HKL Films Official Blog

How I Spent My 2011

December 28, 2011 – 3:34 pm

Another year gone by. Still trips me out we’re pushing 2012.
I remember when I was a kid watching Buck Rogers thinking 1999 was a long ways off…sheesh.

I have to say it’s been a pretty amazing year. I just wanted to do some reflecting and give a rundown of how I spent the past 365 or so days.

Kicking off 2011 we started up the HELP! I’M ALIVE… blog with a promo video. Anthony Larice (the creator) and I were out location scouting up in the Santa Cruz mountains and decided to give everybody the first real look at what the series is all about.

The beginning of the year was also pretty special for me as I was asked to participate in the Grammy Career Day, where people involved in the music business talk mostly to high school and college kids about how they got into the business. I was asked to paricipate in 2 panels. The first was giving my critique on two high school studens’ songs that they submitted for myself and rest of the panel to discuss. We were all from different aspects of the business and I gave my take on what I would do as a manager.

The second panel was me telling people how I got in to the business, what a typical day is like for me and some general stuff about the music business and how I fit in to it.
At the end of the day I did a video and talked about the day’s events. I was just getting over a cold that day unfortunately.

In February we released the first ever music video for Karyn Paige.
The video was shot in 2010 and the release party was at Beta Lounge in Berkeley, CA on February 14th (yes, Valentine’s Day).
It was a pretty big deal for Karyn since it was her first music video, and overall it was just a great time. A lot of people came out to support and overall the night was a huge success.

me with Aima the Dreamer

It was the last video I shot on my Panasonic DVX-100 as 2011 also saw me buying my first DSLR camera, the Canon T2i. Haven’t gone back to SD since — except for a music vid I did with Headnodic, but that was on purpose.

Given the budget of the video I think it came out pretty awesome. It definitely has a throwback vibe to it circa mid to late 80′s.
The video was directed, shot and edited by myself with lots of help from Steve Reddell and Jared Schmit. Also have to give shout outs to Aima the Dreamer and Debra Gilbert for their invaluable assistance as well, not to mention The Scoundrels (Matt, Joe, Chris & Teeko) who made the video that much more awesome.

The entire video was shot at Soundwave Studios in Oakland, CA and took about 3 days total. Looking at it now there are definitely some mistakes from a technical standpoint that I would fix after the fact, but fuck it. Enjoy.

February/March was definitely a 2011 highlight as we shot our first ever HELP! I’M ALIVE… scenes for our WonderCon Promo.
I can’t say enough good things about the cast & crew for this shoot. Everyone was on their game and we pulled off exactly what we wanted.
Ethan Parsonage (aka Headnodic) was cast as our zombie, Frank, who joins a little girl for her tea party and then eats her. I thought Ethan did an amazing job as did our makeup artist, Chrysalis Rose.
I mean, just look at this zombie:

Ethan Parsonage as "Frank the Zombie" - makeup by Chrysalis Rose

Amazing!
I also have to give the utmost props to our little girl, Libby Ibarra. What a professional.
Libby delivered her lines perfectly every time, never complained, never had an attitude or any kind of tantrum or other thing you would think an 8 year old might do sitting on a hill in February/March in the Bay Area when it’s cold as shit outside for hours on end. She was not only a delight to have on set, but truly has the gift to act.
Here’s the very first promo we put out from that shoot. It was just some b-roll we shot for the sake of shooting and decided it came out great.

Our production team, Maximum Flavor, were (as always) amazing.
It was the very first time I worked with those guys and Mark Austin Heim & Mitch Roth were professional all the way and made sure I got the shots I wanted. I’ve been working with them ever since.
Our sound person, Darlene Drake; pro all the way as well. I worked with Darlene on another project I was DP on and had her join our crew for the simple fact that she’s awesome. Not only as a sound person, but as a person in general. We had a lot of fun on that set but always got shit done and done right.

It was my first real directing gig other than music videos and I definitely learned a lot working with everyone. Moreso learning the terminology and standard set practices than anything else.
It felt very natural and I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to shoot the series.

Another person who was paramount in making this whole thing come together was of course Anthony Larice, the show creator and the main character, Loryn.
Anthony is someone who loves to joke around and goof off, but when the camera starts rolling and I yell action, he is on point 100%. I really lucked out getting the chance to work with nothing but professionals my first time out of the gate shooting a narrative short.

HIA cast & crew

Our post-production team was just as pro. Our editing was done by Dan Ast (writer/director/editor of the film Claire) and HIA producer David Schatanoff who handled the sound design, including foley and dialogue.
The music was done by Kat Ouano, a Bay Area musician who is most well known for being part of the group, Crown City Rockers.

The promo was written by myself and Anthony. I ended up producing the majority of it as well.
I have to say I definitely like producing, but not as much as directing.

Here’s the actual promo we premiered at WonderCon in April of 2011. It hit the web on May 13th, 2011 — Friday the 13th.

April and May were pretty busy months as well.

