This is my last post for this BLOG. I've finished my MFA as of December 6, 2008.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Last Post for Journey to an MFA
This is my last post for this BLOG. I've finished my MFA as of December 6, 2008.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Rumor, Gossip, Truth and Facts
I've moderated a couple of comments here and rec'd several emails regarding Gemini Division and an unresolved issue of payment for work done. I'm declining to comment or answer those messages - I will only talk to the one person who is actually affected by this and has the real data and hard facts. The rest of those posting are fundamentally misinformed and dealing in high emotion, rumor, gossip and half truths.
There are 4 people who are apprised of the facts and can actually do something constructive to resolve the issue...And those people are not currently talking to each other.
So - in the meantime - here are the raggedy, bloody ends of missed opportunities, unfulfilled commitments, promises un-kept, failed hopes and damaged relationships.
My door, my heart, my email, my phone are open to the one person I will talk to about this matter. That's it. The rest of you will do as you wish...as is your right. And I will maintain my integrity in the best way I know how.
D_
There are 4 people who are apprised of the facts and can actually do something constructive to resolve the issue...And those people are not currently talking to each other.
So - in the meantime - here are the raggedy, bloody ends of missed opportunities, unfulfilled commitments, promises un-kept, failed hopes and damaged relationships.
My door, my heart, my email, my phone are open to the one person I will talk to about this matter. That's it. The rest of you will do as you wish...as is your right. And I will maintain my integrity in the best way I know how.
D_
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Fear and Loathing in Culver City: Shooting Gemini Division
Not really afraid or hateful...just sounded like a ketchy way to update my blog. Not that anyone reads it anyway...but that's not why I do it Huh?
The past 3 months have been incredibly dense - Gemini Division in full green screen production mode, the CG budget has been slashed to be virtually untenable as far as making cool stuff...BUT that's my job to make light and beauty out of nothing, gold from lead, the alchemists power. Digital Alchemy.
School is over...at least as far as formal classes go...but my project and thesis are incomplete. I'm working on them as best I can...but my time is so excruciatingly limited. Since May 1 - I've basically been on set supervising the shoot to make sure we can do the CG. It is hilarious to me to realize that I have never been on a live set before - all my work has been in animation or video games. But it is equally amazing how common sense and a basic understanding of the principles empower me to get the stuff done. It's totally guerrilla style - no intense motion control measurement camera data blah blah de blah...it's: Block the shot, set the lighting, mark the stage and shoot. Repeat. Fast. and Faster!
The DP and the Grip/Gaffing crew are exceptional - I am sure that the bar for me and future endeavors has been set very high by these guys. The DP is Bob Seaman and his lighting and shot composition are incredible. In a very real way it's now our job on the CG side to not screw it up. The lighting is fantastic, the acting is superb and we have the "festival of Coverage" necessary to have the shots to tell the story.
I can't say enough about:
- Porf, Cal, Big Bob, Jim, Bernie, Paul (DIT), Joe (Sound), Nick (teleprompter), Tracy, Eddie, Carrie, Andrew, Denise and various Sim stand-ins - Our own edit team Tyler and Bryan; Production: AXE, Alissa, Fannius and Leslie - just amazing folks. Annie and Rachel (makeup and Hair) , Ann and Michelle (wardrobe) and Robin Lippin (casting). Wow what an experience...and then to have the story by Brent, Andy and crew...just awesome collaboration.
On the director side, we have Stan Rogow and his consultant is Neal Israel. I have learned so much from Neal I think my head is going to explode sometimes. The direction therefore has been fantastic and our collaboration tighter and tighter. Just a great experience for my first time shooting.
Meeting and working with the actors has been a real pleasure - genuine warmth and camaraderie. Rosario Dawson is as beautiful inside as she is out..I brought McKenzie and Savanah onset with me and she was just fantastic with both of them - and they enjoyed that experience for sure. "Hey what did you do on your vacation?" "I hung out with my dad on the set of Gemini Division" Great memories all the way round.
That's about all I can stand to write. I MUST finish my thesis and project...must complete the process and attain my MFA.
Almost forgot: I am signing a lease tomorrow on 2000 square feet of industrial space in Lake Elsinore. I am creating, with God's help and my families blessing, my own studio- finally. alphaZED studios lives. www.alphaZEDstudios.com
I get to sleep at home every night, eat dinner with my family, wake up next to my wife, and work 5 minutes from home. There is a greater purpose at play here...one that is affirmed simply by the fact that this great blessing is happening at all...against some powerful odds.
