Time to breathe, time to sleep...

...of this I have none. I'm writing this while I wait for a scene to finish rendering.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been wonderfully, deliciously, exhaustingly busy editing documentaries to be shown during the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival. I was originally given a piece on Circus Sarasota to edit (one hour from 8) and about halfway through, I was asked to cut together a three minute interview. Four days ago, I was given three books, two scratch tracks (place holders so I could do basic edits until the real sound bed arrived), a DVD, and some raw footage of a historical re-enactor and was asked to start putting together a 10-15 minute documentary on early Sarasota settler Bertha Palmer as well as edit a video set to a song about Ms. Palmer using everything at my disposal and to have them both ready for yesterday's screening. You read that right: yesterday's screening. For those keeping track, that was three days to edit two projects that used techniques and ratios and qualities that I've never used before while also working full time at my day job which is gearing up for the mainstream film festival for which I am head film projectionist. Three days ago, I finished the first cut of Circus Sarasota and it also screened yesterday. I don't know how that went, I was too busy flipping out about Bertha Palmer and going to the screening for Anathema. It must've gone okay, I didn't get any phone calls saying that the DVD screwed up.

Anyway, since I can't just reuse every photo over and over, that would drive me nuts, I scoured the internet looking for photos that would apply to the script. I have to hug the Library of Congress's Flickr stream and Wikimedia Commons for their incredible collections of public domain and Creative Commons photos. Fair Use is a little too gray for me, though, I have to say. I also scanned something like 65 photos for the project at what I thought was the appropriate size.

I finished the first cut of the Palmer project yesterday afternoon at the office (thank you Ampersand, my wonderful, wonderful MacBook Pro, for being AWESOME.) I exported normally and burned a DVD then took the disc downstairs to watch it on their TV and discovered that the render and encode did nothing to alleviate a fantastic moire effect on the photos I scanned, and a couple of the photos I found.

Merde (pardon my French.)

The editor sitting next to me working on another project suggested that I convert and de-interlace. It took something like two hours to encode, but it gave me a useable picture to get us through today's screening and I could go back and fix it for Sunday's. Great. It finishes, it burns, I check, all's well, I start and finish a rough cut of the music video, but it needs way more polishing before I can let it go out so at the Main Man's request, I create a screen wash for while people are seating using the song and the credits and a note that says that the music video will be shown on Sunday. I hand over all of that and, by that time, I have to head to work for my 6 pm shift.

Half an hour after I get there, I get a phone call, remarkably calm, from the Main Man saying that the DVD is screwed up. While he's sending someone to get the back-ups, I check my file and, lo! and behold!, there's a sound glitch 8 minutes into the project. The only other useable copy I have is the crappy moire'd version from earlier in the day, but it's on my computer and I don't have time to burn it. I arrange to leave the booth in my co-worker's hands while I take my computer over to the venue and hook it up to the projectors for the 7 pm screening. Thankfully, I have all of the connections we needed to get picture via the mini-display port and sound via the headphone jack. They have me play the screen wash after every one is seated (which I thought was a bit strange, but I'm also exhausted, so what do I know?) and then the movie. While it wasn't as pretty, it looked a heck of a lot better than I thought it would and if the gasps and laughs are anything to go by, the audience (a packed house) loved it! I received a couple of notes from the Main Man and the Main Woman, the producer and director of this project, things I already knew I had to fix (and one thing I had fixed between encodes, actually...) and then headed off to the screening for my film.

Yeah, A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema screened yesterday.

I have to say very quickly that while I love this festival, I think it's wonderful and lively, it's also packed with documentaries. Jam packed. I only know of four or five narrative films in the festival, but I haven't had much time to go over the programme as I've been busy. Anathema was surrounded by documentaries and with a name like "A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem", it's easy to confuse it for something of heady enlightenment and social significance. Whatever messages I have in it, and they're there, they're wrapped up in a 30 minute black and white silent Sci-Fi / Dark Fantasy film. That's a lot of strikes against it, not to mention the few little problems in it that endear it to me, but would annoy most people. I can't WAIT to do the feature version! (Yes, it'll be a talkie...though it's debatable about the colour aspect because man, I love the cinematography on that flick...)

The already small audience walked out fifteen minutes into the flick leaving just myself and Brian's friends in the theatre.

I've had people not show up before, and people have left before, but I've not had such a mass exodus in any of my previous screenings. Though it stings on that personal ego level, I'm really okay with it. I know, realistically, that not everyone, especially in the hometown, is going to dig what I put out there. The idea of an Asian descendant of Christ seems to be as strange to people as the thought that Jesus wasn't white, though I have to say that I didn't hire Eon because she's Asian, though that was a factor. She was well-prepared in the interview stage and her background brought something unique to the story. I don't cast for race, I cast for talent and spark. Eon has both.

