hey friends,

sorry for the lack of posts recently. I’ve been celebrating & traveling around the country. should have some fun stuff for your in a couple of weeks, including a new “Top 10″ list!

but until then, I hope this great claymation video will tide you over.

-Luke

Happy Holidays Everyone!

here’s something I saw recently, it’s inspired by one of my all time favorites “Calvin & Hobbes.”

and here is a Holiday classic…

The Real Luke – Holiday Greeting

Luke Asa, Filmmaker | Myspace Video

-Luke

hey friends,

not too much happening this week. I’ve been continuing w/ using the program AVID to edit footage from my family’s 1999 trip to Europe. it’s been a slow process, I work for a bit, encounter a problem, head to the internet and do some research, figure out the solution and continue. it really makes me appreciate how well I’ve come to learn Final Cut Pro over the years. using that program is really second nature for me – I don’t even really have to think about it – I just “do” it.

also been writing a bunch, but there’s not really anything to share at this moment in regards to that. awesome stuff on the way!

here’s a incredibly gorgeous video that shows Earth from space. personally I’d rather it be classical music… but the footage is so compelling that it’s ok.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

from the website:

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions
28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October,
2011

these shots from space help remind me that we are all in this thing together.

-Luke

howdy there. this week I’m going to share a couple things I’ve seen recently and enjoyed. hope you do too.

-Luke

“Duck Tron” – duct tape and an internet meme

Duck Tron from Ryactive on Vimeo.

“Eye of the Storm” – a steampunky music video

hey friends,

this week I thought I’d take a moment and talk a little bit about what I’ve been doing that is NOT all about CERTIFIED. because believe it or not, I have been doing some other things.

as you may recall, earlier this year I left my staff editing position at a post facility. since then I’ve been doing freelance editorial for a number of different people and companies. it has been a few years since I was a regular freelancer and it’s taken a bit of time time to remember what it’s like. and what is it like you may ask?

well, it’s a LOT of emailing, meeting up for coffee, talking on the phone, and more emailing. it’s a lot of gently reminding people that you are available for work…and then reminding them that they still need to pay you. these aren’t even factors when you have a steady gig and they occupy a lot of the day.

but when you work from home, you can take a nap after lunch. so there’s that.

so in an effort to keep the lights on at YETIESQUE, delicious noms in my belly, and travel to festivals w/ my film I have worked on: a 3D TV entertainment news show, a brand video, a bat mitzvah video, a documentary trailer, a short film, and a reality TV news video blog. there’s a chance I’ll be working on a music video in the next week or so.

here’s the trailer I edited:

of course, the “day job” is really only 1/2 the picture. the other part is the creative work I’ve been doing. this has mostly been writing. lots and lots of writing.

one of the projects I’ve been spending time on is revising a feature length screenplay called SIDE AFFECTS. it is something that I “finished” near the beginning of the year. I use the “scare quotes” because a screenplay is never really finished… but I did complete it to the point where I was okay with sending it to some friends for feedback. after talking with them I made some revisions and set it aside for a bit.

now the script is a part of my Writers’ Group and I’m getting another set of notes and responses. it’s a good process and I feel like the screenplay has already improved a great deal through the process.

the other writing project is a bit more amorphous. I have been working on a series of treatments for other feature film writing projects. a screenplay is a LOT of work and before I embark on the next one, I’d like to have some guidance as to what I write.

this is where the treatments come in. (a treatment can be anything from a paragraph synopsis like you’d read in a movie review – to a full on prose version of the proposed story.) as I was traveling over the summer I brained stormed about fifty potential ideas. these were as long as a paragraph to as short as a sentence or two.

after I weeded out the obviously really bad ones I took the list to Kimberley. She and I went over the list and selected our favorite dozen or so. with this list of selects I went back to my writing cave. over the next couple of weeks I day dreamed, brainstormed, and let the ideas float around in my subconscious. then I took those and expanded them each to a half page.

I really enjoy the creative process and being able to “dream of potential.” this part of the process doesn’t require a lot of formula or structure, it’s really all about the story, and characters, and ideas. I’ve been free to let my mind wander as I work this ideas out. and it’s been cool to see where the stories have gone. some of the ideas have progressed like I’d have expected, others have gone in entirely new places. these are the “beautiful accidents” that the panelists spoke about in SDCC Comic Con blog. and finding them has a been a lot of fun for me.

the next step will be to take these expanded treatments – narrow the list down further and expand the select-selects even more.

ok, that’s it for now. the emails are starting to pile up again.

and since it’s only a mostly non CERTIFIED blog… here’s a little interview I did at Shriekfest.

enjoy!

-Luke

howdy friends,

it’s been an exciting last couple of weeks for CERTIFIED. we had a really amazing time at Shriekfest. (we being Kimberley and I… not the “royal” we. haha)

there was an interesting mix of films ranging from the intellectually driven sci-fi PIG to the mocumentary-thriller THE FEED to the normal blood & guts sort of fare that one would expect at a “horror” film festival. the festival did a great job of programming a diverse and interesting group of films.

with the Festival Director Denise Gossett at the Opening Night party.

there were a few shorts that I particularly enjoyed including SUMMER OF THE ZOMBIES a comedic tale about a Vegetarian girl that when turned to a zombie craves only…..produce.

you thought I was going to say “Graaaaaaaaains” didn’t you? =)

it also features the wonderful Barak Hardley – who you may recognize as “Carl” from UPDATING PAIGE.

another one we enjoyed was MY UNDEADLY by Dave Reda. it’s an un unconventional tale of a zombie that craves more than brains. I really can’t tell you too much more than that without spoiling the film… so I won’t.

but what I can do is show you this mocummercial for a zombie fighting product called “The Zomb-Ez.”

… and to top it all off, CERTIFIED won Best Super Short! (film under 10min)

here’s a picture of Kimberley and I with the trophy.

—

then this last weekend we went to the BEND Film Festival in… you guessed it, Bend, OR.

this was a pretty amazing festival. there was great food, the staff went out of their way to help the filmmakers, the screenings were good, and the town really does love film. I got the chance to chat with so many locales who really enjoy being a part of the festival.

some filmmaker friends

while I was there I got the chance to explore the area a bit, including a walk by the Deschutes river and a hike up a local peak.

here are some pictures:

and of course, I watched a lot of movies. Some of my favorites included AN ORDINARY FAMILY, DARWIN, and KINYARWANDA.

here’s the trailer for DARWIN.

Darwin – Trailer from Darwin Documentary on Vimeo.

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and I’ve very pleased to announce that we’ve been accepted to the Eerie Horror Film Festival!

October 27th-30th in Erie, PA.

should be a pretty great way to spend the Halloween Weekend!!!

-Luke

greetings fellow riders of the great intertubez!

happy Friday! it’s been a good week here in Los Angeles. Shriekfest has started! I’m excited to see some horror & sci-fi films and meet a bunch of other genre filmmakers. CERTIFIED screens Sunday at 2pm. details here.

a year or so ago the trailer of THE REAL LUKE: PURSUANCE OF JUSTICE had just been released. I had a very special guest blog written by the one and only The Real Luke. he details the Hollywood Adventure that led him to California to make his first epic, feature length motion picture. here is the trailer to refresh your memory:

when we were on set, we ended up shooting a LOT of extra material. specifically in the desert scene. I had the project pretty well story boarded and knew what shots were needed to make the trailer. but we were running ahead of schedule and our Director of Photography, John Matysiak had some ideas for additional shots… so we shot a bunch of material that didn’t make it into the cut.

while editing I realized that there was enough footage to make an entire OTHER project. but there were a few slight issues. we were missing a number of “connecting” shots. after all, we weren’t trying to make a cohesive scene – we were trying to make a trailer. we had a bunch of cool action, but the moments weren’t really tied together.

in order to show a story that made sense, we’d need to film these “connecting” shots. having reshoots wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, since I was the actor, owned all the props, and the locations were “free”…but there was a BIG problem.

I had shaved my beard.

so… how would we do it?

did I need to spend a few months regrowing my beard?
should we only shoot me from the back?
what were the simplest possible shots w/o showing my face that we could use?

together w/ my intern Kevin Allen-Bicknell we laid out the shots we had in the best possible order. then discussed what was missing story wise and how we could tell that story with INSERT shots.

we went outside the yetiesque offices and shot those inserts on my Canon Powershot. then cut them into the sequence with the HD material. it wasn’t pretty, but it did let us see if the story made sense. and it did. next we needed to film those insert in HD. so on one of the scouting days for CERTIFIED I brought my Mackinaw, camo, and hatchet to set. John and I walked down the road a bit and quickly filmed the few shots.

they cut in perfectly. our plan had worked!

I wanted to set up the project as a “sneak peak” into the post production of the film, so I added the timecode window burns that normally are found on footage during the editing process. there aren’t filters for these, so they we all made by hand. yes, that means EVERY frame is a different title. (I can talk about what all the numbers mean if anyone is interested…let me know)

here’s the finished project, THE REAL LUKE: PURSUANCE OF JUSTICE: JUST DESSERT.

-Luke

howdy friends,

so the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival was a blast! I met a lot of cool people, saw some great films and our screening went really well. it was really encouraging to see the range of people that responded to CERTIFIED – from the 6 year old boy behind me telling his dad “that was soooo cool” to the silver haired lady telling me she recognized the story from OPEN WINDOW. plus I got to hang out w/ some filmmakers I’d met at other festivals and get to know them better. (and no, the leaves had not changed yet.)

like I said last week, at Dragon*Con I went to a bunch of different panels.

I want to briefly mention a few things I learned at those…

Practical vs. CGI Effects in Filmmaking
this panel was mostly concerning set design. when should you build a physical set…and when should you construct the set digitally? there was a person from each camp, and a filmmaker who’s feature was playing at the festival.

