"Growing" by Jamie Griffiths

A beautiful pencil animation from Jamie Griffiths - of CalArts School of Film/Video | Experimental Animation program.

"Moon Manor," a film by Machete Bang Bang & Erin Granat

I’m over the moon (pun intended) to hear my friends Machete Bang Bang and Erin Granat now have an international sales agent for their debut feature film through Rock Salt Releasing! Moon Manor is an important story about accepting death on your own terms, and I’m grateful that this new creative partnership will give folks around the world an opportunity to get to know Jimmy and experience all the hard work that went into making this film.

From Deadline: “The film stars Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story), James “Jimmy” Carrozo, Gayle Rankin (GLOW), Ricki Lake (Hairspray), Debra Wilson (Star Wars), Richard Riehle (Casino), Reshma Gajjar (La La Land), and Heather Morris (Glee). The story follows a man with advancing Alzheimer’s who decides to take his own life, but to have one last day of fun while doing it. Machete Bang Bang and Erin Granat of KnifeRock directed. The film has a score by Coldplay producers Rik Simpson and Dan Green and features additional music by M83’s Joe Berry. Pic is produced by KnifeRock, Bay Dariz and John Humber.”

A conversation with Sundance 2021 filmmakers Julian Doan & Brianna Murphy, “Raspberry”

A young man (played by Raymond Lee) struggles to say goodbye to his father for the last time in Raspberry, from writer/director Julian Doan and producers Brianna Murphy and Turner Munch. As they prepare for their film’s world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, my conversation with Julian and Brianna revealed how their observations on relationships between the living and dead influenced the making of this short, and what it offers to audiences as a way to reflect on the grieving process.

Julian: It was a Monday at like, 3 PM. I was in the middle of working and I looked at my phone and had a missed call from a 310 number that was maybe ten to fifteen minutes ago. But there’s no voicemail or anything, so I thought maybe it was someone at work or someone asking about a job, so I called them back. A woman answered and she went, “Hello?” And I’m like, “Hi. I got a missed call from this number.” And she was like, “Who is this?” And in my head, I’m like, “You called me. You probably know who this is.” So I told her my name and she said, “Oh, it’s Heidi from Sundance.” Immediately I was really excited but also really on guard. For some reason, I don’t know, I was expecting they were calling us to tell us “It was great, but…”

Brianna: They don’t call you. (Laughs)

Julian: (Laughs) I know. 

Brianna: They don’t call you for that. 

Julian: So anyway, she was like, “We watched Raspberry, we thought it was great, and we’d like to invite it to Sundance 2021.” I tried very hard not to lose my cool. So I went, “Yeah. Oh, that’s great. That’s really awesome,” but inside I was freaking out. I kinda wish I’d let myself freak out a bit.

Brianna: Well, you told them maybe. (Laughs)

Julian: Yeah, so pretty much we didn’t know. We didn’t know what to do with this festival season with COVID and everything. Things were so uncertain. I sort of asked her whether or not the invitation still stands if we wait a year. And she said, “No you’d have to re-apply.” I don’t know what I was thinking, but I asked, “When do you need to know by?” She was like, “I mean, as soon as possible. Preferably by the end of the week.”

Brianna: (Laughs) Oh man.

Julian: “Okay. I’m like 90% sure it’s a yes,” I said. I think I needed to call someone. I needed to call you, at least. It didn’t feel real. I texted you, right?

Brianna: No, you called me, but I didn’t answer because I was in the middle of working. Then he texted me and said: “It’s not an emergency but call me when you get a chance.” I texted back: “Maybe six o’clock when I get off.” This was three hours away. (Laughs)

Writer/Director, Julian Doan

Brianna: So he called his friend Bernard, whom he shares good work news with.

Julian: Yeah, I just needed someone to freak out with. So, I’m telling him everything and he goes, “Have you told Brianna yet?” And I was like, “I tried calling her and she told me she’d call back tonight.” And he was like, “No, you need to tell her to call you back now.”

Brianna: (Laughs)

Julian: It was like I hadn’t thought of it. (Laughs) So then I hung up the phone and I texted her again, “But like seriously if you get like five minutes just give me a call.”  

