Matthew Morris

Sans Vie, Vita di Amore and updates

2011-01-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

Sans Vie Premier was wonderful. We had a sold out crowd and a beautiful after party.
The last few months I have laid low and have been taking some much needed time on the home front while working on the next project.

Vita Di Amore
Last weekend opinionated folks gathered for wine and food to look over the grammatically challenged third draft of Vita di Amore.

This will be my second attempt at a feature film. Sans Vie was my first and in my own goals I set it burst through any measurements of success I had laid out. Sans Vie was written as a 15 page short and quickly turned into a 24 minute movie. We premiered the featurette as such but then I made the decision to turn it feature. Although funds were depleted at the time it was to hit all of the festivals we still got some festival play but what happened outside of that was inspirational.

Sans Vie screening outside of me were being planned by others. Dinner screenings, potlucks a screening of the movie in a Castle in France. It is an intimate drama and was seen in intimate settings.

I have individuals stop me even today and say “I finally saw your movie and I loved it”

It is quietly circulating around. I have been approached by two distributors without even trying and think this is the next step for Sans Vie.

Vita di Amore is a follow up to the world we created in Sans Vie.

Where Sans Vie is quiet, introverted and takes time to stylize atmosphere, Vita di amore is fierce with visuals, the tempo is drunk and on fire. Everything from Pink Gorillas to drunk Santa clauses to drag queens in kissing booths have been put into this script.

The read was a success. This romantic story of Nicola a woman looking for love even in her own shadow will be a fun carnival to create.

Next up on the to do list is the re-write then a final cold read with the principle cast.

Tickets go on sale first week of May

2010-04-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Sans Vie big Premier is 6/13 at 8pm at the Jewel Box Theatre. This will sell out quickly so stay tuned for information on getting tickets to this event.

Sans Vie accepted to STIFF

2010-04-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

SANS VIE has been in the works for about 4 years now and is finally going to be displayed for everyone to see. This will be a celebration for everyone who has worked on the project to see the full length feature on the big screen with cast, crew, friends, family, and local film lovers. Dates are on the way and I look forward to seeing you there. In the meantime here is a new trailer created by Sten Ryason

Sans Vie Film Festival submission update

2010-01-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sans Vie was released on DVD to Cast and Crew in November and since then has been submitted to the following festivals:

Seattle True Independent Film Festival
ArtsFest Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
Palm Beach International Film Festival
San Francisco Interntional LGBT Film Festival
Sci Fi London International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
USA film Festival
SoCal independent Film Festival
MountainFilm in Telluride
Rhode Island International Film Festival
Tulsa United Film Festival
San Francisco United Film Festival

Every two weeks I will be submitting to a few more festivals next up:

Austin film Festival
Tacoma Film Festival
New film makers

Responses will be coming back from these festivals starting this spring. Stay tuned for updates on screenings for Sans Vie.

Happy Birthday Keegan, Laurel Fedora and Myself

2009-03-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

PISCES PARTY
many more pictures to come I am sure.

Last big event until a Sans Vie screening and it was done with a Bang. If you missed it we will have another Pisces party next year....for now just hear the stories from around town.

keegan smith and myself outside ouch my eye studio

Myself, Cait Willis, Keegan

Justin Smith and Dixi Lee

Prince of Seattle and the Duke of Downtown or so they say

Cait, Laurels mommacita, me and Michelle

Fedora and myself outside the studio

dance floor section

Upcoming Events - Pisces Party March 14th

2009-03-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

If you were at lasts years you know you dont want to miss this. Its four pisces coming together to shake down Seattle with dance, booze and maheym. Join us at Ouch my eye studio. Door is free but we ask you bring some booze to help with the bar.

Sans Vie Wrap party review

2009-03-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

Olgar busting a serious move on the dance floor

The night was a good mix of friends, cast and crew and people coming out to support the project.
Emmett Montgomery took to the stage and disturbed us with his wonderfully orginal humor.

I then came up played some clips from the movie and answered questions at the end. Finally the audience of about 80 or 90 dispursed downstairs to mingle, dance and have drinks. Here are some photos, for your enjoyment.

Keegan and Laurel Staying alive 2009 style

Dixi Lee chatting it up with guests

Amber, Justin and myself taking a moment for the camera

Sans Vie and festivals

2009-03-02T09:52:00.002-08:00

Sans Vie has been submitted to Seattle International Film festival and later this week we will submit to the LA international Film festival. Stay tuned for more news.

Sans Vie Wrap party February 27th

2009-02-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

Justin Smith Matthew Morris Keegan Smith

Last call at the Sans Vie Wrap party

The French district of Seattle has been built. It has been a journey of art, drinking, making love to the city and oh so many successful relationships. Making a film is a grand adventure. come commiserate or celebrate the wrapping of a four year long project.

Sans vie was written in June of 2005 when I was still sane and able to talk about things like religion and politics. Back then I could speak only a little French and kind of write English. Today my grammar is worse then ever and I know even less French, but the movie is beautiful.

I am very proud of what was accomplished and feel it will do very well.

Unmasking Jolies' Ghost

2006-08-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well we shot Jolies flash back with the amazing and talented Dylan Thomas and Asher Morris. The two were pro's and did an excellent job. Dylan plays a young Jolie(Melissa Roberts) and Asher plays Daniel the neighbor boy trying to get her to come out and play with a pup.
We ran about an hour over on time and I don't think that is to bad considering we were working with children, pups and French.

Andy McCone came in for the second part of our shoot to do the scene where Jolie breaks up with her online boyfriend. We shot this in French and English just for the sake of insurance. He commented that it was like taking acid in a room where no one else is. Andy was professional and he has just a great charisma about him that I truly enjoy being around.

After the shoot we had fairly brief impromptu crew meeting. Eric, Stefan and Mark are truly some very talented individuals that I feel very privileged to work with. Jason and myself seem to have the same ability to gather people to a project and keep things rolling. Everyone is extremely skilled and hard working. I definitely am appreciative and as always very honored that people with such talent come together to work on projects I have set up.

My hopes for the future will be to actually.... pay everyone. With that comes investors and feature projects. First things first Sans Vie and Unmasking.

Speaking of which I did watch a demo reel of unmasking and I have to say I'm blown away. That project just seemed to fall together and what I have seen so far in post it seems to have a very complimentary potential to Sans Vie. Both of those releasing in March will be a lot of fun.

Ghost in the Machine Post has been put on hold as I have run out of time on that video. I will complete it but I don't know if it will be by the October 20th deadline.

Other notes of interest, we are no longer working with Neodandi but instead moving forward with a more feasible wardrobe solution.

We had a rehearsal last night. Dixi and Melissa are just so perfect for these roles. Melissa worked with Margaretta on her translations and I'm confident in the end this will be in French. Oh yes and Margaretta after reading the script gave me a thumbs up on it being true to French Story telling.

I'm now researching grip equipment working on production boards and various other sleep stealers. Its a blast.

New Sans Vie Promo

2006-05-10T02:05:00.000-07:00

Merlot Reviewed on Film Threat

2006-04-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=8917

Masquerade of Art June 3rd

2006-04-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Turkish March

2006-04-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

A man with Obessisive compulsive disorder sets his alarm clock.
This is a micro short I wrote in about 5 minutes. I like this one because its short to the point and a comedy. Its in the same genre comedy as Mr. Bean episodes and I actually cast the composer Richard Temple to play the part of Brandon. Richard has actually moved to LA and it looks like I will be flying down there to shoot this short. This will be a great opportunity to not only hang out with Richard and work with him, which is always fun, but this will be a good chance for me to check out a little of LA. I will know more later this month. Things are starting to look busy for spring.

Chaointe Copies

2006-04-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

I finally was able to get my pc back online and get more copies of Chaointe burned. Last night I burned 10 copies and will send them out today to various people who were part of the project and some online review sites. I need to burn a few more for festivals and then I can close the Chaointe Chapter. Next chapter the Mockstreet Masquerade.

Finally some movie news

2006-03-20T11:33:00.000-08:00

Looks like Chaointe will play at STIFF this year. Very fun that will be its 4th showing here in seattle. Which is nice because I was thinking of it mainly for a minor web release. For those of you interested in seeing and can't make it to STIFF it will be on the web soon at the www.mockstreetfilms.com site. Merlot received a review on microcinema scene. Tonight I will burn more copies of the movie and finish putting my house in order. Its spring and I need to get organized so I can finish this last short. I have been turned around and upside down for a while now and I don't even use drugs.

Merlot - Review from Microcinemascene

2006-03-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.microcinemascene.com/artman/publish/review_merlot.php

Chaointe at Indieclub

2006-01-31T11:31:00.000-08:00

Eric has set up a screening of Chaointe thru indieclub for tonight here in Seattle. I will not be in attendance as I'm still under the weather. If you are interested in attending I will update this blogthroughout the day with times and locations.

Beers and Steering

2006-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

So Grandpa had a couple of sandwiches in a can hooked up his oxygen tank and drove up some winding roads. Cliffs on the Right and left. Tropical Rain and muddy roads. I love the guy every bush rock bird and vendor has a story and he tells them so well. We went to the northern tip today and were soaked . I did some swimming, reading and visited two caves. Tomorrow we head to the south end of the beach. If anyone ever makes it out here there are a lot of chickens trees and half naked women everywhere. Wierdly enough for as straight as I am I really notice how many chickens there are rather then the non existant bikinies everywhere. We did check out a guava farm and had drinks. I took some wonderful shots that maybe useable for Sans Vie. Tomorrow I think I will buy a place out here to live. Its very different in priorities and pace.

Gonzo's Paradise

2006-01-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

I'm writing from the island of Kauai. We were greated by my grandparents in traditional Hawaiian style and the went to see some of the sites. Last night we had some chinese food shared magic tricks and finally I went upstairs to the condo. After setteling in I walked down the beach. I dont know if I would ever get tired of listening to the waves hear and smelling the flowers in the air. When I arrived back at the condo I fell asleep listening to fade into you. That is a good song. Oh gonzo's paradise there are chickens and roosters everywhere. Apparently a hurrican blew in one year and all of the chickens and roosters that were on farms were scattered all over the island and now they just roam around. These are not washington Blah chickens these are really colorful ones. This morning I went for a run down the beach and even though I like working out I only went about a mile because I had to stop and watch the surf for a bit.

yearning, churning and burning

2006-01-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

Several copies of Merlot and Chaointe have been burned. I went down to get a copy of my CD mixed and it was not finished so the engineer is going to do a lot of mixing for free. I met with the enchanting and talented Jinny. Her personality and art are a rare treat. She has some of her art on her myspace profile check it out. I may be in Seattle this Friday distributing some Chaointe DVD’s before I head out to Kauai. In other news I found out Richard Temple is actually the same Richard Temple that was the score coordinator for the Exorcism of Emily Rose. I’m very thankful for the level of friends and contacts I have made. Last night while listening to Chaointe’s music again I was just blown away. Blown Away! The music is beautiful. I was planning this investor party for February. I think that instead I need to focus more on my location and props. I will just find the money. The party is a good idea but I can fund the project and I don’t want to exhaust myself early in the game with an experimentation that may reap no benefits other then experience. So next step purchase everything starting with my location. It’s a good Idea to pay for things way ahead of time. Dez and I will head down to the OK Hotel check it out and I will pay for the month of rent. Then the countdown is set.

