Before it s too late, teach children to think before they draw What` s wrong with this picture? a short film by press kit Dos Gringos Productions 5409 Aurora Dr Austin, TX 78756 jeffrey@dosgringos.us 512-371-3614
story synopsis Kool-aid, cookies, and crayons should make an idyllic afternoon for three-year-old Aidan. But when he draws the wrong picture, a horrible nightmare of wax-gone-bad begins awards & screenings Ranked Number 1 Top Comedy Film at Atomfilms.com (June 2003) and nominated one of the top ten films of 2003 by Atomfilms.com Ranked Number 1 Top Short Film (out of 1000+ films) for over four weeks at the Kevin Spacey s TriggerStreet.com Online Film Festival (December 2002) and selected as a Top Ten Finalist (March 2003) Winner, Audience Favorite Award, Damah Film Festival, Seattle, WA (2003) Winner, Best in Show, Audience Award 2002 Ragamuffin Film Festival Inducted into the 2003 Texas Filmmaker s Showcase Official Selection of the Nashville Film Festival (2004) Official Selection of the Utah Arts Festival Film Festival (2004) Official Selection of the New York Children s International Film Festival (2004) Official Selection of the Seattle International Film Festival (2003) Official Selection of the Newport International Film Festival (2003) Official Selection of the Los Angeles Film Festival/IFP (2003) Official Selection of the Central Standard Film Festival/IFP (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN 2003) Official Selection of SXSW Film Festival, Austin, TX 2003 Official Selection of the Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland, OH 2003 Official Selection of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (2003) Official Selecction of the Ragamuffin Film Festival, Austin, TX, USA (2002) Official Selecction of the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, Los Angeles, California, USA (2002) Official Selecction of the Maverick Short Film Competition Cinequest San Jose Film Festival, San Jose, California, USA (2003) Official Selection of the Short Shorts Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan (2003) Official Selection of the Chattanooga Film Festival (2003) Official Selection of the Digital Videos Shorts Fest, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (2003) Official Selection of the Tallgrass Film Festival, Wichita, Kansas (2003) Official Selection at Caroline s Broadway Comedy club, New York City (2003) Page 2 of 7
bios whats wrong with this picture? press kit JEFFREY TRAVIS writer-producer-director is an award-winning filmmaker who has written and directed several short films, including ELEGY, VISIONS, THE TIGGERSHEET DIARIES, BUSY SIGNALS, the Spanish-language RECUERDOS DE UN MATE (Official Selection of Cinesol Latino Film Festival), HURRY RONNIE (featured in the Austin Chronicle), THE PARTY (distributed by Damah; featured in the Austin-American Statesman), BUT WHEN PERFECTION COMES and the WHAT S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?, which has played at over 30 film festivals worldwide, received the Best in Show Audience Award at the Ragamuffin Film Festival in July of 2002, and was ranked the Number 1 Top Short Film (out of more than 1,100 short films) at the online festival TriggerStreet.com. Jeffrey recently also received a development deal with Twentieth Century FOX to develop material for a potential television series based on the concept of WHAT S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? Travis was born in Mexico City and later moved to Argentina, where he lived with his missionary parents until he graduated from high school. He was educated entirely in Spanish except for a continual stream of classics that he read in English at his mother s insistence. Throughout his formative years Travis immersed himself in creative writing and in the study of classical guitar, but also spent a great deal of time writing, directing and editing short homemade films from the age of 13. He began his college career at the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, and later received a B.S. at the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. After earning a Master s degree in engineering in 1995, Travis worked as a software consultant for several years and authored his first published textbook on visual programming, LabVIEW for Everyone, which eventually became a bestseller in its field. In 1998 he launched a software company and shortly thereafter published his second textbook, Internet Applications in LabVIEW. Despite his career success as a graphical software consultant and author, Travis found himself repeatedly drawn back to the passion of his childhood telling visually textured, richly layered stories through the medium of film and video. As a result he has since cofounded a film co-op in Austin called Project Seven (www.projectseven.info), and formed a production company with creative/business partner David Taylor, Dos Gringos Productions (www.dosgringos.us), which has created twelve no-budget short films in less than two years. Several of these films have screened at many festivals locally and internationally, and are continuing to gain momentum and acceptance with audiences all over the country. Travis is currently working on developing two feature films during the year 2003. He has been married for ten years and lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three children. Page 3 of 7
