something of interest to you.

what is this blog for anymore?

2011-02-03T21:00:00.003-05:00

new new new

2010-07-30T17:51:00.005-04:00

new video:

new website:

new obsession:

busy busy summer dayssss

2010-07-11T17:23:00.005-04:00

just an update!

boy oh boy what a busy summer!

dscheinert and myself have been busy chugging along through post production on the hundred in the hands music video. it'll be done by the end of the month, but i doubt we'll be able to release til the end of the summer when their new album DROPS! shabam!

anyways, here are some snazzy photos we took on set to whet your appetite.

we're also getting busy building a presence on the internets or whatever. now that our careers are taking off (or something like that) and we have to act like real human beings, we've decided that a website would be nice right? and business cards. yes business cards! so we dont have to keep writing our email addresses on napkins or people's palms. so expect those sometime this summer!

aside from that schein-dawg and i have been video treatment writing beasties. we're pretty excited about our new pitches and hope somebody else out there is too! we'll let you know if we get any bites! :)

-daniels

DANIELS signs to warp records! (as music video directors, not musicians, sadly)

2010-07-05T12:02:00.004-04:00

we are proud to say that daniel scheinert and I have signed to warp records for UK representation to be a part of their awesomeeee roster of directors! weeeeeeeeeeee!

underwear vs thriller??

2010-06-30T19:26:00.005-04:00

sorry yall ive been really bad at keeping you posted on what has been going on.
i dont have time to do one of these updatey deals, but i thought i might post this...

i always think its interesting to see how our post-modern, internet savvy generation reappropriates and mixes and mashes things into forgettable meaninglessness, but i never thought id ever fall victim to any of this creative pillaging. until now.

i give you our underwear music video set to michael jackson's thriller:

thats right.. someone out there in the interwebs took the time to download our video and replace the track with thriller... and change nothing else... i dont know what this means.. but i guess at least people are watching our stuff and thats cool... right?

right?

anyways, production stills from our latest shoot soon to come!

boy oh boy

2010-06-19T04:56:00.004-04:00

its been awhile since I've posted in this thing. and thats mostly been because things have been getting busy.

its been exactly a month since coming back to los angeles and a bajillion things have happened. like... starting my job at dreamworks... and then quitting it a couple weeks later. and things like that... what??!

i guess things are really moving forward for daniel scheinert and I and this entire month has felt like ive been working two full-time jobs and i realized id have to pick between jobs. so i decided to be smart and quit my reliable, well-paying, well respected job and go be artsy or something.

whatever dudes! following my dreams!

flying out to new york city to shoot a music video for the hundred in the hands tomorrow! really psyched i'll let you know how it all goes! everyone stay healthy until then! im so stinkin sick, blegh.

We're Featured on MOTIONOGRAPHER! WHAT?!

2010-05-21T15:19:00.004-04:00

Hey yall,

if you know anything about me i am a huge nerd who would rather spend his time looking for cool things on the internet than going out and interacting with real people. one of my favorite websites to do this on is motionographer.com

and now through some surreal turn of events, daniel scheinert and i are being featured on their front page with an exclusive interview where daniel and daniel from daniels got a chance to sit down and interview daniels.

make sure to also check out the behind the scenes video!!!!

CHECK IT OUTT

FM Belfast - "Underwear" Music Video!

2010-05-19T05:10:00.005-04:00

well its finally out! the music video daniel scheinert and i finished about a month ago has been released and stereogum was nice enough to premiere it on their website so daniel and I are pretty psyched.

check it out here.

we made this on almost no budget, shot over five separate nights when we found the time, and edited it over a period of a month when we werent at our jobs. we didnt really know what we wanted to do with it entirely except for that we wanted people to never get bored. I think writers at stereogum sum up how i would describe the final product:

"This video has lots of fun dancing but also strikes an eerie note, since it focuses on the ideas that a) lots of people dance alone b) in their underwear and c) not many people look beautiful dancing, especially once they’re slowed down, sped up, or frozen. The result, however, is quite beautiful: Intimate, lonely, and still fun."

so go over and watch it already! and tell me what you think. and dont forget to spread it if you feel inspired to.

also if youre a band out there that is looking for a pair of intelligent chaps to make you a video, let us know and maybe we can have some fun!

little women

2010-05-10T18:11:00.004-04:00

As I am preparing to permanently move to the west coast, I have been cleaning out my junk from parents' basement. Being the packrat that I am, I am unable to throw anything away, and instead I have spent most of the time looking over old things that I have completely forgotten about.

In my perusing, I came across an old notebook circa 4th or 5th grade filled with dumb stories I used to write for fun. though there are several stand out pieces, this one made me chuckle for quite some time. Here it is, grammatical errors and all (movie producers, eat your heart out):

Little Woman

(the funny version)

by daniel kwan

Interduction: in the normal version little woman was soposed to mean younge woman. but in mine it is like a olden day "Honey I shunk the kids". Ted Hudson

and then it stops. hahah. I don't know why I just stopped after ted hudson, but now the world will never know what story my 10 year old mind wanted to tell of tiny women. Anyways I should get back to trying to throw away my memories but not really doing anything. i will let you know if i come across any other nuggets of greatness.

i hate sitting on unreleased things

2010-05-02T08:36:00.004-04:00

but i guess thats what im going to have to do... I currently have two things that I worked on this semester that I am just waiting to get out, but for some reason or another i haven't.

the first is the music video for FM Belfast that daniel scheinert and I have been slowly chiseling away at all semester. its been done for about a month now (at least thats how long it has felt like), but we are still waiting to figure things out with the band's publicist. sigh. we've been getting a lot of great feedback and a few people have requested to screen it at a couple smaller film festival/eventy things. I will keep you updated as to when that will happen.

and then there is this little short that i worked on (again with daniel scheinert) that we did in the last month of the semester, that started out as a ambitious class exercise, and ended up being something i like enough to sit on for a bit. its the first time ive written and directed for live action in a long time (cause it has all sucked in the past :p) and even though its less thought out and took less effort than most of the live action things ive done in the past, im happy with it and am thinking of submitting it to some small festivals? crazy? i dunno. it still needs some work. and i hope once i get to my computer again i can get it fixed up. i am pretty sure it will be screening at tiwwi's next show and tell screening early june, so i'll keep you posted.

as for daniel and i we will be busy as ever working on things. here is a quick poster i did for timmy and the tiny tigers, daniel scheinert's awesome tv show he's been trying to figure out for awhile now. this is only a mock-up so we can put together a pitch packet, so everything about this show is subject to and probably will change, especially the tiger puppet designs. but whatev. its going to be awesome.

i can't do much right now besides think of new things as my camera and computer are out in LA while i wait here in massachusetts to graduate (sad how crippled i am without technology). but hopefully youll be hearing from me soon!

its alll coming tooo an ennnnddd

2010-04-19T18:08:00.007-04:00

Hello blog. it has been awhile.

so basically, it doesn't really feel like school is going to be done for good. i haven't been able to post much lately cause i'm trying to get everything done before i have to find a job, find a place to stay, put all my stuff in my car and park it somewhere, fly back to boston, graduate, fly back, keep looking for a job, become famous or rich, or both.

just kidding on the famous/rich party. im already famous.

daniel scheinert and i have been working ferociously on things. the fm belfast music video is finally done after taking a bajillion years to make. daniel has decided that from now on he is going to go into music videos with a clearer idea. haha. but this video was a lot of fun and i'll post it here as soon as we hear from the band's publicist (they are from iceland, so they are all probably battling volcanoes and stuff). here is a photo we took during one of the many little shoots we did for this video.

i am wearing all of the clothes i own plus more. and now i only have four outfits because one of my batches of laundry got stolen after this shoot. haha.

also this weekend i shot a quick fun project for my last class ever. it was a short 4 hour shoot with a crew of like three people (the best crew in the world, in case you were wondering). It involves a 7 year old boy dealing with issues far too complicated for him to understand. and urinating on things. its going to be fun. i'll post it in a few. here are some production stills hahha..

i caved.

