Broken Bells - Good Luck

Light emanates through cut-out silhouettes of people extracted from the real world in this eerily beautiful music video for Broken Bells. “Good Luck,” directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro, was envisioned with the help of a creative team I had such a pleasure to be a part of.

A ghostly figure hitches a ride in “Broken Bells - Good Luck,” directed Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro

Stuckwish shares the intricacies of pulling off this stunning analog effect: “We laser cut over 4000 frames [of film] and used a practical stop motion light ray effect achieved by mixing old school animation techniques and practical smoke and haze over live-action footage, to create an eerily atmospheric new dimension.”

“Ryan Ross (Visual Effects), Mark Nicholas (Special Effects Supervisor), and Ian Blair (Producer) locked themselves in separate rooms for weeks rotoscoping, with Ryan animating, and Mark laser cutting card stock for each frame. Nelson [de Castro, co-director] then took the laser cut frames and put them over a light box, shooting haze & light through.”

“All of the light and haze permeating from the characters was done practically - giving it the texture you see in the video. I’m pretty sure Nelson’s house is coated in oil forever from the hazer he had going for weeks filming all the light box stop motion still frames during the quarantine! Ryan then overlaid the light and haze back in for each frame over the original image…Every shot called for it’s own unique post workflow and my brain still hurts from trying to figure this all out.”

Flynn Zanco portrays a young boy disintegrating into this “atmospheric new dimension.”

A one-of-a-kind experience, it further reminded me that great things can be achieved through perseverance and teamwork. See the entire film on Tidal, and stick around to see what I was able to contribute to this extraordinary world. No spoilers!

CAST & CREW

Directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Nelson de Castro

Produced by Ian Blair

Cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo

Production Design by Jade Spiers

VFX Supervision by Ryan Ross

Special Effects Supervision by Mark Nicholas

Edited by Nour Oubeid

Costume Design by Kimberly Stuckwisch

Starring: Flynn Zanco, James Forbis, Chad Carr, Linda Michaels, Kathy Gorlick, Teddy Williams, Codey Huckins, Brice Owen, Steve Zanco and C. Jobe

1st AD: Jeff Cobb

PM: Christina Jobe

1st AC: Ryan Sax

2nd AC: Caitlyn Brown

Gaffer/2nd Unit DP: Justin Moore

Best Boy Electric: Monty Sloan

Swing: Khoi Nguyen

Art Director: Steele O’Neal

2nd Unit Camera PA: Haley Meyers

Color: Alastor Arnold

Animation: Nelson De Castro

Additional Special Effects: Spencer Hall and Nicolas Putnam

Titles: Sean David Christensen

PA’s: Eric Weed, Isaias Rojano, Ted Morissette

Shot on Kodak film and processed by FotoKem in Los Angeles.

Storytelling with The Moth: "Love Hurts," February 14th, 2018

I miss my family. This past Tuesday, we all celebrated my 35th birthday as best as those observing social distancing could hope to. Assisted by webcams, our dinner was enjoyed in pools of blue light from our various laptops, glowing within our separate homes. In spite of the distance, we were together. Inspired by my Los Angeles storytelling community who continue to share their lives in these bewildering times ~ I would like to share my first time on The Moth's stage. The theme that night, Valentine’s Day 2018, was "Love Hurts." For me, this spoke to the burden that comes with being woven within a family you don't mind carrying within you. Well, sometimes you mind, but in times like these - a good problem to have.

João Gonzalez

João Gonzalez is an animator and musician based in Portugal. Nestor, his thesis from the Royal College of Art in London, vividly constructs the life of a man with several obsessive-compulsive behaviors - living in an unstable houseboat which never stops oscillating.

Nestor (2019) by João Gonzalez

Nestor (2019) by João Gonzalez

Ana Galvañ

Ana Galvañ is a freelance illustrator based in Madrid. Recently, she has published Pulse enter para continuar, a compilation of five stories that travel between science fiction and fantasy, published by Apa Apa cómics. I’m an admirer of her character design and diffused interpretation of color.

