omanablog

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Grande Pictures Presents...

I've been struggling to find an entity under which to release Spirit Lake, my first feature. Originally it was to be the flagship film from a studio that I started in Milwaukee (Studio Bib Simmons). I got balls deep into the project and they all but abandoned me so that wasn't going to work. I was playing with "Omanaman Pictures", which has been the guise of my portfolio (omanaman.com) for the last 10 years. Ironically I just took down the latest version of the site and have it forward to this blog. I couldn't give a rat's butthole about maintaining a website, or much of that work anymore. Omanaman Pictures doesn't have much of a ring to it either. I tried to put "A Joe Shakula Film" and leave it at that, but I don't have an inflated ego and don't like my name all over everything. I prefer to lurk in the shadows, and once the job is done fade into darkness (or my next project).

After a year in Los Angeles I found myself turning into the type of demented clown that the town tends to turn people into. Shallow, jaded, desperate... I had to go, that definitely isn't me. Being trained in the hobo arts, I was quickly able to fit my belongings in a blanket tethered to knotted stick of oakwood, and I was bound for Central America.

The other day I woke up from a deep, wine aided slumber, put on my board shorts, wandered about 125 meters towards the beach, and jumped into a warm bath of crystal blue ocean water. As shiny fish scattered around me, I lay floating on my back in the surf while tiny waves splashed over me and washed the morning away...

Playa Grande, a sleepy little surf town on the Pacific coast of Guanacaste has always been my second home. The town is like family and since my arrival my desk has been Fernando's sushi bar at the Ripjack Inn, a clear deviation from the sweat hazy, slave like working conditions of Los Angeles. My plan has always been to make my next film down here, so it seemed like a natural choice to name my new picture label after a place that defines who I am. Spirit Lake will be released as a Grande Pictures Presentation, with several more film projects in the works. Below is a little video jam I put together to introduce my new baby... enjoy!

Señales | Signs from Joe Shakula on Vimeo.
music by altos
production by joe shakula

filmed in Playa Grande, Costa Rica
edited at Fernando's sushi bar at the Ripjack Inn

Thursday, January 19, 2012

omanaman 2011 Year in Review - No Love in Los Angeles

Alright, I did find a little love in Los Angeles in 2011, but quickly f'd it up... I arrived in Tinseltown in late 2010 with the sole purpose of finishing a feature film project that had consumed the previous two years of my life and a very large sum of dollar. When I arrived, I received the full Hollywood treatment and within a couple months had this great new life. I was working at an amazing studio for some big clients, met this awesome lady, had my own pad and a sweet Jag to cruise to the beach in, lived right across the street from the dispensary, etc. I was living the dream. Unfortunately, my pre-LA baggage quickly caught up with me and I realized I couldn't really enjoy any of it until I resolved my past obligations.

Total burnout on this gig. Never got to try the the pancakes.

Six months later, fall of 2011 I had thrown all my efforts into finishing Spirit Lake, as well as earned a giant sack of gold doing commercial freelance work. In the process I had abandoned my personal life, making just about every bad decision I could throughout the year. Depressed and heartbroken, it was impossible to get my feet underneath me in LA. I burnt out bad on my last few freelance gigs and I returned to Milwaukee for the holidays bitter and broken. As I hung out the window of my childhood bedroom late december, burning a spliff, blowing puffs of smoke into the frigid air and reflecting upon my year in L.A., I finally gained some perspective.

Total burnout on this gig too. Insurance is a scam.

I flew into LAX on New Years Eve. Flights were cheap and I couldn't give a shit about any party I was missing. I woke up January 1st, 2012 with no hangover, just a clear head that didn't want to remember 2011. Spirit Lake was finished. I was physically unable to spend the long hours meeting the demands of post-production in LA. I wasn't there to whore my talents out to the advertising industry and I found the social scene to be circus-like, full of posers, donkeys, and douchebags (I met awesome people too). I wanted to travel, drink wine, do art... and live on the beach.

