Photo credit: Hunter Curry. A nice representation of my weird struggle; also a still from some of the footage that has been making things...'difficult.'
For the past, oh, 15 years or so, I've been wanting to put together a reel. Not in that "hmm, someday I'd like to..." sense, but in the active, "I'm doing this now" sense. And yet...and yet there is always SOMETHING. At first, it was simply a matter of obtaining footage. Then my focus shifted slightly, and I needed different footage. Then, it became a technology issue. Formats have changed so rapidly over the years that by the time I had collated everything, the formats were incompatible with the hardware. Then, it became all about the software. These days, it is usually something comical, like "sorry, your version of final cut pro isn't compatible with the fancy schmancy new format this feature was shot in, so you need to upgrade. But oh, you need to increase your RAM, and by the way, you have to upgrade your OS first. And did I mention that this will render your encoding software obsolete? And how about we throw in some hardware malfunctions while we're at it, and now you don't have access to decent quality versions of any of the footage you do have...Great! now that you've done all that, hey look-this codec isn't editable, so you need that encoding software. Oh look! switching to premiere is now cheaper than upgrading final cut! Now you get to migrate the entire project...Rinse, repeat..." (don't worry, that wasn't really supposed to make sense. It's not a literal list of what happened. That would be so very much longer...)
Anyway, between technical glitches, endless bouts of waiting on footage, life changes, format/program/hardware changes and general craziness...well, I have nothing to show for all of that work.
So, I've had enough. I'm tired of the endless drama that has constantly delayed getting even a tiny glimpse of my work together, and I want to try to be more proactive about my career, and so I have done the unthinkable. I have taken those bits of terribly degraded footage, those copy-of-a-copy-of-a-copy bits of blurry motion and smushed a few of them together and didn't even bother to tweak it so the titles don't blur. It's messy. It's unprofessional. It doesn't land anywhere near my standards, but it is fun, and it is at least something I can share with my friends.
Don't worry, I am still working on getting an actual, substantial, truly well done reel...but in the meantime, here is my cobbled-together-with-chewing-gum-and-a-prayer sizzle reel (focused on my action work, which - as I learned during the process of making this - I have depressingly little footage of). Take it as it were; at least I had fun editing it to the music. Enjoy.
James has been very busy these days, what with the normal classes and homework that come with being in law school along with a few freelance jobs, in addition to being on the board of a student group AND now the journal he's been working on for the past year, all while working on the ongoing litigation against our former landlords and being a present and active father and husband...so I am very happy to report that he has been able to find some time to focus on something that has always been a passion for him; his music!
James has been performing with our good friend Derrick Karg as part of his band Derrick & The Black Sea. Still a fledgling trio, James, Derrick and their musical partner Richard Ruggiero have a really awesome, unique style - the 'name' of which genre, I understand, is somewhat controversial; "hard folk" and "folk metal" have both been suggested, but Derrick insists that it is "dark country rock"...They perform mostly original work, so I guess the moral is that you'll have to go out and hear them, and then decide for yourself what to call it (and, I suppose, report your conclusions)!
I had the great fortune to actually attend one of their concerts recently (a rarity since they tend to play bars and clubs that are understandably inappropriate for the little ladies) and had a blast. I've posted one of their songs below, though it is one of the more traditional songs that they played early in the set...I totally recommend that you all come see them really rock out in person!
Happily, you'll have the opportunity to do just that TONIGHT!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
FREE
7pm at Spike Hill, located at 184 Bedford street in Brooklyn.
I've been meaning to do a more in depth post about what I view as a warm and fuzzy accomplishment in my career for a while now, but time has gotten away from me, and now I have more to talk about - so I will dispense with detail here and opt for what will hopefully be a shorter but somewhat dense post covering all the fun points.
Today is evidently a big day for me, and the whole family alike!
First off, the event that I alluded to in my little intro: Today is my big screen debut [unless you count extra work, in which case My Super Ex-Girlfriend took care of that a couple years back...or Across the Universe before that, but I was fully masked for that one] which is taking place at Sundance, no less, where the Animal Collective's 'visual album' is making its world premiere!
Entitled ODDSAC, it's not a narrative film, nor is it strictly a music video; when I auditioned for it back in 2006 it was being called an "art film" and though I haven't seen the finished product yet, I think the concept is pretty cool. The guys in the band found a director, Danny Perez, whom they liked working with, and together they created a series of intriguing, surreal visual images, and the plan was for the band to then write music to go with them - not scoring them, necessarily, rather creating sounds inspired by those images and interwoven into them.
I had a lot of fun filming this, and am very proud of it despite not having seen it yet. [Hopefully I won't be disappointed in my performance when I do see it, but I've been assured by both Danny and one of the producers that I won't be. Here's to trust!] I don't want to give too much away, (though I don't know how much I could, truth be told,) but if you see it watch for my most intense work in the opening sequence!
Wanna see a trailer? Here ya go:
Secondly, today was also the release of Prince Royce's new music video, Stand By Me, which you may have already heard about if you read the Dear Cadence letters I post on this site. This one is really more of a Whole Family Brag, since all three of us made it into the final cut. I do a pretty good job of blending in, but James can be seen clearly in most of the shots of Royce in the Imagine circle (he's in the back, with the beard, taller than just about everyone else!), and Cadence managed to get herself two close-ups, one of which was a solo performance! As the proud parents, we think there should have been more of Cadence with the candles, but I suppose we may be ever so slightly biased. But see for yourselves! what do you think?
If you like the song, please consider purchasing it from itunes...Prince Royce will be donating all the proceeds garnered from it by February 19th, 2010 towards the relief effort in Haiti.
I've maxed out my blogging time so please forgive the rushed list that is the rest of this post: We've decided that it's a good omen if I get work on a Matt Damon film while pregnant, and considering that I was working on The Bourne Ultimatum when Cadence was born, the fact that I have been spending my days lately working on the upcoming The Adjustment Bureau should mean we're good now. Never fear, while this is indeed another accounting gig, I also just got word today that post-production is tugging along on The Willows, (very much a working title)the independent feature I filmed over the summer, and which will be my first feautre-length leading role on screen...so hopefully I will have more performance - related goodies to share in the not-too-distant future.
Goodnight, and happy adventuring to everyone on their own paths!
