Neon Buckaroo

Animated Opening to The Black Box

So I posted a video here a while ago that was, at the time, untitled, and had expressed some doubts about it. Well it has since then been reworked and titled. It's now being called The Black Box. I'm still uncertain about how it will turn out. I'm still not picture locked and still in the midst of shooting pick-up shots and recording and rerecording voice-over work. I really wanna get this done for Cinerama, which is coming up soon.

Here's is my latest step in completing the video. The Saul Bass-inspired short title sequence. Enjoy.

The Work of Saul Bass

So the other day Wikipeida and my own curiosity introduced me to the influential graphic designer and filmmaker Saul Bass. I am really excited by his work on film title sequences. Coincidentally much of what I enjoy from his work is involved with, though is far better than, the last project I finished, the animated short entry to a video contest called An Abridged History of Miscommunication. I feel as if combining simple expressive graphic animation with traditional cinema to produce a more complete narrative is something I am going to do much with in the future. I'll leave you now with sweet embedded youtube videos of some of his work

Anatomy of a Murder

Ocean's Eleven

Psycho

Vertigo

Sure as Kilimanjaro Rises like Olympus Above the Serengeti...

Africa by Toto is the best song I've heard all day.

I bless the rains down in whatever gutter in whatever alley in whatever ghetto the band members of Toto are currently taking shelter tonight.

Somebody that... Used to Write Great Songs

A cover of Elliott Smith's short and sweet Somebody that I Used to Know from one of my favorite albums he wrote, Figure 8.

A Contest Entry

I spent the last couple days creating this video for an internet ad contest. This will be the third video contest I've entered this year. Hopefully I'll finally win something.

Here is it on Vimeo
Untitled from Kyle Reid on Vimeo.

Don't forget to vote for it here at current.com. If I win maybe I can get a new video camera, and make even more sweet videos!

A New Home for the Vincent Project

I've been wanting to put The Vincent Project on Youtube for quite some time now. However, it's just over their time limit so I have not been able. Well I finally decided to sign up with Vimeo where I knew I could host something longer. I have to say that the site's ease of use and simple design really make it attractive and I will definitely be using this in conjunction with Youtube from now on.

And now, if you haven't already seen it, here is The Vincent Project (2004, dir. Heuser/ Reid) starring Vincent Newman, Kyle Reid, and Ryan Heuser. I will give it great adulation in calling it my favorite video I've ever produced. (If you read this Ryan, we need to to make at least one more video together.)

The Vincent Project from Kyle Reid on Vimeo.

This is not a Blog. This is a Book

Last night my roomate Brian and I were discussing the evolution of literature, the medium of its creation and it's means of distribution. We decided (through complaints of our good friend and literature scholar Ryan Hesuer) that pages with printed text bound in a book offer no new avenues, that the book as we know it has been more or less tapped of all its potential. We were wondering where literature could go. We were thinking that it had something to do with the manner in which the information in a story was organized and interacted with. Eventually, I realized that the internet is the new medium for literature. Hypertexts are our new books. This would explain the current massive popularity of blogs, and so I say, "This is not a blog. This is a book."

Untitled, Unfinished, Uncertain

I'm not sure how I feel about my latest video for class. It tells the story, but somehow it's missing something (and I don't mean all the audio either). Really, I'm hoping I'm just being over critical and this movie is a good step forward. I think I'll need some perspective on it, and that just takes time.

BTW here it is

Screen Captures, Alexander Nevsky, and Another Movie

What you see above is the result of me testing out some new screen capture software for windows. It's called MWsnap. It works pretty well. The images are from the opening titles of Eisenstein's film, Alexander Nevsky. I plan on using the software to help me understand shot composition in classic films. I am struck with this desire after creating a very rough cut of my first narrative video in quite a while. I am determined to figure out what makes a "professional film" seem professional and what makes an "amateur film/ video" amateur. Perhaps there will be screen captures/comparisons/analysis when I finish up a final version of my yet-untitled video.
Night

He Just Punched the Soul Outta That Sucka