The Importance of Tolerance
Saturday, February 23, 2008
At long last, The Importance of Tolerance is available online for your viewing pleasure. I wrote a release announcement at the Bombdotcom Productions blog for it. But if you just want to get to the meat of things, here's the video:
I've just finished putting the last touches on what we're calling the first final edit of The Importance of Tolerance. It's been a long time in post-production, but I'm feeling really good about where it is right now. WiL Whitlark has composed a beautiful soundtrack for the film and I'm eager to show it off to you.
But first, if all goes according to plan, we'll be premiering it at this Wednesday's Open Mic Night (February 20th) at the Salt Lake Film Society's Tower Theatre, playing alongside an assortment of other local filmmakers' shorts. Admission to the screening is a dollar per person and so totally worth it.
If you miss it, I expect to have the film posted online within a week. However, this may be your only chance to witness it on the silver screen.
What: World premier of new short film The Importance of Tolerance When: February 20, 2008, 9:00 PM Where: Tower Theatre, 876 East 900 South, Salt Lake City, UT Why: To grow your faith and support your filmmaking community. How: By any means necessary.
If you attend, please feel free to seek me out, say hello, and exchange a few words.
While pondering where the last nine hours had gotten off to, I realized I had set up a completely reconfigured Bombdotcom Productions website. It's a much cleaner and more elegant than the previous design, which I'll admit I was never quite happy with. It, too, uses Blogger integration, and will hopefully soon become a team blog.
And what's this? Why, it's Andrew Whittaker, prominently featured in the first released still from The Interconnection of Mr. Daily. The project is pretty much complete. Once I can orchestrate a screening of the finished product for the production team, I'll get it online. This means by the end of the month. Is it exciting? Yes. Yes, it is.
Miscellany: September 2007 Edition
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
I've begun work on a few essays and reviews that I can't quite seem to finish. Yet I still feel like making a blog entry. So here we go.
I finally got bored (enough) with the limited menagerie of background images I've been cycling through on the site here for the past year or two. So, for the proverbial shits and giggles, I drew something new for the background. It's a pretty generic young woman holding a parasol accompanied by the most half-assed of all backdrops (90 seconds, maximum), but such is the state of things. I've been spending more time drawing lately and that's a trend I'd like to continue.
Notably, good friend and brilliant musician WiL Whitlark and I have recommitted ourselves to an animated series we've been developing for nearly four years now. The new target date to begin premiering episodes is October 2008.
Speaking of long dormant projects, that seems to be the trend with us at Bombdotcom. The upcoming The Interconnection of Mr. Daily was written nearly three years ago. We've resurrected a Halloween project that we wrote while shooting Hopscotch Hotshots in September 2004. And, not least of all, there's The Importance of Tolerance. While we're at it, have another production still!
Seriously. Watch out, folks. This movie's gonna inspire the pants right off of you. Wear suspenders. With any luck, both this and the aforementioned Halloween project will be finished by the end of October (as well as Mr. Daily). If all goes according to schedule, I'm going to submit this to the 2008 LDS Film Festvial, the 2005 instance of which was actually where the seeds of this project began.
Just you watch. 2007 will have been a productive year for Bombdotcom Productions yet.
The tagline for Sarah Polley's directorial debut, Away from Her read, "It's never too late to become what you might have been." While I liked the film a great deal (one of the better films of 2007, surely), that is, of course, not true (its relevance to its film is dubious, too). Sometimes people get cancer or lose limbs or get shot or something. However, sometimes you actually do get to take care of something you suspected you'd never get another crack at.
Two years ago, I was set to direct a short film that was postponed indefinitely when the majority of my cast dropped out last minute. "Indefinitely" frequently means forever, but here it turned out to be two years. Over the weekend, my crew and I shot a little film called The Importance of Tolerance. It turns out that this may indeed be one of those oft-mentioned "blessings in disguise," because the change in cast (the first time I've collaborated with high school friend William Stewart in six years) and our overall advancement in technical and artistic abilities have given this film a kick that we just wouldn't have had in 2005. It feels good to resurrect and complete a project long thought dead.
Currently, I'm entrenched in editing this project and coordinating an edit with editor Patrick Svensson on The Interconnection of Mr. Daily (disturbingly similar titles for back-to-back projects). Post-productions rocks!
The Importance of Tolerance is something of a formal send-up of videos produced for and by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (those rascally Mormons). There's a peculiar aesthetic flavor to these Church-sponsored productions and we've done our best to ape it, as evidenced by the first official production still below, included by popular (i.e. cast member and collaborator Joseph Schlegel's) demand.
