Pie In The Face
For all you filmmakers out there… here’s the newest short film contest from the folks at the newly-named 360|365 Film Festival here in Rochester, NY. We helped put together this promotional video to announce the theme. Can’t wait to see what entries get sent in for this one!!!
See all the entries at: http://www.youtube.com/360365shorts#p/c/D00028754991CD04
World Class Film Festival with a Small Town Charm
They definitely know how to do it right at the Rome International Film Festival, about an hour and a half outside of Atlanta. Jim Hughes and I spent two wonderful days getting to know the people and the rich history of Rome, GA, a vibrant small city in the middle of several colleges in the area. Harry Musselwhite and his wife, Laura, really made us feel like we were celebrities as we screened the many films shown at the classic DeSoto theater and enjoyed their well-planned and well-executed hospitality.
One of my favorite documentaries was The Human Experience, a great concept film about two young brothers trying to find their place in life. Another film, shot close to home was Pound Cake, written by and starring Troy Hall and Kevin Logie, plus many other great actors (including Kathleen Quinlan and Jay O. Sanders). Definitely a laugh-out-loud type of film and since it’s set in Buffalo, NY in the 1980’s … how can you go wrong?
Of course, the main reason we were there was to showcase our documentary, Signs of the Time, which was very well received by a crowd of over 100 people. We also made it to the Final Four of nominations in the category of Best American Documentary. Though we didn’t walk away winners, we felt pretty good about our experience in Rome and I look forward to the opportunity of making it back there again. Thanks Harry and Laura!
Late nights in the edit room
Ok, first let me explain… you know how when you get tired you can get a little punchy and start laughing at just about anything? Well here’s one of our absurd rambling’s that we actually decided to do something with. Comedy Central’s Atom.com is sponsoring a contest called Operation Olivia with actress/host Olivia Munn to find a funny Star Wars Fan Film. To enter, you need to create a pitch explaining the concept and how Ms. Munn would be involved. (she will star in the winning entry)
So with the help of Matt Ehlers from eggwork.com and Brian Aloisio’s ProTools expertise, here’s our pitch…
If you like it please vote on the Atom.com website and tell all your friends.
If you think it sucks and it’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen…well you might be right, but… just watch it alot of times anyway and tell all your friends. Just forget to vote.
We’ll see in the upcomings weeks how we did!
Birthday at the Ad Council Golf Tournament
The Crystal Pix crew recently participated in the Advertising Council of Rochester’s annual fundraising golf tournament on August 18th. After just having completed my rookie season on the team, this was the first time I was able to attend the tournament…
Anne, Rob, Jim Hughes, and I all played together on a team against Ray, Don, Caroline, and Dave Conyer. They reluctantly gave us 6 strokes as we were playing a scramble format match. If you ask me, this was clearly unfair. Despite the fact that I play in the Crystal Pix golf league, I have an abysmally high handicap as do Anne and Jim. This of course didn’t stop me from declaring to everyone that my group would reign supreme. The way I see it, if it’s gonna be a competition there may as well be trash talk.
A photo of the whole gang from the 2nd hole.
The day started off well…
I got to the course on time. Mr. Hughes brought the fixins for the coffee. And, we were dead even as we headed off to start on hole 2.
Then we played a sport called golf…
My first shot of the day actually went backwards because it ricocheted off a tree. The rest of the day went largely in this fashion. Anne was hitting home run balls off the tee so we managed to escape largely unscathed. But alas, the course at Greystone proved to be too much of a challenge for our golf skills.
The highlight of the day was having birthday cake on the tee at the 6th hole. I can’t say that I’ve ever done that before! As we came around the corner from hole 5, I actually thought that we had caught up to Ray, Don, Caroline, and Dave. I was anxious to see them hit off the tee there because it was the closest to the pin hole. Much to my surprise the actual reason they were still there waiting was to sing happy birthday to me! A big thanks to Katelin Ryan and Adrienne Cavallaro for arranging to have the cake waiting for us at hole 6.
A photo from the 6th hole with cake!
Despite the fact that it felt like it was 110 degrees and we were playing golf, we all had a great time at the tournament. I think we can all agree that we had an even better time afterwords eating dinner and participating in the silent auction. We’ll certainly be lined up and ready to go next year.
