Happy New Year!

2007 was all about putting up sand bags outside my house so that the creative juices that burst from within my the right side of my mind wouldn't flood my home town. I am completely drenched, and I thank Hurricane IDOM for getting me wet. I have always wanted to be a part of a film production team and this year I got just that. I knew from the beginning, though, that this would be a challenge, since I am a solo kind of guy when it comes to my creativity. I admit, I was a bit nervous at first, but in the end, it donned on me that joining this group was the best thing I ever did for the right side of my brain. What an incredible year. I'd like to take this time to thank Evan, Sig, Dinah, Rob, Joe, Rick, Tom, Joanne, and Kirk for coming along on this crazy ride.


For those who are new to Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files, and have no clue what I am talking about, Evan Donn sums up IDOM best:

For the past few years Evan Donn has been teaching classes in After Effects and Final Cut Pro in the Multimedia department at College Of San Mateo. Every semester there were a couple of students who just wouldn't go home when the class was over, staying after with a seemingly endless stream of questions about every imaginable aspect of video production. Many of them returned semester after semester for whichever class Evan was teaching at the time. In the spring of 2006 Evan taught a new class called DV Workflow which consisted almost entirely of these "irregulars". DV Workflow became essentially an 'everything but the kitchen sink' type of class covering the entire process of video production with an emphasis on producing video for the web. As part of DV Workflow every member of the class had to produce an episodic video series for the web. This led to various members teaming up to work on each others' videos as well as providing valuable input on the finished videos during class screenings. When the class ended everyone felt that the working dynamic of the group was worth continuing.

Led by Chief Instigator Tony Nguyen they dubbed themselves 'The Evan Donn School of Film' and began holding quarterly screenings of everyone's current work. In 2006 several members of the group attended one of the 48 Hour Film screenings, and they all walked out with the same thought - we can do that. From that point on the quarterly screenings took on a new direction as 'challenges' were thrown out with criteria similar to the 48 Hour Film Project. This helped prepare the team members for the challenge of building a short film around a character, prop and line of dialogue. As the 2007 competition drew closer Mr. Nguyen once again took the lead and signed up the team. Put on the spot to come up with a team name he considered and rejected many possibilities before the ideal name 'donned' on him...

Despite their history together, the 2007 48 Hour Film Project was the first time all members of the group had worked together on a single project...but it definitely won't be the last...

Firefox

Dinah deSpenza called me last week and noted that she was having technical difficulties posting her videos onto her blog. It was really odd, because she couldn't see the "add video" icon on her site. I could see mine very clearly, but I couldn't see why she didn't have it. It turns out, it was a Safari issue! Why would Safari not show this? I can see it clearly in Firefox! Safari is odd. In fact, I've had some problems in the past with this browser. I've had issues trying to set up evites in Safari and I've pretty much stopped blogging in that problematic browser. We brought this issue up in class, and Professor Donn gave a detailed explanation of why Safari is what it is. I am not going to attempt to reiterate what he said because it was just way too technical. All I know is that I'm sticking to Firefox, and I recommended that Dinah does the same!

12 Days Of Donn

IT DONNED ON ME recently had a holiday party where we were supposed to submit holiday themed film. I was so caught up with everything else associated with the holiday season that I did not submit one. I felt so left out. So, during my winter break from work, I sat down and made a little Christmas film that I call "The 12 Days Of Donn." Happy Holidays!



-----Original Message-----
From: Evan Donn
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2007 9:19 PM
To: Joe Kirsch; Sig Thorsen; Nguyen, Tony; Joanne Donn; drkemp; Dinah Despenza; Rob C; Thomas Flowers; Kirk Moore
Subject: IDOM Holiday Party

Of course. What kind of IDOM party would it be without movies?

I would have sent out an email sooner, but hey - think of it as a 192 Hour Film Challenge and it'll seem like you have plenty of time. One simple requirement - holiday-themed. Preferably winter-ish holidays, but if you feel the urge to make a St. Paddy's Day film for some reason that'll be acceptable too.

No need to make anything elaborate - even a simple little video christmas card will do.

See you in 192 hours...

Oh Well, Better Luck Next Time!

We regret to say that “Featherweight Blues” has not been accepted to the 2008 Dam Short Film Festival. Once again, our 8-person selection committee struggled with the final decisions. This year, we received over 330 films.

Please keep in mind that the selection process is ultimately based on the subjective opinions and personal tastes of the selection committee and festival organizers. By no means is it a reflection of the creativity and hard work you invested in the project. We encourage you to submit “Featherweight Blues” to other film festivals.

