Harryhausen

We lost a great yesterday with the passing of Ray Harryhausen. Ray's stop motion work influenced a whole generation of filmmakers and his onscreen magic is still very potent today. Here are a couple videos. The first is a collection of his scenes from classic science fiction and fantasy films.

The next is an interview with effects guru Phil Tippett talking with Harry Knowles about Harryhausen's influence on his work.  

If you are interested in Ray, The Art of Ray Harryhausen book is a great companion piece to his film work. It shows off his preproduction artwork as well as his beautiful models.

Oh Data...

I finally completed my sculpture of Data from The Goonies. The piece was created for the upcoming Bottleneck Gallery show Gizmos and Gadgets. The piece will be on display and for sale at the gallery.

Gizmos and Gadgets

Bottleneck Gallery
60 Broadway, Box 8
Brooklyn, NY 11249

Friday, January 18th - Thursday, February 3rd

Opening Reception: Friday January 18th from 7pm to 10pm 

Online Sales Begin Saturday January 19th ~ 12 noon est.

I will also be selling 11x17 inch prints of this image: 
 

 

Movie Trailers!

Here are two movies coming up in 2013 that I am dying to see.
The first is a no-brainer. Guillermo del Toro's latest movie features giant kaiju monsters fighting giant robot mechs. Throw in Idris Elba, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman... what more could you ask for? Pacific Rim looks like it will be non-stop action and fun with some sincere heart thrown in knowing Del Toro's work.

Next is a much smaller movie called Upstream Color by Shane Carruth. This one looks like you'll need to bring your thinking cap along with you to the theater. Carruth has only release one other feature previously, a movie call Primer. Primer is one of my favorite movies. I've watched it many times and always think I have a handle on it, but I know I don't. It might be the best time travel movie of all time. It's scope is so big, but really its a very small film. Reported made for only $7000, it took the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004. So here is his new one, and it doesn't look like he's going to take it any easier on the viewers.

Come out and plaaaaayayaya...

A poster I did a while ago based on the movie The Warriors got featured today on joblo.com. Joblo is a movie news site that I frequent. They recently started doing a column of movie related artwork. If you haven't seen the 1979 movie The Warriors, do yourself a favor and seek it out. It is a dark but fun movie about rival gangs in New York during the city's grittiest era.

San Jose International Short Film Festival 2012

The San Jose International Short Film Festival 2012 was held this weekend and my short M'aidez was shown there! I should have posted this befroe the showing but I wasn't sure of the date and time it would be screened. Thank you SJSFF for the invite, I hope things went smoothly. 

Also featured at the fest was the short "The Maker" by Zealous Creative, a studio out of Australia. I saw this a couple weeks back online and really enjoyed it. 

Arrowhead: Signal

I came across this short film from Australia recently and really enjoyed it. Jesse O'Brien and crew created it on a shoestring budget and they are seeking financing to create a full length feature. The film cleverly mixes selective cg elements in with a great costume and carefully cobbled together set pieces.  It's about ten minutes, but worth the time investment.


Arrowhead: Signal from Jesse O'Brien on Vimeo.

Paris - Post 3

 

Our hotel was in the Monmartre district of Paris. On our first day there, after almost no sleep on the plane, we set out to explore the area a little bit. We had marked the Cafe Du 2 Moulins on our map, but happened upon it by accident that day. We were just walking in general directions in awe of everything and before we knew it, there we were. This was the cafe featured in the movie Amelie. It is about a block and a half away from the Moulin Rouge and doesn't stand out too much from the other cafes we encountered in the area. It was cool to see the specials written on the mirrored walls as they are in the movie, and it just felt very Paris-y to be there on the first day. We each got a really good meal and enjoyed watching folks pop in to take photos every few minutes. It certainly added a little magic spark to our first day in the city of lights.

Ain't It Cool News

Mike, aka Muldoon, over at Ain't It Cool News runs a weekly Saturday short film post. I submitted my short, M'aidez a few weeks back and kind of forgot about it. I was bowled over yesterday when I was perusing this weeks selections to see my name and video posted. This is a big deal for me. I have been a very dedicated follower of Ain't It Cool since about 1999 and rarely go a day without checking in on what's new. Yes, I'm kind throwing all of my geek cards out on the table. I really appreciate the post and kind words from Mike. The post has been a big boost in getting people to check it out. Click the image below to see the page and check out the other animation shorts posted along side mine.

