SilverKottage

I haven’t placed up original content in a long time, so here is one. It’s also my first ever timelapse film.

During May and June, Sydney takes Paris’ title of City of Lights. This is the Vivid Festival, a festival of lights, sound and art.

The light installation are projected onto iconic buildings on Macquarie St and then the Sydney Opera House.

Something I’ve learnt when doing this timelapse is that:

1. Timelapse takes long… if you invite friends along, make sure they have something to do, or else they’ll nag you to leave.
2. Shooting at night is hard to focus, even when you digital zoom.
3. Bring extra clothes and an mp3 or video player, it’s gonna be a looooong night.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my timelapse of Vivid Sydney. I might ad some additional shots of sundown as you could see, the first shot was really quick… I only got to the location at 4pm and the Sun was going down already…

More timelapses to come!

Another fan film has emerged on the internet and it’s also a reimagining of a fighting game that’s already been made.

This time, it’s Mortal Kombat. But unlike the Street Fighter fan films that I posted a few weeks ago, this is not a fight demo, but more of a prologue to a feature film.

Directed by Kevin Tancharoen and written by Oren Uziel, the rumour is that these two have approached Warner Bros with this short as a pitch for a reboot of the film that Paul W Anderson made int he 90s.

Check it out, starring Michael Jai White (played Spawn and also the guy that wanted The Joker dead or alive in TDK):

As you can see, the film has a more real world setting with references to Mortal Kombat characters. The style actually reminds me of Max Payne. And I’m guessing the reason for this is the influence of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films.

But don’t dispair, as Tancharoen has been quoted as saying his vision of Mortal Kombat will still have super natural elements, fatalities, and a universe where multiple worlds exist, similar to Harry Potter.

Will we see this film in 2013 as IMDB suggests? Only time will tell. But I’m sure hoping it does!

Outer World Ninja fued duking it out in the Mortal World? SWEEET!

The latest news in the world of DSLR filming is Adobe has recently released Creative Suite 5. With all new features for every program, the most talked about feature in the film universe is Premiere Pro’s ability to edit H.264 files natively.

Busting Final Cut Studio’s balls.

What does this mean? It means us Canon SLR users can pull footage off our memory cards and edit straight away! This means no more waiting for footage to convert to a more stable codec, which usually takes twice as long as the original footage shot.

That’s right… rub it in Adobe, rub it in…

I’m yet to test out CS5 Premiere Pro, so I’m not sure if editing in H264 would be smooth or not. Then again, I probably can’t, since I’m still stuck with 3 year old technology… base model technology actually… my 13 inch Macbook that doesn’t even have a DVD burner

So, I guess it’s time for an upgrade. What do you think? Macbook Pro 17inch with i7 or a Quad Core 27inch iMac?
Decisions, decisions…

That’s a new idea for Steve Jobs, the iPunch.

On other news, the geek world of the internet has been blessed with not one, but two Street Fighter fan films that doesn’t suck. One by indie filmmaker Chris Cowan testing out his Canon 7D and the other, by Joey Ansah, best known for his bathroom fight scene with Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum.

Here’s both films:

Street Fighter Beginnings End

Street Fighter Legacy

So, what do you think? Pretty sweet action I’d say and if Chris had the budget and connections of Joey, I’m sure the quality of the two would be even closer.

But really, besides from a fight between Ken and Ryu, I’d like to see some story development. Why are they fighting? Why does Ryu wander around like a man with no purpose? Surely if they’ve given so much time in the action sequence, they could’ve added a plot to it. It’s like eating toast with no bread but just the butter.

Oh well, at least it’s still better than the last incarnation of the Street Fighter mythology…

I haven’t seen this, but, why is Chun Li punching? Why does Balrog use a gun? Why is the reason Vega cover his face cause he’s ugly? Why does Chris Klein overacts so much?

Hhmmm, you know what? Maybe I should make a King of Fighters Fan Film, I’ve always wanted to… Oh wait, a feature film is on it’s way! By Hong Kong’s Gordon Chan. Let’s hope he learns from Andrew Lau’s Initial D and make a half decent adaptation.

Oh my… they used the Dark Knight’s score

Ah, you just can’t escape the Hong Kong influenced corniness.

Rumbling Hearts, or as my girlfriend likes to call it, Rumbling D*cks, for the ridiculous storyline.

While I was researching about an anime that my girlfriend described to me as stupid and stretchy indecisive portrayal of high school girls, I stumbled upon an interesting filmmaker’s blog: The Great Swifty.

Yes, watching other people win awards do gets me SAAAAADDDD But, also pushes me to work harder.

The blog is written by multi shortfilm award winning writer and Director, Edmund Yeo. The blog is his journey since 2004 to present day. From humble beginnings in studying film in Perth to traveling across Asia’s many festivals to screen his films.

How come the maids I encounter aren’t as cute? >.< (PS, she’s a real life Akihabara maid!)

His latest offering is a Japanese short, Kingyo, is edited entirely in split screen. It is about an Akihabara maid (the girls in cute french maid outfits and keeps making love hearts with their hands… their cuteness instantly makes my IQ go down a notch) crossing paths with a University Professor, whom were both lovers to each other.

Some secrets are best kept in a jar, swimming with the fishes.

Once was a time when a friend of mine suggested that we make a film that follows two people split screen the whole time. Actually, Susanto’s SCA film had a 8-10min split screen continuous shot in it.

Anyways, reading Edmund’s blog really kicks me in the bum for not making any films since I’ve gotten back from New York. And he’s one year younger than me too!

Thumbs up to Edmund and his team. Don’t give up the dream! I haven’t… really! I’m just… well, occupied.

Never fear though. Optus/MTV’s ONE80Project could kick start me again. Though, we’ve heard all that before, right? The last time was what? In November for Flickerfest?!

Basically, it’s a competition for filmmakers to make a maximum 3 minute trailer for a one hour drama. The winning entry will get $250000 of production cost to bring the one hour to life.

So, if there’s anyone that’s interested in collaborating… we’ve got 20 days to get it all together!

You never know, my actor might end up like 2008’s winning film lead actor, Xavier Samuel and get casted in Twilight (don’t worry, even if Myers doesn’t keep writing, they’ll milk the franchise to it’s core) .

For the ladies, and the ladies inside of you, Sexy Xavier. The next Heath? Hhmmm…

Oh, and to end my post, here’s some night photos taken with my 7D. I actually realised I’ve never tried night shots with my camera yet. Enjoy!

Hot Pink Water at Lumiere. A studio costs AUD$550/w!

Old vs New. St Andrews Church vs Lumiere.

In a case of art imitating life or vice versa, the event that happened near my neighbourhood last night pushes me forward to bring White and Black to fruition even more.

According to news reports, the owner of the house and vehicle is a figure in Sydney’s underworld and was shot five times by a rival gang. He is alive and at the Royal North Shore Hospital.

The event took place at approximately 11:30pm. I left my home at around 11:15pm, I guess I was lucky to not be around there at the time. But also would’ve wanted to be there to see or help… maybe

On a semi lighter note, Joseph whipped up a temporary logo for White and Black so that I can use it for media releases.

I’m also currently working on an information video for work. It is a revamp of the old Civic Place Philanthropic video with brand new renders, fly-through, voiceover and footage. I need to get it all done in 3 days. Wish me luck!

Civic Place render