VINEGAR HILL wrapped up production recently on a new spot for the NAB Show®. We were privileged to partner with our friends at VsTheBrain to come up with and execute the concept for the 30 second spot which will be shown in advertising at The Sundance Film Festival in January!

We enjoyed working with the ARRI Alexa, which gave us a kick butt image for a high quality end product. We look forward to showing you the finished spot!

We are now on episode 3 and the podcast has already become the #3 most downloaded audio podcast in the iTunes TV & Film Category! Of course we intend to continue to grow the podcast and the resources available on The New American Storytellers in the coming months! We look forward to continuing the discussion on the creative process with you!

Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and follow @NewStorytellers on twitter!

All of us at Vinegar Hill are excited to announce the inaugural release of The New American Storytellers Podcast! Each week myself and the guys at Vinegar Hill will be discussing filmmaking, storytelling & the creative process.

On this episode of the podcast we discuss the importance of learning to watch movies to become better filmmakers & storytellers. Enjoy!

Episode 1: Learn To Watch Movies by NewStorytellersPodcast

Be Sure to follow The New American Storytellers on Twitter!

—Shepherd]]>http://vinegarhillcreative.com/blog/rss-comments-entry-12383203.xmlAaron ShustMusic VideoMy Hope Is In YoupremiereVinegar HillWed, 27 Jul 2011 18:57:03 +0000http://vinegarhillcreative.com/blog/2011/7/27/my-hope-is-in-you-new-music-video-for-aaron-shust.html749590:8809968:12301436

The responses to the music video for Aaron Shust's latest hit single have ranged from simply stated "That's really good." to asking us for a tissue box. Now that it has premiered online we would love to know what you think of the new video?

We enjoyed working with so many talented people to make this happen. On behalf of myself and the entire Vinegar Hill team: phenomenal work every single one of you! We could not have done this without the hard work, the acting, the coffee & the vitamin water, and the gracious demeanors of so many cast & crew.

—Shepherd

We're just wrapping up post on a music video for Aaron Shust's new single "My Hope Is In You".  It's a great song and we hope the video does it justice!  Check out the write up on Today's Christian Music!

— David

We're almost to the finish line with our new short film THE COSMONAUT and we are pumped out of our minds about it. It's 90% complete. We've shot it. We are in the process of editing it. Now we just need to raise $1,500.00 to take the film to completion.

Once completed we will be sending the film to major film festivals including Sundance.

To get in on the fun visit our page on kickstarter.

Thanks for considering being a part of this!

David

[UPDATE 4/11/11]: We have reached our goal in less than 4 days! Thanks so much to everyone who contributed! There is still time left on the project to contribute if you like as every additional amount will go towards festival entries and promotion of the film once released. Thanks again, you guys rock!

We at Vinegar Hill have learned so much about creativity and innovation from our friends at Pixar.  This is a little article from FastCompany about Pixar's motto: go from suck to non-suck...and fast.  I hope you are as inspired by this read as I was.

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Pixar's Motto: Going From Suck to Nonsuck

BY FC EXPERT BLOGGER PETER SIMS Fri Mar 25, 2011

In a world that is obsessed with preventing errors and perfection, perhaps it's ironic that despite 11 straight blockbuster movies, Pixar cofounder and President Ed Catmull describes Pixar's creative process as "going from suck to nonsuck."

That's because Catmull and Pixar's directors think it's better to fix problems than to prevent errors. "My strategy has always been: be wrong as fast as we can," says Andrew Stanton, Director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, "Which basically means, we're gonna screw up, let's just admit that. Let's not be afraid of that." We can all work this way more often.

So, for instance, Pixar does not begin new movies with a script. Far from it. Film ideas begin on rough storyboards until they work through thousands of problems throughout the process in order to take films from suck to nonsuck.

People at Pixar describe storyboards as the "hand-drawn comic book version" of a movie, a blueprint for the characters and actions. Storyboards are three-by-eight inch sheets of white paper upon which Pixar's story artists sketch ideas. As Joe Ranft, who was one of Pixar's master storyboard artists described it, "Sometimes the first try works, while other times a dozen or more passes are required."

They must persist. Pixar used 27,565 storyboards on A Bug's Life, 43,536 for Finding Nemo, 69,562 for Ratatouille, and 98,173 for WALL-E.

This process of rigorous critique, and even major change, doesn't end once the initial script has been approved and the first version of the film has been created on what are called "reels." Reels contain the work-in-progress storyboards, combined with a voice track, that are shown internally before Pixar moves to the expensive digital animation phase.

"Every time we show a film for the first time, it sucks," Catmull will say. People then email their comments to the director to explain what they liked, what they didn't, and why, and substantial changes are made.

In fact, directors say that Pixar's films will suck virtually until the last stage of production--problems are constantly identified and fixed. Finding Nemo had a massive problem with a series of flashbacks that test audiences didn't get that had to be fixed, while Toy Story 2 had to be completely rewritten a year before it was released. (Pixar film release dates are set in stone, which serves as a constraint.)

What we see is not effortless genius. Through tireless iteration, toil, and (often) sleepless nights, the films start to come together.

Depending on the form it takes, perfectionism is not necessarily a block to creativity. Agrowing body of research in psychology has revealed that there are two forms of perfectionism: healthy or unhealthy. Characteristics of what psychologists view as healthy perfectionism include striving for excellence and holding others to similar standards, planning ahead, and strong organizational skills. Healthy perfectionism is internally driven in the sense that it's motivated by strong personal values. Conversely, unhealthy perfectionism is externally driven. External concerns show up over perceived parental pressures, needing approval, a tendency to ruminate over past performances, or an intense worry about making mistakes. Healthy perfectionists exhibit a low concern for these outside factors.

Pixar's culture is defined by a pursuit of excellence and quality. Being able to go from suck to nonsuck when developing a new film is a process of ongoing prototyping, a process that facilitates experimentation by the animators as it allows for a rigorous and continual scrutiny of the work in progress, enabling Pixar to practice healthy perfectionism.

The point of describing Pixar's creative process is not to say that we should all implement such a process on our own. It is not always possible to have people assemble regularly to offer feedback, for example. But finding ways to fail quickly, to invest less emotion and less time in any particular idea or prototype or piece of work, is a consistent feature of the work methods of successful creators. Despite the myths, it's hard work.

As Pixar's chief creative officer John Lasseter expresses his perfectionism, "We don't actually finish our films, we release them."

This is a great little article from FastCompany about solving impossible problems. A must read for all of our creative friends. Check it out here: HERE. Enjoy and let us know what you think!

David