My friend and actor Julio Cedillo has a nice role in Jon Favreau's new film "Cowboys and Aliens". He plays a character named "Bronc". I haven't seen the film, but here are some cool pics he gave me to share from the shoot and the Comic-con premiere...

















Julio on red carpet at Comic-Con















Julio on red carpet at Comic-Con



















Julio and director Jon Favreau on set


Julio is probably best known for his title role in Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada". If you haven't seen that movie definitely check it out. He also starred in my indie action flick "Killing Down" and my WB web original "Exposed". A very talented and versatile actor!

-Blake

Okay, so everyone in the editing world has an opinion on the new FCP X - most seem to be that it isn't ready for primetime - and I completely concur with that opinion.

I won't go over all the ugly details as by now it's been covered ad nauseam.

Here's my take as a professional filmmaker who makes his living editing and has worked with non-linear editing systems since 1996 (including Avid, Speed Razor, Premiere, Vegas and Final Cut Pro)....


This is a version 1.0 release and should not be marketed as a professional tool (yet).

That's really it. It's that simple.

I think if Apple had not called this release Final Cut Pro X there wouldn't be such a huge uproar. Calling it X makes people assume it's a version 10 release and that it would include at least the same functionality that the version 7 release did. But, unfortunately, it doesn't. Not even close.

This should be called iMovie Pro (or whatever, just not FCP).

Does it have some cool new features? Absolutely. Will it likely be accepted by the professional filmmaking community in the future? Probably. But right now this is huge issue for many, many folks who make their living with FCP. Again, if you don't understand why, then you likely don't make a living in post-production.

A few other things to think about...

1. Apple is likely setting the stage to do away with tower computers all together. Their focus will be on iPhones, iPads and iMacs (and laptops - for a while).

2. Apple only makes about 20% of its revenue off computer sales and 3% off software sales. Everything else is pretty much from mobile devices.

3. If Apple really cared about FCP and editing software they would make it a cross platform application. They don't. They care about selling their computers (and other devices) that will run the software. Avid and Adobe are creative software companies and thus they make it for both Mac and PC.

My last observation to think about is this...

I wonder if Apple has made FCP X too much "in the middle"?

It's currently too dumbed down and lacks the professional features that pros need and expect, but then it's likely too complicated and expensive for the casual iMovie user (yes, I said expensive - do you think your brother, or friends or mom or dad would spend $299 on editing software when they can get iMovie for free and it does everything they'd really ever need?).

It's a product really not designed for either market.

Just something to think about.

-Blake

So, yeah, I guess that's me clicking away in Dallas directing films and web series... What am I referring to exactly? Glad you asked. It's this recent article on DFW.com called "Dallas Director Clicks with Sexy, Nourish Web Series"...

From the article:

In order to get a taste of the fast-paced, action film work of Arlington-raised, Dallas-based director Blake Calhoun, you don't need to line up at your local movie theater, or even wait patiently by the mailbox for the latest shipment from Netflix.

You don't even need to carve a chunk of time out of your day -- three or four minutes should suffice.

Just log onto the Internet, and behold a few of the bite-size curios that Calhoun has been toiling over in recent years.

Basically the piece is about my recent work including Pink, Exposed, Continuum (coming soon) and my features Killing Down, Hit and most recently Spilt Milk. It's pretty darn thorough! :)

Thanks for checking it out.

Btw, for any folks in the DFW area this is supposed to run in the actual newspaper - that's right - the actual paper you hold while drinking your coffee and trying not to spill on it. That paper is the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and I've heard it will likely be in early July (Why July? I have no idea since this was released online last week... but, that's cool).

-Blake

I had a great time last week promoting and then screening my latest feature film "Spilt Milk" at the Dallas International Film Festival. I'm from Dallas so it was a lot of fun to show off a locally produced movie to the local film scene.

I often rant about how I don't really see a lot of value in film festivals these days - mainly because of the Internet - but also because festivals are everywhere. And I'm really talking about features here, not short films, but those too to a lesser degree. The festival market (and that's what it really is or has become) is extremely saturated. There are literally hundreds (or thousands?) of events worldwide.

So my personal philosophy towards festivals is that I think folks should support their local art scene and all the festivals involved. And then as a filmmaker, I think you should enter the bigger well-known fests (ie. Sundance, SXSW, etc.) and/or your local ones, but don't waste your money on blanketing all the other ones that pop up in your Withoutabox dashboard.

Are these lower tier festivals bad? Of course not. But typically speaking they will showcase their local filmmakers and then retreads from the bigger festivals. That's a generalization I realize, but for the most part it is true. Most of the festival directors and artistic directors are friends (or at least associates) and they routinely pass along referrals for films they like (and don't like).

Do hidden gems come out of nowhere? Yep, they definitely do. But more times than not this happens at the bigger fests (or side "big fest" like Slamdance running during Sundance). Of course if your film is accepted to a bigger fest and then some of the smaller fest come calling to screen your film (and they pick up the entry fee) then by all means I'd do it. But if it's your own dime and time then I would think twice.

Anyway, that's how I feel and I'm sure lots of folks will disagree. But that's for another post... :)

So in saying all that, my experience at DIFF last week was a really good one. The festival organizers really know how to put on a show, and they have the financial backing (ie. sponsors) to really do it up right. I mean free Stella flowing pretty much non-stop at the festival lounge is pretty cool!

"Spilt Milk" screened on Sunday evening as one of the last films of the festival to a packed house at the historic Texas Theatre. I'd guess there were 250 or so people there and we had a very nice Q&A afterwards. Audience really seemed to enjoy the film. It's a sly comedy that definitely plays well to a group of people (as most comedies do), so in that respect playing at a festival was great - that is one thing the Internet can't offer!

The film should be available to buy or rent later this year. So in the meantime, here's some related stuff to check out...

We've had lots of inquiries about the great score, and so here is a medley that our composer Douglas Edward put together:

"Spilt Milk" Score (Medley) by Loud Pictures

Direct link to medley on SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/loudpictures/spilt-milk-score-medley
(btw, we do plan to put an official soundtrack out on iTunes, etc. later too)

Here's a nice little review of the film that's worth a read:
http://www.laststopcomic.com/spiltmilk.html

And here's the trailer if you haven't seen it:



Thanks DIFF for a great week!

-Blake

If you have a Kindle (or the app) definitely check out the new crime novella "String Theory" from "Pink" writer Mike Maden. It's dark and twisted much like the show, and only $0.99 cents!

Direct link:
http://www.amazon.com/String-Theory-ebook/dp/B004HFRLMO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1297906736&sr=8-1

String Theory
Murder. Photography. Nihilism. The Mob. And a little golf--all set in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas. "String Theory" takes a humorous stab at noir fiction. It's a pulpy riff on the death of art, and the art of death. Novella length work of approx. 25k words or 100 printed pages.

-Blake