Category Archives: people
The aesthetic and what’s next?
So we’ve pre-released the sfx reel and shared a little history. Now what? There are 4 sheets of newsprint in the backroom covered with to dos, here’s the jist. Two archival and non trivial projects are in the queue for … Continue reading
Posted in budget, Daughter of God, people, plan, production and post, real life, research, SFX reel, story, technique, time, workflow
Tagged avenues, constant vigilance, good enough, kiss, perfection rejection, serving story
Leave a comment
V 0.9 Trickster Pictures SFX reel
This is for my extended inner circle of creatives, both producers that might have a micro budget and/or good things to trade and artists that might have a wild idea or fancy getting hired to help. Please upgrade your browser … Continue reading
Canyon Princess
Premise “Up on the canyon edge, there’s a ship that sails the sky. They say it carries a thousand ghosts who once ate black gold and lived as gods. Big waters brought it here before my grandmother was born. We … Continue reading
Posted in Daughter of God, people, plan, production and post, projects, real life, research, SFX reel, story, technique, workflow
Tagged aleister crowley, bricks, color correction, cruise ship, Daughter of God, Dave Crowley, kiss, roto, san juan, tracking
1 Comment
Uturnpike’s drift
Premise Mysterious rows of snow covered cars snake into the distance. What happened here? Was a neutron bomb exploded nearby? Were the drivers raptured away by the returning Messiah? Why are the cars bumper to bumper in both directions? Unturnpike … Continue reading
Posted in Daughter of God, people, plan, production and post, projects, real life, research, SFX reel, software, story, technique, time, workflow
Tagged 3D, ae, cars, dan kelly, documentation, DOG, Jeff Gibbs, low level, mocha, patrick kelly, pennsylvania turnpike, planar tracker, the road, tracking, uturnpike, viggo mortensen
1 Comment
Commando Kill
Premise CK is a black ops super warrior run amok. His self determined mission is to bring down technical civilization by crashing key elements of infrastructure. He’s forever skulking around power stations and military installations, tossing precise sabots with economy … Continue reading
Posted in people, production and post, real life, research, SFX reel, software, story, technique, time, workflow
Tagged 3D, bear lake, blender, box truck, brad kinnan, catastrophe, character, chinese, cigar, city of milwaukee, clouds, commando kill, composite, concrete, epa, fire, halloween, hazard, industrial, infrastructure, live action, mandarin, manistee, missile, msu, no smoking, penske, rocket, ron brown and sons, roto, sabot, sabotage, signage, super warrior, translation, us 31, vector, vixia hf s100
1 Comment
17 months for 3 minutes
That’s how long it took to develop the (preview) of the motion graphics and special effects reel, from inception to launch. Let’s see… that’s 170 days per minute, 3 days per second or 2 hours and 15 minutes per frame. … Continue reading
Posted in budget, Daughter of God, people, production and post, real life, research, SFX reel, time, workflow
Tagged inception, launch, motion graphics
1 Comment
Behind the scenes
Here’s Version 0.9 of the Trickster Pictures SFX and Motion Graphics Reel. Please upgrade your browser Excerpt from Kellys’ secret blog, December 2009. This is an outreach to potential clients, based on bliss projects. The theory is that if … Continue reading
Posted in people, real life, research, SFX reel, workflow
Tagged 16 bit, 32 bit, 8 bit, aesthetic compromises, apocalypse, avenues, bliss projects, canyon princess, clients, climate change, Colorista, colorista ii, commando kill, comps, control, eternal opus, firefox, ganesh, h.264, indy producer, motion graphics, obsession, painter, painting, physical reality, power mask, precomp, safari, schlock, secret blog, upload, uturnpike, youtube
3 Comments
Party of parties
I am somewhat recovered. Patrick and I did yoga at 8:30 am Friday morning and then I spent the day getting ready. By 8:00 pm Dede’s and Dan’s Not So Good Friday Party was starting to swing, by 10:00 throttling … Continue reading
R and D for Science Fiction Musical
Gosh, it’s nearly midnight, but I’ve gotta write a report on the recently initiated R and D for the Trickster Pictures project, Science Fiction Musical. James Weston and I are making narrative dance projects by recruiting talent from Mykl Werth’s … Continue reading
Posted in budget, hardware, people, plan, production and post, real life, research, story, technique, workflow
Tagged Crystal Lake, dan kelly, erin louise hoagg, ice, james weston, panasonic hds-tm700, patrick kelly, tiffany ingalls, vixia hfs-10
Comments Off on R and D for Science Fiction Musical
