post-london

Hangs Upon Nothing was awarded an Honorable Mention at the London Surf Film Festival as runner up for best film.  A big thanks to everyone who made it out to the sold out screening, and a big thanks to Chris Nelson and Demi Taylor, the fest's organizers.  

Here is what Chris had to say about the Hangs Upon Nothing screening:  "Just wanted to drop you a line to say that the screening of Hangs Upon Nothing went down a storm. The film looked stunning on the big screen and the show was a sell out."

The above S16mm film frame is from the climax of the movie.  I was shooting into the sun one morning with Mikala and Daniel, and I remember looking through the viewfinder at some amazing colors and amazing waves exploding and thinking that this would be a special session.

cloud

Shot the final roll of 16mm film this week for this movie, and dropped it off at the lab today. I froze under the stars out at my cousin's place in rural Indiana, clicking away frame by frame, shooting time-lapse of starfields. By the end of one four hour session one night I turned my headlamp on to discover all my gear including my lens covered in frost. The next session a few nights later was not as frosty. I hope those shots turn out. Doing final color next week on the digital transfer at a post-house called Process Blue in Connecticut. There's a ways to go on the original score, but that's coming together nicely. And I'm looking into how to do an independent tour with a 16mm film print of the movie and a 16mm projector or two, mixing in our music and adding in some live narration too. That's the biggest goal. Stay tuned

full trailer - coming soon

Above is a frame of Mikala Jones from the new trailer. This is also another poster concept that I'd like to make into an illustration and silkscreen run.

The trailer is five minutes long, and features a new Turbofire to Zenith song. Only thing I have left to finish up is a short traditionally animated Little Sea Films intro.

tonyo

Darmaputra Tonyo of Padma, Bali. If you've surfed Padma Beach, there's a good chance you saw this kid and his twin brother, Bleronk, getting lots of waves. They're 19 now, so not really kids anymore. But they still kinda act like it. Though Bleronk is a hit with the ladies now, and he drives. Tonyo doesn't drive. He usually sits in the back.

Up on the current banner, that's either Tonyo or Bleronk in that shot. I'm not sure which one, its from over four years ago when they surfed beat up boards, and were in the water most of the time. They're still in the water most of the time. The thing that always struck me about these brothers and their friends, is they just always seem to be having fun. Its awesome. Their crew is almost like a little tornado, wherever they go there is just this unbridled raw energy. I think tourists are a bit intimidated at times. They're always on the verge of doing something ridiculous, like randomly pinching the butt of a local massage girl or humping a car. When I walk into a warung with them, they storm in, all barefoot and walk behind the counter, and the look on the warung lady's face is like, "uh-oh, here we go again..."

The best thing about these guys is its just all smiles all the time.

Tonyo is ranked number 16 now on the Indonesian Pro Surfing Tour. They did a great short video piece on him here: http://vimeo.com/17513576

I see they spelled his name Tonjo...I'm going to go with the way I've always seen him spell it, which is Tonyo. Probably both are correct...