2010-03-26T02:29:00.003-04:00

i got a twitter.

it was because i really wanted to tell the world how much i want to see the new scott pilgrim movie, but realized it wasn't blog worthy. sigh. you can follow me if you want. who knows if ill use it...?

https://twitter.com/dunkwun

(btw, the trailer for the scott pilgrim film was just released today. i got so excited i decided to buy all of the graphic novels so i could read them again. don't judge me. i know it looks ridiculously stupid in a dumb-action-comedy-that-has-quirky-and-self-deprecating-characters-with-hip-michael-cera-and-even-hipper-music, but really its going to be just ridiculously stupid. in a good way.)

3 quick things before i go to bed.

2010-03-24T03:06:00.003-04:00

1. remember fast? its online! WHAT?

2. remember cs4? forget it, here comes cs5! WHAT??

3. remember jon klassen (i've mentioned him here a couple times, he makes some of the most endearing illustrations ever)? well i met him cause apparently he works at dreamworks and ive been grabbing lunch with him every week! WHAT???

hopefully next time i'll something more productive to speak of.

(p.s. i know you might think that dreamworks has brainwashed me, but i just had to let you know that how to train your dragon is coming out this weekend, and believe me it made me feel like a kid again. 100% on rotten tomatoes so far, so go watch it in 3d, cause for once, the 3d is beneficial, if not essential.)

tired and stuff.

2010-03-13T00:13:00.003-05:00

i guess this is just concept art (mostly playing with color) for the short i am going to be starting (hopefully) soon.

i had a strange and unproductive week. i need to get cracking on things soon or else.

i'll go crazy or something.

This Is What We Imagined

2010-02-24T21:59:00.003-05:00

Hey,

Just thought I'd let people who were in the LA area to know about this sweet little collective of people called This Is What We Imagined (or TIWWI) that daniel scheinert and I are kind of (?) apart of. And Fast, the short we were working on is a part of it or something.

How it works is every few months there is something called a WEEKEND OF WONDERMENT, where everyone gets together and rents a bunch of equipment and just shoots some stuff. It is wonderful. i guess. :p

and then in about a month after the shoot there is a wonderful show and tell screening with an open bar and we all have a good time. i havent met that many people involved yet, but of the people i have met they are all pretty awesome.

so if you'd like to see these fun little projects you can come to the next show+tell:

March 13th - 9:00PM
REC CENTER STUDIO
Echo Park - 1161 Logan St.
$10 / +21 / OPEN BAR

itll be a good time.

a weekend test

2010-02-20T19:24:00.003-05:00

since getting my new imac, ive been spending a lot of time installing, transferring, etc etc to get my computer ready for me to start work. i'm afraid the months off from software is going to slow me down. i spent the morning working in after effects and ended up with this. i havent done much audio driven work in after effects so i wanted to test out converting waveforms to keyframes, etc.

kind of goofy. but yeah.

i also wanted to try and give a flat character some dimension using meshwarps, etc. so i drew a character in illustrator and try to make it look like he had a big round belly. i think it kind of works. shmeeeeeeeeeh.

things that i really liked this week! vol 7!

2010-02-12T23:11:00.003-05:00

i know ive been really slacking on this blogging business. here is another installment of things i really liked... there is no way i can fit all of the awesomeness that i have found since last time, but here are some good stuff ive found while perusing the interwebs.

VIDEOS!

arev manoukian - nuit blanche

this is one of the first videos ive seen in awhile that has instilled an immediate response in me. its kind of cheap because theyre using all sorts of tricks like super slow-mo, really dramatic music, the cliched love at first sight. but, the execution is absolutely flawless (make sure to check out the making of video on vimeo... amazing). this is what noir's would be like if they were produced with today's technology. i know ive embedded it here for convenience, but make sure you watch it full screen. :)

google - parisian love

this advertisement has nothing to do with technique and everything to do with great and innovative story telling. you may have caught it during the superbowl and i think its was one of the more memorable of the night. and just think about how cheap it was to make.

animations!

jon klassen+david o'reilly - black lake

this is less of a short film and more of a visual/sound scape. i have been inexplicably captivated by jon klassen's illustration work ever since seeing this image. and now combined with david o'reilly (arguably one of the most relevant independent animators today) and you have something great. i know they have already done something together for a u2 music video, but i really just like how simple this piece is. if itunes had this as a visualizer i would never get any work done.

scott bensen- man and cat at the end of the world

the title says it all. its a charming and understated conversation that is wonderfully rendered in after effects. though i have to say that the sky looks a little too much like the default wallpaper on apple computers.

sigh, there are too many too list for all the fun things ive seen since last time, so i won't. i hope you won't mind haha. i will be posting soon hopefully. and maybe now that i have a computer i will begin to productive. yay!

good morning campers!

2010-02-08T11:58:00.005-05:00

hey again!

sooo i helped out daniel this weekend shooting some stuff.

first on tuesday we did some work on an ongoing music video shoot we've been doing for FM belfast, a sweet icelandic band.

we still have a few more shoots to do but, itll be pretty crazy in the end.

James rocking out at the bar....

Then later this saturday we shot another quickie short called Fast starring the charming Charlyne Yi. This piece is going to take a lot of post work, so you may not see it for another month or so, depending on how much time we have to work on it (daniel just got a job at the mill and im so excited for him :p).

charlyne preparing for a super special effects shot. hahah. or something.

peter's "but they won't be looking at the heel" tattoo

and on another awesome life update. I have a computer!! and am now in the process of installing a a shmillion things so i can start getting to work. i dont even have photoshop yet and its making life hard. :p

-danielk

life update... no work done.

2010-01-25T21:11:00.005-05:00

wow.

it has been awhile since ive posted anything. i think it has something to do with me living a postworthiless life. or i am lazy. anyways here goes a short summary.

-well. im in the wonderful los angeles. the road trip was wonderful. i have a ton of footage that i will hopefully someday find the time to edit into a 1 or 2 minute montage of awesomeness that will make you all jealous. the days upon days i waste digging through all of the pointless footage i captured will be worth it just to make you jealous.

-and i am workstationless. AKA i have not been able to get any work done. But I am sketching and brainstorming on paper... so hopefully by the time i get a computer *shabam* something will get made!

