The ABCs of Death: T is for Trout!

I've been hearing a lot about the horror short film contest The ABCs of Death  and was pleasantly surprised to find out one of my college friends is in the contest to find the 26th director!

Watch the video and please vote for him!

T is for Trout from Daniel Johnson on Vimeo.

Watch "Earano" by Oscar Winner Luke Matheny

TVWeek has a great article up about the newest talent on the block: Live Action Short Film Oscar Winner Luke Matheny.

While he used to work at TVWeek, he eventually left his editorial assistant position to start making movies. His graduate thesis film "God of Love" won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film and can be purchased on iTunes. Can't spare the money? You can watch his short film from his sophomore year, EARANO. A play on the familiar tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, it gives a hint at his talent that's still finding a voice.



[TVWeek]

3 Minutes Starring Harry Shum and tWitch

This wasn't the Glee/So You Think You Can Dance dance off I was hoping for, but it's still a pretty entertaining 3 minute short.



I just wish they'd dance battled instead of having a light saber duel!

A Very Muppet Proposal

From The Daily What:

To propose to his girlfriend Sara, and make the rest of us look really bad in the process, Sid Ceaser custom ordered a pair of Muppets designed to resemble the couple with which he put together a short film about their relationship to be screened during the previews at a movie theater the two “happened” to patronize.

This is so cute! Of course she said yes.

Also, I absolutely love the song choice as well. It's a track off the short film Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man, which  you can watch at The Laughing Squid. If you haven't watched it, I really recommend it.

Short Film: The Legend of Hallowdega

Terry Gilliam is still working on his long developing "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote", but he took a break to make this amazing short film. I'm a little late on finding it, it's Halloween themed, but it's still a fun watch. Starring David Arquette and Justin Kirk (from Showtime's Weeds), it's got some really funny moments. 

Unfortunately I can't embed the video here, but go to the official website for the video and behind the scenes information. 

Dawn of the Ted: The Cutest Zombie Apocalypse

(GUEST POST) Short Film: Welcome Home Kurt

A bunch of my friends and I got together a few weeks ago and did the San Diego 48 Hour Film Challenge. For those of you who do not know what that is, it's basically a competition where you have 48 hours to write, shoot, and edit a film. You're given a specific genre and have to make a film according to that genre including a character, a line of dialogue, and a prop they give you. We got period piece for our genre, which was AWESOME because I really wanted to a 1970's thing for our project.

So far, we've placed top 15 in San Diego and we'll know later this week if we won anything!! Yay!

Please watch our film and comment on it, I would love to hear your thoughts about it.


Welcome Home Kurt from Jose Troconis on Vimeo.
This film made for the 48 Hour Film Project 2010.


Thanks!

AT-AT Day Afternoon

[via Cinematical]

Linkulous: More Lost, Happiness, Donald 4 Spiderman, and more

Happy Friday! After grabbing a donut, enjoy these articles from the week: 

A Disappointed Fan Is Still a Fan
How the creators of Lost seduced and betrayed their viewers.

An Anonymous Fan Re-Edits Season 6 of Lost to Remove the Flash Sideways 


Chris Klein rebounds from viral video hell
An epic "Mamma Mia" tryout made the actor the butt of the joke. Now, he's getting the last laugh

Online Buzz Doesn’t Equate to Ratings

Happiness May Come With Age, Study Says - looks like 85 is the golden age

Could 'Community' star Donald Glover play Spider-Man?

Placing the Blame as Students Are Buried in Debt

Yelp Integrates OpenTable for Restaurant Reservations


How to Hack Your Brain - if only I could get away with taking 20 minutes naps throughout the work day.

Heartless: The Story of Tin Man - great short film about the origin of the Tin Man


"FlashForward" fans plan a mass blackout in front of ABC offices - it's not going to save the show, but good try.

Short Film: Get Out

Short Film: Running on Empty

Running on Empty from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

A beautiful look at Los Angeles without people, cars, noise, anything. Peaceful.

[via FlavorWire]

Short Film: Outliers

OUTLIERS from MONDIAL CREATIVE LABS on Vimeo.

[via Ruben]

Evil Dead in 60 Seconds

Evil Dead done in 60 seconds with CLAY - 2010 from Lee Hardcastle on Vimeo.

[via Film School Rejects]

When Pixels Attack!

Video games seek to destroy in this great short film:



My favorite parts include the Space Invaders bombing that taxi, the Tetris building upon actual buildings, and Pac-Man tearing through the subway system.

Short Film: The Gift

Philips organized a film competition where all the films had to include the same dialogue. The "Parallel Lines" competition has started a bidding war over one of the entries. Watch "The Gift" below:



While a great short film, it's obvious that this had some major finacial backing. This isn't the work of a backyard filmmaker on his camcorder. "The Gift" is the work of Carl Erik Rinsch, who was meant to get his directorial debut on the "Alien" prequel and is currently being backed by Ridley Scott's production company RSA. I hope this leads him to bigger and better projects.

If this does get made in to a feature, I'm excited to see where the story goes.

[via HeatVisionBlog]

Post-it Note Short

Oscar Winning Short: Logorama

This year's winner is definitely memorable. In today's society where we are surrounded by brands and marketing noise, it just makes sense that this would happen sooner or later. In a way, it reminds me of Josie & The Pussycats (a highly underrated film in my opinion). It uses the familiar images of logos to tell a story that at the same time subverts the brands they have come to represent. Ronald McDonald as the murderer? You could interpret that as the fast food chain is slowly killing our youth and the smaller burger joints alike, or you could just watch it and laugh that such an icon for children and charity is now the bad guy.

A great short and totally deserving of its win.

Oscar Nominated Short: Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

This was my favorite of the nominated shorts, more than even the eventual winner "Logorama." I don't know why I like it when people twist fairy tale's so much.

Oscar Nominated Short: The Lady and The Reaper

A lovely, hilarious short using no dialogue. This and Sleeping Beauty were among my favorites of the nominees.

Oscar Nominated Short: Wallace & Gromit A Matter of Loaf and Death

I am a big fan of Wallace & Gromit, having seen most of their famous shorts. The bumbling Wallace has such heart, which is always in the right place despite the bad situations he gets in, and is so loveable. At 30 minutes this is the longest of the animated shorts, and I think it suffers for it. All the others have a snappy pace that leaves little room for quiet moments, making W&G feel slow. Plus, while I love these characters, the stories are starting to feel the same. Still, it's a solid effort and worthy of its nomination. Having won this category all 3 times it was previously nominated, I'm glad another artist got the chance to shine last night.

Stay tuned this week for more of my thoughts on this year's Best Animated Short Film nominees.