Zen & the Asteroid Blog

Zen & the Asteroid Blog
The Official Blog for Zen & the Asteroid, the independent film produced by www.NMDigitalVideo.com ZATA Homepage

Friday, May 18, 2007

New Mexico Digital Video will be screening 2 projects at the The Guild Cinema as part of the 2007 New Mexico Filmmaker Showcase:

Saturday, May 19th at 12:50pm: A 14 minute Caving Documentary called New Mexico Underground details the descent into and ascent out of a stunning cave in southern New Mexico. Featuring technical ropework and stunning cave formations. If you like caves, come see it.

Saturday, May 19th at 4pm: A video production of Rio de Lagrimas. This is a sixty minute trilingual (Spanish, English and Nahuatl) piece written by Soledad Marjon-Hindi and scored by Vivian Fernanadez; performed by Soledad Marjon Hindi, Vivian Fernandez, Apryl Sandoval, Valerie Borrego, Michelle Otero and Directed by Sabina Zuniga-Varela.
View music video for Como La Cigarra.

Also, note that Albuquerque artists Justin Marley and Dan Otero have their work hanging at Ragin' Shrimp (Central and Copper) thru August. Thanks to Nick Nellos.

Lastly, if you're interested in some floating, glowing magic, take a look at Magic Flying Lanterns.

(0) comments

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Here are some archival notes from the 10.8.04
regarding the creation of the character
named S.I.M.P.E.E.

Produced by: New Mexico Digital Video

Starring:

Eloy Gutierrez as C.R.A.I.G.
(Cybor Robotic Artificially Intelligent Gentleman)

Chris Norris as S.I.M.P.E.E.
(Spacecraft Integrated Maintenance Personal Electronic Engineer)

Computer Effects by

Jason Harris - Backgrounds,
Modeling Gene Torres - After Effects
Dan Otero - Compositing, Editing

Original Music Score and Sound Effects by:

Jonathan D. Mayer

Buy the feature length Film Zen & the Asteroid

(0) comments

Sunday, November 12, 2006

(0) comments

Saturday, October 14, 2006

The Zen & the Asteroid movie trailer will be on the big screen at the Northern New Mexico Film Festival in Las Vegas, NM. See also NMDV on MySpace

Here's an archival photo of Wil Albarez (The Troll) and Dan Otero (Director) standing in front of sign in Española, NM just before the DVD Release Party for Zen & the Asteroid.
( Copyright © 2006, New Mexico Digital Video; all rights reserved)

And finally, a press photo of Dan Otero--and some mops--protesting the exploitation of Trolls in Zen & the Asteroid.
( Copyright © 2006, Santa Fe New Mexican; all rights reserved)

(0) comments

Thursday, June 08, 2006

There's a nice post on Zen & the Asteroid at FarrFeed.

(0) comments

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Zen & the Asteroid will be screening at The Guild Cinema as part of the New Mexico Filmmaker's Showcase 2006 on Friday, May 19th at 9:15 pm.

Admission is Free !!

(0) comments

Monday, May 01, 2006

Zen & the Asteroid is listed at Movie Blue Book, Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database.

(0) comments

Saturday, April 22, 2006

The Cosmos International Film & Video Game Festival was a success! Special thanks to Gloria Rozier.

(0) comments

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

A successful weekend of ZATA DVD Releases in Albuquerque (ABQWeblog) and Santa Fe (SFWeblog) Thanks to the staff at the Guild and SFFC.

BONUS:
Here's an Eric Howerton article on New Mexico Film makers including some information about Zen & the Asteroid and Dan Otero.

(0) comments

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Come to the ZATA DVD Release Screening

Own your own ZATA DVD

The Santa Fe Film Center in Santa Fe
will be hosting a Zen & the Asteroid
DVD Release Screening

Tuesday, Feb 21st at 7:45pm

Tickets = $8
or
Ticket + DVD = $20

See Trolls Breathe Fire !!

See Androids Fight Zen !!

Bring the Family !!

(0) comments

Saturday, February 11, 2006

The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque
will be hosting a Zen & the Asteroid
DVD Release Screening

Saturday, Feb 18th at 10:30pm

Tickets = $5
or
Ticket + DVD = $15

See Androids Fight Zen !!

See Trolls Breathe Fire !!

Will the Earth be Saved ??

(0) comments

Monday, January 30, 2006

1/27/06 - Friday evening DVD Release Party at the NNMC Theatre in Española. About 80 folks took advantage of the FREE MOVIE and saw Zen & the Asteroid. There was fantastic response from the crowd, lots of laughing, good feedback and positive comments. A lot of folks really liked the 'Tortilla Scene'. The DVD sold about 20 copies, kids were running around playing 'Zen' and getting free posters and stickers signed by the Cast and Crew. It was really a joyous event. Special thanks to Christina S and Pita O for making this a special event.

1/27/06 - Friday Night at Dos Amigos bar in Española. The official reunion of LOS DINGOS (that band from that movie), with special guest: Yancy Williams (the artist formerly known as Dave). Los Dingos played it's hits including Carita de Oro, The Blue Dreamers, Big Black Dog, Big Willie Freestyle and a Pinky Fat encore. Special thanks to Duane Chavez and the crew at Dos Amigos for hosting our After-Movie party, and thanks to Andrea "Dr. DeSoussa" Marcus for hosting the After-After-Party where music was played all night. More stories about this event.

