Well, time sure does fly, because now Nick is prepping the film for a DVD release in September. In honor of the occasion, Nick commissioned me to cut together a new trailer of the movie. I consider myself a video editor first and foremost, so I really enjoyed sinking my teeth into a pure editing project once again.

Grab a tub of popcorn and enjoy the trailer goodness.

He asked me to help him out by making an animated bumper for the show’s intro. My initial try came off as too “dark and serious” for a lighthearted comedy series about comic book and video game nerds living in L.A. So, I took the same basic framework and tweaked it a bit. I brightened the colors–adding a more comedic vibe–and also included an L.A. backdrop with funky animated radials to give the whole thing more pop.

I’m quite happy with the new results. Check it out below.

Regardless, it was another good way to keep learning the delightful world of C4D…

Check out the result below:

Not too long ago, director Matthew Vaughn made an interesting statement regarding the state of superhero movies in Hollywood . He said:

“[Superhero movies have] been mined to death and in some cases the quality control is not what it’s supposed to be. People are just going to get bored of it.” He went on to add, “the genre is going to be dead for a while because the audience has just been pummeled too much.”

At first glance, there’s a lot of truth to what Mr. Vaughn is saying. I don’t think there’s a single person out there (geek, nerd, or dweeb) who can deny that Hollywood seems to be churning out superhero movies at an alarming rate. It’s also surprising to see such a statement come from a man whose last movie (Kick-Ass) and next movie (X-Men: First Class) are clearly superhero flicks. Not to mention, we’re standing in the wake of a Comic Con that seemed to prove that superheroes are bigger and badder than ever.

Over the next few years, Marvel’s storming the market with a certified blitzkrieg of comic book fodder. First, Thor…then, Captain America…all of it eventually building to the biggest nerdgasm of all, the Avengers. All the while DC Comics is backing its own thoroughbred pony, the Green Lantern. Throw in the Green Hornet, a revamped Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, Ant-Man, a Justice League movie, the next Nolan Batman outing and you’ve got yourself a veritable superhero orgy. Really, folks, how can the superhero stream be going away when it hasn’t even begun to stop flowing?

Regarding Mr. Vaughn’s initial statement, I think it’s important to look at a larger, more overarching question: why do audiences even go to see superhero movies in the first place?

It certainly isn’t because of familiarity of characters. At one time this might have been the case—way back when the original Superman and Batman movies were hitting it big—but as time moves on (and Hollywood churns through character after character, franchise after franchise) this definitely doesn’t hold any weight.

Take for instance the upcoming lineup of superhero flicks destined to hit theaters over the next few years. Thor? Captain America? Green Lantern? While these characters may be fawned upon by the geek hordes, they’re definitely not the “big names” that your average Joe Schmo can recognize. The success of the Iron Man films further reinforces this point. Three years ago nobody outside of our collective nerd niche even knew who Tony Stark was. Now, he’s a household name. Call me crazy, but I guarantee that it wasn’t the character of Iron Man that got people’s butts in theater seats.

So, what’s my overall point? Frankly it’s this: when people stroll into the cinema on a hot summer afternoon, popcorn and large soda in hand, they just want to be entertained by spectacle. And, if they can get that visceral fix from a superhero movie, so be it. Audiences are going for the blockbuster, not the man in tights.

If you look back at other significant “event movies” over the past twenty to thirty years, you’ll begin to realize that the tropes and structure are completely identical to that of the superhero flicks that are currently saturating the market. Really, when you think about it, what is the difference between Spider-Man and Star Wars? Sure, the semantics may be different, but the reason people are going to the theater—the reason they’re forking over the cash for their tickets remain the same. The cool special effects, the likable characters, the hero’s journey—those things haven’t changed one iota. After all, weren’t Rambo, Rocky, John McClane, and even the Terminator really just superheroes without capes?

I guess it comes down to this basic question…have we really had our superhero fill? Are American audiences going to start voting against capes and cowls with our wallets? In my opinion, the answer is a simple “no.” Sorry, I just don’t buy it, Mr. Vaughn. Well, at least not when viewing things from a broader perspective. Even before the influx of comic book flicks in recent years, we were watching superhero movies. They just happened to be disguised as something else.

