121 posts tagged with Film.
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Memento Movi - A Cinematic Progress Bar for Life
Memento Movi is a little toy app I made. The user enters date of birth and life expectancy, and chooses from a list of movies. The site then shows a frame from that movie that represents your place in your lifespan.
So, for instance, a twenty-year-old who selects Star Wars will likely get a frame from Tattooine, but a sixty-year-old who selects Jaws will be on the boat.
My parents' role in the Manhattan Project
"Honeymoon in Oak Ridge" is a documentary that tells the story of my parents, two young newlyweds who unknowingly contributed to building the world's first atomic weapon. [more inside]
Preserving Worlds - Season 2
Visit virtual worlds of the past! Meet the netizens keeping them going. Let's re-wild the information superhighway! Can cyberspace be a better place? A streaming documentary series on the cultures and communities of antique virtual worlds. Every episode is standalone, so you don't need to have seen season 1. [more inside]
Project Herzog
Way back at the beginning of COVID I was living in South Korea and freaking out like everybody else. I decided that with my extra time, and lack of social outlets, I'd sit down and watch every film ever made by Werner Herzog -- the documentaries, the features, the short pieces, and the ephemera.
I'm planning on updating the project, hopefully for a long time. I made it up to his 2020 asteroid documentary Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds. [more inside]
The 885 films I saw and reviewed in 2021
Last year I started reviewing the many films I watch. Bit by bit, writing these reviews became my new “Art Project”, my main creative 'thing’ for 2021.
I usually only write a short personal paragraph or two about each film.
Here is the 2021 year-end summery with stats and a spreadsheet. I've continued with it now into the second year.
Preserving Worlds
Preserving Worlds is a documentary travelogue through aging but beloved virtual worlds. Join us as we explore dated chat environments, appreciate player-created art, and meet people working against obsolescence to keep the communities they care about alive and accessible. [more inside]
The Lifecycle Of A Singular Organism (and other short animations)
I've recently been trying to make a short piece of animation a day. Most are under a minute, but a few are a little longer. The Lifecycle Of A Singular Organism (stopmotion, 3m3s); Who Of Ourselves Should Be Ashamed (stopmotion, 58 seconds); Risk Reward (stopmotion, 1m8s); A Circle And A Square (text animation, 30 seconds); The Collusion Of Artifice (stopmotion, 41 seconds); Manipulations of Perspective (stopmotion, 1m13s). There's also (many more) inside: [more inside]
Karen
Set in modern day suburbia, a women calls the police on an unfamiliar Black man in her neighborhood. Shot during the pandemic, this film explores white privilege and that Black Lives Matter. [more inside]
This Film Is 100 Years Old
This Film Is 100 Years Old is a site where I watch and review films that are 100 years old (or sometimes even more). Films I've looked at so far include Lotte Reiniger's first ever cartoon, the first appearance of Felix The Cat and a minute long piece of footage of a printing press in motion, as well as the first appearance of Santa Claus, 121 years ago. [more inside]
Absolute Bleeding Edge
My newsletter about the most outre, experimental, and interesting art, film, music, performance and other expressions of culture I can find. Published several times per week. [more inside]
Behind The Scenes
I produced and directed this short short film with my wife. It's a drama set behind the scenes of a film production.
Bill Watches Movies Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the stars and the stories of the B movies of yesteryear. A combination of humor, B movie weirdness, Hollywood biography and Old Time Radio. [more inside]
Academia
This is a new short short film my wife and I made. It's a short police thriller.
The Fulbright
When a young woman returns home after studying abroad, she learns that her father has been keeping a terrible secret from her.
This is a dramatic short short film I produced, directed, shot and edited.
Music Video for Starfield Tectonics
I directed this new music video for Andrew M. Edwards' new song Starfield Tectonics.
