courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com
They have just 19 more weeks, and Sean and Christine Fitzgerald have had an amazing summer creating film brilliance for Project 52. As in my previous Blog Entries, I will take you through the Summer of 2011; Films number 21-33.
Week 21 - SHOWDOWN - They immediately stepped up their game by creating the action packed "Showdown." Inspired by Westerns, Sean created a modern day series of battles between two awesome fight choreographers. The fights are epic, and there's a twist that will keep you wondering through the entire film. I give it 4 swords up!
Week 22 - HUNGRY - Next came a very fun "sports movie." I put "Sports" in quotes because the sport in question is competitive eating. Sean did a lot of research for this story of the preparations, training, and conflict between two competitive eaters gearing up for a "Kamikaze" battle, where they have no idea what the food will be. Funny, and clever! I give this film 4 Marshmallows!
Week 23 - PAPER CUTS - This one is my daughter's favorite. A boy who is procrastinating doing his homework is visited by a PAPER MONSTER!!!! It's very cute and nicely paced. I give it 4 paper balls!
Week 24 - FOLLOW OUR JOURNEY PART 2 - While we were spending the weekend recording "Love Is..." Christine was putting together this compendium of all the films so far. This is a great place to start if you're new to the Project. I give it 3 movie clips.
Week 25 - IL DESTINO - A Foreign Film! They cleverly rose to this task. With narration in Italian, the film follows a man in Central Park as he searches for the woman he loves. Beautifully done! I give it 4 pink balloons!
Week 26 - THE GIRLFRIEND - Lest you think I'm going to give 4 "stars" to everything, we now come to one that's not really my favorite. It's a great idea about a liaison turned psychotic as a woman leaves creepy notes written in red crayon to the girlfriend of a man she's obsessed with. Don't get me wrong, it's well made, and nicely acted. Here's the inside scoop... the dialogue was completely improvised. Impressive; except some details of the plot got me confused which kind of left me with unanswered questions. I give this one a mere 2 1/2 red crayons.
Week 27 - HELLO CRUEL WORLD - The greatest gift given to the SLTM team is this week's random element, "A Character from a previous Project 52 film." This gave S&C the freedom to revisit the funniest buddies from the series, Sam and Fred from Goodbye Cruel World. In a very "Brian and Stewie" kind of series of plot twists, the duo time travel into the other P52 films. It's hysterical, but in order to truly appreciate it, you need to have seen all of the films. Save it for last. I give it 3 Scented Markers.
Week 28 - BROKEN ROAD - This one is intense. Cole Richard Hochenberger, who shows off his immense talent in several of the P52 films, gives a heart wrenching performance as a man struggling with guilt after a car accident that claims the lives of his 2 best friends and his fiancee. Amazingly acted and beautifully filmed. The supporting cast provides a brilliant contrast between the love and genuine friendship of the flashbacks and the intense emotion of the recovery. 4 1/2 wheelchairs for this one!
Week 29 - "LOVE IS..." - Because of an obvious conflict of interest (I co-wrote it), I can't review this amazingly filmed, acted and sung movie musical which sets the bar for all future musical projects. But see my previous entry for the background info. (I DO love how it came out and give it 4 webcams!!!)
Week 30 - BORED GAMES - How do you follow up 2 months of development and build-up to the musical event of the summer? With a cute family film. A brother and sister are bored stiff at grandma's house, and grandma finds a clever way to bring the siblings together. Nicely done, despite the challenges of directing child actors! I give it 3 mystery boxes!
Week 31 - IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING - A poignant twist on Little Red Riding Hood, "Red" meets an African-American man for a picnic. When attacked by three rednecks, the series of events will keep you wondering, "Where's the wolf?" Some of Sean's best films are told through imagery without words, and this is no exception. 3 1/2 Creepy Wolf Contact Lenses.
Week 32 - THERE WILL BE FLOOD - Finally, a water fight during the summer! And it was shot on the hottest day of the year. This "War movie" recreates some of the most iconic action film scenes using water guns. It follows the brilliant practice of playing the scenes straight, and just letting the hilarious scenarios speak for themselves. Just brilliant! 4 Water Balloons!
And Finally... the newest
Week 33 - DISCONNECTED - They've been dying to do a Zombie movie all year, and they finally get to!!! Creepy make up and everything! In a post-apocalyptic world where zombies have turned everyone on earth, Charles has survived, and receives a random phone call from another survivor named Alexis. Amazingly acted, with a close shot on Charles with just a voice over from Alexis through most of the film. It draws you into their world and as they feel each other's pain. That is, before the physical pain kicks in. 4 Baseball Bats covered in fake blood!!!
