“The Blind Date” – A Short Film Made in 72 Hours
This is my second entry into the 72 Hour Film Fest, but this year with a completely new team! Using friends and acquaintances through the Communications Department, Shepherd University, and friends from the “real world”, we composed an epic team of film-makers, actors, and other creative minds.
72 FILM FEST FEST
This year competition was tight, and out of the 50 other professional, amateur, and student teams, we did not take home any awards. However, we received a huge, positive response when screened at the 72 Hour Film Fest, and the viewers seemed genuinely impressed with our efforts.
Sadly, the entire team couldn’t make it, but those who did go had an awesome time. The hosts were funny, there was some really good films, and seeing the positive response to your film being screened is really awesome.
More info about the competition itself is available at www.72fest.com
BEHIND THE SCENES
This is the first film that I was truly the “filmmaker” of, and thus has taken more work than any of my other projects. Though that being said, collaboration was clearly a huge component. Our eight person crew pretty much non-stopped worked with each other for 72 hours straight, including a lot of eating and living together. Things got a bit hectic and stressful during the shoot, which would be largely attributed to lack of sleep and caffeine overload. However, with all the constraints and issues we ran into, things turned out remarkable well.
Here’s just a few issues that plague the movie:
- Creative direction.
We had so many ideas coming from so many places, that it was very hard to nail it down to a single, unified idea that everyone agreed on and liked. In the end, this wasn’t really possible, and I had to make some tough decisions. On retrospect, the idea was a bit too simple, and needed a bit more story to it… but we wanted to focus on the technical aspects and editing more than get stuck on the story, which we had spent all night working on (over six hours straight of brainstorming and writing).An interesting note is that Matt Embrey took one of our original ideas and adapted it into a rather cool graphic novel. It made me jealous that we didn’t actually make a film around it, as it was a pretty cool concept. - Finding talent.
Though we had the “behind the scenes” guys all lined up and good to go, finding actors and on-screen talent was difficult, even extras. Laura, despite some misgivings about the script and zero acting experience, set aside her entire weekend to help us and was perfect for the role. I was amazed at how well she did with said zero experience. Then, Bryan came out of no where and offered to help us with his acting experience—which he had plenty of! His experience was vital to the entire on-screen performance, which was really quite awesome.Another issue was extras. We luckily filled up the party scene with enough extras to make it look real, and they did a great job of getting into their roles in a very short amount of time. Sadly, we couldn’t secure all the talent we wanted. We had to cut the “friend” (that you heard on the phone in beginning). The “friend” was originally supposed to show up to the dinner scene and transition into the party sequence. Instead, Laura and Bryan kind of “show up” at the party instead. - The weather = the lost scene.
We originally had an entire sequence sub-titled “the bench scene” where the Male Actorwould wake up, reflect on the mistakes he made (in the first two), become frustrated, and then time would rewind. However, because it ended up raining on the second day of shooting, we couldn’t film any of these scenes.
Instead, we ended on the “party scene”, which kind of changed the dynamic of the film. We wanted this party scene to be one short stop the entire night, which went Bakery Meeting, Dinner Date, Friends Party, and Bench Scene (reflection). Instead, it sort of made the film seem like it was leading up to the “party scene” each time, which was unintentional. - Technical failure.
On the third and final day, my computer suffered a complete hard drive failure. This required almost half my day fixing and getting my computer working a new hard drive, with a new Windows install, while installing all my programs and assets as quickly as I could, and trying to save as much data as I could from my previous hard drive (which all my footage had already been saved on). Luckily, I was able to get everything working, but it set me behind by 8 hours… those were also with 4 hours that I was planning to sleep. Instead, I stayed up all night fixing everything and getting back on track… to only be left with 10 hours to completely edit, sound design, put together an entire film, and render it out.This was easily the most stressful thing that could happen to me, and running on no sleep made it three times as worse. However, there’s no excuses in the filmmaking business, so I buckled it down, got the work done faster than I ever though possible, and ended up being really impressed with the amount of editing I got done in less than 10 hours. To put that into perspective, we had over 2 hours of recorded footage. - The music.
