2006

Photos: Behind the scenes pics of the ASH WEDNESDAY shoot, during a REALLY hot summer in 2006...
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What an exhaustive year to say the least...
The first part of the year, was filled with drastic changes... I had my regular 9-5 job, I was living in San Antonio, and everything was good... Paco and Adrian were also living in San Antonio... BUT we were all hungry to make the next film... maybe not because of the script, because I still didn't have one, but maybe we were searching for something more...

We all had this incredible experience with EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS, we shot the film in 2004, finished in 2005, we went to hollywood to represent our film in a film festival, we sold it and we were all very proud that not only we finished a film, but we finished a film that was at least worthy of a national audience, and is now being seen across the country...

Then we all kind of separated, until we got together again in early 2006... We all decided to go back to Eagle Pass, not only for a while, but to actually live here, just to make our next movie...

In mid 2006, we were all here in Eagle Pass, regrouped, and determined... Once the script was finalized for ASH WEDNESDAY, we all kind of stepped back and said: HOLY SHIT.

We all knew it was too much work, and it seemed impossible to do by such a small group of filmmakers. This new movie involved makeup, blood, guns, dramatic dialogue, and just a LOT of props, like cars, buildings and an incredible amount of actors (who needed to volunteer for the project)....

Once the camera started rolling in July we were unstoppable.
We were a lot more focused, Roger, Paco and Alonso were on top of everything... We were like a well oiled movie making machine... With every shoot we felt more and more confident, and by the time August came around, and we had shot like 70% of the film, we knew we had something special.

We had a film that was not only enjoyable and fun to watch, but we were going to have a film that will be incredibly relevant and significant...

By the time November and now December, and all of our hard work of the past 5 months is now edited and assembled into an INCREDIBLE one hour and forty minutes of pure adrenalin, it is very rewarding to see that our work will pay off very well...

We have a healthy amount of confidence, that could easily be mistaken for arrogance, but those who have feasted their eyes and enjoyed ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS, know that this will be a movie that 10-20 years from now, people will still talk about it...

I am very thankful for the people who have supported us, especially our families and all of our friends.
Those are the people who don't ask for anything in return, and are there in your darkest moments... These are people who care.

2007 will be a hell of year filled with even more drastic changes.
The groundwork has been laid. I cannot wait until ASH WEDNESDAY explodes...
People will love it and people will hate it... no "in-betweens"...

Thanks again to everyone riding on this movie, we all hope for the best, but we all know that this, is just the beginning...

PS: Happy Birthday to the coolest Mother-in-law Lupe Torres (AKA Barbara Del Rio and ALSO known as "Dama")

System Error...

Photo: This is a screen shot while my PC was checking one of my harddrives for any errors... Thankfully it was an error caused by the AVID, and that I could correct...
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I am currently rendering and processing everything to compress everything on to a DVD and while compressing it into what we geeks call it a quicktime reference file, the stupid f**ing thing kept giving me a STUPID message that read:
"The system volume is not available"
AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I spent ALL day strugling, uninstalling, reinstalling, and other crap, until FINALLY I managed to do it, at this moment it is compressing itself to make a "test" DVD (which will be destroyed shortly after analyzing it).... by then it was 7pm, I was frustrated, tired and tense... so me and my wife Gaby went to see ROCKY BALBOA... which is one of the best films that I have seen all year long.. WOW. That was not a film, that was an experience.... great flick...

--...But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done.

--The only kind of repect that matters is self-respect
Rocky.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I saw the shine...

Photo: This was during our visit to Valhalla studios (Monterrey, N.L. MX) in September (2006) for the making of the soundtrack to Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus... Giuliano (drums) and Waris (guitar)... We were so broke that Paco, Roger and myself slept in the studio...
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As of now, I am relentlessly seeing Capitulo Unus from beginning to end...
The purpose is to check and recheck for any errors, either visual or audio...
It is exhaustive but VERY well worth it... I have corrected dozens of little simple stuff that needed enhancement or just adjusting stuff...

In other news, the band NEXO (from Monterrey, N.L.) has a myspace page and it has 4 BRAND NEW SONGS!
including "I saw the shine"...
here's the link: www.myspace.com/sujetonexo
NEXO (formerly known as Pennylane, then Santelmo) is also known for making the music for the soundtracks to both EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS and ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS...
The best of luck to Giuliano and Waris!

That's why you hire me...
because I make them suffer!
-Gregorio Cazares (Ash W.: Capitulo Unus)

Merry XMAS!

Merry Christmas from everyone at Digital Work Studios!
The coolest thing about Xmas, is that you get to spend time with friends and family...
The coolest thing about digital work studios, is that you get to do that, all year long...
well, except the turkey, and the gifts... jejejejeje

Wii Wish you a Merry Xmas!

Reshooting......

Photo: Delso Carrete's reshoot from yesterday, quickly shot and edited in the film...
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The holidays are now upon us, and it is now time to drink and eat and joke around, and drop off the really drunk one at the party in the middle of nowhere, so we can have something cool to hear in next year's party... if he makes it off course...
Well, we were re-shooting some of Delso's scenes, and they came out really great!
I inserted them in th AVID, and are now fully edited into the rough cut of CAPITULO UNUS...

