IndieVisible: Point of no return.

I once told my film professor that there's not enough Slayer in movies.  He said, "There's a reason for that."  Well, whatever that reason is, it's stupid.

In any case, I decided to bring the movies to Slayer instead.  And then I thought, why not use footage by a great director who almost became a priest?  So here then is "Hallowed Point" cut to the images of Martin Scorsese's films.  Or vice versa.



As usual, I have no express permission to use either the music or movies, so I hope it's all right under fair use.  This is just one of those things that come into my head, and I needed to do it to get some sort of release.  And once I did it, what good is it if I didn't share it?

IndieVisible: Maintaining independence.

Here is a video I shot of a good friend of mine.  I hardly see him anymore, but I used to work with his wife at Macky*s.  They're a very nice couple.

One day I needed to shoot a video portrait, and we went to this guy who owns a video store.  We interviewed him and took some B-roll.  But once we got - or, once I got - to the editing room, I found that the sound was messed up (which is what happens when you use on-camera microphone).

We tried going back to the video guy, but he was not cooperative.  He seemed annoyed, and we seemed to be getting in the way of his business.  It was not my idea to come to him, by the way, but I won't go into all that, except to say that I originally wanted to profile the mailman at school, who I call Danny the Champion of the World.



Originally, I had heavy metal music to go with it.  I didn't have a specific reason why.  I just thought you never hear enough heavy metal in movies, shows, etc.  But when I showed it to the class, it kind of threw them off,  and they wondered whether he was into that kind of music.  I said no, and they just kind of scratched their heads. So after a while, I found this song by Yano, a Filipino group, called "State U".  It seemed to fit, so I kept it, although I had to loop the song a little bit.

I wanted to do more of these, focusing on Filipino figures around the area.  I wanted to also profile the lady who owns a Filipino restaurnat called Rowena's Delight.  I wanted to make a piece featuring some of my old friends from a wedding band called UltraSonic.  These never happened, of course.

I also planned on profiling other figures in the neighborhood who were not Filipino.  There was this Indian guy who worked at this video store (not the same guy mentioned above), and his son would come to work with him in the summer.  Years passed, and the son grew up and with the rental business going down, half of the store is now groceries.  I wish I shot the video years ago, and then come back later on to see how things have changed.
 
I also wanted to shoot these little girls at a Chinese restaurant, who have been working there since they were around ten.  They would do their homework during downtime.  They started out just taking orders, and as they grew they would cook some of the food.  But then years passed and I don't see them there anymore.  Now their little sister is doing the same thing.  As with the above, I wish I profiled them also and came back for an update.

Now I'm thinking about doing a profile about the ladies at my son's daycare.  One of the concerns would be whether the other parents wouldn't mind videotaping their kids.  I can always blur out their faces, of course, but I would still need to convince them.  I'm not good at that, involving people.

O-welles.
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IndieVisible: At the gate.

Here's a video I shot in college.  I was so ambitious that I wanted to direct a whole feature length movie in one semester.  It didn't work out so well.  We only shot this one scene, and we messed up the sound.  I won't go into specifics as to why.

For my part, I didn't organize a big enough crew and thought we could do it on our own.  We didn't rehearse either.  And I don't remember whether I even drew up storyboards.



Obviously, there's no dialogue because of the audio problems (which can happen when you only use on-camera microphone).  I added music for sound, which would have been what I wanted for the soundtrack.  The songs are from heavy metal bands called At The Gates and Nothingface.

It's close to how I wanted it to look, except it should have been set at the heart of summer and not in the fall.  I'm not crazy about the sweaters and the leaves on the ground.  I guess it's a good thing I never shot the rest of it, because I wouldn't have been happy with it as part of the whole.

I like the piece by itself though.  It would have been my first feature, and I called it "First" at first.  But now, I'm trying to re-write that script, so I'll rename this one once I've completed that screenplay.

Happy first day of the year!

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IndieVisible: Green.

I hope you are enjoying the holidays.

This is a film I shot for multimedia class.  As part of a pattern of my ambitiousness, it is only one scene out of a planned feature.  This was one of the easiest film shoots I've directed, mainly because of the crew.  I didn't try to do everything myself for a change.



