Moving

Hey..sorry for the lack of posts lately...been deathly sick for a week, and now we're moving today, so its been pretty crazy.

On a postive note, looks like we'll be buying the camera by Monday-Yeay!!!!

Our camera is getting cheaper...

Check it out guys....are camera is dropping in price!!! Pretty soon we "might" be able to afford this thing...

Check it out!

Roman Polanski wants to come home...

Checkout the article

Rain of Madness

Just in case you missed it...check out this trailer for "Rain of Madness." Its a trailer for a documentary about the making of "Tropic Thunder." Good stuff...



Checkout the Rain of Madness site!

The Wrestler

So supposedly the new Mickey Rourke film "The Wrestler" is going to be his comeback vehicle. It's been getting rave reviews and a lot of hype, so we're excited to see how he does in this film. The plot is about an aging WWF wrestler long past prime and looking to find the lost limelight. Os something like that. With his overly tanned skin, bleached blond locks and buffed-out old man body he certainly looks the part. Hmmm….a story about an over-the-hill entertainer who suffers innumerous humiliations as he tries to struggle back to the top. Sounds like any other film out right now? That's right! JVCD..Jean Claude Van Damme's new "comeback vehicle" is out and kicking ass at theaters now. Although I admit, it'll be a little hard for ol'
Jean-Claude's movie to compete with any movie by the critic darling Darren Aronofsky. Whether "The Wrestler" turns out to be a great film or a burning pile of camel dung, Mickey Rourke's gotten a great amount of exposure and it's nice to see someone who's been screwed over by Hollywood get a break once in a while…

Here's an New York Times interview with Mickey Rourke, where he aggrandizes and over-embellishes pretty much through the whole thing

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Eat Turkey people-and get wasted :)

What would Hollywood do without Asian Movies?

In yet another attempt from Hollywood to mooch off the success of a Asian film, Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are working to produce an American version of the Korean film "Old Boy". This critically acclaimed 2003 Korean movie is based on a Japanese comic book. In the story, the hero (Dae-Su) gets kidnapped and is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without explanation. Suddenly, one day he's released and given money, a cell phone and clothes and is set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge. His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls for an attractive sushi chef. The Korean version of the movie won the Grand Prix prize at Cannes in 2004. What I don't understand is why can't American directors look at these films as inspiration to become more adventurous and experimental with something of their own creation, instead of going "Oh-hey, cool here something else I can rip off!" Click here to read further.

Okay it's 9:41am..Let's wrap it Up!

Seriously..who can be productive at the office the day before a holiday?? I am ready to go!

DIY Filmmaking Tip of the day...

Have you ever felt that your lighting needed a more professional-looking diffusion but didn't want to shell out $100+ for a decent-sized softbox? we hear ya. There have been numerous times that we've looked online for necessary softbox equipment and gagged. $150.00 for one medium-sized set?? It's ridiculous. Especially since some of the softboxes look easy enough for a 5th grader to make. Well-turns out they are. Below is a link to a website that shows yo how to make large softboxes by hand with only a few items( umbrella, aluminum tape, etc.) It's not too difficult of a build, but I'd say yourself an afternoon to do it. A small price to pay for saving hundreds in the long run.

Happy
Softboxing!

Filmmaker Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami is opening a studio on LA next year. This artist is very Candy Pop-ish..his photos and animation look like a surreal world hopped-up on Skittles and Mickey Mouse. Its very well-known that he has intentions of getting into filmmaking, so it'll be exciting to see what kind of psychedelic, candy-coated Anime films he'll create..Go to this link to read an article on the subject

...Can't(gasp) See...

Must...get off....Internets...eyeball's falling out of head.

Black Dynamite!!

The trailer to this movie is pretty funny. Its a take on all those cheesy blaxploitation films of the 70's complete with Kung Fu and gratutitous nudity. Although I'm a little concerned by the implication that he has three penises...

Black Dynamite Red Band Trailer

Weird Science

So I've finally succumbed to the ice jaws of this Cold thats been growling at me for a few days. It sucks. I spent all last night trying to ignore the revolutionary uprising going up in my stomach.

So, now I'm here sitting on my couch on a monday afternoon, sick as a dog and watching Weird Sciece because there is nothing else on..this movie is so weird. It doesn't make any since. First they try to create a robot girl out of their computer, but then some eletrical storm hits, and she emerges from a red fog in their bathroom. Okaaay. And she has magical abilities to change license plates and create driver's licenses, and everything. Whatever. Below is a much more prestigious and coherent film about a scientists creation of a robot.