For the record:
We lost by 3 strokes despite having been given 6 strokes and purchasing 16 mulligans. At least the mulligan money went to a good cause.
Signs of the Time Goes to Iowa
Corn … miles and miles of corn. The plane’s 200 feet off the ground and I still see corn. Yeah, you guessed it. There’s a lot of corn in Iowa.
But anyways, our documentary, Signs of the Time hit the road with it’s first out of New York State film festival, the Hardacre Film Festival of Tipton, IA. Don Casper (the director of Signs of the Time) and I went to check out the films, meet some filmmakers and enjoy some great Iowa hospitality (there was a lot of that!)
We even had a couple hours to check out the Bob Feller Museum. Bob grew up in Iowa and since he was in our film, we thought it was appropriate to visit.
The festival, run by Will Valet and an incredible staff had about 30 films within 2 days at the classic Hardacre Theater. We met the filmmakers behind two of the documentaries there. Joe Wilson’s Out in the Silence challenges us to close the gaps that divide us as a human race. Pride of Lions is a story about Sierra Leone, a country and its people brutalized by an 11-year civil war, as they look to move beyond their scars. Both films had a great story to tell and they did it well. Box of tissues, please! Not for me … for Don.
On a lighter note, we saw a great feature, Breaking Upwards … with a cast that directs, edits and writes their own songs! That’s Indie production!
Signs of the Time was also well received by the audience and there was a Q&A session after the film. It’s always great to hear people come up to you and say, “You know, I’m not really a baseball fan, but I really loved your movie!”
Hardacre is just the beginning of a long list of festivals that we’ll be going to this summer and fall. I hope they’re as enjoyable as this one in the heart of corn country.
By the way … I never did get any sweet corn!
Coming Home Shorts Contest
Crystal Pix worked with the High Falls Film Festival in Rochester, NY to produce this video featuring Rochester’s Mayor unveiling a short film competition.
For any and all that are interested…visit:
www.rochestersmoviefest.com
Go make a film… there might be a thousand smackers in it for you!
The Birthday Surprise
Watch out, it’s that time again….
Celebrating a birthday at Crystal Pix has proven to be another way for us to show just how creative we can get here at Crystal Pix.
Since I began working at Crystal Pix, which was 13 years ago, we have always celebrated our employees birthdays. Typically, we would get a cake and a card on that person’s birthday, and TRY to surprise that person in some lamo way, asking them into one of the editing suites while yelling “surprise” and signing “Happy Birthday!” No one was ever surprised by the way. We expected it.
But two years ago, it was decided that we needed to “take this birthday thang” up a level.
I was on a video production with Ray, and as it turned out, asked to be the talent at the last moment. Hey, when you have star quality, I guess you just can’t hide it. Hee, hee.
During that day, Ray tells me that my makeup needs to be touched up, so I was actually in the makeup chair facing away from the door, when I turned around, there were all of the Crystal Pix employees at this house in Chili, with my birthday cake!! Boy was I surprised!
That was the first surprise and only the beginning of a whole new set of birthday surprises….
The next birthday was for Don Casper, an editor here at Crystal Pix.
We decide to show up at Don’s house on a Saturday at 7:00am! This time we needed to get Don’s wife involved if we were going to pull it off. I don’t know about the rest of the employees here, but I didn’t want to see Don come downstairs in his underwear while we were all waiting for him. That might make working together a little uncomfortable, don’t you think? But his wife sent him down for coffee and there we all were, cake and ice cream at 7:00 am! And to quote Bill Cosby, “What’s wrong with Cake and Ice Cream for Breakfast, it’s got milk, eggs….”
The next birthday surprise was for Greg Short, our flash/interative guy. Greg is kind of predictable when it comes to his eating habits, so it was decided to surprise him at his old standby – “Salvatores Pizzaria” in Fairport. I arranged a sheet pizza, with Happy Birthday spelled out in pepperoni’s to be waiting for him. The guys usually walk over the canal to go have lunch, and we have Brian pretend that he forgot his wallet upstairs, so back up Brian goes while Greg and Rob wait downstairs. The rest of us hit the back stairs, run across the bridge like a bunch of nuts and wait in hiding for Greg with the pizza in the other room. The guys come in and place their orders and Greg comes around to the sitting area and there we are, singing Happy Birthday again! Got him!
