The first two reviews for Shade of Grey have popped up online! I'm very pleased, and quite flattered, at the response the film has gotten already. Check out the reviews at the links below:

http://www.moviesmademe.com/movie/review/1997
-Chad Connolly, The Movies Made Me Do It (MvMMDI)
*gave it a 9/10!!!*

http://www.roguecinema.com/article-1611--0-0.html
-Josh Samford, Rogue Cinema

Best,
Jake

posted by Jake

Yeah... the subject line of this blog says it all. After a monumental journey through a lengthy post production phase, I'm ecstatic to report that Shade of Grey has a final cut! Thanks so much to everyone who worked so hard to make this project a reality. I'm currently working to get it into festivals in 2009, and am arranging some special advance screenings to be held very soon (keep tuning in for more details!).

Keep checking by here and www.cinephreakpictures.com for more info as things develop with the flick! And when you get a chance to see it, do be so kind as to pop by its IMDb page (www.imdb.com/title/tt1168654/) and make with the rating/commenting.

Hope everyone's 2009 is off to a great start.

Best,
Jake

posted by Jake

So I followed up my Christmas with a filmmaking marathon.

This past weekend (Friday-Sunday) I shot and directed two projects:

1) A music video for the song "Sick Made" by an Evansville rap artist, Reverend Fang Gory (http://www.myspace.com/fanggory) - the video has a very strong horror theme.

2) A trailer for a pitch of a reality show with Bill Gobin and his three girlfriends (also in Evansville) - in it we get to see their hectic daily routine in getting ready for a photoshoot.

Both were very interesting projects, and the shoots were a hell of a lot of fun. Sincere thanks to everyone who worked on these for all your time, hard work and dedication!

The music video especially provided for some interesting scenarios - a psychotic chase and murder scene at the Nick Knackery (love that store!) in which at one point I was laying on the ground having a bunch of people swing knives, swords, machetes, etc directly at me and the camera (somehow we both emerged scathe free), a shootup at a local used CD/DVD/Game store, characters roaming the (incredibly cold!) Evansville streets at night decked out in psycho clown makeup wielding a cornucopia of weaponry, a digging scene at a decrepit old barn out of the middle of nowhere at night in Henderson, and oh so much more... Thanks to all the local business and residents that let us use your places for locations, and thanks to Chris for the use of the coolest car ever!

As soon as each video is ready I'll have them up online. Coincidentally, I'm in talks for a few more potentially upcoming music videos, in the not-too-distant future. Look for updates on that sweetness soon!

Oh, and I've got some sexy updates on Shade of Grey that should be hitting this week. In the meantime, hope you all had the merriest of holidays...

Happy New Year all you Cinephreaks... party hard and safe.

Best,
Jake

posted by Jake

Soooooo apparently the "Summerdale" music video I did for Indianapolis rock-gods STATE was deemed too much for ol' Facebook. I had uploaded the vid there and got an email a couple weeks later stating it violated the terms of use, the content was supposedly too controversial, blah blah blah...

I find that awesome (despite not understanding the reasoning behind it at all).

So check out the "controversial" goodness here and enjoy! As always, comments/feedback = always appreciated!

posted by Jake

Hey all - this past Saturday I spent the entire day/night directing a music video for Indianapolis rock-gods STATE, for "Summerdale" ...a track off their upcoming album "You Shouldn't Stare" (due out soon!). I worked closely with the band to come up with the concept, and we decided to run with a 70s horror/slasher/grindhouse sorta vibe... chock-full of crazypsychohillbillymurdering goodness. The shoot was a blast, and the footage is looking great. Thanks to David, Tre, Ben, Danelle, Nathan, Kevin, Aaron, Shane and everyone who came out for all your hard work... and for not complaining through the various injuries, cracked windshield, and copious amounts of fake blood tossed in your faces.

I'm neck-deep in editing the video now, and will post it as soon as it's ready, as well as some pics/screencaps. In the meantime, check out STATE's Myspace (www.myspace.com/state) where you can listen to Summerdale and check out all the groovy things they've got going on. Thanks for letting me helm this video guys, I had a ball.

Till next time...

posted by Jake

The guys over at The Drive-In Podcast just uploaded a running commentary/episode that features Foxxy Madonna vs The Black Death! I checked it out last night and it's pretty hilarious - a nice MST3K type banter to accompany the flick. You can check it out for yourselves at their website (http://www.driveinpodcast.com) or their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/driveinpodcast). It's episode 10.

posted by Jake

Well, Foxxy Madonna's been making the rounds at some local festivals lately. Last weekend (Feb 16th) the flick played in the 2008 Indiana Festival of Independent Film in Bloomington, IN. I got to catch part of the fest and Foxxy was rather well-received!

