Check out the Brattle Theater’s “Trailer Smackdown” Wednesday

Last year I had a great time making a fake trailer for the Brattle Theater’s annual Trailer Smackdown summer event. This year, the theme is sequel’s, and I knew I had to enter it once again! So, obviously, I made the sequel to last years entry, Labor Day 2.

Be sure to come out to the Brattle Theater Wednesday evening for this great event, and see what we’ve all come up with for this years entry. The evening begins at 6:30pm with a BBQ, and doors to the theater will open at 7:30. Besides the contest, the programmers show some of their favorite trailers – ranging from hilariously awful to extremely good (The Shining trailer anyone?). It’s one of my favorite annual Brattle events.

If you haven’t seen my trailer from last year, here it is:

Hope to see you Wednesday night at the Brattle!

Posted in Labor Day, Personal Projects and tagged , , , , ,

IFFBoston 2011 Coverage

IFFBoston 2011 kicked off last week, and this year I’ve amped up my coverage for Lonelyreviewer.com. We’ve shot this years festival quite extensively, and I’m going to be cutting the Q&As for release online. Here are two videos I cut. The first is the Q&A that followed the screening of BEING ELMO: A PUPPETEER’S JOURNEY. The second, an interview with the filmmakers behind ICE HOCKEY, a short that screened at the festival. IFFBoston is an amazing film festival, and I am honored to have been allowed the opportunity to work with them.
 


Posted in Lonelyreviewer.com, Personal Projects and tagged ,

Documentary “A Look Through Our Eyes” Available Online

Back in 2003 I made a documentary interviewing a group of “third-generation” survivors on what the Armenian Genocide means to them. The film gives them the opportunity to speak about who they are, and how the Genocide affects their lives.

The film until this weekend, had not been available online. I decided in recognition of the 96th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, I’d make the film available for viewing online.

It is shocking to me that not much has changed in the time since I made the film. The Genocide, though continuing to gain recognition within many other countries remains unrecognized here in the United States. It is through continued lobbying and education that hopefully the United States Government will join many others in finally recognizing the Genocide as historical fact.

Posted in A Look Through Our Eyes, Personal Projects and tagged , , , , , , , ,

Short #1 Update: Rough Cut With Sound

So I posted last night that I’d completed the rough cut, as soon as I submitted that post I decided I wasn’t satisfied. I went back, using the sound recorded that day, I created a temporary soundtrack that will serve as the foundation that Gregg will build on.

I’d also been toying with the thought of adding music, but watching it with the sounds of the subway, I’ve decided against it.

I’ve got it out to various colleagues to get notes – and I thought, why not open it up to anyone whose reading my blog. If you’re interested in participating in my little focus group, head on over to http://www.vatchearabian.com/contact/ and drop me a line!

Posted in Personal Projects and tagged , ,

Rough Cut of Short 1: Complete

Short #1 rough cut: Complete.

Tonight was my first night truly cutting since I filmed last weekend. Last week got a little bit busy, and I got side tracked with editing a Q&A with James Gunn for “Super,” for Lonelyreviewer.com.

I cut this short completely without any sound. Which was a unique way for me to cut. I’m usually one that finds a lot of motivation cutting to sound, and here I was cutting picture with absolutely nothing in the background.

Without giving away much of the scene, it takes place primarily on a subway car. So in my cutting, I had to think of the different sound design that was going to fill in the blanks to what I wasn’t seeing. I also found myself paying close attention to the expressions and eyes of my actors. I was being motivated to cut by the movement of the camera on the subway, keeping things fluid.

I really am happy with the way it turned out. I’m going to use some of the sound effects recorded on that day to create a base layer of sound, and than hand it off to my friend & sound editor Gregg, to polish it up the way he does so well.

Posted in Personal Projects

Great Weekend of Shooting

I had a great weekend of shooting. Both the projects were run and gun – experiments in DSLR workflow. I must say, I’m really happy with what we came up with. Special thanks to everyone that assisted in the projects – now, onto the extreme editing process.

There aren’t a whole lot of shots, but there is a lot of work to be done in post. One out of the two shorts is essentially a silent film, with just environmental sound, which most of will be put together in post, a challenge, that I know will have an excellent end result.

Just to wet your appetites a bit. Here are two of my favorite shots from today’s shoot.

Posted in New Untitled Project, Personal Projects

New Projects – March 2011

Just wanted to share that I’ll be shooting two brand new projects this weekend (first official short films since The Omelette). I’ll be shooting them on DSLR. I’ve been experimenting with it for a few months now, using it for work shoots as well as recently for a live band shoot. They really are great cameras, and allow you to shoot quickly and with discretion.

Both shorts are void of dialogue. I’m treating them both as a bit of an experiment. I’d like to post them for all to enjoy, however, many festivals require them to have no been made available online prior. So I may have to wait till after I’ve submitted to post online – I will however gladly offer more detailed information on them once they are complete. I’m trying to use this blog to outline my journey back into creating brand new original works.

In addition to film projects, working with my DSLR has inspired me to take up Photography as a hobby. I will be adding a “photoblog” section to my site soon to share some of what I’ve shot in the last few months.

Posted in New Untitled Project, Personal Projects

New Extech Videos

A new project I’m working on for Extech Instruments/FLIR Systems are these new “How-to/Training/Education” videos for the companies Planet Extech User Community. They are fun to make, and I’ve started with simple subjects, things like taking voltage readings of a scooter battery, and defining technical terms.

The videos are being received well, and I thought I’d embed a few of them here on my site for people to check out.

… Continue Reading

Posted in Corporate Video and tagged , ,