Berkeley Film Festival
Grand Festival
Pioneer In
Television Award
2011
Remi Award Winner Worldfest Houston
2009 - 2010 -2011
2009 EMPixx Awards
Telly Awards 2006-2007-2008-2009-2010
2008 & 2009
Communicator Awards
Omni Intermedia Awards
2007-2008-2009
Millennum Awards
2006-2007-2008
Marcom Award
2007-2008-2009
2010-2011-2012
2013-2014
W3 Media Awards
2008/2009
2007/2008/2009 Aegis
Finalists and Winners
Accolade Award Winner
2007-2008-20010
Arizona Assn. of Black Journalists Diversity Winner
2008/2009
Arizona Press Club Winner
Ed Sharpe,
The Glendale Daily Planet:
Use of Online Media
"Cesar E. Chavez 2007"
Berekeley Film Festival
2006-2007-2008-
2009-2010-2012
Media Achievement Awards
2008/09 Finalists and Winners - DV Awards
CouryGraph
Productions
CALIFORNIA
HISTORICAL RADIO SOCIETYIS PLEASED TO HONOR
EDWARD
A. SHARPE
WITH THE
CHARLES D. 'DOC' HERROLD
AWARDFOR
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTIN
THE PRESERVATION AND DOCUMENTATIONOF
EARLY RADIO.
BY
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1992:
Close
To Home -
-A
visual treat for Veterans Day -
Close
To Home is the video Naked-Cactus-Productions
made for the 2009 A3F Film festival. The rules for the contest was
that it had to be done in one shot and in 48 hours. There were
three required guidelines to follow, the theme had to be "A
Second Chance" the prop was a watch and the line of dialogue
we had to use was "That was easier then I thought."
They were awarded 'Best use of the required dialogue' and placed
7th overall.
The
Making of - 'Close
To Home' -
By
Ed Sharpe - Glendale Daily Planet - 11/5/2009
Photos
- Naked-Cactus-Productions
-A
visual treat for Veterans day -
Close
to Home was produced by Naked Cactus productions, a
group formed by students and teachers from Collins
College.
This
was not their first project, as a previous film, Spinning
Out,was
a collaborative effort with students and instructor
Ryan Nobe at Collins College. The group grew, added
instructors Vic
Barrow and Robert Agee plus 25 students which now comprise
what we know as Naked Cactus Productions. We can
expect great things from this group judging by this early
work of that inspires patriotism and a sense
of community coupled with good production values and a
creative approach.
In
this production of Close to Home, Adrian
Marin, DP and Executive Producer tell us, "Naked
Cactus was created by students and two of instructors,
Robert Agee and Vic Barrow. Not everyone who
worked on the festival was part of Naked Cactus, but are
good friends and hard working students. "
But... how did all
this come about? Follow along ...
Alexander
Volek, a
Collins student for
2 ˝ years, and director of Close to Home stated,
" Close to Home stated,"Our DP and Executive Producer for the one shot,
Anthony Garrido, suggested during a preproduction
meeting for the Arizona student film festival that we
wait on that for a few weeks and go for the 48hour A3F
one-shot challenge. We all agreed and decided to
enter with about seven people from our crew we formed
our team and with our teachers blessing we entered under
Naked Cactus. "
None
of the contestants know until the final announcement
what the prop will be, the line you have to use and the
genre that will be assigned.
Director
Volek
explained, "We
did brainstorm a few ideas before the challenge.
We worked on these scripts in hopes to adapt them, which
is taking a risk, because as the crew would joke ' what
if the theme is something like road trip we will have to
think of a new idea from scratch?'"
Not
everything is relates to the crew and the group needed
to obtain actors, location and equipment.
'Close
to Home' Director Alexander
Volek (L) gives some final instructions before
the camera rolls...
Volek
elaborates, "Right before the challenge we
pulled a couple of students that just started school
recently onto the crew one of them being Victor Bufford,
who came through with most of the cast. Most of them
were family and our main actor Lance Huff who was his
friend. After competing with all the other Collins
College groups for some equipment we got what we needed.
