Digital Work Studios

The new blog website!

2009-03-01T22:46:00.002-06:00

Our blog has changed address!!!
And to celebrate our upcoming new project we are going to give our blog a new facelift...
And we will start with the new blog:
http://blog.digitalworkstudios.com/

If you're subscribing to our RSS feed, you need to update to our new feed because this will no longer be updated...
Here's the new feed:
http://blog.digitalworkstudios.com/?feed=rss2

The new blog is still a work in progress but it will be complete in the coming months.
We also have transferred every single post and comments from this blog to our new one!!

If you have any questions drop me a line:
http://blog.digitalworkstudios.com/?page_id=222

:)

Epiphany

2009-01-09T06:28:00.002-06:00

Ever since my grandfather Juan Manuel Wheeler died, and my grandmother Alicia Mendoza Chisum during these past months, it wasn't only sorrow that was passing through my soul ripping me to shreds but it was something else.
The fact that I am not a spiritual person doesn't really help either.
I don't really believe in God or any religion per se. Yes, I many times I feel ashamed admitting it, especially coming from such a strong catholic family...
The point is, that ever since both of these horrible events happened I was swept with a sad understanding that everything is pointless, meaningless.
The things we talk, meaningless.
The things we do, meaningless.
The things we celebrate, meaningless.
My perspective is that we live, we die, as part of some cycle we call life, and that's pretty much it.

However minutes before writing this I had, what wiser men would call an epiphany.
A deeper understanding.
And it has everything to do, that today is my Son's 11th birthday and that yesterday was my wife's birthday.
I write this with tears in my eyes, of joy, that I finally figured it out.

While I was sleeping I awoke with my Son and my wife at my side and I thought of everything all at once. My family, my surviving Grandma Lupita, my Sisters, my Mom... my future job directing...
And suddenly, it came to me. The "meaning" I was looking for. It had suddenly found me.

Love.

I kinda understand now that life is not without meaning, but we are the ones responsible to "put" meaning into life. And to me, that meaning is love.

As cliched as that might sound, but it's true for me.

The love for my family, my friends, my work, they are all very, very important to me and I am happy for that.

It's not like a have a new direction in life, because I was already doing what I felt in my heart was right. I am with the people I love, I even work with people that I love. I just had a more in-depth understanding of what the meaning of my life is.

You get busy living, or you get busy dying. Has new meaning today and dammit I can now finally live with a more peaceful mind.

Maybe that John Lennon was right. All we need is love.
:)

New day: Our new movie has so much significance and "meaning" and I cannot believe I will start research as soon as Monday.

I hope that I can finally divulge what we are brewing very soon.

Have a great day :)

2009 with open arms

2008-12-28T12:48:00.006-06:00

________________________

It is that time again to put into perspective our trajectory throughout this past year... The people we lost, the friends we made, the laughs, the sorrows... It has been an eye-opening year...

The world of filming and making "Capitulo Unus" (Ash Wednesday) seems like a blur or a far-away place I once was... except that news in Mexico do remind me about our film, and sadly the reality is that it makes Ash Wednesday seem like a kid's movie...

Even though we were disappointed by lethargic distributors, the movie has paved the way for our growth as filmmakers.

As a side note: Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus has not been released at all HOWEVER the poster for the film is "available" and is for sale at many online retailers... just google CAPITULO UNUS POSTER...

We were surprised, excited and violated at the same time when we heard the news that people were profiting off of our work, but being a small independent company like ourselves, we consider it promotion or advertising...
posters on walls = advertising
and besides it is frankly the first time I've ever heard of the "pirating" of posters from an independent film that has not been released... so that's kinda cool... jajajaja

2009, It's time to turn the tide.

The beginning

2008-11-19T21:58:00.005-06:00

FINALLY, FINALLY we can say with comfort that our brand new movie has gotten some wings and is beggining to prepare for take-off...

Due to contract negotiations, we won't be able to spill the beans on what this THIRD Digital Work Studios movie is to be about, but what I can say is that yesterday Tuesday November 18, 2008 an important group of human beings (including ourselves, obviously) got together, and these human beings committed to move forward with our next project that has been brewing in our minds for quite some time now.

Thanks to everyone that has helped us along the way.

We are all super-duper excited, and we honestly cannot wait to see this film...
We are very humbled to have been chosen to make this... and I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

Once everything is in place, negotiations are final, and in order I will be more detailed, but in the meantime I am going to savor this moment. :)

Also we don't expect to start filming anytime soon, we hope to begin filming somewhere around Fall 2009.

Great strides

2008-11-11T19:07:00.002-06:00

The waiting is killing me...
but we are working very hard behind the scenes, in what is to be a very challenging project...
The process is has been painfully slow, but if everything goes well... We would be starting pre-production by January 2009...
Aaaaggggghhhh!!!

Hopefully we will have a very active blog starting in January, or hopefully sooner...
:)

The Passing of a Giant

2008-09-17T22:42:00.007-05:00

My Grandpa Juan Manuel Wheeler and I. (2000)
_______________________________________

On Tuesday, September 16 my grandpa Juan Manuel Wheeler passed away.
He was bigger than life in many ways, and he lived life to the fullest AND had a huge impact in all of our lives.
He was a poor kid from Mexico who became a giant in his field and in the region of Coahuila and Texas, he started as a radio personality and later he created a TV station on which he was the owner and the main anchor for the news.
This was the most trusted man, way before the internet, and when TV ruled the world.
He was my hero.
He cursed worse than a sailor, and his daily mission was to make everyone around him laugh.
He wore very cleancut suits with a crazy tie and had a huge mustache. His pride was his voice and his voice was his life.
His voice was very commanding and deep, and when broadcasting he sounded like a Mexican version of Walter Cronkite.
Naturally, he had a way with words.
As a kid he never finished elementary school, he had to work to support his Mom and the rest of the family.
He taught me many lessons that I will never forget. He was always there for me and he inadvertently did things that changed my life forever.
He was a great mentor and a great friend.

You were a fighter, and even though it hurts losing you, I still laugh at all the insane things that you did every day.

That's all I could write.

I Love you.

the update

2008-08-31T21:14:00.002-05:00

I haven't updated the blog for a while now...
I try to keep focused that this blog be dedicated to our films, and since we haven't started preproduction on our third film, well, that leaves the blog pretty much with zero updates.

Oh and Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus? Release date?
Well our soon to be ex-distributor, or our never-was distributor postponed the signing and obviously the release date, so we are back at square one on the distribution side...

I know. It is as bad as it sounds. jajajaja

However, as usual, one door closes and many open... we are already in talks with various distributors that are interested. So I'll make sure and post something as soon as it happens...

And also, on our third film... we are in the midst of something really cool, exciting and very inspirational... so stay tuned.
After everything gets into place we should have a very active blog even before pre-production starts... yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh
:)

"Step up to recreation!" commercials

2008-07-14T14:32:00.005-05:00

______________________________
Apart from movies, I have to make a living and what better way to make a living on doing video productions for television...
We recently finished shooting some really cool commercials for a "Get fit" campaign for the City of San Antonio.
Thanks to our good friend Jody Garcia and everyone at Parks and Recreation for their help and their trust!
You can see the commercials here:
http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/stepuptorecreation.asp

:)

Hector's Surgery

2008-07-07T02:51:00.003-05:00

Our good friend Hector Hernandez is having surgery on his back (OUCH!)
He actually emailed me and told me he was going to be "carved up like a turkey!"
He's funny... like funny ja ja...
Good luck HH...
May the force be with you!

Where I am and where to go...

2008-06-26T17:30:00.003-05:00

To be conformed is to be dead.
:)
jajajaja
I woke up today with a complete sense of nonconformity... almost disturbing....
I am not conformed with what I am doing... and it is frustrating and liberating.
I must say that I do feel very accomplished. We've done better than what I expected...
After we finished our second movie (ASH WEDNESDAY), it was very draining and left us quite satisfied with the results...
HOWEVER since finishing we've been focusing on our other dreams... For myself, I am now focusing on my family and I've been studying and learning music... AND I am making dinero by selling my work to do commercials, TV shows, presentations, etc...
I am very good at what I do, however there comes a point when it's not challenging anymore...
And I felt that way 3 years ago before doing ASH, and now I feel it again...

However our next project is going to need a lot of attention and that's why we've been patient. We've been training. And when the time comes, we'll be prepared.

Our next project is about someone who inspired Paco and myself a lot. This particular person showed us that you can do anything NO MATTER WHAT.

That is where our focus will be.
To be continued...

PS: One of my greatest inspirations, George Carlin, died this week... This man meant a lot to me, and he too showed me that anything is possible, that your path is malleable, and how you can bend it anyway you want... He was a rebel and one of the best entertainers with lots of substance... I will miss him very much... :(

FYI: Goerge Carlin was more successful in his "golden" years than he ever was in his youth...
To make a long story short, he, at one time owed the IRS thousands of $$$$... He had 2 choices. Work hard and straighten up or go to jail. Fortunately for us... he worked hard, and gave us some incredible performances... I saw him once in Las Vegas (where he sat there reading and testing his routines), and once in San Antonio... :)

Kid Barrio

2008-06-17T18:07:00.003-05:00

YAY!
I just finished (yesterday) the new video (this is my 3rd music video) for our friend el Basi (stagename L BASI)
He's going as a soloist with this new song KID BARRIO...
The video kicks ass! IMHO jajajajaja
This song has hit the charts in Mexico City and is in heavy rotation at Reactor.
If you haven't heard it, skip on over to L Basi's site now! (and click on Kid Barrio)
We shot at the beginning of June so it was sooooo f***ing HOT!!!!
Thanks to everyone that came out...
El rik, Gera "el Bombon", Barbara, etc, etc.....
I loooooove this song, and hopefully we made justice to the song!

In the works at DWS

2008-05-26T13:40:00.002-05:00

As of today, we still don't have a release date for Ash Wednesday, HOWEVER something really cool is brewing in our factory...
I am so excited.
The downside is that this upcoming project will take a while to pre-produce, and will probably start filming until spring 2009... It's kind of a complicated process....
In the meantime I am learning the art of music.
Music has always been important to us, but we never had the time or the dinero to forge on...
so we decided to start learning music and instruments... I bought some drums and I am learning my son's guitar... jajajaja
I am also investing in a serious midi-keyboard setup to compose orchestrated music for movies... etc....
And apart from freelancing for $$$$ we are tirelessly working on our very passionate next feature...
We will be posting some really exciting new stuff in the coming months so stay tuned...
:^D

post from a post...

2008-04-20T17:37:00.002-05:00

This is a blog post from our friend Alex Probst (who designed a bunch of stuff from Ash), but he posts the reflexions of another close friend Mario Aldrete (came out in EL ESCAPE, jajajaja)
and here it is:
http://alexprobst.blogspot.com/2008/04/just-another-note-on-how-skateboarding.html

In the meantime...

2008-04-18T22:58:00.002-05:00

We will be a little busy preparing our new movie, which will take a WHILE...
and we mean a while.... jajajaja
so, I will probably not be posting for a bit... HOWEVER I will be posting updates on ASH, and other minor stuff...
Our next project will involve a ton of pre-production, and is very ambitious and scary (but not in a horror movie sense, just in the sheer magnitude of the whole thing...), but we're up for the challenge, and we are very excited...

In the meantime:

:)

Into the Unknown

2008-03-27T00:16:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I FINALLY signed the contract that will put Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus in front of consumers worldwide...

After several YEARS (since 2006, OUCH! jajajajaj)...
...seems like yesterday, several of us quit our jobs, we worked hard and had tons of fun making ASH, and finally the final step of getting this film seen has finally arrived...

As soon as we're given a release date, you'll be the first to know (blog readers :)...

So NOW WHAT??!??

jajajajaj well that is by far the most frequently asked question and the answer is... as far as our next project, expect something much better than Capitulo Unus. Even though we are extremely proud of the film, one learns through experience... and so our natural evolution will lead us to something really cool.

I have begun to write and there's a lot of things going on, but it looks like it would be something a little different than ASH (for now)...

OK, also I must add that ASH and EL ESCAPE both have myspace pages!

ASH myspace

EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS myspace

Thanks for all your support, we hope you rent or buy ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS!

Salud.

The indie film movement

2008-02-25T12:42:00.000-06:00

This is yet another non-requested opinion, and this time I am going to rant about the independent film movement...

The Oscars gave an interesting insight and while the media keeps pounding on how boring it was because nobody has even seen the films that were up for awards.

The only film that made more than 100 million

dollars was the indie hit JUNO. Juno also won Best Picture at the independent spirit awards (where Chris Eska's August Evening won the John Cassavetes Award. Much congrats to his team!)

The others made less than $65 million (in theatres).

What's interesting is that these meaningful movies that are quite unique and thought-provoking get shunned by the public but shine at all the award shows.

