. It's something that will demand a lot of effort but remains manageable. I just hope I can live up to Lisa Hanawalt's work.

In the meantime, you can check out this cool directory of online comics and see if there's something that catches your eye.

POST SCRIPT

WOW. I've been picking through that web comic catalog...what an incredible resource! I haven't stumbled upon anything really mind blowing yet but it's a really great way to recognize people's work. Be sure to check it out and pass it around.

[They] Have A Dream

2006-08-21T11:01:00.000-04:00

Nintendo Amusement Park
These guys in my neighborhood are trying to create a video game obstacle course where you strap into a bungee powered harness cleverly disguised as Mario's overalls and jump on Goombas the size of those nasty kiddie pools of frosting they'd root around in on Double Dare.

The trailer & narration crack me up. We just got in touch with these guys and will probably be going down there to check it out with our cameras in tow as part of the VGM documentary...I'm not sure how it'll be implemented within the actual film but I think it's certainly worth including in the Electronic Press Kit we'll be sending around when we start pitching this project to investors. If Master P has taught us anything, cross promotion is the only way to obtain gold plated ceilings (which, as we all know, is what I'm really after in this life).

SHADOWBOXER

Here's the Silver Lining update I promised earlier. So a castrated version of our behind the scenes documentary is going out with the initial DVD release for domestic distribution.

The good news? The folks at LDE are currently working on the Director's Cut version that will be used for all foreign distribution. That DVD will feature the compromised (but still acceptable) 30 minute version we'd been fighting for. I'm not saying it's the greatest thing that ever happened but I think it's a fair middle ground.

This disc will also include a great interview with the Boss himself that was just shot last week. He breaks down his perspective on each character and how he drew from real life acquaintances to shape them. He even cried at one point. Good stuff. It'll be much better than a similar short we did that appeared on the DVD for The Woodsman.

VGM DOCUMENTARY

Things have been kind of slow on my end in regards to this project...Thankfully, I've only got 8 days of work left (!) and will be able to fully devote myself to the film after that. We've got a conversation with Bitshifter/Nullsleep/Tugboat in the works and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed about meeting up with Dino from Chromelodeon at some point. Overall, exciting prospects loom on the horizon.

TENNESSEE

I know I keep saying I won't talk about this till I'm there but if we don't leave for New Mexico this November, we'll have to wait till next spring (deja vu). As I understand it, that's something they can't afford.

It all remains to be seen.

New Video

2006-08-12T22:12:00.002-04:00

AQUATIC DREAM II

I made this a few months ago but never put it online. Here it is.

Filmed At The Brooklyn Aquarium
Music = Iconography by Max Richter

This actually kind of depresses me. It makes me wish I was actually out there in the water shooting instead of dreading going back to work on Monday...still, only three more weeks of this crap till I take a nice long vacation out of state.

Post Script:

For the sake of formality, I forgot to mention that when I first got interested in shooting, I really wanted to operate camera for the Discovery Channel (ocean life in particular). Some day I'll submit this (or something like it) to them and see if they'll find any use for me.

The sad part is, I might really suck at deep sea diving.

Planting The Seeds For Drama

2006-08-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

Alright, just incase this turns out to be an incredible disaster, I thought it best to document the beginning of what could very well be the end of an era.

SHADOWBOXER

Amidst concerns that the feature length documentary would shed an unfavorable light upon our employers, we were willing to comply with their request for two toned down versions. One would be a 10-15 minute featurette that would more closely resemble the typical fare: O.K. interviews spliced with slightly amusing, but more importantly, safe, anecdotes from the set.

The second half hour version was essentially our feature length fly-on-the-wall-and-nothing-else approach stripped down to its bare essentials. Not that there's anything wrong with that - it was still true to the spirit of what we'd been trying to achieve as we've shaped this documentary throughout the last two years.