If you would like to attend the 2008 Dam Short Film Festival, we’ll give you one free 3-Day Pass, which is good for all programs and events. Please e-mail us at info@damshortfilm.org with the subject “3-Day” if you would like a pass reserved for you.

Sincerely,

-The DSFF Staff

Merry Christmas!

CCCSAT Network 3rd Annual Student Film Festival 2008

I'm Doing It!

-----Original Message-----
From: Evan Donn
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 7:57 AM
To: Joe Kirsch
Cc: Sig Thorsen; Nguyen, Tony; Joanne Donn; drkemp; Dinah Despenza; Rob C; Thomas Flowers; Kirk Moore; tsunami1@hotmail.com
Subject: CCCSAT Network 3rd Annual Student Film Festival 2008

This is a contest/festival open only to work produced by students as part of coursework at a California community college. It looks like just about anything you've produced as part of one of my classes (or any others at CSM) should be eligible, it doesn't cost anything to enter, and there are some pretty nice prizes.

You have until January 31 to get your entries in... I'd suggest trying to avoid being at the airport post office at 11:56pm on January 31st.

Thriller

Five years ago, I stumbled across a very odd looking booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was the last day of the show, so I thought I'd stop by to see what it was all about. I had just gotten off my booth duty shift, so I was still in my Dolby uniform. It had been a long but productive week at ICES for me, and amazingly enough, I was still operating on adrenaline.

This unusual looking booth caught my eye because it had a trailer park feel to it. In the middle of the booth was a trailer, very much like the one Cyndi Lauper lived in in the Time After Time video. Under my feet was astro turf. My curiosity was definitely aroused, so I approached the trailer. I learned that this booth belonged to Madwaves, and their latest product was a hand held karaoke machine. I said to Madwaves Director of Marketing, "well, I'm the karaoke king!" Next thing I know, I'm up on stage performing "Thriller" up on their stage. The funny part was that the pitch was changed, so I sounded like Minnie Mouse on helium, hee hee.

Fast forward five years. I recently received an email from that Director of Marketing inviting me to join her Linked In network. I hadn't heard from this woman in years, so it did not surprise me when the email exchange quickly shifted to that Thriller performance. Sure enough, in this day and age of YouTube, that video of me rocking out to Michael Jackson made it on to the internet, and this former Madwaves marketing director sent it to me. I couldn't help but laugh. Oh my, how my karaoke has matured over the years...

Shot live during CES 2002 in Vegas, an amazing karaoke performance with a pitch shift thanks to the now sold out MadPlayer... and thanks to Tony, a visitor to the booth on that memorable day.

SFCutters Supermeet

I'm so there!


-----Original Message-----
From: Professor Donn
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 7:49 AM
To: Nguyen, Tony
Subject: SFCutters Supermeet

A few of us went to this last year, it was good but not great - however the lineup of speakers this year looks to be much better. Stu Machwitz (author of the Rebels Guide), Alex Lindsey (former ILM'er and founder of Pixel Corp and DvGarage), Sony will be showing off the XDCAM EX (my next camera just as soon as they get around to actually shipping more than a couple), and Apple is showing... something mysterious! Plus $34,000 worth of raffle prizes - hopefully handled in a bit more organized fashion than last year...So I'll probably go check it out, tickets are $10 and may sell out so if you want to go now's the time to get them. Let me know if you're planning to go.

The Road Not Taken

The semester has officially ended, and though I am very relieved that my stress level has dropped, I am sad to see Digital Workflow come to an end. I was up to the wee hours of the morning finishing up my final project, so I'm dead tired. I am happy that project #5 is complete. I ended up incorporating Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and Vivaldi's "Winter" into my road film. To me, this semester was journey, and what I really wanted was to show the route I took this semester to reach this final destination. Professor Donn and my Digital Workflow classmates, thanks for coming along on this ride with me. What a trip it was!



Character:
Dr. Michael or Marian Bailey, M.D.

Prop:
Bar of soap.

Line of Dialogue:
"Who's your daddy?"

Film Genre:
Road Movie.

It's Going To Be A Late Night...