I got giggles from Brian's friends in all the places that make me giggle, which is nice. Whether theirs were "haha this is crap" giggles or "teehee!" giggles (like mine) who knows, but they provided the reactions I was looking for.

A year on, though, I can see all the little things that I wish I could go back and fix, and will when I do the feature. With all of the crap that happened before the screening, how little sleep I've been getting, the twenty-hours days I've been putting in between the editing and the theatre, the screening itself, and all of the work still ahead of me on so little time, yesterday was just a really crappy day. On the bright side, however, the Fringe festival's projectionists are wonderful. It was, seriously, one of the best screenings visually that I've ever had. The ratio was displayed correctly and it was crisp and clean. That, right there, is HUGE. Also, it's always wonderful to see Brian again and his friends are awesome! Hopefully, we'll all work together! To quote Wil Wheaton, let's get excited and make things!

All in all, yesterday can go take a long walk off a short pier. Today, I'm back at it. The last screening for Bertha Palmer takes place at 1 pm on Sunday and I promised to have it in their hands at around noon that day. The Sarasota Film Festival starts properly tomorrow, but the opening night film is tonight at the Van Wezel. If anyone sees Kevin Kline, wave to him for me. I won't even get to see the back of his head. :(

The Sarasota Fringe Film Festival needs your help!

Full disclosure: Yes, A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema was rejected by the Sarasota Film Festival. That makes two films rejected by the hometown. When I know when my film is playing the Fringe, I'll, of course, let y'all know, too. I should also mention that I am a film projectionist for the Sarasota Film Festival.

If you want to call me bitter, you have every right to and maybe there's a little bit of me that is. I've been rejected by plenty of festivals and I've been accepted by a few. I'm okay with that. But there's a special sting in being rejected by the hometown festival, especially when it's the only one there is.

More than anything, though, I'm frustrated. It feels like Sarasota wants to be supportive of local filmmakers just so long as those local filmmakers fit their view of what is art. And if there are stars in the film that can be brought to Sarasota to be shown off like a fancy piece of jewelry. What frustrates me the most is that the programmers for Sarasota like to go to other festivals, specifically Sundance, and pick up films from there for their programming. I see so many stickers from Sundance as I build festival prints, it's not even funny. I understand that there's a lot of that that goes on on the festival circuit, I'd love to know the ratio of actual indie and local films to ones cherry picked from other festivals to be shown here in Sarasota.

Last year, the festival screwed up and sent out the rejection letters without BCC-ing the entire list of rejects so everyone knew who was rejected. A few of those filmmakers got together and arranged on short notice to have their own festival in the middle of a restaurant featuring as many of the rejected films as they could pull together from the list of filmmakers the festival practically handed to them. While it sounds kinda ghetto, and according to a friend whose film played there last year it kind of was, it's also genius. Most cities have multiple film festivals. This one really doesn't. There's no competition for the Sarasota Film Festival, nothing to keep it vital to the community of artists that live here, young or old.

Will every film be good? No.Of course not. You, dear reader, may not like my film. That's the nature of the beast. But not every film the Sarasota Film Festival brings in is good either. However, you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be some fine films in the Fringe festival that may not have gotten a chance to be seen otherwise because it looks cheap or you can see the boom mic or they used their mom as their lead actress or they just don't know any better and are brand new to the circuit or are consistently rejected from festivals for whatever reason. Without this exposure, this experience, some talented folks might not get seen.

I've played to empty rooms, well-attended theatre auditoriums, and jam-packed warehouse spaces. It doesn't really matter where you play so long as the work gets seen and filmmakers, no matter where they're from, always want their work to show in the hometown. Competition usually makes work better and there is no competition for the SFF. They've gotten complacent. Maybe the Fringe festival is exactly what is needed to shake them up a bit.

If you're so moved, you can give a minimum of $10 to the cause via Kickstarter. I've pledged $20. Only if they meet their goal of $5000 on that website will anyone be charged. If you're not so moved, at least come on out to the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival and check out the variety of films and filmmakers some good, some not good, but all made with heart.

"I must not fear. Fear is the Mind-Killer..."

Well, as I wait for the export to finish for the second video test of my film, I thought I'd finish the production round-up. When I opened up my mail programme to start the post, I received a note from Schmap: Denver that a photo I took in the Denver Airport on the way to Shockerfest is on the shortlist for inclusion in their travel guide. (Click here to see the photo they want to use.) Neat! Okay...where was I?

SUNDAY, 28 DECEMBER, 2008 -- the Holy Crap day:

We had a lot to do this day to make up for Saturday so we were hustling. Luckily, I have some really kick ass actors on my docket and not only did we get everything done that I had on my list, we even got a few things done that weren't scheduled until the following Sunday.