We were just happy that some of what was good, new, and interesting was still there. There were still those vital moments from preproduction during all the wheeling and dealing that no one ever gets to see...that no one would ever see had it not been for our boss' willingness to show the reality of the process at his personal and professional expense.

But this morning's rude awakening was more than the usual dump trucks thundering down Meserole Street at 7am. The first email I read this morning, the first piece of information I'd really processed after realizing I was already going to be late for work, informed me of their decision to scrap the good stuff and just keep the short 12 minute featurette.

All the work we'd done to distinguish ourselves within the Behind The Scenes "genre" (said with a tone of self aware mocking, mind you) was apparently for naught.

But I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself. We haven't even had a chance to counter yet. We are planning on fighting this thing as best as we can. I just thought I should introduce the situation now and get it off my mind so I can concentrate on yet another day in the tedious grind of corporate america. Maybe that Korean bum who sits on the corner of 53rd and Park all day smoking his pipe and ranting about how fucked everything is has a point.

I should see if I can get a picture of that guy.

Asleep On A Train, Passing Milestones.

2006-08-03T08:49:00.000-04:00

Ridiculous titles aside, The Lord of The Rock surpassed 1000 Youtube views sometime in the night.

::grumbling:: It only took about two months...

A couple of quick things:

SHADOWBOXER
Oh man.

Village Voice

"Still, there's a certain pleasure to be derived from watching the actors attempt to dig out from under the rubble that William Lipz's screenplay repeatedly dumps on their heads. Mirren and Gordon-Levitt keep a straight face. Gooding seems vaguely embarrassed, especially when baring his ass. Dorff is only too happy to whip out his scene-stealing schlong. Mo'nique hints that she's in on the joke. Ferlito clearly has no clue."

very hard to resist my first (and last) usage of "pwned."

They're finally putting the DVD for this thing together which means the first DocuBoy project will finally see its release*. Owens and I will be editing the final version of the featurette this weekend in Philly. I will return unchanged for the most part...maybe a little relieved...it remains to be seen.

* The Woodsman thing doesn't count because we didn't really shoot the whole thing. My sincere apologies to whoever did for totally stealing that credit.

VGM DOCUMENTARY

We might be changing our name to Chip Tunes. More on that later.

Going Corporate

2006-07-26T09:31:00.000-04:00

Well, I caved.

Today, I write to you from the cushy confines of my desk on 5th avenue. I've spent the better part of the past decade subconsciously wondering when I'd become another anonymous member of the 9-5 gang. Well, here I am. It's actually not so terrible aside from the fact that I'm losing valuable editing time and, when I get home to sit down and work for real, I'm beat. Fortunately, the pay is wildly disproportionate to the work I'm [not] doing so it essentially qualifies as bank robbery (literally, since I work for Citigroup). However, this is not to say that I intend on living the high life hereafter - quite the opposite. I'm saving up for most, if not all, of the following items:
- New phone (current one is terminally ill)
- New external hard drive (I've got my eye on the 1TB LaCie Big Disk)
- And, depending on how long I end up working here, a G5 tower just for editing.

Those are the essentials that will make working a lot smoother. At the very least, I need to upgrade my Powerbook to 1GB.

Why am I boring you with all this? Take a look at the first article printed in a major publication (or at all for matter) about something we're doing.

Philly Metro Article About PLAY

Knee Deep like Atreyu & Artax

2006-07-18T18:22:00.000-04:00

PLAY

Sleepless night scheduled for tonight as I finish up the first version of the 22 minute TV cut of Video Games Live. Thankfully, both the trailer and the first video from last month's Pulsewave are done and online. You can check them out here:

http://www.spinningleaf.net/PLAY/Random.mp4

http://www.spinningleaf.net/PLAY/Final_VGL_Trailer.mp4

The latter isn't all that different from the rough version I posted previously. I added higher quality recordings of the orchestra, switched a few shots, and color corrected...if you're particularly bored, you can watch both of them and compare/contrast...then you can shoot yourself because really, you've kind of hit rock bottom at this point.

eh, what else what else. We've set our sights pretty high for the next person we're attempting to contact for this project. All I will say is that he's a director I've idolized since high school when I used to horribly mispronounce his name. Rather than just blindly contacting his representatives, we managed to find a link. It turns out the still photographer from one movie I worked on (he's not credited for it on imdb so good luck trying to figure it out) was the still photographer for this director's other movie. A tenuous connection, yes, but our most promising lead at the moment. I'll leave it at that for now so I don't get myself worked up.

