Catching Song With Bobby McFerrin

A wonderful interview with Bobby McFerrin on his childhood, his faith, his musical philosophy--all as a precursor to his upcoming album, Spirityouall.

The Man at the Counter

The Man at the Counter from Brian McAllister on Vimeo.

A story about life, love, and sugar packets.

Starring: Ian Hyland, Bill McHugh and Tom Everett Scott

Director: Brian McAllister
Screenplay by: Rebecca Sue Haber
Producer: Robert Cammisa
Director of Photography: Dennis Donovan
Music: Jarkko Hietanen
Executive Producer: Jim Mayzik

All tips from the "Tip Jar" go towards completing our next short film, Patti and Me, Minus Patti. Thank you!

An account of the first days of shooting this film, illustrated with production stills, is available at:
http://philhaber.com/2011/09/11/the-making-of-the-man-at-the-counter-%E2%80%93-part-i/
and
http://philhaber.com/2011/09/21/the-making-of-the-man-at-the-counter-part-ii/

Festival Screenings:
2011 New Hampshire Film Festival
2011 Anchorage Int'l Film Festival (Honorable Mention)
2012 Dam Short Film Festival
2012 Skagway Winter Weekend Film Festival
2012 Omaha Film Festival
2012 Charlotte Film Festival
2012 Garden State Film Festival
2012 Phoenix Film Festival
2012 Rincon Int'l Film Festival
2012 Crossroads Film Festival
2012 West Chester Film Festival
2012 Siouxland Film Festival (Audience Award)
2012 Lighthouse International Film Festival
2012 Rainier Independent Film Festival
2012 Waterfront Film Festival
2012 Feel Good Film Festival
2012 Woods Hole Film Festival (Runner Up, Jury Prize)
2012 HollyShorts Film Festival
2012 DC Shorts Film Festival
2012 Rome International Film Festival
2012 Chesapeake Film Festival
2012 Williamstown Film Festival
2012 Rockport Film Festival
2012 Landlocked Film Festival
2012 Feast for the Eyes Food & Wine Film Festival - Minneapolis
2012 Mill Valley Film Festival
2013 Julien Dubuque Int'l Film Festival

twitter.com/brianmcall - www.NoteToSelfFilms.com - http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2013/02/26/the-man-at-the-counter/ - facebook.com/TheManAtTheCounter - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2011308/

© 2011 Note to Self Films

Ursus (charcoal animation)

URSUS from Atom Art on Vimeo.

A charcoal on paper animation about a motorcycling circus bear who decides to leave the daily routine and takes off to the forest where his true happiness seems to dwell.

International Festival Premier at Clermont-Ferrand 34th Int'l Short Film Festival, France, 2012
Selected at 70+ film festivals
Awarded:
The Best Debut Film of the year at National Film Festival “Lielais Kristaps”, Latvia, 2012
Special International Jury Prize at the 14th International Animation Festival in Hiroshima, Japan, 2012
The Best First Film Zlatko Grgić Award at Animafest Zagreb, Croatia, 2012
The Best Short Film Award at Fredrikstad Animation Festival, Norway, 2012
The Best Short Animation Film at Ozu Film Festival, Italy, 2012
The Best Animation Award in 14th Patras International Panorama Film Festival, Patra, Greece, 2012
FIPRESCI International Film Critics Award at National Film Festival “Lielais Kristaps”, Latvia, 2012
Jury’s Special Mention I at Animation Film Festival Animated Dreams, Estonia, 2012
Directed, Script & Art: Reinis Pētersons
Produced by Atom Art

Creative Producer: Edmunds Jansons
Producer: Sabīne Andersone

Embrace (dance film)

EMBRACE from Ashley Rae Pearsall on Vimeo.

Embrace (2012) is a 2D motion graphics work that combines live action video of a dance performance with graphic effects to demonstrate an artist’s journey towards creative ecstasy. By using a visually rich multi-planar space in tandem with three distinct color palettes, Pearsall reveals the difficult and time-consuming creative struggles that are a necessary component of the artistic process.

