Film | The MindWarp Blog

Archive for the ‘Film’ Category

SXSW Film 2010

March 29th, 2010

I apologize I’m a little late writing about my SXSW 2010 experience. Let’s just say that I had a ton of fun and suffered from so much movie overload that I needed to take some time off to recover from the constant party in Austin, TX. One last thing, I hope you guys won’t mind the photos this year. I forgot to bring my camera so most of these shots are from my cell phone. Let’s get down to business.

In Line for KICK-ASS

First up, I lined up for the opening night film KICK-ASS with my girlfriend Sandy Salinas and good friend Le-An Tran on Friday at the Paramount Theater in Austin, TX. KICK-ASS is Matthew Vaughn‘s new film which will be hitting theaters April 16, 2010. The film is based on the comic-book series written by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. All I can say is that KICK-ASS was KICK-ASS. Chloe Grace Moretz stole the show as HIT-GIRL Check out the trailer below. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments »

Hands of God & Breaking Borders at 26th Chicago Latino Film Festival

March 24th, 2010

by Carlos in Film

26th Chicago Latino Film Festival

MindWarp Entertainment, in association with Paloma Films, presents the World Premiere of the feature film Hands of God by The Brothers Corral. Hands of God will be screened on Saturday April 17th at 6:00pm & Monday April 19th at 8:30pm during the 26^th Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival.

Roasted Films & Paloma Films, in association with MindWarp Entertainment, present a screening of the documentary film Breaking Borders: Cross Dressers & Drag Queens of El Paso, TX by Diana Cordova. Breaking Borders will be screening on Sunday, April 25^th at 6:15 p.m. & on Tuesday April 27th at 6:00pm during the 26^th Annual Chicago Latino Film Festival.

(Ticket Information)

Tickets can be purchased at The International Latino Cultural Center in Chicago IL, or by calling The International Latino Cultural Center at (312) 431-1330. Log on to http://www.latinoculturalcenter.org for more information.

(Hands of God)

Dr. Michael Vidal is in his final year of residency and has just been named senior chief resident of the heart surgery program at his hospital. After his father’s death, he slowly begins to lose touch with reality and resorts to drinking while on call. When Dr. Michel Vidal begins to question his profession, Ramon Salazar, a patient with no friends or family, befriends him. While providing Dr. Michael Vidal with a second chance at understanding his father, Mr. Salazar reminds him that a man is only as strong as the memories that define him.

El Paso’s local talent includes: Manny Rubio, Jim Daross, Marco Naylor, Karen Moore, Frank Laverpool, Alyssa Sherman, Armando Beltran, Angel Herrera, and Nomar Rizo. Hands of God is the result of the hard work and creative talents of El Paso’s growing filmmaking community.

(Breaking Borders)

Every Thursday night at a local Taco Cabana in El Paso Texas, Manuel Nunez and friends put on a cross dressing drag queen show titled “Samantha’s Travesti Show.” Through the use of comedy and entertainment, Samantha, Viviana, & Zayda break the borders of transsexual identity and acceptance.

This is a 13-minute documentary film that chronicles the one night performance of three cross dressers in El Paso, Texas as they inform the audience about why they chose their part-time profession. As individuals, these performers break numerous “borders” which range from societal to literal, as they cross over from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to perform for their fans. “There are people who don’t applaud and others who are apathetic to our show,” states Manuel “Samantha” Nunez. “We want people to laugh and have fun with us. It’s for people who want to forget ordinary life.”

No Comments »

The Corral Brothers featured in El Paso Magazine

August 25th, 2009

by Carlos in Film, Web

The Brothers Corral

After graduating from Cathedral High School, the Corral brothers had their futures down pat. Carlos was studying computer science, his brother Octavio in biology. However, there was no disputing their true interests. “There were stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes we made when we were little,” said Octavio. After the dreaded call home to inform the lifeline about the permanent change in their future careers into a notoriously unpredictable field, both University of Texas at Austin students changed their majors to Radio-Television-Film.

Just two short years after graduating, the enterprising siblings are deep into their business venture MindWarp Entertainment LLC, a production company specializing in web design and video production. Although they run their own company with two locations in the state (Carlos, 26, is in Austin, while Octavio, 24, is in El Paso), they were still able to nurture their pet project, a feature film about an alcoholic doctor called Hands of God….

Continue reading the article at www.epmediagroup.com

1 Comment »

‘Hands of God’ at the El Paso Plaza Classic Film Festival

August 10th, 2009

by Carlos in Film

Hands of God Poster

We will be having a special sneak peek screening of our new feature film Hands of God on Thursday Aug. 13th at 9pm and Saturday Aug. 15th at 10pm at the 2009 Plaza Classic Film Festival right here in our hometown of El Paso TX. The first sneak peek screening has already SOLD OUT and tickets are going fast for our 2nd screening on Aug. 15th.