Other than that, there isn't too much going on with PLAY that's fit for blogging. We're still struggling for a good logo for 2 Player Productions...? I guess that's news.

SHADOWBOXER

Limited Release this Friday...jesus.

Lastly, this doesn't really have much to do with projects but you should really check out Random's site (there's a link at the end of the clip*). His music makes me feel the same way Ratatat's new album makes me feel (really, really good).

* you're so lazy. http://www.randomizer.se

"I Want Chicken!"

2006-07-06T12:30:00.000-04:00

Not the title I would have gone with but, ok.

SHADOWBOXER

I know it's been a while since I've brought it up but the film now has an official website. Some of the features include a new cut of the trailer, some cool production stills by the memorable David Lee (Spike's brother), and a very dark and poorly compressed clip from our Behind The Scenes documentary.

http://www.shadowboxerthefilm.com/scenes.html

Still, it's kind of cool.

As for everything else, Time has been weird the last week and a half or so. I was homeless for a couple of days before we could move into our new apartment (which is really nice & really expensive*) and then there was the actual unpacking & settling which I only just finished yesterday.

*I've also had to start looking at actual jobs to pay my absurd rent. I won't say where I've applied until I hear back from them about a second interview but if I get this job, I should be pretty happy for the time being. Rest assured, it's not a desk job.

CBS - B.U.T.S.

Enough initials? Last week, Ben got me a shooting gig for Broadway Under The Stars. We were just shooting audience reaction shots but it's going to be on CBS this Saturday (7/15) at 7pm. If anyone is feeling generous and wants to tape this for me (I don't have tv), I'd appreciate it. There isn't much to say about the experience except that only a very small percentage of the massive audience was sufficiently illuminated (it's an outdoor concert incase you didn't follow the link). As a result, I had to keep shooting some of the same people over and over again, hoping to get better shots of them...this did not sit well with some of the older folks and one man in particular who resembled the lumberjack on Brawny paper towels and was very protective of his incredibly cute and enthusiastic (read: Audience Reaction Shot Gold) little girl.

Also, I guess I should have expected this but really, I seriously underestimated the extent to which geriatric broadway fanatics would freak out when Liza Minelli burst on to the stage for the finale (Ben had been present for the rehearsals earlier in the day and told me she was there)...But seriously, people that you'd think would never walk again were leaping out of their wheelchairs to give what may very well be their final standing ovation.

VIDEO GAMES LIVE

I recently acquired a few different recordings from various VGL shows so I'm getting back into cutting that...eh...not much to say beyond that I guess.

PLAY

The only thing worth mentioning is that there's going to be a Chromelodeon show Aug. 4th that I can't wait for. I haven't seen those guys in well over a year and a half now. Should be sweet. I'm also having trouble finding the time to cut the Pulsewave 4 show...maybe I'll start on that today and work on VGL tonight...? We'll see. I've developed a pretty serious cough which is more annoying than inhibiting.

OH WAIT. What Kind Of A Fool Am I?!?

There's going to be a write-up about PLAY in Metro Philly.

It's the free paper that everyone riding public transportation in Philadelphia reads - a very significant readership. Anyway, Owens and I were supposed to join Paul L. and Anthony for the interview last friday but couldn't make it down from Baltimore/NYC, respectively. I don't even know if this has been printed yet since the guy told us that stories which aren't time sensitive tend to get pushed back until they have a space they need to fill but it's still pretty good news.

I'll be sure to let you know once I find out.

