Watch IPSEITY online!

My film 'IPSEITY' is online and available to watch for free at www.watchipseity.com. It's been a long road to get here, and I'm excited to finally share it!

www.watchipseity.com

IPSEITY Online Premiere

IPSEITY will finally make it's way online on July 11th. A little less than a year after the cast and crew screening of the film, I want it to be available online for anyone to view. Stay tuned for the link to go live on the 11th. In the meantime, check out some of the scenes from the film, and I hope you'll return to watch the rest of it!

The year ahead...

Lots of things have been happening, and I've been almost too busy to post any updates.

As I mentioned several posts ago, I worked with Betaversity to document the launch of their first ever betabox at the Triangle Maker Startup Weekend in Raleigh on April 4th-6th. The weekend was incredible, and very busy, but I was able to capture some footage and edit this promotional video for the product:

Betabox: Mobile Learning-by-Doing from Betaversity on Vimeo.
Betabox is a customizable prototyping and ideation pod that can be delivered anywhere in the country. Perfect for educators, conferences, and events, these spaces cultivate and enable creativity, problem solving, and learning by doing.


In addition to all the work with Betaversity, I've been working on a number of my own projects - unfortunately, some of them can't be announced yet, but one of them will be making it's way online this summer, and another one will be going live at the end of the year. I'm very excited about them, and can't wait to share them with you. Be sure to follow me on twitter at @nicholas_sailer to hear the latest updates and news about my projects!

Promotional video for Tapestry and Triangle Maker Startup Weekend

I've been busy producing a number of short commercial pieces and promotional videos, and I want to share what I've been working on recently!

Below is a video that I shot and produced for Tapestry, an app for creating and sharing stories. Check out the app here.





Tapestry: Make Something Beautiful from Nicholas Sailer on Vimeo.
Everyone has a story. Share yours with Tapestry.

itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapestry-share-your-story/id568898959?ls=1&mt=8

Cinematography by Nicholas Sailer. Post-production by Sprinkle Labs.

In addition to creating some commercial and promotional pieces in NYC, I'm also headed to Raleigh, NC to shoot a promotional video with Betaversity and help launch their latest product, a mobile prototyping lab called a 'Betabox' at Raleigh's first ever Triangle Maker Startup Weekend.

This event is an innovation and entrepreneurship focused weekend for makers, engineers, and designers of all kinds. Stay tuned for pictures and video of the event!

Update

It's been a while since I last posted, but it's about time to give an update on the projects I'm working on.

This week I'll be headed to San Francisco with Betaversity, the prototyping makerspace startup that I worked with last fall to produce a short promotional piece. I've been working with Betaversity on various design projects since the launch of the UC Davis Betaspace, and they are an amazing team with big things ahead. In San Francisco, we'll be interviewing various hardware entrepreneurs at Techshop and Jawbone to create a documentary about hardware innovation and entrepreneurship. Stay tuned for pictures, video, and more exciting things ahead.

In addition to working with Betaversity, I've also done some promotional video work for a really great design thinking startup called The Design Gym. The Design Gym teaches and facilitates design thinking and innovation workshops for clients looking to innovate in their industry, and students looking to learn and explore design further. Stay tuned for a video of The Design Gym soon!

In addition to these video projects, I've been working on a number of other side projects, including a lot of writing (both short stories, treatments, and screenplay).

Stay tuned for more updates as these projects progress! In the meantime, check out my recently updated WEBSITE and portfolio.

'American Hustle' Film Review

American Hustle (2013)

Crime/Drama - 138 minutes

David O. Russell

I had been waiting to see American Hustle since before it was called American Hustle. The script was originally called ‘American Bulls***’, and after getting my hands on the screenplay, I was seized. The script was brilliant.

The finished film, however, proved to be very different from the screenplay – the only carry-overs were the character forms and the basic structure of the plot (being based on true events, the overall plot remained fairly unchanged). However, I can’t think of any scenes that remained the same from the screenplay to the film.

The strength of this film is the characters. The characters were an overwhelming force of nature. Even the smallest roles were often filled with distinct details and quirks that made the world feel real.

According to IMDB, David O. Russell encouraged his actors to delve into their characters, even when it meant drastically changing the plot during filming. When Christian Bale countered ‘"You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track." Director David O. Russell replied, "Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that's it."

Overall, the film has a power that makes it a film that feels like it has the depth of a modern classic like ‘Goodfellas’. 

Despite the strength of this film, it does have a flaw that I think is worth discussing. 

Spoilers ahead:

The two lead characters (Christian Bale’s Irving Rosenfield and Amy Adams’ Sydney Prosser) were ruthless, cunning, dynamic con artists throughout the entire film, until the ending when, after they pull off their biggest con, they decide to become art gallery curators and live a quiet, subdued life.  I found this ending to be a forced, contrived arrangement so that the film could be wrapped and packaged with a bow on top.

The characters are such forces of nature that they don’t lose their energy as the film progresses – their energy escalates. This is not the issue, but it becomes an issue by the end of the film when the plot starts to come to a conclusion. By the end of the film, I felt like the characters should have kept going- the characters didn't want the film to end, but obviously, like all films, it had to. This caused an abrupt and rather non-cathartic ending.

The original screenplay by Eric Singer, though not as dynamic as the product on screen, had an ending that gave the entire film, or at least Christian Bale’s character – a much more poignant, direct meaning. 

In the end, American Hustle is more fun than American Bulls*** was. No doubt - See this movie. You won't regret it. But American Bulls*** had an ending that tied it all together with a more poignant meaning that I wish American Hustle had more of. 

Sneak Peek of the OPENING SCENE of IPSEITY

The opening scene of my first feature length film is now online!

I'm thrilled to finally be able to share some of the scenes from the film. Stay tuned in the next couple of days for another scene.



Exclusive Scene from IPSEITY introduced by Charles Allen from Nicholas Sailer on Vimeo.
Actor Charles Allen introduces a sneak preview of the opening scene of the independent feature film IPSEITY.

IPSEITY is the story of a government security agent who loses parts of his memory in a traumatic accident, must rebuild his identity and reconnect with his family while hunting down a criminal infiltrating the agency.

Directed by Nicholas Sailer, Cinematography by Paul Frateschi, Executive Produced by Matt Harris and Lisa Laurene.

From Silo 12 Productions and Absolute

Starring Charles Allen, Katherine Drew, Abigail Cornell, Greg Wait, Kimberly Paker, and Doug Nydick.