We will be submitting to a film festival, hopefully sometime next week... So we are getting ready all of the necessary materials, poster, paperwork, DVD screener, stills, etc...

The rough cut has changed dramatically over the past weeks... it is getting really close to a final cut for all to enjoy...

Happy holidays from DWS!

Tis the season...

Photo: Doggy Mendoza voice talent in ASH WEDNESDAY... she's the voice of a dog that gets slayed...
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Buyakashaaaa...
Yesterday, I tooled around ASH, perfecting audio, correcting, sculpting...
AND THEN... I took one of ASH WEDNESDAY's most prolific voice-over stars to the vet...
It is my pleasure to announce that Doggy Mendoza is pregnant.
I was really nervous, but I just had to cope with the fact that my baby is now a full grown expecting mother...
Her boyfriend has no plans to marry her, but is very supportive and is committed to take care of the babies if Doggy needs to work on her next film...
So everything worked out.
Check out Doggy's profile on myspace:
www.myspace.com/doggymendoza

TODAY, we plan to reshoot some of Delso's stuff, so it'll be a good day...

ALSO, respek goes out to Brittani Harmeyer, today is her 18th B-day, for her B-day she got accepted to NYU film school... wicked!

More screening + good news...

Photo: Behind the scenes pic, we were shooting one of the key scenes for the end of Capitulo Unus. (In the pic: Producers Barco and Leo, ME, Brittani Harmeyer, ASH Wednesday and Matias)
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Whoa, WHAT A F'n WEEKEND!
We had several screening of the "rough cut" of Capitulo Unus, and they have been VERY helpful, to say the least...
Many peoples, came... and saw my movie-film, and were delighted... absorbed with the content...
Everyday there's something different in it, modifications are constant. It looks better everyday...
The ending is now conclusive, and looks excellent. The audio is also sounding a lot better...

As the circle of life keeps on rolling, 2 great achievements occurred this weekend...
Gricelda Torres (my sister in-law and actress in ASH WED.) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, HUGE congrats!
ALSO, Brittani Harmeyer (Boom operator) got her acceptance letter from NYU film school, in (obviously) New York City.
It is one of the coolest schools for filmmaking, where (believe it or not) they actually teach you, how to make a film... Congrats Brittani, we wish you the best...

We are preparing a version that can be "submittable" to a very prestigious festival, so hopefully I'll be posting some good news very soon...

Gearing up...

Photo: Barco and Leo making the "festival edition" rustic box. Yesterday, Leo and myself were at McCoy's cutting and finding all of the necessary materials to build a special box that will cradle the delivery of ASH W.: Capitulo Unus. Thanx to Paco for doing the carpentry work.If you really concentrate, you can make a lot of stuff with wood... snf...........
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We are running full steam and doing everything we can to get this movie in the right hands.
We are producing an impressive festival edition of Capitulo Unus, for (obviously) a film festival.
The festival is one of the most important in the world, however, our focus will be get this to the right distributor.
The rough cut is shaping up, I am still sculpting and cutting, and adding, and BELIEVE IT OR NOT, we are STILL shooting some stuff, to be added...
The story and the images look very sharp and very fast-paced...
We are still in the process of conjuring up one new scene that will be added, I can't wait to shoot that.... we'll keep everyone posted!

Busy weekend, TV Interview, re-shoots, Rough cut screening

Photo: This is a photo of our prototype poster for our film ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS. Thanks to Hector Hernandez for getting this done in a VERY impressive manner.
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WHOA, what a tumultuous weekend, to say the least...
Friday, after shuffling last-minute stuff, we finally made it to the interview at the Alamo Drafthouse (Thanx to Brandon at the Drafthouse)...
Renzo and Wilton from AIM-TV began to shell out questions as we so eloquently responded.
The interview was great, but will not be seen until April, closer to the film's release.

Special thanks goes to Hector Hernandez for setting up everything and making sure everything ran smoothly...

After our interview we saw Apolcalypto, and it was very cool... Roger was even drooling throughout the whole film... jajajajajajja

On Saturday we re-shot some stuff with main actress Eva Akashi.
This time it was incredibly cold, so it was not easy to shoot summer scenes in the cold... but we did get some VERY incredible footage, that enhances the film on so many levels.
Everything went smoothly and now the rough cut looks so much better... :-D
ALSO we voiced a lot of stuff including some ADR, and other narrations...

That same night Gabino Portes came in from San Antonio as well, and viewed the rough cut, and was impressed by the message and the look of the film...
He understood completely the concept, little details embedded in the film,
PLUS he understood the characters and their motive for their actions...
THAT was very important for us, and very rewarding to hear someone say that the movie has a lot of significance and meaning... very cool...

SUBTITLED!!!

Photo: Scene from Capitulo Unus, Evangelina Akashi (Alicia Bloom)
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Este pinche pedo YA ESTA SUBTITULADO!
Translated: The movie has been subtitled!

The only part subtitled is the parts in Spanish (which accounts for 60% of the film)...
We started Monday at 8 AM.
Subtitling crew was:
-Royer De Los Santos
-Paco Flores
-Alonso Wheeler (Delso Carrete himself)
-Ricky Mendoza

The crew came in Monday and Tuesday from 8am until 5pm...
and after everything was typed in, I went in to the AVID, and inserted every subtitle (approx. 500)...
It took me Wednesday and Thursday (between Tetris breaks and playing the Wii, and the usual bathroom stuff... :-)

Now it's time to get ready for a looooooooong working weekend giving interviews on TV and some VERY important reshoots...