1/28/06 - Saturday Evening at Spirit Visions Gallery in Santa Fe. Spirit Visions hosted "The Art of Zen & the Asteroid" opening with 6 water colors by Dan Otero, 3 oils by Justin Marley (including the Official ZATA Montage) and a mixed media piece by Wil Albarez. Zen & the Asteroid screened two times to an ecclectic mix of Santa Fe gallery goers and received good response. Special thanks to Nina and William Crowl III for hosting this event. "The Art of Zen & the Asteroid" will be on display in Santa Fe thru February.

1/28/06 - Saturday Night at Big Willie's crib. Los Dingos reprised their roles as "That Band from That Movie" with a smoking 3 set performance including a baroque organ fugue, a freestyling rap extraveganza and an improvisational jam that summoned the Green Fairy. Special thanks to Los Dingos: Big Willie Dingo, Colin Weed Dingo, Marley Dingo and Dango Dingo.

(0) comments

Friday, January 20, 2006

Posted new Zen & the Asteroid images by Mike Hoffman.

(0) comments

Friday, January 13, 2006

Lots of good things happening with Zen & the Asteroid.

ZATA has been submitted to the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Ybor City Film Festival.

A Free ZATA screening in Española, NM on 1/27/06 will be followed by an after-movie party at Dos Amigos resturant/bar in Española featuring the music of Los Dingos--the band from the movie.

An gallery opening has been scheduled for 1/28/06 in Santa Fe, NM at the Spirit Visions gallery. More on this event soon.

Finally, take a look at the new Zen & the Asteroid poster image. This is an orignal painting by Justin Marley, an Albuquerque artist.

(1) comments

Sunday, December 18, 2005

ZATA screened at the Guild to 56 paying customers. Thanks to Kief and Peter for their support of this project. I think I'll screen at the Guild again.

Interestingly, ZATA receiving 4 Stars from the Albuquerque Journal.

(0) comments

Monday, December 12, 2005

Zen & the Asteroid had 2 screenings at the Santa Fe Film Festival. First screening at 9am drew about 30 people, and they ate all the donuts we brought. The second screening at 1:30 on Saturday packed the house, with about 120 folks.

Response from the crowd was very good, with lots of laughing and questions at the end. People responded well to the New Mexico scenery, to the cheesy jokes, and to the fantastic music score.

I also did a web interview, that will be posted here soon.

The protest by the F.F.A.A.T. organization (Fairness for Androids and Trolls) seemed to backfire on that group, as it only encouraged more folks to attend

Finally, the cast and crew had a great time and later that night, much merryment was had.

Thanks to the SFFF directors and volunteers.

(0) comments

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Zen and the Asteroid has been protested by F.F.A.A.T.

The New Mexican newspaper ran an article regarding the event.

(0) comments

Monday, December 05, 2005

Oh boy, I guess I knew this might happen. The Santa Fe chapter of F.F.A.A.T. (Fairness for Androids and Trolls) has begun a protest against Zen & the Asteroid. Apparantly my Android abusing and Troll embarrassing ways have caught up with me. Who is this Torres guy and why won't he leave me alone ?

Below is a press release being sent to local TV and newspaper sources:

Santa Fe protesters fight against unfair portrayals of trolls and androids in science fiction movies.

Local citizens will be protesting “Zen & the Asteroid,” a film scheduled to be part of the Santa Fe Film Festival. F.A.T. (Fairness for Androids & Trolls) claims the movie negatively portrays trolls and androids and does not fairly compensate them for appearing in the movie. “Even though this film contains breathtaking special effects, hilarious comedy, and an all star cast we strongly encourage people not to attend this film”, says Gene Torres, organizer of the protest. “Besides, we would rather watch big budget Hollywood movies instead of something made here in New Mexico.”

The protest will take place Tuesday, December 6, 12:00 p.m. at the Santa Fe Film Festival Box office located at 1610 St. Michaels Drive in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Bob Alexander, local professor and troll expert says “Better roles for trolls. This movie embarrasses trolls and swindles their spaceships”. Torres adds “Santa Fe is supposed to be a place of cultural diversity and tolerance. Why are trolls and androids not included?”

For more information please call (505) 661-8437 or contact torres_gene@hotmail.com
##

(0) comments

Saturday, December 03, 2005

The official link to the Santa Fe Film Festival list of Films.
Scroll to the very bottom for ZATA information.

Zen and The Asteroid

SOUTHWEST SHOWCASE
2005, USA , 110 min.
Producer / Director: Dan Otero
Writer: Dan Otero, Javier Arellano
Cast: Andrea Marcus, Joe Vigil, Daniel Zen
Festivals: Early version of the film's first half presented at the 2004 Santa Fe Film Festival
Northern New Mexico Digital Video
www.nmdigitalvideo.com/zata /

Here's a Taoist, Sci-Fi comedy from Española for all ages to enjoy. Filmed entirely in New Mexico , this movie uses local acting talent, local production technicians and an original musical score to tell a green chile-flavored, science fiction story. At stake: The very existence of the Earth, under threat from malevolent aliens. – Jude White

9:15 AM THURSDAY, DEC 8 • INT FOLK ART MUSEUM
SPONSORED BY ZIA DINER

1:30 PM SATURDAY, DEC 10 • INT FOLK ART MUSEUM
SPONSORED BY ZIA DINER

(0) comments

Thursday, December 01, 2005

I had the good fortune to visit the Museum of International Folk Art, in Santa Fe at Museum Hill.

This is the venue where Zen & the Asteroid will make it's World Premier.

Here is a google map of the venue

I had the good fortune to meet and talk with Laura May, the Special Events Coordinator of MOIFA. She was extremely friendly and excited to be screening this movie. As it was my first visit to MOIFA, Laura allowed me to tour the facility.

This is a fantastic facility! The folk art is amazing, the auditorium will hold 150 people, and the grounds are quite remarkable with huge sculptures, a labyrinth and a Diner.