Okay I think that's (actually) everything there is. I'm starved. Time for lunch.

Baron Crunch n' Munchausen

2006-06-23T18:32:00.000-04:00

Let's just the pleasantries out of the way for today. After driving myself close to crazy, I finally finished a primitive first cut of the VGL trailer.

Also, The Lord of The Rock is finished

So yeah, that's pretty much all there is to say. Unless of course, it isn't. The guys did an amazing job covering the Genocide show in Baltimore last weekend. I really wish I could have been there...silly family obligations. Anyway, I'll see if I can get that on YouTube at some point.

This documentary is really shaping up...and we haven't even really started yet.

It's Good.

Your Shoes Move Forward, Leaving Without You

2006-06-06T10:02:00.000-04:00

*New Project*

Video Games Live

Hey, everyone. Back from a half-week in Philly with a new assignment. Things ended up coming together for the VGL show. We had 5 cameras covering the event with one stationary camera and Owens, Sanchez, Ben Kitchens, and I running around with the other 4. It sounds like great coverage but the truth is, we were pretty limited in terms of where we could shoot from. Because the audience's seats came right up to the stage, we were confined to awkward views from the wings and balconies. Still, there was enough material shot at the rehearsal (during which we were free to roam the stage as we pleased) to cobble together something really good.

A task which has, fortunately & unfortunately, been gifted to me / fallen into my lap (respectively). On the one hand, it's a great opportunity to cut together the footage of some of the best operators I know with some amazing orchestral arrangements. On the other hand, it means logging/importing/editing about 26 hours of footage into a 30 minute piece. I also got called back to come in and interview for a 10 day gig doing exactly that (logging/importing) for someone else's project (need the money)...So if that works out, I'd spend 8 hrs a day looking at footage from one project, come home, and spend the rest of the night looking at footage from another project...But then, the VGL thing is more of a passion project so I'm sure I won't mind (too much).

My eyes are still a little bloodshot from irregular sleep patterns...what else...

Hmm well, the days surrounding the concert were enjoyable for the most part. The day before, Tommy and his VGL crew had a booth set up at the Wizard World Convention. I had never been to one that big before - it was pretty impressive. Lots of toys, comics, and nerds. Not that I wasn't one of them. Occasionally, I would sneak off to play God of War II (!). Eventually, it was over and we went over to the Doubletree Hotel where everyone was staying. There was a great interview with VGL's co-creator/conductor, Jack Wall (you'll see him in the VGL trailer) who bought Levering, Owens, and I dinner later that night at a big restaurant/arcade on the waterfront. Very cool guy.

I'm getting distracted by noisy people in the courtyard outside my window...losing my train of thought. I don't know what else to say at the moment except that it's good to be back in New York. Nice weather.

Tennessee

Still waiting...

Lord Of The Rock

Just wait. It's almost ready.

"PLAY"

We're going to change our name. Any suggestions?

Finally, Somebody...

2006-05-28T14:12:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a whole month since my last update but the past few weeks have been pretty stressful with apartment hunting. Thankfully, the nightmare ended yesterday. We got an extension on our current apartment and we signed the lease for our new place in July. As for projects, here's what's up:

Tennessee

The people at LDE are presumably returning from Cannes today so I'll have to confirm some more info before I commit anything to the internet but the bottom line is, based on someone's recently announced tour dates, Tennessee is either going to happen sometime in the next three months or it's not happening for a long, long time. I'll leave it at that for now.

PLAY

A couple of things:

1) the first video from Pulsewave 2 is online
2) we shot Pulsewave 3 last thursday
3) we heard from Tommy today

1) I'm working on getting a hi-res version of this online but, for now, you can check out the low-res version on the almighty YouTube. Or you could just go one size smaller and get a better feel for how the actual product looks. Keep in mind that this is just the first sample of what PLAY will eventually become. The sound quality is nowhere near what it will eventually be and what you're watching now probably won't make it into the final cut of the film...We'll see. The point is, we finally have something for people to see.

