Though I’m not officially a designer, I’d like to think that I have some pretty good visual ideas, and a DIY drive that is essentially  having to  learn enough about something to get away with – what I’ve always needed to do at the time.

Believe it or not, there were five different Poster designs for PRAXIS.  So, I thought it would be interesting to show the evolution of the different posters for PRAXIS that were designed at various stages in the film’s life.

Initial film title logo:

This was one of the first things I came up with.  I think that having a strong title is the first and most important thing to think about when coming up with a concept, and since one of the themes of the film is prescription drug addiction, using a font that is similar to this was the way to go.  Having a strong title and logo can also define a specific direction for the themes represented in the film.  So, I do feel that coming up with a strong title and logo is something that filmmakers should pay really close attention to.

The first poster:

This was the first poster used to promote the film.  Initially, it was hard to tell what direction the marketing for the film was going to go.  So, my initial thoughts was to keep the design of the poster simple, and I also liked the way that Joe was directly behind Brian, foreshadowing who/what his character was in the film.  After a few months and some honest feedback, it turned out that this poster wasn’t as effective, since the blurring lines behind them made PRAXIS look like an action film.

The Second Poster:

After the first initial festival screenings and audience reactions, I decide to market the film in two different directions: one that would appeal to a gay crowd, and one that would appeal to an art-house crowd.  This poster was much more thoughtful, symbolic, and dreamlike, and was based on a painting by Rene Magritte.  By having Brian sleeping at the bottom of the poster, it implies that whatever is above him is what he’s dreaming about.  A really good visual design concept is: the juxtaposition of two very different images creates a specific correlation of those images and their meanings.   This poster also incorporates the sci-fi elements that are another theme in the film, but is designed to appeal directly to a Gay audience.

The Third Poster:

After a wonderful film festival run, this poster was designed mainly to appeal to an Art-House crowd.  It also implies the dueling personalities of the main two characters in the film, but has a cleaner and more polished look  than the previous poster design.  It was also meant to highlight the many accolades that the film achieved through it’s festival run.

The Fourth Poster:

This poster was designed as a different DVD cover design for the film, mostly to showcase the fantastic and magical realism element.  Despite the many themes represented in the film, the film is mainly about Brian’s journey to finding himself, unifying his identity, and discovering his place in the universe.  So this design implies a sort of skygazer existentialism, with a not so subtle implication that Brian could be ‘spiritual’ or ‘angelic’.

The Final Poster Design:

This was the final poster / DVD design for the release of the film that Ariztical Entertainment came up with.  They actually sent me five different versions, before eventually deciding to go with this design.  During the distribution process, I sent them as much art work with the film that I had, but was entirely open to any ideas that they had that would best market the film in the best way.  I do like that they incorporated the strongest images and elements of the film in this design, but I also think that this is the best and strongest design of all the poster ideas for PRAXIS.

It’s interesting to look at all the different poster/image design ideas that evolved during the process of making and promoting the film.  I hope that looking at this progression will help other filmmakers out there give more thought into the marketing, design, and promotion of their own films.

xo,

-al

Okay, here it is.  Finally.  After a very  long and dirty road:  The Official DVD Image of PRAXIS for the US DVD release in January 2010 from Ariztical Entertainment.  Pretty cool, eh?

What’s really cool is that the image was created by the Publicity and Advertising department of the distributor, and not by myself.  So, it’s incredibly validating to have people working for the film to help promote it and get it out there.  I also think that they did a fantastic job.  so kudos to Ariztical.

Over the past few months, I’ve been reminded about some little tid-bits of interesting and/or funny film related stories that have happened along the way.  I figured I’d try to mention a couple of them over the next few posts:

- People only want something, if someone else picks it up first.  I was forewarned that the contract negotiations would take about four months, and they, in fact, did.  but the end result was that we came to an agreement that both sides were cool with, and the film is moving forward in the process of distribution.  after the contracts were all set, an international sales agent recently inquired about the foreign sales rights, and if they were available.  Our current distributor already has established relations with certain foreign sales companies, and that was included in the contract, simply because a few months ago, they were the only ones interested.  Only after the distro company was all set were other companies coming forward to show interest in the film (having heard that the original distributor was releasing it).  funny how that works…

- anything is possible.  this has become my new mantra.  years ago, when i first set out to make my first feature, i had no idea what a rollercoaster ride it would be.  but the end result, having gone through the entire process, anything is possible, as long as you stick to your guns and are willing to stay with your project to the bitter end.  success comes to those who are willing to work their ass off for it.

So, yeah, the film is finally getting distribution.  who knew? 

Encounters at the End of the World

So the other day, I got a chance to check out the new Werner Herzog documentary, ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, about his trip to Antarctica, and his incredible underwater footage and all.  Though the documentary involves alot of different things, there was one side story that really intrigued me: it was about a strange behavior amoung adele penguins where occasionally, an individual penguin would run away from the rest of the pack, completely on its own, and run for the mountains and hills far beyond the safety of the pack,  and ultimately to its own solitary doom.  The scientists who observed this strange behavior have no idea why certain penguins do this, and they can offer no explaination.  As Werner was shooting this documentary, they also ended up filming a single solitary penguin doing just this – suddenly running away from the community, separating itself from the only world that it knew, and it made a b-line straight for the mountains way off in the distance, never to return.