Things to look forward to this fall? 19 more amazing films! Another installment of "Follow Our Journey" featuring interviews with cast members. Plus everyone is wondering the same thing... how will this project end...? Keep watching, sharing, "like"ing and subscribing!!!!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
"Love Is..." - My SLTM Experience
courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/
Just as Sean and Christine Fitzgerald have devoted 2011 to making a short film every week for a year; I seem to have devoted much of this blog to telling everyone how amazing their films are! Well, as of Tuesday, July 26, 2011; I can take a little credit for their awesomeness, with the premiere of "Love Is...", the first SLTM Films Musical!
Here's how it happened : So, we're all getting into the films, and supporting S & C as well as all of our friends who appear in the films. I believe I started it with an off-hand comment, "When you guys do a musical, you know who to call." Sean, in fact, was almost in the debut production of "Legend of St. Nicholas," before personal business took him out. That's when we met. At least that's when I first remembered who he was. It's a long story.
ANyhoo, a big part of Project 52 is that they randomly select different genres of film each week. Apparently, other people had asked what would happen if they suddenly got the call to do a musical. Their first step was to call me.
Sean and Christine usually write, cast, rehearse, shoot, and edit the films during the course of a week. They realized that there was no WAY they could include writing a song, reheasing, recording, and filming a musical in that time. They asked me to have a song ready ahead of time, just in case this should happen. My schedule was getting tight, and I was finding myself unavailable for shoots and meeting times. (I was almost in The Return, but my job gt in the way.) Plus, I was planning vacations towards the beginning of the summer. So it was a good thing to plan ahead.
Sean had this idea of doing a sort of 21st Century version of "Telephone Hour" from Bye, Bye, Birdie; only with couples singing to each other on webcams. That's all I had to go on. So, I played with some ideas. I used a song written for an abandoned project, an Opera version of Orwell's "1984." It would have been, probably, the only love song, called "Just for a Moment." In the opera, it would have represented Winston and Julia's hectic lifestyle of working, and going about their business pretending not to have their relationship, until the moments that they meet in their secret annex. The riff for the song combined two contrasting accompaniment patterns that intentionally didn't go together in order to create dissonance until a very neo-classical, and tonal refrain. In the rewrite, the dissonance would have been the couples' relating what was going on in their life, and the refrain would be them expressing how much they missed each other, and how good it was to be with them, "Just for a moment."
Sean nixed that idea. Fans of SLTM Films may have noted how his work tends to be dark, and at times creepy. Often, in fact, that's what I love about them. He wanted the musical to be much more upbeat. I also wrote the song with 2 maybe 3 couples in mind. I didn't want it to be too complicated. No, he said. He was thinking more along the lines of 5 couples. We also discussed these couples representing different kinds of love; "Aspects of Love," if you will. We'd have a married couple with a family; a dating couple taking their relationship to the next level, a couple just starting on their first date, a father/son couple, and a platonic frienship. Oh, yeah, and one of the couples should be gay.
I got back to work. I decided that the more positive thing to focus on would be the fact that they are together, sort of... over the internet, where they could really see each other and connect. The song was now called "Good to See You." I took the contasting riffs, and changed it to a peppier rhythm, but keeping the modern chord structure of the original. I also omitted the lovely chorus, and rewrote a new bridge.
I sat down one evening while judging the NYSSMA solo festival, and dealing with a large number of no-shows; and improvised some lyrics. Christine had commented on how "beautiful" my lyrics were in St. Nick; and I seemed to think that these lyrics would be rather matter-of-fact and ordinary. So, I felt a little pressure to get all poetic and stuff. I jotted down some ideas, and made a mental note NOT TO LOSE THEM. We scheduled a time to meet so I could play the song for Sean and Chris.
Now here's the part I haven't even admitted to the Fitz's. I lost them. The morning of the meeting, I frantically searched my house for where I had put my notes, and when I couldn't find them, I frantically tried to remember what I had written, and re-wrote the lyrics to the song. They came over, I played what I re-wrote, and they loved it.
Over a discussion about the dating couple who meet via Match.com, we wondered if this was really common enough to include, and I mentioned that my brother-in-law met his wife in a chat room, and it turned into an online relationship of a few years before they met in real life, and eventually moved in together, and got married. They liked that story better, and asked me to change that part of the song. We also started discussing the real production issues involved. Where would these people be chatting from? What locations would we need? Would we need Extras? I brought up the fact that if we HAD extras, they should sing as well. In fact, in true Long Island Musical fashion, the extras in each location should all be the same people hamming it up in the background. This led to the idea of having a "Greek Chorus" who would lead us through all the relationships.