2) Pulsewave 3 featured Anamanaguchi, our dear friend Jesse Novak (as Tugboat), and Shawn Phase of Temp Sound Solutions. While they all put on a really solid and entertaining show, I have to admit, the majority of the performances didn't lend themselves to being filmed in a dynamic way (except for SP lighting his guitar on fire at the end). For example, Tugboat's entire set was done from behind his drums. It's difficult to do much with that from a shooting standpoint.

I'm in the middle of logging and cutting the footage now and the general consensus is that this next video will concentrate on the 20 minute interview with Shawn Phase recorded prior to the show. Should be interesting.

3) Now that E3 is over, Tommy has had a little more room to breathe. His Video Games Live tour is stopping in Philadelphia this Saturday so he's going to be in the area for a few days. The sweet part is that Levering, Owens, and I are going to shadow him Lee Daniels style all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to capture his hectic 20 hour workday as he meets with all sorts of other industry professionals and hold press conferences. In addition to that, we're being granted all access passes to the show on Saturday, free to film the performance and the backstage area as we please. It's so exciting I have difficulty believing it's really going to happen but I can't see much getting in the way of it at this point aside from some issues about getting enough cameras together to fully cover the concert. Allow me at least one afternoon of optimism before I spend the rest of the week worrying.

So yeah, that's pretty much it for now. I want to write more but I should really get back to logging this footage.

Oh yeah, I also shot an Olde English video a few weeks ago so I'll let you know when that gets edited and up on the site.

Last Night A [Gameboy] Saved My Life

2006-04-28T08:26:00.000-04:00

Sitting on a curb in Tribeca in perfect weather at 730pm last night, I kind of did and kind of didn't know that the rest of the evening would mark the beginning of what could very well be the best filmmaking experience of my life up to this point.

We have officially started shooting PLAY.

Owens is cutting all the footage right now so, unfortunately, I don't have any stills to share. I'll see if Levering can send me some pictures from his digital camera. In a week or so, we'll have a short video up as the first in a series of teasers and tastes of what people can expect from the final product.

Last night's lineup in order of appearance:
The Animal Style
OMAC
Nullsleep (you must actually check this out)
^listen to Galaxy Tonight

Nullsleep in particular delivering an incredibly energetic show that everyone really got into (especially those crazy, slam-dancing 14 yr olds in the very front). It was also nice to have Jason, Paul, and Chris show up - made it feel like more of an event.

There was also this really cool guy named Jeff who had done some programming on a Commodore 64 and projected it in all its pixely goodness as a backdrop for the show. It really took me back to the days of screwing around with Kid Pix in the computer lab when I was in second grade and my sister, parents, and I were taking a tour of the middle school as my sister got ready to enter the 7th grade.

That kind of sums up the whole evening beautifully: a ton of feel good nostalgia. Even as I write this, I'm thinking of the day we brought home the Atari and plugged into a tv on a stand in our living room. As Pac Man glowed to life, it was the first (and last) time my family would ever gather around an entertainment system without my parents wanting to throw it out the window. Did you know that my mom and aunt used to play Mario 1? I can't believe I forgot about that. Everytime they jumped, they thought they had to jerk the controller upward in addition to pressing the appropriate button.

Maybe they'd like The Wii (nee Revolution) ?

Otherwise, there's some very exciting news from an editor concerning an article about PLAY in a major magazine but I won't say which until I actually have a copy of it in my hand (or a link to a page online)

Anyway, that's it for now. Time to go hang with the Maysles crowd. Have a good weekend my loyal one or two readers.

Defrost Gamestate

2006-04-19T20:16:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone. One or two things of interest to report tonight. First, PLAY.

See the Myspace Page

Things have really picked up in the last five or six days. The site broke 1,000 hits and we got about 200 new friends with more requests coming in every 90 minutes or so. Some smaller, more obscure bands have found their way to the project so the word is trickling downward nicely. We've even got a couple of visual artists joining the fold.

