Details:
This is a movie soundtrack compilation CD from the feature film CAMJACKERS https://www.tradebit.com
Bust out underground conscious hip hop from the leading lights on the west coast – 2MEX, Orko Eloheim, Phoenix Orion, Honz & Halos and more. Blessed by the legendary folks at Project Blowed – the longest running hip hop label on the west coast.
Heres some FILM INFO --
Tagline
“It’s cool, man. We’ve got black friends…”
Logline
Can’t make a film? Just steal one! Class war, revenge and the race divide collide in this funny post-Reality hiphop mindtrip.
Capsule
CAMJACKERS is a funny, LA street story about 2 rich, scared filmfakers in the hood and the 3 guys who ‘borrow’ their equipment, make a film, get ripped off, and seek revenge.
Synopsis
Two rich, clueless filmschool grads (“the Filmfakers”) are shooting a “ghetto” interpretation of an ancient Greek play on the mean streets of Los Angeles. Their equipment is ‘borrowed’ by three street youths (“the Camjackers”), who shoot a compelling documentary on underground hiphop. The Filmfakers rip off the Camjackers’ film and rise to fame and fortune. The Camjackers see their stolen work on TV and seek revenge.
Concept
Camjackers is an experiment in creative access in which two real groups of film artists were given the tools to realize their films-within-a-film, while also starring as characters within this feature film. The story takes shape in real time as the Camjackers play rushes and edit various tapes on screen while we watch. The rawness of the film, and especially of the hip hop short-film-within-the-film and the street documentary footage, comes from a freestyle approach to filmmaking itself – unscripted, off-the-cuff, real responses to contrived contexts played out in real time and jumpcut together coalescing into a finished feature film before your very eyes.
Scenario
The Filmfakers are shooting a ‘ghetto’ interpretation of the ancient Greek play, Lysistrata (“Sista Strada”) on the streets of LA. When approached by a group of street youths (the “Camjackers”), the Filmfakers think that they are being mugged so they give their camera, tripod and watch to the Camjackers and run away.
The shocked Camjackers take the stuff and then discover the abandoned Filmfaker’s production van. The Camjackers decide to make a film in one day.
They shoot some footage and then take the camera and laptop to their apartment to show their friends, Shante and Olinda. Rather than hock the stuff, Olinda insists that they make a film themselves.
All four Camjackers ride in the stolen production van and work on their film ideas. Cody and Phoenix then play with the camera and accidentally leave it running. They film themselves and their world as we see rushes from their short film-in-the-making. We then see part of their edited short film.
The cops see the Camjackers walking along the street and assume they stole the Filmfakers’ stuff. The cops give chase but the Camjackers escape.
The Camjackers go to a club to find talent for their short film. They continue shooting street people into the night. While the Camjackers are shooting the last shot of the night, they are again harassed by the cops and then break free.
Surveillance footage shows the Filmfakers recovering their equipment and checking their tapes and harddrives. The Filmfakers discover a short film on their harddrive (shot and cut by the Camjackers). The Filmfakers decide to steal the Camjackers’ short film and release it under their own names. The Filmfakers win the Best Short Subject Prize for their film. They begin their rise to fame and fortune.
Several months later, the Camjackers see themselves and their film on TV without credit. They become very angry and plot revenge.
The Camjackers break into the Filmfakers’ rich home, grab the original copy of their short film and steal some home movies and surveillance tapes. On these tapes we see the Filmfakers indulge in degrading and unethical behavior.
We then see a cable TV entertainment show (“Real Entertainment”) that showcases the Filmfakers and their stolen short film.
The Camjackers know they need releases to use the embarassing Filmfakers’ footage, so they pose as a “Pirategram” singer and a postal worker to get the Filmfaker’s to sign (hidden) release forms.
The Camjackers then sell the raw footage to a sleazy cable TV entertainment magazine show (“Shamefile”). We see the trashy “Shamefile” TV spot assassinating the Filmfakers as professionals and human beings with samples from the Filmmakers’ own home movies and surveillance tapes.
