We recently created a collection of seven short documentary films for the Acton Institute. They are set to release soon, but one has made an advance into the public eye due to the passing of it’s subject, former Nixon aid, Charles Colson. The film is just a small glimpse into his world, but we hope it honors the legacy he left behind.
Charles Colson Documentary
April 25th, 2012With You For Life
April 24th, 2012Gorilla and Highland Group just teamed up to create a television ad for Holland Hospital. It’s part of Highland’s “With You For Life Campaign.”
Our Favorite Films of the Year
February 12th, 2012Every year we (Gorilla and friends) list our favorite films of the year. This season’s submissions are a little late, but we think you’ll still find them a nice alternative to the Oscar noms. That is unless you’re a card carrying 4H member who also happens to be a WWI vet working for PETA.
Eric Johnson
2. Bridesmaids
3. The Guard
4. Take Shelter
5. Moneyball
6. Drive
7. Super 8
8. Win Win
9. The Debt
10. Margin Call
Eric Machiela
10. Ghost Protocal
9. Win Win
8. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
6. Hugo
5. Super 8
4. Drive
3. Harry Potty and the Deathly Hallows
2. Bridesmaids
1. Moneyball
Brent Christy
1. Drive
2. Hanna
3. The Descendants
4. Hesher
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
6. The Artist
7. Bridesmaids
8. Win Win
9. Columbiana
10. Super 8
Scott Brookens
1. Drive
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2
3. Moneyball
4. 50/50
5. The Descendants
6. Ghost Protocol
7. Margin Call
10. Super 8
Gabe Berghuis
1. Tree of Life
2. Super 8
3. Moneyball
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt 2
5. Midnight in Paris
6. Ides of March
8. Troll Hunter
9. The Descendants
New Gorilla Reel – 2011
January 5th, 2012First of all, for those of you who keep track of such a trivial thing as time, we apologize for the lengthy absence between postings. We had a very busy, eventful 2011 and it limited blog postings. Quick update: We picked up some new RED Epics this fall but lost an Aaron B Smith along the way. (Okay, a very quick update.) Many emotions, but, overall, the Grand Rapids production scene has been good to us.
Enjoy our latest collaboration: The 2011 Gorilla Demo Reel! You know how to watch it, don’t you? You pop it full screen, crank it up, and keep time with the beat. Cheers.
A New Toy!
May 12th, 2011The future is now. Check out this quick video clip of our RED One streaming live to an iPad via the new Teradek Cube. It’s video assist at it’s nerdiest.
New Saxony BTS
March 8th, 2011Well it’s over. Until we actually make it. Principal photography for the New Saxony trailer wrapped last night in a flurry of snow, bonfires, and Nordic wild men. The concept trailer, created in collaboration with 10 West Studios will soon be edited for use as a pitch piece to (hopefully) secure funding for a full length feature film.
In the meantime have a look at this short BTS of our work-in-progress.
Filming in the Snowy North
March 5th, 2011And now for a quick update.
We’re having some fun in the frozen north of Michigan. It’s cold. It’s snowy. And we found a Goat Man.
Amway One by One video up for Corporate Citizenship award
February 25th, 2011In May of 2010, Gorilla Pictures took a trip to Philadelphia, PA with a few of our friends from Amway. The goal? To document the work of Amway’s Positive Sprouts initiative, part of their One by One Campaign for Children. There we filmed the creation of an inner city garden, purposed to teach children about sustainable food sources and healthy living. The resulting effort was pretty cool. Philadelphia’s Amway community showed up in a big way and worked with the Frankfort Boy’s and Girl’s club to literally create the garden in a day.
The video we created to document this event has been accepted into Boston College’s, Center for Corporate Citizenship Film Festival. While our work was only a small part of what Amway is doing through their One by One campaign, we’re excited to have contributed and wish them lots of luck in the film festival.
If you would like to see the video and cast a vote to help it win, simply follow this link and scroll down until you find the entry labeled “Amway.” You can’t miss it.
For more info check out Amway’s blog: blogs.amway.com
Comedies with Red Titling are all the Rage
February 18th, 2011Today is a big day. It’s the opening day of “Big Momma’s House: Like Father, Like Son”, the third film in the Martin Lawrence-helmed series. And as of 2:38 PM, Friday Feb 18, the film is currently rated at 0% on the Tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes … which might be a bit generous. Let’s go to the reviews.
Cruel: “Agonisingly slow and laughter-free.” Charlotte O’Sullivan — This is London
Crueler: “The movie is at least 20 minutes too long. Actually, it’s 107 minutes too long.” Roz Laws — Birmingham Post
Cruelest: “The world’s least funny comedian returns in this lazily written, pointless and painfully laugh-free threequel … that should be avoided at all costs.” Matthew Turner – ViewLondon
Brutal. But this got us to thinking about other films like it. Films that use the “Hey, look at me! I didn’t even try to come up with something new!” big, red font for their titling. So, in honor of the opening day of “Big Momma’s House: Like Father, Like Son”, we present to you several more marketing schemes that give good proof to this equation: Red Font + Comedy = Terrible.
Meredith Laden: Gorilla Intern
February 17th, 2011I never thought I’d be sitting on an office floor using a pair of scissors to hack at an innocent teddy bear while a stuffed duck looked on with black beady eyes, awaiting its own sad fate. I comforted myself with the knowledge that the hides of these fluffy friends were going to a noble cause. These plush pals will soon find themselves as wardrobe pieces for tribe members in the trailer for New Saxons. I, the new Gorilla intern, Meredith Laden never imagined I would be completing such a task, but would I trade it for the mundane office work that many interns find themselves saddled with? Absolutely not.
As a photojournalism student, I’ve had a few internships in the newspaper business, which were awesome learning experiences, but in this, my final semester of college, I knew something else was in order. After I graduate I hope to find myself across the globe somewhere as a photographer/videographer/writer of some sort for a missons organization. With that goal in mind, I set out to find an internship to sharpen my skills in video production. Long story short I met a young man named Caleb Slain in a lovely coffee shop called The Bitter End. He told me about Gorilla Pictures and got me in contact with Aaron Smith and the rest is proverbial history.
