The Two of Us

For Christmas, I got a ZOOM audio recorded, dolly and Action Essentials 2. These will be a big help when I make my 45 minute movie next semester. But I needed to test this equipment out before relying on it, so Matt James and I decided on a whim to make a new short--'The Two of Us.' Right now it is only available on Facebook.

The sound quality is a huge improvement using the Zoom. Although it would help to get a slate, which is being shipped and will get here tomorrow. Kinda late now. So some of the sound is a little off sync and I didn't have the settings high enough so its very quiet AND half the short was recorded without the digital recorded and you can tell because it's fuzzy. So there you go.

When you pull a movie out of your ass, you're gonna get shit. But it served its purpose and we had fun doing it! 'The Two of Us' was improv'd scene-by-scene and completed in one night. The purpose was to test out my new equipment. So it's a bit rough. But that's okay, it's nothing serious and was made for FUN!

No TVs were harmed in the making of this film.

'Waiting for Eternity'

Living up to its name, it almost felt like waiting an eternity for 'Waiting for Eternity' to be released--and now that time has come! What can I say about it? The project was to make a portrait about a person or place and I did a vampire. Is that a bit cliche? Yes. Which is why I like it. Nobody would expect me, an anti-Twihard, to contribute to the vampire cult. But here it is. And people seem to love it for the most part--at least my targeted audience does. Watch it now on Vimeo.
So, what lessons did I learn since 'Citizen Prophet' that keeps this particular movie from being a flop? Well, it still isn't the greatest film in the world but this is an introductory, first-year course final and coming out in the top 20% of students is something to strive for to make a good first impression.

White-balance-- how did I not figure this out on my own? It's so simple.

Cinemode-- My camera has a feature that mimics the looks of feature films and I'm just finding this out!!!

Exposure-- A huge problem in 'CP'. My camera didn't react well darkness. But I came up with a simple equation to solve that. Open iris to 30 minus 6 exposure.

Lighting-- A pair of $9 flood lights from Walmart makes a huge difference.

Bullshit-- Knowing crap like what NTSC, codecs and other rendering related stuff is helps with quality.

Acting-- If they're not professional, don't give them lines. No dialogue = no problem!

Special Effects-- They double your resources and catch the audience's attention. I went all out with the green screen this time.

Time-- If you have it, use it.

Now that it's all over and done with, I'm stuck on a horrible sleep schedule with nothing to work on. So I guess it's time to start working on the next project. This time I might need some help from the great people I've met here at the U. Happy Finals Week!

Waiting for Eternity from Zachary Hayes on Vimeo.

'Welkin's Gate'

'Welkin's Gate' is finished and up on Vimeo! Two months of hard work finally paid off. Although, the original concept for 'Welkin's Gate' came about a year ago and was supposed to be a comedy about how Heaven is a socialist society. That idea was scrapped because it would be too similar to 'Citizen's Prophet'.

As mentioned in previous blogs, 'Welkin's Gate' is based off a poem I wrote in High School called 'I'll Be Waiting in Heaven' and is dedicated to my friend, Trevor, who passed away this year. When I came to the University of Iowa, I was exposed to a lot of avant garde/experimental films so I decided to attempt one for my final project in my Intro to Film Theory class. It isn't really my specialty, but I managed to produce something worthwhile. Avant garde is a fancy way of saying that nobody will get this film, but they'll assume it is a masterpiece that they can't understand because they're not sophisticated enough. They are typically made by people who pray for subtitled, non-linear films that personify objects and emotion.

I asked my dear friend, Zach Bird, to be in 'Welkin's Gate' and he did a great job with his expressions and fake crying. Stephen Hueholt helped record the car crash scene and I forgot to put him in the credits but I suppose this makes us even--since he broke one of my swirly, florescent light bulb.

Now all I have to do is write a paper about why this film exemplifies theories we learned in class. That should be fun.

Watch 'Welkin's Gate'

Welkin's Gate from Zachary Hayes on Vimeo.

Coming Soon(er or later)

So a lot of people ask me, what's next? Okay, nobody really asks me that besides myself. But it is a valid question! 'Waiting for Eternity' and 'Welkin's Gate' come out next week, and then in a month starts a new semester of classes. Sadly, I will not be taking any classes that involve making a film. They filled up before I was even capable of registering. I did, however, get into a film festival class in which we learn to produce film festivals. Yay? Why not! Seems like a good skill to have. And it won't stop me from making movies. I came to college to build a portfolio after all.

Sometimes I promise I'll be making a movie, and I don't keep them. Not that anybody but myself cares, it is still a bad habit! So this time I am going to propose a bunch of film ideas, and then maybe at least one of them will be made.

Sci-fi/Fantasy- You could say 'Waiting for Eternity' is a fantasy portrait about a vampire who falls in love with his victim--because that is what it is. But having vampires and fairies in a story together is sooo True Blood.

Idea 1: So it's time for an epic Sci-fi showdown between humans and aliens. Yes, this sounds a lot like Probed and Xenophobic, two flops. This is different! With new technology allowing me to use stunning graphics and such, I'm finally able to make the alien film I've always wanted. The title is in the works, but it is about a NASA-like company discovering a wormhole in outer space, and in close proximity with our solar system. So using a new space probe that is capable of going further than any spacecraft before it, they send two chimps out to collect data. But the probe disappears! But even more surprising to our head-of-NASA-like protagonist, the signal from the probe returns and heading straight for Earth. But instead of the probe, an alien ship comes out of the wormhole and reaches the outer atmosphere of Earth and begins orbiting it, sending out radio waves with a shocking, encoded message. Who or what are these extraterrestrials looking for? The answer is almost too much to bare.

Problem with this idea. It will require actors who are at least in their late 20s and who are willing to work for coupons to Village Inn. Although they wouldn't have to commit much time to it since it is a short films (Approx 30 minutes), it will still be hard finding good enough actors of that age around here. In Citizen Prophet we were able to come up with a reason why the police inspectors were played by young guys, but that won't work this time. And hopefully the acting will be better.

Idea 2: This idea has always been on the table. 'Super Fluous the movie'. An epic adventure of our favorite super hero and his super friends. It would be a dual story about Super Fluous fighting his adversary, Mask-er-Raid--and Cockatoo Kid taking on The Hypnotist (as in a remake of 'Cockatoo Kid vs. The Hypnotist' being the subplot.)

When a few friends come together for the first time to take down an evil, faceless crime lord--The Genie--they save the town and become heroes. But Super Fluous, who doesn't like that he has to remain masked and his true identity doesn't get the credit for saving the city, unmasks himself to the public. As a result, his house is raided by thugs who kill his mother and his twin brother (thinking it was Super Fluous). Not being able to find who killed them, Super Fluous gives up being a hero out of guilt. Years later, his brother's killer resurfaces forcing Super Fluous back into crime fighting. Meanwhile, Cockatoo Kid investigates the disappears of the chief of police and meets his arch-nemesis, The Hypnotist. The Hypnotist's plan is to put all the heroes under a trance and take over the city.

There's the first two! More to come?

Work in Progress

Since my film, 'Waiting for Eternity', has had an early start--I took some "work in progress" footage into class. Check it out. The first 3 minutes is behind the scenes stuff and the last minute is the fully edited scene.



'Waiting for Eternity' will be released later next week.

