documentary

Press Whore! The Unfiltered Facts

sonnyboo — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:32:22 +0000

Okay, so week two of the COWTOWN FILM SERIES played out. Yes, we had a drastic increase in attendance. Over 100 people attended this week. It didn’t hurt that the Columbus Alive did a feature story and interview, as did Uweekly, the OSU print paper. See, I sent press releases about the COWTOWN FILM SERIES in early August, and then did follow ups at the very beginning of September for the Sept. 11th premiere. The early bird gets the worm, as they say.

Now, why both papers wanted to interview me, instead of the filmmakers that have movies playing escapes me, but press is press. I’m helping get attendance to THEIR movies, so it all works out. It’s not like I haven’t been pushing these filmmakers to get their own press. I’ve given pretty concise road maps since this summer on how to get these articles & interviews for themselves. So far, I think 2-3 might actually get some (or try to get) printed press on their own.

When doing short film festivals in the past, I would get angry about the apathy, but I think I’m past that. When you don’t promote, and no one shows up, I won’t be the one embarrassed. I’ll simply have that “I told you so” look and I might even skip out on the after party and not work hard to get anyone to head over to the bar. I want to align myself with winners, not losers. By this stage, the inhibitions and complete lack of ambition hardly can come as a surprise from some of the filmmakers whose work I present, especially when I do so much promotion for them already.

Since it’s predictable, I’m not sweating it. My focus & attention go to the ones who ARE way into this. Some of the directors of other movies are coming EVERY SINGLE WEEK and even some other filmmakers locally are making the Thursday night screening habitual. This makes me very happy. The number of these actors, directors, writers, etc. surprises me even more. There exists a core group of pros and semi-professionals who are looking to support each other, truly, in actions not hollow words.

One thing has been a constant in life and that is that one thing you can rely on is the unreliability of others. That’s why I take so much personal attention to press, but also presentation. Very few others have an interest in making a professional, good looking theatrical experience. I go to film festivals or meetings where the projector and DVD players are not tested, and nothing sucks the energy from the room like a group of people standing around, semi-silent, watching 3-4 people fumble with a not working projector or DVD player for 5-10 minutes. By then the momentum has been train-wrecked, and then when the movie plays, the mind-frame has been interrupted and it takes time to get back into it. It’s a Pavlovian response to the lights going down, the projector starting up…. So when the movie doesn’t actually start, you’ve set up anticipation, and then don’t pay off. It’s frustrating, at least for most people and not the best frame of mind for the voluntary suspension of disbelief that most movies rely on to be effective, especially amateur movies that stretch that suspension (or voluntary part) to its breaking point to get the ideas across.

I’m managing the COWTOWN FILM SERIES by myself. No one has contributed much to it because it doesn’t NEED much help. These kinds of events are not rocket science, nor do I have to put in more than 5-10 hours a week into it and that includes promotion. Now, the one regret I have was not getting a print shop as a sponsor. I wanted to get the flyers, postcards, and programs printed for free. As it is, I pay for the programs out of pocket. If we do another run of COWTOWN film premieres next year in early 2009, I will get not only a print shop to sponsor, but I think I can bag some TV time for free too.

I got in my JAG 35 lens adaptor. It works well, albeit I got what I paid for, but it will do what it needs to do. One problem, for me, is that the image inversion makes my life hell. The 35mm lens adaptor inverts the image upside down. So I can’t use the LCD screen, as it’s upside down and I just cannot adapt to that. I ordered a $50 7” LCD screen that I’ll mount upside down on top of the camera. It will arrive on Tuesday, so I can play with it more. So far, I’ve only tested it indoors with pop cans and minimal lights looking at a big monitor, with the camera upside down. The wrack-focus and depth of field effects are amazing. I will use this thing to powerful effect soon enough…My ASPECT HD codec can invert the image right-side up free of charge when I digitize.

The Columbus Alive interviewers asked a lot about HORRORS OF WAR. I can think of no topic I’m more sick of discussing. That makes editing on the documentary about the making of the movie, still being pushed to a back burner, even though the clock is ticking.

I have re-loaded my AVID XPRESS PRO projects and started to sort out outtakes and demonstrative footage for the documentary sections that have been half-cut and need B-Roll to finish. I knew I wanted to start the documentary, as a feature length doc that is, in a less “flashy” softer, subtle, slower open. I now know how to open the movie, which is a big step to seeing the whole project finished. The goal with the feature length version will be in trying to make it a broader, more generalized approach as to how we made an independent film, although I love the stories and little things. Those carry the most weight to me, as I’m trying to make a movie that I want to see, not necessarily one that anyone else will.