I already feel like this internship will be an awesome growing experience for me. Not only in knowledge of video production, but in creativity. The Gorilla office is a relaxed and creative environment – very different from the newsrooms I’ve worked in before. There’s much more of a communal feeling and a lot more fun in the air. The Gorilla gang has been so gracious to me in my first few weeks here- giving me Final Cut tutorials, letting me play with the Canon 7D, and getting me in the swing of things. As mentioned earlier, these first few weeks of Gorilla interning have been filled with running around town with Naomi gathering wardrobe pieces for New Saxons, getting acquainted with everything here in the office, and planning out projects for me to start working on in the future. So here I am, a part of the Gorilla crew, ready to soak up the knowledge, expertise, and artistry of the folks here.
Gorilla Pictures Top Films of Two Zero One Zero
January 26th, 2011Another year, our friends, and another list of our favorite films. Now, a little disclaimer here: these are the films that we most enjoyed watching — not what we believe were the films that will win the most awards, or the ones that will be bronzed in statues outside of Philadelphia Art Museums. Also, we weren’t able to see all that we would’ve liked to. Eric Johnson, for example, wasn’t able to get out and see some of the four-starrers (ala “Black Swan”) because of two new additions to his family, and Eric Machiela, while forehead deep in film production in Mexico, wasn’t able to get to the theater for a spell and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to ogle his man-crush, James Franco, in “127 Hours”, which he surely would’ve enjoyed.
Happy 2011 to all. I think it’s going to be a good one for Gorilla. Now, enjoy our terrible opinions.
Scott Brookens
1. The Social Network
2. 127 Hours
3. How to Train Your Dragon
4. Inception
5. Winter's Bone
6. Toy Story 3
7. Black Swan
8. True Grit
9. The Town
10. The Fighter
Aaron Smith, who included TV — and not necessarily from this year. (I don’t think he got the exercise.)
1. Exit Through The Gift Shop
2. The Town
3. Mad Men (Season 4)
4. The Social Network
5. Restrepo
6. Breaking Bad (Season 1, 2)
7. True Grit
8. Sick: The Life and Death of Supermasochist, Bob Flanagan
9. Winter's Bone
10. Arrested Development - Complete Series
Eric Johsnon
1. Winter's Bone
2. How to Train Your Dragon
3. Easy A
4. The Social Network
5. The King's Speech
6. Toy Story 3
7. The Town
8. The Ghost Writer
9. Animal Kingdom
10. True Grit
Eric Machiela
1. The Social Network
2. How to Train Your Dragon
3. Black Swan
4. Toy Story 3
5. The Fighter
6. The King's Speech
7. Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World
8. Tangled
9. Winter's Bone
10. True Grit
Hawgfly Productions
December 6th, 2010As you may know, we’ve brought our film production from Grand Rapids, Michigan down to Saltillo to assist our friend and director, Joel Vallie, in producing a feature film, a microbudget experience with a hundred headaches but a thousand grins. So when he writes a scene that has 100 demons in make-up running down Mexican streets, I might be tempted to say, “Oh, Joel. That ain’t gonna work. How are we gonna feed them? Where are they going to make their water? No one is going to show up anyway…and if they do who is going to do the demon make-up?” And his response was always the same, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get on it.” So we didn’t worry, trusted his favor, and sure enough, he delivered by bringing Hawgfly Productions on to set last week.
This movie has some intense special effects make-up and we needed a team that was up for the challenge. Meredith Johns (co-owner) recently finished up working on “Spy Kids 4″, this year’s Coen Brother’s movie “True Grit”, and last year, she was the head make-up artist on Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” (which by the way, if you haven’t seen, is a 2010 gem that was overlooked). So what is she doing on a film where we’re paying people in tacos? Cause she loves film and helping directors reach their vision…on any level.
So, she brought down three amazingly talented, patient, hard working make-up artists with her and they worked magic on a very small budget, utilizing freaky contact lens, patented Hawgfly blood, tattoos of veins, and dentures that would scare even your father. We would’ve loved to have spent $5,000 dollars on face molds and all that good stuff but unfortunately it’ll have to wait for the next time.
See a very brief picture show of the process here:
A relatively clean Ben Chamberlain
Applying some vein tattoos h'yeah!
He passes it to the man...
And BOOM goes the dynamite!
Pretty cool, huh? And we also had to make up our 27-year old production assistant as an old lady demon:
Ah, yes. It’s been good times down here. We’re on Day 19 of 20 today and everybody’s about to roll out of here tired and exhausted but, we think, rewarded. We have 5 days of film production for this movie scheduled in Michigan in April that we will need some help on (and by help, I do mean “free labor”). So who’s interested?!
More later.
PS. Somewhere on this trip, our little Gorilla van that can has developed a new rattling somewhere in the undercarriage, but she’s still running like Prefontaine. 2,800 miles and counting on this trip…
Film Production in Saltillo is heaps different than Grand Rapids
November 20th, 2010Well, we just about made it through week one before the press showed up. See the article here: VANGUARDIA NOTICIAS
Joel (our director) claimed that he wanted to shoot this film on the down low, not attracting any attention – especially that of the press. But my gutty parts tell me otherwise. Look at that “working pose” he strikes in the Vanguardia article. Something tells me he’s enjoying this. And here are some more photos from the week!!
Actors Ben Chamberlain and Kristen Barrett
Kaelin (actor) getting bloody ...
Gabe, Eric, Joel, and Mike involved in man talk
We didn't know how to film the scene where the car hits Ben without making it cheesy. So we just hit him.
We're filming with this stud, Ernesto D'Alessio. The senoritas love him.
Ernesto's adoring fans show up all the time and he delivers autographs like I deliver high fives. Quite freely.
More soon. Thanks for tuning in.
