Cast and Crew at the Alamo Drafthouse

We recently had the pleasure of screening Paradise Recovered for cast and crew members in Austin and Bloomington. The first screening was in what I consider to be the best movie theater in the US, Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse. I’ve been in film and TV for over ten years now, but this is my first go round as a feature film Director. When the movie started, it was one of the most profound moments of my professional life. I leaned over to my wife and exclaimed, “it’s so big,” referring to the images on that big screen. A big picture and a big moment for what will hopefully turn out to be a big film.

Music is such a big part of a movie. For our favorite films, a few bars of a theme song is all it takes to conjure up fond memories. And so, when making a film of your own, choosing the right music is a huge deal. Add to that the limitations of a micro-budget and we were more than a little concerned when it came time to find the music for Paradise Recovered.

One day when I was deep in it. Surfing the web for music. Listening to song after song. Trying to figure out how, when and where we were going to get great music at a price we could afford. I got an email from Writer/Producer Andie Redwine. It was a link to an unassuming website featuring the music of Cara Jean Wahlers. Andie said that Cara was an old friend. Wanted to know what I thought of her music. I clicked on one of the songs. Guitar, Cello and a beautiful voice. Rootsy and singer songwritery in the best of all possible ways. It was perfect.

I’m so glad to have met Cara and Grover (Grover Parido is the cellist that composes and plays with Cara). I’m so thrilled to have their music in Paradise Recovered. And I’m so excited to be headed to Indianapolis this weekend for the CD release party for their new album, “Goodnight Charlotte.” I can’t wait for people to see our film and hear the tunes that help to make it as good as it is.

In the mean time, check out this cool article about Cara in Indy’s NUVO magazine: http://www.nuvo.net/indianapolis/cara-jean-wahlers-out-of-the-background/Content?oid=1481198

Paradise Recovered and I will be on filmmaker Danny Lacey’s 24 Hr Live Show tonight. Danny Lacey is raising money for his latest film and raising awareness for and about indie film and filmmakers. Starting at 3PM Central time, he’ll be broadcasting a special 24 hr live show highlighting his and other filmmakers projects. Paradise Recovered sponsored an hour of the show and if you tune in between 6PM and 7PM Central time tonight you’ll see a clip featuring me and an entire scene from Paradise Recovered. A big thanks to Danny for all the hard work he’s doing on behalf of indie film. Tune in and check it out:

With slow motion, the faster a camera shoots, the slower the motion when the film or video is played back at normal frame rates. For example, if you shoot something at 60 frames a second and then play it on your tv or computer at 30 frames a second, you’ve slowed it by half. For this spot, they used the Phantom v640 High Speed Digital Camera. The v640 can shoot up to 2700 frames per second at full 1920×1080 HD and up to 5,850 fps at 1280×720 HD. Silly high speed. Do the math on playing something shot at 5,850 fps at 30 frames per second. That’s sslllllooooowwwwwww.

Check out what Google put together to demonstrate the speed of their Chrome browser. This is highly creative, highly entertaining, great storytelling done with high speed photography. First up is the spot and second up is the making of video:

Making of: