ACT I COMPLETE!

Mandorla now @31 minutes 30 seconds into the edit...

That molten glow in the lower left is the Avid furnace taking blocks of media files and forging them into a story of images and sound streaming out to the screen...

Onward!

Roberto

Article Generates 12,000 views of Mandorla Trailer

My friend, fellow filmmaker, and noted Blogger, Andrew Reid (an Englishman based in Berlin) asked me to write a brief article for his EOSHD blog about the experience of shooting Mandorla with a pair of DSLR cameras and LOMO anamorphic lenses.

The article posted a couple of weeks ago and has, to date, generated 12,000 views of the Mandorla trailer. More important, people around the world are starting to follow our progress and await the finished film.

You can read the full article here. 

Some Mandorla produciton pictures in the article:

NOTES FROM THE CUTTING EDGE

Home suite home: a screaming quad-processor MacBook Pro with a pair of thunderbolt displays, 6TB raid off screen, an Avid keyboard and a mouse on a flying carpet! Oh, yes, and a camera on standby for those pressing pick-up shots...

Making a feature film is often described as being a “marathon.” It’s far closer to being a triathlon:

• writing the script
• directing the production
• editing the film

Question: How many hours does it take to edit one minute of film? Answer: Hard to say, when you get pulled into editing time evaporates, but it's always more than you initially think.

Editing is, by far, my favorite stage. It’s exciting to see the Mandorla story come to life on the screen. At present we are about 15 minutes into our initial “assembly” edit. There’s a sense of reverie developing as the main character veers off course to tread (dangerously) between the worlds of reality and imagination. 

We'll be at Sundance Jan. 17 to 23We’re off to Sundance on January 17 to connect with friends and colleagues in the film trade. Let us know if you’re going to be there, or if there’s somebody you know that we should connect with. Our goal is to build awareness of Mandorla and prepare for the road ahead to get it out to audiences.

Here’s a quick update on where we are at now:

• Bob calmly points out where the dragons are. This is not his first rodeo.Bob Marty, a film industry veteran (Amadeus, Dead Poets Society, The Right Stuff, Always, Star Wars, and many more) is on-board as our first-assistant editor and post-production supervisor. He setup our Avid system and synced our sound (no small task) 

• Licensed some inspiring songs from Michael Stearns, Robert Rich, and David Hughes. All are working super well in the edit.

• Jordan Frieda, our Visual Effects Supervisor at The Base Studio, continues to develop some fantastic other-worldly shots for us.

• Robert Rich, our good neighbor and friend, helps us acquire music within our budget and develops ethereal soundscapes.

• Advice and support continue to flow in from some great pros in the film business.

Our plan forward:

• Finish a great film
• Get it into a world film festival
• Spread word about the film throughout the known universe
• Secure distribution (throughout the known universe)
• Repeat with next film

Stay tuned. For more frequent updates please follow us on Facebook.

Onward!

New Mandorla Trailer Goes to Cannes!

So much is happening for the film, it's about time I updated you on all the magic, don't you think?

The biggest news is that at the end of December we completed our principal photography as planned in a six-week shoot here in California.

As in France, we had tight funds, eager talent, and a lot of luck. We still have a few pick-up scenes to shoot (we need the hills to turn green) but we've setup our post production systems and have started our dive into post (4 Terrabytes of footage and counting).

The trailer served to explore the mood and vibe of the film and test our post workflow.

VantagePoint display in the HP labs in Cupertino, California. Yes, meant to put the crew in the shot...

Mandorla trailer being tested on VantagePoint before heading off to Cannes. HP got a peek at our new trailer last week and asked to show it at the Cannes Film Festival on their billboard-sized VantagePoint touch screen. Naturally, we said yes, and had a demo of the system in the HP lab in Cupertino, CA. If you are in Cannes you'll find it at the HP Lounge at the famous Majestic Hotel right on the Croisette.

