Thomas Productions News Blog

3rd Site, Part II

2009-07-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

So far, with the exception of a single pop-up window that was not a repeat occurrence, this 3rd site experiment is working well. Thus, I've decided to put the "Z site," aka Garett's Moving Ratings [and more], into the new location as well.

This includes the start of my Oscar Predictions for 2009, complete with a new design that works a bit better than last year's did, however creative it was. I've mentioned in a previous News Blog entry some possible nominees for Best Pic, but lately, there's been a LOT of buzz for Kathryn Bigelow, the Director of The Hurt Locker. Not only is she from San Carlos (the town I grew up in), but she also happens to be an ex-wife (prior to Linda Hamilton) of James Cameron (think Titanic).

Anyhow, her film is getting rave reviews, and she herself is getting serious talks about becoming the 4th female to become a Best Director Oscar nominee. Three cheers from a fellow San Carlan!

3rd Site, Part I

2009-06-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed by now, if you're capable of reading this very text, our site has transferred both its Home Page and News Blog to a new site: directorG.uuuq.com. While the address is slightly longer, it was necessary for several reasons: 1) This News Blog takes up more space than you'd think -- at least 11 MB, 2) I needed a 3rd site that actually permitted FTPing files, which the 2nd site (jimthzz.bingodisk.com/public) simply wasn't capable of, 3) It was free, and 4) No Ads!

So, call it a celebration of sorts, as anything that's free (and means it) is a worthy cause. We'll see how well it works; it took nearly 2 weeks before it would let me register. Also, I'm having to put this main index page on there, too, so that I don't use an iFrame to insert the News Blog to another site's page (since it gets iFramed to the bottom of the main page regardless of where it's located...!).

The original links of directorG.com and directorG.com/news (for now, at least) will stay the same, and you'll get redirected to the new Zymic ones.

3,000 and Beyond!

2009-06-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

This blog entry revolves around the number 3 in such a way that it's like saying three cubed, because one element of the story contains three parts to itself! Three of three, all dealing with YouTube... On with the story!

First and foremost, Scenes from Being John Malkovich (2006) has officially surpassed its 3,000th view on YouTube! This past set of 1,000 viewings went by rather quickly -- it was only in April when it passed 2,000! At this very minute, it has earned 3,003 viewings. Wow!

Second, I've finally posted Macbeth: Act 1 (2001) on YouTube, in three parts! The initial movie was about 24 minutes long, which obviously can't fit within the 10-minute limit allowed per uploaded flick, so I did some minor editing so it would be easy enough to splice into small enough chunks. The movie itself was DEFINITELY a high school pic, literally filmed entirely in a day, so you must look past characters reading lines straight from the book! I included it for comparison's sake, but it's also there in documentation, and for a good chuckle if you happened to be involved.

Third, as a surprise, I also posted some Sample Footage from the Cannery Row Documentary (2006). I don't happen to have an edited copy of the project, but I did happen to have the actual tapes I filmed of it. Since I am planning on using some footage of that anyway in my upcoming Cinematography Demo Reel, I decided to make this so there'd be a video to include on its site page. BTW, I have no memory who "Caesar" is; do you?

Enjoy!

10 Noms for Best Pic??

2009-06-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

Wowsers, THIS changes EVERYTHING! Imagine if this were the situation in the past few years: Could WALL-E, Into the Wild, Children of Men, or (dare I say it) The Dark Knight have been included for Best Pic consideration, instead of snubbed like in reality?

So, it's back to how things were in the 1930s. How might things go this year for Best Pic noms? This is how I think it might go, with the year nearly half over (as of July 1st), give or take an extra five:

Up
Away We Go
Where the Wild Things Are
Nine
Precious
Avatar
Coraline
Bright Star
Public Enemies
Sita Sings the Blues
Green Zone
The Informant
Biutiful
The Hurt Locker
The Lovely Bones

Soundtrack Listed

2009-06-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

'Tis official: now listed at the IMDb page for At the Core are the soundtrack credits for Michael Neverisky!