'Change the Subject' Documentary
'Change the Subject' is a documentary about working to change how libraries label immigrants. Here's a trailer (and a second trailer). In 2014 a Dartmouth College student researching undocumented students in the U.S. repeatedly encountered the term “Illegal aliens” as a subject heading in the library catalog. Dismayed by this use of biased language she worked with CoFIRED (a student run undocumented immigrant rights group at Dartmouth) and rallied college librarians, and ultimately librarians across the United States, to challenge how the Library of Congress categorizes books and other materials about undocumented people. This 55 minute film features interviews with students, faculty, librarians and congressional representatives involved in this instance of campus activism that entered the national spotlight (NYT link). As of this posting, the Library of Congress has yet to 'Change the Subject' and 'Illegal aliens' remains the authorized cataloging term for issues related to undocumented immigrants. [more inside]
Portia Manson's Hippie Dick! in Dirty Looks Volume 4
I contributed an article to the new issue of queer film journal Dirty Looks on Portia Manson/Gene Barnes, who produced six issues of the erotic queer zine Hippie Dick! in the early 90s, made experimental films like Mercury Rising, and died at the age of 31 in 1995 from AIDS-related meningitis. He was the subject of the tribute song R.I.P. by Bikini Kill. (Gene had attended Evergreen College at the time of the nascence of the riot grrrl movement.) [more inside]
Sarasota Half in Dream
Sarasota Half in Dream is a feature-length Surrealist documentary about dead turtles, crab swarms, decaying resorts, and microscopic histories. Streaming online for free. [more inside]
The Toronto Film Map
My pals at the University of Toronto Media Commons and I mapped out all the films and TV shows set (not just filmed) in Toronto to highlight their amazing lending and archival collections.
Lewton Bus' Western Month
Lewton Bus, the little film criticism site that could, just devoted the month of August to the Western. [more inside]
Tangara fastuosa
An abstract film that starts out soothing and ends in Lisa Frank madness. [more inside]
Tom Scola Photography
I finally got around to making a portfolio site of my color and black & white film photography, mostly around Brooklyn.
Documentary: Frank Lukas - Lines
We just released our 5-minute-documentary about Frank Lukas who collected heaps of memories while getting to the very top in the BMX world today. Now we are telling his story in association with Carhartt. What makes the film special is the mixture of old analogue clips, high quality shots, projections and animations which is pretty unusual for a bike film. It is not just about BMX. It is about a man who followed his dream although there was only a really small chance of succeeding. It is about working one’s way up and not giving up despite all struggles.
Hawkins Bay Dispatch
A daily list of news and views you can use. [more inside]
"Come With Me", original filmed micro-opera
"Come With Me" is a new opera written, composed, and filmed by me, and sung by me and a few friends (we're all professional singers) . The opera is micro in scale, at just over 12 minutes, but is packed with full-sized drama, passion, and singing. The concept behind composing and filming "Come With Me" to post on YouTube is to present opera in the same way as other contemporary music - short, sweet, and directly to your phone or computer. [more inside]
What I Did This Year
A quick round up of stuff I’ve written, drawn or said out loud this year that exists in an easy to see on the Internet form for both myself and something to show to editors and art directors. [more inside]
Plants
I wrote, narrated, scored, and illustrated (with pencil, micron pen, and watercolor) a short film about Plants: this one on the topic of air layering.
Film photography website get!
I'm a film photographer based in NYC and I finally bit the bullet, scanned a load of negatives, bought a URL + hosting, and put up a website. Mostly black and white (some color), mostly medium format (some 4x5 large format or 35mm), in a couple different genres. There's some moody street work, a fun hot sauce expo, NYC Pride 2016, and much more for your delectation. Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!
'Smart' Phone
Connor's cell phone comes to life and accidentally breaks up his relationship with his girlfriend. It must then do everything a 'smart' phone can to get them back together. [more inside]
The Wildest West
A podcast and blog looking at the good, the bad, and the WTF of western movies, country songs, and that sort of thing. [more inside]
Living Shakespeare
To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, the collaborative Living Shakespeare project presents essays on Shakespeare's works by prominent global figures, accompanied by short films featuring the writers co-produced by BBC World TV. [more inside]
It's No Game: A sci-fi short film (mostly) written by AI, starring David Hasselhoff
Last year, Oscar Sharp and I made the short-film Sunspring in just two days for the Sci-Fi-London 48 Hour Film Contest. It was (so far as we know) the first film created from a computer-generated screenplay [1,2,3,4]. This year, Oscar and I followed up on Sunspring with a new short film created for the same contest: It's No Game, starring David Hasselhoff. See the accompanying article in Ars Technica for more details. (Rather than generating the screenplay in its entirety, this time we used our neural nets as augmentative writing tools to generate short snippets of dialogue in various styles. )
Front page of Animation World Network! Check out my recent article on four recent animated features.
