indie wednesday: pixels



Remember when I said some egg-heads at the University of Bath may have killed the pixel? Apparently the pixels aren't taking it well.

Check out this incredible short by Patrick Jean; certainly worth some smiles on a Wednesday. Things have worked out pretty well for Patrick since he produced Pixels. Adam Sandler's production company forked over a pretty penny to develop it into a feature film.

What's the lesson, boys and girls? Just keep producing and just keep putting it out there. All it takes is the right pair of eyes to find it.

oscar news and notes 2.25.13


Another Oscar night has come and gone. And, to no one's surprise, Kentucky decided to show up and dominate. Hollywood's darling and Louisville native, Jennifer Lawrence, walked away with Best Actress while George Clooney got a statuette for Best Picture, as a producer on Argo. Not bad. Not bad at all. I fully expect this to be the beginning of the Bluegrass Dynasty in Hollywood. Everybody else, you can take your things and go home.

Seriously though, if I've got Clooney, Depp, and Lawrence... who you got? Can any other State match that trio of natives right now? Let us know in the comments section.

Tweet It Up


We decided to live-tweet the proceedings with little to no advanced warning. Like most of you, we got to turn up our nose at Seth McFarlane's never-ending monologue and to be thoroughly frightened by Kristin Chenoweth's red-carpet interviews. Here's a taste if you missed it. (And you can see the rest on our Twitter feed.)




Speaking of Twitter, we want to send out a big thank you to all the Twitter peoples that have pushed us over 2,000 followers. We're really hoping the momentum pays off and we can get Space Cops 4 in front of as many eyes as possible.

Dino Rivera


This guy looks friendlier than the one we ran into.
Michael Startzman is a good friend and participant in WSF shenanigans. Saturday, he wrote up a nice blog piece that included a shoutout for Cannonball. And it featured this digital painting of none other than Bigsquatch. He hits on two key points in his post: 1) Bigfoot Country is an absolutely painful movie to watch.  2) If you've seen it, you can still cleanse your mental palate by watching Cannonball free on Vimeo! Michael is a very talented artist who is currently featured in Red Bull's Collective Art project that exhibits his work all over the world. Be sure to make MichaelStartzman.com a regular stop in your internet travels.

It's late and I'm hitting the sheets, but we do have good stuff planned for you this week. So check back in and everybody have a great Monday.

indie wednesday: supralude


(Be sure to turn on the HD setting and fullscreen it.)

Recently, there's been so much talk about the latest and greatest camera advancements, I wanted to use this Indie Wednesday to point out what someone did with a good old Canon 5D MKII. The 5D started the DSLR indie film movement and it was still well-represented this year at festivals like Sundance. However, it is quickly becoming forgotten and overshadowed by all the new kids on the block, like the Black Magic Cinema Camera, the Red Epic, and Scarlet, etc, etc.

I think TNIW [That Night In Williamsburg] proves that the old man still produces great images. I just wanted to remind everyone out there (including myself) what a great and economical filmmaking tool the 5D is. And, as attentions turn elsewhere, you can pick up a 5D on eBay for under $1500. With that camera you can produce images like these. You don't need to mortgage your house for whatever new gear came out today. And you definitely shouldn't keep waiting to start your film due to fear of missing out on a camera that might be released tomorrow.

Add in some clever After Effects work, and you've got a very cool piece like the one made by Supralude. Supralude is a graphic designer and director who has been working in motion design for twelve years. Well done. We salute you, Supralude.

presidents' day news and notes 2.18.13

Lebowski fans can appreciate this.

So, who is your favorite fictional movie President? There are so many to choose from, but I'm going to have to go with Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove or Bill Pullman in Independence Day. Pullman always comes to mind for some reason doesn't he? Tell us yours in the comments section at the bottom of the post.

 Last week actually ended up being one of the most exciting and potentially newsworthy weeks that I can remember. ....Annnd I can't say a word about it. Hopefully if everything keeps going well on that front, I'll be able to explain in the future. So, take that for what it's worth. (Not much.)