The next birthday was Rob LaVaque who is the owner of Gravity Pool and Tone Bender Music and does all our music and audio here for us at Crystal Pix. We were pretty imaginative this time I think. All of us recorded a Happy Birthday video to Rob and we uploaded it to YouTube. Don tells Rob to check out this really cool video he saw on the site and sent him a link, there we all were singing Happy Birthday. I am not commenting on our singing ability, but the surprise was pretty awesome!
The next victim to get our birthday surprise was Caroline Manard, owner of Crystal Pix. We all planned to be at Caroline’s house after work, when she came home with her daughters from running them around to their activities. With the help of Ray who let us in the house, we all hid in her dining room and waited to pounce on her as she walked in. We had to be careful though, because we were afraid we would scare her daughters so much that they would start to cry! As luck would have it, the oldest daughter came in first and then Caroline and Ray was able to keep Ava back so not to scare her. There we all were, in her dining room, with pizza and wine for dinner! Another great surprise! And Caroline didn’t have to cook.
Victim Number 6 – Ray Manard, Editor and Owner of Crystal Pix.
So Ray is flying into the Rochester International Airport, coming back with Eric McMaster from a film shoot. What better way to surprise him but with really tacky balloons, Hannah Montanna and Sponge Bob and a cake! Ray comes down the ramp from the plane and there we are again, singing Happy Birthday in the airport. We even had his children there waiting for him too. Got you Ray….
Birthday Number 7 – Anne Mills
Back to me again, full circle…Ray sends me down to Donnelly’s Irish Pub to pick up “his lunch”. I am at the bar picking it up, I see Ray come in running across the dining room, but at the same time the rest of my office comes out from around the corner, with my girlfriend who was supposed to be having lunch with me at another restaurant and the whole bar joins in singing me “Happy Birthday!” Good one….
Birthday Number 8 – Don Casper
So the last birthday surprise to go down this year was Don Casper just last month.
Don and most of the Crystal Pix employees golf every Monday night at Eagle Vale.
Greg and I arranged for Don to be in the last group to come in on the 18th hole. Greg had taped Don’s card on the flag and it was decided that Don would be the one to pull the flag when they all got on the green.
Unfortunately, Primo screwed that up with the help of Jason S, but we all were hiding in the practice tent right next to the green and out we jumped with the cake singing our Happy Birthday. Then off to the clubhouse to enjoy the cake and a few birthday beers!
So that’s the story of our Birthday Celebrations at Crystal Pix.
Brian has yet to be surprised by us, but I know he is worried, as he should be.
You never know where we’ll turn up!
A People Person
Over the years being in this business, I’ve been forced to become a ‘people person’, which I never thought I would become. Growing up, I was a relatively shy person.
But you know, I’ve met so many people on productions, from all different walks of life and it’s really one of the reasons that I enjoy what I do so much. And you never really understand how much the people that you meet have an effect on your own life. But I guess when you share even just a little of their trials and tribulations, their joys and accomplishments … how could you not be effected? As the Crystal Pix blog grows, I hope to share some of the encounters I’ve had with so many wonderful people. Here’s one:
A couple of months ago, we did some interviews for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, part of their Spirit Alive program. The interviews focused on different people’s thoughts and views on reading the Bible. It was very inspiring to hear their responses, both young and old.
One young man talked about being new to the Bible. He carried a palm-sized edition of the New Testament in his back pocket and carried it with him wherever he went. His matter-of-fact views about God and the Bible were very refreshing to hear (was I that inspired when I was 17? I don’t think so). Another gentleman talked about how the Bible had changed his whole life. He wouldn’t have a house, a wife or a child on the way without it. And one woman talked about how the Bible has inspired her to share her faith with the youth of the Diocese (lucky kids!)
The goal of the program, of course, is to get others interested in the Bible and start reading it for themselves. Based on the content we got from the interviews, it should be pretty successful.
(By the way … 2 days after the interviews, I picked up my own palm-sized New Testament. I keep it in my car … just in case).
