Sweet Award

the film set

The American Business Awards were given out two nights ago. I picture a ceremony in New Yawk Sitty, with the men in black-tie and the women in sophisticated evening gowns and subtle jewelry. It could just as well have been an after-work chicken buffet, for all the facts I have at my fingertips. I would never have heard of these awards if not for the fact (at my fingertips) that my husband, John Sandel, along with the friendly geniuses at Superfreako Productions, created the video for Vertical Response, which won the award for "Video: Other."

Other! Isn't that great? It has a certain cachet.

Vertical Response beat out Dow Corning, Gatorade and even AT&T, which pleases me no end.

I posted about the shoot when John and his associates shot for Vertical Response at our place in January. John met the Superfreako people through We Make Movies, which is to the Hollywood film business what self-publishing is to the New York publishing industry.

Here's the video (that's John's arm and hand drawing):

Congratulations to everyone at Vertical Response and Superfreako. We've been enjoying feeling good about it. I'm proud of John. It's not the first award he's won, but it's sweet. And I know there will be more.

Home Studio

Lately my multi-talented husband's been doing some drawing work (animation, logo design) and yesterday he had an on-camera job. No, he's not launching an acting career. John's arm and hand were filmed at high speed while he drew, to be pixilated in a web video for a new website.

For one day, John's home office became both animation studio and filming location. This would have been claustrophobic for a big crew, but there was enough room for both set and crew because the cinematographer, lighting designer and post-production supervisor are all one person named Denny Kukahiko.

I took this shot of John and Denny before they started shooting. You can see the camera suspended above the drawing table. The lamps are called China Balls. I know they resemble what my parents had in their dining room when I was in high school but these are slightly different and they give a sugary, diffuse light.

There wasn't quite enough room on the set for producer Kendall Kanoa Hawley, who set up her laptop in the dining room. Kendall, Denny and Denny's brother Chad Kukahiko make up Superfreako Productions (rhymes with Kukahiko, see?). You met them here when I told you about their short film, Carefully Descending. John met them through his participation in the Hollywood film collective, We Make Movies. John's got more projects coming up with WMM, so I'll have more to tell you soon.


Update 1/17/12: Cinematographer Denny Kukahiko posted about the shoot on Superfreako's blog.

Update 1/20/12: Hey! Here's the final product.