Each entry into the 24 Hour Video Race must include these four elements:

Theme: Recycling

Prop: Phone Book

Location: B_G … You can use any of the B_G locations all over Dallas. View locations

Line of Dialogue: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Each entry into the 24 Hour Video Race must include these four elements:
Theme: Recycling
Prop: Phone Book
Location: B_G … You can use any of the B_G locations all over Dallas. View locations
Line of Dialogue: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Each entry into the 24 Hour Video Race must include these four elements:

Theme: Recycling

Prop: Phone Book

Location: B_G … You can use any of the B_G locations all over Dallas. View locations

Line of Dialogue: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Spoken by one of the characters in Chase Anderson’s short film, “Cycle, Recycle”, the words perfectly capture the heart of the story. Life, in particular relationships, are filled with highs and lows, heartwarming triumphs and crushing defeats. Even when the blows are almost too much to take, the worst thing you can do is remain stagnant and resist change. Some relationships are meant to last, some require a little give and take, and some end up being just one more “Alyssa” of “Jessica” (or the occasional “Giselle”) on your path to finding the one. It’s all part of the process, the ebb and flow of life.

“Cycle, Recycle”, directed by Chase Anderson, took home first place in the 2013 24 Hour Video Race’s Pixelvision (High School) Division.

Each entry into the 24 Hour Video Race must include these four elements:

Theme: Recycling

Prop: Phone Book

Location: B_G … You can use any of the B_G locations all over Dallas. View locations

Line of Dialogue: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

In Among Giants I got to watch as a group of environmental activists lived a dream I’ve had since I was a kid, living up in trees among the leaves; but while as child I was just looking to live some place different where I was high above the ground and out in nature the activists followed in this short cinéma vérité style documentary had a much more noble purpose for choosing to make trees their homes.

In 2008 Green Diamond Resource Co. began clear cutting red woods in what is known as the McKay Tract, located in Humboldt county California. In response to the clear cutting a group of  established a protested by initiating a tree sitting in which they lived hundreds of feet up in canopy on small platforms. For the duration of their protest they sat, slept and cooked on these platforms, risking both serious injury and incarceration. Four years later their risk and vigilance payed off  when Green Diamond Resource Co. agreed to negotiate the sale of the McKay Tract to the community of Humboldt.

The film mainly follows Farmer, one of the activist living in the canopy, as he goes about his day. Filming Farmer as he climbs up to his spot to cook himself lunch, zip lining from tree to tree and walking through the woods the film makers create a strong portrait that allows us to better comprehend what living this kind of life among the trees is like . We are able to listen as Farmer explains how this experience is both a difficult challenge but also something that makes him happy, not only because he is fighting for a cause he believes in but because of the sense of freedom he feels living in the woods. I enjoy the film’s non-sensationalist approach to the issue, foregoing any dramatic music or overly passionate diatribes. Instead they simply state certain facts up against images of clear cut forest as well as intact forest, allowing the the images to affect you as they will.

A sense of calm purposefulness is created in the film as Farmer reflects on his experiences and we see images of acres of towering redwoods coming up through the mist, images that let us understand why Farmer and the others couldn’t give up and leave.

Located in the southwest portion of Berlin, Beelitz-Heilstätten was originally built in 1898 as a sanatorium to care for victims of tuberculosis. Soon after however it was utilized in World War I and II as a German military hospital where most notably a young corporal Adolf Hitler was treated after being wounded at the Battle of Somme during World War I. Surviving two wars and Soviet occupation the massive complex still stands consisting of over 60 buildings spread over 200 acres that are linked by underground tunnels.  While some sections of the hospital remain in operation as a neurological rehabilitation center and as a center for research and care for victims of Parkinson’s disease the remainder of the complex, including the surgery, the psychiatric ward, and a rifle range, was abandoned in 2000 and continues remain uninhabited.

It is these abandoned places that director Christian Schmeer shares with us in his film entitled Malaise. By combining a series of slowly shot sequences with still images, Schmeer give us a tour of a place that would seem to be inhabited by ghosts. While the location in of it’s self is haunting and beautiful it is Schmeer’s  camera work and final composition of the film that conveys these qualities to the audience so well. The slow pacing of all the shots allow the viewer to really meditate on what they are looking at, giving our eyes time to linger on both the whole image and the details, while the minimal sound design is just enough to underline the strange feeling of loneliness that often accompanies abandon places such as this.

Malaise ( generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being) is a well chosen title for this film as it probably refers to both the feelings you may experience while watching the images as well as the feelings of the past residence of Beelitz-Heilstätten. The history of the abandoned sanatorium informs the disturbing nature of the Schmeer’s images, but one of the many successes of this film is Schmeer’s ability to capture both the beauty and the unsettling feeling that exists in these no longer inhabited places.

Nicely done Jaguar. This little short displays some very well done cinematography combined with an intriguing story that kept me guessing until the end. Getting Golden Globe winner Damian Lewis to play the lead role wasn’t a bad idea either. Oh and the car, the new 2013 Jaguar F-Type, looks really good too.

Remember that kid in school who was always in their own world and rarely spoke to anyone? The kid that no one messed with, not because he was intimidating in size, but because they seemed a little crazy and you were never sure what they were capable of. Andy is that kid. A little strange and volatile but ultimately sweet, Andy meets opposition from teachers and peers with an oddly inspiring courageousness.

The character is played brilliantly by Oscar Vandy-Connor, whose performance combined with the beautifully framed shots, will have you thinking back to those days on the playground and reliving those moments of childhood frustration and triumph. The Six Dollar Fifty Man is a wonderful slice of cinematography and acting from some of the best child actors I’ve seen, and no matter who you were in elementary school I think we can all see a part of ourselves in Andy and his determination to be himself.

Who would have thought the death of little animals would be so hilarious? In this darkly humorous “documentary” we find a small menagerie of unfortunate, alien looking animals whose lives are brief and their extinction inevitable, making the job of the documentary’s narrator a little difficult. It would seem that all these creatures are designed to fail (in the most comedic ways) leaving the poor narrator at loss of what do with them.

El Señor Studios uses absurdity to it’s full comic effect with these bizarre animals, such as the inverted hedgehog, who I found to be an interesting look at how natural design effects the daily lives of humans and other animals.