I'm still plugging along on this final project. I took the day off today to complete my final project for Evan Donn's Digital Workflow class. It's been such a busy semester. It's funny, when I told Professor Donn that I was going to call in sick, he responded, "Again? You've been doing that a lot this semester." True. I did bite off more than I could chew by choosing such a challenging episodic series, but it really was worth it. I learned a thing or two about filming and editing. I really don't like to use my personal days off, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

As I noted earlier, it has been a crazy busy semester, and now that it's winding down, every minute counts. Friday and Saturday were devoted to family, Sunday afternoon was devoted to my Colts, and Sunday night was the IDOM Holiday Party, and you know I would not miss that for anything. My weekend was so jammed packed that I did not have time to submit a holiday film for this party, which is very un-Borm like. Instead, I rehashed an old piece. Cop out, yes, but at least I had something to show. In any case, now that my weekend of fun is officially over, I have about 16 hours left to create my final masterpiece for Evan Donn. Let's see how it goes.

Happy Holidays From IDOM!

There is just not enough minutes in the day, but I guess I shouldn't complain, because I'm filling these minutes with fun things. I went to the Raider/Colts game in Oakland this afternoon and then rushed across the Bay Bridge to get to The Donns in time for the IDOM holiday party. I was on 9th and Brannan at about 5:40pm, so I thought I'd give Joanne a call to let her know that I was on my way. I was surprised when she said nobody had shown up yet! I guess everyone was being fashionably late. It turns out, a few people got lost. The Donns' place is not the easiest place to find, but sure enough everybody made it.

I'm glad we were all able to get together for this party. Even though I did not submit a holiday theme film, I still enjoyed watching my team members' projects. I really wished I had submitted a project, but like I said, there is just not enough minutes in the day. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed everyone else's films. It's been a great year for IDOM, and I'm glad that everyone was there to celebrate. I'm looking forward to the 2008 season!

Merry Christmas From Borm's Family

We celebrate Christmas a week early in my family. Contrary to what most Catholics believe, Jesus Christ was ten days premature. The Virgin Mary had an immaculate Cesarean section in the manger on December 15th. She and Joseph decided to throw a party for baby Jesus a week later. She sent evites to all her friends in Bethlehem stating that "Jesus' Birthday is on the 25th." At that time, Mary had made a slight typo error and didn't catch the omission of the word "Bash" after the word "Birthday." It was supposed to have read, "Jesus' Birthday Bash is on the 25th." However, the battery on her MacBook Pro was running low, so she went ahead and clicked the send button. She didn't think much of this until one of the three kings officially put down on Jesus' birth certificate that he was born on December 25th because of what Mary had noted in the evite. Who would have thought that the omission of this one word would have changed history? We are purists in my family, so we prefer to celebrate the birth of the Holy Christ on his actual birth date. Hence, my whole family gathered on Christmas Eve, December 17th.


All kidding (or blasphemy, depending on which side of pew your are kneeling on) aside, my mom got tired of absent family members during the holidays because of in-law issues, and so she changed tradition so that everyone can be together on Christmas. Stroke of genius. Now my brother John has no excuses for not driving up to the Bay Area in December. No more, "we can't make it because we have to be at so and so parents' place blah blah blah." This is a good thing because no one is excluded. I always say that Christmas Eve is really for the kids, but in reality, we adults have a whole lot of fun as well. At first, it was really strange celebrating Christmas Eve a week early, but we got used to it. What I haven't really been able to adjust to is the Premature Christmas Eve Mass. There's no Christmas church songs, no children dressed up as the three kings, and no barn yard animals. It's just another mass. I always feel like a tourist at St. Luke's on this special night. I only go to church twice a year, so everything always feels so foreign to me. But all the prayers came back to me like the lyrics of old eighties pop tunes that I haven't heard in 20 years. I praised the Lord as though I had never forgotten his word. My brother's wife Alma was quite impressed. She leaned into me and said, "Wow, you know the prayers." My response, "Um yeah. Now wake up and stop snoring, Alma." I guess you can take the boy of church, but you can't take the church out of the boy.

In any case, what started out as a joke has turned into a new Borm Family tradition: the patented Borm photoshop gift. A few years ago, I made funny Photoshop presents for my family. These were all inside jokes, and everyone always got a kick out of them. I've done this a few times already, and now it is expected that there is some sort of Photoshop concoction under the tree for each member of the family. Though my schedule is crazy busy, I managed to find time to make some customized photoshop projects. Hey, some peeps bake chocolate chip cookies, I whip up a batch of creativity. My family gets a kick out of these, and I sure do love their expressions when they unwrap and see what's in the frame. Below are three that got a lot of laughs.

Maybe next year I'll make DVDs. Who am I kidding? With my busy schedule, I was lucky to get these photoshopped projects done! Also, word on the street is that Evan Donn will be teaching Digital Workflow again next fall, so chances are that I will be stressing out at the end of fall 2008. What do they call this, a vicious cycle?

