A Long Hike for a Great Cause

Being located in Midwest, contemplating somewhere where there's a changing elevation is something of a foreign concept to us. Fortunately, we have our customers to live vicariously through. Case in point, Michael Chevalier and the team at the Edmonton-based Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation. Instead of the usual cocktails and hors d'oeuvres fundraiser to help them pay for new equipment for the hospital, they decided to take a team to conquer the tallest mountain in Africa and get donors to sponsor the ascent. Here's a bit about the project from Michael:

"This summer, our hospital foundation sent a team of 37 people to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for a new orthopedics centre. The team consisted of doctors, philanthropists, a few people with artificial hips and knees, as well as four Canadian soldiers (including a double amputee) who were injured while on active duty in Afghanistan. We raised over $1 million and produced a video with all of the footage that was shot on the expedition. It was a special project, so as soon as I was charged with producing the DVD, I knew we had to use Jewelboxing."

A big thanks to Michael and everyone at the Foundation for sharing with us down here in the flatlands, and here's to hoping that mountains, both real and metaphorical, are being scaled in New York, Summersville, Atlanta, Panama City, Chesterfiled, Alliance, Arlington, San Diego, Grand Rapids, Venice, North Augusta, Brooklyn, St. Louis, Union Town, Washington DC, Kerhonkson, Hialeah, Woodland Park, Langhorne, Orange, and Alameda.

Well-Crafted Accompaniment

Alex Gould, who we profiled for Case Study 11 about his documentary An Interview with James Jarvis has put together what looks like another great film and another terrific case design. The Organist tells the story of cinema organist Dave Nicholas, who has played along with motion pictures at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Cinema for twenty years, as well as church services for an additional ten years. Here's the trailer for the film:

And here's a look at Alex's packaging for it, beautifully put together using our King cases:

There are lots more shots of the case here on his site.

Thanks a million to Alex for all his fantastic work and here's hoping similarly attractive packages are being assembled right now in Santa Rosa, Lethbridge, the Bronx, Toronto, East Dulwich, Orlando, Portland, Chelsea, Edina, Laval, Glace Bay, Dundas, Burnaby, Regina, Plano, Bloomfield, Logan, Notre Dame, Salt Lake City, Libertyville, Orem, and Cottonwood Heights.

A Can't Miss Multi-Level Packaging Opportunity

Because we think it's every person's destiny to own just as many boats, cars, and tropical isle dream homes as we do, we've been thinking here at Jewelboxing HQ about how we can help you maximize your potential and create just enough synergy to explode your current revenue dynamics and live your dreams by earning as much as $70,000 per month with only an hour of work per week, tops. We're still not entirely finished with this exciting profitability opportunity, so in the interim (and while you save the $299 we'll be asking for as an initial startup fee), we thought we'd share a note from filmmaker Byword Smith about how he's putting our King cases to great use with his latest project:

"I'm a stand-up comedian and filmmaker out of Washington, DC. I just produced a comedy short called Hopes and Schemes, which is about a man who gets caught up in a unique "business" opportunity that he hopes will help him reach his dream, but ends up taking him further away."

"Hopes and Schemes was a two year process for me. Working in multiple areas of the digital film production process was mandatory if I wanted to articulate the vision I had for the story, and also make a great product along the way. I found out about Jewelboxing years ago through a friend and knew that if I ever created a dvd, I'd consider those cases."

"The reason I chose Jewelboxing over other DVD cases was because I want to stand out as a filmmaker and make a memorable first impression to people when they get my film. I want people to say to themselves, "I want this!" I've already received many compliments on the cases. What I also love about Jewelboxing is the all-in-one setup that's provided; between the templates and the perforated paper, my house is a one-stop shop for DVD creation!"

Thanks a million to Byword for dropping us a line (here's the Hopes and Schemes trailer) and here's to hoping hard work is being one-stop shopped in Edmonton, Glendale, Toronto, St. Catharines, Clovis, Minneapolis, Dallas, San Francisco, Virginia Beach, Goleta, Tucson, Santa Rosa, Benbrook, Meriden, Brooklyn, Spokane, Mission Viejo, Janesville, Portland, Huntington Beach, Odessa, Quebec City, Vestal, Honolulu, Phillipsburg, Lomond, Welland, and Panama City.

Spirited Ridiculousness

With Halloween just around the corner, we were hoping to find a holiday-specific Jewelboxing project to mark what is arguably the best holiday of the year. Fortunately, our hopes were realized as we caught word of creepy goings-ons in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee, Florida (which, of course, has been regularly renowned for its "Very Spooky" listing in most national rankings). The purveyor of said horrors is one T.C. Durham, who was kind enough to take a break from his telling of ghastly tales to share with us his most recent project, the long-awaited sequel in his Trick No Treat film series. Here's a description of the film:

"Zack (Tyler Zwick) returns to his home town and discovers the worlds last remaining ghost. Zack soon realizes that he must enlist the help of the old gang (T.C. Durham, Mike Chandler, Jacob Wilder) and kill the ghost before the ghost kills them!"

And here's from T.C. about the project:

"Trick No Treat 3 is probably the most ridiculous project I've ever done. It's random, offensive and over the top. It's basically Ghostbusters on crack.