Not All Animators Yearn to Direct Big Studio Films: Small budget auteur-driven animated feature films offer inspiring and compelling stories rarely found at the local multiplex.
Trailer for Ginevra
I have finished my first project using the multi-plane animation stand I built this Fall. The trailer for the short film Ginevra is now online. Based on Percy Shelley's poem "The Dirge", Ginevra depicts the aftermath of the murder of a young woman. As her distraught mother looks on, she learns that life after death involves a transition she never could have imagined. [more inside]
Lewton Bus
A film criticism and review site I recently launched with a number of my film nerd buddies. [more inside]
The Optical — VFX and Movie Tech Podcast
The Optical is a podcast revisiting the history of VFX films and technology, often through the lens of Cinefex magazine. In late 2013, I started a blog to go with an idea that I had for a podcast, to (re)read all of the print issues of Cinefex magazine in my collection, and revisit older VFX movies from the heyday of practical effects. The podcast started in January 2014, and so far, we've released 24 episodes. During that time, I've had the pleasure of interviewing great minds like Douglas Trumbull, Harrison Ellenshaw and John Van Vliet, and Howie Weed. I'm kinda proud that we've made it this far.
Briony Morrow-Cribbs - Copper Plate etching
I made a short video about a woman in Vermont who does copper plate etching. [more inside]
Studio Heads Of The Classic Era Ranked In Terms Of Personal Awfulness
The studio heads of Classic Hollywood ranks by how awful they where as people.
American History Trump
A friend came up with the idea and I spent a day and a half pulling it off. I think it's both funny and terrifying. Enjoy this little video project.
You Better Watch Out
"You better watch out. Better not cry, sucker. Because this month we’re taking a look at seven examples of cinematic revenge — the bloodier, the better." A series of revenge movie reviews to help you celebrate the Holidays. [more inside]
Into The Fire
Into The Fire (youtube - vimeo) is a short stop motion film about death and what comes after, made this weekend as part of the 2015 Colchester Film Festival 60 Hour Film Challenge.
"All Earthly Constraints" feature film teaser
Live / Play: League of Legends documentary
What do an autoline fisherman in Iceland, a robot maker in Korea, a costume designer in Brazil, an intern in Egypt and an aspiring professional gamer in the US by way of Canada have in common? They are the five players, from a monthly user-base of 70 million, featured in Live/Play - a 38 minute documentary film I directed and edited about League of Legends players around the globe. In the interest of full disclosure, yes, this film was funded by Riot Games but I got the thumbs up to post it here.
Picture a Flat Surface: The Enduring Mystery of "After Last Season"
After Last Season exists in the subconscious of the internet mostly as “that trailer with the cardboard MRI machine.” Even among the most diehard fans of weird cinema, it is something that may have made a momentary blip on their radar if they have even heard of it at all. [more inside]
A collection of Doctor Who clips.
For the last few months (and probably for many months more) I've been using vine to make short videos of various entrancing bits from old Doctor Who episodes - including memorable quotes, incredible music, dramatic entrances, utterly terrifying monsters, mystifying machinery, general weirdness, repeated exhortations to obey, charming old computer graphics, horrifying mutations, fist fights, and the just plain odd. And about 200 more. [more inside]
Super Action Bros: Action Movie Podcast
My pal Ian and I discuss a different action movie every week. We talk about action movie tropes, montages, action scenes, and generally look at the structure and conventions of American action films. [more inside]
Everywhere in NYC that Movies were Filmed
An interactive map pinpointing the locations of everywhere in NYC that a movie was filmed, 2011 - 2013.
Massive Head Canon
Irish-American Gangster Movies
I'm working my way through every single film made about Irish-American mobsters, gangsters, bootleggers, run-runners, and general thugs, offering commentary on the films, and comparing them with the actually history of Irish-American gangsterism.
Filmstamp
For the past few months I've been blogging my year in romantic comedy. [more inside]