I knew that if we were going to rehearse this, some people would learn by rote, but some people would need a score to follow. So I set to work on writing a score. It was easier than usual because of the repetative accompaniment. But I had a problem. I LOST THE DAMN LYRICS AGAIN! So, again, I frantically re-wrote the lyrics as per our discussion; re-wrote the online couple's part, and wound up with, I think, better lyrics than originally done. (Listen to the preview, you'll hear the differences.)
So, Sean and Christine had auditions, and chose their cast. The one minor change was that our Father/Son would become a Father/Daughter. We got the scripts and scores together, and had our first rehearsal. They picked up on the song very well. Sean, Christine and I encouraged input from them about lyrics, melodies, harmonies, etc. It was REALLY a true collaboration, which I loved. My favorite part of staging "St. Nick" was collaborating with the director, producer and cast to tweak the show and make it work better on stage, and, I feel, make it a better show overall.
So, I get a call after our first rehearsal, and Christine has this idea of having a prelude to the song which would A) Set up the theme of the film, the many types of love; 2) serve as the beginning of the film, in lieu of dialogue; and D) give our talented chorus more to do. (I actually hadn't really arranged their background parts yet.) We stayed up, chatting on Facebook about ideas, searching for poignant quotes that would sum it all up. Finally, my wife, Paula, chimed in. "Why don't you just say what each relationship is like. Something like... 'Love is comfort... a familiar face....'" She then laid out the whole prologue, lyrically. It was like that scene from that dumb musical when they just come right out with the perfect song. I tweaked it to fit the melody, a little bit, but mostly, what you hear in the film is what Paula wrote.
We then rehearsed more, arranged harmonies, tweaked the form of the song somewhat, and finally, we were ready for recording. We called a friend, Bill Herman of Paradiddle Records and asked to use his studio. With the rental of the studio, we were hoping to keep the recording session to under 8 hours. We did it in 4 1/2! It was almost perfect. I was so proud of everyone. Recording the instrumental tracks was perfect in the 2nd take! After mastering, and editing, we had our soundtrack. We now had only to film it.
They shot it over the course of week 29. 10 different locations, 5 of which ALL featured the chorus, over the course of 6 days. And by Friday, July 22, it was wrapped. And finally.... Here it is....
I am so proud of the cast and creative team, and all the hard work we did to bring this to fruition. It was suggested by the actors that this story isn't done... This is just the start of a bigger musical based on these characters. Where do their relationships go from here? I totally think that musical could happen. We'll see...
Thank you Sean and Christine for this opportunity. May this not be our final collaboration! And you, Reader, GO SEE THE OTHER FILMS!!!! Share them with your friends, and Subscribe to SLTM. You won't be sorry!
Just as Sean and Christine Fitzgerald have devoted 2011 to making a short film every week for a year; I seem to have devoted much of this blog to telling everyone how amazing their films are! Well, as of Tuesday, July 26, 2011; I can take a little credit for their awesomeness, with the premiere of "Love Is...", the first SLTM Films Musical!
Here's how it happened : So, we're all getting into the films, and supporting S & C as well as all of our friends who appear in the films. I believe I started it with an off-hand comment, "When you guys do a musical, you know who to call." Sean, in fact, was almost in the debut production of "Legend of St. Nicholas," before personal business took him out. That's when we met. At least that's when I first remembered who he was. It's a long story.
ANyhoo, a big part of Project 52 is that they randomly select different genres of film each week. Apparently, other people had asked what would happen if they suddenly got the call to do a musical. Their first step was to call me.
Sean and Christine usually write, cast, rehearse, shoot, and edit the films during the course of a week. They realized that there was no WAY they could include writing a song, reheasing, recording, and filming a musical in that time. They asked me to have a song ready ahead of time, just in case this should happen. My schedule was getting tight, and I was finding myself unavailable for shoots and meeting times. (I was almost in The Return, but my job gt in the way.) Plus, I was planning vacations towards the beginning of the summer. So it was a good thing to plan ahead.
Sean had this idea of doing a sort of 21st Century version of "Telephone Hour" from Bye, Bye, Birdie; only with couples singing to each other on webcams. That's all I had to go on. So, I played with some ideas. I used a song written for an abandoned project, an Opera version of Orwell's "1984." It would have been, probably, the only love song, called "Just for a Moment." In the opera, it would have represented Winston and Julia's hectic lifestyle of working, and going about their business pretending not to have their relationship, until the moments that they meet in their secret annex. The riff for the song combined two contrasting accompaniment patterns that intentionally didn't go together in order to create dissonance until a very neo-classical, and tonal refrain. In the rewrite, the dissonance would have been the couples' relating what was going on in their life, and the refrain would be them expressing how much they missed each other, and how good it was to be with them, "Just for a moment."
