Saturday, March 23, 2013

Climbing in Productions and Performances

Had some pretty cool film-related gigs lately that have involved some climbing, climbing consulting, and outdoor rope rigging for climbing scenes. The main one is for a feature film currently in production called Posthuman. You can also check out their Facebook page.

A climbing scene from Posthuman movie.

Also this week there was a production crew at Rocktown working on a project for the Oklahoma Tourism department.  Along with some footage they took of some guy model trying to climb the front of the building they also taped me climbing "Xodus," which is kind of cool. 


My continuing work with the NBA OKC Thunder for the past 4 years as the chief performance rigger and belayer for their mascot Rumble has been pretty exciting. To step outside the normal bounds of climbing and applying my skills in a new manner has been worthwhile.

All this recent stuff with other projects has got me anxious to get moving on some production work of my own. Of course I still have the Oklahoma Climbing Documentary project on the radar - it's been pushed back for personal and family-related reasons.

In addition, I have begun writing a couple of shorts and even - dare I say it - another feature screenplay. (Holy crap.) At this time I don't want to say anything more than that - I can't even mention the name for fear I'll have something else to own up to.



Sunday, July 3, 2011

More Super 8 Film Digitized

Last Christmas I made a Super 8 film of myself and family visiting a tree farm and cutting down our first Christmas tree. I finally got the film developed and watched it the other day. It turned out really well, especially for all the editing performed in-camera. So I sent it off to have it digitized and should have it back shortly. In addition, I'm having two Russian films that I purchase on eBay a while ago also digitized. This is "found-footage" which I am going to craft into something new.

When I get the footage back I will post it.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Free Showing of Film - Saturday, June 26


On Saturday, June 26 the Renegade Picture Show is presenting The Good Soldier and a feature film.

For details go to the Renegade Picture Show website.
http://renegadepictureshow.com

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

USA Premiere of The Good Soldier - FRIDAY, JUNE 11

So this is it! It's been a long road to get to this point but the premiere of The Good Soldier is Friday, June 11 at 10 pm at the IAO Gallery in Oklahoma City, OK. It is part of the deadCenter Film Festival.

If you can make it please come on down and check it out.

If you wish to buy a complete festival pass they are $75. Or you can by a single ticket the day of the show for $10 at the door.

Go to the deadCenter schedule and scroll to Friday, June 11th at 10 pm. The Good Soldier is showing as part of "The X-Files" program. Here you can click on the film link, create an account for a calendar, and rate the film after you see it.

deadCenter Schedule

Friday, May 28, 2010

Super 8 Film - Stonehenge



Just posted a new Super 8 film to YouTube. This one is of Stonehenge.

Monday, May 10, 2010

DVD Art - DVD Coming Soon

Today I wrapped up the art work for The Good Soldier DVD. It took a bit longer than expected but I think it looks pretty good. Also, I came up with a special "Featuring Super 8 Film Technology" logo that I'm going to put on my future projects - and hope others will too - to identify the choice to shoot in Super 8.

So the next step will be to get my master DVD and art to the duplicating company. After that it will just be a matter of time before seeing the final product. The DVD contains English subtitles, chapter index, behind-the-scene slideshow, the theatrical trailer, and a link to online interactive content. And while I would have liked to include French and Spanish (and by recommendation, Portuguese) I unfortunately couldn't get all of that done by my deadline. So instead, I will have to make some alternate versions in the future.

I will be hosting a special screening of the film later this month for cast and crew - it will be their first viewing of the film. Then on June 11th the film will premiere to the US at deadCENTER Film Festival.

Following that, who knows what?

I have another project that I've begun, relative to my experience with this film - it's a writing project. Ok, I'll be real, it's book about Super 8 filmmaking. At this point it's a young project which could fall off a cliff at any time...but we'll see where it goes.

Also, I have a couple of other Super 8 film projects I'm working on. One I've entitle the "Physics Philm" project - it's a project I started years ago but I'm hoping to breathe some new life into it.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Cambridge - more notes

Friday was a great day both for the film, for my continuing education in the possibilities of what a talented person can do with Super 8 film, and in experiencing another country and culture.

Saturday was just as good. We spent the morning exploring the city. Today was much different from the other days because the streets were packed with shoppers (it was Saturday after all). We visited a street market place, some shops, bought some souvenirs - tourist stuff.

We tracked down the Zoology Department Museum on Downing Street. It was a bland looking museum - just glass cases packed with animal displays and biological artifacts, many times without any notes or explanation other than the species name. Not at all a modern day museum - it was much more a public warehouse of sorts. But we were here to see something in particular: Darwin. Downstairs, hidden away in some odd corner of the room, completely inconspicuously were three of the original finches collected by Darwin. Also, a beetle collection, notes from his journal during his voyage on the HMS Beagle, and other priceless items.

It just re-emphasized the fact of so many amazing thinkers and ideas were tied to this city. And to think that these items were just there - under some glass, without any real promotion or attention drawn to them. It seemed like such an unusual thing.

***

After our visit to the museum we walked up through the square and towards the screening venue. Today they were showing a feature-length film entitled "I for India." It was partly Super 8, partly other formats, about an Indian family that relocated to England. It followed their family's struggles through two generations, beginning in the 1960s and continuing through to the mid-90s. It was an excellent story, very well told, and the footage was brilliant.

After the film we met and spoke with some of our new friends, from England, France, and Brazil. We discussed film and had tea. Then, after having tea, we walked down the street to a pub and had a beer and talked some more.

Remy, myself, and Adam, spent much of this time discussing Super 8's and short film's place in today's movie world. It was a good discussion that I won't go into. The basic conclusions we came to were that: there is a place for short films, we just need to find a way to package and sell the idea to theaters, audiences, and executive producers.

***
We left Cambridge this morning, ending our film part of the trip and beginning our climbing and exploring portion of the trip. We arrived this afternoon in Castleton, within the Peak District National Park. First thing we did was drop our stuff off in our youth hostel room and truck it up the hill to Peveril Castle. After that we roamed around town for a while and eventually stopped at George's Pub where I had fish and chips and Adam had rabbit pot pie. No, I'm not making that up.

***

Almost forgot to mention (back to the film thing, since this is supposed to be about film) I have been shooting some Super 8 while I've been here. I shot about a roll and a half in Cambridge. I am working on the second half of the second roll (tri-x black and white film) and will most likely shoot that tomorrow.

I've got plenty of footage and pics so far but it will have to wait.