'Nother Brother Now Stands with ARRAY

Today we're proud to announce that we're partnering with ARRAY!

ARRAY is the rebirth of the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) Founded by filmmaker Ava DuVernay in 2010.

We are an independent film distribution and resource collective comprised of arts advocacy organizations, Maverick volunteers and Rebel member donors worldwide.

Our work is dedicated to the amplification of independent films by people of color and women filmmakers globally. Varied voices and images in cinema: Array now!

As you can tell by the many posts on this blog we have always believed in the mission of ARRAY (even when it was AFFRM) and now 'Nother Brother Entertainment is bringing the mission to Baltimore!

Our inaugural screening will be this Saturday of the film Ayanda.

As the graphic says, you can get INFO+TIX at the ARRAY webpage @ http://www.arraynow.com/ayanda/ 

See all of our posts about ARRAY/AFFRM by clicking their logo below

The Reina Williams Music Video

The set of the music video

THE MEETING
I met Reina Williams years ago when meeting with a group of creative artists to discuss working on a pilot for a local television show. In the meeting I liked a lot of what she had to say – game recognizes game or for this purpose - art recognizes art.

When we all exchanged info she gave out her MySpace, (remember that?). The one cool thing (only cool thing?) about MySpace was that you could post music tracks there. I really liked what I heard and when you find someone like that you remember them. She is also quite prolific. Her music has already been featured in shows on CBS, NBC, Cinemax, MTV as well as various feature films.

"Credits Include . . Monte Carlo (2011) Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) "Table for Three" (2009) Friday Night Lights (NBC) Melrose Place (CW) The Hills (MTV) Punk'd (MTV) and more. . ."  — SelecTracks/Bug Music

She was also voted "Best Solo Artist" in the City Paper's Best of Baltimore [2010].

THE PART
When it came time to find music for my film The Part I contacted Reina and she graciously let us use her music. (You can read more about that on the blog for that film here )

THE ORIGIN
Since she let us use her music we’ve become friends. I not only became a fan of her recorded music, but her live performances as well. I’ve seen Reina perform at least a half dozen times (You can see one of my cell phone pics below) and it is always great!

Reina & friend performing live at Joe Squared April 1, 2010.

After her performances we would talk about doing a music video and tossed around some ideas. When the time came I told her I would direct the video and after a couple more ideas (part of the creative process) it was a GO!

THE SONG, THE STORY
The song is called easily enough THE VODKA SONG. The story for the video was written by Reina herself and I just had to break it down for shooting purposes. My job was to visually make the story just as fun as the song itself.

THE SETS
The video was shot over two days at two primary locations. The great Joe Squared and a location in East Baltimore. The first day was at the former and the second at the latter.

For the first day we had to get there bright and early to shoot the video before Joe Squared opened and we had a lot of great people to come and be extras at that early hour. The second day wasn’t as intensive. We didn’t need the amount of extras and we didn’t need to get there as early. Both days went great and we got every shot that I planned. Something always good for a set.

THE SOCIAL NETWORKING
Since I only joined Twitter like 5 minutes ago I decided to try and have

There is a lot of downtime for the director on a set like this while the DP (Director of Photography) and crew set up the lights and the camera for the next scenes to be shot so I decided to take pictures and post them live on Twitter with my own unique brand of commentary. I even established our own hashtag (Twitter people know what that is) where you can STILL get the updates about the video. The hashtag is the easy enough

Ultimately it was harder than I thought it was. Turns out I didn’t have as much time as I thought. There were several directorial decisions that had to be made and it took forever to upload some of the pictures. Next time I think I’ll get a PA (Production Assistant) to do it. LOL.

On both of our social networking destinations I tried to update the progress of the video and still am. I also thanked a lot of the people involved in the production on our Facebook Page.

You can see a slideshow of some of the photos from the sets below and you can always get more up to the minute updates on the post production of the video on our social network sites (linked at the end) as well as see more photos and a LIVE PERFORMANCE VIDEO from the set.

