Ultra Digital Productions » Narrative

"Static"

ultradigital — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:01:56 +0000

The context, in general, is deaf education. My sister’s taught in Deaf Ed for ~30 years and has shared interesting stories about the state of things – different sign languages taught from class to class, teachers and administrators fighting among themselves, with parents, with students; students much of the time having emotional and cognitive issues in addition to “just” being deaf, etc. This atop everything else that happens in high school with friends, family and self. From a student’s perspective, the story is dark noise and static; from a some teachers’ perspectives, some hope.

Here’s the current cut:
[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Thanks to photgraphers allowing “re-mixes” of their work under a Creative Commons license, I found images (on Flickr and Blip.tv, mostly) I could use to help tell the story.

photo credit: openDemocracy

All but the music and my storyboard “drawings” are courtesy of the Creative Commons. So, I’m a fan – the idea for this story has been gnawing at me again, and the CC enabled me to take it at least a small step further. And the process of putting this 3-minute bit together helps the overall process of solidifying the storyline.

(I have to include all the attributions; I’ll do so as I “finalize” the shot selections)

the idea for me
is to do enough to help solidify and further the idea
see what’s worth more time.

doing it
putting it together
beats more planning

The song is called Static and from a record called “Lift your Skinny Fists Like Antanae to Heaven.”

I want to shoot the whole thing – 22:35 – as a “trailer” to the whole film; as a next step on the way to the feature.

I’ve not yet secured rights to the music
but I hope to have a project soon
that calls for it.

(it’s worth dreaming about and working toward, anyway)

"Beware of Dog"

ultradigital — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 05:39:21 +0000

Shot in the Summer of 2004 on location in a quaint New Jersey hamlet, this features some beautiful Harleys and among the most vicious canine attack scenes ever captured.

The lead here is a first-time actor who put in great performances over several days of shooting. A more-seasoned talent in the supporting role helps pull the thing together. Good editing, a great soundtrack (Paolo Conte; The Jazz Messengers; Ozzie Osbourne), and some laughs make “Beware of Dog” 8 well-spent minutes.

Plot Outline: The Biker Rally’s back in town – again – and The Man can’t handle the noise.

The current cut is available at Google.

We’ve taken up this project again in the hopes of sewing up the last the last of the hanging threads.

"No Parking"

ultradigital — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 05:01:47 +0000

The story takes place the day a man – who’s already been through too much – loses it after being dumped on one time too many.

The film features two beautiful first-time actresses and an excellent, understated performance by the first-time actor leading man. There’s a good bit of interesting cinematography and an excellent soundtrack provided by Galina Ustvolskaya. The editing is sharp and makes for an entertaining 8 minutes.

This project was shot on location in The Bronx in the Summer of 2003 and has enjoyed a tremendous run in Post-Production ever since. An early cut was submitted to a Russian arts festival (under Writer / Director’s nom d’film Slavic Miknilsky) in October ’03. We’ve picked it up again at the outset of aught-six to take another run at it.

The current cut is available here.