15.05.08 - MUTO
30.04.08 - press corner #7
riding the wave of the last news, here is another article Garage Magazine made about the project. This time you can find an interview with Lorenzo and Blu trying to put in words what Megunica is about. Read the article here.
29.04.08 - press corner #6
Arte e Critica, an hybrid italian / international art magazine, published an article on Megunica on its latest issue. Special thanks to Lorenzo Giusti, who regularly stumble upon us and our project. This is the article.
31.03.08 - audio mixing
taken for granted that the proportion "the more we work on this the less we update the blog" works for our web page as well, we found 5 minutes to share a picture of Andrea, (the guy that headed by Lorenzo Magnaghi is curating our audio mix) playing with a sound distortion machine fallen from the sky in the 80's, for a scene in Mexico. Speaking of the visual part of the film, the telecine technician should be putting the film on digibeta right now to be color corrected in some sort of professional way. Slowly, the film is coming together...
29.02.08 - Animac, Spain
Megunica was invited to make a presentation about the project at Animac, an international animation festival. Since we can't show the full film yet, Lorenzo will give a talk about his work, Blu's work (for as much as he can talk about it) and Megunica, showing some exclusive and embarassing scenes no one ever will see again. That's not true, but it may be interesting anyway. So, if you're around Lleida (1 hour from Barcelona) come on Sunday 2 March at 7 pm to the festival or even before, they have lots of great stuff going on, just check the website! See you there, meanwhile let us enjoy the ramblas. (one guy just beat the shit out of another guy in front if this internet cafè, the night looks promising)
19.02.08 - squeezing the juice out of the fruit
..which in other words means yes, we're exporting! actually not the final film, but the final edit which we'll work on during the next couple of weeks for titles, animations, some effects, music, beginning and end titles, subtitles, audio mix and color correction. If that's not enough for you, we may have to detour to do some other job to be able to buy some food to keep living and finish this film. Therefore i'd like to thank all the people who are working FOR FREE for the project, you know who you are, we will make a proper list soon!
05.02.08 - .
something suggests me to stop apologize for not being able to update the website more than once a month or something like this, since I've got the feeling that people stopped checking this "blog". And I don't blame them actually, since from the look of it, very few is happening behind the curtains. But I swear that is the furthest from the truth. After we got back from NY, Lorenzo flew straight away to Argentina to meet with blu in Buenos Aires, where he was doing a big animation on outside walls. They shot a few scenes for the doc, stuff like empty walls and trains passing, nothing exciting really, apart from Lorenzo almost getting robbed of his camera and belongings and being forced to run.. that is REALLY the last time he risks his life for this project, hopefully. Anyway, we're all back in Italy and fixing the rough cut, which we showed to a few people and the response was quite enthusiastic. We also have Olivia, our Mercurio producer, who's travelling around the globe to present the film to possible buyers. Finger crossed, there's still some more to do, but it's the last sprint. Mario Mazzoli is hard at work creating music, and we're also preparing a small little video to promote the film around when it'll be done, so stay tuned, one day we'll have the film. We just didn't expect that making a low-budget film like this would take so loooooooooooong..
03.01.08 - some more press
our friends at Swindle magazine have their new issue out, and its main feature is called "Master Class", with three extensive interviews of Dalek, Barry McGee and you guessed it, Blu. Does that make him a master? For sure that makes him famous. He talks a little about Megunica too, so take a look.
01.01.08 - best wishes for a new year
this is what stands in front of us tonight. will any one of the people living in this city ever see our film...? we're about to start edit Argentina, the last country for our trip. even though i can't almost watch it with objective eyes anymore, we think it's coming along pretty solidly. the beginning of next year will see its release to the public, we're half-excited half scared shitless, but i heard that's what happens when you make a movie.
so, by the way, best wishes for a happy new year, we're sure it's going to be exciting for everyone!
so, by the way, best wishes for a happy new year, we're sure it's going to be exciting for everyone!
24.12.07 - Creative Review about megunica
the last issue of Creative Review has a review of this years Illustrative event, where Lorenzo gave a presentation about Megunica. We're happy the author of the article enjoyed it and that Lorenzo was good enough at hiding visible signs of the destructive hungover that was breathing on his neck. Read the article here.
04.12.07 - friends
it's been a while since we didn't post any footage from the editing. So it's time for a comeback in big style with a clip of a rapper friend we made in Guatemala.
30.11.07 - blu in New York?
actually, yes! invited as one of the 6 artists chosen by Jonathan Levine to represent european art done in the streets, he's been here all week painting one of his wall animations. If you want to see the results, pass by tomorrow (1st of december) from 6pm to 9pm at the gallery and stop by to say hola. The picture you see here doesn't relate to the show, actually it's us forcing him to sit down and translate a whole interview for the film. For some shots of the animations, have a cup of tea and head to Blu's blog.
23.11.07 - moved
in all the latest news frenzy we forgot to say one pretty fundamental thing, well, it is not something that influence the project, or maybe yes, no, yes, uhm, yes. who knows, anyway, we moved to New York! we've been here for a few weeks already, and hard at work editing the film. Last sunday we shot a scene at Hornet (Lorenzo's production company in the USA) stage and the image you see up here is the view we had from the stage window. A little change from the grey wall we had in front when editing in Milan.
13.11.07 - guess who ?
if you think this figurine resemble a little the likes of our very own Sibe, well, you're right, because that's actually HER. And if you're wondering, why we sculpted a figurine of her, well, you will have to wait a new picture of the whole megunica team set, that will be used for an additional scene we are about to shoot. More news to come soon!
29.10.07 - the press likes us
recently we got some coverage from a few magazines. Here you can see two of them, one of them is a russian magazine called HOOLIGAN. Everything is written in cyrillic, but the feature is a 8 page long article with lots of pictures and some stuff. The other magazine is called CULTURE AND TRAVEL and is a very fine mag about people who "likes art and travel with a passion", which are three things we like as well so here's the article for you to enjoy.
29.10.07 - heavy post
Just when you were wondering if we were still alive, here we come jumping out of the closet with loooots of news! This one is dedicated to Blu (you knew it, right?) and the tremendous efforts he's putting into creating the animations for the film. Please head to his blog and check out some stills taken from them. They look awesome even still like this, but when you will see them moving hopefully you'll enjoy even more.
21.09.07 - fantoche
Blu is refining his very own technique of wall animation, and with seemingly good results. Meanwhile, in some secret cave, hiding from the light and mental sanity, Fabio Capalbo, the editor for our film has started working on it at last, so Lorenzo can now start taking care of animations and music, and Blu... uhm, Blu is down in south italy with Sibe tanning their asses, so he's not doing anything for the project right now.
08.09.07 - megunica goes to berlin
Lorenzo will make a presentation to the public about the project at Illustrative, one of the most important fairs about illustration around the world. It will happen on the 13th of September, in Berlin. Click here for more infos. (nevermind that part about "award-winning documentary", we wonder where they took it from, but it sounds good, even if the film is not done yet)
05.09.07 - Lazarideeees
Blu and Ericailcane are back from London, where they created an installation and are exhibiting a selection of their works at the Lazarides Gallery. Juxtapoz has a small feature on the show.
As you may have understood, Blu is ALWAYS around busy splatting paint all over the world, and he still haven't found the time to animate his segments for the film. Soon, son, soon.
As you may have understood, Blu is ALWAYS around busy splatting paint all over the world, and he still haven't found the time to animate his segments for the film. Soon, son, soon.
05.09.07 - megunica on tv (well, sort of)
We wish it was the full film, but for now just our trailer will be shown on rotation during these week episode of Cath Yeah Fest, a tv show focusing on interesting stuff happening in film, art and whatever interesting around the world. Check it out on PlumTV.
22.08.07 - back, or not?
been back from Malta since a few weeks, and since the website has started running again, we're posting what Blu and Lorenzo did down there, between having dinners (like in the photo up here) in the most amazing house in Malta and walking upside down in water. Chris Bianchi and his girlfriend Stef (who are two amazing illustrators, by the way) painted a wall as well. They help run this GREAT magazine called LEGUN, which we suggest you go buy right now because is packed with lots of stories + illustrations you seldom see around. Threrefore, thanks to Slavko and all the other Kinemastik people for being such good hosts.
Now let's speak of something totally different. Blu! Ah, you guessed it? Anyway, him and Ericailcane are about to leave to London to prepare their show at the Lazarides Gallery. As soon as he sends some work in progress pics, we'll post them.
Oh, you're curious about how Megunica is doing? One word: editing. Or three words: editing, editing, editing!
editiiiiinggggg
Now let's speak of something totally different. Blu! Ah, you guessed it? Anyway, him and Ericailcane are about to leave to London to prepare their show at the Lazarides Gallery. As soon as he sends some work in progress pics, we'll post them.
