Charybdis Pictures
Submitted by directorspen on Mon, 04/05/2004 - 10:34
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In early September, the Florida State University Independent Film League held a 24 Hour Film Competition in which they gave the participating groups some rules and guidelines and sent us off around 7pm on a Saturday night only to return the following night at 7pm with a finished movie no longer than 7 minutes long. The One I'd Love is what my friends and I came up with, I hope you enjoy. It should be on IMDB soon.
OK, feedback:
I liked the name of the site (Charybdis) and the design/colours. Perhaps the Charybdis name or logo could appear on every page. The purpose of the site was a little unclear, and perhaps some text on the 'main' page describing its purpose might help. The 'Craft Art 2004' project download worked really well (I have broadband), and the sequence itself was excellent and very stylish, and had the feel of a music video - impressive. I watched both the 30 sec and the 60 sec versions. Did you film it, or design it? The 'Portfolio' page didn't seem to have much purpose, but the 'Photos' were very good and the page worked well. The Movies projects were interesting - is there any way of viewing or previewing the movies themselves?
Hope this helps.
Thanks very much for the feedback.
First, I am working on having a title on the top of each page, with so many updates, I'm just trying to get the pages working themselves. But soon, I will try and have Charybdis and the page you're on, on each page.
The Craft Art videos I did entirely myself. Thanks for the compliments. The man who asked me to make the commercials just said he wanted it very flashy, so I tried my best to make it that way.
The portfolio page is mainly for the sake of Design Contest.net. It is a site where small companies will post a design they wish to have and anyone who is a member (to become a member, you must have a working porfolio (with at least 10 works in it) online and apply to become a member, at no cost) may try their luck at a design. The contest holder picks a winner at the end of about 2 weeks and the winner receives cash. Depending on how big the job or company, the prizes range anywhere from $50 - 300 (and possibly more). So I will be putting more designs I've made/am making in from Adobe's Photoshop and Illustrator.
The Projects page was formerly the Movies page, but I wanted to include everything I've done (which will be more this coming Spring). I am going to try and make either highlights of the movies or include the entire videos (since they're pretty short) and will experiment with sizes and compatibility.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Ah, Greek mythology never fails. Never been a fan of frames, though.
I'll have to wait until I go to the library to view the movie, alas (no broadband in my area).
I was reading just today that frames constitute a love/hate relationship, I think they're great, how come you don't like them?
Because it makes the site 'messier'. For example, to link to a specific page on a frames site, I'd usually have to link to the page with the data and no navigation for the viewer. And, the page I'm 'on' often isn't shown in the address bar, because it just shows the framset's page URL. There are other reasons I don't like frames, but they all stem from this central idea. I also don't like them aesthetically in most cases - though there are good uses for them (like Bloglines).
However, 3-4 years ago I really liked them, so I can understand where you're coming from if you like them.
Ha, maybe in a few years I won't like them. I think they look alright on my site though but maybe it's because the time I've put into them. I will be updating to an entirely Flash site in the upcoming months (as I learn the program).
Ack! Okay, okay! Frames are good! Stay with frames! Frames are wonderful! You were right! Frames are the only way to go! No need to make vicious threats, geez...
Haha, now what's wrong with Flash?
Same problems above, but far, far worse. In addition, flash sites generally consume more bandwidth and CPU cycles.
Basically, it's about control over the website and the ability to link to it and share it with others. If it's frames, my power is diminished. If it's flash, my power is nearly zilch.
And, Flash allows you to put loud sounds in your site where I may not want them and cannot stop them.
I hate to be the one to say it, but that's just crazy talk... and it's certainly not the whole story. What you might not be aware of is that Charybdis slurps very loudly. It's only three times a day but it's really annoying... and loud. She is so loud, in fact, that you can hear her in the fog, which was everywhere when me and the boys were skulking and sculling past her and Scylla. We were listening so hard for that giant sucking sound that nobody noticed Scylla untill she had grabbed up a half-dozen of us from the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet that was our worthless ship. Besides, had Tiresius told me that Charybdis would kill more of the boys than Scylla would. I thought he was talking theoretically, not literally. That's what you get for listening to a trans-gender drag queen (not that there's anything wrong with that.) I wonder where we dug him up. Okay, now I remember... but I'm still not happy about it.