The NMDigitalVideo team is very excited and honored to be screening our movie at such a fantastic facility. Thanks to the MOIFA staff, Zia Diner for sponsoring these screenings, and Jon Bowman for scheduling.

(0) comments

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The Troll's Demise will be screening on Saturday, November 19th at 8:30pm at the Gorilla Tango Theatre in downtown Albuquerque. 519 Central Ave.

Ticket's are $5.00. More Details here.

(0) comments

Friday, November 11, 2005

Zen & the Asteroid has been accepted to the Santa Fe Film Festival. (Download PDF program here )

ZATA will be screening at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe . Need Directions?

Two Screenings, tickets = $9:

12/8/05 - Thursday - 9am - The Red Eye screening. FREE DONUTS !!

12/10/05 - Saturday - 1:30pm - Meet the Cast !!

In Addition, NMDigitalVideo.com has secured two additional screenings for ZATA and Merchandise will be onsale.:

12/18/05 - Sunday - 1pm - The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque. Tickets = $2.

1/27/06 - Friday - 6pm - NNMCC Theatre in Española. Tickets = $1 - $5 donation.

(0) comments

Monday, September 26, 2005

Zen & the Asteroid has been submitted to the Santa Fe Film Festival.

(0) comments

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

The movie trailer for Zen & the Asteroid has been indexed by the Google Video service.

Check it out

(0) comments

Sunday, July 10, 2005

NMDigitalVideo will be screening The Troll's Demise, the Zen & the Asteroid Movie Trailer and the feature-length movie: Firehazard - Anthology

Tuesday, August 2nd

Santa
Fe Film Festival's Film Center

The Film Center, a division of the festival,
is occupying the theater wing of the former Cinemacafe at 1616 St. Michael's
Drive in the St. Michael's Village West Shopping Mall.

(0) comments

Friday, June 17, 2005

NMDigitalVideo will be screening a movie at The Guild Cinema in Albuquerque. More Info here: http://guildcinema.com/
This screening is part of the New Mexico Film Maker's Week at The Guild.

Come and support local film makers.

The 1 hour film, called FireHazard will screen at 4:30 on Tuesday, June 28th.

The movie is a collection of performances by New Mexico's very own fire performer....... FireHazard.
Included in this movie are a New Year's Eve 2004 performance in Santa Fe, and a 2005 performance at Curioso Obscura in Albuquerque.

Also

Come to the Reception party at 7pm at Curioso Obsura,
1814 Broadway SE between Avenida César Chávez and Gibson

Events will include DJ's and performances by FireHazard. This will be a good time. Tell your friends.

(0) comments

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

5.15.05 - Post production and audio scoring continues on ZATA, by by Dan
Otero and Jonathan Dodge Mayer, respectively.

(0) comments

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

The Benchwarmers of the Revolution have posted some songs

The musicians involved in this music are not entirely unlike the musicians composing the music for ZATA.

(4) comments

Monday, December 06, 2004

The Santa Fe Film Festival was a success--as expected. A special thanks to the organizers and sponsors of the festival. They've done a marvelous job of promoting and showcasing moving making in New Mexico.

Zen & the Asteroid (part 1) screened 1 time to a crowd of about 80 viewers. They laughed quite a bit and the comments I received afterwords were very encouraging.

I look forward to next year when the entire feature-length movie can be screened.

(0) comments

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

As mentioned previously, ZATA part 1 has been selected for the SFFF. I'm very excited about this. Below is the snippet from the Media Guide:

Zen and The Asteroid
(Dan Otero/USA) 62 mins.
Special effects-laden, sci-fi, martial arts extravaganza from a young Espanola filmmaker making his feature-length debut. Plays with the short Birthdays.

The creators of the movie Birthdays contacted me via email. Here's the website.

ZATA is mentioned in the following articles from the Albuquerque Journal and the Los Alamos Monitor

(0) comments

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Zen & the Asteroid Part One will be screening at the Santa Fe Film Festival on Saturday, December 4th at 11am at El Museo Cultural 1615 Paseo de Peralta (#9 on the map below).
More SFFF ZATA info is here (scroll to the bottom).

(0) comments

Friday, October 08, 2004

Notes regarding the creation of the character named SIMPEE.

As I near the completion of ZATA, and working on the special fx for SIMPEE, I find myself reflecting on the genesis of this character's creation.

This is one of the favorite characters in the ZATA movie for many viewers who appreciate his stubborn resolve and unforgetable catch phrase----
"Understood, However...this ship belongs to me."

I originally envisioned this character in a moment of creative epiphany on 8.24.02, the same day that we filmed it.

This is my under-stated entry from that day:

< 8.24.02 - Filmed 'SIMPEE and CRAIG' at NNMDV bluescreen studio with Eloy Gutierrez as CRAIG and Chris Norris as SIMPEE, the Spaceship Integrated Maintenance Personal Electronic Engineer. Special thanks to Leslie Foster on Camera 1, Colin Runnels, Conchita Tamondong, Maliah Rosenbloom, Galileo Zen, Katy and Suzie Yonda. <--S.I.M.P.E.E.->

2 years into making ZATA, I suddenly had access to the acting skills of Chris Norris, a rather absurd fellow and old friend from SantaFe/NewYork/SanFran.

I had a vague idea about a spaceship-like, 'talking heads' scene between two robots. I already had an android character in ZATA named C.R.A.I.G. who was originally conceived by Javier Arellano (script co-writer).

