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"Sketches"
April, 2008 Written, directed, and edited by John D'Amico Shot on Canon XL2 A short, dialogue-free film about a homeless man.
"Space Cats" trailer
February 2008
Cowritten, directed and edited by John D'Amico
Shot on Canon XL2
Trailer for an action movie parody shot with the Fordham Sketch Comedy group.
"The Calm" montage clip
January 2008
Written, directed, and edited by John D'Amico
Shot on a Canon XL2
A shot clip from a montage in the middle of an in-production film about three New Yorkers who wake up to find the City completely deserted. The music is a public domain recording of Frederic Chopin's 15th "Raindrops" Prelude.
"The Calm" trailer
January 2008
Written, directed, and edited by John D'Amico
Shot on Canon XL2
Trailer for an in-production film about three New Yorkers who wake up to find the City completely deserted. Musical track: "None of your Business" by the Mo Ho Baroque Ensemble. Used without permission.
"The Dead and the Dying" test footage
December 2007
Directed, written, and edited by John D'Amico
Test opening for a zombie movie project in preproduction. The first section is found footage edited together from news reports and public domain films. The scene lacks an ending, but what has been completed is presented. WORKPRINT AUDIO, UNCORRECTED AND GRAINY.
“The Calm intro”
October/November 2007
Written, directed, and edited by John D'Amico
Shot on Canon PowerShot500
The opening montage for an in-production film about three New Yorkers who wake up to find the City completely deserted. Scored by John Holowach.
“Roommate Abuse”
December 2007
Directed and edited by John D’Amico
Filmed on a Canon XL2
A short sketch filmed for Fordham University’s sketch comedy troupe.
Aliens Film Review
2005
Written by John D'Amico for ClassicSciFi.com Near as I can tell, it's the combination of rhythm, texture and sheer energy that makes this film. To explain, step by step:
Aliens is a masterpiece of the under looked art of sound design. It's is a true symphony of diagetic and non-diagetic sounds, and it is telling that I could listen to the motion trackers or the Power Loaders as easily as I could Mozart. The dialogue is spoken in an alternatively languid and frenetic pace -- half screamed, half muttered, that emulates the argument/counter-argument set-up of most classical music. Each actor is an instrument, providing a distinct cadence and pitch that blend together to form an almost musical script.
This is one of several dozen reviews written for www.ClassicSciFi.com, which helped make the site the 8th most visited science fiction site on the Internet according to Alexa.com.
Kevin Servo interview
February 2004
Conducted and transcribed by John D'Amico for ClassicSciFi.com Kevin Servo was one of four stars of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000," a parody science fiction show which ran for 11 years on public access, The Comedy Channel, and The Sci-fi Channel. in 2004, while still a sophomore in high school, I interviewed him for www.ClassicSciFi.com
Mike
October 2007
Photographed by John D'Amico 
Beachside restaurant at night, Ft. Lauderdale
December 2005
Photographed by John D'Amico 
Cardinal on a branch, Christmas
December 2005
Photographed by John D'Amico 
Sillhoutes under the Arc de Triomphe, digitally retouched
October 2005
Photographed by John D'Amico 
Champs-Élysées at night
October 2005
Photographed by John D'Amico 
Spider
June 2004
Photographed by John D'Amico  Seabird (set)
January 2002
Photographed by John D'Amico 
Waves at sunset, the North Atlantic
January 2002
Photographed by John D'Amico 
"The Guiding Light" monologue
December 2007 Written by John D'Amico Lines from a screenplay about a roadtrip to Pittsburgh in the midst of a pregnancy scare and an exam on Buddhism. EXT. BUS STOP - HILLSDALE – SUNSET The sun behind them, Eric and Justin are in shadow. Eric flicks his lighter. He pauses, then LIGHTS it. As he stares at the light, Eric muses. ERIC (letting it burn) You know, they say nirvana is like putting out a flame. That’s how they describe it. It’s that feeling when you give up desire, give up hope, give up fear. All those painful, tumultuous emotions blown out like a single flame. All that remains is supposed to be enlightenment. But that’s bullshit. All we are is a mass of fear, and hope, and desire. It’s the weight of a painful past, as much as the hope of a better future, that defines us and teaches us. To snuff that out is to snuff yourself out. Nirvana’s not enlightenment; it’s suicide, lobotomy.
