Chris Allight is here.

The Painted Crane Ponders

2011-05-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Crane,
Alone With The Shadow,
The Shadow Waves,
The Waves Depart.

Cry Loud:The Sound, Life.

2011-04-29T06:48:00.001-07:00

What you are,
I have been,
But I,
I will never be you again.

Super Mario Brothers, There Just Folks.

2011-04-15T06:58:00.001-07:00

SLEEPING DOGS

2011-04-14T21:27:00.001-07:00

THE SKY IS FALLING

2011-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

SILENT CHOIR

2011-04-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

And There,
I Beheld A Silent Choir,
Voices of Wind,
Raised in Inhuman Exultation,
And Even I
Without Faith,
Having No Great Belief,
Knew Such Truth
That...
It was an Impossibility,
That Awe
For A Moment at Least,
Should Not Overtake Me.

COLOR PLUS

2011-04-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

The Dim Lights of Time,
Flicker and Grow Brighter.
Oceans of Change,
Neither Time Nor Tide Linger Longer.
Memories Falter.
Facts Change.
A Thimble Full of Dreams,
All that Remains.

GHOST TV

2011-04-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

I don't enjoy TV ghosts.

I do enjoy ghost TV's

Dusk Challenges Night.

2011-03-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

I shan't go quietly,
Said the Fading Dawn,
I'll Burn,
And Gleam,
And Fight the On-Rushing Night's Song...

The Lonely Ghost

2011-03-13T03:16:00.001-07:00

Lonely Ghost,
Wandering Alone,
You Search,
And Search,
And Search,
Will You Ever Find Your Home?

Hey Little Monkey, What Are You Looking At?

2011-02-22T17:34:00.001-08:00

This is Reality, Enjoy it!

2011-02-11T10:16:00.000-08:00

Meaning?
Desire?
Purpose?

You've spent the week contemplating the existential nature of existence and guess what?
You made it to Friday, congrats!
Absolute Reality may be apathetic but heck, it's also beautiful so enjoy it!

What is the purpose of life?

2011-02-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

No one chooses who we are or will be.
Life or death no one cares.
The universe goes on with or without us.
Why do we continues to exist?
Why create anything?

I create because I choose to. I continue because I choose to.
Because I am alive, I choose to have purpose.
Because I choose to have purpose I am alive.
Is this tiny contradiction enough to stand up to an apathetic universe?

I decide that it is.
That is enough.

Allight meets Ishikawa-Where is your Heart At?

2011-02-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

So I just completed my first BIG collaboration with my friend, Japanese artist Ishikawa Asami.
I'm pretty satisfied with the result all in all.
I created the words, she created imagery off of those words and now I put the two together to create motion.
Now I just need to find one other awesome collaborator who is a music ace (It may be easy to do, but I never feel right using other people's music in my art) to create some original tune-age and things will be gravy. Event though, I have been teaching myself Reason and basic musical composition, but I am more about images and words not really an audio guy. Oh, well, there is always more to learn, that's part of the fun of it all I guess.

CA-

Questioning.

2011-02-04T21:04:00.000-08:00

Who will you be?
Who are you now?
Define your purpose.
You inside your life.
Who is this you?
Your life,
What will it mean?

Life Line

2011-02-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

Did he notice I wonder,
The Line of his Life,
Seemingly out of Reach,
But Really Right There,
Just Over his Head.

Zen, where are you not?

2011-02-02T07:07:00.000-08:00

Locked in the office,
Life is Time,
Time is money,
No Spare Moment,
There is always a moment,
A Moment for Zen.

Allight meets Ishikawa

2011-01-22T00:20:00.000-08:00

(One of Asami-san's pieces)

I've just started working with Japanese artist Asami Ishikawa on a new project, turning her wordcut-style artwork into animated vignettes. Working with someone on the other side of the globe and trading cultures is turning out to be a pretty fantastic ride. More soon.

I killed Facebook today.

2011-01-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

Some of my friends have been emailing asking why I dissapeared off Facebook.

It's all David Fincher's fault.

See...

I watched that movie "The Social Network" and was like what, what, the creator of Facebook is kinda of a douche!
Soul search, Soul search!
Ding!
Does that make me a bit of a douche by association because I use Facebook way too much?

I DON'T WANT WANT TO BE A DOUCHE!

Screw You Facebook!

So I closed my personal profile.

So all those hard earned friends/random strangers gone with the wind. Too bad. I'll miss you

Though I did open a business Facebook page for my book/writing, it just won't have any personal shit on it. (My logic being that I refuse to let the Facebook Overlords know about my life but I ain't gonna let em game out making some bread!)

As it stands right now the page has 1 other person, this makes me laugh, in a Charles Bukowski-esque happy go lucky troubled loner kind of way.

Photographing the Fracture 2

2011-01-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

Photographing the Fracture 1

2011-01-07T21:27:00.001-08:00

THE HIDDEN PIECES RULE

2010-12-16T21:36:00.000-08:00

In honor of the release of my first book, Your Limit is Home, I decided to post one of my short stories here.

Enjoy.

ALLIGHT

THE HIDDEN PIECES RULE

It is hard to lie to yourself.

No, that is a lie.

It is very easy.

Do you ever worry about the impact of your death after you are gone?

Why do you worry?

Don’t you know you will be dead?

You will be dead.

It is worth repeating so that you understand it.

Do you understand what death is?

There are many definitions of it.

I can see how you might be confused.

You might have heard that death is the end of all things.

This is not true.

It is true.

It is confusing.

How to simplify it…

I know.

You are now a rabbit.

Your ears are quite long.

Your tail is pleasantly plump.

You hop.

You eat grass.