Training invitation
An invitation to get ready for future projects with the Michigan Movie Cooperative. Hi, Dan here. As some of you know, I’ve been training these past few months for film making and stage performance. The goal is to develop a … Continue reading
Posted in people, production and post, real life, research, technique
Tagged combat mime, josh kiel, mykl werth, parkour, tai chi, yoga
Leave a comment
Combat Mime
Digital and analog special effects, creative financing, and stunt training are some of the initiatives in play as we ramp up for future movie challenges. The ability to perform safe stunts is essential, whether choreographing a fight scene, simulating a … Continue reading
Posted in people, production and post, real life, research, technique
Tagged brooke bueby, combat mime, dan kelly, gertrude ekstatisch, james weston, jd martinez, joe cissel, josh kiel, patrick kelly
1 Comment
Party theory
What is a party anyway and Why do I keep having them? These questions are surprisingly sticky, fraught with dangerous revelations and dark discoveries. With not a little trepidation I turn my attention to look, to document, to understand. Though … Continue reading
Posted in people, production and post, real life, research, story, technique, Uncategorized
Tagged apocalypse, beat, dragons, flow, party, partyest, partyst, phenomena, production, rhythm, sustainable civilizations, terrorist, trickster pictures, what, why
1 Comment
Encounters… with an annoying blowhard
“Encounters at the End of the World” is my first encounter with Werner Herzog. The title of the movie has a double meaning, referring both to Herzog’s NSF sponsored visit to Antartica, and his cliche assertion that humanity is doomed. … Continue reading
Posted in people, real life, research
Leave a comment
Front row epiphany
It’s 4:00 am, and I’m up in the loft listening to the rain and the ghost furnace. The house has a hydronic heating system, but the furnace / boiler is toast and needs to be replaced. The wood stove is … Continue reading
Trickster fx reel
The lads and I are assembling a motion graphics and fx reel. Making a range of support services available to other Michigan film makers could be a lucrative niche. The idea is to repurpose elements from past and current projects … Continue reading
Posted in people, plan, production and post, real life, research, software, technique, workflow
Tagged choreograph, combat mime, commando kill, detroit, fight, fx, motion graphics, stage violence, weapons
1 Comment
Bad god, I mean dog!
On deciding to leave NYC and return to Michigan, I had a plan – to finish open projects. That was a positive way of saying, let’s not start any new projects. I fancied how it might feel to get caught … Continue reading
Tai Chi with Dan Kelly
As R and D for the top secret Kung Fu Dance and Science Fiction Musical project, Dan is leading Tai Chi practice twice a week. x x Tuesday and Thursday 7:30pm – 9:00 pm Studio on Main in Frankfort, Michigan … Continue reading
Posted in people, real life, research
Tagged dance, kung fu, musical, science fiction, tai chi
Leave a comment
Integrity trap
Yet another iteration of a mistake I’ve made before. Perhaps by sharing the shame with my imaginary audience, I’ll find a way to uninstall the pattern, permanently. Some years back I had this terrific collaborator, let’s call her L. She … Continue reading
Posted in people, real life, research, story
Tagged clandestine, collaborate, collaborator, collective, dance, documentation, friend, friends, integrity, invisible line, machiavelli, manipulate, manipulation, performance
Leave a comment
I’ve cloned myself
Just over a year ago I started cloning myself. I am amazed to announce that the process is complete, pretty nearly. As long as I am alive and ever changing my clone is also a work in progress. Last night … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, hardware, people, real life, technique, time, workflow
Tagged Archive, clone, cloning, conquistador, credit card, firewire, SATA, terrabyte
1 Comment
Bounce rate rebounds
Jonathan, Luke, Steve and I were looking at analytics for ondesire.com last night. After posting the Premise page on Friday, bounce rate shot back up to 40%. The point of looking at bounce rate is to see how effective the … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, people, real life, story, technique
Tagged analytics, bounce rate, dan kelly, Jonathan Kelly, landing page cross post, lucas kelly, steve kelly
Leave a comment
Flyboy via iPhone
Just finished reading Jim Munroe’s FLYBOY ACTION FIGURE COMES WITH GASMASK as a text file on the iPhone. Good times! Check out his other story downloads at http://nomediakings.org. Scrollariffic!
