Arabian Productions

new site launched

2007-11-15T18:18:00.000-05:00

Just updated the website! New look, and new content coming!

Happy Announcement

2007-11-08T10:39:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to announce that I'll be relocating for the second time this year to Boston, MA once again!

And, also happy to announce, a few new endeavors...including ones I developed while in New York City.

I know its been months of promises here! But, all kindsa new stuff...sooner rather then later!

August Update

2007-08-08T18:42:00.000-04:00

I realized I hadn't updated this thing since March! And those of you who read this and not my other blogs might be thinking, hm, what's he up to?

I've relocated to New York City to work for a web-based video startup. Things are going very well, but with the transition, I haven't been able to focus at all on any of my own projects.

I will be amending this soon enough!

I changed my servers over to a linux based server which sent my domains a little haywire, so as soon as I find some time, I'll be making updates to all my different sites and projects.

Thanks for checking in!

Project Updates

2007-03-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

I will be shifting focus from Hello the Podcast, into a new podcast that will take many of the things that I learned on Hello into new form, sort of the next "level." Hello will continue, but not in the same frequency that we've seen in the past. I've got four episodes in the can that are waiting to be cut and released, after which I will begin to write this new podcast.

The Omelette a new short I completed, will be released on itsmyremotel.com this week! So look out for that!

If you guys haven't seen Kreating Karloff, it is available in its entireity on Google Video, I'd love to hear what people think of that project.

So some big stuff happening, just keep checking back!

Kreating Karloff on itsmyremote.com

2007-01-31T13:59:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know, Kreating Karloff is currently available for free viewing/downloads on itsmyremote.com as a three episode podcast.

Check it out!

The Omelet - Principal Photography Completed

2007-01-31T13:53:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I shot my first new project since Hello the Podcast and Kreating Karloff. I took the month of January off to work on some other projects and catch my breath.

The Omelet was starring Eileen and John Krupsky (John playing Old Man Garrett in Booth), and is a two minute short I'm cutting together for festival/contest entry. It's short simple, and was very fun to shoot.

Once it's completed, I'll be posting it over at itsmyremote.com so be sure to check it out.

I've got a rough cut going, after I tweak that, Gregg will be working on the extensive sound mix it needs.

lax on updates

2006-11-11T23:52:00.000-05:00

I've been pretty lax with updating the Arabian Productions blog, but itsmyremote.com has been my primary project for the past few weeks!

so for new content, check out itsmyremote.com

I'll eventually be doing an overhaul of this site as well, so check back every few weeks!

G4TechTV and Bostonist

2006-10-14T14:48:00.000-04:00

Hello the Podcast is appearing tonight (Saturday) on the show "Torrent" on Canada's G4TechTV, exciting news! They'll be airing Episode 3 from this season, "myblindmyspacedate," we hope this'll bring in a brand new wider audience to the show!

Also there was an amazing write up on an online city site called "Bostonist," probably the nicest one we've gotten so far, and they gave us 4.5 out of 5 stars!

Things are going well for the podcast!

itsmyremote.com

2006-10-06T07:24:00.000-04:00

itsmyremote.com the latest venture by myself and my colleagues!

for the past year, as many of you who follow my work know, I've been performing an experiment in IPTV (internet protocol television), so far, things have been going well. The way things are developing, it is clear that the current model of home entertainment is going to stay the same for very long. Everything is turning into on-demand content via broadband.

The biggest problem with IPTV is current US bandwith speeds, unlike most of the world, we are still limited as far as download speed goes. But this is rapidly changing, Verizon is attempting to bring fiber to the curb, albeit slowly. But this is currently of little importance, as my own model with itsmyremote.com is "build-it and they will come."

itsmyremote.com is a site that is somewhere in the middle of youtube.com and a television network. It will be a site that will host various podcasts, most of which will be on a weekly release schedule. With a blog like front page presenting the latest updated podcasts, people can tune in and download our latest original content.

Not all the content will be produced by Arabian Productions or Palfrey Hill Pictures, we are going to scout talent, and bring them into the itsmyremote.com catalog. Eventually expanding to host a wide variety of FREE, sponsor-based content.

itsmyremote.com will be launching October 12th with around four to five shows, including, "hello the podcast," a new action-horror podcast by John Macdonnell, an audio/video podcast by Phil Healy, a video podcast by Rob Liscombe, and maybe even more!