Oh, you're curious about how Megunica is doing? One word: editing. Or three words: editing, editing, editing!
editiiiiinggggg
26.07.07 - goin south
every nerve of our body is pulsating at the rhythm of the chorus: "HO-LI-DAY! HO-LI-DAY!". And let the holiday be! this time the team (except Ivan) will head to Malta to paint some walls, show their videos and possibly bath into some very transparent water. Check Kinemastik's website (the organization that will take us there) then sit back, have a coconut icecream and enjoy the show (which show?).
16.07.07
Blu was in Brazil for the last ten days, and looks like he didn't have problems finding walls to paint. You should go check his blog for photos of the walls. The wall over here was inspired by a drawing he did in his Megunica diary.. is it a chance he always visit places where guns are a huge issue? [UPDATE: looks like Blu's almighty blog was taken down by the also almighty Worpress Surveillance Force. Blu himself has no idea why they took it down, but it takes more than a censored blog to stop us, right? ..right? hey, where have you all gone??]
07.07.07
aahh, the joy of owning the media and using it at your advantage. Even though not directly related to our project, we're posting this to tell you that Lorenzo will be exhibiting some of his work, along with his friend Gentilgiovane, at the D406 Gallery in Modena, which is in Italia, yes, near Bologna. Modena is Lorenzo's hometown. He will be showcasing drawings from his recent Bright Eyes music promo, lots of pages from his sketchbook (which half of it was made during Megunica trip so it has lots of artwork talking about it), a new little experiment in the form of a short film and some other goodies which you might like to taste by coming on 13 of July at the opening (ore 21, portate anche vostra nonna). The show goes on untill 26 of July.
25.06.07 - wall animation
So, Blu finished his wall animation in Berlin for the Backjump #3 exhibition, and the only thing left to do is let the video here speak for itself.
21.06.07 - what's up
the editing goes on! we took a small pause though, each one doing his own things. Blu is in Berlin for a show, where he keeps bringing on the animation-on-wall experiment he started while on our trip. Lorenzo painted a mural which is not finshed yet, and Ivan is in Rome helping with production of the feature length movie "Aspettando il Sole" which Mercurio is helping producing. Oh, and Sibe keeps serving Lorenzo at lunch every day the best hand-made pizza he tasted in a looong time (apart from writing a short story and getting ready to study oriental languages.. we know how to keep ourselves busy!).
27.05.07 - THE TRAILER
we're very happy to announce that the first official trailer for the film is online. You can find it on its own dedicated section, up there, just click on "trailer", or if you're really lazy, just follow this link here.
15.05.07 - first attempt: failed
hey everyone!
we've been busy working on the doc, starting editing and putting together a first trailer (soon online here). One funny story is that last week Lorenzo and Mercurio executive producer Luca (the brave man who said "yes" to the project) were about to go to London to speak with some people about the documentary. When they got on the plane, the pilot said something was wrong, and they had to wait one hour untill the pilot said that the problem was still there. So, after realizing they missed the appointment in London with the guys, they asked gently the cabin crew to call a bus and bring them back to the airport. They did and headed back home to eat lunch.
What you see in the picture is the picture no one ever wants to see, an airplane pilot reading the plane manuals.
we've been busy working on the doc, starting editing and putting together a first trailer (soon online here). One funny story is that last week Lorenzo and Mercurio executive producer Luca (the brave man who said "yes" to the project) were about to go to London to speak with some people about the documentary. When they got on the plane, the pilot said something was wrong, and they had to wait one hour untill the pilot said that the problem was still there. So, after realizing they missed the appointment in London with the guys, they asked gently the cabin crew to call a bus and bring them back to the airport. They did and headed back home to eat lunch.
What you see in the picture is the picture no one ever wants to see, an airplane pilot reading the plane manuals.
27.04.07 - a little help from my friend Ivan
ok, sometimes i'm too picky, but i really wanted Blu to go all the way up to the top of the house with that yellow line.. and sometimes you need to reach goals with the means you have.
19.04.07 - what are we made of
sometimes Blu paints in his own city, Bologna. Frequently Asked Question, answered: it took him three days. Check the big picture here.
13.04.07 - dario and his (doomed) pig
we really didn't know that pigs could purr like cats. But, although the petting could have been made to give pleasure, i'm afraid it was also done to check how the pig's fat was doing...
26.03.07 - addicted to interviews
our friends at Addicted to Skateboarding have asked some questions to Lorenzo about Megunica and he has replied to them. Sorry, in italian only!