And just this weekend (Feb 22nd-23rd) Foxxy played in the 2008 Really Big Short Film Festival in Indianapolis (at the Indiana State Museum IMAX screen!), where it won Third Place! A HUGE thanks goes out to the amazing cast + crew who worked on this flick (I mentioned a bunch of you all by name when accepting the award). The film went over pretty well audience-wise, and I got to meet a lot of other very cool local filmmakers and see some of their work. I'm told that pictures taken at the fest should be up sometime soon - I'll be sure to post them when they're available. On Saturday, the fest was graced by the presence of Chalkboard (David Barajas) and The Black Death himself (Jomar 'Dez' Banks)! Dez and I even got our photo snapped together for the paper (no idea when/where that's coming out yet).

Add to the mix the fact that I got to see Thrice play in Cincinnati last Wednesday (which rocked my @$$ off) and it's been a pretty decent 2 weeks. More to come on Shade of Grey VERY soon... stay tuned!!!

posted by Jake

The easy reference to get your Cinephreak swag fix!!!

CINEPHREAK PICTURES DVDs ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ONLINE VIA ANY MAJOR CREDIT CARD OR PAYPAL!

Just head over to www.cinephreakpictures.com/buy.html

NOW AVAILABLE:

FOXXY MADONNA vs THE BLACK DEATH DVD ($10 per copy + shipping)
LOADED with special features, including:
-2 versions of the film: Film Challenge Cut + Super Foxxy Director's Cut!
-Multiple commentary tracks on both cuts of the film
-Gag Reel
-Interview with Foxxy Madonna + The Black Death
-Interview with Jomar 'Dez' Banks + Jakob Bilinski from IMC
-Trailers
-And more!

Foxxy Madonna DVDs are also available for purchase directly from Tao Films (www.taofilms.net)

ALSO AVAILABLE:

MIME DVD (price drop!!! now just $5 per copy + shipping)
DVD includes:
-2 versions of the film
-Commentaries on both versions
-Gag Reel
-Alternate Ending
-Trailers

Additional merchandise including shirts and more are also available at www.cafepress.com/cinephreakpics

Thanks for your support!

posted by Jake

Foxxy Madonna is now on the IMDB!  Still working on getting the page updated with a poster and trailer and whatnot, but stop by and check it out! (Side note: DVD is VERY close to being finished)

Foxxy IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0990430/

Thanks for the support! Till next time...

posted by Jake

So I suppose its due that I post about my recent excursion to Albuquerque, NM for Filmapalooza 2007. Since my flick, Foxxy Madonna vs The Black Death, was a top 15 finalist in the National Film Challenge and was being screened in competition there, I thought perhaps I should represent the flick

Overall the trip was a blast. I started off recovering from a recent onset of the flu, which made flying fun, to say the least. But by Friday I was more or less in full swing.

Sam Adams sponsored the event and felt it relevant to provide all of us with free suds for the entire weekend. This was definately taken advantage of by everyone. Thanks guys!

Thursday night I registered and hit up the Fall Shootout screening where I got to see a handful of entertaining little shorts that had the option to incorporate Sam Adams beer. After that it was off to The District Bar and Grill for free grub, suds and karaoke, the latter of which I avoided so as to hang out with some of the filmmakers... that and because I can't sing.

Friday morning kicked off with a series of workshops. I sat in on the Special Effects on a Budget session - fun and informative. Then it was over to the HD Showdown screening, where teams were each given a Panasonic HVX200 HD camera and had to make a short under the same constraints as the other 48 Hour Film projects. Damn that camera is sexy... the image quality is gorgeous on a big screen. Later I watched the first set of the city winners from the 48 Hour Film Competition. Some REALLY good stuff in there (some bad too). My favorite of which came from Paris, France. I missed the second set because Sam Adams paid me $75 to sit down for an hour and a half, drink Sam Adams, watch commercials of theirs and offer feedback. Wonder if that can become a 9-5 position? After that I went back to the theater where Alexander Payne was the keynote speaker. Really entertaining - the guy's thoughts on cinema and the fimmaking process were poignant and entertaining, I thought. Next it was off to the Windchime Gallery where everyone attending got to drink and socialize amongst one another. By this point we had all had a chance to see a lot of each others' films and had more to talk about. I spent a lot of time talking to the French team and got to know the director, Jean Christophe Louis - have to plug his flick, it's great! Check it out at www.dailymotion.com/jclouis. I stayed until the place was closing and followed a few of the guys I met over to a local bar for a short while, then trailed back to the hotel for an event that was offered every night but I opted to forgo Thursday - milk and cookies in the hospitality suite. But when I got there I saw no milk. Just more beer. Cookies and beer (Sam Adams went all out).