The Camjackers are officially recognised as authors of their own work and gain some fame for their efforts. As the final celebratory scenes unfold in the limo and the club (Project Blowed), we see the Camjackers living high. The Filmfakers, recently released from jail, visit the club. As the Filmfakers try to salvage whatever they can, we see Phoenix harshly dismissing the Filmfakers, who are then thrown out of the club.
As the credits roll, we learn that the Camjackers actually put together the whole Camjackers feature film themselves.
PRODUCTION NOTES
My wife, Linnea, had the idea for Camjackers kicking around for a couple of years. One day we felt ready for a feature. The problem was that Camjackers wasn’t the kind of film I knew how to make. What the hell did an Aussie immigrant know about conscious hip hop? Or African American culture?
We began casting with a very detailed scenario and shooting script developed over the preceding year. I didn’t want to use a script.
Improvisation became an obvious way of allowing actuality to form around the practical goals of any given scene. I worked with the actors developing character for a couple of days -- we developed some key movements and looks and words -- and built those into the scene goals. We then filmed the actors trying to achieve those goals.
During production my wife, my young son and I lived in the center of Eastlake, an infamous gang suburb in Los Angeles. Some of our neighbors appeared in the film (Joe Grande as a local thug and Kreeper as the OG in the wheelchair). The ‘crackhouse’ used in the Filmfakers’ short film was opposite our house in Eastlake across a dirt street. My wife still hasn’t forgiven me for leaving her and our son at home while shooting the film when gunfire hit our house.
I wanted free expression and experimentation to permeate the film, so I encouraged the Filmfakers (Tao and Jeremy) to really write and shoot a modernday adaptation of the ancient Greek play “Lysistrata” on the streets of LA. Similarly, the Camjackers (Cody and Phoenix) actually went to the LA underground and shot most of the footage of local performers and musicians doin their thing as they like it.
Editing took about a year on the LAFCO Bus working with Cody Lucich and Tao Ruspoli. I was lucky enough to be able to use an optic fibre RAID array and a G5 to edit the 24P footage and the film transfers from Digital Betacam in uncompressed 10-bit SD video.
Post, music, mastering, legals, and marketing materials took another two years to wrap up. Almost everyone was paid a decent day rate on this show.
A sobering influence on our efforts was the fact that three people died while we were making this movie. Two family members of key cast died while we were shooting. And Kreeper (appearing in a wheelchair) was killed in a driveby while we were editing his footage. His eloquent summary of his life ended with his prediction of his own imminent death.
Overall, this film took 4 years and over 200 people to make.
I wanted to show underclass folks seizing the hand of destiny and using the media tools of the dominant white culture to oppose that culture. To fight back. It is very difficult for poor folks to get any kind of access to such tools, especially in America, hence the wall of comfortable whitepeople we see in film and TV. I wanted to turn the status quo on its head.
We had a clear political agenda going into this. I was apalled at the thirdworld conditions endured by the have-nots in the richest country in the world. Chunks of downtown Los Angeles at sundown become sidewalk tent and card-board villages that disappear with the dawn. Beggars are rampant. The government’s racist war on the poor became all too apparent. I wanted to confront these facts in a poetic, fun, thoughtful way. I employed montage and hip hop to play with social issues, surrounding both with pointed mockumentary.
By showing the Camjackers as ultimately triumphant owners of their own destinies, I tried to subvert the usual depiction of African-Americans as poor victims of their own deficiencies. And I especially wanted to show black folks breaking free of the police and escaping without consequences, in part to counter frequent and numbing images of black men assaulted and locked up by the white penile system (that isn’t a typo).