Sean nixed that idea. Fans of SLTM Films may have noted how his work tends to be dark, and at times creepy. Often, in fact, that's what I love about them. He wanted the musical to be much more upbeat. I also wrote the song with 2 maybe 3 couples in mind. I didn't want it to be too complicated. No, he said. He was thinking more along the lines of 5 couples. We also discussed these couples representing different kinds of love; "Aspects of Love," if you will. We'd have a married couple with a family; a dating couple taking their relationship to the next level, a couple just starting on their first date, a father/son couple, and a platonic frienship. Oh, yeah, and one of the couples should be gay.
I got back to work. I decided that the more positive thing to focus on would be the fact that they are together, sort of... over the internet, where they could really see each other and connect. The song was now called "Good to See You." I took the contasting riffs, and changed it to a peppier rhythm, but keeping the modern chord structure of the original. I also omitted the lovely chorus, and rewrote a new bridge.
I sat down one evening while judging the NYSSMA solo festival, and dealing with a large number of no-shows; and improvised some lyrics. Christine had commented on how "beautiful" my lyrics were in St. Nick; and I seemed to think that these lyrics would be rather matter-of-fact and ordinary. So, I felt a little pressure to get all poetic and stuff. I jotted down some ideas, and made a mental note NOT TO LOSE THEM. We scheduled a time to meet so I could play the song for Sean and Chris.
Now here's the part I haven't even admitted to the Fitz's. I lost them. The morning of the meeting, I frantically searched my house for where I had put my notes, and when I couldn't find them, I frantically tried to remember what I had written, and re-wrote the lyrics to the song. They came over, I played what I re-wrote, and they loved it.
Over a discussion about the dating couple who meet via Match.com, we wondered if this was really common enough to include, and I mentioned that my brother-in-law met his wife in a chat room, and it turned into an online relationship of a few years before they met in real life, and eventually moved in together, and got married. They liked that story better, and asked me to change that part of the song. We also started discussing the real production issues involved. Where would these people be chatting from? What locations would we need? Would we need Extras? I brought up the fact that if we HAD extras, they should sing as well. In fact, in true Long Island Musical fashion, the extras in each location should all be the same people hamming it up in the background. This led to the idea of having a "Greek Chorus" who would lead us through all the relationships.
I knew that if we were going to rehearse this, some people would learn by rote, but some people would need a score to follow. So I set to work on writing a score. It was easier than usual because of the repetative accompaniment. But I had a problem. I LOST THE DAMN LYRICS AGAIN! So, again, I frantically re-wrote the lyrics as per our discussion; re-wrote the online couple's part, and wound up with, I think, better lyrics than originally done. (Listen to the preview, you'll hear the differences.)
So, Sean and Christine had auditions, and chose their cast. The one minor change was that our Father/Son would become a Father/Daughter. We got the scripts and scores together, and had our first rehearsal. They picked up on the song very well. Sean, Christine and I encouraged input from them about lyrics, melodies, harmonies, etc. It was REALLY a true collaboration, which I loved. My favorite part of staging "St. Nick" was collaborating with the director, producer and cast to tweak the show and make it work better on stage, and, I feel, make it a better show overall.
So, I get a call after our first rehearsal, and Christine has this idea of having a prelude to the song which would A) Set up the theme of the film, the many types of love; 2) serve as the beginning of the film, in lieu of dialogue; and D) give our talented chorus more to do. (I actually hadn't really arranged their background parts yet.) We stayed up, chatting on Facebook about ideas, searching for poignant quotes that would sum it all up. Finally, my wife, Paula, chimed in. "Why don't you just say what each relationship is like. Something like... 'Love is comfort... a familiar face....'" She then laid out the whole prologue, lyrically. It was like that scene from that dumb musical when they just come right out with the perfect song. I tweaked it to fit the melody, a little bit, but mostly, what you hear in the film is what Paula wrote.
We then rehearsed more, arranged harmonies, tweaked the form of the song somewhat, and finally, we were ready for recording. We called a friend, Bill Herman of Paradiddle Records and asked to use his studio. With the rental of the studio, we were hoping to keep the recording session to under 8 hours. We did it in 4 1/2! It was almost perfect. I was so proud of everyone. Recording the instrumental tracks was perfect in the 2nd take! After mastering, and editing, we had our soundtrack. We now had only to film it.
They shot it over the course of week 29. 10 different locations, 5 of which ALL featured the chorus, over the course of 6 days. And by Friday, July 22, it was wrapped. And finally.... Here it is....