Saturday morning I downed a few cups of coffee and sat in on a smaller group panel discussion with Alexander Payne. Then I went to the HD Workflow workshop where a guy from Panasonic described the process of shooting and editing with the P2 card and the HVX200 camera (I want one ). After that I headed over to the filmmaker's lounge, a room they had setup where you could screen anything you wanted for 20 minutes. I showed a trailer for Mime, Shade of Grey and the Film Challenge cut of Foxxy Madonna vs The Black Death. They seemed to get a generally positive response. After that I participated in the Filmmaker Olympics, which was a series of quirky little competitions outside. I lost and got over it pretty quickly.

Next it was the National Film Challenge screening, where the top 15 finalists were shown (including Foxxy Madonna!). Afterwards they asked the teams present to come up and share a funny story from the shoot. I talked about Jomar's (The Black Death) run in with a case of racial profiling and how he and David (Chalkboard) were hungover and we periodically had to break for puking and/or general recuperation. Later it was off to Sauce (a club) for the awards ceremony. Lots of awards went to flicks I thought should've.

And WHOOHOO!!!! Foxxy Madonna vs The Black Death snagged BEST USE OF "SPY" GENRE!

Then we went next door to club RAW for the after party (and more Sam Adams). This was a blast as well. I cut out around 11pm to go back to the room and get room service with my wife.

I got to meet a lot of great filmmakers and see a lot of great shorts. Granted, I saw some lackluster flicks too, but it's all relative. Hell of a great time and I hope to make another project that will take me there again! In the meantime you can all look forward to the revamped director's cut of Foxxy Madonna (coming VERY soon!) and the release of the final cut of Mime (which is complete and now being submitted to festivals). And of course, the big kahuna - Shade of Grey, which is progressing well in post-production.

So till next time.....
-Jake

posted by Jake

Today I did an interview on IMC in Indianapolis for Foxxy Madonna vs The Black Death (channel 65/cable 99 in Indy). Sat down alongside The Black Death himself - Jomar "Dez" Banks (who set up the interview) - and talked shop about the flick. Not sure when it's going to air, but I'm told soon. I'll post when I find out, and hopefully I'll get to put the clip online. It went pretty well, although I really wanted to also have Foxxy Madonna herself (Monica Barajas) present for the interview. Originally I thought I'd get to have both my lead actors sit in, but when we arrived I was informed only 2 could be in on the interview, which I wasn't too happy about. I take the blame for this as being a case of miscommunication. Jomar and I plugged the flick rather shamelessly (as well as others involved in the project... though when calling names I quickly realized I needed to also thank Scott Ganyo for his participation and effort - so Scott, a belated and sincere thank you). We had a great time doing this spot. IMC also is airing an edited-for-TV clip of the movie in the segment. So WHOOHOO!

posted by Jake

2007 is shaping up to be an ambitious year for Cinephreak Pictures™, with 2006 holding a decent share of highlights.

First off, I have to give a muchly overdue and greatly deserved thanks to Brandon Smith of VideoSmith Productions for the assisted updating and revamping of www.cinephreakpictures.com. Brandon created the Foxxy Madonna page and the Shade of Grey page, as well as various other updates. Viel Dank to my cinematic brother.

Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death made it to the top 15 in the National Film Challenge. March 8-11 is Filmapalooza in Albuquerque, NM and perhaps it shall snag some awards (fingers crossed)... The director's cut is shaping up nicely and is slated to premiere at the fest. Edward Hatfield of Tao Films and I have reworked the whole flick from scratch. The color scheme has been completely augmented and we've included a few visual FX to bump up the production value. The biggest achievement here though is the sound - all the FX and dialogue have been restructured from ground zero. We forged through the ADR process and the thing is sounding GOOD. Look for it online soon.

Shade of Grey is about half-way rough cut. With Foxxy wrapping post-production the focus is back to this dramatic little tale. So far, I'm pleased to say it's shaping up to look rather powerful.

Also wrapping up is the new and improved director's cut of Mime. Re-edited from the original master tapes, one of Cinephreak Pictures'™ most requested flicks is about to be available in a much better version.

We're looking to get Foxxy Madonna, Mime and eventually Shade of Grey running some festival circuits - more details to come on that.

Also slated for 2007 are some more Cream of the Crop music videos, as well as a few other surprises. Keep checking back here and www.cinephreakpictures.com for updates.

Till next time...

posted by Jake