-i have been meeting with the indispensable daniel scheinert regularly on some exciting projects. none of which we have much to show for just yet. but exciting nonetheless. a majority of our ideas have surrounded buttholes. daniel can testify.

-my internship has not started yet, but it promises to be awesome! so far i have eaten two wonderful meals and saw wes anderson give a q+a session. and it hasnt even started yet! looking forward to actually working :p

-what a sucky post. i wouldnt have posted anything except an eager follower (haha) emailed me and reminded me about this thing.

- stay tuned! (i miss you all)

road trip

2010-01-07T11:15:00.004-05:00

whats up america?

i've been on the road for the past few days we're currently in new orleans. you can follow us from my friend's tumblr.

bengitkind.tumblr.com

see you guys in los angeles.

quick animation. thoughts. aspirations.

2009-12-23T10:10:00.002-05:00

here is a little animation i have been working on for a class. i guess its more of an exercise in learning hand drawn animation, which i realize i suck at and do not have much patience for... i hope i have enough discipline to keep practicing... sigh.

its supposed to be based on the little red riding hood tale. or something my teacher said. im not really good at basing my work off of anything. i kind of just wanted to do a fun sequence. i hope you like. oh and super thanks to amelia who did the last minute "ufs" and "ughs" recordings in a bathroom on my laptop a few hours before this was due. haahah...

i worked on it the past two or three weeks, but honestly was only able to put in three of four days of good work because i've been busy with planning my move. ugh, so stressful.

next semester i think i am going to just work on one big animation project. i still want to do a ton of collaborative things with the people i love. but for myself i want to see if i can actually work on something that i can actually work on diligently for more than a month. call it a practice in controlling my creative attention span. i dont want anything too crazy and overly effected. i mostly want to concentrate on a single good story for once. also, it may or may not take place in a retail clothing store.

wellll time to go apply for loans and stuff. weeeeeeeee

life updates and a new video from daniel and dan.

2009-12-10T20:58:00.005-05:00

Hey dudes!

i havent posted in awhile. mostly because I have been too busy doing absolutely nothing!

i don't know what it is, but i think its cause i see the end in sight.

I've been drawing alot, and watching a lot of the office (after a 3 year haitus), and mostly... i just feel kind of sick all the time so im constantly tired.

in other news, i figured out where i will be interning for the spring semester. you are now talking to the future creative development intern at dreamworks animation. doo doo doo. im pretty psyched. they have free food too!

also, here is a video daniel scheinert and i shot with some of the kids we were "teaching" from new york film academy for fun while we were in boston. we sort of... made it up as we went. what else is new.

in a few more weeks i will be heading over to the west coast.

its thanksgiving

2009-11-26T20:24:00.002-05:00

how im spending my thanksgiving while my family and i are watching terrible/awesome films

little asian boy with a vulture on the moon...?

im trying to teach myself the interface of flash. bleh.

i dont want to do home work. looking forward to thanksgiving.

2009-11-22T18:09:00.004-05:00

this is what i did instead.
im practicing to draw in photoshop using just the default brush.

after effects in 1993

2009-11-20T20:17:00.002-05:00

i just came across this at aetuts and i had to post it.
this is the official after effect 1.1 showreel. the best of the best motion graphics in 93. its awesome!

i hope it leaves you inspired.

things THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK! VOL 6!

2009-11-16T17:24:00.004-05:00

I'm feeling a little too burnt out right now to do real work. here we go!

VIDEO!

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB - I CAN TALK - Directed by MEGAFORCE

this is a music video is, overall, nothing groundbreaking, no interesting story, and gets a bit tedious halfway through. but i cant help but be impressed by some of the craaararazy transitions that take place within the first 30 seconds of the film. i have always been a fan of visual tricks that can be pulled off in camera without any digital effects, and i think these are some of the coolest ive seen in awhile. i hope that final cut pro comes out with a preset exactly like these transitions one day. hah.

The Office of Eden - Directed by Terri Timely

i have been a big fan of terri timely studios ever since coming across synethesia over the summer. i think their videos are almost perfect marriage between high production commercial values and daring, subversive idiosyncrasy that you ususally dont see in higher end productions. all of their films and commercials have the look and sound of any professional commercial, only there is always a subtle undertone of wtf. this commercial is for an underwear clothing company (i guessing). and its just awesome. it looks beautiful and its kind of absurd. and its trying to sell you something. enjoy.

ANiMATION!

el empleo - by santiago Bou grasso

this animation has such a deliberate pacing, that most will probably feel is too slow, but i think the downplayed ending makes the pacing worth it, and even in some ways justifies it. its every action is so understated, leaving ridiculous images to speak for themselves between the long gaps in action. an extremely vivid and completely understood world, considering how little the animation is actually doing.

Git Gob - by Philip Enddolis

i think this animation was one of the more inspired things ive seen this week. hahaha. the characters are completely endearing and stupid. some how the animation is able to make you feel excited about one of the dumbest endings ever. whatever, i loved it.

a new reel!

2009-11-14T19:55:00.005-05:00

so here it is.

(click on the link to view it in HD)

this is a compilation of the the stuff i've made while teaching myself photoshop, illustrator, after effects, etc since i first started this "makingg mediaaiaia" thing two and a half years ago. i feel so much has changed since then. its absurd.

when i first applied to transfer to emerson college, i didnt know the difference between film and video, i think one of my favorite movies was "that thing you do", and some of my best work at the time consisted of me and my friends recording ourselves running around topless in my basement at 3 in the morning pretending to do karate with our hair gelled straight up using the built in webcam on my laptop. i dont even know how i got into the film program. hah. i felt like it was a fluke and i was scared to death that in the end i would just fail miserably.

thats probably why i tried so dern hard.

i remember the first thing i ever did in after effects (haha what a lame thing to get sentimental about) was making a cut out purple crayon walk across the desk. a very simple maneuver, but it took me hours. when i showed the final video to my professor of my intro to media productions class he told me i should become an animator. i laughed at him.

and now i want to be an animator... sigh. not a great one yet, but i am so excited to learn.

i feel like its unfortunate that it took me until my last year to really get a grasp of what i want to do and what i want to learn, and now im graduating and going into the real world. but then i also realize that emerson college is notttt the place for an animator. i learned 90% of what i know about animation and software out of class on my own from the internet (i dont get out much) and then i look at other schools like gobelins and supinfocom and i cry.

but then i realize... i knew nothing at all about what i wanted to do before i came to this school. and even if i have a lot of issues with the administration, and the school no longer really fits my needs, it was a great ground for me to explore what was out there and meet other people i can geek out with... and i guess thats what college is for right? i guess i could always go to one of those awesome animations schools later (except they both conduct classes completely in french :[ ).

haah. im sorry, instead of just writing about my reel im getting all contemplative and junk. anyways, i dont even know if this is all i want to do. i mean i love doing this and its a ton of fun. but i also want to play music. and write childrens stories. and dabble in live-action filmmaking (that is, afterall, technically what i am majoring in plllllttllttt). but ill stop now and write more of this stuff when i actually do graduate in the spring. see you theeennnn.

by the way, thank you for anyone who actually visits this thing on a regular basis. it means a lot to me. truly.

