| "42 STORY HOUSE" | |||
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| From
"When God Drinks" (A Special Effects Extravaganza). My
favorite "behind the scenes" shot. I'm pretty sure this is
how ILM got started. |
| Here's the thing: I've been
writing scripts, mostly unsuccessfully, for a very long time (way to
sell it, Todd!). During most of that very long time, I've
told myself, "I should really just go ahead and make
a damn movie." Well, in recent years, technology has finally
shamed me into it. Cost is no longer the limiting factor,
it's time. So I decided to take a year, buy a (not great but
decent) camera, learn a (surprisingly powerful) consumer editing
program, and see what I could put together. The result is "42 STORY HOUSE". Holding dear the axiom, "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations," I set myself two pretty big limitations: 1.
Everything had to be shot at one location.
2.
Everything had to be done by one person.
Why? Because I wasn't ready to do the "marshaling the troops" all-consuming indie feature (yet). Besides, I wanted to see if I even liked doing any of this before I dragged other people into the process. That's why I decided to do a series of shorts instead of one continuous storyline. That way, I could write, shoot, and edit in small self-contained chunks - which is another way of saying I could make the least commitment and abandon ship anytime I wanted. But I didn't abandon ship. In fact, I didn't stop sailing until I had 90 minutes of material: 42 shorts, most of them 1-4 minutes in length (so if you don't like one, stick around, there'll be another). Elapsed life time? About a year. Most of these shorts originated by simply looking around and asking, "How can I make this common household item into a (hopefully) funny story?" Surprisingly, the answer often involved anthropomorphizing elements of the house and putting its tenant (me) in danger (blame Plato, not Freud; stories require conflict). The shorts can be watched all at once or one at a time. It doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter whether you're laughing with them or at them, as long as you're laughing. It's (hopefully) Comedy. That's what this movie is. |
| From "Unclear On The Concept". If my neighbors are any indication, the idea of performing (amplified) standup comedy in one's front yard isn't likely to catch on. |
| Slick. This isn't Hollywood production values. In fact, this isn't even typical low budget production values. Why not? Let me bullet-point the ways:
Bottom Line? There are definitely technical shortcomings in this movie. I tried to make up for it with a few (ultimately, cheesy) effects and a lot of (what I thought was) fancy editing. But what this movie isn't is Slick. Content was far more important than Presentation. Which you might actually enjoy for a change. |
| From "The Danger Of Cutting Mythology Class". Note the camera on the roof. I learned the hard way not to use a tripod that can be blown over by a stiff wind. |
| To
Summarize: "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations." "42 STORY HOUSE" has many limitations. Therefore: "42 STORY HOUSE" is... ...not art. You can't put a price on art. This is 10 bucks. |
| From "The 1-Second Story". Here I create a visual metaphor for my career in Hollywood. |
| If you're ready to buy (All right, all right. It's your money. Who am I to argue with your mad, impetuous ways?) then click this button... |
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| Questions? Comments? (Automatically Kill-Filtered) Complaints? | todd@42storyhouse.com |