From the present looking to the past and onward to the future.

2006-01-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

In 2005 I set out to complete the writing of my feature script Man of Wonder and write direct and produce 3 shorts. My blog here and on the other site are filled to the rafters with details on how all of it went down. To sum up everything was accomplished but the last short. I'm working on that short right now.

In 2006 I plan to complete my 3rd and final short and rock the film festival circuit. Complete my Psychological Drama, Eloise and produce a one act play. Towards the end of the year I may go down to sleep country USA and start looking for a bed that I can jump into with a literary agent.

There were many personal and professional strides made in 2005. Im already seeing the fruit of my labor and Im excited the 5 year plan is looking like a 3 year one now. Some of you have asked and yes I know about 90f the people in my network and no Dane Cook is not one of them, he is just a silly bitch and I'm a devoted fanboy. Everyone else knows everyone I know is Damn cool. Especially you.

Another lesson learned

2006-01-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

I learn something new on every shoot. On this one I learned that I need to definitely go with the safe planned shot. After that I have to take the camera and just experiment. I always get a bit tense and want to keep things moving. In my mind I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t have control of the shoot or that I don’t have everything planned out. Taking the camera and experimenting to me is a loss of control but its where I find shots that I would never dream of. We were able to get amazing shots, later that night though I was playing with objects and lighting and realized I need to do the same thing on a shoot. Just say screw the schedule and the storyboards. I mean get the storyboard shot but then say OK we played safe now its time to find something outside of what I was thinking when I originally envisioned it. Explore the scene. I’m excited that I’m getting to a point where I feel comfortable doing this. I wont talk anymore about the shots we got because you just have to see them. They are great!!! One shot of Seattle I know could sell as a print. Its great.

Sans Vie more

2006-01-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

After shooting the beach we went down to Desiree's house. She has this spot on commencement bay that is suppose to take your breath away. They have an inhaler stand their for people passing out. At any rate the tide was high and we couldn’t get to the spot. we still were able to get some wonderful shots of Paige(Sahra Maya) at the beach contemplating life. Back at Desiree's house we started staging a shot for the DVD art. Sahra was going to do some painting and I wanted to get a couple of stills. I was able to give some direction on what the character was thinking but Desiree really came in to give some great direction and coaching on how she paints. Sahra picked up on it quick and we were able to get some wonderful shots.After the shoot we had lasagna and wine with Mark. Mark is a great guy. He was telling me some great stories. I don tknow if you can tell by my writing but I'm beat once again. Anyway, later on I interviewed Desiree about her artwork. I am a sucker for good art. If you get a chance to check out Desiree or Jinny's art they are both extremely talented. The day ended with a drive home and me planning my next move.

Sans Vie Day 1 Freeway and Beach

2006-01-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

I was up until 2:30 talking to Jinny then 3am talking to Sadie. Finally I went to sleep and was greeted at 6am by my bastard friend the alarm clock. I grabbed my shot list and ran out the door. Mark and I met at Safeco field. I did spend about 10 minutes waiting for a ghost train. It was weird the bells were ringing the lights were flashing but no train. When I got there I knew the shot I wanted and Mark scouted out another shot that was very nice. I will end up using both for sure. The one of the building we got!!!! The one I have wanted if you are new to reading this blog lets just say I obsess just a tiny bit and this building has been freaking me out but we got it. I through in one guy walking down the side of the building(me) this looks freaking awesome save one minor detail. Because I was walking and not watching I didn’t notice my shirt was untucked so it was unusable there are some cools ones where I’m running back though. None of the shots can you tell its me I’m not into the whole cameo thing. After we shot the building we went up to the Amazon building on Beacon hill. We took shots of the freeway from 4 different spots and angles. This was better then I could have hoped. It was perfect!!!!! I’m more then super jazzed. There are freeway ramps everywhere and we got the lone car on a just empty interstate its nice. Its 11 now and my grammar and story telling sucks so I will tell more tomorrow and possibly post a picture.

What's happenin today and tomorrow

2005-12-31T17:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning I will be shooting shots of Seattle with Mark Shapiro on a Canon GL1, I will then proceed down to Tacoma to meet the amazing Desiree of which I have a psychic past life connection with. I will aslo be meeting the talented Sahra Maya and possibly Melissa Roberts. We will head down to the beach to shoot Sahra’s scene and then head back to Desiree’s house to do the promo shots. All that is left for me to do to make this happen. Is
Pick the camera up tonight.
Get some green from the bank.
Get directions to Sahra and confirm the call time with her.
Pack up my equipment
Call Mark
Oh crap and I have been meaning to forward the new script on to everyone.
Look for photos from our shoot next week.

For those needing and wanting copies of Chaointe I don’t have a good copy to burn and Eric is on vacation I was planning on doing all of that this week with no go. So I apologize. Regarding extra copies of Merlot the good news and the bad new is one in the same I though 150 copies would be enough. It wasnt I have to get the Master and reburn it this is just taking longer then expected.
I dont know about anyone else but I love Ava Drakes music!!!!

Shooting Sans Vie this weekend, YES!!!!

2005-12-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

updates on http://www.myspace.com/mockstreetfilms
I have been messing around with this site for a week and its pretty damn cool. I dont know if I will totally do all of my blogs there from now on but there are several updates on what is happening.

Mark, Dolly , Wardrobe and the Cam

2005-12-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

Its all coming together. I just heard back from Mark and not only does he have a dolly he is available!!!! Yes! Verily! What a great way to start the New Year. It is looking like I have a camera for sure either via a studio or a fellow film maker. My main concerns now are wardrobe and the weather. I can deal with a little drizzle but not a full downpour. I also have to figure out the tide charts so we get to the location at the right time. Timing is definitely everything with these shots. So far so good. I just heard back from Melissa and she is going to try and be there.

Confirming the Weather

2005-12-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

Sahra confirmed as well as Dez. Things are looking good save the 5 day weather forcast. I have to talk with Dez again tonight to ask her about the beach location if there are any tree type overhangs if we have a sprinkle of rain happening. Wouldn’t make much sense having Paige sitting out on a rainy beach. So I’m watching the weather, looking at wardrobe and trying to get ahold of Melissa add just a dash of insomnia and a major project at work I’m on and you get a tired and excited Matt.

How to get a desolate shot of the future?

2005-12-27T11:26:00.000-08:00

Well this has been a dilemma for me for a while now. How in the hell am I going to show a major city having a fraction of the population they have now. A good answer finally hit me today! Shoot the city early New Years Day. I could probably get some great shots of the interstates and the city being pretty much empty. YES! I’m waiting to here back from two rental houses on their AGDVX100’s and If I can get one I will see if Dez and Sahra are up for shooting two scenes. If I could have only had this idea a month ago.

Re-Writing

2005-12-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

Script
I have been adding and removing new scenes from Sans Vie ever since the production was postponed back in August. The story has matured and I’m glad for the delay. The new scenes help tell the story better and are ultimately entertaining. In the end the script is 21 pages and what I have written and thrown away equates to easily the same amount. There is one scene in particular I have struggled with and still do. This scene has been 4 pages and 4 lines. I have re-written the scene so many times. Ultimately no matter how I spin it the scene will come out horrible. It would be a cross between a bad Star Trek Holedeck episode and daytime soap opera. The scene being cut down to 4 lines is ultimately very, very cool but extremely cryptic. Its hard for anyone to know what the hell is going on but it’s a nice dramatic visual. So me being me I would rather falter on people having to figure it out rather then shooting a crappy scene and everyone getting it. The new scenes pay homage to Brazil, Kissing Jessica Stein, Blade runner and Godard. The Godard one may be cut but that would be entirely in post

Business Plan
The business plan is asking for my attention and will get it this week. This is definitely not my strong point. I’m calling upon my friend and business mind Jeff to help out with the numbers. I have also been networking around through IMDB Film Forums and MySpace for Co-producers that understand distro and fundraising. One of the elements that is in your business plan is your budget. I have been waiting to hear back from different welders I met on craigslist. One has given me a quote for the StenCreasey ShredBrid Fueler. 750$ for labor and Materials. This seems perfectly reasonable. He is an award winning welder that tours and has some great pieces. Although there are several enthusiastic welders that are talented as well I will probably go with him. I mean he went to Evergreen State College.

What I did for Christmas.

2005-12-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

Teacher : come up to the front of the class and tell us what you did for Christmas
Matthew reluctantly gets up and walks to the front of the class
Teacher: well go ahead
Matthew : I watched two movies one was Jacobs Ladder and the other one was the Chronicles of Narnia.
Teacher: Oh the Chronicles of Narnia I heard that was wonderful.
Matthew: sure the special effects were cool but if you want to see a really good version of it watch the BBC one. The acting was really flat in this newest one. The BBC overall was better.
The teacher has a look of disappointment on her face.
Teacher:Ok well what about this other movie
Matthew:Jacobs ladder is an amazing movie about a man, hallucinating, going to hell, struggling with insanity and dying. It was incredible. I had seen this before but I forgot how great it was. There are scenes that truly disturb your sub conscience. The one where he is being taken into the asylm and there are limbs everywhere is barely watchable. It is a must see.
Teacher: umm ok thank you. Billy what did you do for Christmas.

I want to be a bum when I grow up Part III

2005-12-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

I want to be a bum when I grow up Part III
After the band I just worked for the Man. Yes this is what you do. You work make some money, retire and die. Mmmm sounds fun. Well needless to say the desire to write became overwhelming. A script writer encouraged me to check out this medium for expressing my thoughts. I had no idea what I was getting into. I knew what script I wanted to write but decided to educate myself first by writing a sequel to one of my favorite movies. So I wrote Drop City the sequel to Blade runner. I read other scripts while I wrote this and it didn’t take more then 3 pages for me to get hooked. That was about 3 or 4 years ago. I completed Drop city and then started an indie feature that I thought had some promise of being made “Man of Wonder”. This is a story of the apparent death of Eric Stoltz and the reaction of a small town that decides to worship his work. After writing this and laughing several times. I began to understand more and more of the industry and just how hard it is to break in. So I decided to produce 3 shorts on my own. This is where I am today working on my 3rd short and writing my 4th feature. The 4th feature is one I hope to pitch and if it doesn’t make it, well I will make it. I have no delusions that my writing has gotten any better then my first poem, worm, but hey I’m having fun pursuing my dream of become an author or as my parents and grandparents would say, a bum.

I want to be a bum when I grow up part II

2005-12-23T11:43:00.000-08:00

Age 16 many things happened by this time in my life. Many odd things that do not happen to your average person. I had attended over 19 schools, fished for food because there was nothing in the fridge and spent my summers introducing 30-dollar plates of squid into my gullet. I was so poor and so rich at the same time. It was great. In all the chaos of being raised by a hippie and evangelical Christian I had some normal cliché events take place.

My father denied me a request to join the Drama class. Finally he bent and allowed me this one treasure, if I agreed to join sports. My father was Mr. Popular in school; Captain of the football team, Track star and all around cool hunk type. He was not an overbearing Dad, you know “ you will join the football team and like it dammit!” I think he just wanted me to be cool like him and get some 16-year cheerleader pregnant like him.

I had one dream at age 16; give Orson Wells a run for his money. I mean this guy fooled the nation with his radio broadcast. This opened my eyes. I want to do that!

“Sure, sure you can join the drama club. If you try out for a sport first” my dad said. I spent that week looking at sports. This was not my first time delving into the world of sports. I tried Baseball in elementary. I played right field on a team that won only one game. That game was my favorite game of the whole season. The other team never showed up. Victory! We win.

I later tried football. I loved the Raiders. All the other football teams hated those guys and they didn’t play by the rules. This is why I liked them. They had those cool badass black uniforms or jerseys too. Yes cool black uniforms. Black, that is the color I saw just before I searched among the mountains of concerned Varsity players asking” are you ok little guy”. I was searching for my breath. I was sure it had to be around there somewhere. Finally I realized this is how I was going to die. I remember telling the coach after that incident that I know longer wanted any position on his team that included touching the football. It was simple logic. The football equaled Pain and or Death. Not for me, no thank you. So here I’m 16 desperate enough to be in the drama club as to join one of these teams, then I found it. I joined the sport and I was good, I was not good I was a demi God. People feared me. I was so good I was the first sophomore to ever make varsity at this school. I played JV and Varsity and kicked ASS. I was the unstoppable Michael Jordan of this sport, swimming.

Needless to say my Dad never showed to any of the meets and reluctantly let me join Drama. Swimming was not what he had in his mind when he asked me to join a sport. It didn’t matter I fulfilled my end of the deal. Drama was a dream. I wrote, directed, and did some acting. I wrote, produced and directed 3 radio plays it was a blast. It didn’t last long though I eventually moved out at age 17.

Then I moved out with some friends and stopped writing for about a year or two. I picked up my pen again when I was 19 and filled a journal in the course of 2 months I then bought another journal and began filling this out as well with poems and short stories. I also took to writing songs to sing with my good old guitar. If my grandmother read any of my journals or heard any of my songs she would have said. “Matthew this is Garbage.” She would have been right. I threw my journals away to get rid of the evidence. Unfortunatly I continued singing and writing songs for the next 6 to 7 years. Some were even recorded and many were played in front of an audience. So there you go. Real evidence of my writing out there for the world to hear. One of my favorite songs was called Rosaries. It was an emo art rock song with lines like. “I’m a broken down carnival you are a marvel.” Rosaries was liked by some but most preferred this up beat travesty I wrote called big wheel chair.

Writing music was a great exercise in getting a lot of bad poetry out and eventually finding some good lines. “More hollow then a heart whittled by the cold blade of winter pumping ice thru the chest of a dead dead dead man, is the heart that resides in me, but I’m happy to be here with you” I love run on sentences. I still enjoy poetry but I don’t write much of it any more. Maybe I should write a follow up to my 1^st poem worm.

While in the band I also worked as a Dental Assistant and evenutally got a job with the man. This was because writing is just for bums or its a nice hobbie. Dont want to be a bum.

I want to be a bum when I grow up

2005-12-23T04:41:00.000-08:00

Before writing stories I would write poems. My first poem was called worm.WormWax sack filled with rubbery slime, its kinda funny how they don't relate tome.I wrote this in 1st grade. I think I was born to enjoy more of the tragicthings in life. In 2nd grade I wrote my 1st short story and was hooked. Thestory was an amazing adventure in which a lion roams the city streets of NewYork. My teacher encouraged me to enter it into a writing contest but beforedoing so she asked me to meet with another teacher. This teacher was also a writer. Imet with this woman one on one and she began to fill my head with stories ofwriting and re-writing and writing again and throwing pages out to writemore. This is all fine to an adult but to a 2nd grader it was terrifying. I began to wonder if I wascracked up to be a writer at all, Scientist started sounding pretty good. Sitting down and rewriting my 4 pagemasterpiece 20 times was something I did not want to do. I wanted to writethough so I came up with a plan. My solution, write a new story that was only half a page.The story was horrible and came no where near the first story, but hey Icould write that baby over any day of the week. It was only half a page,piece of cake.I submitted it to my teacher and she liked it better then the first. Thiswould not be the only time that work I saw as inferior would rise to beaccepted better then work I really thought was important could be better then a lionroaming the streets of New York. The story was submitted and I won the youngauthors conference at our school. I say this not because it is a shiningtrophy of why I want to write but more as a joke. There is a famous quotethat goes something like this. Everyone learns how to write in 2nd grade andmost people move on to better things. Well I won the young authorsconference in 2nd grade and became sure this was my future. I want to be awriter. As a reward for winning I was shuttled on to a bus with other winners(I think they let anyone win) and sent to a college to talk with an author and watch mimes.My family embraced this dream I had by giving me encouragingcomments like "you will be a bum" or "that sounds like a nice hobby" . Itdidn't help that my grammar was and to this day still horrible.When I was 16 my grandmother came to visit. Mistaking all of my writing for garbage she threw them out. She threw out an entire file cabinet full of stories. She thought it was garbage. It didnÂ..ttraumatizede me. She was probably right, it was garbage. I can picture her reading the stories and thinking, Garbage! My grandson is writing garbage. Honestly she hated the idea of me writing. Editors share her sentiment. More on writing later.

Cheesecake

2005-12-22T07:26:00.000-08:00

Cheesecake
A run down so everyone knows what this is about. Its about women and sex. Cheesecake magazine for lack of a better description were similar to playboys. The title is to indicate the old problem of sex is dirty, sex is great! How confusing is that . On one hand a person does not want to be objectified. They want to be respected for their personality, their mind and what they can contribute. On the other hand most people wouldn’t mind being considered one of the beautiful people and having individuals desire them. It’s a two edge sword objectification is a bad word or is it if you are in the right mood. Cheesecake, the story, explores this and other subtle group created taboos. It is about perceptions of social norms. Cheesecake is not a battleground for issues that divide friends. It is a battleground where friends hide secrets that should have no cause to be hidden. It looks at less obvious articles in the preverbal closet.

The story will explore the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to stick to the rules can result in severe punishments, the most feared of which is exclusion from the group. A common rule is that the some norms must frequently be displayed; neutrality is seldom an option.
Other norms: From a reference material ofcourse.
Injunctive Norms are behaviors which are perceived as being approved of by other people.
Descriptive Norms are perceptions of how other people are actually behaving, whether or not these are approved of.
Explicit Norms are written or spoken openly.
Implicit Norms are not openly stated (but you find out when you transgress them).
A common group norm amongst academics is that dress is casual (with the underlying implication that what goes on in the mind is more important than what goes on the body).
So with this in mind what norms might be created and by no means ever broken by a gay support group, and gunclub, a woman’s Bible study?
Cheesecake will display the norms in actions, destroy them and then neatly put them back in place.
What is right and what is wrong and who knows? Abortion, Capital Punishment, Immigration, Liberal spending, Affairs these are debatable and big. Now how about Drinking, smoking, tattoos, piercing, fetishes, divorce this is the subject matter that will be focused on. Depending on what group you are in these may be rejected or prerequisites. Drinking in an AA meeting would not be tolerated. Not drinking at a Kegger would also come to a quick and drunken end.

Cheesecake explores 6 women at a Bible study brought together by the hope of letting their guard down around their church sisters. We see they are restrained by the group consciences and unable to be themselves. It is not meant to be a slam on Christians or Bible studies. It is also not meant to support them. I just could not have thought of a better environment where norms are created out of thin air but haunt a person even when they are not there.
Here are some of the ingredients in the mixture of Cheesecake.

The hope is to have 2 to 3 dedicated women writers, a female director and female co-producer on the project. The setting is intended for stage and possible webisodes. I’m not focusing any of my attention on this right now but will meet with any women interested in seeing this happen.

Stencreasey Shredbrid fueler

2005-12-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

Mobius Trasher - 2023
StenCreasey ShredBrid Fueler 2029

In 2023, Mobius Creasey took an industrial strength shredder and modified it to handle trash. The Mobius trasher was a huge success. It eliminated not only massive landfills but also the inevitable 5 o’clock wake up call from your friendly neighborhood garbage man. The device ground the trash up with large metal teeth then incinerate the remains creating nothing but a huge bucket of ash, that people took to using as kitty litter. The take over of this machine swiftly unemployed thousands of garbage men.
This at first seemed like a good thing no more garbage. However, everyone had to eventually deal with the ash. Some took to throwing the buckets of dust into alleys and ditches others dug large holes in their backyard or took to flushing it down thier toilets. Over the course of a year and 4 months and with no garbage men to remove the ash it didn’t take long for this substance to coat everything. Several Unions and State agencies eventually sued Mobius. With court bills towering above him and an eventually bankruptcy on his horizon, things were not looking good for Mobius. That was until a man by the name of Graydon Stensdelson came along with another modification for the Trasher. It was groundbreaking and genius. Instead of taking the elements and completly incinerating them it would halt the process 2 thirds of the way through creating a liquid substance. This substance, he found, could be used for an alternate source of heat. Thus the StenCreasey ShredBrid Fueler was created in 2027. Mobius's problems were solved. The two men formed a life long friend ship that lasted just under two years, due to a horribly freakish accident involving RF scanners.
In late 2029 Mobius and Graydon were buried, niether of them fancied they idea of being cremated. Mainly because of the implecation. In 2031 the Union of Refuse workers won a 5-year battle and were able to make it necessary for anyone operating the fuelers, to be certified and part of the Union of Refuse.

Considered one of the very first sketches created by Mobius Creasey and Graydon Stendelson. Although inventive he never claimed any great abilities in the realm of art. The two were said to have met over drinks. Graydon drinking straight rum and Mobius a pint of chocolate milk.