"Trick No Treat started out as a short video intended to entertain guests at a Halloween party. For the first movie we had nothing. We had no budget and a low-quality camcorder. Now working on TNT3, we've upgraded to a high-definition camcorder and Final Cut Studio.

"We were worried that we would make this great movie and have to distribute it on the crappy CD cases you get at the drug store. Then, I discovered Jewelboxing (intro hallelujah chorus). With Jewelboxing's sweet King cases, we were able to preserve the quality of the movie from beginning to end.

"We're not professionals, we're not art kids. We just wanted to make people laugh! The whole movie is one ridiculous event after another. But what I've learned from the few people that have screened our movie is that people are impressed when you take being funny seriously."

A big spine-chilling thanks to T.C. for sharing the project with us and here's to hoping hairs are raised and blood is curdled this week in Mt. Pleasant, Santa Monica, Louisville, New York, Singapore, Colorado Springs, Tacoma, Atlanta, Bolingbrook, Idaho Springs, Stevenson Ranch, Hagerstown, Toronto, Lubbock, Springfield, Long Beach, Houston, San Luis Obispo, and Amherstview.

Collecting Cronenberg

When there isn't a collection available of all your favorite films by one of your favorite filmmakers, or rather, one not so blandly designed that you wouldn't be embarrassed to have up on your shelf, what do you do? If you're Brooklyn-based designer Raymond Forbes, you design your own David Cronenberg box set, complete with everything from Videodrome to the more recent A History of Violence. It's a beautifully designed package from both the clear plastic box that houses the whole collection to the five individual discs. And although Raymond created this project on his own during his time as a student at the esteemed Portfolio Center, we're of the opinion that Mr. Cronenberg would be smart to pick up and start selling this collection right away. It's certainly one of the best looking box sets we've seen and we'd certainly buy one in a heartbeat if it were available. Here's from Raymond about the project:

"I'm a designer and art director, and I used your DVD-sized King cases for a packaging project that I included in my student portfolio. It is a DVD Collection for the work of Canadian director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body-horror or venereal-horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection."

"The design on each DVD case features abstract, microscopic imagery of infections and bacteria, overlayed with stills from each film. In order to capture the invasive and methodical nature of Cronenberg's work in the design, I needed the typography on each individual disc to be visible through the actual DVD jewel case, so I looked for the highest-quality, clear blank DVD cases I could find. The Jewelboxing cases I got from you guys worked really well."

Great thanks to Raymond for sharing his work with us and here's to hoping that the fear of bodily transformation and infection is staying up on the big screen for the benefit of our latest customers in Los Angeles, Irvine, Somerville, Frederick, San Jose, Austin, Jacksonville, Anacortes, Chesterfield, Syracuse, Bedford, East Lansing, Manor, Merriam, Houston, Brooklyn, Charleston, Chicago, Palatine, Providence, Juda, Alhambra, Riverview, San Diego, Ithaca, Monrovia, Orem, Boston, and Henderson.

The Revolution Will Be Available on DVD

It must be the season for interesting, off-the-beaten-path Jewelboxing projects, as it seems like we've been receiving word of a lot of unique cases lately. So it is with Dean Cooper, a designer from the UK, about packaging a film he made about he and his friend's trip to Cuba several years back. While we haven't seen the film, based on Dean's work with the case, we're guessing that it's more than equal in its skill and attention to detail (as an aside: Dean, can you make a poster out of the cover and tray art, so we can buy it and hang it on our wall?) Here's a little about his process in putting the project together:

"I bought my Jewelboxing cases over a year ago but have only just got round to using them on a personal project that I've only just completed. A film of a trip to Cuba that me and a friend had in 2001 a lot of work went into editing the DVD and the Jewelboxing cases finish the project off beautifully. I found scans of a child's sticker book produced just after the revolution on Flickr and used these 1960's graphics as the basis for my design. I found the templates easy to use and the paper good quality."

Here's to hoping the revolution is beginning to take root in Des Plains, La Grange, Honolulu, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Fayetteville, Naples, Burlington, White Plains, Denver, Fairfield, San Jose, Fort Worth, San Francisco, Oak Park, Cambridge, Irvine, North Vancouver, Redmond, Clio and Middletown.

On the Topic of Police Officers and Bicycles

We're big fans of the Byrd brothers, Aaron and Kevin. If you're a regular Coudal reader, you've probably seen a lot of "via"s back to Byrdhouse, or links to some of their various projects and even right here on the Jewelboxing blog, like highlighting their film The Cycle Theory. So it was with great happiness that they decided to use Jewelboxing again to package their latest project, the delightfully absurd music video, Cops on Bikes. Here's from the two of them:

On the project itself: "The video footage for Cops on Bikes was shot on a Sony still camera set to the 'mpeg video' option. We were hoping for a digital low-rent quality HD-Cams have trouble capturing. The stop animation stills were shot on a Canon 30D using 2 lenses, a 24-105mm and a crappy stereo lens. The slides are from Kevin's analog collection. Aaron edited the video with Final Cut Pro. Kevin did some too. Aaron is Thriller 2."