Andy Shauf ~ "Things I Do"

Pristine songwriting from Andy Shauf, a keen observer of life’s tiny sadnesses. “Things I Do,” from his latest full-length release, The Neon Skyline.

15th German (Göttingen) International Ethnographic Film Festival

Looking forward to some traveling this summer...thanks to the 15th German International Ethnographic Film Festival. I'm thrilled to be counted amongst this acclaimed collection of documentaries that critically address social, political and cultural themes. Ghost Tape #10 will be engaging with a new, European audience this May. What a remarkable program to be a part of!

"La mer à boire" by Charlotte Arene

Stunning stop-motion piece from artist & animation director Charlotte Arene. I can’t get over how beautifully the sound of the waves sweep back and forth in perfect time with the motion of the objects.

From the artist, interviewed by Filmnosis: “I think it encapsulates the anguish and playfulness that are both present in the film; on one hand there’s this light and funny aspect of turning household elements into a kind of seaside scenery and playing with that metaphor, but on the other hand there’s the storm and the heavy sleeping… which all tug at a darkest side of the imagination.”

Ghost Tape #10: Award of Excellence, 2020 BEA Festival of Media Arts

Out of more than 1,750 entries from 300 colleges nationwide, what a privilege to have Ghost Tape #10 be counted amongst the 18 award-winning "Short Form Documentaries" at the 2020 BEA Festival of Media Arts. An international festival that seeks to enhance professional standards in broadcasting, I'm honored to take part in this event. I’m grateful to my faculty instructors at the USC Department of Anthropology / USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences ~ Prof. Janet Hoskins (Advisor) and Prof. Jenny Cool ~ and to my production team who helped realize this film: Ricky Berger, Pham Thu Hang, Hoa Nguyen, Cookie Duong, Jamie Maxtone-Graham, Thiên Chip & Jedadiah Cracco. Special thanks to Margaret Barnhill Bodemer and the Journal of Vietnamese Studies for their awareness and critique of the film!

Cursed! A Full Moon Storytelling Show by Lucé Tomlin-Brenner

My dear friend, filmmaker/comedian Lucé Tomlin-Brenner, has held a scared space for performers in Los Angeles for the past year. Cursed! is a monthly show that harnesses the power of the full moon to explore astrological themes in live storytelling. Equal parts tender and cheeky, Cursed! provides a liberating atmosphere to craft true stories on stage for a (dare I say) truly loving crowd! The emotional investment is what keeps me coming back, both from the audience and the performers, which is why I couldn’t be more proud to join this exceptional lineup for Lucé’s one-year anniversary! [Full moon emoji!]

Special thanks to Suzy and Nathan at A Love Bizarre for their hospitality in providing a home for this unique show for one whole year in Los Angeles, truly, a rare gift in of itself!

Cursed! A Full Moon Storytelling Show, One-Year Anniversary: February 19th, 2020

STORYTELLERS: Dani Adaliz / David Crabb / Vivian Martinez / Madison Shepard / Jonathan Bradley Welch / Sean David Christensen. HOST: Lucé Tomlin-Brenner

Home Study - a film by Daniel Lee

When I’m lucky enough to be given it, I treasure the opportunity to artistically express a filmmaker’s vision. Translating their story with illustrations and color can be such a joy, especially when my work is given the honor and trust it needs to fully realize itself, both as an original piece of art and a compliment to the film. Reuniting with my friend and former Killing My Lobster cast member Daniel Lee was a delight, whose short film Home Study will be touring film festivals later this year. Co-starring Courtney Davis and Scott Prendergast, this charming short paints a portrait of a nervous gay couple navigating the adoption process of their first child.

"The Sandwich Movie," 10 years later.

Rescuing this trophy from storage back home reminded me of how the passage of time always surprises. Years can crawl or leap forward, in this case, the near-decade that has gone by in a blink since visiting Tipton, Iowa for their Hardacre Film Festival. Holding the award in my hand again coaxed a flood of memories, like the accumulation of colored pencil shavings and dust that collected in the valleys of my keyboard, those years ago. Animation is a medium I’m always drawn back to, its gravitational pull too strong and the desire to experiment with visual storytelling too great. I’m thankful to have come across this again, as a reminder of being rewarded for the passion to create, while learning along the way.