Practical = actually building something physical. It could be a plywood set painted to look like stone or a miniature forest made out of foam and pvc pipe – but it actually really there. think the original STAR WARS

CGI = computer generated images. nothing is really “there.” think the new STAR WARS.

one thing I found really interesting was the idea that REAL props are sometimes less expensive than prop-props. for instance, the “Practical” filmmakers were building a steampunk airship and needed a nautical style ship wheel. to get the “prop” version was $400. to buy a REAL wheel was about $50. this seems a little counter intuitive, but the lesson is to be creative when making sets. go to junk shops, search ebay, visit recycling centers, etc. there is no need to limit yourself to actual “prop” sellers.

everyone agreed that the main issue with building sets was the space. it can be very expensive to find a space big enough, that you can keep long enough, to both build the sets and then shoot on. one of the panelist rented a warehouse in a rundown part of town, another used several friends basements.

personally I really like the aesthetic of physical sets. a combination of CGI and practical can be very effective and often makes the most sense. if you need a controlled apartment in NYC, but can’t go there. build the apartment, but then CGI the city out the window, or better yet – shoot a REAL shot of the city and composite it into the window…

I feel that there is something to actually physical objects that both actors and audience respond to. you could write a whole essay or book about the realness of the motion picture image…so I’m not going to get into that right now.

Dark Fairy Tales
this panel was directly after the “Vampires, What’s Next?” panel and a lot of the panelists and audience went from one to the other. it was interesting hearing the panelists give slightly different “who I am, what I’ve done” speeches for the different crowds.

as you may know if you’ve followed my blog for a bit, I’m very interested in fairy tales, myths, the supernatural, and the extranormal. so this talk was right up my alley. (a dark and creepy alley with at least one thing that goes “bump” in the night. hehe)

one of the issues many of the panelists had was with the Disney-fication of fairy tales. the original tales are pretty dark…and definitely not “G” rated in their amount of violence. they have been changed for the masses and the panelists preferred the original versions.

still it begs the question – are those original tales appropriate for small children? is it a bad thing to introduce kids to these worlds and moral messages in a more sanitized version? if they are really interested in the tales they could seek out the originals on their own, or introduced to in a English class in junior high or high school, right?

I’m not sure what the correct answer is. probably it’s a decision for parents to make depending on the particular child. that being said, I don’t think it’s an outright bad thing to have multiple versions of the tales.

anther tidbit I picked up at this panel was about antagonists. it’s important to remember that the Hero can only be as heroic and the Villain is villainous. so what makes a great villain?

one of the panels said, “a great villain is someone with good intentions that doesn’t know when they’ve crossed the line.” they used the example of Magneto from X-MEN: FIRST CLASS. here was a man that wanted justice and to protect other mutants. but the idea of justice turned into wanton bloodlust & revenge. and the goal of protecting other mutants turned into the genocide of non-mutants. his original goals were not inherently evil, but he was not able to maintain his righteousness. this is a common element of Tragedies too, where the protagonist descends into evil & eventual ruin.

it’s interesting to think of the Antagonists as the hero of their own tragic tale.

—-

I know that’s just two little stories from the panels, but I think it gives a good idea of the breadth and depth of the offerings at these conventions. I LOVE going to these sorts of things and listening to other artists & creators talk. there is a wealth of knowledge and experience out there, and conventions are a great place to find it in a concentrated form.

—

here is one of my favorite shorts from the convention. it’s something that is was both shot with “practical” effects and is a dark fairy tale – that’s suitable for children.

“Bedtime for Timmy”

-Luke

p.s. one more festival announcement…

Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival, Washington D.C.

hey friends,

sorry I didn’t get the comic-con blog up this week. between prepping for film festivals and the “day” job, I’ve been pretty wiped out.

click HERE for the page with details on the CERTIFIED US Premiere at the HollyShorts Film Festival.

in the absence of panel talk and cos-play pictures, here’s a cool little short made from images captured by the Cassini Space craft.

CASSINI MISSION from Chris Abbas on Vimeo.

-Luke

hey friends,

another year, another comic con. after a fun filled, and exhausting 4 days in San Diego I hit the ground running on a new gig…so I have yet to go through my notes from the convention. expect some stories and insights in the coming weeks.

just a small teaser about one of the things I saw – it’s a new webseries that is pretty remarkable in scope. it will be over 40 episodes…and almost 4 hours worth of content. my friend and collaborator Brett Pawlak was the Director of Photography and was nice enough to take me along to their panel and introduce me to many of the people that made the project a reality.

here’s the trailer (it might not show up in Safari)

ANNNNNND…I have another festival to announce for CERTIFIED – Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival!

I’ll be going to Atlanta at the beginning of September! I’m pretty excited to get to spend some more time in the South…even better that it’s at a comic convention =)

anyone have some firsthand information on the city they’d care to share?

-Luke