BRING IT ON!

Wii have a winner

Today wii (I mean we) finish subtitling the movie from Spanish to English.

Special thanx to our dedicated producers Alonso, Paco and Roger for spending all day subtitling the film, apart from from actually producing and making the film day in and day out for the past 5 months! CRAP! We're almost there...

And also, special thanx, to the HH agency working behind the scenes and making sure we have a succesful campaign pitching it to distributors and the public alike.

On Friday we'll be interviewed by our friends at Maximas productions for the nationally syndicated TV shows American Latino TV and Latination, we'll keep you posted...

Meanwhile, here's the part when we were featured on Latination, this part March for promoting El Escape De Los Santos.
DWS on Latination

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This morning, after waking at 6am and dashing towards my local WalMart in search for a nintendo wii, I was denied, after 9 people were already in line (and only 9 were available).
I quickly directed my truck towards the next closest Walmart in Carrizo Springs (35 miles from Eagle Pass), and I was #8 (out of 9 wii's)...
Now it's time to list it on eBay... jajajajaja Nah, this one is for my son and me (or mii).

Stroke of genius

Photo: Thanks to Doggy Mendoza, she's ready for X-mas!

It's funny how life turns out to be...
This is the story of a sound effect.
It was 8 pm tonight, I was making myself a turkey sandwich, while pondering and thinking HOW THE HELL was I going to capture the sound of a dog dying without actually harming a dog.
This had been bothering me this whole week, UNTIL:
While making my sandwich I took out the turkey out of the fridge and my co-editor chihuahua Doggy Mendoza comes to me excitedly crying really loud for a piece of sliced turkey. AND IT HIT ME.
I quickly went to my editing room, got out my handy, dandy recording device and hit the record button while my dog begged and cried for a piece of turkey. ALAS, I got some great sound effects which I am going to insert as soon as this blog post hits the web....

Sometimes strokes of genius comes at the stupidest moments, it's up to us to recognize an opportunity and convert a banal moment into something useful and creative.
Oh, and by the way, my turkey sandwich tasted twice as good, and my dog got to eat 2 slices.
jajajajajajjaja

OK, a quick recap of what's been going here at Digital Work Studios (which is actually a room next to my bedroom =-D...
On Saturday night newlyweds Omar and Susana, Gibran and Lopez came to watch a rough of Capitulo Unus, and were blown away by the story... HOWEVER, I still do not feel confident to show the movie, because it is lacking some key elements that we will be reshooting this whole week...

Thankfully ALL of the reshoots have been incredibly successful, the acting and the changes in the story take the movie to a different level everytime...
ALSO, today Paco, Roger, Adrian and myself woke up at 8 in the friggin morning, to begin the daunting task of subtitling the film from Spanish to English...
We finished translating everything, but it still needs to be inserted in the movie itself.
Tomorrow we''l start on that, and we'll probably be shooting some stuff as well...

Foley fun

Photo: Silly photo of myself with my handy-dandy audio recorder... Very cool stuff...
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Sound is one of THE most important aspects of a film...
Almost all of the ultra low-budget independent films suffer from poor audio, because not many people realize how important it is...
IT IS VERY F'N IMPORTANT!
and I'm not talking about the music, sound is clean crisp dialogue, sound effects (cell phone rings, thumps, gun shots, car sounds, crashes, etc...
Sound raises a film to a professional level.

Here's a quick tip on audio; this is from the "Escape" website:
http://www.digitalworkstudios.com/audio.htm

For now, I am adding sound effects to different scenes that need it. In the "business", the adding of sound effects is called FOLEY.
When you don't have clean dialogue, actors have to come in and "voice-over" the parts that are not clean. That process is called ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement).

I am adding cell phone ringers, car noises, footsteps, and all sorts of fun stuff...
I have a special digital audio recorder (model Zoom H4 by Samson), that records professional quality audio and records on an SD chip, so I can just pop it into my PC and edit away...

Dignity

Our first attempt at movie-making [El Escape De Los Santos] is trickling into the American mass-market with more and more force as it positions itself at Wal-Marts throughout the United States...
When I was first contacted by our current distributor Venevision International, they told me their plan of having El Escape at Wal-Marts at a low price of 10 bucks a pop...
I thought it was too good to be true, because at the time I was being rejected by all of the important film festivals...
HOWEVER, after 13 months, their plan has finally come to fruition, which is really cool for us... not financially (boo-hoo), but it serves as a chance for Digital Work Studios to be a serious and established film company for many years to come...
COOL!


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On Ash news the picture above shows the remnants of our fake blood... We finished 3 little bottles and this 32oz. bottle of fake blood throughout production of Ash Wednesday which started July 1, 2006...

