Tuesday, June 30, 2009

New video...

Here is our latest video about San Diego's Hive Haus for Citybeat. You can checkout the article here!.


Right now we are currently uploading all the Citybeat videos to their new Youtube channel. We will post a link to that later this week. And we are working on finishing commercial we recently shot. Look for some new video posts later this week!

Monday, June 29, 2009

Moon



We finally saw Moon this past Saturday at Landmark Theaters in Hillcrest. We were curious as to how the story would play out since the trailer seemed to give a lot of the plot points away (i.e. lonely guy on space station encounters his clone-chaos ensues). The story kind of revolves around clones, big corporations, and the sanctity of human life. it's an interesting idea and it was well-played out. Although there were some weak plot points that had us raising our eyebrows a few times("ok, so this space robot has feelings? oh it's trying to kill him-no, wait-huh?) It's definitely one of those movies where you take the story with a grain if salt. But stil the premise was cool and the look of the film was awesome-very 1970's space odessy 2000. Apparently the film's budget was only $5 million dollars, so the production team deserves a huge amount of credit for making a believable looking space terrain with so little money. And Sam Rockwell, who seems to revel in quirky does a great job playing opposite himself for 90 percent of the movie. All in all its not a super memorable movie, but a cool little flick that'd be fun too watch on Netflix.

Also the director is of interest because a) He's David Bowie's son b) He apprenticed under Tony Scott and c) this was his first film, which is pretty exciting considering the positive buzz it has received. I've linked to an interview that Duncan gave to IFC a while back. A very interesting article on an emerging director...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Its Sunday night

and we have had a fun and productive weekend working on projects. We finished our video for Che Bella and have been editing a project we covered earlier in the week for Citybeat. We should have those projects posted on our site later this week.
Anyway, we took a break to research embedding high quality Youtube videos to websites and came across this interesting online tool...check it out. Its interesting because it still looks pretty compressed and choppy to us but still feel that this could be a useful tool....check out the example of our last uploaded project below.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Bruno

looks hilarious....we might be able to go see a prescreening of this next week...we are keeping our fingers crossed. If so, we will post a review...anyway lots of editing to do this weekend so checkout our blog for updates/new projects.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Latest Citybeat video

Hey everyone,
Here is our latest video for Citybeat....let us know what you think.

10 best picture nominees??? In an attempt to increase ratings, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is now going to allow more films compete for best picture... check this out.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Cool Trailer



We came upon an incoming music documentary that looks pretty cool. Jimmy Paige, The Edge, and Jack White seem to be a pretty exciting mix. We'll see how it turns out once the film comes out.

Oy...



It's been a long night of editing and we are anxious to get a good nights rest. We'll be back Tuesday afternoon, with a proper post-ciao till then!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Sorry for the delay

but...we have been ridiculously busy the last couple of days....working on a project for Citybeat and filming a wedding...(great portfolio piece btw)...besure to checkout our latest project for them on Wednesday.

Anyway despite having lots of editing to do, we were able to get away to checkout Moon, a film by Duncan Jones...I will post our review soon.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Camera..Check! Mic... Check! Rubber Chicken...Check!


Hey Ya'll

Hope you're having a good Thursday. One more day till the weekend, yeay! We're busy editing footage right now and preparing ourselves for two shoots this weekend (sigh). It'll be a a crazy busy weekend, but a fun one that will greatly improve our portfolio. I like to make elaborate list containing all the equipment we'll possibly need for a shoot, but inevitably, we always forget something minor. So here's to hoping we forget absolutely nothing this weekend! Our new mic came in today and we've been cooing over it all night. We'll be testing it out this weekend, so we're anxious to see how it operates. That's it for tonight-adios!

Mission Im..eh..Whatever.


