The above picture is my first attempt at creating a creature using the Spore Creature Creator. Playing God put me in a Bedknobs and Broomsticks state of mind while designing it, so I named it Traguna.

What's the deal, you ask? Spore is a new video game coming out this fall. I'm not a big gamer (I still think Doom II is pretty cool) but I may have to slap down $50 for this PC game.

The concept is revolutionary. You create life from the ground up, following evolution from single-cells to creatures, tribal culture, civilization, and into space.

For right now, EA Games has released its creature creator for download. I spent this afternoon making nonsensical animals and making them run around, growl, and dance.

There's a built-in YouTube upload, too. See more of my creations (including video clips) after the break...

Read more

In the last few years, several unique documentaries have come to my attention. This could be the beginning of a new trend: behind-the-scenes examinations of existing movies produced without studio involvement. These are feature length docs, similar to what you'd see packaged with a "special edition" DVD, but done without distribution set up ahead of time. Does this mean there's a whole subset of documentary filmmakers inspired by the likes of Laurent Bouzereau?

What these projects have in common is their grass-roots marketing. The filmmakers have gone out to fan conventions to promote while still in production. They show scenes, get feedback, and even arrange to interview specific actors at these events.

Here are the movies that have sparked my interest:

The Shark is Still Working
This doc about Jaws has been in the works for years. There was already a wealth of material available about the Spielberg's movie, including The Jaws Log and an admirable doc on the current special edition. That didn't stop these filmmakers from talking to everyone who ever touched Jaws or was inspired by it. I'm afraid the final product is going to take a week to watch!
http://www.sharkisstillworking.com/

Beware the Moon: Remembering 'An American Werewolf in London'
John Landis' American Werewolf in London is one of my favorite films, so I can't wait to see this doc by Britain's "Tall Paul" Davis. He's had screenings at a few horror cons in the USA, and the response has been stellar.
http://www.myspace.com/kesslerboy

Indy Fans and the Quest for Fortune and Glory
This one I just discovered, and it looks like the focus is more on Indiana Jones fans than the films' production. There are plenty of fans (and hot models, apparently) in costume on the project's MySpace page.
http://myspace.com/indyfans

When Google Maps first launched its Street View function last year, I thought it was the coolest thing. First off, it's quite a concept to get your head around: imagine Google vans driving down every road in a given city, taking panorama pictures every 10 feet or so. Incredible!

Then there's the functionality. It's incredibly easy to look up a location, click on Street View, and click your way up and down the block to look for landmarks. Someday I'll have an iPhone or Google phone and search maps while on location. Add GPS, and you've got something out of Star Trek.

So while I drooled over the pics from the first 5 cities, I thought my hometown of Rochester would be way down the list for inclusion. We'd probably get Street View somewhere around 2019. Not so! Today while searching for an address, I saw it was active for Ra-cha-cha and some suburbs.

When did this happen? Today, apparently. From Wikipedia:

On June 10, 2008, twelve more cities were introduced: Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Columbus (Ohio), Fresno, Jackson, Jacksonville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, St. Louis and Virginia Beach. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming was also introduced. This update also included a number of locations without attributable camera icons. These locations include Bakersfield, Cincinnati, Dayton, Death Valley National Monument, Greenville, Huntsville, Knoxville, Lexington, Omaha-Lincoln, Palm Springs, Reno, Rochester, New York, Sequoia National Park, Syracuse, Toledo, and Tulsa.

It looks like the pictures were taken late last summer. In the pic of Animatus below, we have our neon sign, but the lot next door hasn't been paved yet.

So spread the word! Look up your house! It's a surreal experience.

View Larger Map

One of my students, Adrian Esposito, was recently featured on Rochester's Channel 13 News.

Reporter Jane Flasch spoke with Adrian as part of a series of stories on Autism. Adrian is open about discussing his Asperger Syndrome and how it affects his filmmaking interests. As his instructor at the Animation Workshop for the last several years, it's rewarding to see how Adrian has grown.

Watch the video and you'll see the last document of my wild hairstyle before my summer cut!

See some of Adrian's work on Youtube HERE

This week's City Newspaper has a good overview of the local film community, written by Susie Hume.

Susie is the reporter who spoke with me last year for the Rochester Insider. This time, she took on the entire film scene and talked to tons of people. John Vincent and Matt Ehlers get some facetime, as well as The MAD DOG MOVIES Podcast, Rochester Movie Makers, and Rochester Film Lab.

An excerpt:

Vincent, a Rochester native, worked in both New York City and Los Angeles before eventually settling back here, his hometown. His long list of film credits includes visual effects work on cult classics like "Freaked" and sci-fi favorites like "Robot Wars" and "Prehysteria." He now works full-time as a writer, director, and effects artist, and as president of his own production company, Philrose Productions, which provides effects and production management for industrial videos, commercials, and feature films.

"There are other smaller cities with big film communities, like Austin and Portland, that are really promoting their work, and it pumps millions of dollars into their economies," Vincent says. "We need to promote that here. We're not Hollywood, and we never will be, so to people here it's very intangible to think of Rochester as a film city. But to us, it is what we do already, so we need to change the way they're thinking."

Vincent also remains involved with a core group of local filmmakers committed to boosting the Rochester film scene. He co-hosts a podcast on local writer/filmmaker/animator Mike Boas' website, maddogmovies.com, and will shoot a lower budget film ("100 grand or less," he says) with Boas this year with the working title "Lake Midnight." In addition, Vincent acted as second unit director to Matt Ehlers' recently premiered film, "Smoking Laws."

"People like Matt and others could be working in L.A. or New York, but the great thing here is that we just help each other out or work for free on each other's films," Vincent says. "It's a 'You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' mentality, because we're all in this together."

Read the entire article online here: "Rochester's local filmmaking scene" By Susie Hume.

Thanks for the press, Susie!

Links:

The MAD DOG MOVIES Podcast

Lake Midnight

Smoking Laws