When we ran out of professional fake blood, on our last shoot, we used a mixture of syrup, red food coloring, cofee and flour to make a blood-like substance... YUMMMMMMM

Enhancements

Photo: Robbie Flores with producer/bro Paco Flores at AJAANA site #2 in Maverick County.
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After a brief rest from editing we reshot a scene with Robbie Flores (sister to our producer Paco Flores)...
In the pic, Paco is putting make-up on Robbie...
Paco has put ASH's scar (the cross on his forehead) 99% of the time, he has also done makeup for almost every charachter in need of makeup, including ASH Jr., Jessica (Kristi Gomez), Filo (Pepe de Anda), etc...
Paco has been so incredible at makeup, he is starting to walk funny... respek... jajajajajjaja

It seems we have been reshooting a lot, but trust me, the main beneficiary will be the audience enjoying the film.
We are so close to wrapping up I can even smell the blood clot... snifffffffffff....
jajajajajjaa
Today is Sunday, which is a working day... type, click, cut, snip and roll...

Rough Cut: part Duos

Photo: This was THE first scene we shot of Capitulo Unus. My cousin David Cervantes from Monterrey, MX. Unfortunately, this part of the scene did not make it into the film... :-(
But we'll pay it's respek, here at the blog... buyakasha...
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Relief.
Ok, I have to be honest. The first rough cut was a mess!
I couldn't understand my own movie!
HOWEVER, after spending thanksgiving day secluded inside my dark little editing room, like a little chemist...
Rearranging scenes, enhancing sound, smoothing transitions, making titles for dates and places, I can now proudly say that I have a rough cut that is worth watching... I can now thoroughly understand it and get submerged in the story...

It still needs a lot of work, like inserting ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement), inserting some re-shot stuff, some animations, smoothing audio, sound effects, and a lot more stuff...
It looks very good for a 2nd draft. By the time we're at the 15th draft it'll look extremely well...

Just to put everything into perspective, our last movie (El Escape De Los Santos), went through over more than 30 drafts!

Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus Rough Cut #2 clocks in at 1 hour and 37 min.
I shaved 3 minutes since the last cut.
I think the final cut will be 1hr and 45 min. (with credits)

Happy turkey day!

Have a great and safe thanksgiving!
I will be isolated in solitary confinement editing. Please leave the leftover turkey plates under my door, so I can gobble it up at my discretion...
yummmmmmmm
Keep it real... I'll be refining my rough cut, putting titles and enhancing scenes... I can see the final cut from afar and the horizon looks pretty cool...
Have fun and respek!

First rough cut

This morning (EARLY this morning like at 1am) we had our first rough cut screening.
Paco, Alonso, Barco and me, analyzed the movie as a whole.
The results were mixed, but there was an overall feeling of accomplishment.
We still need to mix in titles and wide shots of cities and other footage to make the story flow better.
We did pinpoint what was missing and we plan to shoot that this week.
ALSO, we had a more lucid perspective towards the movie, because it was the first time we saw the edited scenes as a whole sequence...
As of now the rough cut is 1 hour and 40 minutes. I expect the final cut to be 1 hour and 45 min....

tell me what do you need to make you happy? indeed, is it out of your reach?
beware of number ones, see all the damage it has done, there are so few of them
you won't find too many in the land of competition
southern california doesn't breed them
if you just want the best turn to yourself for the rest
and forget about the ones who have it all...
-BR- Land of competition

The Final Scene... DONE!

Photos: Ash during his final scenes along with Tati Mello at Fort Duncan (Eagle Pass, TX) NOTE: These pics are not color corrected, these are stills directly from the raw footage.
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Scene 80, the "final" complete scene in Capitulo Unus was shot today... FINALLY!
After months of trying to film this scene, everything aligned itself for it to be shot.
We needed Ash, Tati, a nice lincoln continental (thanx to Tati's Grandma!), myself, the camera and a crew of one, Alonso Wheeler (hungover but pumped for action)...
Tati and Ash were incredible! Tati was willing to do her best, having in mind that the goal was the final product of Ash Wednesday, and thanks to that, it is going to look much, much better...
Thanx Tati, for being such a great sport and having fun with us!
ASH, was his usual. Excited and ready for action... He kicked ass (literally)... and gave us a great performance!


Photo: Filo flashback with the one and only Gaby Mendoza
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ALSO, as if that wasn't enough (snf)... Pepe Anda (FILO) came over to do HIS final shoot. It involved a flashback of him hitting his wife, while his daughter was watching...
MY wife Gaby (who plays Filo's wife) was in the scene, along with Justice Martinez who played very realistically, Filo's little girl...

We had good day of shooooooooooting, and now everything is set to make a rough cut of the film.
We still have VERY minor stuff to shoot, but ALL of the scenes are shot!
COOOL!

We are SO CLOSE, SO CLOSE....

When all soldiers lay there weapons down Or when all kings and all queens relinquish their crowns Or when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves Its easy to imagine There will be sorrow... no more.
-Bad Religion- Sorrow

Patience, young Padawan....

Photo: Fake drug traffickers packaging flour. Scene for a 5 second flashback...
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Do you ever get that urge of desperation when you're SO CLOSE to finishing something, and you know that you're ALMOST done, but it still needs a lot of work? ARGGGGGGGHHHHH!

Shit. We have 1 hour and 35 min edited... I am missing 2 scenes which have not been shot (but will be shot this week), it feels that we are SO close, yet so far away...

