the bird &
&
& the beard
links:
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pray for polanski(pfp facebook)
sleepover shows
f nice records
meet eating vegans
mama bird recording company
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New Portraits Up. (7.2.2010)
So after a trip to Los Angeles that I would call anything but relaxing, I captured portraits from two very eluive holdouts. Check out the photography section for Aaron MacDonald and Trista Bakale.
Welcome To My Website.
Howdy.
I'm Aviv Rubinstien, aka The Bird and the Beard. Welcome to my website. I'm a writer, filmmaker, musician and all around nice guy. This website features everything I've got floating around in this skull of mine, every half baked idea. This is the oven.
I resist, dear website visitor, giving you a list of my credentials or a biography. If you're interested in giving me a job or stalking me (please don't stalk me), click on the resume tab for a complete resume.
So explore the website: It's most certainly not done, but keep checking back. Updates will be frequent.
If you have any ideas or want to help me accomplish any of my pipe dreams, email me at aviv.rubinstien_gmail.com.
Thanks for stopping by,
Aviv Rubinstien
Video
For over a decade, filmmaking has been a great passion. In friends' back yards and basements I taught myself how to use cameras, frame shots, make generally pretty terrible special effect and edit. At 18 I shipped myself off to Boston University to really learn all the things I hoped I'd already known.
In 2007, a short film, Woman on the Moon was accepted into the Lausanne Underground Film Festival, the Sumner Redstone Film Festival, came in 2nd place at the COMSA Film Festival,and also took 2nd place at the Babson Film Festival.
Thanks to Woman on the Moon, I was featured in Shots Magazine's New Director's Reel in 2007.
In 2008, an installation piece, Subway Song, returned to the Babson Film Festival and was accepted into the Circulation Exhibition at the Booksmart Gallery in Rochester, NY.
In 2007, I began teaching film production, digital editng and directing at Boston University's Academy of Media Production(formerly ITRP) and take great pleasure in inspiring the love of film in others.
Currently, I co-manage a video blog, Sleepover Showsand hope to begin production on a feature film in late 2010.
woman on the moon
Official Selection of The Lausanne Underground Film Festival, Sumner Redstone Film Festival, Babson College Film Festival and COMSA Film Festival, Woman on the Moon is proof of the persistence of vision theory.
I filmed our Man and Woman seperately and alternated the frames on which they exist. LUFF called it "A lyrical and poetic retelling of the problems within a relationship."
The following six-minute film took 12 hours to shoot, and approximately 100 hours to edit.
A remake of Woman on the Moon is coming in 2010.
subway song
Made specifically for the Circulation Exhibition at the Booksmart Gallery in Rochester NY, Subway Song takes place on London's Circle Line Subway. London is the most watched city on the planet. In London there is one CCTV camera for every 14 citizens, a fact I did not know when I boarded the London Underground with a cheap 3-megapixel camera and began taking covert pictures of commuters.
Many citizens spotted me, not one of them stopped me. I took 6 pictures of each subject, crossfaded them and looped. This gave the illusion of movement and my take on the idea of "circulation."
Official Seletion: Babson College Film Festival 2008.
short films:
woman on the moon [2007]
subway song [2008]
woman on the moon [2010] (coming soon)
the treasure map [2010] (coming soon)
Music
Since the tender age of 16, I've played in several different bands and have enjoyed writing and playing my own music. Much like filmmaking, music is a great vehicle through which people relate to each other. Currently, I front a four-piece rock and roll outfit called Pray for Polanski, but these songs are a bit of a departure from that. Unless otherwise noted (which will be frequently), I'm playing all the instruments in the recordings (even the ones I struggle through).
Click on a song title to listen and watch.
clever cleaver
Album: Spirituals
Featuring: Aviv Rubinstien
This is place a link would go, once I figure out how to allow these songs/videos to be downloaded. If you like Clever Cleaver, check back soon for a download link.
songs:
clever clever
Writing
After graduating Boston University in 2008 with a Bachelor's in film production, I couldn't quite say goodbye to BU. I was accepted into the Masters program for Screenwriting. In the following two years, everything I thought I knew about screenwriting was thrown out the window, and I rebuilt my storytelling skills from the ground up.
In 2008, a short Pie Heaven was a finalist in the Fleder-Rosenberg Screenwriting Competition. In 2010, Ding Dong another short script was tapped by a Boston University graduate student for a thesis project.
Currently, I work for Script Savvy, a monthly online screenwriting competition doing coverage and feedback for contest scripts.
Click on a link at the side to read a synopsis and download a portion of each screenplay.
Illinois
As the subject of his friend Ryan's documentary, Sam is traveling to the mid-west to ask his girlfriend's parents permission to marry their daughter Emily. He wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for a very special ring, her family's heirloom, with which he wants to propose. Sam doesn't just want the ring; the out of work twenty-something needs it.
Before they reach the in-laws-to-be, Sam must enlist the help of Ryan's older brother Nick. Since Nick was the first of Sam's friends to get married, Ryan feels that he can serve as a good mentor. The only problem is, fifteen minutes before Sam and Ryan reach Nick's apartment, Nicks wife leaves him. Distraught and in tears, Nick joins Sam and Ryan on their journey.
At Emilys parents house, things to go according to plan: Thanks to Nicks misplaced anger, Emilys folks kick Sam and his two friends out of their house. No ring, no blessing. Whatll Sam do now?
Ryan convinces Sam that if all he needs is the ring, that they should break into the house in the middle of the night and steal it. Sam could propose as fast as he can, and Emilys parents would never be the wiser.
