Where the Hell is Matt?

I went to check my email this morning and this video was featured on my iGoogle page. I have the low-res version, below, but if you have the means click HERE and then click on the High-Res version and do it full screen...with speakers on



Maybe it's just me, but I think that video is awesome, very moving and inspiring to me, it was a great thing to start the day off with. What did you think?

Rest in Peace Stan Winston...

Reports are trickling out the the legendary creature effects creator Stan Winston has passed away. Stan had his hand in creating some of the most memorable creatures, legends and effects of the current modern era of film. Stan's work added to the pantheon of legendary film creatures like the classic Universal Monsters and the legendary creatures of Ray Harryhausen, one of Stan's personal idols. Winston won the Oscar four times for his work on Aliens, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and AI and most recently worked on the brilliant visual effects in Iron Man creating the practical Iron Man suits. Winston was easily one of the greatest special effects visionaries to ever work in Hollywood and has created some of the most memorable special effects in cinematic history. This is truly a great loss and an incredibly sad day for Hollywood.

In addition to the four films that he won Oscars for, Winston worked on The Thing, Predator, The Monster Squad, Congo, Galaxy Quest, Big Fish, and Constantine. You can see much of his fantastic work over at his studio's official website: StanWinstonStudio.com.

His legend, vision and attention to detail will be greatly missed.

-Josh

Radiers: The Adaptation...

Last night at the Belcourt we hosted the Tennessee premiere of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. In 1982 three 12 year old boys made a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the lost ark, it took them 6 years to finish. We had the privilege of having filmmaker Eric Zala, one of those "boys" to be in attendance for the screening. The crowd was very energetic and gave Eric a standing ovation at the end of the film before his Q & A. It was a great evening, and a hilarious and an inspiring experience.

In his adult life, Eric had been working at EA sports as Quality Control Director for 10 years making 6 figures, but wasn't satisfied, so to the behest of his childhood buddy Chris, one of the other boys who did the shot-for-shot remake, he left his job at EA moved back to Mississippi and is pursuing making an independent film with his friend, they've finally finished thier script and are shopping it around next week. Also Producer Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, ect.) has bought the life rights of the boy's story of the making of the Raiders: Adaptation.

Here's some pics from last night, plus a picture of them as kids, a pic with Spielberg and the letter Spielberg wrote them after he saw a bootleg VHS copy of the film : O

Here's me and Eric Zala, and then a pic of the boys when they were kids and the letter Steven Spielberg wrote them.

Indy/Kinski...

Not a tutorial but a quick little exercise in using the Quickmask mode and masks in general...this is an image for the new Belcourt Blog - Nashville Film Blog - belcourttheatre.blogspot.com

Here are the original elements: