Zularian Pictures

New Music Video

2011-01-19T13:55:00.002-05:00

Merci by Bald Melon Blaze

Merci 2011 from John Sullivan on Vimeo.

Let me know what you think,

Split-Rail and Bradford

2010-04-13T12:07:00.001-05:00

We may not have built it but that doesn't mean we can't try and milk our little fence for all it is worth. Look out Montana!

Thing of Beauty

2009-04-01T10:09:00.004-05:00

If you happened to notice today was the day the internal combustion engine was patented. In honor of that I have decided to reprint a news story I read that ties in loosely to this theme.

Think ingenuity and booze.

In this photo released Tuesday, March 31, 2009, by the Newark (Ohio) Police Department, a motorized bar stool is shown. Police in Newark, 30 miles east of Columbus, say when they responded to a report of a crash with injuries on March 4 2009, they found a man who had wrecked a bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawn mower. Police say Kile Wygle, 28 was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he told an officer at the hospital that he had consumed 15 beers. Wygle told police his motorized bar stool can go up to 38 mph. (AP Photo/Newark (Ohio) Police Department

Patton Oswalt and the Truth

2009-03-20T09:21:00.003-05:00

I’ve been listening to some of Patton Oswalt’s stand up the past few days and while I have been laughing myself silly I have also learned a thing or two. When I say learned what I really mean is that a truth I already knew has been revealed to me. This, I think, is the true worth of stand-up comedy. A person gets on stage and tells you things you didn’t know you already knew and they make you laugh while doing it.

What I learned from Mr. Oswalt today has to do with the Star Wars prequels. Before I listened to this routine I was sure I did not like any of the prequels and I was fairly sure I knew the reasons why. I missed a few. In his act Mr. Oswalt reveals some of the most convincing reasons I have encountered as to why these movies are absolute garbage. Forget Jar-Jar and terrible acting and a lead that conveys no emotion. Forget also really bad looking digital video that was hyped (there it is again!) as "The Thing That Would Soon Devour Film". Even, and I know this is a big one, forget the fact that Lucas decided to direct these movies himself -- despite the glaring evidence of the first trilogy why this would be a bad idea.

Now that we have forgotten these minor points (and believe me, I have more) let us get to what Mr. Oswalt targets as the problem: Lucas spends a good deal of time in the first two movies telling us about the really tough and evil characters we love, but about when they were sweet, innocent children. It had not occurred to me before listening to this bit but that, without a doubt, is exactly what is wrong with these movies. Let's look at one of the all time villains when he was a sweet and cuddly boy that life kept tromping on. Poor little Vader, don't cry now. The truth of the matter is very simple: I could not care less how Darth Vader came to be what he is. Not one bit. The same goes for any of the other characters in these films.

The Tale of Two Cuts

2009-03-19T10:01:00.004-05:00

Despite a fairly impressive amount of negative media attention I decided to watch Babylon A.D. this past weekend. I was in the mood for a gritty, rough kind of action film and I was pretty sure that Vin Diesel would deliver. I didn't really get that from Babylon A.D.

Instead, what I ended up with was yet another DVD that decided to try and defeat poor reviews and box office performance by including two versions of the movie on the DVD. This is what we call the "Throw everything we shot at the audience and hope something sticks" technique.

This is not a new practice and, I have to admit, once upon a time I found this concept to be appealing. My thought process ran something like, "You have footage that is not properly edited, scored and lacking digital effects that you have decided to share with me?! I am ready!".

Lately I have found that I lack the interest to watch two different versions of the same film during a rental period (even a Netflix rental period) or even to sit through the deleted scenes which are served up as some rare delicacy. The reason for this is fairly simple, I’d like someone to decide what the movie is and I don’t think that person should be me.

Babylon A.D is a great example of the studio/director not presenting a unified front and giving the world one version of their movie. So instead the audience is given two versions of the film, neither of which is really complete. Now perhaps the two opposing camps did not have access to the same footage, or perhaps there was so much ill will floating around that they intentionally tried not to use the same footage but for some reason critical pieces of dialog and even portions of scenes are missing from both cuts.

What you end up with is one cut which we shall call "The Dark Cut" and the other which we shall call, "The Less Dark Cut". Now the only way that the viewer which we shall call "The Unsatisfied Customer" can actually see this movie and get all of the information they need in order to a) understand the movie's point and b) attempt to enjoy it is by watching both of these versions and mentally editing sections from each together.

I have never seen a case as severe as this, although I am sure there are probably worse. I have seen differences like with Die Hard 4.0 where one is missing a few expletives and the blood splatter is toned down. I have seen differences like with the numerous versions of Blade Runner where a dream sequence or a shot of an origami unicorn is missing.

My long-winded point I am trying to make here is that typically when studios and directors do this nonsense the cuts that are ultimately released differ in such slight ways that it is rather obvious as to why certain scenes, lines or shots were scrapped. The studio wanted a PG-13 rating or felt that shooting the dog would upset the audience too much. What is going on with Babylon A.D. is like being served up three-quarters of a movie in either version and being told "It's not my fault, blame the other guy."

Odd Post Day

2009-03-14T14:31:00.003-05:00

So I just came across another little odd gem on the web and decided to post it here. For those of you not familiar with the site Craig'slist.org it's a free online publication featuring personals classified ad's. This particular ad was in a section called, "Missed Connections". It was posted in 2004.

My foot - your ass missed connections

Being a humanitarian and a friend to all cats, I often let my cat Fredrico outside to do, well, whatever cats do outdoors. Crap in the neighbor’s garden, fornicate, frolic, etc etc. It's 3 am, The bars let out, and I'm now out trying to save my cat’s ass from another kicking. I saw you kick Fredrico last month and if it wasn't for my broken toe, I'd would have run you down and broken another toe off in your ass!