"Purple Clown Music" by Nathan Hartley Maas

Unease looms over Purple Clown Music. Composer, visual artist and raconteur Nathan Hartley Maas unravels a collection of instrumentals that fracture in disquieting spells, giving way to eerie harmonies and haunting melodies. Echoing like a rouge parade abandoned by its grand marshal, Maas's compositions are enveloped in soundscapes laced with his trademark caustic wit, as we hear the frenzy of toy robots imploding, circuits frying, and the internal mechanisms of an imaginary town sabotaging themselves in protest.

To borrow a phrase from author Larry L. King's 1968 review of Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House for The New York Times, [Nathan Hartley Maas] “...is a laughing prophet of doom.” Like Vonnegut, Maas is a weary observer of troubled times who uses language as a means to reconcile or accuse, whichever comes first. One gets the feeling listening to Purple Clown Music that Maas already knows something that we don't—perhaps a punchline to a cruel joke. There is a sense of encroaching darkness on this record, but each of its songs are like the album cover's bulbous clown heads that float above the purple smog, sentries who don't fear what's coming.

Purple Clown Music is vibrant and defiant with Maas's endlessly surprising song-craft. “Milxor E.” throbs with the stadium-sized intensity of a sporting event, while “Dutgoff Sqonnot” ripples with undulating square synthesizers reminiscent of soundtracks to early-90s CD-ROM point-and-click adventures. “Animotem Eyelif” chirps in patterns similar to electronic artists Richard D. James and Luke Vibert, resembling the warble of a warning siren you might hear in the hours just before a hurricane.

Underneath oppressive sheets of purple fog, a gravel-voiced narrator leads the listener through derelict dreams with a smile, mocking the impermanence of life. Nathan Hartley Maas has provided the indelible musical landscape for this journey—one well worth taking, if you don't mind laughing at the gathering storm.

Purple Clown Music is available to stream on nearly all digital music platforms and available for purchase through Apple Music. *Album artwork by Nathan Hartley Maas.

"Shave" reviewed by Mike Everleth, Underground Film Journal

Originally published in Underground Film Journal, September 2nd, 2010:

Embedded above is a chillingly deceptive short film by Sean [David] Christensen called Shave. Disguised as a warm, childhood nostalgia piece, the film nicely uses the metaphor of a father shaving as a meditation on a son’s ultimate disappointment upon learning that his father is just a human being after all.

Personally, I do have a soft spot for films in which audio and visuals are presenting two separate components that are linked together thematically. Christensen uses this technique to great effect particularly towards the end when he lets the audio of his childhood video continue to roll while visually we are looking at the same pool, in a decaying, moss-covered state, in the present day. Using this combination creates a new emotional state, one in which the memory of happier times have turned to rot.

Also really nice in the film is the way Christensen cuts between shots of the swimming pool in the old video with new images of his father dipping his razor in the sink during his big shave. The cuts really flow together to create a real feeling of continuity between the two locations. Also, later in the film, a shot of the empty sink with just some residue and whiskers spread about creates the idea of the pool being similarly drained: Drained of water, drained of memory, drained of happiness.

One has to wonder about the true autobiography of the film. Christensen narrates the film himself, but did any of this actually happen to him? Are these even truly images of himself and his father? The documentary footage — i.e. what Christensen claims is his mother’s old video and even the still photos — are used to lead us to believe that the narrated story is documentary, too, and not a fiction.

However, all that we have seen is called into being suspect when Christensen admits that he is altering his own memories. He refuses to remember his father without a mustache and never allows us to see him without it, either. The one actual video of the man we take to be Christensen’s father jumping off the diving board is too blurry to discern what state his facial hair is in.

Christensen paints a particular visual portrait of his father by only showing us photos of him with facial hair. And he paints a portrait of himself through the narration of a person who refuses to accept his father for the person his dad wants to be, which hints at there’s maybe something more going on here than just a mustache.

By Mike Everleth | Underground Film Journal, September 2nd, 2010.