It is an exciting time, and we are just hanging on the wave! The blog for itsmyremote.com will be at itsmyremote.blogger.com, and the site itself will be at http://www.itsmyremote.com

Kreating Karloff/Hello the Podcast/Palfrey Hill Pictures Launch

2006-08-30T13:49:00.000-04:00

Kreating Karloff has launched out of the gate and has screened at two conventions as mentioned prior to so far positive response! I'll keep you posted as to what people are saying about it. I'm going to be updating the Arabian Productions.com site with some new content on Karloff, moving some news into the archive, etc.

Hello the Podcast will be launching September 8th with a new website, and obviously, a brand new episode! My goal is to hit the at least one a week schedule for the next few weeks at least until a Holiday hiatus.

Palfrey Hill Pictures has officially launched, an artists collective, it will be hosting profiles and media of frequent collaborators and friends. The site can be found at http://www.palfreyhillpictures.com.

That's all the news thats print to fit!

Wrapping Up Karloff

2006-08-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

Gregg was by early this morning, 7AM to help do one final mix of the documentary, Kreating Karloff. I'm pleased to report, that as I am writing this, the scrolling credits are rendering within Final Cut Pro. It's been a long tremulous task, but its now completed!

It will be screening at two conventions, Fanex in Baltimore, and then Worldcon in Anaheim. It'd be nice to get to one of them and see how the audience reacts. I'll be ready to tweak it as we get more feedback from folks, but I'd say I've gotten it to be the best I can within the time limit I had.

I'm definitely feeling the tiredness hit me right now, it was a long day today that started at 5:45am, so after this finishes rendering out, I'm gonna pick it up again tomorrow.

On a side note, how about this amazing weather??

Ambitious Goals

2006-08-04T17:04:00.000-04:00

I'm comin' 'round the bend with "Kreating Karloff," I'd love another month but I just don't have it! It's been quite the process taking twelve hours of interviews/b-roll and cut together a coherent interesting story. So much is on the floor but you can't have an attachment to anything, because the only thing that is important is the flow of the story.

I mean obviously it'd be great to include some stuff, and I have no doubt in my mind some of the people involved are going to be bummed, but there was so much to cram into under an hour that there was really no choice in what I did.

I'm cutting together the Karloff biography this weekend, and then adding the "sweeteners," cutaways and archival footage in the sections that require it, but I'm more or less on the last turn here.

Conor, whose brainchild this documentary was, is going to be coming down next week to take a look at the final cut and offer his input. Unfortunately, he has it screening at conventions starting the week of August 21st, offering little to no opportunity for revision, but I'm very confident in my work. There is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done, but thats just how it works!

After Kreating Karloff is over, my idle mind will shift to the second season of Hello the Podcast, where many many changes are going to take place.

Keep you posted!

-Vatche

Updates

2006-08-01T15:29:00.000-04:00

To those who keep an eye on what we're up to over here, Kreating Karloff is moving right along! Last night, in preperation for two very hot days (my editing space uses what the French call "air conditíon le natural..." I don't know French) I blasted through what I had left for the first assemble of the documentary.

I'd say I'll be hitting one hour on this one easy, my longest project since "A Look Through Hour Eyes."

Andy is heading out to the West Coast, which means no Simon in "Hello Simon," but we're cooking up something good.

Palfrey Hill Pictures is being developed into being more of an artists collective, a host to my frequent collaborators and I.

Gregg Swiatlowski, the sound guy, is doing quite well for himself down in NYC, I'll have to start paying him Union rates soon!

But the movie is looking good, and is screening at two Science Fiction conventions at the end of the month, so my deadline is creeping up! Lot's of work ahead!

IMDb wrong credit for Booth

2006-06-29T22:06:00.000-04:00

Currently over at the Internet Movie Database it lists my John Wilkes Booth short "Booth," as a Japanese horror film, starring Maiko Asano, Makoto Ashikawa, and produced by Fumiaki Furuya. However, according to the IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0778627/), it was shot here in Ipswich, MA.

Basically what happened was, there were three different Booth films, one being my own, the other, this Japanese horror film, and third, a project by some kids from a North Carolina college. My [uncomfirmed] guess is that using all the different people submitting the information, they combined them into one credit. But as we the users of IMDb seperated it (I witnessed the correct page for only one day), it got messed up again, combining my film Booth with "The Booth." Most of my colleagues names have been removed no doubt by the fans of this Japanese horror film, leaving myself, Paul Concemi, Andy, and Paul Proulx's credits.

