Amongst the cold, wintery weather that Grand Rapids is best known for, Gorilla Pictures continues its run at world domination. West Michigan film production tends to slow down in these blustery, frost bitten months but our company of fellows is staying busy. Eric Johnson has (finally) begun post-production on “All We Have”, a music video we shot back in the early days of September. (Remember the fall? We had sun then!) The musician is Erin Austin and we produced a video for her great, upcoming album OK Sweetheart. NOTE TO READER: The video on the website is not Gorilla’s work – but you can audibly sample her delightful tones, digest them, and find nourishment. We will be posting our music video to the Gorilla website in the upcoming weeks!

In other news, Eric Machiela continues to learn about the wonder of story and strives for his 10,000 hours (thank you, Malcolm Gladwell) of writing and reading, whilst listening – and then tearing up – to Bruce Springsteen sing about “all things America”. Aaron Smith toils away his hours by getting Gorilla ready for this year’s ADDY Awards, taking place in Grand Rapids. Our production company won a handful of ADDY awards last year (which we’ve neatly framed, I might point out) and our hope is to walk away with two handfuls of awards this year. We need them; our walls are bare. And finally, Scott Brookens creativity has begun spinning around a new, exciting concept, which all of Gorilla will be developing this spring. More on that in the upcoming months.

Also, I want to mention “The Lost & Found Shop”, an upcoming short film written and to be directed by Caleb Alexander Slain. (Three names always does sound more professional, doesn’t it?) Gorilla is serving as the production company and will be facilitating with RED Cameras, ARRI Master Primes, and our understanding of production know-how. We will be filming in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan starting mid-January. It needs to be done by February 1 for entry into the Doorpost Film Festival so post-production will be done in tasteful haste. I believe the West Michigan film community — nay, the world’s film community is in for a treat.

And lastly, we hope you’re getting out to the theater and checking out some films this Holiday Season. We recommend “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” It will affirm your belief in cinema. (Just in case you can’t sense the sarcasm, I’ll let you know that was a joke. The movie is horrible and deserves to be banned from any country not run by a dictator. Sorry, Zimbabwe.)

Many of our faithful followers know that we have recently acquired six ARRI Master Prime lenses (scroll down to our December 7 posting to read all about the delight that is German engineered glass, neatly perfected). But what you may not know is that Gorilla Pictures has made the ARRI Master Primes available to rent! Click on the RED link to the left and be introduced to the rental rates, both for our RED cameras, our Master Primes, ARRI MB-20 Matte Box, and ARRI FF4 follow focus. If you have any questions you can e-mail Scott Brookens at scottb@gorilla-pictures.com to learn more about daily rates, weekly rates, and maybe (if he’s eaten well that day) some wheelin’ and dealin’.

I believe at this point we are the only Michigan-based production company to have ARRI Master Primes and two (2) RED cameras. What a blessing! This equipment makes us think we know what we’re doing!

If you are hip to the indie movie scene, then you may have heard of a little film that was theatrically released this past summer, THE STONING OF SORAYA M. It was produced by Santa Monica-based Mpower Pictures and stars Shohreh Aghdashloo (you know I had to Google that spelling) and Jim Caviezel. It’s definitely not one for the kiddies but is a powerful movie with important themes, focusing around oppression in Iran and women’s rights (or lack of rights). It’s based on a true story.

We were asked to cut a teaser of sorts for Mpower, which they used as a vehicle for submitting to film festivals and distributors. I like to think that we did something halfway effective because THE STONING became an official selection at the Toronto Film Festival in 2008 and won an Audience Choice Award, runner-up to some joke of a film called “Slumdog Millionaire.” (Whatever happened to that thing?!) See our teaser below and then visit the website here: www.thestoning.com

http://www.vimeo.com/8339772

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who came out to our Gorilla Holiday Cheer Party! Everyone of you made it a smashing success. Too successful, in fact. I was hoping to slam down a bowl of Aaron Smith’s savory chili every day from now to Christmas but, alas, the crock pot is empty. Overall, hearty laughs were shared, luke warm wings were consumed, and delicious drinks were downed — all in the festive spirit of celebration and camaraderie. For those who couldn’t make it, you were missed. Even the ones who thought it wise to stay away. A special thanks to Brittany Risner who came out early to help set up lights, hang decorations, and cut the cheese. (Another year has brought no more maturity to the blog writers at Gorilla.)

