Proof the 80's Was The Greatest Decade

My wife hates the 80's. She hates the fashion, the music, and the movies. Now I can't speak too much for the fashion. Slap bracelets, Swatch watches, and "jams" aside, 80's fashion is pretty bad. As for music, she likes country, so convincing her to listen to "Maneater" is hopeless. But the movies of the 80's? There is no debate. It is without a doubt, the greatest decade in film history.

After viewing such masterpieces as Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Empire Strikes Back, and Back to the Future, she's begun to come around. And we haven't even gotten to the second stringers like The Karate Kid.

You see, if the 80's did anything well it was that they made everything bigger than it actually was. That's not just a truck, why that's Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. That's no run of the mill prince, that's He-Man, Master of the Universe. The 80's were all about taking something normal and transforming it into something big and exciting.

And in that spirit I present a video that should lay all doubts of 80's greatness to rest. A video that puts into images what words cannot express. Why it's no mere introduction, it is an experience all unto itself. One in which whole movies of today fall short. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdI90Rtzu1s

Problems at IFC.com

Well, today was the day we were to find out about the Assassin's Creed contest. I checked the site (IFC.com) this morning and discovered that instead of IFC posting ONLY the top ten finalists, they posted EVERY ENTRY. This includes a lot of videos that violate a lot of rules/guidelines, and many other videos where somebody just took the official trailer to the game and replaced the soundtrack with a popular band (Nickelback oddly enough.) There's even a video where they include footage from a completely different game.

Clearly somebody messed up. This is reinforced by the fact that all of the entries mysteriously disappeared a few short hours later and have yet to return.

I was a little bit disappointed to see that the majority of the entries were videos that have been on IFC's website for months (if not longer) and weren't created for the contest/game. They were just entered for the heck of it. Some of them are videos with budgets even larger then the prize money.

But the biggest disappointment of all is IFC's video player. Not only is it really slow, choppy, and pixelated, but it downgrades the quality of the original video GREATLY. There were a lot of videos shot on very good cameras (including our own) that don't look nearly as good. I even noticed several videos where the audio/video is out of sync. I highly doubt that's how the video was submitted.

Why create website for films if you're going to showcase them in poor quality?

Oakland Film Festival

Just wanted to let y'all know about a short film festival that's happening in Oakland next week. (That's Oakland in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for you out of town readers.) It's all going down Friday, September 7th from 8:00 - 10:00 PM at North Way Oakland, 120 McKee Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Cost is $3.00. All the films will be screening on a large widescreen HD projection screen.

The first year festival will feature short films from local filmmakers, primarily Art Institute students. I've got three films screening, including The Nintendo Office and a short animated piece from a year or so ago. I encourage y'all to come check this first year festival.

Assassin Pictures

Here's some photos from the production:

Storyboards

Prop swords

The assassin costume made by Ricky Lyle

Part of the cast (L to R): Shawn Smith, Bobby Zinsmeister, Sam Nicotero, Chris Young, Curt Wootton. Not Pictured: Mark Tierno, Devin Reilly.

Film Still: The assassin surrounded.

Film Still: The dead Viscount.

Assassin's Creed Contest

Finally finished and submitted our entry into the IFC/Ubisoft Assassin's Creed video contest. The contest was to create a six minute film inspired by the upcoming game, Assassin's Creed, which follows a 12th century middle-eastern assassin.

All I can say is that it was a pretty intense two weeks and I'm pleased with the final product. It was a nice challenge to try something in a period genre I don't have much experience in. It was also nice to work with Curt, Mark, and Sam again.

Unfortunately I can't post the video because it could potentially disqualify us. I can post pictures, so expect them soon. As soon as voting opens I'll let y'all know. We'd appreciate you taking a few minutes to vote for our entry once the video goes live.

Heinz Commercial

Last week I saw an ad for a contest on the back of a Heinz Ketchup bottle. Make a 30 second commercial and win $57,000. I had some free time while visiting family in Florida. One hour of filming, two hours of video editing, another hour of music editing, and here she is, my entry in the contest. Enjoy.