Featherweight Blues: The Dam Version

Here it is! The remastered version of Featherweight Blues, edited for The Dam Short Film Festival. Carlos Gutierrez is a featherweight class boxer on a losing streak. This film was made for a Digital Workflow class at The College of San Mateo. The assignment is to create a short film incorporating a boxer, frozen peas, and the line of dialogue "you can't stop me." Oh yeah, did I mention that the film genre is musical?

Doggie Style: The Sequel

If IDOM were to make a sequel to Doggie Style, then I have the perfect dog to star in it! I took Chewbacca to class tonight and introduced her to most of The It Donned On Me team. Chewbacca is a very well behaved chihuahua, and she just sat on my lap during Professor Donn's lecture. With a little training and some acting classes, this dog could become the next Lassie!

I'm A Dad!

I am very happy to announce that I am officially a dad! I was beginning to lose hope in my quest to adopt a chihuahua but I met the perfect orphan pup this morning, and was instantly swept off my feet. My new little girl is a little chiweenie with big sad eyes and a tiny little body. I fell in love with this little dog the second she blinked at me. I made up my mind to take her home after spending some time in the meet and greet room with her. I decided to name her Chewbacca. The name actually stuck in my head because a buddy of mine had mentioned it in the past. I like it a lot because this little girl looks nothing like a wookiee, but she did have the same sounding grunt because of her kennel cough.

The Peninsula Humane Society people noted that Chewbacca was a pregnant stray and had to have an emergency c-section to remove the dead puppy lodged in her vulva. Long story short, this dog didn't have a good life, but you know that now she's my little girl, she will be spoiled rotten! The Peninsula Humane Society people keep telling me that Chewbacca because she's being adopted by me, but the truth of the matter is that I'm the lucky one for having found her.

The Acceptance Speech

Here's a crazy little video clip from the night of the Visa Life Takes Invitational screening. Justine, our yoga instructor from "Retreat," took the tail end of my spasmatic outburst. What an awesome night that was, and seeing this video clip takes me back to that glorious night. IDOM's 2007 season may be over, but we certainly have many reminders of what an incredible year it has been. :-)

The AE Project

I am procrastinating. There are so many things that I need to do, but instead I have decided to upload old projects onto Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files. Below is the short film I made for the Spring 2007 Evan Donn School of Film Festival. Of course, we had required elements that we had to incorporate into our films:

Character:
Fred

Prop #1:
Balloon

Prop #2:
Picture Of Evan Donn


Line of Dialogue:
"That's colorful."

Song:
Michael Jackson's "Beat It"

Individual Songs:
Sig - Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin)
Rob - Physical (Olivia Newton John)
Evan - You Can Do Magic (America)
Sasan - Sun King (The Beatles)
Rick - Blue Suede Shoes (Elvis Presley)
Joe - Ruby Soho (Rancid)
Tony - Beat It (Michael Jackson)
Tom - Don't Stop Believing (Journey)
Dinah - Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)
Penny - Stop In The Name Of Love (The Supremes)
Kirk - Bad Girls



This was definitely another successful screening. The purpose of these quarterly meetings is so that we can show case our work in a fun and friendly environment. Because IDOM exploded onto the scene this summer, we've been on hiatus from these events. I think it's time for me to pick them back up again!

Lulu

I just opened up a Lulu account. Lulu’s easy and effective marketing program gets you the traffic you need to sell your content. Plans start at $45. I will open up the official IDOM store, so come back after the holidays for IDOM DVDs, books, movie posters, any more!

End Of Semester Stress

I'm looking at my schedule and I'm stressing out. My family is coming up to celebrate Christmas on the 15th and our IDOM holiday party is on the 16th. The challenge is that in between those two events is the Raider/Colts game and two days later project #5 is due. Am I going to be able to submit a holiday themed film for this IDOM party? Stress.

Tribute To Robert Frost?

I have an idea for my final project. Vivaldi is still ringing in my ears and now I'm channeling Robert Frost. I'm thinking about incorporating these two things into project #5. How will I add a bar of soap, the line "who's your daddy," and a doctor named Michael or Marian Bailey? Hmm...


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Another Afternoon With Dr. Kemp

I spending way too much time with the red headed chiropractor. We're trying to finish up his client's weight loss DVD, but we keep hitting road blocks. Why are we having so many technical difficulties with the authoring of this DVD? I am so frustrated that while I'm trying to trouble shoot, I cram my face with junk food. After we finish this project, maybe I should sit through the Solkolsky Plan. Maybe I'll lose the weight I've put on while working on this project!

