The continuing adventures!

Blog Love:

2010-06-23T16:52:00.001-07:00

my stuff (my polaroids and A Summer Adventure) has recently featured on the following blog sites:
icon_ology
cgunit.net
chumpchampion.com
foto frequency

much thanks to everyone at these sites for posting my stuff! It's greatly appreciated.

2009-10-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

so i guess i'm doing band and show and club photos now?!
i'm slowly gaining a bit of confidence somewhere in here.
or rather, faking it, because i know i need to commit to this shit.
"if you don't take yourself seriously then when do you get serious?"
that mantra plays in a loop inside my head.
it's gonna be a long final stretch for 2009.
anyway, lately i've been shooting and working with "Xanimo" a lot lately.
more photos from this set can be seen here

2009-08-05T00:21:00.001-07:00

Platonic from Steven A. Soria on Vimeo.

2009-07-26T09:35:00.001-07:00

more teasers for my upcoming short "Billie & Wren"

Billie&Wren (teaser2) from Steven A. Soria on Vimeo.

Billie&Wren (teaser 3) from Steven A. Soria on Vimeo.

Billie&Wren (teaser 4) from Steven A. Soria on Vimeo.

2009-07-22T12:41:00.001-07:00

BILLIE & WREN (teaser 1) from Steven A. Soria on Vimeo.

2009-06-15T00:40:00.001-07:00

2009-05-17T04:05:00.001-07:00

shot at funky sole @ the echo w/acpac (shea, amber, margot, duran, & laura)

more to be seen here

the new york blogg...los angelees edition:

2009-05-15T19:40:00.001-07:00

i'm currently in los angelees.
i am enjoying it here may 2nd - june 12th...

these and more can be found here

2009-04-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

"BILLIE & WREN" coming soon!

more/personal info here

2009-04-24T23:41:00.001-07:00

directed and photographed a movie today called "gideon's song". the picture above is a prop photo i took yesterday for it. it was an exhausting production for a one day shoot but it was awesome. i felt really good about it. now i just have to wait for the film to come back to perpetuate this state of elation. mallory (the girl above) is an amazing actress, i'm so glad i found her. i shot my last movie "how to make a paper boat float" with her and she was great. she's such a warm and giving and kind person and i love her style. she's way legit. especially in her mannerisms. the physical acting she does is just so rad. if any of you direct movies in new york, i highly recommend her. the boy (aaron...not pictured) i directed today was great too and has plenty potential to be a child-actor...if only i knew how to fucking speak to children. i don't particularly like children but his talent easily masks my lack of experience. kibby (the guy above) well that fucker always looks good in front of camera. golly. sometimes i just feel extremely fortunate to have made the friends and met the people that i've met over the last handful of years. my crews have always been so amazingly amazing. tomorrow i go into an intensive week for my follow up movie "billie & wren". that shit's gunna be nuts. after today, after both directing & shooting...i dunno if i have al that stuff in me but sometimes (not all the time but sometimes), i feel like with my crew, friends, family, and [others] behind me, i feel like i can do anything. i've been very very very extremely fortunate in the last couple of weeks and i'm grateful. after all this work, at the end of the week i start a 5 week vacation. that's gonna rock too. i know it.

2009-04-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

when i was making our little mini-movies in los angeles i did (for the most part) my work on my own (as far as lighting and camera go). when i got to new york it wasn't long until i met and began to associate myself with some really amazingly talented and soon well-trained guys. i've worked on nearly every movie with azmi and toni and after a handful of movies in, i think that (along with the brothers chiu and ben and palmer and don) we've really got our process down. we can anticipate each others moves which sort of makes us the most efficient and fastest squad/crew in our circles/school. but the flip side of that is that now i'm sorta used to being the pampered DP. i rarely touch the lights nowadays. i used to resist the assistance and help before but now i fear that i'm dependent on it. all i have to do is draw out a diagram or if i'm too lazy to do that i just sorta point and then wait until it's time to tweak. i still (for the most part...unless i'm way too drunk or the actors are WAY taller than me) operate my camera but in between takes my AC (toni) holds the camera for me, changes the lenses if need be, and carries around my d90 (also equipped with whatever lenses it is that i need on there). some exciting things have been happening lately regarding my work and the opportunities i've been offered recently would've in no way been possible without the help of truly super-duper-hero-status-team of camera and lighting experts that just so happen to be my bestest friends out here.