One of the most exciting developments on the film of late is how the unique otherworldly aspects of the story are being realized in the collaboration we have with Jordan Freda, our Visual Effects Supervisor, and his amazing team at The Base Studio just up the road from us. You've seen their work in The Avengers, Captain America, Harry Potter and other films. The new trailer shows two exciting shots out of the many more to come.

There are more great developments happening and I'll do my best to keep you posted. If you don't hear anything in this space just know that we are super focused on finishing a great film, and that will be the best news of all to share!!

Check out Mandorla's Facebook page for albums of production photos!

Onward!

Roberto

MANDORLA IN MOTION — THE FIRST TRAILER - 3 min.

A draft trailer from our footage shot in Lyon. Created this last week as a means to convey the "vibe" of the film to our cast and crew, now poised to commence production here in the San Francisco area starting tomorrow, Nov. 14.

My Director Notes seem to come quarterly, the last one some four months ago, after our miraculous and magical French production. Looking back, it's inspiring to see what we accomplished with an amazing cast, crew and key supporters in just four weeks. By contrast, the California production has taken four months to get ready to roll. It is nearly three times the size of the French production in both terms of the script being shot, cast, crew, and key some special effects.

We've been non-stop busy, as my tireless and ever faithful Co-Producer Liz Holdship will attest to. Once again, the best way for me to convey this update is to simply let the bullets fly:

• 3000 actors in Los Angeles and San Francisco were considered for roles in Mandorla. Result is we have a talented cast that I am very excited to work with
• Veterans of San Francisco indie film production are on board, Debbie Brubaker as Line Producer and Chris Martin as First Assistant Director. They, and great friends like Gavin O'Duffy, our Production Manager, have our machine well organized and ready to roll. 
• As in Lyon, there is a key group of Production Assistants who are mostly in their mid twenties, hungry to work on a meaningful feature film, and grow their experience of filmmaking in the field. I am very excited to have all of them on our team.
• Magic and luck are at play in helping us more than I can say. Gavin has moved the production's logistics forward and landed key locations and services we need--often for free or with a discount. Every production should have a good humored Irishman.
• Gavin introduced Mandorla to Tim and Jordan at The Base Studios, a local Special Effects company that has recently completed work on Thor, Captian America, and in the past has done FX shots for Harry Potter, Iron Man, and others. Very excited to be working with Jordan Freda as our Special Effects Supervisor. He finds a way to make the magic of the scene work within our modest means.
• Local production veteran Chris Martin has come on board as First Assistant Director.  This means the gears of production are more likely to be oiled and mesh well as we shoot.
• Please and greatly relieved to have LA-based Scott Coleman on-board as our pro Steadicam Operator. He has the deep experience and professional attitude we need to realize our shots with the grace of camera flight. 
• David Sandwisch has us set for production sound recording, and remixed the sound in our trailer above.
• Our anamorphic lenses are ready to go. If I start to write about these I will seriously geek-out.
• The GH2 camera has been hacked by a crazy world of young filmmakers around the globe. It is now able to perform like a camera that costs $50K instead of $1K. Very exciting times to be a rebel digital filmmaker.
• Special thanks to my compadres and advisors: Andrew Reid of EOSHD.com in Berlin, Illya Friedman of Hotrod Cameras in Burbank/LA, Ed Lee in Hong Kong, Robert Rich for deep artist support, and like family, Vince & Sun at Ultimae in Lyon.
• Continuing the thanks role...
• Great support from Micah Sharp and team at Red Giant Software !!
• Michael Ainscow is supporting us with some key, usually un-obtainable Silicon Valley business locations.
• Great to have the support of everyone at and behind the Hotel Keen, Palo Alto. 
• Our friends at the Mid-Peninsula Open Space District are wonderfully in sync and supportive of our mutual interests regarding the critical function and purpose of open space near urban centers like Silicon Valley. 
• There are many, many more to thank. Look for them in the credits.

Now, on with the show!!

Roberto