If you would still like to purchase tickets for the second screening, you can drop by the main box office at the Plaza Theatre during regular business hours or purchase them online at Ticketmaster here.

We’ve also received some great press from the El Paso Times and What’s Up El Paso about our sold out screening. Below are some of the highlights from the news articles we have been gathering: Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments »

RED ALERT! 10 Things RED Camera Users Need To Know

July 7th, 2009

by Carlos in Film

1. REDCODE vs 35mm Film

I’m sure everyone has had this argument with someone they know or work with. I’ve had this discussion/argument with a cinematographer who has both shot on film and on RED and still prefers 35mm over RED despite the long waiting period and higher costs of production. Maybe it’s an age/generation difference. Here are some facts that I have read regarding RED footage and 35mm film and how each is handled. I highly recommend checking out Paul Wheeler’s High Definition Cinematography Book, it’s a great read!

35mm Film Camera

RED Digital Camera

RED & 35mm Cameras

Read the rest of this entry »

31 Comments »

MPEG-2 is DEAD!

June 28th, 2009

by Carlos in Film, Video

JVC GY-HM100 Handheld

Last week, my friend Phil Goetz from Texas Media Systems invited me to a JVC: Solid Solutions seminar hosted by Scott A. Burch, a JVC district sales manager from the great state of Texas. Scott introduced us to the JVC GY-HM100 and its older brother the JVC GY-HM700 back in May. This time, he hosted a full breakdown of what these cameras can do with SDHC and SxS workflows. Check out my previous blog review of these two cameras here:
The JVC GY-HM100 & JVC GY-HM700

I want to take the time to go over a few more things that I both love and hate about these new cameras. First, I will give some love to the JVC GY-HM100 on its size and flexibility. Mounting this little guy on a Steadicam is easy. And the best part of this is it’s a full 1080p camera that only weighs 3lbs. Can you say smooth and simple?
Read the rest of this entry »

6 Comments »

HOT / WHITE Pixel Fix on the JVC GY-HD110U

June 17th, 2009

by Carlos in Film, Video

This month, I wanted to take the time and talk about a small problem I encountered last year while filming our feature film Hands of God. As you have read from our blog, we used the JVC GY-110U HD camera with the Redrock 35mm Adapter and Nikon Lenses for our shoot. During the production, the JVC camera’s CCD sensors would occasionally overheat and cause small white pixels to appear in our shots. Here are some examples below of some of the issues that occurred:

Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments »

Worst Ideas Ever: Steadicam Mountain

May 22nd, 2009

by Carlos in Film, Video

My friend Neal Barenblat and I decided to rent one and climb a mountain. We rented a Varizoom Steadicam Navigator from Omega Broadcast here in Austin, TX and drove out to Enchanted Rock. We mounted Neal’s DVX100B onto the Steadicam and climbed the 800 ft. mountain, all while documenting our experience on my Canon XL2. Worst Idea Ever? Maybe. Check out some of the photos below:

Neal & the Steadicam

Steadicam? No sweat!

Ready for Adventure!

Neal was up first. We took out the Steadicam and assembled it. Since we had only taken a small crash course on how to use a Steadicam, we were about to find out if we could climb Enchanted Rock and keep the camera steady. Neal decided to do the uphill climb and I would do the down hill climb.

Check out the short video below:

5 Comments »

Breaking Borders: Cross-Dressers & Drag Queens of El Paso, TX

May 8th, 2009

by Carlos in Film

El Paso Filmmakers Diana Cordova, Benny Ontiveros, John Castaneda, and myself all collaborated together to bring you our first documentary. Every Thursday night at a local Taco Cabana in El Paso Texas, Manuel Nunez and friends put on a cross dressing drag queen show titled “Samantha’s Travesti Show”. Through the use of comedy and entertainment, Samantha, Viviana, & Zayda break the borders of transsexual identity and acceptance.

Click on the image below to view the documentary:

Breaking Borders

1 Comment »

The JVC GY-HM100 and JVC GY-HM700

May 6th, 2009

by Carlos in Film, Video

My friend Phil Geotz from Texas Media Systems invited me to a small filmmaker get together where I met fellow Austin filmmakers Matt Iha and Rod Cole. We all got to speak with Scott A. Burch, one of the JVC district sales managers from Texas. Scott recently returned from NAB 2009 and provided us with some hands on experience with the JVC GY-HM100 and its older brother the GY-HM700. Allow me to post some fun facts about this camera.