Unless otherwise noted, all of the following were written, produced, directed, shot and edited by Christopher Arcella using his own equipment under a zero or close to zero dollar budget.
Newer Testament
music video
2012
2:30
high definition
zero dollar budget
This is a music video created in collaboration with the band Cloud Seeding for their song Newer Testament featuring Greg Hatem.
Online viewing of this music video coming soon.
Yellow Carnation
narrative short
2011
12:15
high definition
zero dollar budget
A young man's lingering past is provoked by the discovery of his stolen bicycle chained on the sidewalk.
Online viewing of this short to come post festivals.
narrative short
2011
8:00
low definition on high definition
zero dollar budget
A young man describes a strange experience that he recorded on his mobile phone.
screenings:
Rural Route Film Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image
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Having finally shot my first feature on the TRV-900's, the promise I'd made to myself had been filled (see the notes for 2002). I got with the times and bought two Cannon HF S10 high definition cameras. I remember wondering where to put the tapes.
This is the first movie I made in high definition. It's also my first to acquire distribution.
narrative short
2010
5:00
high definition
zero dollar budget
Declan Hill, author of The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime: "A chilling and eerie portrait of the effects of match-fixing. Done superbly on a budget of pennies. One wonders and waits for Christopher's next work!"
Possidónio Cachapa, Portuguese author: "What shall we do when little details become tragic questions of life? Football in two different levels. The first one, the unexpected results of a decision in the enemy field. The second, a poetic one, like a repetitive element in a melody which is more elevated than the structure of the piece itself."
A former professional football (soccer) player describes his experience with match fixing.
distribution:
New Europe Film Sales
screenings:
Indie Lisboa * winner of Onda Curta award *
Barcelona Sports Film Festival
CineFoot International Football Film Festival
Rooftop Films
Zero Film Festival (NYC)
Epix Movie Free-For-All (NYC)
circulation:
Wholphin DVD issue #12 (McSweeney's quarterly short film anthology)
Small Chair (McSweeney's iphone app)
watch
view the housing built for this short
buy Wholphin DVD issue #12
Wholphin interview
At long last I completed a feature, eight years after initially setting the goal.
I made this movie on half a shoestring of my own money (zero dollar budget is more than fairly accurate). When I finished, I could only afford to enter festivals with no entry fee. The World Film Festival of Bangkok took interest partially due to the Thai actors that appear in the film. The festival premiered the first cut which was 25 minutes longer than the final 89 minute version.
narrative feature
2009
89:00
standard definition
zero dollar budget
Mark Elijah Rosenberg, founder and artistic director of Rooftop Films: "Giver Taker Heartbreaker is a jazzy, bizarre, semi-absurdist black comedy in the vein of early Jarmusch."
A feature film about a young woman struggling to strike a balance between the give and take.
screenings:
World Film Festival of Bangkok
watch the entire feature in 3 parts: part 1, part 2, part 3
watch the trailer
watch clip 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
watch deleted scene
watch record loop
credits
stills
presskit
poster art
view dvd cover
buy dvd
Shot in 2003, my first attempt at a feature was subjected to a series of edits over the course of four years that whittled away nearly an hours worth of additional scenes. Some of this footage was recompiled into other shorts (Drunken Eggs, The August Minnesphere and My Favorite Song).
narrative short
2007
30:00
standard definition
zero dollar budget
A boy meets a girl in Minneapolis who drags him helplessly along a foggy path through the surrounding farmlands in an attempt to fulfill her country boy fantasies.
screenings:
Rural Route Film Festival at the Anthology Film Archives
watch
view dvd cover
buy dvd
experimental short
2007
3:30
standard definition
zero dollar budget
Jim Jarmusch: "With CRIME SCENE GREENPOINT, Christopher Arcella has crafted a mysteriously dramatic visual poem just from looking out his window (and down from his rooftop). Many have done less with much more!"