Fredrico is a loving cat and being he's slightly over weight (25 lbs or so), he is not prone to getting out of the way of soccer hooligan style shenanigans. I've thought deeply about how to prevent poor Fredrico's ass from another booting, and that would be to keep him indoors all the time. This will not do; Fredrico needs his exercise. I’ve thought about get him a tread mill and possible send him on a couple of vacations a year, He loves to climbing and believe it or not Fredrico takes to the water like an otter. However, given our financial situation, right now those options are not available. Fredrico is on disability and I'm the only one bringing home a check these days, damn economy.

Now, this leaves me no alternative. To all of you who have not kicked Fredrico's ass, but given the opportunity couldn't resist a puss on boots escapade; please take note. I will be baiting the Wicker Park & Bucktown neighborhoods with Paper Mache look a likes of Fredrico, however, these look a likes will be filled with scrap metal. Please refrain from kicking my decoys, unless you like Musac, emergency rooms, and needles.

And if by chance I get to you before you get off into a cab, ambulance, or whatever; be prepared to answer to an angry Fredrico.

Fredrico is now on a diet and has been working out since this unpleasant incident. I've attached weights to all of his toys and he's been sparing with our neighbor's toy dog. Fredrico's got some moves.... Beware cat kicker, we’re on to you.

Regards,

Fredrico's Roommate & best buddy.

P.S. Fredrico would also like to add; “ FFFFFFFFFFTTT!!!”

I am at a loss for words here

2009-03-14T11:50:00.004-05:00

I came across this article today about the organization PETA and a certain Mr. Clooney. There is really not much else I can say, take a gander:
Washington Post article

Music Madness

2009-03-10T14:26:00.003-05:00

I came across an article the other day that I found rather interesting. I call it an article but really it is just a few lines talking about the music acts that earned the most money last year. I am pasting it below:

Madonna Tops Highest Earner List
12 February 2009 8:35 AM, PST

Pop superstar Madonna is the highest earning star in the music business - bringing in a massive $242 million (£167 million) in 2008.

The Holiday hitmaker released her latest album Hard Candy last year and launched her Sticky & Sweet world tour.
And all the hard work has paid off for the singer - she has topped Billboard's Moneymakers list of 2008, earning a grand total of $242,176,466 (£167,018024).

Rockers Bon Jovi came second in the poll, followed by Bruce Springsteen, The Police and Celine Dion, all of whom toured last year.

The top 10 is as follows:
1. Madonna: $242 million (£167 million)
2. Bon Jovi: $157 million (£108 million)
3. Bruce Springsteen: $156, million (£107 million)
4. The Police: $109, million (£75 million)
5. Celine Dion: $99,171,237 (£68 million)
6. Kenny Chesney: $90 (£62 million)
7. Neil Diamond: $82 (£56 million)
8. Rascal Flatts: $63 million (£43 million)
9= Jonas Brothers: $62 million (£42 million)
9= Coldplay: $62 million (£42 million).

Let's ignore the fact that only numbers three and four are worth seeing in concert or listening too, is anyone else noticing something rather odd here?

Defeating Hype

2009-03-08T15:15:00.004-05:00

I have been meaning to write here more frequently and I have devised a means that I hope will ensure weekly posts. Starting today I will be posting about movies that have been touched by one of the greatest curses I know of: hype.

For most people hype is part of the marketing package for every film, book or song that is released. Marketing has reached the sad state of claiming everything is bigger, faster and better than everything that came before. For some reason we are still swallowing these lies and forgetting that something cannot be both new and improved.

All that being said I would like to take a little time and talk about films that have suffered from this affliction, films that have been given inordinate sums of praise and have lived to tell the tale.

Film #1

Children of Men

Like every film on this list, when Children of Men was released I was already tired of hearing about it. In additional to the regular fanfare made about movies, the ad banners, splash pages and pop ups I also came across numerous articles and reviews that lauded the film.

The director, Alfonso Cuaron, had already won over many with his previous efforts like Y Tu Mama Tambien, despite having also made films like The Little Princess and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I think that any director who has worked on the Harry Potter series is bound to receive a fair amount of attention when their new films are released (although the present director, David Yates seems somehow to avoid the spotlight) but the amount of press and acclaim Children of Men received seemed disproportionate despite this.

Perhaps it was because Clive Owen, the film's lead, had recently emerged as one of Hollywood's new leading men; or because the subject matter for the film had that bleak, post-apocalyptic feel that signifies an important work. Whatever the reason --everyone was talking about Children of Men.

Needless to say my own hang-ups and short-comings caused me to quickly become disinterested with the film. Imagine my surprise and joy when I finally plucked up the courage and rented the movie. The opening sequence of the film is powerful, engaging and completely engrossing. Everything that I had been expecting of the film was immediately forgotten and the long takes soon had me absorbed in the way that you always hope a movie will.

By the time I grasped what the story was about, what the actual conflict of the movie was, I knew I was watching something that I would never forget. The number of sequences in this film that are unexpected, heartbreaking and visually arresting are too numerous to mention. The story being told is so wonderfully simple, the plot so fantastically clear and straightforward, that the viewer is allowed to sit back and enjoy the show.

Children of Men achieves what all movies should aspire to achieve: it is a compelling piece of art that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

Preaching to the Converted

2009-01-27T09:47:00.001-05:00

I fully recognize that this post may just do nobody any good. I want to take just a moment and say a little something about the site Withoutabox.

Chances are if you have written a screenplay or made a movie that you already know about the site, but, in case you do not, I wanted to mention it.

