The Current

Bench Complete

2007-09-24T23:31:00.001-06:00

Finally, my first 35mm short film "Bench" is complete. Finishing touches are being made then it will be off to festivals around the country. Stay tuned at www.benchmovie.com for information on where it is playing, the trailer, and maybe the full version on iTunes.

What's next?
I am already in pre-production on my next short film and that will be shot in January/February. It is a story of human kindness and communication. And perhaps a hint about how all of us can get along in this hectic world. It is based in a middle eastern hospital and focused around an American soldier and an Arab man who have been effected by a middle eastern war. I expect it to be 4-5 minutes. Very touching. I can't wait to share it with you all. So look out for updates on www.visionsmovie.com in the next few months.

I have also just started work on a feature I hope to shoot within the next few years. It is based in my home state of New Mexico and it is extremely close to my heart. It is about two high school graduates who search for their dreams on a trip through the New Mexico desert.

August Maybe?

2007-07-31T20:55:00.000-06:00

It has been a while. There have been no updates recently because I have been working on one thing which is my short film "Bench". Other than that I am trying to lock in on my next 2 productions, working with a few writers, talking to producers, etc. Nothing to write home about yet though.

As far as "Bench" goes, it may seem like it doesn't exist. So I threw up a trailer up for you non-believers. Check it out. I just finished the score with Emmy award winning Dennis McCarthy and it really adds some shine to the film. Tomorrow is the final color grade and It will be done in late August I hope. Providing the sound design gets finished in between now and then.

The trailer is at www.benchmovie.com

I will re-assemble it with the corrected footage soon....if it isn't already updated once you read this. Until next time, see you on the big screen!

Update

2007-05-13T13:09:00.000-06:00

"Bench" is going well and should be finished within a month or two providing some post production financing comes in. I posted some still frames in the current. Note that they arent color corrected and are from a basic SD scan of the film. I am going to go back and do an HD scan once the picture locks.

Many opportunities are arising and I am working on sorting them out. Everything from talks of doing features to already getting possible backing for my next short from a few different producers. Or even turning that into a feature. We will see how it goes. All I care about is making movies and telling my stories. 15 minutes or 2 hours long! So hopefully some career starting news will arise soon.

Dom

Bench Shoots!

2007-04-18T02:07:00.000-06:00

My first short film production, "Bench", has been successfully shot. I couldn't have done it without the dedicated professionals I was lucky enough to work with. The footage is breathtaking and the performances are poetic. This will truly kick start my career as a Director. Expect some production stills in the current soon.

The still above was taken by our photographer Bart Cooke.

Dancing Lights

2007-03-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a while! Here is a 16mm spec I shot. It is music video concept I am messing around with. Kind of rough...but I think it is fun to watch. It looks really bad in this format but you get the idea. Click the image above to give it a watch.

Jewelry Anyone?

2007-01-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

I just shot some Jewlery made by designer Elizabeth Moore the other night. She is on Bravo's new show TopDesign and is an acclaimed production designer in the commercial and film industry. Apparently the pieces can be bought in Beverly Hills for a hefty price tag. It was my first time shooting jewelery so I completely winged it. I think I did pretty well. Check the photos out on he current or her website Froote.com

An update...

2007-01-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

A short update! It has been a while. My production Bench is in full swing. All the funding has been obtained and everything is set in place for it to be a successful shoot. I will be shooting it on the last weekend in March.

I have been commissioned by a well known LA artist to photograph his most ambitious project to date. It is a fine art photo piece and I will be lighting it. If all goes to plan, it might unexpectedly provide a lot of very positive assets.

I have been approached by an advertiser to shoot a commercial and I might tackle that providing some miraculous window of time appears. More than likely I will focus on school, a production in itself, and Bench, a school in itself (and it is certainly costing as much). Anything else miiiight make me explode. At least my calender.

Cheers!
Dom

Bench Website

2006-12-19T16:28:00.001-07:00

The website for my newest short film, Bench, is up. I have been working on the script for 2 years and it is finally coming together. I plan to shoot this spring. Check the website out! It is slowly being tweaked and smoothed out. It should be at full speed soon.

www.benchmovie.com

New Look - Same Current

2006-12-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

It's like your favorite shampoo but it changed it's packaging! Or something. But instead, The Current gallery is completely revamped. The other gallery script just couldn't handle the volume. So I took advantage of my free time and assembled this new look. You can comment and navigate the images more easily. It is still being tweaked and should be ironed out in the next few days. I also lost some images in the transition and I am trying to recover them. Check it out!

A Lighting Final

2006-12-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks of work this is the result of my lighting final. We were given a short story to shoot in 10 or more slides. I chose this one:
out_of_water.pdf

I didn't think it had enough tension so I adapted it into screenplay format and added my own interpretation:
nalita.pdf

Drew some storyboards:
boards.pdf

So, I cast some GREAT actresses, Nalita Murray and Jenna McCombie, to play the rolls. It was a superb exercise in directing. I shot the outdoor scenes in Pasadena at about 2:00-4:00 am on Friday and the rest inside my apartment. It turned out pretty close to what I wanted it to look like. I can't really tell if it is quality work or not. It's a new style I have never tried. It can be viewed a few different ways: The first way is a full piece similar to my final from last term . And the second way is a slide show. Click on the main image at the top for the compilation(It is 4000x5000 so be sure to zoom in on it if you want to get closer) and click below for the slide show:

I personally like them all as their own stills so I like the slide show. As always, the individual ones can be viewed on the current. Enjoy!!