We are also at a stage where we are viewing scenes, and if they are not good enough, we are reshooting... We won't be one of those independent filmmakers that say, we wrote this in a week, shot it in 2 weeks, and finished the film after a month or two... it's been 5 months since production began... and we are still shooting and reshooting... but I don't care...
We will be very proud, that we'll have a cool quality film at the end, and that all of our hard work will show up on screen... and that my friends, is worth waiting for...

Yesterday, we shot a quick flashback scene, with our producer Roberto Rodriguez, my cousin Victor Wheeler, and his friends at Paco's garage/basement...
Thanks to everyone for their patience....

Will you guide me now, for I cant see
A reason for the suffering and this long misery
What if every living soul could be upright and strong
Well, then I do imagine...
there will be sorrow
-Bad Religion- Sorrow

Buyakashaaaaa

Photo: Top-Tati Mello on the phone with el Jefe... Bottom- Alejandro Wheeler with Tiffany, getting ready for delivery to AJAANA in Don Ra's van...
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We had a fun day today... Despite some shortcomings, we shot our remaining footage with Tati Mello... a special thanks to Gerry Mendez and Don Raul for the cool van, and for driving around with us...
Great overall footage, this was part of scenes 13-14 which is still missing Matias... but we'll fill that in tomorrow...
ALSO we shot a quick flashback scene of a random kidnapping and my uncle Alejandro Wheeler and Tati's sister Tiffany were in it... it was a blast, and quite some work for a short 4 second flashback... if you think about it, there are 24 frames per second, so it is really for 96 frames of pure intensity...
GREAT JOB EVERYONE...
And once again our food sponsor Rodee's Fried Chicken saved the day!
Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh....

Oh and on Escape De Los Santos News... I bought El Escape today at the WalMart at Eagle Pass!
Many friends have been getting El Escape in WalMarts around the nation, so go buy it and support your cool independents!
Respek!

Re-shoooooooooootings

Photo: Julio and Ramiro having a laugh after a goofy take...
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Buyakasha... shake it like a polaroid...
Yesterday we reshot some stuff with Ash and his loyal henchman (played by Julio Valdes)...
Despite the fact that we were all sick, I had a bad cough (and I could barley talk), Alonso and Paco had a cough as well, and Barco, well, his herpes was getting worse (jajajajajaja) just kiddin', he was just mentally sick...
We went through the day, and a great day it was...

-My parents say that Mexico is a really dangerous place...
-Yes, it is... it's full of Mexicans....
One of my favorite lines off of the new movie Babel

Ash Wednesday's Piano Man "Lando" Rolando in Colmar, FR.

Photo: Rola in France! I wonder what they call a Whopper in France?
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News from music genius "Lando" Rolando Garza...
He is living in Colmar, France, where he works with the Atelier du Rhin.
He is also working in Strasbourg as a pianist for the production of La Belle Helene, de Offenbauc (for the Opera of Rhin).

Rolando Garza will be best known throughout the universe as the pianist for the soundtrack of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS, where he graciously recorded for us this past September (2006).

EXCLUSIVE: Download the audio for scene #69 where Delso Carrete tortures the fiercest assasin in Mexico, Gregorio Cazares. (mp3 format, 1.7 MBs)

The best of luck to Rola and all his endeavors!
Rock on!

Almost there...

Photos: Kristy Gomez in a flashback scene & Gerry Mendez (as Gibran), henchman of Ash Wednesday.
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While editing we have found some problems with some scenes, and if left alone, it won't affect the story, but it will affect the overall quality of ASH WEDNESDAY...
And we think that quality, even though a little more effort has to be taken, it is VERY well worth it...
We still have stuff to shoot and reshoot some more...
The edited scenes are looking incredible!

Bottom picture: while shooting scenes, Barco and Leo encountered a dead cat... we paid its respek, but we're glad it died happy... Hours later the cat had its revenge by losing Barco's glasses. Barco ultimately found his glasses next to the cat, they were chipped at one end. After that Barco buried it in his backyard... :-D

"Escape" on a whim...

El Escape is generating some good "word of mouth"...
Here's a slice of what people are posting online:
"Rented this on a whim and I was pleasantly surprised..." and " also if you rent the vid, make sure to view the two special features."
Coooooool
Here's the link to the forum:
http://bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=357898&page=21
scroll down until you see the escape picture...

Here's an interesting article about El Escape:
http://www.terra.com/ocio/articulo/html/oci152058.htm

Very busy... Respek...

Photos: Top, Hector Muñoz Mijares as the mysterious caller. Bottom pic, Jesus 'Flaco' Flores calling the shots... snf
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There's so much stuff to post...
we have been shooting a bunch of stuff that is missing, or that we forgot to shoot, or simply needed to reshoot to improve some scenes...
I have edited close to 95% of the whole film, and cannot wait to finish shooting this whole week to finally finish a rough cut...

Thanks to everyone that has been VERY patient with us... like Kristy Gomez (who plays Jessica), Tati Melo, Jesus "Flaco" Flores and others...

The scenes were shooting look great, so hopefully we'll keep it flowing...

A'right respek, and keep it real...
I hope you all go see and like my movie-film... I like you, do you like-e me? snffffffffff

...and Meanwhile...