The first week of April was WonderCon. I had never been to a convention like that except for Fangoria back in 2006 with Sin-Jin Smyth.
We had a booth and ran our promo all day all 3 days. I got to meet Tarsem Singh (director of The Fall and Immortals) and got his autograph.
I went to the Cowboys & Aliens panel with Jon Favreau and Robert Orci. Saw my friend Camden Toy, met some cool new people and best of all got to unleash our web show to the world via our exclusive promo.

Myself and Anthony Larice having fun with Thor's Hammer and Captain America's shield.

In April I also visited Hollywood where I did some shooting with Tricia Helfer & Katee Sackhoff and met up with all of my friends down there.
I always have fun in Hollywood. I’m sure some day I’ll move back there, but not today.
Here’s one of the Q & A sessions I shot w/ Tricia while I was down there.

I also shot some stuff with both Tricia and her cohort, Katee Sackhoff for their charity organization, Acting Outlaws.

Always fun hanging out with those two, as you’ll see later on in this post.
While down there I also did my first interview with Geek Speak Radio — a local Bay Area internet radio show who have been big supporters of HELP! I’M ALIVE.

April was also a very special show for Lyrics Born at Yoshi’s in San Francisco as he performed CONTINUUM, a tribute to James Brown and Curtis Mayfield.
LB had the entire band on stage including Uriah Duffy, Kat O1O, Max MacVeety, Jon Monahan, Jazz Mafia, Joyo Velarde & Codany Holiday.
The show was a huge hit and here’s some rehearsal footage I shot prior to the event.

Uriah Duffy, myself & Lyrics Born backstage at Yoshi's SF

June was a hot month — not literally — but figuratively as Lyrics Born hosted Jazz Mafia at Stern Grove in San Francisco, CA with special guests Chali 2na, Martin Luther and Mickey Hart.
LB headlined Stern Grove in 2008, so I had been there before, but I forgot how utterly amazing the place is.
If you’ve never been it’s this wooden stage set up in the middle of a forest with over a 10,000 person capacity.

An amazing show no doubt, and I actually got to meet Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) whom I had been inspired by back in High School via his CD “Planet Drum”.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m a drummer too.

Mickey Hart and I backstage at Stern Grove 2011

Here’s some of the video I shot at the show and compiled together into an LBTV episode:

July was another hot month for 2011 as we released not one, but TWO Headnodic videos — both of which I directed.

The first was a video we had shot in 2010 with Kat O1O and it was the first time I had shot anything underwater.
For this video I had used my DVX-100 as well as my Panasonic camcorder for the underwater stuff.

The video came out great. I think it was a total of 4 days of shooting. We shot Lateef & Lyrics Born on green screen and the rest was all practical on location with Kat & Headnodic.
A lot of people tell me they really love this video. I do, but as always I see it and see what I could have done better.
But the reality is, if I could have done better, I would have. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I’ve learned a lot since I shot that video over a year ago anyways.

Myself with Kat O1O & Headnodic on location

Big shout out to Dave Frias & Steve Reddell without whose help this video could not have been made.

The same month Headnodic released his solo record, RED LINE RADIO, which we shot a video for the title track.
This video features Headnodic, Raashan Ahmad and Moe Pope.
We shot all of Headnodic and Raashan’s stuff in one day and had Moe Pope shoot and send us the footage for his verse since he’s back east.
This was the first video I shot with my Canon T2i and the difference is quite remarkable. I’ve also got some DVX-100 and camcorder footage in this video as well, but that was all by design.
The main concept for both of these videos came from Headnodic and together we fleshed them out and turned them in to viable music videos.

Headnodic and Raashan Ahmad on set

This is probably one of my fave music videos I’ve done. It has a very 80′s retro-skateboard-video-vibe to it along with some HD goodness.
I like mixing and matching like that, especially for music videos. You can get away with that kind of thing and it works and looks cool.

Dave Frias again came through in a big way to help make this video a reality.
Check out the cameo from Max MacVeety.

The summer was also a great time for HELP! I’M ALIVE as we went through our casting process and found our main cast of characters!
It was a somewhat grueling process, but all in all was a lot of fun. Mucho thanks to Karyn Paige who was our casting supervisor and helped in choosing our actors.
Also had some help from Jared Schmit as well as Francis Hamada and Christopher Denise.

One of the highlights was getting actor John Philbin (Pointbreak, North Shore, Return of the Living Dead) on board.
I’ve known John for years and I’m excited to work with him on this level and get to direct him. I’m a big fan of his work and I can’t wait to see him on set for this show.

August was an important month as my friend Rich Brown and I (who used to play in bands together in high school and after) put out our second song together.
We took on the moniker, BAD BLOTTER as our “band name” and have been working on music together for the past year. Mostly Rich would send me instrumentals that I would put vocals over.
(Oh yeah, for those who don’t know I used to be the lead vocalist in a rap metal band in the 90′s)
So anyways, it started with one song that eventually became “Wi Fi” and since the track came out so good we decided to do more.

In August we put out this song; “Subliminable”.
It’s a very political track with lots of samples. I really love the music on this and I think the vocals came out pretty good too. What do you think?