Moving right along foot loose and fancy free

2005-12-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

So I reviewed and re-reviewed Chaointe several times last night. There are two spots that stand out to me; the gun and the scream at the end. After reviewing it over and over I believe it would be better without the scenes, after talking with Eric the scenes will stay mainly because it would cause more trouble and possibly not be a solution at all. Cutting them would create a jump cut and possibly add more awkwardness then keeping them plus it would create the need for a whole new music mix. Overall I have a peace about the cut and learned some lessons. The most valuable; Record a lot of cutaways so you have material to work with in editing and record different scenarios, if you can. Ultimately many people like Chaointe more then Merlot and some less. Like stories or paintings each one will find its own audience. Overall I have mixed feelings over my story telling, not the performances pace or photography. Tatiana, Dennis, Eric and everyone did a great job. Speaking of Great jobs Richard Temples new mix is so awesome! Its like he channeled Danny Elfman and not only that but added his own signature. I cant say enough about the people I have the opportunity to work with. They are amazing.

no sleep till Brooklyn

2005-12-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

I seem to not be sleeping much lately. I don’t know what the deal is. I have every good intention of going to bed at a decent hour. Before I know it the time is 1 or 2 AM and I’m up working on a blog, a business plan, a script, reading a book or just thinking about a million things. This would really not be much of an issue if I woke up at 10 or 11 but I wake up at 6am. Ok 6:20 after two rounds of hitting the snooze button. I love the snooze button. I would like to hug the person that came up with that idea. The weirdest thing is I’m not tired throughout the day. I just go along until it happens again. It being 2am.
Maybe I will be able to sleep when Sans Vie is done.

Kissing Jessica Stein meets Brazil

2005-12-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Well last night I took the plunge and emailed Heather Juergensen. We will see how that goes. For those of you who are not familiar with her, she is mostly known for her role as Helen Cooper
In Kissing Jessica Stein. She co-wrote and co-produced the movie her latest work is in Fingers Walking a movie being filmed right here in Seattle,WA. After watching KJS I thought she might enjoy the story of Sans Vie. Granted they are worlds apart but ultimately have some similar qualities. In my business plan under like movies I put that Sans vie is Brazil meets Kissing Jessica Stein. This was not my intent when writing the story. I wanted more of an eraserhead meets masculine feminine. Ultimately I’m extremely happy with the outcome of the script and cannot wait to start shooting.
I started checking out Myspace.com seems like a nice site I would hate to move everything from here to there though. I like alot of the options on that
site though. I will pondicate on it.
On another note I talked with Patrice last night she is back in Kona and I will hook up with her about music and just saying hi when I hit the islands next month.

Quick update on burning copies of Merlot and Chaointe....
Merlot I have to recompile which is going to take a while and I will seriously start burning out copies of Chaointe. That is long overdue and apologize for the delay.

Writing writing and more writing

2005-12-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last 3 hours reworking Sans Vie. I added 3 pages then promptly deleted them. Added another half a page then reduced it to two lines. I will probably wake up tomorrow and start all over again. In the end the script is 3 pages longer. I added two new scenes and extended one. Oh I also made a sublte change to the end that makes all of the difference. Tomorrow night I will hit the dinner conversation again. Writing is such a blast, I love creating the worlds and working the scenarios out. Ok it is now 12:01 so I should go to bed. Good night!

Qwest is not fun and easy!

2005-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and stormy night when Matt picked up the phone to call Qwest. 2 and half days and 2 trips through Christmas traffic later he was online. Because Qwest is fast and easy service you can count on.
My time spent on the phone with qwest over the weekend was borderline, no it was ridicules. At least I'm now online, I was able to get a little done last night after I finally signed in. I found that currently I do not have my contact info for Patricia, which is disappointing to say the least. I really need to get a hold of her. OH that is right! yes mental note look up numbers I have called on qwest(my new best friend) and find her number. I went through and did some more work on the Sans Vie script over the weekend as well as the business plan but not to much as like I stated before I was mostly busy talking with Qwest.

The Biz Plan

2005-12-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

So I took 3 hours last night and started a business plan for Sans Vie. Its funny but the plan may be as large as the script. After reviewing several message boards it looks like there are a lot of people trying to create and work out business plans and really have no idea how to put them together. I ‘m reading some good books and working my way through it. Writing one for a short is a bit harder then writing one for a feature. Eloise was fairly simple and straightforward Sans Vie may be a harder plan. Simply because distro for shorts is not as tangible for investors as features. Shorts really dont make money a person giving money to your short has to believe in the story, be able to drop 10k without sneezing and trust that you are going to complete the project. In the end I may not get a dime from investors but as long as I'm learning the process I'm happy. The attatchements are good. The script is finished save rewrites that will happen even up until post. I will log my progress for those interested in learning from my mistakes or laughing at them and as reference to myself as to what I have learned. The books I’m currently using as reference on Financing are:
Filmmakers & Financing by Louise Levison
The Independent Filmmakers Guide to Writing a Business Plan for Investors by Fred Olen Ray
Filmmakers and Financing seems to be the best fit for what I’m doing right now.

Hopefully my modem will be delivered today. If it is I will post some samples from the plan I’m creating. I have also long promised storyboards and have not delivered! I will, I will I just have to get my PC all cyber jacked up!
I also spoke with Dez last night about doing an art/music/Sansvie show in the end of January beginning of February this looks like it is going to be a very nice event, I just have to iron out all the details. She is also getting me a quote from her Welder friend Peter. Dez is very cool!

All I want for Christmas

2005-12-14T08:07:00.000-08:00

The AGDVX100a

I had several opportunities to buy one of these last year and I didn’t. When I was learning how to play guitar I received many valuable lessons that I have crossed over into other areas of my life. One of those lessons happened to be don’t buy an expensive guitar, buy a horribly cheap one. The reason being if you go out and buy an expensive one and then quit playing after 3 months, you just wasted a bunch of money and conversely if you are willing to play on a horribly rotten, pawn shop, Spanish classical for a year or two you are serious. Well after a year I have had a taste of indie movie making and I’m serious. I’m not a director of photography although I love framing shots. I have a basic miniDv at home I have been playing with and I have really just maxed out my use of it. Its time to upgrade. The AGDVX100A is the sequel to the AGDVX100 and the 100 is nothing to sneeze at. I’m no coinsurer but its my understanding that The anniversy party was shot on the 100 and the 100 was used on a movie in 04 that claimed the Sundance best cinematography award.

When I had my hands on the 100 from Nwfilmforum for Merlot everything was foreign I was turning to Eric, Trent, and Sten for help with everything. I had to mess around with the camera to try and discover the look I wanted and I only had one weekend. Luckily I rented it for a weekend one month before the shoot. Fast forward to Chaointe. I rent the camera again and drop it off at Erics house. Later I show up and lets just say he wasn’t putting it on a preset dial. He was trying to show me wav meters and all kinds of cool trickery but it all sounded like the engineer on Star Trek to me and that made me frustrated. So do I want to know all of those cool technical things because I want to be a cinematographer, no. I want to learn all of those things so I can communicate with one, plus have an understanding of the possibilities out there. When talking with Mark Shapiro I quickly knew just how little I knew. I think it is getting time for me to buy one of these and some more books.

On the other hand when the budget for lights and trucks comes into play one of these cameras costs about 2k and 2k can get you a lot for a shoot. Nicer lights more cranes, dollies etc. However at the end of the shoot you have no inventory and have to rent it all over again. Eventually if you were to take your rental money and slowly bought these items over time you would have all the equipment for lo budget shoots and no time constraints from the rental companies. Am I completely off in my logic here for getting one of these “my first indie” cameras?

Merlot in Seattle

2005-12-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

I went to 911media arts center screening last night and showed Merlot.
Eric wrote a review of the event and sums it up nicely. http://imtheonebehindthecamera.blogspot.com/2005/12/mon-couer-screening-part-deux.html
I always enjoy the frustrated reaction of someone who has only seen Merlot once. By the third time they have seen it a sense of peace comes over them. The whole “I get it now”.

Sans Vie teaser Poster

2005-12-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

This is just a teaser not the actual Poster or DVD cover I will post those when they are done.

Robby The Robot

2005-12-09T07:11:00.000-08:00

Ok my PC at home is functional but I'm still not jacked into the cyber world. My modem sits in Redmond on union hill at a UPS store because they keep trying to deliver it at 5pm when I'm not freakin home. So I have to drive out there to get it. But I cant because I'm to busy and its like 20 minutes away! Oh well that isn't whats making me grouchy its the Robby the Robot empathetic automated customer service representatives at Qwest, UPS, PugetSound Energy etc etc. The "I'm sorry I didn't get that can you say it again" Non humans. If you don't know what I"m talking about call UPS and try to get ahold of a human. When I finally did the human had know idea what I wanted. I think she was in shock someone broke through the labyrinth of synthesized sympathizing. Anyway, she finally found out my modem was in Redmond and I just had to laugh she added "Oh sorry looks like they don't have a phone there" this is where above my mind little Qbert symbols started happening. &#!%*$

Better with age

2005-12-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

The computer gets set up and more items get moved in tonight and thus the work on Sans Vie will continue soon. I’m so behind on updating and contacting anyone on anything this move has really desimated my pace. Patricia Tullia(sp) is in town and I have yet to meet with her I have messages from Richard Temple and I need to cut copies of Merlot and Chaointe for Actors, Film festivals and a show and I’m taking my troops to zoo lights this weekend, I also was stopped dead in my tracks on Sans Vie promo’s and the website. Yikes. I will get caught up and in touch with everyone its just supah crazy right now. I think I need a glass of wine(Shiraz. . . not merlot) and a night of mellow music then wake up the next day and explode with progress. I cant wait until after the holidays and the move and unpacking is over. In other news Desiree Flerchinger is interested in heading up the art deptarment for SV. Benjamin Sharp was going to do it, so much time has past I don’t know if he is still interested and with what I want to do I think the more the merrier for set Design and props. Also a big problem was found in the script that I have to fix. A welder and a back up welder have been found whether they commit to our trash –o- matic is yet to be seen. So it’s a good thing we didn’t shoot in August. Good things come to those who wait right? RIGHT!?

French District of Seattle

2005-12-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Here is my opening location shot for Sans Vie.I should say was the opening shot if you notice there is all kinds of construction going on in this photo. That construction just happens to be a large Seahawk stadium now. So I’m either going to try and make this shot work somehow because I love the smith tower in the background or I will look for another location. I’m just really tired of establishing shots of Seattle that have the space needle. This shot unfortunately now would have a huge parking lot in it and would not support my look of a future with extremely low populations. I guess the lesson here is give yourself plenty of time to find out you need to find new locations. Luckily I checked this place out and didn’t just assume it would be fine. Now I know I will have some issues if I try to make it work.

Banned Xbox Ad

2005-12-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

I use this blog to put notes about what I'm doing but for some reason I'm sharing goofy videos today. This one is the best I have seen in a while.

http://microsoft.blognewschannel.com/index.php/archives/2005/11/22/banned-xbox-360-ad-best-ad-ever/

SNL Dodge Stratus and Get off the shed

2005-12-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Enjoy yourself

http://media.gregbender.com/dodgestratus.ram

http://gorillamask.net/getofftheshed.shtml

DC Photos

2005-11-29T12:45:00.000-08:00

In October one of my best friends was married in DC. I have a tight schedule and didnt have time to really see the town another best friend of mine wouldnt hear of it so intoxicated and tired we toured the city in a little under an hour at 3am before our flight left. The shots in the daylight are ones he took earlier in the week.

Blurred and waiting for the metro.

