ChrisGalegar.com

New Sam Means Demo

Chris — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:18:45 +0000

Sam Means posted a new demo over the weekend called “Bigger Heart.” I can’t stop listening to it, so I figured I would share it with the zero people who frequent my infrequent blog.

Bigger Heart (Demo) by Sam Means

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New Tulsa Design

Chris — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:27:16 +0000

I’ve had this idea stuck in my head for a while, and I finally had some time to play around with it. Kinda silly and I don’t really know what to do with it. Maybe it would look nice on a t-shirt?

Top 250 | The Celebration

Chris — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:46:11 +0000

I have been actively trying to view every film on the (ever changing) IMDb Top 250 list since my sophomore year in college. Inevitably I will spend a month or so making a lot of progress.Then I will stop perusing the list all together for a while and backtrack. Thus, I have been perusing this goal for nearly 5 years without completing it. I know it is a silly goal, but I do find it interesting to what the movie viewing public deems great. I am on the home stretch now with less than 20 films left. As a result I have been watching a lot of movies that I would, under any other circumstance, probably avoid (Avatar, How to Train Your Dragon, pretty much anything anime, etc.) And while How to Train Your Dragon surprised me. many have not. So when I got The Celebration in the mail last week I was fully convinced that I was about to view a candidate for the most overrated film on the entire list. The Celebration was the first film created using the rules of Dogme 95, a very specific and intentional style of film making with the intent to make films that feel and look more natural and true to life. I had read up on Dogme film making my freshman year of college and instantly dismissed it as ridiculous and counterintuitive. I have since spent 6 years scoffing at the idea without actually viewing a single Dogme movie. That changed with The Celebration, and my perception of the Dogme rules… really didn’t.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Despite my best efforts, I really enjoyed The Celebration. The story was very compelling and the acting was great. However, it would have been even better if it didn’t look like it was shot and edited by a 15 year old. I did not hate the style of the film simply because it was shot on a MiniDV camera, but because the camera work was in many cases extraordinarily distracting. Dogme calls for the director to admit they are not an auteur but the way this film was shot and edited is very deliberate and at times very deliberately sloppy. The work of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, particularly in Alfonso Cuarón’s films (Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men,) feels much more natural and unasuming than anything in this film.

As I stated before, the acting in this film was very good. This is the result of either an entire cast of great actors who can all hold their own and work together perfectly… OR a director DIRECTING… But wouldn’t that lend itself to the director putting his own mark on the film?

I suppose The Celebration is just proof that a good script has a chance to survive when also accompanied by equally good actors, even if the production value of the rest of the film is egregious. In the end I really enjoyed the film, but I can only imagine how much more powerful it could have been as a more traditional production.

In closing…
[singlepic id=600 w=400 h=400 float=center]
Christian (the main character) has a soul patch on all of the promotional material I have seen, but in the film he is clean shaven. In fact, that is one of the first things out of his mouth in the film.
[singlepic id=601 w=320 h=240 float=center]
I waited for the soul patch guy to show up for about half an hour before I realized he was the first person we meet in the film and he doesn’t have a soul patch.

New Photos

Chris — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:27:00 +0000

Just added some new photos to the portfolio. Check them out.

WWIII Propaganda Posters

Chris — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 05:06:25 +0000

These are pretty awesome.
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Ben Rector’s summer singles are available today!

Chris — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:46:06 +0000

Ben Rector’s summer singles, Summer Candy, are available today on iTunes & AmazonMP3. Summer Candy is 2 perfect summer jams, ideal for cruising with the windows down & the volume up. Track one, Summer Candy is a smooth, dancy Passion Pit-esque tune with some great synths (including a little keytar.) Track two, Mr. Mailman (which I called Mr. Milkman for months,) is a classic summer pop song that reminds me of diving into a pool and eating snow cones.
Summer Candy doesn’t only sound like summer, it even looks like summer! Jason Yang did another amazing job as always on the cover (above) for the singles.
Get them now while the sun’s still hot!

Beautiful Things Video

Chris — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:08:25 +0000

A couple weeks ago Sparrow shot this video for Venue|68′s Easter services:
It was a lot of fun to make. I shot and edited the video and the other folks at Sparrow threw, squirted and dripped all of the nastiness.

Into the Morning by Ben Rector | Buy it now!

Chris — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:29:10 +0000

Ben Rector’s third full length album, Into the Morning, released Tuesday and reached #5 on the iTunes pop charts by the end of the day. I say this with absolute honesty, I think it is by far his best record to date and is well worth the purchase. You can currently buy it 4 ways. Buy Into the Morning digitally from Amazon.com or iTunes. Or you can order the CD directly from Ben or buy it from him at one of his upcoming shows.

Dance With Me Baby | Ben Rector

Chris — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:20:03 +0000

After many many months of sitting on this footage, I am pleased to finally be able to share this video with everyone. Back in May of 2009 Ben Rector began recording an EP which has since turned into his third full length record. He asked me to come hang out in the studio and shoot footage of the recording process. The following is the entire single take recording of the song Dance With Me Baby from the new record, Into the Morning, due out February 16, 2010. Enjoy.

New Christmas music for you to enjoy!

Chris — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:06:43 +0000

Yesterday you probably missed the greatest Black Friday sale of all, but don’t fret. You can still grab it! Ben Rector released a fantastic Christmas EP to iTunes yesterday (because Black Friday is the official opening to the Christmas season.) The EP, entitled Jingles and Bells, contains 5 beautiful silky-smooth renditions of old Christmas classics and a version of Jingle Bells that sounds like it was recorded in a rowdy bar. Jason Yang of Invisible Element designed the simple and classic art work for the album, and I must say it looks a lot better than my early mock-up for the cover.

But wait! There’s more!!!

fun. has recorded a christmas song of their own! The song is called Believe In Me. It will be available for digital download from Amazon.com on December 22nd. You can head over to Amazon now to listen to little preview of the song. BUT the band announced that they will give the song away for free if they can hit 40,000 fans on their facebook page by December 1. The band hit 40,000 fans, so for your listening enjoyment here is Believe In Me!

And if that’s not enough for you, here is The Format covering Holly Jolly Christmas!