Photo: Still frame from the movie. AFI shootout in Los Troncos, Quinatana Roo, right before the climax and the conclusion of Capitulo Unus.
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While we wait to finish up what is left to shoot on ASH, I am fiercely editing like a maniac. Like an alcoholic in a beer factory....

I've been making adjustments to music, perfecting scenes and editing minor scenes like this AFI shootout pictured here.

Photo: Xavier Lopez (right) and Omar Zuñiga (left) got married yesterday. (we'll miss you... jajajajajaja NTC)
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ALSO, a HUGE congratulations and felicidades... goes to OMAR (who plays a hitman in the movie).
OMAR Zuñiga got hanged, I mean, married yesterday.
Omar and his wife Susana are in Puerto Vallarta enjoying the beach... (yeah right!)...
Have fun and wish you the best!

Resuming Production

Photo: Still from movie. Some of the beautiful imagery of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS. This was shot in San Antonio, TX. This still is from a scene that is 4.5 seconds long...
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We are gearing up and preparing for all the shoots that are left.
We have 2 complete scenes + a bunch of pickup shots + a lot of audio sound effects and ADR to record.

I have edited ONE hour and THIRTY min. of the movie!
And there is still stuff that needs to be edited, by that, I think our final cut will be 1 hour and 50 min, maybe 2 hours with credits, so we'll see...

We're all excited to get back into production. Can't wait...

OH, and thanks to everyone who has been buying and renting EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS!
We've gotten a lot of good comments from all around... Thanks again!

Production of Ash will resume

Photo: still from movie... Delso Carrete (Alonso Wheeler) thinking medieval thoughts...
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After a slight setback, we are getting off our asses and finish filming this incredible CHAPTER ONE of Ash Wednesday....
We have shots programmed with Ash himself, Jessica, and other quick and easy shoots, and reshoots...
No longer will we remain flacid and unused! jajajajajajaja
ok, well not completely... The editing process is going extremely well... the scenes are beautiful, horrible, shocking and somewhat insane...
See you in the pit!

ESCAPE DVD Release + Screening + ASH

Photo: Me with my copy of Escape... Very cool...
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Me and Alonso picked up a copy of El Escape De Los Santos this past weekend, and it was much better than expected.
The menu screen is simply awesome, and all the special features are there... so I am very happy that the movie is finaly out, and I don't have to worry about it anymore...
The screening for El Escape (this past friday) was very cool...

Afterwards we showed scenes 8-11 of Capitulo Unus along with the trailer...
The reaction was exceptional (as expected of course :-) Hopefully it'll be complete by mid-November and test it for audiences... CANNOT WAIT....

Production is aout to be restarted to shoot the absolute last scenes and some quick pickup scenes, HOWEVER Post-production will take a slight pause in order to produce a corporate video for a client.

Official Escape DVD Day!

El Escape De Los Santos, is a film that took us about 3 1/2 years to make.
The first 2 years were spent developing the script, and how the story was to unfold AND that time was spent buying the equipment we needed to do the film (camera, boom mic, cables, editing PC, etc.)

Alonso Wheeler, wrote 2 drafts, and I wrote the 3rd draft.
After assembling everything from our script, Alonso and I finally settled on it, and in 2004 we were finally ready.

In March 2004, we started shooting, and finished until February 2005.
We were very ill prepared, but we finally got everything shot.
I edited sporadically in 2005 due to the fact that I had a real job, BUT I finally finished a FINAL draft in June 2005.

We submitted to ALL of the remaining important film festivals, and we got rejected by ALL of them.
Luckily, I had submitted my film to a distributor called Venevision International, they called me very interested in the movie, and offered me a deal on the spot.

Later on we finally got accepted to the Hollywood DV Festival...

In April, ESCAPE was released on Pay-per-view all over the US, on dish network, direcTV, Time Warner, etc...

AND FINALLY TODAY, the movie is released on DVD across retailers everywhere.

But what does this really mean to us?
Simply put, this means that there's an audience for our movies, and we now know, we can make a career out of making movies.

Special thanks to everyone who believes in us, and especially those who have helped us along the way.

AND here's another special treat!
This is the Behind the Effects section of El Escape, which is also included on the DVD. Enjoy!


If you can't find the DVD at your local store, try Amazon.com or any other reputable online retailer, there are many who carry it.
To buy from Amazon click here.

Many people are asking what is included on the DVD, well here's the rundown:
-The movie has been changed to a widescreen format
-It will include 3 Behind the scenes featurettes
-Behind the Escape
-Behind the Effects
-Behind the Score
-Theatrical Trailer
-Subtitles in English

Bloopers from ESCAPE> DVD tomorrow!

ALRIIIIIGHTY THEN...
I've been cutting around here and there, and doing some more music for ASH...
I just cannot believe it!!! I am SOOOOO close to a rough cut!!!
I think that by the end of the month we'll have a rough... but we still have time...
ANYWAYS, here's something special for everyone who saw EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS on PPV or elsewhere...
To celebrate the release of the film on DVD TOMORROW, we have uploaded the bloopers for El Escape on youtube...
We really appreciate everyone who has pre-ordered the DVD! Thanks for the support!

ESCAPE DVD, ASH progressing....