Playa Grande, Home Sweet Home

10 years ago on a whim, a friend and I bought a one way plane ticket to San Jose, Costa Rica. I returned to the states four months later knowing I had found the one place I belonged. I've returned many times making it my home away from home. Not wasting any time, I liquidated what few assets I had, geared up a mobile production studio, stuffed up my backpack with t-shirts and surf shorts, and again bought a one way plane ticket to Costa Rica (which apparently you can't do anymore, I got jabbed at the airport for a return flight.).

A few weeks into my adventure, I've finally decompressed, and closing the deal on a Tico hut in Playa Grande. I am drawing panels for a pitch on a graphic novel, and getting Spirit Lake ready for release, putting together a number of promo videos and tweaking the two trailers to perfection. My next two film projects are planned for Costa Rica so not going anywhere soon. 2012 can't go wrong.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Spirit Lake ; trailer 1 - Liam's Haiku

Finally, after 3 years I can start promoting this film. This is the first of two trailers... the second of which will be released shortly after the new year. Trailer 2 features all the great animation and vfx that have consumed my soul for the entire year... stay tuned!

Spirit Lake - trailer 1 ; Liam's Haiku from Joe Shakula on Vimeo.

Description: Wayne Speedstock is the glib & assertive top sales agent of Duplimax, maker of the Midwest’s elitist copy machines. During a reluctant weekend retreat on the surface of Spirit Lake, Wayne discovers the frozen corpse of Liam Smith, salvaging his wallet as the body sinks to the icy depths. Wayne soon becomes entangled by a series of similarities, realizing that Liam is not just a stranger, but the man who has been wooing his girlfriend Sabina through a series of letters that had been mistaken for his own. “Professional Investigator” Alden Stevenson soon arrives in town to find out all clues about the disappearance of his best friend point to Wayne. When Wayne begins sharing the same dreams with Liam, it begins a journey into himself, that leads back to the mysterious depths of Spirit Lake.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Chasing your dreams over the edge...

Autumn is a good time of the year to collect your thoughts, and rethink your existence. In November of 2009, I had a major episode coming to terms with spending 20K and a year of my life shooting a feature film, and having no plan on how I was going to turn the 50+ hours of footage into a finished edit. The day after my last shoot (December 10th, 2009), I packed up the Duplimax mobile and headed to California.

In October of last year, I had another profound moment after completing a finished edit of Spirit Lake and realizing I had an even bigger mountain to cross finishing the 6 dream sequences that were essential to the plot, and turning this gorgeous disaster of independent filmmaking into an presentable movie. I was scraping by in San Diego at the time and figured the one place I was going to make it happen was in Los Angeles. In November 2010, I landed a gig at an amazing studio in Culver City called Paranoid.

In March, after grinding away at Paranoid for months, I earned my spot on the roster and had gotten permission to use the awesome resources of the studio to work on Spirit Lake. I also was able to move off of the air mattress on the floor of Nate Polzin's living room and into my own pad. I had finally found a way to finish the film... but not without selling the rest of my soul.

When my filmmaking obsession began in the spring of 2008, I had a life built up around me from 30 years of living in the midwest. I had a loving wife, beautiful home & nice shit, supportive family, lifelong friends, a social life. I taught my craft at a university, and had a steady stream of freelance design work based on a hard-earned reputation. I started a film & animation studio in Milwaukee (Bib Simmons, 2008-2010 r.i.p.) and recruited a group of bright young talented artists. Spending a year on my previous solo project (Escape from Gizemboob, animation - April 2008) and being rejected from all but one film festival (thanks Ross), I knew I was going to need help. When our first studio project (Backwoods, film -june 2008) was an success in almost every way, I had the feeling we could do anything together. After a couple more worthy efforts over the following months (Dr. Zolo P.S.A., animation - August 2008 & Magic Pen, film & animation - November 2008), I had the confidence to take it to the next level and the studio had began production on the feature length film Spirit Lake in December of 2008.

Nearly three years later I sit here in my chilly Los Angeles bachelor pad... listening to Beethoven radio (not usually my style), sipping red wine, and trying to articulate in this blog post coming to terms with the fact that there is nothing left of my life except finishing this movie. I'm pretty sure that even my dog hates me right now.

Dream Sequences; why animation turns my face white...

