Thomas Productions News Blog

Housekeeping

2009-11-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

Since more and more duties keep being assigned, I am going to try and arrange a list of tasks (and dates, if there are any specific deadlines) for the upcoming months, for all those related to Thomas Productions:

Submit Journey of the Mind to a Withoutabox-correlated festival => Garners invitation from IMDb for film
Make copy of Journey of the Mind (and possibly At the Core?) for airing on local television broadcast
Complete editing Alex and Mike's Alaskan Cruise by late December
Send copy of Journey of the Mind to Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California
Touch up The Nightmare to make ready for Big Bear Int'l Film Festival submission in January, which would also make this project IMDb-capable
Start Preproduction for Everyone and Their Mother, so it can be filmed in December/January, then ready for CurrentTV come Mother's Day, 2010
Finish reediting newly digitized footage of Brave New World for eventual uploading on YouTube
Create VFX Demo Reel

You may notice that The Nightmare "snuck back" into the list. I certainly haven't forgotten about that project! I fully intend to do at least as much festivalwise for it as with Journey of the Mind, because it was a fully scripted drama, not a documentary!

You may also notice that Hitchcock Road was NOT mentioned. I do still intend for its production, but with so much currently on my plate (and these duties aren't my only ones, mind you), I think it's better to try and see the horizon before things get lost in oblivion. In time, in time...

Web Journey

2009-11-15T00:31:00.000-08:00

In this small window of free time today, I've completed the creation of the web page for Journey of the Mind here at directorG.com! It includes still frames, a synopsis, and credits. Video may come in time.

Soon, I hope to be able to do two things: 1) Send a copy to the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California out of thanks for their kind permission to film at their Living With Epilepsy event during October, and 2) Submit this film to a film festival recognized by Withoutabox.com in order to get this project listed on IMDb!

Now Watchable!

2009-11-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

It's finally been done! Now, the full-length version of At the Core is entirely viewable from both YouTube and IMDb!

This had been delayed earlier due the movie's entry into this year's Mill Valley Film Festival, and I did not want a simultaneous online showing to hurt its chances. Now that this situation is over, I've made an executive decision and here we are!

On a different note, I've updated my Oscar Predictions part of the website (go here and choose Oscar Predictions). The actual dates for Nominees Announcement and Winners Ceremony have been released, and the hosts (plural!) have been chosen. I reeeeally want to view Precious...

Novemberama

2009-11-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Remember that subsite from here called GPicturama? I know I haven't forgotten about it! It's been awhile since the last post on it, though, and I haven't had too much time to think about it just yet...

Still, I decided to post something on it today: Random Pics! A more thought-out entry will be the next posting, but for now, for the sake of keeping it alive, this'll do.

One-Two Punch

2009-11-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

In each of the past two weeks, a movie was completed by Thomas Productions! Two weeks ago, it was Journey of the Mind, and now this past week, it was a private wedding video for a friend. Lots of work now off my shoulders - whew!

However, there's still more to come! There was also an associated video project with the wedding video that was a travel video. I've thus far produced a trailer for it that has been approved for YouTube by its parties, and it's what you see above. I hope to have that project completed by Christmas.

THEN, I still intend to create Everyone and Their Mother... We'll see if Hitchcock Road ever resurfaces in 2010. I also plan to retouch The Nightmare up a bit for festival entry, not to mention a second fest for Journey of the Mind!! Entering those in fests through Withoutabox will help put more movies on IMDb. This is all not forgetting about remastering Brave New World... So much to do!

No More Geocities

2009-10-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

Another quick notice in this flurry of busy times... Geocities is no longer in operation. Anything that was on Geocities in the past for Thomas Productions (which refers to anything prior to the directorG.com domain even existed) now has been demolished.

I'm therefore glad that a few months back, I transferred over all of the images from the Washington D.C. fieldtrip to GPicturama! Otherwise, I'd have to start from scratch to repair that site, since none of my pics at that point (in '99) were originally digital yet -- scanned each and every one by hand. I hope I transferred other stuff, too... About to find that out.