The truly sad part is that the big studios are making these movies only as side projects, and when they make them, they make them with a very modest budget compared to the big blockbusters.

I guess that's the independent filmmakers job. Our job is to illuminate the world to our truly unique vision and perspective.

Our passion for telling a story is almost tangible. We don't see it as a job, we see it as our duty.

I truly salute everyone that is pushing the limits...

As we set to the task of delving into our next not-yet-named-feature, we are all incredibly excited about the whole independent movement.

Some movies are fun, but there are others that are unforgettable...

:-)

Opinion: The future of distribution

2008-02-18T23:50:00.001-06:00

HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray
What is to be the future format for watching movies?

As I'm sure you must have ~~not~~ heard by now... The HD war is over, and the winner is Blu-Ray!

Hmmm the bad thing is nobody cared...

And that got me thinking into the future for distribution, obviously being an independent filmmaker I'm affected by this.

Well let's quickly talk about the past and the present state of distributing feature films.

Ever since its introduction the feature film has been enjoyed the most at a movie theatre. It is easy to get sucked into a great story told by a huge screen and loud speakers...

A movie could last months or even years in theatres... No one could take the movies home, so it was natural that movies would last for months in theatres...

Later on with the advent of Home Video (VHS) Hollywood became very nervous of this newfound technology. They thought people would never go to the movies again.

Video rental stores devoured the film business, but later found out people still went to see the latest movies... And that was only because for a movie to come out on VHS, you would have to wait more than 8 months to even a year until it came out for rental (and forget about buying a film, since it would cost 80 to 100 dollars to purchase a VHS copy!)

DVD came along and shook the film business again, only this time it was for the better, economically at least.

Almost 80% of Hollywood's profits are from DVD's today. For a big budget movie that is only going to stay at the local theatre for two months (at the most) it will barely break even... After the 2 months they would release the film on DVD and really rake in the profits.

You see DVD's are cheap to produce and now people could buy their favorite film on high quality AND receive bonus features for a super low bargain prices (there are DVD's at the dollar store!!!).

So everyone wins...

So along comes Blu-Ray HD, and is promising to replace the DVD... Don't get me wrong, the quality is jawdropping, but I am not paying 30-40 bucks for quality...

I honestly think that Blu-Ray is not competing against HD-DVD, it's real competitor will be online download video rentals and purchase sites... (iTunes, Jaman, are great examples)

With the advent of high-quality screens on phones such as the iPhone, the new nokia phones, and other smartphones this will also be an important factor in the consumption of media...

These next 2 years will be very interesting to see where everything is going...

Staying Independent

It is very exciting to see this as an independent filmmaker because of the wealth of opportunities this creates.

I can't wait for the revolution...

_____________________________________

References:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/16/toshiba-pulling-the-plug-on-hd-dvd-already/

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/15/wal-mart-to-officially-discontinue-hd-dvd-sales-by-june/

Hector's Dad passes away (Updated)

2008-02-07T11:44:00.000-06:00

Hector Hernandez's Dad passed away yesterday afternoon.
We are deeply saddened and it is in these times when I am at lost with words.

But please let's show Hector, Jaqueline and his family know that they are not alone, in this difficult time.

You can post your support here in the comments, or you can send him a personal note at this email hh @ digitalworkstudios dot com.

Update:

Beloved husband, father, and grandfather, Elisandro P. Hernandez, age 71, passed peacefully from this life into the presence of God on Wednesday, February 6, 2008. He was surrounded by those who loved him. Chano leaves a legacy of hard work and dedication to his family. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Cruz C. Hernandez; children, Henry (Diane), Greg (Adriana), Hector (Jacqueline), Javier (Angelica), Jaime (Sarah), and Imelda; 9 grandchildren: Ashley & Saul, Jacqueline & Jeniffer, Diego & Sofia, Armando & Mario, and Gilbert; numerous other family members and a host of friends. The family would like to express its deepest appreciation to all those who kept the family in prayer.

Visitation will be held at Castillo Funeral Home on Sunday, Feb. 10^th at 10:00 am to 7:00 pm with a Rosary recital to follow. Mass will be held on Monday, 10:00 a.m. followed by a gravesite service at San Fernando Cemetery #2.

Happy Ash Wednesday!

2008-02-06T11:41:00.000-06:00

Well today is Ash Wednesday. jajajaja

I guess today would be a great day to let everyone know the details about the distribution of Capitulo Unus and of our future.

Well, Ash will be distributed by Laguna Productions and they will be our main distributors in the United States and would be our intermediary for the rest of the world... We are working on distributing to the rest of the galaxy, but it doesn't seem this is going to happen anytime soon...

Until then, the plan would include distributing the film, starting with the U.S. on pay-per-view/video on demand, etc... And later on to follow with a full release to DVD and would be available to retailers everywhere.

We had several options in distributing Capitulo Unus, and Laguna, apart from giving us a great deal, we liked the way they work the DVD market.

They focus primarily on the Hispanic market, but are really strong and cemented in the retailers that matter (including WalMart, Best buy, Blockbuster, among others)

As of now we don't have a release date, but of course we will post it here first! ALSO, thanks to everyone for the amazing amount of support.

ALSO, on the "future project", let's just say that it is in the works. jajajaja

What I CAN say is that we have to grow out of our comfort zone. We have done the best we could with very, very... very limited resources.

Now it's time for the next step.

Oh the media machine...

2008-01-20T13:27:00.000-06:00

_______________________________________________

This is from the MovieMaker winter 2007 edition. The mag is still out there in bookstores (I guess until the new spring edition comes out !?!) It is circulated worldwide.

It's been a while, we've been quite busy, on some uninteresting projects (that's code for "not-movie-related") jajaja
I was featured in MovieMaker magazine, last year, but I didn't get a chance to pick it up, until this weekend...
So here it is...
You can download the article as a PDF here.
It's an article about how cool San Antonio is, and how it shines in our movies...
We filmed several scenes for Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus, but the one that stands out is a scene we shot in Di Galvan's house, where she lies dead on the floor, it's a 3-4 second flashback scene, but the surroundings are really cool, very representative of San Antonio...
Her house was even shown on HGTV as part of a national TV show highlighting homes in South Texas...

So finally, when can everyone get a copy of Ash? When will it be released, etc.???
All I can say is soon. Very, very soon!

We'll post all of the details as soon as everything is finalized and ready to go...
:-D

State of affairs, state of mind (currently)

2007-12-21T12:32:00.000-06:00

What the hell are we after?
success? the american dream? a car? $$$$? a house?
to each his own, and I of course do not speak for every person who is part of the digital work studios project(s), but truly there comes a time when consequences have to be accepted and just work your way out of a hole.

I dug myself (personally) into a huge hole.
We finished Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus in late January of 2007, and from there on, I have spent a lot of my personal earnings on that film that took close to a year to make.
In 2007, we spent it trying to find Ash Wednesday a distributor, and get our career going with part 2 of Ash...
Well, we went to live in L.A. and then we went to the film festival in NY, and while I was focusing all of our efforts, there was no income being generated... Not that I was blinded by the movie, but I knew that the opportunities that were coming, I HAD TO TAKE THEM...

So it was a risk. A risk that at the end doesn't even look right.
It's blurry.
Why? Was Ash Wednesday, the launching pad, that we would expect it would be?
Well, YES and NO.
Ash was not accepted into the major festivals and it didn't get the huge distribution deal that we expected, HOWEVER it earned us something more important than that.
First and foremost, we think we offer quality, and nothing else... and that many people respect what we make, and that we are honest and very hard-working.
Thanks to Ash, we have many new friends in all fields... that dig what we do, and are ready to help us, as well as we are there for them.

So what happened to Ash Wednesday and the aftermath?
Well I cannot get into much detail, but we are REALLY excited that in early 2008, Ash will be distributed nationwide in the United States. (more soon on that)
Also, another important question is:
What happened? Why was Ash not the big success we expected?
Well, that's not a very fair question right?
simply because you can't judge its' success or failure if it has not come out yet, right?
So I guess we would be ready to answer that in a couple of years...
In the meantime, we're just happy that we're not entirely broke and that this year has been a great year full of great memories, and I expect even more fun stuff in 2008.

Oh and on the big economic hole I dug myself into... jajajaja... I started, or I guess I have continued to do my local TV show in Eagle Pass, TX.
What? a TV show? jajajaja Back in 1998, I was young, newly married and jobless, my uncle let me do a TV show and all I needed to do was come up with advertisers, so we made a TV show.
That experience taught me how to shoot and edit, and how to communicate.
The show lasted until 2003 and NOW I am resuming the show... it's called EL ANTI-SHOW, and it's a really goofy program full of nothing but really nutty stuff...
I am now slowly crawling out of my financial abyss, and it permits me to stay creative, so it's all good.... jajajaja

However, movie-wise, I am in writing mode, and I have some really cool treatments... some are goofy and some are crime-related, but whatever we do next, it is going to be really cool... so stay tuned, we're still working hard!

Happy holidays to you all.
Thank you for keeping up to date with us, and let's make 2008 even better!
Let's kick some ass! jajajajajaja

Lt. Col. Frank Slade: Out of order, I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul! And why? Because he's not a Bairdman. Bairdmen. You hurt this boy, you're gonna be Baird bums, the lot of ya.
-Scent of a woman (1992)

Music Video- CAST YOUR VOTE!

2007-12-14T16:39:00.000-06:00

Missing Women
Patricia Vonne
Directed by:
Ricardo Mendoza

It's been a while... jajajajaja
Happy Holidays from all of us...
While we are working hard we are a bit quiet, we're brewing ideas and other great stuff, so expect a lot of info in the upcoming months...
ANYWAYS, straight to the point of the title...
Our friend Patricia Vonne is up for the Viewer's choice BEST AUSTIN VIDEO AWARD from the 2007 ME-TV Viewer's choice awards!
The video was of course produced by us (DIGITAL WORK STUDIOS) HINT HINT!
So go now to this website and CAST YOUR VOTE!

Patricia, is also going to be in San Antonio LIVE with Del Castillo on December 29th at Sam's Burger Joint! So buy her new record, cast your vote and watch her perform live!
Best of luck to Patricia!

Oh, and when you vote, you'll be registered to win a huge flat screen TV, so if you win it, please invite us for a screening of ASH WEDNESDAY... jajajajaja

Cool!

Ash on TV (again)

2007-11-26T13:10:00.000-06:00

Happy to report that the segment containing our interview with American Latino TV will re-run the first weekend of December... Check your local listings!
The show is nationwide (US) and covers the positive aspects that latinos are achieving in the United States and throughout the world.
Special thanks to Renzo and Wilton for covering the story.

When & Where to Watch:

San Antonio WOAI/ NBC 4 Saturday @ 12 Noon

New York WWOR/ My 9 Sundays @ 4:00 PM

Los Angeles KABC/ ABC 7 Late Night Saturdays @ 1 AM and Sundays @ 4 PM (please check local listings as well)

We are currently seeking distribution options for ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS AND we are writing the script to our next project which will be something that will be risky but very challenging.
Stay tuned.

The Current State

2007-11-06T18:31:00.000-06:00

________________________________
Ever since wrapping on Ash, I was terribly exhausted... excited, but very exhausted...
Through sacrifices we finished our movie... it was ambitious and very controversial, but somehow we managed to make it...
It took us from L.A. to N.Y. and we were finally taken seriously by the "industry".
It drained all of my resources... my money, my spirit, my sanity, etc... but it was damn well worth it...

Now, that we are on the verge of selling the rights to Ash to a distributor and throughout these past months of peddling Ash to anyone who would listen... Some people say, "move on... get on to the next project... don't get stuck... bla bla bla..." Well my response is, I would love to but I honestly didn't feel like making another movie... or just making a movie, for the sake of making a movie...

I have 3-4 treatments (future scripts) that I've been working on over these past 3 months (one is a comedy, the other a very personal drama, Capitulo Duos and one other nameless genre) and I have to say that none of these ideas really ignited my fire... I don't think it's because they are uninspired but because, I don't think they're challenging. I think I can do them pretty well, and to me that would be very boring to do...

HOWEVER, yesterday I had a flash of lightning inspiration... the kind of creativity that is sudden, the kind that you have to drop everything and write down...

Well, I wrote it down, and I am very excited about this... I can't give any details until I flesh it all out, but finally I've found what I've been looking for.... I doubt that I could do it, and that's whats' exciting about it...

Paul Haggis (director of Crash) said in an interview: "Only if I'm sure I'm going to fail at this, I'm gonna try it..." I agree very much... I honestly didn't think that Ash was going to turn out the way it did, but we did it, we pushed ourselves, and we were pleasantly surprised with the results... It was a scary script to make, but somehow we found a way... It wasn't easy, but it was very challenging...

If it were easy, everyone would be doing this... right?