- dan kwan

swingers!

2009-11-13T15:24:00.002-05:00

something daniel scheinert and i did when we were bored after work during the summer.

some might consider it genius.

where have i been?

2009-11-10T09:19:00.005-05:00

hey friends!

sorry its been a little bit since ive posted. ive been busy trying to finish a bunch of projects for emerson channel, and class and what not. but more importantly, ive been trying to work on my reel before i begin applying for internships in LA.... exciting, ya?

for my reel I really wanted to work on a short intro that would be fun and show off my style or whatever you want to call it. honestly... i am more proud of this intro than anything else ive ever done hahhahah. so maybe this is a bad idea because itll just make the rest of my reel look lame.

but seriously, i will be posting the reel up soon, hope you like it.

for now, i will leave you with some screen grabs while i wait for this sucker to render.

happy halloween!

2009-10-31T18:54:00.003-04:00

i have never had any regrets until i met you.

2009-10-24T11:48:00.008-04:00

i had this idea for a webcomic involving a rabbit who is in love with a girl. this is sort of an intro. its tentatively titled "i have never had any regrets until i met you" hahha. hopefully i'll have time to make more.

Fantastic Mr. Fox Costume Video Up!

2009-10-20T23:32:00.004-04:00

Hey! the videos are up on fox searchlight's website. come check it out!

dont feel obligated to watch the whole video (unless you actually want to make a fox costume of course), but click the link because youre my friend and you want to see our names on fancy websites.

thanks so much to anyone involved.

drawing assignment #4: rotating head

2009-10-19T20:32:00.002-04:00

aka "everything/nothing" or "the beautiful encounter with everything you will never be" or "how i met your mother": a story of loss. presented to you today in 720 hd. my proudest achievement yet.

or not. the assignment was to draw a head and then rotate it. and then make it do something else.

incredibly messy. but i was incredibly busy. but thats an incredibly bad excuse. but its the only one i have. incredible. i hope it speaks to your heart, dear reader.

oh and if you can think of any better names for this movie maybe ill add it to my list. (or steal it for future endeavors).

THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK! VOL 5!

2009-10-17T17:32:00.015-04:00

it has been a very long time since I've posted a THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKE THIS WEEK so I decided now that I have some time I'll share some not-so-secret gems I have stumbled upon while rubbing a gentle finger over the surface of the interwebs. I'll make it quick.

VIDEOS!

Mum - "Sing Along" music video by Team G

This beautifully shot, surrealistic story of love and loss shows how things don't always have to make sense to make you feel something, as long as you create a world where it's okay for those things not to make sense. Even if it involves a dead (not dead?) singing deer. the relationship between the father and daughter is so playful and totally fits the song. enjoy!

ANIMATIONS!

Ape School - "Wail to God" By Anthony Schepperd

I usually don't like flash animations. Mostly because of the fact that I can tell when its a flash animation. While that is certainly the case for this music video, the frame by frame animation is so wonderful and fluid it doesnt really matter. What really kills about this video is that it never holds back (WARNING THIS IS NOT KIDDIE SAFE :]) It will take you from one bizarre image to the next causing you to gawk and cringe and laugh all the way to its epic end (and it is epic). If you don't enjoy strange/sexual imagery you probably shouldn't watch, but I challenge you to do so because it is very unlikely you will see something like this ever again.

Mr. Collieu - Headless Productions

I don't know how it is possible that this company has slipped by me for so long, but I just discovered them a couple of days ago while I was perusing some old animation blog entries. Though I haven't seen anything from them yet, their trailers are enough for me to love their style enough to excite me enough to put them in this post... enough. This trailer for their feature length animation (still in production) looks awesome. I love the unique concept and the illustrations and it reminds me of why I used to love watching old Disney animations when I was younger. This is true for most of their work and you should check out all of their other trailers.

wrapping up the fox blah blah!

2009-10-15T14:12:00.006-04:00

so sarah and I are just finishing up the fantastic mr. fox how-to video and and are sending the final cut to gen arts and fox searchlight. The video will go up on the two websites (and everywhere else) on the 19th of october so check it outtttt if you want to learn how to make a sick fox costume for halloween :]

here are some quick production stills or whatever.

and below is one of the bigger wastes of time and dumber videos you will encounter ever.

there you go. some behind the scenes footage.

now you can see how distractable we were when it got too late. :p

YAY

2009-10-14T15:53:00.004-04:00

hey guys! I won first place at the etsy competition! hahah i got a $3250 check coming towards me yay.
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH to everyone who helped me out and voted. it means a lot to meee. hahah mostly because im getting paidddd.

here's a link to the website's post about the whole dealio.

columbus day

2009-10-13T10:41:00.004-04:00

so instead of doing actual homework on my day off (though technically I have every monday off) I decided to make a short animation for a competition for HIV awareness. I thought it was an interesting contest and I had sort of an idea, but there was only one day left before the deadline.

i literally recorded the music, drew the pictures, animated, and did sound effects all in one day. its incredibly messy, but it still has a little charm. I'm a little disappointed that I didnt have time to do it right, but it was still fun.

im sitting in my hallway right now because its the only place i can get internet. sigh.

drawing assignments

2009-10-03T15:25:00.002-04:00

im in a class called drawing for the time based media. basically its a beginners class on how to draw for animation so you can get the right perspective/proportions right over multiple frames. i am basically awful at doing things with my hands which why this class will be good for me. here are the first two assignments we had to do.

first assignment we had to draw a cube, then add cubes to it, then cut up those cubes, and then rearrange the pieces, and then present it in an interesting way.

second assignment we had to draw frame by frame cylinders doing things like jumping and twisting and stuff. i decided to put it all together into a little animation.

more to come. hah.
sigh. so much catching up to do now that im not sick anymore.

i'm not dead!

2009-09-26T09:15:00.008-04:00

but i have been deathly ill.

im recovering from swine/strep/mono/?? and have missed classes all week :(. but that does not explain why I havent posted since july. my only explanation is that I am lazy, but you should already know that.

I also got a job at new york film academy as a teaching assistant (best job ever...) and that kept me busy for the rest of the summer.