Howzabout THEM apples!

It was yet another early day. I'm a night owl so writing something that took place mainly in the day was really stupid of me, but only in that personal mumbled-grumble sort of way. We saved by not needing a lot of electricity, except for our one night shoot (which went splendedly though I discovered, as I edited the footage, that more light would have been better. The footage still looks great, it just doesn't quite have the kick of the rest of the stuff.)

We reshot the stuff we filmed of Rick on the first day since I wouldn't have his tailor-made costume which then lead to the hours upon hours of rotoscoping work, but I've finished that and it all looks beautiful considering my unskilled hand at this digital effects gig. We also had the first shoot out at the railroad tracks (such a beautiful location), our Payne Park shoot, and the stuff in the house back at Marguerite's wonderful and versatile property where we met Tom Noel Smith, who was playing Abner. I got the same reaction from him that Eon gave me when she realized that the film was silent. That really seems to trip people up that I would want to make a silent film! To be honest, I can't imagine trying to make this a talkie with my miniscule budget. When I have backing then it'll have sound. He was just about word perfect in his performance, too, but I think he got into the spirit of the project. It's not often actors these days get to use their entire body to tell a story or show an emotion and I wanted to experiment a little.

Anyway, we finished three hours ahead of schedule -- you read that right THREE HOURS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, even with all that we had to do that day -- so I got to go home and relax a little before having to go to bed.

We had one more week off before the final day of the shoot, SUNDAY, 4 JANUARY, 2009. This was the greenscreen and fight scene day with the majority of the day's work shot on Marguerite's property with one teeny tiny shot left to do on the railroad tracks, something I forgot the previous Sunday. I wasn't concerned. If we didn't get it that day, the only people needed for the shot were Chris and myself and we're both local.

Shawn set up the greenscreen frame and I started filming David's parts from the reschedule. Poor Michael was stuck in Orlando and couldn't make it until after David had to be at rehearsals so I went ahead and shot them separately deciding to fix it in post (if I never hear that phrase again, it'll be too soon...I just know I'll end up using it again sooner or later, however...) and then I took photographs of my assembled cast. Alana couldn't make it that day either, but I figured, "Well, if I shoot a little dark it won't matter and since Chris and Rick will be fighting and getting sweaty, there's no way to keep up on that so I'll just shoot anyway."

Worked out for the best since I didn't have to worry about their make-up and we could just plow through the sword fight. Yep, you read that right. Sword fight. I shot it with them going 1/3 speed and then fixed it in post. I think it looks great! I'm EXTREMELY happy with how the fight turned out as choreographed by Rick. And there were no flesh wounds!

Once we were done with the fight scene, we packed up and headed out for the final martini shot, the one by the railroad tracks where I kept thinking of the movie Stand By Me as Chris and I went to get the shot. It took a minute, was one take, no covering angles, and then we were done! Woohoo!

Now, it's time for post...

POST-PRODUCTION

Me, being smart, actually started editing during the first break in the shoot. That's why the rough cut was done pretty quickly. I knew that the special effects were going to be hell for me and I wanted to be done in time for the final deadline of the Sarasota Film Festival, but I don't think I'll make it. It's the 21st now and while I'm done with all of the special effects (I'm still deciding if I want to add sparks to the swordfight), I still have to tighten the cut, adjust timing on the title cards, and edit together the music. Now that the special effects are done, I can focus on communicating with my brother what I'd like to hear for the soundtrack. We're already off to a good start, though, so that's something. Assuming the festival doesn't implode this year, I can always enter it next year! This time, however, I can add that my first short film, which was rejected by my hometown, won an award in California...haha!

The special effects, which are way beyond my ken, took so bloody long because I ended up having to move every control point by hand for each frame. I'm calling this rotoscoping even though that might not be technically accurate, but I don't know what else to call it. There tended to be between 60 and 100 control points and between 40 and 228 frames. It took hours for what amounted to two seconds of screen time. (I shot at 24 frames per second, video is usually 30 frames a second.) I think it looks really pretty, though, so I can't complain too much. ;)

I think that tomorrow or the next day I'll start cutting the teaser and then we'll go from there. I'll post it when I'm done.

Thank y'all for your well-wishes! They have not gone unheard or without my gratitude!

My movie on the big screen!

My movie on the big screen!
Originally uploaded by Kimyoo Films

I got to have the thrill of my life last night when the technical director of the film festival for which I was a film projectionist consented to letting me watch Without / Within (and aftershock!) on the big screen.

It was unbelievably awesome and the movie, though it looks blown out in this photo, looked surprisingly good at that huge size. There were some problem areas, of course (the dark room scene looked terrible, but that's a problem I've had with red lighting in digital footage...) but still...surprisingly good.