And then he sings, "Last Christmas, I gave you my cock.  But the very next day, you gave it away."  I have to finish the script someday just to finish it.  I don't think it's a great screenplay or anything, but it was fun to write.

The production was by no means smooth.  For some reason, the Arriflex camera started giving us some trouble.  You check and check the equipment and never encounter problems, but then production starts and things happen.  We were able to calmly fix it without stressing out or losing it.

I was very happy with how it went.  Unfortunately, this was my last production project in college.  I never shot film again after that.  In addition, I've also lost touch with the cast and crew.

We shot other angles, as well as coverage.  However, once I watched it in the editing room, I decided I liked this take as is it.  I also thought the tracking in and out felt a little more subtle without the cuts.

This was shot in a studio which didn't start out as a studio.  It was a gym that somebody decided would be good enough to convert into a media arts facility.  The ventilation system was loud, and the room had echoes.  Someone praised me for being able to make use of that place and actually making it look like a bedroom.  It's not the best set, but it was no easy task.

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IndieVisible: Just edit, and forget it.

This is a found footage project for Film Post Production.  We were told to pick a song and shoot some film.  Then we had to incorporate images that were given to us by the professor that we hadn't seen. The images, that is.



I kind of went around the rules a little bit though.  After getting all the materials and assembling a rough cut, it didn't really work for me.  There was no express rule that we couldn't change the track, so I picked a different piece of music.

The song is "Skeletons of Society" by Slayer.  I used to listen to them all the time.  The professor asked why I chose it.  I said it was because you don't hear enough Slayer in movies.  He said, "There's a reason for that."

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IndieVisible: What it's all about.

Everytime I hear the song "Walkabout" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I always think about the 1971 Nicolas Roeg film.  And vice versa.  And since there is no music video for that track (as far as I know), I decided to cut one together.

Check it out:

You may notice that the tempo is a little different.  I've had to try a couple of things so that youtube wouldn't hide or mute it.  I really wanted to use the song.  I don't know what steps to take to get permission from the label to use it.  I'm obviously not making any profit from it.  What else am I supposed to do, create or find another song like it?

Anyways, the song and the whole album is available on Amazon if you're interested.
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IndieVisible: O-welles.

Here's another video I cut together from "borrowed" footage.  It was supposed to be a wedding anniversary gift for my wife, but I didn't think it was good enough so I never showed it to her.



I spent some time working on this.  The scenes are from some of our favorite movies.  In the end though, I didn't think it was personal enough.  I tried to include pictures of us, but it messed up the pacing.  I thought my wife deserved better, so I just kept it to myself until now.

I don't have an official title for it.  I just call it 062610 for now.  If you can think of something better, let me know.

IndieVisible: Happy Xmax.

Here's a little video I cut together recently.  Obviously, I didn't use my own footage.  I simply had no time or energy (or budget) to shoot anything myself, so I ended up "borrowing" the visuals.  I hope it's okay under fair use.



I've always been terrified at the thought of ending up on the streets for some reason.  When I used to live with my mom, I always wanted to be good because I feared deep inside that she would just suddenly kick me out and I'd be on my own.  I'm not sure why this is.  It's not just the economy, because I've had this kind of phobia for years.   Maybe I need to investigate this.


Is it because I don't really have many relatives around here?  Is it because I saw my brother move out on bad terms?  Is it because I kept screwing around in college and underachieved?  I had plenty of relatives growing up, and I always felt at home in their places and I never had any fear of abandonment or alienation.  Maybe that's got something to do with it? 

I think it's selfish that I see homeless people and worry about myself.  It makes me feel guilty sometimes.  Am I just me, or are most people not even worried this?

IndieVisible: Mission accomplished.

This is a piece I edited four years ago.  Fours years ago?  Yes, four years ago.  It's been that long.

I usually don't share work that I edited for clients, but this video comes from their own site, so I guess it's all right to share with the public.

It took a while to cut this.  There were too many cooks in the kitchen, as they say.  Or is it, kooks in the editing room?  Haha, I made a funny.  We also did a few different versions of different lengths.

It's good to see it finished and still available on their site after all these years.  Yes, all these years.