Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Misguided Meditation

Posted: 11 Apr 2018 02:08 PM PDT

A suspicious yogi leads a guided meditation session to help heal romantic wounds.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Alex Nussbaum

Filmmaker’s statement

Been meaning to make a short. Glad I did. It’s been a long time coming and I’m thrilled to have finally taken this first plunge into filmmaking.

Shot in one day, my debut comedic short was a challenge to myself to tell a quick, funny story in one location, using just one DP, one sound guy and available light. I wanted the story to be silly but with real stakes and to be told visually.

Having worked professionally in television as a writer and performer, it was uniquely satisfying to lead this project from start to finish. I was thankful to have animation school training to back me up during the storyboarding phase since I wanted the shoot day to be as efficient as possible.

Having a visual guide on the day of the shoot freed me up to do any last minute problem solving. I’m also very fortunate to have had a great team to work with – each member of the production sharing in the collaboration made for a great experience.

I hope you enjoy watching my debut short film and share it with each and everyone in your social media circles.

About Alex Nussbaum

As a stand-up comedian, Alex has been a fixture in the Canadian comedy scene, having toured the country and appeared on Much Music’s Video on Trial, Comedy Network’s Comedy Now and multiple appearances at Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival.

In addition to performing comedy onstage, Alex has drawn, voiced and written for many animated shows, from Magic School Bus to Pink Panther and Pals to Total Drama Island.

Alex’s two stand-up comedy albums can be heard in regular rotation on SiriusXM across North America. They’re also available from iTunes and Amazon if you enjoy owning things.

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4/4

Posted: 09 Apr 2018 02:24 PM PDT

A woman retreats to a cabin to compose a piece of music only to be haunted by writer’s block.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Kyle Sawyer

Filmmaker’s statement

Maybe we suffer writer’s block because a piece of work includes creation and exhibition and so is an act of balancing two opposing things: taking an organic idea and stuffing it into an inorganic structure so it’s familiar to an audience. To break free, one of them has to give: the idea or the structure.

That’s the concept behind 4/4 which ironically appeared thanks to suffering from writer’s block.

About Kyle Sawyer

Kyle Sawyer is a Canadian writer/director whose credits include the short film Mann which played several festivals including Cinefest Sudbury and the NSI Online Short Film Fest, and the feature film Victory which premiered in Toronto in 2015.

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