NOW, this future script, sounds scary and very tough to make, but now we have more friends that can help us out, so who knows "what" or "where" we'll be in 2008, but it sure sounds like an adventure!

Anyone up for it?
:-D

PS: I've changed the look of the blog to make way for new projects...!

Writing and experiences

2007-10-24T16:28:00.000-05:00

We've been quite busy writing and generating ideas...
On my part, I've got my own way of writing and it might be quite interesting for someone preparing to make a movie or is interested in penning a script.

First of all, there is no ONE way of writing a script, so that being said, I have discovered (over the years) my own way of writing.

I find it very difficult to write a script without support materials, I cannot just "write" from page one and go from there... instead... what I do, is gather a sh**tload of support material.

Support Material
This is the basis of my scripts, and that is what I am finishing up right now...
Of course that my strongest support material is my own experiences, and that is why it is so hard to write when you're inexperienced. Not young, just inexperienced. That's why you see a young and successful eminem hit the charts because he has a lot of "experience" in life and channels it through music, so really what counts here are your experiences in life that count.

Also, whenever I talk to people, or read the news, or whatever I'm always on the lookout on something that makes me "feel" something... for example, if someone tells me an incredible funny anecdote or joke, I will jot it down and put it in my notes, or if I see a very interesting newspiece that can be part of the script I jot it down and put it in my notes...

In my notes I gather a bunch of stuff, and somewhere in the process I define my characters in the script, and from there I blend my notes with my characters and try to come up with something incredibly interesting.

I have been doing this since writing Ash and Escape, and it has worked out really good... I think that our stories rely heavily on the plot twists and surprises, because that's what I like about my favorite movies...

Check out if this method of screenwriting works for you... but if you come up with something different just let me know in the comments... :-D

Oh and before I leave on my binge-indulging weekend I leave you with a plethora of quotes that for some reason I liked a LOT!

El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A *plethora*.
Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

jajajajaj here's the quotes:
"Dont try to be original, just try to be good" -Paul Rand

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" -Confucius

"A product is perfected, NOT when you can add anything else to it, but when you can no longer take anything away." - Yvon Chouinard

The true un-hollywood story

2007-10-16T19:17:00.000-05:00

Our vision for making our movies has been (boring for outsiders looking in, of course) a sh**load of fun for us, because we do what we love...
This past weekend they aired a special report about Ash Wednesday on national TV (thanks to Renz and Wilton and the crew at American Latino TV), and I really wanted to stop everything and thank everyone that has made what we love to do, even more lovable and fun...
First of all to all the actors and actresses... there's too many to mention... but you all know how much you guys mean to us...

Also to the people who have worked endlessly and unselfishly, to the producers and associate producers of ASH, the ones who make it happen... in no specific order: Paco, Chicken, Roger, Hector and Alonso... Because of these people, I don't even know if I make a film because I want to be with these guys or because of filmmaking itself... my family is also a huge contributor to all of our projects, so a HUGE thanks as well...

And to all the people who have helped us along the way (musicians, car dealers, restraunts, bars, temp crew, etc....)... again there's tooooooooooo many to mention but trust me, the list is on the credits of ASH and EL ESCAPE...

Thanks again to everyone!

PS: There are several scripts being written right now, so we hopefully plan to start shooting a new film in spring 2008 (?) ... Nothing is set in stone, but we are anxious to film. :-)

Torture scene

2007-10-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I wasn't going to post this scene because of its controversial nature, but it's OUR movie!!
AND it is my favorite scene of all, and not because of the violence, but because, there's alot of things going on in the scene that aren't obvious unless you've seen the movie...

Delso , the rogue DEA agent finally gets revenge upon the killer of his partner (whom was tortured and murdered by the killer)... so his vengeance is merciless, HOWEVER he does it to get closer to the source of the evil crime gang, Ash Wednesday.

The music is incredible and the photography is cool too ;-D

A familiar EL ESCAPE face pops up here, and it is none other than Lic. Rolando Tamayo making a short but memorable cameo in Ash... But we are glad to report that he will be involved more in our next film which will hopefully begin shooting next year.

Tamayo (who plays Delso's ex-partner Nestor Pragas) was shot in the last days of winter in early 2007!!! It was frickin' cold and he was wearing nothing but his undies... but he withstood the climate and gave us a chilling scene... yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

The music was made by piano-extraodinairre Rolando Garza Rodriguez... beautiful music!!!

DWS on American Latino TV

2007-09-27T17:56:00.000-05:00

We've just been notified that Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus will be featured on the nationally syndicated TV show American Latino TV.

We were interviewed in December 2006, and the producers decided to sit on the report until any developments occurred with Ash... Sooooooo... the show will air across the US on the weekend of October 6 & 7...

I have no idea HOW they are going to present the story, but given our past experience, they did a hell of a job with an EL ESCAPE segment they did for their sister show LatinNation...

To view the TV listings go here:
http://aimtvgroup.com/altv/wheretowatch/

Here's a few cities and schedule:

San Antonio

WOAI

NBC

SAT 11:30 AM

New York

WWOR

MNT

SUN 4:00 PM

Las Vegas

KVCW

SUN 1:00 PM

Austin

KEYE

CBS

SAT/1:00 AM

Houston

KTXH

MNT

SUN 10:30 AM

Here's the segment from EL ESCAPE:

One more scene soon + Get your music...

2007-09-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

We have one more scene to post, but it won't be posted until next week... simply because we've been busy on other projects... but we are writing furiously, and so hopefully we can have something to shoot early next year...

On another note, Amazon has started a mp3 music store (legal of course) and it looks very cool and convenient (and cheap)...

Our friends Patricia Vonne and Chicote have their albums there and they are a bargain... of course, there's nothing better than to get your CD at the concert along with a T-shirt, but hey, I like to buy my mp3's because I don't have to ripe em' and the quality is top notch...
Here's the links:
13 songs of pure Chicote for 7 bucks! not bad at all!!!
Chicote album Historias del Rancho
AND
Patricia Vonne's last album guitars and castanets for 7 bucks too, hell take both of them!!!

Both albums are really cool, Patricia's song Soledad was included in the soundtrack for El Escape De Los Santos which you could also purchase on Amazon...
:-D

The story of Hector Mata

2007-09-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

Releasing yet ANOTHER scene from ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS,
this scene reveals a glimpse of how the myth of Ash Wednesday (played by the illustrious Ramiro Briones) begins.
It is essentially a flashback. The person telling the story is rogue DEA agent Delso Carrete.
Again, these scenes are not for the faint of heart, it contains graphic violence, so be warned!

ALSO, Happy Birthday to my lil' sister Diana Mendoza!
yay!

Happy Bday Hector!

2007-09-15T10:23:00.000-05:00

Hector on top of the world at the Empire State Building (2007)

In New York, at the NYILFF with ME, Fred Cisneros and HH (July 2007)

It was only some years ago when Hector Hernandez came into this world and today he is celebrating his birth by beating up crooked politicians and mediocre filmmakers... jajajaja
Hector was last seen in our first movie EL ESCAPE, where he played a Border Patrol /Customs agent in the movie...
Yes, he's the donkey show addict! jaja...
yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!
Happy Birthday my friend!

Scene #30

2007-09-10T12:43:00.000-05:00

(1) Ramiro Briones as the ruthless Ash Wednesday

(2) Raul De La Cruz as the jail warden

Here's the links to view Scene #30:
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e06oPo6oBFc
High resolution glory: Scene 30 download

Scene #30 is one of the most contreversial moments in ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS mainly because the main character (Ash Wednesday) murders in cold blood HIS own dog.
Obviously, this is just a part of the whole movie, but the concept is NOT based on shocking people for the mere reason to shock...

The motive of this scene, and of ALL the scenes in the movie is to tell the story in a meaningful way.

So, in this scene we have Ash intimidating this federal jail warden, and he's telling a story, in which his point is to scare this guy, so he can have several of his men/soldiers out of jail in a non-confrontational kind of way...
His goal is to convince the guy and appear majestically evil, and as he's doing this, his dog comes up and takes away a piece of meat he was cooking, AND Ash felt extremely embarrassed by the fact that a Dog, just took away his threatening demeanor... and so he just goes ahead and kills the dog.

This of course has several underlying connotations that are not really observed, and are beneath the layers of what you are seeing.

This is the scene where we really see and know Ash for the first time, so it has to be a scene where it sets the tone of the character.
Another important observation is that Ash kills what people know as "man's best friend". He just does it out of instinct without caring. The important connection here is his background, it tells the viewer that he was brought up in a situation where you don't think twice about your actions, it's kill or be killed.
This doesn't really pertain to the scene (or to the movie! jaja) but we wanted to tie-in an EL ESCAPE character somehow... so we thought that the jail warden was perfect for this movie, HOWEVER the same actor who was the jail warden in our first movie was unavailable to shoot, so we went with Raul De La Cruz, as an indirect tribute to our first film. :-D

This scene is hard to watch, but we wanted to put it out there because we want people to know what to expect when seeing Ash Wednesday.
People who have experienced the movie either LOVE it or totally HATE it... I haven't seen anyone indifferent.

ALSO we thought it was very important to add a behind the scenes sgment to demonstrate that absolutely NO DOGS, ANIMALS AND HUMANS were harmed in the production.

We are animal lovers, and this particular dog (Zelda) is owned by Roger De Los Santos and he is one of the producers of the film. Zelda and Roger currently live in Laredo, TX.

Many thanks to our cool vet Lalo Chapa who assisted with the anesthesia...

Fred's daughter with the prez!

2007-09-08T12:53:00.000-05:00

On the right is none other than Fred Cisneros' (he played Gregorio Cazares) cool daughter. She posed with the actual president (not a dummy... well... nevermind... jaja)... This was taken during Bush's recent surprise trip to Iraq where she is stationed.

No matter what your side is on politics, govenr' Bush is still the president, and it's still kind of cool to see people you know (sort of) take a picture with him...

I mean there's people dying just to talk to him...

Fred's daughter even made it on CNN!

What is cool and kind of surprising is when I talk with soldiers, I think of them of having a lot opinions about everything that's going on, but surprisingly, their beliefs are upheld in a more intimate perspective... What's cool, is that to them, they are doing a job, and that job is not one which many would take... ( I know I sure wouldn't) and they put their politics aside and accomplish the job.

To me that's remarkable, and is seen as brave.
The friends that I have in Iraq are passionate about what they do and to know that we have people that are willing to die for what they believe in, is very commendable and also very remarkable.

Now if you want to know my own personal feelings on Iraq, the govenur' (I mean the president), politics, etc... that's going to cost you several beers... JA!

:-D

Here's a picture of Fred with the govenur' of DWS... jajajaja
yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

Patricia Vonne's Missing Women

2007-09-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

Click To Play

OR for a higher resolution video check here:
http://www.digitalworkstudios.com/patriciavonne/

This is our second music video that we've done, and of course, we are huge fans of Patricia since she graced EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS with her cool song "Soledad"...

Patricia Vonne is an Austin singer/songwriter whom actually descends from San Antonio.
She has been quite succesful here in the US, but her biggest fan base lies in Europe, where she tours very frequently...

Her new CD FIREBIRD will be out Sept. 25 in the US and in the UK...
It will be available on iTunes as well...

We produced the video for her first single Missing Women, which you can hear at the Amnesty USA website.
It speaks about the tragic "feminicide" going on in Ciudad Juarez, MX... The official numbers from the "government" (I emphasize the quotation marks), are 400 +/- murdered, dismembered women... approx. 100 are still missing... the unofficial numbers vary from source to source and go as high as 600+ women killed.

Visit her website at:
http://www.patriciavonne.com/
or her myspace:
www.myspace.com/patriciavonne

Both of the videos we've done are very documentary style, and accomplish their messages well.

This particular video was filmed in HD 720p and on miniDV.
Patricia was filmed in Piedras Negras and she also took a trip into Juarez herself to shoot some stuff as well... She also met with some of the mothers of the women, and she came back with some incredible experiences... hats off...

Also please support www.mujeresdejuarez.org

We are very proud and we feel very accomplished in having participated in this video, we find ourselves extremely fortunate to make videos for artists that we admire and listen to...

I edited and directed.
Paco Flores produced and even had some camera work in there.
Patricia and Robert LaRoche also lent a hand in producing the video.
Camera: Me, Paco and Patricia herself...

Rolando Garza gets national recognition (finally)

2007-09-03T12:03:00.000-05:00

Congratulations my friend!!!
"El pinche" lando Rolando Garza takes home a very distiguished honor bestowed upon him by none other than El Presidente de Mexico himself...
The honor is the Premio Nacional de la Juventud en Mexico, and is given for their longstanding trajectory in the arts and its representation of Mexico throughout the world.

Even though Rolando is an angry drunk and unable to control his sexual prowess (jajajajaja), we still respect and admire his work as a pianist and as an opera coach AND of course for his work on the score of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS.

