Moggey Blog

new photography blog

2010-09-02T22:25:00.008+12:00

A few days ago i put online a new little photo blog as an outlet for some of my photography work. Not much on there at the time of writing, but its new, and i will add more as time goes on, so i hope you come back and check from time to time!, Mayyybe even subscribe to the rss feed?.

http://photo.moggey.co.nz

Roller Derby vid on the tube of you

2010-07-27T17:54:00.001+12:00

Here's a link to a promo video made by Rachel Laurenson for the Richter City Roller Derby 2010 season.
We went last year and i helped her shoot some of the footage for the clip, it was a lot of fun! Definitely recommended.

If you are a Facebook user, you can also check out the events Facebook page for more info.

It Returned to the Abyss

2010-05-01T20:06:00.011+12:00

Robyn Slade and AT48 from It Returned to the Abyss.

Hi Readers,

I have uploaded a new version of It Returned to the Abyss, to replace the old one we put up on Google Video 4 years ago. Thanks to advances in high definition video for the internet, we can show you a version that looks a little nicer :-)

We made this movie from concept to completion in a weekend, as part of the 48hr furious filmmaking competition in 2006.

If this movie is a little slow to buffer and play on your computer you can watch a smaller, faster version on Exposure Room, here >>

Details:

Year: 2006
Duration: Approx 7.5 Minutes
Genre/Style: Romance/Science fiction

Behind the scenes - 48hrs 2010, Team PuppyGuts

2010-04-25T18:32:00.008+12:00

Hey guys,

So just as i type we are about to head off to check out the 48hrs heat that will be including this years short film from team Puppyguts, which i spent some time with during their shoot last weekend.

As with the shooting of short films for 48hrs every year, it was a lot of fun, extreme lol's abound. Here are some pictures from the shoot, more can be found on facebook here also.

Ok thats it for now, gotta get going to the screening!

UPDATE: Thought i should post a Youtube of the actual finished film too. Well done fellas!

Old School Attack!: Violent Man.

2010-04-15T23:57:00.004+12:00

Hey guys,

It's been a while so i thought i'd do another Old School Attack post.

A few months ago i finally made use of a dvd recorder that i had for a while and used it to digitally record a bunch of old movies and things we made on videotape back in the day. When people still used things like analogue video camcorders, VCR's and things like that.

This totally awesome movie, Violent Man, was one of those things.

Basically i guess you could call it an Art film, created in a very bare bones, abstract, theatrical, satirical and self-mocking style. If there is any ideas or themes underlying the piece, it would be the nature of conflict* i suppose. Ridiculousness, pettiness, ignorance, and reality distortion to name a few. Ultimately though, it was a bit of fun to make and we were very impromptu with it - totally made it up as we went along, and it shows!

Also, i do recall us watching a lot of violent action films at that time featuring such fine action stars as Dolph Lundgren, Van Damme & Steven Seagal, so i think we were a little influenced by the story lines of a few of those films!

Shot on a Video 8 Camcorder and edited on a Panasonic "Postbox" Non-Linear editing system. Some of it was edited in-camera too!

If this movie is a little slow to buffer and play on your computer you can watch a smaller, faster version on ExposureRoom, here.

Details:

Year: 1998
Duration: Approx 12 Minutes
Genre/Style: Experimental/Improv.

Be sure to check out some of the awesome music featured in this video:

Greatest Hits (Amazon Exclusive Version)

Mezzanine

* referring to "conflict" as the needless variety that damages relationships, not the conflict that serves to hold the universe in balance.

Finishing Beanz: diary 09

2010-03-24T11:48:00.003+13:00

Hey readers,

Its been a bit of a while so i thought i should write a bit of an update. Life's been a bit crazy over the last month or so, mostly due to things like work, moving house and worst of all being sick. But thankfully I'm feeling better now, but I'm sure that's the worst i have been sick in about 12 years from what i can remember. ugh.

We have been able to get a few things done on the film between the last post and now. Back in diary 08 we talked about the up-conversion of all the raw footage as well as adding in missing sound to the edit, this has all been completed. On top of that, we have tweaked a few sections in the edit also. All we need to do now before we can get people to look at it is to clean up some of the temp sound/levels mix in the final scene, sc25. So we are pretty close there.

So that's it for the moment. Reality has a funny way of getting in the way of projects such as this. So we hope to get back into getting some more Beanz stuff done once we have dealt to the real world! :)

Hope to post something again soon.

Moving the blog

2010-03-09T23:45:00.000+13:00

Hey guys,

Since we started doing this blog diary in 2004, we were using the method of "ftp" to publish posts. Now as of May, Google are no longer supporting people publishing blog posts using this method.

So now we have been moving the blog to a new server, which should allow for faster publishing/updating as well as other goodies. While we are in this transition there will probably be the odd glitch or error while we iron out all the issues, so we apologize for that.

Will also have some new diary entries soon!

Finishing Beanz: diary 08

2009-12-23T02:13:00.007+13:00

Rowan shoots a bit of footage to digital-8 tape on his single CCD Sony Handycam circa 2001. About 40% of Beanz was shot on this camera.

Hey guys,

Well its another Christmas. We have finished up with work for the year which gives us a bit of time to get down and get some stuff done on the film.

In the last post i was writing about the very first viewing of the whole movie from beginning to end. Since then, Phil and I had another viewing session. Overall we felt pretty happy at least with the cut as it exists... and yes, that it is worth finishing! There were some minor changes that we made to a couple of scenes though. Mostly just shortening a bunch of shots by a few frames, even removing one or two shots themselves. So now we are working on adding in some missing sound and dialogue bits so the movie is fit for our peeps we have chosen to be test viewers. This is when we will cop the real critical heat!

The other thing we are working on is the batch conversion of all the video footage that makes up the movie, from standard definition interlaced video to high definition progressive scan video. There is over an hour and a half of footage to upscale and convert. To do this, we are using Apple's "Compressor" batch processing software which is shipped as part of Final Cut Studio. So in between Christmas shopping, sitting in the sun, bbq'ing, drinking and decorating the Christmas tree, we plan to get all this video converted and verified over the course of the next two weeks.... or so. And then, it's onto finishing and grading, as well as a bit of 2D paint work here and there, removing the occasional boom mic that popped into shot.

So thats where we are at Beanz-wise.

I thought i would also take a moment to talk about the cameras we have used to shoot Beanz with.

Back in 1999, a good friend of ours by the name of Rowan, (or Rowox as he is otherwise known) purchased a flashy digital Handycam video camera. It was pretty much the first digital video camera i had used. It basically recorded digital video onto the "video-8" sized tapes that Handycam's had used up to that point. It was a pretty damn simple camera, just the standard built in lens, as well as a little wide angle conversion lens that could be screwed on for wide shots. From that i remember it was actually a nice little camera to use, very small and balanced as it sat in the palm of your hand. Its small size was also advantageous as it allowed for the occasional dramatic or awkward angle that a larger regular "professional" camera at that time would have been unable to achieve, very important for the style of this project.
However as you would expect, it didn't have the resolution or image quality that you would get from a more professional camera at that time, but that didn't really bother us too much. After all, it was our first attempt at a feature film and its how you use the tools.. right? Its all about ideas, story and character... right? And besides, we didn't have much money to spend, so its either make this movie with this camera, orrrrr.... make no movie at all. So we decided to make the movie.

The Sony PD-150 (with added velcro, and a bent mic from a shoot involving people in gorilla suits - long story)

The second camera is the Sony 3CCD PD-150, which Phil and myself purchased sometime in 2002. This was a sweet camera, and we still use it today. And hey! David Lynch used it for his awesome interview project. But anyway, as a prosumer 3CCD camera shooting standard definition onto mini-dv tapes, it is about as good as cameras get. We have shot most of Beanz on the pd-150, around 60%.