Eventually, I do believe there will a come a time when Hollywood simply runs out of properties to milk—when the proverbial four-colored well dries up. But, that just leaves room for a new type of superhero to take center stage. Frankly, a genre can’t die as long as it’s constantly being reinvented. And, let’s face it, if there’s one thing Hollywood loves, it’s a good comeback story.

Over the past month or so, I started fooling around with Cinema 4-D. Thanks to a lot of trial and error (mostly error) I started to get a grasp on the basics. Much thanks to Nick Campbell and his amazing blog, Grey Scale Gorilla. I’m sure I’m not the only motion designer in this world that is hugely indebted to his free advice.

Below is  a bumper I created using Cinema 4d with some additional compositing in After Effects. I have a lot to learn, but, hey, it’s certainly a start. Watch below, and enjoy.

Long time…no post. Sorry about that, folks.

A while ago I heard about a collaborative video contest between Canon and Vimeo called “Beyond the Still,” where entrants were given a starting still image and then had to make a short movie from that initial visual point. Basically it’s like a collaborative game of telephone, except with videos moving the whole thing along. A neat concept to be sure. It also helps that it has some serious pull within the industry–the first entry was shot by director and cinematographer Vincent Laforet and one of the judges is the ubiquitous Phillip Bloom.

Well, I recently got access to a brand-spanking new Canon 7D HDSLR from my work, and I had some spare time over the past few weeks (shocking, I know), so I thought, hey, what the heck? I’ll enter!

I shot and edited my entry to the “Chapter 6″ section of the contest this past weekend. Things came together very quickly–I had some wonderful friends who managed to pitch in at a seconds notice. I’ve never really shot anything with an HDSLR before, so I took the opportunity as a great learning experience to really figure out the workflow and shooting techniques. I know I made a ton of mistakes, but heck, that’s why you do little projects like this every once in a blue moon.

A ton of opinions have been posted about the HDSLR revolution, so I’m not really going to throw my hat into the already crowded fray. However, I will say this–the 7d takes beautiful images.  Moire. Jello. Non-sync sound. Bad ergonomics. Yeah, they’re really annoying. But, at the end of the day, it’s hard to fight the purty pictures that tiny little still camera can produce.

For all the technical geeks out there,  I used the 7d as my “A” cam and recorded sound and “B” cam footage with my Panasonic HMC-150 (I challenge you to pick the shots from my HMC-150–it’s a great camera that really holds up even when shooting against the bokeh heavy 7d).

Anywho, enough rambling. Check out the finished short below…

As I start submitting the movie to festivals over the next few months, be sure to check back often. Of course, I’ll post any updates to this blog as well.

I’m very excited to finally post this. Above is the official trailer for my next short, Finding Time.

The movie was shot this past April and is just under ten minutes in length. A special thanks goes out to my amazing cinematographer, Marian Dealy. I also was fortunate to have such great help from Rebecca Harris, Tom Conner, Richard Rock, Ryder Haske, and Harris Blum

The original music you hear was composed specifically for the movie by the very talented musician, Ben Schwartz. Be sure to check him out at www.benschwartz.net

As the movie nears completion, I will continue to post updates regarding film festival submissions and other nifty things.

Haven’t posted in a while, and that’s because I’ve been working on a ton of projects—one of which I’m excited to finally show everyone…

Nick Gregorio, a Philly-area filmmaker and actor, has just wrapped post production on his new feature film, Green. I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to create the opening motion titles for the film. Built in After Effects, the titles are a whimsical and psychedelic jaunt through a cartoon world of Philadelphia and LA.  Green is a comedy about a Philadelphia drug dealer who moves out to LA to start a legitimate medical marijuana repository. My goal with the titles was to create a retro-feeling that is is stylized and grungy, but still has a sense of playfulness and fun.

The creation of Green is really inspiring, which is why I was so eager to help out with this project. Green was shot on RED for a budget of under $10,000 in Los Angeles last year. The movie was made with a minimal crew, all volunteering their time and skills. The final feature is truly a grassroots effort (pun not intended…I swear).

Be sure to check out the titles at the vimeo link above. Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide more information on Green as it starts to get shopped around to distributors.  Also, please watch Nick Gregorio’s previous feature endeavor, Happy Birthday Harris Malden. Malden was collaboratively created with his former sketch comedy group, Sweaty Robot. The film was shown at a slew of high profile festivals, including CineVegas. The movie is available to buy on DVD and stream instantly via Netflix and Hulu.