He was one of the musicians that carried the bloody crime drama into its glory. His musical notes on the piano gave the movie a major uplifting, that no one else could...

Congrats again!
yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhh...

Opening Sequence!

2007-09-02T19:03:00.000-05:00

I am proud to present the opening sequence of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS which recently premiered at the New York International Latino Film Festival this July...

Enjoy and thanks to everyone for your support!
AND don't forget to rate the video!
rm

Clips coming soon!

2007-08-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

Me with Gregorio Cazares (Fred Cisneros) and Hector Hernandez at the Fest in NYC.
This is after the second screening of ASH at the Florence Gould Auditorium.

In the spirit of the film's release at the NY festival we will be releasing 3 clips from ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS.
We will be releasing a different scene each week for 3 weeks.
The first clip released will be on September 3rd.
The next on Sept. 10 and the last one on Sept 17.

After the festival screenings our main goal is to secure distribution for the film.
That goal is getting closer and closer to reality each day. Up to know more than half a dozen distributors have contacted us requesting a screener. AND, we still have the film submitted to other festivals as well, so hopefully we will have more exciting announcements very soon.

We are very excited on releasing these clips!!!!!
The trailer only touches on some of the coolest scenes, but because the trailer is made to be shown on TV and other places where children might be present, we kept it really light.
We figured that the scenes to be posted will be for more mature audiences, and people who have a keen interest in seeing Ash Wednesday, and not just the casual viewer, who might watch the trailer only...

We are seriously pondering which scenes to put, but trust that they will be really cool...!
The clips will be uploaded here on the blog and on our youtube page and our myspace page on the dates listed above!
:-D

Chicote Video (finally)

2007-08-21T09:44:00.001-05:00

From Crackle: Echenme A Los Perros (CHICOTE)

The austere nature of this video was made as the ultimate Anti-video or goes against the stereotypical video... jajajaja
Aren't you tired of seeing half-naked women and shaking it for some mediocre performer singing about smoking crack and pimping ho's????
well, I'm not tired of that... jajajaja I don't even watch it...
Mostly because it reminds me that these half-assed "performers" permeate our society with catchy mediocre tunes that don't offer anything intelligent or clever...
I welcome mediocrity with open arms... It makes all of the talented clever artists look good!

Have you ever wondered why the most prolific artists with long-lasting careers are actually still around????

It's because they actually have something to say. Some are pissed, some are happy, some are depressed (the best!!), jajajaja
For example, the Beatles, eminem, bad religion, billy joel, nirvana, the doors...

Nirvana? their lyrics don't even make sense? They struck a chord with their generation because they were pissed and they did their own thing... They didn't follow the norm and people respected that. They could've cared less if they were a hit or not, they had a lot of passion, not ambition.

Also, weren't you tired of buying a CD that only had 1-2 good songs... I hate that... a real artist would dedicate themselves to the entire album and not just create 2 cool songs for the radio and the rest for filler... Bands like Metallica and Queen thrived on having great solid albums, not singles.

Well, let's segue back to Chicote...
Basi (who writes, sings and composes all of the music) is a friend of mine who has been having quite a chunk of success in his musical venture.
He's well known in Mexico, but especially in Monterrey where he lived for quite some time.
His first CD, Historias del Rancho (which includes Echenme A Los Perros, was distributed in Mexico as an EP by EMI Music in late 2006.
The second CD is still in production but will be released maybe by early next year.
Historias del Rancho is also available on the iTunes store in its original full-length album form.

Chicote for you and me...

2007-08-18T11:24:00.001-05:00

(1) Cool wide shot on some ancient stones... (2) At the legendary La Bodega Bar, Basi and many of his friends (If you look closely Lic. Tamayao can be seen as well... fueeeeeeeeego...)

(3) Basi, screaming his lungs off... (4) Very cool lady that was having fun shooting the video. AND she does not sell pirated chicote CD's (jeje)

(5) Another nice wide shot (6) Basi with some dudes that were enjoying his music and lyrics...

It's been a while and we've been incredibly busy... Hence the no new postings on the blog...
:-D

We just finished our first music video (tear drop... ) and we will be posting it really soon...
In the meantime, I've posted some pics...

Chicote is a really cool band from Piedras Negras, Coah. (that's one of my hometowns...) and they are on the verge to becoming huge, huge stars...
Their songs not only stick like glue and catchy but have fun, clever and intelligent lyrics to go with everything...
This video for ECHENME A LOS PERROS was made as the antithesis of the stereotypical music video...
We filmed in Piedras Negras on several sites (the market, some deserted terrain, la bodega bar, salsalita's bar, and more)...
The shoot was fun and was shot approx. 3 months ago...
Since a lot of things have been going here at DWS, we finally got around to finish CHICOTE's video and we are very proud for it to be our first...
Thanks to everyone who helped make this video possible.
Paco and I produced the video, and was shot with 2 cameras documentary style.
For more info on chicote, here's the links:
www.chicote.com.mx
www.myspace.com/chicote2005

ALSO, we have just completed a video for the City of San Antonio's Public Works Dept. in association with APWA (I don't know what that means, but it's like the national conference for public works depts....)...
The video is a demonstration on how the city recycled old pavement to make a new street...
It is a new technology that will hopefully help the environment, and save time and $$ nationwide, so we were very proud to be a part that...

This is the cover of Patricia's new CD out September 25th.

AND last but not least we are in production of our second music video, and this time it is for another of our favorite artists PATRICIA VONNE.
Her new song MISSING WOMEN which will be included in her new CD Firebird, and can be heard at the Amnesty USA website, talks about the sad issue that has been foreshadowing Ciudad Juarez for over a decade, and that is the kidnapping and slaughtering of woman.

Her new CD and video will be released in the US and in the UK, and apparently she has been having a lot of success across Europe, where she constantly tours...
Her stuff is on her website:
www.patriciavonne.com
Expect her video anytime really soon...!!!

HAPPY B-DAY to PACO

2007-08-07T01:45:00.000-05:00

Happy B-day to one of the producer's of AW:CU...
The Pax-Man... Long distant cousin to Bill Paxton and Bill Richardson...
jajajajaja

NYC Film Fest!

2007-08-01T00:13:00.000-05:00

(1) Me and Fred Cisneros (Gregorio Cazares) (2) Me, Calixto Chinchilla & Liz Gardner (Founders/Executive Directors of the Festival), (3) Me& Gaby at the End of Fest Reception in Times Square.

(1) Beatiful view of Manhattan (2) End of Fest After Party (3) Me and Vic at Peter Dillon's

(1) Another cool pic of NY, (2) Vic, Alonso and me at the NY Public Library, (3) Producer Roger D.L.S. with... Roger? jajajajaja

(1) Roger, Vic, Alonso & Paco, (2) Roger, Me, Alonso and Paco (Both pics are from the HBO building at a cool reception after a screening of a documentary called "Recycled Life".

(1) Pax & Pax, (2) No iPod, No Problem! Barco putting on the tunes at Peter Dillon's, (3) Dama and Alonso Wheeler in NYC.

We are back from the BIG APPLE...
Man was that a trip!
We stayed from July 25 until the 30th, and it was a hell of a lot of fun...
Digital Work Studios was in full force and we did our share at seeing films at the New York International Latino Film Festival, as well as visiting the landmarks and the bars around Manhattan...
Our first screening (July 26 at 10:30pm) was not what we expected, as the attendance was low... HOWEVER, some industry people showed up, and liked the movie... so we'll see what happens with that... ;-)
Our 2nd screening (July 28 at 6:15pm) went a LOT better, people were gasping and yelling obscenities at the screen rooting for our heroes and bashing our villans... People who attended told us that you could feel the tension while watching the movie...
I witnessed a lady walk out, and she told the people at front and I quote: "If you want to watch a movie about drugs, rape and torture, go and see Ash Wednesday... It was too much for me..."
What a quote! jajajajaj Although not a positive reaction, but a reaction nonetheless... we already know that this film is not for everyone... you will either LIKE IT (a lot) or HATE IT!... there's no middle ground here... jajajajajajajaja

More industry folks attended the 2nd screening, and liked the film... some audience members even recognized Gregorio Cazares, and snapped up a picture with him...
Dama (who also attended the event) told me that someone told her that they thought that Dama was a real person, and wouldn't think it was an actress... JAJAJAJAJA... she got a kick out of that... she also explained her character to some audience members...

Above everything else the organizers of this festival clearly love movies, and is rooting for the independent, while still getting top-notch sponsors to help us indies find an audience for our movies... We all had a BLAST and I really would like to attend next year's fest, even if we don't have a film in the fest...

Calixto, the festival's founder and leader told me that they LOVED Ash Wednesday, and was really proud to have it at his festival...

There are a sh**load of more pictures that everyone else took, so more pics will be posted soon!

Special thanks to the festival, its organizers, members and volunteers and to the NY people that attended the screening, BUT special, special thanks to our friends who made the pilgrimage to New York in support of ASH:
(in no particular order)
-Chicken Rodriguez, Megan
-Gaby and Ricky M.
-Barbara Del Rio (Dama)
-Susana and Juanita Hernandez
-Adrian, Roger, Paco
-Victor Wheeler
-My Mom and my sistas' Luana and Diana
-Fred Cisneros (Gregorio Cazares)
-Hector Hernandez
-Sonia De Los Santos
-Julio Valdes

I love NY!
Here's a PARTIAL list of my favorite NY movies:

Scent of a woman
Ghostbusters
Devil's advocate
Unbreakable
Night at the museum
Die hard with a vengeance
Hudson Hawk
World trade center
Sidewalks of New York
Taxi Driver
The Godfather I and II
BIG
Saturday Night Fever
The Professional
and much, much, more... Post a comment with your faves!

Inside DWS

2007-07-21T09:50:00.000-05:00

Click To Play

OK here's the TV special we made for the local media in Eagle Pass Texas...
The show is in Español... It aired on TVAW channel 20 from July 16 - 27 at 4:30pm.

The show's main goal is to portray the behind the camera's process of the making and distribution of our two films EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS and ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS...

Special Thanks to our sponsors:

Here's the direct link to the show:
http://dws.blip.tv/file/311431/

Thanks and enjoy!
rm

210sa Article

2007-07-19T00:27:00.000-05:00

This picture was taken a while ago, I think like in February 2006... by Delicia Lopez in the West side of San Antonio...
The camera pictured was my ol' trusty DVX100. We filmed EL ESCAPE with it. It was Priceless. Not on eBay... It sold for $2500 (approx.) jajajajjaaj but I upgraded to a HD HVX200 which is much, much better...

I have been really bad about posting stuff that has been printed about us and our movie... But here's an interesting article fresh off the wires... jajajajaja

210sa is a new crazy news magazine that the San Antonio Express-News is putting out, and it just has been out for some months now, and it is a really interesting read, BUT this weeks' is especially exquisite and a joy to read because it talks about US!
jajajajajaja
How self-indulgent... jejejeje
Here's an excerpt:

Ricardo Mendoza drained his retirement account, worked side jobs and sold some of his belongings on eBay.

All in the name of independent filmmaking.

And now, Mendoza has been rewarded for his efforts, as his film, “Ash Wednesday: Capítulo Unus,” will make its world premiere at the New York International Latino Film Festival on Thursday, July 26. Mendoza, who was born in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and spent part of his childhood in San Antonio, shot the film in Eagle Pass from July 2006 to January 2007 on a budget of about $19,000.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.210sa.com/content/view/2488/

Conexion (which is ALSO a publication of the Express-News) also printed a cool article about ASH... I'll try to scan it and post it on our site...
AND Conexion is printing again (Check out July 25's Conexion), but this time it is more like a Q & A with myself...
Thanks to Melissa Renteria (Conexion) and Clint Hale (210sa) for supporting us and the film...!

Talking about media, TVAW (the local Eagle Pass TV station channel 20) is airing a special called INSIDE Digital Work Studios... it is really cool and it is in Español.... it airs at 4:30pm weekdays from today until July 27...

AND other updates have been printed on the Eagle Pass News Guide...

AND we are hoping to have something really cool show up on WOAI (in S.A.)... but we're still working on stuff so more to come really soon...

Getting ready for battle

2007-07-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

Here's the invitations ready to be sent...
They will only be sent out to industry executives... sorry :-(
so don't feel excluded... you can see the invitation in it's full digital glory at digitalworkstudios.com/premiere
But I can give you an invitation if you see me... jajajajaja

Getting ready for battle!
Sorry about the war metaphors, but that's exactly what we are going to do... We are going into battle.

You must be thinking: The film is done, what is there to do?
AJAAHH! That's where you separate a mediocre artist from a red hot warrior...
We need to go in there and fight for our place...
We will be competing with about 80 films and we need the right people sitting at our screening.
We need distributors, agents, producers etc. to sit there and experience ASH WEDNESDAY with a shocked audience, so they can hear the gasps and the emotion...

