Watch the trailer for our latest Buffalo 48-Hour Film Project movie, The Chain.
Fantastic soundtrack written the weekend of the competition by Miranda Wilcox.
Tag: movie
COVID-19 Shutdown: Day 14. No, 21! 22?
When all this is over, and there’s thousands of surplus ventilators are being sold off, I’m buying one. As long as stupid people keep voting republican our taxes are never going to be used to provide services to the population, so I might as well be prepared for the next pandemic. Because you know, as long as stupid people keep voting republican, we’re not going to be prepared as a nation for the next one.
Weigh-In Wednesday – Back On My Soapbox
Sure, more people do die from other sources than have died from Corona virus thus far. But the Corona virus is deadly, and stopping it from spreading will SAVE LIVES. As noted in this handy “I’m Conservative So I Think The Media Is Evil and I Only Listen To InfoWars and Rush Limbaugh” chart that proves nothing other than people die from many sources, people still die from other things. Duh.
The difference is, these other things aren’t contagious. You’re not going to contract Heart Disease by shaking the hand of someone with Heart Disease. If a diabetic sneezes on you, it’s gross, and rude, but you’re not going to become diabetic from the exposure. See the difference? No? I have no hope for you then.
Weigh-In Wednesday – The Ten Year Challenge
Our Meet The Filmmaker interview went well, but as always, the questions I anticipate people will ask about the movie are not the questions that are asked. Meet The Filmmakers will probably be released in late Spring/early Summer. Before then, however, Stages will be shown at a movie night at Buff State’s Upton Hall on Friday Dec 6 at 7PM. This is an event hosted by Mike Raisch for his recent production Smith and the Devil which I assisted slightly in helping to shoot some video elements (under water, no less). There will be a Q&A afterward, and I will be speaking about Stages, so feel free to come, and ask questions.
Weigh-In Wednesday – Searching for the Sun
Sometimes, being positive isn’t about finding the silver lining in the storm clouds, or seeing the sun from behind the rain. It’s about appreciating the rain, and how refreshing it can be while it is coming down. It’s about appreciating the dancing shadows in the storm clouds as they roll, and flow. It’s about recognizing your pain, embracing it, and realizing it will pass.
Not everything is good all of the time, but even when things aren’t good, they’re useful. Flowers rarely grow from sunshine alone. It takes a balance of rain, and some lumps of shit, along with the sunshine for them to thrive.
If you spend your time trying to only be positive, not only do you fail to learn to deal with your problems, but you lose the experience of the pain your problems bring. Without being able to feel, embrace, and deal with pain, you can’t fully appreciate the happiness, and the good. As I’ve said many times, the valleys help define the mountains. The oceans help to define the land. Contrasts exist to show us what can be, what is important, what we should value, and the things, and people that deserve our greatest efforts.
Weigh-In Wednesday – September 11
Yes, we all know it’s September 11th. As we have been told, we haven’t forgotten. We’re not allowed to forget, and with that, many aren’t allowed to reconcile the grief that day has caused.
It is a tragedy that honestly started our nation on a downward spiral of economic disarray, and increased ethnocentrism. Which is probably exactly what the terrorists wanted. Yes, honor the fallen, honor the first responders, remember them on this day. But maybe also realize our current state of affairs, and the endless wars that have further demonized us in the Middle East, and the breakdown of our alliances that we now have is evidence the terrorist got what they wanted. In that respect, we’ve failed to honor the fallen, and first responders correctly.
Symbolic memorials mean nothing if you don’t live in a nation that upholds the values it wrote into its Constitution.
But, who am I to say? After all, most conservatives still blame Obama for not being in the Oval Office when 9/11 happened.
Weigh-In Wednesday – Back to Routine
The previous weekend was the 48-Hour Film Project. Our movie titled, Stages was filmed in record fashion. Our first year leading our own team; we kept the production streamlined, the story easy to follow, and sensible, and our production schedule stayed very close to schedule for the entire day. Because I directed it, filmed it, and edited it, it was less of a challenge keeping the vision on point. The Premier Screening was this past weekend, and I have to say, I think it played well. Not as flashy as some films, but given our small team, and limited technical resources, it still came out clean, and cohesive, and seemed to have the emotional impact we were going for. Confirmed by a few different viewers, some even said it appeared on screen as one of the best looking, best filmed movies of the day.
Weigh-In Wednesday – All This, and More
For those who need to hear it – the nicest people generally get a lot more hardship thrown into their lives. It is one of the things that makes them the nicest people.
They know what it’s like to struggle. They’ve fought battles, and those battles have built their uncompromising character. They have empathy for the struggles of others because they’ve struggled, and don’t want to see others struggling. They have big hearts, and tend to be extremely generous because in the end everything they’ve fought through teaches them the most important things aren’t money, or material possessions, but love, and seeing those they love live fulfilling lives. They understand true morality isn’t found in a book of fables, but in the way you treat someone who can do nothing for you in return.
This concluded my text based, non graphical internet inspirational meme.
Weigh-In Wednesday – Staying Steady
I feel more empathy for the families of our fallen. No one has a child with the hopes that they lose that child at a young age in a meaningless war. I spent more time on Memorial day remembering war is something we should have evolved away from eons ago, but resource ownership still dominates our societies, and the common people are the pawns of the wealthy. We still allow ideologies to control our societies, instead of focusing on what is best for humanity, and our planet. Oh yeah, and it’s all pretty meaningless if we destroy the livability of our planet, yet a lot of you keep voting for war-mongering, religion-bent, science-denying sociopaths based on stupid ideological platforms. That is a war that will eventually kill more people than you can even consider…
Maybe the best way to remember those who sacrificed their lives for our “nation” would be to learn the lessons we should have learned from those wars in the first place, and work at making our nation a better place, instead of what we’re doing now… otherwise, what did they sacrifice for?
More Movie Fun
Check this out! Last September I got to be an extra in a Lifetime movie named Staged Killer – these movies are either Merry Christmas or Murder Characters. There’s no in between. But even as an extra I got some quality face-time with the camera. Enough that I’m even in the trailer six times! Two are pretty obvious. See if you can find the others. Heck, let’s make it a contest! Find me, and list the times I’m on screen, I’ll figure out a cool prize for the person who gives me the right answer first!