Yippee Ki Kay

Made this print for our annual Die Hard Christmas Party.  A tradition held with our friends for 11 years now!

A Wonky Jabber

I recently got around to seeing Terry Gilliam's first film (apart from Monty Python) titled "Jabberwocky", which means that I have now see all of his films.  It clearly is Gilliam's first movie, mainly because it felt awkwardly put together.  The limited budget it was given didn't seem to help much, but the production team and actors did well with what they were given.  It does have that Gilliam "charm" to it and I found it entertaining.  Even though it was a clunky costume monster, I loved that they pulled-off the Jabberwocky creature at the end (great design)!

What I enjoyed most about this funny little film, were the costumes and wonderful character actors.  I did a few quick sketches of the characters I liked most.

ShadowMask

Back in 2001, my friends and I had all recently began our college years.  So as a last "hurrah" before life took us our separate ways, we made a little film together.  A homage to the black and white "atomic age" films.

We decided to make the ultimate "home movie" and the rules basically were: everything must be provided by items from our homes (camera equipment, props, etc.) and all locations must be in our homes.

We didn't have access to editing equipment, so based on the script, we storyboarded out every shot and sequence.  All of our actors had stage experience, so they were great at memorizing lines and rehearsing actions.  This was helpful because we filmed every shot in the order you see, rehearsing every angle till we had it right because there were no 2nd takes.

So sit back, relax and hopefully you'll enjoy this fun, silly little production as much as we enjoyed making it.

BTW - I have had some filmmaker friends who have found Shadowmask to be therapeutic at times when they are feeling discouraged about their work.

I'm Such A Dick . . . Tracy Fan

Being a big movie fan, there are various films that I watch on a seasonal bases.  For that short time between Christmas and the New Year, Katie (my wife) and I have 3 films that we feel fit that period just right: Sunset Blvd., Hudsucker Proxy, and Dick Tracy (1990).  All revolve around and/or climax at New Years Eve.

The addition of Dick Tracy to the movie list is mainly my idea.  OK . . . here goes (deep breath) I'm a really big fan of this movie, but I'm not ignorant or naive about it.  I'm well aware of the criticisms against it and the issues in property rights.  Regardless, I personally love this film and I'm fine being the only one who does.
One reason being, that I grew up a big fan of the Chester Gould comic series it's based on.  One of my treasured birthday presents I got when I was in grade school, was a large book titled the Celebrated Cases Of Dick Tracy.  I still read through that collection every now and again.  The character cameos and make-up effects in the movie are perfect in bringing these classic villains to life.  It's obvious that the make-up and costume design team put great craftmanship into paying tribute to the art of Chester Gould.  What I also love about this film is it's Production Design.  The world is wonderfully stylized to fit the feel of the classic comic design and color palette.  Every red is the same red, every blue the same blue.  The production team adjusted the world to fit the look of the comic instead of vice versa.  In a way, Dick Tracy was way ahead of it's time in doing this.  Now we see it all the time in comic book movies, such as Sin City, 300, Watchmen, etc.  I love that even the elements in the backgrounds (buildings, skylines, etc.) become more stylized and simplified in detail as they are "further away".  Aside from the look I enjoy the casting, music, and editing.  Very fun and aways a joy to watch every New Year.
To follow up my New Year's Resolution, I've decided to christen my blog with a couple new sketches of this New Year's Film.  I chose my favorite Dick Tracy villain, Littleface Finney (who has a very short cameo in the film).