Charlie Chaplin Inception Speech

This video has been floating around for some time, but I was reminded of it after watching Inception again last night.  What someone did was take Hans Zimmer's track, Time from the Inception soundtrack and overlaid it with the powerful speech that Charlie Chaplin gives at the end of the Great Dictator (1940).  Not only does the music sync up surprisingly well without alteration, but as is usually the case with music, it serves to make Chaplin's words that much more epic.  His message rings just as true as it did 70 years ago, and because of that you can see why this video has been spreading. 
  

Tokyo Slo-Mode by Alex Lee

In this portrait of Tokyo, Alex Lee creates a visual wonderland with rhythmic slow motion, quick cuts, and heavy filters.  The result is a beautiful collection of city scenes and faces presented with a fresh and vibrant energy.  Check it out!

Move by Rick Mereki

How's this for a pitch?  3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage.  It sounds like one amazing journey to me, and as cool as the videos that Rick Mereki and his friends produced are, you have to wonder what the actual trips were really like.  Move in essence is just a one trick pony.  But my God, it's a great trick and a beautiful piece of editing.

Pop Pilgrims: Movie Locations

A web series after my own heart, Pop Pilgrims travels to locations made famous by movies, music, books, and television.  Featured on the A.V. Club YouTube channel, I stumbled across their videos completely by accident.  Combining the love of road tripping and movies, it was easy to get sucked into a concept that reflects what most fans do when visiting these familiar sites.

Below I've posted a few of my favorite episodes featuring movie locations, including the fire house used in Ghostbusters, the mansion used in The Royal Tenenbaums, and the church used in The Graduate. This series is still relatively new and they've been adding content fairly regularly, so it's a great time to start watching.  It's also a great pop culture cookbook for some of those future road trip recipes I've yet to prepare.

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole by Joe Hollier

There's no question, Comic Sans gets a bad rap.  Around the office the graphic designers shun it.  Snobs.  Given that this treatment isn't uncommon around creatives, this animation from Joe Hollier seems long overdue.
 

Meet Alex Chandler

It's not often that I get the chance to feature other film makers who are just starting out and are going through the motions about how to approach their own career in film.  I got to know Alex through my blog and YouTube channel, and since then I've enjoyed our numerous discussions about film.  He's made me consider a lot of my own choices with some of his questions about film school, and it's been a lot of fun to hear about what he might like to do and how he might want to get there. 

I look forward to seeing how Alex continues to grow as a film maker and am happy to have made another lasting connection via the web - always expanding that network!  So, without further delay, here's Alex to share a bit about himself. 

To start I'd like to thank Luke for letting me voice myself on his blog! 

My name is Alex Chandler, and I'm an aspiring film maker from Washington State. Currently I'm looking into film schools that will help achieve my goal in this career. But at the same time I'm making lots of short films and learning film techniques wherever I can find them.

Alex (left) with friend, Ethan.

One of the bigger projects I've been working on with my team, Filming Humor, is a series of short films. The first one, The Spies; Layer of the Devil was released Christmas day 2010. The other two our going through the process.

With the first video, we learned a lot about story telling, weaving a story together, and realized a lot of our difficulties on location. From this we were able to create "The Directors On Scene Checklist."

This checklist came in very handy during the filming of the sequel, The Spies; James and the Vampire. Because the two directors, myself included, were on location working together and knew the checklist fairly well, helping the footage turn out great. 

Another key bonus put off by using the checklist, was that we were able to run through the script in a much more timely manner. The only reason we were rushed at the end of the day, was due to the battery dying...unfortunately a spare battery is another couple weeks from being owned...just bought it on EBay.

The point here is that with each experience there is a lot of hands on learning that goes on. I mean it's a lot of trial and error, but with a lot of my friends in drama, and myself taking classes related to film in general, we are able to figure things out a lot faster.

One thing that has happened dramatically fast between the last few short films we've made, is improvement to the plot. My friend Mariah is a writer, she has been helping develop the story and plot lately. And because of her insight we have reordered scenes out of chronological order, and grown depth to characters.

Really a strong team helps you grow, which is one thing to look for in colleges. You really want a hands on experience, and once you get out of the college you will want to know a lot of different people, with different sets of expertise. Where as I personally am an editor, I might need to meet up with all sorts of other specialists.

Looking for a college to go to will be quite a difficult task for anyone, and there are tons of options. Luckily for me I have Luke to ask for advice from, and his numerous life experiences.

The first thing I've discovered that I need to do, is decide what I want. In general you will like one part of film making. I enjoy editing the most, but of course everything else is fun too. But the key to choosing what, where and, everything else is really a personal preference.

From my point of view there are multiple options. You can freelance video edit and film, similar to what Luke does with Stream Media. You could also work for a company, and have a steady income; as in the case of Luke, he has Weddingstar. And then the one option I find the most tasteful, is that of a cinematic nature, more of a Hollywood sort of thing.

Personally I couldn't say what I'm planning to do yet, but it will take a lot of time and thought to fully decide.

Thanks for Reading,

Alex Chandler

Read Alex's Blog Here.
Alex's YouTube Channel, Filming Humor Here.

Hitch by Pascal Monaco

What's the recipe for Alfred Hitchcock's classics?  All you need is this animated cookbook!  A group of students (including Pascal Monaco as one of the animators) created this short as a graduation project at the University of Applied Arts and Sciences in Hannover.  It's a clever concept, and if you're anything like me, it will have you thinking about what ingredients make up some of your other favorite directors work.

