Jake's Production Notes

I’ve been working on a new kind of project this year that’s a little off the beaten path for a typical promotional video for the university. A few months back our department was approached by the head of parking services at ETSU to create a series of videos that underscored most of the common issues with parking violations on campus while “softening” their image on campus. Our department director suggested that going with a narrative web series that featured the violations driven by a larger storyline might draw more viewers and broaden the comprehension while not sounding too preachy – thus Spaces was born.

By allowing our department to have a little creative freedom with the project, we decided to create a comedic series that focused on an awkward yet endearing online student named Mason who is tentatively pursuing traditional student Charlotte by offering to give her a ride to class. After holding auditions with ETSU theater students, we settled on the leads and the winner of the part of Mason suggested that he had a couple of friends who would be glad to participate – and the parts of Mason’s geeky friends Steve and Sheldon were created.

The first episode consisted of a two man crew featuring myself with my Canon 60D and our director, David Currie, with a Sony HXR-NX5u filming our leads played by Everett Tarlton (Mason) and Danielle Tucker (Charlotte) as well as guest stars Zach Starnes (Sheldon) and Josh Holley (Steve) in three different locations across campus one Friday afternoon based on a script by David Currie. Due to being shorthanded, we ran most of the production with lavalier mics except when we could afford to lock one camera down to use a boom mic.

I edited the resulting footage with Final Cut and Premiere, cleaned and graded the footage with After Effects, utilized Mocha and After Effects to handle the visual effects shots, and processed the audio with Audition. You can check out the results below and check back for parts 2-4!

Just finished a motion graphics project for rc aerial photography & cinematography company Got Aerial last week. This was my first project working with the Element 3D plugin for After Effects from VideoCopilot.

First impressions working with the plugin are definitely promising. The biggest issues I ran into depend on what 3d tracker you employ to work with Element. I had some solid tracks with the 3D Camera Tracker plugin that ships with AE CS6, but, too often, the shots proved to be a little too much for the tracker to deliver anything solid due to the constant changes in perspective. Ultimately, I relied on The Foundry’s CameraTracker for most of the shots with very reliable results. The reel title mountain ridge flyover, however, proved to be too much for either the 3D Camera Tracker or the Foundry CameraTracker. For this particular case, I found the best results with PfTrack which provided me with a rock-solid track that I was able to use for both the Element 3D Text and the main title “The Art of Flying” which I created in Cinema 4D. Originally, I had created the title with the Element plugin, but, due to some strange artifacting, I switched to C4D to solve the issue. Overall, it was a fun and challenging project and an excellent opportunity to log my first project run with Element & AE CS6!

Check out the final results below. All footage by Got Aerial LLC and music by Krewella.

Just finished a series of videos for the Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis doctoral program at ETSU’s College of Education. All videography was provided by Jason Jones and Zion Madden of the ETSU Office of eLearning and talent by Dr. Bethany Flora, Dr. Don Good, and ETSU president Dr. Brian Noland. I performed all post-production duties with Final Cut, Audition, and After Effects.

Just finished another pair of documentary vids for the George L. Carter Railroad Museum at ETSU. These videos give a quick tour of the construction of the upcoming Tweetsie Railroad exhibit led by museum director Dr. Fred Alsop.

Session 9

The final day is upon us and what better way to close out 31 Days of Horror than with a visit to the Danvers State Mental Hospital, setting of Brad Anderson’s Session 9. Prior to this film, Anderson was known more for directing a pair of romantic comedies, but, after this film, Anderson began delving into much darker projects like The Machinist, Transsiberian, and Vanishing on 7th Street. The story follows Gordon, the owner of a small asbestos removal company, who, upon hearing of the old hospital’s need for his services, places an aggressively low bid to secure the job in an effort to relieve some of his own financial stress associated with his new child. Gordon’s small but eclectic crew consisting of Mike, Phil, Lucas, and Gordon’s nephew, Jeff, descend upon the abandoned hospital and begin the job. Mike finds a box containing audio recordings of sessions with patient 444, a woman who suffered severe multiple personality disorder, and begins listening to the ominous recordings as the therapist pushes the patient to discuss her dark secret. Meanwhile, the group slowly descends into infighting as an ominous unseen killer begins to stalk them all. When I first saw this film, I was so fascinated that I watched it 2 or three more times. Anderson certainly calls forth his inner Hitchcock to bring forth a tale of mental anguish and breakdown that is not only creepy but entirely plausible. The ensemble performance of David Caruso, Josh Lucas, Stephen Gevedon, and Brendon Sexton III as well as the tour de force by Peter Mullan drives the haunting tale home.

Where do you live, Simon?

I live in the weak and wounded, Doc.

Session 9 on IMDb

Frontier(s)

Before writing and directing The Divide, Xavier Gens had his first genre success with the French horror film Frontier(s). Against the backdrop of chaos and riots caused by an ultra-conservative party coming to power in Paris, a group of small-time criminals – Alex, Tom, Farid, Yasmine, and her brother Sami – conduct a series of smash-and-grab robberies in an effort to set themselves up with new lives in Amsterdam. Sami is shot and the group, hounded by police, splits up with Tom and Farid going ahead of Yasmine and Alex and hiding out at an inn on the edge of the frontier just outside of Luxembourg. Thinking they’ve found a potential refuge, the pair contacts Alex and Yasmine and convinces them to regroup with them at the inn. Once they arrive, they are confronted with the the owners of the inn, Von Geisler clan, who, despite their initial quirkiness, prove to be a deadly and twisted family of Neo-Nazis intent on creating their own Aryan master race by using Yasmine as their own fascist breeding machine, leaving the group no choice but to fight for their own survival. Frontier(s) is an intense, well-written, and definitely gory thrill ride that may conjure comparisons to Hostel and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre but delivers a taut horror tale that is all its own.