Rochester High Falls International Film Festival
RHFIFF at The Little Theatre
Back in May, our first independent feature documentary, Signs of the Time, played at the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival (www.rochestermoviefest.com). It was a very interesting and eye-opening experience for me. First of all, it was great to showcase our film in my hometown of Rochester, NY. But secondly, the theme of the film festival really hit home. This film festival celebrates women in all roles of film making. Thankfully as an executive producer, as well as graphic artist and animator on our project, I fall into that category. Rochester is a perfect place to host such a festival since it is not only the home of Eastman Kodak and the birth of film, but it is home to where Susan B. Anthony’s determination and tenacity ignited the women’s suffrage movement. I thank everyone involved with the RHFIFF for giving me the opportunity to present our film as well as offering a great program to meet others in the field. During the five day run of the festival I got to meet and talk with other woman filmmakers and in doing so realized that we are a rare breed. So much so that the RHFIFF is one of about 40 or so festivals worldwide that feel the need to showcase women’s influence in film. This prompted me to do a little research.
I always knew that this business has been heavily male dominated, but I have come to discover that women in creative roles of film making have been slowly declining over the years. The reasons for this are probably diverse and complicated but nonetheless discouraging. It’s not that there aren’t woman filmmakers out there, but that they are under represented in the industry. At one screening at the RHFIFF I became aware of a non-profit organization called X-Factor Filmmakers. They had some pretty cool t-shirts for sale to help support women in film making. X-Factor Filmmakers will donate 100% of the net proceeds from shirt sales to film grants and scholarships for women throughout the USA (www.xfactorfilm.com). They even have t-shirts fitted for women. Imagine that. No need to wear the boxy standard mens t-shirt. So on that note, to all woman filmmakers out there, I challenge you to stay determined and focused on the craft that you love in the face of whatever adversity that presents itself. In the words of Susan B. Anthony, “Failure is impossible.”
The Crystal Pix Diner – Part 1 of 4
It began something like this…
When we initially posted the most recent version of the Crystal Pix website we knew we wanted to do something a little more interesting with the “Our People” section. We needed an entertaining way to show the various personalities and backgrounds of the people at Crystal Pix. Our work isn’t just about what we can do, it’s who we are. How do you say that?
Ray came up with the idea of making an interactive diner scene. Each of us would be a character in the diner and you’d get a sense for who we are without us taking ourselves too seriously. None of us could think of a more fitting solution so the idea stuck. Naturally, this presented more questions than answers: where do we find a diner, who are the characters, how do we shoot this scene, and how do we enhance it with interactivity?
We very easily could’ve booked some time at a diner when it was closed, set up some lights, gotten our costumes on, and shot away. At what cost though? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to find a picture of a diner and use that? We resolved that we had to find a scene, take pictures of everyone, make cutouts and put them in the scene. Ray scoured iStockphoto for a few days looking for pictures of diners that we could possibly use for this project. It turns out there were only 2 options, and really only 1 of them was viable. The picture above was the one that made the grade. We were really concerned about using it because it appears as if the floor on the right is falling off the end of the universe. How would we fit everyone in? How do we make it look like we were actually there? Do we shoot everyone on green like we would for video?
Before we could shoot anything we needed to answer some of these questions. If there’s one thing that everyone at CPix doesn’t have, it’s time to waste. We really wanted to get this done as efficiently as possible.
Step 1: Cut out the counter and the stools.
Since we were short on real estate in this shot we knew we had to have 2-3 people standing behind the counter. The easiest way to get them there and still have the flexibility to shift people around was to cut out the counter and make it a separate layer in Photoshop. That way we could sneak a couple characters back there. Every stool had to be it’s own layer as well if we were to believe that our characters were sitting on them.
Step 2: Figure out how to shoot the scene.
We needed to figure out whether to shoot everyone on white or green. As it turns out we had some green screen stills from a previous video project kickin’ around. I used this as my test to figure out if we should green screen it. As I was quickly cutting out the construction worker stand-ins, it didn’t take long to realize that this wasn’t the best way to go. Check out the green highlights on the woman’s right arm in the foreground. It was however a great way to see where everyone might fit in the scene.
It’s important to know that while the graphics department was working out the visual issues the rest of the Crystal Pix team was taking care of the other details. We had to come to a consensus on what character each person would be and what they would wear. Additionally, we enlisted the help of local writer/director Matthew Ehlers (eggwork) to write the writing.
Up next Part 2: The Shoot