Deconstructing doom
Jonathan has been questioning the veracity of the doom assertion in the ALM / artifact premise. A premise or pitch is a shorthand introduction to a project – typically delivered in less than 15 seconds (and often in an elevator). … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, people, real life, story
Tagged ALM, alm guide, Around Lake Michigan, artifact, consumer, dan kelly, delusion, disconnection, diy, doom, elevator, Jonathan, Jonathan Kelly, pitch, premise, survivable, sustainable, toxic consumer culture
Leave a comment
Meeting 10-03-06 ondesire landing page
We’ve had two dream team meetings, in Brooklyn (Faisal, Erica and Dan) and yesterday in Beulah (Steve Elrick, Melonie, Jonathan, Lucas Kelly and Dan). Inviting collaboration and contribution was the focus of Saturday’s meeting. Components of the ask package for … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, plan, real life, story, technique, time, workflow
Tagged androgenous, artifacts, blog, confuse, dan kelly, definitions, erica velis, Faisal Azam, future sustainable civilization, Jonathan Kelly, lucas kelly, media, melonie, music, steve elrick
Leave a comment
Faisal’s world
Faisal dropped off his edit of DOG. In the spring of 2009 he had offered to bring out the “David Lynch ambiance” while simultaneously loping off “atrocious performance”. He felt that DOG depicted a quirky, off kilter world that was … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life, story, Uncategorized
Tagged ALM, Daughter of God, david lynch, DOG, edit, Faisal Azam, feature, short, working cut
Leave a comment
Pancakes and scrambled tofu hash with Erica and Faisal
Erica and Faisal came over for pancakes on Friday, 10/02/19. Faisal’s version of the DOG edit, ostensibly the reason for our reunion, remained untouched. Instead we talked… about advancing our craft, social presence, Around Lake Michigan, redefining projects, new collaborations … Continue reading
ATD facilitators
On December 13, 2008 I attended an Awakening the Dreamer symposium at Boricua College with Melanie Ida Chopko, aka Melonie Amazing. On Valentines Day weekend 2010, I trained with 34 others to be a symposium facilitator. The symposium is a … Continue reading
Posted in people, real life
Tagged awakening the dreamer, facilitator training, gaia, memes, mother earth, script, symposium
1 Comment
Dream team
The primary lesson I learned making Daughter of God or DOG is this – finishing a movie by yourself takes forever. To complete DOG and support ALM this year, I’ve assembled a team of two knob spinning freelancers and five … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life
Tagged After Effects, ALM, andrea maio, Around Lake Michigan, art department, atmospheric, blender, california, canada, carrots, cars, cruise ship, dan kelly, Daughter of God, DOG, dogthemovie.com, erica, experimental, experts, Faisal Azam, freelancers, fund raising, geographic, Jeff Gibbs, Jonathan Kelly, julie constantin, lorax, melonie steffes, michigan, new york, saldaje, steve elrick, venture capital
1 Comment
Visit On Desire
Last year my documentary about sailing around the Hawaiian Islands morphed into a documentary about sailing around Lake Michigan. In September of 2009 I soloed 300 miles on the 16 foor catamaran Hello World, searching for sustainable civilizations. The plan … Continue reading
ALM guide – inherent
There was another way of doing things once, a way that has become marginalized and almost forgotten but perhaps not quite totally annihilated. A way that isn’t self destructive. We all know the legend… the native people of several continents … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, people, real life, story
Tagged alignment, battle of krojanty, behavior, invader, lineage, nazi, polish cavalry, tank
Leave a comment
Compelled
To make a quick post before night night. I’ve been implementing the blogging structure and it… might… just… work. Three blogs all criss cross posting, logging into each other with usernames that match the blogs that the posts are coming … Continue reading
Confused!
I thought I had a plan for making the mothership blog, but not quite. Now I am confused. Here’s a little map to illustrate the flow. FORUM collaboratory || feeding BLOG Mothership (holyboners.com) BLOG Daughter of God (dogthemovie.com) BLOG Around … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, plan, real life
Tagged domain, holyboners, mothership, visualize
Leave a comment
Standby for fireworks
Year Chinese New Year Begins Animal Sign 2007 February 18 Pig 2008 February 7 Rat 2009 January 26 Ox 2010 February 14 Tiger 2011 February 3 Rabbit 2012 January 23 Dragon 2013 February 10 Snake 2014 January 31 Horse 2015 … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life
Tagged 2010, celebrate, outreach, tiger, water rabbit
Leave a comment
The team
Making movies – I’ve discussed how much work is involved and how there’s not enough me to go around. I need to amp up 1) art / production and 2) fundraising and outreach. I am in the process of contracting … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life, Some Almonds are Harder to Skin than Others, story, technique, Uncategorized
Tagged andrea maio, art department, Faisal Azam, Jeff Gibbs, Jonathan Kelly, julie constantin, melonie steffes, portfolio, resume, steve elrick
Leave a comment
Am I a good friend?