Frontier(s) on IMDb

The Collector

After breaking into the business by scripting the Feast franchise and Saw 4-7, the writing team of Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan went on to create a tale of a new sadistic psychopath in a film helmed by Dunstan – The Collector. The story follows Arkin, an ex-con turned handyman, who decides to rob his boss in order to pay off his ex-wife’s debt. Once he breaks into the remote country home of the Chase family, however, Arkin finds it littered with a maze of deadly traps laid by a sadistic killer who has imprisoned the family. Armed with only his wits and cunning, Arkin must find a way to escape The Collector. No doubt emboldened by their experience with the Saw franchise, Melton and Dunstan have created their own trap-laying madman who comes across as creepy and very effective in the title role. Josh Stewart delivers a solid performance as the anti-hero, Arkin, and the mood and atmosphere are extremely effective in helping to create a sense of claustrophobic tension. The gore is also present in full brutal force and serves to delineate the stark difference in criminality between Arkin’s felonious intent and the bloodlust of the Collector. In a far more personal way, Dunstan and Melton have created a far more memorable and effective horror tale than Stevan Mena’s 2004 film, Malevolence, while utilizing a similar storyline. Obviously, the pair found enough success with this 2009 entry to produce a sequel, The Collection, which is due to be released in the end of November.

The Collector on IMDb

Frailty

Aside from appreciating his performances in films like Near Dark and A Simple Plan, I was never a big fan of Bill Paxton until I saw this movie and learned how much he had invested in it to make sure that the project came to fruition. Frailty tells the story of an FBI agent, Wesley Doyle, who is approached by a young man, Fenton Meiks, who claims his brother is the serial killer known as God’s Hands. Meiks offers to show Doyle proof of his brother’s guilt and, as the pair travel to the site, Meiks imparts to Doyle a bizarre childhood wherein his father attempted to train the two boys to become “demon” slayers after receiving a divine transmission from God. The story is very reminiscent of a Stephen King tale that focuses on a loss of innocence or rite of passage as the two brothers come of age by virtue of their father’s apparent delusion. The film is also very personal and character-focused which allows Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Booth, and the two young brothers played by Matt O’Leary and Jeremy Sumpter to deliver a powerful ensemble performance that breathes life into this sordid, little Southern Gothic tale.

Frailty on IMDb

6 Films to Keep You Awake

We’re almost through 31 days and I’ve managed not to include any horror anthologies . . . until now. 6 Films to Keep You Awake is a horror anthology from some of the finest horror directors in Spain featuring Mateo Gil’s Spectre, Alex De La Iglesia’s The Baby’s Room, Jaume Balaguero’s To Let, Enrique Urbizu’s A Real Friend, Paco Plaza’s A Christmas Tale, and Narciso Cerrador’s Blame. Spectre tells the story of a man haunted by a bizarre and supernatural love affair from his past, The Baby’s Room focuses on a shadowy figure who haunts a family’s new home, in To Let a young couple faces the onslaught of the landlady from hell, imaginary friends prove to be deadly in A Real Friend, a group of kids face down a vicious criminal dressed as Santa in A Christmas Tale, and Blame provides a grim abortion fable. The crown jewels of this collection are To Let, The Baby’s Room and A Christmas tale, but that should come as no surprise as that group of filmmakers would go on after this anthology to work on The Last Circus and the REC franchise. This is not to say that the other 3 are not solid and entertaining films. I’m just a little biased towards De La Iglesia, Plaza, and Balaguero’s work. In short, it’s an excellent, relatively unknown collection that offers a primer on some of the finest horror filmmakers Spain has to offer.

The Baby’s Room on IMDb

To Let on IMDb

The Christmas Tale on IMDb

A Real Friend on IMDb

Spectre on IMDb

Blame on IMDb

The Midnight Meat Train

I’ve been a reader and avid fan of Clive Barker’s work since the late 80′s when I picked up a copy of Cabal and, any time I see his name attached to a film, I always make a point to see it. Luckily, this was the case with The Midnight Meat Train which, written in the author’s first visit to the Big Apple in his late 20′s, chronicles a dark tale of obsession amidst a dark, subterranean world. The story follows Leon, an aspiring young photographer, living with his supportive girlfriend, Maya, who works at a nearby diner as a waitress. Leon gets a break when he meets local art gallery owner, Susan Hoff, but is delayed his big break by Hoff who insinuates that Leon find a grittier edge to his work before she will display it in her gallery. Leon obliges and begins exploring the city and its subway system at night for inspiration when he breaks up a group of young thugs harassing a young woman. The next day, Leon finds a report that the woman he saved has gone missing and, upon his second nocturnal visit to the subway, encounters Mahogany, a stoic and imposing figure in a charcoal suit and tie, who triggers an obsession that leads Leon believe that he has not only found a suspect in the woman in question’s disappearance but a full-on serial killer. The film is beautifully shot and inspires a real urban gothic landscape where a monster like Mahogany looks right at home and the visual effects are, at times, absolutely stunning in the death scenes. Vinnie Jones portrayal of Mahogany is spot-on and extremely effective when balanced against Cooper’s inquisitive and furtive Leon. This is one of the truly great films based on Clive Barker’s work that will satisfy any horror fan.

The Midnight Meat Train on IMDb