Dam Featherweight Blues

Deadlines! Deadlines! Deadlines! I finally got the digitally remastered version Featherweight Blues done and sent to the Dam Short Film Festival. What a frantic day it was for me, trying to get the DVD authored and all the paperwork in order. My blood pressure reached a high when I realized that I didn't have anymore checks! I ran to the post office to get a money order for the application fee, and then ran back home to pack everything up . I then FedEx this film overnight so that it would meet the December 2nd deadline. I'll find out after the new year if Featherweight Blues will be screened. Below is a shot of my perfect Director of Photography, Sig Thorsen, and the star of Featherweight Blues, Jeremy Marquez. I'll post the remastered version for your viewing pleasure in a later blog.

The Vietnamese Horse Goes Home...

I am bummed to say that "Retreat" did not advance to the finals of The National Film Challenge...



Hello NFC Teams:

The moment you have all been waiting for: Our first round judges have completed their voting which determined the 16 finalists for the 2007 National Film Challenge. (Due to a tie there are 16 finalists instead of 15.) There were many, many great films this year. Many more than just 16: in total, 159 films were finished by the deadline and eligible for awards. But, alas, decisions have to be made. Keep in mind that judging, no matter how fair, is always subjective. How often do you and your friends agree on the best films of the year? That said, here are the finalists (in alphabetical order):

"Brown Gold" by Yutka Productions
"Cheeks" by Persistent Cough Productions
"The Date" by The Focus Group
"Heroic Love" by the Smith Brothers
"The Interview" by Year of the Rooster
"Kirsten's Treasure Map" by Hippopotami
"Love Always" by Conspiracy
"Machiste Nouveau" by Rational Spirit
"Man vs Machine" by Mike Productions
"Open House" by Pixotic
"Salvage" by The Hi-Def Chefs
"Sent" by Somatic Cinema
"She's With Me" by Instant Noodles Film
"Spy Team" by The Convection Ovens
"Time Cougars" by rattlesnake wash productions
"Traffic Jam" by La Toalla Productions

(If you are not on this list, keep reading, as there is information about how you are still eligible for some awards.)

The next step is for our Round 2 Judges (listed below) to determine the Grand Prize Winner. The Grand Prize Winner will screen at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, CA in March 2008 and will receive $1,000 (hopefully to use for travel expenses to the festival!)

By mid-December we will have the films on the NFC website for audience voting. The film that receives the highest rating will be declared the Audience Award Winner and will screen at Cinequest and receive $500. I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as they are ready for viewing and voting.

FYI: The 16 Finalists are the films being considered for BEST FILM and the AUDIENCE AWARD.

All of the films are still eligible for the other awards such as Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Use of Genre, etc. Since the 16 Finalists were the highest rated films overall, it is likely that many of them will win awards. But it is not a guarantee. So if you are not a Finalist, you still may win an award. And if you are a Finalist, it doesn't guarantee you an award.

Congratulations to all of the finalists. And to all of the other filmmakers who finished their films by the deadline - a heroic feat in and of itself.

Best,

Doug Whyte
NFC Producer

The Round 2 Judges are:

Liz Langston
Founder and Producer of the 48 Hour Film Project
Washington, DC
http://www.48hourfilm.com/

Richard Beer
Artistic Director, Film Action Oregon and The Hollywood Theatre
Portland, OR
http://www.filmactionoregon.org/

Adam Sekuler
Program Director, Northwest Film Forum
Seattle, WA
http://www.nwfilmforum.org/

Holiday Theme Film

End of year is always busy for me. Between work, family, school, and the holidays, my schedule books up fast. I'm struggling to come up with ideas for my road film, so imagine how I felt when Evan announced that we would have a screening at our IDOM holiday party. When will I have the time to create a holiday film?? Boy oh boy. Here are the requirements:

One simple requirement - holiday-themed. Preferably winter-ish holidays, but if you feel the urge to make a St. Paddy's Day film for some reason that'll be acceptable too. No need to make anything elaborate - even a simple little video christmas card will do.

What to do, what to do...

Vivaldi

I have Vivaldi stuck in my head. The piercing strings of the violins really gets my creative juices going. Is there a way I can incorporate this piece into my final project? Stay tuned...

Project #5. Required Elements.

I'm am going to have to pull out all the stops for this final project. We have one extra week to deliver, so I'm going to do what it takes to blow this one out the water! The required elements for Project #5:

Character:
Dr. Michael or Marian Bailey, M.D.