Progress on Final Projects part II

'Waiting for Eternity' is almost entirely shot and ready for post-production, so it was either now or never with the poster. It isn't nearly as good as the 'Citizen Prophet' poster, but the resolution is equally as bad. Patrick Crowley made this poster because my version had a poor choice of font. His also has better color and he managed to hide the bad resolution of the picture better than I did.


Since 'Waiting for Eternity' is done so early, it is possible that I'll throw in a few scenes. The teaser trailer has had responses like "I jumped" "I screamed" "I wet myself"; but the final product could never live up to that at this rate because it isn't a horror movie--it's a portrait of a vampire struggling with his humanity who falls in love with one of his victims. Not scary. So, I could possibly come up with some scary scenes.

Release date is mid-December.

I'm a Tease

Thought I'd throw together a teaser trailer for 'Waiting for Eternity' to assist my presentation with the Modes class on what my movie will be about. Sadly, even after staying up till 5am, I wasn't able to get the thing rendered before class. But here it is anyway!



Humorous story--while filming I mixed up the tasty mint flavored blood with the vile not-as-edible blood. Gross. Okay, not that humorous. But this is my blog.

Batman Sequel Unmasked

Christopher Nolan has finally come out to reveal his plans for the 2012 sequel to his Batman series entitled 'The Dark Knight Rises'. Could this title be foreshadowing that Nolan plans to go all out creatively this time? Seriously, all out. Nolan hinted that the Riddler will not be the villain--quote "It won't be the Riddler". Could this mean that the Riddler won't be the villain... OR is it actually a cleverly disguised riddler?

This will surely shock the millions of people who were convinced it would be the Riddler. And why shouldn't they be? The Riddler is the most practical choice if you go by his trend of realism. That, and the majority of viewers probably aren't familiar with any other Batman villains besides Joker and Riddler. Such as Mr. Freeze, Killer Crock, Bane and Man-bat. All very practical.

From what we know about 'The Dark Knight' and 'Batman Begins', lets take a guess. 'The Dark Knight' ends with Batman literally taking the fall for two-faced Harvey Dent. Batman is now, in the eyes of Gotham, a villain. So introducing a villain wouldn't push the plot forward, nor would reviving Harvey Dent (as some people theorized). This is where Christopher Nolan's quote actually being a riddle comes in play. What made the Riddler so practical is that if any villain could trick the city into believing he is a hero, it would be him. Citizens of Gotham would think he is the hero and Batman is the villain. Ingenious! So, Christopher Nolan wasn't lying when he said that the Riddler wouldn't be the villain. Or is that just wishful thinking? At any rate, that is such a good plot twist that I think I'll use it in my own super hero series, 'The Adventures of Cockatoo Kid and Super Fluous'.

Also, every Batman movie has had multiple villains thus far. So there can't just be one. Considering the death of Bruce Wayne's love, Rachel--Bruce is gonna be on the rebound and since he is now a "villain", what better opportunity for him to get mixed up with a female jewel thief?

The good news: Nolan will not be shooting 'The Dark Knight Rises' in 3D. Thank God.

So there you have it. I've just contributed to the thousands of blogs buzzing about the next Batman movie with absolutely no evidence. Christopher Nolan knows what he is doing and if he doesn't want the Riddler then he has a better idea.

Here are some of my favorite fan made movie posters that have just become invalid:

Progress on Final Projects

As mentioned before, I have to complete two films for different classes as my final. The first class is Modes, the production class, and for that I'm making my vampire noir--'Waiting for Eternity'. It is partially inspired by our class project which invented the genre of vampire noir. But I'm also making a movie for my film theory class called 'Welkin's Gate', which is actually a concept I've been working on for a year now. Because it is a theory class, it will be somewhat experimental. A lot of nonsense. But there will still be an intended meaning.

Above is the movie poster I just completed. It isn't really necessary to have one but I enjoy making them. I'm dedicating the film to the memory of my friend, Trevor Wasson. 'Welkin's Gate' is based off an old poem I wrote in high school called 'I'll Be Waiting in Heaven':

I’ll Be Waiting in Heaven
By Zachary Hayes

Don’t cry for me.
I miss you too.
This memory
is my gift to you.
My hands are cold,
and pale white skin.
Though new, my soul,
my time was thin.

I’ll be waiting for you,
Just know that I’m okay.
With this life that is new,
I’ll think of you ever day.
In heaven, I wait
now that I can fly.
The welkin opens its gate,
and angels foster the sky.

Bran & Park: Vampire Noir

It is tradition that at the University of Iowa, all Modes classes produce 'Bran & Park'. It's a silly short screenplay that is primarily dialogue, so the class is allowed to interpret it however they want to. Each student is elected a role that would be in a real production--I'm the Assistant Director, which is the role I wanted because I get to yell at people--and we shoot our version of 'Bran & Park' in Studio A. Half the class wanted to make a noir film, the other half wanted to make a vampire film (not because vampire films are good, but because everyone hates them). I came up with the compromise--making a vampire noir. At least I think that was my idea... it's crazy enough to be...

So, rehearsal was a lot of fun. I took some photos. Don't we look so professional?

Reel World Production Logo

For a while, I've been struggling with a production logo. Throughout my years, I've had a few fake production companies--Blooper Brothers (age 11), Vaudeville Films (age 16), Reel World Films (age 18). But now that I'm making movies that I plan to show off, those "production companies" won't cut it because they don't exist. I read that having a fake production company would reflect as childish. Also, if someone liked my movie and wanted to learn more about it/me, they'd probably Google the nonexistent production company instead of my name and they'd find nothing. So the smart and professional thing to do would be to not have a name for my production company and start a film off with "A Zachary Hayes Film" or something of that sort.

BUT it would still be nice to start my movies off with a production logo. So using the amazingness that is After Effects, I created this rough animation using the Reel World logo. This was entirely made from scratch, no templates. It is amazing what you can do with a flat image of the Earth, moon and various planets. I'm new to After Effects so I'm sure I'll be able to improve it in time.

Screenplay Project

In Modes, we were assigned to write a 4 page screenplay based on a proposed dialogue. Mine was to be about a homeless person giving a student advice at a bus stop. It is one scene, because we weren't allowed to have any more (or less) than two characters, and there's no reason to have multiple scenes when it's just gonna be two characters talking. The goal is to have a natural flow of dialogue, while demonstrating good screenplay writing technique and having as much of three part structure as possible.

I didn't think much of my screenplay draft. Wrote it overnight and finished it before class. Thought there was a bit of a dark humor to it, but when my classmates acted it out--it turned out a lot funnier than when reading it. So it got a good reaction and I'm satisfied with it so far. This is just the draft, and I have to draw a storyboard to go along with it. So I'm looking for feedback, but don't be a tactless asshole. I'm not majoring in writing, and there were boundaries to what kind of plot I was allowed to write. It is unoffically titled 'Bus Stop'. I think that is a horrible title and I'd be open to suggestions for a new one. Keep in mind that I'm not a fan of one-word titles.

Here is the PDF. Enjoy.

F*ck 'em

Film school is a funny thing. Some people say you have to go to the right film school in order to get into the industry--yet so many filmmakers suggest that college is not necessary, and that's kinda true. So am I to believe that because I'm not going to the right film school, I won't make it in the industry? But if I didn't go to school, I would? I'm going to film school because I don't have the right connections or a large portfolio to run away to L.A. Seems reasonable enough.