A film by Ashley Rae Pearsall

Performed by Megan E. Martinez
Additional Cinematography by John Mattiuzzi
Additional Editing by Stephanie Andreou
Music by Valtteri Kujala

Smile

Smile from Misko Iho on Vimeo.

Director Misko Iho
www.miskoiho.com

Cinematographer Juge Heikkilä
www.jugeheikkila.com

Colorist Timo Luomanen

Whirling Fluorescent Wind - feng ying po suo

A collaboration between me and my dear friend fengda2870, who deserves the largest share of credit for all the work done animating my flame, and their team. You can read about their creative process here http://www.fxysw.com/thread-1611-1-1.html .
Sadly I can't speak Chinese so I hope my translation of their title is fine. Original title is 风荧婆娑 "feng ying po suo".

The base flame is my fractal artwork "Not Here" http://lindelokse.deviantart.com/art/Not-Here-270730178 http://www.behance.net/gallery/3D-Apophysis-Flames/3493803 which parameters I provided to Fengda.

Base Apophysis fractal flame parameters by Chiara Biancheri "Lindelokse" http://lindelokse.deviantart.com/ http://www.behance.net/lindelokse
Animation made by fengda2870 http://fengda2870.deviantart.com/ http://www.fxysw.com
video clips by yunduan

DIG

“Dig” is the story of a young boy who attempts the impossible: digging a hole to China! On his pursuit toward his lost love Sun on the other side of the world, Doug encounters three disgruntled puppets: Marvin the promiscuous Rabbit, Dr. Archibald Hayes the Worm, and Merlot the French Weasel. Each animal shares a loveless outlook on Doug’s journey. Will love find a way? Find out!

Doug - Justin Tinucci
Sun - Eleanor Lee
Marvin the Rabbit - Jason Kelley
Merlot the Weasel - Jeff Marlow
Dr. Hayes the Worm - Gregory Giles

Writer / Director - Philip Hodges
Producer - Tyler Knell
Cinematographer - Raul B Fernandez
Production Designer - Heather Reese
Editor - Michael Lower
Score - Matthew O'Malley
Sound Designer - Sung Rok Choi

Light (Video)

LIGHT from Matt Kleiner on Vimeo.

The Reason of Existence

Music By: Ennio Morricone & Yo Yo Ma
Video Created By: Annie
vimeo.com/Annietoang2012
youtube.com/Watchyou2008

Vimeo Channel : vimeo.com/channels/268067
Vimeo group : vimeo.com/groups/122746

Fragments of Iceland

FRAGMENTS OF ICELAND
A short film by Lea Amiel and Nicolas Libersalle
Music Credits : To build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra

Eva Beneke ~ Coming Home

Eva Beneke playing Coming Home on a 1931 Domingo Esteso

Guitarist Eva Beneke playing the title track from her debut CD 'Coming Home' on a 1931 Domingo Esteso. Engaging and warm, like sweet honey on a Spring morning.

Laundry

OFFICIAL SELECTION 2010:

Palm Springs Int'l ShortFest
San Francisco Int'l Film Festival
LA Shorts Fest
Oakland Underground Film Festival
BE Film Festival

In an eccentric, old-school laundromat, a young man is lulled into a daydream while waiting for his wash cycle to finish. Laundry is a quirky and colorful film that juxtaposes the mundane with the magical.

Written/Directed by: Danielle Katvan
Produced by: Saleah Askia
DP: Michael Epple
Starring: Scott McCabe and Beatrice Basso

www.daniellekatvan.com
www.headlight-films.com

The Aurora (Time Lapse)

The Aurora from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Follow on http://www.facebook.com/TSOphotography

The Photographer spent a week capturing one of the biggest aurora borealis shows in recent years. He Shot in and around Kirkenes and Pas National Park bordering Russia, at 70 degree north and 30 degrees east. Temperatures around -25 Celsius. Good fun.
Available in Digital Cinema 4k.