I also wanted to show the power of contemporary conscious hip hop culture (mostly shot and edited by the Camjackers themselves -- Cody Lucich and Phoenix Orion). The media ghetto-ization of black culture relies on the perpetuation of demeaning stereotypes, in no small part furthered by many ‘successful’ blinged-out gangsta rap artists today trying to win the same race as the whiteman: economic domination. Our film and contemporary conscious hip hop in general seeks to project a more egalitarian political consciousness within a self-image of strong, kind, creative people doin it for themselves.
The film also caricatures white cooption of black culture in the ironically simultaneous contexts of racial fear and the fetishization of black cool. Cultural theft is a part of such fetishization, when white-owned media conglomerates inhale the style and content from the ghetto, repackage and sanitize it for the masses, and spit out ghetto hitz, soaking up disposable income from rebellious middleclass white boys who wanna act black. This points to the coolest thing in American culture today, which of course is contemporary African-American culture, and the moguls know it just as much as the consumers.
Lastly, Camjackers is an experiment in creative access in which two groups of film artists were given the tools to realize their films-within-a-film, while also starring as characters within this feature film. The story takes shape in real time as the Camjackers play rushes and edit various tapes on screen while we watch. The rawness of the film, and especially of the hip hop short-film-within-the-film and the street documentary footage, comes from a freestyle approach to filmmaking itself – unscripted, off-the-cuff, real responses to contrived contexts played out in real time and jumpcut together coalescing into a finished feature film before your very eyes.
After 5 years in Los Angeles, experimental filmmakers, Julian and Linnea Dahl, have returned to Vashon with their first feature film – “Camjackers” – a quirky comedy-drama in which class war, revenge and the race divide collide in a funny post-Reality hiphop mindtrip.
This carefully improvised film follows the underclass Camjackers as they wreak their revenge on the middleclass Filmfakers using their own cameras against them. The film caricatures white cooption of black culture in the ironically simultaneous contexts of racial fear and the fetishization of black cool. Secondly, it explores indie-filmmaker-as-pop-icon with a knowing wink at media access, representation, and social control. Lastly, “Camjackers” is an actual experiment in genuine creative access in which two real groups of film artists were actually given the tools to realize their films-within-a-film, while also starring as characters within this feature film. The story takes shape in real time as the Camjackers edit various tapes on screen while we watch.
According to director-producer, Julian Dahl, “we were shocked by the third-worldization of LA, the hordes of homeless, the cultural and material theft of the underclass, so we tried to make fun of the powerful and provide a platform for artists to speak and the underdog to triumph.” Shot with real artists on the streets without a script, Julian relied on his charaters’ passion, skills and experiences to infuse the plot with bite. “I wanted to show the parisitic nature of Hollywood, the power of African-American culture, and the reality of folks in the hood.”
Based on an original idea by Linnea Dahl, co-writer, “Camjackers was, for me, a way of dealing with almost getting shot in my home, living in the ghetto as a urban pioneers, and watching rich whiteboys with toys trying to riff on authentic ghetto experience.”
Teaming up with LA Filmmakers Co-op (https://www.tradebit.com), a filmgroup described by Res magazine as “media merry pranksters on wheels”, Julian and Linnea sold their house, put out casting calls, and conjured the dream into actuality. Three and a half years later, the film is done and touring the festival circuit, recently winning Best Editing at Ann Arbor Film Festival and screening at Harlem International Film Festival.
This is a chance to see the work of WildChild producers Julian and Linnea Dahl close up.
Biography, Julian Dahl, filmmaker:
Born 1966, Melbourne, Australia. Completed university with 1st class major in politics; moved overseas. Published poet from the age of 16. In 1989, began making experimental Super 8 shorts and working with Melbourne Super 8 Film Group and Modern Image Makers’ Association (MIMA). Travelled and worked in 48 countries as teacher, journalist, book & magazine editor. Lived in Senegal, West Africa, for 2 years making mystical African sci-fi short (INSECT, 2000). After stint on Los Angeles commercial film sets, helped set up LA Filmmakers’ Co-op (https://www.tradebit.com). Shorts have appeared on TV, on DVD, and in several festivals in USA, Australia and Europe, including SXSW (**winner** Best Experimental Film), Ann Arbor (**winner** Best Editing), Hamburg Kurtzfilmfest, Melbourne International, and Harlem International. Now marketing first feature film, Camjackers, and working on avant-garde educational kids videos called WildChild.