(16X16 Acrylic on Canvas)

This is a piece by 8-bit Artist. That link will take you to some more of his paintings (check out the one of Peach). I'm currently working on a drawing myself though I don't know what it'll be used for (most likely a web advertisement of some sort...maybe a tshirt). Just know that it involves NES Link & N64 Link jamming on their respective instruments.

Even More Exciting: The guy who runs VG Cats has agreed to mention us on his site. His page sees a lot of traffic from the gaming community and once that link goes up, our hit/friend count is expected to make a major leap. I don't know when that's going to happen but I suspect it'll be in the next day or two so we'll see how it ends up paying off by the time I post here again.

We're also waiting to hear back from T. Tallarico about officially serving as Executive Producer (it was his idea) so that we can start using that as a selling point for the film when we promote it and look for funding. He says that he receives an average of 500 emails a day so it takes him a while to get through them all. Once that happens, things are really going to get rolling.

We'll finally be able to buy our own equipment. Jobs requiring lights and sound in addition to cameras will no longer be out of reach. We won't have to answer to equipment rooms, rental houses, or producers reluctant to keep us employed in the first place. We'll even have our own sweet G5 setup just for editing DocuBoys projects.

(give me a second to savor the realization for the 100th time)

Ok.

The last bit of news I have for PLAY is that we have our first show coming up in a week. Owens and I are going to shoot a show featuring Nullsleep, OMAC, and Animal Style. That video will be the first small taste of what the documentary will eventually be. I'll let you know when we post it on the film's myspace. We're also planning on shooting a big show in Baltimore June 17th. More details on that as they come.

Ok, on a slightly more personal note. There is some Maysles news to report.

I started my internship there last Friday with pleasant results. They had me doing a few oddjobs for the first couple of hours but when the woman who hired me came into the office, she sat me down in the editing room and asked me to cut a trailer for an annual summer program they run so they can show it to potential investors and get some more money to fund it.

I was told that this past Monday (the other day I work there) was my last day of answering phones, looking up frequent flyer mile requirements, and dubbing/logging tapes. This is great because it means I'll be editing/assistant editing (or some equivalent) from now on. Hopefully I'll start getting paid accordingly. I could use a paycheck right about now...

...mostly because Tennessee is seeming more and more like a dream with each passing week. Tomorrow is my next bi-monthly check in/disappointment. I don't expect much so I guess I shouldn't be too upset. Between Maysles and PLAY, things are coming up Milhouse.

Eucatastrophe

2006-04-07T00:13:00.000-04:00

It's only 15 minutes into Friday so I might be updating again later today but I had to share this now.

To begin, I sent my resume/reel to Maysles this morning and got offered an internship two hours later. Unexpected. Man, that $30/day stipend two days a week is going to be sweet. Bah. Some day, real money will find it's way to my leaky checking account.

The good news is that The Pauls' meeting with T. Tallarico about PLAY went very well, lasting well over an hour. Apparently he really meant it when he said he was interested in helping the film become a reality. He mentioned the possibility of serving as Executive Producer and said he'd help us pitch the project to investors at places like Electronic Arts and IGN. This whole thing is still a few months away but this is certainly a great beginning. I remain optimistic.

I just sent an email to LDE asking for an update on Tennessee. Hopefully I'll have some news to report on that project by this time tomorrow.

Right that's all.

How Did It Come To This?

2006-04-05T22:36:00.000-04:00

The last couple of days have been a blur.

Day before yesterday, I got to meet Albert Maysles.

If you're not going to bother following the link, just know that he and his late brother David are regarded as two of the (if not The) founding fathers of the Direct Cinema approach to documentary filmmaking. Aside from their most famous work (Salesman), they did pieces on the likes of Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, and The Rolling Stones. If my shameless celebrity name-dropping means nothing to you then, well, what kind of a 21st century American are you?