14 years ago I left Massachusetts, a start up consultancy I helped create (Altitude, Inc.) and came west to California to seek a new life. I've found great blessings come from commitment and faith...and stepping into the unknown. I feel like I've been blessed with restoration and blessings beyond my ability to receive...and now I am once again starting my own studio. Feels great to be alive...with a mission and purpose.
D_
The past 3 months have been incredibly dense - Gemini Division in full green screen production mode, the CG budget has been slashed to be virtually untenable as far as making cool stuff...BUT that's my job to make light and beauty out of nothing, gold from lead, the alchemists power. Digital Alchemy.
School is over...at least as far as formal classes go...but my project and thesis are incomplete. I'm working on them as best I can...but my time is so excruciatingly limited. Since May 1 - I've basically been on set supervising the shoot to make sure we can do the CG. It is hilarious to me to realize that I have never been on a live set before - all my work has been in animation or video games. But it is equally amazing how common sense and a basic understanding of the principles empower me to get the stuff done. It's totally guerrilla style - no intense motion control measurement camera data blah blah de blah...it's: Block the shot, set the lighting, mark the stage and shoot. Repeat. Fast. and Faster!
The DP and the Grip/Gaffing crew are exceptional - I am sure that the bar for me and future endeavors has been set very high by these guys. The DP is Bob Seaman and his lighting and shot composition are incredible. In a very real way it's now our job on the CG side to not screw it up. The lighting is fantastic, the acting is superb and we have the "festival of Coverage" necessary to have the shots to tell the story.
I can't say enough about:
- Porf, Cal, Big Bob, Jim, Bernie, Paul (DIT), Joe (Sound), Nick (teleprompter), Tracy, Eddie, Carrie, Andrew, Denise and various Sim stand-ins - Our own edit team Tyler and Bryan; Production: AXE, Alissa, Fannius and Leslie - just amazing folks. Annie and Rachel (makeup and Hair) , Ann and Michelle (wardrobe) and Robin Lippin (casting). Wow what an experience...and then to have the story by Brent, Andy and crew...just awesome collaboration.
On the director side, we have Stan Rogow and his consultant is Neal Israel. I have learned so much from Neal I think my head is going to explode sometimes. The direction therefore has been fantastic and our collaboration tighter and tighter. Just a great experience for my first time shooting.
Meeting and working with the actors has been a real pleasure - genuine warmth and camaraderie. Rosario Dawson is as beautiful inside as she is out..I brought McKenzie and Savanah onset with me and she was just fantastic with both of them - and they enjoyed that experience for sure. "Hey what did you do on your vacation?" "I hung out with my dad on the set of Gemini Division" Great memories all the way round.
That's about all I can stand to write. I MUST finish my thesis and project...must complete the process and attain my MFA.
Almost forgot: I am signing a lease tomorrow on 2000 square feet of industrial space in Lake Elsinore. I am creating, with God's help and my families blessing, my own studio- finally. alphaZED studios lives. www.alphaZEDstudios.com
I get to sleep at home every night, eat dinner with my family, wake up next to my wife, and work 5 minutes from home. There is a greater purpose at play here...one that is affirmed simply by the fact that this great blessing is happening at all...against some powerful odds.
14 years ago I left Massachusetts, a start up consultancy I helped create (Altitude, Inc.) and came west to California to seek a new life. I've found great blessings come from commitment and faith...and stepping into the unknown. I feel like I've been blessed with restoration and blessings beyond my ability to receive...and now I am once again starting my own studio. Feels great to be alive...with a mission and purpose.
D_
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Winter Quarter Week 9
I've added a link to Robert Hodierne's site "Vietnam Photography". Robert graciously provided me with some still images for use in the vision sequences for REQUIEM. He has an extensive collection of high quality images of the war in Vietnam. Take a visit to http://www.vietnamphotography.com/
This is my first post in a very long time. And it will be a short one. REQUIEM is well into production and difficult. Talking to my friend Ward Makielsky who finished his Master's degree last year - and recounting to his entertainment my complete exhaustion of all desire, motivation, interest and enjoyment of the MFA process. 1 quarter to go, plus 2 weeks, and I am working - but without passion.
I am reduced to simple stubborn joyless effort. I've been here before. There is, frankly, no joy in the finish for me. Only relief. The true joy has been in the journey...and so I trudge on. With faith that a renewal of joy and enthusiasm will come at some point. I have always been one to dive in deeply - to immerse myself and then once complete to seek the next thing. Perhaps this will be different. Possessing the degree has what meaning? Truthfully? Does it change who I am? Make me a better husband, brother, son or Father? No, is the truthful answer. The endeavor alone, the journey alone and self discovery alone has been my motivation. And what have I learned? Mostly that I love to tell stories.
