Comic-Con

Happy Thursday Everyone! As many of you know, last week was the San Diego Comic-Con. Every year I go down to San Diego and I spend Comic-Con weekend with my very good friend Matthew Shirk. This weekend always makes me nostalgic. Before I became a filmmaker, I, with all my heart, wanted to be a comic book artist. So the Con is a great way to remember that beloved genre and my first story telling love. Secondly, when I made the transition from comic books to filmmaking, Matt Shirk was a huge support, and was in every film I made for about a year or so. In the weeks leading up to Comic-Con I started remembering what it was like starting out as a filmmaker. The first little film I made was a Kung Fu short with my little sisters Brianna and Callie. We shot it on 8mm with a camera from the Community College, and stole the soundtrack from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The biggest influence for me to go into filmmaking was Jackie Chan movies. His films had an amazing focus, and the time they took making the fight scenes perfect was so fascinating to me, I wanted to be a part of that. I recently heard a quote from Joshua Jackson of Fringe; he said, “I would rather strive for the best and not quite get there than strive for mediocrity and achieve it.” So in full on nostalgia mode, I started looking at some of my old projects and thought about what it was like to be out in an alleyway, in San Luis Obispo, in the rain with all my friends making a Batman movie. Or choreographing a fight scene with Matt or Brianna. It was a satisfying moment when I came to the conclusion that filmmaking it is just as fun and inspiring as it was back then. The cameras are better, there is more equipment, maybe more people, but it is still just as fun.
So with all of these thoughts about where I started and the joy of filmmaking, I decided to share with you my BATMAN MOVIE. Out of respect for my younger self I will show you the project as-is, grainy footage, bad edits, music dropping out at the wrong moment, and all. I had to fight myself not to take it all a re-edit a new version for you and maybe some day I will. But until then I am proud to present Batman First Knight. Enjoy!