You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Made this one for the Victoria Film Festival s My Victoria Film contest. They wanted a one-minute Victoria-centric film. While wandering around the immerweb, trying to figure out what to do for the film, I stumbled into the the raciest historical tidbit about my quaint little town. It s about an architect named Francis Rattenbury. Adultery. Murder. Juicy stuff. Here is the film I made: I ended up winning the Capital History Award for it, and did a little interview with the Susan McLean from the Provincial Capital Commission. I found it online here: http://www.bcpcc.com/pages/news.htm Rattenbury scandal provides fodder for Capital History Award winner March 2008 - Not only did Francis Rattenbury design Victoria’s signature buildings, including the Parliament Buildings, the Empress Hotel, the Crystal Garden and the CP Steamship terminal, but the renowned architect was a key character in the raciest scandal of the 1920s and 30s. The steamier side of Rattenbury from leaving his wife for a younger woman to his murder in England by his chauffer who was having an affair with his second wife, through to her stabbing death provided a smorgasbord of tantalizing historical tidbits and fascinating imagery for Victoria filmmaker Scott Amos. Combining archival photographs and new video footage, Amos pieced together Rattenbury’s sordid final years for his short film “Victim of an Evil Seductress” to win the Provincial Capital Commission’s Capital History Award at this year’s Victoria Film Festival. Thanks to the internet, Scott was able to conduct much of his research on the renowned architect, accessing historical information and archived photographs. Using a 1952 16-mm Bolex camera, he began filming. Working out of his basement, Scott processed the film in buckets of chemicals, deliberately scratching the black and white film to make it look old. Originally from Ontario, Amos hitchhiked to Victoria 10 years ago, with a guitar on his back and $20 in his pocket. It’s the story films are made of and was the topic of his second film entered in this year’s festival entitled “Waiting. Earning some money busking in Bastion Square, he eventually earned a writing degree from the University of Victoria, where one of his professors handed him a video camera for a film project. It was a pivotal moment in Scott’s life. “I got myself into huge debt buying equipment,” he laughed. He also started making short films. Now a Teacher’s Assistant in UVic’s Fine Arts Department and working at Medianet, a video co-op business, Amos is a five-year veteran of the Victoria Film Festival. The My Victoria category suits his style, he says, providing an avenue to show off his work. “I make a lot of Island-centric movies. “The festival is a great way to be exposed to artistic work that you wouldn’t normally see,” he said. “There’s a lot of local and Canadian content and it’s great to see what’s happening in my field. The My Victoria competition is an opportunity for local artists to have their work shown on the Big Screen and to expose people to the unique voices of the local independent film community, he added. It also provides an incentive to film a changing world, he noted. Amos is the first to admit the world, as most people see it, isn’t his cup of tea. “The real world doesn’t interest me,” he said. “I live it every day so I don’t need to film it. I’d rather film a world that doesn’t exist or to see the existing world in a way I’ve never seen it before. But add an experimental twist and it’s award time for Amos.

This started as an old educational film called I am Joe s Spine. And then I wrecked it a bunch. I buried myself in my basement lab, and listened continuously to the new Run Chico Run CD that I got. It s called Rocket Surgery and it s fantastic. Thankfully, the band has let me use a snippit of their song Slow to accompany the film, so you can hear how cool it is yourself. Their myspace is here, and their website is here, but I have no idea where to buy the album. I got it at their show it s on green vinyl too! Did you hear that? GREEN VINYL. Badass. I Am Fine was made by scratching at the old film, with a bit of chemical manipulation, and then some compositing and digital effects on the ol computer. I m hoping the Chicos ll let me make them a music video over the summer. we ll see. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video and, like I promised, here is the Quicktime version.

Round number next in the film-a-week project. This is some 16mm film that I found in my basement, that I had shot, but never processed. Now that I can look at it, although I shot it for no particular reason, it seems to have some meaning to it. It s a little cliche, so I couldn t bring myself to say it outright, but it s there in the footage. It has to do with perception or something like that. Perhaps the creepiest thing I ve ever made. You were warned. Film by Scott Amos, Music by Mike Wolske. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video And over the next week, I ve decided to repost all the past episodes in Quicktime format for a video podcast. I just can t handle how bad YouTube mangles everything.

This is a little experiment I did, making inkblots with clear acrylic and india ink. I pressed as many copies as I could, then took photographs of them, and lined them up, overlayed and composited them. I threw a little motion blur on them too, to smooth out everything. Some interesting textures. Part 13 of the 2008 film-a-week project. Film by Scott Amos, music by Mike Wolske (altered by Scott Amos) You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video And a higher quality Quicktime

A fear and worry of mine. On celluloid. Shot on 16mm film and hand-processed. Initially created and screened on 16mm with live music performed by Rozalind MacPhail for MediaNet s One-Minute Challenge. This is a digitized version with a re-recorded soundtrack. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video And here is a Quicktime version that is much cleaner (and not mangled by the YouTube compression)

While in Dawson City, I managed to catch The Burning Hell at Diamond-Tooth Gerties, and they were nice enough to let me film them. Fun band. The song is called The Second Cigarette and is on their album Happy Birthday. I believe you can purchase it through weewerk records. The background was filmed on Sombrio Beach (it s a campfire.) It was shot on black and white film, so I tinted it and composited it with the band footage. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video And here is a less-chunky Quicktime version

I filmed this one on trip back from Dawson City. It was an Air North flight from Whitehorse to Vancouver. I filmed it on colour film and must ve botched the processing it s all washy-looking. I was daydreaming on the plane. There s more footage from Dawson that I haven t figured out what to do with. I m sure it ll sneak its way into a future short. I traveled up there for the Dawson City International Short Film Festival, as a visiting filmmaker and to speak on a panel about distribution. Stayed at Bombay Peggy s. Awesome. Met a tonne of fantastic people. Braved the cold for an outdoor screening. Mastered the 10-minute-pint-between-screenings. I m hoping to get back up there next year. Before my trip, I was told that Dawson was one of those magical places; after being there, I ll have to agree. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Quicktime:

It was on old 16mm educational film, until I doused it in bleach, and spraypainted it. Now it s something else. Here s the trick - if you freeze the spraypaint can, it sprays slow and clumpy, instead of misty. Vince Lombardi cut it and Mike Wolske did the music. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Quicktime version

This is the part where I make a bunch of excuses why I haven t posted my weekly video for more than a month. Excuse #1 - made a couple films for MediaNet s One-Minute Challenge, which screened on 16mm film, Youtube won t let me upload 16mm, so I ve had to wait until now to transfer it to digital. Excuse #2 - I was in Calgary for the $100 Film Festival, where Grass was playing (and won the Best Super 8 Award). Excuse #3 - I was in Dawson City for the International Short Film Festival, where both Sometimes and Grass were playing. Excuse #4 - I had the flu. Hallucinating. Awesome. All excuses aside, I ve got the films done now, and will be putting them up over the next few days, in no particular order. First up is windowpane. I shot it in Calgary, while I was there for the $100 Film Festival. Good times. The Calgarians are a lot of fun, and took great care of me, (thanks Mels!) While wandering around with the Bolex and Luke Black (one of the bunch of really cool folks I met at the CSIF,) we found a window, leaned against a fence in an alley, covered in mildew and frost. With a macro lens, I explored it. Shot on 16mm film and hand-processed by Scott Amos, Music by Mike Wolske. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video Quicktime: