Pillsbury Voice Over

Fancy finding this...

My voice over is on the Pillsbury cinematic featured on Launch's website and facebook page. Check it out!

Cinematics are 3D animatics used for testing commercials, which were developed by Launch. Be sure to check out all the other great work!

"Sounds" Promising!

 

An exciting news update from the official website of my short film, "Cereal for Dinner":

Before I update you on "Cereal's" status, just want to thank everyone again for their EXTREME patience - it's not easy to finish a film, let alone start one. And if you're still visiting this site and looking forward to seeing "Cereal for Dinner" reach it's completion, I am indebted to your support and understanding.

I have been trying to get an engineer to work on the film's audio design and mix for a few months now; however, due to budget constraints and lack of time, I was unable to find someone to commit. Enter fellow filmmaker, cinematographer, and editor, Corey Snyder, who flew in to save the day!

Since Friday, after a meeting to discuss the goals, Corey has been working on mixing the voices in the edit, to make sure everything sounds level, crisp and clear. The next steps will be the hardest: layering sound effects and music along with the voices to create an atmosphere that will bring "Cereal for Dinner" to life.

A big thanks to Corey; be sure to check out his other work here!
And stay tuned as we get closer to the premier of the film. I'm excited to finally bring the finished product to everyone!

Short Talk

Two great short films were recently featured on Motionographer this week; a site I don't normally peruse, but should.

One, which feeds my inner child's love of all things oceanic, was done by stop-motion whiz PES. (How do I not know about this guy??)

Dare I say, this is whimsical? At least we can all agree that the concept is imagination to the Nth power.

(Check out the full article on Motionographer.)

On the same note, the post production facility, Charlex, which was responsible for starting the company I now work for, released their newest short, ShapeShifter. I am proud to say that I know some of the creative minds behind this impressive work. They definitely did not disappoint.


(Check out the full article on Motionographer.)

However, my favorite is still their first animated film, One Rat Short, which you can watch below or on Charlex's website (If you'd prefer better quality, I would suggest going there.)


This is storytelling at it's very best; so much so, that I had to keep myself from getting too emotional in the end. Pixar, eat your heart out. Never have rats been so......lovely.

A shout-out to creative director, Todd Winter, who I now have the pleasure of working with every day!

TAXIDERMIA Gets Under Your Skin

(No pun intended)
Conversely, it also makes you want to throw up your insides.

Ryan and I had read some reviews on Netflix before renting this, and were forewarned: this is the grossest move you will ever see. It wasn't a horror film (at least, it wasn't marketed as that, but I'm sure one could argue.) The Hungarian film follows the legacy of three males: father, son, and grandson, chronologically. That's about the only part of the story that is obvious and somewhat makes sense. Not to say that the oddities this movie displays are neither entertaining nor meaningful. It's just that there aren't many films with the - pardon my french, but I feel it's a good analogy given the source material - balls to tell a dramatic story in such an utterly grotesque and revealing way.

Without going into too much detail (the details are better observed firsthand, as they are quite unbelievable), the three generations of men are portrayed within their own acts, which in turn have their own theme. This is not explicitly said, yet it is apparent once we get into the meat of the story. And yes, meat is at the heart of this tale in more ways than one.

Our first protagonist, Morosgoványi Vendel, is who we open on, in the midst of some literal playing with fire. It is clear from the uncomfortable close-ups of flame-on-skin that this is not just a game, but a sexual obsession. And so, as Morosgoványi's tale goes on, we see that much of his life on a drab, nondescript farm is spent pining over the sins of the flesh - both animate and inanimate. Quick flashes of females' wet skin, inter-cut with his lieutenant's musings on female anatomy set the tone. Poor Vengel is subservient to this family, and as a result tries to escape through his fantasies; one of which includes a pig.

The cinematography is one of the best qualities of this film, in that it really takes you up close and personal. You flinch at the sight of fire near skin, a pig is butchered too close for comfort, and at one point in the film, you literally are inside the character, mirroring the feeling of being gutted. The shots are always interesting and meticulously composed, and the director, György Pálfi, does not shy from forcing you to take in the scene fully before he allows you to look away.

Next to the lustful context of Vengel's tale, the remaining two acts are centered upon two other vices: gluttony and vanity, though one is more obvious than the other. Vengel's illegitimate child, Kálmán, raised by the family his father served, becomes a speed-eater, and we are forced to experience these gag-inducing moments of slurping and subsequent hurling right from the get-go. Pálfi wastes no time.

After a life of humiliation and unsuccessful attempts at being speed-eater champion of the world, Kálmán resorts to piling all his feelings of inadequacy onto his comparably smaller, rail-thin son, Lajoska. Instead of doting on his only child, who runs a seemingly successful yet incredibly creepy Taxidermy business, he fawns on his over-fed cats and boasts about his days of gorging glory. Lajoska, much like his long-dead grandfather, is a servant and tied inextricably to his duties of feeding and cleaning his now obese father, who seems content to be so. We know that this story cannot have a happy ending, but we wish it did. The finale is a most foul one indeed, but if you can stomach the gore and see the deeper meaning, it is both a haunting and melancholy Shakespearean end to a family legacy.