We have all tried at different points to amend the situation to no avail. However, when I was bored and googled my name, I found this: http://www.laserdisken.dk/html/visvare.dna?vare=2039751319269237

IMDb's idiotic mistakes, have now translated to mistakes on completely different websites!! Part of me thinks this is hilarious, the other part of me is irritated, and then the other part of me gave up long ago and accepted that the IMDb will simply never get "it" right.

Anyways, thought you people might get a kick out of it.

Kreating Karloff

2006-06-19T14:47:00.000-04:00

Moving along in the post-production process, I've been tirelessly logging tapes from our weekend in CT. Things are going very well though, its going to be a fun insightful documentary into Karloff and Conor Timmis!

In other news, we're also continuing with Hello Simon! The "season" finale is going to be this week after a 2 weeks absence. Then we'll be taking a few weeks to develop some more story arcs, and we'll be back for the next version of Hello Simon!

Set Report

2006-05-21T16:47:00.000-04:00

Hey guys!

It's an Arabian Productions update! I'm down in Hamden, CT right now finishing up the documentary shoot for "Kreating Karloff," it has been quite the weekend. For those of you who may not know, Kreating Karloff is a film about Conor Timmis' (Booth) journey to become Boris Karloff, as well as about Boris Karloff himself.

The weekend has been filled with amazing people very passionate about this project, and hopefully the start of more collaborations!

A page will be implemented in the next week on Arabian Productions.com

The insanity of the weekend made it difficult to make the Monday deadline for Hello Simon. And while on that subject, a page will be going up on that as well in the next week!

Thanks for watching, and keep a look out for a trailer of some sort to start circulating online in the next month! Got a LOT of footage to work with!

Vatche

Kreating Karloff in Fangoria

2006-04-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

Things are moving quite along with this project, and I'm very excited. Got a great exciting email from Conor today linking me to this article: http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=5928

Fangoria, THE horror fan mag, its very very exciting publicity.

Things are moving fast and our shoot date is just around the corner, and I'll write a proper report soon enough.

In the meantime, go check out what simon is up to: www.hellosimon.com

The Cat is Out of the Bag

2006-04-09T09:10:00.000-04:00

Hello Simon (www.hellosimon.com) has been my project since late October. What is it? In an effort to join the world of podcasting, I created a semi-autobiographical "reality" show that would satire my life. To some success, we have a great viewer base that tunes in once a week, checking out what is going on in Simon's life.

Simon is played by Andy Kokoszka, and I narrate and co-star in this labor of love!

Why is the cat out of the bag?

Check us out in this great column by Matt Viser in the Boston Globe

An Exciting Documentary

2006-04-02T23:30:00.000-04:00

I'm currently working on a project I can't discuss in great detail, but it is a documentary produced by my good friend Conor Timmis (www.conortimmis.net).

We'll be shooting some stuff next weekend, and most of the shoot will take place sometime end of May. Yes its vague, but thats a bit more fun isn't it?

I've been working on an exciting project myself, one that I'm not ready to reveal either, its a bit of an experiment in online video. I'll link you guys some day, I can't tell you about it just because it'll ruin the nature of the project!

Longbaugh Film Festival 2006

2006-03-18T01:38:00.000-05:00

"Booth," the period short completed by Vatche Arabian last year has been selected to screen at the Longbaugh Film Festival in Portland Oregon, the screening is part of the Film Baby showcase, featuring "Booth," as well as the award-winning documentary "Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality."

For more information on this festival, log on to: http://www.longbaugh.com/2006/

Booth on GoogleVideo - Updated

2005-10-18T11:33:00.000-04:00

I wasn't entirely happy with the way Booth was looking, I recompressed it with a higher bitrate and larger dimensions so it would look much better. It will be up hopefully by the end of the day, though I can't figure out for the life of me how quickly they verify and make their videos live.

Google is a mystery but a gift at the same time.

Booth On Google Video

2005-10-17T21:00:00.000-04:00

Now I know what you're thinking, some of you at least, why put the film (yes film, not video) in its entirety on the web. Wouldn't that take away profits.

You're right, what profits, its a short student film. If you've been following our progression as I've relaunched Arabian Productions/Palfrey Hill Pictures, you'll know I've been actively seeking online distribution of our works. Well, I did it, I put "Booth," live, on the web.