Production starts today
November 15th, 2010After a couple weeks of burdensome/rewarding pre-production, we start filming today (in less than an hour from this posting). The remainder of the crew arrived safe and relatively sound last night, just in time for the fun. At this point, I think we’re all too dumb to be worried about all the mishaps that I’m sure are lining up at our doors, but if we thought too much about the sanity of this venture, we wouldn’t be down here even attempting it. Our fearless leader and director, Joel Vallie, sets the tone. The motto for this production: “Don’t worry.” Ha, tell that to my innards.
Posted below are a few pictures from our location scouting, courtesy of Chad and his now trendy Hipstomatic-ical iPhone app. Hope you enjoy.
Exactly what you'd expect Mexico to look like, verdad?
Kaelin Stockwell, our lead actor.
Derek Street and Eric Machiela, perplexed at a location.
Hey look! A happy Derek found the fuse box!
Joel Vallie (on left) scouting with crew.
You boys like Meexxico?!?
Gorilla starts Pre Pro in Saltillo Coahuila Mexico
November 6th, 2010After 27 hours, 160 gallons of fuel, eight pounds of fast food, and a jumbo bucket of David’s sunflower seeds, Eric Machiela got the Gorilla van to the Tex/Mex border …
– and met up with Mexican superstar Joel Vallie who guided him over the Rio Grande. We drove a nice three + hours through the mountains, across untouched terrain, on down to Saltillo, Coahuila. (Click below for the lowest quality video of all time.)
Drive to Saltillo — In Video Form!
Why embark on such an adventure? Well, for the next 6 weeks, Gorilla — in partnership with Joel Vallie … and basically the whole town of Saltillo — is going to be heading up perhaps the most all intensive film production that we have ever undertaken. We love the work that we’ve been blessed with over the past few years (and we will continue to partner with clients in our life long goal of world domination), but as filmmakers, we’ve always wanted to produce and be a part of feature films, that is, long-form narrative storytelling.
As life goes, a few years back, we met a missionary/speaker/drug rehab leader/filmmaker, Joel Vallie, living in Mexico who had already directed a feature film, Corazon de Campeon. It was (how to be nice here…?) a quality effort but was limited by low production value in what it could do. In where it could go. Joel told Gorilla about another script he was developing and we jumped at the chance to partner with him, to make this film come alive.
Eric Machiela is first to arrive, laying the tracks for the other guys when they arrive. The other guys being Eric Johnson, Chad Terpstra, Derek Street, Gabe Berghuis, Ben Chamberlain, and Michael Amman. Everyone who is a part of this production is giving so much time and effort, working for tacos, and sacrificing a lot so let’s give them a digital round of applause!
More photos and info will be showing up here on this blog as the production goes along. And just cause she’s adorable, a picture of our makeup lady:
Gorilla Pictures produces Ad for Spectrum Health App
October 29th, 2010This fall, Spectrum Health has launched a smart phone application for their patients. To promote the app, Gorilla Pictures was hired to produce a 30-second commercial spot. It was a fun process involving vehicle rigs, a lot of green-screen replacement, and some interesting Chinese food.
Gorilla Pictures on ESPN dot COM
October 22nd, 2010Our ESPN Fantasy Focus Animation is finally complete! (If you scroll down to the Sept 3 blog entry, you can learn all the specifics about the video, why it was created, and why we’re nerds.) The animation that we completed is based on several inside jokes and guffaws from the 2-time award winning Podcast so I can’t assure that you’ll understand all the content per se, but if nothing else, I hope you can marvel at the ridiculousness of it. Special thanks to Nate Vanderplas for the animation skills and Randy Stewart for the drawings.
Here is the link to the animation: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5703583&categoryid=2815873
Hope you enjoy!
OK Sweetheart Music Video
October 6th, 2010After a year of toiling, waiting, and then waiting some more, the music video we created for OK Sweetheart (formerly Erin Austin) is finally online. Big thanks to all our friends who gave their time and talent to make this happen. Thanks for being so patient.
Without further ado…
Here it is on myspace.com OK Sweetheart – All We Have
Eric and Eric join up with ESPNs most coveted Fantasy Football League
September 3rd, 2010And now for something completely different…
As sad as it is to see summer go, at least the sweet glory of the football season is upon us. And much to the chagrin of some here at Gorilla Pictures (ahem, Aaron Smith), Eric Johnson and Eric Machiela have a huge hankerin’ for Fantasy Football. They do their research, they study the players, they talk about who they like and dislike, and perhaps most nerdily, they listen to an ESPN podcast called Fantasy Focus Football, co-hosted by Matthew Berry and Nate Ravitz and produced by Jason Soderberg.
Each year, the Fantasy Focus Football team hosts something which is known as the Man’s League, a 16-team league designed for only the most manly of Fantasy Football junkies. (Side note: This year it is called the Caveman’s League because it is being sponsored by Geico and so (Cheap plug!) go to www.geico.com and see about saving up to 15% on car insurance!) Getting into the league is competitive and nearly impossible. But this year they were determined.
So using company resources, they decided to use their skills and create a music video for the Fantasy Focus Football show based on their theme song (written and performed by international recording superstar Eric Hutchinson) which plays at the start of each show. They designed storyboards, had them drafted up, and sent them to the team at ESPN, who surprisingly decided that this would be a good idea! Nerds rejoice!
They invited Gorilla onto the two-time award winning podcast yesterday morning and we thought we would share it with you. No idea how many of you out there play Fantasy Football but for us (ashamedly) this is a big deal! See the link to the podcast below. They start interviewing us at approximately 22 mins into the podcast. And check back on the blog soon for the official Fantasy Focus Football music video!
http://espn.go.com/espnradio/player?rd=1#/podcenter/?id=5523103&autoplay=1&callsign=ESPNRADIO
The Red Camera MX Upgrade!!
August 10th, 2010Usually when we send our RED cameras to California, it’s because something is broken. An audio card decided to die after a rental or a mysterious blue line is now running down the middle of the picture or it became possessed and renamed itself Damien Thorn. If you can imagine it, it’s happened.
But this trip out to the West Coast is a time of jubilee. Rejoice with us, please. As you read this, the RED cameras are getting the new Mysterium-X sensor upgrades. Since only nerds (and Scott Brookens) knows what this means, let me brief you.
