THAT LAST CHRISTMAS: Edit Sequence (2023)

 So I have never put out anything like this before for any of our projects.  I originally made it as a joke response to David Reyes, whom plays "Detective Buddy", after he sent me one from the most recent Ridley Scott movie.  So here is the edit sequence for the 2023 X-Mas cut of That Last Christmas, in all its glory.

You can now also watch the entire series and the bonus content that is currently available all in one place in this playlist HERE! 

ZIMMERMAN X-MAS MEGA-MIX: Reel 7 (2021)

 
With everything going on this Winter holiday season (starting a new job and having a baby 2 weeks late with him due in mid-November and born in December), we weren't able to remotely collaborate with everyone on a holiday music video this year.  So I went back to the original format from years past, and did a new Holiday Mega-Mix Reel using archival materials from Christmas' past.  It features a lot of material from our last trip to to Metamora, IL in the Winter of 2019 (how fucking depressing is it that we haven't been back home since!?!).  Plus a plethora of flashback footage from the 80's, 90's, 00's, 10's, and now!  Iver and I also shot a new intro/outro bookend for this reel.  So that is a bit of an upgrade from the others that came before (Reel 1-6).  The last video of this kind was made in 2015 (which can also be viewed by clicking - REEL 6).  These are mostly home movie hodgepodged highlight reels but I will probably throw the rest up online in time as well.  For now check out the new one - REEL 7!

John Ronane: In Memoriam

John Ronane,  85, of Eureka passed away at 7:49 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, 2019, at his home, with his family by his side.  To me, John was a mentor.  A mentor who not only pushed me to pursue my dreams but also helped me get on the right path to do so.

I first met John at the end of my Freshman year of high school during a Spring Extension program.  His wife Carole, was teaching a course on film making and brought him in to talk to us about his wide range of experiences in the  Film/TV business.  He actually wrote a short screenplay for the class titled Summer Lesson, which we were given the task of turning into a short film in only 2 days.  We chose to use the first day for production and then spent the whole second day editing at my house.  I still remember him showing up at the end of the first day while we were shooting the finale.  It was a bit nerve-racking having him on set but at the same time I felt honored.  The guy had lived and worked in the film business.  Something I wholeheartedly wanted to be a real part of someday.  As seen in the photo above - John, Phil, and I were discussing our shot list for the scene.  I remember him talking to us like we were fellow artists, collaborating, and not just telling us what we needed to do.  We felt like real professionals that day!  We shot in on Hi8 and VHS-C and cut linearly in my bedroom with a VCR and a VHS Camcorder - mastering to VHS.  You can check out the final film HERE!

After this project I began doing end of the year SCHOOL VIDEO YEARBOOK'S, which his wife Carole oversaw but gave me an incredible amount of artistic freedom.  These videos actually ended up being pretty extensive and even feature length.  They played at the Senior Awards Assemblies at the end of my Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years.  John actually showed up to these screenings.  Afterward we would discuss the videos and he would mention little details that he noticed.  After a years worth of work it was awesome for someone to actually point out some of these details, which to most may seem minor but actually took a lot of thought and energy to execute.  It charged me up and inspired me to keep pushing myself.

I have not seen him or Carole in several years but have kept in touch off and on through social media since graduating high school in 2003.  They set my sights on Columbia College Chicago way back in 2003 when I was about to graduate high school.  They even recommended a move to Los Angeles - way before I ever thought that it was a real possibility.  Without them I'm not sure where I would be right now.  I will always be grateful to him and Carole for believing in me and pushing me to pursue my dreams!

John's memorial website is available at www.deitersfuneralhome.com, where condolences may also be sent to the family.  Memorial contributions may also be made to the American Cancer Society.

KLOWN

KLOWN, a new creepy short from Jordan Zimmerman and Jack Salmon has finally been unleashed!  I had the opportunity of playing the future version of Jordan's "Rick Johnson" character in the movie.  So for a bloody good time check out the short HERE!