also. i've got plenty of updates from the last few shoots i've been working on over on my flickr. which can be seen here

genre floods

2009-04-11T12:48:00.001-07:00

i love the weather here.

i dunno when or why i started updating this thing so often but since i'm on this ridiculous roll: earlier this year whilst in writing class we talked about genre floods. i dunno if i completely agree in the practice but you use a genre flood (movies that have been made prior to your own that you can watch as research and development to help inspire and problem solve the movie that you're about to make) but i practice it. back when i made them genre-period movies a couple years back i remember spending days watching nothing but noir movies or days watching chase movies from the 70s...it was a good time and i took a lot from those and figured out what ended up being the structure of those god awful movies i made. with my thesis around the bend i've been watching movies that have become more or less the kind of movies i'd like to make for the rest of my life. i dunno what it is that is so romantic (for lack of a better word) to me about broken, horrible, awful people. she used to sound super annoyed when i would tell her the stories i wanted to tell. she always encouraged me to stray away from making movies about (ugh) "love" (also: for lack of a better word) but i guess that's all i'm interested in talking about. relationships, friendships, families...they're all things that i don't particularly like in my own life but i guess i'll always have something to say about them and whenever i'm in the thick of my own melodrama (and i always am) i exploit those situations and emotions to tell stories that i guess are true to myself. i'm on a binge but because the story i'm about to tell is a general one in a lot of ways i'm finding it both difficult and easy to compile my genre flood. these movies aren't my all time favorites (in case the 2 of your are wondering my all time favorite top 5 movies are: elevator to the gallows, the bad sleep well, the graduate, fallen angels, breathless...in that order). but they are movies that make sense to me in my own private way, in a way that makes me comfortable, in a way that doesn't make me feel like i'm the only one who sees things the way i do (which is both comforting and terrifying). i guess these movies make me happy and fucked at the same time but in doing that they make me feel like i ought not to be afraid to say the things that i do and that, ultimately, i'm not alone. i fucking love all these movies

my current genre flood:
murmur of the heart
revolutionary road
the ice storm
twin falls idaho
little children
the graduate
dangerous lives of alter boys
masculin feminin

murmur of the heart was fucking bad ass! and revolutionary road in my own and very personal opinion is a fucking PERFECT all around movie. little children was amazing also, when i finally started to "get" it, it turned into the raddest fucking thing.

in other news i may be returning to los angeles in the fall for a while. i've been mulling over that decision for the last couple weeks. i know i don't wanna anchor down there and i certainly don't wanna be that guy that came back defeated by the big bad city. i really do love it here. the weather until now has been the fucking greatest weather ever and i love having the ability to walk nearly EVERYWHERE i need to be and the friends i've made here have made more sense to me than anyone has in a long time. there are a million reasons for me to return and said reasons range from silly to significant. i don't think i wanna be planted anywhere, i don't desperately feel the NEED for a "home" but maybe i will when i'm older and maybe after some time i'll have a clearer picture of where i want home to be once i've seen everything else. i'm nervous. i haven't decided completely just yet whether or not i am going back. we'll just have to see how these next few coming months go. i guess i'll have a better idear after that.