This is What Our Insides Feel Like Today

Partying the night before





+
Cold Symptoms



+
Bad Mexican



=A really bad all day hangover

Slumdog Millionaire Movie Review

We saw Slumdog Millionaire, and it was a pretty great movie. Telling the story of a boy who grew from a scrappy orphan living in the Mumbai slums, to a teenage tea-server on the verge of becoming a millionaire, it's one of the most engaging movies I've seen all year. Slumdog Millionaire does a great job of plopping you into the middle of Mumbai with all the bright colors, sounds and madness associated with the slums.

The director Danny Boyle gave a very realistic portrayal of the filth and destitution in the slums, without ever sacrificing his eye for the beauty and youth that permeates the landscape. It's a fun film, although it has some dark moments (including a graphic scene where a man who kidnaps children and uses them as beggars, blinds them in order to make more money). It's like a hybrid of the movies City of God and Oliver Twist mixed with Carlito's way.

So all in all go see Slumdog Millionaire. It is funny and scary, heartwarming and suspenseful all wrapped in one. Plus there's an awesome Bollywood musical dance number at the end. How can you beat that?

The Blogging Princess

Good Afternoon!
24 more minutes till I am released from these chains!!! Here's an interesting blog you should check...it belongs to my friend Amber, a young vixen from San Diego who is a talented writer and hummingbird trainer. Check out her blog-it's really funny and cool!


Princess of Prose

Ciao!

Ban Cheap Bootlegs!

Last night at the hair salon I experienced the most grotesque debasement to films I've seen since The Pest. There I was innocently sitting in the chair getting my hair flat ironed, while my hairdresser smacked her gum and talked about lovin' Jesus, when someone decided to pop in the movie Click.

At first I was like, whatever; it's definitely not a movie I'm into (I try to avoid movies that contain Adam Sandler post-2000, or slow-motion boobs in their trailer) but it was better than nothing.

Boy was I wrong. It was a cheap bootleg someone had made from their TV. Seriously. At certain points you could see the reflection in the TV of some guy lying on the couch in his living room, with soda cans on top of the coffee table. And the sound was horrible, like they recorded it in the bathroom with a string and a can. Now I am NOT a movie elitist obviously, and I'm all about sticking to the man and finding cheap ways to watch movie. It's been our MO to never visit the theater without sneaking in at least 1 extra flick. But there's a level even I can't stoop down too, and bootleg copies taped from a TV are that point.

My question is who buys these bootlegs? Really..who guys out of there way to plunk down $5 for something that you can barely see? Why don't they just go to http://quicksilverscreen.com? At least there you can watch a decent copy on that site, without the extra insight into the pirater's personal hygiene habits…bootleggers need to adapt to the times. Please!

CAMERA!!!!

Here's the deal: We need a camera. And not just any old mickey mouse DV - a real camera. The kind you see people with equipment jackets and boom mikes carrying around at music festivals. Or the kind you flap your arms in front of on the street while some flustered news correspondent tries to complete his story.Basically a professional level camera, that will improve the quality of our videos and makes us look more legit to potential collaborators.Case in point:

Plus once we get a good camera, we'll be able to get work as videographers shooting quincinearas and weddings-btw people make sooo much money shooting weddings!Although hopefully none of the ones we film end up like this
But ...they're *crazy *expensive! Well actually they're only $3,299, but that's a LOT when you're a struggling filmmaker living in San Diego, the land of $12 Gin and Tonics..

Nevertheless, we've derived a (somewhat) solid plan to buy our dream camera by December 11th. And if we eat only Top Ramen and avoid buying gas for the next few weeks, we might just meet our goal. As we approach the deadline, I'll keep you updated as to how close we are to buying our camera.

Testing, testing..does this work? Just trying to use the "blog throught text messages" service..hopefully it works.

Ground Control to Major Tom!

Hello? Can you hear me? Woot! this is my first time accessing the blog from my mobile phone! I am currently sitting at my desk at work, with my boss, the VP and all my coworkers less than five feet away, none the wiser to the fact, that I'm blogging away! this is so cool! Im going to try and post a picture of my office here in a minute..we'll see if it works.