One of the issues on the surface we had in shooting with effectively 2 different classes of cameras was how to get the scenes shot on one camera to fit in with the scenes shot on another? The answer here lies in how we approached the movie in terms of it's shooting style, which i guess you could say mixes planned/composed shots with shoot-from-the-hip-documentary action. Beanz is a film set in the late 90's in a largely modern urban environment. So while to the conscious eye the difference between scenes will be noticeable, the effect should not be too distracting because of the overal DIY low budget documentary feel of the film itself.

I hope to talk a little bit more about my approach to the shooting in a later post, when i have a couple of shots to show on the blog. So i will leave it at that for now. Merry Christmas y'all!

Next post: Finishing Beanz: diary 09 >>

Finishing Beanz: diary 07

2009-11-24T01:50:00.002+13:00

Ok so for the first time i sat down and watched through the entire movie tonight, and i thought i'd blog a couple of quick thoughts about it.

This initial viewing wasn't really a review per say, it was more like a test that all the temp movies (one for each scene) rendered out from Final Cut were working and playing together correctly. Yes they all rendered out ok, But however there are still a couple of minor glitches in the files that we still need to iron out, but the movie is fit for watching... albeit in a very rough and raw state. Mind you, only for Phil and myself at this point, as there are a few points in the film where sound effects need to be added that better describe what is actually happening in the scene. We can sit there and assume that these sounds exist as we watch. Would be a tad distracting for anyone else though.

Anyways, the shots are pretty much as they are straight from the camera tapes - raw as. The sound is rough and sometimes choppy, temp music tracks and some other sounds are slapped in just to get a sense of flow for editing purposes. Its rough and gnarly at times, but it plays and it now has a beginning, a middle and an end.

I have to admit i was always a little bit anxious about getting to this point, its the anticipation of sitting down on a couch in front of a big 46 inch screen, playing a nearly-finished edit of a movie that we shot the majority of around 5+ years ago, on standard definition camcorders. There is nowhere to hide now. Yes this has always been a side project. Yes you can leave this moment for a later time, and goodness knows we have. But this moment will come, and it has to be dealt with. Watch the damn movie. Deal with the inevitable!

And so, the inevitable thoughts and questions arise... Is this going to work? Will it flow? The quirky and experimental style, will this style/feel that we were toying with and trying to achieve come through? Will we stay in the scenes? Does the filmed and edited product sitting in front of us live up to what we were imagining when writing of the script? Will we be interested in what happens ...or is it going to suck?? And if it does not suck, will it feel like its worth the effort to carry it through in cleaning up the technical rough edges to make a presentable finished piece?

After the last scene concluded and i sat there, i thought.... well... that wasn't so bad.

The movie as it exists right now certainly needs a fair bit more work. There is still one more song that needs to be either written or acquired to serve it's role as a story piece as an example. There are a handful of shots that need paint work to remove things like the tips of boom mic's that momentarily dropped into the top of frame, amongst other things.

But as the whole, yes, i can see a movie in there. Sitting there by myself watching it i am reminded that Beanz certainly has its oddities, but we always knew that. But it plays. There are one or two scenes in particular that still need some serious edit TLC to get to work and flow better. But we will find out in more detail when Phil and I sit down together to watch and critique it properly over the next couple of days.

Next post: Finishing Beanz: diary 08 >>

Finishing Beanz: diary 06

2009-10-25T21:25:00.004+13:00

A shot of Phil editing on the laptop for prosperity - finishing up the last edits for sc25, the last scene in the movie to be edited!

So whats the status?

Well, it's been quite a few weeks since the last update - so here's just a quick update on the status of things.

We have been mostly working on finishing the edit for a scene we shot earlier this year, which as it turns out is also the last scene to be cut. And now its done! yay! No rest for the wicked though, there is still heaps of tasks left to do.

The first of which involves working towards getting a final lockdown of all the edits for all the scenes, as well as how all the scenes work together as a whole. It is basically this point where we go over the film one more time, as an assembled whole, to try and work out what is working and what might not be, and to make the changes where appropriate. Once we have this, then we can get started on the proper sound mix. This will make up the meat of the post production and finishing work on this project. Beanz is a movie that has quite a reliance on its sound and music in order to convey its story and style properly, so its important that we take the time to get this as good as we can from within our resources.

The cut we have for the movie so far (pre-lockdown) is approx 1 hour, 20mins. So its not the length of most feature films, its more like a short feature. :)

Need a shave?: Here's me taking a tourist shot of myself for prosperity with Phil working on the edit in the background. In terms of the editing duties on Beanz, Phil and I usually sit down together to work on the cut. Phil tends to take the controls for scenes where dialogue is king, whereas i tend to be on button pressing duties for scenes where action takes prominence. But we always feed off each other for critiques and balance of opinion - from the outset we were always on the same page as to what the movie is and what its vibe should be.

Next post: Finishing Beanz: diary 07 >>

The State of Georgia HD

2009-09-28T17:08:00.002+13:00

Hey guys, I just uploaded a HD copy of "The State of Georgia" for you guys to check out.

Click here to download the original high definition copy or to view at a smaller size if you have a slow connection.

This is a film we made as part of the 48hr filmmaking competition here in New Zealand. As the name suggests... Film makers are challenged to make a short film over the course of 48hrs, within particular constraints such as genre, prop usage, and the inclusion of a particular line of dialogue.

In this short coming of age story, a young woman named Georgia goes out for her first taste of the nightlife with her hypochondriac friend Jerry, where she meets a mysterious woman who invites her into the VIP area of a nightclub.

Details:

Year: 2007
Duration: Approx 6 and a half minutes.
Genre/Style: Experimental/Abstract.

Finishing Beanz: diary 05

2009-08-16T21:01:00.009+12:00

Back in our first Beanz diary entry i mentioned that the origins of this project stemmed back from a little film we made as students called The Wrong Side of Bed. Todays diary entry casts a bit more light on that little movie we made all the way back then!

If i am to be utterly honest i can not really remember that much about the making of this film. However. I do remember around 1995-96 Phil making a little video (also) called Wrong side of Bed, which basically involved me filming him (and sometimes him filming himself because i had a hangover from the night before or something) playing a character where by chance, all these horrible and unfortunate things would happen to him. I recall in that original video we made we did some really really super crude digital effects on our Commodore Amiga 1200.

One such effect was taking an animated dinosaur loop from a Playstation 1 demo and superimposing it over some footage we filmed of Phil on the street outside the house. Thankfully because it was supposed to feel all depressing because of this characters horrible day, we filmed it all in black and white, making the effects relatively easy to do with our Amiga computer, "Vidi-Amiga " capture card and copy of Deluxe Paint.

Anyway, after having a bit of fun with that we thought we would redo it. From what i recall we wanted to make something that was quite simple to do, a pretty simple story that was made up of mostly visual gags and involved one person as the main character. Then we put in a series of secondary characters where we could just get whatever mates we had around at the time to come and play them. So one day, sometime around 1997, we made The Wrong Side of Bed.

We shot the movie on a standard, run of the mill Sony digital 8 camcorder, and used a Power Macintosh 8500 to capture the footage. We edited it with an early version of Adobe Premiere (5.0 i think) at a sub-broadcast quality resolution of 384x288 pixels (our computer didn't have enough memory for anything bigger). So this weekend I managed to dig up a copy of it, upscaled the resolution a little bit and uploaded it to ExposureRoom.com.

If the above clip is loading too slowly for your internet connection you can watch a smaller version here

So how does this little movie relate to Beanz?