I'll admit, the University of Iowa is indie based. Many of the students see the industry, "Hollywood", as soulless and say "f*ck 'em". I disagree! It is certainly not soulless. Not with the collection of souls they accumulated over the past century. I owe Hollywood for making me passionate about movies. I didn't get that passion from 'Requiem for a Dream'. That's a indie movie isn't it? Or is it too successful to be indie? Why do I bother asking questions?

It takes a certain kind of person to pursue working for the film industry. Obviously, they have to have a natural talent. But it also takes persistence and dedication. Not having kids helps. It takes soul, because that is the equivalent of currency. It takes encouraging, successful friends and connections. It takes willingness to fail, but the ability to try again. It takes accepting parents who have a second child as a backup plan. I seem perfectly qualified to take a risk. And I do understand the risk and am willing to settle if it comes to that.

I never considered myself an artist until coming to the University of Iowa where they treat you like artists. I think that's because I see two sides of art. Pictorial art and narrative art. Pictorial art is typically painting, sculpting, etc. Narrative art would be like writing, music, etc; which consists of artists but they're more rarely referred to as such. Cinema can be considered both. I would come more from the narrative side because I'm more focused on the audiences' reaction to the story than I am the imagery (which is still very important!). The University of Iowa has so far had me focused on the pictorial element. White balance is something I never taught myself, and now that I use it, I'm in a whole new world! For instance, I work for City Channel 4 now as a production assistant. We record city counsel meetings and such, but I've focused more on the interviews for Community Voice. Setting up lights, the camera equipment, microphones and setting the white balance, focus, f/stop--this is fun sh*t! And I have to work on my dialogue project for my Modes class. Just thinking about writing that screenplay is getting me excited! The job possibilities are endless! As are the impossibilities.

And if I fail, I'll live my life watching movies, playing World of Warcraft and writing blogs nobody will ever read. It'll be like never leaving college! Artists, which I apparently am, are all about escapism. We're escape artists.

Nobody put me down about taking a risk with what I want to do with my life, and I appreciate that. But I can tell when people think I'm only dreaming. But there is nothing else I could do and I have nothing to lose. So I'm doing it. Refer to this countdown clock and when it hits 0, if I've gotten nowhere, I'll reconsider my life direction.

Fire Effect Fail

Thought I'd try out some alternatives to After Effects, so I downloaded Wax 2.0. It's basically a particle generator, so I was able to make some cheesy fire effects. I threw this video together in under an hour. It's possibly a spin-off of 'The Mardi Gras Massacre' except it's featuring Super Fluous as the main hero instead of Cockatoo Kid. The reason we wouldn't really be making 'The Masquerade Massacre' is because Brayden and I are planning on redoing the entire Super Fluous & Cockatoo Kid series as a single film featuring both characters equally. But, this was fun to make, and it introduced Super Fluous' nemesis, Mask-er-Raid.

This Project is a Beach

We're doing a one-shot project in my Modes of Film Production class. Along with my partner, Austin, we have to make a one minute single shot film. Doesn't sound too difficult. Except on the day we had to pitch our idea, we weren't entirely sure about what we wanted to do, so we improved the pitch and now I have to someone put a beach in my living room. Tomorrow morning we'll be putting together the beach set and shooting the partially improved film. This should be fun!

Some of you may be wondering what to get me for my birthday that is coming up. I know that I don't have to remind you that it is October 6th. Having you as a loyal reader is all the presents I'll ever need to make my 20th birthday special. I couldn't possibly accept anything from my Amazon Wish List.

This weekend I'd like to work on 'Welkin's Gate'. Not making much progress, but I have it mostly thought out.

Vimeo

It seems like the majority of people in my film class use Vimeo instead of YouTube, so I decided to make my own profile. I plan on using it to post portfolio worthy work only. In other words, my "for fun" films are out. Here is the link!

Iowa City

Here I am, finally, in Iowa City. As mentioned many blog posts ago, I was accepted into the University of Iowa's filmmaking program and that time has finally come. Iowa City is nice so far, besides the fact that you can't go 5 minute before somebody driving nearby honks.

Honk honk honk!

So rude. So I won't be driving here. Instead I'm taking the bus everywhere. The bus will be extra important, as I don't live on-campus. I requested to live on-campus but now I am somehow living off-campus. Go figure. I requested temporary housing, which is a hell hole, over living off-campus and didn't even get that. Luckily I love my apartDORMent at The Lodge.

From my bedroom, I have a wonderful scenic view of the Walmart across the street.

My film classes seem fun, but we're not being trusted with very high quality cameras or complicated projects. My first project is to take three pictures and write about them. I'm thinking about making three flip books to hint at the fact that I'm not a photographer and static images don't do it for me.

I'll also be working on an abstract film since I won't have the opportunity to do it for class and I don't want to wait till next semester. It is called 'Welkin's Gate'.

Last week, I was interviewed for a job at City Channel 4. They told me, based off my work, that I'm qualified. If for any reason I don't get the job it is because my schedule is so spread out. We'll see!

'Inception': Lazy People Beware

Granted I'm not a huge fan of titles with one-word ('the' doesn't count), 'Inception' is an exception because the word is original. Also "inception" means original which is something that everybody in the movie theater knew except for me.

9 out of 10 critics say that 'Inception' is genius and an all around great movie. The remaining 1 didn't like the movie because they were "too lazy to follow the multiple, complex plots". Perhaps they don't know Christopher Nolan.

In Nolan's film 'Memento', the movie plays backwards like that episode of Seinfeld because the main character has short term memory. In 'The Prestige', a large portion of the story is a flashback from Christian Bale reading Huge Jackman's journal who is in turn reading Christian Bale's journal... AHHHHHHHHHH!!! I watched that movie six times in one day to catch everything.

I have so far seen 'Inception' twice. It was much better the second time because I followed it better. But that, and I always stress this, is what makes a great movie! Wanting to watch it multiple times and having a different experience. Having to think about the movie after seeing it.

But if you don't like movies that make you think, go to Twilight saga 'Eclipse' instead.

The first time I watched 'Inception' I was a little overwhelmed by the music. It seemed distracting. But the second time it fit a lot better. Probably because it was explained to me that a portion of the soundtrack was actually the "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien", which is the song they played to signal the countdown to the "kick", slowed down. Here is a video that will explain it further.

Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Cobb, was likely based off of Leonardo DiCaprio's other character, Teddy, from 'Shutter Island'. As a matter of fact, I watched 'Shutter Island' and then 'Inception' and they fit together quite well. Try it, I'm serious.

As a huge fan of Christopher Nolan's work, I can't help but to give 'Inception' a subjective, yet well-deserved, 91 out of 100.

How Movie Rental Stores Can Stay Open

It is sad to see all these movie rental stores going out of business. Seeing how I'm moving to Iowa City for college in a month, I was searching for a job in the area of the campus. Specifically, I wanted to work for something relating to movies so I found their local movie rental store. Sadly, it is going out of business.

Of course, we could blame RedBox and Netflix... but the real culprit here is YOU! You just couldn't resist Redbox's amazing prices or Netflix's delivery and On-Demand features. Although I have used both Redbox and Netflix, I will not stand for it!

