A new Snapshot Exercise featuring artist Joe Miller working at High Concept Laboratories in Chicago.
No Comments on JoeJoe May 27, 2010
Animation Table
Phew! This has got to be the largest set yet. Lighting it was a marathon and building it was an eternity. So here, submitted for your discerning approval is a shot of he entire animation area. I’m using what looks to be part of a baby crib as a lighting rig, three shop clamp lights, a goose-neck desk lamp and a borrowed kino flo tube light. Sheets of printer paper and clothespins work as light diffusers. Here’s proof positive you don’t need a zillion dollars to make a movie. “You just need,” as W.S. Burrows once said, “is a little make due and know how.”
No Comments on Animation TableDeath on the Tracks May 26, 2010
Getting ready to shoot the next scene in the “Entering the Fold” sequence.
Is it me or do the railroad ties look like strips of bacon?
10x May 22, 2010
58mm 10x Macro Filter Kit is in the house! There’s no comparing the quality of the Canon EFS 18-55mm lens with the macro filter to the macro on the Sony DV Cam. The superior quality lens combined with the macro filter adds an incredible new dimension of depth and richness to the image. Surprisingly, there is enough depth of field with the aperture cranked down to keep the figure in focus. I had to shoot close-ups with the macro on the DV Cam for the previous shots. They turned out satisfactory, but ooh la la … Yes Macro filter!
Cut-out Buffalo Test May 19, 2010
With a little help from my ol’ friend Eadward Muybridge I’ve rotoscoped out a fairly decent paper-like buffalo for the upcoming chase scene.
No Comments on Cut-out Buffalo TestSpace and Time
The gift of working space from High Concept Laboratories is truly a boon. In the last week I’ve been able to accomplish what has previously taken months. Without the quotidian distractions of home I’ve been able to acutely focus on the pleasurable experience of actual film making. (I know its technically a video but I’m not interested in getting into a semantics argument with myself on the blog.) I’m rather happy to announce I finished an entire usable sequence of shots and can hardly wait to get back to the “lab” to make more.
No Comments on Space and TimeArtists in the Clouds May 11, 2010
Toying around with light and shutter speed in front of Joe’s cloudscape mural.
Currently listening to: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo.
No Comments on Artists in the CloudsInstalled @ High Concept Laboratories May 10, 2010
High Concept Laboratories has graciously invited me to their studio for a four month artist-in-residency program. I plan on moving most of the materials from my home studio to HCL. The plan is to complete the “Cowboy Project” in two months then have the rest of the time to start building a new project.
The pic below is a shot from the HCL open house on Saturday. I installed my marionette from the Ghost Conversations movie in a complex pose that continues the body as landscape concept from the film into real three dimensional space. I made sure to make use of the unique surroundings the gallery provided. The puppet strings are attached to strange disused antique machinery attached to the gallery walls and piping that snakes and weaves across the ceiling. In the background you can see mural and video installation by artist Joe Miller. Chicago experimental filmmaker Carolyn Faber got caught in the frame admiring the space.
No Comments on Installed @ High Concept Laboratories