Fairfield Script

I've been primarily using this blog for visual projects, but since writing Fairfield has been a major project of mine since the end of 2006/beginning of 2007, and has again become my main focus approaching 2010, it seems wrong not to mention it on a blog about projects I'm working on.

I began the planning stages of Fairfield around the end of 2006 and wrote the original script for a class in my final semester at SFSU in 2007. I always wrote it with the intention to film it, which is a privilege not many writers get, and one that helps me greatly through the writing process since I can visualize who's going to be playing who, and can really hear a specific character's voice while I write. My previous film, Phat Tony, really lacked in the performance of the actors, and I don't feel that it was as much of a fault with the people in it, as it was a fault of poor casting on my end. In Phat Tony, I only thought visually of who would be good for the role, instead of thinking about actual personalities. I think the casting was greatly improved between the two films, and being able to have a casted film while writing it really helps with writing dialogue, especially for the more colorful characters like L Teezy Mac and Bruce in Fairfield.

christmas crafts

I've been spending a lot of my free-time recently working on my script, but Mary and I found some time on Thanksgiving to make stockings for ourselves for Christmas. Mine is the one on the right with the snowflakes. Mostly I like how large they are to fit lots of gifts.



We also made a wreath with a felt bison on it. The leaves were made from PBR cans that we cut into leaf-shapes and then painted green. Originally, i was going to put the bison on the stocking, but decided it just wasn't going to fit aesthetically. Since i already had the bison outline ready though, it was the logical solution for what to make the center-piece of the wreath.

DVD Authoring Cont...

I decided to play around with Photoshop some more and see if I couldn't improve on the old main menu I hastily threw together for Fairfield (see last post for old menu image). I mostly like the way it turned out and have definitely learned a few more tools in Photoshop in the process.



Next I'm going to export this into AfterEffects and see if I can make an animated menu. I may or may not end up using the animated version, but it should be a fun experiment at least.

DVD Authoring of Fairfield

I made my "big movie," Fairfield, two years ago now and am finally just now really finishing it. I burned copies for friends/people who worked on it with end credits of a friend drunkenly singing a song, but it wasn't exactly the version I wanted to submit to any film festivals. I was finally to a point where I had the motivation/equipment necessary to make the version I've wanted.



The other good part about finally doing this is that it's forced me to learn more software. I used Adobe Encore for the first time and made all the menus myself in Photoshop. The picture above is the main menu I made displayed in the Encore project. It's obviously really simple, but I like it better than using the cookie-cutter iDVD menus I've used in the past.

new town, new apartment, new bed and headboard

i've just moved to chicago and finally have the space for the bed and headboard i built. the basic blue-prints were from handmade modern, but i added a shelf on the headboard and took out the weird illumination thing they did. mary and i may still add a decorative paper to the headboard, but this is it for now.

value world find

i found an old sears super-8 camera at value world the other day and just ordered a battery for it in the desperate hope that it will actually work. it's unlikely, but i felt like i had to try it. regardless, it's still a sweet find.

plush bison friend

mary showed me how to make a plush friend and i chose to make a bison. he turned out much thinner than i imagined because it didn't occur to be that the bottom and top of him had to come from somewhere. also, his tail was an issue because of how small it is, but mary saved him and he ended up turning out ok.

untitled imaginary friend project

i'm in the process of completing the script for a new short currently being referred to as imaginary friend project.

synopsis:
adam, being unable to make any friends, has created his own friend, winston. winston is rude and never hesitates to speak his mind; something adam is incapable of doing. adam, despite having winston, still desperately wants to hang out with nate and colin; two arrogant hipsters who have no interest in spending time with sweatpants-wearing adam. when winston constantly voices his negative opinions about nate and colin, and adam insists on defending them, even adam's own imaginary friend leaves him. adam, now without winston, has to figure out for himself which friends are genuine and which aren't.

cast:
adam... travis bye
winston... loren tyra
nate... dan c. smith
colin... kevin fulton

written and directed by trevor walters
story by trevor walters and dan a. smith

ninja turtle sewer background

i found an old image from the original nes/amiga 2000 ninja turtles game and photoshopped out donatello, bee-bop, rocksteady, and april o'neil. i blew it up to be the width/height i wanted and then printed it out at kinkos to make this background for my turtle, michelangelo's, tank.