I decided making some videos would be a good idea for our business. After having that idea, I gathered some cheap camcorders/cell phones that shoot video, bought an editing program, cleaned out the garage a little bit, cleaned it out again after it got trashed for an art project, cobbled together a kind of set, plugged in every spare light we had, shot some tests, and then one night after staying up way too late and drinking beer, shot this video where I draw a caricature of Clint Eastwood.

The things I did in the above paragraph took me about four years to complete. No joke.  A little fear, a lack of focus, some missing equipment, and a lack of know-how about the whole process kept things from moving forward for a long, long time.

I love The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  The way Sergio Leone handles tension is shockingly skillful.  You’re never in doubt as to why a character is doing what they’re doing (Or if you are, it’s a purposeful choice on Leone’s part), and you always know exactly where they are in relation to everyone else in the scene.  I’ve never seen a director so willing to put the camera right in the face of an ugly man under bright sunlight and leave it alone for thirty seconds or so.  Maybe it’s because I’m a caricature artist, but I find old, wrinkled, leathery faces fascinating, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly delivers in spades.

Just one more note for those who like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly but haven’t seen Leone’s last spaghetti western, Once Upon a Time in the West:  Go watch it right now, in the highest quality format you can.  In comparison it looks a little better, sounds a little worse, runs a little longer, feels a little sexier, and has Bronson instead of Eastwood.  It’s my favorite.  And in terms of one-liners:

Ugly has:
Tuco: [trying to read a note] “See you soon, id… idi… ”
Blondie: [taking the note] “Idiots”.
[He hand the note back]
Blondie: It’s for you.

But West has:
Morton:  Was it necessary that you kill all of them? I only told you to scare them.
Frank: People scare better when they’re dying.

and:
Frank: How can you trust a man that wears both a belt and suspenders? Man can’t even trust his own pants.

and:
Harmonica: The reward for this man is 5000 dollars, is that right?
Cheyenne: Judas was content for 4970 dollars less.
Harmonica: There were no dollars in them days.
Cheyenne: But sons of bitches… yeah.