At Long Last, "Johnny's Rocket" is Online!

I don't normally wait this long before posting short films to the web, but "Johnny's Rocket" took a long time to finish. Before you read on, you should see the short, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u21P40SGaFE

If I got a good laugh out of you, I've accomplished my goal!

Well, that's not entirely true. I set out to make "Johnny's Rocket" with more than one goal in mind. Sure, it was important to create some good entertainment, but there was an element of professional development in the decision to make the film. The kinds of movies I want to direct will likely involve all sorts of visual effects. I won't get to make those movies if I don't demonstrate that I can handle effects in my storytelling. So, I set out to make a short film to demonstrate that visual effects are a tool in my cinematic toolkit that I know how to use.

I learned a lot from the process, which was mostly a demystification of VFX for me. Stuff that I once found a little intimidating to tackle became almost second nature after the time I spent working on this film. I didn't create the effects, of course, but I spent a lot of time in post "massaging" them, tweaking them, making fine adjustments (mostly to color) to bring everything together just so. In a way, demonstrating my comfort-level with VFX made me more comfortable with them, so that I'm actually pretty eager to tackle some new VFX-heavy storytelling.

This career-focused directing strategy (where I choose or initiate projects to help bulk up my credentials in certain genres or styles, or with certain types of content) has led me to other interesting projects. Most recently, I directed an action short called "Man of Action!" (written by The Joe Kramer, produced by Joe Kramer and Karri Miles (who art-directed "Johnny's Rocket") and starring Matt Raimo). I got to direct that short after announcing at a networking event that I was looking for some action material to work on. It's in the last few days of post-production, and should start making the festival rounds shortly after that.

I should probably tackle some science-fiction next, since the last real sci-fi I directed was a short I made back in high school!  But even before that happens, I should probably add some "Man of Action" content to my demo reel.

-Arnon