BLUE COUP D’ETAT

a special collaboration with davi russo, who is both the narrator and photographer of this piece
he traveled from shanghai to shangri-la with five other artists
the warmth of his photos and the sensitivity of his thoughts are very dear to me
thank you davi

RIVES AND RIVES
a bit of poetry and guitar from the brothers rives
thanks guys for letting us do the movie

finally posted my pictures from amsterdam
been in a bit of a work haze lately, might be coming out of it but might not
will try to squeeze out a couple more photo postings soon
working on a new short doc now and have a feature film coming up this spring
things are heating up

12.25.07
frankfort, kentucky
the helton homestead

best to everyone
jim and chiz

well it has been far busier than i anticipated since i finished the wedding film (we’re calling it new york in a turban), i’ll post bits and pieces of it once i have a moment. but for now it will have to wait until i have some real time. i won’t complain about being busy… hoping to get my amsterdam pictures up soon. a series of movies from yohei’s 30th birthday (he drank 30 shots of tequila). some moments from the rooftop bbq’s at davi’s house this summer….. images that feel warm in this increasingly cold winter. here is wishing everyone a great holiday season.
jimeye

editing a wedding now
won’t be posting until after the 15th
unless i’m lucky
best to all
jim

los angels, money, mansions, and jehovah’s witnesses

ON MAKING IT

the way of carey returns

proselytize \PROS-uh-luh-tyz\, intransitive verb:
1. To induce someone to convert to one’s
religious faith.
2. To induce someone to join one’s institution,
cause, or political party.

music -
eartha kitt, satan never sleeps
louie armstrong and bing crosby, when the saints go marching in
outside of nana plaza
bangkok, thailand
more sound fragments from a mix tape
by tim williams
america’s answer - production
side 2
strawberry’s sweet

observer movie

w 4th
f train stop
november 2006

observer movie

chatachuck market
bangkok thailand
december 2006

A PORTRAIT OF NANA

filmed in glorious super 8
JUDY GARLAND
you go to my head
from a mix by time williams
whole burnt offering
side 1
ruled by regret

window movie
139th and riverside
nyc 1999

music - frank sinatra, it aint easy being green
from a mix by tim williams
stylizer of cataclysms
side 1
life against death

a collaboration with suitman, aka young kim during my visit to japan this february
had a lot of fun making this, thanks young (thanks also for letting me crash at your pad and all the grapefruit soju)

technically we did this for visvim but to my knowledge it has never been used - teepee designed by hiroki nakamura
direct/concept - suitman
photo - young kim and jim helton
edit/sound - jim helton
title art - jose parla
graphic design - davi russo
sound mix - adrian morgan
voice - joey curtis

a home movie

with love to the wiseman family

FEBRUARY 2007

CHINA

words on the wall - the struggle continues
alphabet city
march 2007

more music from tim, this time from the king of love

thank you wizards
ron, alyse, old man warren and his brother rocking the sunglasses in the back there

rate R for language
sante and yohei - a love story
kimiyo - a lie
kumi - and a standoff

more mix tape fragments from tim williams

leaving AMSTERDAM
AUGUST 2007

sound from a mix tape made by tim williams called
america’s answer - production
side 1
killing is easy

edit like a filmmaker instead of an editor
full of discovery
open to the world that is present
this is a simple revelation
it has pestered me for days and i wish to dress it up in all sorts of fine words to be convincing but it is only the same every time - edit like a filmmaker

new delhi, india
november 2006

brent and onslo

chibi lays it down
drunk uncle concurs

blue light
mvp

my wife
pineapple juice and shochu (misspelled in the video, will be fixed eventually - thanks to chizu the spell checker)
courtesty of hug heaven

this was on the walk to hug heaven in queens
while sante was swinging around parking meters and ron was doing his little jitterbug kumi and i were geeking out with cameras

after many requests and demands by chibihentai and mvp -
fun times, a few bruises, lots of love

