The Tragedy of Petey Pompeii |
The film stars Rene Michelle Aranda and Taylor Stone. This film was shot to prepare me for my full length script "After The Storm." The short can be found on Vimeo. Written and Directed by Mark Anthony Smith. Shot and edited by Skyler Gonzalez, music by Lindsey Whitener, and Produced by Caffeine High Productions in association with RoxxiStudios.
The Hip & The Sternum
My first attempt at a web series led to The Hip and the Sternum. They are a terrible Hipster band. A bunch of musicians who can't really sing, can't really play instruments, and aren't even real hipsters. But they are a fun crazy group of people. We were really terrible at playing live. But it's all a work in progress.
The First Incarnation of the series never made it to the web.
This picture is of our original cast, including myself. on the end with the sunglasses and guitar.
The First Incarnation of the series never made it to the web.
This picture is of our original cast, including myself. on the end with the sunglasses and guitar.
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Our newest production of the Hip and the Sternum made it through production. Written/Directed by Mark Anthony Smith, shot by Daniel Roxburgh, edited by Destiney Haddox, music by Lindsey Whitener, and wardrobe by Lauren Alexa.
The series features Sam Krumrine, Katie Hemming, Lindsey Whitener, Summer Stratton, Nicole Stoehr, Anthony Garcia, and Lindsey Jean Roetzel as Stevie Wynn. |
The Hip and the Sternum 2016 |
Beware! The White Monster!
Is a Mockumentary inspired by 1950's propaganda films and also my obsession with Ed Wood Pictures. Although, "Beware! The White Monster!" did not find an audience, it is one of my more prouder moments. This film came out exactly the way I wanted it to. For all it's good moments and bad moments-- what I saw in my mind is what you see on screen. This production not only gave me the confidence in myself as a director, but was the first time I learned to separate myself from Director and Writer. I learned to cut out my "amazing" dialogue and understand that I must cut and make sure the story is being told. As I watch this cut, I still believe that this film has much more room from cutting. And in our final cut I did cut more from this version. Especially when Suzie and Bobby do their own take on Lorena and John Wayne Bobbit .
Film poster designed by Steve Fata
Film poster designed by Steve Fata
Part 2
SUC IT IVEL
Say it backwards—SUC IT IVEL— or say it backwards as in Leviticus. After attending a college filled with homophobia and overwhelming Bible Study Students, I was asked to write a script about this growing homophobia. I had three nights and two days to write, cast, direct and give them time to edit—it was quite the task! Yet one morning I woke up and pulled out my Bible and blew off its dusty pages. I was desperate for inspiration. And after reading Leviticus, I realized that reading it backwards spelled, “Suc It Ivel”. Kinda… So there was my inspiration to create a film about two lost souls seeking salvation through three pretty, well kept nut jobs who claimed to know the Word. This film was submitted through the California Campus Movie fest along with such schools as Emerson, UCLA, USC and many more through out the state. Although it didn’t go well at Cal Poly Pomona, my own school—Who knew that Campus Movie Fest was run by each school’s ASB committee. At Cal Poly, ASB is also the same crazy kids that ran Christian Fellowship for Christ. They did not like our satire of Religious oppression. But Campus Movie Fest liked our film so much that they brought us to San Francisco for their film festival as a “Wild Card” and nominated our actress Danielle Gonazales for best Actress. Our three day production was a success!
SUC IT IVEL | Nominated for Best Actress (Danielle Gonzales) and Wild Card at Campus Movie Fest California.
SKITTLES - 2007
My first attempt at a short film. Skittles was inspired by my love for the surreal and abstract. A film about why things must be normal—but in this film nothing was normal at all. It was a love triangle between a Drug Induced Cross Dresser, a Sexually obsessed Nun, and a coke dealer Clown. The Cross Dresser, Simon—loved the Nun—Delores. Delores loved the Clown—Mortimer. And the Clown loved no one. And well the Devil? Yes, he just kind of showed up. Skittles, which was first titled “what the fuck?” was a favorite at the Campus Movie Fest for Los Angeles, CA. We were nominated for costume design and won for Most Unique Moment… which the ENTIRE film was nominated. And by far the best character was my friend Herbert Sam Soto as The Clown! Make up was such an amazing job by Hazel Lopez!
SKITTLES | Nominated for Most Unique Moment (Entire Film) and Costume (Hazel Lopez) at Campus Movie Fest L.A.
POISON TO THE BRAIN
A STUDENT FILM - THE NEVER BEEN FINISHED FULL LENGTH FEATURE- BUT ALMOST FINISHED
The one film that still breaks my heart. It wasn't the greatest film ever made. I never did a rewrite. I just wrote an 80 page script and shot it. It was fun. It was horrifying. It was almost never finished. We shot on the Cal Poly Pomona Campus. One day we shot from 11am to 4am. We shot at a home full of pot heads and kittens. Yes, Pot heads who had a litter of Kittens. There is even one moment where someone is being knived to death and in the background a kitten's paw swipes from under a door. I think we left that clip in the actual rough cut. We had masked and bloodied actors dressed as Cross Dressers, UFC Fighters, Dorothy on Acid, and Hooker like Porn Stars. One night a random friend stopped by the house on shrooms and almost had a heart attack. There was a guy who would walk around and offer everyone hits of his bong after every take. This was maybe what one would think happened on a John Waters set. But really.. It was a group of passionate actors on a journey that we thought would never finish, but we took the chance. We finished the film. Sadly the editing process just never completely finished. It is something I don't like to talk with people about. My closest friends worked on this project and in the process I met new friends. It was an amazing experience. And I take pride in the fact that it got finished. I sat in an editing room for hours, five to six days a week. While finishing my last semester of school, working as an AD on a main stage show, and dealing with my grandfather's death, who was the biggest supporter of my films. This was the most painful time of my life. And I started editing the film on my own, not even knowing the difference between a Mac and PC-- I was that bad with computers. But I asked a lot of questions. And learned a lot about editing. Especially with the fact that post is the most difficult part of film production. Don't forget to hug your editor.