WWII Memorial

Blurred on the Metro
WWII Memorial.

more later. . .

Sans Vie Location Apartment.

2005-11-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of Paiges and Jolies apartment. These locations will look great After they are staged for the shoot.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T09:16:00.000-08:00

I'm moving, moving, moving and moving. No shaking just moving. Its an exciting and exhausting time in 0ur household as we pack up and move to our new locations . . . 1 mile away.
Currently as a independent I'm learning the juggle between family, work and making movies. Ofcourse it would be so much easier if making movies is what I did for a living but its not. Through December I will be unpacking celebrating various events and
continuing pre-production on Sans Vie. My hope was to shoot in January this is definitely not going to happen. I have to figure out financing and a feasible time to shoot this production so the next time I sit down with cast and crew it will be to let them know all areas of production are secured until then I will update notes on pre-production.

I know how it ends

2005-11-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

I have found a house and I’m doing the paperwork either tonight or tomorrow. Its not a done deal until its signed right. This is important because once I’m moved in I can once again focus energy on creating the world of Sans Vie. Man I hope I get this place a two car garage would be a nice place for creating props. Also I’m on the hunt for finicial support yes, I have my budget done and I think I will need to hit the street looking for sponsors. This is going to be tough as I’m not much of a sales person. In other news Merlot will screen December 12 7pm at 911 at their monthly Monday night screening. So if you have missed it here is your chance to see it or see it again.

911 Chaointe

2005-11-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

We had our screening of chaointe thanks to Eric Thomas who encouraged me to submit to the event. What a fun venue and the audience was great. I think I have found a new place to meet and network. Chaointe played along with 5 other shorts and it seemed to get a good reaction from the audience. The facilitator was impressed and asked me if I have ever watched primer. My geek o meter went off the charts but I kept myself contained "why yes, yes I have seen primer my good man". So if you are wanting to show your movie in Seattle my recommendations are 911 media arts center and or the JewelBox theatre.
In other news the house hunt is coming to an end, which means hopefully I can work on the recovery of finances project, to get me to where I want to be, making Sans Vie. That was a crappy sentance. I reformatted my PC backed everything on to disk I will spend the next week reloading everything when I do look for some updates to the sansviemovie website. I have a nice little promo and some promotional work coming up soon.
Oh almost forgot Decemeber12th at 7pm Merlot and Pretz will be playing at the 911media art center open screening. Feel free to stop in I will be there.

You look like a black coffee to me

2005-11-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

If Midnight was to late for you to watch Chaointe here is your second chance to see it.

Chaointe is playing again this upcoming Monday at 7pm,
Director and crew in attendance.
When November 14th, 2005
Where 911media arts Center

Address:
402 9th Ave N.Seattle, WA 98109

Directions
a block South of Beppo Restaurant, one block East of Glazers Camera and a block West of Guitar Center. Across the street is Kaufners Books. We're in the same building as Cinema Seattle - we're on the North side. There's plenty of parking and we're two blocks from the 5, the 8 and the 358 bus line.

Parking
There is a paid parking lot on the North side of the arts center. There is also a free lot on the East side of the arts center. Please use the spots closest to 911's back entrance. Also, street parking is easy to find in the afternoon and evening.
From I-5:- Exit 167 toward Mercer St / Seattle Center.- Left onto Fairview Ave N.- Right on Republican St.- Left on 9th Street.- Arts center is on corner of 9th and Harrison.
Tips:- 402 9th Ave N is in the South Lake Union neighborhood.- North of Denny.- Between Harrison and Republican.- On the Northeast corner of 9th and Harrison.- 9th Ave N. is one block West of Westlake.

Sans Vie update

2005-11-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

Sans Vie is what it is all about. I'm putting all the elements together and working with some great talent on the cast and crew side. The story is rock solid and everyone is excited on all ends. So when do we start shooting? My plan was originally to shoot this last september because of conflicts in schedules we moved it to January. Now that I'm in the first week of november I dont know how realistic this is as the bottom line budget for it will be just under 5k. I'm hitting my books and looking at numbers although I can probably pull it off I know it wont have half of what I want with my current budget. This is looking like it might be an early spring shoot. With this being my last short and being a story I love, I'm going to make sure I do it right and that it looks beautiful. The good news is we do have a location, we have a lot of pre-production done its just a matter of paying for equipment and the spot. I will continue to update the progress I make toward getting to Sans Vie. Also I'm possibly moving in the next month if this occurs it may slow some of my entries and development on the Sans Vie website.

Sage Advise

2005-10-31T10:01:00.000-08:00

I was just given some great advise. When you are setting your wide shots, let the actors explore their characters and space, if they want to project more let them. As you cut to closer shots then reign in the performances a bit. Finally for the close ups is when they should feel it not necessarily show it. this is good advise to remember.

The morning after

2005-10-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

Good morning OH its 4 in the afternoon. Well the Party went well it could have been 10 or 60 people you never know and it was around 25 or so. Snow Day Bloody snow Day played what a fun movie. Great Python reference. Robert Boitor had some of the best comedic lines. Just a real treat to watch. Chaointe received mixed reviews from the audience everyone agreed that the production value was much higher then Merlot, the story is just odd. Everyone did a great job coming together to make that happen in such a short period of time.
I met some cool people on Capitol Hill and an evil bunny won the pumpkin pie. A masked cat won the two favorite scary movies of each director. Jessica's was Night of the living Dead and mine was the Ring. and the first place went to an amazing vampiress complete with two bite marks she won a 50$ gift certificate to Blockbuster along with a copy of snow day bloody snowday and chaointe.
I ran out of time fast and couldnt find my costume so I had to grab what I could and I looked like a guy looking for his D&D club.
I'm always happy to see who comes out to support what I'm working on. Thank you so much to those that have been and are very supportive of my crazy adventure. Next Stop Sans Vie Baby!!!!!!
I'm so excited. I will post some pictures from the Chaointe premier as well as a promo for sans vie in the coming weeks.

Halloween Party Capitol Hill

2005-10-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Capitol Hill internet lounge and eatery Starts around 10:30 give or take. Across the street from rite aid and next to subway there is lots of parking in the rear.

DC RICHARD ERIC and the Cajun Bird flu

2005-10-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

I went to DC and for Jeffs wedding what a great time. I had a lot of fun Congratulations Jeff. I ended up a little ummm ok maybe more then a little tipsy at which point I was introduced to Jenny who is a Mareketing Manager for Sundance. Nothing like being a bit toasted when meeting someone you need to impress. Wait lets get in a time Machine. When I arrived in DC I waited at the airport for about 4.5 hours for my ride. No biggie I like meeting new people I met one guy from LA going on a DC party tour and a Lawyer from the Virgin Islands. At any rate I caught a nasty cold. So lets go back to the party I’m drunk and sick. YES! Impresso meter is just spiking. She was very professional wanted to know all about Merlot and the projects I’m working on and said she would make sure the programmers had a chance to look at it. Overall she was very nice and I don’t think I made to horrible of impression *cough *sneeze “is it just me or is this room spinning”
Richard and Eric Picked up the ball for me and scored a touchdown. I was so sick the last week and they really needed me to have it together to give them direction the little direction I could give they were able to really deliver great results. Eric has done a fantastic job sweetening the final cut of Chaointe and Richard has created a composition that makes me smile involuntarily I love his last mix and I need to call him to tell him this. The party is tomorrow and I have a lot to do to get ready being out for the last couple of days has put me a bit behind but I have most of what I need. Projecter, lots of music and nothing cheesy. I have the movies the prizes. Just need to get my costume.

Halloween Party invitation and Chaointe World Premier

2005-10-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Still III from Chaointe

2005-10-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Dennis Kleinsmith as Anthony is annoyed at the odd service received from the Barista

Still II from Chaointe

2005-10-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

Josh Favale, as the Barista, sizes up Anthony.

Still from Chaointe Coming October 29th

2005-10-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

Chaointe, played by Tatiana Breger, asks to see Anthony's (Dennis Kleinsmith) hand.

Wailing and Weeping

2005-10-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hello, Hello, Hello....
Well the invitations are out and the people are beginning to buzz, this is looking like it will be a party to remember. I have got my costume picked out and I'm sure I will be mistaken for a charecter...but oh no I wont be that charecter I will be someone else entirely, "give us the gate key" I have no gate key"fezik rip his arms off" Oh you mean this gate key.

Chaointe is looking great. Eric has been doing a wonderful job editing the movie and Richard Temple is hard at work getting sketches all set up. The infamous Jessica Baxter wont be there to represent her clan but if you are coming in from her crowd say hi. I do have some news Chaointe is wide screen and because its looking good for it being accepted at a few festivals I'm holding off on putting it on the web. Sorry guys.If you worked on the production and happen to live in lets say the virgin islands I will put it out on a secret squirrel website for you to download. Or I can send you a copy.
I wont have any sans vie updates until after the party and I will be in DC for Jeff's wedding Congratulations Jeff. Two of my best friends were married this year. Although many things are still happening the only thing to worry about is getting your butt over to the Capitol Hill Internet Lounge and Eatary on October 29th at 10PM

Invite to Indie movie Halloween party rough draft

2005-10-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

Vegetables, Football and an Evite

2005-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Get your spooky groove on October 29th at the Capital Hill Internet Lounge and Eatary
Movies start at 10:30. Booze is allowed after midnight. Alley entrance. There will be thugs to monitor disturbances in the force and decent prizes for decent costumes.
Night of the living Dead
Chaointe
Snow Day Bloody Snow Day
Costume Contest
The Rocky Horror Picture show

Wish list
A DJ
And
Someone to help with decorations.
Other news my computer had a major crash. Major….So there is not much to update other then me freaking out. And I have been eating a lot of veggies lately along with getting into football which is just odd all the way around.

a brief scene from the temple

2005-09-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Man of Wonder

"My death was the only thing that had some redeeming quality to it."

synopsis: The movies of Eric Stoltz inspire Adam Olson of Walnut, Iowa to create a religion known as the Wonderful and a nation follows.

Here is a brief scene.
Adam the religious leader has just finished a major speech from the balcony of a theater that has been converted into a temple. He has retreated behind the curtain away from the crowds exhausted.

I/E. WALNUT IOWA TEMPLE BACK FROM THE BALCONY

Adam turns from the balcony walks behind the curtain and collapses into one of his counselors arms. A moment of clarity passes over Adam.

ADAM

(obviously exhausted)

This is insane what am I doing?

Thomas kneels down to speak with him.

THOMAS

Its just the pressure your a messenger and it is a heavy

burden carrying ERIC 's message

ADAM

What is the message what am I saying?

Thomas stands up in slight disgust.

THOMAS

You are saying nothing it is ERIC . ERIC is the one talking.

You are just a person who has been able to see it first.

ADAM

What if I am wrong? Did you see all of those people.

CHIEF OF POLICE

(trance like)

How could you be wrong its not you who

we are following,(beat) it is ERIC.

