eRATicate was the first film I ever made. It was finished only six years ago, which seems like a lifetime ago, in how far I've come in terms of my filmmaking skills. I'd always had an interest in making films, but never had the nerve to do it, till I came up with this idea and a new friend of mine, who was a film student, pushed me to go ahead and make it. Lending me his knowledge, super-8 camera, and skill as a cinematographer. I'm glad he did, because I may never have gotten off my ass to do so, and I wouldn't be able to make a living as an editor today.

It always bugged me how dull and gray this film looked, it's not the look I intended. It was shot on B&W super-8, and then transfered about the worst way possible, by pointing a video camera at a projection of it. Something came over me recently, and I spent some time going over it, correcting the lighting and contrast, making it true B&W, darking some scenes and lightening some others. I had an urge to re-edit it as well, the film is too loose for my current tastes, but laid off, because I wanted to leave it as a reminder of where I started and the music behind it is one written piece and I didn't want to cut that up as well.

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I got to see this wonderful short film at the No Dance Film Festival in 2003 when my own short film eRATicate premiered at Tromadance. I was instantly struck by it's unique blend of Dr. Seuss rhyming and Tim Burton set design. The film has a perfect voice-over from beginning to end; beautiful photography, inventive set and costume design, and a wonderfully dark sense of humor. Writer/Director Peyton Reed has created a classic short.

Now years later, something sparked its memory in my brain, and I instantly had to check YouTube to see if had been uploaded. It was wonderful to see Evelyn again, even if it didn't live up to my first viewing on a big screen with an adoring audience.

It also gave me a chance to look at what Peyton Reed has created since. He's done another short film, called A Tale of Bad Luck, which sounds promising, but I was unable to find anywhere online. Sadly there appears to be no feature film in his near future, I'd love to see what he could do with one. But I did come across a show called What It's Like Being Alone that's only shown in Canada. It's a stop-motion-animated, macabre-comedy about a group of weird little orphan's. I haven't had a chance to watch many of the episodes yet, but I plan on going through them all in the future. Below is the opening of the first show, the rest can be found on YouTube.