WTVP's The Screening Room : SELF-ENDEAVOR

Self-Endeavor, a short that we made back in film school starring Bryan Butt and Sarah Levine is going to be featured on the WTVP series The Screening Room this weekend.

After it airs I'll be posting a behind-the-scenes montage.  So come back on Saturday and check it out!

School Video Yearbook Trilogy

In the Beginning:

Just before the Summer began in 2000, as my Freshman year was winding down.  I took a week long film making class with Carole Ronane at Metamora High School.  In the class we produced a short film that her husband, John, had written.  It was a positive experience and a great way to begin the summer, especially considering it was an extension to the school year.  Then when Sophomore year began I went back to her and inquired about something that she had included in the original write-up for the film class.  She had mentioned that students involved in the class could participate in the making of a school year highlight video.  This peaked my interests and when I went to talk to her about it she gave me a brief synopsis of a video highlight project that her and a friend had done back when they were in school.  The wheels started turning in my brain and I took the idea and ran with it.  No plans were actually in order for it at that time so it needed to be produced from the ground up.  With the help of several friends, family, and school personnel over the course of the next 3 school years we captured sports events, dances, daily life at the school, and more.  If an event was mildly interesting I would have brought my camera along.

Post-Production:

Once an event was shot I would then edit the footage partially at the school with the broadcasting class equipment and also at home on my own system.  It was a very long and drawn out process but being able to harness and improve my video production skills and breathe creativity into projects that were going to show at the end of each school year was very rewarding to me.  It kept me busy.  Even though I was already pretty busy with football, track, other films and highlight reels, and enjoying life in itself.

The Collection:

Since graduating high school in 2003, the plans for this combined trilogy collection has lingered off and on in the back of my mind.  It started as a multi-VHS set, then became a multi-DVD set, and now it has ultimately become a single disc Blu-ray collection. That being said, a single Blu-ray disc will hold a hell of a lot of content.  This release includes 5+ hours of material, which is definitely more than I ever would have included in the VHS or DVD sets.  It was produced in Metamora, both of my apartments in Chicago, and 4 different apartments in Los Angeles before it was finally complete.  It was a lot of material to pull together and was being worked on within many other projects, more than I can even attempt to count.

Menu Design:

The original plan for the Menus was for it to just be footage of empty hallways at the school.  Unfortunately I didn't shoot enough of this content before moving to Los Angeles and this idea was scrapped.  This led me to the second version, which used stills of notebook paper with the text selections added using the DVD/Bluray software.  I was about to call it complete near the start of 2013 but then I decided that I wanted to go a more creative route.  I wanted to have a little more fun with it and experiment.  So I literally found an old binder from high school and made it the housing for a notebook that I planned to make into a tangible version of the menus.  I then raided my office supplies for inspiration. Soon after that - I went to work creating the menus using a few different types of paper, note cards, paper clips, tabs, tape, staples, pens, pencils, oil pastels, crayons, some old printouts from the `era, and a redbird sticker from my senior year football helmet to top it off.  After several weeks of work on the pages I shot an introduction and captured all the menus in HD. To keep the organic style going, the menu selection highlights were also drawn by hand, scanned, adjusted, and brought into the DVD/Bluray Authoring software.  You can watch a short behind-the-scenes video of the making of the menus HERE.

The Content:

All 3 original School Video Yearbook Films have been cleaned up and remastered along with a slew of old and newly recovered Bonus Content.  This includes 2 Vintage Featurettes from Volumes 2 and 3, newly recovered deleted/alternate scenes from Volume 1, additional deleted/alternate scenes from Volume 3, un-used recovered Mr. Metamora Contest from 2002, Three 2002 Snowball Reels, Powderpuff Football 2003 Extended Documentary Version, Senior Awards Assembly Coverage, along with 6 Broadcasting Projects from 2001-2002, 11 Shorts, and 11 Vintage Trailers from the 'era.