Your home is a cold/warm hole in the ground.

You mate.

You make babies.

Your babies grow.

Your babies leave you.

Your grown babies are hopping, eating, mating.

They do not think of you.

Your body ages very quickly.

It does not seem so to you though.

Your fur changes color.

One day you crawl into your cold/warm hole.

You never crawl out of this hole again.

You are a rabbit, remember?

There are no funerals for rabbits.

The cold/warm hole eats your body.

Your body disappears.

All that encompassed the physical definition of you as a rabbit is gone.

Death is the end of things, for you.

Do you see the words, for you in the sentence above?

Please pay attention.

These two words (for you) are very important.

As rabbit you mistakenly thought your body was you.

Your body is not you.

Silly rabbit.

A lot of rabbits make this mistake.

It is a very common mistake.

Like humans, many rabbits get confused when it comes to death.

Let’s back track a little.

It might help clear up some of the confusion.

Do you remember some of the things you did as a rabbit.

You hopped, and ate, and made baby rabbits.

Though you did not know it at the time inside each of these rabbit habits you left a piece of yourself.

Did you know this?

You did not?

It is ok, don’t be worried.

It was a very small piece.

You did not notice it.

You did not miss it.

Leaving these pieces behind did not hurt you in anyway.

Each piece had a little bit of your rabbit-ness in it.

Every blade of grass was affected by your chew.

Here is the interesting thing though.

One of the quiet laws that govern everything states that every blade of grass, every hole, every baby bunny you give a piece of you to must forget that it has a piece of you inside of it.

This seems like an unfair rule, I know.

But just look at it from the perspective of the universe: if you spent all your time thinking about all of the parts of other rabbits that are inside of you then you might forget to enjoy your time as a rabbit.

Your time as a rabbit is very short.

Knowing there are millions of other rabbits inside of you would be very distracting.

That is why the universe made the “hidden pieces” rule.

Technically, I am not supposed to even talk about the “hidden pieces” but this one time it should be okay.

So remember earlier when we said that when the hole ate your rabbit body that was the end of all things for you?

That was true.

But it is also true that in a million (this is a low estimate) ways now that your body is gone, you are now a part of, well everything really.

Ok, you are a human again.

Welcome back!

You are watching TV.

The news is on.

On the news they are talking about a famous movie star who died.

You liked this movie star.

You watched all of their movies.

They made you laugh and cry and feel everything a human can feel.

You really liked this person.

Now they are dead.

You feel sad about it.

The newscast ends.

You turn off the TV.

You go to sleep.

In the morning you do not think about the movie star again.

That is how the “hidden pieces” rule works.

The movie star is now inside of you so deep you don’t think about them.

Even so, this now dead movie star hidden deep in your atoms helps make your life your own.

This same thing will happen to you too.

The physical definition of your body will be erased.

You are gone.

Death is the end of all things, for you.

Ah! You caught the, for you, this time didn’t you?

Now you know you are not your body.

This is what death is.

Death is forgetting that we remember.

Don’t worry about dying.

Certainly, your body will be forgotten.

But you will remain.

"Your Limit is Home" - Book Goodies

2010-12-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the birth of my first book, "Your Limit is Home" (available here), I've created a few wallpaper versions of the book's cover as well as a few unique one offs. Enjoy!

Muppets Return

2010-11-14T11:19:00.001-08:00

They are shooting a new Muppet movie.
I am very excited about this.

Music Video Month

2010-11-12T22:10:00.001-08:00

October was a tough month in my free time I edited/shot/directed two new music videos while juggling my also new day job. I am glad November is here, though after the creative rush of the music video deuce I'm feeling a little sluggish. I'm starting a new book, hopefully that will keep the internal visuals going, while the external ones recharge.

Hello Again Blog

2010-11-01T22:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog. I missed you. Here is a visual thought to meditate on. Be at peace blog, I have returned. Be at peace.

As Soon as I Name it, It's All Wrong

2010-09-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

The Fair - Too Much Fried Food

2010-09-12T23:57:00.001-07:00

I'm Pretty Hot, He Thought.

2010-09-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

Taoist Superman

2010-09-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Visual Thought for the Day

2010-09-08T21:43:00.001-07:00

I'm Watching You.

2010-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

i think...yeah...i really like me.

2010-08-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Light House 2

2010-07-04T17:58:00.001-07:00

Going to the Lighthouse.

2010-06-25T17:44:00.001-07:00

Capturing a Dragonfly.

2010-06-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

Memory Bench

2010-06-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

Street Dog

2010-05-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Street dog,
Street dog,
You ain't alone,
Street dog,
Street dog,
Come along,
Street dog,
Street dog,
Welcome home.

It's Evil When It's Dead.

2010-05-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

So there I was just minding my own business, taking a long tea break from work (inspiration comes if you let the mind go free, some people call it goofing off. Those people are what I like to call short-sighted or "stupid".) Anyway, I'm sipping delicious cha when I stumbled upon this awesome poster for the evil dead by olly moss.

I've been a fan of his since he did a great series of movie posters all in black and red.
Seen here.
Anyway, I thought self, and my self, "Hurm?" Self, let's purchase this poster, it's a steal!
And myslef said, "Cable Bills due but it is only 30 dollars. Screw it go for it."
THANKS SELF!
So Off I go clickety-click, credit card in hand and much to my shock, horror and dismay, the poster now included the superbly stupid words: SOLD OUT!

Curses! My Sam Raimi/Evil Dead/Bruce Campbell passions had been ignited!
WHAT TO DO?

Self pipped up, "Your a graphics guy, make your own poster, dude."
I replied, "Self, this is why I love you."
And that's just what did here:

Me thinks I'll print it out this weekend.
JOY!