So we made it through and started looking for a place to pull over and get something to eat. We found a nice, sunny island with plenty of mobsters and pasta. Unfortunately, the boys wanted something more substantial to eat and they ordered up some steaks. Tiresius had warned us to stay away from the beef but, hey, whaddya gonna do? So I finish my aglio olio and we get back on the boat when bam! otta nowhere comes this thunderbolt. The boat is totalled and the boys are bobbing about like driftwood as we get sucked back towards Charybdis. I'm holding onto the mast while everyone else is getting flushed down the drain. I guess Tiresius was right, Charybdis did kill more of the boys than Scylla did. Anyways, when the mast starts to go down I grab on to a big fig tree (Was it good? Darn tootin'!) and pull myself to safety. I guess that Charydis was just using the mast as a toothpick because, not five minutes later, it comes drifting on by. So I hitched a ride out of there and on to Calypso (and boy, isn't that a story-and-a-half.)
The only reason that we were sailing in that neighborhood is because we had to avoid the Symplegades. To this day people keep coming up to me and telling me that, after Jason made it through, those crashing rocks got jammed in the open position. All that I can say is that nobody bothered to tell us (and I mean "nobody," not "Mr. Nobody.") You'd think that dad would've mentioned it at some point. Jason and his screamer of a ship barely escaped with a little rear end damage (not that there's anything wrong with that, Hylas.) That was with Heracles, Theseus, Peleus, and that whole gang rowing with Orpheus acting as cox (not that there's anything wrong with that.) Nestor never stopped talking about how there's never been a better rowing team; he'd just go on and on for hours... by year seven even Ajax would run away when he saw him coming. Me and the boys thought that there was no way that we could row our ten year-old beater of a boat through the gap.
And another thing: Thetis was no help to the old guys at all, what a tramp! She spent all of her time shaking her amphorae in front of Peleus. Dad went to the wedding, said the reception was horrible. In any case, Scylla and Charybdis could be near the Strait of Messina which, for all I know, could be on the southern coast of Loggins. We were pretty lost. Take my advice: whenever you go anywhere (even on what you think will be a short little errand) you should bring a map.
Look out, everyone: 0dysseus' gone off the deep end! :-)
Wow...I applaud you. A very great retelling of a timeless classic!
Haha! I should've known better - it isn't nonsense, it's just a retelling of a story I don't recognize. Please tell me... which story is being used, here?
It's from part of the Odyssey written by Homer, note his screenname - Oysseus - the main character of the story. My production company name - Charybdis Pictures - comes from the Odyssey, well Charybdis anyway. Because she (Charybdis) stole Hercules' cattle, Zeus hurled her into the sea. There she lay under rocks across from Scylla (the 6-headed sea monster) and sucked in and spewed out huge amounts of water, creating a whirlpool.
Odysseus (Listology poster) was only telling part of the Odyssey in point-of-view since his screenname happens to be the main character's name.
Thank you!
Well said, chapter xii.
I tend to be very skeptical of any Wikipedia entry without footnotes. I'll take an old hole in the ground at Delphi any time. I think that the author of that article got confused while reading Apollodorus's Epitome (vii 20-21) where the Wandering Rocks (aka Symplegades, aka Planctae, aka Cyaneae, aka Big Trouble in Little Channel) are said to be across from two giant cliffs hiding Scylla and Charybdis, right around the corner from the Land of the Sirens, just before you get to Sicily. It's a bad neighborhood.(Graves 170.u) In any case, Jason and the A-Team took the route less traveled and rowed like the Furies after a heron (literally, you have to remember that it was a different time back then.)(Kingsley 111) Me and the boys took the Scylla/Charybdis round-about and that has made all the difference.