25.03.07 - BLUing in the wind
With the highest amount of joy on the side of Sibe (sarcasm alert), BLU is gone again to splat some paint around Italy. He just came back from Verona where he painted this and now he's in Milan playing table soccer with Ivan and waiting for rain to stop to do another piece somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.
25.03.07 - GOOD Magazine likes us
Today I was looking at Wooster Collective website, probably the most respected source for street art on the internet right now. They organized the Wooster on Spring project, a great art show in New York with lots of great people. They also invited Blu but we were doing our trip, so he couldn't make it (see what they said about this). Now GOOD Magazine has made an article about the project, and it's interesting to see that they used BLU's big Buenos Aires wall picture as an example of street art done around the world, and even more that i decided that this particular wall will have its own importance in the film. So, go check the article and look at the video on the page, that also tells the story about the Wooster on Spring project.
21.03.07 - no one is perfect, come on..
We told you we were busy but the almighty Ivan came to rescue us and now he's looking at the footage while we draw like donkeys. So, while taking notes over Umberto's interview, we came to the point of the tape where we discovered.. uhm.. i'm still not sure if i should say this.. ok i will.. well, where we discovered that the external microphone we used for 21 days was connected to the wrong plug of the camera. Not channel 1 but channel 2. We know, we're the best.
16.03.07 - time out
just a quick announcement to let you know that for a while we may not work on the doc and therefore not update this website because Lorenzo is working on a music video for Bright Eyes band, and Blu is lost somewhere behind his monitor doing animations. See you in a few weeks then!
09.03.07 - Leon
In Buenos Aires, as who followed our trip may remember, we met with stencils lover Gonzalo and his girlfriend Debora. They were a couple then but now things have changed, because a third little human being now sleeps calmly between them every night. Please make some space for Gonzalo's biggest work of art, Leon!
08.03.07 - sketches for my sweetheart the artist
a little brainstorming session produced a very comprehensible editing sketch.
06.03.07 - institutional time
Last weekend Blu and Ericailcane were invited to participate in this exhibition the city of Milan is organizing about street art, at the PAC museum, the "official" contemporary art gallery in Milan. The exhibition will open this thursday.
We'll soon post the whole picture, right now you can sniff some of the action.
We'll soon post the whole picture, right now you can sniff some of the action.
01.03.07 - pause
and here's a small clip to juxtapose the other night's craziness with some mexican siesta.
28.02.07 - we're evoluted
speaking of Prato (Tuscany), we use the occasion to show you this piece Blu did there last year, he said "for fun".
The only funny thing i see in this is how fu***ng wide it is.
The only funny thing i see in this is how fu***ng wide it is.
28.02.07 - megunica headquarter
we told you about the house we found in Bologna, now it's time for you to see some pictures of a Doma toy plush exploring it.
Basically everything that you will see coming out of this website and the actual documentary will be produced inside this sweet apartment, that rests inside one of the most ancient buildings in Bologna, right in the city centre.
But the most insane thing is that it is being given to us for free by Andrea and Pinuccia, the owners of the place. They are super sweet, they are friends with Blu and Sibe and already collaborated with him, they own some of his art and, coolest thing, is that they're gonna rebuild the apartment so they said we can paint all the walls in the house.
Expect some wall refurbishing soon then.
Basically everything that you will see coming out of this website and the actual documentary will be produced inside this sweet apartment, that rests inside one of the most ancient buildings in Bologna, right in the city centre.
But the most insane thing is that it is being given to us for free by Andrea and Pinuccia, the owners of the place. They are super sweet, they are friends with Blu and Sibe and already collaborated with him, they own some of his art and, coolest thing, is that they're gonna rebuild the apartment so they said we can paint all the walls in the house.
Expect some wall refurbishing soon then.
26.02.07 - blu e ericailcane
It was about time that we introduced you to ERICAILCANE, the artist with whom Blu has painted the most in the last few years. Go immediately to check out what he does. Some of you probably already know him, but for who doesn't, you should know that Ericailcane's work is nothing short than extraordinary, and even though it's very different from what Blu does, when painting together they manage to seamlessly blend their worlds into giant amazing murals.
They are being invited to do shows in quite a few places recently, and one of them happened last week in Tuscany. Their idea was to show some drawings and a video of them painting illegal walls at night. So, inbetween spending all days in this beautiful house in the middle of tuscany's hills, we went out a few nights and collected some interesting material. What you see here is a shorter edit of one of the videos we exhibited at the gallery.
For the final result, go here to see the pieces they did while there.