I love the documentaries and DVD extras for things like Peter Jackson’s THE FIGHTENERS (4 hours long) and the LORD OF THE RINGS (nearly 6 hours for each of the 3 movies, plus newer 90 minute docs for each of the 3 movies), and HEART OF DARKNESS with Francis Ford Coppola or FULL TILT BOOGIE with FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. The drama behind the camera, the camaraderie of the cast and crew, the creative process of various people in any department – THOSE are the things I like to see and hear. That’s the basis of the film to me. So it’s 50% interviews and stories, and 50% “fly on the wall” documentation to make a hybrid movie that combines my two completely different styles of filmmaking documentaries.

I’m hoping to replicate and sell DVD’s of this documentary when I’m finished. If I add the Filmmaking Tips, and other bits, it will be marketed more as a “Film School DVD” type thing, but also as the supplement disc that the movie didn’t get.

Time to get back to the grind of commercial work. “V” is NOT happy about the time I spend abroad. He’s taken to waking me up earlier and earlier trying to get his playtime with me before I head into the universe outside the walls of Rossdonia.

Peace out Amigos!
Rossifer

robk Film News

robk — Tue, 20 May 2008 05:40:27 +0000

Hola Karma critters! Long time, no bloggity-blog.

I've been absent from KC for a long damn time, which pretty much means I suck. Still, I gotta say that it's good to stop by after all these months and see you fine people doing so well. -- KC looks great, Marco! So huge kudos to you and all your hard work. OTL is long gone, both the show and the site, yet Karma Critic proudly lives on! Very cool.

So aside from stopping in to say "hi," this visit also involves a bit of shameless self promotion...

It so happens that Nerdcore For Life, a film I co-produced with a guy named Dan Lamoureux, will be showing in the Seattle True Independent Film Festival next month. A feature documentary, Nerdcore For Life examines Nerdcore Hip-Hop... rap music created by nerds and for nerds... taking the viewer on a journey though the Nerdcore scene, its many characters, feuds and quirky origins.

Screenings are:

7pm Thursday June 11th
1:30pm Sunday, June 15th

(and here's the fest's website: http://trueindependent.org/index.htm...)

No idea whether or not I will be able to attend (due to work obligations). But if any of you are in the Seattle area, or are planning to attend STIFF, I'd like to welcome you to see our doc. And afterwards there will be a concert with some of the Nerdccre rappers themselves. Oh, and booze drinks... always booze drinks!!

Take care, 'yall
- ROBK

NERDCORE FOR LIFE (Trailer on YouTube)

Origami and the Evils of Saki

sonnyboo — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:34:00 +0000

I may get to go to Japan this summer. I’ve been invited to participate as an instructor in a Japanese Film Boot Camp type event. An all expenses paid trip to Japan…. Yeah, I might be interested in that. My book has made waves with the English speaking film-peeps in Japan. How cool will that be if we can get the deal ironed out? Let’s say I’m not going to be too picky in my salary demands.

Well, we’re working on the footage now for the documentary for My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and the footage looks amazing thanks to Gil . Time to geek out on ya’ll and let’s say that choosing to shoot on the portable hard drive recorder paid off in spades. No lengthy real time digitizing of footage. I bought a firewire card for my laptop and transferred everything over to a portable USB drive and we then kept it on that drive for back up as I moved it to my main editing machine at home. Then I did the converting to the Cineform Aspect HD codec with their little stand alone program. It uprezzed the footage from 1280x720 to 1920x1080 and removed the 3:2 pulldown automatically as it conformed it to the new AVI format from M2T. The process took about 8 hours, but it was a batch process and we didn’t have to baby-sit it (except when “V” pressed the space bar to get attention).

Now we’re into the “Logging” portion of the edit. That is we went very non-linear in the storytelling and questions with out subject. We jumped around a lot and even asked clarification questions on the 2nd day from the 1st day’s shoot. Now we’re organizing every frame of footage of the interview into bins and naming the sub-clips appropriately. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ has been dutifully accommodating and she’s doing the first few passes of the edits from Assembly to Fine Cut. We may consider making an hour long version of this for PBS, both regionally and possibly nationally. We’ll have a full 1080P final version by the end, so it’s possible to get it done.