While preparing to shoot this, I tried to dig up as many of the videos I was once subjected to in numerous Sunday school and seminary classes. Alas, the Internet would seem to prefer people lip-syncing and clumsily gyrating to Justin Timberlake songs over ham-fisted, modern morality fables devoid of irony. I've culled what I can from YouTube for reference:
Pride: Something kind of bold for seminary videos: science fiction!
Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration: Apparently, since I've stopped paying attention, the Church has gone more Christian rock. However, this highlights the visual flair of Church productions wonderfully.
What Mormon Theology Is Really All About: Okay, this cartoon is a far cry from something the Mormons would produce (surprisingly, I don't think they'll ever attempt to debunk themselves), but it's a riot. Check out that sleazy God-strut.
If you stumble across any other fantastic bits of Mormon video (I'm looking for one in particular, which I believe is called The Joy of Missionary Work) on our favorite series of tubes, please let me know in the comments!
The "within the week" I mentioned in my last post ended up being today. Dear readers, I submit to you my first animated short in seven years, "The Frog Prince."
Work has begun on my next animated short, to be titled "Prince Charming." It'll be a lot more intricate than this one. With luck, it'll only take about another month to finish.
UPDATE: August 23rd, 2007 This is actually a newer version. The audio sounds much cleaner on this version and I think the video may have rendered better as well.
There are few things worse than having the creative process stymied by technical difficulties and restrictions. Far too much of my time over the last couple days has been spent fiddling with video codecs and compression, trying to get various programs to do what I want them to do. Yet, finally, I have arrived at a satisfactory cut of The Frog Prince, provided I can properly get it onto a DVD. Once it premiers on Wednesday, I'll post a copy online. So, ahem, stay tooned current with frequent returns to this website.
As I mentioned in my last post, there are a couple other film projects underway. Additionally, I've returned to preproduction work on my next animated short, untouched since I last did some character design and rough storyboards over a year ago, though I'm currently touching up what I think is likely my final draft of the script. It, too, is a re-interpretive spin on a classic fairy tale. Ideally, I'd like to produce a third short in this vein, effecting a trilogy. That third idea just hasn't come, though, which is all the more impetus to read more fairy tales, as I always mean to do.
Once this next short is wrapped, I'm going to return to working on the animated series WiL in earnest. The project began nearly four years ago, stopping and starting in several bursts over the years, and needs some story issues resolved before I can move too far with it. The first episode of the planned ten episode season is almost fully animated, though. With any luck, I might be able to start getting them online by the end of the year. We'll see, though.
In working on The Frog Prince, I thought it might be fun to put it under a Bombdotcom Animation label in addition to/instead of the usual Bombdotcom Productions. I worked up a logo and began animating a studio tag for it. However, I ultimately decided it was too frivolous and perhaps a mite pretentious (Bombdotcom Animation Studios is a name bigger than the actual "studio"). I did like what I drew for it, though, so it's below:
For a couple of years now, I've been fumbling around in Flash, trying to convince myself I was something of an animator. Well, very soon I may be able to lay claim to that very title: my first animated short is nearly complete and should be premiering within the next week.
It's entitled "The Frog Prince," loosely based on a popular mutilation of the ill-understood story collected by those rascally Grimm Brothers. I started work on it something like eighteen months ago, producing most of the animation and a rough draft of the script. Then, as happens all too frequently, it just kind of got put away, stuffed thoughtlessly in the back flap of my wallet of projects, lost among a wadded mess of ticket stubs, postage stamps, and the souls of my enemies.
But, with the encouragement of a few friends to whom I read the screenplay, I decided to finish it. Frequent collaborator Enoch Allred came in and recorded one voice while I provided the other. In the last week, I've learned much about what I can do, what Flash can do, and what we just can't do together. Now, though, I'm putting the finishing touches on it in preparation for what should hopefully be its premiere at the Tower Theatre's Open Mic Night on Wednesday the 15th.
It's going to be a special kind of nerve-racking to watch my drawings projected onto a silver screen in front of hundreds of strangers. It'll likely be as anxiety-inducing as when I premiered The Mustache there last December. Still, I can't wait.
Also, just an update: The Interconnection of Mr. Daily wrapped production last month. It's currently in post-production, editing duties in the hands of the illustrious Patrick Svensson. We're hoping to have a a final cut within about a month. Meanwhile, there's a weekend shoot scheduled for the end of the month for a very short film I'll be directing.
It looks like we just might finally be getting off our lazy asses here at Bombdotcom.
