The Battle Of Hastings, 1066 - CraigoClassic 15

Wow, I sure am keeping up with this. And to think we're actually not even half way through the videos. If I do it at this rate we'll be posting these things until I'm retired! (Or we will have at least shot "Straight On Till Morning", which is cruising along in pre-production. whew, how things have changed. :)

Well this little Gem is a project for history class. It wasn't even my history class, it was Steve and Jim's history class. But I was the video guy and had access to the equipment so I helped out and it was fun... even if the final result isn't quite as awesome as the great battle might have been.

We mixed footage of this bad ass board game, BATTLE MASTERS, with "live" footage of us playing with the High Fantasy Society. A group of fun folks who would get together and beat the shit out of each other with foam swords and shields. Was a good time and something we did every once in a while. It wasn't about costumes or historic recreations, just action and fun. Like D&D but REAL!!!!

We also feature the tunes of MANOWAR! Which we would have used throughout to make it a bit more exciting, but because of the limited editing time on the old reel to reel vhs editing we weren't able to get things together enough to make that happen. Songs are from the "Triumph Of Steel" tape that has a 29 minute long song about Achillis...pretty awesome.

And then there is the special guest appearance by someone from another planet. If you can tell me what movie that's from I'll give you a high 5!

PS: You might have wondered what happened to Craigoclassic 14...well, if you can believe this, it might just be toooo embarrassing to put up. Really to a friend who's in it, so I'm going to not post it for him. I guess I could use a pseudonym for him...hmmm... I'll think about that.

Casting, Crewing and Locations pt. 1

Hey Team,

So we're in the thick of it. So much to do and it's lot of fun (mostly).
We've had more auditions, this time for Virgil. Talk about brave actors to come in there and do improvs for us with no lines. To create characters based on the couple paragraphs we gave them (and the script if they were able to read it). It's been exciting and I have lots of respect for them. Being an actor is tough and to be in that room and see all the people that walk in that door to a room full of (most likely) strangers, and put yourself out there is a challenge. The ones who make a choice and commit to it fully, and connect with the "reader" in the room are the ones who make the strongest impressions, but even the ones who don't go all the way I have to give props to for going into that situation.

On top of that I'm starting to interview Director's Of Photography. On past projects I've always been my own DP, which is something I really enjoy doing, but for this one I know it'll look better and be better if I let someone else unleash their skills in that department. So of the 13 people I've contacted hopefully one of them will be a perfect match for personality, creativity, style and skill.

And we're looking for locations... so if you know of any 3 story (or 2 story with peaked ceiling attic) houses in the desert somewhere around LA (or anywhere really) that we could use, please shoot me an email and let me know.

Thanks!
Craig O