The Matarrese Twins are on IMDB!

Joe finally got an IMDB credit! The credit is from a great movie we did that has been doing incredibly well in the festival circuit called Keys! It won Grand Jury Best Film prize at the New York Film and Video Festival and has been accepted to and winning at many other festivals across the country and soon across the world! Check out the film's credit: http://imdb.com/title/tt1141654/ I am also pleased to say that it was filmed entirely 100% in the SF Bay Area!



Check out Joe's credit!

http://imdb.com/name/nm2836008/

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
If you want to make a shadow with a hard cut on a wall or object, sometimes I prefer using a silk instead of a solid flag because that was atleast a little bit of light gets through so you see some details in the shadow. I learned that from Isidore Mankofsky ASC. Pass it on.

Hear of the Argos Lives!!! ...again!

Here is the new Web Intro Video for Heart of the Argos! a lot of the behind the scenes video was from my little digital camera! Yay!



PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Remember, try not to over light! See what you get when you light the space rather then the people in the space... does it look more realistic?

Ringo Starr

So, today Joe and I worked on Ringo Starr's new music video for a song called Liverpool. Ok, so I am a Beatles fan, but not as hard core as most people... however, I do find that the more i listen to them the more I like them. But this shoot was an AMAZING experience.

First of all, Joe and I are pushing a cart down the hallway because we have to move our gear to the floor above us and all of a sudden a bearded Brit with sunglasses pops out of the elevator and sneaks past us as we attempt to squeeze the cart through a doorway. He smiles and says, "Oh, looks like we're all set up and ready to rock!" All I could do was laugh, smile and utter the word "yeah" as the drummer from the Beatles passes us and goes to set. A woman who happened to be coming out of the office door next to our cart walks past him and turns around and asks me with a look of disbelief, "is... is that Ringo?" I smile and nod, half amazed at the man who just passed and half amazed on the effect he had on everyone who comes within 15 feet of him.

Then, we get on set we do a few short little shots to the opening of the song, all about 20 or 30 seconds long... and then he gets on stage with David Stewart to perform the whole song and... wow!


We all kind of stopped working and just stood there watching them perform and then a chill came over Joe and I at the same time as we realized that we were watching a quarter of THE BEATLES play for us, standing less then 10 feet away, a song about The Beatles! I am serious, I could not help but smile widely and move to the beat of the song! I could feel a cold sweat come over me and our legs actually went a little weak and I think this happened to most of the room because we all were either staring at the stage with stupid grins on our faces or looking around at each other as if to say: "can you believe this!?"

After they performed a few takes and stepped off as we re-lit, Ringo passed me and I told him, "(smiling)that was amazing..." He smiled as gave me a light jab in the arm and replied, "Oh, good. Thank you." Then, after Ringo was wrapped, we all got to take a big crew picture with him and Dave Stewart! I hope to get a copy of it very soon, I'll post it as soon as I get it. but for now, here are some of my own pics:

Me in Dave Stewarts office next to an MTV Music Award and Grammy!

Joe being a stand in for Ringo!

Ringo on the left and Dave Stewart on the right.

Lots of flags.

Ringo and the Red camera.

Ringo's new album cover?

Joe and our favorite italian producer, Paolo!

PhillM tip-of-the-day: If you get an opportunity to meet a famous person, take it, even if it is unpaid. because you never know when you will get to meet them again, and next time it might be too late(like with Laszlo Kovacks).

SF Filmmaking

I was recently u in San Francisco for a week to work on an SFSU thesis film and, boy was it fun! No- it's not what people are used to in LA but it was still great to work on. Joe and I had our 2 favorite crew members on it, Justin Plummer III and Martin Strauss- Justin was my Best Boy Electric and martin was Joe's Best Boy Grip. They both worked with us in these same positions for Heart of the Argos and they will continue to work with us on whatever we do up in SF.

Here are a few pics from the shoot and our trip:

I miss this city...

They set this whole thing up by themselves!

<>This is a good one of Steve and and even better one of Satuski!

Satsuki assisting Erin with her eye patch.

Yes, Erin knows she has that tape on her eye...

The buddhist temple in Oakland.

The orignal owners of Joe's Icecream Parlor in Geary Ave.

The edge of the world.

Crew rocking it old school!

We ended up not doing much for Halloween, but that was fine, the Castro was canceled this year and we were so tired from the shoot anyway that we didn't even bother going out. Joe, Bianca, Laurnan, Karolina and I stayed home and watched Sleepy Hallow and ate dinner, it was nice and relaxing.

We have also decided to begin preliminary work on the studio, we will be starting the LLC and business accounts so we can start saving money for the space we want to get up in Oakland. We are also starting to develop a couple of feature scripts to have ready by the time Argos is in festivals. Oh, speaking of festivals, Two men in Suits, our film we had in the New York Film and Video Festival won Best Action Film and that film, Keys, won Grand Jury Best Film of the festival. Hahahah, so the two films with the Matarrese Brother's name on them won best picture awards!

PhillM tip-of-the-day:
Remember, you can't beat the sun with any light... so you might as well use it to your advantage by trying to time your shooting schedule accordingly to work best with your location.