Brianna: So, I call him back and he says, “I just got some amazing news, do you wanna guess what it is?” I have no idea. “Really?” he says, “you have no idea, what that news could be?” He said, “We’re gonna be Sundance filmmakers.” In my head, I imagined this is what people who want to have children feel like when they find out they’re pregnant for the first time. It was pretty unreal. 

Julian: I heard some sort of whimper on the other end of the phone. Are you crying, are you laughing? What’s going on? 

Brianna: I was crying. Laugh-crying. I felt like I smiled the whole rest of the day. Maybe they couldn’t tell because I was wearing a mask.

Julian: I had been writing a lot of this stuff over the past two years, when my dad passed away, and honestly a lot of that is just literally what happened, so it didn’t take a lot of creative extrapolation to put it down into a scene. I guess what it was is when I’m going through all of that, it’s just a lot of observations, like watching my brother and how he’s grieving and watching my mom and thinking about how I’m grieving. So, the first step is you need to attach it to a character. There needs to be a character who’s experiencing these things. That’s probably the easiest way in for someone to watch it. It’s essentially combining all those emotions into one person.

Brianna: In discussing making it and discussing the script, it is a very personal experience for you, but at some point in their lives – everyone deals with somebody dying. I remember when my grandma died, she wanted to have her memorial service in her home. When they brought her casket in, it was very solemn and they put her in the parlor…and then when they opened the casket it was sorta like, “ta-da!” It felt like a magic trick, like a reveal, the way the guy did it. Like, “here she is!” It was so weird.

(From left to right) Raspberry crew Jiyoung Park (2nd AC), Eddy Scully (gaffer), John Mattingly (1st AD) and Litong Zhen (1st AC) set up the next shot as director of photography Geoff George sits with writer/director Julian Doan to preview the framing. Production designer Jake Woodham looks on.

Brianna: I think there is something universal in this story. I think people don’t necessarily know how to put a description or word on it, especially in Western culture. We go to great extents not to deal with it. In other cultures, people spend a lot of time mourning a body…literally touching a dead body. We’re like, “we’ll ship it off to the morgue,” somebody else dresses them, somebody else buries them. Not to say that everyone does that, but I think there’s a universal quality to some of the emotions in this story, that I’ve experienced and other people related to, in reading the script.

Julian: Whenever I’ve talked about my dad dying, Brianna talks about that story with her grandma, and then I’m like, okay—it’s not just me. Someone else saw that this is awkward. When you’re watching someone die, people do weird things. And then once we started getting the actors on and other crew members, and you start talking to everyone about it…everyone’s got that story. Then you go, “okay, it’s not just for me.” As you talk to more people in the creative process, then you start to realize, through them, that it works. 

Brianna: What happened was he (Julian) wrote this script and uploaded it to a Dropbox that is shared with Ray, one of the actors. He read the script and said, “Oh, this is really good. Did you mean to share this with me?” Julian forgot he had saved it to a shared drive, but after Ray said he liked it, the script started getting shared around a little bit more within the friend group – among people that are filmmakers as well. We’d been talking about “maybe there’s a chance to make it,” sometime in the future, as this nebulous sort of thing.

(Center, from left to right) Actors Gihee Hong, Alexis Rhee and Raymond Lee prepare for their next scene.

Brianna: In February, my best friend’s father, Michael, died suddenly from cancer. He very swiftly declined, and in the span of a couple days from going to the hospital—died, very unexpectedly. We got the call that he had died at three o’clock in the morning, and then later that day we were doing errands and Julian’s friend called and said, “Hey remember that script you wrote?” He works at a soundstage up in the valley, and he said, “We have a free weekend. If you want to shoot it, you can come up here and shoot it for free.” It was this day we had just gotten this really horrible news, and then found out we had this opportunity to make this. For me, it felt very cosmic. We knew we’d be flying to a funeral in the next couple of weeks as well, so there were a lot of reasons not to do it, you know? For me, it was more of a motivating reason. This feels right. For whatever reason this feels like a gift we’ve been given right now.

Julian: We had just heard the news not even twelve hours before that call. It almost felt like, if we don’t do this now, what did he die for? It felt like that, like when someone dies—there’s a goodbye you have to prepare, like writing a eulogy. “I don’t know if we can do it in two weeks,” I said. And Brianna said, “Let’s just start trying.”

