Well it looks like the Weinstein brothers couldn't watch their baby get tossed out in the cold by Disney and left to die. According to an article on Gawker and the rest of the press world, the Weinsteins have bought Miramax back after selling to Disney years and years ago. Hopefully this new acquisition leads to a revival of quality independent films on the level of classics like Pulp Fiction.
Last week we were relaxing at home, casually watching a lo-fi suspense movie named Cavite on the Sundance Channel. At one point the main character eats at a taco shop, which we noticed looked strikingly similar to a taco shop down the street from us. Soon the character was visiting other locations that looked straight out of our neighborhood. Sure enough, we checked the movie online and it was filmed in San Diego. The film is about a security guard who becomes the unwilling puppet of a terrorist group that has kidnapped his family. Apparently, we missed the train on this one, as it was a big deal back in 2005 when it came out. It won the "Someone to Watch" award at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards.
The film was obviously shot on the run, guerilla style with a low-end camera, minimal crew and no location permits. It was very encouraging for us to see that you can make a film on barebones and still receive recognition from the industry for its quality in story, and has further strengthened our resolve to finish a short film for festival submission this year.
Hey everyone....sorry for the delay in posts...we have been busy planning for our film shoot on Sunday and watching movies....So to make good on our promise, we wanted to tell you about Anvil!The story of Anvil.
The Anvil documentary was directed by one time roadie for Anvil and screenwriter of the Steven Spielberg directed film the Terminal, Sacha Gervasi. The documentary is a real life version of This is Spinal Tap. The film follows the band through the struggles of the a European tour filled with various mishaps while its members still question the reason they still haven't found success after playing for over 30 years. The movie is filled with both hilarious and often cringe worthy moments that exemplify perseverance and the human spirit. Unfortunately the film doesn't have a wide release but it may be playing at an independent theatre near you. We saw the film in San Diego on Thursday. The band actually showed up to play a set after the midnight showing this past weekend. I wish we would have seen that.
We are still playing around with the export settings because the footage is a bit stretched from the 16x9 to qt conversion..anyway hope you guys like it. More to come...
Camera Obscura Oliver Stone's camera technique -- We found this interesting article about how Oliver Stone uses varied film stocks, contradictory cutaways, and more to make his films. I have been interested in learning how film directors like Oliver Stone and Tony Scott work with their Directors of Photography to develop the overall look and feel of the film. And have tried to emulate their techniques in my film work. Later this week I will post some videos where I used multiple formats to create a unique look. Check out the article.
We stumbled upon this interesting Shepard Fairey interview online where the Obey Giant creator explains how Punk Rock and skateboarding influenced his art and the do it your self attitude.
We can relate to Shepard Fairey and how he relied on self promotion to gain notoriety.
Its been a busy Friday for the El Roberto production crew. We spent the afternoon putting some finishing touches on the Cafe Eleven commercial and started planning some future projects. In between visiting with family this weekend we plan to sneak some work in when possible. We have a lot of upcoming projects to focus on the next couple of weeks.
Before you go, check out this trailer for the Limits of Control directed by Jim Jarmusch.
So we basically have the commercial edit completed. It was the first time Candice edited one of our projects, and we are both mentally exhausted from the experience. Just kidding....it was easy. Right now we just have to record the voice-over and insert some text and its done.
Next up... we are in pre-production for a music video and are honing the God with a Gun script. Hope you guys are having a great Thursday and are exercising your drinking muscles in preparation for the Easter Holiday weekend.
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.
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...
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!