I guess I am making this post in regards to me and sarah ginsburg being picked by genart and fox searchlight to make a dumb how-to video on how to make a mr. fantastic fox costume (i'm pretty psyched!) It's going to be an instructional video wrapped in a narrative created in the most wes anderson style we can produce in no money or less (meaning maybe someone will give us money in the process :p) speaking of which. me and sarah are getting 1000 bucks! yayyyyy. and then if we get first place out of the five videos being made we will get another 500 yay! not much dough when you consider the amount of work we are doing, butttttt the fame! recognition! the babes! im going to have so many babes. haha
plus we will get a special edition copy of the fantastic mr. fox book, and if you know anything about me, you know i am in love with roald dahl so thats exciting. I also think we get to go to the premiere yay! the movie will most likely be a little disappointing (and look a little like moving dead animals with famous alive people for voices), but whatever.

here are some location scouting photos that myself, sarah, and amelia took while out and about yesterday. we are looking for brighghhghthhththhgthgt colors. obvi.

oh yeah, and for those of you who havent been aware. i got in the top ten for etsy.com so i need you to help me vote up my dumb animation. i will win money if you do. go there and vote for the first animation with all the dumb monsters. thats mine. thanks yall!

iceberg

2009-07-14T01:30:00.000-04:00

something me and my brother did over the fourth of july weekend. enjoy.

mix

2009-07-01T20:52:00.003-04:00

made this for fun.

shot it in two hours and wrote some music to go with it.

hope you like.

thanks to torie for being such a good sport.

special thanks to everyone who may have given us anything of sentimental value that may have made it into the short.

handmade moments

2009-06-29T19:54:00.002-04:00

just finished a short animation for a video commercial contest for etsy.com (a website where you can sell youre art or something). their theme for the advertisement is "a handmade moment".

here is a link to view the animation... go and register so you can vote and stuff if you like it enough. (thanks in advanced!) i had a lot more i wanted to do, but i was getting impatient and wanted to move onto other projects :p im so a.d.d. or whatever.

here are some stills.

barf.

2009-06-28T13:07:00.003-04:00

whatever you do, do not watch this film.

even if you notice that it has gary busey in it.
even if the trailer looks halfway decent.
even if the back cover description sounds like a romping, bloodbath of hilarity.

this film was awful and no one should have to sit through it. the gingerdead man is a whopping foot tall and useless and the only way it was able to kill anyone is because the characters would sit there and have the absolutely most mundane conversations you could possibly have when a serial killer-turned gingerbread man is after you after he was executed, cremated, and his ashes were snuck into a bakery by his mother to seek revenge on the girl who survived his first killing spree.

ugh and the worst part is they made a sequel. Gingerdead Man 2: the passion of the crust. blagh.

i'm on a roof!

2009-06-26T23:35:00.002-04:00

getting back into.

2009-06-22T18:44:00.001-04:00

im on a train hahah

2009-05-29T12:30:00.007-04:00

the commuter rail has wi-fi!

i bet you all already knew that, but i think its cool.

thats right, as i am posting this very post, i also happen to be riding backwards on a train! oh boy.

so as the lovely rainy central mass landscape passes me by quickly i will give you a quick update on whats been keeping me busy.

first of all me and some kids entered a contest that directv is having where you have you pitch a script and if they choose your script (1 of the 20) they will give you 5,000 dollars to make the film. when thats all done, the best film gets 15,000! here is the production packet i put together, i have never actually does this before.. but it was fun i guess. (its big so it might take a bit to load).

next, i have started doing photography again (i guess). so i took these pics of this lady with this instrument called the ghu zheng or something like that. they came out nice, but i am going to tweak them a bunch more.

and now since, i have decided i will not get a job this summer (i am not sure if it was really a decision as much as it has been a circumstance placed upon me, but lets say i have made a decision) i am going to do freelance stuff. photos, videos, animations, graphics! you name it! i will try my best to do it! and for cheap! tell your friends.

so i am making myself a website (as all freelancers should). i am trying to do something crazy in flash but i dont really know flash. it took me two days of research just to pull this off. it is far frm complete, but this is the general idea. its going to be a girl on a swing floating through clouds. the links will all be on clouds. i will try to throw a bunch o f easter eggs in their if i can.

and finally, i am going to be going to new orleans on tuesday to see my lovely amelia, and take a break from all of this! so we'll call it a hiatus for now. see yall in two weeks.

im hungry

2009-05-22T02:10:00.004-04:00

... for knowledge!....?

im tired.

so these past few days of summer have felt extremely nonproductive. they go by so quickly. and by the end of the day there seems like so much left to do.

i am also having a trouble with sleeping. i just sit down for two seconds and i wake up two hours later because some one ends up calling me. my schedule is wack!

here is a still image of an animated commercial im working on for a competition i am entering where you have to make a 30 second commercial about conserving energy or something. i have yet to do textures and more lights and i think im going to shallow up that depth of field. the winner apparently gets 10,000. but thats just absurd to think about.

seriously. if anyone knows of anyone who is looking for an employee, i am jobless and fearful of things staying that way for awhile...

in the meantime me and some buds are entering a bunch of competitions to see how those thigns go.

bye!

THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK! VOL 4!

2009-05-16T10:08:00.006-04:00

evvy's hell week is over!

but there i still much to be done.

here is a brief THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK... since im tired. and i am really sick. and i have to get a haircut soon.

VIDEOS!

hammock - mono no aware music video

this video only stands out to be me because it was shot by an emerson kid, and directed by an alumni and it is really pretty looking. i don't know if there is much of a story, but its mad pretty. a little long and repetitive.. but hey, its a music video for a post rock song...

this was nominated for outstanding cinematic production in the EVVY awards.

animation!

this one time...

this is an animation that was featured on vimeo and its great. the colors are awesome. the character design is super. and the animation itself is simple yet seamless. kudos for not needing to use music to make an awesome animation.

ANIMATION AND VIDEO!...?

evan sussman- escape

this film is just great. it was nominated for the best sound design evvy award, but the actual film wasn't made by an emerson kid, because if it were it would probably be nominated for a lot more than just that. it has a great integration of live action characters in a completely highly stylized animated world. plus it has a solid story. though it seems a bit repetitive at first, the pay off is excellent. enjoy.

im sorry i have not been posting anything lately of my own.. mostly i havent had time to do anything for myself lately. which is sad. but soon it will be summer and i will be without a job! yay!

its been awhile

2009-05-10T09:16:00.005-04:00

i have not been keeping up here. sorry, for all you loyal followers hahah. finals and now evvys production week have been killing me. ive been really tired.

i know a lot of you have seen this already, but here is the working intro to my computer animation that i want to finish during the summer... lets see how that goes.

in other news, i still don't know what im doing this summer. but i may be promoted to a manager at the digital production labs so i can work over the summer. That would be sweet.

peace.

happy monday everybody.

2009-05-04T12:14:00.004-04:00

swine flew.

i didn't want to work at all this week. so here is a drawing i did in illustrator. yes i know its a lame joke (shut up emiko).
click for full size.

THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK! VOL 3!

2009-05-03T12:49:00.003-04:00

hey pals. i cannot believe that this year is almost over. gah! so much has happen... maybe i'll have a end of the year wrap up of things that i really liked, but i'll probably be too lazy. i got big plans for this summer.. and right now none of them include internships or jobs.. thats not good. anyways. without further ado...

VIDEO!

i've decided for this week, after just coming back from the northern regional grand finale for campus movie fest, will have videos highlighting the best films of of the northern part of america that entered. and let me tell you. they are GOOD.

bridgewater state college - "scrabble: the motion picture"

there is no better way to describe this movie besides epically brain numbing entertainment. there are russians, and parties, blood, sweat, and tears. oh and a bazooka?? and in case you couldnt deduce from the title, its alll about scrabble. genius. did i mention they don't have a film program at their school? they deserved the "Best picture" award that they recieved.