Hearts: The Valentine’s Day Video

Hearts (The Valentines Day Video) from Moist Creation on Vimeo.

A collection of over 30 Hearts in 40 seconds.
Happy Valentines Day!

Original Song by Stefano Mocini

WING

Wing from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.

Bachelor film project 2012 from The Animation Workshop.

Story: A solitary, one winged creature called Wing is harassed by a group of oppressive crows due to being weak and different from them. He decides that he wants to overcome his disability and escape from the forest. He builds a catapult and a mechanical wing to accomplish this. When he launches himself away from the forest, the wing malfunctions, and he crashes into the territory of the crows. The crows are about to harm him, but are then lured away by a two-winged humanoid, who the crows attack instead. Wing finds the creature, and discovers it is a female of his own kind, and that the crows have torn one of her wings off. As the crows come towards them, Wing gets the idea that he and the female can fly in tandem by flapping each of their single wings while holding onto each other, and they manage to escape from the forest.

By: Asger Grevil, Mette V. Madsen, Jonas Kirkegaard, Michael Bech

http://www.animwork.dk/en

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Animation-Workshop-Official-Page/10452541819

Fergus the Wonderful Cat

The Long Gaze of Endearment

Gives Way to Wistful Dreams

And Moments of Great Surprise

Followed by Periods of Feigned Nonchalance

Brazen Bids for Attention

And Just Plain Serious Cuteness…

 

Fergus’s Bio

Fergus came to me as a little tyke, just as he is pictured here. He was about 3 months old and had been abandoned as a six-week-old kitten and left to survive on his own. He was found with a group of other kittens who were not related to him. A very nice man and his wife who live in Buellton, CA. fostered Fergus and 5 of the other kittens until they were big enough and chubby enough to give away. Fergus was the liveliest and most playful of the bunch, so I chose him. He still is! We have been together over a year now. We have had some rough times. He was in an accident, broke his leg and almost did not make it, but he is a survivor, and now we are a lot more careful! We are a team and we love each other. There is no better companion than a good animal and Fergus is a Wonderful Cat!

~Noelle Renee

Traveling with a Good Friend

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: "I'm with you kid. Let's go."
~Maya Angelou

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Inspired, in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, “Morris Lessmore” is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation) award winning author/ illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a new narrative experience that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. “Morris Lessmore” is old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time.

I loved this little film. It was uplifting, poignant and hopeful. It is truly about a life of devotion to something that one loves and the rewards of that devotion.

~Noelle Renee

Happiness

©2011 Thomas Hawk Some Rights Reserved.

So Much Happiness
By Naomi Shihab Nye

for Michael

It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.
It doesn’t need you to hold it down.
It doesn’t need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records…

Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.

~Naomi Shihab Nye

~~

About the Photographer

Photo by Karen Hutton

Thomas Hawk

Sometimes I like to think of myself as a photography factory. I see my photographs mostly as raw material for projects that might be worked on at some point later on in life.
When I'm not taking or processing the pictures I'm mostly thinking about the pictures. I'm trying to publish a library of 1,000,000 finished, processed photographs before I die.
The absurdity of my obsessive compulsive view on photography is not lost on me. But it is the absurdity of life that I find most beautiful of all. Where Sisyphus had his stone I have my camera and a bag full of lenses.
Document, explore, lather, rinse, repeat. Photography for me then becomes a kind of hyperactivity, loosely arranged and presented. My work is less about individual images and instead more about the power of a massive amount of excessive and disjointed images where stories, characters and places sometimes stay and other times reappear or disappear entirely for no good reason at all.
Most of my images are Creative Commons licensed, non commercial with attribution.  If you'd like to use any CC licensed images for non commercial or personal purposes feel free.  If you'd like to use any of my images commercially, please contact me.

The Voice of Your Eyes

Delicate ©2011Thomas Hawk Some Rights Reserved.

I don't know what it is about you that closes and opens;

only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all the roses.

~e.e. cummings