One of the easy complaints about the RED camera is that it records too much grain. It stinks in low light. You have to bring a Mack truck worth of lights in to get a good looking picture. RED has been notably criticized for this little mishap, especially at high ISO levels, and so they decided to do something about it. (They have to stay competitive with the new Canon 5D and 7D, eh?) The answer is the Mysterium-X sensor (heretoafterfor known as the MX sensor).
The MX sensor is bringing a much improved image — 4520 x 2540 pixels — and includes a new optical low pass filter. It’s the same sensor that is going to be in the upcoming EPIC-X camera. The MX will allow us to shoot at a high ISO (rumor boasts of 1200!) and say adios to the grain and noise. With our ARRI Master Primes opening up to a stop of 1.3 and an ISO of 1000+, who needs lights? And of course, rental on all of this is available!
As Beyoncé once said, “Let me, let me upgrade ya…”
Exploring Kaman Blows Up
August 1st, 2010For all of our sports fans out there, you may be aware that we are currently developing a television show with NBA All Star, Chris Kaman. In lieu of being picked up by a network, the show will be released as a webisode series sometime this fall. In preparation for this release, we have been researching and exploring the best ways to market our content online. Our model is currently rooted in the Free! model as outlined by Chris Anderson in Wired. (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free) We don’t know if it will work, but if this past week is any indicator, we might me onto something.
On Monday afternoon we posted a short edit of Chris and his buddies blowing up fireworks in his front yard. Well, actually $10,000 worth of fireworks. Anyway, it’s gone viral. Crazy viral. By Wednesday morning we’d gotten footage requests from ESPN and TMZ, and clips of the video had run on local Los Angeles news broadcasts. On Sunday morning, it was featured on the front page of the Sports Section of the Grand Rapids Press. In six days our potential audience has gone from zero to nearly 80,000.
While we have no idea whether this model will continue to work in longer form content, Exploring Kaman is a great vehicle with which to explore the future of self-distribution. Fun stuff.
St. Michael’s Abbey Update
July 22nd, 2010We have Updated the St Michael’s Abbey piece with a great new VO by Dave Pettitt. Details are copied below:
Round about two months ago, our friends at Mpower Pictures contacted us about flying out to California to capture the beautiful life of the Norbertine community at St. Michael’s Abbey. (Scroll down a few entries to read all the details and see some pics.) We are pleased to present the finished film just below! (If you have time to watch it, make sure you turn the HD on and pop it full screen.)
This experience/film production/idea was different from what Gorilla usually produces — and that’s what made the process of creating it so refreshing and rewarding. Again, kudos to cinematographer Tanner Wolfe for bringing his RED camera skills to the film production and to David Michael Phelps for his brilliant scribing of the script. Also, a big round of applause goes to Kyle Campbell for scoring the music. His tones always inspire a little party in my ears.
And lastly, all the thanks goes to the Fathers of St. Michael’s Abbey who displayed nothing but trust, patience, and incredible humility in helping us produce this film for them.
St Michaels Abbey
July 14th, 2010Round about two months ago, our friends at Mpower Pictures contacted us about flying out to California to capture the beautiful life of the Norbertine community at St. Michael’s Abbey. (Scroll down a few entries to read all the details and see some pics.) We are pleased to present the finished film just below! (If you have time to watch it, make sure you turn the HD on and pop it full screen.)
This experience/film production/idea was different from what Gorilla usually produces — and that’s what made the process of creating it so refreshing and rewarding. Again, kudos to cinematographer Tanner Wolfe for bringing his RED camera skills to the film production and to David Michael Phelps for his brilliant scribing of the script and his voice-over work. Also, a big round of applause goes to Kyle Campbell for scoring the music. His tones always inspire a little party in my ears.
And lastly, all the thanks goes to the Fathers of St. Michael’s Abbey who displayed nothing but trust, patience, and incredible humility in helping us produce this film for them.
Is it sinful to love a camera this much…
June 24th, 2010Methinks yes.
Our RED camera returned to the state of Michigan today with the new Mysterium-X sensor, commonly referred to as the MX sensor or chip or awesomeness or what have you. Look at the happy Scott Brookens as he gleefully unwraps the Fed-Ex man’s delivery!
We took some test footage in a dark office just to see if all this hubbub about decreased noise in the image and low pass filters was accurate. I’m thrilled to report it is … and how! Did I mention that the RED Camera with MX sensor is not only available for rental — hint, hint — but also has a new fancy logo on the side of the camera?
High five! (Slap)
Five Things That Have Very Little To do With Gorilla Film Production
June 10th, 2010It’s cliché, but where in the H does time go? We’re nearly in the smack dab middle of 2010 and I feel as though I just cracked the New Year’s cork a few weeks ago. C’est la vie. But the mid-year point got us to discussing, why shouldn’t we blog about five things that have very little to do with Gorilla film production? No reason not to!
1.) A small rant here but where have all the good movies gone this year? Disappointing films (e.g. Iron Man 2, Alice in Wonderland) and flat-out flops (e.g. MacGruber, Cop Out) have reigned supreme. Box-office receipts seem okay, considering, but that’s only because they’re gouging our wallets with sharpened spears, turning everything into 3-D and expecting us to pay for it. We’re forced to digest remakes (e.g. The Crazies, Clash of the Titans) and this weekend is giving us two 80’s remakes: The Karate Kid and The A-Team – do we really think these are going to be any good? The one shining moment in the first half of ’10 has to be How to Train Your Dragon. A delightful romp and guaranteed to be near the top of this guy’s best movies of the year list. Especially the way things are going. Come on, Hollywood. If you won’t make OUR movies, make something we want to watch, eh?
2.) The Waterfront Film Festival starts tonight in Saugatuck, Michigan. It celebrates some of the best filmmakers in this here state and beyond. Two such filmmakers being Alexander Caleb Slain and Jared Rummel, whose relentless efforts alongside us scrappers at Gorilla, brought to life “The Lost & Found Shop” – showing this weekend at the festival. Since this is about the 83rd time we’ve blogged about this movie, you’ll know we’re mighty proud of this little film that could and the collaboration that happened to make it so stinkin’ neat. (I realize that this has more than “very little” to do with Gorilla film production but I promise from here on out…nothing but nonsense.)