On Circe's advice we went for a reading with that great seer/Streisand impersonator Tiresius.(Green 324) I may have mumbled when I told the boys that we were going to Tartarus because they brought a boatload (again, literally) of fish. We descended into Tartarus through Persephone's Grove (stop it! It's not what you think or perhaps it is.) Tiresius said that Scylla would claim a half dozen crewmen while Charybdis would really suck... (once again,literally) and kill the entire crew. The Symplegades were never a possibility. If Jason had broken them why didn't the dead seer Tiresius know? You'd think that my father, Laertes, who sailed with Jason, would have brought it up at least once. He certainly never let me forget that he had gone after the Calydonian Boar and come out of it without a scratch while I got my knee and thigh laid open by an overweight Pumbaa.(Lang, p4) Scylla had a mewl like a new-born puppy (Graves 170.t) but Charybdis was louder (Bullfinch 275) and we were listening hard to make sure that we could avoid her. While doing this Scylla crept in on little cat feet and used her little octopus tentacles of giant painful death to snatch six sailors off of the deck. I can still hear their screams because Scylla kills people very, very slowly.(Ovid xiii)
But forget about that. We did. We get to sun-dappled Sicily and, on the advice of both T-Dog and Circe, I tell the boys not to eat any of the cattle. I then immediately wander inland and fall asleep only to be awakened by the smell of barbecue. It turns out that Helios doesn't take kindly to having his cattle pinched or being mistaken for Apollo. He runs crying to his daddy and, by Jove! the next thing you know a thunderbolt hits the boat. Everyone gets slurped up by Charybdis. Score one for Tiresius. As for myself, I grabbed on to a fig tree and waited for the mast to be belched back up. When the mast reappeared I used it to paddle away and, about a week and a half later, I made it to Ogygia. It was there that I met Calypso and she was fine like Thracian wine. Unfortunately, she was a daughter of Thetis from a prior marriage so I got the Hades out of there after only seven years of sun, sex and sleep.(Hesiod 1017-1018)
The crew of the Argo was the Pre-Trireme Dream Team.(Hawthorne 324) Not only was my dad on the Argo but a very young and boring Nestor was also a member of the crew. Years later a very old and boring Nestor joined me, Ajax, Diomedes, King Ag et al around Troy. Ajax, perhaps the nicest and noblest of all the guys who went to Troy, eventually killed himself when he came to his senses after a delusionary episode brought on by the fact that I was rewarded with Achilles' armor after that son of Thetis and Peleus died at the bow of Paris who stole Helen by using Aphrodite's favour after awarding her the golden apple inscribed "For the Fairest" that was thrown down at wedding of Thetis and Peleus... poor Ajax. He tends to be forgotten in the incestuous world of "mythology" (Evans) but he saved my ass when I stood alone against the forces of Troy, got the better of Hector in single combat, never said a bad word about anyone, was our best warrior before Achilles showed up and he loved dogs. Well, he was the kind of guy who I think would've loved dogs. The biggest, best bad-ass on the plains of Troy.
As for Apollodorus... you can't trust anyone who doesn't know my name. "Mr. Nobody/Oudeis" is just an alias I use when dealing with cyclops.
Apollodorus, Epitome .
Bullfinch, Thomas Myths of Greece and Rome . West Hanover, Massachusetts: Penguin Books, 1979.
Evans, Bergen Dictionary of Mythology . Cambridge, England: Franklin Watts: 1970.
Graves, Robert The Greek Myths .
Green, Roger Lancelyn Heroes of Greece and Troy . London: Bodley Head, 1970.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Complete Greek Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne . Southampton, England: Camelot Press, 1976.
Hesiod. Theogony .
Homer. Odyssey .
Kingsley, Charles The Heroes . London: Aldine Press, 1970.
Lang, Andrew Tales of Troy . London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1914.
Ovid. Metamorphoses
Gee wiz! What a fact bank! Man, this is the stuff of brilliance -
aka Big Trouble in Little Channel
...took the Scylla/Charybdis round-about and that has made all the difference.
What references!
0dysseus, I can't help but notice that you didn't correct directorspen when he referred to you as male. When you first arrived on Listology, I assumed you were a male because of your male screenname. But I swear I remember you indiciating you were female a little later. But I can't find the post. Will you pull back the curtain on your anonymity enough to let us know how to refer to you with pronouns?
Damn.
Silly rabbit, files are for Windows. My computer doesn't like your QuickTime file. I downloaded the newest version of QuickTime for my computer, but it still didn't work. SUBMIT TO THE DARK SIDE... IMPORT IT FOR WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER... AND HAIL SATAN!
That is all.
I will try to get it up for windows media player very shortly, when I do, I'll repost.
Okay, finally got around to watching the pictures that are up. They were fun, and it was fun to see you play around with the camera on tracking shots and the Vertigo-esque shot (what do they call that, again?) at the end of The Trek. Keep it up!
I'm not sure of the official title, but I always called it the "depth-trick" shot. Dolly out/zoom (squash) in, dolly in/zoom out (stretch). I'm having small trouble with my server in linkage, so that's why The Mime's down, though I should have it up shortly.
Most of those locations look like Downtoen Tally?
Tell me you wanker!!!....just joking mon ami, JK JK JK.
Yeah they are downtown Joe. I love it there, it needs to have a movie done there (other than the FSU film school's funded pictures). So whenever I get this script done for Three Ways, I'll be shooting it in downtown, probably in the summer. You staying for summer school?
Yay, no frames. Yay, better graphics.
Thought you might like the noframes. I exhausted my self going between Illustrator, ImageReady, Photoshop, GoLive, and Secure Shell, (phew) but I'm pleased.
BTW, you could host your films here, too.
Heyyyyyy...thanks a lot!