I love this site because it addresses the biggest problem with the web: too much information and too few means to help sift through this information. Withoutabox is a dream come true for filmmakers looking to submit their work to film festivals (and I believe much more now) by streamlining the submission process and providing information about hundreds of film festivals all over the world. Think of it like one-stop shopping for those interested in finding new festivals, a place to learn the submission guidelines and costs for submitting to these festivals and a site that allows you to monitor all of the submissions you have made.

What they have done is made it so you can spend a lot more time doing the important work concerning your film and much less time jumping through the submission hoops. These people deserve our thanks and some hot oatmeal cookies.

https://www.withoutabox.com/

Trailer Love

2009-01-25T11:41:00.002-05:00

I love movies and I love trailers for movies. My love of trailers is strange because it extends even to movies that have already been released and even to films that I have seen.

Often when I watch a movie with my wife, especially when it is one that we own and we watch fairly often, I will try and watch all the trailers before the film. Sometimes she suffers through and sometimes she gives me that look that tells me tonight is not the night for this nonsense. In either case I nearly always want to sit through them and take the trailers in.

For those of you who enjoy a good trailer for a movie and are interested, in particular, in seeing trailers for new movies, I’d like to recommend the Apple website. I came across their trailer page a few years ago and I have had it bookmarked ever since. They have recently revamped their page so that it hides many of their older trailers but if you have the patience I suggest digging through the links. Not only to they get most new trailers but they also hang on to older ones for quite some time. It’s a treat to be able to view so many trailers in one location -- commercial free I might add. Not only that but you can watch them in various formats (they even have ones for your Ipod).

http://www.apple.com/trailers/

P!nk - Stupid Girls

2009-01-23T17:17:00.001-05:00

I am not really sure what to say about this. I am in %100 agreement with what Pink is putting forth in this video. Ready thy bomb shelter.

The Joys of Youtube

2009-01-23T16:26:00.006-05:00

Let's be clear, by and large Youtube is a gigantic waste of time. Up until very recently I could count on one hand the number of things I witnessed on Youtube that I considered worthwhile. Why, oh why, am I writing about it then?

I came across two parodies today that I feel are too good to keep to myself. I find these parodies so wonderful because they are both making the same, wonderful point. The lyrics of hip-hop are stupid. That's it, I wrote it.

I generally don't like hip-hop for a variety of reasons, the largest one being that I didn't really grow up with it and every time I try and listen to any it feels forced, fake and disconnected from my life. I feel like anyone can listen to Frank Sinatra and connect to the things he is singing about, even if you feel that the way he is singing is very alien to you. I don't have any kind of connection generally to the message being put forth in most hip-hop.

What I enjoy about both of these parodies is that they deliberately focus on the lyrics of these two popular songs and how inane they are. Each video approaches this in it's own way and I felt that including both of them would benefit everyone.

I'll get off my soapbox now but I'd like to make one more point first. Most hip-hop artists do not play instruments and, I believe most are not even responsible for the creation of their new (or reworked) beats. So what, then, are they responsible for? They lyrics and the manner they are delivered in. One aspect of the song is what they are truly responsible for and what gems come of this?

Timbaland - The Way I Are OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

2009-01-23T16:26:00.003-05:00

Bad Grammar - The Way I Are Parody ft. HotforWords

2009-01-23T16:26:00.001-05:00

Title says it all.

My humps (Black Eyed Peas)

2009-01-23T16:24:00.003-05:00

The Original

Alanis Morissette

2009-01-23T16:24:00.001-05:00

The Parody.

My Love for Netflix

2009-01-23T15:18:00.002-05:00

I’d like to say a few words now about Netflix, my love for them and how my Mac and I found a way to work with the Netflix web site.

Let’s recap quickly. Up until about six years ago I rented all of my movies from stores. I moved from Austin, Texas (which had incredible stores that specialized in different kinds of videos to rent) to Washington, DC (which has terrible video stores that don’t seem to know what movies really are). Depression soon set in. I reached out for help (Read: complained to anyone who would listen) and someone mentioned this company called Netflix.

Flash forward to now. I have been with Netflix ever since (except for October of this year when I attempted to switch over to Blockbuster’s online rental service) and I have been very happy with them.

Why do I like Netflix? They offer a lot of movies and they are constantly adding new titles to their inventory. They do not exclude any particular genre and they offer a wide range of plan options that allow rabid and casual movie-watchers alike renting choices that make sense.

They also have a feature called instant viewing that allows you to....I think you know what it allows you to do.

Now, when my desktop died in November I found myself in a bit of a situation because that left the two laptops, one of which my wife lives on when she is home. That meant one computer for me, which admittedly should not be a problem. Oh, gentle reader, if only that were so. You see, this computer is a Mac.

While the clever commercials they commit to celluloid would have you believe otherwise, there are, in fact, quite a few things that Macs still do not do. For example, their internet browser is not compatible with Netflix’s instant viewing.

In the effort to save you all the pain I have felt I will tell you my recent discovery, the web browser Firefox does work with Netflix and it can be downloaded to your Mac (more on Firefox later, for we know each other quite well and have many stories to share).

So now, after months of being without my sweet, sweet instant viewing (in the evenings during the day we often snuggle) I am back.

I would like to add that the titles offered through instant viewing are greatly limited compared to the normal rentals but many wonderful surprises are to be found in this section for those willing to search.

Steven Soderbergh

2009-01-07T12:46:00.010-05:00

I haven't written much here about Mr. Soderbergh which is somewhat surprising. I tend to talk about him quite a bit and think about him even more, so this absence shows me just how wrongheaded I have been about posting here. I will lighten up and start posting more.

