STRIKE A POSE!!! Films

Myself and quite a few members of Strike a Pose!!! Films and the Future Film Makers Club from Gaithersburg and Salisbury alike attended Otakon 2008 just a couple of weeks ago. It was REALLY great. You’ve already seen one video about our time there (The Guilty Gear Tournament, see previous post), and hopefully by the end of the week you’ll see our other film documenting Max Action’s escaped around day 1 of the con. For now though, take some time to look over the pictures, most of which were shot by club alumni Amber. If you’re in any of them, be sure to comment! They’ll be in the gallery soon.

Strike a Pose Films…

The final frontier…

we’ve been stranded…for a long time. Engines- about to explode…time is but, counting…inside a glass jar…little sand pieces- why oh why do we- do what we do?

Because its freaking amazing.

Strike a Pose!!! Films has been around so long now I barely know anything else in my life without it, as it has become a part of my life in every way- achievements, friends, family, fun, vacations, school. EVERYTHING.

So today I don’t have any videos to post or any reviews to write, I just want to update myself and community on what I’m going to be doing with my career at this point. It’s random, but it’ stuff that needs to be said in writing. In public.

PROJECTS:

CURSE OF BODANGOFISH is now on DVD and available at your local “hey give me five bucks and I’ll throw you a copy” store, complete with Car Trouble as a bonus feature. Its taken 3 years, and the DVD isn’t exactly perfect, but it PLAYS IN A DVD PLAYER and has a lightscribed image on it. So yeah…give me five dollars. Put it in the box! Seriously though- if you’re interested, check it out. The trailer can be found here and here.

CLARITY:
The Sam Anderson and Damien McCoy-lead detective thriller is slowly making progress in the editing process. I finally got over some HUGE emotional humps in dealing with the project and now have the confidence to complete it hopefully some time before the end of summer. I doubt I’m going to try to release it anywhere but here, seeing as how it is a very personal project but not exactly festival-worthy all things considered. I would like to see how it plays up to the open forum of le internet. I’ll try and post a scene or trailer ASAP, but no promises. I know a lot of Sam’s biggest fans have been looking forward to this one, and I DO promise that he does not disappoint! Its some of his finest acting yet in a truly dramatic and non-over-the-top role.

LINE OF SIGHT:
The Bob Novich and Rob Ramirez lead action flick is pretty much done, it just requires a guitar-blues rock score something along the lines of Metallica or Soundgarden. I’ve tried to get a lot of people to do it, and had a couple of prospects, but nothing has happened with it yet. This will be a very great film when it is completed and I look forward to sharing the first actual Peregrine Saga story to everyone I can. I love this series with all my heart and will make it my entry point into the film profession.

AN OLD HOPE BTS:
The Behind the Scenes on AN OLD HOPE, Dan Gvozden’s final project for his degree at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts, is going to be getting under way. This is my top editing priority of the summer, and I really want to get it out there for Dan, his crew, and all their fans. Plus, hey, it’s the closest thing to a PROFESSIONAL gig I’ve had in a while.

Doing basic service industry work has yielded very little results in the filmic journey my life is meant to be, but hey, you gotta get life experience before you can make film experience (unless you’re Tarantino, but alas, I’m not that ugly).

FUTURE FILM MAKERS CLUB

So in the meantime I’ve been jotting down ideas, scribbling away at ways to make the film club shine better next semester, and well…for anyone who reads this blog and is a Future Film Maker…I’ll announce a few changes now:

Thomas and I have decided that I will be doing the minimal amount of behind the camera work possible this semester. We will both act for you and provide pawns for YOU guys to move around and begin truly learning the trade. It has been decided that, now that the club has proper footing and will have a bold new source of members with this upcoming school year, it is time to start giving it away and placing the responsibilities where they belong: in the hands of everyone who truly wants to see it grow. We have big dreams for what this club can do, and the new building- with state of the art tech and teachers- WILL give us this chance like we’ve never had before. I’ll talk more about that, but you guys should comment if you’re reading this and definitely give us your two cents. I’m not working alone on this anymore, as Vice President, Thomas has as much authority as I do. You guys can trust him and myself- we want to make something for the community. Not just us. This is the opportunity of a life time and we’ve all got to be a part of it!