This was my largest disappointment and a personal oversight of mine. I was not a fan of how the film essentially felt like a “music video” because of the lack of dialogue and the over-bearing soundtracks (that swapped with different themes). I sort of added a small amount of time to work on music and sound after the movie was complete, and never really considered how big of an impact they would have on the film.The first song (Someone’s heart is broken) that played changed the tone drastically. What was supposed to be an awkward and somewhat shy guy not getting anywhere because he was too timid and the girl being slightly put off… ended up becoming a depressingpiece about a completely out-to-touch person and the girl was downright embarrassed to be seen with him. This entire theme of “sadness” or “depression” was way overplayed.The second song (Clash) was too intense. It worked, but completely contrasted the first piece too much, and the tempo was way too fast. It was too jarring, though it ended up being pretty funny at points.The third and final song (Friends Without Benefits) I felt fit perfectly, which is funny because I came across it more as a joke. My good friend Matt Myers is the lead singer of the band The Continuals, whom the song is from. The tempo was nice, it had a good buildup, and it really set the mood nicely. It also ended on a perfect note, and having a good ending is really key in short films.In a related note, I’ve actually gone and made a music video for The Continuals song, Friends without Benefits, just because I liked it so much. Boom.
By no means am I trying to highlight only the negatives, but the hurdles that we had to overcome to make this entire film in only 72 hours were quite daunting. That being said, not only was this a huge personal challenge, but it was awesome working with such talented and motivated people. I really cannot thank my fellow filmmakers, actors, crewmates, and everyone who was involved enough, nor could I imagine working with more talented and driven people. These guys are legitimately awesome people, and despite the stresses involved with making a film, I had a hell of a time doing it.
CREW
- Bryan Staggers – Lead Actor
- Laura Bradel – Lead Actress
- Daniel Jones – Director
- Steven Schellinger – Lead Producer
- Stephen Wittkamper – Production Manager
- Matt Embrey – Director of Photography
- Aaron Rock – Creative Director
- Peter Rush – Sound Director
MUSIC
- “Someone’s Heart is Broken: For Fireproof Babies” by SackJo22 (First song)
http://ccmixter.org/files/SackJo22/33501 - “Clash” by visualgroove (Second song)
http://audiojungle.net/item/clash/53032 - “Friends without Benefits” by The Continuals (Third song)
www.myspace.com/continuals - “Together Tonight” by joymback (Time Reversal song)
http://soundcloud.com/johnsbd/joymback-together-tonight-100
LOCATIONS
- The Devonshire Arms Cafe & Pub in Shepherdstown, WV
http://www.facebook.com/TheDevonshireArmsShepherdstownWV - Shepherdstown Sweet Shop Bakery
http://www.wvbakery.com/
SPECIAL THANKS TO
- Megan Camilletti
- Benjamin Dyke
- Sage Ober
- Danielle Corsetto
- Brian Filon
- Alex Jones
- Samantha Gough
SOFTWARE
- Adobe Premiere CS5
- Adobe Soundbooth CS5
EQUIPMENT
- 2x Canon T2i
- 1x Canon 60D
- 2x 50mm 1.8 Lenses
- 1x 15-85mm Lens
- 2x 500 LED Lights
- 1x 96 LED Light (portable)
- 1x Light Reflector
- 1x Boom Mic + Boom pole
- 1x Zoom H4N
- 1x Zoom H1
- 1x Rode VideoMic
Updates incoming…
Just a quick blog note here, I’m going through and updating the entire website. I’ll post another update when I’m finished with the site overhaul. You probably already notice the completely new theme! I’m still working on customizing this to perfection.
I’m also finally publishing a bunch of blog posts that have been sitting around as drafts for awhile. They’re somewhat incomplete (there was more stuff I wanted to add to them), but I figure this site needs a bit of a content update, so just getting them out for the masses to enjoy. 
In the meantime, here are some big projects I’m working on:
- A new online tournament system built for e-sports events.
- A new, invite-only gaming community that is “friends only” and require referrals to enter.
- A major update to Games Cast TV, making the interface way more modern and hopefully with a few new features to boot!
- My Game of the Year 2011 picks… I never posted anything for 2010! I might go back and do a “quick and dirty” 2010 update.
- An update to Sector Network, including the long-awaited Sector Network Newsletter.
Want to get involved in any of these projects or something new? I’m just an e-mail away. mattc0m@gmail.com.
