Port Washington DVD Info

I have completed a fancy 2 disc DVD set of Port Washington. It includes:

       DISC 1

  • The movie itself. Progressive scan compatible, Dolby Digital AC-3 Surround.
  • Audio Commentary #1 – Director Ben Heckendorn and co-star Jason Jones
  • Audio Commentary #2 – Co-writer Dale Nauertz, actors Derek and Michelle Novy.
  • Text Commentary, written by yours truly. Basically covers stuff I forgot to mention in my audio commentary.

       DISC 2

Behind the Scenes

  • “As If Your Were There” – Candid outtakes, bloopers and shenanigans that give you a “fly on the wall” look at the production. Well, sort of.
  • “The Cutting Room Floor” – Montage of scenes that didn’t make it into the final movie.
  •  Production Notes – The step by step diary kept by me during the, ug, SIX YEARS between the original idea and the completion.

Storyboarding Section – Split-screen animated movie-to-storyboard comparisons. Scenes covered:

  • Theatre Booth Fight
  • The Kitten Scene
  • Entire boat / jet ski chase

Visual Effects

  • “Special Effects Deconstruction” – See how many of the special effects were put together. With audio commentary by me.
  • “ChromaKeyArama” – A montage of all the blue and green screen effects photography that was done for the movie.
  • Effects Log – Browse through the log containing all 220 special effects shots for PW, with notes.
  • Production Videos – Mostly shot with my backup (ahem destructible) DV camera. See the early “Suck Cam” car mount tests, footage with the camera mounted to the jet ski, early water effect tests and equipment. Also included are parts where we scout out locations, allowing you to see them in their original unaltered forms. Includes the cool-looking but unused test footage with a camera mounted under a truck’s front bumper.
  • Musical Overture – Sit back and listen to the entire musical score in uncompressed PCM audio. Includes the “Mime of Mine” trailer audio heard during the projection booth fight.
  • Original 2004 Teaser Trailer – With optional text commentary. Strange, yes, but the commentary touches on issues such as why movie trailers contains scenes and dialog not found in the final film.

I plan to include a free Port Washington DVD with all future portables – what a deal! Videogames and a show! (Dinner not included) – Note: Excuse me if I’ve forgotten to include this.

Port Washington Portable

I have encoded a Playstation Portable version of Port Washington and you can get it right here from my site.

Video File    Thumbnail

One of these days I'm gonna shave. Honest.

Right click on links and select “Save Target As” to avoid opening inside a browser window. Then, place both items in the MP_ROOT/100ANV01 folder of your PSP, or whichever your default media folder is. You’ll need about 320 megs of free space on your memory stick. Enjoy!

Latest Updates – PW

Hope you’re all enjoying Port Washington, and if not, hopefully it didn’t take too long to download 😉

I’m working on a DVD of it using Wisconsin’s own Sony Pictures Digital’s DVD Architect, a full featured program with a lot of powerful features. This will allow the DVD of the movie to include:

  • 2 different audio commentaries
  • Behind the scenes text commentary
  • Bonus features including deleted scenes, chromakey footage montage, bloopers/outtakes and a production log
  • Animated motion menus and transitions

Look for this to become available in the coming weeks. I’m also using their software to create a full-frame, high-quality PSP version of the film (Port Washington Portable) which I hope to have available for download by April 21st.

There are a few backburner videogame projects in the works as well, I’ll get back to those after I get these last few movie-related things out of the way.

Port Washington Web Premiere

You can now download my independent film “Port Washington” from a variety of servers in several different formats. Just click below!

Port Washington Downloads Page

Port Washington Main Website

It’s a fairly dark comedy about a group of friends and the pains they go through finding love in their mid 20’s. But fear not! There’s also plenty of action, chases, and even a few explosions. Content-wise it’s similar to a PG-13 movie, with some mild violence and slightly-rougher-than-TV language. You’ve seen my videogame portables, now see the results of my OTHER hobby!

Enjoy!

Another new Neo Geo MVS Console

“New” Neo Geo is a bit redundant, I know. No need to email me about that. Anyway, here’s yet another project I have been able to finish since cutting the albatross of Port Washington from my neck:

This uses the larger 1 slot MVS board known as the MV-1FZ. For info on it and the other Neo Geo arcade board consoles I’ve built, please visit this page.

Hey! Swing by benheck.com tomorrow and we’ll have the musical score of Port Washington available for download. Soundtracks tend to come out slightly before the movies anyway, so this seems like a good idea. And don’t forget, only 1 week before the web premiere of the movie itself! We’ll probably have daily updates until then, and maybe a few surprise “treats from the past”, so stay tuned!

A new VCSp!

Wow, non-Port Washington news for a change! Weird, huh?

This is a custom Atari 2600 VCS portable I built for someone. I decided to finally use a 5″ PS1 screen for an Atari portable since I haven’t before. I call this the “Pancake Atari” because that’s what it reminds me of.

For some making-of info and photos of the guts, visit the Atari Pancake Page.

It’s light colored, shades of off-white. Isn’t it amazing how anything Apple builds immediately sets the standard for all electronics (color designs) for the next few years? Not just the white iPod, remember the “translucent neon-colored case” trend of the late 90’s? That was started by the iMac. And I’m sure some Apple product started the “brushed aluminum” trend of the early 2000’s. Just an observation…

This will probably be the last portable I make for a month or so, as I’m taking some time off from movies/portables/using my brain in general. Hopefully in May I’ll return with a vengeance!

Be sure to stop by on Saturday April 1st to download and watch my new full-length movie Port Washington! Plus this Sunday the soundtrack will be available for download off the PW site, so you can jam out to that.

The Lizard of Death

As I’m sure all of your are anxiously awaiting Port Washington, you might be interested in checking out my previous film “The Lizard of Death” It’s an emulation of a 1950’s B&W horror movie, complete with old film grain effects and fake credits. It was completed in December of 2000.

I’ve created a iPod video-sized version for anyone interested. (It’ll also play in QuickTime 7) Here’s the link:

TEMPORARILY REMOVED… Check back later…

Right click link and select “Save As/Save Target As” to copy the file to disk so you can view at your leisure. It’s only 186 megs, a mere trifle in this day and age. Enjoy!