The whole thing started out as a conception of an idea, much like any crazy musical, and more and more of Perplexity members have begun to become a big part of this feature length undertaking fun. The project has been in the pre-production phase for over a month now consisting of storyboarding, hipster hunting, and lots of coffee. We are in the process of auditioning and casting the talent! If you are an actor, singer or dancer – please go to the Hipster! The Musical audition page and sign up for a slot. We’d love to see your talent.

Let me present to you the teaser trailer that was shot for the purposes of hipe for the project, featuring our very own Sam Golden!

A musical-comedy with heart, ‘Hipster! The Musical’ follows Dave, a shy, good-natured fellow who can’t bring himself to confess the love he has for his best friend, Lily. But when she dons a feather in her hair and joins a group of hipsters, Dave must embrace his inner irony to try one last time to captivate the girl he loves. Dave is now at odds with the maniacally-sarcastic Salinger and his hipster henchmen. He is at odds with Lily’s lust for hipster stuff. But, most of all, Dave is at odds with himself. And only through song and dance will he muster the courage it takes for a happy ending.

It’s currently set for release in early Spring of 2013 but be on the lookout for making-of snippets and other fun behind the scenes stuff coming down the pipe throughout the process. Like us on facebook in order to not miss a thing.

Before it’s cool.

For anyone that’s ever seen slam poetry (live, on the internet, or any other means) knows that it’s powerful material. The poems are more than just read on stage; they are performed. It’s an entirely different genre of art. I’ve witnessed slam poems that will make you laugh until you fall out of your seat, weep like a child, or raise the hairs on the back of your neck.

However, I’d like to take a break from the viewers experience and give some insight from the poet’s perspective.

Again, I am not a performer in any sense of the word. So, for me, stepping on stage is beyond nerve-wracking. I expected to fall flat on my face, stumble over all of my words or choke completely. Yet, I stood there, solo on stage, ready to speak.

I prepare to recite my poem and the audience goes dead silent. My right leg started to shake uncontrollably and for a second I started to get into my own head and think: “Oh man, they’re not having an emotional response, I’m doing this all wrong.” But I remembered the words of my good friend and colleague, Sinjin Jones. While I was working on the performance aspect of my piece, Sinjin repeatedly told me: “You have to believe in what you’re saying, so that the audience believes it.”

Now that concept may seem simple, but when you’re standing solo on stage staring at a sea of indistinguishable faces, you just might forget to believe in what you’ve written. The trick is to give such an honest performance that you bring the audience members back to that moment in time when you were writing the piece.

In response, the nano-second before the first word left my lips, I just started believing. I believed every word I said and the audience did, too. Suddenly, I was truly enveloped in this persona of confidence, energy, and fearlessness. I’m not an actor  by any means. Yet, slam poetry is a creative outlet for me to, if even for a second, become someone else and live in another moment.

Never in my life have I spoken with such passion and every word I delivered felt powerful. And for those 2 minutes and 45 seconds I had a presence. A presence outside of my normal life where I’m seemingly just going through the motions. When I’m not on stage, I’m extremely nonchalant, so understandably it was a shock to the viewers and myself to transform into a tornado of raw words and emotion at the drop of a dime.

I finished my poem and the deafening quiet switched to uproar and applause and I couldn’t help but feel proud. Proud that I stepped outside of myself and explored a new avenue of expression. Proud that I performed something honestly for the first time. And proud that I was able to keep my breakfast down and that my right leg eventually stopped shaking uncontrollably.

So. Here I stand – free of time-consuming school and open to a world of endless possibilities.  I feel unstoppable with my skills, like Liam Neeson in Taken.  I feel accomplished, like not being sick after eating at a shady buffet.  I feel renewed and confident, like I am walking the streets accompanied by You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall & Oates as the soundtrack to my life.  And I feel…terrified.  What is truly next?

Isn’t “not knowing” the exciting part, though?  Who knows what projects await us.  Yes, some will be successful and others will not, but who is to determine success.  Isn’t success finding worth and value in your creativity?

I want to commend anyone who can relate.  We (creative people around the world) are found in a competitive business.  We enter into this vast entertainment world with nothing to our names but the work that we create, the projects we’re involved with, and what people have to say about them.  Yet in the midst of this rough reality, our most joyous times are when we create.