So I made a new character, a stubborn hologram to maximize Chris' mime-like absurd potential. A quick flex of my English major muscle and I came up with the acronym, Spacecraft Integrated Maintenance Personal Electronic Engineer, or SIMPEE. (Which we often confused with SMPTE for technical reasons.)

This was an abruptly scheduled film shoot. When I said 'suddenly had access' up above, I meant it. Chris was in Espanola for a day, and that day was tomorrow. With 6 well-placed phone calls, I had a crew for tomorrow to film bluescreen in my garage.

The crew showed up the next morning--donuts, coffee, standard production meeting.

And then came the joyous part of the creation of SIMPEE:

As the crew was setting everything up...
As the sound was being checked...
As the actors were in costume and getting their make up....

I walked into my office and wrote the script.

20 minutes before filming, I wrote the script. That cracks me up.

I emerged from my office, script in hand, giggling to myself and gave the actors their copy.
1 page of my best writing.

We filmed it and laughed, and did retakes and laughed, and improvisation. It was hard to keep from laughing during takes.

Afterwords, we watched the dailies, drank some beers and laughed till we cried. I eventually expanded SIMPEE's role in the movie and shot 4 additional scenes.

As a bonus, some of the outtakes have been added to the End Credits section of ZATA.

And two years later, I'm still doing special fx, but I'm THIS CLOSE to completion.

And that is the truth behind The Birth of SIMPEE.

(1) comments

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

I posted some stills from Zen & the Asteroid. Take a look and let me know what you think.

(1) comments

Friday, September 17, 2004

Wow, no posts since July. Here's the latest scoop.

I've been compositing, keying and tweeking audio for ZATA all summer long. Then, with a sudden shock of deadline dread, I realized that the Santa Fe Film Festival's last deadline is 9/18/04. Yikes!! that's tomorrow. Luckily, I've arranged to submit a rough draft with a promise to complete it by November. Cross your fingers and hope that ZATA gets accepted to the SFFF.

In other news, the animator responsible for some seriously good animations in ZATA has begun a blog, in spite of the fact that he hates weblogs. Read the HopGoblin's thoughts for yourself.

(0) comments

Friday, July 16, 2004

Dan has re-posted some songs on GarageBand.com. Check them Out.

Unfortunetely, you will need the Free version of Realplayer. Get it here.

(0) comments

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

NNMDV is hosting a gathering of filmmakers and artists at Dan's house in Northern New Mexico on Saturday, July 17th.

We plan on discussing distribution of our complete projects, plans for the Autumn release of Zen & the Asteroid, and fill out key cast and crew roles for NNMDV's latest project: The Dark Saga (directed by Javier Arellano).

Contact Javier if you're interested in working on The Dark Saga.

(0) comments

Monday, July 12, 2004

NNMDV took a 6-person crew to Roswell, NM to attend the first annual Roswell Film Festival.

The Troll's Demise was screened on 2 days. It received some publicity in the local Roswell newspaper and had good audience feedback.

Special thanks to Jennifer Boyd for putting on the festival.

(0) comments

Sunday, June 27, 2004

The Espanola Valley Movie Showcase was a success. Special thanks to Rosalia Triana, the director of the NNMCC theatre. Thanks also to Wil Albarez, Jennifer Foerster, Javier Arellano, Candy Valdez, Maliah Rosenbloom and Galileo Zen.

The complete lineup for the 1st annual Showcase was as follows:

1 . Zen & the Asteroid movie trailer –by Dan Otero and Javier Arellano.
Zen & the Asteroid is a Taoist, Sci-Fi Comedy for all ages, pending release in Fall 2004. 2 minutes. More info here: http://www.nmdigitalvideo.com/zata

2. The Dark Saga, a preview – by Javier Arellano. Introduces the Dark Saga universe with behind the scenes footage, storyboards, music and characters. 7 minutes.

3. Hasta La Vista, Amigo – a scene from Zen & the Asteroid. A bounty hunter named Javius is looking for Zen--and Ramón has information. 4 minutes.

4. Untitled, by Kim Johnson - This short film asks: Could this be you? 4 minutes.

5. El Guajolote by Pilar Rodriguez Aranda - The story of Nacho, an impossible
love, a witch and how, in a small town, legends are told alive. 12 minutes.
More info here: http://anarcafilms.com/

6. Los Mópes (the mops) by Grizzly – a preview of the upcoming “Mopumentary” that details the work of Professor Antonio Mopkins on the island of Mopswana. 4 minutes.

7. The Troll’s Demise by Dan Otero - A Geology professor’s Freudian dream starring his alter-ego troll, his nymphet student and gorgon wife. 12 minutes.

8. Firehazard by Wil Albarez - Fire juggling, fire eating and fire blow-outs by Firehazard, presented by Wil Albarez. 5 minutes.

9. Torrid by David Cortez – A music video with music by Jeff Bugbee. 5 minutes.

10. Alone by Diego Lopez - A documentary about youth suicide, warning signs and prevention. 14 minutes.

11. Fort Stanton Cave 6/20/04 by Dan Otero - A documentary on the natural wonders of Fort Stanton Cave near Capitan, NM. 10 minutes.

12. Do Not Undermine by Dan Otero and Jon Mayer - A music video for The Troll’s Demise. Music by Jonathan Dodge Mayer and Joe L. Vigil. 2 minutes.

(0) comments

Thursday, June 10, 2004

NNMDV is hosting the Española Valley Movie Showcase on Sunday, June 27th in Española, NM.
The EVMS will be screening The Troll's Demise, El Guajolote, The Dark Saga (a preview) and several other short movies and videos by local movie makers.

In addition, a scene from Zen & the Asteroid will be screened. This will be the first public viewing of any ZATA material.

And best of all, admission is Free !!