Prop:
Bar of soap.

Line of Dialogue:
"Who's your daddy?"

Film Genre:
Road Movie.

Never Before Seen Mutter Butter Pics!

Doggie Style

It just donned on me that I never posted Doggie Style, IDOM's second film. Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in this San Jose 48 Hour Film Project because I had made a prior commitment to go camping with family. I can't seem to find this video on YouTube, so here is the link to the Doggie Style website. For those who have your minds in the gutter, "Doggie Style" is probably not what you are thinking, so check it out!

Avalon Micro Film Festival

Professor Donn has updated the It Donned On Me Site! Here's the latest:

I know we haven't had an update in over a month, but it's not because we haven't been busy - quite the opposite, in fact. IDOM members recently competed in the National Film Challenge and produced two different films - we'll have an update with links to the films soon.

In the meantime, two of IDOM's films will be screening as part of the Avalon Micro Film Festival in East Hampton, New York tomorrow night (December 1st) at the Guild Hall. Produced by "Doggie Style" star Jeff Crispi, the festival will highlight a wide variety of short independent films including several 48 Hour Film Projects. More information on the festival is available at Avalon Studios and there is a short write-up in the East Hampton Star.

I don't think that I have ever posted IDOM's first film, "Urgent Care," on Blogged Arteries: The Unrendered Files. This 48 Hour Film project started it all for us, and is pretty much the reason for the start of this blog. Without further adieu, here is the film that has made 2007 such a memorable year for me. You can view the high-res version (iPhone compatible!) and behind the scenes at http://www.urgentcare-48hourfilm.com.

Black Friday

Black Friday:
The day after Thanksgiving in the United States, where it is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season. Since Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday may be as early as the 23rd and as late as the 29th of November. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employers give the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open very early (typically 5 am or even earlier) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term "Black Friday" has been traced back only to the 1970s. - Wikipedia.

In previous years, I would wake up at the crack of dawn (that's the crack of dawn, not the Crack of Donn) to hit all the sales out there. I remember struggling to get up at 4am and waiting in the Best Buy line so that I can get a free pack of CD-R's with the purchase of another. I put myself through this torture for five years, but this year I decided that sleep was more important. So, for the first time in five years, I slept in the day after Thanksgiving!

I woke up at about noon, had lunch, and I took my niece to see Bee Movie. I highly recommend this flick, and that's not because of my obsession with bees. Heck, I drive a bright yellow Mini Cooper with the license place POLLIN8, and I have been known to don a bee suit. If IDOM ever decides to use a bee in our next 48 Hour Film project, I am so there. Imagine us pulling superhero film as our next genre. Picture the killer bee as the villain terrorizing shoppers on black Friday, and it's up to Donn Man to save the world! I may be on to something here...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think I OD'ed on turkey again. I do this every year. It's Thanksgiving everyone, gobble gobble! This is a good time for me to express what I am thankful for, which I will do in bullet point format:

• I am thankful for having all ten digits on my hand. Missing one or two would make typing quite difficult.
• I am thankful that I have a job that brings in a steady pay check and a solid 401k.
  
• I am thankful that my family members aren't freaks. Well, most of them aren't, that is.
• I am thankful that my two beloved cats, Poppy and George Russell Sunshine Crack Whore, are healthy.
• I am thankful for the National Football League. Without it, Sundays would be so boring.
  
• I am thankful that it donned on me. You know what "it" is.
• I am thankful that my mom and I finally connected on a creative level...

Yup, you read that last bullet point correctly. It may come as a surprise to some of you that I inserted the word "finally" into that last bullet point. The truth of the matter is that, though I inherited my mother's right brain, the two of us never really exchanged notes. I believe my mom tried her best to suppress my creativity. It was important to her that I achieved the "American Dream" of becoming a doctor or lawyer, and that any right brain activity was nothing more than a distraction. It must have been frustrating for her to dissuade me from exploring art, music, and drama, knowing that I am the carbon copy of her. Growing up, I resented my mother for this, and it wasn't until recently that I understood why she did what she did. It took many years for me to come to this realization, but my mother just wanted the best for me. There definitely was a disconnect between us.

Last night, I showed my mom my latest project. She sat there completely stoic. I wasn't sure what ran through her head. Did I upset her? Did I offend her? Her blank expression worried me. When the film ended, she looked me straight in the eye and said, "Wow." I still didn't quite exactly know what she meant by this, so I continued to wait for a follow up. My mom took a deep breath and replied, "Wow. I am very impressed. Can you please start it from the beginning so I can watch it again." I let out a sigh of relief and played it again. This is what I meant by me being thankful that my mom and I finally connected on a creative level. I do believe that this is a first.