Doc Submitted Yesterday

2009-10-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

It's done! Journey of the Mind was submitted yesterday to the Arizona State U festival, different from what? The web page for the movie is now under construction, and should be ready in the next few days.

There's a possibility that this documentary could also get shown on a local television station... More on that as details arrive!

Executive Producer!

2009-10-19T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is the week I must submit Journey of the Mind to the festival, Different From What?, at Arizona State University. That's why the timing is PERFECT for a new person to be on board: Jayne Ham.

Thanks to her, it is now possible to completely afford the submission fee of the festival and beyond! She now is being credited as Executive Producer. Awesome to the extreme!

Jumping for joy...

That's Wild

2009-10-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

Things are still SUPER BUSY, but here's a quick rundown from the past week:

Nearly done with Journey of the Mind. Am already adding B-roll footage to the mix! Postmark deadline is October 25th, but I know I can send it before then. Also am nearly done with a private wedding video. Huffina huffina!

What additionally occurred last week on YouTube was the 3,000th viewing of The Dog of Pompeii (Part 1)! It's status stands at 3,062 views.

Great early reviews (though still waiting to see Ebert's) for Where the Wild Things Are! Must see it!

4,000 Things To Do!

2009-10-06T23:06:00.000-07:00

I'll be quick, because of what the title suggests, but that number is significant because Scenes from Being John Malkovich (2006) has surpassed 4,000 views on YouTube! It's current status is 4,011. Wahoo!

BTW, great footage this past weekend for Journey of the Mind (2009)! More on that soon.

Title Determined

2009-10-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

As of this week, the title for my documentary on epilepsy has been solidified: Journey of the Mind. For a film about personal lifelong epilepsy, I think that about sums it up.

So far, there will be at least two names added to the credits of this: Neva Nickols-Hirschkorn, the Executive Director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California and person who I spoke with on the phone to get permission for filming neurologists at a conference, and Kay Barg, my former teacher and an associate producer of this project. This is all not including the names of neurologists...

There actually is an additional set of guns firing simultaneously (in a good way, of course). All I can say at the moment is that when it rains, it really does pour!

Got Permission!

2009-09-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is wonderful. For next weekend's Living with Epilepsy conference, I have been speaking with a very helpful woman on the phone from the Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California (who have organized the event). So far, she has granted me permission to film at least one of the panels of neurologists that plan to speak!

This is all for the still-untitled documentary which I will quickly be shooting, editing and sending off to the Different From What? festival within the next month! I hope to complete the screenplay in the next few days so that I'll have an idea of where to include this necessary footage.

Sooo excited!

Gettin' Busy

2009-09-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Lots o' stuff has been happ'ning lately! Aside from editing a series of videos for some friends, I'm starting not one but TWO documentaries, and that's all not counting the touching up of the capstone for festival entry, reediting a lost pic from found footage, and finally creating a new narrative piece!!

This, though, is about the docs. This really is the Year of the Docs, since it will contain at least three for public release, plus a few in private release, by the 2009's end. The first, possibly titled Getting There (working title), is a personal documentary that follows my lifelong journey with epilepsy, and how I make do in spite of it. As it's just now brewing and I'd like to enter it in the Different From What? festival in late October, I've gotta be quick about it!

The other, Everyone and Their Mother, will probably begin this year, but will be finished next year, right before Mother's Day. It will follow three different interviewees within the approximate 6 minute timeframe, and through overlapping stories, they each reveal that their mother was the hero. It's to be posted on Current TV, among other things. Time to get crackin'!

Alumni Fest '09

2009-09-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

If you happen to be in the Monterey area tomorrow, the CSUMB Alumni Showcase will be occurring on campus at the Alumni and Visitor's Center (Bldg. 97) from 2:00 - 4:00 pm.

I was able to submit a copy of my Television Commercial for Gizdich Ranch, which should be airing this fall on KSBW, to the alumni event. On a spontaneous run, I may even attend...

Online Speculations

2009-09-15T00:19:00.000-07:00

Unless there is reason to be misled tomorrow (Tuesday), when contained films of this year's MVFF are to be listed to the public, there is speculation that At the Core sadly did not get accepted. However, this now makes it possible to show online!

