:DRYVRS Ep. 1 "Just Me In The House By Myself" starring Macaulay Culkin

Ever wonder what Kevin McCallister grew up to be?

All The Star Wars

Don't have time to watch all 6 movies before 7 comes out? Why not watch them all at once?

Build Walls

After long last I have uncovered the infamous bagging video that I experienced in 1999 in the dimly lit back room of a FoodTown training center. At the time I watched this thing, it was charmingly vintage and I believe that has only increased over the years. Before we dive headlong into this gem - Lets think about his for a minute... this is a training/hype piece that a client gave the go-ahead for. Let that sink in. The pitch must have been legendary. Subsequently mankind has benefitted greatly ever since. This video also features a young Orlando Jones who went onto be on MadTV and is currently on Sleepy Hollow. Star power, kids. Anyway, enough of my yakkin', waddya say, let's boggie...

Cool Documentary Style

I came across these two videos by the same guy. I think the style could be applied to a lot of things. History pieces, opening credits, kickstarter videos, est. Kind of has a Wes Anderson feel to it.


Wonder In The Smokies from Drew Perlmutter on Vimeo.
Settling Mascotte from Drew Perlmutter on Vimeo.

Simple Silly Storytelling

I think this is a great example of story telling. It is simple yet overdramatic and they uses the 4th wall to convey that transition in a fun way. I think as we come off submerged's win and talk about what we could do next as a creative project this is an example of what is out there. The shots are well composed for the style and the sound design is great. But it is still not an overly polished image. The story also has light hearted moments that transition quickly into much heavier ones.



Glue from Bo Mirosseni on Vimeo.

This effects break down is crazy. And it is amazing how much they cut out. There are shadows on the blue screen and random shit on the green screen. We are about to go shoot VFX shots for Dixie and we are all worried about getting the green screen lit and these guys make it look easy. 

LES NOUVELLES AVENTURES D'ALADIN - VFX BREAKDOWN from Digital District™ VFX Post-Pro on Vimeo.

Real Life First Person Shooter: Level 2 (Chatroulette Version)

2015 BGSU 48 Hour Horror Winners

I will post the videos as they are put online.

First Place went to our film.


I Hear The Calling from Chris Wegman on Vimeo.


Second Place went to Jean Plaid.

Third Pace went to Girls Are From Venus. The girl who heads this group has a great eye for editing. They also like to use makeup FXs.

Audience Choice went to Odeon. In this film they tell most of the story through radio transmissions. It gets the story out clearly and sets up the style. Even if the piece is a little long in the middle it had the right idea.

DEATH MASTER'S HOUSE

Still coming off of the Halloween BGSU 48-Hour, I thought I'd post this festive short. I've been following Holomax for a while and their films are always funny, charming, and well produced. From a technical standpoint, I'm also always excited to see their stuff because they are one of the few people I know who've really embraced the Bolex D16.

DEATH MASTER'S HOUSE from Holomax on Vimeo.

Back To The Future In ACTUAL 2015

D&Diesel with Vin Diesel - Highlights (Dungeons & Dragons - Nerdist Presents)

And below is the full version:

Winners of Musicbed's Film Festival

On the heels of The Maumee Film Festival, I was looking at other events online. Turns out that Musicbed also held a film festival last month. Here are the winners - you may recognize some as Vimeo Staff Picks. Also, here's a link to the full story, including the runner ups.

As we look forward to The 2016 Tree City Film Festival, I can't help but watch films and videos like these and wonder how we can continue to raise the bar.

DOCUMENTARY

Comic Book Heaven from E.J. McLeavey-Fisher on Vimeo.

NARRATIVE SHORT

COMMERCIAL

The Encounter Collection from Process Creative on Vimeo.

ANIMATION

Banna Kaun Hai from Mark Miller on Vimeo.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

A Reflection from Variable on Vimeo.

MUSIC VIDEO

Farm Life Sizzle

Back in August, Chris, Nic and I cooperated with Fog Edge Media to create a sizzle reel featuring Kit and her day to day existence on her farm in Manchester, MI. Ideally, the reel will be pitched to HGTV and DIY Network.

While I had a lot of fun helping out, I was really hoping to have a educational experience on set and, for better or worse, my time on set was not very different than what we do all the time. From a filming stand point, I'm happy to report that everything went really well and that it would be a very boring DVD commentary :) Everything was very low key, the folks from Fog Edge were very positive, and Kit was a patient and gracious host. Below is the reel that Roberto from Fog Edge cut together.

Farm Life Sizzle: Fog Edge from kitliz on Vimeo.

Here it is everyone. Congratulations and good job!



Submerged from Chris Wegman on Vimeo.

Everything is a Remix - Remastered

I could have sworn that made it was on to The Stew already but I couldn't find it when I searched. So here it is. Kirby Ferguson is a writer, filmmaker, speaker who has had a few appearances on Vimeo as well as the TED stage.

