Base14

Well, it’s about time I write a bit about life here in graduate film school.  As you may remember, I’m currently enrolled in the Film and Television department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Let me begin by saying Savannah, and all the events and speakers that SCAD brings in, is incredible. I have a speaker, seminar or gallery exhibit I want to go to practically every day. It’s terrific.

The real downer so far has really been the lack of stimulation coming from my classes themselves. When graduates are enrolled in the programs here, a panel evaluates their abilities based on their portfolios and transcripts and judges how prepared they are for the graduate curriculum. This often results in the applicant being assigned preliminary classes to fill in the knowledge holes. I was lucky enough to not be assigned any, but so far, from talking to peers, these 300/400 level undergraduate classes are more challenging than our 700 graduate classes. What gives? I’ve had enough free time to actually hang out with friends and work on the next Base14 movie. Both these I like to do, but while I’m down here I’d like to learn something I don’t already know. Or at least, learn it a bit faster. Where’s the fire hose, boys? I’m thirsty.

In a bit of condolence, I did work on my first filming project last week. We shot a two-page script for sound design class. This coming week we’ll be bringing the actors into our sound studios and conducting automated dialogue replacement on the film, just like the pros. Now that’s pretty exciting.

More to come on my classes.

I've always wanted to use real lights.

My team members Tobias and Christine perfect the camera angle.

Gee golly Whitaker Street, it has been a while! The winds have been changing and it’s been hard to keep up with the good ol’ Base14 Blog. And we actually have done a thing or two that’s way worth mentioning, can you believe it? Well believe it.

So the rock-hard-fast news is that the Ara Collector’s Edition DVD was finished two weeks ago to much critical acclaim! (Isn’t that an oxymoron?) It was at the very least, for Base14, a great DVD authoring accomplishment. Ara was a monstrosity of a CGT department project, and with all the hard work put into it by such a large array of artists, I wanted a permanent and professional collection of everything that was put into the Ara project. As a student collaboration, it was more about the process than the project, and I feel the Ara Collector’s Edition DVD showcases that process wonderfully. In addition to the complete short film, the DVD also includes:

• Fully animated DVD menus and menu transitions
• Producers’ Commentary
• Original Animatic
• Never-Before-Seen Alternate Ending
• Extensive Image Galleries
• Exclusive “Making of Ara” Featurette
• Complete “Ara, LLC” 411 Presentation
• Ara Soundtrack
• “This Thing Won’t Render” - The Mercy Mix Music Video
• And Much, Much More!

The other important thing to mention is these DVDs are not going on sale! Only 30 copies were made exclusively for crew members and other supporting parties. There are a few left over, so if you’re a fan of the movie and want an feature-rich inside look into the production and inspiration behind Ara, let us know and maybe we can slip you an ripped copy (or, who knows, a real one.)  Or, if you live in the greater Lafayette area, there should be a copy in the CGT department for public viewing. It was a goal of mine to start a tradition of student groups leaving DVD records of their projects in a CGT library of sorts, for future classes to find and draw inspiration from.

Well, more is to come real soon, I promise you! With a new school year upon us, things are just getting warmed up at Base14.

The long wait is finally over! Exactly one month since its official premiere in theaters, Base14 is proud to present the award-winning animated short film “Ara” online for the first time in its complete, original version! This version contains minor tweaks since the original premiere version, and several other changes are planned for the final DVD version. The film can also be viewed in the Base14tv section of the website.

To kick off the week right, I’ve uploaded an abridged version of the “Ara” movie premiere / 411 presentation that our group hosted on April 17th. Now you can relive all the magic and the splendor! To keep the length and (more importantly) the file size down, I cut out the parts where we show the trailer, premiere the movie, and answer questions. The full unabridged version will be included as an extra feature on the Ara DVD, along with many other very cool things. For now though, enjoy the recap!

In celebration of the upcoming release of Ara on DVD and Blu-Ray, we present to you the Ara music video “This Thing Won’t Render - The Mercy Mix.” It’s a crazy techno mix of lines from the movie arranged by none other than our own producer Shauvon McGill, and “skillfully” edited by yours truly. I did the whole thing in about 24 hours, and just tried to be absolutely as wacky as I could. This time I’m trying the YouTube embed, but if I don’t like it, I’ll get back to my custom video embedding.

This video along with many more extra-special features will be on the upcoming Ara DVD!