Sorry Olly, no soup for you, better luck next time buddy.

Lets get infra on Ma-Ma's day.

2010-05-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

It's genetic, I guess, the big Kahuna, the M.C. of Sweet Mix-Mastery, The Chief, or in other words my Mom, requested we go out shooting and spend a little time in natural and not-so natural environs for her day. Cool with me.

I've wanted to have a go at infrared inside of Photoshop. I tried a number of techniques from full Black and White to Colored. Fun stuff, I like the final result, though, I think I need to tweak the amount of sharpening that is being done inside my camera.

Happy Ma-Ma's day, MaMa!!

I was looking in the wrong direction...

2010-05-01T21:16:00.001-07:00

So... I made this Fabric Music Video for the track Oola,

Mostly I did it for my good friend Honey Bear, He's a cool guy and I made something that could be a star vehicle for him. But recently Honey Bear's agent called me and told me he got passed over for a part in Kuky Se Vraci. Which as everyone knows is the Apocalypse Now of stuffed animal films, namely gloriously small in the biggest way possible. So Honey Bear is pretty angry at me about it. But how was I to know that Jan Svěrák was going to be making something so delicious? It looks like I'm going to have to work with Honey Bear again, if for no other reason than to appease his ego. (Also Kuky, looks so awesome I'm kind of honor bound to try and at least attempt to play in the same sand box.)

The trailer for the Czech film Kuky.

Music Video. Change World. Part 2

2010-04-28T05:43:00.001-07:00

I've been on a bit of music video binge lately.
So yesterday's music video was one that utterly altered my perception of women, and today's video made me utterly reevaluate the uneasy balance between commerce, political discourse and art.

The video is of course M.I.A's Born Free.
Which can be seen here:
http://www.miauk.com/

A lovely a bit of totalitarisism, mixed with oppression, with a bit of political satire and even some nudity, all in a conveniently pre-packaged size.

Music Videos can Change the World.

2010-04-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

So I'm working on a music video for a friend's band and I've been looking for inspiration and think I found true gold. I always knew that women were made of sugar and spice but who knew they were this nice?

Everything really is better in 3D

2010-04-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

I've been kind of slow to buy in to this whole "3d is the savior of the cinema kick", that theaters seem to be on. But after seeing the video above, I now know that

A) 3d really does make everything better.
B) I will buy a samsung tv
C) French artists have uncommonly good taste.
Click and you'll see.

Anger...It's FUN!!!

2010-04-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

Went and saw a late night screening of Clash of the Titans-

And I learned:

The creators of the film did not think Bubo the mechanical owl is as cool as I did.

It's fun to be angry!

And so here I am screaming at the camera in my best god of war war paint.

Anger...It's fun but only if your a god.
If your a human being angry all the time is called mental illness.
Sad :(

Life is like a poorly formated haiku.

2010-03-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

Life.
Cool.
Smile.
Get Gut Checked.
Fall.
Stand up.
Smile.

Gold Hour Dawns Darkly

2010-03-08T04:35:00.000-08:00

Working on the next round of the canon contest - Film noir meets sexy surreality.

The Black Forest

2010-02-07T00:19:00.000-08:00

Graphic Du De DESIGN.

2010-02-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

So what would it be like if the world had no sight? I ask myself this question because it occurs to me a startling number of things that I am called on to create/design rely exclusively on sight.

FOR EXAMPLE:

T-SHIRTS:

GIANT MAGNETS:

LIFE SIZE CUT-OUTS OF CELEBRITIES:

GARDEN SIGNS:

What would be the point of any of these things I had created without sight?

It's a question I always try to keep in mind when I am creating visuals so that they stand-out and cut through the over-whelming visual clutter of our world.

Food for thought.

Pull up a chair

2010-01-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing a fair share of experiments inside the digital darkroom, working with creating mood and tone out of the most mundane of subjects. This set of old lawn furniture told me that it wanted to be a photograph and asked me politely to makes it's dreams come true, which I happily obliged. (Though I had to convince the lady who owned said lawn furniture that I wasn't a thief or some sort of patio pervert who was trying to inappropriately fondle her wooden fixtures, it took some doing but she let me snap away. Eventually.) Looking at the final image now I think that if I squint hard enough or look out of the corner of my eye there are a whole host of ghosts happily sipping their tea and merrily discussing art, un-life, and the philosophy of a fine garden party all the while dressed in a most elegant array of livery and lace.

Tree Made Man

2010-01-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

Photos-Drift

2010-01-22T17:34:00.000-08:00

Went out shooting, searching through a little park near my house filled with dark corners and little hidden nooks. So many stories, something alive, something dead, everything intertwined.

All the world loves a lover.

2010-01-20T13:54:00.000-08:00

You know of all the valuable man-type training that Charles Bronson has taught me over the years, (Death Wish=Stand-Up for yourself, The Mechanic=Be self-reliant, The Magnificent Seven=Be Sparse with your words but not your actions) of all these lessons I think the most valuable one has to be his teaching from Japan. Because love, after all is the strongest weapon any man can have.

Tiny Spotlights.

2010-01-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

Because it seems that we are a world that hold scientific principals to very high regard, when I speak of light I could reference things like wave lengths, refraction, visible light spectrums, etc.

All of which are fairly complex areas of discourse and time consumptive at that so usually when something catches my eye be it an led flashlight found at the back of a drawer or beautiful cluster of snowflakes wafting gently in the air I don't factor in concepts or principals, usually I just feel.

Such feelings usually lead to me to do things that were I to reflect on them logically before hand would seem ludicrous but after the fact bring me only laughter.

Such is the case with this video I made where ruminations on winter and long exposure photography met with snow and the urge to paint with light.