3.) Speaking of short films, the guys at Gorilla Pictures were recently exposed to this YOUTUBE TRAILER for a movie called (simply) “Movie Title”. It’s a trailer that celebrates all movie previews clichés … and I wish I had made it. Kudos to the minds behind this. Funny stuff.
4.) Coincidence? Fate? For all the dreamers out there, check this STORY out. Guy meets girl. They fall in love; they get engaged. Then, looking through photos for the wedding day, they realize that they had been in the same place, at the same time … 15 years before. Even the filmmakers at Gorilla have a soft spot for this balderdash.
5.) And last but not least, World Cup Soccer begins tomorrow!! Get your red, white and blue on (or whatever colors you bleed), grab a noisemaker, and turn it to ESPN because this once in a four-year event only happens every … well, four years. Eric Johnson and Eric Machiela have a soft spot for the World Cup and the immense popularity of it. Four years ago, just before the 2006 World Cup, they worked with Athletes in Action in seven (7) different countries, capturing the stories of several international soccer players. If you care – and you should, go back to the home page, click on the Project Map and navigate your mouse to Cote D’Ivoire (West Africa for the geographically illiterate), Germany, South Korea, Spain, or the U.K. and catch an excerpt. This is the world’s greatest sporting event, as evidenced by THIS PHOTO. No but seriously…it’s sweet.
That’s all for now. Enjoy the rest of 2010!
Gorilla produced Short Film making its Premiere at Waterfront Film Festival
June 7th, 2010So if you’re familiar with all things Gorilla, you know that in January we partnered with writer/director Caleb Slain and producer Jared Rummel to help bring to life THE LOST & FOUND SHOP. A copy of the Press Release can be seen here: Press Release – Lost and Found Shop
The 8-minute film did very well in an online film festival and is just now beginning its rounds in “real-life” film festivals, starting this weekend at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan. It’s playing both Saturday and Sunday. If you’re in the area and want to come support the film, click this link for more information on the when and where: Film Festival Favorites Short Film Program
And if you can’t make it out for our showing, well then a.) Shame on you and b.) come on down at any rate and support film production and exhibition in the oft-great state of Michigan! Hope to see someone besides us there!
Skate Video
May 20th, 2010Just found this vimeo. So awesome. Spike Jonze you have been challenged.
Gorilla wraps Film Production in Orange County CA
May 18th, 2010And check another one off the list of things to do before we die: Filming the serene, beautiful life of Norbertine monks.
We recently got back from the picturesque hills (or mountains…I don’t know the difference) of Orange County, California, after capturing the happenings of St. Michael’s Abbey, a Norbertine community. Gorilla Pictures sent Eric Machiela and David Michael Phelps to Los Angeles, where they met up with cinematographer Tanner Wolfe. The three of them piled copious amounts of film gear into a Dodge Journey (no wonder the American car companies are having a problem selling vehicles) and drove east to Silverado CA, where they spent four days filming the Norbertine fathers in all their glory. The piece was concepted by Dave Phelps (along with the tutelage of the Norbertines) to be a “visual poem” of sorts, heavily reliant on its images and music. What we saw through the viewfinder looked great — now it’s just a matter of piecing it together. And crossing our fingers.
BONUS: Photos below! As you can see, it’s always amazing where film production takes us.
New Spike Jonze Short Film
April 5th, 2010If I was a Vodka man, I’d be hard pressed not to drink Absolut Vodka. These guys are marketing in a way that only a filmmaker can truly admire. As a follow up to their sponsorship of a comedy short by Zack Galifianakis (with Tim and Eric of Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!), Absolut has gifted us with a new short film from director Spike Jonze (Were the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovitch, Adaptation) called “I’m Here.”
The short film has remarkably high production value; the kind that makes you break the tenth commandment. And if that wasn’t enough, it is being presented in a spectacular way. Each day, limited screenings take place in a virtual online theater, making views feel so exclusive that you’re not likely to turn it off half-way through. If there’s any way to get an audience to sit through a half-hour short film, this may be the best way I’ve seen yet…but being Spike Jonze doesn’t hurt either.
News and tidbits from your friends at Gorilla
March 15th, 2010Hey reader – hope you enjoyed your transition into Daylight Savings Time as much as we did! A few bits of info regarding Gorilla Pictures and its band of merry men:
1.) Gorilla Pictures’ film production “The Lost and Found Shop” has made the top 20 films at the online film festival, The Doorpost. Congratulations to writer/director Caleb Slain and producers Jared Rummel and Aaron Smith for their tireless efforts. But before you start high fiving your neighbor, understand that it is just the first step of the competition, which is a multi-tiered operation. The next step is for all 20 filmmakers who passed the first round to draft a brand new screenplay on a specific topic (i.e. Truth, Hope, Sacrifice, etc.), of which only 5 will be chosen to be produced with a $40,000 budget. Fingers crossed (and under the creative endeavors of Caleb Slain & Co.), Gorilla will be informing you of great news within the next month or two.
2.) Gorilla also recently wrapped up post-production on a job for Crowe Horwath, LLP. The collaboration and partnership with them went great, as they entrusted us to tell their recent success story. We will be posting the work on our website shortly. Special thanks to Crowe’s client, Miami-Dade County Juvenile Services Department, for letting us take over their offices for a few days over the first week of March. And for all the patience and understanding they had while being so new to the oddity of film production.
3.) In case you don’t yet know, Gorilla Pictures now has its very own App! You can get it at the iTunes store. Just search: “Gorilla Production Reel”. We had someone download it from Taiwan earlier today. I guess this means we can finally put “internationally renowned” on our business cards.
