The Mosherpit

Happy July 4th

2009-07-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year to celebrate freedom, our own and that of our country. It's also time to have bbqs and relax as I'm on vacation. Unfortunately, there will be little relaxing in this case as I'll be packing up and moving stuff over to the new house, which is actually pretty exciting. I'll have room to use as a workshop for customizing and everything. I'll probably still painting indoors as I usually prefer to be near a water source. I'm enjoying it and can't wait to be moved in. Enjoy your holiday.

Homeowner

2009-06-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

I am now the proud owner of a house and mortgage. Yay for being an adult. :) It's a really nice place and has a ton of room so between the three of us, it shouldn't get too full immediately. Giant room for my office too. And comics. I'm so psyched.

Wizard World Philly

2009-06-22T17:05:00.001-07:00

Went to WWP this Saturday. It's been a custom of mine to at least hit one convention during the year. I missed NYCC so I tried the old standby again, which in previous years was quite big. Well, I can't say what it was like last year, but it's a lot smaller than the one I had been to about two years ago. No DC or Marvel booths that I saw--usually they're hard to miss--and not a whole lot of big booths from other distributors either. There was a decent showing of retailers, artists and others, but it was a shade of its former glory. I'm sure the recession has something to do with it. Still, it was a fun time and I picked up a few single issues and some trades that I was looking for. That's about it. I have too many prints that I need to hang up and too many figures that I need to customize to buy more, though I was sorely tempted. Once I get everything organized I can start doing that.

I met some friends at the show and they had a blast despite it not being all that it could be. Also, I got to meet Ted Raimi and Tom Savini and drooled over Kristanna Loken and Emma Caulfield. Good times. Also, KITT was there and Bruce Leroy. Not a bad showing, I must say. I might have to go next year to see if it gets bigger, as NYCC isn't until October 2010 and that's a long time to wait and save.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

Another rainy day, though it got relatively nice out for awhile. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. I'm hoping to cap the night off with a good dinner and then maybe the new Friday the 13th movie. Nothing says Sunday like Jared Padalecki and hockey masks, right?

Wizard World was this weekend too. I went on Saturday with John and Cyndi, two friends from work. More on that later.

The Final Shot

2009-06-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Had our last shoot on the Ginkers movie on Sunday night. We hit several locations, including Pirate's Cove in Cliffwood Beach and Connie's in Slayerville. The shoot went well, though there were some killer gnats eating us alive for the outdoors sections and made me want to scream, but I held the camera as steady as I could. Looks like editing is up next, though we might have to shoot some b-roll locations for some cutaways and establishing shots. That's a one day thing if at all though, so it's not a big deal. Gonna be fun editing the full film. I had a blast doing the trailers and I'm looking forward to the feature length cut. Should be in the new house by then too so if we need to work late, I'll have places for the guys to sleep now.

Want!

2009-06-14T08:37:00.001-07:00

Green Lantern figures of Hal in every costume he's worn a ring for so far, even if he hasn't had a full costume with it? Yes please.

Wet Palette Get!

2009-06-13T08:35:00.001-07:00

Finally got the materials and put together this little device. It's so easy to do. Just add a sponge and tupperware and water and parchment paper and viola, it's finished in about a minute. It's worked great so far. I can't say yet how the paints will hold overnight, but for the short bit I did I was impressed and able to use every drop of paint I put down without any noticeable drying. I'll keep you updated, maybe with pictures if I stop being lazy. Also, Composite Hal is coming along nicely. Maybe I'll have him done in time to enter into the custom contest at WWP.

Wet Palette

2009-06-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

One of these days I'll get to making a wet palette. I was going to make one yesterday but I didn't have the necessary materials. Looks like I'll be making a run to the dollar store for some tupperware and sponges. Oddly enough, I have the parchment baking paper already. Go figure. Then my paints will stay moist a little longer. Heh. Moist.

R.I.P. David Carradine

2009-06-06T06:14:00.000-07:00

Man, somebody killed Bill. Looks like a rope and autoerotic asphyxiation. A shame. I always enjoy seeing him pop up on movies. He was awesome on a stick. Good luck wherever you are, little grasshopper.

Let the Rats Die

2009-06-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

I heard a story on the news about how Orkin was being fined for not responding to a call after some squirrels were caught in one of their traps and the animals were dying and had to be taken to a hospital. Are you fucking kidding me? Let the bastards die. Do they do anything besides eat your siding and try to nest in your attic? I think Orkin was in the right here, even if it was a miscommunication. They're just rats with furry tails, and the only reason they should have been taken to a hospital is to be thrown in an incinerator. Seriously. I hate squirrels. Not a good animal, unlike Nessie, which is just pure awesome in a lake.

WTF Shuttle?