(i've been posting tons on my original blog as well...just in case anyone doesn't know: http://le-truand.livejournal.com

genre floods

2009-04-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

2009-04-04T00:17:00.001-07:00

joshua clarkson's been on to something lately with his massive vimeo posts ranging from music vids, promo shits, and now this short little diddy i worked on whilst i was still roaming around on the streets of los angelees. it's a work i'm extremely proud of...not so much because of the work that i did but because of josh's inability to sacrifice the conventional and traditional, his ability to problem-solve and turn said problems into really in-yo-face magic(s). i've always sorta looked up and admired josh. can a frequent collaborator be considered a mentor? i hope so. cause i learn more from this bloke than i do most cinema-studies teachers.

anyway here it goes, please check it out:

¡Los Perdidos! - (The Whole Bloody Affair) from Joshua Clarkson on Vimeo.

(i wonder if i tell them i roll my own cigarettes then maybe these fellas'll let me join their ranks).

check out more of josh's latest stuff here

2009-03-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

rough patches are worth it i suppose...

things are starting to pick up again. i'm still blocked and lost and have no idear what the fuck i'm doing.
but it's good. things are good. and i'm happy. nervous, frustrated, confused...but happy.
i'm loving work and i'm loving play.

2009-03-22T21:41:00.001-07:00

a love of mine that's always been constant has been mine for polaroids

this is a lot of them but more of my polaroids can be seen HERE!
i've always liked polaroids. it's always satisfying when i shoot em, even if they come out completely like shit!
i'm an impatient person and i think i always will be. with instant film you don't have to wait for the moment, wonder if you captured it correctly, second guess yourself and beat yourself up for not taking a second take. with instant film you're right there with the moment and if you wanna capture it then and there you have proof developing right there in the heat of the palm of your hand. i don't care if it's sorta popular, cliche, in "scene", the thing that's hip but i take extreme comfort in knowing that there is a medium somewhere out there that suits me just fine and nice!

most recently:

2009-03-18T01:28:00.000-07:00

my sister came to visit:

and updated my flickr: /photos.soriasteven:

(the picture above is supposed to represent my updated flickr. not me. that's not me. that's humberto)

2009-03-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

i made a comic book movie!!!

Strangers from Steven A. Soria on Vimeo.

well, i adapted one of my own anyway.

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER BOAT FLOAT & other stories.
based on mini-comics that appeared in the comic anthology/graphic novel Crush (a lot)! (remember that?)
(this is only an excerpt from it but i adapted five of my old comics and put them together, the complete version is floating around somewhere.)
directed and photographed by Steven A. Soria (aka Gabreil Stevens)
produced by Heather Black
production designer Robbin Chiu
edited by Evette Slierbag
music by Anthony Trujillo and Benjamin Figueroa (with special help/thanks from Caelah Lopez and Christian Maltez)

oh and if you're interested and if you've forgotten here's a link to the source material:
STRANGERS COMIC

it was super cold there for a second and i spent a lot of time bundled up...
...but lately, the days are warm and there's a grin on my face.
i hope you're all rad and well.

OH! and I also helped and cameo in this movie writ and directed by my super-best bud ANTONIO:

iCan Sequence

iCAN
writ and directed by ANTONIO PINHAO BOTELHO
produced by HEATHER BLACK
production designer: ROBBIN CHIU
director of photography: STEVEN A. SORIA

2009-02-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

my new place isn't quite home. but i've never been a big fan of home anyway.

i'm paying more than half of what i was at my last place and we have so much room and space, free utilities, free laundry, $20 city car, free gym membership, lounge, and theater. i feel like a phony living at this fancy place but me and my roommates are fucking this place up proper.

2009-02-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

the new film from genius Benjamin Villeda!!! featuring director of photography Steven A. Soria (me)...
PASADENA!

THE TEASER TRAILERS

the movie screens in all it's rough cut glory on Thursday @ the Film Academy.

oh and also i make a brief cameo appearance in Jim Mahfood's newest/latest comic "LA Ink Stains #11" his autobio strips: foodoneart.blogspot.com

2009-02-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

i did forget...but even if i hadn't i dunno that i would've been able to get a hold of her anyway.

happy belated birthday jaclyn. wherever you are.

she was this one

2009-02-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

been a while...

