Barçablog 7 – Slippery When Wet

You never remember the nights you plan on going to bed early and actually do. You remember the ones where your buddy convinces you to get out of your pajamas and you end up adventuring around Barcelona til dawn with people you meet that night. In the pouring rain.

 

 

 

Barçablog 6 – “In Croatia I’m a 12…”

I’ve been sort of secretly disappointed with myself for the years I’ve let go by without finishing these videos and basically abandoning this blog. So instead of just feeling that all the time, I figured I could also do something about it and finish them like I promised myself and others I would. Here we go…

This video is the weekend after La Merçe. I think it was the one weekend many of us from the program just stayed in Barcelona and didn’t jet to another city. We explored the home turf, and it was an awesome reminder of why we all chose this city in the first place. El Palau Nacional, Estadí Olímpic, Port Olímpic, La Rambla, meeting new friends from Vere Island and Croatia, and Plaça de Catalunya…there’s a little bit of everything in this one. I don’t get homesickness for anywhere quite as much as I do for Barça. Here’s to nostalgia.

Thanks again.

Kev

 

To This Love

Been a while folks. A lot’s happened. I’m in a vastly different place than I was since my last posts. A good thing, I think. I’m moving forward, and that’s generally a good direction to be going in. Most recently, I just wrapped a really awesome play called The Pillowman. Changed my life, working on that thing. If you ever have the opportunity of watching it, anywhere, I highly recommend you don’t pass up on it.

Now that it’s over, however, I get to let the darkness of it go. And part of that, I’ve realized, is playing a lot more in the light, and LOVING it. Here’s something I’ve found for bringing a little sunshine in your life: if you wanna smile, work on things that make you smile. And two things guaranteed to make anyone smile? Babies and puppies. BOOM.

“The only way to be happy is to love. Unless you love, your life will flash by.” – Tree of Life

Thanks again 🙂

Kev

if embedded video does not work, click here to view it on hitRECord

Wanna Know How to Tell Stories? Watch “The Walking Dead”

Two summers ago I interned at Valhalla Motion Pictures. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a production company headed by Gale Anne Hurd. And if you don’t know who she is, take a minute to edumacate yourself here. The company sort of specializes in producing films and TV series based off of graphic novels, comic books, and the like. While I was interning there, they had a project up on the big board in the works. It was titled The Walking Dead. Frank Darabont, of The Shawshank Redemption fame, was the series creator. Gale Anne Hurd wanted to produce. No pilot script had been finished yet. No stars attached. On that strength alone it had been picked up by AMC. During my time there, I didn’t get to see much in the way of development of that series, but from that long ago I could not wait to watch it when it aired.

Two years later, and I’ve just devoted the past two nights of my life to watching the entire first season of The Walking Dead. It’s a 6 episode season, half the number of normal episodes usually ordered for an established premium cable television series. But man, what they do in 6 episodes, most network series can’t accomplish in a full 24. It’s as wonderfully written as it is shot, and for an upstart storyteller like myself, it’s the perfect example to take from of how to take a badass concept and weave some real emotional heart into the sucker.

What sets The Walking Dead apart from most other series is, in my opinion, it’s ability to find the human truth in every single circumstance. No matter how fictional or fantastical a situation may be, at the end of the day, you are telling stories for a human audience, and raw human emotion is what all anyone will ever connect to. That’s why, for instance, you can have a far greater investment in characters fighting off zombies than you might for desperate housewives cheating on their partners. It doesn’t matter whether or not one situation is more realistic than another, what matters is which one of those instances feels more emotionally honest. In this respect, The Walking Dead is head and shoulders above many more shows airing today.

In terms of the power of cinematic narrative, The Walking Dead is a great example of the difference between having a camera tell a story than anything else. In the pilot episode, there begins the introduction of the audience to the zombie apocalypse with a 5 minute non-dialogue sequence. In this moment, our hero wakes in the hospital from a coma, and he sets out to make his way home, discovering what the world has come to along the way. During his whole journey home, perhaps four words total are said, and for a solid 5 minutes, we watch in dialogic silence as the world around us is slowly, powerfully revealed onscreen. From the use of juxtaposition, to the rhythm of the shots, and the exposition of subject matter, every single layer is peeled back, emphasizing and simultaneously enlarging the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe.

Through no other medium of storytelling other than film is a silence such as this so powerful. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then moving pictures are like those one thousand words being screamed by the most eloquent banshees you ever heard. As a filmmaker, it’s a glorious piece of cinematic achievement to behold.

And as a screenwriter, reading the pilot teleplay is like seeing that “A” paper the smart little shit wrote in your 8th grade English class while you were toiling away with a “C-“. Everything you might have learned about writing, or read about writing, is executed in such a way that you fully understand the meaning of how it’s accomplished. Wanna know how to best use white space? It’s right there. Wanna see how to write the tone and tempo of a scene onto the page? You got it. This day in age, it’s all to easy to do a search for screenplays online and get them for free, legally. The insane copyright laws that exist for the finished products of music and movies don’t yet extend to the scripts themselves. So if you’re looking into getting into the filmmaking business, do yourself a favor and get while the getting’s good. Search for some movies you like and download their screenplays. Learn from them. And then expand upon the knowledge they give you.

In screenwriting, one of the first exercises you’re given is to write a short, dramatic, non-dialogue scene. It all started with silent films, and if you can’t translate the drama of your piece without dialogue, forget trying to make your scene seem authentic with it. If you want to know how to write an amazing non-dialogue sequence, read pages 13-20 of The Walking Dead pilot. If you want to know how to tell an amazing story onscreen, read the rest of that pilot script. Then watch the actual show. Or vice-versa. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

hitRECord and the Remix Revolution

As a struggling artist, I had no idea how I would ever get my name out there with the big boys or ever make an impact. Breaking through the wall of entertainment is such a daunting task when you’re on the outside looking in. But, a couple years ago, thanks to Joseph Gordon-Levitt and hitRECord.org, I realized that I don’t have to wait for my big break. Especially this day in age, everything I’ve ever needed to create my art has been more widely available to me and anyone else than ever before. It took until I joined hitRECord to realize that. And since then, I’ve made contributions to projects that have screened at Sundance and SXSW, and I’ve just finished an article that could contribute to TIME magazine about hitRECord and all it’s done for me. This is that article, and this is why you should join the REmix Revolution.

from hitRECord.org:

TIME profile – The Remix Revolution

Having access to a TIME magazine interview, and having permission to write on it, is something I feel I haven’t yet deserved in my career. I suppose my main reasoning behind that feeling is because I haven’t started a career yet. As an artist, I write, act, and direct. These crafts I am exploring and learning as I attend university in San Diego, California. Yet here I am, with an interview between Joel Stein and Joseph Gordon-Levitt at my disposal, having been allowed—nay, requested—to write a profile from it, and I don’t even have a résumé typed up. I didn’t have to start in the mailroom; I didn’t have to climb up any ladder rungs to get to this position. All I had to do, was hit RECord.

Started years ago with the help of his older brother, Dan, hitRECord.org was at first just a site where Joseph Gordon-Levitt could upload his own projects. Today, hitRECord.org is a “professional, open, collaborative production company” where artists from all over the world, with all kinds of backgrounds, can come and work together on professional quality works of art. It is the kind of place where an editor from England can take clips filmed by an actor in Hollywood, from a story by an author in the Philippines, based off of an idea from another artist from another part of the world, and weave them together to create a film to be screened at a place like Sundance. “There’s so many artists all over the world making great shit,” Gordon-Levitt says, “and that’s who I wanna work with.”

This is made possible through the company’s core idea of “Remixing.” In an age of crackdowns on copyright violations, Gordon-Levitt’s company goes against the trend by promoting the sharing of intellectual property. “Anyone can contribute a record, and anyone can download a record and remix it into something else. Remixing isn’t theft on hitRECord. It’s an honor.”

And this isn’t something Gordon-Levitt preaches to the masses, it’s something he feels so very personally as well. “Having someone take creative liberty with what I’ve done, it’s just fascinating,” he says. “It’s endlessly fascinating. Wow, they really got it. Or they didn’t. You can really tell by the art that they make, more than whatever the box office says.”

The culmination of this ongoing, public process manifests itself in the form of the company’s first “RECollections” volume, a sort of compilation of the best works to date from hitRECord bundled together in a tangible piece of multimedia art. “We’ve been working on [RECollections] for years now. That’s what’s so exciting about it, being able to present this finished product. We can say, ‘You wanna know what we’re doing? Here’s what we’re doing.”

In a site that has over 200,000 records released for remixing, “RECollections vol. 1” is comprised of no less than 1,000 records collaborated on by 471 artists from around the globe, all of whom will be paid should this endeavor turn a profit.

