I've hardly ever shown my work on this blog and that is something that will definitely change this year, starting now actually. In my last entry I mentioned about the new webshow that I was working on with my friend Heath called THE 5YCH. What's the show about? Your just gonna have to watch and find out when it kicks off ;). Here is the graphic introduction I created for it using Adobe After Effects. It's pretty short and punchy. Hope you like it!
I can't believe we are in 2011 already! It's like, one second it's 2010 and the next it's not! Well actually it was exactly like that, because one second we were in 2010 and... you get the point.With the turn of the year comes the realisation that I did not live up to half of the things I said I would. This seems to be a regular occurence at this time of year and I'm starting to become well aquainted with this annual warm and fuzzy feeling of crapness ;).
This year is going to be different. There are a lot of things I need to do this year and by jove I'm gonna do them! Before I get into what it is exactly I'm going to do, I just want to point out that it's the year of the Rabbit. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog.
Whether you believe that or not I'll leave to you. I'm a Rooster so I don't really care :). But one thing I do care about is this super cute picture of a man holding a Tiger and Rabbit who simply just don't want to be man handled like that! I figure it's symbolic of the whole, out with the old, in with the new thing. Wait a minute if that's...then...what are they gonna do to that tiger cub?!! Excuse me for a second, I gotta make phone call...
Okay, so where was I? Oh yeah what am I gonna do this year. Well, I'm planning on starting a webshow with a good friend called 'THE 5YCH'. The what? Yeah that's right, try and get your tongue around that! Be sure to watch the first episode to find out how to say right and to find out what the heck the whole thing is about.
I'm also gonna be working on some short films that I have written (which are gonna be awesome!), find a wife (My mother wants grandchildren ;), get a better job (maybe with the same company...), be a better son, brother, friend and lover and work on my gratitude as well as the pleathora of other weaknesses I have.
On that note and in all seriousness there were and are a lot of things to be thankful for last year. I was blessed so much and was able to experience so much. I'm a religious man and without getting too heavy I have to thank God for keeping me through the year even though heaven knows I didn't always deserved to be kept :).
Okay I think that's enough for one post. Happy New Year!!
I haven't checked Freddiew's You Tube chanel in a while so I decided to hit it. They specialise in humour filled gun tooting action sequences, and I have to say that these guys are really growing from strength to strength. There are some seriously sweet vids and they have been garnering a fair bit of attention. I'm working on some short films at the moment and these guys have given me a standard to look to and hopefully exceed.
Below are a couple of my favourite Freddiew shorts. The first is an uncut version of a film they made with Shenae Grimes for an interview with NBC. I probably should point out that the main character (Freddie) can't act and It's a little gory, but jokingly so. There is a link to the toned down, televised version at the begining of the short:
The second is a retro-esque summer of love flavoured short:
I love music. If it sounds good and has a strong enough statement to make, I'm with it. The evolution of the music scene has always been an area of interest for me. It's life long struggle to challenge the established order, honestly communicate and conventionalize, whilst trying to remain popular and maintain secular security is a good example of the whole, "to know where you're going, you must first know where you've been" ideology. It's a juggling act that has lead to some interesting amalgamatic eras of music!
We all have our favourite genres and artists. I myself am partial to a little Luther Vandross from time to time. I grew up with his music playing constantly in the house, the guy was practically a member of the family. The music scene has changed a lot since then, and lately I've found myself listening to Tinie Tempah, whose experimental fusion of electro, grime, drum and bass, hip hop, rock and even indie make him a perfect representative of a child born to the 'struggle' I mentioned earlier.
A lot of people had been raving about him but I had no clue who he was until about three weeks ago! Don't get me wrong, I'm up to date with my music (at least, I think I am!), but this one seemed to slip under the radar. I began to wonder where I'd been for the last ten months! The guy's everywhere! I later realised I knew a lot of his tracks without knowing he was the artist behind them, which gave me a small measure of comfort.
Being a creative, I really like the dynamic direction Tinie has taken both in his advertising and music videos. I've gleemed a lot of ideas from them and look forward to developing some of them in my own work in the near future. Below is the music video for "Pass Out".
This post is getting kinda long, but before I jet, if you are into Tinnie Tempah, WinkBall have been following his 2010 'Disc-Overy' tour across the UK. It's a cool way to find out what the people are thinking. You can find a link to the tours main page below:
I was at the Leicester Square premiere of 'Salt' starring angelina Jolie yesterday. I went with my friend Ryan. The first thing that I noticed when I arrived at the red carpet was that it wasn't Red. It was Black. I can't profess to know Angelina, but from what I understand about her (in a good way of course ;) it made sense.
I didn't have time to get dressed up all fancy, so when we walked on the carpet I wasn't suprised to hear some London youths say, "Look at that guy acting all casual! He's strolling in as if he's just come from work!". Those young men did not know how right they were! I turned round to them and smiled. Suddenly I heard my name being called! I could not believe my ears, it was too close to be in the crowd! I recognised the voice, but had to be sure. I turned round slowly to see my ex girlfriend, Charlie stabding there smiling. We were together some years back and although we were still friends I hadn't seen her for a quite some time. She was dressed to the nines in a beautiful black number. Ryan left us and carried on walking to the theatre, no doubt thinking three was a crowd. We had a lovely catchup although it was brief. It turned out she was involved in the company organising the event. The nature of the event did not permit us to talk for long, so we said our goodbyes and I continued to walk down the Black. I flipped out my phone camera to grab some footage of what was going on, and as I did the crowd started to go crazy. I was walking past Angelina at the time who was talking to the press. She turned around, saw me, I waved and she waved. Yes, I got a wave from Jolie. You can see the video below. It all happens kinda fast so I've added a frame grab.