To sum up my feelings about Mr. Soderbergh briefly I will say this -- I like his attitude about making movies and his role as a director and whenever I read or see and interview with him or listen to a commentary on one of his movies I am always impressed. I have not heard much concerning Mr. Soderbergh of late and I had assumed this was because he had so many problems with his most recent film, the Che biopic. I can safely say my own distraction is the reason for this lack of news. After reading the following interview:
Steven Soderbergh Article
it is quite clear he is as busy as ever.

What I like best about this director is his attitude concerning commercial and critical success. As most everyone knows his career began with a film that heralded a resurgence in American independent film (as well as numerous awards and critical acclaim). Since that time many of his films has been both commercial failures and poorly received by the critics. Despite this fact I have yet to encounter an interview or a commentary that expressed bitterness, resentment or finger-pointing for these failures. Instead what any reader or watcher will encounter is Mr. Soderbergh assuming all responsibility for these failures and a very cool and calm attitude concerning them. What he has said numerous times, and what I find to be most admirable, is that if he is the director and something in the film is not good or if the film itself does not work -- then he is to blame. Not the actor, not the studio but him. It's a very rare kind of statement for a director to make and it endears him greatly to me.

The above linked article is largely about his most recent endeavor, the Che Biopic, which runs somewhere around four and a half hours long and is being shown as two separate films. I suggest anyone interested in how such a film comes to be made (by here I am referring mostly to the length) read this article. Mr. Soderbergh is detailed in explaining the process and logic behind the creation of this film and allows those of us on the outside of the film industry a peek into this mysterious world.

I cannot stress strongly enough how helpful I find the comments and responses Mr. Soderbergh offers to any questions regarding his work. Rather than offering general statements he is specific in how decisions are made and why. In the case of this film he explains why the story ballooned from one section of Che’s life in Boliva to begin incorporating other important moments and how this affected everything else. I feel most filmmakers tend to gloss over these stages of the process of making a film in order to keep the story simple and I wish they did not. Being told of the way this film morphed over the years, and why he made the decisions he did to change the film in a step-by-step fashion, Mr. Soderbergh offers practical insights I think any emerging filmmaker will find both helpful and interesting.

It may be old news

2008-08-15T10:15:00.003-05:00

I realize that this is a video I made some time ago. When I switched all of my hardware over to Mac I sadly had to delete a lot of the video files I had. I don't really like the idea of recapturing all of the footage and re-editing it for each small project I have done, so I have not done this. The downside of all this is that I no longer have the original files for some of my early projects.

For those of you who have not seen "Marty" I am embedding it below. This was one of my first attempts using my DVX 100 and I think it came out pretty well.

Enjoy!

Validation

2008-08-05T10:54:00.002-05:00

So I should start by saying I have no idea if what I am about to reference is actually "true". That is, my information comes from the Internet, which we all know is full of utter nonsense and lies.

That being said I came across a link today that brought a smile to my face. Of all places it is on the Cracked website. Here is the link:

http://www.cracked.com/article_16258_5-awesome-movies-ruined-by-last-minute-changes.html

What I found interesting has to do with the first film mentioned, I Am Legend. Quite honestly I was more than just a little appalled when I finally got around to seeing this movie. I tend not to go to the theaters anymore unless a film really demands to be seen on the big screen. This is certainly a big screen kind of movie but it just did not look all that good to me. So I waited. About a month ago I finally rented the movie and when I saw it I was simply amazed at how terrible it was. I do not put much stock into critics or how much movies gross at the box office, but usually when a film sets records (which I believe this movie did) or receives largely positive reviews I take it to mean that it cannot be all bad.

In the case of I Am Legend this was not the case. I fumed for a day or two after watching this movie by and large because I felt betrayed. I complained to my wife, I had unkind thoughts towards Will Smith and the filmmakers involved with this projects. Then I read this article.

I don't want to defeat the point of reading this short little piece so I won't try and summarize it all. Basically the purpose of this article is to explain how movies that could have been good were changed at the last minute and made into the garbage we know them as. Where the people at cracked get the information from I do not know and perhaps they are fabricating all of it. I do not know. I do know that in the case of I Am Legend they hit upon each of the major sticking points I have with this movie which makes me a little bit happy.

So this is my attempt to try and share this true or untrue information with others. Why do I do this? Because in some small way I find it validating to read that I am not the only viewer out here finding these movies to be without point, purpose or message.

Oliver Stapleton

2008-07-01T10:06:00.005-05:00

For someone who has no intention of becoming a cinematographer I tend to spend a fair amount of time reading articles concerning cinematography and the role of a cinematographer. I suppose this has a good deal to do with the current debate concerning film and digital video.

In my forays into the world of video I have been pleased with the results my dismal lighting knowledge and digital camera can create but I have been keenly aware that much of this has been due to luck or chance. Many of the images I have had to work with, simply because I could not reshoot the footage, have required hours of finessing and tweaking in post. At best I have created images that I have found interesting. At worst I have hoped that fast cutting and effects would mask my lack of craft.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying I shoot on video and I never have a budget. Therefore I can pretend I am a cinematographer if I need to and if and when I fail that consequences are not overly severe.

My mind of course drifts to the inevitable, "What if..." scenario. I can say with certainty that if that ship comes in, if I were to be helming a picture with the ample budget and full crew that despite the format I would shoot on I would still hire a cinematographer.

Why?

I think this article concerning Oliver Stapleton's work on The Shipping News provides a wonderful answer to that question

http://www.cineman.co.uk/shipping.html

For those of you who need a little more enticement to visit the link (and if you just read through all of what I wrote that should be enticement enough!) let me add another line or two about this article.

