The First Annual ZUF Film Festival is just around the corner so mark you calenders! The ZUF Film Festival will feature 19 original short films from all over the state of Texas.  It will be this Wednesday at the Blue Room in Kingsville at the Texas A&M campus starting at 6 pm.  FREE ADMISSION! 

Some of the films fixing to have their film festival premiere include Zero Untitled’s latest film, the film noir styled “Over White Wine”.  Here are a few more films:

Carpe Diem

Waiting for Helen

Til Death Do Us Part

Green Blood…Ouch!!!

Tent to Fiesta

and plenty more to come!  Come check it out for a guaranteed good time.  Stick around after the show for the Zuffy Award Ceremony.  The Zuffy Awards are voted on by a collection of local film/theatre enthusiasts.  No Zero Untitled staff member was allowed to vote for a Zero Untitled production.  Zero Untitled projects collected 17 nominations!

Well, guys, 2008 was a relatively slow year for us.  No year has come close to being as busy as 2006 (we did 10 that year).  We produced only 2 shows in 2008.  We brought you:

–          Quickies  (“The Mattress”, “Regrets of Idiocy” and “Taming of the Fleas: Act I”)

–          Fractured (“Through Glass”, “Before We Met” and “Red Roses All Over Me”)

We thank you for your support for the arts and our cause.  Like all artists, we have many projects on the horizon (some of which we’ve procrastinated over for years). Instead of a season, here’s our “shows we’d like to see get done if we aren’t buried in work schedule”:

–          Over White Wine  (film version. Yep, it was the top of our list last year, but after getting senior editor Megan Saenz on board, her expertise will get this show ready for its film festival premiere.  Speaking of which…)

–          Zero Untitled Original Film Festival (already set for Jan-Feb)

–          Charming / Before We Met (two radio versions of some great original short stories; possible Spring/Summer)

–          Twas the Flop Before Christmas  (never too early to get on a Christmas show; this comic script was written this year in mid December and is ready for a 09 performance; obviously Winter)

–          A Happening – due to the nature of happenings, this is all we can technically say about them except they might be happening; obviously “unscheduled”)

Yeah, Someday List:

–          The Rape of Lucrece (this piece has always been on this list because of the sheer magnitude of the work; Verderber has been spending more time on it this December; possible Fall)

–          Still Standing Still  (Verderber’s novella that has been slowly worked on for 4 years now; he’s thinking of finishing it off soon and create some sort of performance for it; possible Fall)

So, our goal this year is at least 3-4 shows.  We promise to not have another dismal 2 productions year.  The good news is that (as mentioned above) 2 are already scheduled (film fest and Xmas show).  We’ll squeeze in the happenings at random (obviously, or they wouldn’t be called a happening) and the radio shows in as well (hopefully).  We’re eager to be working and are ready to get productions going.  That’s the problem with the winter break; all this down time and no stage/venues available. 

Well, folks, that’s that! Thanks again for coming out; we had some record numbers with “Fractured” and we’re hoping to repeat that success in the coming year.  2009, here comes Zero Untitled.

verderber

Location: Blue Room, Sam Fore Hall at the Texas A&M Univ – Kingsville

Place: February 18th (and possible extended to the 19th, pending films).

Time: 6:00pm

Technically, it’s our first film festival for original works; Kult Klassics 1 and Kult Klassics 2 were screenings of classic films in the “cult” status.  For now, we’re planning a late January film festival (possibly early February).  We’re discussing the location (or multiple locales for this venture).  Here are some of the films set to be playing:

1. Over White Wine

2. Green Blood…Ouch!!!

3. Til Death To Us Part

and plenty more! How do I submit?  Simple!

1. Films needs to be mailed (as a DVD movie, not file) to:

        Zero Untitled FIlms/Productions

       C/o Michael Verderber

       347 E. Holloway

       Raymondville, TX 78580

2. FIlms can be be of any length (we prefer under an hour but exceptions will be made).  The only limitation to content is that the films cannot be pornographic and Zero Untitled has the right to deny any film access.

3. Deadline for films: February 11th (postmarked by).

More information will be announced shortly! Stay tuned.

What’s that you say? “Over White Wine” is getting done after all? Yup, you read correctly.  “Over White Wine” went on hiatus after a slew of editing problems and was, basically, left to die. (Sure that’s overdramatic, but you get my point).  Our senior editor on the project, Megan Saenz, had this to say:

“Over White Wine is winding down near its end with only a few more adjustments to be made. The editing process has been without a doubt an interestingly superb challenge. Shots are composed in an artistically fluid manner with exceptional lighting in many of the scenes. An ongoing slightly problematic factor is the overpowering echoes during dialogue in the restaurant scenes due to the absence of a noise reduction mic filming took place. Although this small factor almost seemed impossible to edit with, with one actor’s line echoing into another actor’s line, precise editing allowed the echoes to add a sort of timeless feel to the restaurant scenes. Other small challenges included freeing up the hard drive space so that the video would not lag and slow the editing process. Heraclio Gonzalez jr. previously edited some scenes so a small amount of time has gone into recovering the video files already edited. Overall, the editing process for Over White Wine is flowing far more smoothly than expected thanks in large part to the organization and patience of its director/producer/writer Michael Verderber.” – M. Saenz

Expect to see Over White Wine‘s world premiere as part of Zero Untitled’s short film festival coming in early 2009 (probably January).

The latest news on “Over White Wine” is bad news, actually.  Due to some problems with with audio, the film editing process has come to a bit of a stand still.  In the mean time, we have some one act plays just around the corner.  We’ll keep you posted on the outcome of OWW.

I hope that the holidays have treated everyone well! The holidays were especially fattening for the Zero Untitled crowd. Here’s a quick breakdown of what is being worked on and what is coming up in 2008!

Read more

Our filming of “Over White Wine” has now concluded! Thanks to all who helped out and/or acted! Thanks go out to the cast and crew: James Taylor Maupin IV, Malarie Garza, Rick Saenz, O’Ryan White, Felicia Morin, Nigel Gomez, and Aissa Hinojosa. Many thanks to Aissa for the stellar dolly-cam idea (don’t worry, you’ll see when the movie premieres).

Everything is in the can right now and editing will begin very soon. Keep an eye out and you’ll get the scoop here. We’ll also post pics here and on the myspace site!

Because “Over White Wine” was half film and half live, Verderber thought it wise to film the “live” portion and re-edit the piece as one film, instead of having (what amounts to) wasted footage (ie, the filmed stuff of the live performance).  So on December 2nd, filming is scheduled for the remainder the show. 

“Over White Wine” stars James Taylor Maupin IV, Malorie Garza and David Gutierrez. The final cut will be premiered alongside some of the other recent Zero Untitled films (Verderber’s “Slipping” music vid, DJ Oringe music vid “In Regards” and possible “Mimeumentary”).

We’ll keep you posted.

Zero Untitled’s 23rd show is now up and ready for your viewing pleasure. It’s Zero Untitled’s second music video, the first being DJ Oringe’s “In Regards”, the brand new video is Verderber’s “Slipping”, an acoustic rock song. 

Verderber “Slipping”

Music: Verderber

Dir.: Michael Verderber, Gabriel Ruiz

Key Grip: James Taylor Maupin IV