francis stokes dot com

Crickets

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:51:00 +0000

Our new project, a submission to the YouTube Project:Direct Contest 2009. Enjoy!

"The Culture War"

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:31:00 +0000

My latest video, a political satire echoing a famous documentarian's work...

ERF - Episode 2

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:23:00 +0000

ERF - Episode 1

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:23:00 +0000

"ERF" - New Web Series Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:03:00 +0000

First Kiss

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 17:21:00 +0000

New project - sorry about the long delay, was off on my honeymoon. Anyway, this is a short we did in Port Glasgow, Scotland, about an adolescent girl struggling with the sudden changes she's going through...

Full Feature Film 'Harold Buttleman, Daredevil Stuntman'

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 06:45:00 +0000

Hey guys - thanks to a really amazing sponsor, now you can support my projects and help me make back the budget for my feature film. Just go to www.spout.com/francisstokes and sign up - it's a free website about movies, and they'll give me a $1 for everyone who joins.

Also, if you're interested in DVDs of 'Harold Buttleman', you can buy them here.

Meanwhile, here is the full feature film. Thanks for watching!

'Harold Buttleman, Daredevil Stuntman' Clip #3

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:00:00 +0000

'Harold Buttleman, Daredevil Stuntman' Clip #2

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:36:00 +0000

'God, Inc' Sold To Sci-Fi Channel

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:02:00 +0000

'Harold Buttleman, Daredevil Stuntman' - Clip #1

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 03:58:00 +0000

Video Update #2

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:02:00 +0000

Making YouTube Videos Look Less Completely Crappy, Part Deux

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:47:00 +0000

So, I actually put a lot more work into the final result you see below, and I figured I’d post the other tips I learned for you videographers out there. After a day of trial-and-error with the uploading tips from YouTube, I still had unsatisfactory results. When you’re dealing with comedy, facial expressions are very important – and my cast looked like their faces were made of Lego’s. But the only real way to guarantee highest quality images is by filming your actors in black and white against a white background, and advising them not to move. (Seriously, this is why Apple films their commercials against a white background.)

So I called a highly knowledgeable friend of mine, Damien (creator of Zaproot and editor of the Ask A Ninja videos) and he gave me a few key pointers. First of all, I started by following the tutorial video from YouTube – like I said, you can do all of this stuff in Final Cut Pro by selecting “Export” to “Quick Time Movie.”

These are the modifications that Damien added:

1. Don’t do the “faster encode – single pass” option. The tutorial is just recommending this because it will take a long time to output your video otherwise. As Damien put it, “he’s saying that for the proletariat.” But doing the double pass will add extra details where there’s a high concentration of information, like someone’s face. You are not proletariat. You are aristocracy.

2. For screen size, select the “Custom” option and type in 480 x 360. This is the exact size of the YouTube player.

3. Damien’s magic formula: 20 megs/min at 2500 kilobits per second. The more kbs/sec you use, the better quality. Since my video is only a little over a minute, when I followed the tutorial and outputted at 2000 kbs/sec I got a 20 meg file. So I did several more outputs, gradually increasing the number – I did 8000 kbs/sec and still wasn’t satisfied with the look, even though the video was now 75 megs. In the end I outputted it at 11,000 kbs/sec.

4. Change 'stereo' to 'mono' – I heard YouTube’s sound comes out mono, and it will make the video load faster.

And the final result was… OKAY. Definitely improved, though still not ideal in my book, and still not as good as some videos I’ve seen on YouTube – I don’t know if there’s a luck factor or if the computer you’re using matters, but this is all the knowledge I have on the subject. If anyone knows any other tips I’d love to hear them.

"Off The Deep End"

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:46:00 +0000

This is the end result of a few hours of brainstorming with a faulty submersible pump hose: basically, the credits for a fake 80's sitcom. Enjoy.

Pixels The Size Of Rice Krispies

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:42:00 +0000

I’m working on a new video short, just a one-off thing I did a few weeks ago after some misadventures trying to clean my backyard pool, which I should be uploading some time this afternoon or tomorrow. Even though it's just a short comic thing, I'm a bit nervous - it's the first non-"God, Inc" video that I'll be posting on my YouTube page. However, it's certainly not the last - on the horizon are an old video I did with Stephen Falk called "looking for mr. miyagi", more of my feature film Harold Buttleman, Daredevil Stuntman, and the new web series, "ERF!" (not "Earth", as many have - understandably - assumed...). I've already shot a trailer for "ERF!" but I'm waiting to upload it until I'm closer to posting Episode 1...