thanks to a couple of great hosts - pants and moto

my first roll of holga pictures (actually my 4th, lost the others in a bar in scotland after meeting some norwegians and drinking scotch and guiness)
the pictures are creepy and weird and empty
everything feels like i am stumbling and cockeyed
pictures:
-a woman in a castle window
-manikins at the edinburgh castle
-the street from my window in edinburgh
-the cold bathroom morning before leaving for amsterdam
-a park in amsterdam near where i was staying
-canal at night
-clocktower at night
-a building facade
-my flat in amsterdam, my host was adan, he is from chile but has lived in amsterdam for a long time
-blurry amsterdman street (i am probably lost)
-some landmark in amsterdam but i have no idea what it is

september 9th, 2007 after the meatball and sausage dinner

there are several elements involved in editing a transition that fall into two categories -
PICTURE: moving picture (film, video or animated images), still picture, graphic, or title
SOUND: natural sound, sound effects, and music
the basic actions involved with the transition are dissolves, fades, and straight cuts. this applies to both sound and picture.

in making transitions it is good to remember that starting everything at once is often overwhelming and jarring which can be very effective but is often distracting. start one or two elements at a time with the others joining in as the transition unfolds. allow the brain to process the information and then add more. consider editing as a musical composition.

also consider the purpose of a transition - to fold space or leap from points in time or leap from emotion to emotion. contemplating the purpose of a transition often helps dictate the kind of transition.

beijing, china
feb 2007

directed by derek cianfrance
edited by jim helton
photgraphed by claudio miranda
produced by @radical.media

directed by derek cianfrance
edited by jim helton and ron patane
photographed by peter donahue
produced by @radical.media

directed by derek cianfrance
ddb creative team - tom mcdonnell, joanne diglio, bonnie lutz, howard finkelstein, and marilyn kam - good people
graphic design by davi russo
photography by ayumi sakamoto
music by sixtwo (he did a ton of music for battlegrounds, love his stuff)

my first commerical

directed by derek cianfrance
ddb creative team - tom mcdonnell, joanne diglio, bonnie lutz, howard finkelstein, and marilyn kam - good people
graphic design by davi russo
photography by ayumi sakamoto
music by sixtwo (he did a ton of music for battlegrounds, love his stuff)

directed by derek cianfrance
photography by bill winters and davi russo
edited by jim helton and ron patane
title design by davi russo

here is a scene from the battlegrounds tv series i did for nike and mtv a couple years ago (2005)

directed by derek cianfrance
co-produced by jim helton
this scene edited by jim helton and joey curtis
additional editing for the series done by two other great editors - ron patane and jonah moran
title design by davi russo
still photography by davi russo and atsushi nishijima
videography by derek cianfrance, paul bozymowski, and bill winters
this was a really great project to work on though it was very hard to do in the short amount of time we had (i had three days off in three months), the people i worked with were amazing and i keep up with them all and work with them all to this day
i’d like to also credit and thank the kids from new york and chicago that participated in the show as well as executive producers justin wilkes and bill davenport - these guys gave me my first shot at being a head editor on a tv series and gave us a lot of creative freedom as well as great creative input
and this wouldn’t be complete without thanking jon kamen, the man who saw me in a elevator one day after my first job with radical media was over (think it was the annie lennox job though technically i did some sound work and title work on “shots in the dark” but nobody really knew about that at the time) and asked me what i was doing and when i told him nothing he said, “we’ll have to keep you busy” - i’ve been working ever since

jay z goes to miami to meet timbaland and hears the track for “dirt off your shoulder” for the first time

directed by mike warren and patrick paulson
scene edited by jim helton
additional editors on the movie - ron pantane, jonah moran, and zuk

from battlegrounds year 2 “king of the world”
one on one basketball players from the u.s., france, italy, spain, and germany compete in the nike battlegrounds king of the world tournament
american erron maxey prepares for his game against amara sy of france in paris

directed by derek cianfrance
co-produced by mike warren
scene edited by jim helton
graphics by davi russo
videography by derek cianfrance, paul bozymowski, and bill winters
music by dare diablo
another great collaboration with a great group of people at @radical.media
see other battlegrounds for more details but a few names - justin wilkes, bill davenport, ron patane, zuk, josh pearson

all analog, made on film with an optical printer, some lighting effects, and some hand processing on one of them
a collaboration with my friend steve hidinger back pre-1999
again not happy with compression, i’m working on it….
but if you can’t wait here it is