On using Jewelboxing: "We made the video with Jewelboxing in mind and knew the pictures and type treatment from the video and website would translate nicely. We went for an exploratory aspect with the case: all type on the outside, picture goodness on the inside to provide a nice contrast for one who opens it for the first time."

"We thought it'd be nice to include headshots of the castmembers inside the dvd case usisng the photographic stills we used in the video. It was really exciting to see the media stretch across all platforms especially when transferring to something as slick as Jewelboxing."

Kevin and Aaron were also kind enough to provide us with additional quotes, should we need them for this post, each of which we would feel sad if the world didn't get a chance to read, so here they are:

From Aaron:
"Jewelboxing goes great with my beard, so I try to carry it around as an accessory whenever possible."
"Girls tend to notice when you're designing with Jewelboxing."
"Where are the jewels? What a bunch of bull$%#*."

From Kevin:
"I threw one at traffic once and it didnt break."
"We sell them out our trunk at football games."
"Aaron's beard is real nice. I'm a lil' jealous. I think Jewelboxing has done well for him."

If that doesn't sell you on the quality of the cases, nothing will. Thanks much to the Byrds for writing in and here's to hoping that similar beard-related successes are being had in Alexandria, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, New York, Boston, Ketchum, Durham, Lorton, Salt Lake City, Aliso Viejo, Edmonton, White Plains, Brampton, Lisle, Birmingham, Butler, Stanford, Basingstoke, Atlanta and Honolulu.

Unusual Made Presentable

We've made a lot of absurd films in our time; loaded up with non sequiturs, heaps of unabashed silliness and a great abundance of nonsense. But Steve Gadlin takes absurdity to bold, daring new heights. If you're not in Chicago, you should consider yourself unfortunate for not having been privy to any number of the shows he's produced, from Impress These Apes, where a handful of contestants return with new material each week for eight straight weeks, trying to entertain three Earth-conquering apes, or their long-running Don't Spit the Water show, wherein audience members are invited on stage, given a gulp of water to hold in their mouth, then taunted by stand-up comedians who attempt to make them laugh, thus making them spit said water. It truly is a thing to behold. And does it make it any more unusual that Gadlin often appears alongside his comedy partner, Paul Luikart, as the "International Comedy Sensation," Sasha & The Noob, two men of vague Eastern European origin, one of whom doesn't speak. It's our kind of deliciously weird comedy, and being longtime friends with Steve, we were thrilled when he e-mailed us and said, "Hey, I just ordered some Jewelboxing cases!" To which we responded, "So tell us about it!" Here's his response:

"The Timekeeper Willis Boot Camp DVD features one of the regular cast members from the stage show, Timekeeper Willis (Bryan Bowden), a shirtless, egotistical tough guy who always wears a wrestler's mask and a giant clock around his neck. I decided that he needed to have a workout video, showing how he gets into shape. We hired real fitness models, developed whole exercise routines and shot it all in a gym. We also included a few of the unusual characters from the show, so it walks that confusing line between, 'Is this for real?' and 'No, this can't be for real, can it?' which we kinda live for."

"It was just one of those ridiculous projects that just wouldn't leave me alone. I was still in the process of putting the whole thing together when my Jewelboxing kit arrived, so I kicked everything into high gear. I was so happy with how beautiful the packaging turned out, that I rushed to finish the editing. I just couldn't wait to burn my first copy, slap on the label, and show off a beautiful product."

"The system itself is just so complete. It's a wonderful idea to sell it all as a package. The templates were exact, and everything snapped together so perfectly. After the printing was done, my wife and I spent a happy hour at the dinner table putting it all together. The packaging gets more compliments than the DVD...but that's fine by me."

Here's to hoping there are equally as bizarre things getting packaged as beautifully in Plymouth, Atlanta, Aarhus, Toronto, Louisville, West Drayton, Irvine, Dallas, Portland, Philadelphia, El Paso, Grove City, Seattle, New York, Grand Rapids, Manhattan, Mountain View, Austin, Ithaca, Missouri City, North York, Galway, Middlesbrough, Pittsford, Mitchell, London, Minneapolis, Kirkwall, Vancouver and Emsworth.

Fiasco in Florida

Depending on your situation, twenty-four hours can seem like an eternity. If, say, you're stranded at Chicago's O'Hare airport during the weekly blizzards we have here come winter, you're likely going to feel every minute of each of those twenty-four. On the other hand, if you find yourself having to make a complete movie with set rules and people you've never met before, well, you're going to be looking at your watch at the end, wondering what happened to make time slip by so quickly. That's the story we heard from Andrew Kamphey, Managing Director of the Film Fiasco 24-hour film fest:

"I got the idea for the Film Fiasco August of 2004 after I had wanted to make a short movie within a day and became upset at the lack of infrastructure that Gainesville, FL and the University of Florida had for short video production. There was no community to speak of in an otherwise creative city. I didn't want to start something because I knew that someone else could do it better. I started the Film Fiasco out of a need. By just challenging myself to make a movie in 24 hours, I had inadvertently challenged the city of Gainesville. I started talking to people about my idea and finally told it to my friend Priscilla who said 'Let's do it!' Two months later was the first Film Fiasco and the movies you watch on the DVD were all created in 24 hours."