Old Year, New Starts

Okay, so once again with feeling!!! No we are not dead, or in prison for shoplifting overpriced camcorders..we've just been so productive that we completely let our blog fall by the wayside. I know, I know..there is no excuse for it. And I'm sorry to the fans who we've disappointed with the long hiatus (and by fans, I mean some random cat that stepped on his passed-out owners keyboard, inadvertently clicking onto our blog and giving us a view)

But anywho..the important thing is that we're back, with a newfound sense of duty, driven by an overwhelming sense of guilt.


July

We entered a contest for Klondike along with about 30,000,000 other people. Although our skit didn't win, it was pretty encouraging that we were able to make a decent video with the most skeleton-y of skeleton crews (two people). Here is the video...not too shabby of work for just for a couple of people, with no grip, lighters, cameramen, actors, food, or shame.




August

We entered another contest, this one for one of those web channels. It was a comedy called Stu's Blog, about an internet geek who chats on a video blog and obsesses
over a neighbor girl. It was a pretty funny skit, and was by far one of the longest ones we've made.

..

From Crackle: Stu's Blog

Currently,

We are working on some important projects that we'll be posting up before the end of the year. One is the final edit of a great film that has been in work over a couple of years, by one of the most talented members of the El Roberto Crew. We also have the final edit of the Radiohead project-it is almost finished and promises to to a very cool short once it s completed.

Links...

Here are a couple of links to some very cool filmmaker competitions that are coming up...

This is a cool competition for Directors. It has Darren Aronofsky involved so it has to be good. Plus the winners get to go to the Sundance Film Festival for Free!

Another video contest..this one looks a little cheesy-it's for Excedrin. Something about making a video about speed. I don't know. You'd be amazed how vague a lot of these companies are when they try to describe what they're looking for in videos. Anywho, its worth a shot! We're going to attempt to submit to the Sundance contest (but ONLY if we get our current projects complete before he deadline) but I think we'll skip this one. Good luck if you decide to try it!

That's all for now..we'll be back tomorrow-See you then!

Portishead video contest

IFC is going to be holding a video contest for Portishead..I'd post the link, but I cn't seem to find it yet. But the contest has just been posted- they still haven't posted any rules or info yet...as soon as I have that I'll pass it on.


On another note..we found some interesting information on the Radiohead contest today. The way this contest is supposed to work, everyone can submit videos up until June 2nd. Aniboom picks 10 semifinalist but you still can upload a whole video for consideration in the contest after the semi-finalists are pciked, which is what we are doing.

But check the Rolling Stones link..it sounds like this contest is giving some contestants and unfair advantage (review comments section in article)

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/05/06/semi-finalists-announced-in-radiohead-animation-contest/

Intersting......

Preview clip

As we promised here is a preview of the video we've been working on..it's pretty interesting. It was created by animating digital still photos then sequencing them together in final cut pro. Its still a work in progress, however after some story revisions and reshoots, we think it will be an even better short than anticipated....

Great Storyboard format link

We found a really cool blog site for amatuer filmmakers, it's called Self Reliant Film

This site has a lot of tips and links to great informational sites. I was able to download a great storyboard format.

New projects

Hola!

Hope everyone is doing well. The El Roberto team has been working day and night on new projects for your viewing pleasure. Seriously, we're busier than a one-legged man in a tap-dancing contest-chuckle, chuckle- But we digress...

To give you the lowdown on what we've been been up to we just wrapped a short animated film for submission to the Radiohead video contest. It's a fun video-there are lot of ominous stares and gun pointing in the video, so it was pretty cool to shoot.

We'll have a preview clip of the video up tomorrow..

Here's a link to the Radiohead video contest..



Although the intial submission time is closed, you can still upload videos to the site for consideration in the contest. People have uploaded some really unique and creative videos, so take a look-you might get some inspiration :)

New Videos

Hello All,

We recently created a couple of new vdeos for submission to the Heinz "Make your own commercial" contest. pretty funny-check them out!



and here's another



Let us know what you think!

Cheers

New videos!

Hey Kids!

We been working on some new content..here is our first video created in January..Let us know what you think..we appreciate all input :)

Visit us!

Hello All,

For videos, news and information on upcoming projects you can visit us at http://www.myspace.com/elrobertoproductions


Proper website coming soon!!!!

Greetings Earthlings!

"To create a magnificent failure is to create the best kind of picture; a picture that really drives and changes things."

We'd like to introduce El Roberto Productions.

We're all about cavalier, low-budget, innovative, experimental film and media projects.

We hope to invigorate and inspire all who view our content.