Last night I watched the film that will be the subject of our next VHessay. Your first clue: it's yet another classic from 1986 and I hinted at it in our Space Camp essay. What was the deal with '86 anyway? 83-86 might deserve an essay all to itself when you think about how many defining films for our generation came out of that short window.

I don't have much more to report on our own ventures this week apart from those meaningless and cryptic tidbits. Remember everything I talked about last Monday? Well, it's basically the same stuff happening this week. I can, however, comment on a few things going on in the world outside the WSF Compound.

For example, it seems that Dan Lebental, go-to editor for Jon Favreau, has developed a touch-based editing app for the iPad. It looks nice and my mind is already grinding those gears, wondering how we could put it to use. It's a potentially great way to crank out material on the fly. Shooting and editing, all right within the iPad. Talk about a streamlined workflow. This seems like a perfect application for vloggers or even creative, budding filmmakers out there. It seems a bit pricey to me at $49.99. I'd rather see it at around 30-40. However, if the app performs as well as they promise, it could easily be worth it for the right customer.

Also, I just have to acknowledge that I enjoyed SNL this week, thanks largely to my newest acting man-crush, Christoph Waltz. The guy is just incredible and moves around in comedy as well as he does in drama. I'd put his Hans Landa, from Inglourious Basterds, up against any villain in cinematic history. This season of SNL has been up and down (to put it as kindly as possible) and the hosting duties have been all over the spectrum, but Christoph represented.

Keep checking in this week for Indie Wednesday and all the other regular goodness.

fix it in post



A little something extra for you today. I just saw this short Jeremy Hunt created to show off the capabilities of Autodesk's Smoke program and thought I'd share. Just something fun for your Friday. It's clever, has great timing, and gives a little peek into some of the compositing work that goes into most productions these days, so enjoy.

We'll see you back here for News and Notes on Monday (unless I can find something special to post tomorrow). Keep your eyes open.

indie wednesday: live prude girls (again)



The Live Prude Girls are back (and apparently they brought cash this time). So we'll celebrate by featuring their new episode of Let's Talk About Something More Interesting with guest, Matt Damon. I think he's the one in the middle.

news and notes 2.11.13

Valentine's Day, everybody!

Last week we used the wonders of technology to have our first full-fledged meeting in months. We went over 2 hours in a Google+ hangout and I have to say, it was pretty cool to get that opportunity. (What, you've never heard of Google+? I think it was Google's grand attempt to overthrow Facebook, but anyway...) To be honest we probably got even more done than we would have in person. (Fewer chances for distraction.) The topic of discussion: What do we do this year? All I can say is there is a LOT on the table and I'm excited about all of it. I have no idea how much we'll get to do and I'm always reluctant to give anything away, but I'll say the ideas include suspense and drama in addition to the regular nonsense you're used to. You already know there are at least three new Space Cops episodes in some level of production but there is also a brand new web series is also high on the agenda.

My public service announcement for the week:  Valentine's Day approacheth, gentlemen. That would be Thursday.

Did everybody catch Allen's movie rental reviews from Friday? If not, they could very well save your life... or recommend a good movie to rent.

Saturday we released a new VHessay on Space Camp. Another VHessay already? Uh yeah, we're on fire. Space Camp made less than ten million dollars at the box office, so there's a decent chance you haven't seen it. All the more reason to read the essay and find out what a gem you've been missing. Space Camp is quite possibly the greatest movie ever made about kids who accidentally get launched into space by a sentient robot.

Look like fun?
Anybody looking for a Space Cops 4 update? Well, right now I hate myself for shooting so much green screen footage. Poorly lit green screens shot on Standard Def do not equal fun for me. Who knows what rotoscoping is? It's when you cut an image out of video footage frame by frame and that's what I did all weekend long. Hoo. Ray.

This week you can expect an Indie Wednesday as usual and who knows what else. I need to put some kind of new video up soon. I'll try to get on that. Maybe Cannonball deleted scenes or the 3 Ladies behind-the-scenes footage. The easiest way to make sure you don't miss anything is to Like our Facebook page! Hint, hint.