Photos: Stills from the finalized sequence of effects. This was shot greenscreen and put on street. We decided early on to do this because we really did not want to cause any problems with police, or traffic... Another challenging aspect is that the 18 wheeler passes in front of them, so that had to be composited as well, frame by frame, very time consuming, bet very wel worth it...
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ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS is to be released this Tuesday on DVD across the United States, so check at your local blockbuster.
Here's the link:
Blockbuster Escape page

If you're having a tough time finding it, just order online at Amazon:
Order Escape at Amazon

ASH WEDNESDAY:
I was finishing up the visual FX of Delso dumping Cazares in Mexico... looks clean and neat...
ALSO, I was tightening the scene where Matias gets kidnapped... It is now more intense and much better looking. The audio sounds a lot better too...
ALSO, I have been touching up a lot of scenes here and there, just sculpting and perfecting them.
In the coming weeks I am to delve in to to the audio, with sound effects, ADR and more music, so it should be fun...

Fan boys R us! Fan boys forever... snf

Photo: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu after the screening for BABEL
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Yesterday, we went on a special trip to Austin to enjoy a screening.
The title of the moving pictures that flashed upon us was BABEL made by the incredible Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu.

Like true fanboys, ME, Alonso, Paco and Barco... we trekked all the way to Austin and got there at 4pm... THE SCREENING WAS AT 7:30pm!

We waited, we waited, we went to bathroom a couple of times and we waited some more...
When we finally went into the theatre, no one knew who the hell was the Director, or anything about the movie, it seemed that many people went because it was a FREE screening... but whatever...

The lights went down and the projector initiated to display the film.
I was enjoying every 24 frames that passed every second, I hate that we HAVE to blink, but s**t, what can I do...

The movie ended, and WOW!
It was great and beautiful... Everything was there: The shots, the story, the emotion, THE CLOSEUPS! Incredible!

After that, the Director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu came out for a Q & A session, he answered everything from how he started out, to, that it took him 2 days to film a white pussycat... very entertaining... and very informative...
I was in AWE, because ever since I saw Amores Perros I was inspired to make films, so I felt like I was watching Mr. Myagi beat the s**t out of the bad guys... MASTER!

One of the things that I got from him, was the similarities that we share. (not comparing, of course)
We don't storyboard. we shoot what feels right at the moment, and we respect and trust everyone who is working in the movie.
Of course, we all have different styles of doing everything, but in the end I am glad that he showed a certain humbleness... Not a god-like figure that some pretentious directors tend to get.

And I think, that's what makes it inspiring, because you feel if HE can do it, I can do it...

BABEL Trailer:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/babel/

If you want to be understood... LISTEN....

OOOOOOH, and as you can see, my fanboy self was busy, so no progress was made on ASH WEDNESDAY, but I'll make up for it today! YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

The gift that keeps on giving...

Photo: Still from El Escape De Los Santos... It's funny because we're still using that gun on Ash Wednesday... We recycle!
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El Escape De Los Santos, our first film, is like a gift that... well, you know, you read the title...

On October 20th there will be a special screening of El Escape in San Antonio at:
7 p.m.
Radius
106 Auditorium Circle (right across from the Municipal Auditorium)
San Antonio Texas , 78205

This screening will be a perfect time to celebrate the release of the film on DVD, which comes out that same week! perfect timing!

The screening will be a part of the Adelante Film Forum which is:
"This intensive, three-day conference will bring media industry experts and scholars to the local film community to share secrets and to strategize about the future of independent media. Through workshops and panels, filmmakers will learn how to meet the challenges of the exploding diversity of new markets and genres."
More info and calendar of events here:
http://www.nalip.org/texas/sananto/TheAdelanteFilmForum.html

I will be present to say a few words, to introduce a "behind the effects" segment AND to present the trailer for ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS, among other surprises...

Apparently, this is a free event open to the public, but more info will be posted here in the coming days...

On ASH WEDNESDAY, I've been editing ALL DAY LONG... my eyes hurt... but I have my phone service restored... FINALLY!

It's progress...

Photo: Delso Carrete beating the s**t out of the fiercest killer in Mexico...
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It's progress...
I have been at it all day, torturing my PC...

I now have a favorite scene that I just cannot help but watch over and over and over...
It involves Delso Carrete torturing the most feared assasin in Mexico, but the beauty of the scene is not what's happening on screen, but what's happening inside his head.

While all this goes on you are viewing this horrible torture scene, yet a mixture of a melancholic piano, a reversed piano, a haunting humming sound mixed with some screams, give you a sense that there's more to it than making justice.
The piano itself is absolutely haunting. Thanks to Lando-Rolando Garza for this great melody...

Delso is finally getting revenge for his friend and partner Nestor Pragas (R.I.P. snf), whom he lost in the Tijuana drug wars of 98'. A contract was out for his head after Ash Wednesday finds out that he is an undercover DEA officer. Nestor was tortured for 7 days and was dumped on a well trafficked boulevard.
Delso is extremely pissed, and sets his sights on getting revenge to whomever did this to his partner. Delso goes AWOL on the DEA and is determined to get vengeance.
This is NOT in the movie, so it is not spoiling anything, yet it does play an important part.
It's good knowledge to have before you see Capitulo Unus next year. :-D

In ESCAPE news, we have a GREAT event planned for October 20th, but more details shall be disseminated as soon as I get confirmation... it'll be posted here ASAP.
30 second commercials in Univision can be seen NATIONWIDE promoting the DVD that will come out Oct. 17.
MTV.com, VH1.com, target.com, amazon.com, bestbuy.com, Univision.com and many others are accepting pre-orders...
Thanks to everyone that embraces EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS.
A lot of heart was poured into that movie...

you get busy living...

