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After waiting for over 4 hours in line, I finally got to see the premiere of Benjamin Bratt and Jesse Borrego new film La Mission directed by Peter Bratt, which played at Cinefestival @ The Guadalupe Theatre here in San Antonio.

I have to say this film La Mission is emotionally raw and deep. It has a rare visual meditative style. It’s absolutely stunning film.

It’s been almost 15 years since I have seen a production from Bratt and Borrego which was Follow Me Home, which also played at Cinefestival and I can’t wait for another production.

Finally made the switch from blogger to wordpress. Excited about the projects I am working on this year. Currently, in the development stages of producing a short film with my friend Marta entitled “Autumn” which will be shooting in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

So last night my friend Smiley called so we could have a photo session with his modeling friend Alex. I brought my Novatron D240 lighting kit and my Nikon D40 camera. After Smiley’s bathtub session Alex and I went to her living room to shot some photos. She had a radiant and vivid red wall. I did a quick butterfly lighting setup and set the Novatron at -2 stops with the shoot through umbrella. Here is my lighting diagram.

Took this photo of my brother today. Used my new gray seamless backdrop paper. Only used one novatron strobe. Here is the lighting setup diagram.

Went to my friend’s Marvin studio to experiment with lighting for a photo shoot of my girlfriend Rebecca. He had a Novatron flash kit but my Nikon D40 doesn’t have a sync flash adapter yet so I had to work with a 350k light. Still created a nice silhouette of Rebecca. Here is the shot.

You can buy a print from Deviantart, here is the link Buy Print

Starting today, I will be documenting all of my artistic endeavors on my blog Dreaming @24fps. This will include my Film/HD Productions, Photography, Screenwriting & Digital Art. Still working as a 1st/2nd AD for feature films, commercials, music videos and short films.

Finally, getting back into photography. Just launched my photography website Dreaming @24fps Studios Currently, I am working with the Nikon D40 SLR. Got 4 lens; 28mm, 50mm, 18mm-55mm & 55mm -200mm.

Really want to get into medium format photography. Saving up cash for a Pentax 6×7 with 120mm film.

Here is a recent photo shot I had with my comedian friend Igor. More new work coming soon!

About four days, I received a peculiar email from Rooftop Films www.rooftopfilms.com congratulating me on my feature film being excepted into SXSW. At the time, I thought it was just spammed and ignored it. Then I missed two calls from the LA area. Today I got a call from a film critic out of Kansas asking me for an interview on my film “Women in Trouble”, which I had no clue on what he was talking about. To date, I have not produced or directed a feature film. I was a bit curious about all these incidents.

So, I did a Google search on this film “Women in Trouble” which is a film about a serpentine day in the life of ten seemingly disparate women: a porn star, a flight attendant, a psychiatrist, a masseuse, a bartender, a pair of call girls, etc. All of them with one crucial thing in common. Trouble. Starring the talented actress Carla Gugino.

The film was written and directed by Sebastian Guitirrez who was the screenwriter for “Snakes in a plane” and “Gothika”.

Guess, what Sebastian production company name is? Gato Negro Films!!!

As you all know my production company is El Gato Negro Films, which I have had for over 5 years now.

So, I am assuming when all these film festivals and critics do a Google search on Gato Negro Films, my company and contact info is the first to come out. The funny thing is that Women in Trouble will be showcasing at SXSW and I will be attending SXSW for a film conference presented by IndieGoGo. What were the odds? I tell you, the strangest things always happen to me. It’s a comedy of errors!

I’ve been producing a comedy series entitled “The Igor Show” with my comedian friend Igor. We have been shooting a few skits and working on an updated package to promote to comedy central. I was the director and Marvin Jimenez was the DP. We shot on the HVX200 and Letus 35mm adapter. The skit is based on the infamous showtime Dexter series intro.

IGOR VS DEXTER from Igor Mayorga on Vimeo.

On Aug. 8th we started production for the first 20 minutes of NewTribeFilms www.newtribefilms.com feature film “The Killing Field”. It was written and directed by my friend and colleague Daniel Maldonado with Ryan McMichael as the co-director. Once again, I was the 1st AD. It was a 4 day shoot. The goal was to shot the first 20 pages of the screenplay in 4 days.

I didn’t have much time to help out in preproduction since I am currently working as the 1st AD on another feature film which will begin principle photography on Aug. 24 through Sept. 14. On set there were some minor delays and set backs. We shot with the panasonic hvx200 plus the brevis 35mm lens adapter. Some of the main issues were sound(because of the environment), camera set ups and make up. Regardless we accomplished a lot and the footage looks stunning. Here are some photos on the set and trailer.

The Killing Fields Movie Trailer from daniel maldonado on Vimeo.

So I had just finished wrapping “Shooters” when I get to call to grip the following day at 11:00 am. So that meant I only had a few hours to sleep and wake up at least by 7:30 to pick up Ryan and leave San Antonio to get to Johnson City. The location was the Lyndon Baines Johnson National Park.

The production we were working on was for FoxNews Warstories hosted by Oliver North.

We had a 12 K light, 1 ton grip truck, generator and a Jimmy Jib. The Jimmy Jib operator was Eric Young of Bulls Eye Jib. www.bullseyejib.com
Eric Young was an amazing guy. I help set up the jib for the first shot. Even thou this production was easy and laid back, I was still exhausted after my 1st AD job of 4 days. The Foxnews Warstories produciton was only 8 hours and I still got paid my full rate.