Welcome to Scenario RETROfilm. I’ve done, redone or salvaged over 400 8mm films and videos. Here are a few projects that I’d like to share.
POSERS
(Coming soon!)
This is a work-in-progress for my next stop-motion film.
2018 Rasta Wars: Episode IV – A New Dope
Video | Script
A sci-fi comedy musical action thriller. Like Aqualung, this was another 200-foot Super 8 reel with selected scenes from 1977’s blockbuster Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. This film was silent, but it is in color. It synced brilliantly with “Kozmik” by Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers.
2018 Aqualung
Video | Script
This was a 200-foot Super 8 reel, from the 1976 film “Mako: Jaws of Death.” I’m working on an all-new soundtrack, complete with ridiculous dialogue. Think “Bad Lip Reading.” And it just happens to be the same length as Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung.”
2016-11-08 Unhinged.
Video
My first original score, laid over some demolition derby video I shot in Wyoming. But I imagine this is what goes on inside our President’s head every day.
1983 Study Hard
Video | Script
A work-in-progress with acting so bad that I pulled the plug in mid-production. The screenplay was written by Darren Johnson but I can’t find him years later to record his voiceover parts. But I think this film can be salvaged as a cautionary tale.
1982 Headrush
Video | Script | Original Short Story
Some of my animated and experimental films, set to music by The Police and Rush at age 20. My original screenplay, which won some acclaim at CSUN and was occasionally called a “masterpiece,” was destroyed by my mother. I was getting was pretty good at stop-motion animation but I still struggled with studio lighting with my older Super 8 camera. The composite scenes were always intended, but the technology didn’t really exist when I was a kid. But with Final Cut Pro X today, nearly anything is possible as you’ll see.
1980 Graveyard Shift
Video | Script
Working title: The McDonaldland Horror. Starring Matt Mead in his breakout role as both a 19-year-old and a 56-year-old grill master. With Justin Finestone, Steve Krenik and Paul Elkort as “Big Mac,” and Joel Adler too. The story of one young man’s horrific consumption by Corporate America — and vice versa. The original soundtrack was just a cassette tape with me plinking random piano notes. The new soundtrack and telecine transfer are much, much goopier now.
1979 McDonald’s: Turned Inside Out
Video | Script
“Nobody can do it, like McDonald’s can.” And it’s a wonder we never got fired, doing it… Starring Justin Finestone, Steve Krenik, Gary ?, Chris Wilcox, Matt Mead, Allen Schlesinger, Shawn Tinoco, Timothy Smith?, Anne Adlin, Paul Elkort, Cheryl Quattlebaum, Chris Crowell, Joel Adler, Debbie Pearson, Ellie Feder, Chad ?, The Filet Lady, Steve Greuter, Laurie & Tony Kelly. I’ve recently reconnected with a few of these Not Ready for Primetime Players.
1978 The Mr. Bill Show: The Trainee
Video | Script
This was my first stab at filmmaking. I was just 16, so naturally I mimicked something that was popular at the time. This was my take on the cult classic “Mr. Bill” — if he and his dog Spot had worked at McDonald’s in Westlake Village, CA. The original soundtrack was lost to time. It was basically me ripping off Walter Williams’ Saturday Night Live bit on my cassette tape recorder: “Oh nooooooooo!” But I’ve added a new and improved soundtrack, with voiceovers too.