Music is by Man Man off their Album Rabit HABITS, the track is called The Ballad of the Butter Beans.

Sure-fire cure for what ails ya.

2010-01-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

Life, being a lovely but at times curiously intense experience can be bit hard to navigate.

But I've found you just need to take a minute and get a little air.

Solutions present themselves in this way.

Beautiful Moment

2010-01-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

So I've been spending some long hours motion tracking a project I am working on with a friend of mine. And thought it would be a good idea to break away from the screen for a while and get a shot of creativity via the local book store.
I was just moseying through the aisles when BAM!!
Just like Bambi's mom running into the meadow I froze!!!
Sitting nestled in one of the overstuffed chairs was this girl who was unselfconscious and utterly beautiful. Not hot mind you, hot you can fabricate no beauty exists inside a moment is very fragile and can't be owned. Which was why I froze everyone was just passing this girl by unaware to the fact there was a beautiful moment happening, and what's more if I said anything to the girl or tried to draw attention to it, that was sure to pop the moment. So I just stood there pretending to examine a book and not stare creepily.
And then BAM again!!
The girl looked up did not fail to notice the 6'2 dude clumsily flipping through books on "Oncology and You" and the moment was gone. She shot me a look that said, "I don't know what you are up to but it looks like no good and I want no part in it" and then went back to her book.

What can you do?

The Invisible Painter Behind the Window of Colored Rain Tinged with Sorrow

2010-01-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

So I've had this box of crayons that have been sitting on my desk mocking me for weeks.
Sitting, ostensibly all silent and meek but in reality whispering quiet jabs about how I never pay attention to them or use them to make any pretty pictures or anything. So I decided enough was enough I would open up a can of Jackson Pollack whup-ass on them and beat em into art. Let the destruction begin.

I peeled the wrappers off the crayons becauses it's fun, and because I was planning on melting them all together to merge colors. Also I wanted to confound the crayon's expectations I would simply, you know, draw with them.

They like it rough, dirty, dirty, crayons.

To gain some texture with the wax I mixed in, tin foil, parchment paper and my oven to melt the crayons into a pleasing array of almost metallic hyper-colors. It turns out crayons smoke, when you melt them and stink. They smoke and stink ALOT!!! CURSE YOU CRAYON!!!

And finally, just to show them there crayons I was tired of all the back talkin' I made a movie of turning them into a painting and you know it's real art as I gave the film an awesomely pretentious name:

The Invisible Painter Behind the Window of Colored Rain Tinged with Sorrow

The Invisible Painter Behind the Window of Colored Rain Tinged with Sorrow from Chris Beltran on Vimeo.

This New Years...

2010-01-01T01:13:00.000-08:00

I found out that...
Music is...

A Creature of Creative Zen.

2009-12-29T10:34:00.002-08:00

Are you equal to the means of creative self-expression that are currently available to you?

With a new year quickly approaching, I have been ah' pondering a-lot lately.
Life presents humans with challenges be they socioeconomic, emotional, mental or interpersonal and can a person attempting to live the life creative see these challenges as borders that contain or borders within which to push towards unexpected horizons?
Is a piece of canvas "constrained" by a set of stretcher bars or are the stretcher bars simply a framework to hold the canvas in order to open a window of color, line, texture and assorted other sensory goodness?

Where should a filmmaker let the lines be drawn that separate unattainable flights of fancy from competent if uninspired work or work that is attainable but does not push against ones own creative limits in order to inspire growth?

What about money? Does being given 10 dollars make a piece or art or a film work better? Does being given 100 million dollars suddenly make the creation of art anymore valid? If the greatest painter in the world can only afford a pencil is that artist doomed from the start or could it be that the limitation of having only a pencil pushes the artist to create art that redefines the interaction between wood, lead and paper?

So, many things to think about Pooh, think, think, think I need some honey.

Dreams - No I.

2009-12-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

I had this wonderfully screwy dream that I needed to do something with.
So I ran out into the night and quickly while it was still fresh shot and played around with a little footage to express it.
I put a little more description about the dream on the Vimeo synopsis but the gist of it is that I dreamed I disappeared and weirdly enough that turned from being mind-melting scary to incredibly liberating once I let be. It also gave me an excuse to listen some more music that I just discovered from a group called Health.

No I Dream from Chris Beltran on Vimeo.

The Hound's Christmas Hunt

2009-12-25T19:18:00.000-08:00

The Great Hound,
That Carnivorous Clown,
Maker of Laughter,
Set forth to hunt his Christmas Prey,
Blue and Orange,
Known as Kong,
Chaplin the Dog,
Nary Could wait for Long,
With a whipper-snap clap of his Jaws,
The Hunt was over,
But the game was afoot.

Chaplin The Dog very much enjoyed his Christmas treat, a brand new chew toy, all the more so when I consented to throw it for him to catch, over, and over and over and over........

A new dimension...

2009-12-24T12:40:00.001-08:00

Twas the day before Christmas,
And the day was quite fine,
With no work to do,
Why not expand the creative mind,
So off to the theater I went with a bound,
To enter a brand new dimension of life, sight and sound,
Not 1-d or 2-d or 3-d my friend,
It was brain altering 3--B can you even comprehend,
Now Jimmy Cameron has changed my psyche,
What film, what a time, my goodness, CRIKEY,
Oh Avatar, my dear sweet pal,
You've raised up my spirits my very morale,
With my heart filled with magical 3--b air and light,
I'm feeling so Christmas-y, so fine and so right,
So a very Merry Christmas, I wish you all tonight.

Hero of Legend...Lover of Honey.. HONEY BEAR.

