A Thin Camel

My thesis film has wrapped! I haven’t really posted anything about the project, since I’ve been too busy working on it, but production is now completed. I finished writing the script early this year, about a man who dies suddenly and finds himself in limbo. Sort of. It has some Buddhist leanings, but is generally non-denominational. The cast was fantastic, and it was so much fun to shoot. Our last day was actually shooting the very first scene, in the city. For the most part, we’ve been stacking up the Jeep with cast, crew, and equipment, and taking off into the woods. Most of the film takes place in various clearings, and was actually shot on and around the LaBelle slate dumps. I’m excited that it’s finished, but I’ll definitely miss it. Now on to post production, which is much lonelier work.

Back to School

After looking at several schools, and going to three for interviews, I’m officially enrolled at Chatham College in Pittsburgh. I’ll be earning my MFA in Film and Digital Technology, which is offered for the first time this year. Our graphic design program was only about two years in when I started, so I suppose I have some experience as an academic guinea pig. I’ll be taking traditional film classes, but there’s also a lot of focus on creating video and animations for the web, and using different media.

I’ve only been out of college for 8 months, but it’s still going to be tough getting back into that collegiate mindset. Should be an interesting experience.

From the halls of Montezuma

On a whim, I entered a film competition.

American Express and Tribeca Film Festival sponsored a 15-Second film competition. I’d done a 30-second film before, and I thought it would be a fun challenge. It’s so difficult to get across a story in that little time, and I decided to use my very favorite method to accomplish it – stop motion (my earlier 30-second film uses claymation).

I started brainstorming ideas, and the inspiration for this one is credited to John Moore. I shot it one night, edited it the next, and in a few weeks I was a finalist. I didn’t win the competition, but out of thousands of videos, they chose mine as a finalist. Also, they mailed me a nifty video iPod. Good whim.

If you’re curious about the title of this post, I had to find a song to use that was in the public domain. I ended up going with the Marine’s hymn. My dad played piano for it, and the sound was actually recorded through a digital camera. We’re very high tech.

You can check out the army video (and it’s claymation predecessor) on www.mooredesign.us.