Implosion Garage
This was a really great way to spend an early Saturday morning. I had the opportunity to have access to a great vantage point to be able to shoot this. We got up at 5 am, not a usual thing for Saturday, and headed downtown before the streets would be shut down around the site. We had access to the 27th floor of a building that overlooked the site. I shot four cameras for maximum coverage and the ability to shoot some slow motion as well. I chose lenses that would cover, wide, medium, and close on the parking garage. This was really cool to see in person. To be there and feel the concussion and hear the sound, loud, as you might expect, as well as see the glass panels on the building we were in shake and rattle with the concussive blasts.
This footage was then incorporated into a Music Video that I shot which was a collaboration between “Sarah Jaffe” and “These Machines are Winning”. Ryan Hartsell turned me on to the fact a building was being imploded in downtown so we shot it as described above, and then designed the whole music video to surround this. In the following weekends we shot everything else that was needed. So here it the music video.
”I Don’t Wanna Die Tonight”
Art Supplies
Making some ART ! I got a new “Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K”, name is too long, wow. I decided to test it out while doing a new art project and see what it could do, and how easy it is in practical use. Also to test out the Raw capability of the new BRAW codec / file format etc. I have to say I’m really happy with the options and capabilities of this camera, while it might not be a RED or an ARRI camera it is exceedingly capable. It does put those kinds of pro features in the hands of many more filmmakers. It is a super affordable camera that hits well above its price point.
James Avery Mothers Day Charm Event ..... 2019
Last year we had the opportunity to create four :15 second spots for Texas based James Avery Artisan Jewelry, celebrating mothers day. We produced the spots using stop motion animation which featured their Necklaces, Bracelets and most importantly their Charms. This year they came back to us at ATKPLN to do four more mother’s day spots! So I am are excited to share this news now. Here are a couple of the spots along with a Behind the scenes look at how we did them. These are so much fun to put together and do, stop motion is a favorite medium I like to work in. It works really well for these spots, as it is hand crafted and singular, it speaks to the artisanal quality of their jewelry, which is hand crafted by their artists.
Enjoy !
Here is the behind the scenes for this years ( 2019 ) shoot of the James Avery Mothers Day Charm event.
Philo's Pholly Short Version
The one you write, the one you shoot, and the one you edit.
When I first wrote and shot Philo’s Pholly it was just for fun, and comedic in nature, just a project I wanted to do. “ how funny if the guy who invented television, upon the first real test of the tech, he gets interrupted by an ad? “ This shorter version is that vision. However like the subtitle, and many pontifications before it state, there is the film you write, the film you shoot, and the film you edit. This was very much the case with this film. It went through the production cycle as one would expect, and for the most part it got through the writing and shooting mostly in tact, I discovered during researching this that Philo Farnsworth was very disappointed with how it all went down. So that little tidbit of information hung around inside my silly little brain while prepping and shooting this piece. Then during editing this I found another film inside of this original idea. In The longer version I discovered that I wanted to add exposition to what Philo was expecting, and what he wanted for the technology. I felt like it was missing an important point so I added these extra shots that exemplified exact opposites of what he hoped and expected the technology to accomplish, which to his bitter disappointment, is what actually became of television, rather than the grand unification of information, knowledge, and a better understanding of the human condition.
I finished and released that version almost a year ago, and it did pretty well at the festivals it was in, won an award of merit, which is great, but in a way I think I never really finished the idea, so this ( shorter version ) is that. Enjoy.
Help support my crazy endeavors and…
Latest Short film " We're not old, just antiquated..."
Here is my latest short film, released just in time for “National Live Creative Day” written by Judy Caudle, shot and directed by me, audio voices and finished with the help of ATKPLN. Aging cameras find themselves confronted with new technology that may just hold their own fate in its hands, but can they resist it? Teaser is here from ATKPLN twitter feed.
Another small update, we are an…
Sacramento International Film Festival is happening April 27th - May 5th 2019
Update this film is now an Official Selection & Semi-finalist in the Austin Spotlight Film Festival! Happening November 14, 2018. at the Alamo Draft-house in Austin.
HooYay! Whoop! Whoop! We just won an online bronze award from the International Independent Film Awards festival. Hope we can garner some more wins from the other festivals its in.
Lodge 26 environs
Recently I was asked to photograph the workspace and environment of an acclaimed Creative Branding and Design firm Lodge 26, that The Die Line did an article on, in their "Inside the Studio" section. The article is a look at the space creatives work in, the environment they surround themselves with and its importance to the creative process. So have a read, and take a look at the images. They did a great job on this.