2009-12-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

He's a bad mother lover with a taste for honey and love for money. He's the one, the only, HONEY BEAR!!!!!

We've been friends for a long time and I only recently re-discovered him and his awesomeness, had no choice (literally, no choice that bear is strong and could snap me like a twig with his crazy Drunken Bear style Kung-Fu) but to snap a few photos of him and let the authorities know the BEAR was back in the game.

Ladies, you can guard that honey, but the bear is all butter and no one can resist him for long.

Yo Gabba..WHAT??!!?

2009-12-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

So, I'll admit it, I love the Nickelodeon show Yo Gabba Gabba, it's surreal and wrong in the most oh so right way, plus they have better musical guests than say Saturday Night Live. Which SNL must of heard about, because they did this awesomely twisted Battle Royale Version of a Gabba skit.

Time Passage

2009-12-18T21:16:00.000-08:00

I've never been one to place much emphasis on the coming of the new year. It seems to me that each day, each moment, is as filled with important and possibility as any other day and it sort of our duty to take advantage of the time allotted to us and not place all the responsibility on the annual rebirth of Father Time. At least that is how it seemed to me in the past, but now for some reason this upcoming new year seems to be especially ripe and filled with changes. Perhaps it is so or perhaps I have simply been drinking too much eggnog.

Good Day.

2009-12-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today, was an unexpectedly fine day.
Full of the sort of surprises that might lead somewhere grand.
It was a little bit like life was winking at me, thus I made the enclosed image in celebration of the day.

The Cove

2009-12-12T22:37:00.000-08:00

When utilized properly the documentary form, it seems to me, can be as gripping if not more so than any film ever conceived for the simple reason that the gossamer thin layer known as fiction no longer stand between the viewer and his or her subconscious interactions with the images presented on the screen. The film I just watched known as The Cove, was just such experience. Detailing in the most taut, suspenseful way possible a small group of motivated individuals trying to stop the wholesale slaughter of a dolphins in the small Japanese fishing town of Taiji. The underlying dread that the filmmakers are able to infuse some of the most beautiful scenery of all of Japan is a testament to power of the film and the urgent need to put a stop to the horrific actions taking place there. Why not take part and remove one more needless bit of sadness and insanity from the world?

The Cove Secret is Out.great free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

The Memory Machine Dispatches 121209-Friendly Visitors

2009-12-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

There are these wonderful, machines capable of capturing memory fragments, raw pristine perspective. In fact I have one of these marvelous machines (as does much of the world) and I've decided to start using it. The Machine, this obscura, this third eye, this cinematoscope, known as a camera here and there, now and again, with wonder I look upon what was but will never quite be again. These are the Memory Dispatches.

The Memory Machine Dispatches 121209-Friendly Visitors
"Two old friends, who've chosen to live with me, so different from me four legs and furry, but so welcome."

The Memory Machine Dispatches 121209-Friendly Visitors from Chris Beltran on Vimeo.

The Memory Machine Dispatches -120909 Rockettes

2009-12-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

There are these wonderful, machines capable of capturing memory fragments, raw pristine perspective. In fact I have one of these marvelous machines (as does much of the world) and I've decided to start using it. The Machine, this obscura, this third eye, this cinematoscope, known as a camera here and there, now and again, with wonder I look upon what was but will never quite be again. These are the Memory Dispatches.

The Memory Machine Dispatches 120909-Rockettes.
"...took Mom to see The Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Had no desire to go, but while there was reminded about original non-commercial point to Christmas, had more fun than will ever admit."

The Memory Machine Dispatches -120909 Rockettes from Chris Beltran on Vimeo.

Hey, Natalie um...

2009-12-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or is Natalie Portman like a sexy, cyborg princess sent from the future of an alternate timeline in order to reach into the minds of men and devastate there sexual fantasies with four or possibly even ten+ excruciating words, " You'll never have me over for cupcakes and eggnog."

Curse you future-cyborg-princess-seductress and all snack cake denying hotness too!!!

In cased you missed it, let me recap for you fine folks at home: it turns out Natalie Portman is one of the founders of one of my favorite behind the scenes movie websites Makingof.com. I realized that there was nothing she could not do and following the logical thread from there came upon the conclusion that she must be a deadly envoy sent from a parallel universe to reign havok upon me!!!!!!

Though whenever I am at a creative roadblock all I have to do think of Natalie and everything seems to be just fine. So, I guess I take back that whole curse dealio.

Un-curse you beautiful siren, Un-curse you all to heck!!

Poor Sad Uwe Bool Missing Out on all the Sexy Greatness.

2009-12-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

There are very, very, few things I agree with Bay-Stache of Transformers infamy on, but he was right about one things: Uwe Boll is a sad being.

I know this for a fact now.

Poor Uwe Boll.
He's missed his chance at greatness.
He's missed his chance to meet me.
Sad, sad, Uwe.

Unfortunately for him, my entry in the G4TV win-trip-to-meet-Uwe-Boll-by-turning-a-video-game-into-a-movie-trailer-contest, did not win.

My friends agreed to my wild scheme, starred in my short and we had a blast making it.
So in the end the only person who loses is Uwe Boll.

Poor Uwe, lost again.

G4TV AND UWE BOLL DONT KNOW WHAT THERE MISSING. from Chris Beltran on Vimeo.

Cortex

2009-11-26T14:49:00.000-08:00

In order to fend off Turkey Day food-overload-sleepy time (even though I'm a vegetarian over-eating on Thanksgiving crosses all food persuasions) I thought I'd watch a movie.

So I just saw the French film called Cortex.