Brianna: I told my friend, “Hey, we got an opportunity to make the film. We found out the day your dad died.” And she was like, “He’d totally want you to do it.” (Laughs) Which, he really would’ve.

“I think there is something universal in this story. At some point in their lives – everyone deals with somebody dying.” - Producer, Brianna Murphy (pictured above)

Julian: There’s an energy on-set shooting it. Obviously, it exists in your head for a while. We cast people, some of which I’d worked with before, some I hadn’t – so there’s always some trepidation. We didn’t have time for rehearsal.

Brianna: We had a one-day shoot. 

Julian: We didn’t know how this was all gonna shake out. Who knows? But the moment we knew we had something was right when Raymond Lee, the lead actor, does that emotional turn with his father. 

Brianna: Ray had talked about “wanting people to kinda be afraid” of what is going to happen when he moves over to that bed. 

Julian: We planned to have that shot later in the day, for him to work up to it…but he did it, and we were just staring at the monitor like, “Oh my God.” 

Brianna: It was all in one shot. It was the first take.

Julian: My jaw was on the floor. I was stunned. I can’t believe he made that so real.

Brianna: And then we cut, and Julian was like, “Alright, let’s do it again.” (Laughs) Our 1st AD was like, “Can he do that again?”

(From left to right) Writer/Director Julian Doan and director of photography Geoff George.

Julian: We felt really good after we shot it. Ray and the rest of our cast—Alexis, Joe, Gihee, Molly, Matt, Harry—these actors were so generous and gave these unexpectedly grounded, raw performances. It was even better than what I imagined going in.

Brianna: What’s special is people noticing all of the little details that are in the movie that the entire crew thought about. Little touches that highlight the absurdity. One friend noticed the detail of this Asian family having all of their shoes by the door, and the undertakers come in and do not remove their shoes. The pamphlet that the son flips through, with the image of a covered wagon, is a play on a pamphlet called “Gone from my Sight". It is commonly given out in hospices with instructions on navigating the end-of-life process, like a "how-to" manual on grieving. It’s a very similar style picture of a tall ship sailing off onto the horizon, or whatever, but it’s this metaphor of death using a very white and Eurocentric image that’s not something this Asian family would relate to. People picked up on that. It was special knowing that the edit and direction gave people the space to notice that.

Julian: For me, I actually felt a little disconnected from the emotion of it, working on it, because my dad passed away two years ago—so I’ve had a couple years to deal with that grief. I felt a bit more activated, in terms of creative engagement, even though we shot it in the house and the room that my dad died in. 

Brianna: It’s not a soundstage. We actually found out on the day of Michael’s funeral—that we lost the location, so Julian spent most of the funeral seeing if he could permit his stepmom’s house.  

Julian: I wanted to be present for the funeral. Emotionally, mentally present—but I was on my phone a lot.

Brianna: It was horrible. But we had to keep this train moving. We had to figure this out.  

Julian: Which was always how I’d imagined it, of course—when I wrote it, it takes place at my dad’s house. So, when I visited the soundstage I was thinking, how do we make this look lived-in? How do we make this work in a very short amount of time?

Brianna: It was totally a blessing in disguise. 

Julian: We wouldn’t have been able to pull it off at all. There’s a lot that could’ve been very hard to deal with emotionally, shooting in such a personal space. It felt kind of weird, to be honest, but I felt very excited to do it—which at some level maybe felt wrong inside me, but I didn’t let that stop me too much. My stepmom was so gracious with us shooting this film in the house, and she was even excited to watch the process. She kept taking behind-the-scenes photos and wanted pictures with the cast! (Laughs)

Writer/Director Julian Doan prepares actors Gihee Hong and Raymond Lee (seated, left to right) for their next scene.

Julian: I always knew my dad would appreciate it. I think after talking to actors and other people it gets a little bit distanced. They become different people—and it’s not me. None of the characters I even necessarily think is me. I don’t think of that character as my dad, it’s just the scenario. It wasn’t too hard, but of course there’s times when I just wish my dad was still around to share it with. Actually, the morning we were shooting, it was five in the morning—I was picking up coffee and Brianna texted me and said, “I’m super excited we’re doing this together. I’m really proud. I wish your dad was still here and we were making this film about someone else.” I wish he was at the house and we were like, “Hey, we’re shooting here!” 