I've worked in the pizza industry for almost five years now, and the most important lesson I have learned is that people like things being delivered to them. So, Netflix got that right. But they take a day at least to deliver. Who decides they want to see a movie and is willing to wait a day? Nobody. That's why movie rental venues have an advantage over Netflix and Redbox. Get in your cars and deliver! In fifteen minutes, the customer could have a movie at their house and they would be willing to pay more for that. And they'd tip. There is no reason someone should have to wait for Netflix to send their movie via the postal service when there are rental venues in every town with capable employees who own cars (Unless you're one of those pricks who likes ordering movies that you can't find in a rental store). Pizza places do it, so Blockbusters should have no problem.

Instant Movie Delivery. Why hasn't anyone done it yet? I expect to be paid for this idea, as I don't want to work for Happy Joe's Pizza the rest of my life and have college to pay for. Looks like I'm doomed to work in the pizza delivery business forever. Oh wait, I'm going to college! University of Iowa, here I come!

Happy 4th of July

'Citizen Prophet' is finished, as promised. The only issue is distribution. How do I let you watch my movie? I could put it on a website that you could download it from but I'm not confident that you trust me enough to download something from my site. The film is about 23 minutes, making it seven minutes short of the half-hour goal, but my longest movie still. This also means that it is 13 minutes too long for YouTube and THREE minutes too long for Facebook. The obvious solution would be to split it on in parts. If your division is good, you'll realize that I'd have to split it up in three parts to put it on YouTube. And that basically means that people will find the video, watch the first part and maybe the second, but before they get to the end they'll be bored with it.

Any ideas of non-sketchy sites that might solve this problem and wouldn't require my viewers to download anything? Maybe I'll just make one of those YouTube playlists.

Update: I'm using Vimeo now.

Post Production of 'Citizen Prophet'

A lot of hard work finally payed off. Well not payed off in money, which would have been nice because this movie bankrupted me, but we finished shooting and the 'Citizen Prophet' is coming together. Now that the hard work is done, the harder work of editing will begin.

There are a lot of people to thank. Brayden van Rossum and Joyce Steinman for driving all the way from Kansas and starring in the film. Matt James, Jacob James and Lauren Morrissey for driving from Des Moines to co-star. Danny Ginger for his awesome performance as a shadow. The extras: Bryce Williams and Ted K. Stephen Hueholt, the costume picker-outer. Am I missing anyone?

'Citizen Prophet' Movie Posters!

There are only 4 days left before we start shooting 'Citizen Prophet', and I've been rushing to finish the screenplay. I've been staying up till 4am trying to find the perfect ending to this movie, but I'm making slow progress.

The other night I was working on setting up my very expensive but rarely used XLR mic (from my imaginary rock band days) as a boom mic. It even looks like one. Sadly, I'm not so great with audio equipment, but the book I'm reading insists that audio is the most overlooked part of making an indie film. The book is 'How to Shoot a Feature Film for Under $10,000 and Not Go to Jail' by Bret Stern. My goal? $0. But that isn't working out so well.

As I was saying. The camera I am shooting with is a Canon Vixia. Not exactly professional, but the perfect camera for a guy like me. It has a very nice $200 external mic mounted on the top that I'd use for outdoor, action and car scenes—but I want to feel professional. So I thought, why not make my mic into a boom? I already spent several hundred dollars on it and the mixer. So I'd be putting it to good use. However, my little Canon Vixia has a 1/8'' mic jack. And my so-called boom has an XLR adapter and it can't power itself. So I have to run the boom through my mixer box, no big deal, it has a thousand inputs, outputs and nobs and I only need one, so what? Makes me feel that much more professional.

The output on the mixer is a 1/4'' adapter. I need a 1/8''. I have a little thinger-ma-jigger that can transform 1/8'' to 1/4'', but not vise-versa. After ordering a 1/4'' to 1/8'' transformer off Amazon, realizing I didn't need it because I could just use a 1/8'' cord with the 1/8''-1/4'' transformer plugged into the mixer, not being able to send the Amazon transformer back because it'd cost more than I spent on the damn thing, making two trips to Walmart, realizing I didn't need what I bought at Walmart because I already had one—I spent $20.

Which brings us to today. I woke up, and began painting obscure messages on my front door with car chalk (which costs $6) at the risk of people thinking I'm schizophrenic. I took a picture of each message, half way through realized that the flash was leaving a glare, and started over. Then I went to Walmart, returned the cord I bought the night before and got my $10, and went to the camera section to get my photos developed.

Walmart doesn't have one-hour photo here. What happened to that? When, in this century, did people forget that: One-hour photo GOOD—War BAD? It was too late to go to Walgreens. Before leaving Walmart I spotted a camera case with a metal-frame and lock. It looked so professional, I had to buy it. $30. Are you keeping track of my budget? Am I boring you?

So the boom works, but I need to do a sound test. I still need to go to Walgreens. And I'm not quite finished with the screenplay. BUT despite all the things I should be doing, I made movie posters instead! They give pretty good clues to the movie's plot. Click to enlarge.

Like them? Maybe I'll take them to Kinkos this weekend and have them printed so I can hang them up. That'll only be another $50. Hopefully, by next Friday we'll have 'Citizen Prophet' completely shot and ready for editing. But knowing me, the screenplay won't even be done.

Shrek Forever After... the Final Chapter

It has been a while since my last movie review, hasn't it? Patrick called me up and asked if I wanted to see 'Shrek Forever After'. Knowing that the last sequel were flops, I asked how many stars it got. He told me that professional reviewers gave it 3 stars and users rated it at 4. I like to go by the user reviews, however they tend to vote either 5 stars if they like it or 1 star if they don't and that seems rather... extreme and unprofessional. Although, the fact that the average user rating was 4 stars means that it got more 5 stars than 1, so I decided to go.

Firstly, I'm confused. Is it 'Shrek Forever After' or 'Shrek the Final Chapter'? Both names appear everywhere I search.

Suffice it to say, this sequel was original but... not. It's about as original as this blog post's title. There are very obvious differences, yet it doesn't introduce many new characters and use them in creative ways. And the whole "True loves kiss" theme is getting a bit stale. It did however take all the characters they already had and recreate them using the concept of a parallel universe, which is a very good idea. And Rumplestilskin brought back childhood nightmares, oh the nostalgia!

Rumpelstiltskin was my favorite part about this movie. And the fat Puss in Boots. Btw, he's getting his own spin off movie? He's more of a comic relief than a main character, but okay!

'Shrek Forever After' is probably the most memorable of the sequels. Case study: I can only remember the first movie and I just saw this one, so it is the most memorable of the sequels. I give it a green 53 out a 100. I guess that makes me fickle.

P.S. I also saw Iron Man 2. It was really good, but I had very little to say so I didn't write a review. I give it a 76 out of 100. Just cause Robert Downing Jr. is awesome.

Pre-Production of Citizen Prophet d

My old film pal, Mr. Brayden van Rossum, is paying me a visit in June. When I say "film pal" I mean him and I made a lot of my first movies when I was 11 years old using a Hi8 camera. He also plays Cockatoo Kid in my just-for-fun super hero movies. Him and his girlfriend will be staying with me for a week, what a perfect opportunity to make a movie!

I'm heading off to University of Iowa in the fall and I don't want to go empty handed, so I decided that we will be making a serious film. As in no aliens, no super heroes, and no crummy special effects. Brayden is working on a potential movie idea of his own, and I've just finished the first draft of my short film.

It's called 'Citizen Prophet'. It is based around the old Freemason conspiracy of a 'New World Order' however that isn't mentioned in the film. It is kinda like that book series, the Shadow Children, except better.