Danny Boyle's Frankenstein

Tonight we went to see Danny Boyle's stage version of Frankenstein being screened at a movie theater. It did lack a little of the impact you know would have been present seeing it live, but the production was really impressive. The two main actors, Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch, would trade roles each night. So one would play Victor Frankenstein and one would play The Monster, then switch for the next performance. In the showing we went to Johnny Lee Miller played The Monster. His take was really intriging. The character throws the viewer back and forth over and over again; feeling deep sympathy for him followed back deep disgust. He said he based a lot of the physical performance on his 2 year old daughter. There is a wonderful progression with him, learning to walk, run, and talk. You can certainly see the child show through, as well as touches of stroke victims, and Autistic mannerisms. I was affected to be sure. I am a great fan of all things Frankenstein and this was a great addition to the mythos. I hope they release this on DVD at some point. We have become followers of Benedict Cumberbatch after watching the new Sherlock series on BBC. He was very respectable as the doctor, but that character doesn't quite get the same chance to shine. I would love to see his take on The Monster to compare and contrast the actors. Here is a trailer for the play-

Short Film M'aidez

 I recommend watching this in HD, fullscreen, with headphones on 

Complete!!! I have finally finished my short. I have spent so much time with this that its going to feel odd not staring at that figure for a little while. I am pretty pleased with the final product. It is not the longer form narrative that I originally intended, but maybe I will come back to that someday. I wish I could give some estimate of hours spent, but I can tell you it was a lot. The figure, the suit, the backpack, the electronics, the sculpting and painting; and then of course the shooting all took a good chunk of time to complete. I have been working on these types of figures for about eight or nine years and its really satisfying to seem one brought to life a little bit. I am hoping to continue stop motion work in the future. Who knows what little short is next. I'll leave it at that. Thank you for watching!

Cabin in the Woods

I caught a matinee of Cabin in the Woods this week and loved it to death. I am going to keep this brief because its one of those movies where the less you know going in the better it will play. I was really floored by the flick and if you have even a passing interest in horror you owe it to yourself to see it on the big screen. It's full of surprises and is more than your typical teeny slasher movie. Batman sequels, vague Alien prequels, and even other Whedon movies better gear up; you're going to need some muscle to top this one.

It makes me pine for little action figures of these two guys, Sitterson and Hadley.

Everything You Do is a Balloon

I had never seen this music video from Boards of Canada before, but I really like it now. It is entirely made up of footage from a bicycle safety film from the 60's called One Got Fat. It is horrifying, and its hard to take your eyes off of it once the creepiness kicks in. I had a strong urge to start working on making one of those masks as I watched it. The whole atmosphere reminded me of one of the segments from the anthology movie Trick R' Treat, which I love.

I came across this video on Unreality's list of eight disturbing music videos. There are a few more entries on there worth checking out if you like they type of thing.

They're Coming To Get You Barbara...

I was sad to see that Bill Hinzman passes away yesterday. I didn't know his name before seeing this article today, but I certainly know who he was. He played the first zombie we see in George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and in doing so became the first modern cinema zombie. His slung jaw and lumbering stride became part of the blueprint that most most zombie movies stick to to this day. And for that I salute you sir. Embedded below is his moment in the spotlight.

Senna Documentary

My wife and I just watched the doc Senna over the weekend on Netflix streaming. I didn't know much about it going in, and I'm not going to ruin anything here for you. I really recommend people check it out if they like documentaries. Its an intriguing look at a great rivalry that I had no idea was taking place in the early 90's. Apparently silly 12 year old me wasn't paying attention to world formula one driving (not that I do now). Don't watch the trailer, don't watch the clips, just sit down and enjoy a really well made doc. The amount of footage they shot is staggering and it help with some impressive storytelling . We really felt the tension while watching Senna. They do a great job of making you feel the speed of the cars and the constant danger that everyone involved is in. Do yourself a favor and watch it.