Realm of LARP - Watch Episode 1 NOW!!!

Or: How to make and sell your own TV show.

Today Realm of LARP Premieres on the Nerdist Channel on YouTube.

Realm of LARP is a documentary series that follows the adventures of live action role-players.  I had the idea for the show over a year and a half ago. After pitching it on paper, I was joined by my Co-Executive producer Jason Kanter, who helped me get the resources to go out and shoot a sizzle reel.

When we started planning the move out to the woods it was obvious that better than shooting a sizzle reel, we should just shoot an entire series as long as we are out in the woods. We did just that.

Once we had footage shot and a trailer edited, we began showing it to television execs and encountering the same problem over and over again. A young development executive would take a look and think that it was one of the most innovative things that they had ever seen, Our new found friend would then turn around and show it to their bosses, and as it traveled up the ladder people kept getting older and sometimes out of touch with rising trends.  At one point we had even gotten word back that the head developement guy at a network thought that we had made up the idea of LARPing and couldn't accept the fact that millions of people LARP all over the world.

But when I talked with Chris Hardwick, the decision maker and all around nerd champion, he saw and understood the amount of joy a show like Realm of LARP was actually sharing with the audience.

So thanks Nerdist and to everyone out there who is getting the chance to see it for the first time, I hope you enjoy Realm of LARP.

Poop Cartoon 6 od 6

As commissioned by Laura Solomon,the sixth in a series of cartoons where the subject should center on pop.

Poop Cartoon No. 5

The fifth in a series of six cartoons about poop, as commissioned by Laura Solomon.

No one told me there was a game with singing Poop!!!

You are all at fault for not filling me in about this!!

LARP rules everything around me.

Where have I been?, Why haven't I been  releasing videos every week?  It's because I have been working on a project which I believe is one of the best things I have ever done. It comes out this month and we just released a teaser trailer for it.  Please check it out.




I have been trying to get this made for several years because I truly believe it is something new and interesting that everyone can enjoy.

What do you think of that assessment?

Poop Cartoon Number 4

True Story.

Poop Cartoon No. 3

This is the third in an installment of cartoons based on the subject of poop.  Only three more to go and then your collection will be complete.

Me and Rooney Mara:

Next week I am shooting a small supporting role in the new Steven Soderberg picture starring Rooney Mara.  She is not disgusting to look at... I think her only major problem is that she does not know how to dress for the weather as you can see in this picture.

I can't give you any details about what I will be doing in the movie but since Rooney has already done scenes kicking a metal pipe up someone's butt, you know at least I will walk away from it.

TRON is good again?

I am a huge fan of the original Tron.  So when I heard they were making a sequel to it I was so very excited.  Unfortunately, I had no idea that the sequel would suck so much. Kind of like what happened with Star Wars and the prequels.  They also sucked so much.

But now, Tron has decided to try and redeem itself with a cartoon in much the same way Star Wars tried with the Clone Wars Cartoon  I say tried because the clone wars was so bad in it's first season that many people never gave it a chance in subsequent seasons. (It's better now, I swear)

The first episode of the cartoon is online for your viewing pleasure.  Once it gets past the exposition, it gets pretty entertaining.  It seems a lot more inventive than Tron: Legacy.  Maybe a case of too many cooks... Please dont get terrible.

Second Poop cartoon

Second in a series of six poop cartoons.  Still trying to get my digital drawing and painting up to speed for a special project which I will tell you about soon.

POoP  Art, get it?

Poop Cartoons 1 of 6:

Hey guys,

I am trying to get back up to speed in my drawing for a special project coming up.  I have been challenged to draw a poop cartoon once a week while I am doing this. Challenge was put forth by Laura Solomon.  Here is my first one. It's a self portrait.

Blackface is funny JUST THIS ONE TIME

I have seen many people put on blackface and call it a joke. Most of the time the joke is, "Hey isn't it outlandish I am doing this?  Isn't it funny that since we all know that I am not racist that I actually am doing the most racist thing possible?" Sadly, I have never seen it be funny.