"There are similar events all around the country in no association with each other and a 48 hour video competition that has events in many cities. We have made ours stand out by including the element of signing up actors independently of the movie-making teams. Two actors are assigned to each team that must include them in the movie, besides the required elements that all of the teams get. This ends up being the toughest part of putting on the event but it makes it special as it speaks to another group of people."

"There were so many similarities of how the Film Fiasco got started and the beginning of Jewelboxing. From what I know, you guys looked for something that would match your standards of quality, while I looked around for something to quench my creative thirst. Neither of us found anything available out there, so we just made our own, Film Fiasco and Jewelboxing. I think both of the products speak of our passion for something so great that we took on the challenge ourselves. That always gets me, so I had to go with it. I picked up the whole Studio."

Here's to all the people making interesting things, in whatever time frame they so desire, in Santa Barbara, Blackstone, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Etobicoke, Toronto, Wicomico, Phila, Santa Rosa, Cedar Park, Los Angeles, Savannah, Irvine, Dulles, Round Lake, Kansas City, Winston-Salem, Brookline and Brompton.

Sikhs Hit the Streets

Earlier this week, we received a note from Jewelboxing user Sartaj Singh Dhami, letting us know about his latest project, a documentary he had produced about the Sikh religion. We're all big film buffs here and we've made a few shorts in our time as well, so we're always really happy when someone like Sartaj thinks enough of our cases to package his hard work. And it's all the more flattering when it's a film with an important message. Here's Sartaj's report:

"Sikh on the Street, created by my production company, Dashmesh Pictures, is a short film that challenges the perceptions of everyday Americans to what they think of those who don a turban and beard. Are they Muslims? Are they Arabs? Or are they members to another unique community?"

"The film asks people on the street who the Sikhs are. Unknown to most, 99% of all individuals encountered in the western world that have turbans and beards are adherents to the Sikh religion, a monotheistic faith based in the Punjab region of India. Since the unfortunate attacks of 9/11, many Sikhs have encountered unwanted backlash due to their unique identities by being mistaken as followers, or adherents, to Islamic radical terrorists. Filmed in 2005, Sikh on the Street challenges the everyday Joe to see if they know who the Sikhs are after large amounts of outreach had been done by the Sikh community."

"With the recent success of film, such as being shown in several film festivals and incorporated into curriculums at Iowa State and Harvard University, a new level of professionalism was needed to be added that was also economical. Jewelboxing allowed for this by providing the tools needed in order to create DVD box art and casing with simplicity. By using the templates and a standard inkjet printer, our cases were created with ease, allowing for a professional look, within a reasonable budget, that promotes recipients to actually open and learn more about the project. Thanks Jewelboxing!"

Here's to hoping that all sorts of people are being correctly identified and having their work appreciated in Gilbert, New York, St. Paul, Milaca, San Jose, Grand Rapids, Parma, Minneapolis, Fair Lawn, South Miami, Great Neck, Riverside, Kansas City, Baton Rouge, North Vancouver, Lakewood, Los Angeles, Sterling Heights, Cleveland and Salt Lake City.

'Nico' Case

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone at Jewelboxing who doesn't own at least one Velvet Underground box set. That's why we loved receiving a note from Jan-Frederic Goltz in Braunschweig, Germany, about a recent project he put together, expertly using Jewelboxing Kings, for a local theater company putting on a production we really, really hope makes it over here to the States sometime soon. Here's the whole story from Jan-Frederic:

"'Nico - Shinx aus Eis' is a theater performance about Christa Päffgen (the lead singer in The Velvet Underground and Nico) based on her life story and on a book by Werner Fritsch ('Suhrkampverlag, Frankfurt am Main') which was put on by the Mehrsicht Projekt Theater in Braunschweig, Germany. They asked me to film and edit the play and I choose to make a complete project out of it.

"The result is this DVD with the video of the theater performance of "Nico" with a total length of one hour and 15 minutes. It additionally contains a multi-angle video layer for each of the three chapters which have a length from 5 to 10 minutes and can be viewed by pressing the angle button on the dvd player's remote control. These 3 multi-angle parts tell the story in a very different and experimental way. For example, with elements of found-footage from the 60s and 70s, or with self-filmed video content, this little feature gives the spectator the oppportunity to see the performance as a chronological part of the story, which haunts the same plot, but from a different point of view.

"On the DVD, one can also find an installation video (a found-footage clip) which was played in the foyer before the show and a 5 minute long trailer for promotional purposes."

Here's to hoping the projects, involving girls in Chelsea or otherwise, are going as splendidly in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Goleta, Chicago, Storm Lake, Kearney, Portland, New York, St. Louis, Brooklyn, Bonita Springs, Boston, San Diego, Houston, Bloomington, Denver, Tulsa, Hampton, Vancouver, Lackawanna, Saint Francis and Austin.

Harnessing the Atom

We like to think we're fairly proficient with motion graphics work around here. We've jostled our fair share of keyframes in doing work that our clients seem to really like, but when we get samples in from people like Andrea Toniolo, we feel like downright rank amateurs. Though it would be hard not to when making comparisons to him. His animation work is incredible and on a level that makes you want to keep learning the tools of the trade for as long as it takes, just to try and figure out how he does it. So it goes without saying that we're honored that he chose Jewelboxing to package his new reel. Here's from Andrea:

"I’m an Italian director specializing in long green screen shots and match-moving works. Some weeks ago I finished my showreel for 2007 and I was planning to meet with some agencies to work with. The problem for me was making high-quality, “eye-candy” packaging without the cost of industrial printing. I start searching some solutions on the web (with little hope) and finally found your web site. I was impressed by the examples page."