Cheers,
Matt
QuakeCon Streaming Announcement
Hey guys, just checking in quickly to give you an idea of what to expect. Namely, you’re going to receive some top quality coverage beginning at 1:00pm CDT (19:00 GMT) today! Stay tuned as we stream throughout the rest of the week, and enjoy stream replays overnight for European viewers, too. For those wondering about Brink, at the very least the finals will be covered on main stage on Saturday night. Fun times.
World-class coverage team
James “2gd” Harding, Alex “Jehar” Popa, and Steve “GreasedScotsman” Huff will be providing top quality commentary of the Quake Live tournaments.
Higher quality than ever before
QuakeCon, for the first time ever, is streaming at 720p. Don’t take our word for it, tune into the coverage beginning Thursday at 1pm CDT (19:00 GMT).
Ad-free coverage
Enjoy the QuakeCon experience ad-free through own3D.tv and their world-class video cstreaming platform.
Complete QuakeCon coverage
Tune in for interviews with pro gamers, tournament admins, QuakeCon staff, developers, and more. We will be providing exclusive behind-the-scenes video in the tournament, expo, and BYOC areas, capturing the complete QuakeCon experience. Finally, cap off your QuakeCon experience with video coverage of the main ballroom events, featuring the keynote and Saturday’s Tournament Finals Party.
Connect with QuakeCon
own3D.tv
Our exclusive page for the live stream. Tune in starting Thursday at 1pm CDT (19:00 GMT)
http://www.own3d.tv/quakecon
YouTube
View videos from around QuakeCon all in one official destination.
http://www.youtube.com/quakecon2011
Twitter
Get the latest updates from the coverage team.
http://twitter.com/quakeconcvg
Other official announcements will be available at http://twitter.com/quakecon
Facebook
Follow us on Facebook for the latest updates & even participate in the Community Choice Award Poll.
http://www.facebook.com/quakecon
Give us feedback
We are committed to answering your questions and addressing your concerns while we’re at the event. We want to give you the best experience possible, and here’s how.
- Google Moderator
This is the primary way to submit feedback, ask questions, and even submit question to ask the professional gamers in the tournaments.
http://goo.gl/mod/pHKd - IRC Chat
Join us on irc.quakenet.org on #quakecon. This channel is specifically used for the live stream coverage, but still can be used for general QuakeCon discussion!
What is Brink TV?
We’ve got a lot of e-mails, tweets, and Facebook messages coming at us. What is Brink TV? Well, folks, here you have it.
In a nutshell: it’s a website that provides live broadcasts of competitive matches and community-related events. Our streams are top-tier, professional grade, the commentary is also spot-on and occasionally comical, and we have a commitment to interact with our community.
The founders of Brink TV have a lot of experience with these professional “shoutcasts” (another word for broadcasting live games with commentary). We come from Enemy Territory TV, which is a site that provided that exact same service for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars in 2008.
The original founders of ETTV Steve “GreasedScotsman” Huff and Matt “Mattc0m” Richards are working hard on the development of Brink TV right now, with long-term members Ben “FishStix” Goldhaber, Slava “Uncle Joe” Markeyev, and Alex “Jehar” Popa all having a hand in the project as well. These guys have worked on Quake Live TV, Games Cast TV, and even the original Enemy Territory TV. They share a love for e-sports and live broadcasting especially.
We’re excited to bring entertaining, live events and matches to the Brink community. And we’re just as excited to play Brink ourselves. Look for an event on May 10th that will allow everyone to participate. We’re interested to hear what you think and how you’d like to get involved, feel free to toss us an e-mail at contact@thebrink.tv.
Join us around the web!
View below the break for the history of this project.
Mini-Review: MineCraft
This fantastically simple game has left a resounding mark on how I experience games. It’s really a great little game. Right off the bat, I’ll give you a number, if your heart desires it: 9/10. Yes, Minecraft does have some haters, and it would be better if it weren’t a damn Java game… but you won’t see me complaining (until it crashes for the 20th time, that is).
The premise is simple. You start with nothing to your name, spawning in the middle of a forest, on a mountain, on top of a cliff, or in any one of the vastly different biomes. You quickly set off to build the essentials for the night: You need a pickaxe to mine for coal for torches, which you need to build on a workbench, preferably inside a small, enclosed help. When night falls, the mobs spawn, and it quickly turns into a game of survival. As you explore the countryside, dig deep mines, and amass a collection of resources, you in term build better items, equipment, and building blocks to construct massive structures, elaborate traps, creative musical feats, and much more.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about what makes this game awesome.
