Media Blitzkrieg News

The Blog That Time Forgot

2011-01-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

The room is dark, deserted. It appears that no living soul has set foot in this place in years. A fine layer of dust covers everything.

Suddenly, the loud clang of metal, unused and rusted pieces scraping together as life begins to return to this desolate place. As the door slowly starts to open, the smallest shaft of light shines into the room.

Scripts and half-edited projects cover the floor. File folders that have been labeled and placed randomly in piles await some human hand to finish with them so they may see the inside of a filing cabinet and be called "complete."

The shaft of light grows wider as the door opens.

Seriously, this place has been as dead as Flynn's Arcade!

It has been over a year since the last post here on the Media Blitzkrieg site. Honestly, there hasn't been a great deal of news.

Well, that's not entirely true.

There is now a Media Blitzkrieg Youtube channel. That will now be the home of all videos produced by Media Blitzkrieg. I have already reloaded several videos to that page, the most recent of which is "The Chore:"

"The Chore" has been recut and rendered in HD with a new and better sound mix.

Also, the Media Blitzkrieg website has been greatly improved thanks to the efforts of the very talented Bekah Smith. In fact, many of you might be reading this post on that particular website. If you are, you have her to thank for it.

I have been away from Media Blitzkrieg for some time now, but it's time I got back into it. I have introduced the concept of update vlogs on the Youtube channel which will give everyone a look into what is going on better than these blogs have in the past. The blogs will continue as well, and any production update vlogs will be incorporated into future posts.

So, it's time to finally clear the dust off this thing and see if it still works.

Here's hopin'.

William

The End of Time

2009-12-26T19:51:00.000-08:00

Doctor Who reference, anyone? No? No? Alright. Moving on.

So, yeah, that half a year went by much quicker than expected. Can't believe it was June when the last post was made.

Sorry about that.

To be honest, there hasn't been a great deal going on in the world of Media Blitzkrieg. Most of my time has been spent working with D-Mentd Films and Research: Paranormal. We've had some exciting things happen with RP, click the link above to find out more.

There have only been two projects relating to Media Blitzkrieg, and one isn't even a full production, just a short video amongst friends of MB. See, J and Brea (Jersey Jones and Trish Lockheart) just recently moved to Charlotte. Before leaving, the three of us decided to shoot a farewell video that was a shot-for-shot remake of the Lost Season 3 finale. You can check that out here:

I think it turned out well. Went over huge at the final party. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially the line about "getting back to the cats."

The other new video is a teaser for our current production. We're going back to some old material and reworking it. I've decided to turn the two Jersey Jones shorts into a 5-part web serial. The rough edit is done, just need to find someone to score it for me. It would be interesting to find someone who could create a score similar to John Williams', but I doubt that will happen.

Anyway, I decided to toss together a trailer with a few scenes. It was inspired by the Venture Brothers Season 4 trailer, and I used the same music from J.G. Thirlwell. Check it out:

I really like the way this one turned out. A lot of the music beats just fell into place like they were meant to be there. And hey, maybe they were.

I would say that I plan to post much more frequently in the new year, but I've said that in the past and nothing's come of it. I'm going to try, let's just leave it at that.

William

More CFIFF '09 Highlights

2009-06-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

William Lilly, a filmmaker out of the Raleigh/Durham area, has put together a video of his experiences at this year's Cape Fear Independent Film Festival. Check it out:

2009 CFIFF Highlights (Low-Definition) from William Lilly on Vimeo.

Since they were filming all weekend, this video is much more in-depth than mine.

He had a film at the festival which everyone should check out. It's a very personal story for him. Be sure to watch Letting Go:

Letting Go (New Audio Mix) from William Lilly on Vimeo.

Also, there was a really great short running on the CFIFF Trailer Park reel called Run:

Run (Rough Cut) from William Lilly on Vimeo.

Another must see.