Well basically, this film and Beanz have very little in common. When we set out to make Beanz all the way back in late 2000, we really liked the Angus, Bum and Yawie characters. Bum is the big scruffy guy and Yawie is the annoying guy who sneaks into Angus' house. So we took those characters and wrote a whole new story from scratch featuring them.

The music you hear in that film (except for the cheesy opening music haha) Was all written by Phil and the ending credits music with his band "GoFellas" that he was in at the time.

Next post: finishing Beanz diary 06 >>

Finishing Beanz: diary 04

2009-08-03T10:29:00.007+12:00

(Warning - another overly geeky post!)

It was a pretty productive this last weekend gone, I managed to find some time to crack into my 2nd go at doing some colour correction. My first attempt went ok, it was mostly involving rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck into trying to work out how to use a software application called "Color" which is part of Apple's Final Cut Studio.

The newest version of Color has fixed a couple of issues that I encountered on my first attempt to import a Beanz scene into the application from Final Cut. Previously if you had an edited sequence which contained still images, such as overlaid type created in Photoshop for title credits, the imported sequence would appear all messed up in Colors timeline, making it almost impossible to select clips for adjustment. So with that fixed we are now cooking with gas!

Working on Beanz sc10. The colour correction process is particularly important for this project i think, Working with Color to help define the overall visual style, and to make the most of the available image data in a complementary way.

One of the things I should point out for any newbie colour graders working with this software for the first time is to bare in mind that Final Cut and Color display their Colours on screen quite differently. ...James says after image grading a whole scene only to bring it back into FCP with all the colours wrong - gah!

Basically, Color conforms to the Mac's system wide Gamma setting (which by default is 1.8) whereas Final Cut, apparently, overrides this and displays its colours at 2.2. However, FCP7 does assume that footage being imported into it is at gamma 1.8 by default. Confusing? yes, yes it is!

Long story short, I have found Color to be a pretty powerful grading tool when you have the will and give it the time to get to know it, and can look past its prehistoric caveman looking interface. I was able to write out a dvd-ready mpeg-4 file which looks correct when viewed on a standard Quicktime movie player, but it remains to be seen how it looks on an actual dvd playing on a random TV screen. I'm sure if I don't succeed I will moan about it here on a future post :)

Next post: Finishing Beanz diary 05 >

Finishing Beanz: diary 03

2009-07-26T00:22:00.008+12:00

Ravers firing on all cylinders busting out the glow sticks + grooves. No narcotics were consumed in the shooting of this scene.

Back a couple of months ago, on the 2nd of May 2009, We finally completed shooting everything we needed to shoot to complete the edit. Here is a series of images by photographer Karim Sahai, who was there to document the action.

Now, while most of the "principal photography" of this project was completed a good 2 years ago, there were still a few little bits in pieces, or "pick-ups" that we felt we still needed to do in order to tie up the story a little bit better. So this was one of those shoots.

Hmm, well what else can i talk about on this post without giving away too much about the story and where this scene fits within it? Ok, i will state the obvious here that this scene takes place at a rave - In a nightclub, in the very early 2000's :). We learnt quite a bit about how to deal with doing a scene which involves working with a large group of extras. Directing was especially tricky, as i was shooting the action while Phil was performing as Angus. Normally when we were shooting the rest of the movie we could get away with not having someone acting as an assistant director, not so in this case. So we got the help of Sophia Elizabeth, who took on the juggling tasks of keeping the extras happy, dealing with misc production issues during the day as well as being an extra herself.

Juggling tasks is the order of the day: Phil ques up a portable DAT tape recorder to record the audio feed from the Sandwiches mixing desk shortly before shooting the first take. The idea here is to actually use the audio from the microphone that Angus is MC'ing into for the dialogue in the actual scene. This will be incorporated into the sound mix later on.

An extra patiently waits between takes.

An extra applies some hair gel whilst others chill out before the shooting begins.

Phil looking happy as he gets ready for shooting the scene while Sophia is wettening his hair for a more hot and sweaty appearance.

Extras stand by for shooting to begin.

Home made: Rachel holds up our makeshift slate for the camera. For this scene we shot in a very "freestyle" manner, so yes, we were very loose with our slate naming conventions :)

Phil as Angus: Working the decks.

Ravers in full swing during shooting.

Girls on the dance floor.

Quickly discussing some notes between takes.

Crowd shoot complete.

James downloads and quickly reviews a couple of takes as Clare looks on - its in the can!

Chatting with Hamish (cowboy hat), Who plays the character "DJ Danny Reed". This scene was actually shot on a high def camera, a Panasonic HVX-202. The media will be down sampled to match with the rest of the standard def DV footage. The idea here was basically: "well we have one at our disposal, so might as well use it. Better to have more information to work with than not enough"

If you would like to see more of the brilliant photographic work by Karim Sahai, check out his website - where you can browse his portfolio and order prints.

http://www.karimsahai.com/

Sending out a BIG thanks to all who helped make this shoot happen, including: (and not limited to) Sandwiches, all of those who helped organize costumes, the lovely extras, Rocket Rentals for their sweet rental deal on the camera and microphone equipment, Grouse lighting and everyone else we may have missed writing here - thank you!

Finishing Beanz: diary 02

2009-07-22T10:05:00.003+12:00

Yay! My adapter arrived today! geek blog alert!

So to some this may seem a little weird to be getting excited about a little piece of plastic & metal, but i'm stoked. The adapter in question is a MiniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter that i ordered from a company called Monoprice in the USA.

So whats so great about it then?

Well to provide the answer for that requires a bit of background info on the setup i am using for adjusting the color grade for the movie.
I am working on a 2009 model Apple Macbook Pro. Anyone who uses these computers are probably aware that if you want to be able to output an image from one of these babies to an external display, it has to be output via it's Mini Display Port.

The display i am using for grading is basically a Panasonic plasma television. These plasma screens are better than their LCD equivalents for this sort of thing because of their superior contrast ratios and wider colour gamut. The problem with it being a television screen and not a computer monitor is that it does not have the usual DVI style input/s you would expect from a modern computer monitor. It does have VGA input though, however thats an analogue connection and for the purposes of image accuracy i am aiming for a digital to digital signal connection.

So this is where the new adapter comes in. Previously i only had the option of using a combination of adapters that i purchased from Apple. One being MiniDisplay > DVI, then another cable that went from DVI to the HDMI input at the back of the Plasma. I found this not to work very well as all sorts of weird image artifacts would appear on the outputted signal. Upon research online i found that i was not the only one and others have encountered this issue.

So yea, top tip! If you need to connect your Macbook pro to a big screen TV using this method, avoid! Buy a proper MiniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter. :)

Now that we have a decent 1080 digital feed into an external display, i can now start on working to achieve a good colour calibration for the screen to allow the image grading to commence. Because Beanz is shot using (mostly) older footage shot on "standard-def" DV video, the aim here is to try and get as much as possible out of the lower resolution images so that they gracefully translate into the now ubiquitous high-definition format. I will cover this in a bit more detail in a later post.

Next post: finishing Beanz: diary03

Poppy

2009-05-24T20:27:00.014+12:00

Hi readers,

NZ director James Cunningham has completed his latest short film "Poppy" recently. I worked on this project doing Motion Capture and Motion Edit work with the team at Weta Digital. It was a great project to work on and the finished product looks great!

You can find more info on Poppy at the official website at http://www.poppyfilm.com and/or if you are a facebook user, become a fan on the official facebook fan page.

The Official Poppy poster.

Another 48hr furious film making contest has come and (almost) gone, i went and took part this year helping out team Puppyguts with some camera operating. We got the "revenge" genre and the team ended up making a short about a Mime.

