Today begins the week long photo competition between Alex Ladizinsky and Sean O'Grady. Everyday we will post two new photo in the photo album. These photos will then be voted on by our facebook friends by hitting the "like" button. You can vote on which ever photo you want, but please only vote for one picture a day. The photographers must take photos on a cell phone with the phone's original camera (no toy camera apps.) At the end of the week we will total the "likes" to determine the first winner.
Enjoy! And please spread the word to your friends!
Blogs are tough. When you first start you write on them every other day. You check back often to see how many people have read it, and you think about your next blog regularly. Eventually that every other day turns into once a week, then bi-weekly, monthly. Soon you turn around and it's been months since your last blog. The longer you go without, the more of an obstacle it seems to be. But eventually you get back in to it. You commit yourself to write, every other day, just to start the whole process again. But for those of you that do come back to the blog. For those that are interested in what we are doing. We appreciate you, and we do this for you. So ON TO THE BLOG!
Stand for Children is done!
If you haven't heard, we did a series of documentaries for the local chapter of the non-profit organization Stand For Children. These people are advocates for children across the country. Besides organizing protests, letter writing and phone campaigns to lobby for more school funding, they also provide underprivileged youth with the opportunity to go to college through their "beat the odds" scholarship. This is a scholarship that provides much needed assistance to kids with few other options to attend higher education.
This year we were fortunate enough to work with Stand For Children on their videos of the winners of the scholarships. These were all shot by us, driving across the state over a whirlwind weekend of production in Portland, Albany, and Medford, Oregon. While preparing for our Sasquatch screening we began cutting on Stand. We finished our rough cut soon after the screening and a few back and forths between us and Stand For Children's staff, and we had the spots finished and polished ahead of schedule. The videos were shown at Stand for Children's annual fundraiser held this year in the Oregon Zoo ballroom. It was quite an event with a delicious entree, wine, coffee, and desert!
Here are the three videos of the scholarship winners:
Produced by: Kyle Glenn, Walker Williamson
Directed by: Eli Shell
Shot by: Patrick LaValley, Jason Windsor
Sound by: Kyle Glenn
Edited by: Kyle Glenn, Eli Shell
Visual FX: Jason Windsor
This has truly been a positive experience for me personally (Eli here). As we have worked primarily in fiction it was nice to stretch ourselves creatively, try something a little different. Aside from that it is also nice to do something for others. We all took minimal pay, donating more than half of our time to this worthy cause. The better the video ended up, the thought was, the more that Stand For Children could raise at their fundraiser where this would play. We all put alot of time and effort into making these the best they could possibly be. It has been an extremely rewarding experience, and the end product turned out better than I could have hoped. All of us over here at QO look forward to working with Stand for Children again.
Hello, hello! It's been awhile since you've heard from us over here at QOHQ, most likely because we are deep into post on 'Evidence of the Sasquatch.' As I type this Eli sits at a computer in our dark workspace figuring out how to best foley the sound of a character urinating off a deck. A bucket full of dirt, leaves and grass later, Jason slowly trickles water out of a Yeyo bottle to synthesize the sound. Next up, how do we replicate the sound of a body dragging across a deck?
We've been in sound design for about three weeks now with Anthony Gainer and Eli tag-teaming Pro Tools. Our picture edit is locked, our visual effects are done, thanks in part to the hard work of our friend Ed Vilderman, and we are working on locking our screening date towards the end of October.
Other than 'Evidence of the Sasquatch,' we've been up to a few other projects. Kyle directed a music video for the band 'And And And,' produced and shot by Tyler Carey. This video is now in the editing stage and should be ready for release in a couple of weeks. We are also hoping to begin Pre-Production on some live video/recordings of the band 'Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside,' that will take place at a friends ranch and will be Directed by Nate Baston. Our Co-conspirator Selena Shell, is working on treatments for a music video for the band 'Monarques,' to be produced by QO.
Next month we will be producing three short videos for Stand for Children's Beat the Odds scholarship. We are super excited about this opportunity. Each video will feature one of the scholarship winners, showcasing their story and their lives. These videos are always an inspiration and we are proud to be a part of telling these kids stories this year.
We've also been talking to Yeyo Tequila about producing a few short drink videos for them this fall, so keep your eyes open for more on that, they should be pretty slick.
That about sums it up for now, come out to Portland Film Network Meet-Up next Monday, October 4th @ Rontom's, to chat with us in person! There will be drink specials for members of the Meet-up this time!
I don’t want to change the world.I don’t want to “push the boundaries” of citizens today.I feel just as bad as anyone about the atrocities of the world.I hate that in today’s world things like Darfur happen.I'm saddened by the genocides of Rwanda and Myanmar.I cry for the orphans in Rio De Janeiro, and the homeless on the streets of America.I worry about cancer, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism.Life is rough.
What I want, is to give people a couple hours away from that.I want to take audiences to another place of our creation.Somewhere different than the world we live in.Whether that place is funny, scary, or just beautiful, it is a break from the world.I want audiences to laugh, cry, and fall in love.Not write their congressmen.
I want to tell stories.From when man crowded around the campfire and told stories about the Gods, we have always depended on the storyteller.So this is a manifesto, of sorts, a creative credo, because as I’ve look around at opportunities for filmmakers; grants and funding opportunities, each one describes films looking to “push the envelope”.That’s not what I want to do. I want to make the world disappear for a couple hours, while you sit in a darkened room listening to my tale.The only world I want to change, is the one of my own creation.
