A little while back I was contacted by rap/horrorcore artist Cap 1 (www.myspace.com/smokeboxent666) about potentially doing a full-length music video movie to accompany his latest album, “Se7en.” With time and budget constraints, we settled on me making a promo trailer for the project, to test the waters, potentially leading into the full-scale endeavor. So I set out to find a rag-tag cast/crew to shoot this thing, and ended up with a fine group consisting of (alphabetically) Craig Boldman, David Boone, Sonny Burnette, Dustin Cates, Samantha DeTurk, Stacey Gillespie, Jonathan Jones, Stefania Marcone, and Kayla Perkins – also with assistance from Tabatha Pack and Michelle Perkins-Couch. We shot the sucker in June in Louisville, in one day. And twas a blast. A very renegade/guerilla style shoot, I had the sequences worked out ahead of time, but we still improvised a lot of it. I encouraged the gang to remain very open-minded about the shoot, since it’s structure was so loose, compared to most productions. I approached the project with very few rules, embracing the silent-film music video done in the vein of a 48 Hour Film shoot (this is what we have available, how do we utilize it, etc) as a very freeing, cathartic directing/shooting exercise. And since we were making a trailer for something that doesn’t exist yet… we could kind of do whatever we wanted. I had a lot of fun doing this video, and honestly consider it to be one of the most trouble-free, efficient shoots I’ve had – and we shot VERY fast. Everything sort of just “clicked” on set. What a novel concept…
A BIG special thanks goes out to Jonathan Jones for all your hard work in helping arrange casting for this, and to David Boone for finding and securing all the locations, as well as arranging catering for the shoot! And thanks to Flanagan’s Ale House for providing all the ridiculously tasty pizza!
The video is online now, and you can watch it below via Youtube or Vimeo, whichever you prefer. Enjoy!
I’ve replaced the videos on my Vimeo page with muchly-improved hi-res versions (all the links are still the same). I continue to recommend watching them there as opposed to Youtube, but do what you will.
Tagged along last weekend (10/24) to Louisville, KY to shoot video coverage of the Evan Williams unveiling of their vintage 2000 Single Barrel bourbon for BourbonBlog.com – run by Tom Fischer. Twas a fun evening, and a very cool event.
Here’s the link to the video I shot/edited from that night, which also includes links to all the extended interviews done that night:
And since I hadn’t posted them directly, here’s all the videos I did from the 2009 KY Bourbon Festival as well (finally finished them all). Click to view:
It’s official – the spankin’ new music video for Blood Tribe’s “In Fair Verona” (directed by yours truly) is officially released! The release party went down this past Friday @ The Duck Inn in Evansville, with live performances by (of course) Blood Tribe, Shatter the Odds, Death of a Hero, and Reverend Fang Gory, where the video was projected for the crowd. The video was VERY well received, and I was surprised to find that Rev played the music video I did for him (“Sick Made”) before he performed as well! So it was like a Cinephreak music video double feature. Rock. A fun evening indeed. Now you, too, can bask in the awesomeness of Blood Tribe’s epic debacle. Check it below!
Last week I got asked to go on a last minute trek to Bardstown, KY to shoot some videos covering the Kentucky Bourbon Festival for BourbonBlog.com – a site run by Tom Fischer. I’d only just met Tom, but this sounded like a fun gig. Free drinks and a road trip – I’m game. So next thing I know, I find myself deep in Bourbon Country. I was only there for 2 1/2 days of the fest, but I had a blast. We attended several parties, were treated to several fine meals (courtesy of Jim Beam), toured the Maker’s Mark distillery, hung out with the Master Distillers from each company, hung out with Whiskey Professors (actual job title, no joke… awesome), got to sample a plethora of really good bourbon and whiskey (and were educated on the differences), and learned a lot about the process, culture, and industry of all things bourbon. Having the press-pass treatment didn’t hurt either, since we got into everything free (along with all the other press/PR people – a diverse crowd… had people from the Food Network, AskMen.com, and several other websites and magazines – people even came from Canada, Australia, Japan, and France for this). Oh, and we got shuttled around on a party bus, which was awesome. I’m told it originally had a stripper pole in the middle but was removed at the request of the PR girls. Probably a good idea since a ridiculous amount of bourbon was constantly being served. So alas, no pictures of Stripper Jake for you. Each night after whatever party/event/tour/meal we attended, the PR girls had a portable bar setup in the hotel lobby, with bottles of pretty much every brand of bourbon/whiskey we were exposed to that week (…there were a lot). So glasses were continually refilled (again… for free) with new tastes and varieties, while all the press people got to mingle and hang out and play cards, which eventually progressed into us all playing a very socially lubricated game of Bullshit. After one of these bouts, Tom and I watched Bruno for the first time, which forced laughter so hard it resulted in a headache. The whole thing was a really fun, and educational, experience, and I got to meet a lot of really cool people. Big thanks to Tom for bringing me out on this. Stop by www.bourbonblog.com to check out the videos I shot/edited from the festival. The first several are up, and more are on the way.