(0) comments

Sunday, May 23, 2004

The Troll's Demise will be screened at the NNMCC Theatre in Espanola on Sunday, June 27th. Check back for more information.

(0) comments

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Dan completed ZATA draft 10, the final draft in terms of length. It clocks in at 110 minutes. This draft was sent to Jonathan Dodge for audio wizardry.

What's left to do is more animations, some special effects, backgrounds and compositing. Completion is slated for Summer 2004. Stay tuned and tell a friend.

(0) comments

Monday, March 08, 2004

Zen & the Asteroid recieved some publicity in the Santa Fe New Mexican. In the March 5th issue of Pasatiempo, film critic Jon Bowman writes:

The Asteroid is coming

"Notwithstanding the 11 Oscars awarded to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, New Zealand doesn't have a monopoly yet as an exotic backdrop for cinematic fantasy epics.

"Two young filmmakers from Espanola, Dan Otero and Javier Arellano, report that they have wrapped principal photography on Zen & the Asteroid, a picture they describe as a Taoist sci-fi comedy. Three years in the making, Zen & the Asteroid awaits completion of a musical score and a final animation sequence being created by Jason Harris from Puyallup, Wash., in preparation for a schedule release in June.

"Otero and Arellano shot the feature under the auspices of their multimedia company, Northern New Mexico Digital Video. They employed a cast of hundreds in this independant $12,000 labor of love and used more than 20 locations across New Mexico, ranging from treacherous lava tubes in the badlands of El Malpais to rugged cliffs outside Dixon and in the Jemez Mountains.

"The dooms day story unfolds in the far-distant future as earthlings must marshal a defense against ailien invaders who have sent a deadly asteroid hurtling toward the planet. Martial arts duels, mad scientists, mythical creatures and attractive inter-galactic spies all figure into the story.

"Otero and Arellano offered a preview of what's to come with their short The Troll's Demise, shown at last year's Santa Fe Film Festival. "

How cool is that? It's auspicious for ZATA to be mentioned in the same article as ROTK.

Meanwhile, Dan continues to edit video at break neck pace.

(0) comments

Friday, February 06, 2004

A full version draft08 of Zen & the Asteroid was completed by Dan.

This draft version was taken to Puyallup, Washington to screen for Jason Harris, an animator on the film. Jason will be animating the climactic finale of the film.

Lurking in the back ground were HopGoblin and Terpitude who both give it 2 thumbs up. So that equals 4 thumbs !!!

(0) comments

Monday, December 29, 2003

We had our last film shoot for Zen & the Asteroid at the same location of our first film shoot. It was a very cold and sunny day in the northern Jemez mountains as we filmed a scene that completes the movie. Javier acted as Javius the Bounty Hunter, Long "L.D." Dog the dog acted as Ardog, the Bounty Hunter. Dan directed, Bob ran the Camera, and Wil was the Production Assistant, who also captured a cameo role, taboot.
Now continues the final editing, plus the animations and special effects.

In other news, Jan 3rd is a gathering to celebrate Director Dan's 31st trip around the sun. Art, Music, Risk, plus a screening of ZATA . Email Dan if you want to stop by.

(0) comments

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

I recieved an email from John H. Farr, a friend and fellow mac-enthusiast from Taos, NM. John has been a supporter of NNMDV since his article back in 2002.

Well, John has posted a new article on our Film Festival Adventures. How cool is that!

Check out John's 'weekly' GRACK! column and his other cool websites.

(0) comments

Monday, December 08, 2003

It was a fantastic Santa Fe Film Festival.
Here is some news from the SFFF

The Troll's Demise got some good press from The New Mexican's Weekly Magazine of Arts, Entertainment & Culture, called Pasatiempo.

" New Mexico Shorts I and II offer a smorgasbord of films made in New Mexico, from documentaries to dance performances, educational efforts and music videos. One of the best works is The Troll's Demise (New Mexico Shorts I), a campy piece that places a group of geology students at cave sites near Pe?asco, where they encounter a tree troll and Trogla, a Medusa-like woman who can turn humans to stone. Dan Otero, who grew up in Espa?ola and lives in La Mesilla, wrote and directed this amusing mythical story."
- Pasatiempo, 12/5/03

I met a great many artists, performers and filmmakers from around the country and the world--all enjoying themselves in the High Desert of Santa Fe.

Here is a snapshot of some websites:
Michael Sakamoto
Rochelle Fabb
Jill Miller
Wil Albarez
Whirling Rainbow
Kids on Coffee
MuseMedia
Bada Entertainment (Bada means Ocean in Korean)

The Zen & the Asteroid movie trailer played before each showing of The Troll's Demise, and I got a lot of good feedback. The entire New Mexico Shorts I (snicker) collection was so packed that they put forth an encore performance late Sunday night.

So a very big thanks to the Organizers, Staff, Sponsors, Volunteers, Patrons and Filmmakers who all took part to make the 2003 Santa Fe Film Festival such a success. Cheers!

(0) comments

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

I have completed editing on Zen & the Asteroid Act I !!

The first 50 minutes of Zen & the Asteroid is complete and soon it will be time to begin scoring the music and foley. To this end, I've brought my family to San Francisco for a Thanksgiving week in San Francisco, visiting friends and family and to deliver the finished Act I to Jonathan D. Mayer in person.

Note that there is still at least an additional 60 minutes of footage needing editing, compositing, keying and animation. At least all the principle photography is complete.

In other news,

The Santa Fe Film Festival is running a Live Video Web Cast on Friday, December 5th from 9:30pm-1am at the
V.I.P party taking place at the Ore House on the Plaza, 50 Lincoln Ave.