1) End of Beast (17 mins, Super 8, B&W, mono sound) 1989
2) A Man Walking, Falls (8 mins, Super 8, B&W, mono sound) 1990
3) Puppy Love (8 mins, B&W/colour, Super 8 original, Betacam SP master, stereo sound) 1991
4) Slaughter of the Strawberry (25 mins, B&W/colour, Super 8 original, Betacam SP master, mono sound) 1992
5) INSECT (30 mins, B&W/colour, Super 8 original, Digital Betacam master, mono sound) 2000
6) Blonde & Blue (4 mins 57 secs, colour, VHS-C original, Betacam SP master, stereo sound) 2000
7) lick (3 mins, color, MiniDV and Super 8, Betacam SP master, stereo sound) 2001
8) falling (3 mins, color, Single 8 original, Betacam SP master, stereo sound) 2001
9) stream (8 mins, color, Super 8 original, Betacam SP master, stereo sound), 2004
10) Camjackers (80 mins, color/B&W, 24pDV/Super 16mm/16mm/Super 8 original, DigiBetacam Master, stereo sound), 2006
CREDITS
a Eu Topos Productions &
LAFCO
(Los Angeles Filmmakers Co-op) film
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY
Julian Dahl
WRITTEN BY
Linnea and Julian Dahl
based on an original idea by
Linnea Dahl
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Tao Ruspoli
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Filippo Pola
Freeman Murray
Linnea Dahl
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Anka Malatynska
EDITED BY
Cody Lucich & Julian Dahl
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Tao Ruspoli
ART DIRECTOR
Peat Ibarra
CAMJACKER SHORT FILM
"OFF THE DOME" BY
Cody Lucich & Phoenix Orion
FILMMAKER SHORT FILM
"SISTA STRADA"
WRITTEN BY
Jeremy Fels & Tao Ruspoli
THE CAMJACKERS
Phoenix Orion
Olinda Fonseca
Shante Reese
Cody Lucich
Darkzeied
THE WHACK FILMMAKERS
Tao Ruspoli
Jeremy Fels
"SISTA STRADA" CAST
gangsta sista #1 Olivia Wilde
gangsta sista #2 Megalyn Echikunwoke
gangsta #1 Elza Minor
gangsta #2 Rushawn Robinson
SUPPORTING CAST
homosexual prostitute Rocklin Thompson
"Real Entertainment" host Karla Zelaya
cop #1 Buddy Daniels Friedman
cop #2 Michael Robert Nyman
"Shamefile" host Julian Dahl
upper-class neighbor Phyllis Kramer
awards presenter Joy Phillips
concerned resident Ralph Lucas
FEATURED
homeless guy singer Elijah Adams
gang guy #1 Gerardo Vasquez
gang guy #2 Joseph Sachs
the bunny Michael Rodriguez
semi-naked party woman Claudia Clark-Lucas
naked fish tank guy #1 Museo d'' Classico
naked fish tank guy #2 Brandon Jones
club woman talker Andreea Manta
OG#1 in car Maurice Esco
OG#2 in car Lonnie Dunahoo
red door girl Cherie Olaye
woman in weird short Linnea Dahl
woman in homemovie Linnea Dahl
boy in homemovie Lars Dahl
big white guy holding TV Julian Dahl
black guy holding TV DJ Lyf
homeless guy holding TV William Carey
FEATURED PERFORMERS
Medusa
Myka Nyne
2Mex
Aceyalone
Akim
DX
Black Silver
Panama Redd (Hornz and Halos)
Bre
Rik Havoc
Non-Stop
Pterradacto
Life Rexall
Ancient Heretik (Mechanizm)
Evolve
Get Bent
Badru
Micro, AudioSiempre, Q-Box
TITLING, COMPOSITING, AFTER EFFECTS
Jason Forman
Matt Dannevik
Christina Gunewan
GREENSCREEN
Emilio Sa
MUSIC SUPERVISION
Julian Dahl
with
Cody Lucich, Greg Conway & Eric Alatan
SOUND DESIGN, EDITING & RECORDING
Greg Conway
Tim Hayes
Krich "Ted" Tangchareon
RE-RECORDING MIXER
Greg Conway, Sonic Alchemy
