Rad FX motion logo for Dirt Nap.

Just so you can see - wanted to do a simple motion logo for the opening of Dirt Nap.

New Work and Old Friends

Ok, I completed shooting even more footage for Dirt Nap. A little 'Steel Table' scene will be sneaking into the film. After all, what good is a kitchen scene without a stainless steel table. It was quick but not painless and I did run into two old friends that I had not seen in a while. They both informed me that if I did not at least give them an honorable mention that they would drag me through the mud so here they both are, enjoy.

J. Allen

And the beat goes on, the beat goes on ...

Two more hours of footage in the can. How should I say "Very Different" being in a Food Stop shooting the soda machine scene, ice and the cashier greeting Mike as he enters the store. You see I was there shooting this stuff from 11-1PM. Only five people walked in and I had the complete run of the store. For anyone trying their hand with lights or working under fluorescent lights and trying to light a person so they don't look like Undead, I came up with an easy memory jolt for myself. Two huge lights with diffusers at four feet, four huge lights at eight feet and sixteen lights at thirty two feet. Oh, and when you are not a coffee drinker like me and have to opportunity to drink free cappuccino while on set at mid-night, DON'T DO IT!
I couldn't get to sleep till after three a.m. and now I feel like an old shoe. However, the more devious side of myself came out when one lady walked in and asked what we where filming and I replied, "Shooting an episode of Cheaters, are you interested?" To which she replied, "No" and walked out rather quickly. Being bad feels so good.

J. Allen

Back to the future

What my humble partner is trying to say here is that nothing could ever go wrong and we are working on an Oscar winning film! LOL! Ok, well it may be our first film, and it may or may not be "a hit", but it will be successful in the knowledge we gained, the people we met, and the fun we had doing it. And of course we hope it entertains you and makes you laugh and cry and scream, and allows us to make more films.

Happy Halloween and back to future!

-Arlo

P.S. This year is the 25th anniversary of Back To The Future - one of my all time favorite movies!

Almost Halloween

Not much going on here in Dirt Nap haven. We are still waiting for our actors hair to grow back out so we can shoot the last few minutes of footage. While I am waiting, Arlo is busy editing all the exisiting footage and so far we are at twelve minutes of playable film. Not bad considering I was afraid it would come up short. I am told that Arlo is also putting together the gag real and the beind the scenes section which makes me wonder. I am not really sure if I want to see myself trying to direct for my first time. With my luck there will be a shot of me pointing in two different directions at once yelling, "Go that way!." It's all good fun though. To help get this film put to bed I am doing some fill shots on my own in an attempt to get a finished product to show people. Yeah, I know there are teenagers who put up a new YouTube video every week where some kid gets hit with a tennis ball and falls to the ground in pain, but I am artist!!! Now if only I can get that documentary gig in Canada, I wonder ???

J. Allen

Birth x4

It has been a while since I wrote a little something in here. I have been waiting for Arlo and Chad (the star) to have time to finish the Dirt Nap project. With nothing but time on my hands I cleaned out the garage. I was surprised when I found two small white eggs under the wood next to where I park my car. I also found two more small white eggs where the garage door meets the foundation. I grabbed a jar from the pantry, put some dry grass in it and placed the four eggs inside then I waited. A week goes by and nothing. Well on Monday the first two baby lizards hatched. Then today the second pair hatched. So I took some pictures, tried to film the little ones then released them into the garden. I never would have thought I was a lizard wrangler. Here is a picture of the first one born. The other three looked identical to this little one too.

J. Allen

Flash Flood !!!

Today I paddled from Fort Worth to Dallas and it took me about 2.5 hours to do so. I heard on the radio that Texas had received a good 5-6 inches of rain and the ground was soft. Ok, well that makes sense as water is wet and dirt mixed with water makes mud. It does not take a genius to know this but apparently the weathermen think we are idiots. These same weathermen go on to explain how telephone poles and electrical poles are falling over due to the ground being so saturated. Alright, enough; I do not for one second believe that a telephone pole is buried so shallow as to just fall over if the first six inches of dirt get wet. All summer long these same weathermen complain that we need a good long wet rain to really penetrate the ground, yada, yada, yada. Now if these alleged poles are really buried shallow enough to just fall over when wet then it is high time to start firing some useless workers who cut corners when possible.

Before I forget, Arlo edited the first two minutes of Dirt Nap and it looks pretty good so far. I am still on the fence as to how long the finished film will actually be but it will be over ten minutes for sure. I am hoping for 15-20 minutes. We will know more when we film our missing segment.

J. Allen