- written by Jordan Smith
The Rootclip.com project is a web-based film contest. The makers of the site begin a segment (or “chapter”) of a film. It is then up to contestants/filmmakers to complete the film chapter by chapter. The only rule is that the film must follow the theme of the first chapter and preserve the lead characters. Viewers of the website then vote to decide which entries become an official part of the film.
The winner of the last two chapters of the most recent film was Smash & Grab Productions (S&GP), an amateur film company headed by Alameda resident, Will Blank (24), Jake Bradbury and Blake Anderson. All three met at UC Santa Cruz their freshman year in 2002. Since then, the trio has made countless music videos and short-length films. Some have even won awards.
Before filming, Will was always artistically inclined; he painted and sketched, played the piano, wrote and did photography. He saw all of these artistic venues coalescing into the medium of film. “I could decide where the art went,” he says, “what kind of music belonged where and could write the scripts.”
Will started filming in the 10th grade while attending Arthur Andersen Community Learning Center (AACLC), now Alameda Community Learning Center. Will was obsessed with early 90’s rap and, as a joke, decided to superimpose himself into a montage of hip-hop videos. This was made possible by AACLC’s availability of a green room and editing and recording equipment to the students.
This may have been Will’s first dabbling in film but he considers his first real project a short he made to the theme of the Andy Griffith show. “The story was of my friend swinging a golf club against a green screen and hitting someone with a golf ball,” he recounts. ”That’s it, really. It was actually a pretty stupid movie.”
The payoff would not be stupid. From there, Will embarked on a long, creative evolution. He got into acting, even starring in a majority of his films, learned more of on and off-screen techniques, visual effects and editing programs. He now works at NBC Universal as a post-production assistant for the show “Heroes.”
Jake Bradbury has been making films since high school. He first started out on a lot of projects, directing family members or friends. His first big project was his movie “Disconnected,” which starred his dad and a neighbor. The film won “Best Thriller” at the Berkeley film festival. It was then that Jake knew he wanted to make film his life.
Blake originally wanted to be an actor, having done roles in a few of Jake’s productions while at Santa Cruz. The two became friends and then housemates. When not in front of the camera, Blake works on cinematography. He was responsible for the camerawork on both of the Rootclip videos. Right now, he works as a location's manager at the Veteran's Memorial Hospital where “Gray's Anatomy” is filmed.
One can only call S&GP an amateur film company because they do it all on their own budget. Despite not having lighting equipment or an HD camera, the quality of art that the team makes is far from amateur.
In the music video for the song “Bird Island,” by local band Roman Ruins, Will created a bittersweet fairy tale of a little girl and her adventures to the namesake location. All the special effects were done with paper and cardboard sets, reminiscent to the playful visuals of Michel Gondry.
In “Ghost,” Jake and Will are able to make their college into an unrecognizably eerie and dark world. It was shot in one night using only props, lighting and costumes that were immediately available. It was practically filmed by the seat of their pants, even a majority of the lightning being done with a stolen construction lamp. The results are stunning and effectively creepy.
All of S&GP’s video prove that ideas are more important than budget and that a team can “work well with limited time and resources.” Will says that the necessary equipment is a digital camera and a computer with a good editing program. Though Will says he personally has the most fun with editing, it is also the most important for a filmmaker. He says that “editing is what you have the most control over and it allows you to see what is worth keeping or throwing away.”
Editing proved to be particularly important for “Ghost,” a film that was shot in two days. Will describes their process as the team coming up with an idea and then assembling a team of volunteers who want to help. They then focus in and get as many needed shots, edit that footage, re-shoot parts that need to be and then edit again.
Will describes his editing as “butchering,” where he will cut anything and everything extraneous. “With editing in regards to ideas and how we do stuff, we just make sure there is a beginning, middle and end,” he Will. “The movies that people don’t respond well with are those without end, so we really stick to the story. At first I didn’t want to stick to form, but there is a reason why form exists: it works. Every video we do, we pay attention to form and edit out whatever is unnecessary.”
Will sites S&G’s film “This House is Haunted” as a good example concise storytelling. “It was shot on whim,” Will confesses. ”While editing, I thought it was terrible. But when we put in the sound effects and music, people thought that it was the best thing we ever did. And that is the most clear story we had done. There was a lot of crappy visuals but the story was solid and it carried. Editing made this possible.”
For all other production, S&G sends for others with the particular equipment and complementary tech they need. This allows them to focus on what they do best, learn from their collaborators, network and learn how to run a crew. “We got a friend of a friend, Alejandro Wilkins (also of Alameda), who lives here in L.A. to take care of cinematography and lightning, both of which he is really good at. We then got a guy from my work to do the sound on these last two videos; they both brought a whole other dimension to our work.”
Where certain equipment or specialized personnel cannot be obtained, the team learns to be resourceful with what they have. For their movie on rootclip, the lightning for the interrogation room scene was all natural. “Blake shot that particular piece,” Will says. “He had access to an amazing location that looked like a dungeon and we made sure we went in when the lighting was perfect and shot at different locations in the room that had the right light.”
The work in these chapters show moments of immaculate visual clarity and simulate big-production quality. The chapters also execute Hollywood clichés so naturally that they feel like the trio’s own ideas. Their interpretations of chapters five and six were made in just 10 days and won the 500 and $2000 prizes respectively. The money went toward buying professional lightning kit, an investment that Will says “will step (their) game up.”
Recently, Will Blank and Jake Bradbury entered a Logitech commercial contest on the theme “liberate your laptop, liberate your life.” Jake’s has a journalist message, telling of how information access can raise awareness of global social and economic issues. Will’s is humorous, showing how Logitech hardware can get you a hot date to a red carpet event. Ultimately, S&G wants to make feature-length films. If you check out there website and send them your support, this may very well happen sooner.
Both Logitech commercials use the team’s new lighting equipment. You can compare and contrast the new videos to the older ones at the following links:
:
http://www.smashandgrabpro.com/films.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/user/smashgrabproFor S&GP’s prize-winning rootclip.com chapters 5 and 6, visit:
http://rootclip.com/stories/chance-encounter/
