Under The Tree Teaser Trailer

A naive young man enters the woods in hopes of finding enlightenment, but instead finds something much more terrifying. Starring Joe Raffanti.

Song written by Real Live Tigers/Performed by Tinyfolk.
http://www.myspace.com/tinyfolksings

Coming soon to a graduate school admissions office and a festival near you!

Autumn Update

Hey everyone, who checks this...

anyway!

So it is fall and for me that means Graduate School. I am applying to nine schools. Mostly comprised of production MFAs and a few MAs, these are the schools:

UCLA November 2nd, 2009
NYU December 1st, 2009
Columbia December 1st, 2009
AFI December 1st, 2009
USC December 1st, 2009
University of Austin December 11th, 2009
University of Auckland January 15th, 2010
University of Brighton January 15th, 2010
London Film School February 1st, 2010

*phew,

I've got a busy busy month ahead of me, but after December it eases back down a bit.

So what I love about the process currently is that while applying to grad school, one can be much more creative with these apps than undergrad applications.

Here are just a few examples of the writing and filmmaking I am working on to send to these schools:

Under The Tree
5 minute short film for USC, NYU, etc.

logline: A naive young man enters the woods in hopes of finding enlightenment, but instead finds something much more terrifying. Starring Joe Raffanti.

The Premiere
Ten page script to Columbia and international schools.

logline: A young and now frustrated filmmaker attends the premiere of his ex-girlfriend's new film only to be reminded of the great love they once had.

Tell Me What To Swallow
Treatment example for UCLA, USC, NYU, etc.

logline: Irina is a student stuck in a dying relationship, but with the help of an older woman named Arrah, she learns how to have conviction and set herself free.

These projects below aren't necessarily for graduate apps, but I am working on them now.

We Were Young And In Love And The World Was Changing
A short film/music video project for We Heart Arts, a charity music label in the UK.

logline: a couple go through all five stages of a relationship as music brings them together and tears them apart. Starring Angela Chandra and TBA!

I am also working in various stages on getting a few Existential Hero songs from Has Potential the music video treatment, including one video that will be entered in the VADO HD contest.

Oh, and I'm learning After Effects. It's been the most exciting thing ever.

Stay tuned folks for a trailer for Under The Tree in a few days!

Quick Updates

Don't ask me about the Until The Very Last Moment DVDs lol

moving on.


Music video I did starring Alexandra Gellner reprising her role as Charlotte. It is a cover of a Watercolor Paintings song and is on the UTVLM soundtrack!



Commercial I did for a tax appeal company:

Updates Post-Premiere

Festival DVD edition is out and about making the rounds to professors and festivals.

Submitted to Corwin Awards, possibly 500 bucks for script and 1300 bucks for short film if we win top prizes.

We didn't get into IVDV due to silly length restrictions and the weird category rules.

However, the film has been submitted to 7 other film festivals:
Toronto After Dark Film Festival
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
Ojai-Ventura Film Festival
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival
Fanastic Fest (in Austin, TX)
Angelus Student Film Festival (in LA)
Hawaii International Film Festival

A comprehensive DVD is in the works. Hopefully for a June 1st release!

The Premiere!

Wow the premiere of Until The Very Last Moment was a wonderful success. We had families show up as well as many of the filmmakers of the short films before and we filled the entire theater, over 170 people!

I could not be happier at how it turned out, really I was so completely moved at everyone's response. I'm so proud of my cast and crew, we really accomplished something wonderful.

But it's only step one. =)

Now we have to get it out there for the whole world to see.

There will be updates on this page about new screenings and of course when the kickass comprehensive DVD comes out.

Stay tuned!

Until The Very Last Moment Score/Soundtrack

So here is the tracklasting for the Until The Very Last Moment Soundtrack/Score/Songs Inspired From The Movie.

Russ Woods from Tinyfolk did the score and the film features music from Secret Owl Society, Rambling Nicholas Heron, A Toothless Life and more!

1. Tinyfolk-"Thus Always Horses"
2. Secret Owl Society-"Waking Life"
3. Tinyfolk and Secret Owl Society-"Animal Politics"
4. Tinyfolk-"Class"
5. Tinyfolk-"T.V."
6. Tinyfolk-"Painting"
7. Tinyfolk-""i think some people are just really scared""
8. Tinyfolk-"Cult Cross"
9. Tinyfolk-"Gallery Interlude"
10. Tinyfolk-Showdown"
11. Super Famicom-"Is This Being Recorded?"
12. Tinyfolk-"Interview"
13. Tinyfolk-""this will save you before the end""
14. Tinyfolk-"Sylvia's Apartment"
15. Rambling Nicholas Heron-"Ocean Floor II"
16. Tinyfolk-"Drinking"
17. Tinyfolk-"Lunches"
18. Your Yellow Dress-"Bubble Guns"
19. Tinyfolk-"Attempted Suicide"
20. Tinyfolk-"Running Interlude"
21. A Toothless Life-"Hold Me Close"
22. Secret Owl Society-"The Underground"
23. Tinyfolk-"World's End"
24. Existential Hero-"Until The Very Last Moment"
*25. Bryce Isbell-"The East African Handshake Faux Pas"
*26. Isaac Arms-"800 Days"
*27. Gang Of Virgins-"Aubrey De Grey"
*28. Existential Hero-"Sailboat"

*Songs not in film

Coming to a CLLCT near you!