"The Thunder's Mouth" scenes June 2006 Written by John D'Amico The first and second scenes of my unfinished screenplay adaptation of the life of Gideon Mantell. The second scene is the discovery the first ever fossilized dinosaur bone. EXT. CHALK QUARRY. TILGATE, SUSSEX – EARLY EVENING A deep, empty pit; muddy and brown in the blue moments after sunset. A soft haze of chalk-dust, migrating slowly in the breeze. Staggered cliffs as forty foot manmade walls. The effect is humbling, the feel of a cathedral – cold and powerful. Two young BOYS of about 10 or 11 CRAWL awkwardly down a rock face. One is clearly more enthused, scaling the cliffs as fast as he can. His friend is not so agile, and SLIPS a bit on his way down. By the time he reaches the base of the quarry, his friend is rooting feverishly through piles of broken rock on the ground. SLOWER BOY Gideon? Gideon, calm down. The other boy, who we’ve learned to be a young GIDEON MANTELL, pays no heed. The slower boy APPROACHES, intrigued by his friend’s zeal. He LEANS DOWN next to Mantell. SLOWER BOY What are you looking for? Mantell STOPS. Whatever it is, he has found it. He carefully PRIES a fist-sized, circular rock out of the pile. CU: THE ROCK WITH MANTELL’S HEAD IN BKGD. It is an Ammonite – a simple spiral seashell in the shape of a ram’s horn. It was, at one point, a Cephalopod. BACK TO SCENE: Mantel is transfixed. It is as though he’s seeing not a fossil, but a real creature, eons dead, sprung back to life. He LEANS IN and BLOWS DUST off of it, and in that moment, harkening back to the match-cut from Lawrence of Arabia, we CUT TO: EXT. SMALL FARMHOUSE. TILGATE, SUSSEX – MID AFTERNOON A single CARRIAGE stands idle and unoccupied. We hold on a still, straight-on view of the house, carriage, and brief stretch of road that separates them. The horses, bored, SHAKE their heads and PAW the ground periodically. Other than that, there is no movement. The only noise is the sounds of the horses and unseen birds TRILLING. Periodically throughout this shot, TITLE CARDS ON BLACK announce the film’s title and pertinent credits. They are given no special musical cues, and they, too, are visually static. After a time, the front door of the farmhouse OPENS, and a man with a black medical bag STEPS outside. It is Mantell. Now in his early 30s, with piercing brown eyes and a strong jaw, he’s a rather handsome man. He MEANDERS towards the carriage. As he approaches, a pile of quarry rocks on the ground piques his interest. He STOOPS DOWN and ROOTS THROUGH it. He is less fervent then when he was a boy, more methodical and scientific now. He retrieves what appears to be a half dozen or so long, square pebbles. He turns them over in his hands a few times. He continues on towards the carriage, periodically looking at the pebbles with a tempered, studied sort of interest. Upon reaching the carriage, he POCKETS them and RIDES OFF. INT. DIFFERENT HOUSE. LIVING ROOM - MINUTES LATER Not particularly large, but elegant. Fine furniture and shelves filled with medical books and all the classics. One shelf is stocked solely with fossil coral, ammonites, trilobites, and other early aquatic plants and animals. Gideon’s wife MARY ANN, a beautiful woman possessed of the same penetrating eyes as her husband, is teaching her eldest child, ELLEN, 4, how to read. One year old WALTER is nearby, asleep in his crib. They SPEAK quietly to each other until the door opens and Gideon enters, still looking at his pebbles. Mary Ann gets up to greet him in the FOYER. MARY ANN Gideon, where’s your bag? GIDEON (distantly, focused on the pebbles) Oh. I must’ve left it in the carriage. MARY ANN How is Mrs. Mandrake? GIDEON Pregnant. MARY ANN Gideon, that’s wonderful! Lionel must be so proud. GIDEON (still distant) Yes, we’ll have to get them some silverware or something. Gideon is still stuck on the pebble. MARY ANN What are those? GIDEON Mm? MARY ANN A new find? GIDEON Teeth. The answer seems to surprise even him. GIDEON (contemplative) They’re teeth.
"The Thunder's Mouth" death scene June 2006 Written by John D'Amico From the same screenplay; Gideon Mantell's death in 1852.
INT. MANTELL HOME. FOYER – NIGHT Gideon, gray and stooped, HOBBLES inside. The house is empty and, save for his candelabra, completely dark. He is a broken old man, now, clutching at a cheap cane with a look of incomprehensible sadness. His clothes are dirty and ill-fitting. He is a far, far cry from the excited young boy we saw climbing down quarry walls. He MOVES very slowly towards the staircase. He pauses at the base of it and looks up with trepidation. He PLACES his cane on the first stair and PUSHES himself up shakily. Then the second. Then the third, fourth, fifth, and somewhere around the middle he LOSES HIS BALANCE. His foot SLIDES off the ledge and he COMES DOWN FACEFIRST, with a sickening CRUNCH. He GROANS and wipes blood away from his nose. He tries to get BACK UP but cannot. After a few painful, frightened moments, he begins to CRAWL up the stairs. He CRAWLS into the bedroom, eyes burning with shame and rage. He PULLS himself up at the dresser and POURS himself a dose of opium. He LAYS DOWN on the bed, CLOSES his eyes, and quietly dies.
"Landscapes" monologue November 2004
Written by John D'Amico A monologue from an unfilmed screenplay, Landscapes, about a high school senior leaving for Iraq. This moment is from the scene in which he must say goodbye to his best friend. Graham looks across the street at a large constriction site. GRAHAM Remember the field that used to be there? DUTTON Some good times in there. I loved that gazebo in the high grass. GRAHAM And that giant oak, like, dead center in this huge field. DUTTON It was like a Monet. GRAHAM Closest I ever came to believing in god was looking at that tree. I remember the day they brought in the bulldozers and ripped all the apple trees out, and I was so relieved that that oak wasn’t torn down. The fucking apple trees were stacked like cordwood and the grass was all flattened and muddy, but that fucking oak was still sitting there amidst all this chaos. That’ll be some fucker’s backyard soon. If I sit under it now, it’s trespassing. See, you guys can forget about it, but me, whenever I look out the window I see a bulldozer. It's like living across from a graveyard.
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