The Closer She Gets -- Now on Youtube

Today is my mother's birthday.
She would have been 71 years old.
It's amazing to think about that.
71 years old.
She'd be a grandma. She'd  be lively. And she'd still be proud of her boys.

But that's not how the world worked.

Instead the time has come to officially release my award-winning feature documentary "The Closer She Gets", about my mother's battle with cancer.

The movie has screened at festivals like Slamdance over the years. It has been shared on DVD with folks who asked for it, or at private screenings. And now I'm going to put it out there into the world on YouTube.

I have to admit, this has been a difficult thing for me to do. This isn't a movie you watch in pieces. Or something you casually have on in the background while you're checking email. And I've been worried that people will watch it that way. That they won't take 90 minutes of their lives to meet my Mom and understand how wonderful life and love can be. And how terrible.

I hope that you'll set aside some time to watch it. To leave your comments. To know my Mom.
She was the most amazing woman. She taught me so much. And I wouldn't be half the person I am today if not for her love and support.

So grab some kleenex, and a warm blanket, and take a journey with us... I know you'll be glad you did.

 

UNTITLED Film Production 1 Project -- Craigoclassic 22

In fact it does have a title... sort of.
"Goodbye". Or is it "no time for Goodbye". That's probably a better one.
This was for film production 1. It was shot on 16mm reversal film. Anyone remember that?
This meant you shot it, they developed it and sent it back to you and that was ALL YOU HAD. No negatives, no reprints. You screw it up, it's screwed up. I still have this, and the other 16mm film prints in cases in my house. I haven't seen them in that format since college, which is too bad because they looked great (compared to the crappy video transfer here). Oh well.

I challenged myself to make a film that looked like it was sync sound, but we shot it with non-sync film equipment. There's some appearances of some of my college favorite actors, Nikki DeSalle and Mike Ford. Clearly influenced by Evil Dead, hopefully it gives you a bit of a creep out.

I remember the teacher saying I hands down had the best film in class. So that tells you something about how good the films were, I'd say. :)

I paid off my student loan so.... Here's the College films!

Yep Team, I paid off the student loan!
yahhhhhooooooooooo!!!!

So in honor of that momentous and 15+ year adventure, I'm going to post the rest of my college films here with a little bit about them. It might be one entry. It might be a couple entries. I'm not sure, but I stalled out posting the craigoclassic's and now it's time to finish. Because I'm SURE you are all waiting with baited breath.

I can assure you this. MOST of the films from my University of Iowa days are better than the home video style stuff from the first section of this series. Most of them. :)

Without further ado:

THE FOOT...










Okay, so ironically, the first one is a home video style. Ha ha ha.
It's silly. It's screwing around back in Dallas one summer during college. Chris Borden's memorable turn as a fierce assassin has given him a nickname for the ages. And the car chase... MAN this shit is crazy! It might be the best car chase ever filmed. I'm not kidding. The French Connection has got nothing on this.

And it also has many references to such hits as "Army of Darkness" and our favorite B Movie of all time, "ROTOR". Oh yeah. Get ready to get rocked!

(Okay, I'll do one post for each video).

1-900-DIAL GOD -- CraigoClassic 20

Oh boy, Intro to Media Production Continues. (As does my ever irregular blogging about these old movies. In theory I was going to have all these posted well over a year ago. Guess I've been busy...)

So in Intro to Media Production we had a Video/Film section, a Radio/Audio section, and this gem, the Live TV section. So we had to do a 30 second live TV piece, complete with graphic (Just 1, please note I tried to pull off 2, somewhat unsuccessfully I might add). As well as a superimposed graphic.

I can tell you, calling live TV, with the "prep camera 1. Go camera 1. Prep Camera 2. Hold on Graphic. Go Camera 2" isn't that easy. Now you can just press buttons on a TriCaster and choose your shots yourself. But back then it was a bit more complicated. Might explain why there are two takes and flub. It was fun that Iowa had this though.

My idea is pretty straight forward. Making fun of 1-900 ads (Remember those!!?? Anyone young enough reading this to have no idea what I'm talking about? :). Anyway, Daniel Kraus was a good sport being the Reverend. (You'll see a lot of him in the upcoming college film). And we had Jesus on a computer rather than a phone because we couldn't find a prop phone, and well, cell phones basically didn't exist. But who knew we were being so prescient in predicting that eventually all things would be online, through the computer, just like this video and blog you're reading now...

wow. We were good.

Please VOTE for Craig Ouellette's short film

Hi Team!

We made a short film, "T is for Truth" for the ABC's of DEATH feature film contest. If we win, our short will be included in a feature film with movies from hot, known horror directors and shown throughout the world! But the only way to do that is to get VOTES.