His credits appear as such:

"Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine"
Arranged & Performed by Michael Neverisky
Courtesy of Michael Neverisky

What I still haven't been successful yet at for the creation of this new IMDb credit is actually making an individual page representing Mr. Neverisky. I guess a "mere" soundtrack listing alone won't do it... Perhaps giving him an additional Special Thanks credit might do the trick.

Lightbox 'n' Logo

2009-06-18T14:26:00.001-07:00

To spiffy up the Washington D.C. scrapbook image transfer to GPicturama, I've now tried something I've never done before: utilize the official Lightbox scripts and a Javascript location menu!

Aside from all of THAT, I also created a logo image for all of GPicturama! It's a montage of several previous GPicturama images over the years, including one where you can see the tip of my nose and my glasses so that my identity is added to the logo.

It should be worked into more GPicturama pages in the near future... In the meantime, it's in the main page, the Washington D.C. [set of] page[s], and in the test page I first tried the Lightbox scripting experiment out on from 2002!

Grasshopper Approval

2009-06-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

As an unexpected charm that happen to reach Thomas Productions yesterday, I was able to receive music rights for the song I was hoping to use in At the Core: more specifically, Michael Neverisky's instrumental performance of "Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine."

I was considering contacting him through an email address, but gosh darnit, that site would not load on my machine at that moment (but it would again later!). So, I found him on YouTube, and was able send him a message that way. That he responded so quickly and so kindly just about made my day! That particular song is not performed on YouTube by him, but here's another one that's at least as good.

Anyhow, this news is GREAT because it means the intentional, excellent piece can play in Mill Valley instead of my subpar temp track. Yay!

100th New News Blog Post!

2009-06-12T21:04:00.001-07:00

One year, three months and five days: that's how long it took to reach this blog! That's actually not that bad, considering how often new News Blog blog entries are posted...

To commemorate this achievement, we're doing something special. As a movie production company, we obviously love movies when they're well-made! Embedded below's a good group of well-made films from across the board that were personally selected by yours truly for this special occasion. Many ended up being animation; go figure!

From YouTube: Google Maps

From Vimeo: Dried Up

From Hulu: Clip from Up

From Google Video: Trailer to American Beauty

From FunnyOrDie: Prop 8 - The Musical

From MySpaceVids: Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'

Top Ten Zen

2009-06-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been doing a LOT of web work. So, to give you just a PEAK of it, I've updated the Yearly Top 10 Lists of my Movie Ratings. Now, they appear a bit more like the Best / Worst lists, are color-coded, and are archived by year in a pull-down menu. It's much more sensical, and it's easier on the eyes!

Further, I don't know what exactly was faulty about my movie reviews on the Best / Worst pages, but I fixed 'em, and added several more! I'm hoping at minimum to have reviews for all of my #1 selections for each of the years there's a Top 10 List for, and I'm about half way there. New reviews so far were written for such films as Memento, Being John Malkovich, The Dark Knight, and Into the Wild. Quick reviews can't be that hard to write, right?

Anyhow, it's all located here. Next up: the 100th News Blog Entry!

Double Your Pleasure

2009-06-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

As with Mrs. Barg's 8th Grade AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) class last week, I had the same opportunity today with Mrs. Amos' 7th Grade AVID class to share some movies. Today was more a component of the class than the sole event of the class, as today it was part of a class party. So, there was only so much time...

Still, I successfully showed four short films, including one I did not get a chance to show in last week's class: The King Who Rained.

I would have liked to also show Photagrizzly Man, but the students at least know that it's online, including directly above this line of text.

All Signs Point to Mill Valley

2009-06-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

Not to sound superstitious or anything, but today, I randomly received a note from someone giving positive site feedback. This person is named Christian Svanes Kolding.

christian svanes kolding, showreel, the "a-side" | 4 min. from svanes on Vimeo.