"Making my own jewelbox with your templates was very fun! Really creative process, because it’s not important to convert RGB to CYMK or other annoying stuff for industrial printing. Only design, test and print! And also, I’m not forced to always make the same cover. I can modify from time to time to fill my specific needs."

"One thing impresses me overall: the paper with king tray insert always fit in a perfect way when the cover comes closed, without tears or wrong folds. You make my life easier, concentrating only in creative process."

Here's to hoping life has become equally as easy in Mountain View, Duluth, Saint-Avold, Boise, New York City, Chicago, Farmingville, Baltimore, Atlanta, West Des Moines, Dallas, Williamsville, Louisville, Opa Locka, Los Angeles, Southfield, Washington DC, Portland, Culver City, Market Rasen, Wood Dale, Lawrence, and Worcester.

Intensely Painful, Heartbreaking, and Filled With Wonder

We've determined that Fall must be the season of the filmmaker. We've recently heard from a number of people using Jewelboxing to package their films, from the short, tiny budgeted two minutes pieces to the ones with craft service tables to rival some of the best restaurants in town. One filmmaker we heard from was the talented David Frank Gomes, about his very moving film, Awake. Here's the story:

Almost 10 years ago, my producing partner and accidentally stumbled across a suicide victim. We called the coroner to find out about him and we were told there would be a wake. We decided to go. We wanted to find about a young man who had left this world too early.

From that experience came the idea for a film which became aWake. We finally completed it this year. Since we made the movie for 17 grand, it took a long time, and there were long periods where it looked like it might never be finished. The fascinating thing about indie filmmaking is that you are forced to learn to do everything yourself. The process is both intensely painful and heartbreaking, and satisfying and filled with wonder.

After so many years, I wanted to send out the film in something that was special, not cheap and loveless. Cynicism is built into all low quality products, and my film deserved a little more love than I could find in Vancouver. One day I happened across a directors reel at a large commercial production house in Vancouver. You know the place, where buckets of money are thrown at everything, and it's perfect, on time and gorgeous. They were using Jewelboxing and the moment I saw the DVD case, I thought "Wow, that is beautiful!" It was unlike any other case I had seen. I did a little research and ended up on the Jewelboxing site. It was more than we could really afford (I don't consider them expensive, but the indie pocket book is small, and expenses are infinite), but we splurged anyway.

Now I must apologize. I am not a designer so I fall back on my one standard principle of design, which is low-fi, handmade with love. I am pleased to announce the system they have is practically foolproof, and very easy to work with. All the pain has been taken out of the process, and my few dealings with them have been fabulous. When a box arrived broken, it was replaced immediately. The service is as good as the product.

In my estimation, anything can be made better and they have made the best cases I have ever seen, and provide a simple and user friendly system for making beautiful packaging yourself. I rest my case.

Here's hoping the labors of love are coming together as well as Awake in Chicago, Lowell, St. Paul, Seattle, New York, Mexico City, London, Loveland, Pacific Palisades, Outremont, Jacksonville, Brooklyn, Olympia, Frederick, Georgetown, Morganville, Hastings, Jersey City, Atlanta, Bonita Springs, Waukesha, Washington DC, Portland, New Albany, Sun Valley, Corona, and Huntsville.

Fond Memories That'll Actually Last

Lockers have all long since been cleaned out, report cards have been distributed, and those who have just graduated from high school are already likely looking through their yearbooks and thinking "Who was that person?" Thus is the plague of the school annual, where bad photos of the people you only kinda sorta knew slowly start to fade away, not helped in any way by the amount of brain cells that will likely be destroyed once you hit college. All that's the sad truth, of course, unless you happened to go to school with Sujay Thomas, who put together a short film about his graduating class and expertly packaged it using Jewelboxing. Here's what Sujay had to say:

"Our high school career was coming to an end and it seemed fitting to me to compile a great DVD package as a departing gift for all the seniors. I've always enjoyed design and film. For our Senior Class Day, a close friend and I were in charge of creating a fun, short video, chronicling our time during high school in a fun, entertaining way. After it was finished and screened to the whole entire senior class, with fantastic reception, I knew it couldn't end there. So I planned on making my first DVD, a memory for my friends to keep for the rest of their lives. Knowing how creative our class is, I knew that it would only be fitting that our package reflect the students' uniqueness and be something that I'd be proud to have in my collection. I turned to Jewelboxing for this very reason. I didn't hesitate to order a King set, and was more than thrilled when it arrived. The end product was a stylish, colorful case that is sure to stand out."

We hope there's stylish, colorful, stand-out things going on as well in New York, Darien, Hudson, Minneapolis, New Richmond, Phillipsburg, Austin, Chicago, Savannah, Phoenix, League City, Huntington Beach, Vancouver, Troy, Los Angeles, Huntsville, La Mirada, Easthampton, Lambertville, Sinjhuang City, Ponca City, and Wellington.