I am happy to report that I recently learned Shade of Grey won Best Feature Film – Suspense, at the New York International Independent Film Festival in Los Angeles! Can’t say I’m upset about having to modify the laurel leaf…
8/27/09 – Shade of Grey continued it’s festival run with a screening in Indie Fest USA… more specifically, this means it played in DISNEYLAND… Crazy.
The relentless promo-whore known as Scott Ganyo was a good chap for going to the opening night party for the festival and representing the film, since I was unable to attend. I journeyed out later in the week (more specifically on the day of the screening), once again waking up around the time party people are still causing a ruckus, and driving to the airport roundabout 3am. Check my bags, pass through security, and once again, Jake’s on a plane.
I continue to read more entries in Roger Ebert’s “Your Movie SUCKS” when I notice a trend – two of the reviews I’ve read in the span of 10 minutes described plot elements involving plane crashes. I’m not superstitious, so I think nothing of it until the pilot gets on the intercom and informs us of his name… Michael Myers. The universe is trying to kill me.
Thankfully, the flight goes smoothly, as does my connecting airborne excursion, and next thing I know I’m in Anaheim (sporting a Thrice shirt no less… figured it was fitting since it’s their town). After taking the shuttle to my hotel, which I realize is much nicer than I anticipated (the Hotel Menage… something that elicited more than a few chuckles from me on the trip… I need to grow up), I head over to Downtown Disney to start a fight with the mouse, and find the theater.
The theater was pretty great, actually. I got to check out flyers and posters for some of the other films in the fest that I’d missed. Looked like a pretty cool lineup. Scott showed up and we headed in for the screening, which went pretty well. I have yet to have a screening of Shadeof Grey without someone walking out, and this time was no exception. I’m fine with it (actually I’m rather proud of it), as I consider it a rather polarizing film – one you either like or you don’t (one of the downsides to making an indie art-house drama as opposed to something in the horror or comedy genres, which sell much better). A family I was talking with before the screening ended up leaving about 3/4 through during a scene of Evan rolling in the sheets with one of his ladies. I suppose the film was, shall I say… too sexy? Sigh. The sound in the theater was great (it’s almost the best I’ve heard Shade sound, actually). After the showing, we did interviews on the red carpet outside, and dodged over to ESPN Zone for drinks. From there we spent the rest of the day meeting and hanging with other filmmakers, watching some of the features and shorts that played throughout the day, grabbing drinks (and eventually food!) at ESPN, and finally we decided to be selfish and binge, taking in a double feature of District 9 and Inglourious Basterds, my second time viewing each. Rock.
The next day we hit up IHOP and basked in pancake glory, then played around Downtown Disney. Later in the afternoon we did a sit down interview for Shade of Grey. Then it was time to get ready for the closing party/awards ceremony, which required black tie… so after donning the Bond garb, we hit happy hour and then went to the red carpet for the party. There was singing, dancing, drinking and snacks, and celebrity presenters. And by celebrity I mean Joey Buttafuoco. I shit you not… Awesome. Sadly, there were no awards thrown the way of Shade, but the evening was a lot of fun. Met more cool filmmakers and geeked out over all things cinematic for awhile before heading over to the House of Blues to continue ranting and partying. One of our fellow filmmakers-in-tow bought all of us Jägerbombs, which I’m pretty sure is the universal sign for friendship. The rest of the evening was full of cinematic debates, on-set recounts, ventings of indie-realm frustrations, and grand philosophical and existential ponderings, made all the more prevalent thanks to hefty social lubrication.
The next morning I got to check out and leave the hotel at 6am to catch the shuttle to the airport, after which I spent the entire day hopping around airports and flying back home. All in all, a fun time.