As stealthily as possible Sam and Ryan break into the house and grab the ring. Not stealthily enough, unfortunately, for Emilys parents catch them in the act. They narrowly escape with their lives, as Doug, Emilys father shoots a hole in the back of their car with his shotgun.
Now Sam must race across the Midwest with a film-obsessed documentarian and his clinically depressed brother to propose to Emily, before her parents catch him and kill him.
Pages 1-6
Influenza
There is a dangerous disease sweeping Los Angeles. Its carried by bugs and fatal within three days. L.A., in enough financial trouble as it is, doesnt have enough vaccines for this illness and has taken to spraying down the streets with pesticides.
A high school gym teacher, Matt (35) and his two kids Alex (7) and Caroline (9). are alarmed to learn that their apartment should have been evacuated days ago. Their neighborhood is being poisoned. Matt and his kids are trapped inside the building with five of their neighbors. They must all wait until authorities arrive. No one knows how long that could be, but going outside means death within minutes. Matts only objective is to keep his kids safe.
Things start to go wrong when a tenant, Andrew (20s) gets sick. A reactionary couple, Rachel (43) and Scott (45) kill him, by throwing him out of the apartment and into the poisoned streets, in order to stop the disease from spreading. Rachel and Scott go on a rampage enacting marshal law within the apartment. They, of course, are the Marshals. Matts only ally is an elderly Holocaust survivor named Arthur (70s).
Things get worse as another neighbor, Iris (30s), gets sick. Matt and Arthur save Iris life for the moment. Scott and Rachel enlist the help of Roger, (30s), Iris lover. Motivated by fear, they not only kill Iris, but their violence extends further, and they kill Arthur. It is up to Matt alone to protect his kids from Scott, Rachel and Roger, while keeping them safe from infection.
Matt finds himself getting caught up in the same fear and violence that spawned his enemies: While defending his kids, Matt kills Scott. This only makes Rachel angrier. But what has Matt become? Can Matt keep a clear head under the worst of circumstances? Can they survive until the police arrive? And what will happen when one of Matts children becomes infected?
Buffalo Spectacular
After all his hard work gets looked over, ad man Aaron MacDonald does what anyone would do he gets drunk at a company event and playfully accuses his companys CEO of having intimate relations with farm animals.
Just another day at the office.
The company Aaron works for is the largest fast food chain in the nation, and its CEO, Houston Gerard, wants to make an example out of Aaron. So he sends him to Buffalo, New York to manage a nightclub that Gerards Company owns: The Jazz Spectacular.
Upon arriving in Buffalo, Aaron discovers that his problems just keep coming: If one thing goes wrong during the opening of the Jazz Spectacular, Aaron will never work in sales again. The sun never sets on Houston Gerards empire. Whats worse: The musician booked for the Grand Opening refuses to go on and presents Aaron with a list of outrageous demands.
Is Aaron being set up to fail? Can he save the day and keep his job? Does he even want to? If he does succeed he will most certainly be stuck forever at the Buffalo Spectacular.
Pages 1-7
Pie Heaven
Best friends, Emily and Ben are on their way to a wedding in Indiana. Emily, a lesbian, and Ben, who is straight, get into an argument over who can perform oral sex on a female better. Ben has the practice, while Emily has the woman's touch.
What else are you going to talk about on a long road trip?
Ben challenges Emily to a contest. They find a bisexual judge, and both go down on her. The winner is the person whom she deems the best at giving face.
There is a catch. There's always a catch. If Emily wins, Ben has to pay her rent for six months. If Ben wins, Emily has to sleep with him. She's so sure she'll win that she takes the bet.
Of course, Ben is in love with Emily. He's orchestrated this shortsighted plan, seeing it as the only way he'll ever get to consumate their relationship.
Even if Ben does win, he's certainly losing sight of the fact that Emily will not enjoy their sexual congress. Can he even win? And if he does, will their friendship survive the night?
*Official selection of the 2008 Fleder-Rosenberg Screenwriting Competition.
Pages 1-5
screenplays:
Illinois [Feature]
Influenza [Feature]
Buffalo Spectacular [Pilot]
Pie Heaven [Short]
Ding Dong [Short]
The Dentist's Office [Short]
portraits:
Often, there are folks I never get to see. Sad but true, faces get dispersed around the nation and the world. Even the local ones, it seems, never stay in Boston too long.
What started as a project to collect the faces of some people I never get to see has snowballed into a comprehensive mosaic of people who mean the world to me. I'm just going to see how big it gets.
I'm also considering putting these faces on t-shirts. So if I've taken your picture and you want a t-shirt of it, or if you think one of the photos is particularly sexy (*ahem* Justin Solitrin), email me and I'll send you a t-shirt with his, her or their faces on it.
All portraits shot on the Cannon 7D with an 18-200 Cannon EF lens.
t-shirts
All the t-shirts from the bird & the beard are made in conjunction with f-nice records, the baddest little record label on the planet. The t-shirt section will soon explode after the making of the new Woman on the Moon. All the t-shirts from the animation portion of the film will be up for sale in an attempt to supplement the budget of the film and fundraise for the next project.
In the meantime, check out the official "the bird and the beard" t-shirt along with the "I bought this at Urban" t-shirt featuring my face.
Who doesn't want to walk around in a t-shirt with my face on it?
Actually it's just an example of what can be done with any of the pictures in the portrait section.
All the t-shirts are made to order, so if you want to purchase one, send me an email with the size and color. Depending on the availability of supplies, please allow 4-6 weeks for your shirt to arrive.
the bird & the beard
T-SHIRT
$10
I Bought This At Urban
$15
"the bird & the beard"
"i bought this at urban"
