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Jesse G. Barnes

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Everything posted by Jesse G. Barnes

  1. CyberpunkReview, One of the biggest and most popular cyberpunk review sites in the world just reviewed Thieves and gave it an 8 / 10, stating, "Thieves is set to garner even bigger accolades (like ours), and possibly become the next Blade Runner, or at least The Matrix." www.cyberpunkreview.com/movie/thieves/
  2. Thank you for the compliments. And that's exactly what I was going for -- it was certainly meant as an excerpt from a much bigger story. To be quite frank, I can't stand obvious philosophical and moral slants. I personally prefer ambiguity and nods in films. The films I enjoy most are ones that give me just enough information and no more so that I can put together the sum of the parts on my own. Perhaps this is the reason you didn't get much out of the dialogue? Thanks for watching, either way!
  3. Last night at the Mitten Movie Project, Thieves came away with 71% of the audience vote, that's 57 total votes. In second place was 7 votes. We won by a whole 50 votes! Needless to say, the rest of the night was filled with merry making and drunkenness. The full short is now available below (and on our Youtube channel) and I hope to encourage some discussion on the subtle objectivism found in the film.
  4. Eiuol, by now I think I've reiterated to you how busy of a guy I am a few times. Well, I finally read this and I like it, but I'd like to give you more thorough thoughts on it later. I'll come back to this shortly.
  5. Our accolades teaser entitled, "Parasite" is live! This is the first time the subtle nods to Objectivism are featured more prominently in a trailer for Thieves. I'm not sure what the forum rules are regarding cussing in embedded media, but I'm also not sure how to make this just a plain url instead of a video. Maybe a mod could do that if necessary? [media=] In other news, Thieves will be playing at the upcoming Reel Michigan Film Festival on June 23rd. This is NOT considered our premier, but it will be the first public display of Thieves before our premier on July 3rd at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan.
  6. Oh, nice. Thank you for listening =D I'm a very busy guy so I don't get to visit this forum as much as I'd like, but that particular track was written by me. My personal favorites of the score are Detained (pt 1 and 2) as well as Welcome Back. Our premier is almost just a month away! We can't wait to get this online afterward so EVERYONE can see it! Audio (all of it, both sound design and score) is an extremely important element in film to me, so I put a lot of extra care into making certain that what you hear is in strong harmony with the visuals. I'm certain you'll love seeing how Take the Key fits in.
  7. Very positive review/interview with me at Grizzly Bomb! I will begin work on our accolades trailer shortly to help promote our July 3rd premier.
  8. Thanks for checkin it out! Snow Crash I actually own, but have only read very little of it so far. I've been swamped with reading lately. I've been reading my little behind off and Snow Crash is around the corner. For right now, I would like to refrain, if I can, from uploading it elsewhere. I significantly darkened the background in hopes to sharpen the contrast between the text and the image behind it. I hope that will be good enough for you. If not, then I'll consider uploading a totally new backdrop.
  9. The abridged version of the original score for Thieves by Jeff Goergen and I is available now FREE TO STREAM on our Youtube channel. Check it out:
  10. After the completion of my short film, Thieves (thread here: http://forum.objectivismonline.com/index.php?showtopic=22826 ), I decided to finally make a site for my novel, Phantom City, a cyberpunk opera that takes place 80 years after the events in Thieves. Phantom City has been a long time passion project of mine years before I had any idea I would eventually be writing and directing a short film taking place in the same universe. Specifically, my blog site focuses on Phantom City, but it also acts as a resume of sorts, collecting all of my most proud work, including short stories, short films, game design, graphic design, music, essays, reviews etc. For this thread, however, I'd like to keep the topic focused on Phantom City. Here is part of the Plot Summary and an excerpt follows to whet your appetite... October 12, 2137- After the Ghost War had reduced the planet to ruin, civilization finds shelter in the massive ocean vessel of Phantom City. After several years of unstable revival, the assassination of a beloved political figure turns the government on its head and law enforcement into a ghost chase. A misfit group of smugglers inadvertently is reeled into the conspiracy when their biggest client accidentally chases a shady prospect into their mitts who might just be the elusive assassin. This excerpt is from the first page of the Prologue, Rook Takes Bishop... The silvery blue smoke climbs from the cauterized hole in his forehead as if his soul dances onward to the heavens. His eyes happily frozen in the reflection of the confetti drizzled air that celebrates his reelection that will now never happen. The sound of fans cheering seeps away as time pulls it into a weightless descent... The hand of his handsome blue-eyed competitor grasps his lifeless shoulder trying desperately to reverse the violent tragedy as Legion security droids surround them in the precise grace of their programming, sweeping the crowd with cold black battle rifles that blend into their own armored anatomy. Reelect Commander Barone! ...the holo-banner reads, projected proudly above the crowd that is ensnared in a near time locked state of shock and dismay. More than a mile away, perched upon an anonymous tower, the empty podium where the Commander stood only a moment prior, phases out in the visor of a sniper rifle. The scope clicks back and sinks into shoulder guard. The barrel twists and slides into the weapon. A broken ballet of clicks and clacks deconstructs the frame of the rifle, transforming it into a slim portable case as a pair of boots touchdown on the roof and begin their approach. A glove, coursing with radiant digital patterns matching the design of the case, retrieves the package and secures it to a utility sash. The figure dives off the tower's edge into the neon horizon. To read the rest of Part 1 and other works by me: http://jessegbarnes.blogspot.com/ I encourage you to read the "Plot Summary & FAQ" when you first visit the site to get an idea of what exactly Phantom City is, why I wrote it, and where my style came from. I welcome your thoughts and hope to hear from you soon!