As if I wasn't determined enough before to continue doing what I love, seeing my name on the screen, hearing my dialogue coming from the speakers, made me that much more so.



Look! It's JANINE!!!

Huge thanks, once again, must be sent out to Carolyn, Zachary, and Full Aperture Systems for allowing me to play my DVD through their equipment on the last day of the festival. That was incredibly cool of them and I appreciate it more than they could possibly know.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story and Diminished Capacity

Last year, I only got to watch one film in the festival, Snow Angels starring Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman (it wasn't all THAT good.) This year, I've made a more concentrated effort to see and do things during the festival. It's been far more difficult since we're going to have a major inspection at our theatre, but with a festival day off coinciding with a booth day off, I found myself with a whole day in which I could watch movies, if any caught my eye.

 

First, however, I had to deal with a red, swollen, painful right shin. Yep, on my day off, I spent half of it either at Sarasota Memorial's Walk In Clinic on University or at Sarasota Memorial itself as I received my first ever Ultrasound. This was of my leg to rule out blood clots. I also received my first shot in ten years: an antibiotic / lidocaine cocktail (the lidocaine was because the antibiotic apparently causes a lot of pain upon injection. Go figure.) The ultrasound was painful, too, but also really cool. I got to see what this skin holds in!

 

I have cellulitis, which is an infection of the skin and the tissue underneath. It could have been caused by anything. Since we're kicking up so much dust and crap in the booth in preparation for this inspection, I could have scratched my shin with unknowingly dirty nails, or bumped it, or scraped or cut myself shaving and gotten it that way. There's no visible point of entry. It's uncomfortable and I'm certainly feeling more pain now than before I got the shot, but at least with that, and the antibiotics I'll be picking up tomorrow, it'll get better soon.

 

Anyway, I was determined to see some movies at the festival, darn it and so I went in.

 

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story is about producer / director William Castle, the man behind the original versions of The Tingler, 13 Ghosts, and The House on Haunted Hill and dozens of other B-grade horror films from the fifties and sixties. His biggest film was Rosemary's Baby (he produced it.)

 

It was a very sweet, nostalgic documentary and a lot of fun to watch, especially if you've seen and liked the films he made or are into film history in general. Dark Castle (the production house set up specifically to remake his films and make a few originals) is NOT discussed. Just for your information...

 

Afterwards, I watched Diminished Capacity which stars Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, and Virginia Madsen. Broderick plays a man suffering from memory problems after receiving a "grade 3" concussion (I don't know what that means beyond 'a very bad thing for your brain') who is asked by his mother to convince his uncle, played wonderfully by Alan Alda, to check into an assisted living home. Alda instead convinces Broderick to take him to Chicago to sell an extremely rare baseball card. He agrees when he realizes that the high school crush (Virginia Madsen, and thank you for coming back to the silver screen, Ms. Madsen) for whom he still carries a torch is now single and wants to go to the Windy City to try and sell a painting of hers to a restaurant chain. Hilarity and poignancy ensue.

 

Oh! And fish write poetry.

 

This was a great film. Very funny and heartwarming with brilliant performances from everyone involved (and omigod yay Bobby Cannavale!) I highly recommend it.

 

I have a feeling this is the extent of the movie watching I'll be doing this year, but since I saw one more than last year, maybe that means I'll be able to see three movies next year!

An hour to spend.

you'll have to pardon any typos, I'm writing this on my cell phone.

I'm sitting outside the pizza parlour next to the theatre where the film festival is into it's third day a cold styrofoam cup of root beer and a warm cheese pizza as my company. i'm sitting next to a couple, a mother and son I assume, and the son is a filmmaker whose work just screened. I don't wish to intrude on their conversation, but sitting alone under an umbrella on such a beautiful day as this, it's hard to not overhear.

I don't do this very often, if at all; sit outside to eat lunch while the world whizzes past on various errands. I'm usually whizzing with them, concerned only with what I have to do that day or the next moment as if all life would end if I didn't get to work on time. truth is, we might actually be happier if we did this more often...sit alone with our thoughts, outside, eating pizza, in the hour before work.

I'm up and about so early and outside of my usual pattern because I wanted to participate in a workshop sponsored by Kodak, and free to the public, that taught about film...and let you shoot a scene using film. my group got to shoot on an Arriflex SR1, a camera that's only four years older than I am (that's 29 for those of you keeping track at home. I'm 29, not the camera.)



though it wasn't quite long enough, it was an amazing experience to use and run the Arri. A lot of what I learned today can be put to use with my digital video camera because of the features it has (Panasonic AVX100B - I love this camera.)

my boss was just outside, yelling in his half-joking snide way, that I should be upstairs. I think I'll sit out here a little longer, enjoying the time outside away from the dungeon of the booth. I have no where to be for the hour I have left to spend...