I’m planning on having a nice dinner with a few close friends and then going to Blondie’s afterwards (after 10pm) to have some drinks and some laughs and hopefully see some people I’ve missed for the past year.

If you’re in Toronto, you should stop by and say hi.

Fast on the heels of their success with Spent and the Toronto Star’s proclamation of Ravi Jain as a Person To Watch in 2010, Why Not Theatre is hard at work crafting I’m So Close, which will be shown as part of both The Theatre Centre’s Free Fall, as well as Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage.

Ravi hired me to make the marketing and promo materials for the show and after a few meetings discussing space, orbits, technology, love, loss and a whole bunch of other things, along with sharing references and YouTube videos, I went into my lab and came up with a bunch of ideas for our photoshoot.

The shoot was a lot of fun, we did a lot of experimentation and ended up with a lot of great shots to work with. I rented the beautiful 24-70mm f/2.8 lens for my D200, which was so versatile and sharp, I didn’t need anything else.

I really wanted to get my good friend and amazing illustrator Chris Simonen involved in the process. We discussed a bunch of ideas, including tracing photos, using watercolours, and particularly agreeing that hand-drawn fonts were something we wanted to experiment with.

Chris came up with a handful of beautiful font samples for the title and the body text and after deciding on one, I sent him off with some of the photos and a brief synopsis of the play as I knew it to get creative and make some illustrations for the main poster.

In the meantime, I came up with the idea of making several teaser posters after looking through some of the cool shots we got. Aside from creating more work for myself, I only had a rough idea of how I wanted them to look. The only thing I knew I was going to start with was the watercolour/space backgrounds. From there, on a rainy Saturday in California, riding in the back of a car on the way up to Napa Valley, I started to experiment, and by the time we got to Bouchon Bakery I had more or less designed the postcard. I was really excited about the direction the design took and knew right then that I was going to use it throughout the promo materials. From there it was just a matter of refining the technique, getting all the copy straight with Ravi and the various producers, and formatting them for print.

Apparently Harbourfront Centre and Theatre Centre were both so excited about the design that they’re using the postcard as promo for their respective festivals as well, so you could be seeing these designs all over the place in the coming month.

The show opens on March 23, 2010 at The Theatre Centre. Check the postcard and the various websites mentioned above for more details. I’ll be in attendance and hopefully I’ll see you there.

After 8 years of hard work, the BeautifulCity.ca initiative finally comes down to a vote tomorrow morning at 9:30am at City Hall. If passed, a new tax on billboards will be created to fund art in public spaces, greatly increasing arts funding in our great city, which is far behind the funding models of other burgeoning metropolises.

If you’ve got the time, come out and support the passing of this historical new tax that will revolutionize the city we live in.

For more information, visit beautifulcity.ca

This is the last week to catch the amazing Ravi Jain and Adam Paolozza in Spent, their hilarious and insightful show playing at Factory Theatre until October 25th.

If you’re looking for a great night of fun and laughter, definitely check this show out. I may be slightly biased but I firmly believe Ravi and Adam are among the best actors working in Toronto right now.

The show is hilarious, amazingly executed, and quite insightful. It has gotten great reviews from The Toronto Star and NOW Magazine (among others).

Click here for more info about the show and how to get tickets

Ravi and Adam conceived of and built the show around the image on the poster. I created the poster as a prototype for the marketing materials for the show.

As self-proclaimed cinephiles, my friend Ryan and I attend the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) annually, and have always hoped for a way to make the process of selecting from the 300+ films on hand every year and making a schedule simple and clean. Following the old adage, if you want something done right, do it yourself, we did just that and built our own solution. The result?

http://tiffr.com : The simple way to schedule your festival.

We’ve tried our best to make it simple and intuitive to use based on our experiences. You still get all of the info about the films from the official TIFF website, but through the magic of a simple little bookmarklet (similar to the one people use to post to Tumblr and Delicious), when you find a film you like you can shortlist it on tiffr with the click of a button.

Once you’re done going through all the films, you can head over to tiffr to see your shortlist, rearrange and start scheduling. We plot out all the screenings for the films you shortlisted and all you’ve gotta do is pick the ones that fit into your lifestyle!

