from my shooting in Japan and Hong Kong.

(01/18 edit)

Seven hundred feet of processed 16mm had to be returned to the lab for a new transfer. Editing on my next film will commence when I get the new transfer back.

Two days ago I sent a screener of 'Seizon' to Sundance. I still consider this a rough cut, as the music and a few edits may change in the next several weeks. Here's a quick trailer that I edited this afternoon (save link, view in QuickTime):

'SEIZON' trailer

Comments welcome. This was all shot on my Kinor. Some was Plus-X neg and the rest was Fuji 64D and Kodak V2 250D.

edit: part of a dialogue scene.

dialogue scene

Standing on Paynes Prairie at 7:30 PM yesterday, shooting for 'Seizon' wrapped. 2300' of 16mm film and 100' of Super 8 film were shot in all.

Post-production should be finished by the end of August.

(the protagonist of Seizon is named Tanimura)

Yesterday I shot the sunset scene. Finding a location was difficult, as most west-facing beaches are crowded in the evening. Eventually I was able to use a location with some problems (buildings behind, scattered people, etc) and make it work.

For the first time, I was able to snap a few production stills with my new Pentax *ist DL SLR. I was in a rush to finish shooting so I forgot to switch into RAW mode. Also, I'm working on a laptop with questionable image characteristics, so I didn't perform any correction or alterations other than recompressing to decrease the file size.

The big variable here is the stock. I'm working on Vision2 250D, which I've never used before. I hope it provides enough latitude, and the colorist makes good choices - I want the sun to be strongly exposed but not blown out, with a silhouetting of the figure in the foreground if necessary.

After almost two months of on-and-off work, my DVD is finished. This includes five short films (all four of my film-originated projects from 2005 and the first from 2006) as well as special features including full director commentaries for each film, complete screenplays for four of them, and additional extras. I haven't presented my films online to this point because I really feel that the extra picture quality provided by DVD over streaming or web content enhances the experience.

I have no interest in making a huge amount of money from selling this DVD, and any profits will be entirely re-invested in my current 16mm film, Seizon, or future projects.

Support true independent filmmaking with your purchase.

Some information on each film:

Taco - 2m 27s
An exploration of exploitation and consumerism through the contrasting textures of Super 8 film and digital video. Featuring Hide Kubota and Sebastian Quadrat.

Survival Record - 10m 13s
(Cannes and Sundance submission 2006)

Following a nuclear disaster, a journalist struggles to retain his humanity in a changed world. Featuring Jaylen McGrew.

Silence - 7m 34s
(Cannes submission 2006)

Space and time fuse and twist in the story of an astronaut's test flight ending in disaster - or salvation. With Jaylen McGrew.

Epitaph - 7m 33s

Crash-landing on an uninhabited planet, a mortally wounded astronaut examines his life in its final hours. With Evan Kubota.

The Discarded Body - 10m 33s
(Cannes submission 2006)

A desperate scientist injects himself with an unknown substance and suffers the manifestation of an unstoppable parasitic growth. Featuring Hide Kubota.

Once again, the Collected Works DVD:

- five short films
- total running time nearly 40 minutes
- all films shot partially or fully on Super 8, 16mm, or DV
- mastered from original telecined footage
- director's commentaries for each film, and screenplays for four
- even more...

The price is $10 USD plus $2.50 postage in the continental US. International orders are welcome, but postage will be higher.

E-mail me if you're interested in ordering.

I've attached a JPEG of the original cover art, based on a Super 8 frame grab from Epitaph.

On Saturday FedEx dropped off the first 400' roll of color footage as well as 1200 more feet of Fuji 64D, which should be enough to nearly finish shooting.

Here are some stills.