Until The Very Last Moment Premiere April 2nd, 2009 at 8PM

I can't disclose the "other short films" yet, but they'll be pretty awesome no doubt.

We might have a special guest as well.

Knee-Deep In Post!

Hey everyone so it's been a few weeks, a bit relaxing, but we are also approaching the deadline!!

So we did some ADR and I'm still getting a few pick ups (ie. sunsets, etc.).

We are continually refining the cut of the film, it is still pretty long, but I think it's manageable.

Posters are finally complete because we have a location!

still awaiting the score...

sound still needs some work. We have two weeks left!

the next post will have something fancy-like. =)

Weekend 12, 13, 14 + More

Weekend 12 we grabbed a reshoot of Sylvia's character on the couch.

From Weekend 12 all the way up until Weekend 14 we have been grabbing countless 5-10 second shots for the coda montage sequence, running all over Isla Vista and the UCSB campus.

Weekend 14 also saw our crew reshoot the "musical" number with Pat and his followers. Crowd reactions are always fun. And we got a giant whale in our movie!

We also reshoot the "church" scene with Sylvia and Pat because our actor Jason's hair was super different and inconsistent with the rest of the film. Our new location had better lighting too.

So that's technically a wrap.

We still have a montage element or two and some exterior shots, but those don't require a crew o anythin'.

It's been an involving journey, principle photography from October to March.

But it ain't over yet!

Until The Very Last Moment 2nd trailer premieres!

be sure when you go to the video to click on the "watch in HD" for the highest quality possible.

enjoy!

Original Teaser Trailer Now In Widescreen

and with better sound quality!



be sure when you go to the video to click on the "watch in HD" for the highest quality possible.

stay tuned for trailer number two out tonight after its premiere before Happy-Go-Lucky at UCSB in Isla Vista, CA.

Weekend 10 & 11 + More

Weekend 10 consisted of an entire Sunday shoot inside an apartment with Charlotte and eventually Johanna. We did the much anticipated suicide attempt at sunset scene and the new drinking scene at night.

Everything went pretty smoothly, we reshot some of the fort scene because the fort was butt ugly the first time.

Note: use ice tea as a substitute for whiskey.

Weekend 11, the "last" weekend of principle photography was pretty hectic, but we got everything done.

The weather has pretty much always worked in our favor and although I basically called off Saturday afternoon's shoot I thought for a minute and we did it anyway. The clouds cleared for us and it was a beautiful day.

I had a lost keys emergency in the evening on Saturday so we started the Goleta pier scene pretty late (around midnight), but it turned out really successful.

Sunday we shot two scenes, the king's cup coda where all of our main characters (minus Pat) are enjoying life, before something hilariously absurd happens.

Then we reshot the art gallery sequence. The first time we shot it the acting was great and so was alex's cinematography, but the location wasn't the best.

This time we got the CCS art gallery and it was perfect!

So by the end of the shoot I had a fever which was fine because that was technically the last shoot of principle photography!

It's been eleven crazy weekends, but we are only halfway there. Our editor David is adding the new footage and we should have a newer rough cut by next monday with everything except for two reshoots (one with Sylvia and one with Pat and his followers). We also have to shoot a bit of b-roll here or there, but still it's great to have most of the film shot and done!

Stay tune for a post with all the new posters!

Weekend 9 +more

Weekend nine looked like it was going to be trouble.

After two beautiful weeks of sunshine in January, it rained for most of last week and up until Saturday morning. Somehow fortune was on our side and we received almost two beautiful days of sunshine.

Both weekends were filled with scenes featuring Pat and his followers.

Saturday we started early in the arbor and wrapped up earlier than expected because the clouds were too numerous for a reshoot of scene 19.

Then a smaller crew came back to an indoor location at night to film a tender scene with just Pat as he gets ready for bed.

On Sunday we had a minor costume scare in the morning but luckily we found someone with the right clothes to help us out.

We filmed the giant cross scene which came out exactly as I imagined it. Quite an amazing thing.

Then we filmed our second sunset scene with Pat, his followers and a host of extras. Thanks everyone who came out for a beautiful sunset and delicious pizza!

I think this is some of our best footage yet.

We only have two weekends of principle left O_O

The premiere date is changed, details and updates soon!

7th and 8th weekend and more

So winter break has started a bit slow, but no less productive.

We hired two new crew:

David Finkelstein our editor and Michael Wootress our Line Producer.

Weekend 7 was pretty relaxing because of a scheduling mishap, but we did some of reshoots for Sylvia's sunset run to campus. Shooting at sunset is hard, but definitely possible.

Weekend 8 we got lots of b-roll/second unit, did an insert shot for one of Johanna's scenes on the beach and an insert shot for the editing scene with Billy.

We also got a few elements of the coda montage where we see former Instinctive Ones living their lives normally.

On Monday we filmed the interview scene between Billy and Sylvia which went smoothly and quickly.

Tuesday night some of the crew watched our very first rough cut!

It's still very very rough, but it's a damn good start.

And our premiere date is now set for the 19th of March, location and time TBA.

Mark your calenders.