Another reason August was such a big deal is because it marked the official return of LATYRX (Lyrics Born & Lateef the Truthspeaker).
These two played a show in 2010 with Jazz Mafia as a one-off deal and it ended up being such a smash that they decided to re-unite officially.
Outside Lands was the first Latyrx show in 2011 and was a huge hit at the festival.

Within the same month Latyrx performed at Google HQ, which was an awesome experience. Got a short tour of the Google campus and I have to say they treat their employees better than most companies.
Days later LB & Lateef were asked to join Joseph Gordon-Levitt as part of his HITRECORD traveling showcase. The guys were asked to a live remix of a song that some of the HitRecord.org community members had put together. The dynamic duo were joined by DJ Zeph and also did some Latyrx songs which the crowd went apeshit over.

I also got to meet Joseph Gordon-Levitt, do a quick video with him and was “that guy” and asked for a photo.
Glad I did. A truly great individual, and I love the HitRecord stuff. Very inspiring!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and I at The Regency Ballroom

September we launched the Gift of Gab IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds to shoot his upcoming new music video, “Everything Is Fine” featuring Latyrx & the one-and-only George Clinton.
I got to meet George to discuss the video and what we could and couldn’t do with his characters (Dr. Funkenstein, Sir Nose, etc). Another great moment for sure. Cool guy. Very down-to-earth.

In October we released the second music video from Karyn Paige, “Stay Away Tonight”.

This was a cool music video shoot that we did over the course of 2 days/nights at Hotel Frank in San Francisco, CA.
The video for this song was very Madonna inspired and I really like how it came together visually.
The concept came from Karyn and we worked together to flesh it out and create the video you see above.

Debra Gilbert was once again invaluable on this shoot as was Tremaine Maurice.
Both really brought the unique visual style (along with Karyn) that permeates the entire video.

One of my favorites so far.

In November we launched our second HELP! I’M ALIVE IndieGoGo campaign to raise money to shoot the pilot episode.
We got most of the cast involved and I put together some promo vids including this one:

I made my second trip down to Hollywood in November and got to kick it with friends again and of course Katee Sackhoff & Tricia Helfer.
We shot some Q & A for Katee this time and the three of us go together to discuss the Acting Outlaws documentary.
It was a wonderful evening of drinks, conversation and fun. One of the highlights was the three of us sitting in front of Katee’s fireplace and all taking photos of ourselves simultaneously on our cell phones.

Katee, myself and Tricia

Here’s one of the Katee Q & A videos from the shoot we did while I was down there.

December was definitely a highlight for me as I got to visit my friends in Seattle as well as my family.
It was also a vacation for me (a much needed one) and I had a blast. I got to see the Battlestar Galactica exhibit at the EMP in Seattle and spend time with friends I haven’t seen in a long time.

As I wrap up 2011 I’m looking forward to 2012 which is going to see us shooting the pilot for HELP! I’M ALIVE, the Gift of Gab music video and finishing up a couple more projects including the “Oakland” music video from Lateef the Truthspeaker.

Thanks to everyone who made this year probably one of my most memorable ever. So many awesome things went down — it’s gonna be hard to top it, but I have a feeling 2012 is going to.
I’m sure I forgot some stuff and I know I left some stuff out on purpose, but these have definitely been some of the major highlights of the past year.

To all of you who bother reading my blogs, following me on Twitter and Facebook and also work with me and consider me a friend, I love you all and I wish you a Happy New Year!!!

-Justin

By hypokritical | Posted in Filmmaking, Films, Interviews, music, Music Video, Photos, Thoughts, Videos | Tagged 2011, anthony larice, battlestar galactica, Filmmaking, george clinton, headnodic, help i'm alive, hkl films, john philbin, joseph gordon-levitt, justin berger, karyn paige, kat o1o, katee sackhoff, lateef the truthspeaker, latyrx, lyrics born, mickey hart, music videos, outside lands, quannum projects, stern grove, the gift of gab, tricia helfer, wondercon, zombies | Comments (0)

Justin’s Top 10 Movies of 2011

December 22, 2011 – 2:12 am

Good god it’s almost 2012.
You know what that means, right? The end of the world of course.

I don’t know if anything will happen, should happen or might happen — I just know that until January 2013 I’m gonna be a little jumpy.
Was that an earthquake???!!!!

Anyways, it is time for my annual Top 10 movies of the year.
These are films I saw and thought were worthy of commenting on. At the end of the list you’ll see a batch of Honorable Mentions that I thought were worth mentioning and were only a second thought away from making my Top 10 list.