Now that the first draft of the twenty page screenplay -yeah, it's short- is done, I'm working on casting and the final draft. Thanks to Tom Lazarus' book "Secrets of Film Writing", I've been able to format my screenplay professionally. I'll share one of my favorite passages from Tom Lazarus' book:

"Vomiting... Granted, this is more than likely a very personal issue but this is my book and I get to talk about this. If you write vomiting scenes, your script will never sell and you'll rot in Hell."

I took all his advice to heart. As a thank you to Mr. Lazarus, I'm encouraging everyone to buy this book. Anyhow, I'm no quite ready to release my screenplay for 'Citizen Prophet' to the world, but here is a passage you can enjoy.

The Equity of Man

During my junior year at Valley, our U.S. history teacher gave the class an assignment to do an "artistic" project to represent race/civil rights/racism. Of course, I did a video and the class loved it. The teacher even said "wow!" after I gave my presentation. Being the psycho that I am, as the years went by, I became more and more unhappy with this video. It was very difficult to edit because I only had a week to finish and the video involves me interacting with myself. For instance, passing a crayon or an Oreo to myself and there is an epic lightsaber scene. I decided that it needed to be re-recorded but I never got around to doing that. So, just this week, I re-edited the entire thing, took out the lightsaber scene, used some techniques I didn't think of back then, and replaced the music with some of Rob Rodger's work. Still poor quality film, but I'm a lot more happy with it now. Check it out:

The Hurt Locker, Not Bad!

Finally, my review of 'The Hurt Locker'. I just watched it a few nights ago but have been wanting to see it since the Oscars. To be honest, I was looking for reasons to hate it. It was a very unique war movie because it followed Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. My fear about war films is that it will try to take advantage of the drama of warfare. You can't make a war movie that is only dramatic because it is a war movie, and 'The Hurt Locker' didn't do that.

The plot follows Sergeant First Class William James (Jeremy Renner), who starts off a bit cocky but it grows on you. He is the leader of a bomb disposal team who encounter many intense, life threatening explosives with kill you!

There isn't much that I can say about this movie. Give it a chance. The ending was a bit of a cheesy let down, in my opinion. But it's an all around decent movie. I give it an explosive 68 out of 100.

Avatar & Pocahontas, So What?

Many people like to say that James Cameron's 'Avatar' is a bad movie because it is exactly like Disney's 'Pocahontas'. I say, so what? Here is a great comparison by Matt Bateman (As if you or I know who that is) which puts the two together. Could this be the actual 'Avatar' screenplay? Ha!

Click to Enlarge

Give me a break. 'Pocahontas' is a boring children's movie. And like I always say, it isn't plagiarism if you make it better. Okay, I don't really say that. The point is that 'Avatar' was a great movie and I'm sick of people trying to find reasons to say it isn't. There are 75 movie remakes expected to come out this year!!! 'Avatar' should look like one of the most original films to be recently released compared to that. Yes, Hollywood is playing it safe by popping out movies with familiar, pre-established characters. Comics, video games, books-all being made into movies while the struggling writers with great, original ideas continue to live jobless. 'Hurt Locker', which beat 'Avatar' in the Academy Awards, is just a movie about those annoying Juggernauts in Modern Warefare 2 co-op mode. Duh!


See? But seriously let me make my point. Lay off 'Avatar'. 'Pocahontas' and 'Avatar' were made to target completely different audiences. IMHO-Zachary Hayes

Finals Week: A Horror Film

Only a few more days left of class and I've been trying to work my butt off to get all these final projects done. 2 five page essays, one of which is a theoretical analysis of Darfur, as if I have know anything about that. Then I have 7 discussion papers to write, a poster presentation on prostitution which I titled "It's Been a Business Doing Pleasure With You" and a powerpoint presentation on Hollywood.

I've also started reading Secrets of Film Writing by Tom Lazarus and began writing my screenplay (still untitled) using a program I downloaded called Celtx. It formats the screenplay so I don't have to fuss with the margins in Microsoft Word, and it doesn't cost $200 like the other screenplay formatting programs.

So that's all the stuff I should be doing, but instead I'm playing a game I bought at Best Buy for $3.50! It's called The Movies. I don't think it's a very popular game but I like it a lot. Manage a studio with actors, directors, crew, etc that you hire and make movies using a bunch of sets, props and such. Here is the movie I made just for the occasion called 'Finals Week: A Horror Film' starring Sex McSexy, Anastasia Beaverhausen and Matthew O'Neil:



Like it? Here is another, 'Revenge of the Communist Robots'.

And the Winner Is..!

Exciting news! A Snack in the Face, the caffeinated goods bakery that had the YouTube video contest to see who could make them the best commercial, as mentioned in an earlier blog post, announced the winner! Stephen and I won the grand prize, a years worth of free snacks, for our two minute animated hands commercial. They posted our video on their website (Here) and may have other uses for it in the future. If you haven't seen it yet, here it is for your enjoyment!

Peter Hedges & Jeff Katz

It was my great pleasure to meet one of my idols since high school, writer/director Peter Hedges. Hedges gave a lecture at the Memorial Union building on campus at Iowa State University. He happens to be an Iowa native and graduated from Valley High School, the same high school which I graduated from last year. Peter Hedges has a new book out called The Heights. After the lecture, there was a book signing and my opportunity to finally meet him. Anyone who knows me well can tell you that meeting this man was something I'd hoped for since my junior year in high school (three years is not an obsession).The brief encounter didn't give me a chance to go over my life story with him, but we chatted about Valley and he signed my copy 'What's Eater Gilbert Grape', which was written by Mr. Hedges. He also wrote and directed 'Pieces of April' and 'Dan in Real Life'. Courtesy of Esther van Oostenrijk, here a picture of myself (left) with Peter Hedges (right). Click to enlarge.

Looks like the future me, right? The lecture was about Peter Hedges' success through failure. It was very inspirational learning that even successful people have to fail, although that also means one will fail before they succeed. Hedges began college pursuing an acting career and then decided that writing/directing was better fit for him. God forbid I have the opposite journey and end up becoming an actor. Hedges centered much of his lecture around the advice that one of his professors gave him. The advice was that it takes twenty years to get good at something. Strangely, my father gave me similar advice the other week when we were discussing my college plans. Twenty years to get good at something? This means I don't have to beat myself up if I'm not a good director before I turn forty. In the spirit of this theory, I'll begin counting down twenty years. When this clock hits zero, maybe it is time to try a new career.

20-Year Countdown (Started April 16th, 2010)

Iowa State had one other VEISHEA lecturer who also happens to be in the movie business. Jeff Katz is a producer and comic author. Having never heard of him, I didn't expect to take much from his lecture. He ended up becoming one of my new idols by the end of the night. Katz produced movies like 'Shoot Em Up', 'Snakes on the Plane' and 'X-Men: Origins'. Probably not the biggest blockbusters out there, but that is part of what made him cool. In my mind, a producer has always been some uptight guy with lots of money. Katz didn't fit this stereotype, if that is a real stereotype at all. He was very down to Earth. His goal was to shatter the myths of Hollywood, talk about how the movie industry is changing and how a young filmmaker like myself can take advantage of that. Maybe I will go deeper into what he talked about in a later post, but here is his website, check it out: GeekWeek.com

His advice was to make it into the business through making relationships. This sort of networking has always been my philosophy and something I count on. That's why I surround myself with friends who have the potential to be successful (that's you Patrick Crowley!). Jeff Katz talked about how Twitter and Facebook can be used to make these relationships, and he gave us his Twitter username. The way I see it, he is basically asking me to stalk him, right? Something Katz and I have in common is that we're both published comic authors; however, he makes comic books and I make my comic strip, Hysteria Syndrome. Pardon the shameless plug. During the Q&A, I asked Mr. Katz how important a college education is for a young film student. He encouraged me to stay in college and not run off to Los Angeles. Never hurts to have a backup plan, right?

