things made by sam

UNION

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:43:35 -0700

Jubilant about being back on the wagon. The wagon of making things to be more specific.

Made this LITTLE SHORT with my dear friend Joseph Yaeger (who lent his words and likeness for this project), the increasingly sunburned walking prophet you can see in this video.

An experiment in “backward moment suspension” that I’ve been dreaming about exploring for quite some time now. It starts with having an entire, linear narrative being played out in a repeating, suspended moment. In this instance, it’s a poem read aloud by Joe. I wanted to make it more dynamic by not just replaying that tiny moment over and over, but actually create a contrasting, reverse effect. Where the linear narrative moves forward along with Joe’s movement, yet his displacement keeps moving him backwards. The effect can be a bit mesmerizing at times, especially if executed just right. I look forward to embarking on another attempt in the future to perfect this and apply it to a much, much longer and more dynamic endeavor.

It’s difficult to wrap your head around at first - but you can check out more of the logistics of how it works HERE. For those who like the mysterious nature of things, sorry. Instead of keeping the process secret, I’d rather share it. For knowledge of the process for this particular project lends a greater appreciation for the end result I hope. And I’m simply trying to do a much better job at documenting the creative process in general.

Anyways, here are some stills and the embedded video below....

FOR THE LONELY MAN

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:16:46 -0700

Ah, the joys of playing catch on a summer evening.

Few activities that create such leisurely satisfaction strictly require a companion (drinking cocktails for instance), yet playing catch always does. Perhaps no more. As I’ve found myself yearning that feeling of having a leather glove as an appendage and tossing around a leather ball amidst good conversation and the dying light of the day, I discovered the need for this machine.

I initially imagined it would become something so complexly designed, so meticulously thought out, that it would take on a humorously lonely tone. And I hope it does. Although I think there’s something at the core of loneliness that even humor can’t bring to the surface lightly, but oh well.

Enjoy, all you one man toss-and-catchers.

A REMINDER

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:48:17 -0700

As the days come and go with an unnerving ease and my constant battle with self-discipline/creativity/productivity wages on, I wanted to produce a reminder for myself. (And ideally for others as well.)

And so: the IMAGINATION LIFE SPAN. A simple graph I created illustrating (at least I hope), the finality of one’s imagination/idea execution and its limits within our own life spans. A terrifying thought as I sometimes pour over old (and new) idea books, at least 98% of the ideas I have yet to manifest into some other sequence of ideas or narratives or... golly who knows.

So, here’s an effort, a reminder to (as Ray Bradbury so perfectly put it) “Live. And write. With great haste.”

Yes, it’s been one of those days.

SOMETHING TO FINISH

Thu, 27 May 2010 18:04:57 -0700

Yes, I will finish this.

The Untitled Infinite Light Randomizer, originally drafted up in preparation for TIWWI’s Night Lights event last summer is yet to be completed. My main issues lie exclusively with my (always) complete lack of actual wherewithall about how to actually create anything. Especially anything requiring electrical experience, engineering knowledge, etc.

But I guess that’s what I like doing. Someday I’ll complete it, in my workshop in the woods somewhere far off away from others.

The purpose of the device’s construction (about three feet long, three feet high) would be the seemingly fruitless effort to create something infinitely random. The pursuit itself is what matters - as this hypothesis is most likely impossible of course. In pursuing the answer, we find we create our answers along the way, despite the end product. In my mind, the opposite spinning sets of angled mirrors, combined with a collection of differently angled laser flashlights running at a separate speed would produce a sporadic, playfully “infinitely random” bouncing up to dance in front of the viewer on a semi-opaque cone shaped “receiver.”

My first attempt at the device was based off the body of the now deconstructed double window fan from my former roommate Tina Dhingra. (Fortunately, there was a setting already that allowed the fans to spin in opposite directions.) On top of those fans I created discs with angled pocket mirrors. Between the two discs of mirrors I placed a stripped down motor from a regular non-oscillating fan. I placed these all on dimmers to fully control the power output of each spinning element. In the center I created the “tree” of angled laser flashlights. My initial goal was to have these pocket laser pointers all powered as well, yet this proved impossible and therefore had to be rigged to have the on button always de-pressed. In addition, I had to find a way to put lenses on each laser pointer, as they were two focused and perfectly circular to actually look like what I was picturing. So I broke a handful of small bottles, took the most curved parts and fashioned these new “distorted lenses” to give each laser an always unique, always changing shape. Many slices to the hand later, I had my first crack at this. Although I didn’t have the time to fully construct the rest of it, The Untitled Infinite Light Randomizer worked kind of satisfactory for brief moments.. The dimming power output idea didn’t pan out, as each spinning device - at different times - would gain momentum and speed up out of control resulting in velocity altered mirror angles. The laser pointer tree also failed frequently with the de-pressing method for their on buttons never proving long-lasting.