Why is this important, you ask? It's because his short film, Depression Served Six Ways, is listed as "great" on the Movie Ratings section of this site, and I had specifically viewed it at the 2005 Mill Valley Film Festival.

It's another reference to Mill Valley, and it had nothing to do with At the Core. Plus, it's always cool to get contacted by the filmmakers directly!

3rd Time's the Charm

2009-05-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was fast! It was supposedly not going to be posted for "two to four weeks," but it's already up only one week after filling out the online invitation forms from Withoutabox!

What I'm referring to, of course, is the IMDb entry for At the Core (2009), which was recently submitted to this year's Mill Valley Film Festival! Now, the entry is not yet complete on IMDb's website, so I'm assuming they meant having the entry complete in two to four weeks.

It's our 3rd movie to exist on IMDb, after The Dog of Pompeii (1999) and The Last Kiss (2000). Quite a time distance exists between The Last Kiss and At the Core, but that's what THIS site is for!

Anyhow, here's the new IMDb link for At the Core:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442006/

The Class

2009-05-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday, I'll be sharing some movies of Thomas Productions with a middle school class of Mrs. Barg, who was my very first video production teacher! I took that six-week elective in the beginning of 1997, and it was for that class that both Tons of Sugar Cereal and My Teachers Are Aliens (the first projects of Thomas Productions) blossomed.

So, I'm developing a list of what to show the class. The catch is that it must be age-appropriate, and I'm finding that's actually somewhat difficult -- blasted college freedoms!

Actually, I could probably even include some behind-the-scenes vids & production photo slideshows, even if they belong to movies I cannot show!

Invitation

2009-05-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

Quick li'l note here: the MVFF officially received our entry of At the Core a few days ago.

This is good for 2 reasons, aside from it being a relief that it's been received: 1) It is now listed on Withoutabox with a blue checkmark instead of a red dot, and 2) It was automatically invited to become a part of IMDb.com (Internet Movie Database) in result!

Ahead of Schedule

2009-05-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Looking back on these first 5 months of 2009, remembering the resolutions made at the beginning, here's the entire list, with completed items in gold and in-progress items in indigo:

Complete TV Commercial for Gizdich Ranch
Begin Production for Hitchcock Road
Upload More Projects to YouTube
Finish Web Hosting Transfer Project
Submit At the Core to Film Festival
Submit The Nightmare to Film Festival
Begin Production for Everyone and Their Mother
Create and/or Complete Web Pages for Remaining Films
Finish Remaining Demo Reels for Cinematography and VFX

The year's not even half over (that occurs on the last day in June), but at least half of the list has been accomplished! YouTube uploads include movies and trailers/behind-the-scenes pieces. Even all of the Thomas Productions logo images were made links, so I'd say we're ahead of schedule.

I can't quite say the remaining Demo Reels are in true production, but I have started attempting to compose the next one's original score, like I did for the first. Also, depending on currently nonexistent extra money, I'm hoping that either Hitchcock Road or Everyone and Their Mother can achieve some footage in the upcoming summer months.

Trip Transfer

2009-05-09T00:14:00.000-07:00

In the announced closing of Geocities, it suddenly hit me: I needed to change the site location of what might be the oldest part of this site, my Trip to Washington D.C. photo album. Then I decided, why not convert it into a set of GPicturama pages?

It seemed perfect to do so, and probably was my very first stab at making such an album page. So, now the Trip to Washington D.C. pages are a part of GPicturama. Though the trip occurred in 1999, the pages are in 2009 because that is the year it was added to that portion of the site.

And now, because it was such a surprisingly awesome film, here's the trailer to this year's Star Trek! Way to go, J.J. Abrams!

Deed is Done

2009-05-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Wahoo! At the Core, reedited for 2009, has officially been submitted to the MVFF, DVD & all. The online entry through Withoutabox occurred a few days ago, and the DVD screener was sent today!

