Alex de Campi: We'll have a poodle, a Baby Grand, and roses every day

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WHO

FILM & TV

COMICS & BOOKS

6.5.08 Radiobled, Or: The Fix Is In

So Martin's and my animatic didn't make the semifinals of the Aniboom / Radiohead contest. What did make it? Lots of finished videos, and a 60-second recut a guy did of footage from another, finished and commercially-distributed animation of his, in direct contravention of the contest's "must be new work" rule, among other rules.

Do excuse me, I'm having one of those teary "will my career ever go anywhere" moments.

EDIT: It appears that another semifinalist, "16 tracks" is ALSO a recut of a pre-existing project. It's a shame, as I really liked this one... although I did wonder how they managed to shoot a project on film, do a DI, then do very advanced and lovely motion graphics in the extremely limited time the contest alloted for creating a storyboard. (Similarly, the Faust Arp video I link above, there were many, many comments under it during the voting period to the effect that people suspected it was a re-cut.)

( 6:36 PM ) (2) comments

30.4.08 Bands: Fancy An Experimental Scratch/Destroyed Print Music Video?

I found this treasure trove of old 35mm film print reels on eBay. Now, I have a 35mm still neg/slide scanner that should work with movie film (but only 35! not 16!). I rather fancy taking one or more of those reels, splicing them together, painting over them, scratching designs/crude animations in them, burning them et cetera... then scanning and loading them into Final Cut to put some band footage over/under - basically, making quite an experimental and abstract-expressionist music video.

(But still with some band footage in there. Just... distorted, probably. Or I'd get a friend to create drawn/animations of the band to lay over top.)

Any bands out there fancy this as a music video? If so, email/contact me. It would be quite experimental and somewhat 60s/psychedelic. Also, somewhat disturbing.

Note: Not free! Could be quite cheap (sub £1,000) if you just pay materials (the film prints) and fees for animation or band photography, AND you're willing to wait a couple months for me to finish it - AND I think you're a band worth doing something for. But if you need the video quick for a single release date, I'll have to charge you for my time. Like they say, you can have it cheap and good, or you can have it quick and good, but you can't have all three.

( 11:38 PM ) (1) comments

29.4.08 For The Avoidance Of Doubt

Got a rather disturbing note from a fellow entrant in the Aniboom Radiohead contest the other day, basically saying "you look like a professional music video director, this contest is for amateurs, go away".

Um. Yes. Let me clarify a few things.

I have made a lot of music videos for friends' bands, because I believe it's better to keep working and learning, than to sit idle. The budgets of everything I have made so far have been between 0 and $5,000. Most closer to zero. I have never made a single cent off my music videos - or directing work in general. In most cases, quite the opposite - I have sunk hundreds, in some cases thousands, of my own money into those music videos to bring them up to a standard I could be proud of. I am neither represented by an agent nor associated with a production company. In fact, right now if I were on fire, I doubt I could even get a music video commissioner to piss on me.

There. Now you know.

In other news, I'm back in America trying to find time to start the edit for "I Loved London", in between helping my mother organise the memorial service for my father, doing a friend's showreel, and the painful but necessary electioneering for the Aniboom and Babelgum contests/festivals. Aniboom, we find out on Friday if we made the semifinals; Babelgum - which has extended its voting until 7 May - a few days after voting closes, I guess.

Speaking of this Friday, if you're in or near Marfa, Texas towards evening-time, Ryan & my short "Raindrops Keep Falling on the Dead" is being shown before Night of the Hunter on the big outdoor screen at the Marfa Film Festival.

( 7:35 PM ) (1) comments

22.4.08 We Are Doing Well, Mostly! Festival & Shoot News

Wrapped the shoot for The Real Tuesday Weld's "I Loved London" on Friday. Nearly killed me but we got some great stuff - I will upload a still or two in a few days.

Meanwhile, we were Number 1 in our category for this past week at the Babelgum festival with "Jilted" - thank you so much to all who voted; and if you haven't voted yet please do (or if you have a second email address, you can vote twice) as we still need your help to get into the final 10! Voting closes end of this week. (Remember, you can win a trip to Cannes or a rather blingtastic watch if you vote/comment.)

I also still very much need your help and support for the Aniboom/Radiohead music video contest - we really need to get over 500 views and ratings in order to have a hope of getting to the next stage. We're currently at about 420... although I'm told (via friends) that some of the guys from Shynola voted for us which is uber-cool because Shynola are One Of The Reasons I Started Making Videos In The First Place.

Lastly: "Raindrops" (my and Ryan Parker's animation for Flipron) is being screened at the Marfa Film Festival next week. Very exciting, as Marfa is not only the setting for such movies as Giant, There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, it's also a hotbed of contemporary art.

I'm back to America on Thursday, more then.

( 2:18 PM ) (0) comments

15.4.08 And Now, Radiohead

I swear to God this is the last time I will ask you to do this for the rest of 2008. Yes, it's voting time again, but no, you don't have to download anything.

Those with long attention spans will remember that about 10 days ago I was looking for an animator to collaborate with for Aniboom's Radiohead music video contest. Thanks to the glory of Livejournal I hooked up with the wonderful Martin White who agreed to go without sleep for a week to bash together an animatic for Stage 1 of the Aniboom contest. Here it is:

NOTE! Only a rough animatic - essentially a moving storyboard. It's going to be well more crazy-sophisticated before we're finished. (The end will be much more Takashi Murakami/Chiho Aoshima, for a start). But I'm so proud of what Martin's been able to achieve in such a short time.

