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What did SXSW 2010 look like?

Here's a look at our time at South By Southwest (aka SXSW). All of the footage and photos used here were shot on the Canon T2i DSLR camera. These cameras are changing how us video people do things and this was a chance to put that to the test. What do you think of the first time out with the camera?

SXSW 2010 Recap from Gregg Jaffe on Vimeo.

SXSW 2010: Big Teeth Film Recap

 

In our previous blog post Elise gave some great insights into how we navigated through the action of SXSW, so I thought I'd give a recap of the films that I saw.

I'm no Roger Ebert (more recently known as @ebertchicago) so I'll keep it short, but if you want more details about these and other films check out ifc.com's SXSW blog.

If you saw any of these and have any thoughts, or saw others you'd recommend, let us know in the comments.

THE FILMS (In order of when I saw them)

Click on the film title to visit it's website. All photos used here are from the SXSW website.

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American: The Bill Hicks Story (Documentary)

A look at the life and times of controversial cult-comic Bill Hicks who died young. The film tracks Hicks' development into a brutally frank political comedian who couldn't seem to find the mainstream acceptance he desired in his home country, but did overseas.

This one is most notable for use of animation during interview segments in place of talking head footage.

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Harry Brown (Narrative Feature)

Michael Caine stars in this gritty British film that I liken to a cross between "Gran Torino" and "Falling Down." Caine is an older gentleman who can only stand so much of the decay that his neighborhood is experiencing, and after dealing with difficult situations with his beloved wife and best friend at the hands of violent drug dealers, he takes matters into his own hands.

I particularly loved the cinematography and acting in this movie. It had a down and dirty feel that you rarely see in Hollywood films. And it has Michael Caine!

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World's Largest (Documentary)

Full disclosure: One of the filmmakers, Lizzy Donius, is a friend of ours and the former head of IFP Chicago. However, we had absolutely no stake in the making of this film.

Donius and collaborator Amy Elliott tell a story that is all at once fun, whimsical, sad and thought-provoking. The documentary takes us to seemingly every small town in America that boasts the world's largest statue of something, that often represented that town's main industry. Most of these towns are crumbling and often the industry that propelled them is gone. The film is shot with a very tourist with a handi-cam feel but manages to convey the true nature of these towns and their inhabitants. I was really glad that I enjoyed the film so that I didn't have to lie to Lizzy!

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The People Vs. George Lucas (Documentary)

We all have opinions about George Lucas. This film talks to hundreds of people about the highs and lows of one of film's most polarizing figures. We love him for Star Wars and then hate him for everything he did to the original series and the new one that followed. The film also includes archival footage of Lucas along with many clips of fan-made films.

If you've never thought out loud about whether Jar Jar Binks was worse than the Ewoks or not then you can skip this one... otherwise, it's fun to watch.

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Dirty Pictures (Documentary)

From the film's website: "DIRTY PICTURES is a documentary about Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin, the rogue chemist who discovered the effects of MDMA (aka Ecstasy) and over 200 other mind-altering drugs. Shulgin’s alchemy has earned him the title “The Godfather of Psychedelics,” and a reputation as one of the great chemists of the 20th century."

This was a film that I was really excited to see and was left not sure how I felt. I think Shulgin is definitely an interesting enough character to be featured, I just felt that it delved a lot deeper into the science of it all for my liking. But if you dig the equations, this is a guaranteed winner. Plus, there's a lot of humor and Burning Man sequences.

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Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil (Narrative Feature)

Film festivals so rarely have flat-out comedies, but fortunately they make exceptions. Tucker and Dale was just a fun movie to watch. Seeing at a theater that serves beer at midnight didn't hurt my enjoyment, but this one will no doubt make it's way to multiplexes and I'm glad for that.

The film does a 180 on the typical backwoods hicks hunting the college hotties story and instead gives us two rednecks with hearts and brains (sort of). Tucker and Dale just want to hang out and fish at their new "summer home" (a dilapidated cabin on the lake) and find themselves implicated in a series of unfortunate accidents. There's lots of goofy gore, so if you love horror movies but have a sense of humor you'll love this. If you get squeamish from on-screen blood, then sit it out.

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So there you have it. I don't know if any of these won awards or not, and while I liked some better than others, all in all I'm glad to support independent filmmaking in whatever capacity I can. Again, I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these films or others you might have seen or heard about at SXSW.

 

New Media Revolution: From No Tube to YouTube in 5 Years

YouTube was founded in February of 2005. This became slightly significant to me as I was unearthing video samples that I created and came across the first short films that I wrote and directed from, you guessed it, February 2005.

Five years ago what did New Media mean to us? I'm guessing not a whole lot. Blogs existed but not everyone on the planet had three of them. How many podcasts did you download in 2005? I listened to more this week than I did that year. We didn't tag photos on Facebook, we didn't converse in tweets, and we certainly didn't upload high quality videos that could be played back in real time on every computer in the world.

