The @Ash_Innovator Blog

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SIMPLE... I see shit, I like it I post it. I make short films, music videos, web content and guess what... I post that too.

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“METICULOUS is the ultimate expression of my frustration towards an industry that has rejected me time & time again.” - Ash Innovator

Since I began my journey as a filmmaker, it has been consistently difficult to gain any serious traction. I will go beyond using the word difficult & say, since I began my journey I haven’t had any traction. I fund my own creative projects, through the work I do for small clients, individuals, micro businesses & fortune 250 companies. However, the work comes few & far between.

As time has progressed & I have become more seasoned, one would think the rewards of my efforts would consistently put me closer to advancing my career. Well, many years after my first film, I feel as though I’m merely slightly above stage 1.

I have been to countless meetings, negotiation talks, entertained inquiries & nothing ever seems to come to fruition. I have even put my career aside for a bit, when I did my stint at MTV & still I just didn’t seem to ever get my feet on the ground there either. After my viral success w/“Way Too Cold”, gaining nearly 4 million YouTube views, one would have thought at least a hand full of opportunities would have presented themselves. There were none. I have reached out to countless reps, agents, advertising companies, music video commissioners & I can’t get passed the gatekeeper (the dreadful assistant). I’ve sent multiple emails, to people for whom I have actually gotten email addresses. For the most part, I haven’t gotten a response. Those that did respond (maybe two people) simply showed no interest. Oh how I HATE REJECTION.

2010, As I first conceptualized METICULOUS, I was extremely frustrated. All I could think of was the state of my career…everything I wasn’t doing…all the opportunities I didn’t have. The feeling of rejection I was experiencing was all too reminiscent of rejection from members of the
opposite sex. The feeling you get when you finally muscle up the courage to ask out the girl you’ve been eyeing for the last few months & she turns you down. That feeling.

METICULOUS is the ultimate expression of my frustration towards an industry that has rejected me time & time again. This was my way to get back at the film industry. A woman that exudes sex appeal represents the film industry. Her acts of self-mutilation express my frustration. In a crude manner, the face value of this film devalues her vagina, something men naturally find so valuable. This film has nothing to do w/self-mutilation, or her vagina for that matter. But the parallel of this film & my experiences work in cohesion, as I find the film industry very valuable & through my frustration of rejection I want to lash out, because it will not accept me. Artistically, METICULOUS is my way of lashing out.

The most realistic & soul bashing aspect of this film is the way she walks off, as if nothing happened, which indeed is another representation of my lashing out. METICULOUS may have no affect on the industry, but hopefully some can appreciate the film.

So one thing about me, and people that have worked with me will tell you I am very anal about the work I produce.  If it’s for myself, it won’t be released until it’s right.  So I sent my most recent project to a company in Arizona, why all the way there… Because they offered me the best rate… DUH! Money is an issue here.  First of all I sent them a time code of effects I needed done, they told me they could do it, told them the color grade I wanted done, they told me they could do it.  I refuse to name names here because I don’t slander people (unless I have to) So they send me a rough cut, it looks like shit! Plus it’s missing a crap load of needed effects. So I say, hey what happened to the other 20 things I requested for, “I told you I would do my best”. No, you told me everything on my list looks good and you could knock it out.

Long story short, they aren’t that good and I will refuse to let them do my color grade.  So I go on line and google search some of the best colorists in the world, by now I’m turned off from my initial request anyway, so I know I need the best in the business to help me come up with an innovative/creative look.  I found a guy bythe name of Brian Buongiorno, and boy is he good.  I emailed him, he emailed me back, we had some good dialogue, he saw the film…

Due to the GRAPHIC NATURE of my short film, he refused to work on it.  It’s okay, I have gotten that response in the past.  But God, I want to work with this guy soo bad.  My next short is called “Innovator” I’m creating a NEW look for that one so I’ll be sure to get him on that… If he agrees!

But check out Brian’s work, he’s an innovator, a creative genius and I hope to be part of his creative world at some point in time!

As for now, it looks like I may be working with a colorist by the name of Eric Alvarado at Prime Focus, thanks to a good friend of Mine Matt Luxenberg who is the sales manager there.  He’s been hooking me up since my NYU days, I love him!

So, I frequently search Twitter to find things that inspire me.  I ran into a director by the name of Greg Williams, his twitter name is @GVisuals.  What I like about him is he seems to be following the Hype Williams play book.  His work closely parallel’s Hype’s style, at least his older style.  But he does it with a more modern flare.  World renowned director Mark Pellington emailed me and told me, to find a director you like and RIP their style, eventually it will become your own.  That was the most sound advice I ever had.

For lack of anything else to post, I’m adding a few things, none of which I’m extremely proud of nor matches my more current visual style.  I have much more to add in the near future, projects In post some in conception that I’ll be releasing very soon.  But for now Here is something of mine!

The thing about this project, I think the script was AWESOME!  We didn’t have much money and I destroyed the film before we even began shooting.  The thing about me which I am learning, more so after being around patient friends of mine such as @Bklyn_Bbach and @JonGrayNY is that haste makes waste.  I set a shoot day in mind and I was going to shoot that day no matter how prepared or unprepared I was.  I blew through 300 grand and I deployed sub-par direction.  I should have been more diligent and patient with my casting (I’ll probably get a lot of grief for saying that).  At one point I really wanted to finish this movie, but honestly now, I just want to move on to something else, something that reflects my innovative talents as this COULD have done if I would have relaxed and did what I do best.  The week before my production Attika Torence called me and said, you’re not ready to begin production.  You can either waste the the $2,000.00 you spent on your casts air fare and get this amazing script right or you can waste your whole production budget and never have anything. 

Well Attika, you were right.  But I do have something…. A freaking trailer, lol!