Hello all! We have been off working on a film for a contest from Canon & Vimeo started by Vincent Laforet. The concept is to take the last still from a film (the previous winner in the contest) and let that inspire you to create a short of yourself. They were very open on what this interpretation could be. There have been many awesome entries spanning a huge range of creative ideas. Some people decided to take the story and go in a new direction, others let the still inspire them to create a whole new story of there own.

For us we felt the nature of this contest was simple. Be inspired. Be Motivated.

I know sometimes I find myself needing that extra push, and little extra drive to make a project happen. I really feel this contest did that for us. Don’t get us wrong we love making movies, but its contests like this that give us that surge of creativity and that drive to create something not only fun for us, but hopefully enjoyable for others.

We decided to go with a continuation of Vincent’s original story, and we did this because we felt it let off at a great place to really explore some characters. We are sticklers to the idea that a film is only as amazing as the story is it telling. Sure making things look beautiful and sound perfect are all pieces that help a vision come to life, but without a solid story it will all fall apart. its the foundation. In our interpretation we introduce you to the girl, years later after she has had contact with her first key. We are taken with her on her mission to unlock something that even we don’t know about. We wanted to make sure if we did manage to win this contest we left the next team with just as much creative leeway as we were given.

Anyways! it has been so much fun the last few days. As some of you know there are four of us here at popcorn island, and we pulled all the strings we have to get favors for locations and pieces of random “garbage” to build up this movie. For those interested we shot on Canon’s 5D, primarily using 2 len’s, a 24-105 and a 90mm macro. As you can see on our behind the scenes page our gear was pretty rigged. Aside from a steady cam we recently got a hold of we used rolling camera men on carts, leaf blowers, and even wired together some LEDS into an old box we had laying around. To be honest though we have had some crazy late nights and way to much caffeine and pizza, it has been the most fun I have had working on a project. Who would of thought my soldering skills would be useful again!

We want to thank Arica Maldonado for coming out and acting for us, and a shout out to a few of our friends, Ryan, Brittany, and Max for all your help making things come together!

Thanks a lot for stopping by and reading this, we hope the film inspires others to head out with whatever equipment that have laying around and push forward on your own projects! With the change we are seeing in cost and quality of cameras now-a-days, it is  become practical for feature quality movies to be created by smaller groups and communities. We can’t wait to see what this year brings in dSLR film, and independent film in general!

To end I will include a link to the Vimeo Contest Page and our Behind the Scenes gallery. Oh and Also if you would like to watch our submission right now! Check out Beyond the Still – Part II. We hope you enjoy it!

Dad,  I know you’ve been dealing with way more crap than you should be right now and the “the termites” are weighing heavy on you. So.. I decided to make a little film to help lift up your spirits and hopefully make you laugh for Father’s Day. I know ever since Red cut you out of the “Steven King Trailer” you’ve felt a little left out, so now you have your very own film to show off to everyone. Granted, it’s filled with all inside jokes and anyone who doesn’t know you very well might not understand the puns. Who cares though, this movie is for you!

Thank you for all the support you’ve given me over the years with my career and for all the love and guidance you’ve brought to my life to help make me the person I am today. I hope you enjoy the film!

p.s. Ross and Red both say hi and happy father’s day! They helped me a lot on this thing… we were up til 6am working on it.

Love Ya!

Watch: Father’s Day Film

- Josh

To show our hometown support for the Chicago Blackhawks, and selfishly attempt to win tickets to the Tuesday game, Red and I decided to participate in a Chicago Blackhawks Twitter contest. According to the Blackhawks twitter you are supposed to cast a player or two in a movie about the Hawks 2009 season. This sounded right up our alley, but obviously we had to up it a bit.

We decided to create a small trailer for the movie “One Goal,” showcasing our picks and some choice clips from the soon to be film. Now technically the contest entries have to be submitted in under 140 characters, but there were never any rules about those characters being a link!

We really enjoyed making this little guy, and despite a long stretch of effort from Saturday till this morning, we feel the time was well spent!

Click on thumbnail below to watch the trailer, we hope you all enjoy it, and regardless go HAWKS!

One Goal - The Trailer

Tag Line -”Josh and Sarah’s realtor neglects to tell them that their new condo comes with a roommate.”

This film was one of those hurry up and shoot it kinda deals. Directed by Adrian DiGiovanni, we spent all of 8 hours shooting it, and a few days editing. All to submit it on time for the Chicago Comedy Film/Video Festival last year, 2008. Much like the success of Mercy Date, which placed 2nd in 2007, Dead British Kid took home the 3rd place honor. Not bad for the time we spent making it.  We had fun and that’s what’s important.

watch: Dead British Kid

Ozzarts and Popcorn Island Team up once again for another short format 16mm film project. This film is about Adam, an aspiring movie director looking for inspiration in his work. His past regrets have left him empty and utterly alone. It isn’t until he tries to rehash the past that he is faced with confronting his future.

watch: Anecdote

Originally created soley for Red and Ross’s amusement, “Behind the Drip”, quickly became one of the best short film documentaries of its time. Audio excerpts from the film even went on to be mixed in DJ Gerbasi’s Gold Platinum Turducken Bling Bling recording “Totem Rap” which now tops the charts.

In all seriousness, this was my first attempt at completing a short format stop motion animation film and any pretentious talk in the documentary is purely my attempt at crushing Red and Ross’s ego’s.  What started out as a simple Popcorn Island Halloween festival between us islanders, (Red, Ross and I) turned into a heated competition to secretly outdo one another. What was supposed to only take place over a weekend, ended up taking place over the course of months and it had been almost a year later when the film finally came to completion. Not exactly the best way to utilize each others talents seeing as I had to hide everything about my film until I screened it for Red and Ross. The idea was simple. Each of us go off and make a movie without the help of one another and see what we come up with. Well I think we may have taken the challenge too seriously. Ross Gerbasi’s festival entry was a little ditty called “Squeaks”. Maybe you’ve heard of it? If not, I’m sure he’ll be posting it soon. Either way, I learned a lot about stop motion, had a ton of fun doing it, and It will continue to be something I experiment with in the future.

watch: Behind the Drip

Popcorn Island’s official entry into the 2008 48hr Film Festival. This masterpiece has just about everything going for it except a plot. You’ll find more holes in this one than any Chicago side street. But keep a few things in mind while watching. One, this film was fated to be a “detective/cop” genre. Two, the words “What’s the password?” had to be used. Three, Red Clark “had” to act and direct the film! Four, some form of deceased ashes had to exist as a prop. Five, one of the characters names needed to be Walter Western. Six, the film had to be written, shot and edited in 2 days. Other than that…we are responsible for the rest. And by rest I mean the red stains now permanently covering Mango House’s basement floor. Enjoy.

watch: Egger’s Urn