Some of you may be thinking you haven’t seen good ol’ Alex in a while. That’s because, I am currently studying film at the prestigious Tecnologico de Monterrey, in Mexico. I won’t be back in the United States until December 12th 2009, but I’ll be returning with a certificate in Audiovisual Media Production. The classes that constitute this certificate program are:
Film Production -
TV Production -
Audiovisual Production -
Audiovisual Language -
Screenwriting -
Titles are one of my favorite projects to do – capturing the style and spirit of a film in its opening sequence is fun and creatively challenging. I worked on Chris Redish’s (The Blacksmith & The Carpenter) latest film, “20% Off,” as art director and set designer, and through the course of filming, we talked about ideas for the opening titles that would suit the oddball comedy.
poster art
I suggested a Saul Bass-style treatment that was old-school and slightly off-kilter. The fun part was using some of the prop/story objects in the titles – the kettle, the TV, the bicycle, etc. The final result is very close to what we had envisioned. I used a font called “Hitchcock” that resembles the blocky, geometric typefaces which Bass used in many of his famous titles for the films of Alfred Hitchcock and others. (One of Bass’s most famous title sequences is for Otto Preminger’s “Anatomy of a Murder.”)
I also did the poster art and DVD cover and menus. It’s been a really fun project. “20% Off” is now starting its festival run – watch for it! Larry Bagby (Walk The Line) stars and also did the score!
I just finished editing a pilot for a webseries titled “Cooking on the College Budget.”
Jimi Thomas-Douglas : Cooking on the College Budget
This project was the brainchild of Auburn University student Jimi Thomas-Douglas, who wrote and hosted the pilot episode. Filming took place in a run down apartment complex kitchen to emphasize the comedy behind adding ground Marjoram to Ramen Noodles.
Alex teases me, but I love Philip Bloom! He’s a British cinematographer and blogger who writes about cameras, gear, editing, and more at his website. He’s also a working DP (or DoP as they like to call them in the U.K.) with tons of credits.
I also love his short experimental films which often have a casual, just-shot-today feeling and yet show off his fantastic eye and cinematic style. He shot a fabulous clip called “Sofia’s People” with the Canon 5DMkII while in Bulgaria.
Now Bloom and partner Dennis Lennie have announced a new website and online seminar series they are calling the F-Stop Academy, which will share advice on how to create the “film look” with video. It looks like a promising series for beginner to intermediate shooters. They have released two audio clips for free to the first 1000 registered users on their site.