Of course this is all based on my personal opinion and shouldn’t be construed as my choices are somehow better or worse than yours.
I’d like to think there are enough movies for everyone to enjoy — but if you ask me, these are some of the better ones from this year:

10) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

I almost didn’t include this movie on my list because to be honest, I was a little disappointed. It was a really good movie overall I do admit and because of it’s impact on the entire storyline and series it definitely deserves to be here, but I just wasn’t as in to it as I have been in the past.
Honestly my favorite HP movie is The Half-Blood Prince. I thought that movie was extremely well done, visually astounding and the best of the series.
The final story of Harry Potter and confronting his demons full circle is a good one and was executed well in the book, but I thought the movie lost some of the gravitas of the moment when Harry and Valdemort face off. It seems like they try to cram so much into movies these days that they get lost in the f/x and the spectacle and miss sight of the story.
It’s worth seeing if you’ve seen the others, but if you haven’t you’re not gonna miss anything. Lots of wizardry action and giant spiders.

09) Captain America

Out of all of the SuperHero movies that came out this year, I thought this was by far the best one. Chris Evans really nailed this character. He really has that all American boy thing down. Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull? Genius. This movie really had a great plot for a comic book movie and it was a lot of fun. I thought the CGI to make Chris Evans small and scrawny was very well done and when he makes the change in to bulked up CA, it’s such a big contrast that you can’t help but get a little excited.
The movie has some great moments including some choice scenes with Tommy Lee Jones and of course Hugo Weaving. I also thought the Avengers tie-in at the end was well done and the reveal when he runs out in to Time’s Square is pretty awesome.

Why did it beat out Harry Potter? Because it’s a new film franchise and not the final one of a decade long series.
While HP was a better film overall, I put Captain America above it just because I can. Deal.

08) Bridesmaids

What can I say? This was the funniest movie of the year without a doubt. I went in to this thinking it would funny, but more of a chick-flick vibe.
Boy was I wrong. This movie is so NOT a chick-flick, but at the same time really is. It boggles the mind really.
So many awesome moments from this movie, but overall I have to say that every scene that has Melissa McCarthy in it is just full of win (as the kids say).
Yes I had to Google her name, but she should be a household name by now. That chick is hilarious!
Of course Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph were both awesome as the leads, and the fact that the film was co-written by Kristen Wiig speaks volumes as to the talents that this woman has.
She’s just as funny as Tina Fey and should get her own show as well. I’m not sure America could handle another hit series created, written by and starring a female comedian, but it should.
Seriously one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen to be honest, and the cameos by Jon Hamm are absolutely awesome. If you haven’t seen this movie yet you’re failing at life.

07) Fright Night

I really liked this movie a lot. The first thing that caught my attention about it was the fact that Colin Farrell was playing Jerry, the Vampire.
I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out, especially considering the original is very tongue-in-cheek and more funny than scary, but once I started watching it and saw the direction they were taking the film, I was hooked. Colin Farrell’s best role to date in my humble opinion. The nuances with which he plays Jerry are so subtle and creepy and intense that you can’t help but appreciate how bad ass of a character he is. Honestly the whole movie is pretty lackluster when Colin isn’t on screen, but it still maintains an element of fun and Vampire goodness that makes you want to see what happens.
David Tennant as Peter Vincent, the Las Vegas Vampire Killer is brilliant. I had no idea it was even him until he sheds his wig and makeup.
Never really watched Dr. Who, but I’m aware of who Tennant is, and I have to say he does a really great job at being funny and a coward at the same time.
Anton Yelchin actually surprised me a bit in this and I liked his character. The Charley Brewster in this version was more of a ladies man and a stud than in the original and I thought Anton played it off very well. Not to mention some great supporting choices in Toni Collette and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Hell, there’s even a cameo from Lisa Loeb.
Definitely a fun movie and worth watching.

06) The Green Hornet

When I first read that this movie was coming out and was starring Seth Rogen I was more than a little skeptical. Mind you I really like Seth Rogen, but it seemed that him playing a “Super Hero” type was a little too hard to swallow — until I saw the movie.
Seth had a hand in writing this film, and it definitely shows. The main character, Britt Reid (aka The Green Hornet) is just enough spoiled brat and millionaire playboy dope that it really works with Rogen.
It makes the movie very approachable in a real-world way and you buy that Rogen could actually be this guy, especially since he dropped some weight for the role.
A lot of people said this movie was gonna flop, and in my opinion it didn’t. I’m not sure what the box office returns were like, but I really liked this movie. It was a lot of fun and had some great scenes.
I thought Jay Chou as Kato was fantastic. It really added to the quirkiness of the story and brought an element to the movie that definitely made it better.
There are some great comedic moments throughout and I think that is what really makes it a solid film. That and Christoph Waltz who plays the villain, Chudnofsky brilliantly.
Throw in an awesome cameo by James Franco and you have a movie that in my opinion is totally worth watching and enjoying the hell out of.

05) Moneyball

Yes, a serious film, finally. Just a good ol’ fashioned sports drama with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill.
I thought this was a really good movie. It had all of the elements of the underdog story that everyone loves and it was fun to watch Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill work together since they’re from such opposite ends of the Hollywood spectrum. I thought they both killed it in this movie.
I’m not a big baseball fan, but I really enjoyed the movie. I liken it to a serious “Major League”. Sort of.
There’s not a lot to say other than it’s a good drama, especially if you’re a sports fan. Living in the Bay Area it was cool to watch a movie that was filmed here and features the Oakland A’s.
Definitely one of the better films of 2011.

