1,000,000

So this morning I logged onto my youtube account... and saw 1,000,961.

wow.

To think that over ONE MILLION people have watched my short films. ONE MILLION!!!
That's more than twice the size of Des Moines, Iowa. Bigger than Austin, TX proper.
ONE MILLION!!!

I try to imagine that many folks over the last 3 years (and most of that in the last 1) tuning in to watch all the Trespassing On The Lot movies. The Schism 9/11 video. And even a few for The goofy ass junior high movies. It's pretty neat, to imagine people in places as far flung as Argentina, Russia, Bangaladesh, and even Saudi Arabia, people have tuned in to watch these little movies I made with friends here in LA. It's really cool.

I've had hundreds of comments over the last few years, ranging from praise and hopes to see more of "Family Ties" or "Lonely_Saturday_31", to the longest running debate about whether or not MAC's do get viruses. (It's a parody of a commercial guys. It's supposed to be funny, not a serious statement of the value of computers. :). To a very serious discussion about what 9/11 means to different people.

It's been fun, and enlightening. People have shared their videos with me, and I've seen some really creative stuff because of it.

And I've learned some things about online video I'd like to share for better or worse:

1. You can make short films that tell a story and people will find them and watch.
2. You don't have to have random babies falling, people getting kicked in the nuts, or two girls and a cup of... well, you know.
3. It doesn't hurt to have some sort of sex appeal. Looking at what key words people search for, I realize that the magic phrase of "woman tied up" is just the beginning. And I stumbled on that one by accident. I guess if it leads them to my movies I'm okay that they might have been looking for a different kind of video when they arrive here.
4. Given the comments on "Family Ties" about people thinking it's a real video about a guy who kidnaps his wife, I would say that a lot of people watching videos on youtube are drunk, high or confused. (Again, the fact they're watching is cool, in whatever state they might be in).
5. Make shit. It's best to make shit. Lots of shit. The more things you make, the more things people will see. For the most part I feel like the better films I've made tend to get the most views. There are some exceptions to that, "Deadline" for instance. But mostly it seems true... mostly.

1,000,000.

I'm proud of the number. I'd put the NIN song on here to pump up this entry, but it doesn't seem I can add music. It's a goal that I've watched go from something that was totally impossible, to something attainable, to something achieved. Not that the purpose of making the movies was to get to a million views. The purpose, for me, of making the movies was to make the movies. To have the experience. To be creative. To work with friends who are also creative. To tell stories. To live.

And we did that.
And thanks to people all around the world, and the power of the internet, we were able to share that with others.

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.

Ahhh... the joys of pre-production!

My buddy (and fellow producer on "Straight On Till Morning") found this video and it pretty much sums up how things are going right now with SOTM.

And the site its on www.xtranormal.com is pretty awesome too. Enjoy!

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

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Thank you EVERYONE who pledged to support "Straight On Till Morning". The outpouring of support and excitement has been amazing. 80 backers. $22,206. Success. Amazing.

All of you deserve a great big hug from me and the rest of the SOTM team. We're so thankful to all of you. This campaign was a very important part of the overall budget for the film, and with this and what we had before we are now able to set a start date to begin shooting. The thank you you will receive in the credits of the film is heartfelt and well deserved. Everyone who pledged will get in the credits.

Stay tuned here as we post updates on the project. Casting, locations, plans etc. We'll post things here as well as at the official blog.

Either way, "Straight On Till Morning" will exist in better form because of all of you.
From the bottom of our hearts, Thank you.

Craig O, Laurel, Brian, Neal, Laura, Greg, Tom, Kimo, Liz and more to come

Our Sincerest Thank You

Thank you,

Thank you so much for the amazing, fantastic, awesome, humbling pledges that have led to the "Straight On Till Morning" kickstarter campaign being successful!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to EVERYONE who's pledged we reached our goal! Yahoo!!!!!!!! It really has been amazing to see all this support for our little horror movie. It's going to be an exciting journey, and I hope we can make it live up to everyone's expectations.

In addition to our sincerest thanks, a number of you had mentioned in email or in person your desire to still pledge the project, so I wanted to let you know you only have until THIS FRIDAY, June 18, at 11:55pm PST to do so. The link is below, and it's super fast and easy to do. Though we've reached the goal set at Kickstarter this is not our entire production budget. So every penny pledged, even now, will be used on the film for all sorts of purposes: to increase the quality of the makeup f/x, to pay for food (I love food! :), lodging or sets, costumes or props, stunts and more.

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

Again: THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for your kind support.

Sincerely
Craig O and the SOTM team

PS: There are still investor opportunities available if you'd like to be involved in the movie to an even larger capacity. Just email me and we can discuss the options.