A Caped and Hooded Henley

We couldn't really explain The Getty Address to you, even if we sat down and thought about it long and hard for hours on end. So, instead of a synopsis, we'll just use a one word description: beautiful. The music is captivating, jumping from bombastic orchestral pieces complete with haunting choral arrangements to quiet stretches with barely more than Dave Longstreth's falsetto. And with the film (which was created to follow along with the album in full), well, where to begin? It, too, jumps from place to place, moving from gorgeous bits of motion graphics into straight video, but so seamlessly that we genuinely had this thought, early on in the film, some five to ten seconds after such a transition: "Oh, wait, that's video now. Crazy. How did they just do that?" But other than that, we're at a loss to describe this remarkable piece of work. We feel really fortunate that James Sumner, who crafted all the film portion, dropped us a line about his using Jewelboxing to package the project, and all the more after he'd sent us a copy and we'd gotten to watch The Getty Address on the big screen. Here's the rundown of the whole thing from James' site:

"In 2003 Dave Longstreth, leader of critically acclaimed indie-orchestra Dirty Projectors, beganwork on The Getty Address, an ambitious glitch-opera about, Don Henley, leader of the soft-rock group, The Eagles. The album was released in Spring 2005 on the Western Vinyl label to critical success. Inspired by the terrifying scope of the record, self-taught filmmaker, James Sumner, began animating the story in its entirety under the name Vs. Anna Films. With a unique mix of hand-drawn, computer, and cut-out techniques, Sumner has both broadened and deepened the Henley Mythos. Green screen shoots transport Longstreth, as Don Henley, in a hallucinatory digital world. Kung-fu cranes, Neolithic kangaroos, and ancient Aztec gods guide Henley in his epic quest for Love."

Here's hoping that people are having equal success with love in the hallucinatory digital worlds of Baltimore, Seattle, Burbank, Pasadena, Orangevale, Boston, Chicago, Oklahoma City, New York, Cincinnati, Hillsboro, Tulsa, Naperville, Los Angeles, Savannah, Hickory, Rock Tavern, Nashville, North Richland Hills, Lilburn, Venice, Sinjhuang City, and London.

Boxing with 'Boxing

A terrific piece of work in our own backyard. We recently heard from Kevin Berry, a filmmaker who has just finished up his feature documentary Shadow of a Bout, which follows the stories of four young men from the Roger's Park neighborhood here in Chicago during their time in the Loyola Park Youth Boxing Team. The film has gotten extremely warm receptions whenever it's been screened locally, so Kevin took that next big step and began shipping Shadow out to film festivals all over the world. Here's the whole story, straight from the source:

"I am a filmmaker. My filmmaking process entails taking on multiple creative jobs: writing, shooting and editing among other things. Back in high school I designed cassette tape inserts for my rock ‘n’ roll band; I studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as an undergrad; I took on freelance illustration and graphic design gigs while editing Shadow of a Bout in 2004, and over the nearly five years it’s taken to make the documentary I’ve kept my eyes open for ways to innovate and to make my artistic work dovetail with the business side of my job. I’d seen a lot of different package designs for films on DVD but nothing compared to the Kings I first saw on the Jewelboxing page back in 2005. So I ordered a 20-pack of Kings and it sat under my bed for over a year before this film came into its own. And boy, when that day arrived I felt like a million bucks. I returned home from the community screenings amped up and ready to do the story justice with a package that would make a killer first impression. A good package does not a movie make, yet when the picture has finally found its shape it deserves the best presentation possible. That’s my philosophy and I’m psyched I was able to employ images from the film and from our photographer Stephan Knuesel to round out the Jewelboxing case design and give it the sparkle that would hook people in just like a good movie should. Thanks for putting the tools at my fingertips."

We're planning on somehow extracting Kevin's dedication and enthusiasm and bottling it for retail sale. If this works, we'll be sending complimentary samples to all those in New York, Toronto, Wichita, Encinitas, Mesa, Chicago, Naperville, Concord, Salinas, Louisville, Ottawa, San Francisco, Terre Haute, Cedar Falls, Los Angeles, Venice, South Bend, Antwerpen, Odessa, Indian Wells, and Pittsboro.

A Family Affair (with robots)

Ronn Kilby, who last year used Jewelboxing for his wedding not once, but twice, in first sending out a video invitation and then a mix disc as a thank you gift to all his guests, has once again returned to us, but this time in the form of a short film. It's called You-Matic/C-47, and as far as we can tell from the trailers and his excellent cover, it's got something to do with troublesome robots. Here's the whole scoop from Ronn:

I make my living writing, producing, shooting, scoring and editing local commercials, corporate videos, and documentaries, plus a day here and there shooting or editing for the network news magazine shows. But man does not live by money-making project alone. Once in a while you have to use your skills and hardware for something completely expressive and fun. When I literally dreamed 75% of a sci-fi script, I got up and wrote it down. Later I fleshed it out so it made sense. Thus came You-Matic/C-47.