04) Immortals

From one of my favorite Directors, Tarsem Singh, IMMORTALS is a visually stunning film. If you’ve seen any of this other movies (I highly recommend THE FALL), you know that Tarsem likes to paint a very big and vivid canvas. This film was no exception. A lot of people compared it to 300, but I didn’t really think that was a fair assessment. There are some really amazing scenes in the film that will blow you away and also some great characters including Mickey Rourke’s King Hyperion and Luke Evans as Zeus. Henry Cavill (the new Superman in Zack Snyder’s remake btw) was great as Theseus, but definitely not the highlight of the movie.
Definitely an epic movie on a grand scale. Tarsem’s depiction of the Gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, etc) was a different take and I thought it was pretty original. The end of the movie is definitely interesting and fully realizes what is alluded to throughout the entire movie. What’s that you ask? Just watch the movie and see for yourself.

03) Contagion

What Top 10 List would be complete without a pandemic film? No list I’d be interested in.
Contagion was a really good flick. It has a great cast (Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law) and a very dark and morbid story.
What I liked about this movie was it’s span of time. It takes you through the outbreak and consequences of a worldwide epidemic up until the final resolution.
I thought the characters were good, the story was well written and well thought out and I enjoyed the harsh realities it presented. This is definitely not a feel good movie in any way, shape or form.
It is a very scary, sad and depressing movie, but it still has at its core the humanity a story like this needs to give it its appeal.
I think one of the best parts of this movie was watching it in the theater and someone coughs or sneezes and the entire audience laughs this semi-funny, semi-cautious laugh.
What this movie showcases is how we’re all just one nasty virus away from total chaos. It’s definitely worth watching.

02) Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Ah yes, another franchise remake. The difference with this one is that it’s actually really good.
James Franco gives a great performance as a scientist who’s trying to cure Alzheimers. What he ends up doing is giving apes a jumpstart on their intellectual evolution which gives way to Caesar, the first ape with higher cognitive functions who eventually leads an army of apes to freedom from their human captors.
The entire movie’s frame of reference is Caesar (for the most part), which makes for a far more interesting film.
The CGI is really good in this and the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge is pretty epic.
John Lithgow has a minor, but important role in this film. You can’t really go wrong with Lithgow, and this time is no exception.
Andy Serkis is the actor behind Caesar and once again he shines through an animated character in much the same way he gave a heart and a soul to Gollum and King Kong.
For a prequel remake it’s actually pretty good. I like the way they went with this “origin” story and I’m anxious to see if they follow it up with another film.

01) SuckerPunch

My favorite movie of 2011 is without a doubt, SuckerPunch. This movie got a lot of flak because it centers around 5 women who are trapped in a mental hospital who escape from reality in lucid fantasies depicting them as scantily clad, kick-ass heroines. My question to that is, SO?
Zack Snyder directed and co-wrote this movie with his wife and I found it to be a very refreshing and unique film. The visuals were amazing, the story was interesting, the music was phenomenal and the characters were bad ass and hot as fuck.
I wrote a long blog post about this movie after I saw it and talked about how it’s actually more derogatory towards men than it is women, but I have a feeling that argument would fall on deaf ears.
Overall it’s a fantasy film. It’s a big-budget action movie revolving around women who may appear to be victims, but who are actually the heroes of the story.
I think another reason people didn’t like it is because they didn’t really get it. I’m not saying this movie was like The Matrix or anything, because it’s not, but there is a subtle theme happening throughout the movie that is more directed towards the viewer rather than the characters.
It’s a really awesome movie and it’s my #1 pick for 2011. End of story.

Runner Ups / Honorable Mentions

Here’s a list of movies that deserved to be on this list but didn’t make it for whatever reason.
I won’t go off too long on these films, but just give some quick general comments.

Horrible Bosses – Hilarious movie. This almost rivaled Bridesmaids as the funniest comedy of the year for me. Jennifer Aniston in her best role ever.

30 Minutes or Less – Another hilarious movie. Danny McBride and Nick Swardson are awesome in this. Aziz Ansari and Jessie Eisenberg are great too. Fred Ward rocks as does Michael Pena.

Fast Five – Justin Lin turned the 5th movie of a franchise in to quite possibly the best of the entire series. Nuff said.

Super – A really great indie flick starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page (her best role yet). And Kevin Bacon plays a slimeball, quite well I might add.

Drive – Good flick about a stunt driver / getaway driver played by Ryan Gosling. Bryan Cranston is in this too as well as Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac and Albert Brooks. A good flick if you like gangster movies.

Real Steel – I really enjoyed this movie. I thought Hugh Jackman killed it in this role and the Anakin Skywalker lookalike, Dakota Goyo, did a wonderful job. Kevin Durand was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that.

J Edgar – This was a pretty unusual flick. Leonardo DiCaprio did an amazing job as J Edgar Hoover and Armie Hammer (the guy who played the twins in The Social Network) was magnificent. Overall it was a really good film. It should probably have been on my Top 10 list, but it was an odd film and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others on my list, even though I recognized it as a really good movie.