And making money off of this form of art is something that Gordon-Levitt believes will become a more plausible thing as time goes on. As Joel Stein notes that he makes far more money off of his acting roles than he might off of hitRECord, Gordon-Levitt responds simply, “for now.”

The status quo, as it stands, is dictated by the current intellectual property laws, which Gordon-Levitt calls “hogwash.” “There is a lot of money in intellectual property, and the people making that money have spent a lot of time and effort into propagating the idea that stories belong to authors.”

It’s only a matter of time, he believes, until that changes. “It’s the task of our generation to figure out how can we connect directly with our audience and creative community, and support ourselves with the art that we make.”

As to when this time will come to pass, Gordon-Levitt argues that it’s already happening. “In 2010, we were playing places that were 100 people. In 2011, we’re going to do the Fall Formal for 1800 people. So what are we going to do in 2012 and 2013?”

Now whether or not this Remix Revolution comes to surpass the status quo remains to be seen. And whether or not it’s Gordon-Levitt and his merry band of artistic rebels that are at the forefront of this movement remains is anyone’s guess. But one thing is for certain: the times, they area a ‘changing. They are changing as I write and as you read. The windows of opportunity have been thrown wide open, and the distances between artists have been shortened. We can thank technology in large part for this, and in the smallest of parts, we can thank Joseph Gordon-Levitt and hitRECord. And, more than anything, we can certainly expect to hear from them again…by heart.

image by Lawrie Brewster.

barçablog cinco – La Mercé, Correfoc, and Gratuitous Cursing

A year ago today, I landed in Barcelona with 30 some-odd strangers, hopped on a bus to Castelldefels beach town, and started a journey that has literally changed my life. It’s insane how people look back on their experiences in life and how it’s shaped them to be who they are today, and already I’ve filed that part of my life as one of those chapters. It wasn’t my first time traveling outside of the country. Hell, it wasn’t even my first time studying abroad. But whatever it was; some sort of combination of the rich culture I was a part of, the awesome relationships I forged, and the INSANE experiences I shared all coalesced into something only describable as powerful and meaningful enough to affect me even still. Yeah, I know it’s super vague to put it that way, but equally as vague has been this insane amount of nostalgia that’s plagued me the whole last week leading up to this anniversary of sorts. Maybe I’ve got a thing for milestones. Maybe I’m a romantic in that sort of way. Or maybe you should just get your ass on a plane and experience for yourself what I’m talking about. Trust me. It’ll change you. And a year later, you’ll still be riding the wave.

Exhibit A: This video right here. It’s been a GOOD LONG WHILE mis amigos Barcelona. The last barçablog I threw up here was a solid 9 months ago…UNFORGIVABLE. That’s kind of why I sentimentalized a little bit up there, and also it’s why I may have overdid myself a bit on this video. It’s a solid 15 minutes of action, but for good reason! For lo and behold, finally, my time at La Mercé festival has been immortalized in digital video glory.

For those of you not on the up and up on what the hell la fiesta de La Mercé is, worry not…because you’ll see it all here through my slightly skewed, ever shaky lens. Basically picture this: Spain’s second largest city shuts down for a weekend to party, complete with free wine tasting, parades with giant piñata puppets, outdoor midnight carnival rave, the grandest fireworks show you’ll see outside Paris on Bastille Day, and a FIRE RUN, in which a fatty dragon rolls down a boulevard shooting fireworks into the crowd and and army of men dressed as devils follow suit. BY FAR the craziest thing I’ve willingly been a part of.

Also, a word of warning about that part of the video. My mother has expressed her displeasure more than once with the amount of cursing which goes on in not only my videos but also at times my writing…language which she finds befitting for a sailor. Flattering as that may be, as a response I must say that I always strive to find moments in my speech and diction upon which only the choicest of profanity would only serve to enhance my eloquence. Even so, I couldn’t help but notice how during the Correfoc, even I failed to use my swearing as a compliment to my verbal articulation. In my defense, I challenge ANY of you motherfuckers out there to stand beneath a twirling tower of pyrotechnic pain with an ungloved hand holding a camera and not let a few vulgar F-bombs slip through the defense. Therefore, I did my best to cover up what nautical language may have leaked out, but don’t be all too surprised if I failed to plug all the holes.

Anyway, that’s all that I can think of to say for now. This one’s for everyone who ended up making those 3.5 months the best of my life. Enjoy. And thanks =)

Kev

P.S. Anushe Shoro rocks my world for hooking it up with the fireworks footage.

F*CKING LATE!!!

Hey guys,

Me, Chris, and our Parisian buddy Erwan made a 55 sec PSA about safe driving for a Bridgestone scholarship in about 8 hours flat. It didn’t end up making the top 10 eligible for voting to the finals sadly, but all in all, I’m still pretty proud of it.

I woke up a couple Saturdays ago to Chris’ phone call about the deadline on this thing coming up. He really wanted to do it, and luckily, a couple years back, as a screenwriting exercise, I had written a non-dialogue sequence that we thought could work perfectly for this PSA. 3 hours shooting, a couple hours editing, and one Erwan in a raincoat in June later, and we had ourselves a video!!! I hope you guys enjoy, and I hope you all are having great sunshine filled days. Thanks.

Kev

Deal Breaker – Teaser Trailer

Hey guys,

Long time no see, homies! So if anyone’s still reading this, I apologize for being so MIA lately. School schedule picked up and so did a ton of projects. My bad. BUT, it’s summer time now, and the living’s easy so I got nothing to do but get back on my editing grind. Which I have started to do! But not on the Chris & Kev eps or the Spain vids. As of late, people have been graduating left and right (but not me!) and I have to move out of my place in a grand total of 12 days, and on top of all that Chris’ and my buddy from Paris, Erwan, who so graciously provided us a couch to surf when we were in his city, is staying with us here in California (shoutout to couchsurfing.org here).

In the past few weeks, I acted in a couple plays, wrote another, and wrote/directed a short film. Right now, the last sucker’s in the editing process, but I’ve had time enough to crank out a teaser trailer for yall’s viewing pleasure. Please enjoy, and I’ll try and keep up more regularly for the next few months. Happy summer, friends.

See you soon,

Kev.

Chris & Kev and co. – Glow in the Dark Ping Pong

A couple of weeks ago me and Chris pulled off quite possibly our greatest achievement to date (aside from being born). One day Chris called me up and we had a conversation I only now vaguely remember, mainly cuz I was napping for most of it. About 3 hours later I called him back and realized I had agreed to help him quarterback this idea he had for the Variety Show on campus. It was a staged ping pong show. But it was glow in the dark. And we were floating.

No problem, right? Well, kind of a problem. We literally went through hell to put it up: people dropping out, having to paint and build everything, broken lights, broken limbs. What we ended up putting out there was actually our first ever run with all the pieces in place. And while it definitely shows, it still is pretty cool to watch, and it was all worth it.

Please enjoy what I like to call Chris’ baby, and my godchild. Thanks again. =)

Huge shoutouts to Lexi, Annelise, Anna, Parisa, and Ponch for being the ballers in black.

Chris & Kev go to Whitey’s Castle 1.7 – “The End All Pee All”

Happy Spring Break!!! It’s been difficult to find any free time to edit. And it looks like I’m only gonna get busier next quarter, so I hope you guys are as grateful as I am for the weeklong break. Over the week off, I’ve had time to practice being homeless, increase my movie acquisitions and watchings, AND I had time for this little bad boy here!

I SWEAR I’m still working on getting up Spain vids too, but the next one is about La Merce festival, and anyone who was there with me knows, trying to edit that thing is chaotic at best.

For now though, allow me to present the culmination of the past 4 or so episodes. We’ve been building up so much for this moment, so hopefully you find it worth your while. And if you don’t, well, asi es la vida. Last we left you, Chris and I had settled on a little wager for his pee pee dilemma. If he can contain his urine in a 20oz. water bottle, I would run around in my underwear upon arrival at Lexi’s house. If not, vice versa. Then, pulling off to the side of the road, we got stuck in the mud, and that added a whole separate adventure and episode. And on top of ALL THAT, we only had about 2 hours left on our self-set deadline to get to LA. As you’ll see in later Europe episodes, Chris & I taking something so seemingly simple and idiotproof and finding out a way to overcomplicate it is something of a talent of ours. But thankfully, it only benefits you all, as you get to enjoy our ever-present struggles.

Now, with no further ados, setbacks, fakeouts, unexpected occurrences or the like, please allow this next episode to only add to the wonderful joy and bliss that is Spring Break.

And thanks again.

Kev