  11. Been a long time. I've been severely busy with all sorts of life stuff happening everywhere. Well, I've sent Thieves out to a few festivals with more to come. Four of which so far are Michigan festivals: The Mitten Movie Project. The Reel Michigan Film Festival. The Jaxon Film Festival. The Thriller Chiller Film Festival. And one festival in Ontario, Canada: The Brantford Film Festival. Here are more reviews of Thieves. These two are incredibly positive: http://wescoastrevie...ew-thieves.html http://www.fanbolt.c...m_%27Thieves%27 And a very confusing, horribly written review. Seems like he was impressed by the technical aspects, but overall found the film hard to follow. I think that's what he's trying to say here: http://jadedviewer.b...ves-review.html The press screenings both went extremely well with a handful of highly positive reviews on their way from the journalists who attended. Can't wait for those to be published! Don't forget, Thieves is STILL open to review for writers who wish to review it for their website, blog, or magazine. Just let me know and I can get you the online screener!
  12. I was a guest writer on the movie review site of a founder who also shares my deep love for the bafflingly misunderstood Speed Racer (2008). In this essay, I do not rave about Ayn Rand or Objectivism, in fact the word and her name are never mentioned, however, I do touch on a very obvious Objectivist moral that is as clear as the sky is blue. While Objectivism, I believe, is not the focus of this film, I also do not necessarily believe the Wachowski's are Objectivists. Allow me to be very clear: this essay is not a critique on the Objectivist elements in Speed Racer, because I wrote this for a movie review site and wanted to respect and maintain the tone of their domain. I must warn you, there is some cussing and other offensive language, but I reassure you that much of my writing is meant not to be taken quite so seriously, but simultaneously stir up knee-jerk emotions because that's what gets hits and traffic. Sue me. I'm hoping this can inspire a fun conversation here and perhaps invite some people to rewatch and reassess their opinion of the film. So, here it is: http://www.spoilerfr...oure-whats.html
  13. I have been immensely busy with press screenings and promoting Thieves like it's my job. Thieves has been accepted into the Mitten Movie Project which is a very big deal for amateur film makers from my area as a very large number of films are regularly rejected. This is a particularly exciting festival to be accepted to because it happens once every month with a best film of the month awarded every show. At the end of the year a special festival showcasing each "best" film is held with a film of the year awarded at the close. So far, we've had very mixed reviews of Thieves (not exclusive to published reviews) but nothing that would be considered "bad" yet, thankfully. The worst we've heard is that it's "just ok." Here are the only two reviews that have rolled in so far... This reviewer had more strongly positive things to say, but also said that it "drags and drags" and "there's absolutely no suspense or tension." http://www.horrormoviediary.net/2012/02/thieves.html This reviewer, however, loved it, calling Thieves "thinking man's sci-fi" that "is a dense piece that may take a couple views": http://www.spoilerfreemoviesleuth.com/2012/02/short-film-thieves.html We will be having many more reviews releasing by the time April rolls around with many more festival announcements down the pipe. I've never sent out and answered more emails in such a short span in my life. Plus, we've just had a new casting call go out for our next short film which will be very far from cyberpunk. I have been drenched in digital communications and preparations for festivals. As for the public Youtube release, we're still not certain when the best time for that will be. We need to solidify some festival entries first. In the meantime, I am toying with some unique ways of releasing it. Remember, if you are a writer/blogger and want to review Thieves before it is released, please let me know and I can hook you up with a private screening and a press kit.
  14. Thieves will be available for press review in the next few days. However, we are looking into a special private screening FOR PRESS ONLY hopefully within a month. So, if you operate a regular blog, website, or do video reviews, write essays, or any other considered form of publication, you are welcome to see an early screening of Thieves FREE in exchange for your honest review! Please reply here as a comment or email us: [email protected] if you are interested! If you are not from the Detroit area/or can't make it to the private screening and still wish to review Thieves, we still encourage you to contact us. Accommodations will be made.