Titled "Mime and Punishment", we still as of yet have not seen the finished product! This is due to us missing the heat screening last monday. Anyways, check out the Puppyguts page on Vimeo to see more of their stuff.

P-Vans has another exciting gig coming up that he has been working on with the Strictly 138 boys, more info on that to come in a later blog entry.

And in other news, we have finally finished shooting everything we need for our long running project "Beanz" We hope to post up more blog diary entries over the next few months following progress as we get closer to finishing the damn thing. Focusing on post production info, technical hurdles etc, as well as a little backstory of the childhood legacy that is the movie itself. So stay tuned for that :-)

The weathers shit here in Wellington at the moment, so till next time - stay warm & cosy!

Cheers

-Jamesmog

Moggey Youtube Channel

2008-05-27T18:20:00.002+12:00

Man it sure has been a while.

Well, as usual this year, Phil and I have been SUPER busy. But until i find something else to blog about, i thought i would post a little link to a page we have setup on Youtube, which features a lot of the videos that we have posted on this blog as well as others of interest to us, via our "favourites".

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/moggey

Finishing Beanz: diary 01

2008-01-22T00:23:00.023+13:00

Welcome to the Finishing Beanz, post production diary blog!

This section of the blog we have put together to document our ongoing process of completing a low budget Indy movie. Hopefully interesting to people, Beanz has been a very unusual and long project for us. Its a project that has served as a learning process about the serious business of film production - and of course just the fun of doing something creative.

Over the next few months we will try and cover in a little bit more detail explaining exactly why this project, as a film, is so unusual. Posts dedicated to various areas and topics, such as shooting, writing/script, editing, directing, producing, music, sound design and mixing, dealing with DV video media, color and more.

So to start things off, here are a few little facts about the movie itself:

Beanz is personally produced, directed, shot, written, edited by the "Brothers Mogg". (James and Phillip Van der Reyden) So in effect, while we have received so much support from so many wonderful friends and colleagues, this has been pretty much a fully DIY project. In addition to all the production tasks, Phil also plays as the main character - Angus Peterson.

The characters and "story universe" were taken from a short 15min movie we made back in 1997 while just having fun/playing around as students. That film was called "The Wrong Side of Bed". Its story was pretty simple - A character named Angus Peterson wakes up one morning only to have a really unfortunate day, possibly one of the worst days of his life.

We started making Beanz back in late 2000, pretty much for the same reason as making The Wrong Side of Bed - basically to have fun and get a little bit of practice on how to make a film, a feature length film. I remember thinking at the time, "how hard can this be?".

Its worth noting this was at about the same time as us starting at Weta Digital, so it wasn't long before we got an answer to that question.
Trying to write, plan and shoot basically a feature length movie, doing things we have never tried before... on top of a 50hr minimum week at a major digital effects studio - on top of all the other responsibilities of life. This was not an easy feat for anyone. So we always wanted to think of Beanz as our little practice ground. We had no real need to make the thing, no set budget, and no deadline. Relax, have fun, work on it while we can, don't take it too seriously. But at the same time, treat it seriously. Believe that it will be something that will be fun to watch when it is done. And as a creative and learning process, it is certainly a worthwhile thing to do.

Beanz is shot in DV video. One of the interesting things about making something slowly over a long period of time, especially in an era where digital technology is progressing so fast, is that the very medium we are making the movie on can now be considered antique!
Basically, back in 2000, DV video was the best format that we could afford to shoot on. There was no such thing as high definition back then, and film was super expensive! Thankfully, the style of the movie lends itself to the lower resolution medium. A quirky late 90's story about a quirky character in love with a quirky song. Shot in a documentary influenced style.
Although the movie is shot on DV (720x576 pixels), the final movie will be created as a High Definition 1920x1080 print, where the footage will be treated to look as good as possible at the larger size.

Check out the next post, Finishing Beanz: diary 02 here:

Not at Work 2007

2007-09-19T23:24:00.000+12:00

Last year, at about this time, a group of us at Weta decided to get together and have a photography exhibition at the Thistle Hall gallery space - It went really well. So we decided to do it again this year. Yay! Check it out.

Not @ Work poster. (photo, poster design credit - Ula Rademeyer)

Featuring Work by:

Simon Jung • Mel James • Maung Maung Hla Win • Jed Soane • James Ogle • Francisco De La Torre • James Van der Reyden • Ken Gimpelson • Matt Mueller • Peter Baustaedter • Allen Hemberger • Kathleen Beeler • Tom Mikota • Nick Booth • Marcus Schoo • Alfred Murrle • Peter Godden • Roger Wong • Johan Aberg • Erin Horton • Ula Rademeyer • David Phillips • William J. Earl • Colin Alway • Dmitri Krasnokoutski • Alexis Casas & Shane Cooper • Julian Butler • Andrea Merlo • Sarah Wilson • Fenella Stratton • Aaron Cubis • Lance Thornton • Mark Norrie • Stephen Rouche • Florian Fernandez • Kevin Romond • Wolfgang Niedermeier • Simon Brown • Richard Addison-Wood • Hovig Alahaidoyan • Lucas Putnam • Steve McGee • Tim Hey.

Links:

Thistle Hall community venue
Weta Digital

Old school attack! - Teach Me

2007-08-08T10:22:00.000+12:00

Back in 1998 as part of the design degree i was taking at Wellingtons Victoria University, i did a paper that served as a sort of an introduction to 3D computer graphics. I forget the details of the actual design brief for this particular assignment itself - but it had something to do with the idea of injecting life into primitive objects.

Not exactly Ratatouille in its technical sophistication (hey - it was my first shot at it!) but yes - its still kinda fun. So i thought I'd embarrass myself and upload it for a laugh. Enjoy!

48hrs 2007 - FarGish

2007-05-15T11:02:00.000+12:00

Crew

Director ~ Phillip Van der Reyden

Co-director ~ James Van der Reyden

Producer ~ Rowan Sharp

Co-producers
Rachel Laurenson • Phillip Van der Reyden • James Van der Reyden
and Sophia Elisabeth

Writen by Rowan Sharp and Daniel McClelland

Director of photography ~ James Van der Reyden

Editor ~ Rachel Laurenson

Score ~ James Hudson

Sound ~ George Oliver

Soundmix/Edit ~ Phillip Van der Reyden

Start titles ~ James Van der Reyden
End credits ~ Chris Town

PAs ~ Tanja Schubert and Tanielu laga

Grips ~ Johnny Dazzle • Mike White and The Roy

Catering ~ Phyllis laurenson and Christine sharp

~ • ~

Cast

Georgia ~ Penny Laurenson
Natasha ~ Sophia Elisabeth
Jerry ~ Daniel McClelland
Louie the bouncer ~ Chris Town
Bartender ~ James Hudson

Underground VIPs

Ian Laurenson • Will Neill • Chris Town • Katrina Ladd • Wiremu Paku •
Jo Laurenson • Tanja Schubert and George Oliver

Background Actors

Amy Paine • Tim Gregory • Tanielu Laga • Kohe Habberfield • Sharalyn Haddleton Leyton Haddleton • Jayne Billing • Kathryn Billing • Kat Warner • Holly Garner • Katherine Slipper • Mark Doherty • Willie Dacker • Melanie Clayton • Andreana Crean • John Watt • Kate Molineaux • Sai Inturi • The Roy • Mike White

~ • ~

Music

“Ambient Mush”
Tim Cheng

“This old house”
Hannah Curwood
Courtesy of Luggate Records

~ • ~

Thanks to

Bryce • Jonnie • Wade ~ Sandwiches bar
Shaun ~ Tupelo bar
Viti Olds
Rachel Sharp
Porky Love
Ben Bryan
Diane Tuapawa
Greg Sharp
Megan Brownlie
Emma Boniface
Bernice Prakash
Norman Cates
Jen Prince

Extra special thanks to

Captain Dazzle
Our mums/caterersJ
The Sandwiches Bar staff
Our background actors/dancers – rockstars!