Our most important things being our camera the Panasonic
HVX 200a and the doorway dolly. We also used a
steady cam courtesy of Robert Agee. "
The
first test for success was to make given details
and brainstormed ideas match up...
Director
Volek
continues,
"We
went to the party Friday night got our lines prop, and
genre - and
the guidelines fit perfect!
, we adapted our script pretty quick and called it a
night meeting at 8am the next morning on location. The
neighborhood we filmed in was crewmember Chris
Sheffields girlfriends’. We cleared it with the
neighborhood watch and started our process. "
Camera movement is important...
you can't just zoom the lens in and out!
On location, note the
camera on steadycam and cameraman on dolly...
"First
Anthony and myself went down the street from the crew and
started brainstorming for about an hour experimenting with
the camera and exact location. We had several idea for
Anthony to film, first to film with steady cam while
walking another holding it in the bed of a truck or
standing or more like surfing on the dolly. After deciding
on the dolly we got Lance out there and started blocking
it out for a while then we brought in the rest of the cast
about thirty minutes later."
"After
blocking, timing, experimenting, and rewriting the script
a little we took a break for lunch with about 10
rehearsals and a few test shots under our belts. After
reviewing the footage we made some slight adjustments and
got back to it. That’s when we ran into our first real
problem of the day, we had forgotten to bring the boom
pole so with some quick thinking two gobo arms were put
together to form about a six foot metal boom pole, poor
Adrian our sound guy was hurting pretty bad that night. "
Camera Operator - Anthony Garrido
Two gobo arms - form a six foot metal boom
pole
Having
great actors always makes things go better!
Volek
explained, "Once
we got filming we did very well especially our actor who
almost never messed up it was mostly timing issues and
ambient sounds such as planes dogs and cars that ruined
most of the takes. After working till about four thirty we
had the take we ended up using but decided to go for
another just to see if we could get it better. Well we
didn’t due to a grumpy neighbor who was getting a little
tired of us, but we knew we had our shot so we packed up
and left."
Post
Production - The next challenge.. Many times teams are
rendering out the final footage just minutes before the
deadline to turn it in!
The project in the edit
bay...
"That
night we did our color correction, which for us was a
little bold, but we wanted to take a risk and stand out so
we did, their hair may be green but watch a lot of
blockbuster movies like transformers so are there’s.
Sunday at noon we met back up for audio, we had a lot of
problems finding a song, which we ended up buying for 60
bucks because it was so perfect. Once we finished Anthony
took it and I believe delivered it at about 6pm. "
Alexander
Volek, director of 'Close to Home' concludes, "Overall
we had a really good time our crew is great and we work
really well together. Over the course of the challenge our
hopes grew bigger and bigger. First we just wanted to beat
out our student competitors, and then we decided we wanted
top twenty, then top ten, then top five. The day of the
show we were hoping for the win! "
The
final results? Outstanding! The team won the
award for Best use of Line and the film placed 7th
in the lineup of films.
Close
to Home Credits:
Executive Producer - Anthony Garrido
Producer - Alexander Volek, Chris Clark
Line Producer - Hector J. Gonzales
Casting - Victor Bufford Jr.
Writers - Cris "Zombie" Hernandez, Chris Sheffield, Dave Ayres
Director - Alexander Volek
Director of Photography - Anthony Garrido
1st AD - Cris "Zombie" Hernandez
1st AC - Chris Clark
Camera Operator - Anthony Garrido
Still Photography - Chris Clark, Victor Bufford Jr.
Gaffer - Garritt Jimenez
Key Grip - Roy Pena
Audio/Boom Operator - Adrian Marin, Roy Pena
Editors - Crystal Strait, Adrian Marin
Grips - Monge, Art Samariego, Victor Bufford Jr.