P.S. Jack, my cat, came home. If anyone was wondering.

Accepted to The University of Iowa

It has been a dreary week for me given that my cat, Jack, ran away over the weekend; but things started looking up today. I received an email congratulating me for being accepted to the University of Iowa. After four long months of waiting for an acceptance letter, my answer is finally here. I'm going to University of Iowa! Enrolled in their Cinema program, I'll finally be moving into a dorm and living like a real college student. DMACC was fun I suppose. I had a lot of great professors, made the Dean's list, and got to live with my brother for the year in our awesome apartment which I'll miss; but I need to be on a "real" campus with people I can relate to and working on my major. Tom Hanks went to community college (I think), so I'm not worried about it.

This is a great success for my blog as well. The purpose was to follow me through film school, and now I'm actually going to film school. Unless you count the movie appreciation classes I've taken at DMACC. So lets hope I don't blow this opportunity. Less than two months of DMACC left, I can't let my GPA fall now. Funny thing is, I haven't even received the acceptance letter from U of I. The internet ruins all the best surprises! What a great start to a new month this would be if I had my Jack back.

Finally, today is April 1st, and you know what that means? Script Frenzy had begun! Only thirty days left to write a hundred page script, so get started!!! I'll be working on my screenplay to be recorded this summer.

This blog post is dedicated to the memory of Jack. Jack, if you're reading this, please come home!

2010 Movies in the Remaking

This year has become a huge year for remakes and it brings up the issue of whether movie remakes are necessary. A lot of remakes can't live up to the original because classics are classics for a reason. A timeless movie does not need to be remade because it is TIMELESS. But retelling a classic story so that it appeals to the modern generation could be refreshing and exciting to see how cinematography and graphics have changed. To determine how necessary it is to remake a classic film, we have to look at each of them individually. Does Hollywood really care to reestablish these classics or have they lost their originality and are looking to make money ?

'Clash of the Titans' is due to come out next month, 29 years after the original. Relative to how graphics have developed in that amount of time, it could be due for a remaking; however, any middle aged movie buff or older will still remember 'Clash of the Titans' coming out in 1981. Graphics have improved but that doesn't mean a remake is necessary. What is interesting about the "new" 'Clash of the Titans' is the change of plot (and this is judging by the trailer). The original was about Perseus (Harry Hamlin) who unknowingly ticks off Thetis (Maggie Smith) so Thetis punishes him by putting him in this random city where he falls in love with Andromeda (Judi Bowker). Andromeda was supposed to marry Thetis' deformed son, so Thetis gets even more pissed off and wants to kill Andromeda. Keep in mind it was all Thetis' fault for putting Perseus in a situation where he would meet Andromeda. So Perseus, for the love of the woman he just met, sets out to do a bunch of stuff so that he can save her. All while the king of gods, Zeus (Laurence Oliver), is going along with Thetis instead of smacking her and telling her to respect his authoritah! So my point is that this plot doesn't make much sense to someone like me who is of a younger generation. This is interesting because it appears that the remake has a less fickle Zeus played by Liam Neeson and Perseus (Sam Worthington) is on a quest to save humanity from the wrath of the Gods. These days, simple love stories are just not as appealing. And I find that very interesting, so that is why I'm looking foward to seeing the remake.

'A Nightmare on Elmstreet' was first released in 1984 and the remake is expected to hit theaters this summer. With the Halloween and Jason movies being brought back to life, it is no surprise that Freddie would come next. Jackie Earle Haley, who played Rorschach in 'Watchmen', will be playing Freddie Krueger. Why is this remake necessary? Same basic reason as 'Clash of the Titans'. There is a new standard for fear because teens just aren't as easy to scare as they used to be. Looking back at old Freddie Krueger movies, they are cheesy and boring and Freddie Krueger is a classical character who needs to be brought back to life and that is only possible if he is scary.

'Death at a Funeral' is an upcoming remake of a film by the same name... released in 2007. Why would they remake a three year old film? I'm seriously asking, because I can't think of a single reason. This remake is not necessary. It might be a good movie but that doesn't change anything because the original did pretty well.

Jeff Bridges returns to the game world of TRON as Kevin Flynn in 'Tron Legacy'. 'Tron Legacy' is a sequel to the 1982 'Tron' but many are considering it a remake because it targets younger generations regardless of whether they've seen 'Tron' which means the movies are not entirely dependent on each other. For its time, 'Tron' seemed like a much bigger impossibility; now the technology seems less than a decade away. This is a perfect movie for 3D!

'The Crazies' was recently released, 37 years after the original. The movie was shot not far from where I live so I felt inclined to see it and I did like it. Was it worth remaking? Well it is old and I've never heard of it, so sure.

'The Karate Kid' is back with Jackie Chan playing Mr. Han, who replaces Mr. Miyagi from the 1984 original. This version takes place in China instead of Japan which means it should be called The Kung Fu Kid if it intends on being entirely accurate. Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith, plays the kid, Dre Parker. Han is a very common Chinese name and Dre Parker isn't all that creative of a name either, but I wouldn't sell this one too short. It actually looks like a pretty good movie. It looks like they tried to change it up so that the movie's story concept and title are the only things similar to the 1984 original.

'Predators' is another upcoming movie that is more like a sequel than a remake, but because it plans on cleaning the slate of 'Predator 2' and the AVP movies, we can consider it a remake. The producers wanted to bring Arnold Schwarzasdfsger back into the series but from what I can see, that isn't happening. You can see from the title that it paradies the 'Alien' and 'Aliens' names. This is because, for the first time ever, the movie will take place on the Predator's planet. 'Predator 2' wasn't that bad or anything, but it would be nice to see a Predator movie that is as great as the first so the series can finally be as good as the Alien series.

There are a lot of other remakes coming out soon like 'RoboCop', 'Total Recall', 'Piranha', 'When Worlds Collide', 'The Wolfman', and so on. It is impossible to find a list of them all. 'Alice in Wonderland' has been remade for the fifth time and there is a rumor that 'The Thing' will have a third remake. Rumors of a 'Child's Play' remake have been spreading, hopefully they'll go deeper into the killer's past before he became a doll. The Three Stooges might have a come back with new actors taking over. The Spider-man series is starting over with Logan Lerman as Peter Parker. Good choice! As much as I love Tobey Maquire, starting the series over doesn't seem like that bad of an idea. Will these remakes live up to the classics? We'll find out.

Academy Award vs Reel World Awards

It seemed appropriate that I should watch the Oscars this year so I'd be able to write about it. The night of the Academy Awards I worked, so I TiVoed it. Thankfully I did, because I could barely get through the entire three hours without fast forwarding. So I'll keep this short. Here are my thoughts on the Academy Awards and who the Reel World recognizes as best.