Now, I have no way of knowing who watches it, so I'd love to hear what people think here on this blog, but here is the link: Google Video

If you do enjoy it, I urge you to help a struggling company, you can purchase the DVD at Film Baby.com

The Gift of Winter Behind the Scenes on Google Video!

2005-10-17T14:15:00.000-04:00

Exciting news! The Gift of Winter "Making of" is now available for streaming on GoogleVideo! I see this as the wave of the future, Google is providing an amazing service for filmmakers such as myself looking to distribute their content via web.

Check it out here

Web Distribution - New Name

2005-10-14T09:23:00.000-04:00

The biggest challenge of online film/video distribution through websites is this whole "bandwith" issue. Currently with GoDaddy.com, I'm allotted 25 gigs of bandwith monthly, which is a lot when you think about it, but when you start getting into the realm of video distribution, it becomes a bit difficult.

The project I'm working on that we shot two weeks ago is something I'm looking to distribute strictly through this website. It'd be nice if we had enough followers to host through bit torrent, but that won't happen any time soon.

Big announcement, I'm actually changing the name of my company! Drum roll please...Palfrey Hill Pictures. It's official, I've purchased the domain, though our servers will remain as arabianproductions.com, as well as our email addresses. The web artwork, and subsequently, the title of this blog will slowly begin to take form as the new title comes into effect.

I welcome you to Palfrey Hill Pictures.

End of Principal Photography

2005-10-01T21:06:00.000-04:00

Principal Photography of this latest project was completed, in all we recorded about 50 minutes of footage, with around 65-75 shots completed. Real run and gun movie-making. We sat down at the end and watched out footage.

Stick around, there's more coming at you.

Calm Before the Storm

2005-09-30T13:02:00.000-04:00

The last props needed for my new project were purchased last night, in the wee hours of the morning I organized all of them. The project is ready to go, should be a very exciting weekend, stay tuned for more updates!

Preproduction

2005-09-26T11:12:00.000-04:00

I wanted to officially announce that I am currently prepping two short subject pieces, similar in subject matter will begin shooting later this week. I won't say much about them but I will say this, it is not my intention to discuss why I've picked the focus of my next two pieces, or my stance on the subjects. One of them is simply fiction, the second is simply a social commentary.

I'm very excited for both these pieces and hope they will stir much conversation. Upon its completion I offer this blog as a forum to discuss the pieces, though I will abstain from conversation, I will be happy to moderate the forum.

Booth on DVD

2005-09-21T23:27:00.000-04:00

In an effort to fundraise for our next three projects, we have placed Booth online for purchase at Film Baby.com, you can find the site here.

Check it out, they've placed a very low quality preview for streaming. We see this more as a donation to our organization, since we aren't quite making any sort of profit at this point.

September Updates

2005-09-14T08:07:00.000-04:00

Vatche here...

I wanted to let everyone know that I've completed and graduated from Fitchburg State College with a bachelor's in Communications Media with a concentration on film. I want to let you know that the next few months are going to be quite busy for my collaborators and I. We currently have set a goal to release three new shorts of vastly different genres by 2006.

Please keep watching, and don't forget to check out The Gift of Winter Featurette!

The Gift of Winter Featurette

2005-08-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

In an effort to make more content available, I created a downloadable version of a featurette I cut together from video that Roger Roy shot while we were making The Gift of Winter back in the Fall of 2003. It is a short four minute long piece that gives you the spirit, and shows you some of the people that were involved in putting together the ambitious period short for our video class.

The Gift of Winter was shot on a Panasonic DVX-100A, a camera that shoots video in 24P giving things that "film" look, despite that it is being shot on miniDV. I'm very happy that I finally had some time to put this thing on the web, since there are many people who've never see The Gift of Winter, its still one of my favorites in my own work, just because it was so fun to shoot.

The featurette gives you some insight on our rather ambitious set, and the painting Nikolai Getman, a former Gulag prisoner that inspired the look we chose for the production design. Nikolai Getman died August 29, 2004 in Orel, Russia.

Welcome to the Arabian Productions Blog

2005-08-10T11:59:00.000-04:00

To jump on the whole Blog bandwagon, I felt that this would be best way to provide information, updated quickly and efficiently for those interested in my work. This blog also coincides with the "relaunch" of Arabian Productions.com in a new simpler, streamlined format, and hosted on all new (hopefully better) servers.

I will be receiving my B.S. in Communications shortly from Fitchburg State College, and am prepping a short to go into production in September.

Hope you all enjoy the new site!