Friday, September 26, 2008

Guitar Zero - Uber Expert Mode 100% with No Hands!

an 8 second short i did for Hamish and Andy's Infuriatingly Short Film Festival.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Aaron Stewart-Ahn on Nagi Noda









Aaron Stewart-Ahn, director of several Chris Walla videos, wrote the following on japanese multimedia artist Nagi Noda who passed away last week:


I was lucky enough to have met Nagi. It was one of the more interesting evenings in my life. What was supposed to be a short chat over coffee turned into an up til 3am ramble on just about everything. One time meeting a person is never enough, but she was extremely endearing.

Nagi exuded and lived art, as it was something to be lived. It made me feel like an amateur - so connected was her feeling about life invested in what she wanted to do. She had no barriers, pretty much laid as much of her life story in our awkward English (littered with impressive words) as she could. She talked about the unfairness of being a female director, how she felt she had to act twenty times as tough as she was just to get the modicum of respect necessary to do her job. She told me about the start of her artistic life lived with her parents - both artists themselves who had given her a sense of how difficult it can be to navigate the world of art. She also talked about the need for artists to not be divorced from the divine, past lives, a recent trip to Angkor Wat so full of meaning - which planted the seed in my head which led to me shooting there in my last video.

The drawing above was something she put down on the napkin in front of me - she told me it was the secret to the universe, but I shouldn't tell anyone. I think it's ok now. She said most of us look out at the world, but if you close your eyes and look up, you're looking at the universe through your mind, looking at the universe.


She struck me as free spirited, eccentric, and beneath it all incredibly strong. In one evening in her company she affected me greatly. I miss her.


from antville.org

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

dir: marc webber.

horrible, horrible song. But one of the nicest, fuzziest videos I've seen in a while.

A strong story with a gorgeous mural in the subway being the interplay between two characters who live similar lives but who never meet.

(Yes, I made my film even before I was aware of this clip. Jung's collective unconscious to blame again.)

Brilliant piece of narrative for a less-than-average song. Compare with previous two.

Counting Crows - American Girls

dir: marc webber

case in point (see previous post)

Very beautifully shot with very beautiful people that serves the purpose of the song, but doesn't do much more than that. Can't argue with the snappy editing and stylish visuals. And the pretty women. Great direction and choreography. And the pretty women.

No wonder this became a coke ad soon after.

Compare with previous and next post.

P.S. Universal has limited video embedding for this song, so if it says the video's unavailable, just go straight to youtube at this address: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfBshRZcrXU



Weezer - Perfect Situation

dir: Marc Webber

Marc Webber makes expensive music videos for expensive people and often (not always) rises above the cookie-cutter moulds by telling an empathetic narrative.

The very lovely Elisha Cuthbert stars as the faux ex-lead vocalise of 'Weeze'

Friday, September 12, 2008

eugonline > toronto | three film thursday

eugonline > toronto | three film thursday

Looking forward to Hizokazu Kore-Eda's 'Still Walking', when it eventually comes down here. Screened at TIFF this year. Loved 'Nobody Knows' - a story about abandoned children that harrowingly mirrors some recent events here in melbourne.

Monday, September 1, 2008

5 cans of 16mm film.

I checked my fridge and realised that I still have several cans of 16mm film leftover from last year's film.

My options are to sell the film, or write something quick and fast, and shoot that for november or december's film.

why not? it's my last year in melbourne. if i don't do it now, i'd probably regret it.


R.E.M. | Imitation Of Life

A brilliant idea delivered to perfection.

"The single's video, depicting a scene of an elaborate pool party, was shot in Los Angeles by Garth Jennings. Michael Stipe, in an interview with MTV UK in 2001, explained how the video was made. "The entire video took twenty seconds to shoot. What you're watching is a loop that goes forwards for twenty seconds, backwards for twenty seconds, forwards for twenty seconds, backwards for twenty seconds, with one camera, static, and then using a technique called 'pan and scan', which is a technical thing that is used when they go from a widescreen format and reformat to fit your television or DVD, moving in on certain parts of the entire picture. And you'll see that we do that picking up various people within the frame."
from wikipedia

"


By the genius that is Garth Jennings.