D_
This is my first post in a very long time. And it will be a short one. REQUIEM is well into production and difficult. Talking to my friend Ward Makielsky who finished his Master's degree last year - and recounting to his entertainment my complete exhaustion of all desire, motivation, interest and enjoyment of the MFA process. 1 quarter to go, plus 2 weeks, and I am working - but without passion.
I am reduced to simple stubborn joyless effort. I've been here before. There is, frankly, no joy in the finish for me. Only relief. The true joy has been in the journey...and so I trudge on. With faith that a renewal of joy and enthusiasm will come at some point. I have always been one to dive in deeply - to immerse myself and then once complete to seek the next thing. Perhaps this will be different. Possessing the degree has what meaning? Truthfully? Does it change who I am? Make me a better husband, brother, son or Father? No, is the truthful answer. The endeavor alone, the journey alone and self discovery alone has been my motivation. And what have I learned? Mostly that I love to tell stories.
D_
Saturday, January 19, 2008
John Marshall Passes Away
John Frederic Marshall 1939-2008
John Frederic Marshall, age 68, passed away on January 18, 2008 in Provo, of cancer.
He was born September 5, 1939 in El Centro, CA to Carl J. Marshall and Martha Zoe Emerson. He married Bonnie Brown in the Los Angeles Temple in 1965 and they are the parents of five children.
A convert to the LDS Church, John served a mission to Norway ’63 -‘65 and together they served in Hawaii ’06-’07. John attended Kansas City Art Institute, Art Center School-CA, and obtained his BFA and MA Degrees at BYU.
John created the Industrial Design Program at BYU in 1967, and taught there for 41 years, first in the Art Dept, then in the College of Engineering. He was so proud of the fact that his students are successful Industrial Designers all over the world. He also taught at design schools in Hong Kong, Israel and Switzerland and was a designer with Hewlett Packard. John served in many callings in the LDS Church, as well as Bishop and Branch President at BYU, the MTC and abroad.
He loved the Lord and had a solid testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. John was known for helping his neighbors, his sense of humor, and his love for cars. He loved his family, and was so proud of his children, ten grandchildren, and one great-grand child.
He is survived by his wife Bonnie, their children: Stephanie (Tom) Felt, Susannah Marshall, John E. Marshall (Iris), Sarah (Rhett) Longman and Meredith (Nathan) Simpson; and sisters Sally Henley, Judith Marshall and Elizabeth Carleton.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, January 23 at 11:00 a.m. at the Oak Hills LDS Chapel, 2000 N. 1500 E, Provo, UT ., with a viewing starting at 9:00 a.m
I will miss John very much...more than I have words to say. Prayers and Thoughts are with Bonnie and their wonderful family.
D_
John Frederic Marshall, age 68, passed away on January 18, 2008 in Provo, of cancer.
He was born September 5, 1939 in El Centro, CA to Carl J. Marshall and Martha Zoe Emerson. He married Bonnie Brown in the Los Angeles Temple in 1965 and they are the parents of five children.
A convert to the LDS Church, John served a mission to Norway ’63 -‘65 and together they served in Hawaii ’06-’07. John attended Kansas City Art Institute, Art Center School-CA, and obtained his BFA and MA Degrees at BYU.
John created the Industrial Design Program at BYU in 1967, and taught there for 41 years, first in the Art Dept, then in the College of Engineering. He was so proud of the fact that his students are successful Industrial Designers all over the world. He also taught at design schools in Hong Kong, Israel and Switzerland and was a designer with Hewlett Packard. John served in many callings in the LDS Church, as well as Bishop and Branch President at BYU, the MTC and abroad.
He loved the Lord and had a solid testimony of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. John was known for helping his neighbors, his sense of humor, and his love for cars. He loved his family, and was so proud of his children, ten grandchildren, and one great-grand child.
He is survived by his wife Bonnie, their children: Stephanie (Tom) Felt, Susannah Marshall, John E. Marshall (Iris), Sarah (Rhett) Longman and Meredith (Nathan) Simpson; and sisters Sally Henley, Judith Marshall and Elizabeth Carleton.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, January 23 at 11:00 a.m. at the Oak Hills LDS Chapel, 2000 N. 1500 E, Provo, UT ., with a viewing starting at 9:00 a.m
I will miss John very much...more than I have words to say. Prayers and Thoughts are with Bonnie and their wonderful family.
D_