Films / Shorts - Drowning Pictures

The Incandescent Shadow is about a man stuck in a routine looking for a job. But he's not able to find one. The two girls or angels are only born to live for one day. Their purpose is to help someone in need. But the conflict is one angel wants to stay and enjoy her time on Earth for the day and the other angel wants to complete their mission. In the end they get there for the man, but are they too late?

The Incandescent Shadow (Director Notes): This was shot for no money while I was shooting a feature documentary. I needed to work on something a little unusual to balance me out while working on the real aspects of a documentary. An actress friend told me about the art of tableaux vivant. It's having real actors pose like works of art. The art was popular in France in the late 1800's early 1900's. The concept to me was facinating. Part of me was curious to tell a story where the actors didn't move but though sound and editing, they did. I'm a big fan of comic books where still imagery can create movement in a story.

Drowning is a poetic visual poem about struggle. A younger man struggles to escape the grip on an older man's rage. A beautiful image of a woman keeps the younger man from submitting to the pain. Can he hold up against his adversary, or will he be consumed by the hurt.

Drowning (Director Notes): The idea for Drowning came from watching a documentary about professional wrestler Brett "The Hitman" Hart. One of the segments had to do with his relationship with his father. When he was young Brett and his father trained in his basement. Brett spoke of how his father would put him in these submission holds to the point of passing out. The program actually showed his father (probably in his 70's) putting a large man (probably in his early 20's) in a submission hold. The kid was screaming in pain from what this old man was doing to him. The image just stuck with me. I guess the irony of it made an impact on me.

Home is a surreal poem about 4 women going through the same daily routines in their lives while their little insecurities trickle into their daily thoughts. Done in tableaux, the women go through a montage journey of a day before they go to work.

Home (Director Notes): I'm not really sure what this film's about. But if I were to put it into words I think it's my interpretation of what goes on inside a woman's mind if I were to try to analyze it. For a woman to go through all the thoughts and feelings they go through within a day it would be translated completely different. Since I'm a man I feel like if I had all those thoughts or feelings throughout my day I would probably explode. I'm just not built the same way. I think women are extraordinary beings. Beautiful and wonderful, they hide so many things of what they are. I think we only get to see a taste of it. I know I don't quite fit into their world at times, I think this film definitely shows that. I think the more I try to understand, I think I'm always more confused than when I started. But I know they can say the same about us guys.

Deathly Heaven is a haunting journey of sound and movement, a man awakes to find himself alone in a forest. Unknown of his situation he wanders deep into the woods for answers.

There he encounters a hooded figure; it is a woman from his past. A ghostly image of a love that was never resolved. Unsure if this is the love he remembers or a deceptive soul, they must face their moment together once again and come to terms with the pain both still keep inside.

Deathly Heaven (Director Notes): The idea for Deathly Heaven came from a friend of mine I went to film school with named John Boyd. He was given 35mm film to shoot anything he wanted in a class project. Instead of doing a spec, he wanted to shoot a short. He asked me to direct. The idea is basically the same from what he initially had in mind. I think I made it more vague, it's just what I do. We shot it in Griffith Park which was cool. It was the biggest crew I ever worked with. It was a little intimidating because I'm so use to one to two people usually helping on a project. John's cinematography is beautiful in this. I think he got a good grade on it. He better have. Overall I feel like I learned alot from this project, what works and what doesn't in a mood setting. See for yourself.