Ranting about Finishing a video (project)

Finishing a video is like finishing a painting.  At a certain point you have to put down the brush and just stop.  Otherwise you will find yourself still working on the same spot for months and months and months.  Most of the time the flaws you see nobody else will even come close to seeing. On the flip side, the things you believe look great with your painting/ video/ sculpture/ song will most likely not resonate with your desired audience anyway.   The only thing that I have been able to come to terms with over the past 12 years of making art is that if you honestly put yourself into whatever it is you’re doing somebody will appreciate it on some level.   

Back when I was in a band playing shows and releasing music I would notice certain things about the way people absorb or come to accept what you’re doing in front of them.  No matter what it is you’re doing someone will hate it, someone will feel indifferent about it and someone will love it.  If you figure out how to tap into the market that loves what you’re doing and constantly generate stuff for other people you may find wealth but i believe you will also find misery and a plateau of mediocrity.  It’s riskier to make art that simply makes you happy b/c you never know if the market will accept or reject what you’re doing. However, if you can find happiness in the things you spend most of your time doing you will find richness in knowing that you haven’t wasted a second of your life simply because you’re in love with the process.

Canon, customer service. 5Dm2

I drove down to Irvine, Ca today to drop my 5d M2 off at the “Canon Express Service Center.” It was like the waiting room at a Dr.’s office meets the ticket taking Deli counter. There was a 50/50 chance I’d be able to have my camera repaired today. I guess “hot pixels” take less than 7 days to repair and ship back. I’m crossing my fingers that it’s an easy fix and I get my baby back soon. I was hoping to be able to use it for this PopSugar / Cameron Diaz shoot next week. Might have to borrow my brothers 5d.
Irvine reminds me of Boca Raton, Fl. Stuffy white people in dress casual attire showing up the Joneses on their way out of church. Decent looking environment though.

I Spit on Your Grave

I watched the remake of “I Spit on Your Grave” In preparation for this Horror directing workshop I signed up for. This is one sick female revenge flick. Without a doubt I will have nightmares of teeth being ripped out of my skull.
The movie definitely had that “F*$k yeah” feeling that “Taken” had but was more of a torture porn suspense thriller set in the “Deliverance” universe. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, but it sucked me in and I couldn’t shut it off. I can only assume that is what the director intended. I would recommend this to anybody that liked Hostel or the Saw franchise.
The sad thing about this movie is that women get brutally raped like this every day and they unfortunately do not have the ability to hunt down their assailant like Sarah Butler did. They have to rely on a broken legal system to serve justice.
Watch this movie if you want to see assholes get exactly what you think they deserve.

Red Carpet Interview for “The Great Marcusio” @ NewFilmMakersLA

Here is a little snippet of a red carpet interview I did at NewFilmMakersLA that My dad got to hijack. I love my dad. I had a lot of fun at this screening series. Thank to Larry Laboe and Josh Emerson for hooking us up.

“The Great Marcusio” 15 minute short film

The Great Marcusio is Marcus, a bumbling high school senior desperate to prove his magic chops to his family. Though Marcus struggles to master his dime store illusions, it’s overcoming his annoying sister and doubtful parents which proves to be most difficult. When Marcus lines up a big magic gig for a young girl’s birthday, his parents are thoroughly unimpressed, though he sees it as his next big break.

Pushed to his emotional limit, Marcus is determined to make the party a success. When he dares to perform a dangerous trick for the young party guests, will he unleash a power he never knew he possessed? And will it be enough to prove the doubters wrong?

“The Great Marcusio” is a 15 minute live action short film I directed in 2010. I shot the film on a RED1 with Zeiss Super Speed lenses. It was featured in the NewFilmMakersLA film festival. It was an amazing learning experience that I am quite proud of. If you like the film please feel free to comment. For more information about the film please check out TheGreatMarcusio.com

Archive for the ‘Velvet Underground – “The Velvet Underground & Nico”’ Category

I’ve really been digging these Velvet Underground tunes over on Beck.com’s Record Club site. Devendra Banhart and MGMT do guest spots. I’m sure this post is irrelevant b/c you already knew this. You god damn hipsters still can’t take the joy of this away from me.

Lens Baby “Composer.” Stop motion test

So I picked up this Lens Baby Composer and some of their cute little optics to play with. I am going to attempt a small little stop motion project for my new demo reel opening. Should be fun. I started crafting the animated materials with one of my best buddies Joanna last night in hopes of being able to animate tonight. Carved some letters out of cork and glittered the hell out of some pre cut letters. I got 99% of the prep work done when my tripod foot went missing. Damn those little priceless accessories. Tomorrow I will be rummaging through the misc. bin at Bel Air Camera in hopes of finding a new foot that works with my tripod.

Banksy in Westwood Village Los Angeles

Yesterday I was strolling through Westwood Village with my Wife and my little boy when we came across a couple fresh Banksy wall bombs. If you’re interested in checking them out, the large one is on the back of Urban Outfitters and the small one is between the LA fitness parking garage and the starbucks on WWBlvd.

“The Great Marcusio” Los Angeles screening.

The short film I recently directed “The Great Marcusio” has been officially selected by “New Filmmakers LA” to screen in their March 22nd short series. I had a lot of fun with this cast and crew, it feels nice being able to work with such talented people. Jason Director did a GREAT job as our lead “Marcus.” We have a site for all things Marcusio for those of you who are interested in finding out more about the film. www.thegreatmarcusio.com

“Skyline” vs “Battle: Los Angeles”: Legal or creative?

“Skyline” is a movie I am interested in because A: I LOVE Alien Sci-Fi and B: it’s being produced and directed by the Strause Brothers. (owners of Hydralux VFX) “Battle: Los Angeles” will also be seen by me for reason A: above.  I recently found out the Strause Bros. are in legal turmoil with Sony over I.P. rights and something to do with their involvement with contributing VFX to “Battle: Los Angeles.” It looks like we’re going to have another “Deep Impact” vs “Armageddon” on our hands with this one. Sony is saying that The brothers jacked the idea for the film from their involvement with “Battle: Los Angeles” as VFX vendors. The bros look like they’re telling the studio their main inspiration was not the script for “Battle: Los Angeles,” rather “Paranormal Activity.”

I always find this sort of thing interesting. As my momma would say, “The proof is in the puddin.” If in fact the bros ripped off “Battle: Los Angeles” then it will clearly show in a similar plots. If Sony is saying that “Skyline” is infringing do to having similar shot / art direction then I think they should consider why they went to Hydralux in the first place. I think it may have been because they like the way they design Aliens. It’s not as if Sony has a patent or TM on Alien movies.

I think there is enough room in the collective nerd kingdom for two Alien movies in one theater season. Face it, Aliens are cool. My prediction is that they both make money.  I am not necessarily pulling for either side in this case rather Hollywood film making in general. I do however have a desire to root for the indie film maker due to the nature of the process. I suppose time will soon tell.

Here’s the link to the article i first read.