In this post I wanted to highlight one of his projects, the Everything is a Remix series. Originally distributed in four parts, Everything is a Remix explores how every idea is somehow predicated on another. Whether it's movies, music, technology, etc, you can draw connections to a preexisting thought, idea, or concept. This is a remastered version that combines all four parts into one film.

I think the subject matter is really interesting especially as it relates to the creative or vocational work we do and how we're often looking for something "original." After watching this, I definitely feel inspired, like I've been given a license to "steal..."

Update: The Stew's search function is not what I'd describe as "awesome." After posting this, I eventually did find one of the originals that was posted over a year ago...

Everything is a Remix Remastered (2015 HD) from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

When life hands you shit in your pants...

For some reason, I love story telling accompanied by a goofy animation. It just enhances any story for me.

Hell's Club

Feeling a Little 80s this Morning?

While cruising the staff picts today I came across this one and it just made me smile. Very nostalgic and good use of claymation and live action.

GUNSHIP - Tech Noir from Lee Hardcastle on Vimeo.

Spalding Gray

Every once in a while during a podcast or something, I would hear this name - Spalding Gray. And anyone who was speaking about Spalding Gray would said things like "If he were still around, he would have definitely embraced the medium of podcasting."

I had forgotten about the name for a while until, the other day, when it came up again in a recent episode of a podcast I was listening to. So I decided to do some research. In short, he was an American actor and writer who may have been best known for his monologues. I've posted the two that I've watched so far. Both originally aired on HBO; one in 1988 and the other in 1996 (directed by Steven Soderbergh).

It's difficult to know where to start. I really enjoyed these two monologues - everything from the economic/minimal set, the on and off-stage reenactments (some reminiscent of something like Drunk History), and just his style of writing in general.

All this to say, I can definitely see why people would assume Spalding Gray might have been a proponent of podcasting.

Real Life First Person Shooter

#FalconsFlyForever

Dope.

Which fictional beer is your favorite?

Check out this link for a closer view.

Why Do We Edit

Hey guys, nice to see you (figuratively) all again! I came across this Louis CK video and thought I'd share it with you. He is one of my favorites and does everything on that show.

Rocket Wars, Salomon, and Film + Music

I've been digging Film + Music for about a month now and, at the risk of simply reposting everything they publish, I really wanted to highlight this piece in particular.

In the article, Salomon, describes how the his passion project, Rocket Wars, began. He goes on to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of personal projects, saying...

"Often the projects you put the most thought and work into don’t hold up as well as the ones that just kind of happen.

And when asked, "I think you guys are hitting on one of the most frustrating parts of being a creative person. [Is] there’s rarely a direct link between working hard on something and it turning out well?" Salomon responds...

"I don’t have it figured out, but it seems like you need to let yourself be the product of the process. Then things tend to happen a bit more organically, rather than trying to strong-arm your way through. Just this morning someone asked me if Rocket Wars turned out how I was expecting [it to]. And the answer is no."

ROCKET WARS from Variable on Vimeo.

Why CG Sucks (Except it Doesn't)

Dungeons & Dragons: Gangsta Edition

Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist

Another good watch from Every Frame a Painting

The Revenant

This looks pretty awesome and this trailer is awesome.

Practical Effects and Sets

Following Chris' post - here is the reel they released for the new Star Wars at Comic Con.
 

Practical Effects

Coming off the high of Mad Max it seems that Hollywood is going back to embracing practical effects again. The new Mission Impossible is releasing videos actually highlighting the fact that their stunts are real. I find it kind of interesting that this stuff always works in cycles, and I just enjoy the real effects better anyways.

One-Minute Time Machine

We've been talking about short films a lot lately, and while not completely unique, I thought this was clever, fun and a really simple concept that was executed really well.

Funny and Well Told

As we talked about sound design and about the shoot tomorrow I thought of this video. This was made by Film Riot and has a very Spielberg kind of feel. I think they also used special effects very well without over doing it. Enjoy



U.F.Oh Yeah (Sci-fi/Comedy short film) from Ryan Connolly on Vimeo.

A Woman's Work: Marie-Louise Sciò

I was inspired by this elegantly done short form doc.  Its subject certainly seems like she inspired the ultra intentional B-roll. This, to me, demonstrates the poetic power of documentary film-making.

Subconscious Cinema

Still in love with dream sequences...

Chef 2014 - Twitter Usage

I finally got around to seeing Chef (2014) last night. A feel good movie about a Chef who finds creative satisfaction through a food truck. A cute movie but what I really came away with was how they showed social media usage.