The number of choices that were made on this particular project, from where to shoot, how to light it, what cameras and lenses to use to the how the film was processed are staggering. This article, like nearly every piece of information Mr. Stapleton provides, offers the choices he made as well as explanations as to why. He illuminates the process of how he works and in doing so gives people like myself enough insight into the role of a cinematographer to know that this role is indispensable.

The article is riddled with examples that prove this point, so let me choose just one to paste here.

Stapleton’s sensitivity to landscape also impacted discussions about the
film’s aspect ratio. He felt that Newfoundland’s rugged features deserved a
widescreen format, but conceded that the height differences among actors could
make 2.35:1 framing awkward. That Hallstrom had only worked with widescreen once before (on The Cider House Rules) also created concern. “Right up to the last
week, we were still tussling about which format suited the film,” Stapleton
recalls. “It’s simply easier to shoot in 1.85:1, but that format doesn’t give
you the same kind of tension when you go out into the land. So I got Steve Dunn
to produce both actors [Spacey and Moore?] and the child for me four days before
we were to start shooting. We were lucky that the child was quite tall, and
neither of the actors was. We went to the set with a viewfinder, and I kept
switching it between 1.85 and 2.35 and handing it to Lasse. In the end, he said,
'You know, 2.35 is just cooler.'”

It's a long article and well worth the read, if you made it this far you owe it to yourself to follow the link.

Film and Digital: Why the matter is still interesting

2008-07-01T10:01:00.003-05:00

For anyone who has been following the debate concerning digital video and its' capabilities a recent article published in American Cinematographer should be of some interest. I confess my interest yet another person's take on this argument is beginning to wane as I am sure is the case for most.

I think you will find this article of interest because it discusses some of the limitations and potential problems concerning the archiving and storage of digital video, a concern I admit that I had given very little thought to.

Enjoy!

http://www.ascmag.com/magazine_dynamic/June2008/FilmmakersForum/page1.php

3:10 to Yuma

2008-03-13T11:05:00.004-05:00

I would be telling a lie if I claimed to be a fan of westerns. I think I have seen my share although there are a great many classic westerns that I have not seen nor do I plan to see. Why is this? I think my expectations as to what a western should be are not in line with what most westerns are and this usually leads to a lackluster viewing experience.

All that being said I have seen a few that have made a lasting impression on me and oddly enough most of these films were released in recent years. The film -- The Proposition – for example, was an experience, much like 3:10 to Yuma that caught me completely by surprise.

I suppose all of this is a very roundabout way of saying that I don’t expect much from westerns and that coming across one that moves me is a special occasion. This is why I am writing now.

3:10 to Yuma is what I call a man’s man kind of movie. It’s the kind of movie that I cannot imagine many women watching and enjoying. In part this is because there are so few women in the film and in part because it’s a movie about quiet resolve, longing and regret and sticking to your guns. Which is not to say that I don’t think women face these issues as often as men do, it’s just that the cinematic solution for men is often to run off and do something terribly brave (read: stupid) in order to try and solve these issues while women make sure that the children don’t die of tuberculosis and that the herd are fed so that the men have something to come home to. I imagine someone has made the movie that focuses on the latter part but Yuma is concerned only with the former.

I make those snide comments about westerns because 3:10 to Yuma is quite different from most in many regards. The hero isn’t facing bandits who murdered his family or sinister lawmen who beat him and left him for dead. His problem is that he can’t make payments on the loan for his house and he’s going to lose his home and ranch. Unlike a film such as The Unforgiven our hero isn’t a former criminal, and more importantly, he’s never been an exceptional anything. He now faces a very normal kind of problem, he has to find some kind of risky way to get the money he needs. When a dangerous opportunity presents itself he has no choice but to take it.

I’m not a movie reviewer and I won't try to review the film here, I am sure it has already received the treatment it deserves. I did want to take a moment and write a little bit about how impressed I am by this film. It’s a simple story with few twists or big reveals. When you look at the cast, and I am sure the budget, it is apparent that this isn’t some small, independent film. It’s a remake of a classic Hollywood film, and yet, there is nothing that feels revamped or reworked here.

Perhaps my opinion would be different if I had seen the original, I can’t say. I can say that I have never had any desire to and I don’t imagine I will any time soon. The experience of watching this version of 3:10 to Yuma is exactly what I hope for each time I sit down to watch a movie. It’s an engrossing story that I can relate to and because of this it seems quite real. I found the moments later in the film, when the two characters tell each other things about themselves, to be both touching and compelling in a way that felt natural.

As a writer I am constantly striving to find a way to imbue my characters' speech with more meaning than what the words convey. I try and find ways to have actions remain consistent with the character's true nature (despite the words that come out of their mouths) and to inform the reader (or viewer) as to who these people really are. Yuma impressed me tremendously in regard to these two aspects, all the more so because the two actors shouldering this film are such big stars and because I already have distinct impressions of them because of their celebrity.

About halfway through the movie it occurred to me that however the film ended, whether Christian Bale’s character succeeded in getting Russell Crowe’s to the train station or not, really didn’t matter. It was an odd thought because, from a plot perspective, this is all this film is about. Does he do it or not? I think the point of the movie is this realization. I feel that to have this realization while watching (this strikes me as something you conclude after thinking about a film for a while) and to still be interested and invested in the characters is an amazing feat.

That, ultimately, is why I felt I should try and write a little something and say my piece about the movie. It’s a good film and from a creative point of view I find it very inspiring. I hope you do too.

Doing my part

2008-03-13T10:05:00.001-05:00

This is just a brief post and not really related to making movies at all. In fact this post is all about watching movies.