I am so proud of the cast and creative team, and all the hard work we did to bring this to fruition. It was suggested by the actors that this story isn't done... This is just the start of a bigger musical based on these characters. Where do their relationships go from here? I totally think that musical could happen. We'll see...
Thank you Sean and Christine for this opportunity. May this not be our final collaboration! And you, Reader, GO SEE THE OTHER FILMS!!!! Share them with your friends, and Subscribe to SLTM. You won't be sorry!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Recent events
courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/
Weinergate - First of all, it's rather Orwellian that we put the suffix -gate on any scandal. It's very similar to newspeak. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read 1984.
Second of all. This "scandal" is embarrassing and humiliating, but let's put it out there : We all masturbate. Many of us get freaky about it, stimulating ourselves with internet porn, or chat sites. But it's supposed to be private. To have it exposed publicly is devastating. I would be destroyed with embarrassment if any of you found out about my extensive collection of pictures of my junk on my computer. oops...
However, I'll say it. Rep. Weiner should NOT have resigned. As embarrassing as this is, his private escapades ultimately have no bearing on his ability to lead, or do his job. Just as your private sexual activities do not make you any less of a businessman, teacher, or plumber. But on the other hand, the word Weiner from now on will have a completely different meaning. So it's unlikely that this will be avoided in future political campaigns. "My Republican opponents want to cut back on social programs which benefit so many Americans." "Yeah, well... he showed his junk!"
Also, let's put THIS out there. The chicks broke the code! Come on... they aren't victims here... many of them requested the pics be sent, and hey, they were sexually tweeting with the congressman, too. When two people choose to do this, they enter into a pact. No one is to know about this. I'll bet you that some female politicians do the same or similar things in THEIR private life, but the men they do it with understand the code, so we never find out about it.
The "Sarah Palin Tour." Does anybody REALLY not get that she's running for president? Really? Is there anyone who is such a mental midget that they believe that she's just taking a vacation? I'm going to Disneyworld with my family in a few weeks, and I'll tell you... I'm thinking of decking out a tour bus, giving all the media outlets an itinerary of where I'm going; and while I'm there, do a couple of interviews.
Speaking of Orwell... did anyone catch the re-writing of history Palin and Fox did? She royally screwed up her answer to that question about Paul Revere, then instead of taking the hit, and clarifying, you know, like Miss South Carolina did; she went out and told us that HER version of history, turns out, is TRUE! Not, I wasn't prepared for the question, or I misspoke; but Paul Revere DID ride to warn the British, and that the British DID want to take away our guns. Winston Smith had the exact same job. Winston Smith? Oh, Come ON people, READ 1984!
Marriage Equality - The bill is up for a vote in New York. Yay, Cuomo finally did something good! For my thoughts on the Gay Marriage Issue, Click Here.
Tonys I usually do a rant about the Tony Awards, but you know what? This year was pretty good. I got no problems here. In fact stay tuned for a review of the nominated musicals' cast albums.
Weinergate - First of all, it's rather Orwellian that we put the suffix -gate on any scandal. It's very similar to newspeak. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read 1984.
Second of all. This "scandal" is embarrassing and humiliating, but let's put it out there : We all masturbate. Many of us get freaky about it, stimulating ourselves with internet porn, or chat sites. But it's supposed to be private. To have it exposed publicly is devastating. I would be destroyed with embarrassment if any of you found out about my extensive collection of pictures of my junk on my computer. oops...
However, I'll say it. Rep. Weiner should NOT have resigned. As embarrassing as this is, his private escapades ultimately have no bearing on his ability to lead, or do his job. Just as your private sexual activities do not make you any less of a businessman, teacher, or plumber. But on the other hand, the word Weiner from now on will have a completely different meaning. So it's unlikely that this will be avoided in future political campaigns. "My Republican opponents want to cut back on social programs which benefit so many Americans." "Yeah, well... he showed his junk!"
Also, let's put THIS out there. The chicks broke the code! Come on... they aren't victims here... many of them requested the pics be sent, and hey, they were sexually tweeting with the congressman, too. When two people choose to do this, they enter into a pact. No one is to know about this. I'll bet you that some female politicians do the same or similar things in THEIR private life, but the men they do it with understand the code, so we never find out about it.
The "Sarah Palin Tour." Does anybody REALLY not get that she's running for president? Really? Is there anyone who is such a mental midget that they believe that she's just taking a vacation? I'm going to Disneyworld with my family in a few weeks, and I'll tell you... I'm thinking of decking out a tour bus, giving all the media outlets an itinerary of where I'm going; and while I'm there, do a couple of interviews.
