No Festival Required- Phoenix

Found out today that my film "Authority Head Exorcism," was included in a screening at the No Festival Required microcinema in Phoenix, AZ on October 1. Ultra-uber Thanks to the NFR director, Steve Weiss for considering my piece. Steve is doing great things for lo/no-budget, and independent filmmaking in Arizona, managing one of the longest running microcinema's in the Southwest. Check out more of what Steve is doing here: No Festival Required

(July 22, 2006) Gonzalo Amat(DP), Yuri Makino(Dir), Mark Braun(1st AD) just after sunset, discussing shot direction an lighting adjustments on the first day of production photography for Alma.

Choosing a perm rather than a comb-over every time

A wonderful evening at Plush, listening to Camera Obscura with some new found friends, Jason and Megan - new transplants from Ohio to Arizona. Jason is editor and co-founder of a wonderful publication called clamor magazine. Megan is becoming the local mistress of cat-sitting, master of dog-walking. Both bring the kinds of enthusiasm that Tucson desperately needs.

Derek, Sarah and Lynl at Heart-Five in Tucson - June 2006. Two of the best neighbors we've ever had the pleasure of living next to. And they didn't even shoot holes in our walls!

Band of Horses at the Congress Hotel in Tucson, AZ June 2006

July final days, Tucson summer

First production meeting for Yuri Makino's short film ALMA went well. Crew is much larger than I expected, with approximately 40 people apparently signed up, and a handful still being sought after.

I'm stoked to get to work with some experienced folks, like Michael McDonough (Cinematographer on Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore) and many other fine folks from the University as well.

Apparently the three lead cast members are being brought in from out of state (LA I believe). The shooting is scheduled for three over-night dates starting the 22nd (actually 23rd) at 8pm-3AM. I will post a few pics here once I've started shooting.

Sarah and Kids are back home in Columbus, where I'll be heading at the end of the month. My lil bro is heading out to Tucson to help with the move - and we'll truck it back and make a good time of it all.

On-set photography for a Makino short!

Spoke with Yuri Makino, film professor and independent filmmaker, about her short, Alma, in production this summer. I'll be shooting production photography during her shoot - scheduled for July 22-24 in Tucson.

From the Phoenix NO FESTIVAL REQUIRED bio page on Yuri - "Ms. Makino is in development with Alma, a feature film about a nineteen-year-old Chicana who discovers she is not a U.S. citizen and is jailed in a maximum security prison. Ms. Makino plans to direct Alma in Southern Arizona and Mexico. Alma, co-written by Ms. Makino, was awarded semi-finalist status at the 1999 Sundance Institute Feature Film Lab and awarded the 2000 Roy W. Dean Grant (worth $40,000 in-kind). "

Yuri's films are wonderful, and have played a major role in opening my eyes to the power of personal documentary.

Moving to Columbus... and other adventures

Jason Kucsma is visiting Tucson, Arizona. It's hot down here... and dry. Jason and Megan are good sports, and they don't complain. But they certainly picked the right month to make the move.

Until a few days ago I had only known Jason through random email exchanges. I am in love with Clamor magazine of which Jason is the editor. Sarah and I had the chance to grab a bite.

In August he is moving from Ohio to Tucson, and I'll be making the return move from Tucson to Ohio. Perhaps we'll run into one another on the road.

Kucsma also edits an annual collection called The Zine Yearbook

My friend Dave Crosland turned me onto the Zine YearBook when his book Heaven LLC was included.

It's fun to play the degrees of seperation game when yer stressed out.

Check out Clamor blog at: www.clamormagazine.org/blog/

Caveh Zahedi in class - what a good day. We watched I Am A Sex Addict, and talked with Caveh about such topics as the dirty penis, the making of his film and his recovery from sex addiction, and his shared prostitute fetish with Godard.

Finalized and in the mail

Authority Head Exorcism, my first short film, was completed on May 3 - and screened at "Unseen Cinema," in the Director's Theater at the University of Arizona last Friday (May 5) with a collection of short experimental films and video installation art. I've also uploaded a short short preview on Myspace videos here.