Like most people who are interested in making movies I love watching them. Up until a few years ago I saw many, many movies each year in the theater. Then something happened. What happened I couldn’t say for sure, there was not one event that changed everything. I only know that one day going to the theater was no longer an option for me, it had become unbearable. For some time I believed it was because I had moved to Washington, DC, that the theaters I was going to were terrible and that the people here lack all of the social graces.

In some ways I think some of those points are true but as an article published in Empire Magazine makes quite clear these things are certainly not location specific.

In some of my more bitter moments I have thought of making a list of rules to try and share with the world, in order to help others to improve the movie-going experience. It looks as though some kind soul has done that part for me so now I shall do mine.

This is my attempt to help be part of the solution, read the list (I am in almost total agreement with it) and change your wicked ways!

http://www.empireonline.com/empireblog/Post.asp?id=112

Sullivan on Sullivan

2008-03-11T14:29:00.003-05:00

Perhpaps it's bit premature to start such a thing but I felt a bit inspired today to do a little bit of sharing. So here it is, part one of what will surely become a terribly long and self-indulgent interview series where I ask myself strange and silly questions.

At what point did you realize you wanted to become a filmmaker?

I realized that I wanted to become a filmmaker after I saw the movie Clerks. I was 15 or 16 at the time, I can’t recall for sure. I do remember that when I was watching the movie and after it ended I thought for the first time that I wanted to make movies. It was odd because I didn’t have an idea for a movie for a very, very long time after. I just felt like I could make a movie like Clerks, and that it would be fun to do it. Several years later I found our that Kevin Smith had a very similar experience watching Richard Linklater’s film, Slacker and that was kind of neat.

Why do you think you had a similar reaction to Kevin Smith?

I think I had a similar reaction because Clerks was quite different than most movies I had seen before. I watched a lot of movies, the video store in my town was very small and the selection was quite limited. I went to the movie theater some but Independent films were not really shown in Vermont much at the time and most likely I would not have gone to see them even if they were.

So most of what I watched were big Hollywood releases and just the really cheesy B-movies that our video store was filled with. I had never seen a Woody Allen or a Robert Altman movie at that point, so for me, Clerks was a pretty new kind of movie. Which I think is why when I saw it I thought, “This doesn’t look so hard.”

The subject matter of Clerks must have played a large part as well.

It really did. I worked a crappy job and I spent a lot of time with my friends sitting around and talking about nonsense. This movie really got me on two fronts. It appealed to me in terms of relating completely to the main character and his story as well as being a movie that didn’t look or feel like most movies I had seen. It was in black and white but not in this artsy, dim and out of focus way. The characters spoke in this very unnatural way yet the things they were talking about and the amount they cursed made it seem strangely familiar. It was an odd experience because I felt like I was watching a movie that I could have made with my friends had any of us owned a video camera. I think that was what really struck me after watching this movie, that you could make a movie about things as normal as everyday life working as a cashier. That was a really big revelation for me.

So after this realization what came next?

What happened next was a very long period where I thought about movies and how I’d like to make them. Other than thinking about this almost nothing else happened for about at decade.

You went to college, you didn’t take any courses while you were there or decide to major in film?

I didn’t do either of those things. In part it was because the first college I went to was very small and it didn’t offer any film courses. After I transferred my sophomore year I could have taken a few classes in film but the program was still too small to major in the subject.

Why didn’t you take any classes?

The honest answer is I was lazy. They offered one intro class and it was at eight in the morning. If you wanted to take any other film classes you had to take this intro first. I lived at home, about half and hour from the school and I had to park about twenty minutes or so from the campus. This would have meant getting up by quarter of seven at the latest and at that time getting up by nine was an impressive feat for me. Looking back it might have been the best thing for me, but who can say? I never took a film class because it was too damn early, it’s sad but that’s why.

So despite this long break from your realization that you could make a movie to your first foray you remained focused on this goal?

I think so. I would be lying if I said my interest was constant though. I was very much interested in my major in college but once it was made clear to me that the only future I could have in that field required a PhD I decided that I didn’t really want that kind of career. I wrote a bit during college, just scraps of ideas and things in the back of notebooks, usually during class, and I was really always most interested in dialog.

Yet you remained convinced that your future lay in film/video?

Not at all. I was, and still am to a large degree, quite uncertain what I will be doing for work in the future. After I was married it seemed like the smart thing to do to focus my energies on writing. Largely this seemed smart because I have always loved to write and I started writing for myself when I was pretty young. Like I said I never really finished much but it was something that remained constant throughout. What made me quite sure that I wanted to be a filmmaker, because I should mention I had never done much of anything other than think about it up to this point, was when I was given my first video camera for my 26 birthday.

This was a turning point for you.

It was. The reason was pretty simple: this was the first time that I got to test things out, even if it was just me and the camera. Prior to having the camera in my hands I had never really tried to set up a scene before and although I had tried to imagine how I would put sequences together and tell a story visually, it wasn’t until I started editing footage that all of these things became very real to me. At that point, once I started putting together small projects, I felt confident that I had some skill in this area and even better that I enjoyed doing it.

So since then you’ve done only a handful of small projects…

That’s true. The first that I did was a short video where I was the only person to appear on screen and it was really a one-man show. I had come across an ad for a small and kind of far out film festival and thought I would try submitting it.

How did that go?

Okay I suppose, it really isn’t a serious film festival, I think they show something like twelve short films and maybe forty people go. I didn’t actually attend, which is kind of a shame because it appears that everyone who submits and attends gets an award of some kind, but I really was just interested in getting something completed.

Having a deadline was important to you.