We tell stories.  We approach things in new ways.  We make art.  We create  experiences that people can relate to.  We are poor.  We connect with people.  We communicate.  We are all entitled to our opinions.  We are all entitled to respect.  We make films, poems, paintings, music, dances, writings, schedules, recipes, graphic art, tangible and intangible things from scratch.

As a collective community, we are truly unique and amazing people.

To all my peers, I want to encourage you all with “what’s next.”  It could be anything from a financially stable feature length film, to writing a jingle for an old folks home commercial, to choreographing a musical, to writing a lame blog post.  Yet you all will be creating worth and value for yourself through your creativity.  I respect anyone with passion and integrity who creates, and I know others can say the same.  We are artists, musicians, dancers, writers, and filmmakers.  And we’re in this business together.

It was a fine afternoon. Right around 67 degrees Fahrenheit, perhaps 70. I’m sitting right outside a Starbucks that I usually sit in just before work, even though I bought a regular fountain drink at Einstein’s next door, but they didn’t have Wi-Fi so naturally I gravitated closer to the coffee gobblers (love you, Starbucks). Since I have a really good case to protect my iPad, I always sit it upright so that my hands can be free while I’m browsing the internet, working on Google Docs or otherwise playing mindless games to pass the time. All of a sudden I get a pinch of inspiration in my side and decide to open up my notebook to sketch out some logo ideas for my video tutorial website Shirtless Filmmaker.

Shit happens

As soon as I think I’m onto something – two shadows whizz by me, one of them snatching my iPad which was so conveniently propped up as if strategically angled  for a comfortable grab. I shouted after them, contemplated between running or 911, and after a split millisecond decided to go with the latter. Figuring, later, that it was probably a good decision in case the prick had some sort of weapon on him and ran for a more secluded area. I attempted to use the Find My iPad app but the culprit must have already shut off the device because I was unsuccessful at locating it.

Needless to say what followed: my questioning the witnesses, police questioning me and the witnesses… I’d like to thank Anthony and Aaron for coming up from across the street and reporting everything they saw, the Starbucks employee for picking up the cap that by miracle fell off of one of the runners, and all the other witnesses that sympathetically provided all the information that they could. Now, I know what you might be thinking: “Jeez, all this for just a stupid iPad?” Well yes, I realize that at least I’m still alive and it’s just a piece of technology. But it’s more than just the sentimental value it held for me, or the amount of dollars that it cost – two things bother me. One, I had a hard time trusting hardly anyone that resembled the criminals and my faith in humanity has noticeably decreased, which is sad. And two, I was completely unaware and oblivious to my surroundings prior to the incident.

A peaceful mind is a peaceful heart

They had to have been watching and spying on me from the sides for at least ten minutes and I had absolutely no idea. Engulfed in my task. For someone who aspires to become a director of films, the power of observation must be a honed in skill. But I’m not here to mope or to make you feel pity. Who knows, perhaps they’ll find my iPad. I wanted to present to you all, the following chronicle of how to truly prepare yourself for any similar situation, because after all, shit happens.

Activate Find My iPad (iPhone)

1 Make sure you actually have this service activated. It’s free. Why not secure the future of your device. A peaceful mind is a peaceful heart.

Download Find My iPhone App

2 This was a step I neglected. I spent too long trying to find how to actually use the service and by the time I got the app downloaded and logged in – it was too late. Failure to prepare is preparation to fail.

Observe

3 No explanation needed. I’m not saying be paranoid. But it definitely helps to be aware of your environment no matter how enveloped you are in your craft, that Hunger Games series you’re reading, or the latest blockbuster trailer.

Failure to prepare is preparation to fail

I’d like to leave you all with this. You may take what I say with a grain of salt but know this – when (or if) it does happen to you – don’t come crying to me.

What about you? Have you ever had anything of great value stolen? Did you ever get it back? Was it ever the same thereafter? How did you deal with it? Post about your experiences in the comments below – I would love to read them.

I could only make it to two nights of films, but there was a little bit of everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. The first night (April 30th) screened two webseries created by the webseries class. The first, Mortal Coils, was about a woman (Perplexity’s very own Leah Watson!) stuck in limbo who helps people accept their death before passing on. It was a pleasure watching Ms. Watson’s performance, however biased I may be. The production value of the series was also enjoyable. However, it was evident each episode was written as a stand-alone piece. I think the class missed out on a real opportunity to create a series-long plot along with each episode-long plot, which would prompt viewers to look for the next episode.