I haven’t seen the videos of the interviews pop up online yet, but be sure I’ll post both them, and pictures, when they’re available. In the meantime, take a look at some of this crap, and stay tuned for more awesome!
I’ve finished the music video for “In Fair Verona” by Blood Tribe off their upcoming album, “Re-Pulse” (from Dark Harvest Records) and am pretty happy with it. I’ve had some trusted sources tell me it’s the best “looking” music vid I’ve done (thanks, baby!). It was a lot of fun to do, and an interesting change of pace, as a lot of the videos I’ve been brought on to do lately have been rap (which I enjoy, but diversity’s nice).
We filmed back in mid-June, and the shoot went very smoothly. Except for the damn ticks. We apparently decided to shoot smack in the middle of some sort of orgiastic tick super-hive. Ignoring the several I pulled off myself throughout the day, I discovered upwards of 20 bastard-suckers drinking the lifeblood when I got home. Fun. Thankfully, no Lyme disease for me. The rest of the band had reports in similar numbers, as the demonic arachnid-leeches were apparently determined to feed on the blood of Blood Tribe that day. Seriously… screw nature. I can’t speak highly enough of the band. These guys are total metal-heads, and were a blast to work with. I’ve actually grown quite fond of this track and can vouch that they’ve got a helluva presence as performers. I can’t post the video yet, as it’s being premiered at the upcoming release party, but here’s a taste…
Come on out and see for yourselves – September 25th @ The Duck Inn in Evansville, IN is the release party. Blood Tribe and special guests will be performing, and you can witness the official debut of the video yourself! I’ll have the video online on www.cinephreakpictures.com as well as Youtube and Vimeo shortly after the party. Be on the lookout. It’ll rock your balls off… or at least rock the ticks off them.
***For additional tidbits on the adventure, er, making-of OBSOLESCENCE, check out the blog entry SHADE OF GREY in LA***
As I mentioned, I shot a new short film while I was visiting LA for Shade of Grey’s West Coast Premiere festival screening. It’s titled Obsolescence, and things are looking good thus far! The setup: Obsessed with and tormented by the notion that things aren’t as they seem, Nick (Scott Ganyo) embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the truth behind his wife’s untimely passing. Yeah, I know that’s vague, but it’s all I’m ready to divulge at this point. It’s sort of a dark sci-fi thriller.
It’s based on a feature script I’ve been writing for awhile. This short film is set up as the back story for one of the main characters in the feature, and also a potential web series, so this is sort of a “testing the waters” project. Scott and I wrote and produced this one together, which was a lot of fun, and quite interesting. The entire production was very “guerrilla” style (kind of become a catch phrase on set… I think at one point I made monkey noises, because I’m a dork). I worked out a draft of the script before heading off to Cali, and found myself re-writing a newer draft while waiting at airports (don’t you love it when your connecting flight gets canceled and you’re stuck sitting in an airport terminal ALL day???). Then Scott and I found ourselves re-writing scenes till 4:30am most nights, er mornings.
Scott and I are kind of like brothers at this point… but sometimes we have very contradictory opinions. I tend to be wordy and enjoy thick, conversational dialogue between characters. Scott likes things to be succinct and minimalist. I like to go dark. Scott likes to go happy. So I’d write something and Scott would often be like “But… no.” Sample conversation between us during the late night re-writes:
(Jake finishes the latest draft, hands it to Scott.)
Jake: “Here it is! Take a look, this’ll be great!”
Scott: “But Jake, this script is balls!”
(Scott hands Jake pages back with huge chunks of dialogue crossed out.)
Jake: “DAMN YOU, GANYO!!!“
We’d go back and forth like that for awhile. Scott would suggest this, I would suggest that. I’d accuse Scott of hating me. Then I found out that he’d never seen the SNL Digital Short Jizz In My Pants. After watching it a ridiculous number of times on Youtube, we got back to work. That damn thing got quoted a lot. At one point I think we ended most of the script’s scenes with Nick’s character doing just as that title suggests. Anyway, I digress. The things we did have in common: We both prefer the story to be focused on the characters and their relationships. We both like subtleties and metaphors. We both have very off-kilter senses of humor. Somewhere along the line, we discovered a draft we could both live with.
We cast the thing on the fly. We did last minute re-casts on the fly. We found locations on the fly. Actors got their scenes shortly before they were filmed. It all moved at a breakneck speed, sort of like a modified version of shooting a 48 Hour Film project.