Speaking of Orwell... did anyone catch the re-writing of history Palin and Fox did? She royally screwed up her answer to that question about Paul Revere, then instead of taking the hit, and clarifying, you know, like Miss South Carolina did; she went out and told us that HER version of history, turns out, is TRUE! Not, I wasn't prepared for the question, or I misspoke; but Paul Revere DID ride to warn the British, and that the British DID want to take away our guns. Winston Smith had the exact same job. Winston Smith? Oh, Come ON people, READ 1984!
Marriage Equality - The bill is up for a vote in New York. Yay, Cuomo finally did something good! For my thoughts on the Gay Marriage Issue, Click Here.
Tonys I usually do a rant about the Tony Awards, but you know what? This year was pretty good. I got no problems here. In fact stay tuned for a review of the nominated musicals' cast albums.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Project 52 - Weeks 11-20
courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/
Have I mentioned how much of a fan of Sean and Christine Fitzgerald I am? They make up most of SLTM Films, along with Matt Bowden and Dave Cohen. They are currently engaged in something they call Project 52. This was inspired by the fad on facebook of doing 365 pictures, and posting one a day; or the "30 Day Song Challenge" where you post a link to a different song every day for a month. Sean wanted to try to make one short film every week for the entire year 2011.
I love this for a few reasons. A) They're all VERY talented. Sean and Christine at Directing; Christine at Producing, Matt and Dave for writing and acting and everything else that they do. 2) I know how it feels to put yourself out there creatively and have only crickets respond. The Fitzgeralds aren't doing this for the applause or recognition, but especially when there's so much genuine talent behind it, they should get that recognition. And D) It's being done in the interest of learning and growth. Every week, random cast members select the genre, theme, and random elements to be used in each film. The crew then have a week to turn those suggestions into a film. It's a challenge, but can yield amazing results.
I've already blogged about their first 10 films. So, now let's go through the next in their journey.
Lets start with their "wild cards:" They've given themselves the leeway to occasionally stray from the format of this project and just make whatever movie inspires them. They did this three times so far:
Follow Our Journey (Week 12) Sean and Christine promised themselves if they could get a certain number of hits and subscribers, then they'd go to Florida for "Playlist Live," a YouTube fan convention. They chronicled their trip, and talk a little about what they're doing with Project 52. A nice starting point for anyone who'd like to catch up with the Fitz's.
If Only You'd Listen (Week 16) Both Sean and Christine's lives have been touched by Autism. They took two weeks to devote to Autism Awareness. In the first film, they show how Autistic people are just like you and me. The images are powerful, as are the words expressed by the people from all over Long Island. It's a beautiful film.
Autism: A Parent's Perspective (Week 17) They had so much footage left over from "If Only You'd Listen" that Christine put together another documentary, this time focusing on the issues facing parents who have children with Autism. This one is more informative. It's like a next lesson in the unit. Week 16 introduced the issue, and Week 17 gives some perspective.
But they didn't just do docs. They also had some fun. Here are the other films in order of my personal preference:
Goodbye Cruel World (Week 13) In the first batch, Sean tried a few comedies. I commented that even his comedy has a kind of dark sense of humor. So, of course when someone draws "Black Comedy," you know it's going to be amazing. Ed Heuther and Brian Smith are hysterical in this film, in which two friends have difficulty executing a suicide pact. And HILARITY ensues!
The Return (Week 18) - I was almost in this one. It was beautifully acted and written and directed. Chris has been gone for 10 years, and through a metaphysical phenomenon, comes back to see his wife, who has moved on. Bonus: It stars my daughter as Chrissy, the little girl.
Bystander (Week 11) I have only left a film viscerally feeling the gut wrenching emotion behind it twice in my life. Once was Se7en, and the other was Bystander, where a guy witnesses a murder in progress and must choose whether or not to get involved. (Spoiler alert: He really should have.)
SPLAT (Week 20) In this Slapstick Comedy, Christine gets a taste of something that every new parent has experienced, the joy of feeding an infant. It's gross, silly, and a lot of fun.
Para-sight (Week 19) This Sci Fi/horror film involves a documentary film crew who go around researching paranormal phenomena. They uncover the secret of the "Montauk Monster." This stands on its own, but I hear it on good authority that there is a special alternate ending that adds the trademark "Fitzgerald Twist."
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Flagwaver and the Boy Scout - Episode 1 (Week 15) Just when you think Sean has that dark sense of humor, by week 15, I started to realize that he has a very silly side as well. Dave Cohen wrote this one, a parody of superhero movies. It resembles "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog," but then again, so do all superhero parodies. At least this one wasn't a musical. (Spoiler Alert: That comes later.)
