Category: General

Two Eggs Any Style – Original Drafted September 26th, 2010

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I’ve had several acts inquire about my creating a music video for them. We finally got such a project underway in the form of Two Eggs, Any Style by the Electro – Indie two piece rock group, Illicitizen yesterday, September 25. 2010 with the start of production. We shot primarily green screen and one additional location involving some graffiti and many scrambled eggs.

This shot was a lot of fun and on hand for crew we had Jeremy Mullis, Eric Cook and Todd Britt. We finally got to employee the newly constructed MVP dolly and it worked like a charm. Todd’s modifications to the original design really paid off in ease of use and I cannot wait to utilize this amazing tool on future shoots. I am really excited to see what I can do with a music video and already have a high level of confidence in the footage we’ve shot. Now to work some post magic. As we all know, post can be a real Monkey Fighter! Never fear, Johnny Brento is here.

Editor’s Note: I found this story abandoned in drafts when I wasn’t able to co-ordinate with the band to finish the video off in a further shoot. The video above is what we were left with and likely is all there will ever be since these folks have slipped off the grid like John Connor in Terminator 3! I also got a nasty comment from the bass player when I commented on this video on Facebook once, recently. I’m not sure if that was a drunk comment or whathae you, but it was deleted almost immediately. Anywho, I hope you Illicitizen’s are doing well and I hope they never catch you if you don’t want to be caught. Godbless, BB

BBFMP, Music Videos, Two Spies & New Art

Greybro

BBFMP1I got a message on Facebook that sort of got overlooked for months due to it being from someone not in my friends list. It was a nice little message thanking me for doing Brento’s Budget Film Making Podcast. That’s the first such message I’ve received acknowledging the effort put into that little show.  It was really cool to get that. That makes me think that I should do a show on creating no budget music videos. BBFMP was often overshadowed by it’s much more put together big brother show, MVP Mutant Radio, which is now, sadly defunct, at least for the time being.

Anyways, great to be acknowledged and shout out to show listener, Krutin Amin, of Hanover Park, Illinois. Thanks for your message, Buddy. I’ll keep on making them if you keep on listening.

At the current time, I’m working on a music video for Braden Harwood. Additionally, I have 3 other videos lined up to create as time allows, including one for Two Spies, though, obviously I’ll need help for that one. These things are like short films and as such, they make great anecdotes for BBFMP. It’s all great experience that I look forward to sharing on the show. Read more “BBFMP, Music Videos, Two Spies & New Art”

Always Remember. Never Forget.

Greybro
Always Remember. Never Forget.
Always Remember. Never Forget.

As I waited for my wife to get ready this morning, I watched a few minutes of a program called, “Hero Dogs of 911.” I must admit listening to the stories from owners of those amazing rescue dogs that scoured the rubble saving only God knows how many lives and then when the survivors were no more, recovering the shattered bodies of those that remained really touched me. Still today’s anniversary didn’t occur to me until I got in and pulled up a web browser.

There was that only too brief glowing period of brotherhood where everyone had a flag hung on their rear view mirror and people were kind, really kind to their fellow man. A decade on, I wish we could have held onto that.

Bin Laden is dead having died at the hands of the US Navy Seals and Al Qaeda is essentially no more, though we have these ISIS jack asses to deal with now. In the grand sum of things, the attacks of 911 United us and indeed the world against terrorism. A vulnerability was removed and our preparation level to deal with such cowardly tactics has never been higher. 2,977 died on that day. Their deaths were a horrible cost to pay for our lack of security. Today I believe that those victims did not die in vain.

God bless America!

Working For Da Man

Greybro
Morning Commute
Morning Commute

I was in the building quite early today, an hour away from home. I find that with our new bull pen seating concept, it’s good to get a little focus work time in before the rest of the troops arrive. All in all, this idea of putting us all at what is essentially one giant desk is a mixed back. It’s definitely more social which is great and instead of chatting someone on IM with a question, I just take my head phones off and ask them across the table. It’s when the separate meetings start happening at the same time that the efficiency kind of falls apart. Say 1 person at both ends of our table are on one call and the 3 other people are each on entirely different calls. It’s happened already and that’s loud. Still, I have team of great people who are all excellent to be around. I’m really just so glad to be here the minor inconveniences don’t matter all that much. Read more “Working For Da Man”

The Strain – A Show you SHOULD Be Watching

Greybro
Fan Boy time
Fan Boy time

It’s a great time to be a fan.

The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan is a thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself.

A Boeing 767 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold. Read more “The Strain – A Show you SHOULD Be Watching”

Every Week Can’t Be a Great Week, But God is Still In Control

Greybro
A Favorite Snack
A Favorite Snack

Well, I could say it was a great weekend but I’d be fibbing. Still, what’s the use of complaining? I seem to have damaged some vessels in my left, perhaps with my ear buds. I noticed some soreness there this week and on Sunday I woke up with that ear essentially completely closed off. It feels similar to a really bad head cold that’s drained all to one side and stopped up your ear, except I have no cold symptoms. It’s really been disconcerting to say the least. Nancee has put together some Nerve repair supplements for me and I’m trying to go the natural route to get the hearing back in lefty. Read more “Every Week Can’t Be a Great Week, But God is Still In Control”

Asheville for the Weekend

Greybro
Early Morning Ashville
Early Morning Ashville

To begin with, I should mention that I kind of had this trip thrust upon me when my wife schedule a class in Ashville and even paid for it before mentioning it to me. It’s not that I had anything in particular against Ashville, on the contrary, I was interested in visiting there again, but the timing was an issue. Having had one screening of my film, “Take That” already this month and a big Halloween screening to get prepared for, I already kind of had my hands full. So faced with a couple of days to kill in Ashville, North Caorlina, I tried to make the best of it and plan a few things to fill my time. It’s always good practice when you have to think on your feet and make a plan in 2 seconds, so thanks for that, Babe!

Namaste
Namaste

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Relson Gracie North Carolina – My Return

Greybro
With my Buddy Tim Tyner
With my Buddy Tim Tyner

Last night I attended the first evening class of CrossFit after a really cold morning and lack of sufficient sleep kept me in the bed. This was also the first evening of JiuJitsu for my old dojo in the new CrossFit location. The new place has a much larger mat area and the general convenience of being able to wrap my Crossfit workout and walk over to the mat already warmed up just made up my mind for me. It’s time to return to Jiu-Jitsu. So, last night I rolled for the first time in a few years. It actually went pretty well since I’ve been doing Crossfit going on 2 months it wasn’t as much of a body shock as starting back cold. Of course my skin is not used to the friction of grappling and was generally tender afterwards. I did ok for not having grappled in so long. In a sense though it’s like starting over. I remembered the defensive stuff fairly well but none of the submissions and of course I have no hip movement. Read more “Relson Gracie North Carolina – My Return”

Jiu-Jitsu Boy A.K.A Doom Machine

Greybro

I got to watch my son, Liam, last night at Jiu-Jitsu class. He told me the other day he wants to be an MMA fighter. I didn’t chuckle out loud at least. Like, me, he’s not a natural athlete and has terrible balance. On the other hand, I’d never crush any kids dream because stranger things have happened. At his age, anything is possible. I told him that every journey begins with a single step. Get good grades and attend Jiu-Jitsu as often as possible. Read more “Jiu-Jitsu Boy A.K.A Doom Machine”