But writing the screenplay was not enough. A week later I put out a casting call. Another week and it was cast. A few rehearsals and we were good to go. I figured out what requisite gear I did not have in house, and called all my buds who have even more stuff that I do. They all said, "you got whatever you need, my friend, gratis" so I didn't have to rent a thing. My son happens to be a great sound man (after 2 years on the road for "Cold Case Files") so I enlisted him for sound and camera asst. My son-in-law and his brother gripped. My wife catered and handled continuity. My daughter took care of stills, practical effects and makeup. I wrote the music.

We shot on 2 Sony Z1Us in HDV widescreen. Lighting with HMIs and KinoFlo Divas, with a Source Four ellipsoidal for effects. A Hollywood MicroDolly Jib made gliding shots a snap (later pickup shots with an EZFX Jib). Edit was in Avid Xpress Pro-HD. Post effects with Boris Continuum and Particle Illusion. A separate audio recording session was needed for the piano parts, and another for foley.

The film is currently entered in several festivals around the country, but regardless of how it does, it's already a winner. Because it unexpectedly turned into a family affair and everyone had a ball doing it. Plus the food was great.

We're already in the process of checking on venues to rent out for the big Jewelboxing party at Cannes to celebrate Ronn's acceptance, as well as prepping invites for those in Maple Ridge, Amherst, Santa Monica, Huntsville, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Mascoutah, Tucson, Manchester, Pemberton, Highlands Ranch, Bethesda, Troy, Cedar Rapids, Mexico City, Irving, and Gilbert.

Official Disc Casing System of the Living Dead

We liked filmmaker Jeremiah Lewis right away after reading this line in his bio: "Roger Corman has classics, why can't I?" And why not, indeed. All it takes is a script, dedication, some neighbors who don't mind being doused in red dye and corn syrup, and a camera. Doesn't hurt if you know what you're doing too, which, after seeing Lewis' new film, Red State, it's certain that he does. Here's the whole scoop:

"Red State began as a goof off project for my annual Memorial Day get-together at my brother's house in Fort Worth, Texas. Shot over two days with minimal budget and a handful of neighbors playing zombie extras, it took a further five months to edit, create visual effects, and add sound and music. When designing the packaging, I felt Red State deserved something more than the black Wal-Mart DVD case could provide. I had read about Jewelboxing a while ago, and it seemed like a good option to go with."

"Though I don't have an inkjet printer, I found a colour laser printer that seemed to like all the template paper. Still, the Jewelboxing system gave me the kind of control I have always wanted for designing my movie cases. My next Memorial Day project has already begun pre-production, and though there are a lot of things still yet to be done on it, one thing I don't have to worry about is what cases I'll be using for the DVDs."

We're reserving the first doses of our anti-zombie stockpile for the fine people of Atlanta, New York, Tarzana, Columbus, Fort Washington, Falls Church, Corona, Waldorf, Victorville, Rutland, Slippery Rock, Chicago, Santa Monica, Wilsonville, Hacienda Heights, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Absecon, Remscheid, Westport, Canyon Country, Portland, Omaha, Piper City, St. Louis, West Lafayette, Watkinsville, Gross Pointe Park, and Mentor.

Copy Goes in Jewelboxing

Here at Jewelboxing HQ, we regularly get in copies of people's films who have used the system to beautifully package their work. So why should we be any different? If you're familiar at all with our other site, for Coudal Partners, our parent company, you may have seen that just this week we finished up our eleven-minute epic short film, "Copy Goes Here."

Because we had a couple of films around that we'd previously hosted, and we'd made the film in collaboration with the fantastic stock house, Veer, we decided to put together a nice little DVD with everything on it, for sale, ready to be purchased by that true fan of Coudal-familiar humor. Not knowing the demand, we wanted to have at least a hundred put together right away, so we designed the menus and laid out the whole case design on Friday, then started printing, printing, printing yesterday. Dawson, our go-to Jewelboxing expert in the studio, assembled them for two days straight. They look great and we're once again thrilled with how cool the system makes stuff look, even our scrappy little independent film.

We won't mind being passed over for an Oscar in favor of the films by people in : Brooklyn, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Lafayette, Arlington, Ridgefield, Westerville, Newark, Raleigh, Chesterfield, Locust Grove, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Brampton, Sausalito, Sydney, Philadelphia, Stockton, Toronto, Birmingham, San Francisco, Stuart, Denver, Caulfield South, Atlanta, Brookings, Seattle, Peabody, Salisbury, Blacksburg, Vancouver, Signal Mountain, McKinney, Crystal Palace, Santa Clara, Missoula, Mountain View, and Venice.

The 2005 Olympics in Seattle

'Round Jewelboxing HQ, we're always happy to catch wind of a cool project someone has decided to package using the system. Today was one of those days, as we received an e-mail from Jason Reid, a filmmaker from Seattle who has a bunch of said cool projects going on, most notably, the new film, "The Reid/Secrest Olympics." The DVD release party was held on September 30th and turned out to be very successful. And because Jason has some great things to say about using Jewelboxing, including that his Canon Ip4000 printer did a perfecto job, and that we're a fan of what he put together, we thought we'd volley back the niceness and give some info about his film:

"The Reid/Secrest Olympics is a 40-minute comedy, directed by Jason Reid. It tells the story of two lifelong friends turned fierce rivals, who decide to have a five-event "Olympic" competition to decide once and for all who is the better man. The film was finished in 2003 and premiered to a sellout crowd at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. Following this event, the film was shown three times at the University of Washington before being accepted into the New York Independent Film and Video Festival (where it screened in both New York and Los Angeles). Since then, Jason Reid and editor Colin White have slowly been working on finishing the DVD, complete with over an hour of extra features. Among the bonus materials, the DVD will include a 30-minute companion piece to the movie titled The Olympics: The Untold Story , as well as a comical 10-minute short documenting the main character's promotional tour in support of the film."