Scott Ganyo as Nick
Jen Lilley as Annie
Rosalind Rubin as Tess
Luca Ellis as Detrick
With Scott (Mind of Mencia, 1000 Ways To Die, Zorg and Andy, The Dark Knight, and oh you know… Foxxy Madonna vs The Black Death and Shade of Grey) playing the lead, we had three other roles to fill. The role of Tess went to Rosalind Rubin (The Cleaner, 12 Rounds), who I’d previously worked with on both Mime and Concentric, and I have to say her talent has grown since I last directed her. Jen Lilley (Two and a Half Men, The Changeling) played Annie, Nick’s wife, and displayed an impressive ability to master her scenes at an incredible pace, despite getting the script only hours before shooting – a very talented actress. And the role of Detrick went to Luca Ellis, who’s a helluva Sinatra-esque crooner. Seriously, dude’s got mad skills and a great screen presence.
In the first day of shooting, we covered 4 scenes (11 pages) in just about 8 hours. That encompassed a torture scene in LA, and all of Annie’s scenes – in a car, on a beach, and on a pier at sunset (sadly, not on a boat) in Ventura. After a final bout of re-casting, we shot the remaining scenes two days later, up in Santa Clarita, the bulk of which was Nick’s confrontation with Detrick. By the time principal photography wrapped, we’d shot for an accumulated total of a day and a half (12 hours). Not bad. All things considered, I think this is the fastest I’ve ever moved on a production.
Am currently working on a teaser poster, website, and other goodies (hope to have a teaser trailer soon). Mostly though, I’m just cutting away at the footage. Stay tuned for more…
So amidst all the music videos I’m juggling (just finished “In Fair Verona” for Blood Tribe, am still editing the promo music video trailer “Se7en” for Cap 1, among others), it’s easy to lose track of time. One particularly cool event that occurred recently – Shade of Grey had it’s West Coast Premiere, playing as part of the New York International Independent Film Festival, in Los Angeles on August 5th. So being that this was Shade’s first festival screening, I figured I’d celebrate it in style with a week of LA shenanigans. Here’s the tale of said excursion, as best I can tell it.
After getting to the airport quite pre-sunlight (had to leave home at 2:30am… yay), and desperately craving coffee, I settled in to start reading the new book Kenzie got me for my birthday – Roger Ebert’s “Your Movie SUCKS” (a great read… hoping to never end up in such a book). Before too long, I switch to brainstorming and writing a new draft of the script for Obsolescence, the short that I’ll be filming with Scott Ganyo whilst in LA-LA Land. Next thing I know, they’re boarding my flight and I’m off to Dallas. Jake’s on a plane. There were no snakes.
Once landed in that small country known as Texas, I make like a good traveler and head for my next terminal/gate/place to wait for three hours. Having a lengthy gap between flights can suck, unless you have a script that you’re about to shoot that needs reworking. Then that time with NOTHING else to do is sort of perfect… at least until my cell phone rings and an automated voice from the airline lets me know that my connecting flight has been canceled (here’s a good time to mention that I initially went to the wrong gate, where another flight was about to depart for Burbank. The guy at the counter directed me to the correct area, but asked if I was interested in getting on this earlier flight. The genius that I am, I said no thanks, thinking it’d be best to stick to my planned flight schedule. Crap.). So I suddenly find myself frantically trying to get on the waiting list for the next flight to Burbank, but it’s a lost cause. I’m going to have to switch and fly into LAX (which wouldn’t normally be an issue except LAX is a madhouse, and Burbank is much more convenient for me to connect with Scott, who is picking me up). Now I learn that my luggage is already queued to go to Burbank, and even if I put in a forward request, it probably won’t get re-routed to LAX in time. Awesome. The opening night party for the festival starts at 6pm and the dress code doesn’t allow for grungy street clothes… which I’m wearing. I wait around Dallas with my fingers crossed till 2:30 when my flight leaves (I got there at 8:30am).
Quick version – I land in LAX, my luggage made it there (yay!), and Scott picks me up and we’re off. It’s bordering on 4:30 (I was originally supposed to get in around noon) and we head downtown for the opening night party. Of course 4:30 in LA is 7:30 at home. So it took me from 2:30am till 7:30pm to get where I needed to be. After finding a parking spot, I grab my clothes to change into and we set out looking for a bathroom I can change in. Honestly I should’ve just ducked around a building and done it quick and indecent exposure-style. It would’ve been more hygienic than the balancing act I had to pull in the skeezy bathroom of a Jack in the Box in downtown LA. Run old clothes back to car and head to the party.