I have been frequently asked for some strange reason, if I am nervous???
ummmm no... I don't believe any of us are nervous... The film is done, we had a whole year to make it, and correct it until we were satisfied, and we were.
And now, our mission is to get the right people at the screenings.

I have been swamped with stuff to do, that I barely have time to clean and bathe my puppies...
I made a Parks and Rec show for the City of San Antonio, designed and sent the invitations to print, so now I have to send them out... We also produced a 1 hour TV show (in español) for the local media that include clips from both our movies and other funny anecdotes... I am trying to figure out a way to post it online (because it's ONE hour!), so expect it really soon...

In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.
For some, shyness might be their El Guapo.
For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo.
For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us.
But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be "the actual" El Guapo!
Three Amigos (1986)

Live free and work hard...

2007-07-10T10:37:00.000-05:00

The New York Premiere is only days away...
If you are attending the event please purchase your tickets today...
These are Hector's Tickets! Please do not mess with these tickets because Gregorio Cazares will go after your arse....!!!!! jajajajajjaa
Get your own tickets here:
www.digitalworkstudios.com/premiere

From L to R: Paco, Alonso, Lic. Rolando Tamayo, Hector Hernandez and Fred Cisneros... this was shot in the freezing cold (Jan. 2007), thanks to Bass Auto Parts for the location...

We are working arduously to prepare evrything, and there is a million things to do...
aaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
jajajajajjaa

Back to work...

2007-07-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

After a 4-day stay, I am back from Los Angeles and back to Eagle Pass...
And now it is time to prepare and concentrate all of our energies into our World Premiere Screening in New York...
We need to prepare the actual digital master for them to play in the theater, invitations, schedule interviews with media, posters and a myriad of other seemingly infinite things to do...
So let's bring it on, and I hope to see you there in NY!
All of the information for the World Premiere is posted here:
http://www.digitalworkstudios.com/premiere

Now I have come to the cross-roads in my life - and I knew, without exception, I knew - which path was the right one - but I never took it.
And do you know why? Because It was too damned hard.
Now here's Charlie, he's come to the cross-roads, and he has chosen a path. It's the right path. A path that is made of principle, which leads to character. Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of.
-Scent of a woman (1992)

A year has passed...

2007-07-01T21:38:00.000-05:00

This was the very first thing we shot. Unfortunately, it's not in the film, because we needed a meaner looking dude, and my cousin David Cervantes (pictured here) is just too nice of a guy... jajajajaja
__________________________________
The very first day of shooting CAPITULO UNUS started July 1, 2006.
A year already... WOW...!
That whole month was crazy! And it looks like this month is no different...
The first 15 days of July we filmed a bunch of stuff that didn't even make it in the movie...
The scenes we were filming were mediocre, but we just kept filming until we knew we had what we wanted...
It's funny because I don't think that ANY of us [producers] are perfectionists, except when it comes to making a movie...
Nostalgia... jajajajajajjaja

Well now let's focus on the future...
We are making a special show for the local TV station about both our films and about us in general, it is going to be in Spanish and it will include clips from both films and their trailers along with a never before aired ESCAPE BLOOPERS... The show looks like it's going to be a lot of fun...
If you live in the Eagle Pass area, check it out!
The show will premiere July 16 at 4:30pm (before the local news)...
We'll also post it on our website shortly after...

ALSO, I am going back to L.A., hopefully I'll come back with a lot more better news than last time...

Canta, Mariachi, canta!!
-El Mariachi

So, I'm sitting there. And in walks the biggest Mexican I have ever seen. Big as shit. Just walks right in like he owns the place. And nobody knew quite what to make of him... or quite what to think.
-Pistolero

World Premiere Info:

2007-06-29T01:10:00.000-05:00

The schedule and other info is up on the Festival's website.
Click here to go directly to links to ASH WEDNESDAY.

The screenings will take place at the following:

World Premiere Screening:
Thursday July 26
10:30pm at The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street (Between 3rd & 2nd Avenues)
BUY TICKETS HERE

AND
Saturday July 28
6:15pm at Tinker Auditorium
55 E. 59th St. (Between Park & Madison Avenues)
BUY TICKETS HERE

Check out the festival's myspace here:
www.myspace.com/NYILFF

Update on NY Premiere

2007-06-28T18:09:00.001-05:00

Here's the TV spot for the festival
___________________________________
Tickets for the festival were supposed to be sold yesterday, but apparently the bad weather is not only hitting Texas, but NYC as well, as they are having power outages... so I will keep everyone posted on this, so you can get your tickets early...
Tickets: www.nylatinofilm.com

The roller coaster is still going, but it seems like it's going faster and scarier... but just like a roller coaster it's always a fun ride...
Yesterday, we got a "not interested" phone call from a shocked and appalled producer in Beverly Hills... He was very polite, but he seemed disturbed by what he experienced, he said, it didn't go with the "philosophy" of the company, but the doors remained open in case I wanted to submit anything else...
TWO positive things stood out:

The film's goal is to incite a reaction (which it did). A mediocre film will cause indifference. And that is worse reaction.
I was asked about a specific scene, that was so shocking I had to return the call to tell him that what he saw wasn't real, and it was all movie magic, fake, make-believe... This point attests that our film is so realistically and well produced that even a hollywood producer had no doubt that what he saw was real... I thought this was hilarious...

I also received several crucial emails for the continuation of DWS...

T : What are we then?
N : ...Consumers?...
T: Right. We are consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty. These things don't concern me. What concerns me, are celebrity magazines. Television with 500 channels. Some guy's name on my underwear. Rogain. Viagra. Olestra.
N: Martha Stewart.
T: F*ck Martha Stewart. Martha's polishing the brass on the Titanic. It's all goin' down, man. So F*ck off with your sofa units and string green stripe patterns. I say, never be complete. I say stop being perfect. I say let the...let's evolve. Chips fall where they may. But that's just me, I could be wrong, maybe it's a terrible tragedy.
N: No...it's just...just stuff.
T: Well you did lose a lot of versatile solutions to modern living.
N: F*ck you're right. ... My insurance is probably gonna cover it.
pause
What?
T: The things you own, end up owning you.

FIGHT CLUB (1999)

Everything starts...

2007-06-26T23:47:00.000-05:00

Well,
this is a quick entry into my little journal to mark this day...
:-D
more to come tomorrow...

Back Home!

2007-06-24T15:23:00.000-05:00

"HEY, PETER MAN... CHECK OUT CHANNEL 9..." Lawrence (Office Space) | The fridge

Opportunities come once in a lifetime... you better lose yourself... jajajajaja... Barco dropping off ASH DVD... Determination...

The lady at the library is a masterpice photograph... always be ready with a camera, you never know what memories you wish to treasure forever... | Barco and Leo at Manhattan Beach

Cruz Arellano, Roger, Luis Arellano, Paco and myself... L.I.S.
Special thanks to the Arellano's for giving us a place to stay, while we were escorted out of agencies, production companies, bars, beaches and gay pride parades... Thanks guys!

After three weeks out in the western part of the US, specifically in Los Angeles County, and after a long 24 hour drive, we are finally back in Texas...
The first thing we did was to go to Piedras Negras and buy 2 cases of Indio and get some of the best tacos in the world...
I'm tired, but we have to get ready for the World Premiere at the festival in New York...
more to come, this gets more interesting every day...

"Lumbergh represents everything that is soulless and wrong"
Peter to Joanne (Office Space)

Rollercoaster (as usual)...

2007-06-17T13:26:00.000-05:00

Two minutes left on the meter... just in time...
Barco and Leo and myself... hitting the non-mean-streets of hollywood...
Barco and Leo reenacting scenes from brokeback mountain in Manhattan beach (notice the factory in tha back and the lack of people... there was a warning sign that said there was increased levels of bacteria... but we didn't care... jajajajajaj)
____________________
I don't even remember the last time I posted...
Internet access has been unaccessible and scarce...
Luis and Cruz have been incredible... We've been staying in this small room, clean and nice, yet small... we barely fit our inflatable mattresses...
We spread them out to watch movies and sleep...
We've seen a lot of movies because the weekends are boring...
Also we've been visiting Manhattan beach... It is cool, I mean really cold... I just grab the sun and read... (A Mighty Heart by Mariane Pearl)
The first 2 weeks here we were as I expected... just facing rejection after rejection, between cold-calling and name dropping, and just plain dropping by... jajajjaja It's been funny in a satirical way of thinking...
Kind of like when Homer says: Tragedy is funny when it happens to other people, except it was happening to us... jajajajaj HOWEVER, our incredible sense of humor has kept us from becoming unhappy...
We even had a point system for our jokes... I know, it sounds stupid, but maybe that kept us humane...
We survived rejections and patronizing assholes, that think they are above everyone else, just because they have been involved with movies... oh wow... who cares...
In our eyes, these people have lost touch with the world, and only care about $$$$, or maybe they receive so much really bad movies from aspiring actors, directors, etc., that it's necessary for them to reject everyone... We just want to scream LOOK AT WHAT WE'VE GOT!

HOWEVER everything can change with ONE phone call... and it did.
We were set to returning to our beloved homeland yesterday (Saturday) I'd already missed my 10th year anniversary (Gaby I love you), the spurs championship (YAY!!!) and father's day...
On friday I got someone at a high level production company returned my phone call, and was interested in seeing the movie... we dropped it off excitedly, and this individual seemed enthused to view it...

Apart from that we had even more luck... We were about to be reffered by one of the best film directors in the world to one of the best agents in the world...
I honestly do not know what is going to happen from now on... but if even if nothing comes of this, we are at least in the game, and people know that we exist... I am just incredibly ready and prepared for anything... we'll see...
to be continued...

Happy belated Birthdays to:
Luana (my sis) June 4 (one of the saddest days of my life... jajajaja just kidding sis' love you...)
Chicken- June 11... he was living the real hollywood life, driniking with the spurs 36mafia and eva mendez... yeeeeeeaaaaahhhh....

"You get busy living or you get busy dying"
-Red

New York Premiere Schedule!

2007-06-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the nice people from the New York International Latino Film Festival has scheduled TWO screenings of ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS...
This is great news!
We are thrilled to have the film premiere in New York! I really cannot think of a better place... Given the film's raw aspect, I honestly believe that New York audiences will "get" and enjoy Ash Wednesday... It's going to be a blast!
The screenings will take place at the following:

World Premiere Screening:
Thursday July 26
10:30pm at The Imaginasian Theater
239 East 59th Street (Between 3rd & 2nd Avenues)

AND
Saturday July 28
6:15pm at Tinker Auditorium
55 E. 59th St. (Between Park & Madison Avenues)

The festival itself will present some very interesting films with George Lopez, Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Kline, among others...

Check out the festivals myspace here:
www.myspace.com/NYILFF

Of course the producers and myself will be attending both screenings and we hope to see everyone there supporting our film...

We are still in Los Angeles making some very great progress planting the seeds everywhere...
more details to come...
:-D

Los Angeles

2007-06-04T00:35:00.000-05:00

lots of coffee, lots of music kept us awake...

___________________________
After a looooong trip, Paco, Roger and myself arrived here in LA, and we are ready for anything...
I cannot find wifi here... it's nuts... I tethered my cell phone to my PC, and it is slooooow.. but it's there...
We spent all friggin' day searching for wifi... finally we stopped at a mcdonalds and got it there for 3 bucks per 2 hours... not bad, but not free... :-D
We're crashing with Gaby's really cool cousins Cruz and Luis...
They live in Southgate, which is really close to where we're going...
more to come...

A Break

2007-05-31T21:43:00.000-05:00

Whoa...
today was definitely a day to remember...
Somebody, I know, knows someone else, and that person I know calls me that arrangements have been made... and just to let THAT person know that I'll be in Los Angeles...
And everything will be taken care of...
well we'll se about the "taken care of" part... but in the meantime, we'll be heading West towards Los Angeles with a shitload of DVD's and media kits...
We plan to stay there for a month and get to network and meet new friends and hopefully a lot more...
In dreamgirls, the girls are dissapointed that they lost this amateur contest and a guy tells them: Hey what's going on?
-We just lost this amateur contest...
-You lost the contest, because it's an amateur contest, and you don't need no contest to make it... what you need is a break, and I'm here to give it to you...

We'll be posting a whole bunch of stuff on our journey...
take care!
rik

Microsoft Surface (?)

2007-05-30T06:17:00.000-05:00

I remember watching Minority report, blade runner, and all these futuristic movies, and thinking how cool it was, to see all those blinking lights and other weird stuff...
When I saw this new microsoft product, I couldn't believe my eyes... it's gotta be the coolest product to come out since the toaster...
:-D

Microsoft's plans to market this to the business world: hotels, banks, and it looks like city governments can use this as well...

It doesn't look useful in movies, but it would look cool as a prop...

