A Quiet Moment Amongst Friends

Click Whoosh: Internet World Premiere

Short documentary film, internet premiere, 7 minutes, 2008

My friend Lila K works for Reel Grrls, an after-school filmmaking program for teenage girls based in Seattle. For the past two years, the adult mentors at ReelGrrls have participated in the International Documentary Challenge, a timed-filmmaking competition. 

Click Whoosh was the group's first entry in the contest and it ended up winning the grand prize. Lila's team had five days to make a 5-7 minute-long historical documentary on the theme of "change". The result was this tightly spun history of the Polaroid camera and a celebration of the fading artistic medium.

The film has just been posted online for the first time and A Quiet Moment Amongst Friends is honored to host the web premiere. This isn't an exclusive arrangement, so please share the film on your site, too.

Falling Asleep in Front of the TV

Super 8 film, digitally edited, 4:25 minutes, 2008

This film was made for an experimental film class in 2008. It stars Teresa U.

I'd been trying out my rental camera by filming scenes in my neighborhood and creating stop-motion animations of various objects in my apartment. This was my best attempt at pulling all of the footage together into a single project. 

You can tell this is serious artwork because it has classical music.

UPDATE: I just realized that with the recent transition to digital TV, the static featured in the film is now a thing of the past. If you are reading this in the future, the static is what used to happen to TV shows when the electrical beams got scrambled in the atmosphere.

Artificial Intelligence: The High School Years

Two films, computer animation, 1 min each, 2009

Things have been pretty slow around here recently. The tail end of summer, with its travel and work obligations, has been dragging the site down. I promise there is some good stuff coming soon. In the meantime, I made two cheap, hastily produced videos that reconnect with old friends from the archives.

 

I recently discovered a computer program that lets you direct your own digital animation. You just plug in the script and give some basic instructions to the characters and the computer spits out a web video. 

The only original scripts I had to work with came from the inflammatory notes I posted a few months ago. In one of the notes, two teens discuss the merits of a "Fuck The World" tattoo. In the other note, an angry teen named Brittny writes a letter to her friend Kelsee about a dead-beat boyfriend. 

Here is how I image both of these exchanges taking place if the characters were artificially intelligent robots trapped in an abandoned school cafeteria infested with crows:   

 

 

In the future, everyone is going to make their own TV shows. If anyone wants to make one of these creepy computer movies, I'd be happy to share their work. Be careful, though, the program crashes a lot and I lost two hours worth of work. 

UPDATE: Check out movies by Kevin R, Jonathan H, and Tsering TC

You Can't Shock Me

Short documentary, digital video, 13 seconds, color, 2009

My sister, Anna U, and friend Julia W recently visited the Bay Area for a long weekend. On the trip, Anna purchased a gag pen in Chinatown that delivers a shock when you press the button at the top of it. There were large warnings on the packaging about the dangers posed to people with heart conditions and pacemakers.

Julia filmed this short documentary about the pen and its capabilities.

Director: Julia W 
Starring: John U, Anna U, and Aaron C
Setting: A bar in Oakland. Three friends discuss the limits of the electrical shock pen.
Transcript:

Anna: ...yeah it does
Aaron [offscreen]: Are you sure?
John: I think you have to make a connection with your own body. [mumbles] So try pushing it.
Anna: What?
John: You can't shock me.
Aaron: Yes you can.
[A powerful shock is delivered.]
John: GOD DAMMIT
Anna: [laughter]
Aaron: [muffled] I told you!

Bonus Feature: Here is the climax in slow motion:

UPDATE: I still think I'm right about needing to make a circuit in order to deliver a shock. It looks like the only reason I got shocked is because the side of my hand touched the pen. Can anyone who passed high school physics back me up?

Wood Talk with Nick Shuminsky: A Free Energy Web Gem

Short film, original score, digital video, color, 1:21 minutes, 2009

My friend Nick S is in the rock band, Free Energy. He and the other dudes in the band created this video to teach people how to properly dispose of old Christmas trees. Gather some friends, chop up some wood, and kick back by a homemade campfire. I love how these guys think. 

You can learn more about Free Energy on their website.

Stains of Saints by The Weather Machines

Music, video, color, 3.5 minutes, 2006

This song was recorded by my friend Jason W's band, The Weather Machines, in 2006. The video was directed by Adam B. If you like pop music and videos about time warps and cloning, then you will love this jam.

The Weather Machines are from Portland, Oregon by way of Rapid City, South Dakota. You can learn more about the band on their website. Their music can also be purchased at all of the popular internet download sites.

UPDATE: I know three minutes is long for today's short attention spans, but don't miss the end of the video. It gets more awesome.

Frog Band: The Movie

Silent film, 8mm, black and white, 2.5 minutes, 2008

In this short film, two frogs form a band and play a show on the floor of a mysterious man's apartment. Abraham Lincoln watches from the shadows. 

I created this for an experimental film class in the spring of 2008. This was my practice roll of film and I was playing with light and focus by shooting various objects around my apartment. I digitally edited this movie using the small amount of footage that came out looking okay. It's quite sloppy, but the climax is riveting.

The actual Frog Band was passed down to me by my grandparents. They bought these two frogs on a trip to Mexico in the 1970s. Since acquiring them many years ago, I've used them in a handful of art projects. They are my muse. I'll be sharing more Frog Band art in the coming days.

Shark: An Animated Motion Picture

Video, stop-motion animation, photoshop, 45 seconds, original score, 2009

I adapted my drawing of the fist and the shark into a stop-motion movie. Carl W created an original score using a computer program with beats.

I also created an Animated GIF from the movie's climax that you can share on MySpace or your personal website. 

Making your own cartoons is fun! This is going to put Pokémon out of business.   

UPDATE: Here is the video in a new and exciting format. Thanks to Ben D for the hot tip. 

UPDATE 2: I apologize if it seems like the fist is bullying the cute baby shark. That was not the intent! It was supposed to be about the triumph of good over evil. Like this movie.  [found at this site]

Peter Foucault: Rise of the Machines

Art show, drawings, video, art robotics, 2008-2009

My friend Peter Foucault is displaying his recent drawings at a solo show, Attraction/Repulsion, at SFMOMA's Caffe Museo. His work will be up through May 12th. If you are in downtown San Francisco anytime in the next month, you should drop in to SFMOMA's cafe for a cup of coffee and check this out.

 
 

Peter uses automated processes to create the initial framework for his drawings. He then finishes each piece by hand. Most of these drawings were started by attaching ink pens to specially-designed robots that respond to the sound of the audience. At many of his exhibitions, the floor layout resembles a factory where robots plug away at their tasks while the finished drawings steadily go up on the walls throughout the run of the show.

I created a short film in response to the art and artistic process behind Attraction/Repulsion. I focused on the movements of Peter's robot (sans pen) and contrast it with close-ups from his finished pieces. I took the footage for this film while Peter was setting up for his solo show, External Influences, at the Richmond Art Center in October of 2008.

In previous shows, Peter has conscripted a lovable robotic dog with sharpie legs to assist with drawings.

 

In the late 1990s, Peter, Nico C and I worked as valets and doormen at the Mayflower Park Hotel in Seattle. We were amazingly good at it, but we've each moved on to do other things.

The Neverending Story

Video collage, found footage, color, 1 min, 2009

To kill some time while the votes were being cast in the beard contest, I slapped together a video about Falkor, the luckdragon in the Neverending Story.