When you’ve got everything the way you want it, you can print it out, add it to your calendar, and share it with your friends and family.

Hopefully our hard work will help you save time and frustration. We think the site is pretty kick ass and we hope you will too!

We had a really great night of film under the stars, with a really solid line up of films that we, as the organizers, stood behind with pride. The general vibe was really great and the weather couldn’t have been better for an outdoor screening. I had a blast meeting filmmakers and film lovers alike and am really excited to keep MONTAGE going, hopefully getting bigger and better with each one!

We have tentatively set the next MONTAGE night for Thursday, October 1st, leading into Nuit Blanche, with fingers crossed that the weather can hold out for us one more time. We’re committed to making some improvements to the night, like getting a microphone and a light of some kind so you can see and hear me when I’m up front, and any comments and/or suggestions are very appreciated.

I made the bonehead move of leaving my camera at home in the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for the night, so if you were there and have any photos you’d love to share, they would be extremely appreciated!

Thanks again to everyone who came out and we hope to see you at the next one!

Spread far and wide!

Manifesto, fightingtheboss and Honour Rebel continue

MONTAGE
A monthly spotlight on local independent filmmakers

On Thursday August 13th, MONTAGE returns to transform the parking lot of the Manifesto Space at 358 Dufferin into an Outdoor Urban Theatre as we celebrate the work of our city’s (and the world’s) independent filmmakers and artists, minus the barriers of genre, scene or subculture. Featuring short films from the worlds of animation, documentary, avante-garde and the far reaches of our collective imagination, MONTAGE aims to bring together the inspired and expressive, the audience and artist, in all of us.

More than anything else, MONTAGE is a celebration. With music provided by ANDY CAPP (Bang the Party), art installations by Phillippe Blanchard and Sean Procyk, an artist market and refreshment stand, this night is about coming together to bask in the independent spirit of Toronto.

You complete the picture. Be a part of the MONTAGE.

Thursday, August 13th, 2009
358 Dufferin Street, Toronto
8 – 11pm
$5 or PWYC

Rain or shine.

We’re also still looking for submissions for more outdoor screenings later this summer so if you or anyone you know has a film they’d like to show, get in touch.

Spread far and wide!

Manifesto, fightingtheboss and The Alt continue

MONTAGE
A monthly spotlight on local independent filmmakers

with an OUTDOOR SCREENING in the courtyard at the Manifesto Space (the same people who just brought you the amazing Canada Day Michael Jackson Tribute at Dundas Square). We’ll have many short films and installations by local artists, popcorn, and drinks. Join us for a fun evening of movies under the stars!

Thursday, July 9th, 2009
358 Dufferin Street, Toronto
8 – 11pm
$5 or PWYC

Rain or shine.

We’re also still looking for submissions for more outdoor screenings later this summer so if you or anyone you know has a film they’d like to show, get in touch.

I have been a long standing and deep rooted Michael Jackson fan for the majority of my life, as most people who know me well are aware, so I was greatly saddened when he passed away last week. Along with billions of others, I was following minute by minute as news of the event trickled through the Internet, and wouldn’t believe the news until it was finally confirmed by a reputable news source.

Listening to his music being played all over the place these past few days has been really great. His musical talent was monstrous, and simply put, he was the greatest entertainer on Earth for a period, with a legacy that will go on well beyond any infamy he garnered in life.

Let’s use this Canada Day to celebrate our great country and pay tribute to the musical genius of Michael Jackson. A pretty unexpected pair, to be sure, but in death as in life, MJ entertains.

Manifesto Festival presents
Michael Jackson: A Toronto Tribute and Canada Day Celebration
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Dundas Square
8pm – 11pm
FREE

Manifesto and fightingtheboss have partnered up with the good people at The Alt to bring you MONTAGE this summer, with outdoor screenings in the courtyard at the Manifesto Space. MONTAGE is a monthly showcase for local independent filmmakers and that’s where you come in.

If you or someone you know has a film they’d like to screen at one of our events, get in touch with us and we’ll work to make it happen (details are in the poster).

Our first event is being planned for Thursday, July 9th, with more to follow through the summer.