I 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.

Another 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

And 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

Hey 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.)

Cameras 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!

Gorilla 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.

——-

[NATE VANDER PLAS]

5. Up 4. Coraline 3. The Informant! 2. Where the Wild Things Are 1. Avatar

-

[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

-

[AARON B. SMITH]

5. Avatar (begrudgingly) 4. The Hangover  3. District 9  2. Where the Wild Things Are 1. Inglorious Basterds

-

[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

-

[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

——

Agree? Disagree? Post your own list and opinions below!

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.)

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!