Have a good week everybody.
Valentine's Day, fellas.... Thursday!

VHessays: Space Camp

VHessays aren't about the greatest movies of our generation. They're about hidden gems and guilty pleasures. We write them to bring back memories of a different era of filmmaking and hopefully send you searching through an old closet to find your VHS tapes.

Ohhh, Max and Jinx...

In the 80s, space was still a place to dream about. Astronauts were still top-five on the "what I want to be when I grow up" list. The Apollo missions and moon landings of the 60s had given way to Space Shuttle missions. We may not have always known what the point of those enormously expensive missions were, but we were excited either way because the Shuttle was cool. The Shuttle looked like an honest-to-goodness space ship. Oh how we envied the kids that got to go to the real Space Camp (I'm looking at you, John Ashley Ponsoll) and marveled at their shiny packages of freeze-dried, astronaut ice-cream. 

Challenger - 1986

Every Shuttle launch leading up to '86 was a big deal. They were an event. And the popularity culminated with an estimated 48% of all American children, ages 9-13 (and I was one of them), gathered in school rooms to see Christa McAuliffe become the first school teacher in space on January 28th.  There we sat in excitement, gathered around televisions like generations before us, but rather than seeing a man walk on the moon, we saw the Challenger explode and disintegrate right in front of our eyes.

It was the first where-were-you-when moment since JFK's assassination and, after that, nothing was quite the same for kids' perception of NASA and the space program. At that moment Space Camp officially became an unprecedented marketing nightmare as it was released less than five months later.  Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars, saying our thoughts about the Shuttle could never be the same, the memories were too painful and the movie was "doomed before it begins."

With all that said, I want to put those events out of our minds for the purpose of this essay / analysis. By the time the film hit rental shelves, a year had passed since the incident. It may have still been fresh in the minds of adults but, as a nine year-old, I sat down ready to enjoy the movie without any previous emotional equity.  .......I was nine and it was a movie about space! Do you know how much a nine-year-old can put behind them in a year?

When cut free of that framing, Space Camp is a fun look at the space program before it all changed. A classic tale about dreaming big. It's unashamedly hokey and cliché and those are all the things I love about it today. I was able to watch the movie without the burden of the tragedy on my mind. I enjoyed it on its own merits and that is exactly how we're going to look at it now.

Who's Who

Space Camp has quite the who's-who 80s lineup. None other than the Viper himself, Tom Skerritt (Top Gun was in theaters at exactly the same time). Kate Capshaw hot off of Temple of Doom, the future Mrs. John Travolta, Lamar from Revenge of the Nerds, Leaf? (Joaquin) Phoenix, Lea Thompson and Tate Donovan...  Is it possible that any red-blooded American male wasn't crushing hard on Lea Thompson in 1986?

Make no mistake, the movie is not great. Every character is two-dimensional at best and obviously manages to conquer their single flaw by the end of the movie. It's as sappy as it can possibly be, full of cliches and bad dialogue, but it was right in my wheelhouse at the time. I loved it. I thought Kevin was cool. I identified with Max. I was in love with Kathryn... The whole nine yards. And that's why it has a permanent spot on my mental movie shelf.

The Plot

At the beginning of Space Camp we find a young Andie Bergstrom, staring at the night sky, spotting an Apollo orbiter, and dreaming of "going up." When we flash forward, she's the first female Shuttle pilot and getting ready to spend the summer helping her husband, Zach (Skerritt!) who is the camp director and a former Apollo astronaut.

Andie is tasked with teaching five kids from different backgrounds the true value of teamwork and leadership. Those happen to be the two main themes for kids attending the actual Space Camp (which you can apparently still attend to this day.) (Even you adults who are looking for a special weekend. Ohhhh yes. Let the romance begin.) Kevin, Kathryn, Rudy, Tish, and Max are a rag-tag group who can't quite make it work as a cohesive team due to their individual flaws. However, they're forced to come together when Max's robot friend Jinx, who is sentient for some reason, decides to hack into NASA's talking computer system and actually launch Max into space during an engine test because they are friends "for-eeeeeev-ver."

