The Brothers Corral
After graduating from Cathedral High School, the Corral brothers had their futures down pat. Carlos was studying computer science, his brother Octavio in biology. However, there was no disputing their true interests. “There were stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes we made when we were little,” said Octavio. After the dreaded call home to inform the lifeline about the permanent change in their future careers into a notoriously unpredictable field, both University of Texas at Austin students changed their majors to Radio-Television-Film.
Just two short years after graduating, the enterprising siblings are deep into their business venture MindWarp Entertainment LLC, a production company specializing in web design and video production. Although they run their own company with two locations in the state (Carlos, 26, is in Austin, while Octavio, 24, is in El Paso), they were still able to nurture their pet project, a feature film about an alcoholic doctor called Hands of God….
Continue reading the article at www.epmediagroup.com
Hands of God Poster
We will be having a special sneak peek screening of our new feature film Hands of God on Thursday Aug. 13th at 9pm and Saturday Aug. 15th at 10pm at the 2009 Plaza Classic Film Festival right here in our hometown of El Paso TX. The first sneak peek screening has already SOLD OUT and tickets are going fast for our 2nd screening on Aug. 15th.
If you would still like to purchase tickets for the second screening, you can drop by the during regular business hours or purchase them online at Ticketmaster here.
We’ve also received some great press from the El Paso Times and What’s Up El Paso about our sold out screening. Below are some of the highlights from the news articles we have been gathering:
By Doug Pullen / El Paso Times
Posted: 08/01/2009 05:20:46 PM MDT
And they’ve added a second showing of “Hands of God,” a new drama by El Paso filmmaker Carlos Corral. The first one at 9 p.m. Aug. 13 has already sold out the 200-seat Philanthropy Theatre. The encore will be at 10 p.m. Aug. 15.
By Doug Pullen / El Paso Times
Posted: 08/06/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT
One locally made movie, writer-director Carlos Corral’s “Hands of God,” about a resident surgeon coming to terms with his father, has sold out an Aug. 13 show at the Philanthropy Theatre. A second show was added for Aug. 15. Corral, 26, is a graduate of Cathedral High School in El Paso and the University of Texas at Austin’s film school. He said the festival was a great way to showcase a film community that has existed largely under the radar.
By Leonard Martinez / What’s Up El Paso Volume 10, No. 44
Posted: 08/06/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT
A screening of local film “Hands of God” has already sold out and a second screening has been added. Gilbert Chavarria, who runs the local film Web site EPFilm.org, said the selling out of the first “Hands of God” screening is important to the local filmmaking community. “It is incredibly important,” Chavarria said. “It shows that there is a strong local filmmaking community that has been waiting for an opportunity like this. By supporting all the local screenings, the local filmmaking community is investing in themselves by ensuring the success of the Plaza Classic this year as well as in years to come.”
UPDATE:
Hands of God Thursday Aug. 13th at 9pm SOLD OUT!
Hands of God Saturday Aug. 15th at 10pm SOLD OUT!
1. REDCODE vs 35mm Film
I’m sure everyone has had this argument with someone they know or work with. I’ve had this discussion/argument with a cinematographer who has both shot on film and on RED and still prefers 35mm over RED despite the long waiting period and higher costs of production. Maybe it’s an age/generation difference. Here are some facts that I have read regarding RED footage and 35mm film and how each is handled. I highly recommend checking out , it’s a great read!
35mm Film Camera
RED Digital Camera
RED & 35mm Cameras
Continue reading ‘RED ALERT! 10 Things RED Camera Users Need To Know’
JVC GY-HM100 Handheld
Last week, my friend Phil Goetz from Texas Media Systems invited me to a JVC: Solid Solutions seminar hosted by Scott A. Burch, a JVC district sales manager from the great state of Texas. Scott introduced us to the JVC GY-HM100 and its older brother the JVC GY-HM700 back in May. This time, he hosted a full breakdown of what these cameras can do with SDHC and SxS workflows. Check out my previous blog review of these two cameras here:
The JVC GY-HM100 & JVC GY-HM700
I want to take the time to go over a few more things that I both love and hate about these new cameras. First, I will give some love to the JVC GY-HM100 on its size and flexibility. Mounting this little guy on a Steadicam is easy. And the best part of this is it’s a full 1080p camera that only weighs 3lbs. Can you say smooth and simple?