One Year Later: Game of the Year 2009 Picks
I know I’m a year late, but here’s my 2009 Game of the Year picks! 2010 picks will be out in about a week.
“The Dull Pencil” – A Short Film Made in 72 Hours
This is a short film by Home Video Productions: International, a student group of filmmakers and creative types at Shepherd University. It was entered in the Frederick, Maryland 72 Hour Film Fest. It won the “Head of Class” (Best Student Film) award and was one of 5 nominations for “Best of Fest” out of over 40 other films. More info at www.72.fest.com.
Do yourself a favor, set it to 1080p (or at LEAST 720p), go grab a cup of coffee or pop some popcorn, then enjoy the short 5 minute film.
Synopsis: A young lady wakes up from the repetition of a melancholy life as she rediscovers her past love of art and it shakes her very reality.
Technical Specs: Used 3 Nikon lenses (wide angel, 50mm, and telephoto). Used 2 Canon T2i, Zoom H4N, boom pool, slider, tripod w/ fluid head, and more. Used LED and florescent lighting.
Software: Adobe Premiere & After Effects CS5 for all editing, post-production, animation, and sound design.
Credits:
J. P. Schmidt – Director – http://vimeo.com/user864373
Anthony Bellissimo – Editor – http://anthonybellissimo.com/
Matt Richards – Producer – http://www.mattc0m.com
Ashli Chesire – “Amy Jackson”
John Meeker – “Mr. Clark”
Hans Mertens – “The Gentlemen”
Stephen Wittkamper – Assistant Producer
Thom Huenger – Composer – http://www.myspace.com/thomhuenger
Cody Cheesebrough – Music Producer – http://www.myspace.com/erikgoestogermany
Justin McKenzie – Sound
Joey Diaz – Camera Operator – http://joeydiaz.carbonmade.com/
Zack Shelly – Equipment Coordinator
Sarah Crickenberger – Assistant Screenwriter
Leadership Conference Presentation on Social Media and Web
This Saturday not only did I attend my third Student Leadership Conference, but I had the chance to present as well. This was my second year as one of the featured presenters, and I had refined my topic even further than before. The custom-made handout (to the right, press on it to view the full size), a collection of videos, and a smooth oral presentation all got rave reviews from those who attended.
The presentation took approximately 40 minutes and there was roughly 20 students in attendance.
First, I explained the importance of having a solid web presence, an expansive social media outreach, and how it’s important to reach new students. I just covered some of the basics, from a business standpoint, just how important having a good website and presence is to the success of an organization.
At this point, I showed them Social Media Revolution 2 to further emphasize the importance of social media in regards to reaching new students.
From there I dug into the meet and bones of setting up a social media presence and using basic web services for their benefit. I discuss Google Calendar (as well as Google Voice, Blogger, YouTube, and all the rest of relevant Google services), Facebook Pages, Twitter accounts, how to set up a poll or survey, and how to setup special events. I spent roughly 10 minutes going over the basics, with the handouts providing links to all the resources.
From there it turned into a discussion about social media and its presence in the attendee’s life. We discussed some brief ideas how an organization’s events can reach to incoming students. From there we flipped gears and focused on designing a website. Again, it followed the layout of the handout, and I provided some basic insight to the very basics to get a website running. Hopefully some will utilize those fancy new templates that are sprouting up for their own club or organization.
I really focused on how easy it is to find resources on the internet. You can set up a large portion of your web presence with zero coding knowledge. I showed examples of how simple and easy it was, and gave them the tools to start their own journey to re-design their web presence.
Another vital point, and a point I’d been mentioning throughout the presentation, is the importance of teamwork. Combing the skills and talents of an organization is important to the success of its website. Using a graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, writer, or marketing gurus to help out on every aspect on the website is hugely important. It’s so important to great a group effort and work as a team to make a truly kickass website.
Before concluding, I showed them the video Did You Know 4.0 and asked the question: “What’s the point? Why do all this work on a website, especially for a small organization?”
I hoped the video painted a decent picture, but being educated on the Internet is vital. Not only to your personal growth, but having this sort of knowledge is vital to growing as a professional and for the real world.