Adam forced by fear of his own creation pushes out any rational thoughts and agrees with his zombified followers. Adam is only able to nod his head. The room begins to blur and Adam passes out.

This is where I will end. I'm running a high fever not unlike ADAM and need to crawl back into bed. This story clocks in at 102 pages and is going through a grammar edit right now. I would post more but I'm really sick

Wanna see my spaceship ;)

2005-09-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

Ok so I’m sick. But I did get some things done. I have my DVD Jackets. Man you have to give yourself so much time. Don’t think your going to just run down and get these things printed off while you wait. you have to wait 24 hours, that is of course unless you were born on a distant alien planet and have super troubleshooting skills, along with charm powers, which I happen to have. YES! I circumvented the 24 hour wait and here I sit with my DVD jackets all pretty and in their cases. I’m all done loading Chaointe versions on the web for Richard to work from. Tonight I have to burn more copies of Merlot to put in my shiny new cases and mail them out. I have screened Chaointe with 3 people to get some reactions and so far everyone has liked it more then Merlot. Which makes no sense to me Merlot took longer so it has to be better right? The production values are definitely higher and the story is more straight forward. I think I just like confusing stories that have unanswered questions. Or do I?

Did I say the 23rd

2005-09-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

When I'm productive I dont have time to outline what I'm working on and that is really when I need to be writing notes so I can refer back to them. I have been spending a lot of time wrestling with converting Chaointe into a managable size .mov for a temp track I finally was able to complete that task and now I just have two more things left get my nice DVD jackets printed off for more festivals and really....really make a conscience thought on wether or not I want to submit "The man of wonder" Since I dont have an answer I will post a small scene.

3rd thoughts

2005-09-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have a finished script I wrote about actor Eric Stoltz. I’m not a fan of his and I'm not, not a fan. I just have a twisted sense of humor. At any rate its done, save a grammatical edit taking place. I was going to use this as part of an application to be part of the northwest screenwriters guild but have suddenly become hesitant. My latest scripts are incomplete but already show major improvement in style and understanding of execution. Not sure if I should submit or not. I will post by the 23rd if I did and give a sneak peak at the script if I do.

She moves in Mysterious ways

2005-09-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Many many things here at the acadamy.
Ok so I had such a blast with Dez and Melissa. However, I was totally out of it. Just out of synch with the ocean and the universe. I used a trail version of software called Sure thing from download.com to manipulate the DVD graphic artwork. I also learned a bit from a talented graphic designer and will apply those to the final design.
When you type for promotions or even books you dont need to double space after periods. Like that. Also when ending a paragraph, do not end with a single
word.

That is called an orphan.

He gave me some great direction for areas I wasnt sure what to do with. I'm always excited to meet new people and he seems cool. I also have several wonderful people who have offered to help edit scripts and letters I send out. Since I'm a dangling participles, run on sentance madman. I will finish up my list of things to do by Friday and start my Chekov list on Fridays. Its easier that way going from Friday to Friday.
Dont forget October we are having a release of Chaointe the last weekend in October on Capital hill at the Capital Hill Internet lounge and eatary, We will be playing along with Snow day Bloody Snow day and I'm sure one or two other local flicks.
Well my favorite U2 song is now over.

Tuesday to Tuesday what did I get done

2005-09-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

Send 10 copies to festivals
Nope. Instead I created DVD graphics for the jewel case, inserts and DVD. This will look a lot nicer when submitting to the festivals.
Send Copies of merlot to Robert Susan, friends and family and ezines
Done, Done and done. My Cd Burner is on fire.
Find out if its Ok to send alcohol in the mail
It is not ok and its kind of a lame idea anyway
Send a letter and a copy of Merlot to Terry Gilliams Manager
Done. Whatever Terry is my favorite Director he will probably never get it or watch it but a guy has to try right.
Send a Synopsis to Eric Stotlzs Agent
Not only did I do this I had it professionally edited since you all know I sucketh g greatly at grammar.
Have a Final Cut or very close of Chaointe sent to Richard
This had to be rescheduled.
Meet with Dez for Melissas Painting
This was so much fun and yes its done. We met at commencment bay in Tacoma. Dez and Melissa tolerated my butting in I kept forgetting it was about Dez, getting the shot for the painting. I just kept seeing great shots and scenes. After Dez got all the pictures. We took a different shot of Melissa so I can start on Promotionals for Sans Vie.Man I’m excited about this one.
Find out as much as I can about Vulcan
I probably didnt find out as much as I can but I found out enough. They seem approachable but you have to have all your squirrels in a row.
Update my top 100 movies with 5 new ones
That was easy.

Getting Closer DVD art

2005-09-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm off to the store my printer ran out of ink. I have been using it for testing.

something not on the list

2005-09-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

I made a Jacket or insert for the DVD to spice it up a bit. I'm not done yet. It's a start. It looks like a lot of DVD lables and TM for mockstreet but thats the way it is on all of the DVD's when you fold it it doesnt seem as much. Next I will do the insert for inside and then the DVD graphic who knew trying to be a writer I would learn some 101 graphic design.

Spock was a Vulcan

2005-09-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wow two Star Trek references in a row. Ok well I did my homework, They have done some documentaries, a Comedy show 5 features and up and coming soon a short. I think they are accessible but like Dom commented I will have to knock on thier door with my package as pro as I can make it and hope they like what they see. Probably wont be doing that anytime soon. But its nice to know they are right down the street.
Iam scrapping the booze idea. So that is easy to Check off. On my way to the rest of the list. I did spend a freakin ton of time on scriptwriting websites. I just want to be locked in a room with christmas lights an endless supply of pizza and chocolate milk and a blank screen for me to fill up with pretty ideas stuck in my brainium. oh yes and an editor someone that consumes bad grammar for breakfast and asks for more.

Lt. Pavel Chekov

2005-09-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

I will try to make some checklists of what I want to do for the week and then see what I get done.
This week I want to mail out 10 copies of Merlot to festivals
Send Copies of Merlot out to Robert, Susan and family members that have been waiting patiently.
Find out if its ok to send alcohol in the mail.
Send a letter and a copy of merlot to Terry Gilliams Manager
Send a synopsis of the man of wonder to Eric Stoltz’s agent
Find out as much as I can about Vulcan studios
Have a final cut or very very close final cut of Chaointe sent to Richard Temple for sketches
Meet with Dez for Melissa’s Painting.
Add 5 more movies to my top 100 movie list http://matthewstop100.blogspot.com/I will report back as to how things are going.

Everyday is a getting faster going faster then a rollar coaster

2005-09-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Yes! Eric and I have been working on the final rough cuts. Chaointe is super super super close. Its wierd not editing. I'm not a demanding person so its hard for me to ask for things. I think the best thing to do is look at it and just make a list of ways you think it would be better but at the same time be open for others feedback. When I edit I am in total control but I suck. Eric is great but the control is indirect its wierd. I think I suffer from mild OCD that is probably why its hard I had the same problem in music. At any rate he has been giving me cuts and I have been making a list of things that are in my head and it has been going smooth like buttah.

Richard Emailed me and temp tracks, whew. I don't have to buy a keyboard I just need to find music that I think sounds right. So I just bust out my abba CD or Neil Diamond(which by the way I have sung Neil Diamond Drunk on the streets of Reno with two very good friends a moment I think is wonderful in my life) so I grab my Tesla CD and find a song that I think fits. Easy Cheesy. Ha ha.

Reading the trade mags
I have been reading a ton of Filmmaker, Hollywood Reporter, and Variety I also finally registered as a IMDB pro user man I should have done that a year ago. I have burned 15 copies of Merlot. Today I plan on getting 15 press kits ready and sending 5 out to mags and 10 out to festivals. Wish me luck. I think like I said I suffer mild mild mild OCD but it really surfaces around mail. I don't like sending mail because I suck horribly at grammar and the content can aways be better. So I don't like mailing anything its so permanent.
I need to start making notes I almost forgot tip I picked up on. Submit your dialogue and your scripts to the assitant anything.... Assistant agent, producer, publicist. Because more then likely one day they want to be the big gun and if you find a good one to believe in early on then that makes things nicer for you. If I am wrong feel free to let me know.

What the heck have I been doing?

2005-09-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot! I did some soundwork on Merlot. I am wrapping up my re-write of "The man from Wonder" I am a silly man that script makes me laugh in places and I am not one for laughing at my own jokes. Say, if you know Eric Stoltz tell him to give me a call. I started recording a list of my top100 movies That is not as easy as it sounds. I have many things I should be doing but the biggest one is what I am doing right now taking a restful break until craziness starts up again. I cant wait to shoot Sans Vie!!!!! for many reasons. One is I dig the story and two that frees me up to write! and pursue a feature. Coming up I am checking out the screen writers guild. Wrapping up editing on Chaointe with Eric. Reconnecting with Dom and Jessica about the October party and Submitting merlot to Sundance. um yeah good luck right. Its a good flick but like one festival said Sorry we werent able to watch all the movies submitted.....Thanks for your money though. Oh not all festivals are evil only the ones that dont play us :)
"Merlot is a captivating short film, suspensful enough to keep you guessing, with twists that keep you engrossed from start to finish. "STIFF

Is Grimm just Bound?

2005-08-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

This week in Matt's world of independent movies. I updated the merlot website with more pictures. Watched the rough cut of Chaointe again. Its getting close. I have had dialogue with Richard Temple about temp tracks. I am still trying to figure out exactly what that is but I think it’s a good idea. I know that probably makes no sense to anyone but me. I spoke with Sharon about wardrobe for Sans Vie and talked with two French musicians for soundtrack material. I also bought a bottle of smoking loon merlot and I am debating using it as a prop in my press kit for the next film festival I submit to. Trent has finished the crow and rabbit drawings for the opening of Chaointe and they are very cool. Iam gearing up to take a break from everything for a week and hang out play some video games and this upcoming Friday watch the Brothers Grimm. Matt Damon? I can only guess Terry is playing Hollywood to recover and then get back into the La Mancha Saddle again.

Merlot Commentary and Spoilers IV

2005-08-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

We now come to my favorite shot and that is of Miriam sitting at the table alone and we are hearing a conversation from the mental ward bleeding through. The conversation is between an older woman and a somewhat patronizing doctor. If I haven’t mentioned this already The name Miriam means wife of the sea. The Dr. now reveals the punchline and that is that Miriam's husband and son are dead, Miriam is actually had a breakdown because of it and has left reality. Miriam only responds by telling a poem that she remembers her husband reading to her. Finally we hear Miriam speak with her own words and in the real world and all Miriam has to say to the Doctor and the audience is "Memories are my only vision" This is not only a comment of don’t take this away from me but also a cry for help. Shannon did an excellent job in delivering this line. Are last shot is the same as the first shot it is of the boy washed out playing at the play ground. Her last memory of her son. We hear the Doctor in the background calling for Miriam but she is gone. There were two other stories that actually tied into merlot. Merlot is related to the Wednesday woman in kind of a prequel fashion and a 45 minute short I wrote called May and June actually wraps the story up with a happy ending. I have decided not to do those projects at this point. Wednesday woman overlaps on some of the plot points and would be redundant in places while May and June effort would be to much for me to undertake at this point. Oh the painting behind Miriam is Picasso’s the Dream oh and if I havent mentioned this the clock does not move and is the time of death for her husband and son. I think that wraps it up for explanations. Susan, Shannon, Robert and the crew did a great job. This was originally going to be Jeff heading to the store to get chips so we could figure out how to do shots. Although the effort was bigger I am happy we did it this way. I cut about 5 minutes out of short to make it a bit quicker and may add it back in sometime in the future, along with our stair decent shot that was so cool.