We were blessed to see so many friendly faces come out and remind us of who helps keep this little operation going. I’d say more but the photos below do most of the talking. Look closely! You might see yourself. And when you’ve saturated your brain with these images, go to our Facebook page and see dozens more. It’s a great way to spend 4 minutes.

Have a safe holiday season! We’d say something about “remember the reason for the season” but you’ll get enough of that from your good-willed mothers.

Merry Christmas to all from GORILLA PICTURES!

Madness at Gorilla. Between the carpenters, painters, AT&T goons, and EPS security personnel, it’s getting a little crowded. Under normal working conditions it might be wise to temper this growth (and thereby lower the risk of accidental fatalities by nail-gun), but you can’t stop this train. We have only two days left before the Gorilla party!

And in case you forgot, a party it shall be. We’ll be rocking a delicious Hefeweizen from the Hideout Brewing Company, a nice Malbec (Aaron Smith swears it’s soooo hot right now), and a classy assortment of homemade chili and wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. There will also be door prizes from Netflix and Celebration Cinemas, but to be completely honest we have yet to determine how you can win them. Post your suggestions!

So barring any trips to the emergency room resulting from the inhalation of toxic fumes, falling plasma televisions, or collapsing stepladders, this place should soon be all buttoned up for Thursday night. Hope to see you there.

Aaron Smith may have exceeded the "safe" limit of primer fume inhalation.

Peter Johnson swears he knows what he's doing. Probably should have had him sign a release.

Thanks to Taylor and Justin Stonehouse for the speedy kitchenette buildout. http://jstonehousebuilders.com

Gorilla has completed production on a little commercial spot for Fitzgerald’s Men’s Store. We don’t often showcase smaller projects, but we think this one ended up turning out quite nice. The spot was shot in a day with a crew of five and we were able to turn the post work around fairly quickly thanks to Eric Machiela’s wizardly editing skills and a quick color grade from Chad Terpstra at Cinevera Pictures.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Ed’s Story is a series of five short films that tell pivotal points in Dr. Ed Dobson’s remarkable real-life journey with ALS. The series is based on Ed’s book, “Prayers & Promises”, published by Zondervan. The creative producer is Karl Koelling, who recently brought the project to Gorilla. This project has copious amounts of potential and we’ll be helping out by facilitating with RED cameras and Master Primes.

Film one, “It Ain’t Over”, is currently in pre-production and will be released in early 2010 for broadcast, DVD, and mobile device distribution.

Gorilla proudly welcomes 6 new children into its family: a set of ARRI MASTER PRIME lenses. That was not a typo, dear friend. If you don’t completely understand the beauty, perfection and gloriousness of the Master Prime lens, you’d do well to click this link – http://www.arri.de/camera/lenses/35_format_lenses/master_primes.html – and learn more. This is the kind of stuff that gets camera geeks “school child giddy.”

Eric Machiela braved the threat of swine flu and the germ-crammed conditions of a plane to fly out to Salt Lake City, where he met up with some good people at Ron Hill Imagery – who were looking to sell their set of Master Primes: an 18, 25, 35, 50, 75, and 100 mm. It was bittersweet for them (understandably) and we are thankful to them for their fine handling of the lenses. They’ve left them in mint condition. These lenses are a perfect addition to the RED Cameras, and it goes without saying that they will bring our visuals to a new level. We are fully aware of this responsibility and greatly humbled to be caretakers of such lovely German craftsmanship.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to staring at them.