I’m not just saying this because she’s a friend of mine, but I think Reina Williams is on the verge of stardom and (I’ve told her this) it was an honor and a privilege to direct this, her FIRST music video.




You can see a BIGGER version of this slide show here

R.I.P. Mark Baltimore

Today Mark moved to another plane, a better plane. This is what I wrote about Mark in my blog entry Hip Hop Rules

I shot all this footage with the rapper and had to edit it down to I think 10 minutes or less. When I started editing I was like wow this stuff with Mark is good. Turns out after all the hours and days I shot with the rapper Mark’s stuff was the best. Every time I showed my piece (and it wasn’t many times) people would like what Mark had to say best. Truthfully even I did and one of Mark’s sound bites closed the piece because I thought it was so strong.

Mark was evertyhing a filmmaker would want in a subject. You can't manufacture that kind of charisma and personality. They say Baltimore is small and it's just "four corners" and that turns out to be very true. Mark is the cousin of a childhood friend of mine and we talked about him just yesterday. I only had a chance to work with Mark that one time, but as you can see he was memorable and that's what you will always be bro memorable.


Facebookers you can show love to Mark's page right here

The Baltimore Sun did an article on Mark at the link below
Party promoter Mark Baltimore dies at 36 - baltimoresun.com

You can see the one chance we had to work together, my 1999 student film featuring him below. First a WARNING, the video contains explicit language. Having said that...ladies and gentlemen Mark Baltimore

"The Part" Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

‘Nother Brother Entertainment presents “The Part”
Baltimore, Maryland-November 23, 2009 - The Part, a Dankwa Brooks film, is a short film shot in Randallstown, Maryland.

Aisha is apprehensive, not ashamed, of revealing her new acting part to her family. Her father doesn’t make matters better by putting her on the spot to reveal it at a family cookout at their house.

Written in December 2007, The Part has its World Premiere December 15, 2009 at the Rotunda Cinematheque in Baltimore, Maryland.

With the majority of the story set at a cookout, The Part was shot in August 2008 with additional shooting (called pick up shots) during the spring and summer 2009. The cast and crew had a chance to see the film last October at a Private Screening and now the general public gets its chance.

The World Premiere will feature our film The Part as well as outtakes and bloopers. We will also be showing our film Making History with a bonus Special Secret Screening of one of our films.

The Part is listed on IMDb, the Internet Movie Database and we also created a blog Part Blog, Part News detailing much of the process it took to make the film.

‘Nother Brother Entertainment, LLC is an independent film production company in Baltimore, Maryland formed by multi-award winning writer and filmmaker Dankwa Brooks.

For screeners or to arrange an interview with Dankwa Brooks please contact:
Dankwa Brooks
Phone: 443-817-0757
Email: Dankwa@NotherBrother.com

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Our Newest Film-"Making History"

After casting Kesha Afrika Oliver in The Part and having a chance to talk to her I decided to film an “interview” with her to maybe put on The Part DVD. I found her experiences at Colonial Williamsburg to use her words “interesting”.

Kesha Afrika Oliver in Making History

I really had no intention of committing to another film when I hadn’t even completed the first film. I had to film her interviews after rehearsals and shooting of The Part. The footage was so engrossing I decided to make a short documentary from the interviews. Making a documentary (if done right) is a long process. It’s not just an “interview”. You have to add additional footage (video and photos) and possibly even more interviews. So I decided to undertake this task because I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

So now a documentary that started as an interview, that was only for “special features” for a DVD, is now being shown as a film by itself. Somehow a copy of Making History got out and now it will be shown at the end of October. Ok I know how it got out, but it isn’t really relevant to this story LOL. It seems as though the people at Docs in Progress found Making History equally interesting.

I, Writer & Director Dankwa Brooks, will be there and I’m trying to get Kesha Afrika Oliver to attend as well to answer questions. You can read our Press Release about Making History here and stay tuned to this blog for future information.

Making History will screen Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the Creative Alliance at The Patterson.