Music from movies???

2007-05-27T16:35:00.000-05:00

Here with one of the stars of EL ESCAPE and ASH WEDNESDAY... Lic. Rolando Tamayo and myself... jajajajajaja_______________
I haven't visited this new store in Eagle Pass... jajajajajjajaja it looks even funnier in person, when it's really dark.... jajajajjaja
_________________________
I am compiling a loooooooong list of my favorite songs from movies, and I need everyone's help!!!
I am compiling a playlist of great scores or just regular songs from films...
This is what I have so far (in NO particular order):

Star wars theme
Cancion del Mariachi played by Antonio Banderas in Desperado
Damn it feels good to be a gangster (Office Space)
Shipping up to Boston (The Departed)
Vienna (Billy Joel) 13 going on 30
Girl you'll be a woman soon (Pulp Fiction)
Tango from Scent of a Woman
Theme from "Love Actually"
Lucha de Gigantes (amores perros)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Wayne's World)
Goofy Goober (Spongebob movie) jajajajajajaja

Post your favorite songs from movies as a comment for all to see...
I'll be updating the list...
Cool beans...

Before we go...

2007-05-25T11:00:00.001-05:00

Here's some stills from the video Hechenme a los perros (Translated: Send me the dogs (?))... We shot at El Mercado Zaragoza and other cool places in Piedras Negras, Coah., MX... the video will be uploaded hopefully ny next week...

_______________
I think that all the shit has finally hit the fan... in a good way... jajajjajajaja
We are gearing and getting everything for the film festival in New York... but that doesn't happen until the end of July!!!

Our plan is not to have our arms crossed and wait for some miracle to com from the 4th dimension...
So instead of being useless and flacid, we plan to take Ash Wednesday to Los Angeles and establish ourselves in the heart of the film industry.

Paco, Roger and myself would venture into the concrete jungle of California for the month of June, come back in July and prepare for the festival in NYC.

But before we go unto our little adventure we are making 2 music videos...
One for CHICOTE, for the song HECHENME A LOS PERROS, (which is almost finished)
AND the other for Patricia Vonne.

Both videos will be shot in Piedras Negras and will be finished just before the door slams our ass as we get out of here...

The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
--Don't... don't care?
It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime; so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
--I beg your pardon?
Eight bosses.
--Eight?
Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
Office Space (1991)

New York it is!

2007-05-22T18:02:00.000-05:00

_________________________
World Premiere in New York. Check out the NYILFF's website at http://www.nylatinofilm.com/

_____________________
I am proud to announce that our latest film ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS is going to have its world premiere at the New York International Latino Film Festival.

AGAIN.

I am proud to announce that our latest film ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS is going to have its world premiere at the New York International Latino Film Festival.

Relief.

As a drought of news and an apparent lack of any information regarding ASH, I am relieved that finally someone "got it".
In the world of film festivals, we couldn't have asked for anything better.
It is exactly the kind of festival that would be proud of having Ash Wednesday as a Premiere event, rather than a sideshow freak.
My grandpa' always said, it's better to be at the head of the mouse, than the tail of the lion."

Thanks to EVERYONE that has supported us at every level.
This is just the beginning.

Basi from Chicote.
_________________________
PS: As I received the news from the film festival, we are currently in production of CHICOTE's new video Hechenme A Los Perros.
We started today in the morning in Piedras Negras, and the video is going to be incredible!
I can't wait to see it...
Special thanx to Basi "el Chicotudo"

We will be posting a lot of news in the coming days, so keep posted! jajajajajajaja

MAUC Gala Videos

2007-05-10T22:50:00.000-05:00

This is one of the 5 videos produced for MAUC.
The rest of the videos are online at http://dws.blip.tv
_______________________________
After months of shooting and post-produciton I have finally finished the videos that were displayed at the prestigious Mexican-American Unity Council's 40 anniversary gala in San Antonio, TX, this past May 8th.

The gala itself was a success, and the videos were an integral part in that success.

We saw first-hand, the struggles and the determination of the many organizations, but most importantly of the people who have been the at the forefront of making San Antonio the great city that is today.

The videos are online at http://dws.blip.tv, and are strictly for demonstration purposes only.

On Ash Wednesday: Capitulo Unus: the movie is slowly crawling around.
We will soon be featured on American Latino TV, which airs nationwide.
The segment on the show will focus on the new movie (Ash Wednesday) and will hopefully be very, very cool. (more on that soon)
We were interviewed in December 2006 by Renzo and Wilton.
AND, more exciting news is on the horizon, apparently there is a lot of excitement about the movie, but there has been no concrete commitments, but hopefully very soon someone will fall. :-D snf

NEW POSTER EXCLUSIVE!!!

2007-05-01T02:13:00.000-05:00

Photo: This is it! The final and the second most important element in our marketing tools... THE POSTER! (the first is the trailer)
_________________________
I am very excited to present for the first time the finalized (for now:-) ASH poster, along with its new tagline:
THE COLD-BLOODED CRIME WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
oooooooooooohhhhh...
It makes me want to see the movie again!... maybe tomorrow...
ANYWAYS, this is all brought to you by my friend and our FREE-lance graphic designer Alexander Probst Pruneda.
Alex lives in Mazatlan, MX, but travels all over the place (you can read his blog here)
He was also the designer of our first ASH poster...

What I believe is special about the poster is that it faithfully represents the movie in all its glory. Even in the details of the blemishes that Alex put, and the color scheme and the contrast of our tale of stylized and shocking images...
It is unbelievable. I am very proud of this poster, and it looks like this is the final draft...

That sick brass boy day dreamin’
cry baby convict demon Hands so clean
A sympathetic cold blooded killing machine
How did you get so mean? - I want to know what it means…
Honest Goodbye (Brett Gurewitz)

More on twister...

2007-04-28T15:34:00.000-05:00

Photos: This is the school in Eagle Pass, and it was damaged severely.
In Piedras Negras, the church is gone! We shot a sequence of images (for EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS) in the park directly in front of this church but it is all gone now... :-(
_____________________
I passed by yesterday through the affected areas, and I was amazed at the damage...
In Piedras Negras, clean-up crews were everywhere. Military, state and local officers, along with contractors were all around cleaning up the area with tractors and other heavy equipment.

ON THE OTHER SIDE of the river in Eagle Pass, the only officials I saw, were cleaning up the school (which was heavily damaged), and directing traffic, HOWEVER in the residential area, where homes where also heavily hit, and trailer homes destroyed, I saw only volunteers and just plain civilians helping out and cleaning the area. Even though there were many people helping in the cleaning of Rosita Valley, it seemed dwarfed, next to the clean-up team in Piedras Negras.

Both places looked like some post-apocalyptic futuristic movie... it was quite sad to see all this.
On the optimistic side, many people are helping out, and hopefully their lives will be restored as soon as possible. :-)

No movie news to report at this time :-|

Tornado

2007-04-27T08:34:00.000-05:00

UPDATED: The second video is amateur video of the destruction of Villa de Fuente in Piedras Negras. The video is very heartbreaking, especially because many shots at the end of EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS were filmed right in front of where the church used to be.
ALSO, when I was a kid, I had a lot of friends there, and we went frequently to the Campestre (it was like a ballroom place for parties, graduations, etc...). :-(

First of all, thanks to all for your phone calls and emails...
As you might have known a huge tornado ripped through my hometowns of Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass...

I had no idea that a tornado had passed through here... I was editing but turned off my PC, since it started to pour really bad, and the sound of the thunder was deafening and it was frightening my computer... My son on the other hand was excited to witness the hail and celebrating and laughing everytime he saw lightning... Yes, that's how boring it gets here :-)

While enjoying the passing storm (which lasted 20-30 min.) it suddenly faded and the sound transitioned to the sirens of emergency vehicles...

An hour later we turn on the TV, and they showed the devastation first hand... apparently a reporter had been around the area coincidently and got to the affected area immediately after the twister hit...

The sights were astonishing. It reminded me of war of the worlds or children of men... I was aghast with the destruction... I had not realized that a tornado had just passed through here, and what I saw was simply heartbreaking.

As you can see in the video, the reporter is just walking in the streets and talking to all the people and asking them where their houses were and some pointed towards a pile of debris, and told the reporter that their house was there... it was very sad to see this desperation in people in my own town.

Our hearts are with the friends and family of the 10 people who died during this tragedy.

Rejected but not affected...

2007-04-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Good times: Nestor Pragas (Rolando Tamayo), ME, and Gregorio Cazares (Fred Cisneros), we were shooting a flashback scene and it was f***in' freezinggggg.... BUT can it get any better than this? hanging with the coolest and baddest people on the planet! On screen and OFF!! jajajaja NOTE: Tamayo's blood and bruises are the product of Paco's makeup... :-|
________________________
How many times have you been rejected in your life?
Well, I have been rejected on many, many, many, MANY occasions, and to tell you the truth, I have developed a tough skin... jajajajaja
A few days ago we got the rejection email from the biggest, most hugest film fest in the world, the cannes film fest in france...
All I can say is we did our best, and I have no regrets, or plans of how we could've done it differently... Which is good :-D
SO, our plans for the future?
KEEP SWINGING!
We're not gonna let a little film festival in france, let us down... jajajajaja
Just like people, festivals have a distinct taste for films, and we all know that ASH WEDNESDAY is NOT for everyone... Think of it like a food contest: Beef fajita tacos would win at my contest, wheareas spaghetti would win at an italian contest and so on...

IN GOOD NEWS, we are designing a poster with graphic designer magnifico Alex Probst... and it is looking incredible... more to come later...

IN more festival news, we have submitted to many other important festivals around the world, so hopefully one festival, will actually "get" the film...

IN NON-Movie news, we are doing a lot of work in the private sector, we are doing the videos for the 2007 Mexican-American Unity Council Gala (check out last years videos here), AND we are doing a very important project for the City of San Antonio's Public Works Dept and the Asphalt Institute that will be presented at the national public works conference in September... so we are quite busy... :-D

IN MORE NON-Movie BAD NEWS:
Our beloved pet /Co-Editor Doggy Mendoza has gone missing since April 4.
She has been with us for 4 years and has kept us happy ever since... You know, when you get home and you feel like SHIT, she was the one that would brighten up your day, because she was so incredibly glad to see you...
She disappeared Wednesday in the afternoon. My guess is that she left to hide when she heard thunder, and then it started raining. We also suspect that she is in the care of someone, because no one in the neighborhood knows anything...
We have put up signs around the neighborhood, announcements on the radio and TV, AND a huge ad in the newspaper...
So hopefully she'll turn up...

(No shade) Too much to sacrifice, (No light) it's hard to recongnize
(Just black) traps to compromise (And white) obscuring deadly alabies
(My plans) It's combinational, (designs) the pressure's so intense
So I'll construct this sound defense
(No Way) Nothing's plainer than the madness in the world today
(No sign) I must conceal myself and steal myself and break away
(No grace) I seek initiative in matters that are black and white
(No sense) So I'll construct this sound defense
BAD RELIGION- THE DEFENSE

El Escape on maiden voyage!

2007-03-30T08:18:00.000-05:00

Photo: Virgin America will begin operations in April. We are very proud to be a part of Virgin's launch and its maiden voyage!
________________________
Yesterday, I signed a non-exclusive agreement with ESCAPE distributors Venevision International for the worldwide rights to EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS for in-flight entertainment.

As a first, EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS will be the first non-studio film to be playing on the first flight of Virgin America Airways...

This is a really exciting time for us...

Check out what Virgin America has to offer on the link below:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/10/
mega-hands-on-virgin-americas-airbus-a320-with-red-in-flight-e/

As of now, EL ESCAPE is available at retailers nationwide AND in hotels through Video On Demand AND starting in April it will be flying all over the world.

Now that is one hell of a start for our first film.
I cannot wait what the fate of ASH WEDNESDAY will be.

New Look!

2007-03-25T21:59:00.000-05:00

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The ASH website has been refreshed with a whole new and bold look...
It has a really cool movie intro, kind of like a little 15 sec. teaser... it has sound, so crank it up...
AND a brand new menu for the main index page...
The site can be accessed through www.digitalworkstudios.com or directly by typing:
www.someonewillfall.com
or
www.miercolesdeceniza.net

Here's a list of the new stuff that's been happening on the site:

Updated trailer! Trailer has been color corrected to match the movie plus, the sound has been enhanced...
Listen to the soundtrack online! Complete original score is now on the site.
Film stills gallery. It's a really cool gallery of frames grabbed directly from the movie.

We are preparing 2 mega-events, along with a whole bunch of other surprises that are taking longer than we had expected... However, I believe that it will be worth the wait...
Stay tuned and thanx for all of your support!