Ohio State University- "Safety Rape"

the audience reaction when this film title came on was split. the half of the audience that had already seen the film was cupping their hands around their mouths and screaming, while the other half of the audience couldn't understand why anyone would be cheering for a film called "safety rape" silently braced themselves for the worst awkward moments ever.

luckily, for the latter group, this film is genius. hahah. just watch and enjoy... they also had a mad budget... can anyone say opening jib shot? this film won best comedy for the night.

Columbia University - The Tale of Timothy Robbins

the fact that this claymation movie was able to take home best drama is a testament to its awesomeness.. though i wouldn't classify this film as a dramatic piece, its got really well done claymation (done in a week???), with a cute little story. oh and DOMO makes a little cameo.

after watching this film i knew there was no way i was going to win hahah.

there were a handful of other really good films that i won't describe for the sake of saving space on this overly visually stimulating blog. so here are links to these awesome films

northeastern - breaking holden -great cast, great story (i think the actor won best actor for the night

new york university - last night in london - hilarious spoof off of jason statham's crank series.

Columbia university - surprise party - a great example of a simple film using a simple premise to great effect. this one had my mom laughing the hardest.

oh btw, in case you were wondering how my film did. it was the first out of the 14 films (out of 65 i think for the region) to be screened that night, which means my film will be moving onto the international grande finale in LA, which i probably won't be able to make unless they fly me their for free, and i probably won't go to anyways because there is not a chance i am getting much further than this, but this is further than i was expecting to get so tahts pretty awesome. also as an added perk, virgin america airlines chose my film to be one of the four from the night to be shown before their inflight films. so random people flying to idaho can watch my animation hahhaa. random, but cool.

also we got see rip torn, steve guttenberg, and judah friendlander, plus more! yay famous people... oh that reminds me, i have to show you one of judah friedlander's films he made when he was still in film school. hilarious. but that'll be for another post. moving on.

animation!

Charles Huettner- Mouth Ghost

this guy is an amateur animator after my own heart. he has a degree in fine arts, but has chosen to use his powers for good... this is one of my favorites by his.

Mouth Ghost from Charles Huettner on Vimeo.

google - chrome shorts

of course google would find a new and interesting way to showcase their new web browser they are launching called "google chrome" (meant to compete with safari, firefox, and the likes)

they commissioned a bunch of filmmakers and animators to make shorts that are meant to be informative (i was too distracted to really learn anything), but mostly are just pretty. here is a highlight reel.

i have no idea if the browser itself is good (of course it will be.. its made by google), but the shorts are awesome. to view the full shorts go to their website.

music!

the bird and the bee - my love

hahhaa this is sooo poppy, but sooo catchy and mad cute. mad cute. i honestly haven't been finding much new music lately because ive been busy with stuff, but i heard this on WERS in the emerson cafe and had to look it up. its probably going to fade away into another bleh song, but for now its great.

hope that holds you over til next week. love!

karnival

2009-04-30T13:19:00.006-04:00

hahaa, i was hoping to use this in my next issue of THINGS I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK, but i couldn't wait to share it. these are amazing! okay... they really aren't that amazing, but they entertained me for a good ten minutes.

its a collection of shorts separated into ten episodes and you should just watch them. click on the image below to get to the website. see them all.

ive embedded one of my favorites here:

sorry i havent been posting in here as regularly as i used to (by regularly as i used to i mean every few hours), finals have got me busy and stuff. im hoping to be able to settle down and really work on some projects to show you once evvys are done... or maybe WHILE evvys are happening because im good at distracting myself like that.

while im here and not studying.. here are some frame grabs from the animation ive been working on for my 3d animation class... bleh. its only going to be one minute long when im done.. it was scripted to be 5. so basically its not going to have a story that makes sense and is just going to have a big TO BE CONTINUED at the end... just so i can turn it in for a grade sigh. there is never enough time. im hoping to finish it over the summer.

house keeping, for my own reasons.

2009-04-28T23:02:00.004-04:00

so here is an update more about my life and things that are happening than anything else. ill try and keep it short.

i found out this morning that i got nominated for three evvy awards, which is funny considering i only submitted for one category. no it is not rigged (as much as many would like to think), just some of the people i worked with in the past either submitted for me, or submitted with me. ive seen some of the things some of the other people have done and its not bad, so i dont think much will come out of the two random nominations. the only one i really care about is the outstanding animation category (big surprise). of course, being lame, i submitted balance hoping to get it seen some more. the other two things i got nominated for is outstanding visual effects in film or television (which i think is cheating because i wouldn't consider what was submitted to be a "visual effect", it was just a small animation), and outstanding graphics package (which the entire graphics team from last year submitted, haha i love those guys) we'll see what happens...

speaking of balance... the campus movie fest northern regionals is this saturday so amelia and i are going to nyc. woo! im doubtful i will get much further than this since campus movie fest isn't really a venue for animations, but ive enjoyed the ride thus far, and am content with what my week of work has given me already. i will let you know how that goes : /

speaking of balance.. again. this semester has had to have been the worst as far as me being able to balance my responsibilities. looking back, on this semester i can see that i have fallen behind in several of my projects, some projects i downright dropped, and many other projects have just lacked the concentration that they needed. though i feel like this has been a pretty productive semester and there are many things that i am proud of doing, there are a lot of things hanging over my head and it stinks. i still got a few more projects to go before the semester is over...

one of which is the evvy awards. this year will be kept in my mind for many reasons. but one of the reasons will probably be the fact that this year was plagued by my positions as the lead graphics for the 28th annual evvy awards. i wont go into too much, but it was a lot of work.

though i will admit, i learned a ton this year because of it... and i am WICKEd looking forward to hell week not even kidding. the idea of having an entire week to work on one project and one project alone (even if it is an entire show graphics package) sounds soooo good right now. plus i got good people around me. i think we might watch that documentary, helvetica. yes the movie that is entirely about a single font.

okay i think thats good for now. i was going to post about my summer plans, but i think i'll save that for another post.. mostly because its all up in the air and i dont even know what its going to look like yet.

and i bet you thought i was going to go an entire post without a single visual element? YOURE CRAZY! this is for amelia heheh. i shot it on a crappy little digital camera that shoots videos that look like they were shot on a cell phone.

photos from last semester's class

2009-04-27T22:45:00.003-04:00

to be completely honest, i hated my photo 1 class last semester. haha. it was miserable because i never had enough time and i never made anything i was really proud of and i hated the critiques because i knew they were all rubbish (hehe rubbish). i mean.. you guys all know how busy i was, and making a good print takes a good amount of time.

for my final project i did a series of light paintings. most of them came out messy, and really not all that interesting, but here they are. the one of bill and the swirly around his arm is probably one of the only prints i like from the semester and is actually going to be displayed in the developed images showcase gallery this wednesday april 29 from 7-9pm in the beard room of the little building, if anyone is interested in seeing it in real life (oooh!).

here are some of the pictures from the final project. pretty lame and over done in the photography world, but they have a nice effect.

as always, click to make it big!

THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK! VOL 2!