Scott and I arrive and realize we’re pretty early. Should’ve gone for that whole “fashionably late” approach, perhaps. We then realize, much to our chagrin, that there’s no food (hadn’t eaten all day). So we head to the bar and pay $22 for two drinks in glasses slightly akin to the adult version of a sippy cup, loaded with ice (read: three gulps and they’re empty). Welcome to LA. So the mingling commences. We talk to the other filmmakers in attendance, learn about their films, and pass out promo cards for Shade of Grey and everyone says I’ll go to your screening, come to mine (the filmmaker equivalent of show me yours, I’ll show you mine). We get to meet a lot of cool people, and have our interests piqued about several of the films. After the networking extravaganza, we retire to Scott’s abode for the night.
We spend the next several days in a whirlwind of going to film screenings, promoting Shade of Grey and getting Obsolescence ready to shoot.
Friday = write, pre-production/casting, go to film screening of 9.9.09 (met some of the cast and crew, cool gang), eat, re-write till 5am.
Saturday = write, sight-see, more pre-production/casting, go to a seminar the festival’s holding on distribution, go to film screening of Mangalsutra, get camera for the shoot, head back and film sunset shots over the mountains for Obsolescence’s opening/ending scenes, eat, get access to a better camera and pick it up, grab drinks, head back to Scott’s and re-write till nearly 5am again. Also tonight I got to encounter the Black Widow spider that was hanging out underneath my chair I sat in all day. Amy (Scott’s wife) sprayed it to death while I filmed it’s demise… but not before it charged the camera in a frantic attempt to kill me.
Jerk stared at my butt all day...
Sunday = film 4 scenes for Obsolescence (the bulk of the film) with Scott, Jen and Lindi in LA and Ventura, eat, drink daquiris in the hot tub overlooking the mountains at night, re-write a bunch more, realize that we’re going to have to re-cast the final role for the film, realize that I’m finally getting tired and crash.
Monday = writing, sight-seeing, hanging out, re-casting, and that evening experience my first night in LA with nothing to do. Finally got to see Scott’s first feature film he was in, coming out this year, called Zorg and Andy, and liked it quite a bit!
Tuesday = meeting with potential producer representatives for Shade of Grey in Beverly Hills, back to Santa Clarita to film the final scenes for Obsolescence with Scott and Luca, wrap principal photography (word!), eat, back to Scott’s to pack my crap, return camera, head to meet Brandon (where I’ll be crashing the rest of the trip), drive down to Rancho Palos Verdes and watch Adult Swim whilst ingesting Budweiser. Also get to encounter the freaky, furry, red demon-spiders that like to drop out of the trees in the back yard. Scott had evil black spiders, Brandon had evil red ones. Screw nature.
Wednesday (8/5/09) = wake up finding several new video clips on my camcorder that I don’t remember (apparently Brandon and I tried to make a short film about him magically teleporting his dog into a big rubber ball, which he kicked around the yard as punishment for the dog being… the dog). Oh, and prank phone calls were made to a retail establishment that shall remain nameless inquiring as to if they had the new Barack Obama t-shirts, because we wanted to purchase one in every color. Because apparently we’re in sixth grade. This is the day of Shade of Grey’s screening. Brandon and I decide to go hang out at Redondo Beach for awhile before leaving for the cinematic greatness. After cramming a buttload of tacos down our gullets and chasing seagulls for a decent interval, we head back to get ready for the premiere. Then we’re off to the theater in LA. Walk the red carpet, enter the theater and the show starts. The film seemed to go over pretty well. Afterwards, we did some last minute sight-seeing around Hollywood Boulevard and then headed over to the Pig N Whistle for drinks. Then I made my way back to Indiana the next day.
All in all, it was a successful, fun trip. I filmed a lot of these goings-on (or at least conversations regarding them) whilst I was there, mostly for the Shade of Grey and Obsolescence DVDs. I’ll try to get some video snippits up online so you can enjoy the week’s festivities for yourself. Check out the blog on Obsolescence for more details on those happenings, and peep the red carpet interview from the festival with yours truly below!