You can read more about The Part at our blog devoted to the making of the film Part Blog Part News

Making History-Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

‘Nother Brother Entertainment is “Making History”

Baltimore, Maryland-September 30, 2009 - The newest film by Dankwa Brooks, Making History, is a documentary about the effort to include African-American educational programs at Colonial Williamsburg.

Colonial Williamsburg, a venerable historical landmark and a living history museum, has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Virginia. Colonial Williamsburg is an assemblage of restored architecture, populated with historical re-enactors. These performers, or as they are called "interpreters" , illustrate and enlighten audiences about life in 16th - 17th century America through their attire, language and customs as they would have in colonial times.

Actor Kesha Afrika Oliver (pictured left) talks about her unique experiences as an African-American interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg.

‘Nother Brother Entertainment, LLC is an independent film production company in Baltimore, Maryland formed by multi-award winning writer and filmmaker Dankwa Brooks.

For screeners or to arrange an interview with Dankwa Brooks or Kesha Afrika Oliver, please contact Dankwa Brooks at 443-296-2424 or by email at Dankwa@NotherBrother.com

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Hip Hop Rules

It was the fall 1999, a cold and blustery day. Okay I don’t know what the weather was and it isn’t even really relevant to this story. I just always wanted to say that like the narration to some old movie LOL. Let me try this again.

It was the fall 1999. I was looking in the course catalog for some film/television classes. I came across MCOM 430-Media Producer being taught by “White”. The first day of class I meet our instructor Rick White. I was surprised to see Rick teaching this class. You see I met Rick in 1996 when he directed my first winning script Without a Doubt. (You can read more about that at the link.) Rick is a Director/Producer from the local television station that co-produced my script, WMAR TV 2 (in Baltimore). I came in kind of late and he was showing his reel and the opening to my film was part of it. :D

Knowing his field Rick taught us how to be a television producer, showing us exactly how they produce the news among other things. Our final project was to produce our own piece and that brings me to the point of this blog entry. (It took me long enough I know).

I knew this rapper and I decided to produce a profile about him. I shot hours of footage on several different days to get some good footage. One night I met him in the studio and that’s where I interviewed his producer Mark Baltimore.

This was one of the three final production projects I had to complete. I shot all this footage with the rapper and had to edit it down to I think 10 minutes or less. When I started editing I was like wow this stuff with Mark is good. Turns out after all the hours and days I shot with the rapper Mark’s stuff was the best. Every time I showed my piece (and it wasn’t many times) people would like what Mark had to say best. Truthfully even I did and one of Mark’s sound bites closed the piece because I thought it was so strong. If I had the time I might have went back and shot the whole thing about Mark, but I was under the gun. For some dumbass reason I was taking THREE production classes. I was taking Video/Film Editing, Directing For Film and the aforementioned Media Producer. In retrospect, I should have never done it because it was grueling. Let that be a lesson boy and girl film students, DO NOT take three production classes in one semester. It was our final project and I had to finish it. It took me about 14 hours to edit the piece down and I got it down to around 5 minutes.

This re-edited piece is all Mark Baltimore. I combined the “old school” ‘Nother Brother opening with new ‘Nother Brother animation. I threw in some quick transitions to break up what I thought was the best stuff he had to say. Most of it is from the original piece, but I included NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE. (I always wanted to say that too.) There really is no clear narrative to this re-edited piece, it’s basically sound bites strung together. I kept the same music and the same “strong sound bite” closes the piece along with the “old school” ‘Nother Brother closing. I digitized the original project and then went and found the original footage and digitized some of that. (Never lose your footage boy and girl film students; you never know when you might need it.) I rushed this re-edited piece also, but before you say some people never learn let me explain. I didn’t want to spend an inordinate amount of time on this because I am still editing The Part . I also wanted to show some of the hard, hard work I did in college. Okay it wasn’t that hard (LOL). You never know, if this gets like a gazillion hits I might shoot an update with Mark.

For the filmmakers, I originally edited this with Media 100 editing software and the new edit was done with Avid. By the way I got a B in the class. :D

Well here it is no real frills just “The Rules”. First, a WARNING the video contains explicit language. Having said that...ladies and gentlemen Mark Baltimore