All of this bonus content clocks in at a total of 197 minutes, so when added to the Trilogy it clocks in at 304 Minutes (5+ hours) of total School Video Yearbook content spanning from 2000-2003.  Once again, similar to many other "releases" I've done of old projects, it is not actually for sale due to copyright issues.  It was created mainly to get all of these projects from back then all in one place.

ASHES

Ashes, a short film from Beyond the Nametag Productions  was officially released online this morning.  I worked on this short several years ago as a Boom Operator alongside Jennifer Larson, who was audio mixing.  The short is directed by Shawn Montgomery with a slew of Columbia College Graduates filling out the crew. Watch the short HERE, and then check out the behind-the-scenes content for it HERE.

CALENDARS, a Bryan Butt story

CALENDARS, a new short film by Bryan Butt is an Official Selection in the 2014 Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival.  This short spoken word piece takes an insightful look inside the mind of its 25-year old filmmaker, Bryan Butt.  Watch a 30 second promotion for the piece HERE and then go see it at the festival!

EVERYTHING DISAPPEARS

In late November 2011, I was shooting a little experimental project hoping that it would help me find some enjoyment in packing up my belongings (with sights set on moving back to Glendale, Ca).  When I was younger I had done similar projects, oftentimes I would convince my brother and friends to help me clean our basement studio by saying that I would shoot the process and then make it look "Really Cool in Fast motion."  I was able to get away with this numerous times until they eventually caught on and stopped helping me.

The initial plan was to finish up this little short and bring it to Illinois to show family and friends during my return for the 2011 Winter Holidays.  But then on December 2nd, a week and a half before I was set to fly back home, my Grandpa passed.  So I traveled back to Illinois early and this project was indefinitely shelved.  He always loved my stop-motion animated logos and when I would bring various toys to life.  Since this project is using a very similar technique (although adding in human interaction as well), I'm sure he would have gotten a kick out of it.

So this project has collected dust for the past two years, alongside a few others.  I ended up shooting an extension to it while we were living in Glendale (the place we were moving to during the initial shoot).  This extension just so happened to be shot the following October, as we were starting to pack up to move to another new apartment.  So I thought it would be humorous to have things start to disappear again (not that moving once a year is funny in the least bit, ugh).  So today is January 18, and in memory of my Grandpa I give you EVERYTHING DISAPPEARS.

BASEMENT II SHORT #2

Another Action short that was birthed in THE BASEMENT II, inspired by John Woo's Mission Impossible II.  Play "CHIMERA."

BASEMENT II SHORT #1

While digging through the archives I came across several action shorts that were produced in THE BASEMENT II in the early 2000's. This one appears to be heavily inspired by the action films of John Woo.  PLAY "THE UNINVITED GUEST"

"Learning Spanish The Hard Way"

This short film was made for the Debra Hill Fellowship Film Festival last October.  I worked as a Best Boy in the camera department on it.  It was written and directed by Eric Stolze and shot by Mike Stanislavski.  It features Benjamin Sorofman, Aiden Simko, Dave Singleton, and Machete's Mayra Leal. Watch the short HERE!

The Dream Sequence

My brother Jordan and his friends Mitch Remmert and Austin McVey have completed another fun short.  Check it out HERE!  To see other videos from JTZ Productions go HERE!

Homework Smash

Another project starring and partially built by my little brother Jordan was just completed this morning and can be seen HERE!

A Delicious New Short

While in Illinois for the Christmas holiday season this year I got to dust off the old acting chops.  The project is a Phoolish Philms release titled EAT THE SANDWHICH. It was written, shot, cut, and directed by my little brother Jordan.  Our other brother Brandon, contributed his shooting skills for the project as well.   Watch it HERE!

48 Hour Film Festival

Was the Grip on this short film today from 8:00AM to 10:30PM for the Debra Hill Fellowship Producer's Guild 48 Hour Film Festival.  Good times...