An Animation Final

2006-12-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the result of my 3d Animation class. The final took a while, I think I am more into rendering then character animation. It almost didn't make it to the web site because I'm not completely happy with it. But I think it is pretty good being my first experience building and animating a character. Click the image below to watch!

Sin City Still Project

2006-11-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

I recently got a lighting assignment to recreate a still from a film. I chose "Sin City". Here is the original shot from the film:

I thought this would be one hell of a hard still to reproduce. So naturally I chose it and stressed out about it for a good week. I got some excellent actors (Michael Nyman, and Julia Glasso), threw some lights up, and here's what I came up with:

Pretty good I think. It isn't identical. All of the background is hand painted in photoshop (but not the girl, she is physically lit). I think it was a pretty successful attempt in regards to that. I added my own style to it and I like it a lot more than the original. I think it stands better on it's own as a photograph now. I wanted to add some tone to his face. You can see the progression and my setup in the current. There are two separate images. One is a hard light version and one is a soft light version. Enjoy!

I got a really good feel for this noir style of lighting and will try it again on my Final.

Red Airplane

2006-10-07T12:32:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick animation assignment I did. You can see the nuts and bolts in the current. I think it is a bit choppy but hey its my first animation. Click the image above to watch it.

Business Card - I'm gettin' fancy!

2006-10-07T01:08:00.000-06:00

After some work and hours with a laser cutter I just made a batch of fancy brushed metal business cards. They are about the thickness of a credit card. I feel like the mesh and the text could be a little more clean. But they feel great in a hand. If you are super important you might get one of these 15 pieces of work!

A Final Project

2006-08-13T23:51:00.001-06:00

After much work, I completed this project. Yes those are all people are me. There are about 10 photographs taken for every frame. I thought I would share it with everyone.

View the Hi-Res version here (4000x3000)

Updates, Shoots, and Projects

2006-07-29T10:56:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I have never been so busy. I just updated the current with all the pictures from my shoots and projects. As you can see from the crazy line pictures of me I am going quite insane. In a nut shell I have been assistant camera on a few 35mm productions and Producer/Assistant Director/Editor on 2 35mm productions. One is an altoids commercial and another is a BMW z4 commercial. Good times.

Rooftop With Sound!

2006-07-05T22:06:00.000-06:00

Well it has been uberfied with sound. Check it out. I will recut it to make it shorter soon. Fantastico!

>>WATCH<<

New Lens - 60mm Macro

2006-06-29T20:54:00.000-06:00

OooOOoooooO. I just picked up a Canon 60mm f2.6 Macro lens. I am half broke but check this out:

Each circle is a millimeter wide. The bug is 3mm long (grain of rice) and I was able to rack focus across the bug's back! Well worth the money. Expect some fantastico shmastico macro photos coming from me.

New Film - Rooftop

2006-06-15T22:22:00.000-06:00

Took me 3 days to make. Was an assignment for a film theory class. Enjoy! It is MOS (no sound) at the moment. Really the only thing on it was music and some pretty sweet sound effects....but you can get the picture. I will reupload once i figure out what is wrong.

>>WATCH<<

Art Center

2006-05-11T20:26:00.000-06:00

This week I started Film School at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. So I obviously moved out to California as well! This is a huge benchmark in my life and I will have lots and lots of things to post once I start school. I will be doing the most wide range of art I have ever done in my life so stay tuned! I am expecting some of the best work I have ever created will come out of it. Film, Design, and Photography!

DomRicco.Regen

2006-04-30T00:34:00.000-06:00

ReGened!:

After weeks of work I have re-processed and re-mastered ALL of my photography. I am a regular George Lucas aren't I? Everything from getting negatives scanned from my trip to China to adjusting the exposure and white balance. I even rebuilt all my panoramas and removed tiny specs of dust no one would ever notice! I have finally fine tuned all of my work which is something I am very proud of. The best photos from the Regen are featured in my book "The Colors of DOM RICCO" which is almost finished! Stay tuned for that. But in the mean time check out:
DomRicco.Regen

Aperture

2006-04-16T00:12:00.000-06:00

Well I got a hold of a copy if Apple's new photo processing software "Aperture". My migration to my mac is near complete. I gotta say, it is the perfect piece of software for photo editing, processing, printing, publishing, and most of all orgainzing. It has the works. You can edit the images just like you think. Meaning when your mind wants to do something to the image more than likely there is an option right on screen to do so. From comparing images, color correcting, cropping, everything. Highly recommended. But I still prefer photoshop for all my other image needs. In fact I like Aperture so much and it orgainzes photos so well I am going to get a photography book of my work published for myself. It does that too. Going through all my photography is like going through an old box of photos. And Aperture makes it as fun!

Music Composition

2006-04-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of taking up music composition. I made this piece last night and I think I have potential. I believe it has an underlying theme to society in combination with the imposing threat of global warming. Tell me what you think.

>>Download it here<<
(mysong.m4a)
(right click>Save Link as...)

Vppictures Animation

2006-03-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

Messing around with Motion, I came up with this cool animation for Vanishing Point Pictures. Check it out:

>>Watch it Here<<

New Computer

2006-03-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

Just got a new Apple MacBook Pro Laptop(Intel 2.16ghz dual core and 2gb RAM) for school and Final Cut Pro. Hopefully I can transition over from my PC to it. So far I have Final Cut Studio Pro, Macromedia Studio 8, and Aperature on it. I am yet to get Adobe CS2 on it.