If the edit of Spirit Lake would have been shit, I would of fudged these dream sequence animations and pushed the movie out over a year ago. But last October as Nate and I watched the edit, we realized we had something special. This wasn't another deranged flop like my animation work. Spirit Lake was special and I had my opportunity to make a serious statement as an animator and filmmaker. I also understood the most challenging work lay ahead.

I burned a lot of bridges to get this movie finished... I eventually learned to turn my back on people in order to get things done. I'm not apologizing for any of it, except in March of this year, as I began to work on these dream sequences I burned somebody I respected too much, who didn't deserve it, and for all the same reasons. Angry and delusional about what I had done, I gave up on a personal life in Los Angeles, developed a bitter, entrenched, isolationist attitude, and completely enveloped myself in this animation work. There was no other way I would ever get it done.

Since, I have completed the six dream sequences, around 45 seconds a piece. Each from start to finish took about 3 weeks. Most of the work took place between April and September at Paranoid. As I finished a draft of each dream sequence, I was able to apply what I had learned to the next. After cycling through all six a few times, they started to congeal and reach the same level of finish.

All of the elements in the dream sequences are real. I would describe my technique as video animation. I don't generate any source, nothing is artificial. The smoke, fire, water, ice, etc... are real elements I mash together using special effects magic, much like your brain mashes together your memories into dreams. The beginning of last month, as I previewed all six drafts, I got an inclination that the end was near.

Visual Effects and Video Matte Paintings, make it stop!

Below is a series of what I call Video Matte Paintings, which I created from the mountains of extra footage I had from Spirit Lake, combing up to 8 different layers of footage. As I reached this stage I realized that I have become a vfx master over the year and I was able to change pretty much any element of the movie I didn't like, and tweak things on a whim.

I completed drafts of all 6 dream sequences in September. Next remained the much less intimidating challenge of conforming 90 minutes of live action and 6 minutes of animation, plus a series of visual effects shots and cleanup work, which included stabilization, de-graining, and color grading.

Original crappy footage

Are we there yet?

Spirit Lake is now in post audio production. The super talented Alex Ma is cleaning the dialog and adding sound design. There are plenty of finishing touches still being made as all of the elements of the film are now complete. As we arrive at a final version around the end of year (yes, 2011... for real), the musical score, already written, will be integrated into the film. My last item of business will be the title and ending credit sequence, which I am still holding on on help for...

Big aspirations don't come without an equal amount of sacrifice... I don't usually talk about personal or emotional side of my life, outside of my work. Normally that's all there is, and I've learned that suppressing emotions and giving up on friendship was the only way I would get this done. Over the past 3 years, I've destroyed too many relationships. My only friend here in LA? Nate Polzin, lead actor, Spirit Lake...

This fall, as I stomped out the last few embers of compassion left in my soul, I came to the realization I was going to finish this film. Making Spirit Lake had exceeded my expectations in almost every way. My life isn't a joke... I felt validation. But as the 3 years of life consuming work and determination comes to an end, I find there isn't much left in it's place.

So, now I have to start a new life, in Los Angeles, with a budding career, and a feature film... I hope I can get over it. It's just you and me Spirit Lake (and Nate), here we go!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Surviving Carmageddon, a week in Three Lakes, & good omens...

They made a massive hype in Los Angeles about closing down the 405 freeway, supposedly diverting some 800 million zombie driven automobiles into the sidestreets of every neighborhood and onto my front lawn, or something like that. For this very reason I left over 2 hours early for a flight to the midwest for my annual family summer vacation in Three Lakes, WI. I arrived at LAX over two hours early. Carmageddon was another bogus media scam. I did get some good time in at the airport sketching away at some character designs and miscellaneous observances.

One major project that I'm working on is something I can mention nothing more about than it's got a publisher attached and if they like my boards, I will be commissioned for my first graphic novel! The idea of doing all that illustration makes me salivate. So far my character designs are looking good. I've rattled off about 30 different versions, and of course I can't possibly share any of it. What I can share is this super cool LORDS OF THE MEGACOSM illustration featuring Dr. Zolo and the Qualiped Similax 2000PZT.