Farewell!

REMEMBER WHEN LAUNCHES

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:15:47 -0700

Ah, the day finally arrived.

This time last week, Remember When finally launched via Vimeo and rememberwhenshow.com. It’s been an absolutely memorable adventure with some of my favorite creative folks currently in my life.

Enjoy it and spread the word!

via VIMEO
via REMEMBERWHENSHOW.COM
via FACEBOOK

UNIVERSAL CONNECTIVITY

Fri, 9 Apr 2010 12:35:27 -0700

Tuesday of this past week, I was floored to receive an email from Robert Krulwich informing me of a blog post over at NPR he was finalizing that referenced a video I created about a year and a half ago.

The fun part about this is that I’m a huge fan of Robert’s work, especially his insights and contributions co-hosting my favorite thing that floats into my ears - Radiolab. In case you don’t already listen, Radiolab is an incredible program on NPR, produced out of WNYC about the very things that fuel romantic science imagination. A show about what happens when curiosity meets science at a restaurant called human experience.

In addition to my fandom of Robert, my connections to Radiolab are embedded in most of my recent projects, all - at the very least - relatively inspired by theories and stories aired by the radio program. I’m rambling here, but there are very few moments that occur that truly remind me to appreciate the quirky fabric of universal connectivity. I didn’t want to quote an email, but I can’t agree more with Robert’s thoughts - “it doesn’t completely surprise me that you know our name or that we know yours; I have a hunch that there are mysterious chords in the universe that make folks like us see each other across very crowded rooms.”

Perfectly put.

To sum things up, check out the article here. Thanks again for including me in your work Robert.

IN OTHER NEWS:

- We finished editing and now have picture lock on Remember When! Look out for it to launch on Tuesday, April 13th at Remember When’s website.

- Moved into a new, terrific apartment here in Los Angeles. (personal news really.)

- TIWWI’s 7th (seventh!!!!) Weekend of Wonderment is approaching on April 24th-25th. Find out more and get involved over at TIWWI.com

OH SO MANY THINGS

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:10:24 -0700

Hello!

Ok, so lots to report on. When isn’t there? Well, Sam this is what happens when you update your website once a month. Come on.

Ok.

So some fun news!

1.) REMEMBER WHEN!
The trailer has been posted here. It’s wonderful. You can also find it below. Enjoy! Thanks especially to Matt James for putting it together. Check out his other work - a great dude. Great dude. We’ll be releasing all three episodes and even more super fun material on APRIL 13TH! Yes, APRIL 13TH. Such a great day. No? Really though.

2.) TIWWI’S latest SHOW+TELL
Goodness, our last SHOW+TELL (held on Saturday, March 13th) went unbelievably well. Attendance skyrocketed since our last one, smiles seemed wider, liquid courage consumed with greater ease, more projects, more laughs, more love, more everything. Just terrific. We screened all the projects from TIWWI’s last Weekend of Wonderment (our 6th!), a short video by Ian Midgley, snippets from our new project - ReVisions (more about that later), and most importantly - the trailer and a sneak peak at Episode 1 of Remember When! Lord, it was great. Thanks again so much to Hillary Gurtler (the other staple of TIWWI of course), Jess Kucinskas, Trevor Byrne, Erik Moody, Mike Humphrey, Cameron Rehlaender, Claire Bergkamp, Joe Yaeger, Pearl Wible, Linnea Toney, Curt Neill, Arlyn Richardson, Lauren Wade and Kiel Gookin for helping make the night so terrific.

Click HERE for some of the projects we screened!
Click HERE for behind the scenes photos of the event!
Click HERE for photobooth charades photos!

REMEMBER WHEN - COMING SOONNNN

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:36:49 -0800

Hello friends, strangers, the ghosts of the internet who might stumble upon this silly little website thing in hopes of finding something worthwhile.

Let’s cool on the self-hate Sam. Just for a moment, please.

So, yes hello. I’ve been meaning to share with you a recent project I was a part of through TIWWI, through life, through friends, through things. A few weeks ago (well, a month really I suppose), we finished shooting our second weekend of “Remember When” - a webseries about the misadventures of a group of pals trying to recreate their friend’s memories after an amnesia-inducing backyard wrestling accident. Lots of fun, yes yes.

To keep things short:
- I wrote about it briefly on TIWWI’s blog.
- Photos from the shoot are here on flickr.