~ • ~

The State of Georgia ~ Team Fargish ~ 48hrs 2007

Summerset

2007-03-15T20:30:00.001+13:00

Just completed an animated clip for the Sandwiches Summerset live event thats on this weekend - Saturday the 17th of March to be exact. Some great live acts are featuring, including Fat Freddys Drop, Black Grass, Tom Middleton, Shapeshifter and Ladi 6 as well as others.

Its on at Wellingtons Iconic Basin Reserve. Check out the clip then head on down!

links:

Sandwiches Summerset '07

Friends of Mogg: Gregory P Sharp.

2007-03-07T13:17:00.000+13:00

A good mate of ours, Greg Sharp, has just put up a personal site showcasing his work - Greg is a visual artist from Wellington, New Zealand who is now residing in Sydney, Australia.

Check it out! http://www.gregorypsharp.com

He is a great friend, as well as an inspiration to us. Big ups Greg!

Busy Busy Busy.

2007-02-27T09:45:00.000+13:00

Well you might be wondering why there has been little updates on the Brothers Mogg front as of late.

Well, we have been very busy on all fronts with Weta, Moving house, Beanz and other projects. Stay tuned though, we will have some updates up soon!

Old School Attack! - Paper Bagged.

2006-12-29T19:43:00.000+13:00

A short film about a young man named Aidan who seeks help after being driven crazy by his flatmates.

Directed by Phil Van der Reyden.

Featuring, Aidan Forrest, Rowan Sharp, Sarah Ryan, James Van der Reyden, Dale Pugh, Greg Sharp and Kelly Sturgess.

Shot in Wellington, New Zealand, 2002.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-21T21:27:00.002+13:00

For all those who read this:
Merry Christmas!

photo taken during a thunderstorm in Welly, 20th December 2006.

petone college, as of 2006

2006-11-24T14:03:00.001+13:00

Block from the former Hutt Valley Memorial College (aka Petone College)

The School has been closed and practically deserted for nearly 10 years now, this is where i spent my High School years. If there had happened to be a nuclear power station disaster nearby combined with the fact that the lawns are not still mowed, I would affectionately name it my own personal Chernobyl. The place sure had an eerie empty feel about it when i visited it last weekend.

Thanking you all.

2006-11-07T19:10:00.001+13:00

I thought I would take a moment here, to record for prosperity, the great little surprise party that you guys all threw for me last Friday. Can't ask for a better group of friends.

Few shoutouts are in order - My brother and partner in crime Phil, awesome drawing and a wicked little flier there man. Rachel, big appreciation for taking the massive bundle of singing balloons up the hill for me, whilst having to put up with the singing birthday balloon's resounding opera recital all the way up the hill on a Friday night. Rowan and Megan for designing the secret.... (hey Megan... does this mean you still got the A+ for your assignment??) and of course all my friends and colleagues who were able to make it. Also thanks to Bryce at Sandwiches, as well as the wonderful bar staff.

Not to mention the great music on the night by P-Bass Expressway, Timmy Schumacher and Kyla.

Thanks all.

IRTTA: now on dvd!

2006-10-31T22:30:00.001+13:00

Thats right people! The 2006 48hours furious filmmaking dvd is out, and you can catch our short, It Returned to the Abyss on it amongst a ton of others!. The DVD is available in all good places that sell dvds, like Real Groovy and the great Welly video rental joint: Aro Video.

Heres the blurb from the 48 Hours website:

The much anticipated 2006 48HOURS DVD is finally here. Packed with more features than a James Cameron special edition, this 3-Disc set is sure be a hot seller. With over ten hours of footage, your brain may just melt from the enormity of it all. Grab one and see why the 48HOURS has become New Zealand's biggest and brightest film competition.

brothers mogg on myspace

2006-10-21T19:57:00.000+13:00

The brothers mogg now have a film profile on myspace. Check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/brothersmogg

Old school attack! - Dickies.

2006-10-11T00:29:00.000+13:00

I've uploaded another old movie to Google Video.

Dickies is a short film created back in 1998 as a design school project integrating live action, stop motion animation and music!
The story is very simple - two young chaps are sitting around at home and decide to have a jam while the parents are away. Unwittingly, they awake something that was living in the garage! Fired up in the heat and aggression of the music, they run out to confront the beast.

The more observant viewers or readers out there might notice that Dickies was shot and presented in the spectacularly awesome cinematic format of low-res black and white!
This is because way back in the "old days" (which sounds quite funny as it was only 8 years ago) I had the restriction of not having access to the expensive high-end computer gear required to attempt this sort of thing at broadcast quality. (i was a poor student studying at the end of the 90's afterall) However when i watch it, i really don't cringe, i think it still looks kinda cool, and still plays well.

It was shot on a standard issue Sony Video 8 handycam and digitized into Adobe Premiere via the built-in AV video card on my 132mhz Power Mac 8500 with a ground shaking 32megs of ram (which i later upgraded to 90mb... woot!) ...it was the most powerful computer i could afford!

Clay animation was done by Phil in a makeshift mini greenscreen stage that we setup in our lounge at home. (yes we had tolerant parents) And the shots were puesdo-matchmoved and the monster added using After Effects version i can not remember. At the end of the day we thought it was a fun little flick.

Saving the Children

2006-10-04T11:29:00.001+13:00

Well thats us, doing our bit.

Last week Phil and i decided to start being all generous and donating to Save the Children with their "I Care" programme. Feels pretty good. You should too!

I think thats one thing i would do if i was really really rich. Just for amusement i would buy a brand spanking new porsche 911 and will ship it to Latin America to give to a community of disadvantaged children. Okay, so a high performance german sportscar probably wouldnt help them much but hey! they could always sell it (after someone takes the kiddies for a little blitz in it, of course) and the proceeds could probably feed them for the rest of their lives, maybe.

In anycase, make no mistake - when you donate and KNOW its being given to a worthy cause, what you lose from the wallet you more than make up for in the heart.

Links:

Save the Children

Not at Work - photo gallery

2006-09-23T16:44:00.003+12:00

Some pictures frm the Not at Work exhibition that was on last week at the Thistle Hall community centre. Thanks to Karim Sahai for the dope opening day pics, as well as all those who organised and setup the show itself.

Links:

Karim Sahai Photography - karimsahai.com

Not at work!

2006-09-12T11:38:00.002+12:00

Come and check out our photography!

A group of us at Weta Digital are putting together a photo exhibition on at Thistle Hall Community Gallery next week (17th-21st September, 2006). It's a chance for people to see some of our art away from the fantastical worlds and characters we have a habit of creating. It opens on Sunday the 17th at 6pm - there's bound to be drinks and nibbles available, but feel free to stop by any time during the week and have a look. It'll be a fun, little exhibition to come and see.
For more information visit http://www.earlyworm.co.nz/notatwork/ or email info(at)earlyworm.co.nz

Where is Thistle Hall? heres a map

Links:

Weta Digital
Thistle Hall

Shenanigans 1st birthday!

2006-07-23T15:02:00.001+12:00

It's about time we celebrated Shenanigans consistantly bringing premiere breaks parties to Wellington featuring earth shattering internationals and solid live music and Local DJ Line up. For Shenanigans 1st Birthday we bring you some of the original Shenanigans DJ's Bryce, Gimpgirl, Dunsta, P-Vans and Sketchy Bastard with special guest DJ Randomplay (Auckland) to warm those winter nights and bring fresh sounds to the floor. This time with stella Shenanigans VJ set by Vmogg.