I find this behavior beautiful, facinating, and really intriguing.  If we could only hear and understand what this individual penguin might be thinking or feeling.  It probably knows that it’s going to die out there on it’s own.  But for that brief moment, it’s running to pursue it’s dream, a far off place, away from everyone, somewhere its never ever been before.   For that brief moment, the penguin is truly living its life for itself, and its truly an individual, only a short time before its inevitable frozen death, on the coldest place on the planet.

I find myself sometimes feeling somewhat the same way, growing tired and bored of the mundane everyday life and an urge to do ‘something crazy’  like run away to some endless point, to experience a little bit of excitment of life, even for a brief moment in time.

Some people might say that this penguin is crazy.  I’d say that the penguin is pursuing its dream.  Some people say filmmaking is crazy.  Some might say its crazy to equate your life to a penguin.  I say it’s okay to act like a penguin that is living its life on its own, and pursuing its dreams.

On The Set of PRAXIS.

So it’s the first week of february of 2009, and for the past couple of months, PRAXIS has been in the ‘hurry up and wait’ mode, also known as the purgatory of distribution.  we are still currently waiting to hear back from a pretty major distributor about US broadcast rights, which is an awesome place to be.  but at the same time, not hearing or knowing is kind of a pain in the ass.  it’s sort of like the same state that PRAXIS was in for the six months after it was completed before it got into it’s first film festival.  not knowing can be a real drag, and it’s tough to wait and see when you want to do something proactive.  tho, fortunately, we’ve gone ahead and worked on the DVD distribution end of things, and set those wheels in motion.

i’ve finally submitted the film and all the appropriate materials to make the film available on amazon and netflix.  now it’s just going to take them some time on their end to process and post the film.  of course, there is a possibility that the film could get rejected because of some of the content of the film.  yes, censorship still exists even in this day and age.  if this happens, the film will not be available on amazon, tho their distro deal is the least benificial to indies, as in, they take the biggest cut.  anyhoo, the process has been set in motion, so the film will soon be available on DVD for sale, rent, and Direct Download.  One more thing that i’d like to get going is to make the soundtrack available for sale, and also on itunes.  I’ll prolly get that stuff going in the next week or so.  once everything is up and running, i’ll have one more plug to let know everyone that it’s up and running.  i’ll also have to re-vamp the website to reflect this too.  in a way, it’s the last really push for the film.

fortunately, i’ve recently picked up more independent and commercial work, which is great because it’s challenging me creatively, and also it the kind of work i really enjoy doing.  i hope that a portion of this work will help fund the next project.  speaking of which, it seems like the ‘next’ project is two completely different things in two completely different directions.  one is a branching out into developing a pilot for series, which is something that i’ve always wanted to do, and is a huge difference than producing feature films.  series depend more on character development, and things have to be completely open ended, while movies basically have to wrap things up by the end of it.  other than developing the series, there’s still a part of me that wants to do another feature:  the difference this time is to try to something that is even more independent than PRAXIS, and i hope to try to complete the majority of principle photography by the end of the year.  as ‘conventional’ as the series is supposed to be, this new film is supposed to fill my need to be more experimental – to take some of the elements of PRAXIS that worked, and develop them even further.  either way, i’d like to find a way to be able to produce more films and speed up the process a little bit.

so, there’s a fair bit of stuff going on, but it’s all good, and i’m looking forward to seeing how all of these new projects develop and grow.

Me and Timothy Caswell, Festival Director, Outer Film Festival Austin TX

Me and Jody Wheeler of doorQ.com at the Outer Film Festival Austin TX

PRAXIS at the Outer Film Festival Re-Cap

This past weekend, myself and producer Paul travelled from DC to Austin Texas to attend the screening of PRAXIS at the Outer Film Festival, the Gay Sci-Fi, Fatasy, Horror Film Festival.  The fest was held at the Austin Film Studios, and the clear wide open blue skies of texas seemed to invoke a sense that a UFO siting was about to happen (that, and also we were also in the flight path of the Austin/Bergstrom Airport.)

Having never been to Austin before, the town definitely had an alternative/hipster feel with the majority of the venues in downtown catering to music.  Ironically, a Gay Sci-Fi Film Festival didn’t seem so out of place here.  It definitely was a fun place to hang out, and me and paul drank too much on friday night, cause the beer was so cheap compared to DC.

Saturday was the screening of the film and it was really cool to meet up with Timothy Caswell, the festival director, as well with finally meeting Jody Wheeler of doorQ.com, along with his assistant ‘Son of Lars’.  both Timothy and Jody have been incredibly supportive of the film over the past few months, and it was really cool to finally meet them in person.  Me and Jody definitely talked for quite a while about a lot of things, and it seems like some sort of film collaboration definitely seems like it’s in the works.  We talked about DC, ’cause Jody was from there before moving to LA, and he also told me a surreal story about finding an entire jet engine lying on the beach near LAX.

The trip and overall fest was very cool.  During the Q n A i think i definitely got the most questions about the Astronomy in the film moreso than any other Q n A session so far.  Jody and Son of Lars interviewed me for the the doorQ.com vlog, which was very cool (tho, i have to say, we had to do several takes of the ‘you’re watching doorQ.com’ plug, since my tongue seemed to get very twisted saying that line for some reason.)

All and all, it was a really fun trip and fest, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s a head: to boldly go where no other gay sci-fi art experimental film has gone before.

-xoxo,

alex

xoxo,