I was originally going to post his CFIFF video as an edit to my CFIFF blog post, but realized I also wanted to mention his other videos. So, all new post.

William

Sister City Film Festival

2009-06-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

May is just the month for festivals, or festivals that I attend. As stated in my last blog, the beginning of May heralded the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival. Well, on May 23rd there was yet another of my favorite festivals, the Sister City Film Festival in New Bern, North Carolina.

One reason this is one of my favorite festivals is because this one takes place in my home town.

So, the day begins at 8:30a.m.

*HITS SNOOZE BUTTON*

The day begins at 9:30a.m.

I was a little late to the festival, so I missed the documentaries, though I heard they were all good.

After the documentaries block was a little segment they refer to as "The Regulars". As you can guess, this block includes regular submitters and hometown folk, including myself. This year we had four shorts playing in the festival.

First up was The Chore:

This was followed by the rough edit of the Homosoypian short (which is still in the works. I'll post it when it's available).

Just for fun, I tossed together a teaser for the upcoming Jersey Jones re-release I've been working on (that too, will soon be posted).

Then, I wrapped up my portion of festival entries with Five Minutes 'Til...:

The rest of the Regulars block included two shorts from Jay Tyson, a really cool Doctor Who short (done with puppets, because that's his thing) and a work in progress about an alien invasion gone wrong, and a really funny short about a girl dating Death from Bill Hand.

After this, we had a little lunch break.

Upon returning, we were treated to the Superkiiids! feature film, "Lightning Salad Moving Picture":

If you haven't seen this ridiculous, funny movie, you should definitely try to find it. Go to the Superkiiids! website and order one if you have to.

Cory from the Superkiiids! was there and held a Q&A session with a parachute (you remember these, from camp and such, everyone grabs the parachute, they raise it up, and someone goes underneath to ask a question). It was a hoot.

After this there was a block of the more "risque" films, mainly due to gore and language. These were a decent bunch of films.

I had my FlipCam on hand, so I took a little video. Check it out:

This year's festival was quite eventful, I felt. The turn out was not as large, but considering how short the preparation for this festival was, that's not surprising. I'm going to see what I can do to help get the word out about next year's.

William

Cape Fear Independent Film Festival

2009-06-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in May was quite a busy affair for me. It's fortunate that BEDA ended the day before, because I would not have been able to blog from the 1st through the 3rd. I was Downtown at the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival!

There are two major film festivals in Wilmington (I'm not including the Final Cut Film Festival because that's a different format), and CFIFF is, for my money, the better of the two. There are several reasons for this, the main being that the general atmosphere of CFIFF is much friendlier. You actually feel like hanging around and talking to the people who come to this festival. And, unlike that other festival (which will remain nameless), those people genuinely seem to want to talk to you.

So, things started Friday as I was volunteering and went down to 16 Taps to help with registration. I got to talk to a lot of people as they stopped by to pick up their passes, some friends from around town, some I met last year, and several new folks who are just finding out about this marvelous festival.

After registration, we went over to the local Carmike Cinema to see the invitational feature "The Jailhouse". Definitely a well done local production. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the cinematographer (solely for personal reasons), I will admit that the movie looks great. The guy does good work, I can't fault him for that.

When "The Jailhouse" was done, it was back to 16 Taps for the kick-off party with Labeling Deloris (formerly based in Wilmington, and returning to show the love). Great show, great end to the ending.

Saturday started early with short films screening and a few panels about the business of filmmaking (along with an actors panel). This year, I focused more on the panels than the screenings. Well, other than the blocks showing my shorts. This year, I had three shorts playing. They were "Five Minutes 'Til...", "How I Raised My Film Budget", and "The Chore". Unfortunately, Five Minutes and Film Budget ran concurrently with the Actors Panel, so there was not a large turnout.