B-CAMERA
Nick Candy
1ST AC
John Orphan
2ND AC, BIKE-CAM OPERATOR
Kuba Podgorski
STEADICAM OPERATOR
Conner VanDeer
ADDITIONAL CAMERA
Cody Lucich
Julian Dahl
Tao Ruspoli
Benjamin Parkes
Jeremy Fels
1ST AD
Danny Riceberg
Tom Nicholson
GAFFER
Kelly Gallamore
KEY GRIP
King Lanaux II
GRIPS
John Cason
Raphael Cruz
Stephen Olsen
Tarina Reed
Scott Donahue
LOCATION SOUND MIXER &
BOOM OPERATOR
Antonio Moncada
2ND BOOM OPERATOR
Eric Alatan
3RD BOOM OPERATOR
Hanz Dalken
STILLS PHOTOGRAPHER
Kimberly Rodgers
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Julianna Calin
KEY PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Rebecca Peabody
Victoria Speyer
Mike Griffin
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Madison Shepard
Michelle Hinch
Nicole McGinnis
John Bieberly
Amie Kelbing
David Candy
EXTRAS
Lisa Truong
Yuk One
Fabrizio Mosciori
Margie Luong
Sandy Balat
Ethan Devezin
Mark Stuhlman
Luis F Martinez
Ancient Heretik
Andrea Manta
Ethereal (Mechanizm)
Margie Luong
Ethan Devezin
Ross Manus
Mark Stuhlman
Yukio Hoshi
Yalda Fonooni
Victoria Speyer
Bartolomeo Ruspoli
Ron Lander
Manuka Sanyal
Kristen Eppley
Benjamin Parkes
Simone Legno
Psalm Isadora
Sandy Balat
Napoleon Bridges
Napoleon Bridges Jr.
Cuts Calloway
Brenda Castillo
Juan Dawson
FAXX
Robert Gardner
Jamaal Gilbert
Kedis Hill
Yukio Hoshi
Lic Em Low
Anthony Reese
Wilmer Reyes
Chris Rodgers
Damon Seffers
Non-Stop
Elise Taylor
April Taylor
Eliseo Velasquez
Booker Washington
Michael Wilson
Miyuki Yamaguchi
Dorothy Yeboah
CLOTHING
Temple Effective
Drunken Monkey
FuBu
Iron Lung
ARTWORK
Eche 72
Peat Ibarra
screenshots reprinted by permission
from Apple Computer, Inc.
MUSIC
"Eloheim 777"
composed by Orko Elohiem, thanks 2 Beck
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by 777 Beats,
Mark of the Beats, plague language
"American Fear"
composed by Orko Elohiem, orphan
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by 777 Beats,
Mark of the Beats, plague language
"Human Technology"
composed by Orko Elohiem, orphan
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by 777 Beats,
Mark of the Beats, plague language
"Yacub Biotech Engineer"
composed by Orko Elohiem
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by 777 Beats, Mark of the Beats
"Eternal Law"
composed by Orko Elohiem, orphan
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by 777 Beats,
Mark of the Beats, plague language
"Camjacker Club Scene"
composed by Mark of the Beats, 777 Beats
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by Mark of the Beats, 777 Beats
"Innerspace Massive"
composed by Orko Elohiem, Ambush, orphan
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by 777 Beats, plague language
"Drop Your Weopon"
composed by plague language, 777 Beats
performed by Orko Elohiem
published by plague language, 777 Beats
"The Return of Fernandomania"
composed by A. Ocana & O. Walizedeh
performed by 2Mex
"Aliveacation"
composed by A. Ocana & O. Walizedeh
performed by 2Mex
"Baby I Ain''t Jokin''"
composed by A. Ocana, P. Lovano, T. Martin,
performed by 2-Mex and featuring Awol One
"Treesun (Leave Her To Fall)"
composed by A. Ocana, O. Walizadeh
performed by 2Mex
"What Did You Do Today?"