On a (possibly boring) technical note, recently it’s seemed like each new video I upload to YouTube has looked slightly worse than the last. I’m shooting on a Canon XL2, and on YouTube my final product looks like it was shot with one of those Fisher Price pixelvision cameras. I was disappointed in how the last two episodes of “God, Inc” looked, but I figured it was because they were on the longish side. Then my 2-minute “update” video looked like crap. So I emailed YouTube for advice, and they turned me on to this link. This guy (whose voice sounds kind of like Ira Glass) has put a lot of work into figuring out how to optimize YouTube image quality, and he even has a tutorial video. In my case, I’m working with Final Cut Pro 3 instead of iMovie, but I found most of the same windows in the export box and was able to duplicate his settings (the only difference was that I couldn’t find AAC audio, so I used M-Peg audio instead). Anyway, for those of you who have been having the same kind of problems, check it out. Also, Nalts of the “Will Video For Food” blog posts some general remarks on compressing videos for YouTube here.

And did all these tips work for me? Don’t know yet. Waiting for my test video to finish uploading…

YouTube Video Update

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:49:00 +0000

Hey guys - so the YouTube technical difficulties have finally been cleared. Here's the video update I've been waiting to post:

The One Where Frank Gives An Update On Pitching

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Fri, 25 May 2007 18:39:00 +0000

Almost done pitching to TV networks. It's basically me, Stee Falk, who plays Austin, and Tim Gibbons, an executive producer from "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Every network has a waiting area with big wall-sized posters of their shows staring down at you. Stee suggested we pitch Fox a half-hour show called "12" ("It all takes place over one half of a day...") I suggested we pitch BBC a British version of the American version of the British version of "The Office."

I filmed my first "vlog" for YouTube, talking about what's happening with "God, Inc". I haven't posted anything on YT since the last episode months ago, and I'm hoping I haven't completely lost all my audience. But I've been waiting to post it because recently YouTube introduced their revenue share program, and things seem to be slow in getting set up. As soon as my account is working properly, I'll post the update. And there are several more videos on the horizon - good stuff. Stay tuned...

KV, Grindhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 20:08:00 +0000

Sad about Vonnegut. His books were a huge influence on me, and I liked having this ornery old codger around saying provocatively dour things about our government and society. It’s what I imagine it would have been like in the turn of the century with Mark Twain criticizing America’s occupation of the Philippines. However, I do hope K.V. wasn’t as depressed as he claimed to be.

Saw Grindhouse last night. Commercially speaking, Grindhouse is considered a flop, which means there’s been a constant stream of Hollywood navel gazing and backlash and 20/20 hindsight. Harvey Weinstein called it a “blow” to his perceived savvy. It’s an irritating fact of life that this industry still isn’t willing to admit they simply can’t predict this stuff, so we get inundated with this chatter. The business is a gamble. There was every reason to believe Grindhouse would be successful – both directors have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to their studios over the years. The Hollywood Reporter review predicted “box office gold” (no, seriously – that’s a quote. Kind of makes you picture a guy in Armani shades and a silk robe sitting by a pool.) In my opinion, the most savvy thing about Harvey Weinstein has been his willingness to take risks on projects like this in the past (even if this risk involved two incredibly profitable directors.)

That said, they made one colossal error worth noting: a grindhouse double feature should never have cost over $50 million dollars. I bet if you put all the 70’s exploitation flick budgets together, they wouldn’t be that high. If it was appropriately budgeted, its $11 million opening weekend would have made it far and away the most successful grindhouse film ever.

I enjoyed the movies a lot. With a smattering of fake trailers in between, it’s certainly a full evening for $10, and Edgar Shaun Of The Dead Wright’s haunted house spot made me laugh louder than I have at the movies in a while. But I’m not sure the directors achieved the aesthetic completely either – the most authentic moment was probably Eli Roth’s trailer for the holiday-themed slasher Thanksgiving. I say that because it made me feel like most 70’s exploitation movies do – amused and entertained but also a little depressed. The grainy, nearly-documentary footage, cardboard non-actors and glacial pacing made them – let’s face it – pretty dreary. Most of them have only a few brief moments of thrill with sixty or seventy minutes of padding, and in that respect, Quentin’s film had a pretty accurate structure.