Gone (Week 14) Now that I'm so "intimately" involved with the Fitzgeralds, I get all kinds of insider information. Like the fact that this film remains unfinished. It's supposed to be a mystery, but as it is now, it isn't really. In true Sean Fitzgerald form, what you think is going on at the start of the film, isn't what's going on at all. So, consider this a teaser, meant to draw you into an eventual long form version of this where the truth will finally be revealed.
Please subscribe to SLTM's channel, and be on the lookout for the next 32 films. (I hear that Week 29 is going to be amazing!) And please share the links with everyone you know who loves film.
Have I mentioned how much of a fan of Sean and Christine Fitzgerald I am? They make up most of SLTM Films, along with Matt Bowden and Dave Cohen. They are currently engaged in something they call Project 52. This was inspired by the fad on facebook of doing 365 pictures, and posting one a day; or the "30 Day Song Challenge" where you post a link to a different song every day for a month. Sean wanted to try to make one short film every week for the entire year 2011.
I love this for a few reasons. A) They're all VERY talented. Sean and Christine at Directing; Christine at Producing, Matt and Dave for writing and acting and everything else that they do. 2) I know how it feels to put yourself out there creatively and have only crickets respond. The Fitzgeralds aren't doing this for the applause or recognition, but especially when there's so much genuine talent behind it, they should get that recognition. And D) It's being done in the interest of learning and growth. Every week, random cast members select the genre, theme, and random elements to be used in each film. The crew then have a week to turn those suggestions into a film. It's a challenge, but can yield amazing results.
I've already blogged about their first 10 films. So, now let's go through the next in their journey.
Lets start with their "wild cards:" They've given themselves the leeway to occasionally stray from the format of this project and just make whatever movie inspires them. They did this three times so far:
Follow Our Journey (Week 12) Sean and Christine promised themselves if they could get a certain number of hits and subscribers, then they'd go to Florida for "Playlist Live," a YouTube fan convention. They chronicled their trip, and talk a little about what they're doing with Project 52. A nice starting point for anyone who'd like to catch up with the Fitz's.
If Only You'd Listen (Week 16) Both Sean and Christine's lives have been touched by Autism. They took two weeks to devote to Autism Awareness. In the first film, they show how Autistic people are just like you and me. The images are powerful, as are the words expressed by the people from all over Long Island. It's a beautiful film.
Autism: A Parent's Perspective (Week 17) They had so much footage left over from "If Only You'd Listen" that Christine put together another documentary, this time focusing on the issues facing parents who have children with Autism. This one is more informative. It's like a next lesson in the unit. Week 16 introduced the issue, and Week 17 gives some perspective.
But they didn't just do docs. They also had some fun. Here are the other films in order of my personal preference:
Goodbye Cruel World (Week 13) In the first batch, Sean tried a few comedies. I commented that even his comedy has a kind of dark sense of humor. So, of course when someone draws "Black Comedy," you know it's going to be amazing. Ed Heuther and Brian Smith are hysterical in this film, in which two friends have difficulty executing a suicide pact. And HILARITY ensues!
The Return (Week 18) - I was almost in this one. It was beautifully acted and written and directed. Chris has been gone for 10 years, and through a metaphysical phenomenon, comes back to see his wife, who has moved on. Bonus: It stars my daughter as Chrissy, the little girl.
Bystander (Week 11) I have only left a film viscerally feeling the gut wrenching emotion behind it twice in my life. Once was Se7en, and the other was Bystander, where a guy witnesses a murder in progress and must choose whether or not to get involved. (Spoiler alert: He really should have.)
SPLAT (Week 20) In this Slapstick Comedy, Christine gets a taste of something that every new parent has experienced, the joy of feeding an infant. It's gross, silly, and a lot of fun.
Para-sight (Week 19) This Sci Fi/horror film involves a documentary film crew who go around researching paranormal phenomena. They uncover the secret of the "Montauk Monster." This stands on its own, but I hear it on good authority that there is a special alternate ending that adds the trademark "Fitzgerald Twist."
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Flagwaver and the Boy Scout - Episode 1 (Week 15) Just when you think Sean has that dark sense of humor, by week 15, I started to realize that he has a very silly side as well. Dave Cohen wrote this one, a parody of superhero movies. It resembles "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog," but then again, so do all superhero parodies. At least this one wasn't a musical. (Spoiler Alert: That comes later.)