Continue reading ‘MPEG-2 is DEAD!’
This month, I wanted to take the time and talk about a small problem I encountered last year while filming our feature film Hands of God. As you have read from our blog, we used the JVC GY-110U HD camera with the Redrock 35mm Adapter and Nikon Lenses for our shoot. During the production, the JVC camera’s CCD sensors would occasionally overheat and cause small white pixels to appear in our shots. Here are some examples below of some of the issues that occurred:
Continue reading ‘HOT / WHITE Pixel Fix on the JVC GY-HD110U’
My friend Neal Barenblat and I decided to rent one and climb a mountain. We rented a Varizoom Steadicam Navigator from Omega Broadcast here in Austin, TX and drove out to Enchanted Rock. We mounted Neal’s DVX100B onto the Steadicam and climbed the 800 ft. mountain, all while documenting our experience on my Canon XL2. Worst Idea Ever? Maybe. Check out some of the photos below:
Neal & the Steadicam
Steadicam? No sweat!
Ready for Adventure!
Neal was up first. We took out the Steadicam and assembled it. Since we had only taken a small crash course on how to use a Steadicam, we were about to find out if we could climb Enchanted Rock and keep the camera steady. Neal decided to do the uphill climb and I would do the down hill climb.
Check out the short video below:
El Paso Filmmakers Diana Cordova, Benny Ontiveros, John Castaneda, and myself all collaborated together to bring you our first documentary. Every Thursday night at a local Taco Cabana in El Paso Texas, Manuel Nunez and friends put on a cross dressing drag queen show titled “Samantha’s Travesti Show”. Through the use of comedy and entertainment, Samantha, Viviana, & Zayda break the borders of transsexual identity and acceptance.
Click on the image below to view the documentary:
Breaking Borders
My friend Phil Geotz from Texas Media Systems invited me to a small filmmaker get together where I met fellow Austin filmmakers Matt Iha and Rod Cole. We all got to speak with Scott A. Burch, one of the JVC district sales managers from Texas. Scott recently returned from NAB 2009 and provided us with some hands on experience with the JVC GY-HM100 and its older brother the GY-HM700. Allow me to post some fun facts about this camera.
JVC GY-HM100 with Mic
JVC GY-HM100 without Mic
Matt Iha & HM100
Continue reading ‘The JVC GY-HM100 & JVC GY-HM700′
Spencer Pharr will be producing and directing a new upcoming short titled “Sawed-Off” during the first week of May and asked me to sign on to the project as their editor. Spencer gave me some RED footage to play with in order to understand and choose a workflow for his film. This will be my first post-production gig dealing with the RED workflow. I’ve been reading up on a lot of workflow types with RED and I think I found one that I am happy with. Since I have a Dual 2.8Ghz Quad-Core MacPro with 8GB of RAM, I’ll be going with the following workflow Continue reading ‘Editing with REDcode’
Neal Barenblat, E.J. Enriquez, and I began production for part one of Texas Burning’s new intro. Tony Curtona, the executive producer of Texas Burning, booked Patricia Vonne and Sam Baker to give the opening introduction for the broadcast. Tony decided to go with the Green Screen approach since we have more control in a studio space and wouldn’t have to deal with any of the outdoor elements. We rented our lighting equipment and green screen from Omega Broadcast and shot in their studio back lot. E.J. brought his HVX200 for the shoot since you need that good ol’ DVCProHD 4:2:2 codec for green screen work. Everything went smoothly.
Green Screen Setup
E.J. & his HVX200
Setting up the shot
Patricia Vonne & Sam Baker
Lights, Camera, & Action!
Rehearsing their lines