Tucsonfilm.com Shortfest

Saturday I was honored with the Film Community Service Award, by the Tucsonfilm.com Shortfest. The ShortFest awarded three individuals for their contributions to the Tucson film community. Peggy Johnson (The Loft Cinema); Rachel Sharp (Micro-Cinema Tucson) and Daniel King (U of A Media Arts).

More about the Shortfest here: Tucsonfilm.com

Ink Drop Film Soup

Blop Map sequence frame. First in a new series of experiments with analog/digital/organic combination filmmaking process. March 17, 2006 

A frame among frames, a piece of the puzzle. It's a simple starting point, a pinpoint from which many decisions will be made on the problem-solvers journey. I'm working on a film project using DV and 16mm film, laser printers, and things as organic as found materials, ink drops, archived video footage, and coolaborative audio recordings.

The Thematic starting point is "Forbidden Territories." This film is to be included in a program of Experimental film work at The Screening Room, (Tucson, AZ)in May. I'm very excited to combine materials in ways I've never worked before. This will be my first real attempt at audio recroding, interviewing, and DV editing.

I will be posting on my progress on this site from time to time.

EYE - moves into post-production

EYE - 2006, 16mm handmade film, non-narrative, 1:00 minute (approx)

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I presented my first film, "EYE", created by hand with a laser jet printer on 16mm, manipulating image captures from Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou," running at a little over 1 minute in length. I screened the film with a placeholder audio, Mouse on Mars song Dispothek, from the 1999 album Niun Niggung

Student feedback was very positive. Aesthetically I was pleased, content was promising.

My next step is to transfer the film to DV, and overlay a finalized original soundtrack, titles, and credits.

Roger Corman will be speaking at the University of Arizona on Feb 27. 

Check this greate Corman interview out found on Schlockcast Radio... found on Cineschlock-O-Rama.

How dancing becomes wrestling every time... Mid february 06 

Starting 20 zot-6 with a bang

ARRRRRRR! Eliott Turns Mighty Mighty 6

So we've survived the January lurch. Into the new year we bring flu, cold-bug, pirate antics and exhaustion. But we've survived the month. This weekend Sarah performs with NEWARTiculations Dance Theater for a three night run of a contemporary and playful take on an olf fairy tale, Hansel & Gretel. Not the best project they've put together, but a heartfelt attempt to open the company to a new younger audience.

As a side note, I've accepted a position on the Board of Directors for NEWART, which basically entails sipping wine and munching cheese while we try to help the modern dance company find a stronger, more substantial way of providing the kind of movement art that they've help to plant so strongly in Tucson. It should be an exciting chance to learn the ins and outs of a small non-profit arts organisation, and definitely plays into my passion for arts administration work.

I'm nearing the end of a start-stop-start effort to design a brochure for the Department of Media Arts, which has been an excersize in patience and political sensitivity...

(few days later)

This brochure will be the first step in integrating an overall visual presence through the Media Arts program. Next up is the premeir of our fundraising/ audience development "Friends group," which will directly benefit the Student Internship program, and hopefully bring in more well-known local celebs to our visiting speakers/filmmakers events.

The Friends of Media Arts group will have it's own tri-fold brochure, to compliment the content and outreach capabilities of the larger department brochure. Also - I have a few hundred square feet of wall throughout the department on which I must present the departments History, presence, mission, and "WOW." A series of significant event posters, and a "Wall of Fame," of our visiting artists/filmmakers/ scholars/ and professionals.

Also recently started developing a simple website for our student internship program. I have a couple of great student interns doing to prep work, and we'll finish this and go live in February if all goes well.

This site will serve both the students looking for internships, as well as the companies looking for interns.

More later.

