Coming this Friday...

Coming this Friday: the acting debut of yours truly.

Now, if your name is Chad, you're saying, hold on a second - I know the acting debut of Eric, and it is NOT on these shorts.

Well, though Chad may be "technically" correct, we're still calling it "the acting debut" of Eric. Just for kicks. We don't really mean it.

"Beer First" Wins

The people have spoken, and by the people I mean the 10 of you who voted on the Laundry Monster short. Six votes for "Beer First," four for "Just Drink It" (Sigh of relief)

Explanation for sigh of relief: As it turns out, Peter Parker has already sold the rights to the song we used in "Just Drink It." Check him out anyway though, he's got good stuff:

Peter Parker on MySpace

Now, the short that remains - "Beer First" has been changed a bit. It is now called "Just Drink It" but still features the same great music from Jerkules and the same colorful pile of laundry you have grown to love. It just has the titles from the other short.

In other words, we kinda combined the two. Click "Week 3" on the sidebar or just go here to see it on some site called YouTube.

And if you liked the music, please check out Jerkules on his MySpace

Big thanks to everyone who watched both shorts and voted.

Week 3 - Laundry Monster

This week we need your help! Yes, I'm talking to you, anonymous computer user.

There are two versions of this week's short film "Laundry Monster." The first is called "Just Drink It." The second is "Beer First." Please watch them both (they're about a minute long) then vote on the poll on the right sidebar to tell us which one is better. This will help us know what you like, and what styles to use in the futures.

Thanks and enjoy!

(Editor's note: the polls are now closed, of course. Read Beer First Wins for the whole story...)

(Editor's note 2: The version of Laundry Monster entitled "Beer First" has changed titles! It's now called "Just Drink It." Yes, it's confusing.)

Just watch...

Just Drink It

The Short-a-Week Project vs. Short a Week

By accident (my girlfriend typing in what she thought was the URL of this blog) it was discovered:

http://www.shortaweek.blogspot.com/

This explains why the domain name wasn't available.

Now, before you go clicking the link above, let me tell you three things:

1. Their "short a week" goal only lasted two weeks, ending in November of last year.

2. The shorts don't work when you click on them... 

3. They call themselves: "..digital enthusiasts who are interested in showing off are short films."

"...are short films." 'Nuff said.

If you have time today, pour a little out (coffee, Old English, etc.) for those who came before, and for the living (short film websites); may we flourish a little longer.

Laundry Monster, Spiderman, music-4-our-short

Lawrence said he was going to write a song for our Laundry Monster short, but haven't heard about that yet.

And so - though I haven't cleared it with the artist yet - we'll probably use some jams from a guy who calls himself Peter Parker.

Yes, Spidey.

Apparently, Spiderman now lives in the Bay Area and writes instrumental hip-hop tracks.

Now you know.

Keywords: toothpaste sandwich, short a week project, alien

Finally, we've started showing up on Google searches.

Any link suggestions/help would be more than welcome.

Demystifying the title-creation process of "I, Alien"

Lawrence is correct: we referred to last week's short as "Toothpaste Sandwich" during filming. Yet early in the edits I cut a conversation between Mike (the cameraman) and Terrence where they discuss what type of sandwich he is making. It was down to:

Mike: "Is that a toothpaste sandwich?"
Terrence: "Mmm."

But that got cut too. Now, Terrence only taunts the alien in the end with his "toothpaste sandwich." (If you listen closely you can hear yours truly doing some excellent ADR work as the grunting, sniffing alien) It is less of a call-back than a random gag.

Long story short, the title "I, Alien" is a play on "I, Robot" which is nothing like the short, but a title I hope Lawrence and everyone else will grow to love.

All right......

So first of all I would like to congratulate E on spending every waking hour trying to get that cross fade just right.  Am I impressed?  Yes.  Do I miss the title "Toothpaste Sandwich?"

A little.

Yeah, I'm sentimental, and I think that titles we both came up with might need to be retained in lieu of titles I had nothing to do with.  

But, man, those were some awesome credits.

I'll let it go.  But with all the time we spend not working on films and fiddling around on Garage Band, we might as well put our own music on the shorts.  Mmmm?

Look for that this coming week.  Yeah, I'm making a promise  What are you gonna do about it?

Week 2 - I, Alien

A guy traps an alien in his closet and doesn't know what do to with it.