Through both IMDb and YouTube, it becomes entirely possible not to hide this documentary from the public anymore. It needs to be rendered again with the new credits, which will be altered for the music rights, and compressed for uploading, but that should make things possible!

Initially, I didn't think uploading video to IMDb was all that possible, but by submitting At the Core through Withoutabox, that allows me a connection to IMDb that includes uploading videos! That's how the film's trailer was uploaded there already... Updates on this soon!

Spec-tac-ular!

2009-09-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

Today marks the Ten Year Anniversary of the Los Angeles premiere of my favorite film ever: American Beauty.

It was so excellent, I viewed it in theaters twice, and I instantly knew there was something magical about it. Viewing it with friends both times (I was in high school), it truly meant something when coming out of the theater because both girls and guys were so affected that tears were on their cheeks. There were characters that could relate to everyone, in situations that were familiar to everyone. Once in a blue moon are there films of that power, and this had it. It was satirical to boot! OF COURSE it would win Best Picture...

Also today, Part 2 of The Dog of Pompeii on YouTube has reached 1000 views! This is great in that the distance in view quantities among parts of a movie grows radically once Part 1 skyrockets; Parts 2 on up are often left alone. Here, if the LAST part has reached 1000, it only suggests the first part has been viewed QUITE A BIT MORE, which is spec-TAC-ular!

Win Some, Lose Some

2009-09-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

"Filmmakers will be notified via email of entry status by approximately September 4th."

-http://www.cafilm.org/mvff/c4e.html

Though I am yet to receive any such email about Mill Valley, I am to assume At the Core (2009) did not make it into the festival based on the Submission Status shown at Withoutabox. That claims to have been notified on September 2nd, and the decision was "Not Accepted." Sigh...

And still, this day remains pleasant because some of the footage from Brave New World (2002) has now been digitized (it's all already been transferred from Hi8 to MiniDV, thus saved), and it's begun to be edited. I'm not going to upload the movie to YouTube until it's entirely reedited, which may need to wait during a paid video editing job. However, above, I posted a few Brave New Outtakes from the opening scene. I'm sure more are to follow, so I called it "Part 1." Enjoy!

Two Weeks To Go

2009-08-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

Barely a smidge over 2 weeks from tomorrow is September 15th. Why is this date important, you ask? It is the date that the schedule of films to be shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival will be announced.

This may or may not be beneficial to Thomas Productions, but it certainly can be! The MVFF has the chance of being the first "adult-level" film festival one of our projects has ever placed in. We have earned status with the National Children's Film Festival before, but that obviously was during the K-12 era.

Whether or not the hope rings true, the festival still permitted another entry into IMDb.com, and also initiated contact with Michael Neverisky for music rights. This festival is noncompetitive, so if At the Core shows up anywhere in the schedule, then it's worth a yipee!

More Site Swappage

2009-08-27T21:35:00.001-07:00

While not 100% of this article regards Thomas Productions, enough of it does to talk about it here. The Checkoff List, which is linked to from this very index, is being moved from the 2nd site (jimthzz.bingodisk.com/public) to the 3rd site (directorg.uuuq.com) because the 2nd is becoming more and more difficult to transfer files to without needing to force quit and/or restart the computer!!

Okay, now that my rant is over, I'm merely announcing that the Thomas Productions Checkoff List, which lists oft-updated plans about the goings on regarding our movies and web pages (and also includes additional YouTube postings that may or may not be for Thomas Productions), is now hosted at directorG.uuuq.com/temp/checkoff.html.

Generally speaking, the only true remaining part of the site at the 2nd site address is GPicturama. Due to site space needs, it must stay there for the time being.

400 Views, Pt. 2

2009-08-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

At around this time a year ago (on August 19th, in fact), 400 was the highest quantity of views at YouTube any of the movie postings from Thomas Productions had received, and that honor belonged to Part 1 of The Dog of Pompeii. Now, a year later, the bar has been raised!

