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I just finished cutting the promo and the trailer for a local film titled BRAVO SIERRA. BRAVO SIERRA is an action/comedy that was written and directed by my friend Jason Aupperle. The film will premiere at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center on February 13th at 8pm. Tickets are now available at the box office, and proceeds from the film will be donated to the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. For more information you can check out the films website at BravoSierraTheMovie.com.
I love to cut trailers, editing images and sound together in a tight and kinetic way always excites me. I enjoy having only a minute or two to sell a film, it really forces me to choose the best shots and the most important lines of dialogue. I start by building out small points of action on my timeline and after an hour or two of editing, the trailer starts to show its first signs of life. Little segments form together in to two or three second moments. As the editing continues, the segments snap together into larger and more interesting sections, and this is my favorite part of editing trailers. This is when I start to feel like I’m really birthing something exciting into the world, it’s a rewarding feeling.
BRAVO SIERRA was my first opportunity to cut an action trailer. I chose to accentuate the fast and explosive visuals with loud and dynamic sounds. Check out the promo and trailer below and let me know what you think.
I came across this video, or rather, Paul (Designer) showed me this video. It’s comprised entirely of CG, which is nothing new, CG has been around forever. But go ahead and watch it, you’ll be shocked.
I’ve watched a lot of stuff on vimeo over this last year. I thought I’d share some of the videos that resonated with me. Take a look, let me know what you think.
Probably my favorite frame of the year, at the :46 second mark.
Powerful, artistic, NSFW.
Inspiration, with some sweet and sexy lens flares.
A beautiful look at skywalker ranch.
Beautiful underwater footage, with kinetic musical pacing.
Drop the Gun!
Epic and Breathtaking.
Anime adaptation, ninjas, samurai! Um yeah this rules.
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Instead of starting this article off with words like astounding, unbelievable, revolutionary, I’m just gonna dive right into what I think AVATAR really is. I can’t believe I’m gonna say this,… AVATAR is game changer. Whatever the game is, consider it officially changed.
Okay so before the film starts I’m sitting there watching the previews and they’re all in this new 3D technology called REAL-D. I actually found the previews a little hard to watch, and I think it’s because I never go to see 3D movies, so I had a little trouble getting used to what the glasses were doing to my eyes. Aside from getting used to the visuals I kinda had to pee, and I knew that I had better go because I was going to be sitting there for like three hours. But I was so drawn into these cool looking REAL-D previews, that I didn’t get up and go before AVATAR started, so I was like, what do I do now, I can’t leave???!! Well to give you an idea of how engaging AVATAR was; I actually sat there for almost three hours throughout the entire film and I totally forgot about the fact that for the entire movie, I had to take a wicked pee.
For the first half hour of the film, part of me was concentrating on the story and the other part analyzing the REAL-D. I thought that the REAL-D was apparent, but at the same time it had a unique and brilliant subtlety. It blended foreground elements that were out of focus, with wide-open spaces and layers of perfectly focused elements. Some of my favorite shots were ones that showed rows and rows of soldiers all sitting next to one another. You could literally focus your eyes on one soldier, or the entire shot, which made you feel like these people were actually sitting there right in front of you. That said, my eyes never fully adjusted to the REAL-D. But I think that’s because I’m not used to watching 3D films critically.
To tell you the truth I’m actually kinda shocked at how floored I was by this film, given all the hype and how much of the plot I had already known. That being, there’s an indigenous tribe of people called the Na’vi that are being harassed by an unstoppable military force, and the story is kind of an allegory for what the US is doing in the middle east. What I really loved was how James Cameron presented the story. It managed to impart a powerful message about understanding the world we live in, while not being preachy and self-righteous. The film had a head on it’s shoulders, which I kind of expected because Terminator and Aliens weren’t just fluff, they had an actually story, and I knew that if Cameron had put years and years into AVATAR, the story was going to be pretty damn tight, and it was.
On top of REAL-D being extremely bad ass the CG was gorgeous. I had feared that I’d be sitting there the whole time thinking, ugh, this looks like a video game. But I can assure you that’s not the case. There were many times throughout the film that I found myself staring and analyzing the detail of the Na’vi’s faces, they were gorgeous. The female lead in the film was a Na’vi named Neytiri, and I was totally taken by how believable she was. The close ups of Neytiri really showcased the depth and complexity of the CG, and it gave me great insight into who the Na’vi people were.
At the end of the film the military forces attack a gigantic tree that the Na’vi’s people live in. This scene was amazing! James Cameron is a master of large-scale action sequences. He doesn’t cut away or confuse the audience with close ups, he details all of the elements of an action scene in very real way. That said, I’m gonna sound like a real women here but I can’t believe this film was only rated PG-13. I understand that they don’t want to make it R, because it will broaden their audience and hold the film back from making tons of money. But the dramatacism of the violence in this film is substantial. There’s fire and explosions and very realistic death, and the way that Cameron uses the REAL-D technology only adds to the feeling of chaos. At the end of the film the Na’vi people are reluctantly fleeing as this absolutely massive tree is falling towards them. There are many wide shots where you can see the death and devastation happening in the background with perfect detail. Large groups of Na’vi people get crushed and killed in an instant, as the lead actors run towards the foreground. I found myself thinking, this should definitely be rated R.
But that’s just a personal opinion, the fact is James Cameron has created an entire world that we have never seen before, in a way that we have never been able to see anything. He uses REAL-D to add dramatacism and realism to a complex and profound tale. This is escapism, imagination and creativity done in a unique and masterful way. James Cameron, AVATAR, game officially changed.
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I’ve always loved watching behind the scenes footage on DVD’s. I love to hear people talking about the craft of filmmaking; be it directing, acting, writing, you name it I love to hear about it. You can really gain a tremendous amount of knowledge and insight by listening to successful filmmakers speak about their work. You can see what worked for them and why, how they got to where they are, and you can directly apply that to your own creative process.
That said, a friend of mine recently clued me in to a website called makingof.com. All this site does is interview actors, directors, writer’s about their creative process, and here’s the best part,… it’s free. So, you don’t have to search through menu’s of your DVD’s or wait for an Inside the Actor’s studio re-run, you can just sit back, hit play, and feel inspired.
In my opinion, listening to interviews from professional filmmakers is almost invaluable. It’s equivalent to a magician telling you how he does his tricks. I mean, they’ve spent their lives perfecting their craft, going through failure and struggle, working with all kinds of different people, and they’re telling you what works and what doesn’t, and all you have to do is listen.
