Torrey Pines Premieres at TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival!

The TORREY PINES premiere took place opening night of TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival to a sold out audience. A group of 20+ musicians including Kimya Dawson, Lori Goldston, EARTH, The Beaconettes and Yr Heart Breaks played a live score while Susie Kozawa performed live foley.

A few days later, I was honored to speak at the encore screening of TORREY PINES. I was amazed how many questions were asked and it felt great to represent our film in that way.

In the end TORREY PINES walked away with a Jury Award for Artistic Achievement.

Way to go team!

Recording the TORREY PINES Soundtrack at Hall of Justice

June, 2016 marked a milestone  for the Torrey Pines film. A host of Seattle's best musicians were on hand for soundtracking and extra foley. Several of the films songs are actually excerpts from Clyde's band, YOUR HEART BREAKS, but many musical incidentals were composed and recorded on the spot, making for a very organic and inspiring process. I witnessed true musicianship from Jacob Jaffe, Zach Burba, Kimya Dawson, Lori Goldsten, Corey J Brewer, The Beaconettes and producer, Chris Walla. All true professionals. I was happy to able to get in there and help with some hallucinogenic sounds as well. The whole experience felt magical. Everything just seemed to happen naturally and organically. Like we were all there together at the right time and place making something extraordinary. 

"Eff'd Up Ferry Tale" film at Bumbershoot 2016

"Eff'd Up Ferry Tale" is an (almost) true story that took place in the autumn, 1987. Things got way out of hand on the M/V Kitsap after an all ages punk rock show at Natasha's nightclub in Bremerton. Punk and Metal fans converged on the last ferry back to Seattle while over zealous security guards arrested a couple of intoxicated teenagers. A riot ensues during punk rock style rescue attempt and escape. The rest is history. Sort of.

TORREY PINES News- Recording Foley at Jack Straw Studio

Last week we were at Jack Straw Studio recording sound effects with help of a generous grant. Making the film in a straight ahead manner lent itself to lots of experimentation. This is true with the sounds in the film as well. Recording all original and unique sound effects for a film which has no dialogue. Sounds that imply. Textures and soundscapes that describe situations and surroundings. Engineer, Doug Haire and Foley Artist, Susie Kozawa brought their expertise and helped ensure a unique audio experience.

Update- TORREY PINES Animation Completed

After a year and a half of building sets and puppets out of water colored bristol paper, animating an hours worth of stop motion on a multi-plane, we have officially completed the animation for Torrey Pines. Clyde said he wanted to be finished by April 2016 (something I thought impossible) and holy fuck, we did it! 

A week early, I might add. At the end of 2015 we had roughly 30 minutes in the can. We stopped production and spent January building 300+ puppets for our lovely crowd funders. Then from February to end of March (2 months) we somehow built and animated another 25-30 minutes. Unbelievable. 

We had a  lot of help from exceptional interns and Clyde personally worked 12-16 hours a day for a month straight. All is not done yet. The film making process continues with editing and foley (film maker jargon for sound effects.) We'll also be writing a soundtrack for the film with several of Seattle's finest, most prolific musicians, recorded by producer Chris Walla. 

I'll probably write something about the sound design process in the coming months, so please stay tuned.

TORREY PINES- Making a DIY animated feature in a small basement room.

For the past year and a half, I've been lucky enough to work with my good friend on his biographical animated story. The film is made of paper and shot on a multi-plane. We started January 2nd 2015 and since then we've learned a lot about the reality of making an independent feature length film in a dark basement studio. All of us working on the film have a say in the design and look of the film. We're basically making the entire film in a "straight -ahead" manner. Can't say too much about the film right now. Top Secret. However, the film will premiere on October 13, on opening night of TWIST: LGBTQ Film Festival with a live score. It will play again on October 22nd with a live Q&A by yours truly. Clyde will be out of town on tour with the film.

New Music Video for The Not- It's! new song "Dance with Me!"

The Not-It's! are a really fun band to animate for. When I met up with Michael, he asked me to pick the song, which was really cool. I chose "Dance With Me" because the song is fun and catchy and even though some of the songs had better visual possibilities, I liked the message in "Dance With Me." It's an invitation to have a good time with your friends, I think anyone can get on board with that!

The video was photographed on a series of glass shelves, called a multi-plane.  The multi-plane has a camera set at the top, facing down. The glass shelves serve as layers that provide depth of field and allow for a foreground, background and subjects in the middle.

Everything was constructed carefully using painted thick Bristol paper. The puppets were designed, painted then carefully cut out. Each arm, leg, head, torso were cut out separately and stitched together using a needle and thread.