composed by C. Purcell (ASCAP),
S. MacDonald (ASCAP), J. Dunn (ASCAP),
A. Reese (BMI)
performed by Very Special People
featuring Gershwin BLX, Tony EQ
& Konfident
published by James Morris (ASCAP)
"Some Say"
composed by C. Fisher (BMI),
J. Rabinowitz (SESAC), R. Moreso
performed by Acid Reign & Olmeca
published by N. Navarette,
D. Barragan (ASCAP),
J. Morris (ASCAP)
"Call It A Movement"
composed by G. Black,
N. Black, C. Fisher (BMI)
performed by Very Special People
featuring Lexicon
published by J. Morris (ASCAP)
"Hilltop Instrumental"
composed by Phoenix Orion & Elusive
performed by Phoenix Orion
"Scifidelity"
composed by Phoenix Orion
performed by Phoenix Orion
"Bent track 10"
composed by Get Bent
performed by Get Bent
published by Get Bent (ASCAP)
"Twisted"
composed by Lonnie Dunahoo & J. Ingram
performed by Lonnie Mac
published by Tainted Minds
"Hold Tight"
composed by Alex Salib
performed by Lightheaded
published by The Outdustry
"Massive Can"
composed by Ancient Heretik
performed by Ancient Heretik
published by Mechanizm
"Blinded"
composed by Luis F. Martinez,
Mechanizm, Malo
performed by Ancient Heretik
published by Mechanizm
"From Concentrate"
composed by Luis F. Martinez
performed by Ancient Heretik
published by Mechanizm
"DJ Syfa 1"
composed by Ethereal, Ancient Heretik
performed by Ancient Heretik
published by Mechanizm
"Take The Journey"
composed by D.J. Lyf
performed by D.J. Lyf
"Night Rap"
composed by Lyf/D.J. Lyf
performed by D.J. Lyf
"Cyclone"
composed by Peter Martinez
performed by Rawskillz
published by Peter Martinez
"The Feddi"
composed by M. Tyehimba &
T. Perkins
performed by Hornz and Halos
published by Jap Owt Inc.
"Acoustic Jam"
composed by Jordan Woollen
performed by Jordan Woollen
published by Garbage Juice Publishing
"Get Ready"
composed by Jordan Woollen
performed by Jordan Woollen
published by Garbage Juice Publishing
"Untitled"
composed by Greg Pritchett
performed by Longevity
"Falling Soundtrack"
performed by Thor Stephens,
Remy Sherman, Takaaki Eshita
composed by Thor Stephens
published by Thor Stephens
"Bunny Song"
composed by Krich Ted Tangchareon
performed by The LAFCO Players
published by Krich Ted Tangchareon
"The Unheard"
composed by Devastator
performed by Devastator &
Phoenix Orion
published by On Point Records
THANKS TO
Program Partners
Project Blowed
Ben Caldwell, Kaos Network
Bernard Brown, CAN
The Incubator @ the Brewery
LA graf artists
Joyce North
Art & Mary Hodgins
Mary Jo Braun
Roy Kosuge
Ignacio Lopez
Dylan Morris
Cesar Becerra
Arnie Glover
Manuel De Seixas Correa
Chris Cronin
Thomai Hatsios
Ryan Ashford
Henrijs Deicmanis
Jeff Poelhmann
Jasmine Dahl
Astrid Dahl
Kodak
SAG
the people of LA