Dolly Grip - Corey Erwin
Cast - Lance Huff, Luis Parker, Victor Parker, Victor Bufford Sr., Victoria Bufford, Monge, Art Sammaniego, Dave Ayres
Sound Effects - Adrian Marin
Music - "Brave Men" Composed by Dietmar Hess....Licensed to Chris Clark of Naked Cactus Productions
Special Thanks - Robert Agee, Vic Barrow, Mr. and Mrs. Garrido, Resler Family and Community...
.
Additional
Contact Info for Naked Cactus Productions
Close
To Home is the video Naked-Cactus-Productions
made for the 2009 A3F Film festival. The rules
for the contest was that it had to be done in
one shot and in 48 hours. There were three
required guidelines to follow, the theme had to
be "A Second Chance" the prop was a
watch and the line of dialogue we had to use was
"That was easier then I thought."
They were awarded 'Best use of the required
dialogue' and placed 6th overall.
The
Making of - 'Close
To Home' -
By
Ed Sharpe - Glendale Daily Planet
- 11/5/2009
Photos
- Naked-Cactus-Productions
-A
visual treat for Veterans day -
Close
to Home was produced by Naked Cactus
productions, a group formed by
students and teachers from Collins
College.
This
was not their first project, as a
previous film, Spinning Out,was
a collaborative effort with students and
instructor Ryan Nobe at Collins
College. The group grew, added
instructors Vic
Barrow and Robert Agee plus 25 students
which now comprise what we know as
Naked Cactus Productions. We can expect
great things from this group judging by
this early work of that
inspires patriotism and a sense of
community coupled with good production
values and a creative approach.
In
this production of Close to Home, Adrian
Marin, DP and Executive Producer tell
us, "Naked
Cactus was created by students and two
of instructors, Robert Agee and Vic
Barrow. Not everyone who
worked on the festival was part of Naked
Cactus, but are good friends and hard
working students. "
But... how
did all this come about?
Follow along ...
Alexander
Volek, a
Collins student for
2 ˝ years, and director of
Close to Home stated, " Close to
Home stated,"Our DP and Executive Producer
for the one shot, Anthony
Garrido, suggested during a
preproduction meeting for the Arizona
student film festival that we wait on
that for a few weeks and go for the
48hour A3F one-shot challenge.
We all agreed and decided to enter
with about seven people from our crew
we formed our team and with our
teachers blessing we entered under
Naked Cactus. "
None
of the contestants know until
the final announcement what the
prop will be, the line you have to use
and the genre that will be assigned.
Director
Volek
explained, "We
did brainstorm a few ideas before the
challenge. We worked on these
scripts in hopes to adapt them, which
is taking a risk, because as the crew
would joke ' what if the theme is
something like road trip we will have
to think of a new idea from scratch?'"
Not
everything is relates to the crew and
the group needed to obtain
actors, location and equipment.
'Close
to Home' Director Alexander
Volek (L) gives some final
instructions before the camera
rolls...
Volek
elaborates, "Right before the
challenge we pulled a couple of
students that just started school
recently onto the crew one of them
being Victor Bufford, who came through
with most of the cast. Most of them
were family and our main actor Lance
Huff who was his friend. After
competing with all the other Collins
College groups for some equipment we
got what we needed. Our most important
things being our camera the Panasonic
HVX 200a and the doorway dolly.
We also used a steady cam courtesy of
Robert Agee. "
The
first test for success was to make
given details and brainstormed
ideas match up...
Director
Volek
continues,
"We
went to the party Friday night got our
lines prop, and genre - and
the guidelines fit perfect!
, we adapted our script pretty quick
and called it a night meeting at 8am
the next morning on location. The
neighborhood we filmed in was
crewmember Chris Sheffields
girlfriends’. We cleared it with the
neighborhood watch and started our
process. "
Camera
movement is important... you can't
just zoom the lens in and out!
On
location, note the camera on steadycam
and cameraman on dolly...