Hugo – This probably should have made my list too since it is better than half of the films I listed, but I saw it late in the year and it honestly didn’t have the same impact on me as some of the other films I chose. It’s a good movie, don’t get me wrong. Especially for a filmmaker. But, it did get a little slow in parts. I definitely recommend checking it out. Chloe Grace Moretz did an amazing job in this movie as did Ben Kingsley. Sasha Baron Cohen was hilarious as the Station Inspector and proves the guy can really act, not just act like a dumbass.

50/50 – A REALLY good movie that should have made my top 10, but honestly I kinda forgot about it, so I guess that says something, right? Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and one of my new favorite actresses, Anna Kendrick. Great cast, great story and a really good dramatic film. Again, this should have gone on my list, but it didn’t.

The Thing – for a remake (even though it was a prequel) The Thing was pretty awesome. I probably should have put it on my list. It definitely was a movie I really enjoyed this year and it was very well done. It ties in beautifully with the 1982 John Carpenter film and is pretty creepy overall. I highly recommend watching the 2011 prequel followed immediately by the 1982 version with Kurt Russell. They did a very good job with the continuity.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – This was a good movie, but not as good as I thought it would be given all the hype. David Fincher is a good director, but the story for this film was kind boring and the movie was way too long. Worth seeing, but not in the theater. I have to say the intro credits were fucking amazing though. Too bad the rest of the movie didn’t live up to that.

My biggest disappointment this year was definitely Cowboys & Aliens. I had such high hopes for that film.
All of the elements were in place, Jon Favreau, Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde — but alas it was a pretty flimsy film with bad dialogue and a stupid plot.

So that’s my list. I’m sure some of you disagree with some of my choices or comments, but hey, that’s the beauty of the internet. You can start your own blog and put up your own list. =)
I’m sure I missed a few movies I enjoyed, but there’s only so much time in the day and words on a blog.

Here’s to 2011. 2012 looks to be another big year for films with everything from The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers to The Hobbit and Django Unchained coming out.
I would say half of the movies in 2012 look to be remakes, sequels or movies from books. Such is the industry these days.
The reality is I’ll go to most of them and for the most part will enjoy myself, because sitting in the theater with other people eating popcorn is half of the experience!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all.

-Justin

By hypokritical | Posted in Films, Reviews, Thoughts | Tagged 2011, bridesmaids, captain america, colin farrell, contagion, fright night, harry potter, hkl films, immortals, justin berger, moneyball, rise of the planet of the apes, seth rogen, suckerpunch, the dark knight rises, the green hornet, top 10 movies, zack snyder | Comments (0)

Creating the “Stay Away Tonight” Music Video by Karyn Paige

November 19, 2011 – 1:21 am

This week we launched the new music video for Karyn Paige. The video is for the song, “Stay Away Tonight” which is off of her debut EP, ‘THE KP EP’ which is available right now at iTunes if ya didn’t know.

The concept for the “Stay Away Tonight” video was something that Karyn had brought to me early on. She sent over some videos that she wanted me to check out for the vibe and look.
These included videos from Madonna and Janet Jackson. From there I wrote up a treatment and we agreed on basically what you see in the video.
We definitely experimented a bit during the shoot, which I feel is always necessary when you get to a location — especially for a music video.

We worked with what we had and overall I think the video came out great. It’s definitely one of the best looking videos I’ve done.
I shot it on my Canon t2i with the standard 18mm-55mm lens. I would like to have used some different lenses, but our budget for this video was pretty nil, so I wasn’t afforded that luxury.
But for what I had to work with I think it all came out looking very good.

Originally we had an intro skit planned where Karyn and her band would be coming out of a gig and they’d all be going for a nightcap while Karyn was heading back to the hotel to meet up with her beau.
That’s how the video was going to start, but we ran out of time and decided to just go with what you see in the final cut.

This is the second video I’ve done with Karyn and she’s always fun to work with. She’s extremely creative, patient and willing to experiment.
With this song and video we wanted to showcase a different side to Karyn. While the “Want To” video was more of a throwback to the 80′s and 90′s alternative pop vibe, this video is definitely going back to that Madonna Truth or Dare feel from the same era exuding a classy, sexy and emotional chord that resonates well with the song’s lyrics.

If you listen to the song you’ll know that the premise is about her waiting on her lover to come over, but he never shows up until after she’s gone to bed and waited up for him all night.
It ends with her frustration yet reluctant acceptance that she will forgive him because she’s in love with him.
With the video I wanted to showcase that same storyline but make it a little more interesting.

The main storyline centers around Karyn who goes to her hotel room where she gets a text from her beau, which makes her all happy and giddy.
We then watch her shower, get dressed, put on makeup and get all done up for him looking all hot and sexy, but then we see her start to get more and more frustrated waiting on him as he doesn’t show up. This is the literal interpretation of the lyrics, visually and it tells the story quite directly.