Turn up the volume and enjoy "I, Alien!"

If I had more time...

Man, the more I figure out new things on editing (wow, it's really easy to take sound from one scene and put it in another...wow, it's really hard to make sure that sound matches with the action in the scene) the more I would fix a few things, reshoot some stuff, make the joke(s) funnier....

But this is The Short-a-Week Project. And so, "I, Alien" has to come out, so to speak...

The story behind "I, Alien"

Orginally titled "Toothpaste Sandwich," the new short from The Short-a-Week Project - "I, Alien" - began with a simple idea: what if Lawrence had an alien trapped in his closet?

It quickly became more complicated.

For instance, his character is no longer named Lawrence.

Also, we (I) decided to shoot it sequentially, in case were not able to edit it. That meant costume changes for Lawrence. "Cut. Change. Cut. Change back. Cut. Change again. Were your sleeves rolled up in that last take? No, we can't rewind, just roll them up." He loved it.

The finished product, however, was a good five minutes. And by "good," I mean about half of it was good. But which half?

With some basic editing (see previous posts) it has been whittled down to a 2:47 running time, including credits and music.

Yes, I said credits. And music. And even a hidden frame. (Did you expect that?)

Coming tomorrow to a monitor near you, "I, Alien."

You have been warned.

I, Alien - Coming this Friday with even more edits

Tonight I figured out how to cross dissolve. Remember that when you watch "I, Alien." Those hard cuts are the intentional work of the director/editor/voice-over actor!

Get hyped...

There will be editing...

Sunday was productive.

-Edited "I, Alien"

-Rewrote "The Casting Couch" so the character I will play has fewer lines.

-Rehearsed "The Casting Couch" - Acting is not easy. Cut some more of my lines.

-Filmed "The Casting Couch" (with help from one who does not wish to be named (but that doesn't mean the short isn't good...does it?), but who was of enormous help. Thanks!)

-Did voice-over and sound effects with Lawrence on "I, Alien." Felt like a real Foley artist. There's nothing like giving directions such as "I'll growl, and you say 'toothpaste sandwich.'"

-Edited "I, Alien" some more. Man, editing is hard work. Over five minutes of the original cut has been whittled down to 2:34. Apparently the script wasn't as tight as we (I) thought.

Look (out!) for "I, Alien" coming this Friday to a monitor near you.

Week 1 - Not a Girl

Turn up the volume and enjoy!

"Not a Girl"





What did you think? That's what comments are for...

One day until the first short appears...

You might call this "First Short Eve" or "The Eve of the Premiere of The First Short in the 'Short-a-Week Project."

Or Thursday.

a so called plethora of creative genious

Here I sit, on my used ikea couch, enjoying these few brief moments when my wireless internet is doing its job, feeling guilty about broken promises.  The Short a week concept is all well and good in theory, but I have been lacking luster ever since: 1) Eric showed me how to add a drum track in Garage Band and 2) I remembered how funny Strong Bad is.  

I have not given up.  New posts will abound.  Look forward to such spectacles as the Irish Beer Drinking Laundry Monster and our own take on the 'Trapped in a Closet' genre.  Is that a genre? 

It is now.

Just kidding, hurray for Matt's firewire cord!

That's right, it works, it works, oh, it works...and is on my other computer... hmmm...

First short (MK True) coming soon to a monitor near you...

Matt's Firewire Cord - Failed!

It's off to Fry's to get the damn cord. That's what I get for having a video camera from 2002. Great camera...in 2002. Now, a teenager might snicker, "Is that a Betamax?" as they zoom into the future on their Ferrari Segway, chatting up classmates on their iPhone (while they still can...ie: before the restrictive, post-Obama era of 2020s, when cell phones and Segways are not allowed within 100 yards of each other.)

Do you have a firewire cord?

"Your computer needs a firewire card (ieee1394) and a firewire cord to connect your camera to your computer," says some message board.

Good to know. Now it's off to send out mass text-messages and/or go to Fry's.

A short may still be up tomorrow!

Oooh, the suspense.

April Fools Day

Feels like every other day.

Not knowing how to put video onto my computer.

And writing a short.

Based on what we have lying around in our apartments.

And of course

Waiting to hear from Lawrence.

Is he available?

Is he the only actor in my building?

These are good questions.

When he doesn't answer my text messages.