You look around what do you see?
I'll tell you what I see is a world belonging to me
Take time to find what you may dream
It's all right there within your grasp
Just beyond what you can see

Your life goes by
Before you know
You gotta take time to slow down
Better take time to veer off the road
Enjoy the sights
While you are here
There's nothing to fear but fear itself
Who knows when the end is near
--Living for today (Pennywise)

A night to remember... JAJAJA

2007-03-13T00:53:00.000-05:00

Photos: Me (with my gnarly tattoo... which was a very painful stamp that lasted like 5 minutes before the sweat swept it away... jajajaja), Paco, Patricia Vonne, Hector and Barco... in the next pic it is basically the same humans but with Alex "el Lobo" from Del Castillo and Clifford Antone (we miss you man... snffff) in the back... AND Paco's effortless charm working at 9% of its capacity... yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
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OK, well, YESTERDAY we were in Austin specifically to see 3 of our all time mega-favorite musicians in the world play together in one night...
Our good friend Patti Vonne, Del Castillo and Chingon... well, Robert Rodriguez with Del Castillo is Chingon, but that's beside the point... Patti played the cool Gitiana de triana and Del Castillo played Rios Misticos and they all graced us with fresh new melodies... even Chingon played a new song from the GRINDHOUSE soundtrack...
Great music and a great night... snf,.
ALSO, on the way we were listening to CHICOTE and NEXO... so it was a great night of great independent music... COOOOOOL!

Speaking of music, don't forget to check out the soundtrack to CAPITULO UNUS at www.someonewillfall.com

Listen to the complete Soundtrack!

2007-03-05T20:29:00.000-06:00

Photos: Fernando "Dude" Ibarra at 3 am ripping the guitar (taken 9-8-06) AND the official inspiration juice of DWS in Monterrey...
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The complete score is now available for your listening pleasure at the official Ash Wednesday website:
www.someonewillfall.com
The score is beautiful and it elevates the movie unto a whole new level.

Many gifted musicians lent their talents to the soundtrack including famed Pianist and opera coach Rolando Garza Rodriguez, Guitar master Fernando "Dude" Ibarra, Engineering and ripping the guitar: Waris Rodriguez, Giuliano Innocenzi on drums and myself, I did drums and some really weird reverbs and reversed sounds (in the movie I am credited as Chaviro Villa :-)...

The score was captured in one week and some songs were assembled in that same week we spent in Monterrey, however, while I was editing the movie I mixed some raw tracks (i.e. drums, cymbals, guitars, voices, etc) into the film editor itself, and adjusting the raw sounds to make some really interesting music that would greatly enhance each scene.

Not one song was created for a specific scene, we gave the musicians themes (like sorrow, tragedy, suspense, etc.) and in editing I put songs as the scenes needed them... A very organic and creative experience...

We are cooking LOTS of stuff in the slow cooker... We'll have a bunch of exciting news really soon... stay tuned...

Goodbye to the house on Big Lake...

2007-03-01T10:23:00.000-06:00

Photos: This was the house in Westlakes (Eagle Pass, TX) where we have shot all of our films. In this photo, Gregorio Cazares' car creeps in... Let's just say that Gregorio (played by Fred Cisneros) visits Matias' family in an unfriendly manner...
ALSO, Here's the interior of the house. Pictured in the pic is Jessica (Kristi Gomez), Alicia (Eva Akashi) and Matias (Ricardo Gonzalez III). This exact interior design was used for EL ESCAPE which was shot in 2004.
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As Roger and Alonso leave to Laredo, they left behind a house, that they were renting with a huge cinematic legacy.
Their house was featured in one of the most important films that Digital Work Studios has ever worked on, which are EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS and ASH WEDNESDAY: CAPITULO UNUS.
In EL ESCAPE, it was the home of Andres De Los Santos' family and in ASH it is the home of Alicia and Matias Bloom... Interestingly enough both teenagers got imprisoned in Mexico... isn't that weird...
ANYWAYS, thanks for the memories you big house... we'll never forget you.
May those bricks and sheet rock shield your cinematic legacy forever...

Producers Delso and Roger hit the streets of Laredo

2007-02-26T20:36:00.000-06:00

Photos: Paco, Alonso and myself unloading the stuff in Laredo (Sunday)...
Me directing the whole unloading process... Pimpin' ain't easy, but necessary... jajajajjaja
AND DELSO CARRETE, handled and killed pedophiles and criminals in the movie, but in real life, he got severely injured with a washing maching... He lost a LOT of skin... snff
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We thought the day would never come...
Sadly, Digital Work Studios' producers Roger and Alonso have moved to Laredo.
Unfortunately we couldn't completely get rid of them... DAMN! jajajajajajaj
They will still be an integral part of our team and they'll more than likely be visiting every weekend...
But who knows! They'll probably be back sooner than I can say blueberry pie... "blueberry pie"...
"-well, probably not that fast, but pretty damn quick!"

2 Years Bloggin'!

2007-02-25T23:40:00.000-06:00

Photos: El Escape Team, Alonso, Rolando Tamayo, me, ASH (Ramiro Briones), Paco and Chicksters. (taken 5-17-2004)
I think that Barco was out sick that day or something, but here's a picture of him in case you miss him... (snff)
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I totally forgot that february 22nd marked the 2nd anniversary of this BLOG...
TWO YEARS!
When I first started writing this "diary" it was when we were finishing EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS, a very stressed time, for all of us...
we were barely starting out as "filmmakers", and that in itself was incredibly stressful.

Tonight I saw the OSCARS, which is the highest recognition given only to THE GREATEST films of the year.
AND man what a year of incredibly great and memorable films... my faves:
Babel, departed, children of men, blood diamond, last king of scotland, borat, el escape de los santos (jaja), to name a few...
These were all great films that inspired me in so many ways... they made me laugh, they made me cry, and alomost made me vomit (borat)... It was a great year for me as a movie-goer... :-D

I was glad for Scrosese and for the guy who made the music for BABEL, it was incredibly good...

I hope Delso gets his OSCAR one day, and if not, I know an Oscar in Mexico that can show him a lot of love and passion... jajajajajjaa

Happy Birthday Rosalinda

2007-02-22T13:11:00.000-06:00

Photo: Here's the gang! Alonso (in the back), Roger, AD Ibarra, me, Rosalinda and Paco. Taken July 8, 2006.
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If you've seen the trailer to ASH, you've obviously seen Rosalinda in one of the most heart-wrenching scenes of the movie.
Rosalinda (who plays Matias' aunt) is dragged by the hair by some psycho swat guys... In the trailer it is intense, however in the movie it is so much over the top, and that is all thanks to the wonderful acting of AD Ibarra and our Bday gal Rosalinda Coto.
That scene is the one that sets the tone of the whole film, and that is why it is the opening scene in the film.
Happy Birthday from all of us at DWS!

On ASH, TWO Mega events are in the works, so stay tuned!

ASH WEDNESDAY DAY

2007-02-21T08:25:00.000-06:00

Photos: July 8, 2006. First day of shooting with Ramiro Briones (Ash). The scar looked so weak we had to reshoot a closeup on his face months later.
The second pic displays the makeup that we used to make the scar look real. We used nose and scar wax, matte foundation (to match the actor's skin) and a sculpting tool... Paco quickly mastered the art of making the scar, so he became the official scar guy... The few times that I did it, it looked like crap...
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Today is ASH WEDNESDAY... I mean for real...
It is a day observed by Western Christians, and it marks the first day of lent.
In mass a priest puts a cross on your forehead of ash, and it is to remind us that "Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris." meaning "Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return."

HECTOR MATA, our Ash Wednesday puts a cross of blood (on their foreheads, if it is still attached to the face) on everyone he kills... I guess his message is "chingatus madreis" meaning "I am putting a cross of blood on your forehead, because the movie will look much cooler, and I want to be different than all of the other crime bosses in other films..." or something like that... :-D

SO, how the hell did we come up ASH WEDNESDAY (the character)?
Well, as we were beginning to write (very early on), I had an acquaintance that happened to have a birthmark on his forehead and I swear he looked as if he had gone to church on ash wednesday, BUT EVERYDAY!!!
I always thought to myself, that the only day he must feel normal was today, on ash wednesday.

SO, I had an idea to make a hitman character called ASH, because he had a birthmark on his forehead...
ANYWAY, as everything started evolving, I decided to have the crime boss as ASH... HOWEVER, later on, we changed his birthmark into a scar. With a scar we could now add a really healthy backstory, of HOW he actually got the scar and so on... and ended up being one of the coolest scenes in the movie...
Our only dilemma was to actually make the scar look real, but after multiple tests we got it right and we moved on...

"Listen Dama, if I find out that you had something to do with this, I am going to rip your heart out and feed it to your kids..."
-Ash Wednesday, scene 48

The making of the "Making of"...

2007-02-16T11:45:00.000-06:00

Photo: still from the raw footage of the behind the scenes... Paco Flores putting the scar cross on Ash (Ramiro Briones). In this scene, we were about to shoot a scene where ASH kills off a VERY important character in the film...
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After spending the whole year of 2006 making ASH, well, more than half of it writing and pre-producing, and from July-December shooting and editing...

We are now in production of a very cool documentary about all the stuff that happened behind the camera of CAPITULO UNUS...

I don't think it will be long, I will try and keep the most interesting facts to keep it incredibly informative as well as entertaining...

This would be for the DVD, but I will put a cool piece up on our website...

We are also planning a "Behind the Score" segment as well... with all of the important musicians including Waris Rodriguez, Dude Ibarra, Lando Rolando Garza, Chaviro Villa and Giuliano Innocenzi...

Some very cool stuff planned... stay tuned...

HAPPY Valentine's DAY

2007-02-14T09:02:00.000-06:00

Photo: Dedicated to all the ladies! Straight from the movie, here's badboy Gerry with his trademark smirk... yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!
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Valentine's Day... Just another marketing tool for rich corporations to make money or is it really dedicated to love... Whatever... you decide.
ANYWAYS, to all you love birds, to my friends, and to movie lovers in general, Filo and Matias and the rest of the Ash characters wish you a Happy Valentines's Day!

ESCAPE flying high...

2007-02-13T10:59:00.000-06:00

Photo: These are the DWS team on the Nintendo Wii... Wii made them ourselves as Mii's... jajajajajaja From L to R: Roger, Paco, Me, Delso, Ash Wednesday and Chicken... Barco also made many of the characters of ASH...
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After its Pay-per-view/ Video on Demand stint AND now in hotels nationwide, AND now on the web at JAMAN.com, AND on DVD available everywhere, we can say that our first feature film EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS is flying high...
HOWEVER, it REALLY is going to fly high!!!
Venevision International (Our distributor for EL ESCAPE) have negotiated a deal with some airline companies for a new Video-on-Demand system called letVAfly...
Here's an inside look at this new system:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=609i-OhFhoQ
Very cool stuff...

Goodbye to Angel Guerrero

2007-02-12T19:21:00.000-06:00

Photo: Angel Guerrero- Aug 10, 1986- Feb 9, 2007
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Angel is not a member of Digital Work Studios, however he is my sisters' (Luana and Diana) friend.
Personally I did not have the privilege to meet him, but of what I have heard he was an upright and cool guy...
He was involved in a fatal car accident in Laredo, TX. which happened on Friday.
Unfortunately, he passed away Saturday evening.
ALSO, it goes to show what a small world we live in, as Max Seturino, a friend of mine from Piedras Negras, Mexico, was Angel's uncle and friend... His family is also from Piedras Negras.
My heart goes out to his family and his countless friends that loved him very much.
If you're a myspace citizen, and you knew Angel, visit his space at:
http://www.myspace.com/aagc1186

Happy B-day Chato (AKA Delso Carrete)

2007-02-11T11:09:00.000-06:00

Photo: Delso and me...
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Happy Birthday to Alonso Wheeler...
As of today, he has inhabited the earth for 27 years...
Leave a message on his space:
http://www.myspace.com/ezpanol

ESCAPE online...

2007-02-06T10:06:00.000-06:00

Photo: from the archives of EL ESCAPE... Here's Alonso, Robert (chicken) and Paco putting on a fake beard on Chicken... BIG MISTAKE, because it looked awful and we had to reshoot everything... that involved the fake mustache and beard... at the time it seemed like the right thing to do... OH WELL, live and learn!!! But don't worry, in ASH the makeup is close to perfection... right Paco? yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhh
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Trust me, it has NOT been slow here at DWS...
We've been working tirelessly behind the scenes to prepare 2 special events, and unfortunately I cannot redact the details as of now...

However, there is a new online service called JAMAN in which you can rent and buy cool movies from your PC (or Mac) and EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS is waiting for you to view...
If you have not seen our first feature film go to www.jaman.com subscribe and rent it today...

Jaman is a film community for movie lovers, think youtube/napster/myspace rolled into one...
The movies are of VERY good quality and they have free short films to view... I highly recommend it...

So go and view ESCAPE and leave us your comment... If you want to get the regular version with all the special features (on DVD) go to AMAZON.com and order today...