In what I'm sure is thrilling news for probably 8 people in the world, they're making a Mission Impossible IV due to come out in 2011. Because we haven't had enough of this series, correct? Apparently Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams are going to set out to make a 4th installment of the series, which is surprising since Cruise had a huge falling out with the head of Paramount Sumner Redstone a couple of years ago. But they must have patched up their differences, because Cruise will be returning to Paramount in order to film the new Mission Impossible one. It's just become a cliche and unexciting series. So here's hoping they inject some new life into the story-and stop using the tired "face mask rip-off" sequences.


In more interesting news, Sean Penn has pulled out of the much talked about Three Stooges Project. Apparently he needs to take a break from Hollywood and get his life together. Good for him. Everyone's been there at some point or another and its better to take stock and make action to improve then ignore your issues and continue working. Personally I'm kind of glad he's off the project. I was never able to reconcile the idea of him playing Larry. He's just seems too brusque and overly sensitive to play nice, bumbling Larry. I just don't seem him playing comedy well. Anyways thats it for today-CIAO!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Tuesday


Happy Tuesday Y'all,

Hope everyone had a glorious and refreshing day. We were busy editing all night, but we are finally done and ready for the weekend to be here already.

Speaking of the weekend, we saw "The Hangover" last sunday night at AMC Mission Valley. Now to tell the truth, we initially had no plans to see this movie. The trailer just looked kind of cliche and obvious; a bachelor party movie where guys get wasted, bad things happen, and hilarity ensues. Seen it a thousand times. But the positive movie critic reviews filled with over the top superlatives kept streaming in. That, coupled with a thumbs up from a few well-movied friends sealed the deal. Se we plunked down our hard-earned $10 and watched the flick. The movie was worth it. Really funny, in an over-the-top kind of way. The actors do a great job portraying the blinding vacuum of pain, confusion, and dry heaves that is a severe hangover. And they're constantly assaulting your eyeballs with increasingly shocking antics and storylines, that culminate in a final credits scene that is scream-worthy in its gross out hilarity. Seriously. I won't give the story away but the ending involves digital pictures from the bachelor party they can't remember, and it was so bad I can't even understand how they were able to get an R rating. Some may find it a little to wild a movie for their taste, but it really was funny and good-hearted, and Zach Gilafanakalakalis or whatever, is the funniest thing in the movie-A plus!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Check mic, check one check two..


Some exciting news today-we finally bought an essential addition to our equipment list-the holy "shotgun" mic. After researching, we found that the Audio-Technica AT897 was the best bang for our buck. It's sharp, perfect for interviews, and isn't too pricey. A professional shotgun mic was the last on our list of extreme essentials needed for production, so we were glad to finally buy it. Plus we're going to be shooting a friends wedding this weekend, so it was imperative that we ordered it today, to get the best possible sound pickup at the wedding. So we're eager to hold our new mic and test it out on future videos. The only things we really have left to purchase are a backup HDV camera, a merlin steadicam, and a (low-cost) dolly system. Once we have those final three things..look out world! We're taking over! Just kidding..for the most part.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Shutter Island

Although this trailer looks interesting and we all know its going to be a good film, does Martin Scorsese really have to direct Leonardo Dicaprio in every film? Checkout the trailer...

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Mic Shopping...



This week we are looking to add a new mic to the mix. So far we have been relying on a combination of a reliable but limited Shure SM57 and the camera mic to record audio for our productions. SM57's are great but are mainly used to record instruments and studio vocal/voiceover work...although they have been used extensively in news-reporting. We are looking at a couple of mics and headphones to provide us with more flexibility and to improve the overall quality of sound in our work. Here is an interesting link we found about shotgun mics.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

New videos!!!

Hey,

Here are the two videos we've been editing the last couple of days. Finally done!(sound of beer cans opening). Time for some Coors Light and Rock of Love!!! Just kidding.... until tomorrow when we get back to editing some more.

Have a good night.



Monday, June 08, 2009

It's been one of those Mondays..


And were pretty exhausted. We are in the final throes of finishing a project and looking forward to having tomorrow afternoon off, free to kickback, relax and completely ignore our Macs (for a couple of hours that is, until we scurry back home and hug them tight to our chests, stroking their LED screens and whispering pledges of eternal love). Have a great Tuesday!