DocuBoy Jason has been interning at his place in NY for some time now and is going to asst. edit his company's next feature about the Dalai Lama. We got to talk for a little bit and he generously ignored the fact that I may or may not have been soiling myself in disbelief at the time. He had seen the stuff I shot for the Shadowboxer documentary during Jason's interview (because J was one of the editors) and had nice things to say about it (even though he probably didn't really remember it). My absurd pipe dream is that, in time, I might find myself working on (if not shooting) one of his next projects. He said he prefers the PD170 over the DVX100 so it remains to be seen.

The next thing I know, I'm at Bard College doing little more, it seems, than editing, eating, and sleeping.

The comic genius known to many as Raizin Bob-Waksberg wrote a play called The Long And Short Of It. Throughout the play, several video sequences are projected as part of the backdrop to match (or in some cases, clash with) the emotion of each scene.

You can check out some more stills from those video clips here
(this set has some stills that will be used and some that won't)
Raizin asked me to do this a while ago but I had to turn down the opportunity because I thought I was going to be in New Mexico by now. Since I'm not, I took the job at the last minute and now I'm here in upstate NY trying to get everything worked out. It's been nice to spend some time in wide open spaces, surrounded by mountains.

Much better than that smog we saw on Atlantic Avenue last week.

Right so things seem to be in order. I'm going to stay at Bard till opening night on Saturday then go back to Brooklyn and try and temp every day of the week to make some money to go down to Philly for a few days the following week.

In other news: P. Levering and Owens have a phone meeting with T. Tallarico scheduled for tomorrow evening to discuss PLAY. This is the infamous conversation to which I have referred many a time only now, it might actually happen. I'm supposed to check in with someone at LDE tomorrow or the day about Tennessee to get an idea of how long the next inevitable delay is expected to last. Shadowboxer played at the Philly Film Fest last weekend to mixed reactions. The release date has been pushed to JUNE 9th and will be released on 125 screens as I understand it. Details concerning the documentary on TV are still hazy but I'll be sure to keep you updated.

And lastly, the honorable Dan Finnerty made the first contribution to the BKuarium project the day after I sent the clips out but I haven't thought to put it up as a teaser till now. When I get back to Brooklyn, that'll be one of the first things I do so check back because his track is really cool.

The End.

1 Step Forward / 2 Steps Back

2006-03-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

Tennessee is delayed another few weeks. I really need to heed my own advice and not tell anyone when I'm leaving for anything until I'm already there. That being said, I won't breathe another word about departure dates until I'm in New Mexico.

Also, the side project I've been working on is now corrupted and won't open in Final Cut Pro.

Nothing was lost that can't be rebuilt in a few days but it's still a nuisance. Thankfully, I managed to make the videos available online for participating artists last night before waking up to this unpleasant turn of events this morning. About the project...

Side Project: Bkuarium

This project is comprised of four short videos (ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length) shot at the Brooklyn Aquarium. Each video will have several distinct audio tracks composed specifically for that video. The viewer will then be able to choose which track he or she would like to hear while watching the video to create several unique viewing experiences of the same visuals. For example, you would say, "I want to see Video 2 with Zirafa's music and then see it again but with Orange Drink's music."

This will be the first of (what I hope will be) the many video projects collected for the Hemlock Pictures DVD. Once BKuarium is up and running online, I'm going to use that to recruit other young video artists who are trying to get their work released. In an ideal world, this DVD will have something like 30-40 short form (1-2 minutes preferred, 5 minutes max) video art pieces put together and released by Spring '07.

The only news I have for PLAY is that the production company name we will use to promote the film to potential participants and investors is "Two Player Productions." A trivial piece of information I know but it's all I got. Levering is apparently working on some big update to the film's myspace page (linked on the right) so be sure to check that out soon, add it to your friends, and tell people about it.

Whew. I'm going to go look for breakfast and watch Family Guy.