They are being invited to do shows in quite a few places recently, and one of them happened last week in Tuscany. Their idea was to show some drawings and a video of them painting illegal walls at night. So, inbetween spending all days in this beautiful house in the middle of tuscany's hills, we went out a few nights and collected some interesting material. What you see here is a shorter edit of one of the videos we exhibited at the gallery.
For the final result, go here to see the pieces they did while there.
13.02.07 - The Walls
we also uploaded all the walls Blu painted during the trip, for your viewing pleasure. Just click on the "walls" button over there on the menu or this link. If you want to comment anything or just get in touch with us, you can always use the same hereweare (at) megunica.org address, but please do not spam us like those guys did in the travel diary comments talkin about Britney Spears' underwear and such.
And, last but not least: subscribe to our newsletter, we'll keep you posted about important Megunica news and, well, yes, about our underwear as well.
And, last but not least: subscribe to our newsletter, we'll keep you posted about important Megunica news and, well, yes, about our underwear as well.
08.02.07 - rock and roll again
hello world! we missed you and i hope you missed us as well, but now everything's fine again because we're back! The ol' good Stone Roses are playin on the radio, it's an incredibly beautiful day for a typical north-italian winter and we just found an apartment in Bologna (more on this soon) for me to go and edit the film, so i can work closely with Blu and lock him to his table to draw all the animation work he has to do.
Over here you can enjoy a first small clip of our friend Andrew introducing you all to our new video-blog section and learning a few english along the way!
Speaking of blogging, people have been doing this all the time, and since we're also a bunch of tech nerds we are doing it as well. But we would really like to give props to Erin and Susan, the sweet couple who created the movie Four Eyed Monsters, for having definitely inspired us to use a photo and video blog to promote our fim and to let people know more about us and our production process. Go check their film website and watch their movie, it's great.
Over here you can enjoy a first small clip of our friend Andrew introducing you all to our new video-blog section and learning a few english along the way!
Speaking of blogging, people have been doing this all the time, and since we're also a bunch of tech nerds we are doing it as well. But we would really like to give props to Erin and Susan, the sweet couple who created the movie Four Eyed Monsters, for having definitely inspired us to use a photo and video blog to promote our fim and to let people know more about us and our production process. Go check their film website and watch their movie, it's great.
6.1.2007
Browsing through various thousands of pictures sitting on this comfortable sofa, turns out to be pretty hard to write something objective regarding the trip. A very strong waterfall of different impressions, memories and emotions falls down on the screen and colour this text, which I’m afraid has already turned too sentimentalistic. So, I will just try pick up the feeling I think reflects most my current state of mind, and hopefully the one of my travel mates as well. And the feeling is gratitude.First of all towards my other three companeros, who with their wittiness and enthusiasm always kept the journey in a fresh and unexpected route.
Then, and most important of all, a great thank you (up there written in Spanish with Blu’s pants he used all along the trip to paint) to each and every person that we met and that helped make our trip a truly unique experience, be it by offering their help for something, showing us around, introducing us to other new people, giving us a couch to sleep on, telling us stories, sharing some food, laughing with us, showing us something we’d never seen before, singing us a song, offering us their wall to paint and then offering us a modest dinner, partying with us, making us a present, and so on and on and on. And a great thank you to the people who wrote and are still writing words of encouragement, it feels great to know our project is being inspiring for people around the world.
Without all of you, we would have brought home just a series of plain splashes of paint over some rough walls, and that’s what we think it’s gonna make the difference.
Ok, I guess that’s it for now, the jet lag is still breathing over our neck and playing violent videogames at night instead of sleeping doesn’t help our mental cleanliness, so I guess it’s time to retire and rest like normal people do, if we ever remember how to do it.
In the next two weeks I’ll be in New York finishing another project I’ve been working on, and in the meanwhile Blu will start take a look at some tape to browse through interviews to get an idea of what we have gotten on tape (by the way, unofficial information: we have 80 hours of footage, please say “good luck” to us).
We’re still not sure how to do it, but we will try to keep this very website alive, through the use of pictures, small clips of video and other informations about the project, that may allow us to keep it alive and developing more, even if we returned from the trip. Anyway, we’ll announce more details soon!
Oh, and have a great new year. Goodnight.
24.10.2006
We're leaving tomorrow, wednesday 25 2006. Follow our trip on the travel diary section, and for any other news about the project come back here.
you may have already heard (and therefore watched) about Blu's new wall animation. We're not sure wether Mercurio will ever get a penny back from what they invested on us, but at least we make them happy.