Trailer #2 and Others

Posted on April 14, 2013 by

Hey guys,

So, as promised, here is the second trailer for Swollen Feet.  It is very different from the first, much more avant-garde compared to the earlier more conventional (and exciting) trailer.  It’s much shorter as well.

Thus far, almost everybody who has seen both trailers prefers the first one, claiming that it makes them want to see the full movie more.  I definitely get that view, and agree with it for the most part, but I really like this second one, despite the abrupt transitions and apparent disconnect between different sequences.

Also, here is a short trailer that I made for an older movie of mine, The Check Mate.  It will be playing this coming fall at Shooting Wall’s View from the Underground.  I don’t know specific details about the event yet, but I will provide them as soon as I know in case anybody is interested in attending.

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Trailer #1

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

Hey guys,

So here’s the first trailer for the big movie I’ve been working on all year: Swollen Feet.  It’s not totally finished yet, but it’s pretty close.  As the trailer indicates, it should be completed by the summer.  Anyway, I’d love to hear feedback, and I hope you enjoy!

Jonah

P.S. There will be a very different shorter trailer coming soon as well!

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Ok, So I Lied…

Posted on April 3, 2013 by

Hey guys, it’s been a while.  I’ve been very busy working on my feature film, for which we only have to shoot three more scenes!  That’s out of over 30, so it’s definitely the homestretch.  Very exciting and very scary!  I will make a trailer soon and put up.  The full movie will not be on my website, but hopefully there will be ways to see in the near future.

Anyway, I’m making this post because, even though I claimed that I wouldn’t have a new movie up for a while, I just finished a short documentary that I made for a class and also sort of for a job.  It’s about my friend, Leah’s student group at Penn called CityStep.  It’s not the most in-depth documentary, but I hope it’s at least entertaining, if not heart-warming.

Hope you enjoy!

Jonah

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New Logo and Animation

Posted on January 13, 2013 by

I hope everyone has had a good first couple weeks of the New Year!

Over my (last, eep) winter break, I finally got around to redesigning the logo, animation, and general look of the website.  If you’ve been here before or at all recently, you might notice a number of differences, including a totally redesigned logo up top.  There is also different text formatting and fonts throughout the website, notably in the Movies and Cast sections.

cropped-sonofstern-presents-logo4.jpgOn top of that, if you go to the Et Cetera page, you can see the company’s new animation.  The old animation went well with the old look and logo, but I decided that these were unsatisfactory for a number of reasons.  One is that  I wanted to change the name of the website/company from Y.I.D Films to Son of Stern Presents.  I felt that the previous name may unintentionally incite controversy, which I would rather do with my movies themselves rather than with the name of my website and production company.  I also felt that Y.I.D Films sounded a bit awkward.  I think that Son of Stern Presents sounds better, is more clever (if you’re interested, check out this post), and–despite its indirect connection to the serial killer Son of Sam–is less likely to offend.

The new animation and logo are both much simpler and more minimalist than the previous ones.  While the Y.I.D Films logo and animation had many textures and effects that were meant to stylistically emulate elements of reality, the Son of Stern logo and animation reflect reality only with a silhouette and a largely-abstracted shadow, implying light and space without explicitly describing them visually.  I think that the simpler and more minimalist approach works much better here and looks substantially more attractive.  I hope others agree, but if not then I’d be happy to hear criticisms.

Anyway, this redesign is not the “surprise” that I described in my previous post.  That is still in the works.  Hopefully I will have that finished soon, especially since the semester is about to really start and I’m nervous that I will be short on time before I know it.

The big movie is still coming along of course, and I will provide occasional updates over the next few months.  Stay tuned!

Jonah

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Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by

Hey guys, Happy New Year!

Sorry for the very long hiatus but I have been very busy the past few months working on my new movie, which is a huge project and will be at least around an hour long.  So far, I’ve shot and edited almost half of the movie.  Although I would’ve liked to have finished more by now, I am very happy with and proud of the work we’ve completed so far (we being me and my actors).  As I’ve mentioned before, the movie will be silent as in it will have no spoken dialogue.  This makes telling the story much more difficult, but also more interesting and fun to work on, since the limitations require creative solutions.  I also hope that the watching experience will be more engaging and interesting than most movies that rely heavily on dialogue.

Swollen Feet Preview

Once I complete the movie, I will post an essay that should explain many of my choices and methods in making the film, but this will not be until the spring or summer.  The paper will actually be the written portion of my senior thesis at Penn.  My new movie is the art component of my thesis project.