We’ll also be coming up with business cards, T-Shirts, a website, and new activities and events! Keep your eyes open!

::getting off the soapbox::

MOVIE VIEWINGS:

Ok well that’s about it for now. This summer I’ve seen 3 movies in theaters, WALL-E, Wanted, and The Dark Knight. Guess which one is my fav? Well…

The frigging kids movie.

OTHER STUFF:
I’m going to Otakon, so is Thom, Mike, Phil, James, and Amber. If anyone else is going- let us know! We’re going to be showing off movies around every corner we can, in every line possible, and we’ll have business cards by then! It should be good for both FFM and SAP.

So yeah, that’s about it for my film life. Going to get more stuff together later, but figure everyone needed an explanation on what’s been happening for the last 3 or 4 weeks of summer. I’m not completely oblivious to my responsibilities as President of one of the truly TOP 25 clubs in SU! WE RULE!

Be sure to check out the forums. We’ll be getting some more dedication to FFM later on this summer as well.

This is STRIKE A POSE!!! Films first Guest Review by our good friend Thomas England, also known in the forums as Tom. Tom loves watching classic, indie, and cult films, and today we’ve got a big treat for our readers- an introduction to one film maker’s amazing selection of work.

Here’s his review for Ingmar Bergman’s PERSONA:

Lately I have been renting and watching a lot of classics, in sort of a “quest” to find more inspiration for my own creative ingenuity, as well as for substance to contribute to a college film club I help manage. I have been trying to watch genres ranging from old cult classics to French new wave flicks as well as various indie titles. Many of these have been downers for me- I either found them to be somewhat boring or pretentious; trash that only succeeded in making me angry. I don’t like watching movies that blatantly try and go out of their way to prove how better they are than you. I am mainly talking about Jean Luc Godard’s French New Wave films, which if you haven’t heard of him, then good- leave it that way, and stay clear from anything by him.

Biased and arrogant opinions about French film making aside, the “classics” that I saw were interesting but didn’t do anything for me at the time, many of which seemed like movies I would have to re-watch later on. There were a couple exceptions. One I have run into is Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Just last week I finished watching his 1966 psychological thriller Persona, and I must say I definitely found what I was looking for with this movie. It was beautifully shot and the story was well told.

The movie was about a nurse named Alma (Bibi Anderson), who was put in charge of helping to rehabilitate a well known actress named Elisabeth (Liv Ullman) who, although seeming physically fine, will not talk to anyone. I was left constantly guessing why she is acting this way. The opening sequence is a montage of serial imagery, where the clues for answering this question begin. What was shown in the opening sequence were things ranging from a film projector to a child trapped in an all white room with a large human face watching him from behind one of the transparent walls.

One of the more powerful scenes was when the Elisabeth was watching the news in her hospital room, and sees the broadcast of the forever infamous Saigon monk burning himself alive in Vietnam. Most important was the reaction and facial responses expressed by the actress to that sort of stimuli. This sort of thing helps to give clues about what is actually going on, but by the end it will be made clear to you that you’re just as clueless as the nurse trying to help the young actress, and understand why the film is called what it is. It is important to pay close attention to the imagery throughout the movie, because the story is primarily told through its imagery, with dialog coming in second (though it’s still important). For those who are fans of David Lynch you would be well accustomed to it- a very dark and dreary experience that at times has a very surreal feel to it.

In the end this was just the inspiration I needed! I have seen two other films by Ingmar Bergman: The Seventh Seal and The Wild Strawberries, both of which were great and completely different experiences. I recommend anyone reading this to pick this one up if they can find it- it’s not very long, but if you watch this and find it to be your type of movie as I did, then definitely pick up the other Bergman movies I just listed. Even so, out of all of the three Bergman Movies that I have seen so far, this one takes the gold.