I'm not really into the whole idolizing movie stars thing, but I've gotta say it it did feel kinda nice. I do a lot of digital work so I understand that seeing isn't always believing, but she is actually a lot more beautiful than I thought. Here's to hoping that I can actually talk to her next time I'm so close.
I caught up with Ryan and we found our seats. Here's a vid of us chatting nonsense:
Jolie then made her entrance to introduce the movie:
Okay, so what about the film? I must confess from the off, I didn't think the film was amazing. However that being said, Jolie was committed to the character all the way, which was the production's saving grace. The plot, which sees Jolie accused of being a double agent who has been groomed since infancy to destroy the US was a little far fetched. But upon second thought aren't most plots! The film boasts an impressive cast, with the likes of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Liev Schreiber supporting. Their performances however are far from their best. If only the direction was stronger. I actually think that if the film was approached with a more serious tone and done in a more believeable manner, like the Bourne trilogy for example, Hollywood might actually of been onto something. Instead they defaulted to the the thrill-a-minute plus a few quirks blockbuster formula, which although entertaining is ultimately insulting to the intelligence of the movie-goer. The story tries to keep you guessing, but is ill-paced for the most part and consequently predictable. The action however is a different story. There is a lot of action. Jolie gives as good as she gets, and she gets to beat down on a whole lot of men. The question whether this is metaphorical I'll leave for another time ;). The scenes can get intense, the last fight scene is paticularly visceral, but this is balanced by a few light hearted action sequences sprinkled throughout. The cinematography is pure Hollywood in-house and the photography suffers from a lack of variety in locales.
Ultimately a popcorn film. Not the kind of film that will leave you desperately wanting more, but a film that will most likely spawn a sequel non the less.
I went to the the Karate kid Premiere at the Leicester Square Odeon yesterday with Linda, Ryan and his wife Dena and all I can say is wow! It seems that the Smiths really know how to put on a show for their guests and fans! I had been to Will Smith's Seven Pounds Premiere the previous year and It was quite the spectacle, but no where near this! Now, I don't consider myself as famous because... I'm not! However walking down the Red Carpet this time I had something that I never had before...fans! Yes I had fans! These people had absolutely no clue who I was or what I did. A group of girls shouted to me asking if I was with anyone. Linda prompty presented herself resulting in them giving off a huge sigh. I was actually filming with my phone at time.
Jayden has too much style for his own good, which was evident during his interviews (something he no doubt gets from dad). Jackie Chan was incredibly funny and humble as always. After all the guests had arrived and were inside the cinema, the real entertainment began.
First off they had a karate kata demonstration after which they had a Karate v Breakdance battle! It was incredible!
After that there was a traditional chinese procession in the cinema:
and them we heard from the producers, director and actors:
The film was suprisingly good. I grew up with The Karate Kid and was afraid they might murder a classic. Although not as powerful as the original, director Harald Zwart managed to get some strong and at times touching performances from his actors. The film won' t win any oscars for the screenplay, but there is a healthy balance between the action and the and character development, which helps the film arrive at it's 2 hours and 15 minutes without making you want to pass out or run for the exit. The cinematography is beautiful as is the photography, especially when they visit the provincial regions of China. Jayden Smith exhibits a cockiness and vunerability that at times is reminicent of Ralph Macchio, and is able to drop the funnies when needed just like his dad. Jackie Chan plays Mr Han who is Noriyuki "Pat" Morita's replacement. I'm glad that they decided to change the name, even if it was only because they filmed in China. There's only one Mr Miyagi! Something that got me a little was the fact that technically the filmed should of been called the Kung Fu Kid seeing as that is the art practiced in the film and it is based in China, but somehow I got over it.
On the whole a well executed remake that stays true to most of what really mattered in it's predecessor. Watch it!
Alex Boye', a friend of mine was down from the States over the weekend with his wife and baby girl (Still don't know how he produced such a good looking kid, definitely his wife's doing). A bunch of us ended up going to Zizi's restaurant on the Strand for dinner and a catchup. Alex is a singer so I kinda had the feeling that at some point the night was gonna turn into a episode of GLEE. It did. My friend Va was on hand with her WinkBall flip camera's to capture the wrongness! I'm suprised the manager didn't throw us out! In fact, all the staff really liked it! Maybe they should think about in house entertainment to accompany the fine food... that ones for free Zizi ;). What can I say, you can't take us anywhere!
Here's a clip of Alex and Richard singing "This is how we do it":
And here's embarrasing clip of me singing "If I ever fall in love":
I love music. If it sounds good and has a strong enough statement to make, I'm with it. The evolution of the music scene has always been an area of interest for me. It's life long struggle to challenge the established order, honestly communicate and conventionalize, whilst trying to remain popular and maintain secular security is a good example of the whole, "to know where you're going, you must first know where you've been" ideology. It's a juggling act that has lead to some interesting amalgamatic eras of music!
A lot of people had been raving about him but I had no clue who he was until about three weeks ago! Don't get me wrong, I'm up to date with my music (at least, I think I am!), but this one seemed to slip under the radar. I began to wonder where I'd been for the last ten months! The guy's everywhere! I later realised I knew a lot of his tracks without knowing he was the artist behind them, which gave me a small measure of comfort.