'Music by Prudence' got the Oscar for best documentary short. Never seen it, but my question is who was that crazy red head woman who jumped on stage while the man who got the award was giving his thanks? She babbled on about nonsense and took away all of that man's time. Allegedly, she abandoned the film project due to creative differences and thought she was entitled to the award. On her way to the stage, the man's mother tried blocking the crazy woman with her cane. Every award show needs its Kanye.

Ben Stiller dressed like a Na'vi from 'Avatar' and he didn't seem happy about it. Nor did James Cameron. Ever notice how Na'vi looks a lot like Native?

They managed to sneak Michael Jackson into the memorial segment, but not Farrah Fawcett.

Sandra Bullock received the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. I've never seen 'The Blind Side' so I have no choice but to judge it based on some great advice that Patrick gave me. Never make a film about a white person helping a black person. So, I have no choice but to give the Reel World Award to Meryl Streep ('Julie & Julia') because she is awesome and in the only movie I've seen from that list of nominees.

'Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire' received many nominees and won a few Oscars. It also hereby receives the Reel World Award for Longest Name.

My biggest surprise was to see 'District 9' had received so many nominations. 'Avatar' and 'District 9' both connected aliens to some oppressed culture but the difference between them was that 'District 9' sucked. It was full of plot holes and flat characters but everyone argues with me because the graphics were good (for a low budget film) and it reflects something happening in Africa. Maybe it wasn't a horrible movie, but how can you consider it deserving of an Academy Award when there were so many far better movies? Reel World gives 'District 9' the award for Most Overrated Film.

'The Hurt Locker' was awarded many Oscars including Best Picture. This is a movie that I've never seen nor heard of but if it beat 'Avatar' then it must be pretty great. There is one thing that I stress when it comes to war movies. It isn't hard to make a war movie dramatic and filmmakers tend to take advantage of that. War is dramatic by itself so when I see a war movie I look for what is creative about it. TIME Magazine described 'The Hurt Locker' as "the perfect war film". Because I've never seen 'The Hurt Locker' there isn't much I could say about it. The film was released in 2008 and the producer apparently emailed the Academy begging them to nominate it instead of "a 500M film" aka 'Avatar'. Fair enough. As soon as I get the chance, I'll watch and review it, but for now I have to give the Reel World Best Picture Award to 'Avatar'. I'm sure James Cameron feels like the king of the world right now.

Here is a list of the Oscar nominations and winners.

Tim Burton Takes Us Back to Wonderland

In my poll for most anticipated movie of 2010, 70% of voters said 'Alice in Wonderland' so I jumped at the chance of seeing it before everyone else so I could write a review. Unfortunately, three hours before the movie's first midnight showing it had already sold out and a line was beginning to merge outside the theater. The same people in this line were the people I saw waiting five hours on the opening night of 'New Moon'. I was not there to see 'New Moon' fyi! But the line was occupied with many... um... Synchronized Nonconformists. It is amazing how much money Tim Burton has made for Hot Topic which is very sad because I love Tim Burton even though he is indirectly responsible for the fall of real punk. All blame aside, Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' is very fun and exceeds expectations.

Alice is played by Mia Wasikoasdfa. Remember her from 'I Love Sarah Jane' and 'Amelia'? Nor do I. Johnny Depp plays supporting actor as the Mad Hatter... Why is Johnny Depp playing supporting actor? It's okay, because he steals the show. Put him together with Helena Bonham Carter and you have yourself a classic Tim Burton film. Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, and Alan Rickman make up a really good cast of Wonderland creatures. I did not mention Michael Sheen, despite how well he did as the White Rabbit, he plays a character in the Twilight saga and that calls for a "shame on you, Michael Sheen"! I said it to Anna Kendrick in my review of 'Up in the Air' so it is only fair.

Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' is a very interesting chapter in the original 1865 mind-boggling story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. It takes place when Alice is 19 years old and must return to Wonderland. There was one huge distinction between Tim Burton and the original Dodgson tales. Tim Burton didn't make this movie CRAZY enough. Sure, it is crazy, but a lot of it makes far too much sense. True, it is a movie and there has to be a plot and throwing in random stuff would be superfluous however this is Alice in Wonderland and when it comes to Alice in Wonderland, one should be snorting Windex before they're able to make any sense out of what the characters are talking about. This, however, is not a problem. If Tim Burton wanted to, he could have made this movie more Wonderlandesque. His vision of Wonderland is truly marvelous, perhaps not as breathtaking as it could be, but Burton couldn't have made this movie at a better time. RealD (3D) is new big thing and Wonderland is exactly the kind of place that RealD should be used for. It takes you into Wonderland and livens up the outspoken characters. Tim Burton was right to go all out with the special effects.

In conclusion, for its stunning scenery, creativity and for being such a fun film- I give Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' a wonderful 76 out of 100. Most anticipated movie of the year, yes. But will it be the best? We'll see.

Let the Frenzy Begin!

Here is a fun challenge: Write a 100+ page script in 30 days. Seems like a bit of a stretch, especially for someone like me who has been working on an unimportant screenplay for 3 months now and has only written 20 pages. Gimme a break, I've been busy! Anyway, this is the task that the annual Script Frenzy challenges you with. So are you in or not?

I first heard about the Script Frenzy a year ago when my good writer friend, Laura Fast, told me about it. Intrigued, I made an account but never went ahead with it. This year might not be any different, but I thought I'd expand the Script Frenzy awareness onto my readers (that's you even if you've only been on my blog for 10 seconds). Let me tell you a few things about the Script Frenzy.

You have all of April to work on your script (it can be a screenplay, graphic novel, stage play, whatever!) and as you complete your work, you upload proof to your Script Frenzy profile so people can see your progress. To be considered a winner and receive the official Script Frenzy certificate, you must complete 100+ pages in that time limit of 30 days. Failure is NOT an option... just kidding. I don't know what the certificate might be worth to you but it could go on a resume or cover that hole in your wall which you created from having a bad case of extreme writer's block.

So now I've interested you. What do you do? Well first, go to the Script Frenzy website. Make a profile and add me as your writing buddy if you'd like. Then you have 30 days starting now to come up with an awesome idea before the frenzy starts. I have my idea but it might be a little too awesome to rush through. I recommend that when the frenzy starts, you just write like a crazy person and save the revisions for later. Need help coming up with an idea? I'll post some random ideas on my Twitter this month, so follow me.

I realize that a certificate from Script Frenzy isn't that great of a reward for completing a seemingly impossible task so I'll make it a little more interesting by throwing in my own reward. If you choose to participate in this competition and are able to complete it by their rules and regulations... I'll give you an official The Reel World of Zachary Hayes certificate!!! Let me tell you why I'm being so generous. Creativity is a hard thing to come by. People need to get out there and just be creative without worrying about how it will benefit them. Therefor, I will give you a reward to encourage you to be creative without benef...uhm...So let the frenzy begin (in 30 days)! Here is that website again: http://scriptfrenzy.org/

Valentine's Day Review

Happy Valentine's Day! Like the many of you who thought it was a good idea to see 'Valentine's Day' (the movie) to celebrate the day of love, I too attended this very anticipated movie on a triple date. Included in our group of six was my old best friend who moved to Kansas, Brayden van Rossum. Brayden and I co-founded my first movie production company, Blooper Brothers Inc., when I was 11.

