Freegans: Creative Living Outside of Capitalism

I have no idea who these Trash Lab guys are but I love this little spot about freegans. This taps into the reason why I love video. It gives people an opportunity to spend time with something they wouldn't otherwise consider. And best of all, its an experience that you are able to craft for them. You paint something together with light and sound. Freeganism is something that crosses political boundaries. Typically associated with socialist tenancies and the far left, freeganism is about identifying that something is wrong with the world as it is presented to us. I think freeganism is fascinating because its about creating a world for yourself that excludes that part of society that might be sick. It cuts off the cancerous part with absolute conviction. I like that idea.

Stopped And Frisked

Cops and corruption. I snagged this short from The Nation. Great story. Simple message. Whose job is it to police the police?

Film by Ross Tuttle and Erin Schneider.

Meet the people behind Noble Rot

As a local Northwest film maker, I would like to see more videos like this. I love the idea of small businesses encouraging community through video. Also, I like to see larger companies who care to distribute this hyper local media.

Seed to Plate: A Garden Story from Riley Hooper on Vimeo.

Noble Rot is a great place in Portland to hang out. Its close to the Doug Fir and Juniper Inn. Its a great area for music shows and eating great food.

Lick The Star

Sofia Coppola directed Lick The Star in 1998. Like most of her films, this black and white short is about a little girl.



I like the non-linear way Coppola approaches her stories. She doesn't set up villains or heroes so much as she evokes moods and feelings by dwelling on some moments and breezing through others. Its as though some scenes are cut short, not because it's a short film but because the capriciousness of the 7th grade girls demand that the scenes be cut short.

You know? Like, whatever. =)

War Prayer

I met Harold Cronk on set for a casino commercial I worked on two years ago. I was a production assistant on that shoot. I was pretty green to professional sets back then and I was pretty nervous. They attached me to the assistant camera. That was quite the learning experience, grabbing lenses and slating the camera.

I keep an eye on what Harold is up to because of this short film:

War Prayer (short film) from TiM on Vimeo.

I love the textures of this film. It really feels muddy, doesn't it?

Recently he was production designer on Abram Makowka's Tug. He also has a project in post production titled Jerusalem Countdown.

Smith & Winston

This is my first student film for Brooks Institute. I am mostly happy with how it turned out. I was not the director. There are some small things I would do differently but before I get into that, let me point out that not every good idea was my own and not every bad idea was presented by someone else. This was a group effort and every decision was made as a group.

Now, first you must watch the film.



I annoyed by two background lights. The white light on the piano is too intense and should be filtered down with some scrims and maybe extra diffusion. We couldn't really fit a flag back there without risk of the c-stand being in every shot so mostly I'm happy the c-stand we did put back there wasn't more obvious. Also, the blue light on the bricks is both too intense and too blue. Lastly, our professor pointed out that the light should have been lifted up to cast down more like a street lamp.

I wish we had spent more time on the reverse shot of Winston, the man in blue. This is most my fault because art department was my duty. I love how Winston is shot for the 'toast' shot but I wish there was something in the background such as a poster or something.

I don't know why we have a jump cut at the end there. Maybe we didn't get enough coverage. Maybe the shot of Brittany rushing over with the bar mop didn't look very good. Maybe we needed a close up of Winston walking out the back door. Whatever happened, we needed another shot.

Never dress a girl in black if you want to see her. Someone warned me against doing this and I did not follow their advice because I am a dumb dumb dumb boy. To be honest, I did not have a lot of options. I wish I had a faded black because I could have gotten away with that. The red dress may have worked. I don't know.


Over all, I'm pretty happy with my group and I think we will work together again on future assignments.

the films of sean dunne

sean dunne is a filmmaker in new york. i found him through the little films blog. i like sean dunne's attention to detail. he is not afraid to get the camera in close and show us the texture of someone's life.

Man In Van from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

man in a van makes me think of what i wanted to do for random. i can think of a million excuses for why i never made that film and none of them are suffice. maybe i ought to revisit the idea and take some notes from sean.

Buckles from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

buckles moves a bit slow here and there but it retains gravity because of its historical value. someday even this will be a piece of history.

songwriters shack

every man with big hair who picks up a guitar looks instantly like bob dylan. its a true story. and i've seen many of these singer songwriters buy into the persona and follow in bob's footsteps.

i stole this video from a big time dylan blogger. this is typical bob dylan-esque impressionistic storytelling and i don't think it is a minor detail that the 'dylan' character is reading kafka.



i like the soundtrack. is that the weight by the band?

when you grow up

this film maker was quite the find. fleet foxes did the soundtrack for this short movie back in 2006. i would sure like to work on set with a project like this. i like the mixed media aesthetic.

When You Grow Up from Matt Daniels on Vimeo.

watching short films

vimeo is a great site. you can find film makers and students like jacob mendel. below is my favorite video of his because he sticks to his specialty, bringing life and movement to his stark images by adding sound.

Rooms from Jacob Mendel on Vimeo.

i am thinking about the 8mm film that i want to make later this week and i wonder if maybe i should pick a route similar to this. maybe i want to film people doing things on capitol hill. protesting foie gras, standing in line at molly moon's, working construction... what other things do people do on the hill?

his other films seem to be missing something when he adds too much to the formula. the tom waits soundtrack is a bit much.