It's about an aging former police officer who is fighting a slowly encroaching tide of disease washing over his once razor sharp mind; the disease: Alzheimer. All the while this silent struggle is going on within and on the face of the hero named Charles Boyer (played with bravado gusto by André Dussollier) in the care facility he has voluntarily placed himself in, the facility is slowly losing patients ostensibly to natural causes.

But the Alzheimer can't slow a lifetimes worth of training for the intrepid Charles and he begins to suspect and investigate foul play. The movie is super low key and up until the last few minutes you are unsure if the disease is causing delusions of if he has truly discovered a crime. Anyway it has stuck with me and I decided to make a quick poster inspired by the general awesomeness of it.

It's below, because Charles Boyer is one fast cop.

Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-11-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

You know as you grow older, you forget how awesome some things are, for example The Muppets, they were an amazing part of what made me an adult human. The video below reawakened all they love I have for Kermit & Co.

Just Finished My Nikon Short...

2009-11-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

Just Finished uploading my entry for the 2009 Nikon Film Festival competition, it turned out pretty solid. I never knew I could juggle so well but it turns out it is possible to act-in, shoot, edit and fully produce a short film on -50 cents budget.

Like Life- A Nikon 140 Short Film from Chris Beltran on Vimeo.

MAKE YOUR OWN ART

2009-11-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

So I saw this print over at infections.com:

INFECTIOUS

which I quite like. However, while I agree with most of the film choices, I'd like a little more diversity, a little more Asian cinema, a little more action here and there, and just a touch more 80's cheese.

I decided to make my own version.

This should be fun.

TO THE ART CAVE !!!!!!

1-Find old VHS and beta.
2-Take pictures of old beta.

3-Decide what movies, I re-watched to the point of delicious delirium growing up.
4- Doodle various movies and icons onto a piece of paper to go onto the tape spines.

5-Scan in doodles.
6- Go Crazy in Illustrator, tracing and duplicating VHS tapes.
7-Go Crazy in Photoshop.
8- Go crazy.
9-Become sane again.
10- Save out my work.
11- The Guyver, Karate Kid and Chinese Ghost story all on one image?
12-Bask in the awesomeness that is me.

My version of the poster below:

Now that I've finished I keep thinking of all these other movies I used to watch obsessively, like Universal Soldier or No Retreat No Surrender or The Killer or The Care Bears Movie or or or....

This will move your Soul to the core OF 1984...

2009-10-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

you know back when hip-hop was raw!!!!!

Reality TV has REACHED ITS PINNACLE!!!!

2009-09-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, wowee, wow, wow!!

Basterds.

2009-08-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

Not so very many hours ago, I was a hater, which is to say Inglorious was a Tarantino film and not a film I was in any real hurry to see. But after having spent the day working on a short film of my own, my defenses were down when one of the actors volunteering there time suggested we go. So we went. 2 and a half hours flew bye, and as the ending credits slowly rolled up the screen I could not help but feel that here was film of real quality. Which is to say that when people say that something is epic or classic many years after a piece of film has been created I think what they are really saying is that what they see in the work is quality, craftsmanship not just style but substance. Basically walking away from the film, I felt it truly was that, a film (as opposed to mass market entertainment) and Tarantino the master stylistic vampire had drunk enough of the blood of Ford, and Leoni and Peckinpah to no longer stand in there shadow but stand beside them having created something truly his own.

PUPPETS! BUDGET DEFICIT! DEATH CAB! EUREKA! ROB SCHRAB ROCKS! JOY!

2009-08-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

So with the mad state of the world it has been a never ending struggle to try and get the short film going(It's really hard to make a giant robot), a struggle that I was but a scant few days ago failing.

UNTIL (Cue the overly dramatic trailer music Electric Violins CONCERTO IN X MAJOR) I stumbled across the Death Cab for Cutie DVD "Directions", on which every song off the PLANS album is turned into a low budget music video. One video stuck out like an eyes rolling into the back of the head R. Kelly influenced golden BJ of delight AND that was the video for "Crooked Teeth" by one Rob Schrab (Of SCUD fame). A video that embraces the DIY ETHIC to the extreme and utilizes a process the good Mr. Schrab calls "Drawless animation."

A-HA!!!!!!!!

Actors? Man-in-suit Robots? Complicated equipment rentals?

NO. No. NOOO! I NO LONGER NEED ANY OF THESE THINGS.

All I need IS balls of steel, a fertile imagination, a will like iron and Puppets, YES, PUPPETS!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN I AM BACK IN BUSINESS!

EXPECT MORE TO COME SHORTLY.

Crooked Teeth - Death Cab for Cutie

Starting work on Steampunk radio.

2009-05-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to work on a steam-punk radio for the short, will have more up shortly.

In the meantime, here is something that has nothing to do with the project but contains an important message from Mr. T. And everyone knows when either Mr. T or Chuck Norris talks you better listens. It's twice as true when he is singing.

Treat your Mother right, M is for the Moan of the miserable groan from the pain that she felt when you was born.

GEAR: Digtal Still Cameras that aren't still.

2009-05-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering about what the best format to shoot on and with should be for the short. Which got me looking into a whole new realm of digital imaging namely, DSLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras that shoot HD.

There is a noted tech writer, whose name now escapes me completely (sorry noted tech writer) who foresaw that all our gadgets and tech toys, i.e. phones, person music and video machines, still and video cameras, gps, etc would eventually merge into one a single wonder device.

Well, the main stream succuess of the I-phone, has helped to prove the postulate and even more devices are coming down the pike that help furth merge the defintion of what personal tech can do for us, in a single device.

Two of the major players in the optics industry, Canon and Nikon are both embracing adding high-end video functionality, in entry, mid and pro level digital SLR's. Gone are grainy 640x480 15 fps video replaced with HD in 720 and 1080 with framerates from 15 to 24 to 60 frames a second.