The Mustache (Now on YouTube!)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Finally, I've begun to transfer the Bombdotcom Productions videos to the only place on the Internet people will actually watch videos: YouTube. I've started with my most recent completed project, The Mustache. I've even decided to embed it right below this sentence.
Watch for more in the future, as I attempt to get off my lazy ass.
Films In, Pending, and Past Production
Friday, May 25, 2007
Tomorrow, we go location scouting for the next major project from Bombdotcom Productions, The Interconnection of Mr. Daily, a featurette penned by the singularly brilliant Joey Schlegel. I'll be directing. Hopefully, I don't ruin everything. Doing all this preproduction work has been invigorating.
Recently, a large group of us got together to shoot a project in 48 hours. We had missed the actual 48 Hour Film Project when it rolled through town, but still wanted a swing at it. However, doing the project outside of the usual theme or genre constraints prescribed in these situations, we wound up with roughly a dozen writerly individuals trying to pitch and write a film by committee. If you are or have worked with writers, you know what this meant: utter chaos.
We ended up producing a mockumentary about a group of adults trying to hang onto their childhoods by engaging in an annual game of Red Rover. Editing was part of the 48 hour project, but the ten minute cut that screened at the Tower Theatre's Open Mic Night still felt bloated to me. Patrick, one of our editors is probably going to cut about two minutes from it, making it tighter and (hopefully) more coherent. We'll wait to upload a copy to the website until we hav a more satisfactory cut.
Perhaps the best part of the shoot was a twenty minute, continuous take of a Red Rover game from start to finish, everyone firmly in character. The fact that I have this on tape is something truly awesome. A here's a special shout out to Jon Fairbanks, who suffered an injury in the course of his brilliant performance.
Perhaps we're on something of a roll here with producing our films. 2005 and 2006 were despairingly dry years for Bombdotcom (two short films in the last two years? for shame). This summer actually could turn out to be rather productive; we've got a couple other things on the slate.
I initially conceived of the idea for my latest film, The Mustache while shooting Patrick Svensson's Hopscotch Hotshots. The original idea consisted pretty much of this: Sam Butler in a hideously fake mustache. That was back in the Summer of 2004.
Over the next year I figured out what to do with it. Ultimately, I decided that Mark Andrus -- pretty much playing Mark Andrus -- would be the perfect foil for a guy who just wants to wear his mustache. So I hammered out a script (the last hammering of which occured the night before the first attempt at shooting) and we were ready to go in Spring 2006. As I chronicled on this blog back in April, that shoot was a bust and we reshceduled for a couple weeks later. The shooting was arduous (largley because it was fucking hot), but we shot everything we needed in about eight hours. That was May. This is December.
Finally, though, it's out. Follow that link to see what will have been Bombdotcom's only completed film for 2006.
However, I've been talking with a couple of people. Joey Schlegel has written a couple of scripts that I'm poised to direct early next year. Jon Fairbanks has something in the pipeline. He might even get me to appear on camera (gasp!). And there's myriad whispers and rumblings for what else might happen in 2007.
Also, look forward to some new features on the Bombdotcom Productions website. For all the movies we did back in 2004, I produced a DVD with a host of special features (including commentaries) for each film. Expect to see those uploaded some time in the next few months.
Well, please watch my film if you have five minutes to spare. And if you have an additional couple of minutes, feel free to let me know what you think.
Last night finally saw the unveiling of my most recent film, The Mustache. This one took me way too damn long to edit. However, WiL Whitlark emailed me the music this weekend (and they're very good), and I was able to assemble it all in time for the Tower Theatre's Open Mic Night. I'm rather a fan of the Open Mic Night concept. For a mere fee of $5.00, I got my movie on the roster, under the condition that it was under ten minutes (it is). Admission was free, so a few friends came along. I was impressed that as many people stayed as they did and weren't simply there just to see the movie they were there for. That made it all the worse when the screenings came to an abrupt halt.
The bulb burnt out in the projector. This apparently doesn't happen frequently. It sucked. Perhaps even worse, I had hoped to do a little bit of shoulder-rubbing, getting to know a few of the other local Salt Lake filmmakers. But alas, the confusion and irritation at the end of it dampened the mood and the possibilites of that happening. And I'm probably too chickenshit to really approach anyone myself, anyway. So the lot of us came back to my apartment and had pie.
There will be another Open Mic Night in February. We're planning for it.
