Filmmaker | Writer | Director | Rogue

My name is Matt Campagna and I make westerns.

But not your father’s westerns. I do love Sergio Leone, so these are a little bit Fistful of Dollars, but a little bit Firefly and a little bit Sin City as well.

I’ve also been making web series since before YouTube was invented. Some for distributors like the Food Network, others in partnership with Dailymotion, Blip and YouTube.

And now I want to bring my knowledge and experience in both areas together with your help.

I need a lot of views to get funding to make the rest of SIX DAY ROAD.

I mean A LOT.

So please share SIX DAY ROAD episode zero, engage in conversation here and on and if you’d like, reach out to me; I love to talk westerns!

~M@

Wolverine vs. Gladiator in: Les Miserables by yourgeeknews

When I first heard that the casting choices in Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Les Miserables included Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, I thought “Cool! Wolverine is going to sing-fight Gladiator!”. But once I started to see how the film was shaping up thanks to YourGeekNews.com I realized I wasn’t likely to see the epic sing-fight the way I hoped, and set out with Melissa D’Agostino and Adam Lazarus to make it.

And now that we’ve had over 24,601 views, it seems like it’s as good a time as any to tell you how we did it!

First, my exceptionally talented cast sang the Valjean and Javert parts of “The Confrontation”, and we filmed their heads on greenscreen, shot by shot, set-up by set-up and light by light for the way it was shot in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and in Gladiator.

Second, each clip of Melissa and Adam needed to be edited in time with the right clip from the films, and the green of the chroma key needed to be removed.

Thirdly, I then painstakingly rotoscoped and motion-tracked them onto Wolverine and Maximus to make sure mutton chops and hairlines matched in every frame.

With a final colour correction pass to make all the pixels seem more or less at home in the same frame, we had brought an oddly fluid but hilariously obvious effect to life.

With over 23,000 views on Dailymotion.com alone, some people have already gotten a kick out of the fruits of our labour, and I hope you did too; we had a blast making it!

~M@

After winning the award for Best Science Fiction at its world premiere in Atlanta at the Dragon*Con International Film Festival, “D.N.E.: Do Not Erase”, the short film I directed, Rudy Jahchan and Nar Williams wrote, “Defiance” and “Eureka”‘s Dr. Kevin Grazier produced, and features “Battlestar Galactica”‘s Richard Hatch and the music of “The Walking Dead”‘s Bear McCreary, is having its Canadian Premiere on Saturday October 20th as Official Selection at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival!

It plays in front of “Cockneys vs. Zombies” at 9:45pm, so if you want to watch “D.N.E.” on the big screen with me, hit up the After Dark site for advanced tickets to make sure you get in, but they will be selling tickets at the door if there are seats still available on the After Dark Website.

And just to tease you, here’s a one-minute excerpt of DNE as featured on BleedingCool.com:

~M@

If you know me, you know I’m a bit of a loudmouth.

Well, so is the immensely talented comedic actor Melissa D’Agostino.

Which is one of the reasons she was the perfect star for this very politically charged spoof I directed, thrashing Kellogg’s “Kashi” brand for putting GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) into their ‘Natural’ products without labelling them.

In California there is an initiative to label GMOs in food called “Prop 37″ that is being squashed by big business like PepsiCo, Kellogg and, of course, the ever-present Monsanto. But it’s not too late… yet. So if you’re interested in what’s in your food, you should follow @CARightToKnow on Twitter and get involved!

~Matt

The world premiere of my short film, “D.N.E.: Do Not Erase” at the Dragon*Con Film Fest was also D.N.E.’s first film festival win!

If you missed the event that makes Comic Con look like a Hollywood Flea Market, don’t worry, D.N.E. will doing a victory lap when it screens at Dragon*Con again next year!

Here’s the synopsis:

When Brian’s graduate thesis on Time Travel costs him the love of his life, he forces himself to choose the best way to live out the rest of his days.

I directed the film, shot it, edited and did all the visual effects and production design, but Do Not Erase was written by Rudy Jahchan and Nar Williams, with music from Walking Dead composer Bear McCreary and featuring Battlestar Galactica’s Richard Hatch. Produced by Amy Skerkoski and renowned Hollywood science advisor Kevin Grazier of Eureka, Defiance and Battlestar Galactica.