Nicolas Godin - The Foundation ft. Cola Boyy (Official Music Video)

Lovely hearing Matthew Urango (Cola Boyy) on Nicolas Godin’s latest single. I grew up listening to AIR’s frosty, ethereal oh-so-French pop, and listening to a familiar voice swimming alongside Godin’s keyboards in this video by Greg Barnes is inspiring. I had the pleasure of discovering Cola Boyy’s music after working with him on his “Penny Girl” music video, directed by my oh-so-French friend, photographer David Luraschi. I’m elated to see great things happen for great people.

CREDITS

Director: Greg Barnes / Production Company: Black Dog Films / Producer: Holly Wolfers / Executive Producer: Martin Roker / Production Assistant: Harry Morgan / Runners: Isabelle Ramsden, Ollie McCoy- Page / Director of Photography: David Wright / Focus Puller: Jerry Pradon / Loader: Juan Minotta / Gaffer: Leon Psyzora / Art Director: Will Olds / Costume Designer: George Oxby / Editor: Greg Barnes / VFX: Rav Matharu / Colourist: Jonny Tully @ Big Buoy / Cast: Anna Sari, Rick Kiesewetter

Boise Airport: November 30th, 2019

Making the most of my layover.

Thom Yorke - Last I Heard (…He Was Circling The Drain)

Beautiful hand-drawn textures washed over computer rendered models; A wonderful example of digital and analog mediums swimming together in nervous waves.

CREDITS

Made at Art Camp

Directed by: Art Camp & Saad Moosajee

Technical Director: James Bartolozzi

Design: Saad Moosajee & Zuheng Yin

Art Direction: Jenny Mascia

3D Animation: Saad Moosajee, Zuheng Yin, Chanyu Chen

Simulation and Effects: James Bartolozzi

Supporting Design: Chanyu Chen, Andrew Finley

Cel Animation: Jenny Mascia, Britton Korbel, Mac Ross, Jeremy Higgins, Danae Gosset

Production Manager: Matthew Kagen

Production Coordinator: John James Russo

Stop Motion Photographer: Jared Pershad

Storyboards: Mac Ross, Jenny Mascia

Cel Animation Consultant: Danae Gosset

16MM Film Consultant: Oliver Lanzenberg

"MY MOTHER'S EYES" by Jenny Wright

“A story about motherhood and loss in an abstracted world of childhood memory.” Understated, devastating visual storytelling from animator Jenny Wright - an elegant example of the power and impact of a single line on the page.

CREDITS

Animated by Jenny Wright

Composer: Matt Huxley

Sound Designer: Ben Goodall

Vimeo Staff Pick: "I'm Not Ready" by Cassie Shao

I’m thrilled for my friend Cassie Shao, awarded a Vimeo Staff Pick for her visionary reimagining of “I’m Not Ready” by Maggie Dave. Featured on “Ladies With Lenses,” a curated staff channel that celebrates the best work on the Internet by womxn behind the camera, Shao’s delicate and abstract expression of my lyrics makes the song new again with each viewing.

“I’m Not Ready” (2019) by Cassie Shao

“I’m Not Ready” (2019) by Cassie Shao

CREDITS

Directed & Animated by Cassie Shao
Produced by Sean David Christensen

“I'm Not Ready” written by Maggie Dave
Vocals & keyboard: Sean David Christensen
Synthesizers: Mark Christopher & Ricky Berger

Vocals engineered by Ricky Berger
Mixed by Ricky Berger & Mark Christopher
Mastering by Trevor Case

Deep Blues - Dan Atta; a film by Katia Badalian & Jacob "Kuba" Bojsza

Magic from friends Katia Badalian and Jacob “Kuba” Bojsza for “Deep Blues” by Dan Atta, in their words: “The 16mm Kodak film explores feelings of isolation and inner turmoil, even when we’re surrounded by family. Yearning to break the chains of obsessive thought, “Deep Blues” reminds us of the transcendent power of letting go.”

Editor’s note: I just bought & downloaded this song for my mp3 player, for jogging at night. Can’t wait to feel the full force of Dan’s guitar as I move through my neighborhood. Thanks Dan!