This is the link for the Live Webcast .
Or copy/paste this URL into your web browser: http://fcs.simplecaster.com/sffilm.html

The web cast is using Flash Player and should be installed automatically when
viewing the webcast page, if not already intalled.

Go Here to download the player from Macromedia's website.

The Troll's Demise has been described by the Santa Fe Film Festival thusly:

The Troll's Demise
Dan Otero, USA, 12 min.
A geology professor's Freudian dream, starring his alter ego troll, nymphet student and gorgon wife. Playing with the shorts collection New Mexico Shorts I.
http://www.nmdigitalvideo.com/TrollsDemise
5-Dec. 11:15am Muse Media
6-Dec. 3:45pm Muse Media

(0) comments

Thursday, November 06, 2003

An interesting experience today. But first the good news.

The Troll's Demise has been accepted to the Santa Fe Film Festival !!
It will be showing Friday, Dec 5th and Saturday, Dec 6th at MuseMedia
in downtown Santa Fe as part of the New Mexico Shorts Collection.

(actually, that name is sorta funny in an underwear sorta way)

So this good news has led to my interesting experience today, which actually started last week
when I was invited to be interviewed for a Public Access TV show at Pac 8 in Los Alamos, NM.

This is an SFFF Promotional show where the directors of the NM Shorts Collection are interviewed by Jean, the host, about their project and also show some clilps. It was a great recording session. This segment will be aired on Public Access channels across NM in the weeks leading up to the Film Fest.

These are the Short Films in the New Mexico Shorts Collection:
Clown Camp, Doofus Speaks of Driving Safety, Elucidation, Flower, Magic Toupee, Metaphysical Biscuit, Nob Hill, Parking Lot, Resonance Plateau, The Troll's Demise, What's In a Picture? and When Tomorrow Comes.

And on top of that, I watched Matrix: Revolutions tonight.

Finally, check out Bob Alexander's ZATA website as well as his Movie Appearances.

(0) comments

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

We've been very busy doing post production. Check out the 2nd
ZATA Movie Trialer. The Troll's
Demise is completed and has been submitted to Santa
Fe Film Festival and Sundance.
Cross your fingers.

(0) comments

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

My old friend Jonathan Dodge Mayer has delivered the final audio for Troll's Demise. Check out his band's website: Nervebox. The original score for this short film is pure genius.

I am finishing up The Troll's Demise and will be screening it in Santa Fe at The Island on Friday the 29th.

(0) comments

On July 28, Jason Harris, the HopGoblin himself, began working on digital animations for ZATA. Over the past weeks, he's been creating some amazing animaitons that have exceeded my imagination. Very Cool. We are very happy to have HopGoblin on the ZATA bus!!

(0) comments

Thursday, June 19, 2003

I finally got around to posting some photos from the past few film shoots. Check out the photos.

Dan has been cranking out the editing of ZATA. Javier has been building background using Bryce. Dannu has been using Maya to create some animations for 2 key scenes. Jeff Baker has been using Lightwave to build the Intro and Outro animations for ZATA.

The Troll's Demise, a short film set in the ZATA universe, is nearing completion. Jonathan Dodge Mayer has been working the sound effects and foley, and composing an original score for the short film. Look for The Troll's Demise to become available early in July. It's gonna be AWESOME!!!!

(0) comments

Monday, May 26, 2003

5/25/03 - The 2nd annuel Day-Before-Memorial-Day NNMDV party at Dan's house in La Mesilla. The good news is that NNMDV will now be working with Dancing Bear Graphics on several of the key animation sequences in Zen & the Asteroid. Truly a match made in Independant Film Heaven.

(0) comments

Monday, May 19, 2003

5/17/03 - The Gypsy Festival !! in Madrid, NM. We filmed it. Now Editing it. Soon you'll see it.

(0) comments

5/11/03 - Our last location film shoot. We filmed 'Javius Hitch Hiking' in Pilar, NM. Javier Arellano acted as Javius, Lesley's character was named Yolanda. Bob and Leslie ran the cameras and Dan directed.

I knew I had a good filmshoot ahead of me when the 2 Leslie's drove up from Santa Fe....

(0) comments

Monday, April 28, 2003

We had a quick filming session with Manuel R. Vigil as Ramon and Galileo Zen as Gato. Dan filmed the duo entering a futuristic spaceship.

Update on Brian:
I saw in the news that Brian Avery is alive, able to see and in stable condition. whew!

(0) comments

Monday, April 07, 2003

A member of the Zen & the Asteroid cast went to the Middle East to aid humanitarian efforts and effect some peace. There was an article in the Albuquerque Journal this weekend stating that Brian Avery was allegidly shot by Israeli troops. He is still alive and in critical condition. Click here for the article.
Brian was the drummer for Los Dingos and he spent the day with us on 12.15.02 filming 'La Cantina'.

(0) comments

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

It was an Audio recording session that brought the group together. We named ourselves Los Chon Chones, which is spanish for The Chon Chons. We recorded about 8 songs, plus background music for 2 scenes in the movie.
Colin, Conchita, C. Ray, Joe, Jeff, Javier, Bob, Amy, Leslie, Eloy, Suzie, Lesley, Natalia, Andrea, Byron and Dan all played beautiful music together.

(0) comments

Friday, March 14, 2003

We filmed a scene called The Troll's Demise. Wil Albarez as the Tall True Tree Troll, Bob Alexander as Professor Alexander Roberts, Juliet Stephens Tripp as Trogla, Sherri Davidoff as Melinda Mondragon. Dan directed, filmed and ran sound. Lynette Jordan was Assistant Director and acted as Geology student Leanne. The cast and crew drove to the Harding Mine near Penasco, NM. More info on the Harding Mine. View the Photos.

