A Six-Spoked Wheel of Collaboration

Tomorrow will convene the second meeting of an upcoming production that is really very exciting. On the set of my friend and colleague Scott Sullivan's latest short film (my position was that of the noble dolly grip), Scott posed the idea of doing a Four Rooms-like film. The idea took root, phone calls were made, brows were furrowed, creative fumes were unbottled, and now the idea is a very real and very interesting one.

Though the project is still in its infant stages, the foundation is sound. Five directors from our Chapman graduating class of 2009, Scott Sullivan, Candace Lewis, Daniel McLellan, Adam Fox, and myself, each with a unique visual style, and thematic interests, will each write and direct a 15-minute short film which meditates on the subject of one's last day on earth - essentially, death. These short films will share characters, locations, props, possibly even scenes, to make them feel part of a whole. They will then be combined and bookended by a short parenthetical prologue / epilogue, written and directed by a sixth party, to unite everything.

The result will be a feature film which explores six interconnected perspectives on death, brought to life by the self-critique and creative collaboration of six writer/directors.

At the least it will be a fascinating experiment, but it has the potential to be a truly amazing film. Needless to say, I'm jazzed.

My segment, "Goldfish," about a comatose man whose mind is preparing itself for death, has a first draft written. Tomorrow we'll be discussing further production challenges and setting up timelines. We'll also soon be setting up a dedicated website and blog for the production, where all six of us will be updating our particular nooks. Look forward to that!

Brand New Website, Student Academy Awards, AFF Spots

Welcome to my new and improved website! It's streamlined, it's tightened, it's retro. Have a look around!

While you're peering about you might notice a new project I recently finished up - three TV spots for the Albuquerque Film Festival. Check them out below:

La Niña del Desierto is also still going strong, coming up now on the 1 year anniversary of its festival run. Since Amsterdam and the Student Emmys, it's been a finalist for the Student Academy Awards, as well as hitting the benchmark of acceptance to 20 festivals. We've won Best Short in Fallbrook, Foursite, and Reno since May. The year will finish up with the Albuquerque Film Festival, and from there - who knows?

For now, it's time to focus on smaller projects, like these commercial spots, which give me an opportunity to work with my good friends again (see my Network to the right there), all incredibly talented folks. While we sharpen our talents on these small scale productions, I've got a much larger one in the works...

Film Festivals Galore

Well it must be something in the wind, because where La Nina del Desierto was getting no festival response before, there's recently been a slew of acceptances.

We've got film festivals in Utah, Amsterdam, France, Fallbrook, Blue Jay, Newport Beach, Reno, Wyoming, Burbank, Canada, and Milan. Really exciting!

Screenings and Student Emmys

More people seem to like La Niña del Desierto! It's screened at a few festivals now, including Cinestud in Amsterdam, a wonderful festival (apparently the oldest student film festival in the world) that flew me out and put me up in Amsterdam for a few days.

And shortly thereafter, we received the 3rd place Student Emmy Award from the College Television Foundation - an incredibly fun night, where most of the crew was reunited, and we all celebrated in classic Hollywood fashion!

We also screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival, where I met up again with Dani-Rose, La Nina herself, and we participated in a great Q+A.


Finally, we won Best Short at the Fallbrook Film Festival, our first "Best of" from a fest! This has been an exciting month.

Boa Simon wins ASC Honorable Mention

 

Really amazing news - Boa Simon, cinematographer on La Niña del Desierto, and one of my very best friends, was one of four students who won Honorable Mention at the ASC's Student Cinematography Awards.

Considering that there were only two winners, one undergrad and one graduate student, this is a truly colossal achievement; the ASC considers Boa one of the six best student cinematographers in the country, based on his work on La Niña.

New Year, New Shenanigans

I'm not one for new year's resolutions, not because I think I can't stick to them, but because the new year is such an arbitrary day. January 1st falls on absolutely no geological, astronomical, religious, or historical day of importance whatsoever. So really - why choose that day to start changing your life? You can start any time. I like that idea better.

Recently I've been submitting to a number of contests. I submitted to the Nikon Festival with my entry Contentment, which is also available here on my site now. It's an experimental piece but it turned out really great, I think. It's personal, moody, and short.

I also submitted myself for a New Zealand contest, and you can see my entry here.

And that's about it for now - I'm going to Sundance again this year, to volunteer. Should be an awesome experience!

Santa Fe Film Festival, 901 Victory, Experimental

Best week ever.

First, the Santa Fe Film Festival. I flew down to Albuquerque, New Mexico, my home town, earlier this week, to screen La Nina del Desierto at Santa Fe. My editor, Dan McLellan, came with.

The festival was fantastic. We got all-access passes and mingled with other like-minded filmmakers and locals. We answered all manner of questions regarding feature versions of the short (currently being written), the history of the short (from high school), etc. It really was great fun.

I also got interviewed for the radio, being a local New Mexican, and that interview is up on the Press section. La Nina ended up being nominated for Best Dramatic Short.

About halfway through the week, we also received news that Dan, Dres Fischer Centeno, and myself won the contest for 901 tequila with our short spec commercial. We get $25,000, a trip to Las Vegas, and I get to put "Executive Vice President of Big Ideas" on my resume. Sweet.

And to top it off, last night I wrapped production on a very short experimental film shot on the RED with Boa Simon, starring Chris Payne and Rachelle Dimaria. I think it'll be neat - we shot downtown LA, the subway system, Long Beach industrial areas at night, and some other places that I think will really deliver, visually.