I will admit, believing there was a small possibility of accidentally being shot into space made me slightly less eager to attend Space Camp myself, at the time. Now, about this especially annoying robot... Didn't I tell you in the Rocky IV VHessay that filmmakers in the 80s had a robot obsession? Jinx certainly won't be the last one we see in these essays. Not by a long shot.

Okay, so the shuttle wasn't prepared for an actual launch, which means they are low on oxygen and have no long-range radio to communicate with mission control. (Do they remove the radio after every mission?) Andie takes them to an under-construction space station, Daedalus, which I just assumed actually existed but apparently never did. Daedalus has oxygen cannisters on it, but Andie is too big to reach them in her space suit. I'm not sure why you'd make them inaccessible when you installed them, but regardless...  They tie little Max into a space suit using Tish's belt. The belt looks normal enough when she hands it to them, but apparently it's actually 50 feet long because it can wrap completely around the suit several times over. They do this under the notion that Max will be able to fit through the station rigging and reach the oxygen... in the exact same suit that Andie is wearing. I don't know, but somehow it works. Yadda yadda Max almost floats out into space. Andie gets knocked out. Kathryn nearly decides to reenter the atmosphere with Andie hanging outside the shuttle. Kevin chooses to bring her in. They all have to conquer their flaws and work together as a team to get home. They land the shuttle. End Credits.

No, seriously, Atlantis touches down (via stock footage no less) and the credits roll. I'm not sure what that's about. No relieved parents. No reuniting of Zach and Andie. No resolution with Max and Jinx. No hint of continued romance between Kevin and Kathryn. Nope. That's it. Get out. Granted, it's easy enough to finish this one off in your head, but still. It seems a bit abrupt.

Kevin as 80s America - A Cautionary Tale

Apart from the value of teamwork, the writer sneaks in a good old soapbox theme about where America and the world were headed. Its an absolutely classic 80s worldview and he lays it on thick. In a conversation on the beach, Kathryn plays the voice of reason to Kevin, who I believe is meant to represent the typical, disillusioned American mindset. The writer/Kathryn points out the untouched beauty of space. Kevin wants to know what the big deal is. Well, Kevin, "In space anything is possible." Kathryn surmises that maybe we can do things right up there... instead of screwing them up like we have down here. True to jaded form, Kevin responds, "What's the point? I mean, we're all just going to get nuked anyway." (YEAH! Try to find a line that's more 80s than that.) Kathryn says that's just an excuse for people who are afraid to try. Kevin says he isn't afraid, but he just doesn't care. And BANG, there it is. Lazy Americans had lost their way and decided not to care because it's easier than trying to change things. I mean you couldn't possibly be more preachy in four minutes if you tried. And yet, at least it's a hopeful message for change and I can get behind that. Kathryn believes Kevin does care and is simply afraid to try and fail.

couch potato weekend: blu ray binge


Like everyone else in America, I stay pretty busy. I've got 3 teenagers, a full time job, trying to make some films, and going to school at night part time. So rare is the occasion that I actually get a real day off. But when that happens, I binge. And I binge hard. I use those "blue moon"s to catch up on any movies that I may have had even a slight interest in seeing when they came out, but they slipped through the cracks and are now conveniently available in a magic box that just spits them out at the touch of a button when you go buy a Big Mac. So I thought "Hey, why not share your binges with the people. Maybe, if they happen to have a day to O.D. on some films, you could help them make the right choices or at least avoid the bad ones." So when I get that chance, you'll get the scoop. Sound good? Let's go!

LAWLESS - I had high hopes for this one and thought it would start the weekend off on a high note. Plus, my wife, Kristie, who is typically my partner in crime for these fabulous ventures, is kind of partial to Shia LaBeouf, so it seemed like a winner and a good one to lead off with.
The positives: Tom Hardy impressed me again. I've seen him in four movies now (that I can think of) and have really liked him in all of them. And, really, all of the characters in this movie were pretty well done.
The negatives: The story was pretty weak and really slow developing. And the ending was painfully predictable. I know it was based on true events, but if the events have an obvious storybook conclusion, change them. We won't mind, and nobody is going to call you on it.

