Updated Concept Art Gallery

I finally got the concept art gallery up and running again. I'll soon be adding more images to it, including Archangel Alpha Conceptual Art and Two Sides of the Moon.

http://www.lostskies.com/backlot/jmaestas-gallery.html

Lost Skies Facelift

Lostskies.com had a major facelift a month ago, but I had conceptualized this logo and had been working on refining the look for a while. I'm planning on animating it for the opening slate on all future productions. Let me know what you think!

I've also finished my second feature-length screenplay and have registered it with the Writer's Guild of America. I'll be announcing more on this in weeks to come!

A3 Concept Art and Future Plans

Here is some early concept art for Archangel Alpha.  These were used in early funding pitches.

Alphas Attack


Old Friends Contemplate the War


Elena and the Sea of Glass


Alex's Apartment in Old Rodinia

Aaron has been busy working on his spec trailer, you can read all about his adventures here:

http://chancestudios.com/thechanceeffect/index.php/archangel-alpha-moves-into-production-sort-of/

As for Corner of the Mind's Eye... I've been giving this quite a bit of thought.  COTME is essentially a road movie.  Most of the action takes place in the desert, in small towns, a roadside diner, a hospital, a gas station... quite a bit of locations that require quite a bit of money to produce.  That said, I am working on a script revision to help with a weak b-plot and I'd like to shoot a spec trailer to approach others for production funding.  The necessary evil of it... but it's good- people will get paid, the sets will be insured (as they always should be) but the biggest thing is to pay the people at least a percentage and the rest is on deferment.  

With that, I've been working on a brand new project that will not be hard to produce on a literal shoe-string budget.  The cool thing is that I'm still working within the sci-fi genre.  I'll talk more about that as the now 106 page script gets polished and I get the crew I've been talking to into place.  I will mention that I've been collecting spaghetti jars for the past month for a very eerie and wild scene.  Fun fun fun.  I love this stuff!!  Armed with my Canon HV-20, which takes AMAZING low light shots, I'm ready.  I just gotta polish that script.

Well, that's it for now!  More to come soon!!!

More Archangel Alpha Goodness

I love Vimeo!


Archangel Alpha - Fillmore Intro from Juan Maestas on Vimeo.


Archangel Alpha - Fashionably Conscious from Juan Maestas on Vimeo.

Archangel Alpha - Bev's Ascent

Our Fillmore, Utah location scouting trip last fall.


Archangel Alpha - Bev's Ascent from Juan Maestas on Vimeo.

Lostskies Website Update

Lostskies.com has been re-designed! A couple of little bugs to iron out, but the new look is up. I've also signed up for a new Vimeo Account... I tested it with this clip that I animated a year ago.


Are you ready for Car Time? from Juan Maestas on Vimeo.

Storms in the Lost Skies

Things have been quite turbulant lately- in a good way. I've managed to pick up quite a bit of subcontracted freelance doing corporate videos and storyboards. Can't say who or what... but it's been very hectic.

Here's a little visual treat as I was messing around with After Effects a month ago, trying to place matte paintings into existing footage. I used an old Public Domain movie... see if you can guess what movie it is:

Slamdance Screenplay Competition Results

"Corner of the Mind's Eye" has a lot of company in that 2000 screenplays did not make it into the quarter finals.

Slamdance Screenplay Competition Results

It's a bit of a let down, but it really does rely on the fact that the reader's taste fits the screenplay they are screening... or something less subjective like formatting and grammar. I didn't pay extra for coverage when I submitted it, so I guess I'll never know the reason why it didn't make the quarter finals unless I submit it again next year. However, there's plenty of other competitions and it has been a fantastic learning experience for me.

I want to thank all of you who wrote back and wished me luck and words of encouragement... it's always appreciated. I'm not giving up by a long shot, it's just given me more resolve to "get better" at what I need to do!

I came across this quote yesterday, and felt it to be very appropriate to my feelings:

"Not talent, not even education, nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and hard work make the difference." -Calvin Coolidge

I have a teleplay submitted in Slamdance's Teleplay Competition, and Slamdance has just opened up a horror screenplay competition... so it's not the end.

Juan

--
J.MaestasWriter/Director
"Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions
http://www.lostskies.com/

Reel it in!

Howdy! Long time no post.

Todd McGowan and I have began working together to produce short :30 spots in High Definition to showcase our abilities. To accomplish this, we've created an advertising campaign from scratch for a beer that we've decided to call Finnigan's Irish Stout. The mock-commercial would target males 21-45 who watch popular culture channels like MTV, VH1, Spike TV or sports programming... much like most beer commercials do.

Pre-production included the design of a beer label (which I did), and it's placement on a couple of empty beer bottles. Easy and fun enough!

I've enlisted many of my longtime friends: Robby Messer, Jaymi & Jessie Hampton, Mark Throckmorton. Todd and his wife Allison McGowan, and my wife Charlotte Maestas have been pulling our resources to gather props, equipment and locations to make this possible. Hopefully we can get a few more team members help with the production of our second shoot.

Our first shoot was earlier today, which was an apartment scene where our would-be beer drinking bachelors are watching poker on tv. We also shot the end of the spot where Robby answers the door to find the girl, or rather girls of his dreams delivering pizza. Here are some frame grabs from the apartment scene shoot:

The next shoot will take place in the next few weeks- I'm currently looking for a sound stage that can handle 13 actors and a small crew... it should be fun!