Happy Thanksgiving.


By the way, I am also thankful that my Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-13. You like how my mom is wearing the Peyton Manning jersey while he's going in for a touchdown pass behind her?

"Which?" Does Not Make The Top 25

Click below to enlarge the image:

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From: Apple Insomnia Film Festival [mailto:insomniafilm@apple.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 5:36 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Public rating winner announced (and top 25 finalists)

Greetings Insomniacs!

We have just completed the verification of the 25 finalist teams and the grand prize winner for the public rating period. We have already announced the delay of the Celebrity Judge and Slingjam Creative Award winners, but didn't want to wait to share with you the results of the public ratings.

Without further ado, congratulations to the public rated grand prize winner of the 2007 Insomnia Film Festival:

Hobopus by Vassar Filmmakers

View their film and see the rest of the 25 finalists at: http://edcommunity.apple.com/insomnia_fall07/collection.php?collectionID=5

- Insomnia Team

My Mother's Song

At about 4am this morning, I sat in front of my MacBook Pro watching my war movie slowly render. The render really only took about 30 seconds, but it felt like an hour. My brain was deceived by fatigue! I was tempted to take another day off, but I knew that this would not be a possibility, being that this was a short week and all. When my render completed, I felt relieved that the rough cut was complete. ROUGH CUT. It was 4am in the morning and I only had a rough cut. I really wanted to finish this project. Professor Donn always says that this class is all about workflow and that he would prefer that we submit an unfinished project rather than not turning in anything at all. However, I had reached the point of no return, and the last thing I wanted was to submit an underendered file. So I stayed up for the next hour to tweak my project. By 5:30am, my eyes shut down and I passed out on my bed with my glasses on. I woke up three hours later to complete the project. I finished by 10am and headed into work.


I'll be honest and say that I wasn't completely wowed by this final product. It was definitely 99% there, but there was something about it that really bothered me. I couldn't put my finger on it in the morning, but when I screened it in class later, it hit me: the required elements were thrown in just to fulfill the assignment. Professor Donn shared the same sentiment. I explained that I really did throw it in just to have it. He told me to remove them. This was such a relief because I really wanted play by the rules, but I was really on to something with this piece. Now that I got the official ok to get rid of the bowl of strawberries, the turn table DJ, and that stupid line of dialogue "I feel lucky because I'm a punk!," I can focus on the making this film about my mother more fluid.

I had reservations about showing it because I wasn't psychologically prepared to release it. In the back of my head, I kept thinking about my mom and how she would react to it. This era was tough for her, and I really didn't wanted to have her relive any of the heart ache of that time. I guess this was lingering in my head the whole time the film played, so I was very relieved that this film was well received. I feel better about showing this film now, but not until I do some tweaking. Once that is done, I will post it online.

Work In Progress

I took the day off to work on this War film. My vision is pretty clear in my head, but putting it on the time line is a whole different story. This is what I have so far...

The Vietnam War

I have decided to drop my DJ War idea. I pretty much made up my mind to drop this concept a week ago, but I just couldn't face that fact. I have a new vision now and between now and Tuesday night I have to bring that vision to fruition. I have decided to make a film about my mother's experience during the Vietnam war. I will used the war only as a back drop. The story I would like to tell is that of her singing career. I'll just have to find a way to squeeze in a turn table DJ, a bowl of strawberries, and the most challenging of the required elements, the quote "I feel lucky because I'm a punk." The next two days are goin to be rough, but at least I now have a vision!

No Vision.

I was supposed to work on my war movie today, but I got side tracked. I ended up cleaning up my room. I found the ski cap that I had wanted Mike to wear for the filming of "Which" underneath my desk. Since he played a bum in that film, I really wanted him to wear that cap. I frantically searched for it, but had no luck. Well, I found it. Sig and I had talked about reshooting this film, so if we were to move forward with it, I will definitely make Mike wear it, now that I've found it! In any case, after I cleaned up my room, I took Astro Black for a walk. I came back and cleaned some more. Then I watched Project Runway. I'm clearly putting project #4 on hold right now because I do not have a vision. I hope that vision comes soon because I'm running out of time!

The Mot Java Cafe

I spent a good chunk of this afternoon at the MotoJava Cafe. This is the only dog friendly cafe I know of in San Francisco. The owners are dog peeps and they allow doggie customers to come in for some canine caffeine, which in this case is doggie treats. Since I had custody of Astro Black this weekend, I figured I take her along for the ride.