Brianna: (Laughs) Yeah. “Hey, thanks for letting us use your house!” 

Julian: Obviously, I would love to share it with my father. It's ironic because it wouldn’t exist without him dying. But I know he would absolutely have loved it.

---

Raspberry premieres at the Sundance Film Festival, January 28th - February 2nd in “Shorts Program 2”. Tickets are available now, with the Explorer Pass granting virtual access to all 49 short films in this year’s festival, as well as “New Frontiers” and “Indie Series” programs.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens "On The Road To Find Out" (Director's Cut)

“A man and his boulder…a journey through time.” So begins director Kimberly Stuckwisch’s description to her director’s cut (with Melora Donoghue) for “On The Road To Find Out,” an allegorical interpretation of the song by Yusuf/Cat Stevens. Re-recorded by Stevens for the 50th anniversary re-release of his classic album Tea for the Tillerman, Stuckwisch filmed the music video for this new take on the song in her trademark style, blending stunning locations with ingenious practical effects to create a singular vision.

Filmed on the coastal sand dunes of Pismo Beach in California, a boulder amalgamated from household appliances and other manmade scrap gradually grows in size as a man (Viet Dang) drags it across figurative “sands of time.” Grimacing as the ever-increasing weight slows his gait to a crawl, objects from centuries past fly through the desert and cling to this rock, a burden he has chosen to carry.

Viet Dang drags the burden of man’s progress behind him in Yusuf/Cat Stevens “On The Road To Find Out” (Director’s Cut) by Kimberly Stuckwisch & Melora Donoghue

“The video is an allegory for humanity’s journey for self-discovery and the historical events, art, and music that have influenced life and culture,” says Stuckwisch. “Through the video, we follow a man pulling a boulder that increasingly grows to represent these influences. It’s a story of our ability to break free from these burdens and our will to find inner peace.”

The fully COVID-compliant production was filmed in the summer of 2020 with a crew of ten, using all-natural light with no generators or electricity. Ensuring the music video’s carbon footprint was as small as possible, all the props used to create the boulder were donated for recycling after the production wrapped.

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Kimberly commissioned me to create hand-drawn titles & credits. Having collaborated with her before on videos for Broken Bells, Jeremy Ivey & Margo Price, we had developed an ease to envisioning what these sequences would look like in the final cut – almost before I would even put pen to paper!

End credits for “On The Road To Find Out” (Director’s Cut); Chisel-tip pen on paper.

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Suggesting we add an additional layer of artistry to embellish the titles’ design, I recommended award-winning animator Cassie Shao, who often collaborates with my band, Maggie Dave. Her illustrated blowing sands revealing the names created a storybook-like beauty to the fantastical world that Stuckwisch imagined with her cast & crew.

2020 Sundance Film Festival - Short Film Tour

As I prepare for Sundance’s offering of world premieres next year, here’s the trailer for their Short Film Tour, a 93-minute program of 7 short films selected from their 2020 Festival:

It was great to see Thea Hollatz’s Hot Flash included in this program, an animated short that Maggie Dave had the pleasure of screening alongside of, earlier this year.

As they describe it, “Widely considered the premier American showcase for short films and the launchpad for many now-prominent independent filmmakers for more than 30 years, the Short Film Tour includes fiction, documentary and animation from around the world, giving new audiences a taste of what the Festival offers, now online.”

Nevada City Film Festival - Animated Shorts Filmmakers' Interview

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of joining a panel of animators and producers at the Nevada City Film Festival - Animation Shorts program, to discuss our approaches to visual storytelling, inspirations and collaborating virtually during this unprecedented year. Representing Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready, animated by Cassie Shao, special thanks to Festival Director Jesse Locks for hosting the conversation.

Interview with selected “Animated Shorts” filmmakers: Josephine Lohoar - The Fabric of You,
Calum Hart - The Fabric of You, Sean David Christensen - Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready, Camrus Johnson - Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad, Geoff Hecht - Metro 6, Cullen Parr - Charon; Hosted by Jesse Locks

"Freeze Frame" by Soetkin Verstegen

An arrestingly beautiful stop-motion animated short by Soetkin Verstegen. Freeze Frame is a captivating example of meticulous craft and disquieting, harmonious textures of picture and sound.