So what made 'Valentine's Day' the must see of the season? It made $50+ this weekend which is no surprise because it starred a lot of awesome actors and Taylor Swift. It brings to mind the popular movie 'He's Just Not That Into You' which also had a great cast of many. The movies were actually pretty similar considering they both followed several intersecting sub plot lines which were hard (for me) to follow. I had trouble following the connections between characters in both movies. The only problem was that 'Valentine's Day' sometimes moved away from a character for so long that I would forget their role in the movie. Maybe that's just a personal problem?

Taylor Lautner proves for us once again that acting is attracting. Willy (Taylor Lautner) and Felicia (Taylor Swift) should receive an Oscar for most random characters in a movie. Of course, Taylor Swift will win best supporting actress instead and everyone will wonder why. The message behind Taylor and Taylor's character is that the hotter you are, the dumber you are; and dumb hot people don't have any problems in their relationship.

Come to think of it... all the characters were pretty attractive. I didn't see this as a smack in the face to ugly people on Valentines Day. In reality, the movie did a great job of having a variety of characters. They capture each age group and their perception of love. The one fault was that the teenagers talked a lot about sex. Teenagers do not talk about sex... they are too busy having sex.

Before I mentioned that it was difficult to follow the connections between characters. I should say that the movie will surprise you with how well they bring everyone in full circle. There are some parts that almost made me cry which I haven't done since 'Marley & Me'. Which brings us to our spoiler section!

Warning: The point of the following section is to bitch at people who spoiled the movie for me. I HATE when people spoil movies. So... ironically... in the process of bitching them out I may spoil a few things. A lot of people know this (thanks to the spoilers) so it's not like I'm letting out any big secrets. But in order to give those jerks a piece of my mind, I'm pulling a Nader. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably... but at least I'm giving you a heads up. So feel free to skip just the paragraph following this one.

So here is what I have to say. There was a big hype over how the gay characters, Holden (Bradley Cooper) and and Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) weren't featured in the movie trailer. Those complainers figured it was because if they showed gay characters then less people would want to see the movie which makes them homophobic. Well if they are homophobic, then why did they put gay characters in the movie!? Unless... of course! There's a reason! It's a fricken PLOT TWIST. Do you think M. Night Shasldjfkarh's movie 'The Sixth Sense' would have had as affective of an ending if they revealed the twist in the trailer? No. The producers say that the Dane and Cooper relationship was supposed to be secret, but it wasn't very well kept.

Glad I got that off my chest and I hope it didn't ruin the movie for anyone. Overall, 'Valentine's Day' was a really great movie. If you haven't seen it yet then take a date! The great thing is that the movie also appeals to lonely people as well. The critics didn't give this movie very good reviews and there is probably good reason for that. But this isn't the kind of movie that is made to please the critics. It's all about the reality of love. I give it a hearty 56 out of 100. Enjoy the rest of your Valentine's Day!

With love,

Zachary Hayes

A Snack in the Face

There is a bakery of caffeinated treats in the college campus town near where I live. A Snack in the Face is pretty popular among college students. Stephen came to me and said they are having a competition to see who can make them the best commercial. I'm not sure what they intend on doing with the winner. My guess is that they don't want to promise that it will be on TV or anything because there is a chance they might not get any good submissions. I'll make sure they get at least one!

The prize is a year of free treats. Not quite the Willy Wonka payload but close! Of course a years worth of free food can mean anything. We promised the same grand prize at the Happy Joe's Pizza I used to work at. A year of free pizzas actually meant one free pizza every month for a year. Lame. Anyway, Stephen has convinced me to go ahead and make a commercial for this competition. The rules aren't very clear... I don't know if there is a time limit on the video and they didn't give a due date. So I'll just finish it as soon as possible. Of course I'd give the prize to Stephen if we win because I'm more interested in the feeling of success and being able to say that I won this film competition and Stephen is probably the biggest fan of A Snack in the Face, which means they wouldn't be making money of their biggest customer for a year. This isn't the first time that I've entered a competition to make the best commercial. The Tour, a video which I directed/edited, got first prize for Affinity Credit Union. I'm not going to be cocky though because I have no idea who I'm up against.

Wish Stephen and I luck!

'Darkness Around the Sun' Progress and Poster

Click to Enlarge

A lot of progress has been made for the 'Darkness Around the Sun' movie. Finally scenes are being recorded and edited. It could still be a while before it is released but there may be one or two more trailers coming out. Thankfully I've figured out the updated plot so there shouldn't be any problems with the screenplay. I decided that for the hell of it I should make a movie poster so I through this one together. There are a lot of little hints towards the secret plot of the movie which makes it pretty affective but keep in mind I'm not great with graphic design stuff. Also a reminder that 'Darkness Around the Sun' is a for fun movie. I'm super duper cereal about that, you guys! The fact that it is being recorded on Warcraft already makes it ineligible for winning anything or making money so I'm just going ahead and breaking all the rules. Enjoy the poster!

Back to the Story Board

I spent the last week recovering from oral surgery and thought it might be a good opportunity to work on a screenplay. Those of you who are loyal readers of my blog (and I know there are 45 of you, don't try to hide, 'Follow' me!) are probably asking "What happened to the 'Darkness Around the Sun' movie?" Well that's the script I was working on this past week but I didn't get much done. I will finish it, though! It was way too fricken cold outside to record anything new, so I'm stickin' to this animated film.

I did manage to get ahold of my old associate writer, Laura Fast, after trying three different emails. Laura wrote the two scripts for my old High School film club that I presided over, The Future Filmmakers of the Future. She wrote ingenious full-length comedy screenplays for 'Valley High School Musical' and 'Robert of the Neighborhood but this time I asked her to come up with some ideas for a serious, artsy plot so I could have it finished for the next film festival. That way I don't end up with submitting another bust like 'Xenophobic' but you have to admit it wasn't bad being written, shot, edited and distributed in half a month... I mean that was the point of it, right?

So far, Laura has come up with two great plot proposals that will inevitably be drawn out in a screenplay. I'll share one of the ideas with you because the other idea I'd like to save for next winter. I've not made a final decision on whether or not I'm making this into a film but I will if Laura doesn't have any more ideas for me.

The story revolves around a man who is in a horrible car accident which nearly paralysis him. He makes a full recovery thanks to an experimental treatment created by a doctor who makes regular appearances throughout the film. The movie will open after the treatment when the man is trying to live a normal life with his new wife. The man starts noticing strange occurrences such as a flickering moon and things disappearing and all sorts of crazy stuff. He has dreams about a blue room that echoes with a frequent beeping. The man goes to the doctor who tells him that it could be a result of post traumatic stress from the accident and perhaps something having to do with the treatment. Soon the man is driven crazy because he can't even understand his own wife. The ending is a doozy of a twist! For obvious reasons, I won't spoil it. But I can almost guarantee that it won't disappoint.

I'm casting new actors for this movie because in the past I've always used the same people and I need a change for this one because it is more serious and dramatic. I have a few people in mind to play the three main characters; The man, wife and doctor. Whether there are any other parts to cast or not will be figured out after the script is finished. Production won't begin until the snow is gone, like I've mentioned before.

Music will be by Rob Rodgers again. I'm using the same soundtrack he developed for 'Xenophobic' because I think that score would work better for something like this.

As soon as the 'Darkness Around the Sun' screenplay is finished, I'll have it up on my blog so you can download it. I'm not too worried about people stealing it because I'm already breaking enough laws by basing it in Warcraft. That's okay though because I'm making it for fun and friends, not festivals and attention.

Have a nice weekend, and stay warm! Unless you're warm and cozy in California... in which case we should network!