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Editing...

can be a fickle mistress. And although it's not as messy a job today as it was for the blokes in the picture, it can be just as exhausting. We are currently editing footage from the Art around Adams event that took place on Saturday June 6th. It was an interesting festival, with cool bands, artists, and quirky performers floating about. But there's a lot of footage to dig through and it's been a bit of a task determining which were the best clips to go with. However, we got some great soundbites from some of the musical acts which we're excited about highlighting. Anywho, we're thinking of taking a break to see Will Ferrell's new movie Land of the Lost that just came out. I don't know why. The trailer was corny, we didn't really laugh during it, and the reviews are less than complimentary . So like any good ol' Fruedian subject, we are going to plunk down $10 and see it, because every mental and social gauge says not to. We'll be sure to pass on our grumpy and unsatisfied review of the flick for you to ignore also. That's it for today. Have a great night!

Friday, June 05, 2009

So happy its Friday


We are very excited that its the weekend, as we have two projects this weekend to keep us busy. One of which is covering the Art Around Adams event for Citybeat. Should be a lot of fun as the all day event covers over 1.5 miles of art galleries, music, film screenings, and more. Be sure to check it out.

After this weekend we will have a ton of editing to do, so lookout for new projects to be posted on our site later this week. Have a great night and we will talk to you guys later.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Carradine


Really sad and strange news about David Carradine's death. He was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok Thailand today. The "official" cause is listed as suicide, but there are some odds circumstances that may things look even more sinister. We don't need to get into the gory details, but whatever way he met his end, he will be missed as he was a film icon and played a huge part in the popularity of the 70's kung fu genre. You can read more about the story here. Below is a clip from one of his cult classics:

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Collabo



col⋅lab⋅o⋅rate [kuh-lab-uh-reyt]
1. to work, one with another; cooperate.

Some of the most amazing pieces of art you'll ever see come together when two creative entities meet and find something in each other that can complement their own abilities. Our country has seen some visionary collaborations over the years. Bowie and Bing, McCartney and Jacko , Paul Abdul and MC Skat Kat, the list goes on and on. That's why we are soooo jazzed to be teaming up with San Diego Citybeat to create original video content for their website. This last weekend we filmed the 2009 San Diego Threadshow for Citybeat, and had a lot of fun checking out the amazing clothes, fashionable people and talented musicians/artists that peppered the place. You can check out the video here along with an article about our burgeoning collaboration. So expect to see some fun and informative Citybeat videos coming up in the near future! Good night!

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

so its Tuesday night....

We are exhausted...and its only Tuesday...anyway we completed shooting the SD Wax Queen commercial today and finished moving......so tomorrow we are going to take it easy and possibly log footage...anyway we hope your week is going well.

This looks pretty good...we will probably go check this out this weekend...

Filmmaker Competition (Part Dueh)



So I guess I'm posting about film competitions two days in a row! It's that time of year when all the fun film competitions start pouring in mainly through withoutabox. Speaking of withoutabox, have you ever noticed how they always post open competitions a couple days before the deadline? What is the point of that? Like, I'd really love to know about the film competition where you shoot a 2 minute music video for a chance at 5 million dollars before it ends. Withoutabox really needs to start posting the opening dates of competitions. Anyways, that's my rant for the day.

So where I was going with this was withoutabox posted a contest today that sounds really interesting. It's basically a chance to submit your film idea, and possibly win the money to produce it. It's called the The Ultimate Filmmaker Competition The contest consists of you presenting a 1 page synopsis of your film idea, a 250-word mission statement as to why you were born to yell "Action!", and a resume. Based on these items you could receive a $200,000 production grant and a over $300,000 in resources. It has some legit sponsors like Canon, Final Cut and Movie Maker Mag. There are some dubious elements though, such as a $75.00 entry fee, and of course the deadline is two weeks away. But if you've been sitting on your story for a few years and think you can create a one page pitch strong enough to sell it, you should take a look at this contest. I am seriously considering applying for it.