My old friend Willis, from my filmschool days, has just launched his clothing company, Peter Franco Sneakers and I wanted to give it a quick plug. He’s doing something interesting stuff. Check it out.

Franco Sneakers.com

My friend Stacey Kaniuk has just released her EP with 4 amazing tracks. The cover incorporates some photographs I snapped of her last spring.

You can get the CD on iTunes or by clicking here (which gets you the full packaging).

You can also find out more about Stacey and what she’s up to at her website: www.staceykaniuk.com.

Finished shooting a short film for Toronto Theatre group Shadowland and director Luke Langsdale. It was a 5 day shoot comprising of actors in paper mache masks and miniature sets with puppeteers.

The story is based on a series of old biblical tales with a contemporary twist.

I shot on a DVX100. The film will be targeted for DVD and the web. Had a great time hanging out in their shop space in Parkdale, eating lunch outside and enjoying the pending spring weather.

Lighting and Grip by barrycheong.com

Arber, Brad and Anne from Shadowland. Director Luke Langsdale in the centre right and me below.

I finished shooting my second short with Director Mike Heron and Producer Michelle Whiting. This time around we shot on Super8. Mike and Michelle were both very interested in exploring the format when they approached me about shooting it. The story is about a guy who’s depressed about his otherwise boring and loveless life with a bit of a twist at the end.

I shot on Kodak 7219 500T and 7217 200T. The 500T was used for all reality based sequences and 200T for all the fantasy sequences. The idea was to have a less grainy look for one sequence vs the other though testing revealed the grain structure to be fairly similar. Unfortunately I was only able to look at our film tests after the film had been ordered due to scheduling. I had hoped to shoot Super16 for the fantasy sequences for a more dramatic change but budget prohibited the choice.

The film be will be processed at Niagara Custom Labs and transfer by Frame Discreet. Thanks for Justin Lovell at Frame Discreet for providing the Canon 1014 that we used to shoot the film.

Lighting and Grip by barrycheong.com

Lining up a shot. Camera Assist Julia Seidman standing by with a sound blanket so she could…..

Do this. The camera was a little too loud for the sound team so I had to be wrapped with a towel, a jacket and a sound blanket to blimp the camera.