I need to feel

The way I see is comparable to the way musicians hear, something extra sensory. Not judgmental. I don’t differentiate between an idea of what is beautiful and what is not. What I see is a reaffirmation of the many things I need to feel. It has to do with obsessive qualities, not explainable. I am a natural photographer. It is my language, I speak through my photographs more intricately, more deeply than with words.

 

_Richard Avedon

Notes from Yesterday

Notes from yesterday...

NOV 22, 2005

Today spent all day at home, following an early morning sick-spell. [read:
sudden and unexpected vomit] Today is Tuesday, tomorrow the last day before
Thanksgiving.

We will once again spend our Thanksgiving as a family, quiet? Just the four
of us in Tucson. This year we've resolved to take the kids out for dinner.
Partly, I believe, to avoid cooking and cleaning all day, and thus avoid the
reminder of our distance from the rest of the family. We see how this plays out.

 

Spent most of Today catching up on correspondance missed on Tuesday. Trying to wrap my head around the problem of getting started on another project. A video based, process-oriented problem. I'm starting with two basic materials sources. First, the F.F Coppolla film, "Apacolypse Now," and the second being all the emotionally mixed media currents of our international role in the war on terror... as it is sold to us, as individuals and as participants in American culture. I'm not so interested in the questions of why, or how we fight wars... but in how we might take a fresh look at the constant barrage of violence imagery, the flood of media saturated violence as partiotism. The first step in my project is to remove all but the explosive scenes in A.N.

Cycle o' rama in Tucson

Today (Saturday NOV 12) the kids and I weaved in and out of rows of custom bikes, small frames with large wheels, like bone-shakers, and mini recliners, recumbent bikes and scooters. We bought a few cheap nic-nacs and jumped back on our bike to ride through the streets downtown. We sat in the custom experimental speed "human powered vehicle" on view with the engineering students from the University of Arizona, maxing out at 35+ MPH in trial runs.

 

It was again this morning that I recalled the bloodless, cold process of drive-through commuting to and from work, school and home each day. After six months of living within the space of work and play, I can finally breath - it's as though I've thrown off a heavy burden, the shackle binding my every day actions to oil/ fuel/ and auto. This dependency is sold as the engine of independence. The ability for every individual to drive wherever they desire to go - on or off road, sun up or sundown, is supposed to offer complete independence - true personal freedom of movement. What it actually encourages is an impersonal, detachment from neighbor, friend and family.

 

Not only isolation, but also societal dependence on the world-wide oil/fuel/auto industries. An interdependent empire which could not survive without a co-dependent society like America, a society which has purchased stock in the myth of personal independence and freedom as an outgrowth of owning and driving large auto's, regularly and often.

Daniel King 

 

"short enough to see up the skirt of subconsciousness, stout enough to brawl with real life"  ~ Cold Albert,  homeless midget

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Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.

Sound bloc material

Shocking moments when sounds and streaming audio take a front seat position in the creative act. I never expected to be back here again. In a creative space where sound and image become so important.

Here is a wonderful; online exhibit of found sounds... sounds recovered from all sorts of places... on magnetic tape lying the sewer to old CD's stacked in a closet - unmarked. It's called Found Tapes Exhibition.

I'm excited to play and cut in this scissor circus that is today. I've been reading the Critical Art Ensembles book project called "Flesh Machine".

Aside from being incredibly engaging, if not a little hard to follow, it has ignited neurons in new directions in my little frumpy head. I'm thinking about all the self-imposed definitions and fences I use to derail my create interests. I've been blinded by the lack of free-play in the wide open garden of media/image/message/push that is like a fog around us everywhere we trek.

I feel like this is a good place to mention, my daughter refuses to fear screenal images. That is, images on-screen, whether in a theater or at home on TV. She just isn't afraid, no matter how demonic... or adult.

Whereas my son, well yes he's very afraid... often. He can't watch movies with monsters, movies with creepy dark corridors and the such. Although he does hanker to regurgitate every commercial that he sees. I'm just waiting for him to start quoting from Adult Erectile Disfunction Ads in public. Oh I can't wait.