From the artist: “Freeze frame: the most absurd technique since the invention of the moving image. Through an elaborate process of duplicating the same image over and over again, it creates the illusion of stillness. Identical figures perform the hopeless task of preserving blocks of ice. The repetitive movements reanimate the animals captured inside.”

Director, writer, animator: Soetkin Verstegen
Sound: Andrea Martignoni & Michal Krajczok

"No Crying at the Dinner Table" by Carol Nguyen

A brilliant film I had the pleasure of discovering at this year’s Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, No Crying at the Dinner Table by Carol Nguyen is a spare and meditative portrait of her family. Delicate and unflinchingly honest, Travelling Distribution says it best: “…an emotionally complex and meticulously composed portrait of intergenerational trauma, grief, and secrets in this cathartic documentary about things left unsaid.”

CAST

Thao Nguyen-Duong

Ngoc Nguyen

Michelle Nguyen

Carol Nguyen

CREW

Production : Carol Nguyen (Concordia Film School)

Director : Carol Nguyen

DoP : Walid Jabri

Production Design : Carol Nguyen

Editor : Carol Nguyen, Andres Solis

Sound : Giulio Trejo-Martinez

Music : Arie Van de Ven

Ghost Tape #10 - Virtual Film Screening at Yale University

Special thanks to Erik Harms, Associate Professor on Term of Anthropology & Southeast Asia Studies at Yale University, for his generosity and invitation for myself and my film Ghost Tape #10 to screen at the Southeast Asia Studies Brown Bag this October. It's been a privilege to have these opportunities to interact with students and educators nationwide, and I look forward to their questions!

Jeremy Ivey - "Someone Else's Problem"

Preeminent music video director/friend Kimberly Stuckwisch brought me on as title designer for her visualization of “Someone Else’s Problem” by Jeremy Ivey, a haunting dirge to accompany these troubling times.

Hand-drawn lettering, line by line. More reasons (as I count every letter) that I need to finally create my own font!

Front page of the Country section of RollingStone.com.

What a crew to be a part of! Thanks Kimberly:

Directed By: Kimberly Stuckwisch / Produced By: Ian Blair / Production Company: Invisible Inc Cinematography By: Eric Vera / Production Design, Costume Design, and Edited By: Kimberly Stuckwisch / VFX By: Brenten Brandenburg & Noah Dains / Starring: Max Baumgarten Steadicam Operator: Jose Espinoza 1st Assistant Camera: Jordan Sakai 2nd Unit Cinematography By: Brett Carlsen Archival Producer: Jessi Williams Color By: Dylan Hageman Title Design By: Sean David Christensen Song Written By: Jeremy Ivey & Margo Price Courtesy of ANTI-Records Salesman: Freddie McClain Preacher: Glenn Ratcliffe Police Officer: Bruce Van Patten Man Arrested: Leo Claude Street Cart Vendor: Crystal Lujan Street Musician: Lily Goldsmith Trailer Man: Michael Benard Business Owner: Melora Donoghue

Wandaland by Richard Noble

Produced at the Royal College of Art, Wandaland by Richard Noble is an intoxicating blend of woozy sound design and rich environments rendered with exacting detail. Combining traditional hand-drawn animation with 3D models, Noble’s portrait of a reclusive (fictional) animation tycoon and his abandoned theme park relates how obsessions and compulsions can overtake an imaginative mind.

An abandoned theme park reveals the obsessions of its creator, John Wanda. [Wandaland by Richard Noble]

"sad girl" by Dolan Chorng

I originally saw this arrestingly beautiful short by Dolan Chorng at the Marfa Film Festival in 2017. Captivating in its sharp attention to atmosphere within tightly composed tableaus, sad girl is an eerie comic meditation on teenage longing and burgeoning sexuality.

sad girl (2016) Dir: Dolan Chorng

The animation of Richard Noble

Richard Noble is an animator and graduate of the Royal College of Art. Creator of The Sam Story (2020) and Wandaland (2019), there’s a fine layer of foreboding beneath the glassy surfaces of these films. His 2D compositions evoke the spartan visual style of such artists as Chris Ware and Nick Drnaso. So too, does Noble choose to craft his stories in a way that belies complex internal forces tugging at his characters.

