The Lake County Film Fest Strikes Back

Proud to announce that The Mercury Men will be premiering at this year's Lake County Film Festival in Libertyville, IL. (And before you ask, no, the film isn't done, but I sent out a rough cut in time for the deadline. We are in the last few weeks of post though.) It will be screening both during the Shorts and Children's programs. Captain Blasto played there in 2006 and A Great Disturbance in 2007. Along with TMM, The Nintendo Office will be screening ahead of one of the features, Last Stop for Paul, which actually screened just after Captain Blasto at the 2006 Newport Beach Film Festival. (Last Stop is a pretty unique concept for a film and has picked up and INSANE amount of awards. You can check it out at: www.laststopforpaul.com). On top of all that, Captain Blasto will be screening again this year.

The Lake County Fest was easily one of the best experiences we had during our run with Blasto. Libertyville is very reminiscent of Munhall, the town in which Blasto was shot, so we really seemed to connect with audiences. And they had some great bars around town for after parties and such. Looking forward to another mid-west outing.

You can read more about the festival at: www.lakecountyfilmfest.com.

Movie Music

Here's a preview of music from the upcoming Mercury Men, along with a music track from the Assassin's Creed short. The "League" track, which is loosely aimed towards Holst's "The Planets," for obvious reasons, is a little slow and quiet to start, but it picks up. I really like the Arabian feel of the Assassin's track, which is thanks to some great loops I picked up at powerfx.com.

The League
featured in The Mercury Men

Assassin's Credits
featured in The Hidden Blade

Kevin Dart

I love finding artists that create in a style that is similar to my own, but on a level I will NEVER reach. Kevin Dart is one of those artists. I was floored by print after print upon discovering his website. He's got a lot of great movie poster style illustrations. Got to figure out a way to get him to do a poster for one of my films.

Check out his stuff at www.kevindart.com

Visual Effects

It's taken a while, but I have officially taken the step into the visual effects world. All of my previous stuff has included some mild and ridiculously easy effects, such as Colin jumping over the church balcony in Captain Blasto, the Assassin tossing the dagger into the Baron's back in The Hidden Blade, or even the various animated characters in The Nintendo Office and Luigi Story. But they should be labeled more as simple trickery than full blown visual effects.

The Mercury Men however has pulled me into Star Wars territory and I'm lovin' it. I've been hesitant to try anything because I was worried about the mind numbing slowness of the process along with the horribly long rendering times. But after composing my first couple shots I feel very comfortable with it. It is slow, but the reward is some hopefully impressive filmmaking.

Can't wait for everyone to see the Invaders exploding, sparks flying, ray gun blasts, and more. While I don't have anything to show on this specific post, it will be coming soon. Post-production is moving incredibly quickly now a days and I suspect we'll be seeing a finished film within the next few weeks.

Pittsburgh Strip District Scene

While I love filmmaking, it unfortunately doesn't pay the bills...yet. In the mean time I do freelance graphic design. I'm currently working on the interior design of a new restaurant franchise here in Pittsburgh. The theme of the restaurant is an outdoor city cafe utilizing Pittsburgh landmarks and locations. I've attached a piece of artwork here for your viewing pleasure. This is a rough-mock up of one of the walls. I'll post the finished piece once it's completed.

A Real American Hero

From now on when I hear the word "America" I will think of this clip. If only the movie could capture a fraction of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN034sBeF4c

Ed Piskor

Just discovered Ed Piskor's blog at http://edpiskor.blogspot.com/.

Ed is not only a nationally recognized Pittsburgh comic book artist, having illustrated some of Harvey Pekar's books (the guy Paul Giamatti was playing in American Splendor for those unfamiliar with non DC/Marvel comic books), but he is also a fellow Munhall native and a graduate of Steel Valley High School.

In high school you could always pick our outwork out of the all the stuff hanging on the walls, since we were the ones drawing comics and super-heroes while everyone else was doing portraits of Tupac and Biggie.

I encourage you to peruse his selection of art on the blog or on his website.

100 Movies 100 Numbers

Blasto Poster Pt. 2

On this next pass you can see there's some more detail, primarily light and shadows. (Click to see the larger image.)You'll notice the chest emblem is still just a red circle. I've been working on redesigning the Blasto logo and haven't come up with it yet. While I like the original bomb logo, it doesn't quite work as a chest emblem in the way the Superman "S", Bat symbol, or Flash lighting bolt does. Need something a bit cleaner and more stylized.

Blasto Poster Pt. 1

I'm making a Captain Blasto poster for my brother for Christmas and thought this would be a great opportunity to show you guys the process of making the artwork for the film. Below you see the first step. While most people assume all the artwork is 100% digital, it all starts with a simple pencil drawing. This will eventually be the crimson comet himself soaring through space.After I've scanned in the pencil drawing, I begin to trace over it with colored shapes using the vector draw tool. It starts out very flat with very little depth or detail.