The other webseries was a western featuring an entire cast of cat actors. Enough said? Perhaps, but I’ll add that the editing was spot on for amping the comedic value.

On May 2nd, Production 3 and 4 films were screened. A few films from Production 3 really stuck out, but overall there was a huge jump in production value and maturity from Production 3 to Production 4. The Production 4 films were: The Goodbye Girl, With Honors, Ideal World and Anything Helps. Perplexity members worked on all four of these films, and we’re excited to see what happens as they are submitted to film festivals.

Lastly, after all the Production 4 films were screened, another Production 3 film snuck its way in. White Chocolate. The film started with a nudity disclaimer, which I honestly took as a joke. Surely the University wouldn’t showcase blatant nudity at an event advertised to parents and community members, right? Wrong. The film verged on pornography, nipple-sucking at all. For what purpose? That was the question running through my head. The film switched back and forth from interesting documentary on the Five Points area in Denver to conversations about licking butt-holes. The combination of these two made it seem like they took gang activity and poverty in Five Points as a joke. It cheapened the rest of the film, as well as the rest of the Cinefest films that came before it. What an unfortunate ending!

This experience did get me thinking, though. Universities are supposed to prepare students for the job market. When the porn industry brings in $13 billion annually, does it not make sense to address pornography in film school? Should we be catering to that demand? Would it be an unfortunate testimony to the state of our society or make us more balanced? Hmmmmmm. Please leave comments below!

I just saw The Avengers. Two words: “Oh boy.”

I fancy myself a true connoisseur of Story, and I am simply delighted when a big-scale movie like The Avengers embraces the craft.

Too many tentpole films ignore the basic elements of character development and plot structure, opting for a tired formula that’s painfully adjusted to fit the studio’s fancy visual effect department and bill of superstar actors (I’m looking at you Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Shrek the Third, Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and pretty much every Michael Bay film of the last decade).

The Avengers is a game changer for the world of Hollywood blockbusters.

It would have been easy to throw the recognizable superheros onto the screen in an amalgamation of poor writing, half-nude women, and rapid chases void of any emotional impact, as so many have done before. But, instead, writer/director Joss Whedon made the film something really special. He took characters that everyone is familiar with, and showed that they are, in fact, human. He gave the capes a soul, and that’s not something that’s easy to do – especially when the studio execs keep harping on you for their exciting set pieces that sell the precious summer blockbusters.

But I’m not surprised. Joss Whedon is a master storyteller. From his delicious Dr. Horrible to the epic saga of Firefly, he has shown time and time again that he can make you fall in love with anyone, and have fun along the way. He managed to pack the action and celebrity screen time that has become standard for big budget flicks, but didn’t ignore a compelling plot or emotionally-engaging characters. There’s fascinating inter-personal drama that makes you empathetic for the right people at just the right time.

Joss Whedon, Writer/Director of 'The Avengers' (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Oh, and it is really, really funny. Like hilarious.

Let it suffice to say, without compromising any plot details, that you should see The Avengers. It shows audiences that they should expect – nay, demand – more from Hollywood than they have for the last decade. It was starting to look like any movie with a budget more than $10 million meant a cookie-cutter story and a lack of any and all intellectual stimuli.

Joss Whedon has finally made it to the big leagues, and let’s hope for all of our sakes that he’s here to stay. After all, filmmaking is, first and foremost, storytelling.

And he helps us remember that.

Was this helpful? How do you make your shotlist? Are there certain things that really help you out during production? Let me know in the comments below.

Also, if you do end up using my template, please let me know what worked and what didn’t and how you adapted it to better suit your needs.

Tutorial Links

• Tutorial Video
• Perplexity Pictures
• Shotlist Template

My philosophy for every project is that no matter how great or how awful the process or the final product turn out, if I didn’t learn a single thing – then I’m doing something wrong. I set goals for each project in the beginning and access my success to how well I was able to achieve those goals.

My college professor, Laura, always talked about missed opportunities. On the surface, that sounds like a negative aspect of a production to tread on, however, missed opportunities are the very things that allow me to see what I need to improve upon in my future work.

On the set of “Ideal World” I was very blessed to have an amazing cast and crew that were all willing to work in below freezing temperatures, halfway buried in snow, just making a movie. You can watch the trailer above and check out more information in the links below.