Troy, the musical

2006-07-22T03:14:00.000+12:00

We got a copy of the finished DVD of "Troy, The Musical" today.

Troy is a musical play that has been running down at Wellingtons Circa Theatre for the last month - The Brothers Mogg, (James, Phil and Rowan) True to their "bit-on-the-side" no budget form, worked with actor Aidan Bell to shoot a video of the show for promotional and documentation purposes. Although, naturally theatrical shows such as this should really only be seen live on stage to be truly appreciated, we took a damn good shot at bottling the colorful performances of the great cast for immortality.

Aidan managed to scrape together a total of 6 cameras and in the tradition of Lars Von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark*" ...we shot the show in miniDV from 6 random angles and he took the footage and edited together a two DVD video of the show in its entirety. Totally no budget, but totally watchable!

Thanks to Aidan for the oppertunity and congratulations to all the Troy crew for a great live show! The show finishes today but hopefully we will see the show come up again soon!

Links:

http://www.circa.co.nz
http://www.aidanbell.com

*okay, so the musical sequences in that film used a little more than 6 random camera angles... more like closer to 100, but still the same premise! :)

Watch "It Returned to the Abyss" online!

2006-06-21T22:45:00.001+12:00

It Returned to the Abyss - a short film created in 48 whole hours as part of the "48hr Furious Filmmaking contest, 2006" Check it out on Exposure Room.

View on ExposureRoom

Featuring

Sophia Elisabeth - Robyn Slade
William Neill - AT48
Daniel McClelland - AT48 (Alien Form)
Shazza (Robyns female friend) - Holly McGeorge
Dazza (Robyns male friend) - Phillip Van der Reyden

__

Extras

Joelle, Daniel, Tanielu, Ruth, Aidan, James & Rowan.

__

Director - Phillip Van der Reyden
Writters - Rowan Sharp & Daniel McClelland
Director of Photography - James Van der Reyden
Produced by Rowan Sharp
Editor - Rachel Laurenson.
Sound recording by Ekim

__

More info on It Returned to the Abyss can be located on this very blog here

MUTE: old school attack!

2006-06-19T11:15:00.000+12:00

Haha, the web just gets better and better doesn't it. Found this the other day, turns out a friend of ours uploaded a short film that we did with him back in 2000 to YouTube.

The Film is called Mute, and I think this is the first time we have seen it in a good four years or so, so its a bit of a blast from the past!

My role (James) in the film was as a DP, we shot it on an old Canon GL1 that Nigel had borrowed, and edited it on our bitchin' blue and white Power Mac G3 running os9 and Final Cut 2.0!

I will admit that we were very new to the concept of digital filmmaking at this time , and I remember having teething problems working with the video as we also had very limited hard drive space to make the movie, quite the far cry from the gigabytes to burn that we enjoy now. So the film has a very soft, contrasty and saturated feel to it.

The Film was directed by Nigel Aymes, produced by Rowan Sharp and Features Phil as the dude who has the hots for the girl in the cafe.

I will also admit I always had my reservations about the soundtrack of this movie, what with its complete lack of dialogue, however, upon seeing it in retrospect I don't mind it that much. hmmm.

Apologies for the quality problem with the video, looks like it was recorded off a bad VHS dub of the movie. (got a better version somewhere Nigel?)

It Returned to the Abyss

2006-06-12T21:54:00.002+12:00

"Robyn Slade receives startling news that her lover must return home.

AT48 has been summoned! They must let go of their past in order to
move on."

It Returned to the Abyss is our entry to the 2006 48hr filmmaking contest, A weekend of absolute mayhem! Big thanks and congrats to all those on the team!

View on ExposureRoom

fear the wraith of the tin man!

Robyn Slade, played by Sophia Elisabeth

AT48, Played by William Neill

AT48 Alien form, played by Daniel McClelland

Review from the 48hrs forums:

Fargish
"It Returned to the Abyss"
(Sci Fi)

"This opened with ultra stylish b/w 50's style credits, making me sit up and drool with anticipation, then cut into modern day, which was disappointing because it had looked Really Good. Slowly and happily, it won me back with a simple and touching story about a woman who finds a sea creature and takes him home. She fights for their relationship against society, but it's all in vain when he has to return. Well made with some cool gags, nice costumes and a mesmerising lead actress working well against a nicely acting swamp-man. Potential finalist." 4.5/5

Joy!

SHENANIGANS featuring Timmy Schumacher

2006-06-06T11:19:00.002+12:00

The Shenanigans label has had some amazing nights in the last few years showcasing solid local DJ talent and live music mixing it up with international Breakbeat legends. This time the Shenanigans crew bring down NZ's Auckland based premiere Breakbeat producer and DJ Timmy Schumacher. This is going to be a huge night packed with the freshest, Upfront breakbeat variety.

With local Shenanigans DJ's Dunsta, P-Vans, Gimpgirl, SketchyBastard.

Friday 16th June @ Sandwiches.
$15 Doorsales

Sunshine Soundsystem

2006-05-14T19:10:00.000+12:00

A shameless plug for a great gig and a great poster.
(well we might be a bit bias as moggey designed it)

Comprised of the legendary DJ Downtown Brown and his trusty MCs P-Digsss (Shapeshifter) and KPz, the Sunshine Sound System have turned out parties from Cape Reinga to the Bluff and beyond. As a crew, the trio have shared the stage with the likes of The Nextmen, Aphrodite and London Electricity, as well as headlining major festivals all over New Zealand, with crowds at Kaikoura Roots, Rippon, and Destination all baring witness to the Sunshine’s good-time vibes.

The Sunshine Sound System have developed a road-tested recipe for good times – Downtown holds things down behind the wheels of steel like no other, taking ‘eclectic’ to the next level as he weaves hip-hop, funk, dancehall, reggae and jungle into a ready-made party. Mr Brown provides the funky backbone over which his MCs P-Digsss and KPz deliver their unique tag-team vocal styles, adding mo’ flavour to the mix every step of the way.

Don't miss the chance to witness a rare Wellington performance by one of the Aotearoa music scene’s dopest crews, in what promises to be one of the parties of the year.

THE SUNSHINE SOUNDSYSTEM, with support from The Shimmy DJs Kava and Charlie Diamondz
Saturday 20 May, 2006 @ Sandwiches

Philmog working on it

48hr FarGish

2006-05-02T22:16:00.001+12:00

So we've decided to form a team for the 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking competition - and we have called it FarGish. Why FarGish?..... long story... longer than what i am prepared to write right now. Anyway, The competition starts on the 27th of May, which is basically about 2 weeks away from this post.
Its basically is a competition where you form a team to make a short movie over the course of 48hours, thats from concept through to writing, production, post production and completion. We figured we should be used to this sort of thing bacause waaaay back in the day when we were teenagers we used to muck around making mindless little movies all the time, so this should be a piece of cake.

Our team consists of about four or five core people, with a handful of others which have agreed to be on hand to help out if we need it - depending on what the movie actually IS that we are going to make, of course, greatful thanks go out to those people in advance.

Can't wait!

King Kong Owns Visual FX Oscar

2006-03-08T12:05:00.000+13:00

So Monday arvo Weta Digital gathered down at Waitangi Park (location already famous for it's outside reverb slamming free dub gigs and wicked skate park), to celebrate the oscars. Weta Digital and Workshop drank themselves silly when the winner for acheivement in visual effects was announced. Further shots were in order when best sound mixng and Best sound editing were announced representing the Park Road Post Sound massive. Solid soundmix for such a solid Ape!

more info on the oscar winnings and "Wellywood" (aye guys) can be found here

Weta wins another BAFTA

2006-02-22T22:04:00.001+13:00

Congrats to the awesome team at Weta Digi and Workshop for such primo work on King Kong.