4.) And lastly, we are happy to announce that we were recognized as one of the top production companies in film and television in the Grand Rapids Business Journal. Thanks to everyone who has partnered with us and trusted us to tell their story. More great things in 2010, we’re sure…
Adventures and mayhem loom on the horizon but we’ll get to them as they approach. Enjoy the opening rounds of March Madness! (And yet, because I’m aware that no one in film, video, or television production ever watches sports, I’m assuming that that phrase meant nothing to you.)
The Gorilla iTunes App is Here!
March 10th, 2010Aw, yeah. Gorilla just jumped into the App world. You can find it for free in the iTunes App store, or by clicking HERE.
The idea is simple. The day of the DVD is quickly becoming obsolete, and we think that Apps are the perfect new way to promote and deliver media content (and loads of extra info). Do us a solid, download it for yourself and give us some feedback. We anticipate making a lot more of these in the future.
The Lost and Found Shop on Doorpost
March 8th, 2010Ladies and gentleman, we are pleased to announce that Caleb Alexander Slain’s “The Lost & Found Shop” has not only been recognized as a merited film on the acclaimed Doorpost Film Festival’s website but also is leading the pack with 2070+ views — nearly 1,400 views more than any other film on the site!
For those in the dark, Gorilla teamed up with writer/director Slain and producer Jared Rummel (among dozens of others!) to help bring to life the story of a girl searching for a lost memory – a piece of her identity. The production went swimmingly and the response has been overwhelming. If you haven’t had a chance, please go here (www.thedoorpost.com), click on the Identity tab on the left, do a little downward scrolling and find the Lost & Found tab. I trust you won’t regret it.
Thanks to ALL who helped make this film a reality. This is just the first step.
A direct link can be found here: http://www.thedoorpost.com/identity/film/thelostandfoundshop
Gorilla Orchestrates Film Production in Miami
March 8th, 2010Last week, Gorilla filmmakers had good reason to rejoice. Our most recent project, produced for Grand Rapids’ own Crowe Horwath, took place at the Miami-Dade Juvenile Assessment Center in Miami, Florida. Although far from a vacation, it turns out that just working in a climate opposite to freezing Michigan is reason to celebrate.
The film will document Crowe’s successful implementation of “Quest,” a powerful software program designed to bring data organization and advanced analytics capabilities to Miami-Dade’s internationally recognized Juvenile System. The tale we’ve captured is somewhat surprising, as it is not a story of data analytics but rather of an organization empowered to influence the lives of the children struggling in their community.
It’s an interesting story to tell, and it reflects our desire to the discover the humanity in all of the projects we undertake – Commercial, Corporate, and Entertainment alike.
An especially big thanks to Derek Street, Tyler Garret and Ryan P. Photography for joining Gorilla on the project and working far beyond expectations.
Gorilla Pictures Presents Addy Award Reel
February 26th, 2010Great Success! (in my best Borat voice). This year, Gorilla is presenting the Addy’s event by creating the awards reel, an animated showcase of winning print, online, and film/video work. Last night, all of our hard work paid off when Gorilla proudly presented the Awards reel. Creating the reel was a long road marked by no sleep, communist factory worker employment hours, reoccurring states of delirium, and and even less sleep. But it was worth it. And the work presented was fascinated. For the naysayers in West Michigan, creative ideas exist and can compete with the nation’s best.
It’s been an intense couple weeks, and a big reason has been fulfilling our commitment to sponsor the 2010 Addy Awards. Gorilla personally took home four Addy Awards to add to the collection. Even more important though, due to the sponsorship, we had a lot of great exposure throughout the night. For this, a special thanks goes out to Todd Chatman, who really worked hard to help make the Awards Reel the best it could be. Also, huge props to our new friends at VisualHero for some remarkable graphics and design work.
The work has been tireless (literally) as the last couple nights have been sleepless, barring an occasional office couch nap. But the end is in sight. Today the presentation will be delivered for technical review, and then tomorrow night the fun begins.
In the end, who can say what future film making fun will derive from the night’s success but rest assured that it was a great experience for Gorilla. Check out the intro to the Awards Reel we made for last night’s presentation.
The 2010 Addy Awards will be held in downtown GR at The Intersection, with the fun kicking off at 6:00 p.m. Hope we see you there!
Also, if we fall asleep during the awards reel don’t bother to wake us up. We’re gonna need the rest. We’ve seen it about ten thousand times at this point, anyway.
App image
February 18th, 2010
Gorilla is building an iPhone Application! The process is nearly finished, and there was a bit of a learning curve, but the App will be available for free on iTunes and will be used primarily for marketing. Of course, for all you Gorilla fans out there, make sure you grab a copy in passionate support of Grand Rapids Film Production companies!
The App is scheduled to be released at the end of February.
Gorilla Attends a Feature Film Seminar
February 9th, 2010Eric Johnson and Eric Machiela have left the snowy Michigan confines of the Gorilla offices for the warmth of Los Angeles. For a couple of days anyway. They are attending an educational seminar on film financing in Santa Monica with Evan Koons. In speaking to one of the Eric’s last night, they told me “Everything is going good so far, we just raised 4.3 million in the matter of an evening.” Okay, so that’s a lie. The conference is actually designed to help you understand the process of events that need to take place to finance a film.
Gorilla is currently looking to fund their feature film Camp Manna. While the conference isn’t a meal ticket by any means, it will provide a deeper knowledge of how to raise investment capital — and once raised, how to properly manage the investor and his capital. Enjoy the snow, suckers.
Oscar Party at Gorilla
February 3rd, 2010With this week’s nominations, Oscar season is officially upon us. Not sure if you saw the telecast of the Oscar Nominations or not but it’s worth watching if you’ve never seen it. And you only need to view one of these ceremonies once because it’s the same every year. Before the telecast, Oscar and his buddies call up two people: an attractive, not going to be nominated this year actress (in this case Anne Hathaway) and an older, “who the heck is this guy” Academy President (in this case Tom Sherak). They smile at hundreds of journalists, blink at their flashing cameras, and read off nominations in an every-other format. Now, they don’t go through all the nominations. And thank goodness! Do the interested parties really care about best achievements in sound mixing? I’ll answer for everyone except our good friends at Sound Post USA…no, we don’t, but we do care that they highlight the big ones (best actor/actress, screenplay, director, best picture, etc).
