Video Shoot For New Acoustic Columbia Track

Kevin Schallie and I went to the same small-town elementary school from kindergarden through Grade 6, but never really interacted much. The peripheral existence continued into high school and throughout the lifespans of our post-grad musical acts that each no longer exist (Kevin's being the much more popular Straitpipe.)

For the last couple years Kevin, along with Straitpipe co-creator Richard Jacquard, have continued forward as the re-branded Columbia and have rapidly exploded - headlining venues across North America including The Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

In September of 2009, the band had their biggest show to date playing to a sold-out crowd at The Venue in Vancouver. Kevin wanted to add live keyboards and strings to embellish two of their tracks and reached out to me, which was instantly agreed to. A collaboration 20 or so years in the making, it seems.

Naturally, the video hustle talk began and I tricked them into complying to my demands and, a year or two later, it is The Time. Which is both an obnoxious pun and the title of the band's new acoustic track we'll be shooting a video for that will be surfacing sooner rather than later.

Transformers 3 Exclusive Miami Premiere With Michael Bay

As promised, here is a glimpse at the recent Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon premiere in Miami, Florida. The entire video was shot on a Nokia C7 celphone at the height of a spontaneous/epic tropical storm that had decided to impose it's will on everyone's dry clothes and immune systems.

The after party, which Michael Bay was a very good sport about, was held at Liv - located inside the overwhelmingly classy, former 80's cocaine kingpin headquarters, The Fontainebleau Hotel.

This also marks our first venture into the newly released Final Cut X which, at first, was a little like living inside Memento...everything seems friendly and familiar but there is always a new, suspicious thing to try and make sense of around every corner. I guess Apple is starting to share people's opinion. 

The Sisters Of Mercy Featuring Lucy Rupert, Sarah Slean

Click To View Full Sized

On the day of my parent's anniversary, I am happy to announce a forthcoming feature film project titled The Sisters Of Mercy. The story takes place in 1939, mere months before the Second World War, and is a narrative adaptation of an original dance performance called "The Animals Are Planning An Intervention" created and performed by two time FortyFPS collaborator Lucy Rupert. A review by 96.3 FM in Toronto said of Animals:

The Animals Are Planning An Intervention is performed to a gorgeous string quartet by composer Sarah Slean. Lucy Rupert uses expressive animal imagery to explore the evolution contained within us. It is a beautifully conceived show, rich in set, lighting and video details. Her theme is loss and recovery, and she actually makes her lyrical body look angled and distorted.

In the film adaptation, Rupert plays the lead role of a mother named Marie who is unknowingly hand-delivered to a government institution by her three sons after a house-fire, that Marie escaped, claimed the life of her 9 year old daughter. The Sarah Slean arrangements commissioned for Animals will be featured and used throughout the film. Announcements will continue to spill out leading towards production set for Fall 2011.

New Original Score Preview "Patchwork Parade"

Section 13 [Patchwork Parade] by CJ Wallis

Earlier this year, director David Branin posted a note asking for someone to create an original score for a film he has recently finished called Goodbye Promise. The influences suggested to apply were Sigur Ros and Radiohead.

Armed with a not-very-secret obsession with both bands and a like-crafted, unreleased Elective instrumental - we contacted them. After listening to all submitted works and composers - we were ultimately selected by the filmmakers to create their arrangements.

Celluloid Social Club Photos, Screens The Rose

As was recently mentioned, our video for The Rose played in front of a sold out Celluloid Social Club last Tuesday. Additionally making our night in millions of different ways was the arrival of Mr. Chris Gonzalez and Paula Lindberg - who never could have imagined shooting Narcolepsy what strange things were awaiting her 6 years later. Click here to view the photos from the night, taken by Bob Soska.

Dead Hooker In A Trunk Gets UK Television Premiere

Like an NFL player finding out he was traded on ESPN Sportscenter rather than from his agent or management team - we here at FortyFPS and Twisted Twins Productions have received most of our film's announcements via other people's Twitter accounts.

Today's installment comes to us from ScreamQueenArmy who has announced that Dead Hooker In A Trunk will have it's UK television premiere on June 29th on The Horror Channel. There is nothing about it on their website at the moment, but I assume SQA has checked his facts.

UPDATE: He didn't...

But, since the original post was published, SQA has made good by forwarding everything to do with the debut including the channel's official press release, appropriately titled: "Beasts, Nazis and Dead Hookers - July On The Horror Channel."

Dead Hooker In A Trunk – Friday 29th 

Twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska are behind the brutal and shocking independent flick Dead Hooker In A Trunk, which must earn itself the “It Does Exactly What It Says” title of the month. The movie concerns four disparate friends, the Badass, the Geek, the Goody Two Shoes and the Junkie face a fight for their lives when a dead hooker is inexplicably found in their car. 

They list available satellite channels as 319 on Sky, 149 on Virgin and 138 on FreeSat and it is set to screen at 22:55 local time.

Celluloid Social Club To Honor The Rose, Leo Awards

Celluloid Social Club @ The Anza Club on W. 8th, Vancouver BC

Paul Armstrong, co-founder of the long-running and immensely popular Celluloid Social Club, messaged us and asked if The Rose would like to attend a Q&A screening with other recent Leo Award recipients at the next CSC event on Tuesday, June 21st. Which is a silly question that was instantly agreed to.

Paul is one of few people in this city who seems to be consistently pioneering every major development or successful event our branch of the industry has to offer. Entry starts at $5 and doors open at 7:30pm. This event is only once a month and always sells out fast making early arrival crucial.

Empire Magazine Print Ad For Dead Hooker In A Trunk

Someone sent along photos to The Twins from the June 2011 issue of popular UK film publication Empire Magazine which features a half page ad dedicated to the DVD release of Dead Hooker In A Trunk. Bounty Films have done an amazing job supporting their region's release of the film and have been a delight to deal with.

American Mary now has an IMDB page with a cast & crew listings page that is filling up nicely. On top of producing and post production/marketing work, as previously mentioned, I will direct a 9 minute sequence of the film. The last nine months two weeks of producing this film have been overwhelming but, assuming all goes according to plan in the next x amount of days, you will soon understand why. Stay sickkk.

"The Rose" Named Best Music Video Of 2010

The video made for Sarah Slean's song "The Rose" was awarded Best Music Video Of The Year at the Leo Awards.

I was unable to attend the ceremony and was notified via a txt that read: "You just won a Leo award!" from Katrin Bowen, director of the multi- award nominated feature film Amazon Falls.

Fellow 2006 Crazy8s alumni member and Phoenix co-star, Katrin took a considerable amount of her post-awards evening to ensure the award was looked after and eventually was the one to hand it to me, beaming - which made it all the more better. Thank you.

Thanks to the jury/industry members that voted for the video. This is a wonderful pat on the head and all involved appreciate it a great deal. Please feel free to check out the video by clicking here.