We went up against the likes of Batman Begins, Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe, Charlie & the Chocolate factory and Harry Potter and came out on top!

New Years 2005/06

2006-01-09T21:24:00.002+13:00

Bringing in the new year bangin' FreQ Nasty style.

Bring on 2006! Well, we just got back from a good old fashioned road trip up north, and since this blog seems to be getting dominated with images i thought i would post up a few pics for anyone that cares to check out. (who wants to read through blogs with tons of text anyway?)

First up was a drive up eastward to Gisborne for the Rhythm and Vines party, was a great night, All music acts were NZ based artists... such as the likes of Fat Freddys Drop, The Black Seeds Shapeshifter, FreQ Nasty, Salmonella Dub, Rhombus, Baitercell and Schumacher (feat. Bex Riley) as well as others.

The Black Seeds.

left to right: Aido, Phil and James. Phil for some reason thinks hes that chick from the Paramount pictures film studio logo.

Phil talking about beats.

The Vines Stage.

After R and V it was on to the far north for us to go chill at a beach house in Taupo Bay, Northland, all in all it was a holiday good enough to warrant a blog post about it :-)

and Below... are some more pics! woot!

Matai Bay.

Taupo Bay - In three different lights.

after the premiere.

2005-12-15T19:18:00.000+13:00

heres a couple of shots from after the Kong premiere.

King Kong opens today!

2005-12-14T02:22:00.000+13:00

So thats it!

Went to go see it yesterday, its absolute madness to think that only a year ago Weta started production work for the effects for this movie and there it was, yesterday morning up on the big screen for us all to see. And yeah, it totally rocks man. All i can say is get out and see it already! Congrats to all involved!

Now that the movies done its high time for a good nap.

Descend feat. Outrage

2005-11-15T16:37:00.000+13:00

Big ups to the Welly Drum & Bass scene.

Outrage is coming, courtesy of our friends, the Noise Enthusiast crew... should be a sweet night fellas!

I'm liking the choice of imagery and design for this poster, theres something about deep sea fishies and heavy D&B that seem to merge together beautifully. Why, who knows... deep, dark, mean and um, wet perhaps? great stuff.

More info can be located over at bassdrop.co.nz

Models 2005 crew

2005-11-01T08:18:00.000+13:00

Big it up! here is the crew I worked with creating digital models on King Kong for the last 1 and a half. pitty Greg sharp ain't this photo, looks like Greg will have to comp himself in the bg ha! Anyway the models journey is over and I won't be back with the models crew untill the next cool film comes along. For now I'm sloggin it out in the 2D realm as a paint artist painting in Niomi Watts legs and whatnot.

mocap fo-sheezy

2005-10-24T21:49:00.001+13:00

So today i got into a mocap suit to do some motion tests and body scanning. Joy. Probably the first time since the start of this year i think. Always nice to experience the process from the opposite side of the computer i have to say, what with my time spent working with the motion as opposed to performing it!

Here's a photo, so that i can humiliate myself on the net. Styley latex huh? It was hellishly tight let me tell ya, to perform motion capture is not for the faint of heart!

James assumes the Zoolander robo-attack-stomp stance.

Motion Capture has never been described better, (or at least funnier) perhaps, than in The Simpsons. To quote a line from the infamous episode "Homr": "That motion capture suit is just what this country needs... Just think of all the hilarious motions going un-captured! Like this!"

Homer Mocap fo-sheezy.

Images courtesy of http://simpsonsite.blogspot.com (the funniest of The Simpsons blog)

James & Phil on IMDB

2005-10-17T11:08:00.000+13:00

At last, our profiles have been updated on imdb.com, the "Earths Biggest Movie Database"...

check out our filmographies here for James and Phil. (pretty similar really!)

Counting down the weeks...

2005-09-29T21:04:00.002+12:00

Well, been really busy working on the motion capture for Kong in the last few weeks (read months), ditto for Phil in the 'ol models dept, and the weeks till delivery are just flying by. Wish I was able to update the blog a bit more.
But anyway - here's a look at the nutters that I work with, our comrades, if you will. While some of them I personally don't work with on a day to day basis, they are all part of the greater team that is the Motion Capture, Motion edit and Animation team on King Kong.

The Kong Animation and Motion Edit dept

The Kong Motion Capture and Motion Edit dept, headed by our man Dejan Momcilovic (middle centre)

Also, be sure to check out kongisking.net for updated info on the movie as it progresses! Including the production diary: 11 weeks to go... to see the mocap and edit depts in action....

SHENANIGANS!!!

2005-09-24T17:53:00.001+12:00

3rd night so far in the Shenanigans series of Club nights. It's definately been a sucessful night keeping it locked for the Wellington scene and keeping it Fresh with the finest Breakbeat vibes.

This time DJ's Dunsta and P-Vans take it to the floor with a back 2 back 4 hour Breaks set and Welly's original live Breakbeat band "silverbeatz" funk it up once again along with DJ Daimon (Nomad) mixing up nz inspired hiphop treats. this is going to be a massive night!!!

check it.

Up on the Mountain

2005-08-31T11:54:00.002+12:00

So last weekend we had a wicked time away from the tedious working grind and went up the mountain for some snowboarding action. Wicked weather in the mornings. Rachel tried Snowboarding for the 1st time and I grazed my arm pretty bad after my 2nd run right from the top of the movenpick. Got back in to it by the 2nd day I was all good again. getting up to the mountain is Sooo much fun, One of the top weekends of my year so far.

Back to Ours

2005-08-07T19:03:00.000+12:00

The Cover images for the 6 "Back to Ours" CD's.

Was a fun exercise this one. Basically the Back to Ours series is a personal collection that a bunch of our friends made that was reflective of their musical tastes, their musical past and/or simply a reflection of their personalities. Was kinda cool, the cross section of musical genres was pretty diverse - and it was a great way of not only knowing a little bit more about each other, but also a way to open ourselves to some great tunes we have never heard before.

At the end of it all, six of us were able to get our compilations finished, they are the ones shown in the montage above.

A recommended fun exercise for friends and music lovers everywhere!

shenanigans

2005-07-10T15:04:00.000+12:00

Wellington Breakbeat gig reprezenting wellys most banging Breaks DJ's. Bringing you the most upfront Breakbeat sounds to Sandwiches every 2 months.

the Shenanigans bunch have played support for such Breakbeat internationals as FreQ Nasty, Tayo, Adam Freeland, Joe Ransom and will be playing more huge parties in the near future.

a huge night of full spectrum breakbeat to be had.

$10 door, Free entry before midnight,

A demonstration of winter.

2005-07-01T21:37:00.000+12:00

Okay so its pretty cold here in Wellington right now. How cold? well - pretty damn cold. Allow me to introduce Possum, one of our two cats - Possum is basically serving as a visual indicator of just how cold it has been recently.
Note the fur? well underneath all that is actually quite a small cat - how much fur he has grown in the last few months is directly proportional to how cold it has been.

and in other news, incase you hadn't already noticed, the trailer for Kong is out, check it out if you would like a glimpse of the film that we have been slogging away over for the last few months: http://www.kingkongmovie.com/

brrrr!

Video Nasty Experience webpage

2004-11-17T11:32:00.001+13:00

Here is a screen shot of The Video Nasty Experience website, when it was online.

(above) The Video Nasty Experience website.

So what in the hell was the Video Nasty Experience anyway?

To put it simply in my own words (as opposed to the shows visionary - FreQ Nasty!) It was a live audio/visual extravaganza, featuring tunes (both original and remixed) from Freq Nasty himself accompanied by live drumming, MC'ing and a hard-hitting multiscreen VJ set.