Noble’s “lifelong love/hate relationship with popular culture” casts an ominous shadow in The Sam Story (2020).

Based, in part, on the converging life histories of Walt Disney and Howard Hughes, Wandaland (2019) delves into themes of “…identity, mystery [and] human psychology.”

From the artist: “The two films I have made at the RCA, Wandaland (2019) and The Sam Story (2020) converge on a few themes: identity, mystery, human psychology, and my lifelong love/hate relationship with popular culture. They're also the most ambitious projects I've ever undertaken, with each film taking almost a year to complete. They're the culmination of many technical and creative skills I've spent years developing, incorporating CGI, 2D animation, digital painting, and extensive After Effects compositing. While I've benefited from some talented collaborators, almost everything you see (as opposed to hear) in my films is my own work, from the graphic design to the character animation.” - Richard Noble

Both films can be streamed through the RCA 2020 platform on the Royal College of Art website.

"Dani" by Lizzy Hogenson - Vimeo Staff Pick

This ingenious animated film weaves intricate stop-motion together with documentary storytelling – a feat that becomes more captivating after every screening. Winner of the Jury Award for Best Animated Short at Palm Springs ShortFest, along with being shortlisted for the “Best Animated Short Film” Oscar at the 2019 Academy Awards, Dani by Lizzy Hogenson is a marvel of craft and imagination. Special thanks to Meghan Oretsky of the Ladies With Lenses Vimeo channel, supporters of this, and the best short films on the Internet written and/or directed by women.

Dani

Created by Lizzy Hogenson

Sound & Music - Ricky Lee Berger

Editor - Robert Panico

Scientific Advisor - Stephanie Shishido

"Maggie Dave - I'm Not Ready" at LINOLEUM Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival & Nevada City Film Festival

Cassie Shao’s brilliant music video for “I’m Not Ready” (music video for Maggie Dave) was announced on two lauded festival lineups this week. At the LINOLEUM Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival, Shao’s film will make its Ukrainian premiere alongside 26 other international offerings in the “Commissioned Film Competition.” At the “Sundance of the Sierra,” the Nevada City Film Festival will host the music video at their innovative outdoor drive-in cinema under the stars of Grass Valley, California.

Drive-in Cinema at Nevada City Film Festival

Directed & Animated by Cassie Shao Produced by Sean David Christensen “I'm Not Ready” written by Maggie Dave Vocals & keyboard: Sean David Christensen Synthesizers: Mark Christopher & Ricky Berger Vocals engineered by Ricky Berger Mixed by Ricky Berger & Mark Christopher Mastering by Trevor Case https://www.karasucassie.com/ https://www.maggiedave.com/ --Official Screenings-- 2020 Athens International Film + Video Festival 2019 Flux Screening Series Fall edition at the Hammer Museum 2019 Music Video & Shorts Night #3 at the Gold Diggers

Margo Price - Letting Me Down

My friend Kimberly Stuckwisch, a director gifted with boundless creativity and ingenuity, has truly outdone herself with this music video for Margo Price. I’ll let her take it from here:

"We bought a cheap '80s travel trailer with a bathroom, kitchen, and a propane powered refrigerator, so we wouldn't have to go inside anywhere for food or bathrooms. We were able to abide by the 6-feet social distance CDC recommendation as we set up a remote head for the camera that we operated from a closet outside of the room. We wore masks the entire time and Margo supplied us with multiple bottles of hand sanitizer and spiked seltzers. We parked our RV in her driveway and worked solely out of there and the room we were filming in. We wanted to speak to what was going on at that moment, to a world that was/is shut down, to the fear we all feel, and to the hope of breaking free."

Stuckwisch has always marveled me with her peerless ability to command a creative team to their fullest potential. Here, her vision shines with key contributions from her camera (Ian Blair) and visual effects departments (Ryan Ross, Jeff Desom & Ian Blair) who helped craft this seamless work under the most uncompromising and difficult of times.