I was working on project #4 when Professor Donn walked in! I guess this came as no surprise, being that he is a regular at this establishment. Remember back in your junior high school days when you would bump into your teacher at the mall and it was always an awkward moment? I remember I was at the Mervyn's with my mom one time and Mrs. Behm, my 8th grade Language Arts teacher, walked by. I completely froze up. Do I say hello? Do I run away? I wasn't particularly a fan of the cousin of the Tales From The Crypt Language Arts instructor, so I naturally freaked out. Mrs. Behm ended up saying hello and the three of us briefly engaged in annoying small talk.

Luckily for me, Professor Donn is not Mrs. Behm. I've seen him outside of class a few times before, so I don't feel the need to run away. Professor Donn entered the cafe and asked what was up. My response: "Just doing a little homework for this little class I'm taking on Tuesdays. Gotta make a war film." It was odd, because shortly after I said that, everyone in the Moto Java Cafe broke out into a rubber band fight. It was like a war! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me because that could have been my war flick! Unfortunately for me, I got caught in the cross fire. Out of the blue, I got pegged in the back, so I retaliated by shooting off the rubber band that hit me. BAM! It hit Professor Donn on the shoulder. Great! I just shot my teacher! Not a good idea, since this guy controls my destiny with his grade book! Oh well, I'll just have to deal with the consequences later. At least Astro Black made it out of this war unscathed!

Never Before Seen Pictures Of Retreat!

NFC Judging Update

The waiting game is always tough. IDOM has to wait another 2 weeks before we find out if "Retreat" makes the top 15. I sure hope we do. I am very proud of this little fantasy about a little horse and a Yogi that we created. If you haven't seen "Retreat" yet, here it is:

-----Original Message-----
From: info@filmchallenge.com [mailto:info@filmchallenge.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 9:52 AM
To: Nguyen, Tony
Subject: NFC Judging Update

Hello NFC Filmmakers,

This is a reminder about the judging process for the NFC films:

Over the past few weeks we have been receiving all of the films, checking paperwork and digitizing and converting all of the films for our on-line screening room. This step is done and our Phase 1 Judges (30 Film & Video Professionals from across the world) are currently watching and rating all of the films. Each film will be seen and rated by 3 different judges. Then the top 15 films from that phase will be given to our Phase 2 Judges. In addition, the top 15 films will be available for viewing and voting in our on-line screening room.

The Phase 2 Judges will determine the Grand Prize Winner and the on-line voting will determine the Audience Award Winner. Both winning films will screen with the 48 Hour Film Project City Winners at the Cinequest Film Festival in March. The Grand Prize Winner will receive $1,000 and the Audience Award Winner will receive $500. (Hopefully to be used for travel to the screening to accept their award!)

We hope to have the top 15 films up on the website for voting by the first week in December. The judging process is the most difficult and labor intensive part of this competition, but we'll do our best to get the films on the site as soon as we can. The big winners will be announced by the 1st of the year.

Thanks for your patience and good luck with the judging!

Doug Whyte
NFC Producer

Converting A YouTube Movie Into A Quicktime File

We covered video compression in class tonight. Professor Donn's lecture on streaming vs. progressive download, file size, and data rate made me realize something very important: I've been doing things wrong! Well, what I was doing wasn't so much "wrong" but just not the most right. Does that make any sense? The other thing I learned is how to convert a YouTube movie into a Quicktime file. If anyone every wondered how to do this, check out the following print screens.

Download MPEG Streamclip here. This is a powerful video converter, player, editor for Mac and Windows. It can play many movie files, not only MPEGs; it can convert MPEG files between muxed/demuxed formats for authoring; it can encode movies to many formats, including iPod; it can cut, trim and join movies.


Open MPEG Streamclip:


Go to File > Open URL:


Type in URL of the YouTube clip that you would like converted:


Click the "Download" radio button on the left and the "Progressive download" button on the right, the click "Download":



Save the file onto your desktop:


The file will be saved as an .flv file. You may have to download Perian at www.perian.org in order to open this Flash file in Quicktime. Perian is a free, open source, QuickTime component that supports many popular media types, including AVI, DivX, and XviD.


Once you've open that .flv file in Quicktime, save the file as an .mov.


Voila! There you have it: a YouTube movie saved as a Quicktime movie. The next time you have to take a transatlantic flight and will not have internet access, convert all your favorite YouTube movies into Quicktime files and enjoy them on the plane!