In terms of high camp, there wasn’t much difference between Planet Terror and, say, the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead. I thought it was great, even though it felt very Hollywood A-movie to me (how much CGI money was spent rendering the pleasantly bipedal Rose McGowan peg-legged?) Death Proof, with all its yammering about 70’s low budget car chase flicks like Vanishing Point, felt very much like a Quentin Tarantino film, circa 2007.

Personally, I’ve been drifting away from the Tarantino boat ever since Jackie Brown. Quentin is revered for his dialogue, but I think great dialogue comes (mostly) from being specific to the character, where his characters all speak in one voice, like a long running monologue. Not only is he unwilling to trim dialogue, he won’t even let it overlap, so everyone kind of talks like they’re underwater. I liked the odd simplicity of Death Proof, and Kurt Russell’s performance, but I feel like in recent years Q.T. has completely abandoned any notion of good character. Maybe all the Variety box office blathering will lead Quentin to challenge himself a little more next time out. When the Coens were faced with their first high profile “failure,” The Hudsucker Proxy, they came back with the best film of the 90’s: Fargo.

Nice Chi-Town Article

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 02:51:00 +0000

I was interviewed by Cathleen Falsani, who writes a column in the Religion section of the Chicago Sun Times, and the article is in today's paper. So for all you old friends and former classmates and sworn enemies and ex-girlfriends and people who sat next to me in homeroom and people who still drink at the Emerald Isle every weekend, here's your chance to find out that I'm still alive. Of course, if you read this blog, I guess you're probably aware of that. It's strange how this press coverage has felt different to me because it's the home town paper. The paper of Roger Ebert. I asked Cathleen how he's doing and she said that he's "fighting like a champ" from what she hears.

Also, we started pitching to networks this week. My friend Dom had this advice for pitching:

1. In our Showtime pitch, whenever we say the word "Showtime," accompany it with jazz hands.

2. When I say my own name, do stabbing motion at the ground and rub my hands together like I'm "stoking a fire."

3. If we're on a leather couch, announce how relaxed I feel and then urinate in my pants.

I'll let you know if Dom's advice helps.

Revisiting An Altman Classic

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:23:00 +0000

In light of Robert Altman’s passing a couple months ago, I was recently thinking about the Altman flick I’ve seen most, by twenty or thirty times: Popeye. It’s not exactly as renowned as other Altman classics like Nashville or M*A*S*H, or even, say, O.C. And Stiggs, but it was a pivotal part of my childhood.

I was obsessed with Popeye as a kid. I don’t think I ate more spinach, but I did wear a sailor’s hat and chew on a pipe and talk unintelligibly and draw an anchor on my arm with a ballpoint pen. When the movie came out in 1980, I was eight years old, and at the peak of my sailor man fandom.

There’s something naggingly unsatisfying about seeing a live action film attempt the visceral abandon of animation, kind of like watching a puppet show of Titanic, or having an afternoon of cartoons interrupted by that show where the guy did line drawings and told stories. At its worst, like with Jim Carrey mugging under pounds of makeup as the Grinch, it’s deeply and soulfully lame.

But Robin Williams, though saddled with weird fake forearms that looked like he had a strange disease, was spot on. He’s still the only person in Hollywood I can picture in the role (although I’d enjoy seeing Matt Damon take a crack at it.) Also, to the best of my recollection, for better or worse, Popeye launched a genre. It was the first time I remember seeing cartoon gags rendered in live action form, like when Bluto’s outfit turns completely yellow to reflect his emotion on encountering Popeye post-spinach-ingestion. In the 90’s, when Hollywood became convinced that movies are no good without source material – that no movie was as good as Something: The Movie – there was a woeful parade of live action cartoons trotted out: Josie And The Pussycats, The Flintstones, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Cat In The Hat, Inspector Gadget, etc. None of them compare – partly because they’re unwatchable, and partly because Popeye was pretty decent.