Ok, with that out of the way and since this is my “blog,” I will certainly get into details about it, if you’re willing to read. Anyways. So yes, it’s a fantastic idea written by the extremely talented and funny Elisha Yaffe and Curt Neill. Excellent fellars. They approached me with the concept months ago at a Halloween party. Costumes were worn. Liquid courage was consumed. Quirkily, they mentioned they were initially inspired by an earlier video of mine about a life preservation technique - also known as the “Boom! Boom! Boom!” music video for The Everyday Visuals. I directed the first handful of episodes, the first of which will most likely premiere at TIWWI’s SHOW+TELL (our 2nd) on Saturday, March 13th. More info coming soon.

But yes. It was a wonderful experience and I hope we all make more of these stories together soon. The ridiculously talented Randy Liedtke, Alex Barrett, Codi Elizabeth Fischer, Brendon Walsh, Curt Neill and Elisha Yaffe starred in it. Kudos to them for being so damned funny.

Also kudos to Hillary Gurtler of course for production design and producing the hell out of it. Super extra kudos to Larkin Seiple for his amazing cinematography with the help of mega-kudos-worthy Andrew J. Whittaker. And last kudos to Matt Hessel and Jeremy Cohen for doing sound, Claire Bergkamp for wardrobe, Carsen Labella for make-up and Darren Willner for assistant directing.

Kudossssss!

I’ll post some neato video links ASAP of course - can’t wait to share this all. It’s very very very funny stuff.

NO ONE REMEMBERS LINUS HUTCHINS

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 00:21:29 -0800

Hello friends,

Again, I have proven to be quite awful at updating my life in this virtual space. What a large sigh from that.

Anyways. Lots to share, but don’t want to get into a whole handful of ambiguous tellings with a “so there’s that” and a “such-and-such” and “we’ll see” to end it all. And because I easily get bored talking about myself (and that isn’t the purpose of this site), here’s a quick recap:

- TIWWI’s SHOW+TELL went splendidly.
- Directed a few episodes of a new fantastic webseries I’ll be sure to explain more about soon.
- Enjoyed the holidays with friends/family/the eastern part of the United States.
- TIWWI just hosted it’s 6th Weekend of Wonderment, more info soon.
- About 3 million neato projects to talk about.

(SNORING. WAKES UP ABRUPTLY. WHAT? OH, YOU’RE DONE TALKING.)

Let me begin a new phase of updates with a video I completed during TIWWI’s 5th Weekend of Wonderment, finished back in November, 2009. “No One Remembers Linus Hutchins” is about a man who begins to fall out of existence at the very moment when the last person in the universe can no longer remember him. A somber existential tale, the themes and ideas behind it I’m frequently bouncing around on the ping pong table inside my ping pong sized head. (I am rambling.) (help.)

Infinite thanks to:....

- Christopher Guetig (played Linus)
- Jessica Kucinskas (played Grace)
- Stephen Ruberto (stranger)
- Ian Barbella (director of photography)
- Lizzie Bradford (for lending her voice)
- Hillary Gurtler (creative musings)
- Claire Bergkamp (last minute prop/costume help)
- Jamie Tilton (lent me his camera for additional shots)

Bless these people.

Some photos:

And here’s the video, enjoy.

SHOW+TELL

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 20:57:40 -0800

Hello friends,

Ah boy it’s been a bit of a while hasn’t it. Let’s recap. Well, since the last time I updated this, TIWWI had just hosted its 4th Weekend of Wonderment screening party. Since then, a million moments have occurred. TIWWI hosted its 5th Weekend of Wonderment (fifth!!!) October 10th-11th and we’re preparing enthusiastically for SHOW+TELL, an evening celebrating the projects created during the WoW5. Pretty neato.

If you’re in and around the Los Angeles/Echo Park area, join us!

NOV. 14TH - 9PM
$10 / OPEN BAR
REC CENTER STUDIO (ECHO PARK)
1161 LOGAN ST.
LA, CA

RSVP!

(Thanks again to Tabitha at the Rec Center Studio for helping us out.)

It’s going to be a terrific evening filled with music (live and pre-recorded), projects, unbridled imagination and dare I say it, an open bar. Yes, an open bar.

Here’s a wonderful video about the event:

And feel free to check out more info about some of the projects created during Weekend of Wonderment 5! Yes, yes. Personally, I worked on a project called “NO ONE REMEMBERS LINUS HUTCHINS.” A narrated short, kind of similar to this other thing I made last year. Anywho, editing it now and crossing fingers. It’s about a character who begins to fall out of existence upon realizing no one remembers he’s still alive. Inescapably sad, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to explore for a while now. I’ll post it soon.

Other promises: I promise to update more often. Yes, yes yes. Promise. Not like anyone really gives a hoot, but I’m trying. Lots of exciting, exciting new projects coming up - can’t wait to share more information about it all. Thanks for reading!