The Underdevelopment Podcast

I know it has been awhile since I’ve talked to all of you. Hell I know theres probably only about 10 of you who still check this site. For that I want to thank you for still being interested in what I have to say and the films that I make but I just want to give you a update of what has been going on.

A year has come and gone. I know that happened about a month ago but a lot of things are changing for me. I am still in australia finishing up my second semester here before heading back to the states to to completely finish up my degree along with shoot my senior thesis film which I am currently writing.

Within a very short period of time I’ve had to become a adult quicker and quicker. Alot of things are going on behind the scenes for me but I want to let a few things be known

1. I will be shutting down this site at some point. This is for a variety of reasons. Back when I started this site and the podcast/blog is was perfect for me at the time. I didn’t need to change anything but now with the comments system being beyond saveing. Along with newer needs I shall be moving to a new domain. This address will redirect to the new site so there is nothing to worry about. The podcast feed sadly will change. For a short period of time I will keep this feed and the new feed up but after certain point you will have to re-subscribe.

2. The format of the podcast will change with the site move. The vlog style of thing worked great for these past 2 years but its time I present something more professional to reflect my work. How the show will change is unsure. There are a varity of formats I am playing with but at this time I do not know the format of the show myself.

I wish to talk about other things but for various reasons I am unable to speak on these matters. To those of you who have stuck with my from the beginning I thank you very much. Without you all as a audience I would be unable to do what I have done. From working with some of the greats within the podcasting space to the Parsec nomination. I thank you all.

If you have any questions or comments about the changes that will be happening to the site feel free to email me at bsweichsel (at) mac.com or DM or @ me on twitter under @bsweichsel

Some of you may follow #filmswithbrent the weekly madness, where myself and who ever cares to join. Live tweet a film as we watch it. Before I go into the meat of this post I have someone I would greatly like to thank.

Kate Sherrod of Suppertime Sonnets was the frist partipcent in the #filmswithbrent and she conviced me to do it weekly. She has been at almost every #filmswithbrent even ones that I have failed to make. So #filmswithbrent is as much hers as it is mine.

Now onto the meat. I am going to Gold Coast, Australia next Wednesday to start my study abroad. Due to this and wanting to get my head on straight before I start tackleing things, #filmswithbrent is going to take a brief hiatus. We should be back in about 3-4 Weeks.

p.s. If this post makes no sense I am sorry. I am sicker then a pile of vomit out of a zombies gullet. If you want to send me hate mail and the like email me at bsweichsel@mac.com

So tonight at 10pm EST We will be doing another #filmswithbrent Pretty much how it works is I along with anyone else who cares to join. We start the film at 10 and live tweet it as we go with the hashtag #filmswithbrent to track them. Warning there will be spoilers from the film tweeted so if you don’t want to see spoilers don’t follow. Hope to see all of you guys there!

This sunday at talkshoe We shall be restarting the CUT Series of show. To start it off right I will be joined by Kyle, Donna, and a special guest Phi Rossi.

Thats Right Phil Mother fucking Rossi. Be there or be a lame duck. Also this

via Zina Saunders

Brace yourself

I have been nominated for a parsec award in the best video category

That is pretty much happened to my mind when I found out. This is a huge honor on my part. The Parsec Awards are a celebration of the best speculative fiction podcasting. Just two examples of Parsec Nominated Filmmakers, Earl Newton of Stranger Things and Jerome Oliver of Missing Pages . Good company to be in.

I There is still much work to be done, I have to submit various footage from 3 of my shows that were originally released in between may 1st of 2008, and April 30th 2009. If you the three have anything that you think would make a particular good entry into this. Please let me know via a comment on this post

I am so fucking pumped.

I know this event was way back in the beginning of May but I just had a chance to post the photos. Balticon photos will be coming shortly. Enjoy!

Just uploaded some promo stills of Battle Not to help out my poster designer. I figured the three of you would be interested in seeing them. Enjoy!

If you want to see the high quality versions of these plese just follow this link for all the gritty black and white gas mask goodness

I am allmost done post production for my final film which has the production title of “Darwin’s Wet Dream” More on that later. A rough cut without foley or fully finished sound was shown to my class on tuesday. The critique was a equal mix of good and bad. Alot to work off of to improve the final product which has to be presented by May 6th at 10pm. Along with other work I have done this semester.

Have just started with the outline for my 5-8 page paper that is due monday. Still need to do my 2 page film paper. Things are nuts. I have had no time to even think of a title for the film project. The production name “Darwin’s Wet Dream” came from me talking to my DP and good friend Matt Duffy . I don’t want to go into details but I was talking about the various themes in the project and some very rough ideas on where I could get names from. Well he said Darwin’s Wet Dream, he meant it as a joke but I decided what the hell why not. So during the entire shoot on the slate it said “Darwin’s Wet Dream”. It’s pretty funny to go through the footage and hear something like

Darwin’s Wet Dream Basement Scuffle Scene 1.2 take 3

And things along those lines. Nothing quite like it let me tell you. Some things I’ve realized while working on this project. 1. I am capable with a little planning of creating quite amazing worlds. 2. I need to have backup plans for my back up plans for those back up plans. And then other contingency plan. So many things went wrong with this film before we shot a single frame. That being said It all worked out amazingly well. 3. The rest of my projects are going to be scenes that would take place in the context of a larger film/ series of films. I don’t want to make one shot shorts for my career. I want to make features and I am quite interested in sequetional/long form story telling.

If things could work and I continue to work them this film could be the first thing I send out for festivals. Quite Exciting.

People often ask me why I make all of my films genre films (sci-fi, useing monsters, horror, etc etc). Some people think that I am not even interested in artistic expression because if I was why would I make my films this way? Do something simpler make it about your life, or don’t go for something out in left field do something that is right in front of you. Make something that really stretches you as a artist. These are all things people have told me.

Part of the reason I think like this is that I use monsters, technology, fear, and all of these things as metaphors in my films. I use if for two reasons. I can’t write directly about my life it’s to close to personal. There are walls that I have up that I don’t let people pass. I write through my characters sometimes dealing with my problems via the script. I have one or two scripts that are directly the product of this. The second reason is that using metaphors lets me deal with issues that people other wise won’t look at because they think its silly or not a issue in any way. I show extremes with this sort of work to show you what could happen with these issues. One I often deal with is transhumanism. Which brings me to Casshern

WARNING ABOUT TO GET VERY GEEKY