  15. Within two weeks at worst. However, it will not be widely available right away. It will first be released exclusively to press, bloggers, writers etc. I'll make a more concentrated effort soon to get into contact with those who are interested in reviewing it. Btw, Eiuol, I haven't forgotten about your story. I left off about halfway through it, but to make a long story short, I'm swamped with constant obstacles lately of every sort. Thanks for checking in.
  16. It's been quiet for a while, so I decided to throw this together to show you that I'm not dead and Thieves is still very much on track for completion very soon! Our new
  17. Thieves Featurette on Most People Are DJs! This one has my face and mouth talking about it. Cool.
  18. Thank you very much for your insight, Mudo! Patrick is far more flawed than that I can tell you. The idea itself I think is strong, but I wasn't deeply personally invested in the story. It was literally just an experiment. So, the writing is uninspired. I never directed anything very serious prior to Patrick and it shows. I wasn't demanding enough on the actors and not only that, since I was never confident in the writing, I was never confident in my direction. The equipment we had were a few extension cords and two painter's lights, two very small (and very consumer grade) HD cameras and a tripod. I think the shots are decently composed, considering the clutter, and I'm still impressed with our extended tracking shot for the skirmish near the end. For having next to nothing to steady our cameras except a tripod and our hands, I think we did pretty well. With all that said, as deeply flawed as Patrick clearly is -- believe me, I'm the first person to admit this when I turn people on to it -- I'm extremely proud of what we pulled off considering our limited resources and experience. I have no formal training whatsoever. I've never taken a single class on writing or film. I've learned everything I know -- and still do -- just from watching films I love. Thieves is very flawed as well. While I've grown as a director and writer quite exponentially since Patrick, amateur film making, I'm finding, is far more difficult than I ever guessed. We had to cram a three day script into two days for Thieves. We were rushed and we dropped the ball a couple times. You'll most likely catch these errors when you see it for the first time. Regardless, Patrick rewarded us with some attention by some of the strongest and most talented local artists in the Detroit film community and I got several professionals who were willing to work for free just to be part of something we all feel is so special. We had a MUCH nicer camera with some pretty rad gear I've never seen before and several lenses and a very experienced camera operator to go with it. We had a REAL lighting guy. A professionally trained hair and make-up artist. I even had a script supervisor! Who would have thought how important a script supervisor is?! Sheldon Simmons, who plays Jason Arthur, never acted a day in his life prior to auditioning for the role. Since the project is so very personal to me, I was going to play the lead, supported by the encouragement of my assistant director. As I was developing the character more, I realized I needed some qualities out of him that I just don't have. Sheldon worked next door to where I do and he was a regular. Something about him struck me as having a hidden talent. He was the only guy I auditioned. He got the part immediately. I strongly appreciate your honest insight and your kind words. These are the kinds of comments I like getting: ones filled with genuine critique and honest praise where it's deserved. I'm thrilled you've noticed some of the special care that went into especially the set design (which we built almost entirely ourselves). Lighting was very important to me this time around to get that futuristic almost comic book-ish vibe and I think we did a pretty good job with that. Thieves is still a couple of months away yet as this is certainly the most demanding film I've done to date filled with technical hurdles which I had no idea how to surpass before I started it. It's gonna be a while and I hope I can count on you to hang on because I can promise you it will be worth it. Thank you dearly.
  19. I just realized one of the links in the OP is wrong and it won't let me edit it? The link that says "First Official Teaser Trailer" links only to our Facebook page and DOES NOT take you directly to
  20. Thank you, Mudo! We still have one or two more posters down the pipe. I'm glad the ones I have currently have piqued your interest as that's the intention: to give our potential audience a reason to want to dig deeper. Lighting was a very important element to me to get just right for Thieves. I faltered a couple of times as we had to condense what was a three day script into two nights, but for the most part I'm happy with how the lighting turned out. Thank you for noticing this so quickly. There are some rather subversive and esoteric color symbols, but that's a more personal tool to nail down tone. That is the correct link for Patrick, yes, although that's one of the least personal projects I've ever made. The DP for Thieves co-wrote and directed Patrick with me. We strictly had experience with comedic sketches prior to Patrick and we really wanted to force ourselves to step out of our comfort zone and shoot a very serious dramatic psychological thriller on a shoestring. Our crew and our budget was teeny tiny and our gear was much cheaper than what we had for Thieves. While I do feel Patrick couldn't have turned out a whole lot better, considering our incredibly limited resources and experience, I'm still very proud of it despite it's "student film" vibe. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for your kind words and time.
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