Sounds like a sure-fire hit to us. Do yourself a favor and, when they're available here in the next little while, buy a copy at the film's site. And while you're at it, why not pick up a few extras for the swell people in San Anselmo, Chislehurst, Bodoe, Acton, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Irvine, Venice, and Statesboro.

What Are We Jewelboxing: Day Two

Continuing with our weeklong series of the stuff we've been putting together using Jewelboxing here in the studio recently, today we're taking a look at a side project of Steve Delahoyde's:

"My good pal Wakiza and I have been making these weird little short films for years and, along with commercials and music videos and everything in between, we've amassed a huge collection of this stuff. A year or so back, we'd put together a DVD of everything we had, but it was in an ugly, standard case and we weren't entirely thrilled with it. So come back around to this past week, we were going to be a part of the popular Funny Ha-Ha series again here in Chicago, and I thought that it would provide the impetus to try building a collection again and see if anyone would buy such a thing. Unfortunately, I came up with the idea on Saturday and the event was on Wednesday night. So I had to alter my plan of attack. Instead, I put together a 'Best Of' DVD, with forty or so pieces on it. I animated some menus, picked material that had always worked well with large audiences, and took photos around the house to use in the packaging. I'd used Jewelboxing before, of course, but not a whole lot with my own material, and I've always been more of a writer than a designer. But once I had the first case together, I honestly was surprised at how good it looked. 'People might actually but this thing,' I thought. And it turns out, they did."

We know that people will come in droves to buy whatever they're selling in Toronto, the Bronx, Orlando, Austin, South Haven, Liverpool, London, Edison, Athens, Fairfax, Montague, Calgary, Minneapolis, New York, McLean, Rialto, Baldwin Harbor, Lakewood, Ellington, San Francisco, Joplin, Lynnwood, Okemos, Ottawa, Mississauga, Parma, Pacifica, Williams Lake, and Dublin.

Impressive Design, Oppressive Regimes

A little while ago, Jacob Patton, Director of Outreach and Technology for the Free the Slaves organization, stopped by the studio to say hello and to drop off a copy of his group's new project, "The Freedom Relay," beautifully designed and packaged using Jewelboxing. We were so impressed by both the design and the goals of the foundation, we thought we'd highlight both the case and give some information about the project:

"Groups of friends all over the country watch 'The Freedom Relay,' a documentary about slavery still being practiced throughout the world. After the video has finished, they call in to talk with FTS' employees who are doing current research or working with our partners at the grassroots. That way, individuals interested in learning more about this issue are able to connect centrally to learn more. We do this on the last Friday of each month: video + conference call. That’s what we are about! Promoting education, dialogue … a movement to end slavery."

Thanks very much to Jacob and Free the Slaves for letting us see their terrific work. We also look forward to seeing exceptional creations from those in Avondale Estates, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Arlington, Denver, Alexandria, Signal Mountain, Arlington Heights, Boston, Hanover Park, Houston, Saskatoon, Redwood City, Jacksonville, Bonita Springs, Venice, and Beaverton.

Slightly Colder Than Even Chicago

We absolutely love it when we get a letter like this one sent in recently by Sini Salminen, Art Director at Supernova Design & Advertising in Anchorage, Alasksa. Not only is her project, "Asveq - The Walrus Hunt," interesting and incredibly unique, but she also provided the icing on the cake by packaging it all with Jewelboxing. Sini tells us...

" I just finished my first Jewelbox DVD cover. I made this for a client of mine, Alaska Native Heritage Center. They love it and are telling me that they get great feedback on the cover. Thought I’d let you guys know.

The short documentary presents how traditional Inuit dances are being preserved and created, and is climaxed by a performance of Asveq - The Walrus Hunt, a song and dance written by Stephen Blanchett fusing Inupiaq melody and dancing styles with Yup’ik lyrics.

This film shows the unwillingness of Alaska Native youth to lose their culture, and the ability to continue creating drum dances in the traditional way."

We'd be more than happy to make an enlightening documentary about our new pals in Burbank, New York, Aurora, Auvernier, Portland, Plano, Toronto, Scotch Plains, Rotherham, Auckland, Pierrefonds, Mountain View, Rockford, Chicago, and Berlin.

Send Us Your Stuff

We've added Jason Koxvold's disc for his new music video "Appearances" by Citizens Here and Abroad to the Examples and Inspirations page. It's a nice looking package for a nice looking video for a great sounding song. Send us a snapshot of your latest Jewelboxing project and we'll show it to everyone else.

We're waiting for photos from Brooklyn, Oklahoma City, Cedar Hills, Everett, Sherman Oaks, LA, San Francisco, Cary, Denton, Milwaukee and Boston.