"First
Anthony and myself went down the street
from the crew and started brainstorming
for about an hour experimenting with the
camera and exact location. We had
several idea for Anthony to film, first
to film with steady cam while walking
another holding it in the bed of a truck
or standing or more like surfing on the
dolly. After deciding on the dolly we
got Lance out there and started blocking
it out for a while then we brought in
the rest of the cast about thirty minutes
later."
"After
blocking, timing, experimenting, and
rewriting the script a little we took a
break for lunch with about 10 rehearsals
and a few test shots under our belts. After
reviewing the footage we made some
slight adjustments and got back to it.
That’s when we ran into our first real
problem of the day, we had forgotten to
bring the boom pole so with some quick
thinking two gobo arms were put together
to form about a six foot metal boom
pole, poor Adrian our sound guy was
hurting pretty bad that night. "
Camera Operator - Anthony Garrido
Two gobo arms - form a six
foot metal boom pole
Having
great actors always makes things go
better!
Volek
explained, "Once
we got filming we did very well
especially our actor who almost never
messed up it was mostly timing issues
and ambient sounds such as planes dogs
and cars that ruined most of the takes.
After working till about four thirty we
had the take we ended up using but
decided to go for another just to see if
we could get it better. Well we didn’t
due to a grumpy neighbor who was getting
a little tired of us, but we knew we had
our shot so we packed up and left."
Post
Production - The next challenge.. Many
times teams are rendering out the final
footage just minutes before the deadline
to turn it in!
The
project in the edit bay...
"That
night we did our color correction, which
for us was a little bold, but we wanted
to take a risk and stand out so we did,
their hair may be green but watch a lot
of blockbuster movies like transformers
so are there’s. Sunday at noon we met
back up for audio, we had a lot of
problems finding a song, which we ended
up buying for 60 bucks because it was so
perfect. Once we finished Anthony took
it and I believe delivered it at about
6pm. "
Alexander
Volek, director of 'Close to Home'
concludes, "Overall
we had a really good time our crew is
great and we work really well together.
Over the course of the challenge our
hopes grew bigger and bigger. First we
just wanted to beat out our student
competitors, and then we decided we
wanted top twenty, then top ten, then
top five. The day of the show we were
hoping for the win! "
The
final results? Outstanding! The team
won the award for Best use of
Line and the film placed 6th in
the lineup of films.
Victor
Bufford Jr., Dave Ayres, Victoria Bufford,
Luis Parker (Child), Lance Huff, Victor
Bufford Sr., Monge, Art Samaniego
Close
to Home Credits:
Executive
Producer - Anthony Garrido
Producer
- Alexander Volek, Chris Clark
Line
Producer - Hector J. Gonzales
Casting
- Victor Bufford Jr.
Writers
- Cris "Zombie" Hernandez, Chris
Sheffield, Dave Ayres
Director
- Alexander Volek
Director
of Photogrpahy - Anthony Garrido
1st
AD - Cris "Zombie" Hernandez
1st
AC - Chris Clark
Camera
Operator - Anthony Garrido
Still
Photography - Chris Clark, Victor Bufford Jr.
Gaffer
- Garritt Jimenez
Key
Grip - Roy Pena
Audio/Boom
Operator - Adrian Marin, Roy Pena
Editors
- Crystal Strait, Adrian Marin
Grips
- Monge, Art Samaniego, Victor Bufford Jr.
Dolly
Grip - Corey Erwin
Cast
- Lance Huff, Luis Parker, Victor Parker, Victor
Bufford Sr., Victoria Bufford, Monge, Art
Samaniego, Dave Ayres
Sound
Effects - Adrian Marin
Music
- "Brave Men" Composed by Dietmar
Hess....License to Chris Clark of Naked Cactus
Productions
Special
Thanks - Robert Agee, Vic Barrow, Mr. and Mrs Garrido,
Resler Family and Community...
.
.
===
Additional
Contact Info for Naked Cactus Productions
