2011 balance

I thought it was time to recap on what went on over the year 2011 in terms of films and other -video or otherwise- exciting projects. Yes, there's a few days left to the end of the year, but I intend not to do much until Christmas, to be honest.

In January and February, I pretty much worked on Brothers day, my first feature film as a director, 24 7. Getting the cast, securing the locations, re-working the script, preparing the shots. Constantly buzzing production office. I slept once too. Great times.

In March, while I was still filming Brothers day, I did the first and last videoblog of the project, for the only reason that I was waiting for the actors and had nothing better to do. I did some VFX work for an American promo with a great pitch. And a time traveller.

In May, I went to the Cannes film festival. Walked around a lot, went to a few parties, watched a few films and saw Hugh Jackman in sunglasses. Got a new phone unsuitable for dirty fingers.

In June, I did a few more shots of Brothers day and I saw myself in the trailer for Captain America, featuring my first ever blockbuster extra role.

In July, I finally and officially wrapped Brothers day, to the surprise of everyone, especially me. Captain america was released. Enjoyed it and I THINK I MAY HAVE SEEN myself. My mother claimed to have seen me more times than I was ever there. Google released Google+ and I got absurdly excited about it. I'm feeling better now.

In August, I watched Rise of the planet of the apes. Got excited again. Longest title and best film I have seen this year in the cinema to date.

In September, I loved my new phone. And immediately started to hate it after that. Filmed some incredible bluescreen.

In October, I filmed in a warehouse and nearly got run over by a forklift, which was mildly entertaining. Filmed some stuff in the woods too.

In November, I forgot I had shown my short film Reaction to practically no one and shared it with the world. Calachurras reached its most exciting issue so far and we tried to explain a few things with a cute annex. As a reward, we finally got a fan we don't know personally. Win.

In December, decorated dozens of Christmas trees in a fake NYC and was involved in a attempt to burn down a hotel. Never toast bread if you are not completely awake.

More stuff this year ends with:  

Newfound Planet, our very own production company, is now born and the next feature film project is on the making, a very exciting Sci-fi. Which is like a Science fiction film, but with less letters. Possible the most amazing news this year.

Calachurras has reached the middle of its story, and still most people haven't got a clue what we mean.

After months of on and off work. The Brothers day trailer is nearly ready to go out. This obviously mean it will be the greatest trailer of all times. Either that or simply the most slowly done one.

Look forward to 2012.

What's been happening

So I thought I'd take the time to give a bit of an update on what I've been doing in the last few months (that feel like years!!).

End of last year, I was lucky enough to have a job as an extra (background artist :) in the Captain America movie (!!!!!!). If you want to try and see me :P (I'm one of the blurry dockers in the background) I'm in the official trailer, min 1:36 :) Although it may sound very unimpressive to some, for me it was an incredible experience that felt much too-short, and it leaves me out of breath simply to talk about it. Only Google :) can be more exciting than working in a Hollywood movie + seeing one of the characters I've been reading comics about all my life (Captain America in this case) in the flesh + getting paid for it. Incredible.

Then somehow I ended up directing my first feature film, a drama set in Manchester titled BROTHERS DAY. I'd like to blame my insistence in getting in as much trouble as possible for it, but maybe it was just sheer luck. In any case, it was a lot of fun and hard work. Luckily a strong cast and crew came together in the end and we managed to both pull it off and live through the experience! I did have to put other projects on hold, but it was all worth it. I especially enjoyed working on a feature script which wasn't my own, and working with 2 fantastic writers to make the necessary changes to the story to be able to film it with the given constraints. I just finished filming it, still need to edit it all together and such, but the footage is all in the can (well, all but a couple of days). Sadly, there is very little I can show -well, other than pictures of the shoots-, but I'm working on a trailer and I can't wait to show everybody once it's finished! :)

As if it wasn't enough, I got involved in a movie-to-be called TRAVELER ZERO, a time-travel story... based on real events! :) I only got to do some visual effects and grading for it, but it was particularly thrilling to me because the project is America-based. It's currently been pitched in L.A. to producers with important-sounding names :) and hopefully the whole movie will get to be filmed. You can see the full short film promo below.

At the comic-book side of things, my brother and I have recently re-launched the webseries CALACHURRAS. We are excited to get back to work on this after a bit of a break to give the whole thing all the color that rightfully deserved, and can't wait for you people to read the whole story and tell us what you think.

Last but hardly least, I also went to CANNES this year, for the first time. Cannes is not only a film festival, but a way of seeing the film industry from a more practical angle, and an opportunity to meet a lot of like-minded people and move projects forward. It was a fantastic and necessary experience that I recommend to all my filmmaking friends. It is both fun and a lot of work, and absolutely worth it.

And this is all for now in what's been the most exciting months of my life. A lot of exciting things seems to be happening in the near future too, but I shall talk about them in some other post.

Thanks for reading!