Sunday was the final day and the one Q & A session I got to be a part of with "The Chore". It would seem I had some of the best answers, particularly when asked about our budget. I answered honestly, the budget was only around 20 or 30 dollars, but that got a massive laugh. Not surprising, since most people think you need to pay a fortune to get films produced. I wish I had thought to get someone to record the Q & A session so I could make it a part of the video I put together for the festival:

Sunday night ended with the awards ceremony. It was a good time, as always.

This year's festival was hosted by Joe Manganiello. He was on One Tree Hill for a while, he played Flash Thompson in Spider-Man, and he's had recurring roles in ER and How I Met Your Mother. I got the chance to speak to him briefly and he seems really down to earth.

Also got to meet an actress from L.A. who had a short playing in the festival. The movie was called Death in Charge and the actress was the lovely Marina Benedict:

Marina has been in several television shows (I recognized her from something, but couldn't place it until I asked her what she'd been in). She was the kooky best friend Luna in "Nikki", she played a musician possessed by a demon in an episode of "Angel" (which is where I remembered seeing her), and she has been on a few episodes of "Southland."

Jenn and Will Mullins once again outdid themselves in putting on a great festival. It was an absolute blast and I can't wait for next year.

Oh, actress and fellow YouTuber Michele Seidman (known on Youtube as MicheleMidnight) also has a festival video, be sure to check it out:

William

Well, It's Been A While.

2009-04-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since anything has been posted here. Honestly, nothing much has been going on.

There are three Media Blitzkrieg shorts in this year's Cape Fear Independent Film Festival. "Five Minutes Till...", "How I Raised My Film Budget", and "The Chore" are all going to show this year.

We're also entering a few shorts to the Sister City Film Festival. I'll keep everyone updated on that.

This was posted to my main blog, but it is in line with this blog's purposes as well. Along with my BEDA blog posts, this blog is appearing in three separate places:

So, as many of you know, I'm a filmmaker (when I'm not busy writing blogs of course).

Right now (and for quite a while) I'm working on a short called "Finding Maria". I have now brought on an Assistant Director who has done a complete script breakdown for me (Brea, have I said thank you lately?) and have been in the process of trying to get some shooting days scheduled.

There are a few problems.

First, our title actress has moved to L.A. and I'm not sure when she's going to be coming back. We still have two scenes to shoot with her (one being the climax of the film). Also, I've got another actress who is about to move to Raleigh at the end of the month (and that's coming awfully fast).

This weekend is the Final Cut Film Festival. I have taken part in this festival every year it's been around, but not this year. Instead, I'm going to be trying to shoot as much of "Finding Maria" as possible.

Of course, based on actor availability, that might not be much.

Also, tomorrow I'm shooting a 1 minute short for my friend Stan who is applying to a contest on Youtube. Here's the video with info:

So, that's going to be a fun shoot. Also, he's one of actors in "Finding Maria". Have to ask if he's available this weekend and if he thinks we can get access to a library for the scene.

Anyway, here's hoping things work out and we get some shooting done.

I'll let everyone know how (and if) it goes.

Also, trying to decide if I want to sign up to be a BEDA buddy. I think it's definitely worth it.

William

New Friend Request

2009-01-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

So, there was a short that we worked on with D-Mentd Films a while back called "New Friend Request". Well, it's finally available to view.

Here it is, in all it's glory:

Well, for the true glory, you have to go to YT and watch it in HD. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE-0pGXZLFg

Again, be sure to watch it in HD.

William

Media Blitzkrieg Hits Hollywood! (Literally)

2009-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry, you'll only understand the title if you follow the online works of Mediocre Films. Look them up on YouTube.

Anyway, Hollywood has beckoned for a little Media Blitzkrieg action and we came to deliver.

I'm out here to shoot a music video for the band 4th and Dock. Should be good.

In other news, on Monday we continued to work on "Finding Maria", re-shot the bathroom scene again. Hopefully, that will be the last time. Production will continue when we return to the east.

For now, going to see how things go in L.A., but we will continue to be Wilmington, or at least North Carolina based.

This place is a little too crazy for us.