Tom’s an active member of the Future Film Makers Club, leading the way for the newer members as Vice President, and you might even remember his amazing performance in the comedic masterpiece, Man of Action.

It’s been nearly a month, and we’ll have a slew of new videos up! First is this gem, GULLMAN: DEFENDER OF SALISBURY! To check it out and comment on the films page, click here.

Made for both the Future Film Makers Club and Gull’s Eye View, “Gullman: Defender of Salisbury” is the last comedy skit directed by Dylan Hintz for PAC 14.

After weeks of criminal unrest in the Salisbury University Area, the campus is in utter disarray! Thankfully, the Allegiance of Super Heroes has sent in one of their best champions, Gullman (who just happens to fit the theme of the campus), to help clean up crime and save the day! Little does he know what lay in store for him. Based around an interview with local news-figurehead Robert Queue- “Gullman” breaks into many different forms of media and is one of the more complex works crafted by the Future Film Makers.

Many special thanks go out on this one:

Stephanie Kratz for designing, making, and fitting the AMAZING Gullman costume, as well as Teleprompter work
James Howe (Gullman) for putting up with everything.
Philip Krocheski (Robert Queue) for filling in at the last minute for a spectacular end!
Matt Horst (Gangsta Gangsta) for playing an amazingly accurate portrayal of a SU thug
Keith Mathias (Steve the College student) for playing an amazingly accurate portrayal of an SU student
Jason Brown and Amber Todd for studio help!
Sam Anderson for the use of his track “Thrasher”
And everyone else who showed up to make this project as great as it is!

3 minutes and 10 seconds. 2008 Future Film Makers Productions.

So much to talk about and so little time. But here’s the gist of it:

FUTURE FILM MAKERS UPDATES
We’ve been doing a LOT of hard work. Quite a few projects underway, including the previously mentioned Jasper Conroy: Salisbury Bounty Hunter, the recently completely Gullman: Defender of Salisbury (yes, there is a theme here), and the running of our amazingly soon-to-be-mega-successful FILM FESTIVAL!

We currently have about 3 feature length and 15 short entries, totaling at over FIVE HOURS of footage. Here’s a brief idea of what we’ve got:

FILM FESTIVAL SPRING 08
Starting at 3 PM we’ll be showing:
7even Days by Jay Szech (75 Minutes)
Panel with Jay (10- 15 minutes)
Short Break (5 minutes)
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Robert Cogdell’s Films (10 minutes total)
Short Panel with Rob Cogdell (5 minutes)
Hudson Harrison by David M. Demerest (7 minutes)
Conflict Now by Dylan Hintz (8 minutes)
War: A Documentary by Thomas England (20 Minutes)
Short Break (5 minutes)
Scott’s Worst Day by Scott Dotterwich (6 minutes)
Playing Games in Purgatory by Ryan Henry (45 minutes)
Short Discussion (5 minutes)
The L Files by David M. Demerest (8 Minutes)
Piano Man: A Documentary by Marc Gast (20 minutes)
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WAC Zombies (6 minutes)
Mean Boy and Bum by Ed Lauler (5 minutes)
I Don’t Live Today by Ed Lauler (15 minutes)
Man of Action by The Future Film Makers Club (3 minutes)
Gull Man by The Future Film Makers Club (4 minutes)
Hit and Run by Alexis Morrel and Lauren Depaul (60 minutes)
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Post show Previews:
Jasper Conroy by the Future Film Makers Club
An Old Hope and Option Ingredients by Dan Gvozden
Line of Sight and Clarity by Dylan Hintz
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This event will be ending around 10 or 11 PM

Other than that, good news: THE GALLERIES ARE BACK UP! Check out the new pictures here

New videos will becoming up soon, with Gull Man and Jasper Conroy, plus footage from the set of An Old Hope trip that I took last month.

I’m incredibly busy with this festival, as you can see, but hopefully it’ll all pay off! We’ve got a lot of entries and we’re making a big name not just for the club, but for film making in general through this amazing festival!