I have no idea how it holds up today – I’m still seeing it through my eight-year-old eyes – but if your biggest career failure is a movie that launched a genre, and thirty years later is still the best example of that genre, then it definitely says something about your directing skill. Personally, I’d rather rewatch Popeye than Gosford Park any day.

Nerdvana

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:08:00 +0000

My web radio debut on "Nerdvana" was a lot of fun - you can listen to it here. I also had an interview in an article in the Hartford Courant, so I've got a lot of visitors from Connecticut today. Welcome! You can view the whole "God, Inc" series by clicking the icon to the right. Your right. That way. The direction I'm pointing.

I'm working on my new web series, which is still in the development stage, but I did let the title slip on "Nerdvana" last week - it's called "ERF!" Meanwhile, "God, Inc" will continue in the future, either with new webisodes or, hopefully, as a TV series.

In my spare time, I'm fighting several unwanted house guests who took up residence in my garage slash carport (basically a carport with a door.) A possum, and some other form of rodent, left numerous signs of their presence, in particular a huge pile of feces and the remains of oranges from our tree. When I told my fiancé, who has mild OCD tendancies, that we had a nest of possum poo and orange rinds in the garage, she just sort of snapped and started laughing uncontrollably.

CORRECTION: A possum is not a rodent. It is a marsupial. I can't believe you guys didn't catch that. The possum had to log on to my wifi and comment himself. He was very offended. Which made me happy.

I’m Prepared For Glory!

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:01:00 +0000

Saw 300 yesterday. If you’ve ever seen that TV ad for the Marines where the guy is fighting that big CGI monster with a flaming sword, it’s basically like the feature length version of that ad. It’s all about the glory of being a soldier, and of dying a soldier.

Before I saw 300, my opinion of growing tensions with Iran was that it’s a cause for concern; that our military is being stretched thin and it’s a delicate situation that calls for diplomacy. But now I want enlist to be on the front line, to fight them with a sword and shield wearing nothing but a Speedo. That’s because, even though the movie takes place a long time ago, back when wives said “Come back with your shield, or on it,” to their husbands, and rhinos and elephants were apparently ten times their current size, the film is actually a subtle allegory to our current situation. The Americans are represented in the story by the Spartans, a tough-as-nails, balls-out people fighting for freedom from tyranny. Meanwhile, the Iranians are “Persians.” But the parallels are clear if you look hard. It’s a simple David and Goliath story: the small colony of Spartans against a world superpower going around invading other countries, led by a leader who believes he has divine powers. (Now I forget who the Americans are. Oh, yeah, the Spartans.)

300 does well to dispense with the character development and story arcs that bog down other wartime flicks, like Rambo: First Blood Part II. The king has a Scottish accent, because that’s the best kind of accent to have when you walk back and forth shouting at the front line of an army in a Hollywood movie. By the way, when the king shouts “Prepare for glory!” in the movie, he’s actually referring to the Spartan belief that the only true, great way to die is during battle. It’s a good thing he puts it that way, because “Prepare To Die In Battle!” wouldn’t be a very good tagline for a movie.

Web Radio Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:11:00 +0000

I'm going to be doing a live interview this afternoon, on a web radio show for the geek crowd. It's called "Nerdvana." One of the hosts is Ryan McDonald, who plays the I.T. Guy in Episode 4. I'll be sure to ask him why there's no cartridge in his Gameboy.

It's my first live interview, and I'm a little nervous. Ryan suggested that I could log on while doing the interview and read the comments that are being posted on the forum. I think that would make my head explode. But if you want to check it out, the show is today at 4 PM, and I think the interview will be archived as well.

two bunnies, chapter two

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 03:33:00 +0000

"God, Inc" Merchandise

noreply@blogger.com (Francis) — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:19:00 +0000

The shirts and assorted household objects that proudly display your allegience to the ineffectual bureaucratic institution in the sky have been selling well - we even sold one Miracles Department thong!

I still haven't received any of the merchandise myself, so if you bought any of our stuff, please email me and let me know what you think. Especially if you had a problem with a particular product - I only know how it looks on the website, and I can't afford to order every item in the store. Also let me know if there's something you wish we offered, but aren't. Anyway, I hope you're all very happy with the merchandise - they seem to be quality products.