...there are soft circles floating around, my eyes feel all swirly, my hair is teased (amongst other things), and i've got bruises and bandages up and down my arms, legs, appendages. i live off of cigarettes, vitamin water, energy drinks, and occasionally mcdonalds or late night chicken. Four out of the six movies i've been director of photography on have been completed. in these last pushes and last days i feel whatever the equivalent to writers block is for whatever it is i am. my lighting's getting flat and my camera work (the ambitious work (pan, tilt, follow-focus) is bordering sloppy. i should just have my AC pull focus but i'm too proud for that i guess. i want to care mostly about the work but lately i've been...distracted.

from PLATFORM PHILOSOPHY directed by Heather Black

me: oh! hey, so i have the idear for my movie.
heather: let me guess: it's about a guy and a girl.

what i like about heather is that she's not sentimental, well, not sentimental the way most of the people that surround us are. she cares about communication and EVERYONE communicates. she thinks there are things more interesting than "love" to talk about.

(the train station was in operation while we were shooting. plenty of people go there to sleep apparently)

from CASTING CALL directed by Daria Davydova

daria wants to do dolly work without a dolly and top-down lighting without letting my lighting guys do overheads. these things aren't impossible. they're just difficult. we problem solve quickly and we're on our way. she's very stern on set and looks very serious when she directs. when the cameras stop rolling we make our way to my place and our crew has vodka redbulls and sing songs they find on youtube at the top of their lungs. my neighbors complain.

she says she'd rather be a producer.

from PASADENA directed by Benjamin Villeda

ben is determined to have our minds meld. he talks to me about symmetry and colors and relationships. i nod but am nervous about not being able to deliver. we shoot an ambitious three days for his movie. i tell him the lighting for the "red" scenes are very 80s but that's because this scene looks very 80s. from across the room he tells me that he wants to the see the frame with the 85mm...i tell my AC to put on the 50mm. we discover that because we are both alcoholics and both babies we communicate just fine without words.

from HOW TO MAKE A PAPER BOAT FLOAT directed by Steven A. Soria

-"it's not about what you say, it's about what you can't. we've gotta see a look in your eyes, you struggling to hold it in but at the same time desperate to say "don't hate me. it's silly that we're so civil and that we're deleting each other. it's silly that we hate each other now." and we can see all that when you look at her"
-"...but why don't i say that to her?"
-"because there's no point. you'll never see her again anyway."

i'm more at home behind a camera. most people see me more as a DP more than anything. but every once and a while i'd like to tell a story that's all mine. ben (who was my first AD on "...paper boat...") tells me the good thing about my latest attempt is that it "100%" me but "me" still needs some developing....some fine tuning.

the complete sets from these movies can be seen here

2009-01-18T23:09:00.000-08:00

letting her go.

2009-01-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

and some other new stuff here

finally, some pictures of my own...

2009-01-02T22:35:00.000-08:00

when i'm shooting, i complain about shooting.
when i'm not shooting, i complain about not shooting.
it's been hard for me lately to turn it off.
i always feel like i need to be annoyingly shooting or clicking away.
i didn't get to shoot anything in L.A. (like i'd originally planned) but instead...
...Margot came back home with me for new years.
i recently purchased a few cameras...one of them being a digital SLR.
i purchased it mostly because lately, set photographers have been capitalizing on my lighting schemes on the shoots i work on.
now i have the means to "cock-block" them.
while Margot was here I couldn't help but exploit her presence.
and I shot a couple things off. here's a few:

Margot's left now and I go back to work/school on Monday.
Happy New Year anyone.

2008-12-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

a lot of people have been comparing the relationship of three of the characters that are featured in our movie city of fragments to the relationship in Jules et Jim...

and although i like Jules et Jim...i've always prefered A Bande Apart (i've always prefered Godard to Truffaut) so if anyone should be accusing me of stealing from anything it oughta be that!!! cause that's where i got it. Jeanne Moreau (although hot and sexy and all that) ain't got nothing on Anna Karina. Moreau was a crazy bitch in Jules & Jim...