2009-04-26T19:08:00.005-04:00

and here it is again. some stuff to keep you distracted during the final push towards summer.

and what a mighty fine push it will be.

VIDEO!

hbo voyeur

it was hard to categorize this piece because of its innovative cross-media approach, but i had to share because it is pretty remarkably awesomely cool and fresh. basically the premise is you are able to watch the lives of 8 different rooms in a single apartment complex occurring simultaneously on the same screen. it is meant to tap into the our voyeuristic curiosity and the pleasure we get in simply watching other people without their knowledge of being watched (which is one of the main reasons films in general are so appealing). though it is at first overwhelming because we are trained to follow one single story line in any given film, but this film gives you the opportunity and the choice to follow one, two, or all at once, which is beautiful because they often interact with each other and they often cross paths, but they are all wholly complete stories.

not only is it a great premise, but it is beautifully lit and shot, and over all works as a great interactive film that probably needs to be watched at least a few times to really be appreciated it.

there are people being killed, fathers leaving their families, lonely women in their studios, families in arguments, families with parties, fire, ghosts, and everything else. so if you have the time or if youre at all curious go the website by clicking on the picture below. it is well worth the time.

ANIMATION!

these sick animated advertisements

i dont even want to give away who these commercials are for. just try and guess. I DARE YOU! they are so bizarrely trippy and fun to watch and make absolutely no sense. and then the end comes and you see an image of the product and everything falls into place. genius hahah. also two points for taking a risk because these are definitely not kid friendly. i read an article about how the economy can do that to companies... make them actually try to do something new and interesting.

books!

tales from outer suburbia - shaun tan

this alleged children's book is full of wistfully surreal stories and beautifully drawn paintings and is probably far too strange for any child really fully grasp what is occurring let alone understand what bigger thing the author might be pointing towards.

its great. there are silent buffalos that sit silently in field pointing children in the "right direction". there are two inch tall foreign exchange students. there are monsters, and myths, and anything else you probably never thought about including in a picture book. i'll probably read these to my kids when i have some. it will either make them incredibly creative making a ton of money so they can feed me when i get old or incredibly crazy and in jail. either way, you should do the same to your children.

something completely different but still pertaining to this week...

GAZEBALL Z HAS RETURNED! THATS RIGHT!!!! THE GAME YOU GUYS ALL LONGED FOR DURING THOSE COLD WINTER NIGHTS IS BACK AND READY TO KICK YOUR POOR UNATHLETIC BUTT INTO SOME SEMBLANCE OF HEALTHY!

we played gazeball z for the first time in forever and it was awesome. we welcomed four newcomers to the game, two of which were complete strangers who just happened to be at the gazebo at the time.

for those who are not in the know gazeball z is the greatest game ever invented. maybe i will dedicate a post to some pictures and some instructions in case oyu ever want to start up your own game with the neighbors!

until next time, you little punks.

think of it as a visual snack

2009-04-24T15:59:00.004-04:00

this is what i do instead of work. sigh. i need to really do something about my inability to concentrate.

here are some pictures i took of some classy ladies on a packy run (haha i want to kill myself) in chinatown. its all natural, found light... i made sure they made their eyes super big so that the light would hit it hahaha, torie thought i was being racist.

lit via a cvs pharmacy window.

basically i told them to stand really really close to a glowing map kiosk. :p

oooh grain!

because i am never home

2009-04-23T14:04:00.006-04:00

i decided to take a panoramic 360 degree photo thingy of my bedroom because i never actually get to see it because i am never there. this way i can visit it whenever im feeling nostalgic or something. its like google maps street view but for my ROOM!
click to enter like magic. blue skidooo we can tooooooo!

here is a game, why dont you try to find something in my room that directly links to you.

its kind of crazy how many influences have gone into the messy decor of my room, and i am sure many of you are evident in it somewhere.

while i have your attention...

i decided to put up my first maya project online. its simple. the animation is messy (i only had a two days to do the actual animating since i took so long rigging the character... which i did in a week and a half, ugh). i hope it makes you so depressed you just give up on everything. enjoy.

and while we're on the subject of this project... this animation was the reason i missed the opening act to bon iver last time they were in boston. it was due the next day and i had to have it ready to render by the time i left for the show. because of that i missed seeing tallest man on earth, which is too bad because hes great. here is the new take away show (dont you love how make connections!) from blogotheque that they did of the tallest man on earth. its in some little music store and its really pretty. his voice is aweeeesome. i bet you wouldnt guess that he is from sweden. hahha.

i post in this thing too often

2009-04-21T14:16:00.011-04:00

but I'M OBSESSED AND CANT HELP IT!

amelia and i went to food not bombs on friday. here are some pictures.

here is also a little photoshop thing i did today for my color in cinema class. basically i just thought of all the memorable red things in films i could think of off the top of my head and made this collage of sorts. its kind of meaningless and i dont think my teacher will like its critical value, but its kind of fun to look at. click for a larger view.

posters i did this weekend.

2009-04-20T21:29:00.000-04:00

here are some first drafts of posters i made for the evvy awards show that are coming up soon.

the first one is for the dinner show and i based off of dang's playbill design. not exactly the greatest poster, but it works.

the second one is for the main theater show. the EPs wanted an "apple look" and to incorporate lines with squares and bright colors. i made this one from scratch. i decided to make the ribbons form the evvy logo and break up where the squares are to form the words. its a little hard to read.. but i still kind of like it. click to see a bigger version.

i still need to study up on typography. alot.

on a completely different note. here is a sequence of images we took from my computer's webcam when we were feeling bored. hahhaha.

THINGS THAT I REALLY LIKED THIS WEEK! VOL 1!

2009-04-20T14:31:00.001-04:00

we will write a weekend wrap up (10 points for alliteration!). things that i have come across this week that i really enjoyed hhahah. here goesssss:

VIDEOS!

Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

this is a music video that came out awhile ago but my friend chin just pointed me towards it. its a two part video that is just pretty awesome. the first part is a pretty and strange (and i aspire with every bone in my body to someday have as much class as her two backup dancers)

the second part is just pure fun absurdity. i especially love the girl bleeding out strawberries.

Chairlift - Evident Utensil

dont worry! your computer is not dying! the internet is not melting into itself! this music video employs a clever technique where the visual aspects of a poorly exported video are harnessed to create some pretty sweeeet visuals. plus the music is awesome hahah. at first itll hurt your eyes, but eventually youll want to go swimming in a pool of digital goo because it looks like so much fun.

LITERATURE!

serenade by kevin moffett

i have recently been going

through my back issues of mcsweeneys and came across this strange little story, which doesnt really work like a story, but more like a man who is telling you about how he likes to put meat in his shoes so he can attract single women going for runs with their dogs. 50 percent absurd, 50 percent poignant, he finds a way of making a grocery store filled with every girl he has ever danced with seem okay, and even poetic. though i could not find a copy of it online for you to read, i found that there is also a kevin moffett who plays football, as well as another kevin moffett who races cars in illinois. reading the story compelled me to order kevin moffett's collection of short stories (the author's, not the football player's). its called permanent visitors and im pretty excited to read it.

