Avoidance – a short film exercise

Avoidance is a simple film exercise produced by the media training program that I lead. 

After – a simple short film exercise

A few weeks ago, I made this short film with the media school that I lead.  It was a pretty good process.  I wrote and directed the piece, and produced it with the help of 4 experienced staff and 8 students.  Each of us on staff took on a different category of responsibility (directing, camera, lights, sound, & production design) and worked with 1 or 2 students to put the movie together.  It’s short, it’s simple, but I think it came together well and communicates fairly successfully. 

Mr. Flurd

On the media training program that I lead (and just completed a few weeks ago) we did this small video (less than a minute) as part of our teaching on directing films.  It’s pretty simple, and was all shot in an hour or so, but it’s cute, and so worth a quick share (even if it’s not technically a Blue Towel project):

My Mise en Scène is Tingling

I don’t really know what to say about this project.  It was conceived of and written in 2009 in Kyrgyzstan, but not produced until 2012 in Indonesia.  It’s full of a number of obscure scriptwriting and film references that most people wouldn’t get, but I think that’s okay.  And it’s loosely…very loosely…based on a real conversation.

500 People in 100 Seconds!

Look what I found!

There’s still lots of fun short film out there to be discovered, and this is something I just stumbled across that is well worth a look. 

Confusion is Like Mustard

Well well well, here we go with this project.  This was filmed and edited back in 1998 when I was working late one night with my good friend Dwight (co-author of True Blues) and we decided to just go for it.  The quality is pretty shocking because of course it was done in glorious Hi-8, and because I’m still trying to figure out how to best digitally convert  my VHS tapes in the best way.

Scout’s Honour – crazier than ever

And so recently the media school I teach on finished another version of Scout’s Honour – a simple script I wrote years ago that has been filmed in increasingly outlandish ways.  This version goes as far as I could with both plot and character while adding a healthy dose of slapstick spectacle.  It’s the first version I’ve done that has made me want to revisit these characters again someday.  Enjoy it below

Our Stories…

A short promotional video for an arts / media / spiritual discipleship program at the community that I am part of.  I think it is very well done.

“Malaria” – Like nothing I’ve seen

I saw this one someone else’s blog recently – I’m sorry I can’t remember who.  But Malaria, by Edson Oda, is a short film that truly does tell it’s story in a way that I’ve never seen before.  As someone interested in both film and comics, it was fascinating to see the way this piece blend the two forms.  Ultimately, it is a movie (it takes the rate at which you experience the story out of your control, which I think would be a defining quality of a comic), but it employs graphic novel elements in a unique and fun way. 

My Children

My Children is the name of a new short video that my daughters and I came up with together, while sitting in a playground.  Having seen their dad do a number of movies and also been involved in ourHanna Jo Stories, they are getting interested in the whole storytelling process.  That, combined with a love for jumping on their father and abusing him has led to this little project.  It’s on the newly renamed “Personal” page, as well as right here!