Photos: Special FX preview of the dumping of one of the most fiercest killers in Mexico. Delso Carrete sending a message to Ash Wednesday.
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Well, I've been at work like a little chemist, touching up scenes, continued editing, and have started some FX scenes like the one depicted in the pics.

Crazy weekend with some well-deserved cerveza involved... Hector Hernandez, from the well respected HH Agency in San Antonio, came down and previewed what we have edited so far...
He claims "...it makes Running Scared look like Kill Bill"... :-D

Some other folks have previewed the scenes, and it's fun watching the expressions on some peoples faces... very fun indeed... Can't wait till' the movie is finished...

HOLY CRAP! I am up to ONE hour and TWENTY minutes of edited footage!
And there's a LOT more scenes left to edit... I expect the final cut will be at around TWO hours (excluding credits), so we'll see how that turns out... YIKES!

You get busy living... or you get busy dying...
-Andy Dufrense

Another day in the editing room...

Photos: Final product. Everything Black-and-white except Red... Schindler's list effect... The 2nd pic shows the original frame as we shot it.
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I've been patching up effects, and cutting some fresh scenes...
I had been working on Filo's imminent date with destiny since last night, but I'm glad I got it right this morning... a lot of clever editing left me with happy sensation. aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh...

Another scene I've been working on is on Ash as young man... the catalystic piece that starts it all (not in the movie, but in the story...), like I said, this has been a piece I've been working on since 2 weeks ago, and I still cannot finish... but it is looking VERY good...
There's a lot of special effects here, like this tricky color correction of making everything black-and-white except the color red... final product is going to look great...

I think I'm done for the day... beers? anyone?

PS: I learned today that "ALL that glitters, is NOT gold..." From the new episode of spongebob :-D
ta-ta for now...

Color-correction as a tool...

Photos: Here's Jessica (played by Kristi Gomez)... The 1st picture is the final product, and the orange tinted one, is exactly as we shot it that day... Color-correction can provide us of yet another tool to better tell the story.
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Good morning star shine, the earth says hellooooooo!
I am still editing and chopping and putting together cuts to make the film.
There is 15+ hours of raw footage that we have shot, so I have to crawl through all this material to make the final product.
Edited I have an hour and 17 minutes... It is coming alive...

Here's a quick note on color correcting:
As I am editing I adjust the colors to my liking, to get a more edgier feel, and the color itself, marks the movie with it's own style of visualization...
If we were working with actual film, we would have to send it to the lab, to make these adjustments [of color], thank God for digital!

ALSO, congrats to Patricia Vonne...
she was featured in the Austin Woman Magazine:
www.austinwomanmagazine.com
Her 3rd studio album is in the making, and she is constantly on tour, AND she'll be in Austin at Jovita's... October 7th.
more info here: www.patriciavonne.com
Her song Soledad, was featured in the incredible, amazing and astounding indie hit El Escape De Los Santos.

Who's motorcyclye is this?
It's not a motorcycle babe, it's a chopper...
Who's chopper is this?
It's Zed's...
Who's Zed?
Zed's dead, baby, Zed's dead...
-Pulp Fiction

The Yoda Man

I cannot believe it...
my 8 year old son Ricky is now venturing into filmmaking... (teardrop)
he made this film today with my digital photo camera and my tripod...
THEY GROW UP SO FAST! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
It's a short film called "the Yoda Man", it is stop-motion animation...

Category?

Photo: Another still from the movie... Gregorio Cazares (Fred Cisneros) before taking on business.
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Many people have asked me what kind of movie is ASH WEDNESDAY?
Action, drama, latino, suspense...?
To tell you the truth... I HAVE NO IDEA!
There's a lot of people with guns and knifes, but we don't focus on that... so I honestly do not know...
I've heard people say: "you should do an action film, because, that is what sells" or "the latino films are the ones that the people are watching!"
We really, just want to make a GOOD film, and we don't focus on anything else.
I hate jail movies, yet "the shawshank redemption" is one of my favorites... I hate corny space movies, yet "star wars" is right up there...
I am not comparing ASH with these "greats", it's just that sometimes movies don't have any boundaries.
With that thought thought, thanks to everyone who believes.

Still chopping!

Screen stills form film: Di Galvan (as an intrepid reporter) + Robbie Flores and Sonia Valdez. Shooting in Piedras Negras, MX, and they were screaming in the middle of the street... awesome shoot...
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More progress is being made...
I cannot believe how much work I am getting done without a cell phone... nobody called me anyway, but you know... I pretended people would call me... :-D
OK folks... more stills from the editing today...
You might be asking, what characters are these girls? The answer will be revealed when the shining light bouncing back from the screen is entering your eyes and your brain is processing the story... AND then and ONLY then you will be enlightened!
I can't believe we're in October already... gotta get it done...