The Smirl chapel relocation project
I just finished a new video project. I was approached from a friend who got involved as a photographer on a special project, he was to photograph, document and archive, the teardown, the moving and relocation, and restoration of a 120 year old chapel in Heath, Texas. Most of you will recognize Rockwall, Texas. Heath is just south of there. He was to be the still Photographer of note as it were. The people who he was working for however were on the very beginning of this whole project, which was going to be a bit expensive to undertake. So they hired me, at his recommendation, to produce a short film to promote the project and help to get the word out and raise money to accomplish this task. I interviewed, shot, edited and finished two cuts for them, a six minute piece with the backstory and history of this chapel, and what it meant to the people who had called it theirs for so long. I also did a one minute cutdown piece for social media. So....
So if you so inclined, go to The Smirl Chapel Relocation Project and find out more about this project.
Driving animals, .....crazy.
So I am taking my drone out for a spin to to do a panorama of the Dallas skyline with its new construction and it's generally busy attitude, as I am prone to do. I arrive on Swiss ave near the "Walking Tall" walking man sculpture which is at at one end of Deep Ellum. ( you can see him in the lower right third of the above image ). I get out my drone and proceed to shoot, capturing the stills needed to compile a pano of our lovely Dallas skyline. I'm shooting along and grabbing some video footage for my reel as well, the when I return to the car I find this...
This car and uhm, "driver" is parked just a bit behind me. This car was here when I drove up and parked but it appeared unoccupied. I seem to run into this kinda thing often, I have seen, and shot a very similar image to this one on several different occasions. Sometimes it's at a gas station or a convenience store, sometimes it's a cat sometimes it's a dog. Is there something to this? Is there something someone isn't telling me? I think the law of averages says I should have used up my quota on this already but it keeps happening.
Philos Pholly
In 1927 Philo Farnsworth invented and realized the worlds first electronic television. This was a device that would go on change the world. It permeates society today. "Tele-vision" the ability to see at a distance, as it is sometime described, or more etymologically (Tele) far (visio) sight.
Far Sight, it's anything but that, in the fullness of time, sure it technically fulfills that definition, but on just about every other level it is not farsighted. It is also possibly the most misused, underutilized, piece of technology we have. This was an issue for which Philo had not planned or forseen. Many times we see a need and then fill that need but without considering or understanding the full implications of what we have created, or how it will be used.
It was this kind of thinking that got me on to the subject, and I thought would it be funny if the guy who invented television, while he was first testing it, got interrupted by an ad! Something we get entirely too much of now. What would that look like and how would that play out? So I decided to do a short "spec spot" or commercial that illustrated this. It started out as a spec spot but during production it became something else. It became more of a short film, and while I did do an edit that was a commercial I abandoned that idea and just went with the short film. The reason for this was that during research and production, I discovered that Philo had great expectations for his new invention. He expected this technology to be used for the betterment of humanity, however, reality intervened. If you read the wiki page linked above you can see how this played out. This piece now plays out like a microcosm of his experience with the invention of the television. So here is my short film "Philo's Pholly"
This film just won an Award of Recognition from the IndieFest film festival in La Jolla ! Whoop !
Crew photo - unfortunately we are missing Justin Issac, our Camera Op and lenser extraordinaire. :-(
The day before the Night of the Limebikes
So many of you have seen the new shared bike systems that have sprawled all over our city and many other cities across the country. Sentiments seem to be very mixed from "hey good idea" to "clean this mess up". I had a particular experience with these recently. We noticed these had recently shown up all over town but the suddenly one day they were at the park across from our house. Then a day or so later people had left them in our front yard. Then about a week later I was working in in my office one evening, and I heard a voice, which at first I couldn't place, it might have been coming from another room, but then I heard it again, and it was coming from just outside my window. It said "Please activate me to ride me or I will call the police" then a brief moment later " Please activate me or I will call the police". I had no idea what to make of this but when I went to the window all I saw was a Limebike parked between my and our neighbors house
What had happened was there were two burglars running through the neighborhood and the police were hot on their trail with cars and a helicopter and spotlights and such. It seems one of them was trying to get away on this Limebike, but even it threatened to call the police so he dropped it just outside my window! I called 911 and told them what had happened. A few minutes later I am standing outside and a plain clothes unmarked car stops and rolls down his window and tells me he is police and asks if I have seem the two people in question. I said no but I did call about this bike he attempted to take. I told him it threatened to call the police if he didn't leave it or activate it. He just kinda looks at me. I said it talked. He said it talked? I said yes, twice, it talked, they talk. He looked at me and just said well if you see these two guys call 911.
So that was the impetus for this new short, enjoy. "The day before the night of the Limebikes"
Written and directed by Lyn and Judy Caudle
Cast
- Her ...Kacie Bangle
- Him ...Lyn Caudle
- Bikes ....as themselves