Canon and Nikon have in just the last few months released new sub$ 1000 HD shooting DSLR's , with more to come from companies like Panasonic. As of right now the verdict is still out on the quality of video from these cameras all save the Canon EOS 5D Mark 2, which it generally seems to be agreed video quality wise can stand up most pro and prosumer level camcorders currently being employed in the field.

The last few years the trend for indie and low budget shooters has been to take the smaller cheaper HD camcorders and add lens adapters from companies like Redrock, Letus, P+S technics and many others that allow you to attach still camera lens to HD cameras in order to achieve shallow depth of field and tighter focus control. With the advent of the HD video shooting DSLR which essentially combines the two products mentioned above into one, it seems that future of the indie film shooting tech is already well on it's way into the hands of creatives everywhere. (In fact the Canon Mark 2 already has accessories available from a number of companies that allow it to perfectly ape the capabilites of a high-end HD camera, such as follow focus systems, shoulder and monitor mounts and more.)

The Canon Rebel T1I (1080/720 MSRP 899)

The new contender coming out in June, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1 (1080/720 HD MSRP 1499)

The Nikon D90, the first(?), DSLR to offer HD video. (720P HD, MSRP 1299)

The Big Daddy of the HD SLR's: The Canon EOS 5D Mark 2. (1080/720 HD MSRP 2700 Note: Even the name sounds like pure tech sex.)

Two noted tech sites take on the new entry level HD shooting digital SLRs the Nikon D5000 and Canon Rebl T1i.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/30/canon-eos-rebel-t1i-impressions-head-to-head-with-nikon-d5000

http://gizmodo.com/5234607/canon-rebel-t1i-vs-nikon-d5000-entry+level-dslr-battlemodo

The Illusion of Motion

2009-05-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

So in 1966, French Filmmaker Chris Marker (aka Christian François Bouche-Villeneuve), made a short film called La Jetee, (the Pier).

This film is notable outside of some wonderful thematic and science fiction elements mostly for the way in which it is constructed, namely through a series of superb black and white photographs. (Also perhaps because it was remade many years later by Terry Gilliam as 12 Monkeys).

Recently I have been thinking of the style of our short film and as I want to push form as far as possible while still retaining a clear narrative thrust, and am wondering about using a similar stylistic flourish for Rooster. What if the whole film is told in still images except for when we are inside the mind of the robot? As if everything to do with the human characters has a frozen longevity but no true vitality and it is only when the world is seen through the eyes of the robot that moments of time have real life and weight and energy. By drawing attention to the artifice of a short film, which is after only 24 or 30 photographs a second, by focusing on stillness and shot composition will that help draw attention to the alienation the robot feels trapped in the world?

Or is it better to just focus on crafting a good story solidly told and not placing an over importance on pompous thematics and stylistic trickery?

Projection Mapping.

2009-05-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, so I've been learning about projection mapping, or the technique by which a flat plane, such as that of emitted from a film/video projector can be wrapped around a 3D or real world object. I've been learning about the software tools used to create these projection and new techniques involved, although I always like low tech solutions, I'm thinking of just going out and shooting some Super 8 and projecting that onto something, just to try it low tech style.

The short below illustrates the principal wonderfully.

Puma Lift. from CCW - Lab on Vimeo.

oooo. ONE SHEETS!

2009-04-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

Started noodling around with some ideas for one sheets to promote and hopefully raise a touch of coin for the project. The first one came out a little too abstract and didn't really convey the light-hearted tone I want to convey with the short, but the second one I really like.

Concept Art

2009-04-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

My good friend and co-worker, Bobby Oliver (thanks bobby) , sent me the first piece of concept art for the short, it's got a little steam-punk in it and alot of the cover from Umbrella Academy number 4, but it's a good start, I've been watching every movie with a robot in it I can find trying to figure out how to make this thing.

UPDATE:

I emailed a bunch of effects companies, Bobby's sketch,asking how they would make a robot that is I-pod on the outside, and American tractor/muscle car on the inside, got a lot of good ideas and a staggering (by my indie-fied standards) number on what they would charge to build it, somewhere in the 5-10K range!!!

That thousands!!

Which is more than hundreds!

That's ALOT!

(Fast Fact about me: I'm cheap.)

Yeah, it looks the guys and I will be building this ourselves.

DIY FILMMAKING: Mini-Softbox Evil Empire Eureka!

2009-04-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Visted the Evil Empire today, (i.e. Walmart) and found these on clearance for 5 bucks:

LEDs on tripods! So futuristic! (At least until the OLED come for us.)
In rapid succession I also purchased, tin foil, Glade press and seal, rubber-bands and popcycle sticks.
Why?
Because I had a mad urge to build a diorama of the inside of Taj Mahal? No!
Becuase I waned to build a helmet to communicate with aliens! MAYBE!
Because I wanted to make a mini-softbox for the LEDs? YES!

These little suckers put out the foot candles, boy oh boy!
Key Light? No so much?
Fill light? Oh yeah!

Check out the color temperature difference between the LEDS and the old tungsten hall light behind me.

LEDS? I love you!

DIY FILMMAKING: Boom Pole

2009-04-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

Now that the script is in a good place I can start thinking about making some of the actual gear needed to make a short film. I have a pretty good old shotgun mic that is just screaming out for a boom pole to hold it. Checked B and H photo and the cheapest one is 90 bucks, yup, looks like a boom pole will be my first DIY build for the short. I've seen a lot of DIY 15 dollar boom poles on YouTube such as:So I went out and bought one of these babies:

My dog Chaplin wanted to be a Grip, when he was younger but wasn't into all the union politics.