Merlot Commentary and Spoilers Part III

2005-08-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

Next she pours the wine and stares at Robert this is where she delivers the line "I had a dream we were married, we had a son, you use to read to me" In reality she was married to him they did have a son and he would read to her. In her fantasy she has kept something that use to bug her and now she wishes she could have it back.

There is the story of a man who would come home from work late and leave his shoes outside the bedroom door. Every morning when the wife left the room she saws these shoes and it drove her to rage. One night the man had a heart attack at work and never came home. After a couple of nights the reality of his death hit the wife when she did not see his shoes there in the morning. Something she hated became something she wished she could have. Much in the same Robert's reading of Poetry would drive Miriam crazy but now she wishes she could have it. Her Yelling Shut up is a great scene for two reasons one is he is reading a poem about his death and she wants him to stop and two him reading poetry drove her nuts and when she yells shut up she immediatly is lost and would not mind if he was there to keep reading.

The music by Richard Temple is perfect here. When working with Richard he provided several peices of music to set moods of tension, or despair. In the end we ended up combining all of those sketches together to make an entirely new sketch. Richards compositions really help set the tone for the emotional state of Miriam.

"I dont want this anymore, I have cheesecake" After Miriams flash of a dream or memory she comes back to the dinner and the mood has changed she starts breaking down, reality is seeping into her fantasy, the fact that her husband is gone is seeping in. We can hear heels walking down a hallway and hear and see images of a fan. The fan.....The fan is actually a fan from the hospital and as she sits there trying to escape the reality of her loss this fan is buzzing in the hallway of the hospital as a reminder of where she really is. Showing the fan with the grate off was one of many ideas Jeff generated. Thank you Jeff. So Miriam finally gets Robert to tell her his story that he has been writing.

Roberts story
A painter named James met a woman named Elizebeth. Her beauty inspired him to paint her. As they would meet and James would paint her, Elizebeth began to fall in love with James and assume James must feel the same way about her. The last time James and Elizebeth meet James fiance stops in to talk briefly. Elizebeth is crushed and feels humiliated for having these feelings for him. In the end Elizebeth kills James.

Robert tells this to Miriam in a poetic way and just like the story we hear Roberts cell phone ring and relize that Robert is actually in love with someone else already. *note mortally blassant - wounded to death
Miriam excuses herself from the table and heads to the bathroom to escape thru medication. The pills fall on the floor, she picks them up and looks in the mirror. This is where she begins the decent into reality, She begins to have flashes of her lost son. Not only has she been humilated in her fantasy that she takes as reality but her reality haunts her. In the end she wants the fantasy to be over and she wipes everything out. You see her come out and the condo is now empty except for Robert and it is implied that she kills him. Bringing to life the story he was writing, and the story he was writing is a bit telling on how she feels responsible for his death and her sons death. Its not as easy or two dimensional as that either her killing off Robert could also be the rage she feels for him doing this to her, or that she is being cold blooded in ending the fantasy to try a different version. Ultimitly she is grieving more for the loss of her son then her husband. In this fantasy she feels as if somehow if they had just been friends and not married they would still be alive. All of this fantasy we have been watching is not the first time she has tried to create this alternate universe this is one of many versions.

more to come ... (but not much more)

Merlot Commentary and Spoilers Part II

2005-08-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

We start the movie off with a washed out image of boy playing at a playground this is Robert and Miriam's son.
Next we see Miriam dressed very nicely in her bathroom. What we are actually looking at is a reflection of her in a mirror. So our first image of her is really not of her but just a reflection. She picks up a small cup and two pills. The two pills represent Robert and her son. The cup is your first clue. It is not a normal Dixie cup but a cup you would find at a hospital, normally people do not have these cups in there homes. After taking the pills she looks back at a clock on the wall. The time is 9 minutes to 7 clock.
Miriam now leaves her bathroom and walks down the hallway, as she walks down the hall she passes a ledge filled with model ships. The ships show up again throughout the short story and are a clue to how her husband and son die. Next we see Miriam light 1 candle. Although there are other candles lit in the condo this lighting of one candle is suppose to reflect back to the days when a woman would light a candle and put it in the window when her husband was lost at sea. Next we see Miriam putting pearl earrings in. This is another reference to the ocean. As she is doing this we see three images. One is of trees that are dead and look like they are on fire. These are images of the Park where the her son would play at. No one is expected to know that as shots were lost to associate this memory with her son. It was kept for for a couple of reasons mainly it helps establish her being tormented by memories that are painful. The next image is of water to give a clue associated with the boats and drowning. And finally you see a boat far in the distance with a bird flying over. This is her last memory of her son and husband.
The lyrics by Shelley Dael Walker that are playing are also helpful in understanding Miriam's story and state. Miriam desperately wants to hold on to whatever memories she has of her son and husband.

When the doorbell rings the movie alters from her having control to her losing control immediately she is put off balance attempting to put her heels on as she is descending stairs. When Robert first sees Miriam he is taken back by how nicely she is dressed and we establish that there is more of a professional relationship between the two. As they head up the stairs you may notice dead roses on a ledge. When making choices on the set I removed all living plants and wanted only the dead roses. This to me helps with the mood of showing death instead of life. The shot of Robert standing at the top of the stairs is a great picture for many different reasons. Robert is nothing more then a memory of her husband. He is standing next to the model ships and does not want to enter for two reasons. 1) as a memory he probably would not want to see her going thru this over and over and 2) as part of her fantasy his character would be uncomfortable when seeing a table obviously set for a romantic dinner.
When Robert sits at the table there is a picture of a Japanese man using a bridge to cross a river. My understanding is this is a symbol of the passing of ones life. Miriam Drops the food off on the table. Robert is eating shrimp. Of course seafood. Next she retreats to the kitchen to find the wine. At this point it can be mistaken for a romantic soap opera. The distraction is you think this is a story about a woman who has fallen for this guy who is writting a love story and she thinks the love story is about her. At anyrate when she knocks the wine bottle over we are reminded that she is mentally not stable. Just before this scene when she opens the cupboard you will notice a "virgina is for lovers bumper sticker" This was place there by Jeff Creasey, he is soon to be married to Holly, who is from Virginia, I would say what county but this is a family friendly blog. When I held auditions for the role of Miriam I was first envisioning someone actually about 10 years older then Shannon. Her performance and her femme fatale look won me over in the end. The scene where she is happy she found the corkscrew and then immediatly is brooding is a good example of why I cast her.

more to come.....

Merlot Commentary and Spoilers Part I

2005-08-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been asked by many people, "what the heck???" after watching Merlot for the first time. Typically people think they are watching a sappy mellodramatic soap opera then the end comes and the whole world flips upside down. Watching the movie a second time will be like watching hopefully an entirly different movie. The scenes that seemed overly dramatic now have new meaning and new levels of drama that are easier understood and appreciated. I was told by one person its deceptive because you are watching an independent movie so you are already geared up to be critical and the story plays out so its easy to be critical, the end hits and you relize you haven’t even watched the movie and you have completely missed the actual story. So here is some background and some spoilers for those who are interested. One friend told me the third time watching the movie was by far the best. That to me is the best compliment I could ever receive.

*Background
I sat at my computer staring at the blank screen looking for inspiration. Six months ago I had spent an exurbanite amount of energy trying to bring a script to life The Wednesday Woman and it ended up tanking at the last moment. Did I really want to try and do this again. I enjoyed writing scripts. I had even started a tradition of writing the names of scripts on bottles of wine and when the script was finished I would drink the wine. Did I really want to try and take a script and try and shoot the whole thing from start to finish.
I knew it had to be short, it had to be simple and the concept had to be hi. Concepts are free so the higher the concept, hopefully the higher the audiences interest or acceptance.
So I sat there staring at the blank screen. Looking over I noticed my bottle of Merlot with no script title on it and decided to write a script based off of just that, a wine, and more specifically Merlot.
When I look at wine I don’t think of snobbery or different oaks or vintages or years or whatever it is that wine coinsurers think of. I think of bitterness, dry vapors and dark colors all created by grape that is crushed. The grape that was once sweet is now dry and bitter. So in the story I wanted to recreate what I saw in the wine, a dark, bitter dry story.

Miriam, Robert and thier son are the grapes crushed to make this happen.

more to come......

Updates, spoilers and much more coming soon.

2005-08-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Merlot
Spoilers and explanations for Merlot are on their way. Most of the reviews I have received for merlot are "what the heck, I need to watch it again I must have missed something" That is exactly the response I was hoping for. However, what I did not take account for is the fact that people may only see the movie once at a film festival and from what I have heard you really need to see it at minimum 2 times to really understand what is happening. So for this reason I have been putting together a commentary or explanation of the story and scenes.

Chaointe
Eric is into the editing as we speak it is exactly 4 minutes. He is super fast and super good. We will try to get that as close to 3 minutes as possible. Most of it cuts together very nicely and some of it needs to be reworked mainly the beginning and end. Trent has finished two sketches for the flick and his art concepts are better then what I was imagining, yeah Trent.

Sans Vie
I met with Sten and Jeff to discuss our Trash o matic or the stencreasey 2000. If they pull this off I will have to make like an award of some kind, possibly out of brake pads and ceiling fans. I have received quite a bit of French music. All of it is really good. Some is very pro but just not the style I am looking for. I have one that is perfect but is male vocals and I am really debating using but I really want female vocals. I will be going through all of it the next two weeks and getting back to the various artists. Thank you to everyone who has been sending in music. Lets see Melissa and I are going to be doing a shoot in about 3 weeks for the main portrait in the movie. And I think I found someone to help with wardrobe.

Websites
still looking for a website designer wink wink.

Merlot Reviews

2005-08-14T09:26:00.000-07:00

We had the show and it was a lot of fun. Our first screening the projection was quite dark however by the second show we resolved our lighting issues and it turned out good. If you were at the screening and would like to review the show, Merlot, or make a comment on the event feel free to post here. Thank you to all of our friends who came out to support our efforts!

Mockstreetfilms Possible Mission Statements

2005-08-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Mockstreetfilms mission is to.....

Make it to mars and back on time and under budget!

Create a softer softball and a harder hardball.