If you watch it above and enjoy it, PLEASE clicky through to our video's page on Animatic and rate it (5, um, whatever those are. Booms.). Your quiet approbation won't help us get into the final 10 and receive funding for the next step in the design - only voting will. If not for me, do it for Martin, polymath musician, director, animator, writer and generally the Mervyn Peake of Purley. (Check out his lovely animated short The Goat, The Boy And The Sun for what he's capable of.)

Oh yeah, and the B-side/Naive version of the Puppini Sisters "Millionaire" video is up now. Ballgowns, scouring the reduced rack at Argos, not being able to get any money out of the ATM.

( 8:45 PM ) (0) comments

14.4.08 Help "Jilted" Win A Big Online Film Festival!

It appears with 9 days left in the voting, my video for "Jilted" is sitting in 3rd place in the "Looking for Genius" category of Babelgum, a big online film festival. Can you vote yourself AND hit up all your friends to vote for this?

See below, you have to go through kind of a tortuous process downloading & installing the programme - holy shit I really could use Euros20k to finance my short film (plus retroactively paying my cast & crew more for the Jilted shoot). There are so few people voting in the festival (because it does require installing a new type of video player) that if we make a concerted effort we really CAN push this thing in to number 1 and bag the prize.

Note that unless you RATE the video, it doesn't count towards helping me win. And also note that anyone who COMMENTS on the video gets entered into a draw to go to Cannes film festival and go to lots of premieres. (Yes, smartypants, we know some of you go to Cannes all the time and kind of dread it but remember how much fun it is if you're not spending the days begging for film finance)

Thank you - I'm sorry to ask you all to take the time to do this but the award is so huge, and we really do have a shot. Below are details & links (as written by Babelgum, not me.)
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Help me win the Babelgum Online Film Festival!

My film, "Jilted - The Puppini Sisters (dir. Alex de Campi)", is competing in the Looking for Genius category and needs more votes to make the shortlist. So please give me a helping hand by voting for it yourself – it's pretty simple:

· Download Babelgum here: http://www.babelgum.com/download
· Enter the Films & Festivals Community (it's the first one on the top left corner when you start Babelgum) and search for my film: Jilted - The Puppini Sisters (dir. Alex de Campi)
· Use the Rate tool to give it your vote – 5 stars please!

If I win, I'll be heading to Cannes to pick up my award of 20,000 Euros from Spike Lee, on May 20th. I'd love you to come with me and sip champagne while rubbing shoulders with the stars…and maybe you can. Because Babelgum is offering a prize for the person who writes the most original review of the winning films, using the Comment tool or Message Board. Write a glowing review about my entry and if I win, you win!

Thanks for your support

( 11:21 AM ) (0) comments

7.4.08 ...Heard Round The World

Brief self-pimpery: the two videos I did for the Puppini Sisters ("Millionaire" and "Jilted") have just been featured on Shotsringout's Video Round-Up. Shots is probably the most influential music video blog in America; it's up there with Antville as must-read music video sites. But unlike Antville (where anything can be posted by anyone), Shots is curated. It's very rare for a director or a band to feature twice in the same week's roundup so it's quite an honour. Oh, and the "Natural Rhapsody" video by Jonathan Wilson they also feature - it's ace; watch it.

Also, back in October the BBC came to do a making-of documentary/masterclass during the filming of "Apart of Me", my first video for The Real Tuesday Weld. They've just released it on BBC Blast as one of their filmmaking masterclasses. I can't watch it, because I'll die of embarrassment (there's a good reason I stay behind the camera) but it's here if you fancy a laugh.

( 12:47 PM ) (0) comments

31.3.08 Looking for an Animator - for Radiohead contest

I rather fancy entering this contest for a $10k commission for an animated Radiohead music video. Any animators out there want to collaborate? Split of any winnings would be 90% animator (eg you) and 10% director (eg me). NB: they want an animatic in, like, 10 days.

( 6:07 PM ) (0) comments

25.3.08 "(I Can't Believe I'm Not A) Millionaire"

Version 1 (of 2):

It's also here on Vimeo if you prefer higher-resolution. View, rate, comment, etc. It's a simple performance video but I'm really pleased with it. Done in only 4 takes, so huge credit to the Puppinis for being such excellent performers. (Version 2, the "naive" super8 variant, will be up in 2 weeks).

In London working on another video for The Real Tuesday Weld. More soon.

( 10:31 AM ) (0) comments

5.3.08 Little Miss Dysmorphia

Continuing my themes of bright colour, abstraction, and distortion/anonymity... a little side project for London cabaret performer Desmond O'Connor. Click the picture:

I had met Des over a year ago when he performed his song "Little Miss Dysmorphia" at Hip Hip, a Whoopee Club night at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Club. I immediately fell for the song, we were introduced to each other, chatted, and almost instantly forgot each other's names.

But he remembered my work, and I remembered the song. We got back in touch recently and amidst all my and his comings and goings across oceans we managed to pick a date in late January. I originally wanted to do something involving burning a Barbie doll - watching the plastic distort, melt and fall in on itself - and mixing that with Jacques Brel-style performance footage of Des. But then I went to an exhibition of Ira Cohen's Mylar Chamber photos and was struck by how much these simple pictures taken of reflections in shiny mylar ended up looking like distorted old master paintings. I began to wonder if the idea would work with moving images, as well as still images.

What I am most pleased about is how the video looks like I imagine a moving Francis Bacon painting - or Egon Schiele drawing - would. I'm also pleased about how visceral and uncomfortable this is to watch. When you do something experimental like this, with only one roll of film, no money, and stuff begged borrowed and stolen from other people,and it works, it feels great.

Still no word yet when my videos for The Duloks, The Puppini Sisters (second video) or Martin & Towers will be released. I'm back in the UK from around the 16th to film another video for The Real Tuesday Weld.