On a personal note these videos are also the first collaboration between Elise and I production-wise. She produced three shorts that I wrote and directed. Now in 2010, every day of our lives involves Elise producing video that I write, direct or edit. The emergence of YouTube and New Media/Social Media has essentially allowed us to be in business and had things not progressed how they did, Big Teeth Productions might not be around today - perish the thought of course.

Here's one of the videos that I'm referring to titled, "All In."
(full disclosure, this one was actually done in March 2005, not February):

Not exactly a cinematic masterpiece but in terms of story and production value right up there with most of what you see on YouTube. Had there been a YouTube like it is today in 2005, its possible that I would have been able to show these videos to more than the few friends and mentors that actually saw it. Then maybe some of those people would have embedded it into their blogs or Facebook pages and thousands more might have seen it. Maybe PETA would have insisted I take it down because I encouraged dogs to gamble, which would have led to some PR for me and more eyes on the video. Then I would have been signed to a 3 picture deal at Dreamworks and become a filmmaking superstar... Then again, maybe I'd be right here where I am. Either way, my life is a totally different one thanks to the New Media Revolution.

Has the New Media Revolution effected what you do in your personal life or your career? Do you think we are better off with YouTube and other New Media outlets or worse?

Who . . .  is relevant?

from who dat to the who we give you our outsider perspective to the biggest insider event of the year, the superbowl.

 

Being at the Superbowl was a thrill for a number of reasons and was definitely something we'll remember for a long time, in no small part thanks to one of the greatest rock bands of all time, The Who.

A lot of the buzz I read on Facebook threads and random outlets on the web was that The Who are not "relevant" and are too old etc... as an act for the biggest TV event of the year. It makes me wonder if in fact, the kids are alright?

This being our first experience (and probably last) at the actual game versus in front of a TV, I'm left to ponder whether the CBS broadcast just couldn't possibly capture the electricity of the live performance. I know in years past I felt ambivalent about performances by Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, Springsteen and other such mega-acts who phoned in halftime show performances.

From where we we're sitting (section 403, third row from the top of the stadium) the aged Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey rocked as hard as two social security aged people could or should. Sure there wasn't the same fire as the "Magic Bus" days and no Les Paul's were smashed (admittedly a disappointment), but to the best of what I could tell, the few missed notes sung by Daltrey or maybe a muffed chord from Pete meant that these guys were actually playing their instruments and singing - NOT lip syncing. If you want to rag on them for anything, it could be the choice to play a set consisting of mostly songs that have been absconded by CBS' CSI franchise; but for the godfathers of heavy metal I'll let that slide.

Back to the whole "relevant" thing. Who would you consider to fit that bill? Would you rather have empty party anthem singers Black Eyed Peas take the stage and sing the most overplayed, uninteresting song of all time "I Gotta Feelin'"? And when I say "play" is there any doubt at all that it would just be a recorded track that Fergie and the boys would hop around to? Or the American Idol of the moment? If that's the case then I guess I'd rather not be part of "My Generation."

SB44 - Live at Super Clematis - We Built This City

Our first official "super" activity took place last night as part of Super Clematis Live - a football-themed version of the weekly nightlife activity in West Palm Beach. Now for all of you fame watchers waiting to be regaled with tales of shoulder rubbing with the Jonas Brothers, you may want to skip this post.

Clematis by Night an outdoor street fair with food, drinks and some live music acts who work tirelessly to cover every cheesy pop song ever written. They nailed it by going from "Don't Stop Believin'" right into "I Gotta Feelin'" - The dynamic duo of overplayed karaoke fare. Now what made this particular night "super" were the few non-descript former NFL players signing autographs and a couple of inflatable games with football logos. Oh, and we think we saw Freddie Falcon and Bobby Bronco running around the place too.

The Evening's headliners were none other than soft-rock legends Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas, not to be confused with Jefferson Starship. Mickey and a group of musicians half his age trotted out all the classics you know and love (and Elise REALLY loved a little too much for comfort).

For your viewing and listening pleasure here are a few of them captured with our new Kodak zx1 camera.

We Built This City - Encore style (listen closely, at one point it sounds like "live goes to tape)

Just when you thought you had been soft-rocked to the fullest, they encored with the classic "We Built This City." For one brief moment West Palm Beach was indeed built on (soft) rock & roll.

Super soft rock ballad - Sarah

Dedicated to our intrepid sports reporter chum  Sarah Spain, who has been covering media week here in So Fla., by request.

For those still wishing to know about the Jonas Brothers, take solace in the fact that in another 30 years, they will be Starship.

Back for more later, in the meantime, you can follow along with some photos we've added on flickr.