...but in my actors' defense, they had no idea what any of these movies were when they signed on:
check out an interview Benjamin Figueroa, Melissa Loera, and Anthony Trujillo here!
(that picture up there is by sean
oh and speaking of Jules&Jim and their scene with the three of them on bicycles... have you all seen the new movie by acpac? it's way awesome. i had nothing to do with it or nothing but i thought i'd put it up here!! hope ya'all enjoy, i think it's great. writ, directed, and edited by Shea Vanderpoort:

check out more acpac shit here
...did i mention i'll be in los angeles briefly dec. 20th-26th?
here's my interary listed by order of importance...
1) raven
2) boca del rio
3) chicken and ribs
4) shabu shabu
5) boca del rio (again)
6) family/acpac
7) friends
8) get new glasses
9) maybe shoot?
margot and i leave sorta early on the 26th for NY and I'm spending part of christmas day in San Diego. I'm sorta looking forward to going back to california but i'm more looking forward to any sort of vaction-related anythings.

UPDATE: I'm here and it's not all the way shitty but it certainly ain't good. if i had a say in anything i'd be on the first flight back home to ny .. like right now. at least in new york i'd have the warm comfort of indifference rather than the ambivalence of whatever should be familiar (but isn't) here.

2008-12-06T06:29:00.000-08:00

screened Chapter:00 (of "...fragments...") @ the union bar recently.
ended up breaking the dvd like an ass:

there's a trailer up for that movie i shot for my friend ben:

SWAY Trailer 1 a film by Benjamin Villeda

work. work. work.

2008-11-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

the trailer for my first original short out here:

considering my new mini-movie is only about eight minutes long...i suppose i didn't really need a trailer for it but it gave my second unit something to do...i think it might actually be better than the movie...

i'm working...a lot...so much in fact that i've been sick for the last couple of weeks and whilst sick i've had barely any sleep...me and the rest of my crew have been working 14 hr days whilst still balancing our school schedule. i'm pissed that i've yet to see slumdog millionaire. if i'm not working i'm in school and if i'm not in either...i'm probably at a bar somewhere but it's late at night and i've probably already missed the last screening. it's starting to get painfully cold here. it's awesome! it really is but it's also painful. i'm wearing up to three layers of clothes (and i hate layers) every day. by january i may be up to five. i'm on a steady diet of chicken soup, dayquil, nyquil, and booze. i feel alright for the most part...until i sober up. then things get a little fucked. but anyway...

sophia and i at work... shooting a ridiculous "party" scene. (fancy photos by fancy daniele napolitano)

antonia and i ... also party scene...

on ben's shoot in central park

ben's a really talented director and the stuff i'm shooting for him is stuff i'm pretty proud of.

working with matheius on set in battery park.

a bed fell on me while we were shooting...i have some bruises on rib-cage. OH! and a second after the bed collapsed on me, whilst i was underneath it...a light fell down onto a pair of my pants (i wasn't wearing them ... they were just used as set dressing) and lit them on fire. i guess every shoot i have has to have one moment where everything falls apart...

i've been working with a really really really amazing crew that served as my "adhoc" team for the last two weeks. we all seem to get along pretty well and they're all skillfully trained-bad-ass-assassin-movie-makers.

when he's not a rad-ass director...ben's an amazing assistant director. this was the first day shooting my mini.

more pictures by daniele from the set on our last day...
ya'all probably can't tell but in order to give sophia the "what dream girls are made of..." look, i modeled her get-up after diane keaton's "look" in annie hall.

and just to reassure everyone that some things never change here's some super ass ugly pictures of me:

...anyway, for those of you on the west coast...i'll be shipping out rough cuts of the new mini-movie to friends over there so if any of ya'all would like one...lemme know. hope yer all well!

sightings coast-to-coast

2008-11-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

hhhmm okay, let's see if i can bring everyone up to speed...