The closing statement was:
Ask yourself: how is this not worth it? Being able to show employers and companies that you’re comfortable on the web, with social media, and have experience putting it all together? You have a perfect opportunity to learn these technologies, make mistakes, and then get better at it. This is the way the world is heading, so why not give yourself a head start?
I fully encourage that you go out there and attempt to reinvent your digital presence. Put a team together. Put in the work. And while you’re at it, try having a little fun.
Thanks for your time.
Boom. And I’m out.
DUBSTEP IS FRIGGIN AWESOME
Just listening to a new brand of music. Dubstep. And it is awesome.
In other music news, I’m the Band Manager of Erik Goes to Germany.
Back to School: Junior Year
I’m official over the hill. Instead of looking at how long I’ve got to go, it is beginning to feel as if the end is near. And though I look forward to venturing out into the “real world,” I can already tell that the college experience will be missed. This is just a quick recap of where I’m at right now, and where I’m headed with my next two years.
Here’s a summary of where I’m at academically:
- Mass Communications major, Marketing minor (switched from Journalism last year)
- 3.66 GPA
- Enrolled in Honors Program (and have satisfied all Honors requirements except Capstone)
- Satisfied all general studies requirements
However, where I am focusing my energies on is instead networking, projects, and other non-academic goals.
- Worked on Program Board as an executive programmer and webmaster since my first year. This year I am the graphic designer as well. I’ve hosted dozens of events on campus while providing flyers, advertising, and website updates for the rest of the board.
- Worked on A-Team over the summer. A-Team is a peer leadership group that is involved in making a smooth transition into college life for first year students. We advise, give support, and provide a quality role model while leading them through a two-day orientation.
- Worked as a Resident Assistant for a semester (more on that later). I hosted some of the largest events and provided a positive role model for a diverse and unique floor of residents.
- Ran for Student Body President my Freshman and Sophomore year. I plan on running again the next two years. I lost to my now-roommate / partner-in-crime Anthony Bellismo.
- I’ve been involved in the Student Government Association, Technology Oversight Committee, Honors Program Board, and the Student Life Council.
- Recognized at Student Recognition Day as a Freshman and Sophomore.
- I’ve was the webmaster for Student Affairs and Intramurals briefly.
- Started up a now-defunct movie review blog with a few fellow students.
It’s been a pretty good ride, however over the summer and the beginning of this semester have seen a series of events that have taken the turn for the better. That is awfully vague. Allow me to explain:
Over the summer, it became apparent that my help was needed at QuakeCon 2010 with my internet broadcasting organization, Quake Live TV. The issue with this was that it directly conflicted with my Resident Assistant training. I explain my situation in detail, offered to do all the coordination with my staff and do extra work to make up my time off. Unfortunately, they still were unable to keep me onboard and I lost my position as an RA.
However, QuakeCon was an amazing experience and I’m completely glad I went. I met the majority of my staff on Quake Live TV, as well as bonded with a lot of QuakeCon staff and volunteers. On top of that, was able to spend a bit of face time with Bethesda, Splash Damage, and id Software developers and executives. It was a great personal and professional experience, and we did great work while we were there. See our coverage at our QuakeCon site.
I was also laid off of my Webmaster Advisor job for Student Affairs (they essentially combined two positions into one and I got the short stick), so I lost two jobs when I came back to campus. However, I’m still the Graphic Designer for Program Board, and also Rachael (my boss) hired me as the Webmaster for Student Activities, which means I’m charge of making some really cool website stuff. I’m pretty excited.
In another unfortunate twist, my good friend Jon Haar lost his federal aid and wasn’t able to go to Shepherd. However, this let me take his place and room with Anthony Bellismo, Nick Frendzel, and Justin McKenzie. This collection of gamers, filmmakers, and digital artists is truly a great place to be, and already we’ve kicked off and done some fun, unique projects. I’ll be posting some of the videos and films we produce while we’re here shortly, already we’ve done a lot. I’m also rooming right next door to all the ladies I was very close with first year—Stephanie Singleton, Becky Van Wagoner, Ashtyn Lake, Hannah Pebbles, Abbie McMullen, and the “new kid” Heather. They’re a great group of friends and it’s exciting to have them next door.
There has been some ups and downs, yes, but at the end this is looking to be a great year for my personal, professional, and academic growth. Woot!
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