(0) comments

Wednesday, February 19, 2003

2.19.03 - Created a new Blog for Zen & the Asteroid. The previous log entries will be moved to the archive area in a week or so. You can look forward to more consistant updates from here on out. -Dan

(0) comments

1.19.03 - 'The Poker Game' was filmed at the NNMDV film lot. Manuel R. Vigil as Ramon, Wil Albarez as the Tall True Tree Troll. Dan directed. Javier Arellano on camera 1. Rob Hutwohl running sound. Leslie Foster on camera 2. Dannu Hutwohl on camera 3. Bob Alexander as the Gaffer. Lynette Jordan as production assistant. See the Photos.

(0) comments

01.02.03 - Filmed 'Ramon Meets SIMPEE' at NNMDV-BS. Ramon. Manuel R. Vigil as Ramon and Chris Norris as SIMPEE. Dan Otero directed. Javier Arellano on Camera 1. Wil Albarez on Sound. Lynette Jordan. as Production Assistant. See the Photos.

(0) comments

12.29.02 - The Council gathers once again at NNMDV Bluescreen studio. Sheila Devitt as Sydny Hartha, Sabina Zuniga as Lao-Sue. Dan directed. Bob Alexander on camera 1, Joe Vigil running sound, Chris Norris on camera 2. See the Photos.

(0) comments

12.15.02 - 'La Cantina' was filmed at the Eagle's Club in Espanola, NM. Javier directed the extra large cast and crew. Bob Alexander worked as Director of Photography on camera 1. Leslie Foster ran camera 2. Rob Hutwohl ran sound on camera 1. Dannu Hutwohl ran camera 3. Amy Archuleta did makeup. Carlos Arellano and Mikyla Hutwohl helped as production Assistants. Gilbert Vigil provided still photography. Elena Arellano catered the event with 3 enchiladas and her signature veggie tamales! Special thanks to the Cast: Ed Maez, Virgil V. Vigil, Grizzly Safowski, Ginger Walston, Kirsten Henry, Mary M. Martinez, Kathy Dixon, Jeff Primm, Amy Archuleta, Eloy Gutierrez, Manuel R. Vigil and Kevin N. Thronas. Special thanks to the band, Los Dingos: Colin Runnels, C. Ray Himes, Chris Frain and Brian Avery the drummer. Dan completed the cast by acting his little butt off. Special thanks to Nick Naranjo and Joe Viarial from the Eagle's Club for permission to film at their facility. The film shoot was a success, overcoming many obsticles. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the cast and crew for volunteering time to make this scene so special! The work you did
was A+ and you will laugh out loud when you see the finished product.

(0) comments

11.29.02 - The Asteroid. Dixon, NM. Filming Javius' asteroid scenes on the badlands near Dixon. Bob Alexander and Colin Runnels did the filming. Javier acted and Dan directed. See the Photos.

(0) comments

11.16.02 - Javius' Spacesuit bluescreen filming. Bob, Javier and Dan spent the day building and filming a spacesuit for Javius. As you know, humans need protection when they walk on asteroids.

(0) comments

10.25.02 - Dan takes a trip to San Francisco for final audio mixdown of several key scenes from Zen and the Asteroid.

(0) comments

10.19.02 - We filmed 'Ramon and Javius' in Chili, NM. Manuel R. Vigil reprised his role as Ramon who gets a visit from the Inspector Javius (Javier). Dan directed and Bob ran the new Sony VX-2000 camera. See the Photos.

(0) comments

10.18.02 - Bluescreen filming at NNMDV-BS. Special fx shots of Zen leaping off the Earth, floating languidly thru space and landing on the Asteroid. Javier directed, Bob ran the Sony VX-2000 camera and Dannu Hutwohl filmed behind the scenes footage with Camera 2.

(0) comments

9.27.02 - Javier Arellano celebrates his 30th birthday at NNMDV studios. Come to the party. (note: Don't give Dan anymore Cape Cod's)

(0) comments

9.25.02 - New webpage for the Zen and the Asteroid Movie Trailer. Check it out.

(0) comments

9.18.02 thru 9.25.02 - NNMDV Bluescreen studio recieved a new roof. Danny Otero, Eddy "Kermit" Tafoya and Dan Otero re-roofed the studio with 14 ft sheets of red pro-panel. Coincidentally, this happened to be the rainyest week of the year in Northern New Mexico.

(0) comments

9.7.02 - The Asteroid. Malpais, NM. The NNMDV Asteroid Crew drove woke up early Saturday morning for the long drive to the Big Tubes at the Malpais lavaflows near Grants, NM. Miles and miles of caves, some collapsed, spread across the land. It truly is a 'bad place' but with a rugged, harsh beauty. We filmed the climactic battle between Zen and CAB. The kung-fu was intense and the rock-climbing was furious. Truly a memorable filmshoot that was as rugged as it was fulfilling. See the Images.

(0) comments

9.1.02 - The Asteroid. Dixon NM. The crew drove thru an extremely rocky road to get to the Dixon Asteroid location. This is the first of 2 locations needed to complete the Asteroid scene. Javier directed Dan and Amy thru their climactic fight scene. Dan climbed dangerous cliff walls while Bob Alexander climbed into narrow tunnels to get 'the shot'. Special thanks to Paul Lucero.

(0) comments

8.30.02 - Filmed 'SIMPEE and Javius' scene at NNMDV bluescreen studio--here after dubbed NNMDV-BS. Chris Norris reprised his role as SIMPEE, this time annoying Javier Arellano as Javius. Katy Yonda spoke as the Voice of the Computer. Bob and Leslie filmed while Dan directed.