I'm not saying that it can't be funny though.  I am a firm believer that you can make anything funny and that absolutely nothing is sacred.  I believe the key is being smart and responsible, and then on top of that... funny. More specifically, if you are going to go out on a limb about race or whatever touchy subject that you are dealing with, then you had better really address it well in your material.

I think that the sketch on thirty rock last night with John Hamm and Tracy Morgan covered all of those qualifications and so for the first time that I can remember in my life, I found a sketch with someone in black face hilarious.  Way to go Thirty Rock.

Check it out.

 

More than I can chew?

So, in anticipation of my making a new comedy CD, I have decided to put myself in the public eye more by releasing a video short every Monday. Man, the idea was a lot more attractive before I was about six weeks into it like now.

The hardest part, is always having another "good" idea ready to shoot for the next week. I ended up sifting through the internet for video contests as a way to inspire myself to write. It actually helped and this weeks video is a direct result of one of those contests.

There was a challenge on the filmfights website that you should make a live action trailer of some animated thing. I, as you can see, chose Dragon's Lair.

Well, off to write the next thing...

Two Penguins: 24 hours of production

If you have't seen TWO PENGUINS already then please take a look and then I will answer most of the questions that I have been getting about it right here and now.

So how was this 24 hours of work? SPOILER AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT.

Not quite in a row, but here is how it broke down.

HOURS 1 - 10

Since I had the basic story Idea i could get Laura started in Photoshop putting the elements together for the background while I finished the storyboards. My storyboards were extremely crude drawings but they were enough to get the point across.

Once I had finished the storyboards I moved on to doing the key frames for the animation. The plan was that Laura was going to finish the background and then move on to painting the frames. This is basically what happened, we were moving along at a good pace.

All the drawing and digital inking was completed in Adobe Flash.

I finished all of the key-framing for the entire piece then moved on to finishing the final altered bloody background.

At some point we used my Zoom H6N to Record Laura saying the titular "I'll miss you. " line.

At this point, Laura is super tired and she goes to sleep. I stay up and finish the rest of the inking and then follow in her footsteps.

HOURS 11 - 17

I assembled all the pieces in Apple motion. Since Motion accepts Photoshop layers with transparency and reads alpha channels from QuickTime files, I was able to easily drop thing in, size them up and get a good working idea of what shot looks like.

It took some time to create the aurora borealis effect in the sky, but once it was finished, it was an easy copy and paste to each shot.

HOURS 18 - 20

Once all the shots were exported, putting them together in Final Cut was pretty simple. I got some extra sounds from freesound.org (great resource by the way0 and then recorded the random penguin sounds which I generated with my mouth,

HOURS 20-24

I am not the greatest musician or the recording of the song in TWO PENGUINS would have gone a lot faster. What are you gonna do huh? I harmonized the best I knew how. Please berate me for my efforts.

Freaky Penguins

Yesterday, me and Laura had the great idea to try and finish an animation in a day. Not just a sketch,but fully inked and colored. Many hours and no sleep later, it appears that we have all the components finished. Now all we have to do is edit the stuff together.

Here is one of my favorite frames. It is full of the way I feel after 12 straight hours of drawing.

enjoy.

Re: Puppet Drama is Wrapped and Ready

So, THE TROUBLE WITH CHARLIE, the "puppet dram" that I conceived of a few weeks ago is finished! It was strange how quickly it came together.  A friend of mine had a production company and told me that they were doing nothing for a couple of weeks and if I had a briliant idea, they would shoot it for me.

Brilliant is subjective, but we did turn around a helluva shoot in very little time.  It has been a while since I had the chance to direct a narrative with a full crew so I was psyched.

New York City premiere coming up at The Iron Mule (ironmulenyc.com) film fest on February 4th at 8 pm 

If you are in town, you should definitely come see it.

Facebook Hoes

Every once in a while somebody creates an account and then tries to solicit people on Facebook. It is usually a woman in a foreign country trying to pretend to be a US Citizen and asking if you want to date the, Then they would ask you to meet them on line and live cam chat etc. etc...

It is incredibly unconvincing if you say you grew up in the US but type terrible broken English.

Here's the latest.

• Corin S Riggs

  • Hi

    How are you doing here huh, My Name is Selinah C.Robert, I do live in Center church Road stephens, Georgia, I am 28 of age and I was born and raise up in US and my parent but they are both late now may God bless them and put them in his hand. Well i'm currently in UK working as a sales Girl. We are selling Shoes, Bags and women make up. I am single lady with no kid and am also single because my ex boyfriend is not caring and he likes dating and sleeping around with other girls, he slept with many of my best friend that is why I broke up with him and all of all he likes beating me I don't know maybe because I have no parent oh, but I hope you are not same as him when am cool and well trained from a Good family. I am caring lady and honest with a good heart. I'll take very good care of you on bed and make you the best couple in this world, but I think you are single like me, well let give a try to see if we are match but if you are interested in me you may write me back and tell me when I will meet you online.
    
    Thanks.
    Selinah C. Robert

• 10 hours ago

  Corin S Riggs

  • Hi am here can i know you ?

• 6 minutes ago

  Corin S Riggs

  • Hey

  • How are you doing

• 2 minutes ago

  Victor Varnado

  • Fine. I have a girlfriend. Thanks. Good luck with uh... stuff.

Netflix Instant Treasures

Thing you should watch on Netflix Instant.

THE TAKE

I am an insatiable fan of London crime and Tom Hardy movies. This miniseries is an adaptation of a novel that seems to have been written with the most sociopathic character I have ever seen on screen. This includes American Psycho. Tom Hardy is playing Bane opposite Christian "American Psycho" Bale in the new batman movie. What a wonderful way to warm yourself up for that with this series.

LIFE IN A DAY

This movie turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be, but executed beyond my expectations... does that make any sense? Thousands of people all over the world on June 24th 2011 documented their day and then sent all the video in to one place. Then one tortured sole edited it all together into an amazing film. It has been a while sic i have seen a doc with no narration or even a particular protagonist that really entertains like this film does. check it out.

Can I come by your house and fart on you?

Shooting ends on The Trouble With Charlie

After three days of serious puppet drama, last night we finished the last shot for our epic puppet drama. It was been a while since I had the chance to stretch my legs on a narrative with an (almost) full crew.

After sticking to documentaries for the last couple of years, it was refreshing o know what was coming next and to shape things on set in ways that it is impossible to do in a non fiction format. More on the sleazy puppet as it surfaces.

Day One of Shooting: The Trouble with Charlie

The epic puppet drama began yesterday.

This marks the first time I have ever directed a puppeteer, I mean a real puppeteer.  James, Wojatal has worked for 20 years in the industry and knows that classic puppeting style started by the Henson company.  

Funny, I had a lot of people offer to puppet for me when I was trying to find a puppeteer.  Plenty of offers from people who would say things like.  "No, I've never done it, but come on... it's a puppet!"  

When a puppet is in the hands of a real puppet artist it comes to life and feels like you are talking to a tiny peppy person.

Charlie, the puppet, pictured here with puppet builder, Robert Eggers.

All my Woes Right Now Stem From one Place

A puppet.

This is the guy.  Charlie, currently being finished and about to be manipulated by a master puppeteer for my new short film, The Trouble With Charlie.  

As you know every film.  no matter how small, requires a crap-load of work to  get it done. Add in the fact that pre production is almost over and stuff still isn't done and  you can understand why I feel like I barely have the tie to type this.

Today's big task, finishing a third polish of the script before I send it out to everyone tomorrow.

Some serious puppet shit is about to go down.