Gone (Week 14) Now that I'm so "intimately" involved with the Fitzgeralds, I get all kinds of insider information. Like the fact that this film remains unfinished. It's supposed to be a mystery, but as it is now, it isn't really. In true Sean Fitzgerald form, what you think is going on at the start of the film, isn't what's going on at all. So, consider this a teaser, meant to draw you into an eventual long form version of this where the truth will finally be revealed.
Please subscribe to SLTM's channel, and be on the lookout for the next 32 films. (I hear that Week 29 is going to be amazing!) And please share the links with everyone you know who loves film.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Current Events
courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/
It took the events of this week to make me realize that I haven't blogged in a while. So here we go...
Obama's Birth Certificate. I will ask anyone who is still a birther, not "why are you such an idiot?" but rather, "Why do you hate America so much?" Barack Obama applied to run for State Senate, U.S. Senate, and the President. Each time, he had to prove eligibility with a Birth Certificate. I realize that the new political rhetoric is that "Government is Broken," but really? You think that government agencies missed that his birth certificate was forged THREE TIMES????? Or, as Ochem's Razor indicates, is it easier to believe that he's really a citizen?
And, teabaggers, the whole not recognizing the black guy's election to the presidency as being legitimate, doesn't help the whole idea that you all are NOT racist. Just sayin'.
Trump for President. There are a few Republicans who, the more you let them talk, the more you realize that they are blithering idiots. Three of them are running in 2012: Palin, Gingrich and Trump. Add Ann Coulter to the primary ballot, and you've got yourself a hilarious series of debates! Dumb and Dumbererer!
Royal Wedding - I hear that there was some beautiful choral music. I hope William and Kate are happy, and their marriage is blessed. Other than that? Who cares?
Osama Bin Laden - DEAD! I'm not getting into all the conspiracies. Just let me tell you my favorite things about this.
A) He let the Navy Seals be the Navy Seals. Give them a job to do, and they get it done, and get it done well. One day from orders to confirmation. THAT'S how you win a war! Our armed forces will win when the mission is to win the battle.
2) He treated Bin Laden's body with respect. Muslim funeral, and burial at sea within 24 hours. Now, maybe Al Quaeda will see us not as an enemy of Islam, but as a country that respects Islam and opposes the specific actions of THAT guy. Also, this isn't a vendetta. It isn't revenge. It's justice.
and D) THANK YOU for not showing us the body! Ew. I trust that our troops got the job done, I don't need to see a guy whose brains were blown out to prove it to me. I also, personally, am not so ghoulish as to want "closure" by proving that his body was real.
Finally, after 10 years, on the anniversary of the so-called "Mission Accomplished" speech, we finally finish what should have been done first thing after 9/11/01.
It took the events of this week to make me realize that I haven't blogged in a while. So here we go...
Obama's Birth Certificate. I will ask anyone who is still a birther, not "why are you such an idiot?" but rather, "Why do you hate America so much?" Barack Obama applied to run for State Senate, U.S. Senate, and the President. Each time, he had to prove eligibility with a Birth Certificate. I realize that the new political rhetoric is that "Government is Broken," but really? You think that government agencies missed that his birth certificate was forged THREE TIMES????? Or, as Ochem's Razor indicates, is it easier to believe that he's really a citizen?
And, teabaggers, the whole not recognizing the black guy's election to the presidency as being legitimate, doesn't help the whole idea that you all are NOT racist. Just sayin'.
Trump for President. There are a few Republicans who, the more you let them talk, the more you realize that they are blithering idiots. Three of them are running in 2012: Palin, Gingrich and Trump. Add Ann Coulter to the primary ballot, and you've got yourself a hilarious series of debates! Dumb and Dumbererer!
Royal Wedding - I hear that there was some beautiful choral music. I hope William and Kate are happy, and their marriage is blessed. Other than that? Who cares?
Osama Bin Laden - DEAD! I'm not getting into all the conspiracies. Just let me tell you my favorite things about this.
A) He let the Navy Seals be the Navy Seals. Give them a job to do, and they get it done, and get it done well. One day from orders to confirmation. THAT'S how you win a war! Our armed forces will win when the mission is to win the battle.
2) He treated Bin Laden's body with respect. Muslim funeral, and burial at sea within 24 hours. Now, maybe Al Quaeda will see us not as an enemy of Islam, but as a country that respects Islam and opposes the specific actions of THAT guy. Also, this isn't a vendetta. It isn't revenge. It's justice.
and D) THANK YOU for not showing us the body! Ew. I trust that our troops got the job done, I don't need to see a guy whose brains were blown out to prove it to me. I also, personally, am not so ghoulish as to want "closure" by proving that his body was real.
Finally, after 10 years, on the anniversary of the so-called "Mission Accomplished" speech, we finally finish what should have been done first thing after 9/11/01.
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