William

Taboo... or not Taboo

2009-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

So, two years ago we made a short for the Final Cut Film Festival AND Youtube's Project: Direct called "Taboo... or not Taboo". It's been on YouTube since then, but it wasn't exactly perfect. There were some sound issues and some editing glitches that didn't get worked out before the deadline.

Here's the original version:

Now, I've finally had a chance to tweak the edit and posted it to Funny or Die. The sound has been fixed (for the most part), there have been a few edit changes, and there was a little color correction fix to the part with Willy and the girl.

Check out the new version:

Taboo... or not Taboo - watch more funny videos

If you do watch the new version, be sure to vote it funny on the site so we can be sure to keep it out of the crypt.

Also, they chose that thumbnail. Not that I wouldn't have, but I find it funny they picked the perfect shot to get more views. ;-)

William

The Chore

2008-12-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

So, Mike (D-Mentd Films) and I decided to shoot something for this year's Project: Direct competition.

It took some time, but we finally came up with a story, I scripted it out, we shot it on Saturday, and I edited it on Sunday to turn in that night by 11:59 p.m. EST. It was a lot of fun, and I think we came up with something interesting.

Chores can really be a hassle sometimes.

Starring: John Krevens, Jenna Zimmer, and Luke Mazzola

This is a D-Mentd Films/Media Blitzkrieg Production.

Directed by: Michael J. Roberts

Written, Shot, and Edited by: William Redd

As I said, this was originally intended as an entry into Project: Direct. The finalists were announced and shown on the Project: Direct YouTube page first thing this morning (I saw them just before I went to bed at 5 a.m.). We were not in the top ten.

But hey, at least we got a good short out of it. We'll be entering this into festivals after a little work has been done to the audio and such.

William | digg story

The Finding Maria Facebook Group

2008-12-20T21:38:00.001-08:00

I've decided to start a Facebook group for Finding Maria to try and coordinate schedules and get everything shot before I lose all my actors... again.

Most of the invitations I've sent out are to the actors, but there are a few other film friends I've invited along.

Now, one issue I have is the few actors who aren't on Facebook. Sent an e-mail invitation to one of them, don't have an e-mail address for the other.

This is going to be an experiment to see how well this group works. I might start creating one for all of my projects in the future.

Here's the link to the Finding Maria Facebook group:

http://tinyurl.com/findingmaria

If you want to join, just send a request and I'll OK it.

William

Finally, the shooting begins!

2008-12-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was our official first day on "Finding Maria". Aaron Mills, John Krevens and I hit UNCW and shot some exterior scenes which just involved the two main characters.

The shoot went well. That's four scenes down (five if you count the previously shot final scene that was completed months ago).

Here's hoping something comes together for Sunday. If that works out the way I plan, about half of this thing will be shot out!

I really need to get Katrina shot out before she leaves. It would be unfortunate to lose our title character.

Again, here's hoping.

William

It's not you... it's me.

2008-12-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry RSS2Java, I'm afraid we've moved on.

Signed the blog up for FeedBurner today and found a new little gadget for the front page of the site. You'll now see this little update in a cool widget from SpringWidgets.

Of course, if you're reading this in the widget, you already know that.

I just couldn't get the feed to look how I wanted it with RSS2Java.

Oh, and the rough draft for our Project: Direct short is done. Starting revisions ASAP.

Anyway, the updates continue.

William

An Update on "The Reel Thing"

2008-12-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

So, earlier this year Daisy Faith, the director of "The Reel Thing" got an e-mail from IMDB offering to showcase the short on their page. I did a little work on the color correction (still some issues with a few scenes, but it's good enough) for an optimized web version and it is now available to view.

We'd be thrilled if you took a moment to watch it:

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi1084424985/

The trailer is also on the site:

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2141389593/

I'm aware the trailer is already on a ton of other sites, but I figured it would be good to have the short and trailer in the same place.