More to come...

In the works...

2007-02-02T20:33:00.000-06:00

OK, well...
We have been "low-profile" lately, because we are planning 2 events, that are going to be WICKED! Respek...
We had a very private screening this morning with a few city officials (city not named on purpose), and the reaction was really cool... suffice to say, that they "got it"... they got the overall message and understood the relevance of the movie...
Stay tuned for more updates on these "events" that we are brewing...

Best things come for those who wait... snffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

A horse is like a man...
If a horse is... good... is like a man is good...
If a horse is, you know, angry... is like a man is angry...
If a horse is... tall... is like a man is tall...
If a horse is... hungry... is like a man is hungry...
If a horse is... strong... is like a man is strong...
-Borat (21st century philosopher)

Watercooler shoot...

2007-01-29T09:24:00.000-06:00

Photo: Dianira Martinez, plays the Water-cooler girl, and she works in Filo's company. She is the person that Filo and his co-worker/friend Jorge reference in a somewhat disturbing scene...
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Buyakasha...
Finally, we had a shoot, NOT A RESHOOT, but an actual shoot...
It was cool, we felt alive again, we felt like us again... jajajajajaja
Albeit, it was a shot that will be on-screen for 4 seconds... Nuttin difficult, just a "go up to the water cooler, pretend to talk to someone, and walk away... CUT, PRINT, CAPTURE, EDIT, COLOR CORRECT, AND FINISHED! It's now IN the movie...
Special thanks to TVAW channel 20 in Eagle Pass (Vic Wheeler) and to Dianira Martinez for helping us out in appearing in Ash Wednesday... She was really cool about it, very professional... THANX!
In all, I believe Ash now stands with a total of approximately 70+ credited actors that appear in the movie (not counting extras).... AND of all the 70, I think that 5 characters get to live... jajajajajjaja

Ever get that feeling you can't go on
Just remember whose side it is that you're on
You've got friends with you till the end
If you're ever in a tough situation we'll be there with no hesitation
Brotherhood's our rule we cannot bend
Bro Hymn (Pennywise)

Cannes we do it? YES WE CAN!

2007-01-19T14:42:00.000-06:00

Photos: The engraved wooden box that holds the DVD screener of Capitulo Unus. ALSO: Paco working his magic on the wooden box designed by Paco himself...
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Well, here is the final submission to a film festival at least for this month...
AND yes it is THE biggest film festival in the world...

The question is CAN the movie make it? is it possible?
Well, first of all I think that it is a great movie that definitely deserves the respect of ANY film festival in the world.
I know that EVERY indie filmmaker thinks that their film is the greatest thing ever, HOWEVER, I knew deep down EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS (which was our first movie) did NOT have what it takes to be worthy of an important festival. Let's just say that we learned from our mistakes, and NOW Ash Wednesday is everything we could wish for in a movie...

ALSO, we didn't rush to make ANY festival deadlines or distributors date or anything, we worked on our movie until it was ready...

The film will eventually find an audience, but to how wide the audience depends on the decisions we make from now until May... So we'll be thinking as big as possible.

The premieres are cooking and some extra surprises that we have up our sleeves to make the best of the whole thing.... stay tuned....

Mid-month

2007-01-16T13:43:00.000-06:00

Photo: Paco, Ramiro (Ash) and myself... Being silly with the sword... buyakasha... this was during a REALLY HOT day in August during a shoot... COMPARED to today, it's fr-fr-fr-freeeeeezing... I can feel Ash Wednesday changing the weather already... respek!
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I am juggling between finishing a final cut of the film, getting TWO screenings (one in San Antonio and one in Eagle Pass) AND getting press kits assembled for distributors and our last film festival submission...

On finishing a final cut version, I was fixing EVERY single error in the subtitles, nothing too alarming, just simple apostrophes and stuff... ALSO I was updating the credits, to make them look really cool and interesting...

Most of the time when one submits to a film festival, one depends on luck, more than anything else, because we [filmmakers] tend to rapidly submit a rough cut in order to make the deadline...
HOWEVER, I am happy that we took our time, and that I KNOW, that we did EVERYTHING we could to let the movie succeed. We have NO REGRETS on how this movie was submitted.

I don't know where this movie is headed but I can't wait for the trip.
Climb on or get the hell out of our way...

Happy Birthday to Roger (Barco)

2007-01-12T21:44:00.000-06:00

Photo: Barco... 'nuff said!
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Finally the time has come for Roger to be 21 years old and can finally be drinking with us (legally)...
Hooray!
Our youngest producer is now a man (teardrop... jajajajajaja)

LAFF + Bob Polunsky Comments

2007-01-11T18:58:00.000-06:00

Photo: Second submission to a film fest. Check out the Los Angeles film fest online.
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I have sent our second submission to a film festival, this time it went out to the Los Angeles Film Festival. That fest isn't until June, so that'll give us a lot of leeway.
Next week we send out to the most important festival in the world. We'll see.

Last week I had sent a screener DVD to movie critic and film professor Bob Polunsky to get his comments and any helpful input.
In a private letter from Mr. Polunsky to myself he says and I quote:
"Thank you for sending me a copy of "Ash Wednesday". I admire your workmanship and the statement the film makes. It's a shocker more than a thriller because it has more punch and moral value than most crime movies, and I appreciate the fact that you show characters on the side of law and order doing their jobs with pride and a good conscience... The movie ranks alongside such Hollywood films as "The Departed" in as much as its "thriller"and "shocker" values develop together."

I was very pleased to hear his comments because it has been a LOT of hard work and effort by all of us who have been in production throughout the last 5 months...

Now the movie is just about finished but this is just half the battle.
Now it is time to focus on getting this movie distributed so the whole world can experience the film.

You can see Bob Polunsky's movie reviews on WOAI-TV (San Antonio) and in Primetime Newspapers (in San Antonio as well).
Thanks again to Mr. Polunsky for his help.

The upgraded torture scene

2007-01-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

Photos: Film stills from the actual movie, color corrected and everything... HOW COOL... Gregorio Cazares (Fred Cisneros) torturing one of his longtime enemies Nestor Pragas (Rolando Tamayo Chavarria). Nestor and Delso infiltrated the crime group and befriended Gregorio. When Gregorio found out that Nestor and Delso were DEA he captured Nestor and tortured him for 7 days.
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One of the coolest scenes has just been overhauled.
What was my favorite, is now my favorite scene times two...
It looks REALLY cool...
I forgot to thank George Bass for lending us the place to film at BASS AUTO PARTS in Eagle Pass...
The place was perfect!

Ricky's Bday and ESCAPE room service...

2007-01-09T18:07:00.000-06:00

Photo: Me, ricky Jr, marcus, roger and paco... It took us almost 3 hours to build this thing... We found it a lot easier to make a movie... :-D
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MAN, after a celebrating Gaby and drinking tequila... (for the sore throat... of course...) I woke up in a daze...
I still had the task to build a 14' trampoline, with the help of the hungover Paco and Roger, we finally managed to build the damn thing.
BUT it was all worth just to see the tremendous surprised face of my son... good times...
AFTERWARDS we all jumped in and had some fun...

TODAY I also got some great news from our ESCAPE distributor Venevision International...
El Escape De Los Santos starting on February will be available in 800,000 hotel rooms in the US.
The service is called "On Command", and it is like video-on-demand but in a hotel room...
Hotels include Hyatt Int., Hilton, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Ramada, Sheraton and many more prestigious hotels across the nation....

EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS is out now on DVD available anywhere that DVD's are sold and rented.

Yesterday's shoot + Gaby's B-day!

2007-01-08T05:44:00.000-06:00

Photo: Top-Fred, Rolando and me (the guy with the camera) Middle- Paco, Alonso, Passion of the Lic. Rolando Tamayo, Hector Hernandez and Fred Cisneros Bottom- Paco putting special FX makeup on Lic...
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WOW, what a day...
Yesterday, we filmed with our friend Lic. Rolando Tamayo who is coming back after a very scary health crisis. He was in the hospital for months, but now he is back and ready for action.
People who saw our first film EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS might remember him as the exuberant lawyer of Andres De Los Santos...
Originally the role of Gregorio Cazares (a torturing hitman in Ash Wednesday) was written for him, but health problems didn't allow him to do the role.
Now he serves as Nestor Pragas, an ex-DEA agent who gets tortured and killed by Gregorio Cazares (played by Fred Cisneros)... Nestor is Delso Carrete's longtime friend and mentor, whom which in their time they infiltrated drug cartels and brought drug dealers to justice...
Fred Cisneros and our agent Hector Hernandez came down from San Antonio to shoot a really cool flashback scene...
As of now Capítulo Unus is a very close FINAL CUT of the film, however there's still room for improvement...
We are very happy of how the film turned out.
I'm sure that the final FINAL cut will be even more satisfying...

Photo: My cool girlfriend Gaby Mendoza
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Today is my wife/girlfriend's birthday... she is, ummmmm, very very young...
ANYWAY, at the time when we did not have ANY money, and we needed $ for important stuff, she was one of the very few people who believed in me, in what I could succeed, in my hopes and my dreams... and maybe the sheer fact that someone else believes that you can be someone special is enough to make you confident to do a lot of cool stuff... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Gaby has been with me throughout the past 9 years, and we have been through A LOT... and that is probably an understatement... I'm just very glad that we have more time to enjoy life and each other...

It's Puppies!!!!

2007-01-06T19:42:00.000-06:00

Photo: Doggy and her pups born today Jan. 6th...
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Our Co-editor and voice-over chick Doggy Mendoza is the proud mother of 3 beautiful baby pups...
2 of them look exactly like her with spots (only their spots are darker), and a cute brown puppy...

The procedure was painful since an induction injection had to be used, but she did have them naturally, under the vet's supervision.

The babies are mexican citizens, since they were born in Piedras Negras, Coah. MX, HOWEVER her mother is a US citizen, so I gues they have the benefit of enjoying dual citizenships...

They were born in Clinipet under the supervision of MVZ Gabriel Rivas. Thanks to all his staff.

Tomorrow we shoot a VERY cool flashback scene... stay tuned...

First Submission

2007-01-05T00:19:00.000-06:00

Photo: This is the package containing one of the two existing DVD's of Ash Wednesday. We poured our hearts into not only the movie, but the website, the promo pics, and all of the promotional materials... Now we can't say we "should have" or "could have"... because we did...
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Whoa, we barely made the deadline for our first film festival submission.
The Tribeca film festival in New York will be the first to receive a submission for ASH WEDNESDAY.

After the countless rejections from our last film, I have developed a thick skin, so I am not really anxious to hear back from ANY particular film festival.

In the coming weeks we will be submitting to many other important film festivals, however we will still be sending ASH directly to distributors and the like...

We are still tweaking the movie and enhancing it, as a matter of fact we have 2 shoots this weekend... not of much importance, but shoots nonetheless... one of the shoots will be of utter importance in Capitulo Duos (Chapter Two)... stay tuned and wish us luck!

Render, render, render...

2007-01-03T20:00:00.000-06:00

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Photo: Paco made this COOOOOOOOL handmade collector's box for the DVD screener. This will be sent to a very important film festival.
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I slept until 6am assembling and creating all of the needed materials for the film festival.
Paco created the immensely cool wooden box a few weeks ago, and I had to print film stills, fill and pay the online application, make a director's bio, and of course make the actual DVD for ASH.

As of now, there is ONLY one DVD of the film in existence in the whole universe.
Sadly, it will be destroyed after we watch it for errors.
Tonight I'll fix any errors or enhance stuff, and I'll make a final DVD to send to the festival.

By then the festival will be the only one who will have a DVD copy of ASH Wednesday.
In the coming months I plan to submit to more festivals and be sending screeners to distributors, and I will be in production of the behind the scenes stuff, as well as to create a press kit for ASH.
AND we will still be enhancing the movie itself, by retooling some small audio stuff and adding extra footage that will make the movie even better...

NEW Stills gallery

2007-01-01T17:05:00.000-06:00

Photo: Mysterious shaman dude, Hector Muñoz Mijares stealing the spotlight in Capitulo Unus.
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It's the start of 2007, and I decided to move into full throttle with the NEW film stills gallery now uploaded into www.someonewillfall.com

Wicked....

A very busy week awaits us as we submit to film festivals, and actually produce the DVD for Capitulo Unus...

Gotta go back to work!

2006

2006-12-31T11:47:00.000-06:00

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...

2006-12-30T04:34:00.000-06:00

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...

2006-12-27T18:02:00.000-06:00

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!

2006-12-24T08:44:00.000-06:00

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......

2006-12-22T11:54:00.000-06:00

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...

2006-12-20T08:43:00.000-06:00

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...

2006-12-18T15:49:00.000-06:00

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...

2006-12-14T22:33:00.000-06:00

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!