Audience response to my movie was pretty positive, I hear from my friends. I was there, of course, but I was far too anxious and nervous to judge objectively how people reacted. In my mind, it's not wholly improbable that a disgruntled audience member, after enduring five minutes of my brand of torture, will turn around, recognize me instantly as the one responsible for the film, and stab me to death.
Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of The Mustache ready to view online quite yet. Hopefully, it'll go up tomorrow, when I'll have higher quantities of free time. It will be the first content update on Bombdotcom's website in not yet two years. Part of me feels that I should launch a new design for the site at the same time. Another part realizes I need less obstacles to prevent me from making timely updates.
The shoot for "The Mustache" began a little late on Saturday, giving us some added pressure, considering the amount of time that we had Mark was limited. It was regrettably moot, though, because in the midst of shooting the second scene, Mark's car (which was the car we were using and a very important part of the film) ran into a major problem. So we had to cancel shooting for the rest of the day. We'll pick it up again in a couple weeks when we all have time. Oh well. Such is life.
Instead, a bunch of us ate burgers and watched American Dreamz. It was alright.
But then, later, we watched the Wong Jing-directed Stephen Chow/Andy Lau film, God of Gamblers II. If you're not familiar with the story, the Chow Yun-Fat vehicle God of Gamblers was a smash hit in Hong Kong. It was insanely popular, which is understandable, because it's fantastically entertaining cinema. Then Jeff Lau directs Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat in a spoof entitled All for the Winner, which was also insanely popular and started Stephen Chow down the path to superstardom. Chow Yun-Fat isn't in God of Gamlbers II, but rather Stephen Chow's "Saint of Gamblers" character teams up with Chow Yun-Fat's protege, Andy Lau. And it's pretty awesome mo lei tau. Hardly Chow's best work, but it was fun.
The Streets' new album, "The Hardest Way To Make an Easy Living" streets tomorrow. I already have my copy on hold at work.
Lately, the Decemberists' "Castaways and Cutouts" album has not left my car CD player. Honestly, I would say its their weakest album, but that really does nothing to discredit it. It's still fantastic. I can't stop listening to "The Legionnaire's Lament."
While at Borders today, I came up with an idea. It was a grand idea, and I was very satisfied to have come upon such an idea. "I ought to write some of this down so I can remember it," I said to myself. I turned to do just that and lost it. Gone. Totally. I have no idea what it was. That sucks.
But I also came up with an idea for a script while at my other job. For a while I was apprehensive that I was aping too much from Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Doppelganger (a film I love deeply), but I think it's different enough. I'll think about it for a couple more days and then begin writing it.
That's it for tonight. I need to do something about my shitty audio recording situation, because I really need to start working on some of my animated projects, but they're all fucking stalled because I can't record anything.
Regardless of what I'm working on, I always want to be working on something else. In the midst of trying to finish my script for a film called "The Mustache," I've ended up writing half the screenplay for another project I've been thinking about, "Purple Blob Things." "The Mustache" is set to begin filming next Saturday. There's just one scene left to write, but damned if it just isn't coming. It'll happen, though.
It will be the first Bombdotcom movie in over a year. Considering that this time we're not working with a deadline (our last production, "The Great Sandwich Adventures" was shot in the three days before it was due and was still being edited an hour before the deadline), I'm going to really take some time to polish up the editing. "The Mustache" will star Mark Andrus and Sam Butler.
With any luck, this summer, we'll also get around to shooting something I intended to direct last summer entitled "The Importance of Tolerance." Most the cast dropped out at the last minute (okay, in all fairness, it was a full three hours before we were supposed to begin shooting) and the project fell through. Also, we're considering shooting one of Joseph Schlegel's scripts.
New on the site today is my latest entry into the Drawing Board's monthly drawing jam - a rendition of actress Kristin Kreuk.
Today, I came across a trailer for a Legend of Zelda feature-length fan film currently in postproduction. While the actual finished product will likely be of dubious quality, it's an endeavor I can totally support. I will admit that deep inside me, there is a desire to be a part of something that I love so much that I'd be willing to totally ruin for everyone else by making a shitty film.
This morning, I've finished watching an anime that many friends cite as among their favorites, GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. I, too, was totally caught up in the escapades of the greatest teacher Japan has ever seen, despite a few points of frustration (the Vice Principal character, for one). But I'd recommend it.
That's all for now. I'll keep you posted about the production of "The Mustache" as it progresses.
John D. Moore
Filmmaker, writer, cartoonist, and designer living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Whatnot Studios is updated daily with cartoons, musings, stories, and project updates.
I initially conceived of the idea for my latest film, 
Last night finally saw the unveiling of my most recent film, The Mustache. This one took me way too 