Splitscreen: A Love Story by JW Griffiths

Sometimes seeing things differently or creating a simple narrative is all about the technical execution of that idea.  It's what can make an otherwise straightforward piece seem fresh, new, and enthralling.  What's more, this short was the 2011 winner of the Nokia Shorts competition and was filmed entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone.  Splitscreen is an impressive piece all around. Congrats, JW Griffiths!

Star Wars: Retold by Joe Nicolosi

Those who haven't seen the original Star Wars films are a rare breed, but as Joe Nicolosi shows us by questioning his friend Amanda about the sci-fi trilogy, sometimes that's pretty entertaining too.

Elements of Creativity by Kirby Ferguson

Everything is a Remix by Kirby Ferguson is a fascinating (soon to be) four part series of videos that explore how ideas in general are perpetuated and modified.  Part 3, Elements of Creativity was particularly fascinating to me as it delves into how we copy as a way of learning, and how that's been essential in the creation of new ideas.  This is definitely worth your time.

LUCK - NYC Wedding Proposal

I suppose a guy like me can get a bit cynical editing corporate videos, especially when you're trying to connect with people the same way over and over again.  It's what made finding this video so refreshing.  It's polished, colorful, creative, and mixes fantasy with reality while still remaining genuine.  Crafting something like this is no easy task, and its effectiveness is a testament to those involved.  I don't say this often, but this might just bring a tear to your eye . . .
 

Talking Pictures by Ransom Riggs

The more video blogs I see, the more I'm tempted to create my own version or style.  Ransom Riggs shares his passion for collecting photographs in Talking Pictures, and it got me thinking about how I could turn my own experiences into little video diaries like this.  It's not just someone talking to a camera (not that I have anything against that) but it feels more cinematic, more about the story than the storyteller.  I found his collection and style really compelling. 

Bottle by Kristen Lepore

This video was recently shared with me and I had to post it. As an avid fan of animation and short films, this was such a touching and well executed concept that it immediately made me more anxious to get out and shoot some new work of my own this summer.  Bottle speaks for itself without even a stitch of dialogue.  Well done, Kristen Lepore!

Detroit Wildlife by Florent Tillon

I love abandoned places. Old buildings, ruins, and pieces of history left for someone else to discover seem to tap into my imagination - who, what, why? Detroit Wildlife by Florent Tillon is a teaser for a feature length documentary, in which we're able to play eye-witness to the sparse and evolving landscape of Detroit. 

What once was an industrial mecca has since become an extreme example of corporate colonialism.  The GM headquarters remains downtown, but the bulk of manufacturing has disappeared leaving empty shells of what the city used to be.  It's a fascinating look at urban evolution and explores just where the city might go from here - and in a broader context, how the American landscape is destined to face similar challenges.  

So good.

Baby Trashes Bar in Las Palmas

My friend Kelly sent me this video as inspiration to bring my Chico Bandito series back.  While Chico Bandito was never this funny, I can now see that a stumbling baby was exactly what the series was missing.  This video by Johannes Nyholm is sure to make you laugh - I certainly did.

Being a Dickhead's Cool

Haven't you heard? If not, this will fill you in.

Departures on OLN

It's one of my favorite shows on TV.  Departures on OLN (the Outdoor Life Network) is not just another travel show - it's a dramatic, poetic, and visual exploration of incredible landscapes, textures, and experiences. 

We follow Scott Wilson and Justin Lukach, along with the very talented cameraman/DP Andre Dupuis as the three end up in some of the most remote, epic, and profound locations on the planet.  What I love about these three guys is that they find the right balance of making you feel like you're there experiencing the destination with them for the first time, while still providing a context for why the area is significant.  It's personal without being cryptic and broad without being stereotypical.  

The videography and subsequent editing is amazing.  A modern blend of stylized slow-motion and sweeping steady-cam shots are a noticeable trademark of the show.  Departures does exactly what the title suggests.  For a half hour it's one of the easiest escapes you can get.

Filmography 2010

This incredible mashup from genrocks is a very cool recap of the year in movies. Even more than the edit itself, I'm always amazed that someone had the patience to collect all of the footage required to put something like this together. Take a look.

Summer by Gnarly Bay Productions

Another incredible edit found thanks to Vimeo, Summer by Gnarly Bay Productions Inc. is thoughtful, patient, and captivating. The slow motion works to great effect in emphasizing the nostalgia and details of the time. It's yet another piece of inspiration in a long list of accidental finds that showcases the effectiveness of a well executed slice-of-life edit.

I'm also further inspired by the amount of skillful work that I've seen created using Canon SLRs - the 1D Mark IV used here is especially brilliant, however very expensive. I can see one of my next major purchases being a higher end SLR to experiment with. All in due time. For now enjoy this short.

Postcard From Bali by Stephan Kot

Here's another inspired find from Vimeo. This postcard by Stephan Kot is beautifully shot and edited. The depth of field in many of the shots is terrifically executed and gives familiar details added punctuation. There's a cinematic sensibility throughout, painting a picture of a rich and visceral experience. I have yet to tackle my condensed Indio edit yet, but jewels like this continue to inspire and challenge what I might come up with. A job well done, Stephan Kot!