A Star and a Tree

Saw this on Kleiber's blog and had to post it over here. Without a doubt, the single greatest Christmas commercial ever made. It says so much with so little. No matter where you are, at home, a noisy bar, a busy restaurant, when this commercial comes on everybody turns their attention towards it. For you out of towners who have never seen this, you're in for a treat.

Mercury Men Stills Pt. 2

And your first look at one of the Mercury Men themselves...

Mercury Men Stills

Here's a few stills from the upcoming short:

The film should be completed by the end of the month. The effects and contrast correction are coming along very nicely, but take a VERY LONG time, especially when you're not working on a very fast computer. After another wave of corrupted projects and random crashes, I vow that if it's within my power I will never edit another film on a PC again.

I'll have more stills (and possibly some rough footage) soon.

The Art of G.I. Joe

This may be one of the top five websites ever found:
The Art of G.I. Joe: 1982 - 1985

The Greatest Decade: Part II

If this commercial does NOT make you happy then you are a cold, heartless robot.

This next video gives a great look at what the place looked/felt like years ago. Unfortunately I couldn't find a single clip of the clapping animal hands.

And finally, a look behind-the-scenes.

What's sad is that the gym that took over the Chuck E. Cheese building in West Mifflin STILL has the little door.

Never Wait

I'm a long time reader of a website containing dozens of great articles on screenwriting by Terry Rosio and and Ted Elliot (Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy). These guys GET what makes a great story.

I recently came across an article on the site that knocked me on my ass. Somebody working in a craft as uncertain and fickle as film production constantly needs fuel tossed into the fire. For all the rejection, criticism, failure, and self-doubt, you sometimes need a message that gets you through the next leg of the race. This article was that to me. It's VERY long, but well worth the read, and applicable to all.

"Never Wait" by Terry Rossio

Opportunity meets Readiness

I landed on Jenna (Pam Beasley) Fischer's mySpace blog today and found a great post with advice for those of us pursuing careers in the entertainment industry:

I have a great acting coach who says that success in Hollywood is based on one thing: Opportunity meets Readiness. You cannot always control the opportunities, but you can control the readiness. So, study your craft, take it seriously. Do every play, every showcase, every short film, every student film you can get. Swallow your pride. Be willing to work for nothing in things you think are stupid. Make work for yourself. Make your own luck. Don't complain. Hopefully, the work will find you if you are ready.

You can read the rest of her entry here.

Shots from the Mercury Shoot

Here's some behind-the-scenes shots taken by Kati, Lindsey, and Evan during yesterdays FIFTEEN HOUR shoot. (No, that's not a typo. Fifteen hours.) If you've seen Captain Blasto, you notice some pretty big similarity in Mark Tierno's character.

League Concept Art

Here's another shot of concept art for the upcoming short:
This is a member of the league, responsible for protecting "the battery," which you'll see in later posts.

Star Wars Maps

I have a confession to make. I have a REALLY REALLY dorky hobby. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I make Star Wars maps for board games. Before you judge me, remember, you've got some dorky hobby too. I'm sure you've got Beanie Babies tucked away some where, or a miniature railroad in your basement.

Why Star Wars maps? Well, I stay up really late. Ashley and Sawyer usually head up around 10:30 - 11:00, but I usually don't hit the sack until about 2:00 - 3:00. Typically I'll fill that time with writing (screenplays, film shorts) or editing. But every few months, when I don't have a current project in the works, I find myself translating famous Star Wars locales into overhead maps for various games. It began with Hoth several years ago, just to see if I could it it, and for some reason I just kept on going. Jabba's Palace, the Death Star, all the way through to the Ewok Village.

Now in my defense I have benefited somewhat from this hobby. 1) I've learned an incredible amount more about Photoshop, which has helped me on other projects. 2) The maps have been noticed by the lead designer of the Star Wars game and he has offered to potentially use them in later releases. 3) I've uploaded the various maps onto different sites and they've been downloaded by thousands of Star Wars game fans and are used in homes, game shops, and conventions around the world. (You wouldn't believe how many downloads I've had from Brazil alone.) They have even been featured in an online version of the game. Every once in a while I check in with CafePress.com, an online printing company that offers these maps via print-on-demand, and they have made several thousand dollars off of them. (Unfortunately none of that profit is extended to the artist due to copyright.)

Recently I created a website where all the maps can be seen, downloaded, and(or) printed and I thought you normal people might enjoy seeing them, and get a glimpse into my dorky nightlife.
http://starwarsmaps.blogspot.com