PITCH PERFECT - *deep sigh* Ya, I'm a 36-year-old man and I watched a movie about college acapella groups. I blame Kristie for this one. Here are some thoughts:
The positives: If you go into a movie with extremely low expectations, typically you'll be pleasantly surprised with SOMETHING. In this case, the fellas (Skylar Astin, Ben Platt, and Adam DeVine) got a few laughs out of me. And I know girls don't necessarily like to be called cute, but Anna Kendrick is cute.
The negatives: I'm a 36-year-old man and it's a movie about college acapella groups.

LOOPER - To me, this was the one I was waiting for. The main event of the weekend. I just hoped my high expectations didn't have the transverse effect as my low one's for Pitch Perfect.
They didn't.
The positives - Joseph Gordon-Levitt is making me happy. I haven't seen him bad in anything yet. But in Looper, he outdid himself. He must have studied every Bruce Willis action movie since Die Hard, because he had the mannerisms down perfect. Even the breathing under duress was like Bruce. It was impressive. As was the movie as a whole. Great characters. Great acting. Smart story with good pacing. I will buy the blu ray.
The negatives - Watching movies made by people smarter than me about time travel makes my over-analytical brain go into overdrive and gives me a headache.

TED - Did you guys realize the T.E.D. stood for Terribly Extremely Dreadful (rim shot). Should have named this one "Turd". I didn't like it. At all.
The positives - Mark Wahlberg is pretty funny. There were a few times I actually laughed, and they were all because of him.
The negatives - Everything else. If somebody could make a case to me as to why people enjoy movies like this or The Hangover, I would love to hear it. Seriously. "Hahaha we're doing drugs and cussing and peeing and pooping on things and having sex and it's hilarious!" No, it's not. Not to me, anyway.

THE BOURNE LEGACY - I loved the Bourne Trilogy, with Matt Damon portraying the amnesiac human weapon, Jason Bourne. I loved the concept of the fourth installment, with Jeremy Renner playing super-spy Aaron Cross, who is in the next step of the evolutionary process of training that Jason went through, making him even more bigger and badder. Sounds good, right? Well...
The positives - It was pretty cool how this movie coincided time-wise with the last of the Matt Damon installments, The Bourne Ultimatum. I actually re-watched Ultimatum to refresh, and the stories seemed to gel pretty well together. Also, Jeremy Renner does action sequences about as good as anybody, and there are plenty of opportunities to showcase this.
The negatives - The decision to make this new batch of super-spies dependent on pills to sustain their abilities, seemed weak to me. Jason was a bad man because he was well trained and super skilled. Aaron was a bad man because he took government-issued drugs. I didn't care much for that. Also, the movie seemed sort of clunky. Transitions were far from smooth. By far the worst of the Bourne's, and it isn't close.

PREMIUM RUSH - I'll be honest: Redbox got another buck from me on this one because I loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt so much in Looper. I just wanted to watch him in something else. And this qualified as something else.
The positives - This movie was great for what it is: A fast paced, edge-of-your-seat, popcorn movie. Gordon-Levitt was fine, but he didn't exactly have a tasking role. And fellow Kentuckian Michael Shannon is always fun to watch be a psycho weirdy. Which he does again in this one.
The negatives - Everything is fairly predictable. The filmmakers threw plenty of formulaic obstacles at our protagonist, but at no point did they create the sense that he may not be able to overcome one. And the ending was pretty corny and kinda lame.

So there it is: a weekend well spent by me, as I'm sure you'd agree. Feel free to let me know what you think of my assessments. Agree? Disagree? Did I talk you into or out of any of these? I'd love to hear some opinions. Until the next weekend of binging, keep the Blue Ray player warmed up for me.