Bill Katz

Nod to Narin for telling me about Angry Alien Productions, a very funny collection of Flash movies. These flash movies have been around for a while, so it's strange I've only seen them now. Or maybe my notions of buzz are completely warped by expectations in the Internet age.

Jennifer Shiman, the artist, is pretty humble. Couldn't find much information about her or what compelled her to make these shorts. Google to the rescue. FilmStew.com has a nice behind-the-scenes article

My Digital Humans CD-ROM got the attention of a Hollywood effects house, and I was asked to produce a background clip for the Universal Pictures film Virus.

The image below is from the movie; my computer-generated clip is running on the monitor to the right. In this scene, the alien entity accesses a database on human anatomy while probing a brain.

My skull peeling clip is displayed on the computer screen. (From the movie "Virus".)

In the late 90s, I felt compelled to try my hand at a creative video short. Loews Theatres was sponsoring a trailer competition, so after a litle brainstorming, I quickly assembled a ragtag group of friends & family in the Jefferson Theater in downtown Charlottesville. The cast included Marley Peale, Kevin Spetz, Mike Saylor, Alex Crosby, Paul & Nga Katz, and baby Kevin Jensen, forever immortalized in his pristine chubby state. Additional footage contained a drafted Nicole Kassell, who also shot the raw footage with her Sony DV camcorder, and Darryl delaPlata. (Nicole become a Charlottesville hometown hero with her quick rise to award winning screenplay writer and director.)

A frame from the spectacular, spectacular Enjoy the Show entry