...

a couple weeks ago jon & amira visited:

...

then mahfood dropped in for a spell and i spent some time with him, bill shag, mizuo, nicole "saucy" neltch, and the gang from nerd core:

then for halloween, i surprised margot (with the help of jon) in san francisco and saw a buncha of fine folks and friends at APE:

pictures are mostly by amira or jon. except the ones from mahfood's visit which are by bill shag and mahfood himself.

i'm still really enjoying new york. it hasn't been easy balancing work, school, and the social interaction necessary to survive in this crazy ass city but i'm working with some really great people and i think starting next week i'll be working on stuff that i'll finally be proud to share with anyone interested in that kinda crap! it was nice to see margot in san francisco despite the little time we had to see each other. virgin american airlines is a fancy-comfy flight. when i got home i was glad to be home. i stood in line three hours to cast my vote and i'm happy with the results. a couple of weeks ago i tried to cut out red meat but had red meat by the assloads when i went to SF but i'm back to no more red meat/chicken and i'm not missing it TOO much. when i first got here i was eating too much pizza in the morning and too many hot dogs in the middle of the night. i'm also drinking and smoking too much me thinks but i'm watching a lot of movies, even more than i did before both in and out of the theater and i still don't understand how i am or where i'm finding the time to. i'm spending thanksgiving in connecticut. i'm already approaching my quarter finals and the work is exhausting but the exhaustion feels like it's worth the opportunity to be here. at the moment, i couldn't imagine living anywhere else and invite/encourage my friends in california to join me. although casting is kind of a nerve-racking process...one i won't be getting used to anytime soon. but aside from that i'm adjusting just fine. i really like it here. i'll be in california dec. 19th-26th for the holidays.

homework #2

2008-10-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

(homework #1 isn't worth putting up...neither is this one really but here it is anyway)

b&w/16mm/silent

more sightings...

2008-10-22T20:17:00.001-07:00

to see all the super embarrassing fun!!! you'll have to go to facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=530085582326

directed by a friend named andy sorge.

cameos:

2008-10-18T22:11:00.000-07:00

it's my third sunday? here. i feel like i've been here for months...
... school is now in session:

by my friend m. azmi

by my other friend toni botelho

1st sunday!

2008-09-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

So this is my first sunday in New York.

I moved here on Monday.

Shea, Amber, and Margot were here Monday-Thursday to help me move in.

(there's pictures up on shea's myspace of the trip)

I didn't really get a chance to register their short stay because as soon as they left my mother and my sister arrived to also help me move in.

My mom's been nice enough to buy a buncha stuff that made me feel fully moved in.

(like a shoe-rack and cup-o-noodles)

And my sister has been doing her best to exploit all of her east coast connections to make my stay here as comfy as possible.

It's been nice having them around but since I'm starting work tomorrow, I've been distracted and stressed.

A week hasn't felt like enough time to settle in.

Today I got a chance to hang out with my God-family.

My God-brother David and I have always been quite close.

He and his sister (her husband and their kids) live in Connecticut...so that's nice.

Tomorrow I begin working, did I type that already?

In the morning I have to go to my temporary office and set my shit up.

Then I begin shooting.

I'm shooting some test-stuff for this project I'm working on.

I'm scheduled to shoot from 1:30 - 3:30.

If that is truly the case, I think that'll be the shortest shoot I've had in the last couple of years.

I'm nervous about working with a new crew.

I need to get some boots. It was pouring in midtown today.

I need to get a classic controller for my wii so i can play smash brothers.

I'm opening a Washington Mutual account tomorrow, is that dumb?

I live in the east village on 13th in between Ave. A and 1st.

I'm walking distance from everything.

It's been a life long dream to live walking distance away from a comic book store...and now i'm only a few blocks away from two!!! (and a rad video store that's not unlike video paradiso)

I really like it here.

Having Margot with me would make this place perfect.

I miss her terribly.

(photo by shea)