Andy Binford is an amazing young man that has done so much more than we could cover in this short film. It was inspiring to see the drive and ambition that Andy has in every aspect of his life. Since we finished this film And went on to win 2 gold and one bronze Medal in the Idaho Games. I have no doubt that Andy will continue to push the limits of what people think he is capable of.
There is a dangerous tendency in me to wrap up short film projects with a tight bow and a smiley face like an episode of the Cosby Show where everything turned out all right and we all get a nice life lesson at the end. But that is not how life works. Karen is an amazing woman that has had her share of trials and struggles. She single-handedly raised two boys with equally challenging personal struggles. She stood by them while they went through their darkest times and now they are all the better for it; that is why they are fighting so hard for her now.
When I started this project Karen was having a series of blackouts and my idea was that she would be back at work in a couple weeks. I wanted to focus more on her perseverance through this trial and her writing. She has written three books and is currently looking for a publisher. But this is life. The news and prognosis kept getting more and more serious and the film began taking a sadder tone. This is what I wanted to do but it hurt to watch this family walk through this terrible trial.
Through it all Karen was beautifully steadfast. When I would meet with her she would share how much she is learning about her sons, about God, through her cancer. I once told her that if I was in that bed I’m pretty sure I’d just be angry. She said “I don’t have time to be angry.”
Karen is currently going through Chemotherapy and radiation and persevering. Her boys are taking up the brunt of family duties and can use some help. If you want to help just email me and I’ll get you in contact with the Paynes.
I haven’t been posting as regularly as usual because I have entered in to a season we shall call “The Busy Time.” I am currently moonlighting for a local company doing medical illustrations, audio editing, etc. On top of that I just stepped on to a short film that will be epic. To add insult to overworked injury I have been wrapping up freelance projects for all my clients prior to “The Busy Time.” All of these projects are completed after I put in my 40 hours at my full time gig as the video guy at the Kroc Center. All this adds up to 70+ hours a week of work. While I am grateful for the work I am also glad that this will be for a season and not forever.
That brings you up to date on my work schedule. Now for the business at hand.
A few weeks ago I had a meeting with the Kroc Centers Marketing Director and she had a brilliant idea. We had our first annual core values all staff meeting in a couple of weeks and she wanted to have a special video highlighting the employees at the Kroc. I do Interview style Documentaries all day long so this was par for the course. Then the Marketing director threw in my lap the opportunity to do something completely foreign to me: A musical parody. A Glee musical parody to be exact. I personally can’t watch the show for more than 2 minutes before boredom builds in my gut and I throw something at the TV. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t make my own version of Glee. I loved the idea and began immediately planning.
Through the next week I watched anything I could find on youtube about Glee. I watched The musical numbers from various episodes of the show. I watched other people’s parodies of Glee. I watched the Jimmy Fallon Emmy’s opening number that is by far the best Glee moment I have ever witnessed, original show included. I watched so much that now whenever I open Youtube up on my office computer it immediately loads suggestions based around show tunes, Glee Characters, and musicals. I googled glee so much that the ads that pop up are advertising glee fanclubs, 20th Century fox and musical theater. If an investigator took a few minutes to analyze my computer the conclusion they would come to would be that this computer is obviously the property of a teenage girl with dreams of hitting the bigtime.
All of that research led to one factor that set good, viral parodies apart from bad, nobody cares, parodies: Quality. A common theme in the glee parodies on youtube is groups of teenage boys singing all the parts in a “look at us, we are boys pretending to be girls, isn’t that funny” kind of way. I didn’t want to stoop to that. So, I decided to go for the tough laughs and go for quality. Quality video, quality, editing, quality actors portraying these singers as if this was their big break.
I understand that watching this there are rough patches that video guys can point out but I also was given a deadline. My marketing Director had to talk me off the ledge a few times as well because I wasn’t sure we could make it to the standard that I was aspiring to. She was great about reminding me that while quality is nice, this is supposed to be fun. So I had to live with a couple shots kind of out of focus and marks not hit. And while filming was rough in spots the actors in the video totally committed and made up for camera errors.
This project would not have gotten off the ground without the awesome support and help from Jodi and Erin in our marketing and design team, Miranda, who was the best AD I have ever worked with, and the men in the RJ Kroc suit, Zak (who also edited the audio) and Chris.
The night of the premiere people were laughing so hard you couldn’t hear the music. It was awesome to see a project go from an idea to premiere in two weeks with little to no budget.
We have stayed in contact over the years and have talked about collaborating since we were teenagers. But for whatever reasons we have never been able to make it happen until now.
Today Luke is a prolific Musician on the verge of national recognition. His music is honest and raw. He asked me if I would want to make a music video for his latest album titled, “Compared to you.” I was thrilled to help out.
The idea for the video is one I have been working on for two or three years. I actually filmed a similar version for a short on a skateboarder in Orange County but it never felt right. Luke wanted to know if I had any ideas for a video and I told him about this one I had been working on for a number of years. In the conversation he gave me the missing pieces that finally made the story line click.
The homeless character is played by Mike, who runs a halfway house in Coeur d’Alene. This was his first acting gig and I think he is a natural. The young mom was played by Camille Coast, another natural. and the baby is my nephew Owen.
The whole project was a labor of love for the whole crew. I thank all of the volunteers on this project. It was a blessing to see it all come together.
Check out Luke Dowler’s music Here:
Lukedowler.com
Josh Montieth and Chuck Schmidt were my amazing crew and helped me out in so many ways.
When I was in grade school there were a handful of books that I read obsessively. One of those books was “Where the Wild things Are.” I would check it out of our school library every chance I got. Every aspect of the book was intriguing to me. The Monsters looked like real Monsters. It was like the author, Maurice Sendak, spent years in a remote end of the world studying monsters in their natural habitat. It was one of those books that had every element that a kid could want: magic, adventure, costumes, monsters, everything.
I think for many people WTWTA was just as Paramount to their childhood as Dr. Seuss. Which is why I am eagerly anticipating Spike Jonze take on the story due out in October. He has said in interviews that it WTWTA is not a children’s movie which I am so grateful for. I am excited to see how Spike interprets this story for an adult audience. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Spike Jonze work he is the visionary director behind Adaptation, Being John Malcovich, Fully Flared, Mouse, Hot Chocolate, Yeah Right. His career began in Skateboarding and he continues to be influential on the way skate films are watched and made.
The trailer is beautiful on it’s own and features a song by The Arcade fire. I think it shows the amount of love and attention Spike put into the project. Arcade fire is the perfect balance of humanity and grandeur. I cant think of a more appropriate anthem for the film than “Wake up” by Arcade Fire. In October I will be standing in line with my monster Jammies much like Max. Ok, maybe not but I will be in attendance.
[http://vimeo.com/5924415 w=599&h=255]