AIDAN TRAVIS principal actor Aidan Gabriel Travis makes his film debut starring as himself in WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? With the life experience of a three-year-old informing his work, he brings plenty of insight and authenticity to the plight of a plundered child. A consummate Method actor, Aidan takes his character roles utterly seriously and enjoys working with director, who happens to be his father. When asked to offer critical insight on his first film role, Aidan grins widely and says, "I like that movie where the guy eats my cookie". production notes This film started originally as an idea for a longer short film that involved a story about children s crayon drawings that come to life, with the drawing wreaking havoc in the world around them, and then disappearing back onto the paper whenever an adult would come around. But with no budget (the only production expense for this short was a seven-dollar DV tape), and a one-week deadline to produce a small children s short for his film co-op Project Seven (www.projectseven.info), decided to try something smaller in scope that would reflect the original idea and experiment with mixing live action and animation. The short was shot in one hour without any crew. David Young later developed the animation over a period of a week. Aidan Travis, the young boy in the short, received two big cookies to eat after the wrap. Page 4 of 7
crew writer, producer, director camera animation editor music David Young Byron Tate cast Aidan Mother Aidan Travis Stephanie Perry technical specs Running time: 1 minute, 54 seconds 16:9 /Color /Stereo Original Shooting Format: DV Available for Screenings: BetaSP, DV, DVD, VHS Page 5 of 7
review excerpts whats wrong with this picture? press kit One of the funniest films I have ever seen in my life! Stephen Simon, Producer and Director of INDIGO, Producer of SOMEWHERE IN TIME and WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, Best onscreen scream of 2003! -- Ifilm.com A hilarious short film Internet Video Magazine, January 2004 a winning comedy about toddler angst one of the best films of 2003 Atomfilms.com from TriggerStreet.com: "An original idea done exceptionally well." cgsgrant "In an unbelievably smart short, filmmaker captures a pure childhood mentality--the hilarious and perfectly cute absurdity of the "my cookie!" mindset... Fabulously rendered and flawlessly done." -susannajoy "Laugh-out-loud-funny... the concept and the child's acting are fantastic." - terminae "Simply Amazing...I am stunned by the creativity, the story, and pretty much everything about this movie. I was falling off my chair laughing at the hilarious character come to life. I give this movie the highest of marks and I look forward to seeing more films from this creator." - DMD Productions "A definite crowd pleaser." -Eric Quintana, filmmaker "The idea of some helpless boy falling victim to his own Crayola creation is wonderfully creative. The format is masterfully managed; the portrayal of the scene as a dangerous situation in modern society or something of that sort is very successful the parody of modern appeals to social conscience is quite humorous." -nenglish "Everything is Right about this picture...never has such a simple concept made me laugh so hard." - Chris Mayhew "Must see! This short film is guaranteed to make you laugh!" - Franco Cuminato Page 6 of 7
"Nothing is wrong with this picture... This is a very funny short." -danepp "This was a very good film. It has humor, intelligence and cruelty all rolled into one. That has to be one of the more realistic portraits of a child I have ever seen on film. " - Rfinkle "I saw this at a film festival and it was overwhelmingly the audience favorite. Creative, insightful, well-conceived and executed, this short shows great potential and promise" - J.C. Rasco "Now that's funny...clever concept, simply executed, and very effective... Hats off to." Kumar "Fresh & Funny!" - rev5910 "...a wonderful little short." -SpareKey " I laughed, I cried, I saw it again and again. Wonderful, creative film... The comedy and humanity of this film is redemptive artistry at its best. I'd love to see what this director could do with an actual budget and a full-length film." -mizznicole "Hot, Hot, hot!" - Darion contact 5409 Aurora Dr, Austin TX 78756 512-371-3614 jeffrey@dosgringos.us http://dosgringos.us Page 7 of 7