After watching the trailer for the feature film debut of Director Romain Gavras, I just wanted to share some of his other works with you all. Gavras does a lot of music videos for electronic artists such as M.I.A and JUSTICE. He chooses music that fits his style well. I don't know if I've ever had a music video inspire so much anxiety in me in the first 30 seconds, that Gavras is able to conjure in the 'Stress' video for JUSTICE. So take a few minutes to enjoy the work of Romain Gavras, and be warned some of the material is graphic both sexually and violently.
We'll start off with the teaser for his feature film, it's a good introduction.
This is our new music video for Local Superheroes, directed by Eli and Kyle.
Credits: Directors: Kyle Glenn & Eli Shell Director of Photography: Patrick LaValley Assistant Camera: Peggy Knoebel Production Assistant: Shahrom Taghizadegan Editor: Steve Crocker
Local Superheroes: Robert Westerlund (8 Duece), Anthony Payne (Empty Pockets) & Sean O'Grady (Majic Sean)
Thanks to all!
We shot this in two days around Portland landmarks. We were trying to portray the 'rat pack' of McLoughlin, a mixture of classic cool, and hipster chic. After extensive scouting, we pitched a bunch of different places we thought looked interesting around town. We liked the washed up look of the McLoughlin area. This is an area that was once filled with commerce, but has felt the hit by the economy, evidenced by the multiple big box stores closed for business.
Throughout the process we liked to compare the guys to Goodfellas, and Resevoir Dogs, cool and classic, with a broken down strip mall feel. This is what they do when they're waiting for a job, this is them existing, waiting. This is them driving, doing laundry, in a worn down laundromat.
We shot the performance stuff in Eli's basement, a community storage place. We wanted to create the feeling of a studio, but also have an interesting space that it was occurring in. We liked the wood slat texture in the background, and wanted the star quality that the silhouette brought, as the guys rapped, and drank, and smoked.
Overall, we feel the music video was a success, we were able to get through production on a extremely tight budget (like non existent) with high production value. Steve Crocker did an amazing job on the edit and it came out nearly exactly like our vision. Everyone at Quarter Orange hopes that you like this as much as we liked making it.
* received this e-mail today. let's help them out!*
Hello friends of Film Action Oregon and The Hollywood Theatre,
In just over a month I will celebrate 13 years with Film Action Oregon and the Hollywood Theatre. When I joined the organization (known then as the Oregon Film and Video Foundation), I could have never imagined the wild ride that would have gotten us to where we are now.
With the support of our patrons and volunteers, we have transformed the Hollywood Theatre from a neglected second-run movie house to one of the most exciting film venues in the country. There is a reason that the Sundance Institute named us as one of only 18 venues in the U.S. to be a part of the Sundance Art house Project. Where else can you catch a documentary premiere with the filmmaker and subjects in attendance (180ยบ South), followed by an acoustic concert with the film’s composer (Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse)? Or attend a fundraiser for a local film festival that gives you a chance to meet the director that a few months later will make history by being the first woman to ever win the Oscar for Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow with her film The Hurt Locker)? Or go on a bike ride around the Hollywood District with a touring filmmaker before the screening of his acclaimed film (Nick Peterson with Field Guide for November Days)? Or have Oscar winner Miche l Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) leave a message on your boyfriend’s voicemail because he couldn’t be here to see his film The Thorn in the Heart (trust me, it happened)? Where else can local short filmmakers see their film’s name in lights on our marquee, right up there with the most recent David Lynch or Werner Herzog film or a restored masterpiece like The Bicycle Thief?
And though the Theatre is our most visible project, Film Action does so very much more. This Monday, we launch our seventh year of our summer documentary program Project Youth Doc, with a session at New Columbia serving at risk and underserved youth. We recently started a year-round animation workshop in partnership with Laika which has given hundreds of kids the chance to bring their artistic talents to life. Several of the 22 films which are currently being produced under our non-profit umbrella had their premieres this year and found their way into the world including Wetlands, Forge and Raw Faith. And then, of course, there is our unique Women’s Film Initiative, which was founded to help both aspiring and experienced female filmmakers to realize their vision.
It is obvious that I love this building and am passionate about all that this organization does. And from the e-mails I receive from many of you on a regular basis, you do too.
So, here is the pitch you have been waiting for. I will try to sound as little like public radio as possible and cut to the chase. We need to raise $25,000 by Friday, July 16th.
Here’s where you come in. Our e-mail list currently has over 28,000 people on it. If everyone on this list were to donate just a single dollar we would exceed this goal. If everyone donated just $5 (roughly the cost of a large soda at a Regal multiplex) we could easily finish our multimedia classroom and our new box office, allowing us to offer year round educational programs and to make everyone’s ticket buying process more pleasurable (as well as offering our first ADA accessible restroom). If everyone on the list donated $10 (that is less than $.03 a day!) we could finally afford to put in the new and expanded restrooms whose plans have taunted us over the years. And a whopping $20 per person (this gets my pulse racing!) could fund the complete restoration of the marquee and the Hollywood’s unique signature terra cotta tower.
As a special thank you, those of you that donate $50 or more between now and July 16, 2010 will receive recognition on the big screen before all regularly scheduled Hollywood Theatre film programming for one year. And since FAO is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization, your gift is entirely tax-deductible.
Contributions of any size make a big difference. Help us prove that there is strength in numbers!
Donate today via our secure website, or save us the credit card fees and send a check to:
Film Action Oregon Attn: Appeal 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR 97212
Thanks for your continued support. And a Happy Father's Day to everyone!
The other night a slipknot song came on over the jukebox, calling me to remember 'Stone Sour's' music video for 'Through the Glass.' I saw this video one of the rare occasions I had access to MTV a few years ago, and it has stuck with me.