On the morning of May 2, 2006 a fire broke out in the Greenpoint Terminal Market. The blaze spread so quickly that the Fire Commissioner immediately suspected arson. After the 10 alarm fire was put out the block was shut down as investigators combed the site for evidence. Fourteen firefighters were reported to have suffered minor injuries and no civilians were reported hurt.
screenings:
Scanners Video Festival by the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Rooftop Films
Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival
Video DUMBO Festival
watch
music video
2005
4:40
standard definition
zero dollar budget
This is a music video created in collaboration with the band Okay for their song Compass.
watch
view treatment
experimental short
2005
1:30
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
experimental short
2005
3:00
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
documentary short
2005
3:00
standard definition
$300 dollar budget
This short documents the construction of a miniature prefabricated FlatPak house at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.
screenings:
The International Contemporary Furniture Fair
watch
experimental short
2005
:40
standard definition
zero dollar budget
This brief, experimental short was created for a project by DESIGNFILMPOOL entitled Shots on a Brave New World. Invited participants were asked to interpret two assigned pages from Aldous Huxley's novel, Brave New World, as a thirty second video piece. The finished feature length experimental film of 144 individual clips was presented at the 2005 Berlin DESIGNMAI festival. This clip was inspired by pages 303 & 304 which begin with the line, "A humming overhead had become a roar; and suddenly he was in shadow, there was something between the sun and him."
screenings:
Berlin DESIGNMAI festival
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experimental short
2004
2:30
standard definition
zero dollar budget
Created for the Blu Dot Short Film Series, Seven Twenty was accompanied by a downloadable clock that displayed a unique photo for every minute of the day. An agency called mono came up with the idea of a downloadable clock.
watch the director's cut
download the clock
experimental short
2004
2:05
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
experimental short
2004
3:10
standard definition
zero dollar budget
A collaboration with Kendra Malone, this short was created for a 24 hour film contest sponsored by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Contestants had less than one day to create a short film using a quota of sounds from an audio cd containing a variety of samples selected by the organizers.
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experimental short
2004
3:30
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
experimental short
2004
1:40
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
narrative short
2004
2:10
standard definition
zero dollar budget
Christopher Deam, designer and architect: "Christopher's nuanced, economy of means in filmmaking allows his storytelling to shine ... a perfect antidote to a hyper-designed, overly stylized age."
Jimmy's Dog is based on A Boy's Best Friend by Isaac Asimov.
watch
instructional short
2003
8:00
standard definition
$300 budget
Shing02 and DJ Icewater demonstrate the Vestax Faderboard.
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This short was orignially part of an anthology arranged according to the scientific method. The 38 minute movie entitled Frequency Response included the following sections: Introduction, Problem, Observations, Hypothesis, Experiment and Conclusion. I wasn't satified with how I directed the other sections and decided to put them on the shelf.
The narration for the series was composed by applying the cut-up technique to audio recordings. Bits and pieces of dialogue were cut and rearranged to create new phrases and meanings.
experimental narrative short
2003
13:00
standard definition
zero dollar budget
Awards Ceremony Presentation, Winner Bay Area Narrative Award, Golden Gate Awards, San Francisco International Film Festival, read by jury member Gary Meyer, Co-Director Telluride Film Festival and Co-Founder Landmark Theatres: "A film that draws on the experimental traditions of the pioneers while looking to the future, combining multiple layers of images, sound and narrative in search of a new way to tell stories. The influence of emerging technology, video, and computer interactivity are combined with a playful post modernist sensibility. The film we chose is provocative and original. Guided by a sardonic scientific voice over, some fast forward buttons on the screen, and a miraculous flying cereal box airplane, a young man meditates on the nature of the world he experiences."
screenings:
San Francisco International Film Festival * awarded Best Bay Area Narrative Short *
Oakland International Film Festival
watch
view sound script
Having made 3 shorts with the VX1000, I found it cumbersome and replaced it with two much smaller Sony TRV-900's. I promised myself that I wouldn't buy another camera until I made a feature with them.
When Shingo let me know he was going to demo his faderboard at Aquarius, I thought it would be a good opportunity to test them out.
instructional short
2002
7:50
standard definition
zero dollar budget
Shing02 and the Freelancers demonstrate the Vestax Faderboard at Aquarius Records in San Francisco.
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experimental short
2002
4:00
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
experimental short
2001
3:15
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
In 2001 I bought my first video camera, a Sony VX1000, with the intention of making a feature.
I tested it by documenting the assembly of a second anti-design plumber's pipe chair I made for my apartment.
experimental short
2001
1:45
standard definition
zero dollar budget
watch
