12 Films In 12 Months

Things are coming along well for this month’s film.  I have a pretty tight rough cut of the film completed as well as the full soundtrack recorded (but not mixed).  I have one pick-up shot I’m about to go shoot (a last minute shot that I decided to add after working on the edit).  After that, I’ve got to finish mixing the soundtrack, adjust the color on some of the clips, and finalize the titles and credits.  It’ll take me most of the rest of the day, but I’m hoping to have it up by tomorrow morning (or even later tonight).  It’ll be coming soon!

Here’s two more great duels that end a pair of classic westerns.  These continue to inspire me as I’m working on editing my western this month.

First, from A Fistful of Dollars:

And second, from High Noon:

We’re down to one week left in the Slow Mo Films contest so if you get a chance, head on over to SlowMoFilms.com and vote for “FINALIST #6 - ONE DOZEN EGGS”.  Remember, you can vote once per day per email, so head on over and rock the vote!!!

A few months back when I was working on the music video and featuring one-a-day on my Twitter feed, my friend Kerry sent me a video to check out.  Well, I slacked on posting it, but now it seems fitting to post it as I’m working on a western.  It’s the video for the song “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse and it’s a strange and awesome genre-mashing video featuring lazer-toting, kung-fu fighting cowboys…and that’s just the beginning.  Check it out:

I just found out that my first film of the 12 Films project, “Mystery Box“, has been accepted into the San Diego Film Festival!  It’s going to be part of the San Diego Shorts series and will be screened twice alongside several other short films from local filmmakers.  I’m seriously stoked!  This is the first time I’ve ever had a film shown in a festival so I have no idea what to expect.

The festival runs from September 25 - 28 down at the Gaslamp theater in downtown San Diego.  They’ll announce the film line-up and schedule at the beginning of September.  Event and day passes are already available for purchase, but individual film tickets (for instance, if you just wanted to come to see “Mystery Box” and the other San Diego shorts) won’t be on sale until September 15; and when they do go on sale, they’ll be $10.  For any info on the festival and to order tickets, check out their website here.

I’m planning on attending both screenings so if you come down, be sure to say hi.  I hope you to see you down there!

This last weekend I shot the footage for Film #8 of the year.  In terms of genre, this month I’m making a western!  Ever since I started this project, I’ve wanted to include a western at some point.  It’s a rich genre that is filled with classic films and performances.  The genre itself is laced with specific codes and conventions that are often used to explore themes like the taming of wilderness, honor, revenge, justice, and the definition of morality.

When AFI picked their top 10 westerns earlier this year, they chose some classic films like High Noon, Shane, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. As I was writing this month’s film, I started by watching the showdown from High Noon to get inspired.  I also watched the fantastic showdowns from two classic spaghetti westerns (so named because they were produced by Italian studios) from Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy”: A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.  It definitely got me into a good frame of mind for writing a showdown.

For your own enjoyment, here’s the finale from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly:

So apparently, you can now vote once per day per email (which I’m not sure you could do last weekend when the voting opened).  So even if you’ve already voted once, go back and throw another vote in there.

Vote for: “FINALIST 6 - ONE DOZEN EGGS”.

Go here to vote for me.

Thanks for all your help!

For more info on what all this voting stuff is about check out my earlier post here.

A little while back I entered an online contest where I had to submit a 15 second slow motion video.  Today they announced the 10 finalists and opened up voting to determine the winner.  I made the top ten and I need as many votes as I can get.

Vote for: “FINALIST 6 - ONE DOZEN EGGS”.

Go here to vote for me.

You can vote once per email per day.  After you vote, the voting system will send you a confirmation link in an email; click on that link and make sure your voice is heard!  The contest runs until August 31, so vote as much as you can.  Besides, every time you vote you get entered to win a Wii or an iPhone.  Bonus!

I’m trying to get the word out for votes so, if anyone’s so inclined, pass it on, post it on a blog, tell your mom, etc.  It would be great to win with all of your help!

Here’s film #7 of the 12 Films in 12 Months. It’s a summer action movie for the month of July: “The Pick-up”. Enjoy.

I’m still working through the sound design and musical score.  Even through there isn’t much dialogue in the film this month, there’s still a lot of sound work to be done.  Then, it’s on to color correcting and titles.  I don’t expect those two will take too much time.  I’m hoping to have it up by some point tomorrow (Sunday, August 3).