2009-05-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have a Contour ShuttleXpress for my mac that I use for editing. I got a new machine awhile back and never installed new drivers as I wasn't doing much editing at the time. Decided to install them today. Can't just download the new drivers and install. That would be too easy. I go to VersionTracker to find them. Click on the download link and get taken to another page. That's fine, but the shuttle is now through a different branch of the company so I have to go to another page and find the drivers. Oh wait, I can't download them as I have to register for their fucking site first, which also involves getting an activation email and then clicking through to what I wanted again. All because they want to see their userbase. If it wasn't such a nice tool, I'd be tempted to sell it off. I might if I can find a decent competing product, as that's bullshit. I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to use your product and then sign up for your webpage. I bought the fucking thing. Just give me the drivers.

The Bay

2009-05-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Working on finishing up the editing we started on Wednesday so we have something for the film fest next week. In a good spot. Just need one more clip to break up some monotony during a music number and then I'll grade the color and get the audio to Bill for him to play with and fix up. That'll probably be the hardest thing, as those files are usually large. It's going well though. Also, who knew that pasting an entire sequence into a new one would scale files automatically, but not the dv files for some reason, just the hd stuff. Easy enough to change. Saves some render time too, as if I initially edited them in a dv sequence, it was going to take me hours to render, which means I'm probably doing something wrong there. Good to know though.

Valle-HO!

2009-05-25T17:04:00.000-07:00

Started work on a new figure today, painting, at any rate, as I primed two on Sunday. I must say, that I am in love with Vallejo paints. They go on smooth, cut well with water, cover well and most importantly, they cover even the blackest primer I have, which is nice as coating black over the white for a figure like GL is annoying and leaves more room for white spots showing through. I'm working on a composite Blue/Green Lantern and and primed him all black on a whim, knowing that if coverage failed, at least I can primer over some parts and the joints will still be coated black. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even when cut 2:1, the paints showed up nicely on the figure and I'm on my way to being done. If you need paints for a figure, by all means order up some of these. They have tons but basic colors are a good start and you can mix them up just fine.

Wolverine

2009-05-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

Finally saw the movie last night. I must say, it was pretty enjoyable, certainly more so than the steaming pile of crap that was X3. No complaints about any of the acting and the effects were nice. Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson was awesome, though the Deadpool character in the film isn't quite what is in the comics. I'll overlook that though as there's always the possibility of another film with him going more towards the comic book version, who's currently hanging out with pimp action Destro on my desk. Worth seeing, as it's good mindless fun and isn't too objectionable with it's adapting of the comics. Now to get the game.

Crushing on Deborah Foreman

2009-05-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

I watched April Fool's Day last night and it's only served to reignite my crush on its star, Deborah Foreman, who you may remember from Valley Girl and Waxwork. AFD is a smart and fun slasher based in part on And Then There Were None by some Agatha Christie person. A group of friends are invited to Muffy St. John's (Foreman) party on April Fool's Day on a remote island. After a small accident involving a ferryman, they get to the house and relax and have a bunch of pranks pulled on them. Once the hilarity ends, the terror begins as someone begins offing them one by one.

It's a fun flick and keeps you guessing right until the end and performances by Amy Steel, Ken Olandt and Clayton Rohner help round out the cast. Well worth checking out if you like slasher movies and more if you love Deb Foreman, who is sublime.

My Bloody Valentine - 3-D

2009-05-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for a good slasher movie, and when I heard they were remaking one of my favorites, I was a little scared. When I heard Jensen Ackles was in it though, I feared no longer, as I was a huge fan of his from Supernatural and Devour. I missed it in the theater with the good 3-D so I had to settle for the dvd release, which unfortunately has the green/magenta glasses instead of the grey ones. So how is it?

Fucking fantastic, that's how. The 3-D is damn cool and a sight better than Freddy's Dead and adds a new element to the gore. The performances by the cast are pretty strong and it's nice to see Tom Atkins in another genre role. The plot is similar to the original. Harry Warden, a miner involved in a cave-in, goes psycho and kills people around town, eventually getting taken care of when he tries to kill teenagers having a party in the mine. Jump to years later when Tom Banniger (Ackles) comes back to town to sell the mine and the killings are starting up again. Is Tom behind the murders or is it his old friend Axel or is it Harry Warden, back from the dead? It's all answered in the end and I'm not happy with it but it's a small flaw in an otherwise entertaining movie. Well worth seeing, in 3-D or not.

Squeal

2009-05-17T19:19:00.001-07:00

Man, there are few things cooler than a pig roasting on an open flame. I don't know why it amuses me so. Probably because at a bachelor party it's usually a stripper on the rotisserie. Either way, it was a fun time and I had tongue, which tasted a lot like pork fat, which isn't much of a surprise as it was from a pig.

Speaking of strippers, I finally got to see the rest of Zombie Strippers. Pretty bad. I mean, there's some hot stripping scenes but if it's nudity you want you're better off watching an episode of Red Shoe Diaries. They're shorter and have David Duchovny. Dying to see Zombie Diaries now since my queue is caught up on. That should be better.

Someones needs to remake Resident Evil 2. God I like that game.

