Collaboration

“Dating Magick” :: A 48-hour short film editing project

J.R. Collaboration

Film editing has become one of my favourite elements of production. To finesse my skills I've been taking on short-notice challenges including, recently, this entry to Vancouver's 48-hour Run N' Gun Film Competition.

Conceived, written and directed by Nate Kelly, Dating Magick is a wacky comedy about two dopey guys who get more than they bargained for on dates with two mysterious women. As editor, fresh challenges for me included stringing together parallel plotlines (in a five-minute film!), the extremely delicate art of editing a table-bound conversation, and of course, comic timing. I do so love the awkwardly extended…

 

 

 

…pause.

There are certainly things I'd do differently in retrospect (if only we'd had more time, the editor, and everyone else in the world, cried). But hell, not a bad way to spend a weekend. The "Last Second Squad" lived up to its name submitting the results the competition, with eight minutes to spare. The tale of Nate sprinting across town with an SD card is a cinematic event of its own.

The rush is addictive. See you folks at the next fest!

4Cats Motion Storybooks

J.R. Collaboration, Writing

During my year-long stint at 4Cats, I was responsible for researching and writing course material and storybooks for 4Cats classes. I began with biographical and critical research into the artist, which I would gradually compile into a roughly 10,000-word curriculum detailing the artist's life, career, major works, humourous trivia and anecdotes. With the curriculum finalized and approved, I distilled the curriculum further into roughly 500-word storybooks to give children the broadest introduction to the artist.

With the books written, I passed the material to the head illustrator to create the images accompanying my words. I didn't have any input into the visual aspect of the creation, but our combined efforts resulted in published editions similar to the ones shown below. These can be found in 4Cats locations internationally.

When each book was done, I combined the visual assets with supplied voice recordings to create 5-minute Motion Storybooks, using minimalist After Effects animation and editing to bring the illustrator's visuals to life. The videos are only available to 4Cats customers, but I also created a number of trailers which 4Cats released online. Here are a few below!

Jean-Michel Basquiat – TRAILER from 4Cats Arts Studio on Vimeo.

Keith Haring – TRAILER from 4Cats Arts Studio on Vimeo.

Salvador Dali – TRAILER from 4Cats Arts Studio on Vimeo.

Comics: Woo Hoo!

J.R. Collaboration, Comics, Writing
Comics: Woo Hoo!

Here we go! My frequent collaborator Molly Nemecek and I have just kicked off a new webcomic! All light-hearted humour and adventure. Our precise roles overlap, but in general: I'm the writer, thumbnail-sketcher, environment (background) artist, colourist and letterer, and Molly is the character artist extraordinaire. Here's some of our work. You can also read the comic itself at Woo Hoo!

Even Death May Die!: A dieselpunk webcomic

J.R. Collaboration, Comics, Writing
Even Death May Die!: A dieselpunk webcomic

A few randomly-ordered pages from Even Death May Die!, a webcomic by myself, with assistance from my oft-collaborator Molly Nemecek. A work where I get to invent a whole world, dabbling in creating graphic designs, architecture, industrial design and retro-future technology with wild abandon — all stuck together with a Lovecraftian noir-influenced pulp adventure plot and snarky dialogue.

EDMD updates rarely, but that could change if people gave me more time. In the form of money. :)