IN MY OWN WORLD
MY CAREER
I've worked in the film industry for several years now. Here's some of my most notable experience:
AMERICAN IDOL -I worked as a Production Assisant doing crowd control for the season 8 San Francisco auditions.Getting to work on the number one T.V. show in the world was pretty cool.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA - I worked as a Set Decorator on this Spielberg production. This was the highest profile film I've worked on.
HATCHED - I designed, sculpted and produced the masks for the lead character in this short film. This was the most significant work I've done on someone else's project. Here's the trailer: There are some pictures of the masks on my 'Costumes and Make-Up' page.
THE DARK FOREST - I did Concept Art and Special Effects Make-Up for this Horror film set in Finland. (my grandfather's homeland!) This was also the most pleasant experience I've ever had working on a film, hands down.
NET-RAIDERS - I Wrote, Produced, Acted, Puppeteered, Voiced, did Stunts and Choreography, Designed and Built Sets, Props and Special Effects, and even did Make-Up for this ambitious project. Check it out:
MY FANTASY MODELING AND OTHER STRANGE HOBBIES
It's good to know talented photographers. I'm friends with at least three. To one of them, photography is a science, to another it's art, but to DANNY, it's just natural. All of these pictures were taken by DANNY, the most prolific of my phographer friends.
The vast majority of my shoots are fantasy shoots, and have me either dressed as some character or at least with some sort of theme (ancient weapons, barbarian, etc.)
In high school, my friends and I would get together and make a new short film nearly every weekend. No we weren't antisocial, moody artists; (well... sometimes) we were just having fun. We called our group ANONYMOUS. 90% of our movies were wacky comedies for which we had written no script, but instead improvised (testing our varied comedic styles) our parts based on vague notions and once-throughs. Much of what came of this was absolute crap, but a surprising percentage were genuinely funny, if not good. Perhaps I'll post sample videos when I'm able...
Possibly the strangest of my hobbies originated on New Year's Eve, and owes itself entirely to the immediate availability of Vodka, Mexican Wrestling masks, and a video camera. Yes, my friends and I brought in the new millennium with a buzz! We donned multi-colored masks and videotaped comedic wrestling matches in my garage, (heretofore refered to as Madison Square Garage) giving birth to an organization that would survive for several years. This was the BACK ALLEY RASSLIN' FEDERATION. (B.A.R.F.) Let me clarify: we weren't like the Backyard groups that celebrated recklessness, claiming to be 'hardcore,' quite the opposite, we wrestled solely for comedic value. After a while we became fairly accomplished wrestlers, and were able to put on a Hell of a match, but always with comedy. Again the thought of sample videos crosses my mind...
Any article about me would be incomplete without mentioning my most outstanding obsession...
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE is the only thing I collect. (though I don't consider myself a collector, because I play with 'em!) When the line was revamped in 2002, I began watching the superbly structured (by MIKE YOUNG PRODUCTOINS) animated series, collecting the beautifully sculpted (by the FOUR HORSEMEN) new figures, and the thoughtfully written (by MV-CREATIONS) comic. I draw pictures and write stories invovling the MASTERS; even my interest in physical fitness stems from those little plastic dudes. God bless America.
MY CARTOONS AND THE FUTURE
I've recently worked as a professional animator. Here's the animation test I did to get the job:
I animated a music video for Ari Zucker:
This is the first commercial I animated. I did the characters, my partner Robert did the backgrounds.
And here's the next ad we did for the dealership. This one we actually wrote, too.
Mark and Christopher Bodybuilding
I've been making custom masks and toys for people, (myself included) and will continue with any free time I have. I have many ideas for comics I'd like to do (self-publish) but they'll have to wait until I can spend some time developing them. I also have a 105 page script (written with my friend DREW) for a film that could make us a lot of money, but it's still uncertain, and we can't talk about it until we tie up some loose ends.