I wanted to add a second element to the video to change it up and make it more interesting and showcase Karyn’s performance of the song.
These performance shots I wanted to be more of a “fantasy” reality that represented her internal feelings about what was happening.

We do bridge these two realities briefly and there are two scenes that I really love in which we play with this a bit. One is during the breakdown when she’s on the bed and looking in to the mirror on the headboard and standing in the mirror is her lover. Some people never notice him standing there until the second or third time through, which is great, but to me it’s just one of those cool moments that you can get away with in music videos that tell a lot in one shot.
The other shot I really dig is one I wanted to do from the beginning which is the one towards the end where we see in the mirror the internalized KP looking on with sadness and slight contempt as she’s watching herself give in to this guy who just fucked her over, but deep inside she feels the pain of what he’s done. I think it’s a profound moment in the video followed by the final shot of the “DO NOT DISTURB” sign which instead reads “DON’T BOTHER”, which of course has multiple meanings and presents the viewer with the question of, did she kick him out or are they gettin’ their freak on?
I like to leave that up to the individual viewer.

The video’s look and feel wasn’t just Karyn and I though, most of the visual elements came from Tremaine Maurice and Debra Gilbert, two of Karyn’s closest friends who always advise and work with her on makeup, wardrobe and overall style. They contributed a lot to this video and give it a lot of the visual elements that make it unique. I can’t thank them enough for their participation in the shoot.
Karyn, as always, was also very hands on throughout the process and was very integral in making this video come to life.
She has a vision and sees it through until the end to make sure it’s done right. I respect and admire that in an artist and working with her is always a learning experience as much as it is just fun and a really good time.

The entire video took us 2 days to shoot. We filmed it at Hotel Frank in San Francisco and we were all geeked on the room’s look as it matched what we were going for perfectly.
So, enjoy the video, spread it around, buy Karyn’s EP and look for another one coming very soon!!!

By hypokritical | Posted in Filmmaking, Music Video, Photos, Thoughts, Videos | Tagged bay area, canon, Filmmaking, hkl films, hotel frank, independent, justin berger, karyn paige, Music Video, pop, San Francisco, soul, stay away tonight | Comments (0)

11.11.11

November 12, 2011 – 1:39 am

“That’s amazing, I’ve got the same combination on my luggage.”

It’s November 11th, 2011 and I don’t feel any different. Not that I should, but I’m sure someone somewhere has some sort of theory that this date signifies some major cosmic event.
We did nearly get hit by a comet the other day. That was exciting. 200,000 miles from Earth — that’s closer than the Moon. May seem like a lot, but in planetary body terms that’s a little too close for comfort in my book.
The good news is, we’re all still here — for better or for worse. The Occupy Movement is still going strong and seems to be building slowly but surely.
I’ve been watching all of the insanity in Oakland unfold over the past month. Crazy shit.
I don’t know what’s up with the Police around here but they sure are a surly bunch. So eager to lob tear gas and hit people with batons and rubber bullets.
It’s pretty terrible, really.

On top of all that the Bay Area (where I live and breathe) just wrapped up our fall/summer where we had 70-80 degree weather from late September through the beginning of November.
That may sound normal for California, but I assure you it was not for us. Considering our summer was pretty non-existent and consisted of rain, drizzle and overcast bullshit, it was kind of shocking to get consistently nice weather so late in the year.
But I enjoyed it and as my dad always says, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I didn’t.
I rode that bitch into winter though.

So that has been my environment for the past few months. Craziness, I know.
Amidst it all I’ve managed to stay on top of my game and am not only busier than I’ve ever been, but am making enough money that I can actually save some.
Just a nice little nest egg for when/if shit goes south (which it always does eventually right? I mean that’s the law of the universe. Nothing lasts forever…)
It’s not that I’m a pessimist, it’s just that I know when something awesome is happening there is a point in the future where it all ends. I just like to be a little prepared for those moments better than I used to be back in the day.
Not to say that I’ve had a shitty life, because in all honesty I think I’ve had it pretty good, but I’ve had some rough patches (like everyone else) that I didn’t bother to prepare for and they kicked my ass.
Of course they made me stronger, better, faster…(cue Bionic Man sound effect)…but they also made me realize I don’t want to go through that shit ever again.

So yeah, things are good. I’ve got several music videos in the works currently including one for Lateef the Truthspeaker (Latyrx, Fatboy Slim, The Mighty Underdogs) off of his new album FIREWIRE (which is a really great album – I highly recommend you go pick that shit up right now). The song is called “Oakland” and features Del The Funky Homosapien and The Grouch as well as Karyn Paige on the hook (that’s the chorus for you non-hep cats).
The other video is for The Gift of Gab who also has a new record, but his isn’t coming out until January. It’s called THE NEXT LOGICAL PROGRESSION and what I’ve heard so far is fuckin’ sick. The song we’re doing a video for off that record is called “Everything is Fine” and it features Latyrx (Lyrics Born & Lateef the Truthspeaker) and George Clinton. Yes, the Godfather of Funk.
We just finished location scouting for that video the other day and found an amazing place on Mare Island out by Vallejo. Some old buildings that are empty and work perfectly for the treatment.
I’m really excited to start shooting that one. We’re calling it our “Thriller” because like MJ’s classic video we plan on having a short film vibe and story interwoven into the video. That’s all I’m gonna say.
That shit is going to be awesome to shoot.