One Minute to Save the World

2009-05-11T16:55:00.001-07:00

This weekend was pretty damn fun. As you may have read on the Ginkers blog, me, Rob and Bill had an editing session where we cut a one minute sample of the film for the Film One Fest. I think it came out pretty well for the brief time we had allotted and the several hours of footage from a few different shoots we had to go through, in addition to Bill fixing my audio and supplying his own as well so we had a more professional sounding soundtrack. Like anything, I wish we had a few hours more to work on it but I'm proud of what we did and hope it does well in the fest. It was a tiring time, but a fun time. I can't wait until we can do it all again and put together the whole flick.

Wolverines!

2009-05-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, the Wolvering: Origins game is pretty freaking sweet. I've only played the demo so far but the copious amounts of bloodshed and cool moves and mechanics have caught me in its web. Unfortunately, I'm on a game hiatus so I'll have to wait to get that one, but I like what I see.

TosLink

2009-05-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've found a solution to the missing LANC on the HV20. By using some velcro, tape, the remote and a toslink cable, I can fake it pretty well, getting some pan and zoom action without having to mess with the body of the camera. Got a bit longer a cable than I needed and mine works without the cap on the remote end, whereas the tutorial I saw still had it on. I'm glad it works regardless and look forward to using it. Might need to get a second cable for the steadicam and rig that up. We'll see how this works first.

Review: Behind the Mask-The Rise of Leslie Vernon

2009-05-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

Started watching this flick tonight on a whim and I'm not disappointed so far. It's a film in the vein of Man Bites Dog, but instead of following a serial killer, the crew is following a slasher, or rather, a wannabe slasher who is on the cusp of breaking into an industry. You see, in this movie, the slashers you're familiar with from movies like Halloween and F13 are real, and they've inspired other people to do the same. Leslie is one of these people. As he trains for the big night, the lead interviewer starts to have qualms about what they might be party to and wonders if they shouldn't stop him before he begins.

Leslie comes off as likable and very intense when in costume. The rest of the cast is adequate as well, including a look at an older slasher/mentor who helps Leslie on his quest of glory. Robert Englund is surprisingly mellow and toned down in a role as the "Ahab", who is trying to hunt down Leslie before he can kill.

It's in an interesting film and concept and well executed, though for me I'd rather the film crew remained impassive, as in Man Bites Dog, though it has been awhile since I saw that movie so I might be a little off in remembering. Still, it's a fun take on the slash film. It does break the documentary feel in parts, for pleasing angles that just couldn't be done even with the two camera shoot they were doing. Definitely worth checking out. Especially with wine. Or liquor. Or beer.

Also, death by post hole digger. Very awesome.

Also check out Man Bites Dog. It's in French, so be prepared for subtitles. Also, French is the language of madmen, so if you ever see a guy walking down the street muttering that language and you aren't in that country, just run away. It's safer.

Post Shoot Soreness

2009-04-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

No, it's not a sexual term. It's just the aching I feel after holding a Steadicam for a few hours in a row. It's a good hurt though, as the shoot went well and we got some good footage. As Rob stated in his blog, we missed some good stuff after the cameras were away. This will probably lead us to having another shoot at Connie's, which would actually be awesome as it was pretty fun and I'd like to have a little more time to mess with my light. I think it was diffused too much, so I didn't get as much light as I'd like. Still, having it was a boon as it gave me a nice low light instead of no light at all. It was a fun time. I wouldn't mind getting up there to sing a little too. It'll give me something else for my reel. ;)

A Cheaper Alternative

2009-04-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

I needed some gaffer's tape for a project I'm working on. Unfortunately, I needed it relatively immediately and couldn't order it online and I wanted a cheaper alternative, as some brands run fairly expensive. I found a good source for a similar tape that is readily available in most areas. Just walk into your sporting goods store and ask for some hockey tape. It comes in several colors, is fabric lined and matte and leaves no residue that I've noticed. Holds pretty well too and is about two dollars a roll, so if you need to use a lot, you won't break the bank. I'm only using it to hold some gels so I didn't need much but it's handy to have to mark out spots for actors to hit and to hold wires and other fun things. Just a heads up for all the budding filmmakers out there.

DIY Fun

2009-04-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

With an impending shoot at a bar next weekend, I had to get prepared for it. The on camera light I have is a little too blue to use unfiltered and would look weird on screen with the lights balanced to the probable orange glow of indoor lights. The solution? A CTO. I'd like to say I'm all about lighting but I don't but what I try to learn what I can. In this case, it was learning to use an orange gel to get the color temperature of the light right.

Fortunately, I have gels to change color temp.

Unfortunately, they're CTBs, or will change the light to daylight from tungsten.

Fortunately, I have some color effects gels with an orange one. I cut this up and then took a piece of clear vinyl and sanded it down to diffuse the light, since it was a pretty defined circle and would be pretty apparent on camera. I tested them out and it looks pretty good, considering the gel was more for atmosphere than color correction. Slightly more orange than I would like but I think it'll be ok. I'll know better Sunday night.

Loopy

2009-04-17T19:06:00.001-07:00

Heh, it turns out I'm not the only one who uses the stock Soundtrack loops for my work. I just saw a commercial for the Devils advertising ticket sales and they're using a loop, called, I believe, At What Price, Victory. Something like that. It's a fun and sweeping theme and kind of reminds me of Starship Troopers. It made me smile.