I often produce my most inspired work in such a relaxed state, and I was hanging out with good friend and Dr. Zolo voice actor Mark Strothmann. He regaled me with stories of previous travels across the Upper Peninsula as we headed to a podunk pit stop on the shores of Lake Superior called Marquette, jamming John Frusciante and taking in the tiny mountains all the way up. I would describe the people in that town, and neighboring Ishpeming as "special". Their unique physical state of being probably has something to do with all the Beef-a-Roo restaurants and Pasty shops, all claiming that they "Are way fucking better than those other guys!" I think there were about seven of them throughout town. Mark took me to the best one... I ordered a turkey sub.

People eat here.

As we cruised down Main St., there stood a teenager with balloons taped all over him, the long transmorphable type, and a handmade sign taped to his chest with the words "Bonnie's Balloon Emporium" written in marker. Next to him danced a giant orange apple... I think the costume was faded by years of usage, and was once a glorious red. At least the costume encompassed his head and he was able to hide his shame. I think he was selling insurance.

You can get almost anything in Ispheming... mmm, fart.

As we reached the final leg of our journey, we came upon a youngling black bear eating grass on the side of a nearly vacant wooded road. The last time my spirit crossed with that of a black bear was probably over 10 years ago in the very same region. That was an epic trip, and followed it many great things. As our car pulled aside we exchanged glances for a short moment, as well as positive energy. He went back to eating grass, we continued on our way. What a great sign as I take the next month off to finally finish Spirit Lake. Good times are ahead.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Plug & Spirit Lake updates!

There are great things going on in Los Angeles all the time. My blog writing is not one of them. I've been much too busy doing animation and visual effects for a plethora of projects. The two at the top continue to be the forever in post production feature film Spirit Lake, and the science fiction short Plug. If I could only find a way to freeze time, these projects would be completed instantaneously and I could display them to you now. Unfortunately I don't possess that sort of power (yet), but I do have some very nice progress to report on.

All it takes for the mind to create a dream is a few moments of deep sleep. For me it takes dozens of hours of gently massaging video footage into something ethereal and surreal. Last fall I wrote a blog about a particular dream sequence involving Ned the tortoise and a green screen shoot.

The green screen session. November 2010. Santiago Munoz (left) and Joe Shakula (right) capture Ned the tortoise for a dream sequence in Spirit Lake.

http://omanaman.blogspot.com/2010/10/animation-test-spirit-lake.html

Below is the finished version and a preview of one of six of the animated dream sequences in Spirit Lake. As these are completed within the coming weeks, production will be rounding out on the film and I can start thinking about a premiere. At this point, the 5 minutes of animation in Spirit Lake has taken as much production time as the 90 minute edit. Chew on that info nugget.

The other great news this week is Plug, teaser 2 is officially online. The science fiction short has wrapped on principal photography as is now moving into post production. On the teaser, I handled a number of effects shots including the two binocular views, and the close-up of the damaged robot face. I am deeply proud of this work. I am also extremely impressed with everything that David Levy and Hatem Benabdallah have put together at this point. The finished product is going to be bad ass and I see a feature film on the horizon. They currently posted a video on kickstarter.com and are raising some funds. I will be helping on additional effects... stay tuned on this one for sure.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1068245015/plug-stunt-vfx-fundraiser

Friday, April 8, 2011

Spirit Lake Dream Sequences, Plug, and Polish radio

I finally have some time off this year and have been getting caught up on old projects while starting new. I am appearing on Polish radio tomorrow at 8 am (pacific time) for a new program hosted by Spirit Lake actor and comedian Martin Kraszewski, who currently resides in Warsaw. I promised a blog article so he could forward the listeners on to see some of the work soon to be discussed. We will be speaking in English, so you can have your Polish translator take the weekend off.

The majority of this available time has been taken up by recent production on the dream sequences for Spirit Lake. In March I was able to shoot all the green screen footage with actor Nate Polzin. I have a green couch and some green boards and can easily transform my living room into a studio. Below are some screenshots of production. There are six of these babies and plenty of work to go, but most of the heavy lifting is over.

The other side project I have been working on is a sweet ass science fiction short film called Plug, being produced out of Paranoid here in Los Angeles. Everything I have seen up to this point has been amazing, with crew currently in the middle of shooting. I am currently working on some effect shots for the second trailer, out in May. Below is the first trailer.