Both videos I’m working on with Maximum Flavor Media, a group of guys I met, of all places, via Craigslist.
Our first project was the HELP! I’M ALIVE… WonderCon Promo from earlier this year and since then we’ve worked on a few things including the Lyrics Born music video for “Coulda Woulda Shoulda” and some other fun stuff. Great bunch of guys who are extremely talented and just cool to hang around.
I highly recommend them for whatever project you have. Music video, film, commercial, PSA — these guys can do it all, and do it well.
What can I say, I like to talk up my friends, but it’s in no way a bias, these guys really are good at what they do.

We’re still working diligently on the HELP! I’M ALIVE… web series. We’re currently running our second IndieGoGo campaign to raise production costs to shoot the pilot episode (check the widget to the right). I’m really excited to get started on shooting that as well. We’ve re-written the pilot and have come up with a version that is better and includes the entire cast.
That project is going to be a lot of fun!

On top of all of that I’m just working my “day jobs”, which is basically artist management.
I dig it. It’s definitely made me much more business savvy and being in the music business has always been a dream of mine, so I can’t complain.
Sometimes it can get a little monotonous, but even on my worst days it’s still pretty cool.

Heading to LA this weekend for a few days. Gonna meet up with some people, do a little work, a little pleasure and see some folks I haven’t seen in a long ass time.
I’m looking forward to it. I actually enjoy Hollywood quite a bit. I used to live there and it’s always felt like a second home to me.
BUT the Bay Area is definitely a much better place for me right now. Way more chill and relaxed but still viable enough in the industry to make a mark.

So yeah, I guess that’s my blog post.
We’re just about to Thanksgiving already and it’s crazy how fast the time goes by.
I’m going home in December which should be fun. Get to see my parents and visit the town I grew up in.
That’s always fun. No really, it is.

2012 is just on the horizon and in some ways that’s crazy to me. 2012 was always the future. Some far off time when we would have flying cars and jet packs.
Well, in all honesty there are prototypes for both, but it doesn’t feel exactly like the future I envisioned.
Still, it’s a trip being alive in this day and age. I just hope we can keep from killing ourselves before we get to make some really cool shit.

If you’re in the San Francisco area Thanksgiving weekend you should come out and join us at The Independent.
Latyrx is performing two back-to-back nights. It’s gonna be awesome. There will be no better party that weekend, I guarantee you!

I’ll leave you with a funny video from a session Lateef and I did last week. It’s an outtake in which we were nearly bombarded by two dozen geese.
Always craziness…
Take care of yourselves and if I could give any of you words of wisdom, they would be “don’t shit where you eat”. Until next time, Universe…

note: it was 11.11.11 when I started writing this and by the time I published it it was already 11.12.11. Yeah, whatever.

By hypokritical | Posted in Events, Filmmaking, music, Music Video, Photos, Thoughts, Videos | Tagged 2012, bay area, firewire, gift of gab, help i'm alive, hkl films, hollywood, indiegogo, lateef the truthspeaker, latyrx, lyrics born, maximum flavor media, music videos, oakland, occupy oakland, the independent, web series, zombies | Comments (0)

‘HELP! I’M ALIVE…’ IndieGoGo Campaign #2 for Our Zombie Web Series

November 2, 2011 – 9:54 am

I’m baaaaa-aaaaack!
I really need to blog more. I mean it’s kinda pointless to have a blog if you don’t use it, right?
Maybe.

Anyways, I just wanted to post about our second IndieGoGo campaign we’re currently running for the web series I’m involved in, ‘HELP! I’M ALIVE…’ — a post-apocalyptic story about zombies and survivors.
The last fundraising campaign we raised just over $1,000 but it’s not enough.
We are currently asking for $5,000 to shoot the pilot episode. If you’re interested in hearing more about what the show is and who’s involved check out the videos below and click on the link to IndieGoGo in the widget to check out the perks available for the different tiers of contributions.

I’m really excited about this project! I’m directing and co-producing and overall the experience has been extremely fun and has taught me a lot.
Why we need the money via IndieGoGo is so we can maintain a very professional look and feel to the show. We don’t want this to come across like a couple of guys running around with some iPhones, we want to do it right which means hiring a crew for cameras, lighting, sound, makeup etc etc.

We’ve brought on board Maximum Flavor Media to help produce and shoot the series.
They’re the same team that helped with our WonderCon Promo back in April.

So take a few minutes to check us out and if you feel like pitching in, we’d really appreciate the support!

Listen to myself and HIA creator Anthony Larice on our return to Geek Speak Radio!

By hypokritical | Posted in Filmmaking, Videos | Tagged anthony larice, bay area, fundraising, geek speak radio, help i'm alive, hkl films, independent, indiegogo, justin berger, maximum flavor, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, web series, zombies | Comments (0)