About a month ago, my lovely girlfriend asked me a simple question: "Why don't you own a video camera?"  This is a question I've asked myself many times over the years.  Being a filmmaker, I've always thought this was an essential items I should have in my arsenal.  But I've always just worked exclusively with cinematographers who have had their own kits, or rented equipment out.  As a result, I had handi-capped myself as a director, by ignoring a large part of what helps filmmakers improve and evolve.  Things like F-stop, ISO and Lenses were items I only had an elementary understanding of. I could get by well enough, but I wasn't a dedicated student of learning more about this side of the trade.

Well, that was all going to change.  In researching cameras, the Canon 7D quickly rose to the top of a very short list.  It was a dSLR, meaning, it has the body and look of a normal digital point-and-shoot camera.  Only, it shoots HD video as well.  These things are really taking off because they're semi-professional, yet very affordable.  They also shoot insane picture quality.  I already had experience with the Panasonic GH1, having worked with our friend Mike Halper on our two Fantastic Fest bumpers, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the end results of those two projects.  So the Canon 7D it was!

Within a few weeks of having this thing, my girlfriend and I quickly discovered our love for photography.  Every weekend we visited some new location to try and test the limits of the camera and capture shots that would normally, be way out of our realm of expertise.

Well, up until recently, the video was untested with it.  Sure, I went out the day I bought it and shot some outdoor stuff, but my hand was shaking so much, and it was such a grey day, that I was dismayed by what I got.  I knew I had my work cut out for me if I was going to produce something nicer.  Well, as it turns out, I didn't have that much work in store for me.  Shooting nice HD video was something that was about to prove much easier than I thought.  

Fast forward to Christmas in NY and I spend about 3 hours at a friend's house, shooting some test footage in his creepy basement (the same basement we used in our feature film Absence).  The set-up was this:  Kevin and I came up with a concept that we could direct fast and furious.  Kevin had some left-over latex lying around, and a bottle of fake blood he was itching to use to try and improve his special effects make-up skills with.  So I called up my roommate and fellow director friend, Brian James, Fitzpatrick, who also happened to be in NY working on a film and staying with his folks.  We then enlisted the help of James Lord, a brilliant photographer to be our DP for the afternoon.  And his awesome wife Ann, would be our damsel in distress.  Distress from what, you might ask?  Well, that was the role that Brian would be filling.  

So without further ado, I give you, "Laundry Day", the first bit of test footage we shot with the Canon 7D. We did this in about two hours.  Equipment was one zoom lens, a $100 tripod, and one light.  Fast, fun, and instructional, was the theme for the day.  Enjoy:

"Laundry Day" - Shot on the Canon 7D from Parallactic Pictures on Vimeo.

Last year, Brian and I received word that our short horror film 'Throwaway' had been accepted into the Festivus Film Festival.  This was a festival we had tried to get into the prior year, but they didn't have space for us.  However, the film left a good impression on the judges and they decided to just grandfather us into the 2010 festival.

The festival runs from Jan 14-17 in Denver, Colorado at The Oriental Theater.  'Throwaway' will be screening Saturday, Jan 16 at 6pm in a big short film block at the Oriental.  Here is a link to our B-Side screening page with more details, a trailer and pictures: http://festivus.bside.com/2010/films/throwaway_festivus2010;jsessionid=95B1BF8D621494793087A4DC6DFD30A0

I gotta say... getting into film festivals is usually bittersweet.  Depending on the festival, you go through two phases.  1) Being excited that your film was accepted... to 2) Being upset by how bad the festival is run.  Well, so far everything we have seen from Festival has been great.  Stellar website, big attention to filmmakers, tons of useful information, and good promotion of the featured films.  Hell, they even have their screeners do video reviews of some of the films, and 'Throwaway' was chosen and received a very positive review:

For more information on the festival, check out its official site: http://www.festivusfilmfestival.com/index.html

Check this out! In his daily DVD segment of G4's hit show "Attack Of The Show", film critic Chris Gore took a second to pimp Postcards From The Future: The Chuck Palahniuk Documentary. The segment is called DVDuesday and after making a few DVD recommendations for movies that have just come out, Chris highlighted his 'quickpick' for the day, which turned out to be none other than our Chuck Palahniuk DVD documentary!

The plug happens in the last 10 seconds of the clip.  Big props to our man Joshua Jabcuga for spotting this one.  He just made my month!

Check out a link for the video here: http://g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/dvduesday/68784/Transformers-Box-Set-Natural-Born-Killers-DVD-Review.html

Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S, and one of the coolest aspects of it is something called Filmmaking Frenzy.  This is a contest whereby they select the Top 10 films to screen at their festival as commercials, or 'bumpers' at the start of each presentation.  The rules of the contest state that each film has to be 30-45 secs long, star a kid, star a monster, and end off with the word 'Fantastic'.

Below are the two bumpers that we directed for the festival.  The first one, 'ICE CREAM!' was the runner-up film this year and has already become the most viewed film on the Filmmaking Frenzy website.  It will be screening randomly before films during the 8 day festival.  But if you'd like to see it now, check it out below along with 'Demon Cat', the other bumped we made.  We don't know yet what the 10 other selected films to screen for the fest will be, but we're hoping 'Demon Cat' makes it in too.  Wish us luck!

Kevin and I both be at the festival.  So if you're in town, come on over and say hi!

In our ever expanding attempt to gain distribution for our feature film Absence. every lit bit of exposure we can attain helps.  So when reviewers contact us for screener copies of the film, I always jump at the chance to send them a DVD asap.  Sometimes that may not pan out too well, as a bad review may hurt our chances of getting the film out to the masses.

So when Joel Harley contacted me, requesting a screener of Absence to review for his awesome movie site Porkehad's Horror Review Hole (how's that for a title?), I knew we may be taking a risk.  After all, Absence isn't typically classified as a horror film... but like I said, you go for it in order to try and help your chances to get the film to that crucial next step.  Well, I'm glad to say that the risk paid off.   Joel gave Absence a 4 out of 5 star rating as well as a great write up.  Here's a sample:

A low-budget feature written & directed by Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer, Absence plays to its strengths. The plot is simplistic but gripping; the violence comes in short, powerful bursts – and the climax is, simply put, excellent, largely avoiding the pitfalls of melodrama. And whilst none of the characters are especially likeable, they’re well-rounded and engaging.

 So a big thank you to Joel for these awesome words.  And if anyone else reading this maintains a movie review site or a blog, you can contact us for a screener copy.

Read the full review of Absence here!

'Throwaway' has just gotten into 2 more festivals: Horror UK and Festivus Film Festival.  What's cool is that, with each of these fests, there's a story to go along with the good news.  Horror UK ended up liking 'Throwaway' that they outright chose it before even officially beginning their screening / selection procees.  And with Festivus, we actually joined the previous year and didn't get in, but the fest director remembered how well 'Throwaway' did with the screeners, so they contacted me this year to have it included for 2010's fest.

So along with Dragon*Con, that marks three fests this year for 'Throwaway'.  Thanks all, Brian and I couldn't have done it with you, and it's so cool to see 'Throwaway' still being recognized almost 2 years after we made it.

Stay tuned for screening dates and details.