D.N.E. will be doing the festival circuit over the next several months, just LIKE it on Facebook to stay in the loop on the when you can catch it on the big screen!

~Matt

That webseries about wine that I’ve been directing for the last few years, The Naked Wine Show, has evolved into a new wine series for the Food Network called Grape Notes (if you like wine, you should join the Facebook group). Now that the press releases have gone out and the show has gone live, the gag-order on me any my social media tentacles has also been lifted! Here’s one of my favourite articles so far, it’s from MediaCaster Magazine:

 

"Raising a glass to toast a new online content deal, FoodNetwork.ca and Toronto-based production company Frogwater Media have more to celebrate than simply their partnership on a new digital series called Grape Notes.

Making its online debut today, Grape Notes is one of a number of digital initiatives the two companies are uncorking.

Specialty channel Food Network Canada is entering its second decade, having celebrated its tenth broadcast anniversary just last month. With new portable media and smartphone applications available and a recently redesigned website, Food Network is confident of continued growth and popularity as it head into the teen-aged years.

And Frogwater is in a celebratory mood, too, both with the official launch this week of Grape Notes, as well as other content developments that build on its successful track record of online and broadcast TV program production."

 

Click here for the full article.

 

~M@

 

Following in the footsteps of YourGREEKNews, another web series I direct (and this time co-host) is making the jump from the web to TV. Which is NOT to say that YourGeekNews.com will have any less content on it — on the contrary, once the TV version hits its full stride, YourGeekNews.com visitors and subscribers will be treated to not one, not two, but THREE episodes a week, including our established behind-the-scenes movie previews, our movie REviews, as well as a new segment that we’ve always wanted to do: video game reviews!

So take a look at episode numero uno below, and if you like what you see, be sure to let me know! Hopefully we can find a broadcaster in YOUR area who can pick up the show for your viewing pleasure.

And if you’re a broadcaster who is interested in picking up the show for your station, just send an email off to Tim at Frogwater Media, and we’ll make it happen.

Six Reasons Why is already for sale in a few parts of the world, but on August 26, 2008 the DVD drops in Canada, and there’s a theatrical premiere and press tour to kick it off at 8pm at the AMC Courtney Park in Mississauga. Here’s a map! And here’s the Facebook Event!We’ll have cast and crew, including Mr. Colm Feore, on hand to meet and greet as well as a Q&A session and of course, an afterparty.

So if you feel like catching a thought-provoking, post-apocalyptic Spaghetti Western on a Tuesday night in August, we’d love to have you there!

And if you can’t make it, don’t worry… you can buy Six Reasons Why on Amazon.com right here! And on Amazon.ca right here!

~Matt

PS. The Press tour is going pretty well so far, take a look:

Entertainment Tonight
CTV’s Canada AM
And over 50 print media outlets

"If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough."
-Mads Koudal, The Sherpa, Six Reasons Why

The destinies of four gunslingers are decided in the blink of an eye in this tale of revenge, redemption and the search for belonging. Six Reasons Why stars veteran actors Colm Feore and Mads Koudal and re-teams the Campagna Brothers with Daniel Wooster and Chris Harrison, both alumni of several Campagna projects. Produced by Campagna Brothers Independent Pictures and Internext Studios and scheduled for release in 2008, Six Reasons Why has already garnered critical acclaim and international distribution deals with companies like THINKFilm.

Check out the Trailer:

Matt’s Involvement: Co-Director, Cinematographer, Actor, Co-Editor, Visual Effects, Colour-timing

For more on Six Reasons Why Visit:

Six Reasons Why.com – Official Site

“Pavlo: The Greek God of Guitar ”
-News Leader, Duncan, BC

When Pavlo decided to make the leap to television with his PBS special, airing in millions of homes across North America, he knew exactly who to approach to document the event. Teaming with Your Greek News host Anastasia Tubanos, Matthew will be doing the cinematography, directing and editing, as well as final post on the feature-length Documentary “Pavlo: Stage to Screen”.

Check out the Trailer:

Matt’s Involvement: Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Visual Effects, Colour-timing.

For more on Pavlo Visit:

Pavlo.net – Official Site