"Adrift" and "Here and There" Showcased

[Digigenic]

Hey everyone...

Anytime you get a chance, please view my two short films, "Adrift" and "Here and There" in the student showcase section...

Questions and/or criticisms are welcomed and appreciated...

Thanks,
-Jacob Mason- 8)

 

[Kim Welch]

For best results don't just lcick the link for the movie. Right click on the link to download the movie and click save Target as... then save it on your hard drive. Nice work. Keep at it. when do we get the thrid one?!


Kim

 

[Digigenic]

Thanks Kim,

Everyone's been on me about that...the third installment was actually completed and would have been available by now if there hadn't been sabotage to our project with a month left in the semester. We salvaged what we could and sent out two parts, which basically paved a different path for us to take with the third installment anyways, so we plan on completing it in the opening weeks of August, when the fall semester begins.

 

[DerekEastham]

Hey Digi... way to go! Those are really very intriguing. I can't wait to see what you do with the third installment in the fall.

Are these the only two you've made? or do you have some others on-line on another site anywhere?

One thing I really got out of these two installments was a sense very much reminiscient of Requiem for a Dream, but with a new and unique flare.

Good luck finishing up a third installment in the fall!

 

[Digigenic]

Thanks Derek,

With the exception of one other project last semester, "Adrift" and "Here and There" are practically first-time projects. They've been entered into some fests, and contests, but this is the first online outlet for my work.
The project I did last fall with two other friends was a 20 minute non-sync project titled: "Red Rubber Ball", but we didn't use all-original music for it, so it's been locked away.

Yeah, I've heard other people associate the style of “Here and There” to Requiem, but it certainly wasn't my intent to replicate or spin off of it. As for “Adrift”, I love seeing local people’s reactions when I tell them where I shot it, they freak in disbelief, claiming I must have used CGI, but I didn’t, it’s simply catching nature at the right moment.

Thanks again for your comments, and assuming all goes well between now and the beginning of the fall semester, I should have no problems completing the third installment, and putting it on the site.

 

[DannyG]

Cool lookin stuff man! so the question is...where DID you shoot it? We have a lake near the neighborhood here and when its frozen over in the winter, sometimes on blustery nights there is an effect like that that i always thought would be cool to get on camera. can't wait for part 3

 

[Digigenic]

Here's a hint, the location is briefly mentioned in the movie Mothman Prophecies.
8)
Anyhow, we woke up at 4 am to gather the materials and toss them into a truck bed, travel, and set up to capture at around 7 am. We had about 30 to 45 minutes to get the entire thing to tape.
It was quite an experience...

 

[DannyG]

One question that I just thought of is what did you do to get the bed out to the middle of the sand without laying down tracks or footprints that would be visible in the shot?

 

[Digigenic]

Tracking was kept to a minimum because there were only two of us setting up the shot, and the bed had been disassembled, then reassembled on location.

 

[DannyG]

Yah because I didn't notice ANY tracks, but then again even when hes walking you don't see any behind him. Perhaps the sand was packed down pretty well and any indentations were quickly eroded by that wind. Can't say I've seen The Mothman Prophecies....yet. What was the rubber ball short about? (i mean...I think i can take a really really wild guess and maybe be in the ballpark ...but in a nutshell what did the ball do. Also, you mentioned the music "wasn't entirely original". Under such circumstances, what is the protocal for things like that in independent student films? Is there really a chance of you getting jumped on for showcasing it without liscensing, or does that rule apply strictly to commercial ventures.

 

[Digigenic]

To me “Red Rubber Ball” is unique but premature; it was just a different experience among first-time digital filmmaking students working with one another in a first year digital video class, it was scarry, it was hectic, and it was fun.
I met some really great people while doing it, and still managed to get a good response from fellow students at the school’s festival, but looking back on the project objectively, I see all sorts of flaws with it, so I label it premature. Not having original music is just the final nail in the coffin.
Now, I'm not disclaiming it, and I don't place blame on anyone. I just don't consider it for exhibition, because I feel like I've already moved onto something else.
In “Adrift” and “Here and There” I was able to have more creative control over each angle of the production, including the composition and design of the sound, without any worries of copyright infringements etc.

My intro to MPA professor told me that student films can use unoriginal music, as long as each track is less than 20 seconds. But, for me 19 seconds is pointless, I feel much better with it being all original.
To give you an example, in “Red Rubber Ball”, there are some sequences where entire songs are ripped, like 4 and 5 minute long tracks! There's no getting around that, unless the entire track is redeveloped, and since I know I'm not the one doing it, neither one of the other people are going to be concerned about it, because they just wanted something to show friends and family. Which is fine by me, it's just that they have to realize that that's as far as it goes; they can't get the sudden urge to enter it into a festival, because they don't own the creative rights to music that was used.

There are a large number of student films that are held back from festival circuits, because they weren't entirely aware of all the red tape, even now I'm still not entirely aware, but I know as long as I write it, shoot it, edit it, compose the music for it, and see it through to completion, then there’s very little left for me to worry about except getting it out there for others to see…

 

[Digigenic]

I just received notification from Aurora Picture Show, and "Here and There" will be showing at the 7th? Annual Aurora Picture Show Extremely Shorts Film Festival.
Unfortunately, Adrift did not make it...

 

[jodymichelle]

Hey, congratulations! I wonder what will happen to James in the third one!

 

[Digigenic]

Thanks Jody,
I'm hoping the third one arrives fittingly without yielding to expectations. Whether or not it all coherently ties together remains a mystery at the moment, even to me and Shane

 

[Digigenic]

Hey everybody,

I just wanted to say that I truly appreciate everybody's support for our work on “Adrift” and “Here and There”. For those of you still interested in the succession of this series, Shane and I are still in the process of getting all of the key production elements in place to take on the third installment. We needed some fancy pants software, another rare location locked, and a few other nuts and bolts, excluding the ones already missing from our heads.

At any rate, I just wanted to update all of you on the development of our project. Questions and/or criticisms are still welcomed and much appreciated. More artists are beginning to exhibit their work on the site, particularly from Derek Eastham, Jeffery Neir, Duncan Skiles, and Benjamin Kinsley; it’s really great. I feel very privileged to be a part of this.

See you on the forums and in the showcase. 8)

-Jacob-

 

[laurent.a]

Good luck on your projects, Jacob !

 

[Digigenic]

I found out yesterday that “Adrift” has been selected by “New Screen Broadcasting” for inclusion in the New Screen Broadcasting Program.
As soon as more information becomes available I'll be sure to post.

This comes as quite a surprise considering I had submitted my work June 30th...the wheels turn awfully slow in television.
Artists whose work had been accepted into the program are given stock in the company, so as a result of this inclusion to help establish the network; I am now a shareholder of New Screen’s parent company, “Emerging Creative Media”. We'll see where it goes...