If you want to check out the listing on IMDB, that's here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234436/

Currently, I'm working on a poster for the page so it's a little more interesting to look at.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning of IMDB showcasing our shorts.

William

Why is the creative process so stubborn?

2008-11-29T21:17:00.000-08:00

I swear, sometimes it seems impossible to get an idea started.

Mike from D-Mentd and I are working on an idea for Project: Direct this year and it is proving extremely difficult.

The basic conversation goes like this:

Mike: "So, you think of anything yet?"

Will: "Nope."

Mike: "Yeah, me neither."

It's not like we're stumped for ideas, we have tons. It really comes down to picking WHICH ONE.

Anyway, just a little rant.

Back to brainstorming.

William

The Pre-Production begins... again.

2008-11-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is doing well.

Sorry I haven't been around in a while. It's been a little hectic. Too many projects.

Speaking of, the pre-production shenanigans for "Finding Maria" are off and running again. Hoping everything comes together this time so we can get this thing shot already.

It's been like 5 years.

Anyway, hope to do some shooting next weekend (first weekend of December).

Production Journal Blogs to follow.

William

Massive Website Upgrade in the Works

2008-09-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a quick update and let everyone know that we are in the middle of a massive website rewrite. This blog will be integrated heavily into the site to use for all updates on the site and all other Media Blitzkrieg projects in the works.

So far, the blog has a new home on the Media Blitzkrieg site here.

These updates will also post to the front page thanks to a little code from the folks at RSS2Java.

As it stands, the new site will focus more strongly on the short films and all the varied places they currently appear on the internet. Also, we will have a page focusing entirely on the 5 Regular Guys project on YouTube. Another feature returning with that is the individual pages for each of the 5 Regular Guys. It's something that was still on the site, but certainly not accessible via the last update.

Anyway, expect some massive changes to the site in the next few weeks.

William

First Foray into TubeMogul

2008-09-15T19:36:00.000-07:00

William again,

Normally I don't write two posts in a day, but I decided to let everyone know what I've been up to today.

A while back I joined tubemogul after hearing about it from some YouTubers who post to multiple video sites. Tubemogul lets you upload your videos to all those sites at one time. Pretty jazzy for someone who posts a lot of videos trying to get them seen.

Well, today I finally decided to actually give the site a try. Of course, the first thing I had to do was join 6 or 7 new video sharing sites. Once that was done, I started the upload process.

That being said, I'm proud to announce the trailer for "The Reel Thing", a short film produced by Media Blitzkrieg in association with Daisy Faith Films (Blitzkrieg being responsible for the filming and editing), is now available all over the interwebz.

The video has been on YouTube for a while now:

Check out the trailer on Youtube, Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, Google, AOL Video, DailyMotion, Veoh, Mevio, Lulu, Vimeo and Imeem

William

Talent is so hard to find

2008-09-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

William here,

Updates are coming, but in the meantime I have to vent. And it's related to Media Blitzkrieg so I'm going to post to the blog.

Why are actors so hard to find?

I have this project I've been trying to work on for a few years now. I have all but one part cast at the moment and I've been through several actors who have said yes and then dropped out, or actors who just say no outright or give me the runaround. It's getting annoying.

Since when do actors not want to act?

Now, I understand not thinking you have the time, but I've heard a few times, "I don't think this part is for me."

I'm sorry, you are an actor aren't you? You do want to work in that field, don't you? How many actors complain about being "pigeon-holed" into a certain kind of role? Meanwhile, you're busy saying you only want a certain kind of part.

Well, best of luck with that, but I don't see it happening.

In the meantime, anyone know of an actor looking for work who is interested in playing a sort of meek character?

Please, let me know. I'm ready to shoot this puppy.

William

The new front page!

2008-08-30T14:39:00.000-07:00

We're currently working on some massive updates for the site. We're thinking this is going to be the new front page to the site. Like the look? Let us know what you think.

web@mediablitzkrieg.com