Scenes from Being John Malkovich currently stands with 3,566 views, holding the new top spot by a long shot. From there downward to 400 views, for a total of 7 full movies above the initial bar, is Part 1 of The Dog of Pompeii (2,592 views), Part 2 of The Dog of Pompeii (958 views), The Last Kiss (669 views), My Teachers Are Aliens (657 views), Lipstick on a Pig? Actually... (515 views), Tons of Sugar Cereal Commercial (425 views), and Photagrizzly Man (420 views).

There are still more that are close to achieving that quantity, with and The King Who Rained and Abrupt being the next closest, with 369 and 358 views, respectively. This is now a comparison year to year; where will we be in 2010?

Telescopic

2009-08-22T17:17:00.001-07:00

For the latest GPicturama posting (today's), there is some nature photography that was shot through a telescope!

Not much else to say here... Check it out!

New Prez

2009-08-19T15:43:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not talking about Obama this time... Actually, I'm referring to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscar giver-outers)! For the past 4 years, Sid Ganis held the title of President of that organization. As of yesterday, however, that title has been transitioned over to a new person: Tom Sherak.

Tom Hanks was elected as 1st Vice President, too, and other elected positions went to such names as Kathleen Kennedy and John Lasseter. I recognized all names but the new top dog, which means he must be a behind-the-scenes guy.

Sid Ganis was still responsible for creating the return of 10 Best Picture Nominees... Guess he won't still be in charge when it happens.

Brave New Film

2009-08-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

{There are basically 3 topics in this post, so I'll try not to be too verbose.}

It all starts with Brave New World (2002), which I still am unclear as to why it has never been mentioned before in this News Blog. I have always been rather fond of Aldus Huxley's book, and when I first was told to read it back in high school, my class group got to turn it into a movie. We had to be appropriate and all, of course, and we had some portions be live theater, but for the most part, it worked.

But then, as I've mentioned at least once before in these posts, the rolling blackouts of 2003 destroyed my digital masters of anything prior. For Brave New World, though, my only VHS had already been handed off to the teacher, who apparently destroys student work after 6 months. Sad day, for sure.

HOWEVER, in the past two weeks, I have magically come upon a set of old Hi8 mm tapes, at least one of which is labeled as footage for Brave New World! I might review it soon, and give it the go ahead to reedit what I can of the film so that SOMETHING of the project can be posted on YouTube.

I bother to mention this at all because of a news story I read yesterday that just happened to be about an upcoming film of this book! It would star Leonardo DiCaprio, and be directed by Ridley Scott. There may have been prior TV Movie kinda versions before, but never a film. Exciting!

We filmed most of it in San Carlos, which is a stretch for the remaining topic: Kathryn Bigelow. Her latest brave new film, The Hurt Locker, continues to earn critical raves, and I simply had to put her interview from The Colbert Report for all to see.

Nailed It

2009-08-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

This blog post takes a side course by talking about the latest upcoming version of "Siskel & Ebert". It's been over a decade since Gene Siskel has sadly passed, and Roger Ebert's been off the air for more than two years due to the results of a poor medical procedure. However, their supposed permanent replacements, Ben and Ben, have ranked nowhere close in comparison, and their platitudes can make one cringe.

Now for the good news: They are soon being replaced again! Critics A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips, who each took turns in Ebert's open seat while Richard Roeper was his sidekick, always sounded spot on in giving detailed, honest movie reviews, praising or scathing when necessary. They've nailed it before; here's to them nailing it again!

Change Has Come

2009-08-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Not to sound too corny by exploiting President Obama's birthday in the title (which is tomorrow, btw), but I've been further exploring the capabilities of Dreamweaver lately, due to other projects than those of Thomas Productions.

As such, I was able to remove A LOT OF code from the stills pages I experimented on, and even made the code more sensical (i.e. not just random numbers and letters). Now, this has been done for Fat is Not a Four Letter Word (for which the CurrentTV clip dimensions were fixed as well), VFX for The Perfect Lie, Whodunit, The 8th Grade Legacy Project, and The Dog of Pompeii. It will be added to more in time.