This year saw some happy nominees! Like Jeremy Renner for Best Actor in “The Hurt Locker” and Gabourey Sidibe for Best Actress in “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” (if there was a worst title nominee this would win). It was good to see Carey Mulligan get nominated for “An Education” and Nick Hornby for the adapted screenplay. And I was on pins and needles to see if “Miracle Fish” would get nominated for Best Live Action Short Film! It did!
But regarding the best picture nominations, you may or may not know, faithful reader, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences decided to expand their viewership base by nominating ten (10) films this year. The thought with this was that they would be able to appease box-office darlings and the audiences who went and saw them. It’s in this format that we were hoping to see the nominations of films like “The Hangover” or “Star Trek” — but they were not to be found! And though nice to see a couple of smaller films given a nod (i.e. “A Serious Man” and “An Education”), it was a bit knee shaking to see “The Blind Side” and “District 9” included on the list of Best Picture nominees. We’re not trying to be haters. One of Gorilla’s finest looking employees (you can guess at who that may be) saw “The Blind Side” and enjoyed it for what it was. But Best Picture? If you do watch the Oscar Noms video, pay special attention to the reaction when they announce “The Blind Side” as a best picture nomination. People love the “little movie” that could. And say what you want about “District 9” but it is not as impressive a movie as “Star Trek.” It’s just not. This is not debatable. Eric Johnson and Caleb Slain have threatened to boycott when they heard that one of the years best films and performances was admittedly snubbed (Sam Rockwell in Moon), but I’m sure they’ll show up just to boo.
Winning an Oscar is considered by many to be the highest glory in film, animation and video production. And as it is, Michigan film production companies are not often invited to the soiree — so what do we do? We create our own high-fiving good time! So, to celebrate, Gorilla Pictures is throwing an Oscar Party at their Grand Rapids offices on the night of its broadcast, Sunday March 7! It’s a bring your own beverage sort of thing, and you are encouraged toshow up at least 15 minutes before hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin take stage, because we will all be competing by guessing and filling out empty ballots. Whoever compiles the most correct guesses is the winner! So brush up on your Short Film Animation knowledge, ladies and gentleman, because that one point could be all the difference between you going home with a Door Prize or going home with a sad face. More will be posted about the Gorilla Oscar Party soon!
http://oscar.go.com/
Gorilla Beats Apple to iPad Branding
January 29th, 2010Sorry Apple. You’re too late. Not with your iPad of course. We’re sure that will of course have a variety of amazing uses (none of which will involve finding clever names for things). No, you’re too late with your latest branding artwork. But thanks though. We’re really psyched that our logo will look like an Apple ripoff from here on out.
It’s not that it’s a bad thing to have your creativity affirmed by the worlds largest inventor of awesome stuff, but nobody wants to look like a poser. So for the record… Ah, whatever.
Maybe we’ll just have to turn Grand Rapids, MI into the Silicone Valley of film production.
Shut it down
January 27th, 2010As abruptly as conspired, it ended. No trip to Haiti. Poor Tanner Wolfe didn’t even get to make it through customs. Although the merits of the trip will apparently be re-evaluated, the powers that be spied something that raised a red flag in regards to filming their relief effort.
Sometimes you have to respect the call from the top. This is film production. For better and for worse, it’s the life we have chosen.
Gorilla Sends Film Crew to Haiti
January 27th, 2010The world of film production is a crazy thing. One minute you’re sitting in your cozy Grand Rapids, Michigan office counting snowflakes and the next minute you’re getting a call from the good people at Amway Global to pack your camera, sandals, and sunblock for a trip to Haiti (but this is no vacation). And that should mean something right now, because as all of you well know, the damage the earthquake in Haiti has done is beyond comprehension. Gorilla feels very blessed to be asked to go on this trip and help out in any way possible. Eric Johnson and Tanner Wolfe, one of our favorite documentary cinematographers, will be the two Gorilla representatives. They leave tomorrow and will be back on Saturday. We know the trip is short but excitement is high (as well as emotions).
Apologies for the brief blogging but Eric and Tanner have a lot of planning to do. A more comprehensive (and picture-filled!) blog on the Haiti adventure will appear early next week. So check back.
Lost and Found Shop in Full Swing
January 17th, 2010Cameras began rolling today on Gorilla’s latest local Grand Rapids venture: The “Lost and Found Shop” film production. The crew is in pretty good spirits and things are busy so this blog post needs to be short. Big props to Caleb Slain for his hard work, and also to Aaron Smith for his tireless producing hours. And let’s not forget Derek Street and Eric Machiela, who are putting the Master Prime Lenses to work!
Friday Night Production Meeting
January 16th, 2010Just a quick few pic from last night’s pre-production soiree. The anticipation of producing a project always gets the Gorilla offices hopping. Although we aren’t filming in Grand Rapids, we usually try to keep these meetings close to home.
Production on the Lost and Found Shop begins
January 15th, 2010The first Gorilla production of the year begins this weekend! The Lost and Found Shop, a short film written and (to be) directed by Caleb Alexander Slain, will be filming over the weekend in Spring Lake, Michigan on the RED Cameras and ARRI Master Primes. The production is ambitious (71 shots kind of ambitious), and with 45 people (crew, company, and cast) on set Sunday, we can promise one of two things: A.) Joy, elation and high fives when we get off 40 shots and finish an hour early or B.) Caleb’s body is dumped in Spring Lake and found in the spring thaw along the shore. Let’s hope it’s option A! Because The Lost and Found Shop is slated to be entered in the Doorpost Film Festival and if all goes right in the world of film production, we’ll need Caleb well into the spring. The turnaround on the edit will be quick so check back soon for more information.
And, lastly, for your entertainment: Peter Pan Play
The link has nothing to do with Gorilla’s production company or The Lost and Found Shop. It’s just funny to laugh at high school plays that go horribly wrong. And watch the whole thing. It only gets more delightfully cruel. (My favorite parts — at 0:23 a guy in the audience makes the most underrated statement of the year and 1:17 is just … great.)