CAST & CREW

Directed and Production Design: Kimberly Stuckwisch

Produced, Edited, and Cinematography: Ian Blair

Production Company: Invisible Inc.

Choreography, Hair, and Makeup: Kylie Price and Margo Price

Costume Design: Christina Flannery

Visual Effects: Ryan Ross , Jeff Desom, and Ian Blair

Art Direction: Hugh Masterson

Scenics: Kevin Black, Bob Tyler

Locations & Concept Inspired By Photos From: Jeremy Abbott

Color: Alastor Arnold at Fotokem

Socially Distant Remote Cinematography Advisor: Todd Banhazl

Whitmer Thomas: The Golden One

Whitmer Thomas has crafted a beautiful show. The Golden One, his first HBO special, is vulnerable and bristling with a combustible energy just beneath the skin. Lovingly crafted stand-up with elements of documentary & storytelling, I had the pleasure of seeing Thomas workshop this material at the intimate Lyric Hyperion theatre in 2019. A year later, upon driving home one evening, I would discover him perched, crosslegged, on a billboard above Hollywood Blvd. Sailing underneath a giant version of the affable comedian was surreal, but not unexpected. Even from our brief chat after his show, I knew he was sharpening his set for something big. In my driver’s seat, I actually yelped out: “Hey, nice job, Whit!” as if he was a friend of mine. As a performer, he has that ability, though. Makes you feel like you’re sharing a laugh, as only friends would.

Broken Bells - Good Luck

Light emanates through cut-out silhouettes of people extracted from the real world in this eerily beautiful music video for Broken Bells. “Good Luck,” directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro, was envisioned with the help of a creative team I had such a pleasure to be a part of.

A ghostly figure hitches a ride in “Broken Bells - Good Luck,” directed Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro

Stuckwish shares the intricacies of pulling off this stunning analog effect: “We laser cut over 4000 frames [of film] and used a practical stop motion light ray effect achieved by mixing old school animation techniques and practical smoke and haze over live-action footage, to create an eerily atmospheric new dimension.”

“Ryan Ross (Visual Effects), Mark Nicholas (Special Effects Supervisor), and Ian Blair (Producer) locked themselves in separate rooms for weeks rotoscoping, with Ryan animating, and Mark laser cutting card stock for each frame. Nelson [de Castro, co-director] then took the laser cut frames and put them over a light box, shooting haze & light through.”

“All of the light and haze permeating from the characters was done practically - giving it the texture you see in the video. I’m pretty sure Nelson’s house is coated in oil forever from the hazer he had going for weeks filming all the light box stop motion still frames during the quarantine! Ryan then overlaid the light and haze back in for each frame over the original image…Every shot called for it’s own unique post workflow and my brain still hurts from trying to figure this all out.”

Flynn Zanco portrays a young boy disintegrating into this “atmospheric new dimension.”

A one-of-a-kind experience, it further reminded me that great things can be achieved through perseverance and teamwork. See the entire film on Tidal, and stick around to see what I was able to contribute to this extraordinary world. No spoilers!

CAST & CREW

Directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro

Produced by Ian Blair

Cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo

Production Design by Jade Spiers

VFX Supervision by Ryan Ross

Special Effects Supervision by Mark Nicholas

Edited by Nour Oubeid

Costume Design by Kimberly Stuckwisch

Starring: Flynn Zanco, James Forbis, Chad Carr, Linda Michaels, Kathy Gorlick, Teddy Williams, Codey Huckins, Brice Owen, Steve Zanco and C. Jobe

1st AD: Jeff Cobb

PM: Christina Jobe

1st AC: Ryan Sax

2nd AC: Caitlyn Brown

Gaffer/2nd Unit DP: Justin Moore

Best Boy Electric: Monty Sloan

Swing: Khoi Nguyen

Art Director: Steele O’Neal

2nd Unit Camera PA: Haley Meyers

Color: Alastor Arnold

Animation: Nelson De Castro

Additional Special Effects: Spencer Hall and Nicolas Putnam

Titles: Sean David Christensen

PA’s: Eric Weed, Isaias Rojano, Ted Morissette

Shot on Kodak film and processed by FotoKem in Los Angeles.