Phil and myself attended this show when we were over at Glastonbury in June, 2004. It was awesome, the crew did a great job putting it all together. A downscaled version of it was performed in New Zealand too, around 2005 if i remember correctly.

Thanks to all who we got to meet and collaborate with. We gained some great new friends during this cool project, Including Darin Macfadyen, Cindy Lee, Hamish Bell, Jayne Andrews, Spoonface, Yolanda and Adrian White (even though we hadn't actually met Adrian in person at this point! - ahhhh the wonders of the Internet.)

(above) work in progress shot for the FreQ Nasty character.

Sarge the dog. 1990-2004

2004-10-15T10:03:00.000+13:00

Well, looks like its an end of an era for my family.
Sarge, our German Shephard/Collie cross family dog passed away on the 13th October 2004 at 4.50pm. He was 15 years old. All of us in the Van der Reyden family going to miss his growls.

Here is some pictures and stories in memory of a good old dog.

"Sarge was born in 1990 and was 6 months old when I got him from his abusive owner, Jimmy.
I remember the first day I saw him,he had a friendly but somber nature about him. I felt he needed a good companion and love so I brought him for a $50.00 tinny, if you know what I mean.
Not long after he was with me I remember I had a brand new "Ford Cobra" t-shirt drying on the clothes line and he munched out the the whole front of it, man I was pissed off, he also did the inevatable dump in the house, expected when they are a pup" - Richard Van der Reyden

"He used to be the brains behind crimes with his peers I.E: Biggles and
Munchie. I remember one day at Petone I was preparing dinner. I had cut a
large plateful of slices of ham off the bone and left them on the table. I
went out to bring in some fresh salad vegetables from the garden.
When I got back the whole plate was cleaned.

Sarge and his gang had robbed us of our dinner.

The cats got onto the table and brought the slices of ham down one
by one and Sarge helpfully relieved them of their booty when they got down
and ate it.
We do have a shot on video and possibly a photograph of Sarge
with Biggles, Munchie and Sammy, and now they are all dead, the end of an
era." - Jill Van der Reyden

"Sarge died in my arms very quickly and peacefully and i requested that he be cremated so everybody has a chance to say goodbye and his body will not be disturbed if i chose to move away. It was the hardest decision i've ever had to make but i'd rather he didn't have to die alone and he was so tired and willing to go. I know the whole Van der Reyden clan will miss him heaps." - Heather Stewart.

If you knew Sarge, and would like to share any other stories feel free to add them at the "comments" link below.

mocap cars!

2004-09-16T16:38:00.005+12:00

Here is the motion capture crew. Well not exactly THE mocap crew (duh) ..but the mocap crew's cars, These are the people i work with from day to day. However on this particular day everybody decided to be weird and park in a strange way when they arrived in the morning. John started it.. i think.

So i recorded it for prosperity.

Introducing the Weta Digital mocap team:

Honda Legend - Lisa Wildermoth: Mocap 1st Assistant Director.

Honda CRX Si - Jake Botting: Stage Manager

Honda Integra VTi-R - John Curtis: Pipeline Engineer, and code whizz

Holden Vectra - Emily Pearce: Stage Assistant and Video whizzz

Honda Prelude Si - Me: Studio Technical Director.

I, Robot. got credit?

2004-07-26T11:52:00.001+12:00

I,Robot is finally out now, so Phil and I went to check it out on friday, and yeah - it was quite good, actually.

So why mention an apparently random Will Smith blockbuster on the moggey blog? Well it just so happens that Weta Digital did alot of visual effects work for this movie, although Phil scored a place in the end credits and i didn't. Weta were only allowed to put so many credits in the film, but hey, thats show buisiness.

Gutted? nah, the reason for this is even though the mocap studio at Weta DID work on this movie, it was only really a little bit, you see the bulk of the I, Robot mocap was done by those fine fellows over at MA Studios, last year when we were finishing up work for the Return of the King.

So anyhoo.... we went to cinema, paid for a ticket (gasp!) I wore my I,Robot "Weta vfx crew" hat and checked out the film... Weta Digi reprazent y0!

cleanin' the car.

2004-07-26T02:53:00.000+12:00

Well, I finally got round to cleaning my car again this weekend, theres always something nice about washing your car, its kinda like a good excuse mindlessly get out in the open air (especially if you live by the sea) and feel like you are doing something productive.

Plus, you kinda get an award by your car looking cool... lol.

so to immortilise this relatively rare occasion, i thought i'd play around with the camera and take a couple of photos.

My 'Lude.

ps. will post holiday photos soon!

philmog in da place

2004-06-17T16:00:00.000+12:00

so, phils proper post introduction to the list.
Been running around like a mad man of late sorting finacial bs so things are good for glastonbury. Me and james will be taking the DV cam with us and shooting some killer footage in the UK and Serbia. we leave on the 21st of june at 10:30am arriving on the 22nd june at London heathrow around 5:00am.

Stay tuned for more blog updates whoever is checking this out.

Bros Mogg do UK: Travelogue.

2004-06-14T15:05:00.000+12:00

check here for updates on our travels to UK and Serbia!

James and Phil will be travelling to Europe for three weeks to attend 2 major festivals; the Glastonbury Festival (in Glastonbury, UK), and the Exit festival (Serbia)

Leaving 21st June and returning 10th July.

Still Sussing Out Blog.

2004-06-14T13:31:00.000+12:00

Okay so this page might appear just a TAD out of style with the rest of moggey.co.nz, but please bear with us - I'm still getting to grips with the system... am working on customising the code to fit in better with the moggey style, watch this space.

Moggey Limited.

2004-05-17T13:41:00.000+12:00

yep, we're now a company... woohoo! As a company, Moggey Ltd (James and Phil) are working for Weta Digital, with a few projects on the side ;)

Easter.

2004-04-09T14:43:00.000+12:00

happy Easter to you, oh reader.

Well, I've gotten this "blogger" system up and going on moggey.co.nz so I figured I might as well add an Easter post! hmm well what's new at the moment? Its Easter weekend, and well.... I'm gonna have a mellow one. No rest for the wicked though, I'm gonna be at Weta on the Easter Friday and Monday...

More Video Nasty links

Okay, Easter could also be a good time to put out some more video nasty links, and also to take the time to send some shout-outs to those whom we met and worked with on the (ongoing) project:

Darin, you rock dude! great tunes and Phil and my self feel pretty damn fortunate to be able to work with you. Can't think of a better musical base to create animation mayhem to. Bring it on. Cindy Lee, although we haven't met in person yet, cheers to you too, respect YO!
Hamish Bell from Australia, you da man, cheers so much for being on board and going hard building that Nastyville, we can't be doing this shit without you. Same to you Jayne.
Also our crew here, Phil, Greg and Corie. Phil, the freq head is coming along awesome, and Greg, ditto for the "meth" artistry on that body model. Corie, your help on the dreadlock-dynamics is invaluable to us, thanks.

and thanks to everybody for helping develop a cohesive design for the city and character. Even though this stuff IS still in development, I feel the need to thank everybody now given the success of the show at Fabric. Choice guys. :)

now for those links:

FreQ Nasty @ Fabric:

and more Video Nasty Experience:

The Video Nasty Experience.

2004-04-09T01:12:00.000+12:00

Phil & James (along with some other people) have been collaborating with UK-based Kiwi, Darin McFadyen (aka FreQ Nasty) on an animation project titled "The Video Nasty Experience", The punters at the Fabric club in London got the first taste of this FreQ-extravaganza just last Friday, and boy, did it go off!

we will post some cool pics as soon as possible. But in the meantime, more info on FreQ Nasty (One of NZ's finest dance music exports) can be found at freQ-Nasty.com or on his record label Skint.