I have to paint it and finish the head but it's a start and on the plus side, changing hard to reach light bulb never got easier!! Wow!

First Footage Shot! Yipee!

2009-04-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

Shot the first bit of motion footage for the project, nothing with actors or too technical yet.

I have the idea that the robot perceives time in a different way than a human, so that a single day for the robot contains as much experiential data as a year for a human.

In order to embody that I started shooting some time-lapse and stop motion footage of nature.

Later on down the line, I'll do final color treatments and add FX to the footage to further sell the robot eye P.O.V., this is just some quickly colored footage, the music is from the Paprika Soundtrack by Hirasawa Susumu.

Emotionality? ACHIEVED!

2009-04-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

There is a large dent in the wall next to my desk from my head, turns out you really can knock ideas loose! Who Knew?

I think I got the script in a good place, with a 100% amount of your daily amount of emotionality, GUARANTEED!

Last night I sent the new version off and everyone seems to like it. The story has evolved: (again in handy IMDB blurb format)

FROM:

Two robot repair technicians are called to a high-tech corporation to repair a broken copy machine and discover that the machine is not broken, just bored.

TO:

A farm boy sends out a frantic plea for help after his beloved music robot collapses refusing to play another note. The plea is answered by two crackpot robot repair technicians who discover the problem with the robot is not mechanically it is emotional.

TO:

A farmer who turns his tractor into a violin playing robot to console his son after the loss of his wife is forced to call for help from old friends when the robots collapses.

Old friends, is that foreshadowing? Could it be the two robot repair technicians have managed to make it unscathed through every draft of the script? In the words of Hong Kong Phooey, "COULD BE!"

In case anyone is curious the subtle and not so subtle differences to the scripts I uploaded two of the many versions here:

http://lightmediasf.com/rooster/

Emotionality.

2009-04-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

Everyone likes the idea of setting the short in a fantastic but earthy and grounded version of the world.

Kyle sent me a note asking for, to paraphrase Robert Downey Jr's Dude Playing the Dude Disguised as Another Dude, MORE EMOTIONALITY!

Emotionality?

Sigh, why wasn't I born a writing genius? With every turn of phrase hailed as a stroke of literary wit and brilliance? Emotionality? How do I add emotionality to the script? Help me Robert McKee, help me!!!!

Story development

2009-04-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Worked all night on a new version of the script it has gone from:

Two robot repair technicians are called to a high-tech corporation to repair a broken copy machine and discover that the machine is not broken, just bored.

TO:

I'm diggin there is now a chance to add a more fantastic element to the the story.

I think it is a good call setting the story not in our world but an alternate more steampunk less computer chip orientated version of the world. It will mean more work but if I start compromising this early in the process then what's the point?

Will turn the new version over to the group and see what they think.

Birthdays

2009-02-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, was my Mom's birthday so I didn't get a lot of writing done.

(Happy Birthday Mom!!)

But the idea for the short keeps getting honed down basically it started as: (in handy IMDB blurb format):

Two robot repair technicians are called to a high-tech corporation to repair a broken copy machine and discover that the machine is not broken, just bored.

Which is an okay idea I was thinking of doing it in a dead-pan Michel Gondry style, maybe utilizing stop motion to create an office machine conga line and have much dancing and merriment. Also it is kinda fun the idea of the way the technicians repair the copy machine is to teach it to make copies in its own style, i.e. copies that look nothing like the original item being copied. Talking about making machines individuals, and not conforming and being cookie cutter, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's kinda cool but not fantastic enough for my tastes also a copy machine as the main robot seems sort of like a cop out. Back to the drawing board.

Brainstorming Time Line.

2009-01-31T12:18:00.000-08:00

The last few days the story has come together(Events have been time-compressed to save you the viewers precious time) :

1-Lee, Kyle and I begin the great mind-meld trying to come up with an awesome short idea.

2- Ideas are tossed around, Lee wants to do serial killers with a twist (No I won't give away the twist, natch), Kyle wants to do a real world superhero film, how having superpowers when no one else does would make you a freak and possibly something with being locked in an insane asylum. I want to do something with robots, because obviously robots are cool. We break to start writing .

3- I watch the movie Special:

I call Kyle and say, "Dude, this movie just totally stole your idea, you have to watch it. "

4- Kyle calls, "Dude, I just watched Special, even though I have never met the filmmakers and there film is done and mine is still in idea form, it's clear they TOTALLY stole my idea."

We bench Kyle's superhero idea for the time being. It's up to Lee and I now.

5- Lee is taking forever with his script, in the meant time. I complete my first draft and turn it over the group.

6- The group meets again.

Kyle: "You know robots are cool."

Me: "Yes, robots ARE cool."

Lee:"I don't think I'm going to have time right now to finish my script, and yeah, robots really are totally cool."

Me: "So should we do my robot one?"

Lee and Kyle: "Let's do it."

Me: "SCORE!"

Everyone: "So um, how do we build a robot?"

The Ideas MUST BE!

2009-01-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

Ever have an idea stuck inside your head?

An idea that just keeps on coming back no matter how much you sleep, or work or fully intend to forget it? A bit like someone with no short term memory who keeps throwing a boomerang and being utterly shocked when it hits them in the back of the head. Well...

I say it proudly, YES, I am that spastic boomerang thrower.

So I decided this was the year that I was going to get at least one of these ideas out of my head,

with the help of two able bodied compatriots, Lee Gamel, a tv producer, and Kyle Cleaver, a web designer and music promoter, we are going to make a short film.

So stick around and watch an independent short film come together, that will BLOW YOUR MIND!!! (My first experience with Hollywood hype! Neat.)