(0) comments

8.25.02 - NNMDV Marketing meeting. Dan and Javier met with Suzie Gutierrez, our new Marketing director, Eloy Gutierrez, Bob Alexander, and John H. Farr in Dixon, NM. John wrote about the event.

(0) comments

8.24.02 - Filmed 'SIMPEE and CRAIG' at NNMDV bluescreen studio with Eloy Gutierrez as CRAIG and Chris Norris as SIMPEE, the Spaceship Integrated Maintenance Personal Electronic Engineer. Special thanks to Leslie Foster on Camera 1, Colin Runnels, Conchita Tamondong, Maliah Rosenbloom, Galileo Zen, Katy and Suzie Yonda.

(0) comments

8.18.02 - Filmed 'Zen and The Troll' on the lot at NNMDV studios with Daniel as Zen and Wil Albarez as The Troll. Bob Alexander and Javier Arellano directed the actors thru firebreathing stunts! Special thanks to Lynette B. Jordan, Colin Runnels, and their respective dogs. View some images.

(0) comments

8.17.02 - Filmed "Robot Zen" in Dixon, NM. Javier and Eloy did the acting. Special thanks to Suzie Gutierrez and Edgar Acosta for filming, make-up and sound. Dan and Bob drove around on the Gator golf cart, filming the action on the fly.

(0) comments

8.16.02 - Filmed "CAB Comes Alive" at NNMDV bluescreen studio with Andrea Marcus as mean ol' Dr. DeSoussa and Amy Archuleta as CAB--the Cybornetic Android Brain. Special thanks to Leslie Foster on Camera 2 and Rob amd Dannu Hütwohl who did a great job in the crew.

(0) comments

8.4.02 - Filmed "CRAIG's Demise" in Chamita, NM. Eloy, Amy and Javier acted. We got some publicity from the Rio Grande Sun from reporter Amy Lotven. Special thanks to Leslie Foster, Skip Wilson, Suzie Gutierrez, Craig Stevenson, Salomon, Tony and Hilde for helping us at the filmshoot. View the Photos.

(0) comments

8.1.02 - Leslie Foster joins the crew as Camera 2 technician.

(0) comments

7.27.02 - Filmed the Bamboo Battle between Javius and Zen in Espanola. Dan and Javier continued their Bamboo Battles. Ouch...i'm still sore, and poor Bob is a sunburned lobster.

(0) comments

7.20.02 - Filmed "I Hate Irony" Javius vs. CAB scene in Ojo Sarco, NM. Javier and Amy acted, while Dan and Bob filmed and followed. It was a rainy day and we got fantastic footage. Special thanks to Carlos Arellano.

(0) comments

7.24.02 - posted Behind the Scenes photos

(0) comments

7.6.02 - 7.7.02 - Filmed Dr. Thunder and Evil Goji scenes in La Mesilla, NM. Joe Vigil, Mike Ward, Jeff Primm and the robotic iB1P0 did the acting. Lots of bluescreening, and tortilla tossing!!! These scenes are hilarious! Special thanks to Wil Albarez, Craig Stephenson, Troy Paff, Lynette B. Jordan, Yancy "the artist formerly known as Dave" Williams (for the nun-chucks and guns).

(0) comments

6.29.02 - Filmed Javius and Zen dialog in Espanola, NM. New Director of Photography joins the crew: Bob Alexander. Special thanks to Andrea Marcus, as Assistant Director, Unica and Carlos Arellano and L.D. the NNMDV film dog.

(0) comments

6.25.02 - Amy Archuleta is cast as CAB, the Cybornetic Android Brain. Eloy Gutierez is cast as CRAIG, the Cybornetic Robotic Artificially Intellegent Gentleman.

(0) comments

6.15.02 thru 7.18.02- 1 month of choreographing fight scenes with Dennis Chavez. Dennis began drilling Javier and Dan with swordfighting and fencing techniques. They are introduced to foil and sabre fencing as well as French, Italian and Spanish fencing styles. Dennis also helped Dan and Amy choreograph their climatic karate duel.

(0) comments

6.08.02 - Filmed "The Council Seeks a Solution" in Alburquerque, NM. [sic] at Joe and Sheila's house in the student ghetto. Sheila Devitt, Sabina Zuniga and Monica Rodriguez were Sydny Hartha, Lao-Sue and Fyu-Sha, respectively. Special thanks to Unica and Carlos Arellano, Mike Ward, Josh Schwa, and Jeff Primm. View some photos.

(0) comments

6.1.02 - Filmed Dr. DeSoussa in her lab. Andrea Marcus was Mean Ol' Dr. DeSoussa. Dan and Javier directed the action.

(0) comments

5.30.02 - Filmed more 'Bamboo Battles' in the Jemez mountains near Espanola. Dan and Javier acted, Bob Alexander and Andrea Marcus did the filming.

(0) comments

5.29.02 - Filmed 'The Oracle' along the shores of the Rio Granded in La Mesilla, NM. Maliah Rosenbloom was Astra and Dan was Zen. Javier, Andrea and Candie Valdez were in the crew.

(0) comments

4.6.02 - Dan, Mike and Joe drove out to the Malpais lava flows near Grants, NM to scout location for the Asteroid scene. Take a look at the Lava Tube Ice images.

(0) comments

Saturday, April 01, 2000

April 2000. Dan Otero, Javier Arellano and Adam SpeckledRock meet in Dan's trailer in Española to discuss making a short film called Zen & the Asteroid to try out their new movie-making hardware.

(0) comments

/archives