Addy Madness
January 11th, 2010Gorilla Enters The Addy’s This Year
I am typically the voice on the other end of the line telling you that everything is going to be fine, despite only getting five shots on the first day of production. I am the one who tells you, while smiling, that the production schedule you have laid out is impossible. At Gorilla, I produce films. However, once in a while, I get to do something different; something that feels like an arts and crafts project. I glue things and burn things and put things in plastic bags. Every once in a while (once a year to be exact), it falls to me, Aaron B. Smith, to get our production work ready for the Addy awards.
This is our second year of submitting work to the Addy’s, but it was a bit different. I had a helper — one Alexa Hook, an illustrious and industrious senior at Calvin College who is currently interning for us. We offered her the internship right away because we had a feeling she would be a good fit at Gorilla. (I also needed immediate help with the madness that is submitting work to the Addy awards.)
We entered thirteen (13) different pieces into the Addy competition this year, a substantial upgrade from the mere three (3) projects we submitted last year. Alexa and I started work on getting our entries ready on a Tuesday afternoon. We did not finish getting them ready until 1 pm, the following Thursday which was the day they were due. Why so long, you ask? Because it is a process. Figuring out which category each project falls under is a spooky hybrid akin to shooting craps and interpreting Ulysses by James Joyce. Also, you need to make two DVD copies of each project. We live in the age of the internet and here we are, still making physical copies of things and still physically moving them from one place to another. These are the kinds of things we usually e-mail, upload, or FTP to our clients. But, I digress.
We completed our task and managed to drop off all the entries in time, despite the snowy roads that had caused Alexa to crash her car the previous day. Upon returning to the office Alexa and I exchanged a feeble hi-five. I stumbled into my office and took a thirty minute cat nap while listening to Zoe Keating. This marked the end of another year of entering the Addy Awards. It’s a bit strange to consider that all the months of work of this Grand Rapids based production company, Gorilla Pictures, can be simmered down to thirteen (13) submissions to the Addy’s. What a year.
The Year in Movies
January 6th, 2010Gorilla is not only a collection of some of best, brightest, and most reasonably attractive folks working in the Grand Rapids film production community, but it’s also an assortment of diverse filmmakers with differing cinematic tastes. While I personally lean towards the artistic flare of “G.I. Joe,” the outrageous comedy of “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” or the classic romanticism of “Miss March,” there are others here who would disagree. Vocally. And that’s what it’s all about; loving film production so much that when you are not making movies your watching them (or animations in Nate Vander Plas’ case). So without further ado, I give you 2009′s top ten films ranked opinionated by Gorilla.
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[NATE VANDER PLAS]
5. Up 4. Coraline 3. The Informant! 2. Where the Wild Things Are 1. Avatar
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[SCOTT BROOKENS]
10. Away We Go/Where the Wild Things Are (draw) 9. State of Play 8.Up in the Air 7. Star Trek 6. Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince 5. District 9 4. 500 Days of Summer 3. Up 2. Inglorious Bastards 1. Avatar
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[AARON B. SMITH]
5. Avatar (begrudgingly) 4. The Hangover 3. District 9 2. Where the Wild Things Are 1. Inglorious Basterds
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[ERIC JOHNSON]
10. Avatar 9. Drag Me To Hell 8. Zombieland 7. Adventureland 6. Star Trek 5. An Education 4. Moon 3. Up 2. Inglorious Bastards 1. Hurtlocker
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[ERIC MACHIELA]
10. Zombieland 9. Adventureland 8. Drag Me To Hell 7. A Serious Man 6. Avatar 5. Inglorious Bastards 4. Star Trek 3. Up 2. Up in the Air 1. Hurtlocker
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The New Year is Nipping on the Heels of Michigan Production Companies
December 29th, 2009Amongst 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.)
ARRI Master Primes available to rent
December 23rd, 2009Many 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!
THE STONING OF SORAYA M. – Teaser and Trailer
December 23rd, 2009If 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
“Gorilla Holiday Cheer Party a success!” says all of West Michigan
December 21st, 2009Thank 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!
Party Prep
December 15th, 2009Madness 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
Fitzgerald’s Holiday Commercial
December 10th, 2009Gorilla 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
December 8th, 2009Ed’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.
Master Primes
December 7th, 2009Gorilla 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.
New Offices for Gorilla
November 24th, 2009When it rains it pours. In the midst of a maddening week of projects, meetings, and holidays, Gorilla has elected to move to a new production suite down the hall at 1514 Wealthy SE. Since expanding to a duel office setup in September we’ve been looking for an opportunity to move to a larger, more consolidated space where we can all once again be a big dysfunctional happy family. No more of Eric Johnson and Eric Machiela running down the hall every time they need production info. Now they can drive Aaron Smith crazy without leaving the comfort of the office.
But the main benefit of the new space will be to the clients. With a much larger conference area and Edit Suite A, creativity will abound, or perhaps cease to exist due to the addition of some new, comfy leather couches. I dare say Eric Machiela will be hard pressed to go home to sleep at night.
We will continue to update as the space takes shape, and mark your calenders because we plan to show it off when we have our first annual Gorilla Christmas party on December 17th!
Old Edit A
New Edit A
A new website for your favorite Grand Rapids, Michigan Production Company!
November 18th, 2009Welcome to the launch of our brand spanking new website! It’s been quite a long time coming. Maybe if we didn’t spend all of our waking hours making sweet films, commercials, and other assorted visual awesomeness we could have made it more of a priority. But C’est la vie, it’s here at last. The new design should enable us to update content on a whim, which hopefully means no more of this waiting around for three years to see anything new from us. Hopefully.
We’re also pretty excited about some of the new developments taking place around here. In the near future we will be posting info regarding a substantial addition to our RED Camera package, our upcoming move down the hall to more client-friendly workspace (still at our 1514 Wealthy location in Grand Rapids), and the release a number of projects including local agency work, a theatrical trailer for Mpower Pictures, and a pet project music video.
Welcome to the new Gorilla.