It was because I was doing the same thing I had been with my writing, I would do little bits and tinker around but I wasn’t creating anything that I could show to someone I didn’t know and have them get it. All of the clips I was doing I was sharing with my friends and family but none of it would have stood alone. So I decided I would finish this twelve minute short and have it stand on it’s own.

Did it?

I think it does. It’s not very good in terms of how it’s put together, the lighting is beyond terrible and one of my split-screen shots completely fell apart with the last render I did. It’s odd because I had scenes where there were two or three versions of myself on screen and I would test the material by rendering it to DVD and then watching it on my television. Everything was fine until that final render, which I did not check on my television, and I can only imagine how bad it was when they blew it up on the screen for the festival.

In spite of all that I still like it because I feel like it does have a story and the first minute has some interesting split-screen work that I just came up with because I felt the footage wasn’t terribly interesting. As far as a first effort goes I am still pleased with it.

A quiet period

2008-01-26T20:55:00.001-05:00

For those of you who have been paying attention (Hi Mom!) you may have noticed that it has been a while since much of anything has been posted here. After the first weekly webcast I think a few realities came to light about TriVision Studios and their willingness to be "helpful" to little ol' Zularian Pictures. Which is not to say that they haven't given us plenty of verbal support.

Sadly their interest in film and video is non-existent. I was, in every way, mislead into thinking this company was interested in making short films, feature films and music videos. Primarily what they do is create logos and designs for business cards as well as editing wedding videos (primarily Afghan weddings).

It has been very educational and I can't say without some benefit to my own interests. I have become quite familiar with Final Cut, logging in over 500 hours of editing time which I am sure will be of some use in the future. I also have gotten another taste of the "real world" in terms of hopes and expectations regarding this career path. It would appear that a good many people will tell you exactly what you want to hear, even if it is a bald-faced lie, in order to get what they want. I can't say I like it but I think it is important to be on guard for it.

More to come I am sure.

Merci

2007-11-16T11:48:00.001-05:00

Here is the fruit of our October adventure. Zularian Pictures teamed up with Bald Melon Blaze to create our first music video. Enjoy!

American Psycho - Business Card Scene

2007-08-15T19:26:00.001-05:00

Apparently everything is now on Youtube. I have included this clip here because I now work for a marketing company and one of the many things they do is print business cards. I have watched in disbelief as my co-workers have had interactions similar to this scene.

Beat The Devil (BMW Short Film)

2007-08-15T19:24:00.001-05:00

Powder Keg

2007-08-15T19:23:00.003-05:00

BMW Films - The Hire - The Follow

2007-08-15T19:23:00.001-05:00

So much for that idea...

2007-08-15T18:09:00.001-05:00

It would appear that the idea of creating weekly webcasts was beyond my reach. The truth is that I did start to make a week two episode and I found it very, very boring. The truth is that anything I am presently doing relating to making movies is in the pre-producion phase and consists mostly of writing. This is not really exciting stuff to put on video.

So rather than try and come up with exciting new ways to say the same thing each week I have decided to make the web casts only when there is something new to say (and when saying it visually is better than writing it).

I will be doing my best to post more frequently here and to take a more informal tone (which I hope is coming across now).

In addition to the music video that Bald Melon Blaze and I plan to shoot in October we are also planning on shooting a few fake PSA's. My hope is to also shoot the first of many shorts that will be similar in concept the the BMW films The Hire. For those of you unfamilar with the shorts I have embeded them above. There are more than these three, but these are my favorites of the bunch.

I do not plan on making a series of shorts based on a driver and a car but I am hoping to find a common element to connect a series of shorts together much like Clive Owen links these films together. More on this later.

John

Weekly Webcasts

2007-07-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to light a fire under myself I have decided to start doing weekly webcasts for Zularian Pictures. I posted the first webcast yesterday on both the myspace and youtube pages for Zularian Pictures.

I am well aware that this may backfire and shame me terribly, at this point there is nothing much other than writing or talks for future projects in the works so the first few webcasts may be terribly dull. I am okay with that though, since I do not think may people will bother to watch them and that gives me a little time to figure out how I want to make them.

It was pointed out to me yesterday that this idea is not as novel as I had thought. I do not mean to say that I thought I had created something with the idea of a weekly webcast, I know many people have been doing that for quite some time. What I mean is, this is precisely what Walt Disney used to do for the vaious projects that his little company was in the process of working on. Mind you they did do a fair amount of work, and from what I hear, it even was somewhat successful.

Here's hoping that the webcasts will be weekly and will inspire me to get some worthwhile material together to share with whoever is watching!

New Models

2007-07-13T12:42:00.000-05:00

Like many aspiring filmmakers I find myself continually wondering how I am going to create inroads into an industry notorious for being coolly unavailable. My attempts at finding an agent who will read a screenplay (or even reply to an inquiry) have been altogether disheartening. Lately I have been seeing a number of promising articles on the web that offer, perhaps, a little light for those like me.

A few days ago an article in Wired magazine focused on a pair of filmmakers who now have the first ever Youtube feature-length narrative film on the site. Apparently this was made possible, partly, by their longstanding relationship with the site Spout and their scores of devoted fans.

What is truly impressive is that Spout has altered one of their services, just for Four Eyed Monsters, so that people have the option of referring the film with just one click. This click leads to Spout (as I understand it) then donating one dollar toward the film. At the two-week mark I believe the total is $34,383 that the film has made via this service. Not taking into account that the filmmakers spent $100,000 to make the movie, this is exciting news. So far my attempts to find out if Spout will be offering this referral service for other filmmakers have failed. The one email I have received was a miscommunication and nothing else has yet come in.

All in all, for those of us still operating on the principle of "don't spend anything" this model for marketing your film and making some cash looks promising indeed!