Although this is a reel-building exercise, I'm fully planning on using this for any background television filler for my feature length production "Corner of the Mind's Eye" (which I've entered into the Slamdance Screenwriter's Competition).

Happy Holidays!

Working it out

Howdy Y’all!

My most sincere apologies for the lack of updates. I have good reason- it has been incredibly busy for both Tracy and me.

Tracy and I are to meet tomorrow to go over the new schedule. My hopes are to at least have one outdoor scene shot by the end of October, and many of the indoor scenes shot during the winter months. Any scene with major fight choreography will most likely be shot in Spring (the diner and the hotel). That’s the strategy, and the meeting will determine solid dates.

Thank you all for hanging in there. It will be worth it. I have mentioned before, I have seen the footage from the previous shoots and the photographic quality is staggering. I will try to get a sample to post so you can compare the difference.

In the meantime, the wonderful Darcy Matthews has been working on beadwork for Crowfoot’s costume (above left). She should have it finished up soon. Laron and Katherine have been rehearsing one of their scenes together, and we've been looking for a cool early '70's red restored muscle car and planning on how to shoot a driving car interior scene.

In anycase, thank you for hanging in there. I really appreciate your patience- it will be earned, I promise!!!

J.Maestas
Writer/Director "Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions/Black Hawk Entertainment, Inc.
www.lostskies.com

Working Towards Perfection

Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals.

Laron and Katherine had met to rehearse a very pivotal scene - the introduction of Chloe - on their own at a park during the middle of the week, and then I met with them again at Black Hawk Studios on Saturday Morning to rehearse some more! We worked out timing, and our Executive Producer, Tracy Smith was on hand and helped finesse attitude of the characters much to my appreciation.

A new production schedule should be out this week.

Gearing Up for High Gear in High Country

Today at Black Hawk Entertainment, Inc. Studios was the first time that Corner of the Mind’s Eye lead actors Laron Wilson who plays Joseph Crowfoot, and Katherine Joan Taylor who plays Chloe Saddler, actually got to work together. The scenes sizzled.

We started today's rehearsal at 8:00am with supporting actor Chris Harvey in the Diner hold up scene… Chris was convincing as a startled thug holding a screaming Chloe and dealing with the heroic Crowfoot. We worked on the dramatic tension and Crowfoot’s demeanor. We did not pull any stunts, though, without our stunt coordinator there… but it was all the stuff in between. I was running late this morning and forgot the props, but we substituted with remotes and phones, as you can see Chris menacingly threatening to turn Laron off permanently.

After that, we went out to the studio’s backlot. Chris helped with lines as I ran the Canon XL-1 to capture their performance of the scene that immediately follows the diner hold up. Chloe tries to convince Crowfoot to let her tag along.

Although I’ve been told that script directing (meaning writing in notes of how the characters should act at a certain point in a scene) is frowned upon by many “professionals” … I have found that it really helps staging a scene and reminding me of the tempo and heat of the scene. It was great fun and Chris came up with some fantastic suggestions that helped augment the relative fun and quirkiness of the scene.

What fantastic chemistry Laron and Katherine have. I can’t wait to see this scene come together when we head out to the Diner location in the beautiful Uinta Mountains on the Utah-Wyoming border in a few weeks. If we hit it right, we might just get some outragious fall colors.

We will have more rehearsals in the coming weeks to keep the juices flowing. We’re doing good.


J.Maestas
Writer/Director “Corner of the Mind’s Eye”
Lost Skies Productions/Black Hawk Entertainment, Inc.
www.lostskies.com

Downshifting to Second

Someone once told me that I use a lot of car-analogies. I find that they help explain abstracts to a confusing idea- like taking that slow turn so you don't spin out of control. I slipped that one in on purpose.

In anycase, the production goes on. This weekend, originally scheduled for a night shoot on a motel parking lot, is being used for some rehearsal time with our two leads, Laron and Katherine and a supporting actor, Chris Harvey. There are a few dramatic elements that I wanted to address in two totally different situations, plus it will be fun working with the actors to flesh out their characters. I'm excited, and I'm sure they are too.

An old friend of mine (who is a graphic design professor at a local college) asked if it would be okay for his students to design a poster/dvd/logo for our movie. He told me I didn't need to use any of it if I didn't want, but I said "Hey, you never know what some of these students can do!" I am covered on the graphic design end (being a professional and all), I'm not stingy- if somebody comes up with something that will knock my socks off, I'll probably use it. It's always great for a beginner's portfolio anyway. He had referred our fantastic Jennie Finlayson... so I always trust Josh.

Well, lots of work ahead. More as it comes in!

J.Maestas
Writer/Director "Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions/Black Hawk Entertainment, Inc.
www.lostskies.com

Production Update for 6-24-06

Three of our major scenes locations have been confirmed, a fourth location (for the largest scene) is in negotiations. A Production Schedule has been hammered out and will be distributed by email to cast and crew within a week.

Make-up tests and costume fittings are in the works for the lead characters.

Final Call-Backs for "Crowfoot" being planned. Details forthcoming.

And again, more more more production design!