Swollen Feet Preview 2

I’m hoping to have a short trailer up relatively soon to give you a sneak preview of the movie, but I am going to wait until I’ve shot the majority of the film since many crucial scenes have not been completed yet, some of which will likely appear in the trailer.  Also, since the full movie will not be online for free viewing (I plan to enter it in festivals), this trailer will hopefully make people want to see the movie, though I can’t yet say how they will if not directly through me (or if it accepted into festivals then at those festivals).

Also, I haven’t posted lately because I’ve been meaning to finish a very small side project that I wanted to post on the website in my next post, but I haven’t yet gotten around to finish it.  When it’s finished, hopefully soon, I’ll post it.  But until then, I’m going to keep it a secret so that it’ll be a surprise (don don don).

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great New Year!  It’s always nice when the world doesn’t end so let’s celebrate!

Jonah

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Putting the Pieces Together

Posted on October 6, 2012 by

Hey guys,

So, after putting a bunch of months and a ton of energy into making The Check Mate, I figured it was worth doing another revision to the original movie in order to (hopefully and ideally) push the narrative further, make the film overall more interesting and engaging, and to explain or at least hint at explanations for various elements in the plot that had been too ambiguous.  This revision (like the other) is mostly for me and my own development as a filmmaker.  But, I would still love you to watch it if you have the time!  I’d also appreciate any feedback, as long as it’s constructive in some way (in other words, no hateful messages, please).

Anyway, I added many cuts and clips that both change up the pace of the film and offer views into the mind of the protagonist, Art.  If I could go back and change things about the film, there are a number of shooting and editing decisions that I would probably alter.  Still, I think that this revision solves at least some of the problems that were present in the original.  Either way, here’s the video, so take a look!

In terms of my new project, the screenplay is almost complete and I have all of my actors!  Yay…  I still need to work out some issues in the screenplay, and get some substantial and helpful feedback, but the story itself is there and somewhat near its final stage.

I hope to start shooting very soon, certainly within the month of October.  Since this will be such a big project, I’m going to try to spread the shooting over a broad period of time, so that I can realistically depend on my actors, have time to work out logistics, and am able to edit as I continue making the movie.

I’ll have more updates on that in the near future!

Jonah

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One Last (New) Movie (for a while!)

Posted on September 5, 2012 by

Hey guys.  So finally, finally, after five or six attempts to upload my newest completed movie to YouTube, all of which, before the last attempt, resulted in an out-of-sync mess, I’ve managed to upload the new movie while retaining the synchronization of the audio and video.  As many great things there are about YouTube (with its lack of restraints on length or file size with a free account), there are a number of things that can drive a person crazy.  This is one good example.

Anyway, here is the movie, One Last Fight! (You can also find it in the Movies section of the site.)

This movie is much shorter than my last movie and, althuough there are disturbing parts of this film that might offend the sensitive, I think that it’s a much more enjoyable film to watch.  It’s more consolidated and features more entertaining elements than some of my previous films.  Also, I think the story is much more conclusive, resolved, and engaging than some of my previous films, which had ambiguous, sometimes confusing, often boring, and abstract stories.  I’ve often been told by viewers (mostly friends and family) that they didn’t understand my movies, and I’m trying to make that less of a problem while hopefully retaining some of the intellectual, philosophical, or conceptual qualities that I try to incorporate into my films.

I wanted to incorporate some more action sequences into this movie, including both hand-to-hand combat and weapon-based combat.  Since I’m very inexperienced at shooting these types of scenes, don’t judge me too harshly if the fights or special effects are not entirely believable at times.  Then again, I don’t know how you might react to the different scenes with these components.  I’ve heard very mixed reviews about the realism of these parts of the movie.  There are also some very disturbing parts of the movie, and I just wanted to make it clear that I clearly don’t condone this type of behavior, but I do find that well-placed scenes like some in this film help make a movie more engaging, interesting, and just enjoyable to watch.  Their places in the plot were also reached after rigorous, argument-fueled plot-development.  So, just beware, especially if you are sensitive to violence or with a small child.

Over the next nine months or so, I will be working on my senior thesis for college.  I will be making a feature length (hopefully) film rooted in the principles of silent film, which I will study and research, but using modern styles, techniques, and technology.  In other words, I will be making a modern film, but as though “talkies” never came around.  So, I won’t be posting any new full movies until I am finished that.  I will be taking some video-related courses, though, so I might have some shorter pieces up in the nearer future.  I will also likely be posting another revision or two to movies I’ve already completed.  Still, over the course of the next school year, I will try to update this blog once in a while, giving some updates on the status of my thesis movie.

Jonah

 

 

 

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