Local projects

2007-05-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me this morning that my previous post left out a few pieces of information. I wrote that I have not been doing much that is worth mentioning. This is not entirely true. Two things have happened since I started this blog that I think deserve a little attention.

The first is I met and briefly (oh so very briefly) assisted a local filmmaker with a documentary project he is working on. When we met he had already been working on the project for some time and had completed the majority of the shooting. I tagged along for two events that he shot and was given a glimpse of the project. To the best of my knowledge he is now locked away editing the footage he has been shooting. The subject of the film is immigration, in particular focusing on the immigration experiences of Ethopians to the DC area. Rather than try and sum up all that this ambitious project has set out to do I will paste two links below that should better explain the details.

The film is called Migration of Beauty and the official web site address is www.migrationofbeauty.com

Below is a sample of some footage that is posted on Youtube.

The newsworthy note I would like to make involves another local project, this one completed (sadly I was not even slightly involved in it). I came into contact with one of the producers of this film and although I have yet to see it the subject matter and sample clip on Youtube make it look like a movie not to miss! It looks like the DVD will be available in June.

The film is titled Abduction and you can visit the site at www.abductionfilm.com

Below is the trailer for the film.

A Virtual Community

2007-05-11T13:22:00.000-05:00

A few months back I started stumbling upon all kinds of web sites and resources that I found to be very helpful. Many provided basic information about various digital video topics or links to sites that provide information or lighting, sound or production. Some were for gadgets like the Vod Pod on the right and others were focused solely on writing.

Since most anyone reading this blog knows nothing about me let me fill in this piece of information: first and foremost I consider myself a writer. I realize I made that seem like a grand statement but for me it shapes how I approach things and for the most part it is my movie-making experience so far.

I have yet to find a community of writers and because of this I have been very limited in who I show my work to. The consequence of this is poor feedback. Not that I dislike my Mother's comments mind you, they just are not all that helpful for improving a script (I should note that my Mother is the best proofreader I have ever met and her skills in that area keep me looking like a total fool).

Thanks to the author of the blog mentioned in my previous post (Diary of a Short Film) I found out about the community site that American Zoetrope has on their web site. For those of you who do not know, American Zoetrope is a company owned by Francis Ford Coppola and among many other things, publishes a magazine and holds a screenplay competition.

They also have a virtual community for writers, where you can post your work and have it critiqued by other writers. The system is set up in the following way, for every screenplay you submit you must read four screenplays posted on the site. How do they make sure you comply? You can only post the first script without having read anyone else's. Also, you cannot read the reviews of your script until you fulfill your requirement. It's a pretty clever way to get people to do the right thing and the people who are part of the community are quite vocal and best of all, they are writers.

You can visit the site here. Everything about their communities can be found in the Virtual Studio section.

Little activity

2007-05-09T12:19:00.000-05:00

Not too much has been happening relating to any kind of movie-making. I have been tentatively working on a new feature-length script but for the most part I have just been working.

Last month I started an internship with a local company that does, among many other things, video production. So far there I have not been party to any video work but the people who run the company are very interested in making shorts, features and interestingly enough their own television programming. It's a good place for me at the moment because my knowledge of many film/video basics is pretty limited or non-existent and they do have quite a bit of equipment for lighting and sound. I do not mean to be crass and promote them here, but the company is really looking to work with all kinds of artists, and since the do web development and design, as well as print and digital advertising, putting a link for them may be of some help to people looking to get some media attention. If not please forgive me for being a shallow, corporate sellout.

The website for the company is: www.trivision.tv

The only other news I can report is that I came across a blog that I have really enjoyed, which is a rarity for me. The person who writes the blog is an aspiring filmmaker (movie-maker? Talking about this should be easier) who is learning as he goes along, and much of the blog contains his lessons learned in great detail. It's a fun read and the information is presented in a very helpful way which is so very refreshing.

The URL for the blog is: Diary of a Short Film

I also read Oliver Stapleton's guide for how the film industry works. If you haven't read it already take a look here. He himself admits that it is incomplete and at times a bit cheeky (the man is British after all) but it strikes me as a very earnest attempt to shed a little insight on the various jobs and what they entail. Reading this article led me to read his weekly column at IMDB which is titled, Ask A Cinematographer. I have greatly enjoyed reading these as well, although for the most part I think it is because I agree (or come to agree) with what he says.

In truth I find both cinematography and sound a bit intimidating and daunting at this point, which is part of the reason why I don't just take my camera and make the first thing I can. I see so many low-budget films, even the ones that go one to win film festivals and get distribution, and I am often unable to watch them past the ten minute mark.

Why?

Terrible cinematography and sound. Since I know that I must know less than the people who made these films it serves as a handy deterrent for making my own. Oh, to be a bit more courageous and accepting of failure...

Getting even more organized

2007-03-05T21:08:00.000-05:00

So after just a bit more searching I have found what I think will be a wonderful tool for this blog. I now have a sidebar that contains the videos I have on the web. Hopefully I will be able to put all of the videos on this sidebar in the next day or so. I think the quality is just as good and if this does work I believe it will make the blog much easier to use and certainly leaner.

If you click on the sidebar it opens a small window to view the video in. If you click within that small window it will open a larger window.

Happy viewing.

The Name Game

2007-03-01T12:09:00.000-05:00

Hopefully no one will be confused about the two different spellings of Zularian (or Zoolarian). Some of the accounts created for Zularian Pictures (the proper way to spell it) were created some months ago when the more prosaic Zoolarian spelling held me in thrall.

So when you see the links or other pages related to this blog and Zularian Pictures just ignore the strange spellings.

Thank you!