When you love a lot of people, how do you keep the connections fresh? This is a quandary for me as I’m blessed with a large extended family. Blogs help me make big chunks of my life public. With the … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life, story
Tagged blog, clan, english, extended family, internet, public, quandry, reality check, simulations, tribe, world wide web, www
Leave a comment
ALM guide, becoming miraculous
introduction for character Dan Kelly (becoming miraculous) During intense experience I often get a clue about my full potential, what I am capable of. If I get into a situation that calls for a little something extra then lo, something … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, people, plan, real life, story
Tagged ambulance, coccyx, darkness, divine intervention, extraordinary energy, fluke, george lucas, global life support, healer, healing, knee, light saber, luck, magic, massage therapist, miracle, name, paralysis, power, proximity radar, science, spinal cord, star wars, surgery, undocumented features, vision
Leave a comment
Designing the ALM guide
Who is this character Dan Kelly, ALM guide? Why is the audience intrigued by his journey? Based on my discussion with Andrea, I can’t assume the audience will understand my assumptions and motivations regarding ALM. The 900 lb gorilla in … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, people, real life, story
Tagged ALM, andrea maio, character development, dan kelly, fictional, gorilla, terrorist training films
Leave a comment
Coherent plan – objectives (DOG)
2.0 Objectives 2.1 Objectives common to both projects… 2.2 Objectives of DOG 2.2.1 a daring and decisive edit why – I don’t need to emulate the same movie that’s already been made over and over. I give myself permission to … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, hardware, people, software, story, technique, time, workflow
Tagged 2010, apocalypse, art installation, backstory, conspiracy, edit, endgame, fundraising, galactic network, iching, objectives, oracle, oscar, previsualization, proof of concept, quality, remake, seti, success, tarot, theme park
2 Comments
Xroll
What does memory look like? What do thoughts look like? What is the magic ingredient that makes reality real? I dunno. Let’s make some language. We’ve already got B roll, an antiquated term for supplementary footage used to cover audio … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life, software, story, technique
Tagged After Effects, b roll, director, experimental, expressions, javascript, lingo, open source, rotoscope, rotoscoping, turbo, xroll
Leave a comment
Storycorps flash!
I had a flash today while listening to a Democracy Now report on http://storycorps.org, a huge oral history project catching the compelling eloquence of regular folks. That’s sort of what ALM is about too – finding extraordinary answers to global … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, budget, Daughter of God, hardware, people, software, story, technique, workflow
Tagged 3D, animate, cell, clay, collage, enhanced b-roll, imagine, mind, oral history, theater, turbo b-roll, visual remix, visualize, xroll
2 Comments
Where’s Faisal?
Dern that boy, I thought I told him to mind the store. Well, here’s a taste. Your humble Director is way up in Northern Michigan yanking miracles out of his butt, a half dozen a day practically. Mostly concerning the … Continue reading
Posted in Around Lake Michigan, Daughter of God, people, real life
Tagged DOG, michigan, northern michigan, poplar, portents, wood smoke
Leave a comment
Personal finances and whuffie
An unproductive visit to the outhouse this morning as far as bowels were concerned, but the brain – oh the brain. I receive $2000 a month in investment income. The initial investment was actually emotional, but it’s since been converted … Continue reading
Glorious 8 Fold Protocol of Creation
Brooklyn, New York “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” Groucho Marx This is a long update. There aren’t any pictures. There are only a few funny parts. It’s primarily targeted at those of you who imagine … Continue reading
Posted in budget, Daughter of God, hardware, people, real life, software, Some Almonds are Harder to Skin than Others, story, technique, time, workflow
Tagged Add new tag, Almonds, DOG, Fruit flies, G8FP, Groucho Marx, Kathleen, Morrie Warshawski, SATA, sprouted, Venus T5, VFX
Leave a comment
The Venus T5 and the currrent state of emergency
Brooklyn, New York I distracted myself this week by doing some cloning. I’ve been a chef de la saveur électronique for lo these last 25 years, generating a great feast of tasty data. With the exception of a stack of … Continue reading
Posted in budget, Daughter of God, hardware, people, real life, workflow
Tagged Ann Loeding, clone, cloning, data, Daughter of God, G-Tech, Pontiac, Venus T5, zombie geeks
Leave a comment
Getting the lads to blog
This is mostly directed to Jonathan with a heads up for Patrick, the other 2 directors on the motion graphics reel. This is all issues we’ve discussed before, eg documenting lessons and process. The car renderings must be 3968×2288, not … Continue reading →