Fire-Wired Blog

11 months ago Tiny Explosions produced Family Tree as part of filmracing.com 's 100 Hour Film Race, and after it's "festival run" here it is! Following the production and release of Red Flag , Hogan and I felt the sting to keep going . Not wait another year to make a short as we had been doing as of late. I love the 48 Hour Film Project as it allows all your collaborators to lock off a weekend, write-shoot-produce a short, and then see it on the big screen a couple weeks later. The 100 Hour Film Race is similar except you get double the time and it screens at the Film Racing home base in Atlanta, so the team didn't get a chance to see it on the big screen. And of course due to the pandemic, we never did.  So instead of just saying "Hey, we made that" and let it hit the internet –KER-SPLAT– I entered it in a bunch of Iowa film festivals. It was programmed in a handful, won an award in one, and even had an in-person screening at the Des Moines Undergr...

 Here it is, Tiny Explosions best (?) film yet, El Engaño! Made as part of the pandemic version of the Des Moines 48 Hour Film Project 2020, I am really proud of this film . It's the best shot film we've made, it is paced really well, there's no over-the-top acting, no gross out humor, it is a stand alone story not a sketch, it has actual visual effects (an explosion...), And oh yeah, it won the award for best editing. Plus I was told it was the runner up audience award for our screening group, always cool. It was nice to win an award that I felt the film was worthy of , and truth be told, this online release is an even better edit on all accounts. To repeat my annual refrain, these awards are almost always mystifying and quasi-meaningless outside of winning it all. And once again there are some head scratchers in the final awards. One difference this year is 48HFP shared their scoring criteria: Artistic Merit 45%, Technical Merit 30%, and Adherence to the Assignment 25% . ...

Update : As was expected, The 2020 Snake Alley Festival of Film has been delayed due to Covid-19 concerns. No dates have been set, but the hope is now for the fall. Seeing as the USA is not New Zealand (where they made the hard choices and have effectively eradicated the virus), I'd call that optimistic. I guess the old saying is right; you can lead a country to quarantine but you can't make it shelter in place. I'll update again when there is more share. I am excited .  Last fall, I got the lightning strike idea that I needed to adapt a story my Grandmother wrote as a child into a screenplay. That may sound slight, but this story is incredible; it is the story of my Great Grandmother Martha Adams giving birth during the German invasion of Belgium in World War I , followed by her braving the war, losing her husband, remarrying and moving to Illinois, and then personal trials galore up until her death in 1976. It is a story that would make Scarlett O'Hara say "Than...

If there is any silver lining to the crisis that is Covid-19, it is the creativity is running wild. I am one of the lucky multimedia people out there; I have a job, I am essential, and I have a lot of work to do. Still I'm trapped at home most of the time and have many hours to fill. So sure I've watched my fair share of streaming TV and movies, but what works better at passing the time than watching? Making! Week one: make a short featuring two lines of dialogue. One from a classic film, another from 48 years past. There are a LOT of quarantine film challenges going around right now. Locally,  Iowa has a local weekly cellphone film challenge and internationally, the 48 Hour Film Project created a variation of their theme called " Stuck at Home 48 ." With the Tiny Explosions crew more or less trapped in their houses, we decided to hop on the bandwagon with more than 1,800 filmmaking teams worldwide.  Two weekends in, we've had a blast ...

This is me, day one on the job at Iowa Public Television. That was November 7, 2014. How has five years gone so fast? I am a big time believer in "time flies when you're having fun." While one of the major downsides to believing happiness is the most important element in your life, there's no legitimate reason to complain about being happy? Over the course of five years I've filmed the four corners of the state, directed a bunch of television shows, learned some fun camera tricks, met the President, met countless people who could be president, dressed up as a robotic monkey and danced around on live television, gone on all kinds of outdoor adventures for work, traveled to California for a documentary, met dozens of Iowa filmmakers and talked shop with them, and plenty of other things I'm omitting to keep this list from getting out of control. I REALLY love my job and I love the work I'm allowed to produce. Not every day is cupcakes and confetti, but ...

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would allow me the distinct pleasure to present you; the eighth 48 Hour Film Project short to be released under the Tiny Explosions banner... red flag . Assuming you watched the film, red flag is easily the most Tiny Explosions-y film of our nine years working together as a crew (nine years in the event, but eighth T.E. film because the engine of our 2012 crew was a good deal of the creative juice behind a 2011 film "Side Effects," by Team Mystery Box) . For an explanation of why red flag is basically Tiny Explosions plutonium look no further than; our ensemble of actors, absurd characters, producing ridiculous things for the movie screen, tons of big laughs, some truly gross out moments, improv style comedy, characters sitting and talking, and Brian Hogan willing to do something spit-take worthy for the greater good. No need to rehash my feelings on 48HFP awards  or how films like ours get handled by judges. So I'll skip over...

For the fifth time I have worked the Iowa State Fair as an Iowa Public Television producer. A lot has changed since I declared I never wanted to go to the Fair again, back in 2013. Now I love the Fair and look forward to grabbing my camera and telling the wacky stories I'm handed each year. Since my first IPTV Fair in 2015, I have been identified as the "fun" features producer. I tend to lean into upbeat, rocking music, and to cut kinetic stories. This year that reputation garnered me four really fun contests to cover; Monster Arm Wrestling, Doubles Horseshoe Pitching, Bubblegum Blowing, and Pie Eating. Quite the awesome rundown if you ask me. For ease of viewing, here are the four videos. I was considering taking a more meditative approach and pacing to my Fair features this year, but when my first interview -Mother Monster- just amped up the fun in her answers... that was just a low and hanging fastball right over the plate. While not a perfect four-som...