In the past, portaying texting, social media, or other phone based activities has been boring and anticlimactic to me. Now filmmakers are not only making the display of these devises more engaging to the audience, these intangibles are playing more of a central role in stories. In Chef, it could be argued that social media itself is a character in the film and had to be portrayed somehow. All that to say, I was really impressed how twitter was used.

The Rush

If you have ever played StarCraft, you should enjoy this.
-From RocketJump

True Detective Season 2 Main Titles

Moody, minimal, and drenched with rich color. Plus Leonard Cohen made the theme song so, yeah, thats awesome.

True Detective Season 2 Main Titles from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

WdKA - Creating Pioneers

We've all been there. Aside from being too true, I really like the way this was made. Specifically the different mediums used to illustrate the creative process.

WdKA: Creating Pioneers from From Form on Vimeo.

Film + Music

Film + Music is a new online and print publication from The Music Bed and Film Supply. They can tell their story best through these videos...

Introducing Film + Music Magazine from Musicbed on Vimeo.

A Look Inside Film+Music Magazine from Musicbed on Vimeo.

That said, I've been reading a few of the online articles and have been very impressed. I particularly like these two so far... The Golden Age of Documentary: A Conversation with Wendy Cohen of Picture Motion is, in short, about Wendy Cohen and her experience with Picture Motion. Picture Motion distributes socially aware documentaries and helps film makers find an audience. While talking about her process she notes that...

"On every film, we try to do something we’ve never done before. We always start with a lot of research, a lot of listening. We make 20, 30, 40 phone calls to hear what’s happening in the issue, what the issue is going to look like in the next 12 months. What are the organizations that are working on this, who has been doing this work since long before the film existed and will be doing this work long after? We figure out how the film can help them, these organizations. Then we put a strategy together. We think about what we want to accomplish, the goals."

I also really liked this article about the art of short filmmaking entitles New Theories of the Short Film: A Conversation with Dr. Richard Raskin. In the story, Raskin illustrates how short filmmaking and short stories differ from traditional story telling models that revolve around conflict, character development, and context. The article paints him as an authority of the short film format. In fact, Raskin says...

"Very few academics are passionately interested in the short film. Sometimes I get the impression that I am the only one. In any event it’s a niche I am happy with, and I get to give seminars on short-film storytelling at festivals and film schools... I love narratives that are very short and meaningful. Jerry Seinfeld once said: “If I wanted a long boring story with no point to it, I’ve got my life”. I have a low boredom threshold; and films running, for example, six or seven minutes are just right for me."

Kung Fury

When the trailer of Kung Fury showed up in 2014 on kickstarter with a goal of $200,000 it quickly went viral and has amassed around 11 million views to date. They eventually raised $630,000 USD, and they ramped up the production to include 400 visual effects shots created in partnership with Swedish vfx studio Fido.

Verizon - Mighty Small Series

While looking for current Verizon commercials I found this nice little series of branded entertainment documentaries. Mighty Small highlights small business owners and their passion for their chosen path - then in supplemental (deeper dive) films Verizon swoops in and gives them tech gadgets that could help their business.

Trajectories installation

Innovative way to save a failing winery

Quicken Loans Projection Piece

We have all seen, and some of us have made (myself included), a narrator driven piece using stock footage to evoke emotion. But while I patiently waited for the video I actually wanted to see on YouTube, this ad struck me.

In it, projections are placed on the object of desire and coupled with inspirational and aspirational imagery. Loans aren't cool, but what they represent absolutely is.

Rambo Day

David Hasselhoff - True Survivor

Creative Spark - David Seidler

I stumbled into this web series, Academy Originals. Aside from being well produced webisodes, they are also great sources of information for anyone who is interested in process. I wanted to highlight this video because David Seidler talks about the challenges of being a creative professional and the sort of "blank page syndrome" that we've all probably experienced once or twice in our lifetimes. I specifically like his method of using rewriting as a way to simply get started; beginning with a sentence and reworking it until you loose yourself in the process.

Max Runs a Stop Sign

My buddy Max planned this months ago and asked me to help capture it. Our lavs have a pretty good range!

Confessions of an Idiom

Confessions of an Idiom from Amanda Koh on Vimeo.

Some Old Video of Josh

Random craziness.

This I what happens when you get stuck in traffic in Chicago!

Posted by Rosie Lightle on Thursday, June 14, 2012

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 4

Leonard in Slow Motion

A Taste of Austria

Not your average timelapse video. Really love the zoom cuts used in this piece and the overall sound design.

Good Ole' Radio Lab

A bit on their process and ethos.

Radiolab from David Terry Fine on Vimeo.

Uncensored - Trevor Moore (The Whitest Kids U’Know): High in Church - "The Ballad of Billy John"

Fever The Ghost - SOURCE (official music video)

Geico's Unskippable Ads

Geico's new "Unskippable" ad campaign defies the Youtube 5 second skip...but the extended cuts are pretty funny too.

Legend of Nurse Karen

The Legend of Nurse Karen from robbie conaway on Vimeo.

puppets + applied learning = applicable 

What is Branding?

As we look ahead to the future of our group's work we seek to embark on journeys that are campaigns as opposed to one-offs. We help build out the brand's internal voice. Its a powerful and sometimes daunting responsibility - the importance of which can be sometimes undervalued.

This video was conceived, written and narrated by award-winning designer, branding specialist and Fast Company blogger David Brier to distill branding down to its basics answering that basic question "What is branding?" (from http://www.RisingAboveTheNoise.com )

Written plainly with equally minimalistic motion graphics, this video unveils the magic, the spark and the simplicity that is branding in its most fundamental form.

Nuance - Marc-Antoine Locatelli

Josh and I had a conversation about green screen heavy movies recently and talked about how actors have to act to surroundings that are missing. Like the director is calling out "good... good... now look out there is a spooky ghost behind you!!!" and the actor is expected to show real fear.

In this example the choreography was designed on the faith of the tracker/animator. Without which this would have been very very silly. This looks like it would have been a blast to edit and reminds me of Chris Cunningham's particular style of cutting to disjointed electronic music.

Nuance from Marc-Antoine Locatelli on Vimeo.

Land - Sound Design

I really enjoyed the immersive sound design in this Masanobu Hiraoka piece.

Land from masanobu hiraoka on Vimeo.

Inside Man - Animations

Here are two animation reels featuring work that's appeared on CNN's Inside Man. There's usually one or two of these animations per episode and they're just a really fun way to fast track a lot of information so the audience can get back to the story with proper context. Ultimately, I just really dig CNN's commitment to not just journalism but entertainment as well.

Inside Man Season 1 Animation Montage from Native to Noise on Vimeo.

Inside Man Season 2 Animation Montage from Native to Noise on Vimeo.

Life Find's a Way

Squarespace / Dreaming with Jeff

I really like the tone of this. So much advertising can be abrasive, while this conveys a message in a way thats quirky, endearing, and authentically Jeff Bridges. This campaign effort is simple at its surface and has depth if you want to explore further. Check out Dreaming with Jeff

Paint.

PES meets LEGO....but it's not really PES.

BGSU 48 Hour Film Festival - Ring the Bell

2nd Place Winner at the Winter 2015 BGSU 48 Hour Film Festival!

An inspiring piece about perseverance, sportsmanship, endurance, and hunger. Hunger to win. Hunger to take every challenge that is in front of you. There are many stories about fighters, but each fight is different.

Ring The Bell from Chris Wegman on Vimeo.

not-so-lol

Being a cinematographer from EFTI School of Photography on Vimeo.

lol

Heroes

Kurt Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

This animation got brought up by Adam Hastings in a meeting yesterday. It was odd because I remember this animation from back when I would watch Looney Tunes, and now it's found its way back into my life. Anyways, thought I'd share it. Plus this rock and roll squiggle is everything I wanna be.

Lil' Dicky - Lemme Freak

Celebrate Cinema

Dave Padgett was just telling me about the Alamo Draft House, a theatre with a strict no talking, no texting policy that allows movie goers to enjoy a truly unique theatre going experience. Sounds blissful.

I'll fully admit that I have become jaded at the concept of going onto a theatre. While my intentions are good heading to the theatre, the realities of public showings are exactly what the Alamo protects against. They are usually attended by loud talkers, presented by workers who think focus is not of importance, and lets be completely honest... gross food.

I thought this captured the majesty and awe of a good theatre experience that transforms you to another place and allows you to lose yourself in a good story.

Barcelona-based production company Tàndem Entertainment wanted to pay tribute to the “meta-cinema”


120 years watching movies together from Tàndem Entertainment on Vimeo.

Ssshhhhh

Modified Powerglove as Animation Tool

Animator on Robot Chicken and Pes use this unconventional, yet highly practical tool. They also use Dragon Frame.

Playing with Power from Ava Benjamin on Vimeo.

Struck by a Rainbow

Branded entertainment by skittles delivers a straight faced mockumentary about a man struck by a rainbow.

Why Tipping Should Be Banned

A film on tipping, and although it's an informational piece it never feels stuffy. College Humor seems to have upped their production quality as well.

Color Correction

This could be a great example to share with clients both internal and external when talking about the importance of color correction and how it impacts the tone and feel of a piece.
 
Color Reel - The House On Pine Street from GradeKC on Vimeo.

Here is an interview with the guy who did the Color for the piece above.  It's not the best interview of all time from a content perspective, but he does share his typical workflow and talks about coloring day for night which we were talking about recently



A Conversation About Colour-Creating A look In The Grade from Matthew Allard ACS on Vimeo.

4 Artists Paint 1 Tree

New Season of Mythbusters takes on a new look