So if you have a couple minutes, please head to:

http://26th.theabcsofdeath.com/t-is-for-truth/

Please be sure to VOTE by clicking on the button in the upper right:
VOTE FOR THIS AS THE 26TH FILMMAKER,
and respond to the email that they send you. It's easy, fast and prevents cheats.

(Don't just "like" the film, as that won't help us win).

NOTE: There's another film with the same title, but the link above sends you to ours. Also, look for my name "Craig Ouellette", or an image of two lovely ladies in a candle lit room as the still image).

And if you love it, (or even if you don't :), feel free to help us get the votes we need by forwarding this email OR copying the url OR sharing on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr (there are easy buttons to do so at the top of the page), OR all of the above. :)

And thanks again for all the support over the years. I figure we should aim for at least 1000 votes to have a good shot at being in the top 10, which gets us to the final round.

Thank you so much!

CraigO

"T is for Truth"
Starring: Denesa Chan, Sadie Katz, Caitlin Rose Williams
Director / Writer / Producer / DP / Editor: Craig Ouellette
Production Designer / Gaffer / Boom Op / FX Makup: John Elfers

the downward spiral - CraigoClassic 19

Ahhh college kids and their suicide videos. It's sort of a film school joke that everyone has to make a suicide video at some point in their college career. (Not that suicide is a joke. It's actually pretty depressing, and in my opinion not an option).

BUT...

that didn't stop me from making mine!

This was for Intro To Media Production, fall of Sophomore year. It was a class split into radio / tv / and video. This was for the video part. I used a song from NINE INCH NAILS (as I'm sure many of your recognized. I'm sure Trent would be so proud!)

Anyway, watching this made me wish I had a steady cam. Or a dolly. Or a wheelchair. It's funny, I still think I'm moving camera's super steady (and I'm a lot better at it), but it's rarely exactly as I imagined. But it has a certain charm to it's roughness.

Ahhh Molly. My friend Molly Neylan was one of my favorite actresses in college. I thought she was always very real, or pretty, or both. AND, if you think you recognize her, it's because she's in Trespassing On The Lot #4 "Family Ties"! (Tied up in a trunk...thanks Molly!).

As for the other actor, well...I laughed out loud when I rewatched this. Mr. Brian B. isn't the best (and I'm pretty sure he would agree :), but he was my friend, there for the shoot and up for playing the part of the shocked, angry lover.

Perhaps the best part of this is the fact that somehow this college kid who is so depressed about grades, money, being dissed by her friends and dumped by her boyfriend (what other motivation do you need?), was able to get her hands on an UZI to blow her head off! A fricking UZI!!?!?! I couldn't goto wal-mart and get a toy gun that could possibly be something a college kid might get her hands on!?!? Apparently not! And this actually is something I STILL occasionally do, (not use Uzi's), but I'll say "ahhh, this is what I got, it's good enough" rather than going the extra mile on props or production design. Hmmm... maybe I should learn my lesson.

You might have noticed the Hitchcock pull out, zoom in shot after she shoots herself. Yep, I was being clever. Of course it works better if you have a dolly.

The tear looks awesome though.

It was fun to see Hillcrest, my old dorm again. I'm heading back to Iowa in a few weeks for the first time in 10 YEARS, so that was a great blast from the past. Oh, and that crazy steam whistle from the power plant at the beginning.

And finally, the black angel. That grave has so many ghost stories about it, I figured I'd give my own. I can't remember the real story... maybe there isn't one. Or maybe this is the real one...

The Running Man - Craigoclassic 18

Here it is faithful viewers!

After a long absence from posting, due to the efforts to make the feature film "Straight On Till Morning", I am back! Posting my college films to much fanfare (wooo, yeah!). This is in honor of my FINALLY returning to Iowa City this fall after being away for 10 years! (10 YEARS MAN!!!!). It's been far to long, and so going down memory lane with these classics will be fun. Hopefully for you as well.

This first "film" from the college days was for Intro To Media Production. The class had 3 parts. Radio / sound, Live TV, and Film/video. This was a continuity project for the video portion. It has no sound.

That's my buddy Mike Ford running along. And he cruises past Sherry Moore (Now Sherry Eich) at one point. It was great to see those friends again (even if it's on a little VHS shot movie).

On top of continuity, we also proved once and for all that the massive pillars of the old capital building on the University of Iowa campus are hollow.

Enjoy,
craigo

Video To Alex - CraigoClassic 17

NOTE: It's set to private. Read below.

Ahhhh... dearest Alex.