MUSIC!

now, now every children - cars

bill turned me onto this album and i have been sort of obsessed. its not even that unique, but its really good to work to. its a bit catchy, pretty (the girl's voice is exceelleleltne), and even intense at times. they are definitely melodic, but have a formulaic rock build up that they use in many of their tracks that i totally buy into. shes sort of got a mirah-esque cuteness to her voice, but some of the rhythms are more yeah yeah yeahs. hope you like.

http://www.myspace.com/nownoweverychildren

ANIMATION:

la maison en petit cubes - kunio kato

this is one of the more beautiful things ive seen in a long time.. though i didnt come across it this week, i just really wanted to share it because it is a MASTERPIECE!!!! as far as hand drawn animation goes. i saw this a few weeks back at a screening at the kendall theater of all the oscar nominated shorts fo 2009 (all of which were wonderfully entertaining) this animation ended up winning the oscar, and i feel like it was duly deserved. i dont want to give anything away. i just want to warn you that it is 12 minutes long and a veryyy deliberate and slow film. so if youre not in the mood dont watch it cause youll ruin it and be bored and ill have to kill you for not appreciating this film as much as me. hahhaha. but really dont watch it unless you are in the mood and have the time.

until next week!!!!!

walkkking through chinaa!

2009-04-18T13:26:00.001-04:00

china town actually.

i decided to go to china town in between classes with a small sony handicam that i got from my school's media services to test out after effects ability to slow footage down without using a high frame rate. so i shot some stuff at 30i dropped them into a 24 composition and then time stretched 400% with frame blending on.. and i think it holds up pretty well. i cut the little footage that i had and put them to music.

i knooow the music outplays the subject matter, but whatever. you would do the same thing! YOU KNOW THAT ANYTHING SET TO PRETTY MUSIC MAKES that moment so much more beautiful and seem to have a deeper meaning that resonates with the individual depending how they react emotionally to the song! EVEN IF THEY DIDNT INTEND FOR IT TO HAVE ANY MEANING AT ALL! EVEN IF ITS JUST PEOPLE WALKING AROUND CHINA TOWN! SHUTUP! SHUTUP! I KNOW! you know if i showed a video of me cooking lasagna set to enya or dido YOU WOULD BE IN TEARS RIGHT NOW! and i wouldnt even be using onions in my lasagna.

for something shot at 30 fps i think it looks pretty good but i tried shooting things besides people walking and it doesnt blend as well. so if anyone has any idea for future projects where the entire film involves people walking around really really slowly then i can help you out and we should tots collab it up (meaning: totally collaborate, both artistically and intellectually, my friend and fellow artist). if you want people falling off buildings in slow motion, or heads exploding in slow motion then i cannot help you. but if walking is what you need, i can make people walk slowly.. with a beautiful furvor!

also here are some photos i took on my desperate hunt for people walking. surprisingly its difficult to find good shots of people walking normally in china town. they tend to leap and float around like in crouching tiger hidden dragon.

this was strange garden i never noticed before made up of flowers that wera ctually cut up soda bottles and painted...

rust looks like blood!

until next time! which will probably be in like two hours because i have no life! i will see you laterrrrr.

BAN COMIC SANS!

2009-04-18T12:54:00.000-04:00

hahha the wall street journal put out an article recently about this group that is trying to get the infamous font comic sans banned from all high school bulletin board flyers, free domain websites (the ones with the ugly UGLY backgrounds), and all things typographical.

the website is here.

theyve created these awesome stickers that are made to be put onto any kind of design that uses the font and its awesome hahaha.

here are some highlights from the article:

sorry if you are reading this and you actually like the font or have used it in anything beyond a class writing assignment (even thats pretty bad, i hope you got a bad grade), but im glad that i have been able to inform you of this truth.

campus movie fest entry!!!!!!!

2009-04-17T10:09:00.001-04:00

hey guys. guess what!

i won best picture at my school for camps moviefest! yay. im going to get a chance to go to ny in a couple of weeks and compete in the northeast regionals.. and then if i do well there i can go to LA! pretty sweet. plus i got the final cut studio 2, two ipod nanos (orange, hoobleeehh), and two tickets to the evvy awards (double hoobleeehehehe)

i made a dumb garage band soundtrack. i painted it in photoshop all on separate layers. then i animated it all, and then i edited all. i did it all in a week. and here it is the finished product. its not perfect, but its certainly a colorful assault to the eyes. put on some nice headphones and watch it full screen (its a 720 HD export! yes! yes! yes!)
i hope you all enjoy it.

photos.. again?

2009-04-16T15:26:00.001-04:00

for those of you not in the know: i have decided to take my camera out again.

i started taking pictures because of my poor memory. i would find myself in a nostalgic mood, hungry for some hardcore reminiscing, but i wouldnt have anything to draw from. so instead of writing in a journal.. because i suck at that, i began to take my camera around. i used to average somewhere between 20-50 photos a day and my photo albums sort of became my diary. though they started out a big terribly bleh, as i got comfortable with my camera and my eye became a bit more trained, i started to see how pretty my friends were (you were all ugly before i got into photography. the true artist sees beauty in everything! hoorah!).

then came college. then came no time and no life. plus the fact that everyone else has like five cameras here each so it just became a lame thing to take pictures of everything. and so i stopped.

until NOW!

once again, you will see me take pictures of EVERY LITTLE MUNDANE MOMENT of my life... at least thats what i hope. most likely i will do this for a two days, and then find something of greater interest to me. oh well. here are some pictures of laura and phillip as we eat at NYP. i like how phil is surrounded in warm reds and oranges while laura is bathed in ICY greens and blues. i wonder what that says about their personalities.

anyways. i am going to go to class and then campus movie fest! wish me luck. hopefully i win an ipod!

banners yay!

2009-04-15T17:25:00.001-04:00

so for my first self-assigned project i wanted to make something along the lines of banner or an advertisement for this dumb blog. sadly i did not have much time and no pictures except for a couple of old photos left on my small digital camera. so i decided to use these random pictures that are in no way connected and put them together into a something more single minded. yay.

so i decided to make a new blog

2009-04-15T17:13:00.002-04:00

reasons for such a decision:

1. i want to do more with my life than other people's projects. im ready to do my own thing :)

2. i need to become more okay with showing people my unfinished and imperfect projects

3. i miss taking pictures.

4. i hate talking to people in person, so this serves to be a much better form of communication for me. i hope through subtle hints to let the people i love know that i miss them. but very subtly.

5. i am horrible at keeping real journals. mostly because i know no one will read them.

6. i want to become famous.

7. i have a lot to say and no one to say it too.

8. mostly i just want to become famous.

it is not just about my life. there is no theme. it is a blog just for me.

its a pretty selfish blog. it will give me a chance to post whatever i might create whether it be pictures, animations, videos, illustrations, written fiction, blah blah blah blah. i wanted to create a more cohesive idea when conceiving this blog, but then i decided i did not like the idea of limiting myself. i will show you everything and anything that i find that i think is cool or funny or inspiring. i will talk about current events, i will talk about my day!

mostly, i was hoping that this would be something of interest to you.