What a relief! And now, a glimpse of what's in store:

With Withoutabox

2009-05-01T22:40:00.000-07:00

At current, I'm in the midst of filling out all of the bits and pieces of required info & suggested info at Withoutabox.com for entering At the Core into the Mill Valley Film Festival (and possibly any other). It's great in that it saves a ton of paper, making the only things necessary to send are the actual videos (DVDs, tapes, etc.). But, it's a nuisance as well because there's a ton to fill out!

One such thing it suggested to complete was a trailer! So, there you go: a new trailer for At the Core!

Other things to include are not one but THREE separate synopses, each of different length, and a bleepload of technical details... So much more to write!

Return of the Critiques

2009-04-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

While sifting through old web files on Geocities (it is closing soon), I stumbled upon the critiques that were prepared for The Last Kiss (2000). These original reviews of the film were an application of analytic and evaluative skills that were currently in use at the time in high school, and were yet another way for friends to become involved in the project.

Those critiques and more, including the trailer above, are all found in the Media Layer at the film's official page. More older projects are now in the digitization process for YouTube; up next is Macbeth: Act 1 (2001)!

The First Fest

2009-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

It's official: At the Core (2006) is soon to be entered into the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival! Early entry deadline is May 15, and the festival itself is in mid October.

No clips of it are online yet, as I want to make sure doing this wouldn't prevent any sort of festival "world premiere" attributes. Nonetheless, there are several stills and production photos that hold up just fine for now.

BTW, I simply couldn't believe that The Last Kiss (2000) had never been embedded in a News Blog entry before this one! Tada!

BTW#2, The Dog of Pompeii (1999) has now reached 2,000 views on YouTube!

Silly Little Thang

2009-04-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I didn't post this sooner: the next (82nd) Academy Awards have been pushed back into March of 2010 from the month before. Why? A silly little thang called the Winter Olympics.

Not much the athelete myself (unless you'd count bowling a sport), I tend to value the Oscars above the Olympics. Maybe it's merely participating in the same genre as the Oscars to "know the sport better". Just a thought.

But yeah, the specific new date is March 7th. I have no idea what movies are yet to fill the race, but I'm really looking forward to Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are.

Decade of Pompeii

2009-04-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Exactly 10 years ago to the day, The Dog of Pompeii (1999) was completed and submitted to the National Children's Film Festival, to eventually become a National Finalist.

To celebrate Pompeii's 10 year anniversary, we've been uploading some extra videos to YouTube, such as the bloopers to that film and a few others.

Speaking of uploading and decades, The Trouble (1999) (which will be 10 years old this fall) has now been added to YouTube as well. Bloopers, too. Enjoy!

Core Photography

2009-04-10T00:31:00.000-07:00

In what is the 2nd GPicturama entry of 2009, the official production photos from At the Core (2006) have been posted!

There were actually quite a bit more photos taken, but most did not symbolize or represent that a movie was in production. Instead, they were nice shots of a ranch! So I had to choose wisely, and these were the results.

Soon enough, they'll be viewable from the Media Layer of the movie's page as well, in a scrollable format first introduced by the page for The Nightmare (2007).

Gulf Coast PSA

2009-04-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening, I found a video on YouTube that I actually assisted in the production of during my final semester at CSUMB. Made for a video community service class, my group produced a series of Public Service Announcements to represent the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, which in 2007 hoped to create 100,000 jobs in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

For this specific PSA, I filmed two significant interviews, particularly that of Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton. The project (Gulf Coast Civic Works Project PSA (2007)) is now listed on this site as well.

Enjoy!

Janitorial / 2000+!

2009-04-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

This blog has 2 topics. First, I've done some janitorial work with the Media Layer that I'm still in the process of adding to all of the movie pages.

More specifically, I've added some additional pro PNG images to the same concept of the loading spinner & what's in store: signs representing both Under Construction and Caution (the latter is only used thus far for Abrupt's adult oriented content). We'll see how well this experiment works.

On a completely different note (this is the 2nd topic), in the past day on YouTube, Scenes from Being John Malkovich has surpassed 2000 views! It currently has 2016 and counting: it's the first movie from Thomas Productions to achieve this!