Unveil thee doorway to the abyss(directly under the AMPM on Union and 6th in Tacoma)

Invent a time machine to go back and burn the set of Full House. Saving the minds of millions from inhuman torture.

Build the fastest wooden race car in cub scout pack #68

Get Conan O'brian on Prime Time.

Build a portal to the mainstream film dimension and sneak as many Seattle artisans through as possible.

Convince the emperor of Japan that Blade runner is the best movie of all time thus moving us closer to world domination

Develop an andriod for release in 2015 that we can send back to 2007 to stop the production of inevitable sequels to the Terminator series.

Read the minds of birds

To the rhythm of the boogie beat

2005-08-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

I talked with Shelley Dael Walker last night. I am a huge fan of hers, her songs are on a par with how I view life and that is rare for me to find someone like that. I also spoke with Michal Cross about his movie "How to Kill time" It may not play because I have to pick the tape up from Kirk founder of www.storypipe.com
I dont know if he will have time to meet which would suck I think that short is great.
I have now completely finished the opening promo for the show so as people sit they can listen to music and watch some promos for local artists and yes Sans Vie. I relize what some of you are thinking yes matt yes this is all fine but you said you were going to post pictures of using sims as story boards....What the hell? where are the pictures. I know blogs are more interesting with pictures. Oh well not today to busy. We did use Sims story boards for Chaointe and it worked quiet nicely for framing shots.
Oh yes I knew if I blabbed long enough I would get to more news. Chaointe has a small portion of it cut together. I watched it last night and there is a bit of work that needs to be done but it looks good. I havent devoted really the time Chaointe needs this week mainly due to getting everything ready for this show. Eric is working on the edits though and its all coming together.

4 movies became 1

2005-08-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I worked on putting all 4 movies into one movie. This is to make it so I dont have to flip DVD's in and out and mess with all of that I can just plug and play. This turned out to be a bit more difficult then expected. All of the movies are in different formats and different video editors would recognize some of the movies but not all of them and visa versa. So like anything else with my computer its not going to be easy. I had to convert one file. I will have to create cards out of the program Iam using to in between the movies. Man alive. Cant anything with the PC be easy besides video games. I have yet more confirmations for the show and I just remembered I invited a bunch of people that are not on the evite. oops. So should be fine. I hate event planning but I like throwing events.
That s it for movie related news. Iam still so freakin far behind on everything I need to get done between now and Saturday.

Crystal Ball Event Planning II

2005-08-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

So funny after I had my brilliant idea of how to combine shows I had a flurry of confirmations. Not enough that both will be packed out but enough that combining them would break the fire code law. And although I like the whole sid vicious bad boy thing, which I totally am the oppisite of, I think I will go with keeping the shows separate.

I should warn you the above sentence was just a taste of my run on sentence power that I posses. I have been storing up my ability to run on and on, in a secret silo, under an abandon K-Mart in Lacey Washington and when the time is right, I will release its furious run on sentence glory over the unsuspecting world, forever changing the lives of grammar student teachers everywhere and placing me on the thrown of run onness(on ness, I made that up)using my septer a red pen, to correct sentences that today are socially acceptable but in my world will get you an F.(evil laughter) Who will join me!

For those about to sleep we salute you

2005-08-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

So here I sit two hour past my bed time (insane laughter) I just finished creating 2 promos for the show. I went to kinkos to have them printed out only to find that they were not on the disk(insane laughter again from a nother region in my head) So I decide to get Jack in the box instead of Teryiaki because I'm the king of bad decisions these days. I came home had a very long conversation on the phone got none of the million tasks done that I needed. oh Eric has finished the teaser for Chaointe, now before you get all excited there are know visuals The teaser is really meant for our show this saturday. If you listen really close you can hear a cat in heat in the wind noises and is lo not the high screaming sounds. Dont worry my Doctor put me on vitamn C he said it should take effect in a week. Anyway the teaser is up at

www.mockstreetfilms.com/chaointe/chaointe.htm

I will leave you with a poem I wrote in 8th grade.

in this poem I probably wont rhyme
and if I dont its not a crime
I couldnt rhyme ref
I will probably get an F
I think Iam just wasting my time

See I had a positive attitude even way back then.

crystal Ball event planning

2005-08-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am planning an event for this upcoming weekend. The theatre seats 60 people and I have about 64 completly confirmed I have about 45 unconfirmed. hmmmmmm Do I combine the two shows. Its always funner with a crowd or do I keep the shows split. Echo echo echo. My inclination is to combine the two for many reasons. One is I can ensure Iam cleaned up and out of there before the next gig comes in and I get to hit the after party sooner. Plus two the second show could be fairly sparse which would be lame. However......However I run the risk of having the other 45+ people showing up AAAAAHAAAAAA!!!!!! I just figured it out I am so smart. I will have the first show be for everyone who has confirmed moving the confirmed 5PM people to the 4:15 show making it a fun and comfortable 64. Then for all the bad boys and girls who did not confirm for the 4:15 show well they will have to wait for the 5PM show. "YES its perfect" said the man as he strapped the mattress to the truck."yep that aint going anywhere"

woooooosh!

my inbox runneth over

2005-08-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

I promise I will get back to everyone who has been emailing and if I dont I'm emailing you now in thought.

Jessica, Dom, Coffee, French Toast and Zombies

2005-08-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

I just came back from meeting Dom Zook and Jessica Baxter, two super heros movie makers from seattle. Both are very low key and very cool. It was nice meeting more people outside my circle of friends. I love my circle of friends but I also love meeting new people. Anyway we talked about mainly seattle and movies. I did pick up the trailer for Snow day and we talked briefly about the Snow Day Chaointe coffee shop party in October. I say in October because I dont know if it will be on the 28th or 29th or possibly maybe the 30th. Anyway, visit thier websites.

http://www.gadzookfilms.com/

http://www.tangentproductions.net/

and Jessica if you read this Moulin Rouge was awesome!!!

Eloise

2005-08-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

"As I lay here and look into the darkeness, I can still see her face. With all of the horror that surrounded me her face brought me comfort. She brought me peace."

The good luck doughnut guy.

2005-08-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

When I played music I always shared the stage not as a gimmick but because that is who I am. I love having fun with people. I never looked at myself as a musician or an event promoter or producer or agent or manager even though I did all of these necessary evils to get the things done that needed to be done.

I look at this much in the same way. If I get to keep doing it, I want to make sure it is just the same feeling I had when I was doing music and I think to do that you have to not stand on the stage your standing on but let the good luck doughnut guy stand on it.

the good luck doughnut guy is my favorite guy or woman. In music her name was Rosie. She would always be there with yum yums and goodies and all kinds of fun things and always have a smile and always be wishing us Good luck. I later talked Rosie into singing on a CD then I got to be my own favorite person, the good luck doughnut guy. the good luck person is my favorite person anywhere in life.

a note to my future self

2005-08-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

So I have reviewed the rough cut of Chaointe and its wierd I'm not overwhelmed with technical frustrations of trying to get things loaded or dumped or anything techinical its just wierd. I can focus on the story and the look. I will have to try and get use to not worrying about my dumb PC. Ok so the shots. Many things many much. They look beautiful for one Eric is a master of lighting know doubt and the clarity of the camera is very nice. There were some shots we were unable to get but that happens. Eric told me once the first shot you cut is your favorite and well that deed has been done as of 5 minutes ago. RIP. I had to cut 3 of my shots for Merlot that were my dream shots. We Unfortunatly did not get any good signage shots for the store that we made the movie at so this will be a problem as it was part of the deal I made with the owner. I think I may put the logo for his store big at the end of the credits hopefully that will suffice. I just couldnt film with good concience outside and tripod on the sidewalk. Tripod on sidewalk = permit. So the outside one of the building was to shakey and wont look good I should have brought my fake steadi cam out. Its not a real one but it does help quite a bit with shaking and bouncing. I need to make some more adjustments to really get it working well. Its pretty heavy though kills your back after 3 takes.
Ok so back to the rough cuts.
It was about 40 minutes and I am debating whether or not to go for black and white or color. I did this on my TV I went back and forth and its hard. If it was black and white and bring the contrast up it could have a real sweet effect. I'm rambling lets see what else ohhhhhh. Eric has already finished the trailer and it is very nice its more of a teaser then a trailer. Dennis if you are reading this you sound great.
Ok I'm talking to people who may or may not read this that is the sign its time for bed. I have no more notes to myself. Except to tell my future self to make my favorite shots my least favorite and then I will get to keep them.

Jeff Likes Cheese

2005-08-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

So lets see, I started talking with a French translator last night for Sans Vie.
I need to clean up the Chaointe website. I have to send some wind sounds I like to Eric.
Eric has taken on the Chaointe edit. I hope I dont drive him crazy with my indecisive nature. Do I like it like this or like this maybe like this oh what about this what if I did this you know I think I like the way you had it originally.....maybe. I'm psycho. Anyway I'm sending sound to him. for wind then I have to clean up a few more audio things for merlot before we screen it on th e 13th finish up the promotions for Sans Vie and Merlot for the screening. Confirm all the evites. I am not going to get this all done tonight argh! Maybe I will just go to the lake with my kids and pretend I'm done with everything.
I did have lunch with Sahra today. She is a great woman, I really look forward to working with her on Sans vie. I am always anxious that a shoot wont be completed until well its completed. And I really really really really want sans vie to be completed I'm in love with this project. So that means I will be even more psycho.
More randomn thoughts on the shoot with Chaointe
Tataina Breger
Tataina played the banshee and I was really freaked that the scream wouldnt sound good and man was I thankful I heard her scream and it was better then I expected. It was an opera type of cry. So totally perfect.

Dennis Kliensmith
Dennis delivered he was solid as a rock. He sat quietly reading his book and when it was time he was on point.

Eric Thomas
Eric was a buzz with activities his hands were all over the lights and the camera. It was wierd not having to worry about any of that. the shots were pretty much framed just like the story boards and it was a go. Very wierd how easy the technical end works when you have someone there that takes care of it.

Sten Ryason
Sten is very cool. All I know is he helped Eric and Jeff. Sorry Sten I suck wait no I remember you did save that lady that fell from the building. Oh and sten helped me with blood. It was nice to finally get a chance to work around him and I'm looking forward to building our trash contraption for sans vie.

Jeff Creasey
Jeff Likes cheese

Adam Van Lueven
Adam took on the role of Script supervisor and Location Manager. Both of these jobs I think are some of the most important jobs and he did them excellent. It may not seem much to someone doing those jobs but they dont even know how cool they are and how important it is.

Josh
I already gave him a cool write up below. Josh is my bro. and I dont use the word bro lightly

Mike
Did I mention the owner..... Go now to Capital Hill Cafe Internet lounge and eatary and by all of his muffins.

Any other notes on the shoot mmmmm I'm sure I'm forgetting something. OH when I returned the equipment I forgot to return the camera so I had to drive back to return the camera. If you were on I-90 at this time you were sharing the road with someone that thought he might be dreaming. Ok time to get busy.