Here is a photo video I made for her when we were dating. As many who know me are aware, Alex was my first "true love". We met at a German Language camp in Bemidji Minnesota. (A place I highly recommend going. They have different villages that teach dozens of languages. You can get a full year's school credit in a month, and you actually learn the language. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and not just because I met Alex... but that is another story).

Back to Alex. I was a Senior in High School. She was a Freshman. And we were a fantastic match. She lived in Minnesota. I lived in Texas. So after camp we wrote love letters for months, talked on the phone, sent gifts, wrote poems. It was pretty much the perfect, super romantic, high school relationship.

I went to visit her in snowy Minnesota over Valentines day. (Her parents were super cool to let me visit. I was a really nice guy. Our whole relationship was very PG). But it was pure, awesome, wonderful love...

... so I made this video of it.

And honestly, it's too personal to show here. Not cause it's some sleazy video, but because it's so sweet. I know it's silly, I've put up videos of me and my fabulously dorky friends from Jr. High, me with my perm, us trying to improv... but this is different somehow.

After many years of losing touch with Alex, going our separate ways and living our separate lives, I decided a week or two ago to see if she was alive, see if she was okay, and see how things have turned out for her all these years later. And after quite a bit of internet detective work I found her! (or at least her Facebook profile). I actually cheered when I did!

She is married, lives on the other side of the country, and seems to be doing well. As of now she hasn't responded to my Facebook message to her... and I didn't really expect her to. Sure, I was hoping to reconnect. Not to restart any love affair or anything. It's about knowing she's still Alex, only all grown up. To know she's happy and doing well.

Even if I don't hear from her, it's still great to know that she's still smiling. And it'll never tarnish any of the fabulous memories of her... some of which are in this video... which are only for me. Sorry faithful viewers (all 3 of you :).

The Matrix - CraigoClassic 16

So here's a story about some heroes who create a device to dismantle their molecules so they can be sent into the Matrix where they battle evil in their search for paradise. No BS: We came up with this story long before NEO existed, somewhere around 1992. So I think we deserve some credit as well as monetary reimbursment from Joel Silver and the Wachowski Brothers.

You will no doubt see the similarities: The action, the pacing, the fight scenes, the IDEA is ours. With my incredible hair, I am a dead ringer for Keanu. We have a snappy montage of building the device (aka: Neo learning Kung-Fu. Sure we took it from Army Of Darkness, but still...). You can "reprogram the chip" to change your life...(um hello!!!) It's pretty clear once you see it that someone saw our video and ripped it off (not pointing the finger at Mr. Wachoski-s, but still...)

Things we did better than the "remake" you might have seen in theaters: Amazing use of dissolves. Creative ways to make one "actor" appear as two "characters". (Mr. Smith eat your heart out). We have an NIN classic SIN shirt as a wardrobe, which is way more hip than Tinity's leather. We quote ALIENS, which is, well... not really relevant to the Matrix, but still. That is an NES Entertainment system that carries us to the great beyond, which if far more realistic than an array of computers jacked into our nervous systems. (Lame!).

So, for you purists out there, here's the REAL Matrix. And though it might not be quite as good as the OTHER Matrix... It is better than the two sequels.

PS: This also marks the end of the High School section of Craigoclassic. (Can I get a hallelluja!) Next stop: University of Iowa... with a quick pitstop in Minnesota.

It has begun...

So the pre-production continues (wow this is a lot of work! :), but we're finally FINALLY coming up to shooting. In fact, when I was in colorado a couple weeks ago I shot some travel footage. I'm so excited! It's really beautiful up there and I'm glad we're going to be shooting the road trip for real. Taking David and Kaitlin from LA to Chicago and back. So we can shoot them in the real locations and real places they're supposed to be. And to give Mother Nature a chance to give us some of the amazing beauty that only she can.

Here's the first "production still" shot on I70 in western Colorado.

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.

More on Straight On Till Morning's Kickstarter campaingn

Hey Team,

Thanks so much to all of you who have supported "Straight On Till Morning" so far! It's been amazing how generous everyone's been with pledges and contributions for our independent horror feature film. This past week has been particularly amazing!

But we're not there yet: We've only got until JUNE 18, FRIDAY at 11:55pm to raise the rest.
We're at $12,857 of our $18,222. And this is ALL OR NOTHING. If we don't make it, we get nothing, and you're charged nothing.

Now 12 days might seem a short time to raise another $5,000+, but it really isn't so bad at all. Every pledge from $10-$250 makes a huge difference, adds up, and makes this film more of a reality. You'll even get cool things like pre-ordered DVD's of the film, Blu-Rays, Movie posters or visits to the set depending on your level of involvement.