Inside [Men]

2006-03-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

Today, Ben and I went to see Inside Man, Spike Lee's most sloppily rolled joint to date. I won't bore you with my personal opinions concerning how incredibly inconsistent and flimsy this movie was but I would like to warn the creators of The Hollywood Experiment: This is the kind of piece of trash you can expect to end up with if your miserable little plan should ever succeed.

On the walk home from the theater, we encountered a crate full of film books that someone was tossing out. Among other things, we grabbed a few Italian cinema books, the Malkiewicz cinematography book we used at Drexel, and (just for laughs) something called "Film Directing: Killer Style & Cutting Edge Technique." It's depressing to think that this a title we're meant to take seriously as opposed to outright self-parody. Ok, I think that's enough pretentious babble for one post...I was actually kind of surprised by some of my thoughts today. I must remember to keep in mind that I really have no grounds for such arrogance.

Moving along to less personal matters:

Paul L (creator of PLAY) gave us an update on how things went at the Video Games Live Tour / Game Developers Conference in San Jose, CA this past weekend. He didn't have time to sit down with T. Tallarico as I mentioned in the last post but he managed to meet and hook a number of very prominent industry people who all want to be involved in the film. I won't give you the full list he gave me but some of the highlights included the composers for Halo, God of War, Everquest 2, Myst, Prince of Persia, and Warcraft as well as the creator of the Unreal series, the producer of the Metal Gear series at Konami, and the keyboardist for the Beastie Boys for good measure.

All in all, it seems like a pretty successful weekend for networking & the future of PLAY.

As for Tennessee, we're still in the dark concerning a departure date. All the press announcements and the film's newly minted imdb page indicate that filming is supposed to start in April (even though there's actually a month of on location preproduction before principal photography is set to begin) but for all I know, that could mean this coming Saturday or April 30th. Short notice on either date wouldn't surprise me. Still, I suppose I should get my room packed up in the next couple of days.

That's pretty much all the work related news I have for now. I'm going to drop LDE an email tomorrow and see if I can't get a better idea of when we'll actually be heading out. I hope they know we need plane tickets now that we've deemed Jim's car incapable of making the cross country journey...

Not Personal / Strictly Business

2006-03-12T17:52:00.000-05:00

Kind of.

Part of this blog reflects my desire to have a record of all my film & video endeavors while the other part represents a fool's hope that he'll never again have to answer the question, so what are you doing these days?

Towards the end of this month, the DocuBoys (Jim, Owens, Jason, & I) will be driving out west with all our equipment to New Mexico to begin video documentation of the preproduction phase of the film Tennessee. Principal photography starts about a month afterwards and then my time over the next four weeks will be split between New Mexico, Tennessee, and locations inbetween.

Somewhere inbetween, Shadowboxer will finally have it's US premiere on May 12. Our Behind The Scenes Documentary will be cut up into 22 minute episodes and air on television (most likely B.E.T.) during the weeks leading up to the film's release. Don't know if we'll be travelling back with our boss (producer of Tennessee/director of Shadowboxer) for the premiere yet so I may be parted from all things East Coast for a good 10 weeks (my longest stretch away from the Atlantic, I think).

After Tennessee wraps, my attention will be focused on shooting PLAY, a documentary that examines the video game music culture on an international level. The project's creator, Paul Levering, is meeting up with the film's highest profile potential investor, Tommy Tallarico, tomorrow. In addition to traveling all over the US, the plan is go around the world to multiple destinations in Europe and Asia including a stop in Japan to interview the composers of the original NES games that inspired this whole genre.

Right so you can see there's a lot going on these days. I'd be a fool not to keep track of it all.

In the meantime, I've started working (on a temporary basis) in the shipping department at Gotham City Online, New York's largest online shoe retailer. I handled about three hundred pairs of women's shoes in four hours - stacking, sorting, and sending off down a conveyor belt...made me feel like a working class character in a Von Trier film.

That's not a complaint.

First Post

2006-03-09T10:44:00.000-05:00

Just to see what happens.