Born Lucky Studios

December 31, 2011 New Movies of 2011

The following are a list of Movies we watched this year.

January

Five Easy Pieces (dir. Bob Rafelson) *
Days of Heaven (dir. Terrence Malick) *
Jonah Hex (dir. Jimmy Hayward)
Splice (dir. Vincenzo Natali)
Piranha (dir. Alexandre Aja)
Martyrs (dir. Pascal Laugier)
Iron Man 2 (dir. Jon Farveau)
The Town (dir. Ben Affleck)
The Secret in their Eyes (dir. Juan Jose Campanella)
The Night of the Hunter (dir. Charles Laughton) *
Black Book (dir. Paul Verhoven)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (dir. Bansky)
Vengeance (dir. Johnny To)
The Thin Red Line (dir. Terrence Malick) *
Paprika (dir. Satoshi Kon)
Twilight (dir. Catherine Hardwicke) *
The Bounty Hunter (dir. Andy Tennant)
Vahalla Rising (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn)

February

High Noon (dir. Fred Zimmeman)
Hot Fuzz (dir. Edgar Wright)
Kick Ass (dir. Matthew Vaughn)
Monsters (dir. Gareth Edwards)
Knight and Day (dir. James Mangold)
The Lives of Others (dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
Pride & Prejudice (dir. Simon Langton)*
The Last Metro (dir. Francois Truffaunt)*
The Last Seduction (dir. John Dahl)
Nightmare on Elm Street (dir. Samuel Bayer)
The Social Network (dir. David Fincher)
True Grit (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
The Kids are Alright (dir. Lisa Cholodenko)
Mark Twain (dir. Ken Burns)

March

Vampyr (dir. Carl Th. Dreyer)*
Sweet Smell of Success (dir. Alexander Mackendrick)*
Fish Tank (dir. Andrea Arnold)
The Taking of Power by Louis XIV (dir. Robert Rossellini)
A Film with Me In It (dir. Ian Fitzgibbon)
Milk (dir. Gus Van Sant)
The Good, The Bad, The Weird (dir. Ji-woon Kim)
Rango (dir. Gore Verbinski)
Inception (dir. Christopher Nolan)*
Mesrine: Killer Instinct (dir. Jean-Francois Richet)
Immortal Beloved (dir. Bernard Rose)
A Prairie Home Companion (dir. Robert Altman)*

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Posted under Austin Elston, Born Lucky Studios, Emily Gallagher, film reviews, Uncategorized

December 31, 2011 Books of 2011

Books of 2011

This is a list of all the books we read this past year.

January

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
The Feast of July by H.E. Bates

February

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen

March

Anthologies

My Year in Flops by Nathan Rabin
3:10 to Yuma by Elmore Leonard
20th Century Ghost Stories by Joe Hill

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February 7, 2011 Upstairs

Here are a few stills from UPSTAIRS, the short zombie film that we shot at the start of January. We are knee-deep in Post and we’re having a blast!

This is the first film in a series of 5 that we are aiming to have in the can by the end of 2011. Next up? Either a screw ball comedy about two Jersey girls or a short Battle of Wits among 3 Red shirts.

We’ll keep you posted.

Tags: Austin Elston, Emily Gallagher, film, film production, jenna horton, kimberly gilbert, philadelphia, short film, Video, video post production, video production, zombie

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Posted under Born Lucky Studios

January 28, 2011 New York City/DC

I spent the last two weeks editing in both NYC for Cause & Effect, and in Washington DC for Hamburger Company. It was a blast working at both studios, but a few of my top moments had to be Martin and Kelly’s one liners such as, “Beans are good for your vagina.” We had a hearty snowfall on my third day in NYC but the subways kept running so my secret plan to watch bad TV all day with my little sister was foiled! On my last day in Brooklyn, Annie and I scored some sweet yarn and giant needles and I have been knitting ever since. In DC, my older sister Monica, took me to my first spin class which left my butt sore for days. Totally worth it, though. And I didn’t barf, so that was exciting. As for work related projects, Austin and I are editing our Zombie film; we are prepping to shoot the PA Ballet; and a shoot in Palm Springs is on our radar for the Century Council! Overall? I really liked January.

I’m going back to my zombies now while the snow falls outside the windows of One Shot Cafe where I am snuggled up and cozy in my giant scarf that I just made. 2011 is going to kick butt.

Tags: Austin Elston, Born Lucky Studios, Emily Gallagher, film, film editing, NYC, philadelphia, Washington DC

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Posted under Austin Elston, Born Lucky Studios, Born Lucky Studios, Cause & Effect, Century Council, Emily Gallagher, Hamburger Company, Just Plain Fabulous

January 9, 2011 That’s a wrap!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! In accordance to our new year’s resolution (make some damn films!), Austin and I immediately got to work.

We just wrapped our first film shoot of 2011! This weekend we shot a short zombie film called UPSTAIRS starring Kimberly Gilbert and Jenna Horton. It’s the first in a series of 5 short films that we aim to shoot throughout the spring. We shot it on the Red camera, lit it with one Kino Flo and a few tiny Lowell Pros, and recorded audio on my wicked sweet Sound Device recorder. Our Zombies were fantastic sports who didn’t mind copious amounts of blood dripping off their various limbs and lips, while our actresses did a fantastic job recoiling in fear over the ominous footsteps of our felines.

Overall? It was a fabulous success! We can’t wait to start cutting. With any luck we’ll have it completed in time to submit to the Rooftop Film Festival in Brooklyn.

Three cheers to our cast and crew!

Here’s to a productive and prolific 2011. Next up? Feature profiles of the PA Ballet principal dancers.