For more about Kickstarter, here's a video our lead actress Laurel Marlantes, and I did talking about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTQnSQEvi1w

So if you've pledged already, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you've been thinking of supporting, we wanted to let you know that the deadline is fast approaching and every dollar counts. Just click the link below and it'll take you right there:

KICKSTARTER LINK: http://kck.st/cZnK3u

Thank you all, we're so excited about this movie and about having you all involved.
And for the support over the past few years.

Straight on till Morning!
CraigO
www.SOTMmovie.com

The Fridgidaire

HELL YEAH.

This movie was born from all our b-movie nights, where we'd rent a couple b-movies and watch them and make fun of them while they went along. Nothing different from what any other high schoolers did really. There were so many. This being a parody of THE LIFT, which was about a killer elevator. We thought that few things would be dumber than a killer elevator...except maybe a killer refrigerator!

Oh, this one is a beauty. We really expanded our storytelling. It's got a fantastic prologue which sets up this horrifying tale of a cursed killer refrigerator. In it we see some NEW ACTORS (Holy crap! Holy crap!). We've got Chris G (wearing his signature marble bag ball hugger shorts), Tracy, and the best of them all, my wonderful Mom. She only showed up in a couple things like this (in fact this may be the only one), but it makes me smile to see her being so silly.

We've got a monster credit sequence, with REAL BLOOD. Yep... we sacraficed for our art. I bled on that page. (I used to get nose bleeds all the time...just so happened, I bled all over our credits).

So we have the set up....

...and not much else.

We kinda did this a lot (you've probably already noticed). We'd set it up, and I guess just get bored, or someone would have to go home and that would be the end of it. We would plan on doing it another time, talk about it for a few weeks, and it would just die.

Oh well. It's a great opportunity to see inside Chris G's house (a rare, warlock like lair with no open windows). You get to see my High School girlfriend Stacey. And of course the fine reappearance of Tom, Borden and myself. Dave's car shows up but he's not really in it. Maybe he's the Fridgidaire!!! (cue evil laughter).

We had plans to have a barbie doll fight a model fridge and fall into the empty pool in the backyard. As well as other rediculous kill scenes. But in the end...this is all that remains.

Beware the next time you open your fridge...
Be very aware.

PS: The date in 1995 is incorrect. This had to have been made in 1990 or 1991.






ROTOR...the best of the best.

The Dark Night 2 -- Get Off Da Ship!

Ahhh...obsessions.

At this point you might say, "man those kids sure got f-ed up by the Shining".
Well that's not the only one my friends. Alien. Aliens. Perfection.

I still love those movies. They are two of the best movies ever made. PERIOD. Neither is better than the other. They are amazing. Everything about them. So naturally we had to do OUR versions. You might remember Dark Night, (you might not since you were so filled with terror you may have blocked it out). Well, here's the "sequel"...sort of. Homage perhaps?

It's basically a web cam video before web cams existed. Recording on "vidi-disc" before vidi-disc existed. I know this was high school because of the nifty visual effects on the screen which were done with Borden's camera he spent a lot of money on and we rarely used. In fact this was the first video we shot on that.

This one is particularly famous for Borden's intense line at the end "Get Off Da Ship!", which we still quote to him from time to time. In addition to the fantastic dialogue "If you see this I'll be dead...unfortunately", which still makes me laugh.

So prepare to be terror-fied...

...and Get off da ship!

Random Stuff...

Yep...as random as it gets. This is 53 seconds of avante guard amazement.
pure...
complete...
unadulterated...
video...
art.

period.

Commercials: Acme Brick & Memorex

So team,

We're still hanging out in the living room. (Not mine, but my buddy Tom's) Yep, we're doing commercial parodies. Like any good kid does with a video camera. We bring our skills to bear on the legendary ACME brick and of course Memorex Tapes. The smooth jazz is particularly nice, as is the ode to classical composer Schubert.

There's not much to say here. It's been a bit delayed in the posting because I've been out of town on a cruise Raging it up in the Bahamas. :)

And damn...that hair is sure looking good here. Mean's it's still ninth grade. Like seriously, did I really think it was a good idea to go for hair like this? I wanted my hair to look like Michael J. Fox's on "Family Ties" (The TV show, not my short film), and I think...I think I was really close. Just a few more perms and I'd have it.

When Zombies Attack!

Hey Team,

Just wanted to let you know that Craig Ouellette's web series "When Zombies Attack!" is up online at

www.ZombiePSA.com

It's here that you can find out all you need to to stay alive in the current zombie crisis. Long before Zombieland, we put tips on screen, mixed in with the action, so that you wouldn't succumb to the horror infested un-life of the un-dead.

So check it out, let us know what you think. And thanks for watching