One more Uncle Pete short to complete. I’ve had the backgrounds for this one since we did episode 1, but I still don’t have the free time I once had to dedicate to personal projects. Making money and giving so much of my time and skills can kill the inspirado. I just feel like the economy crashing has not bottomed out and we don’t have any idea how long this might last. The film/video business gets cut first on most company’s budgets. We have few projects on the horizon and that’s both good and bad. I can finally get back to what I WANT to do, but at the cost of financial stability. There are some big pay days coming in soon from recent gigs and I intend on paying the bills ahead. I think I’ll pay the condo fees for most of the rest of the year in one shot. I have been over paying on all the utilities lately, but I will still try to do that because it just feels like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I got the video from my appearance on INDIEFLIX , a TV show on Cox Cable in Cleveland. It was a fun show to do and the interviewers were good. I don’t really promote anything in particular, but it was cool to plug the books and the DVD’s. For anyone looking to promote their filmmaking, this show makes a nice promo piece for yourself... if you’re into that sort of thing… like getting press and your work seen by more people. Not everyone is into that, but hey who am I to judge (aside from having common sense). When I see this, I can’t focus on a single word being said because I fixate on the burly man beard I sport therein. What a dork!

Last weekend we went to the big premiere of JOHNNY WU’s THE RAPTURE at the Ohio Independent Film Festival and the reception afterwards. I had a blast as I know more people in Cleveland than I remember. Johnny throws a classy soirée and we crashed at a Motel 6 on the way home since we closed out the party at 3:30AM.

Not much else of relevance going on. The cats are doing their own thing. “V” seems to be handling our weekends away much better. Maybe he’s maturing, or maybe not. The other night he let me hold him for over 20 minutes, which is maybe an all time record. Ever since we had him snipped, he hasn’t let anyone hold him consistently for more than 2-3 minutes. Not since the young days when he would pass out on my shoulder has be been so docile and loving towards anything. He’s my pal even though he scratches the hell out of everything including our skin.

I’ve got three edit sessions tomorrow with paid clients. Very unlikely I’ll get to Uncle Pete #8. Maybe next week. So far I have very little work to do next week, but then again I didn’t have anything scheduled this week either. Is it selfish of me to hope for a temporary crash of the economy so I can get caught up on watching movies and writing scripts? I dunno…

As always,
Your faithful narrator

Sharkwater

Turzman — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:13:06 +0000

The barbaric practices of the shark-finning industry are criticised in this award-winning film that combines hidden-camera footage of the atrocious treatment of sharks with glorious underwater footage of the predators from first time documentarian Rob Stewart.

Biologically speaking, there's nothing new here. The intro offers a rudimentary desciption of sharks not uncommon with your basic Discovery channel doc, but the focus is on the degredation of shark populations and its effect on aquatic eco-systems. Specifically, shark fishing is targeted here, and Stewart teams up with a Greenpeace-like organization that motors around the world's oceans, making life difficult for fishermen with lees than moral scruples.

The term, "in-depth" isn't quite correct here, because only the surface of the fin industry is scratched. Strewart was able to sneak a camera into a Costa Rican shark fin "holding area," and there is ample footage of the act itself out on the water. But how, exactly the fins get from waterfront warehouses to restaurants around the world is still unknown, despite being illegal in 16 countries.

But there is brutality aplenty, as we see the bodies of finless, tail-less sharks being dumped back into the ocean, still alive, to die probably of suffocation before they are picked apart by every little nibbler in the sea. Stuff like this, simply put, defines "cruelty."

But this yin certainly has a yang, for Sharkwater isn't just a bloody orgy of shark-fucking. No, there is some majestic underwater footage of sharks doing what they do best, showing that Stewart has a very keen eye when looking through a viewfinder. Coupled with the fact that it is underwater, free swimming with sharks, even the most established of DP's must appreciate the fruits of this labor.

This is a film that can be appreciated even if you're not a shark freak like me. Anyone who can appreciate a good doc will love this film. ANd it wouldn't hurt a non-shark freak to get a little education about the ocean's top predator. When seals hunt for fish, they are just as predatory and implement similar tactics as sharks, yet they are protected. Herman Mellville depicted the sperm whale as a monster, but with a little observation and understanding, it became clear that whales are hardly dangerous (to humans) so they are protected. What Sharkwater suggests is the same thing for sharks. A little bit of observation, education and undestanding may lead humans to believe that "just because they're scary" is not reason enough to slaughter sharks to the brink of extinction.

The Making of THE SHINING

FableForge — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:27:41 +0000

Hey people.

What a jewel I found today. I cant believe I hadn't seen this before. Its a documentary, a "behind the scenes" look at the making of THE SHINING, by the director's own daughter.

I ENJOYED this. Nicholson is a STAR... notice the charisma that just... flows out of this person, I wonder if he even tries. And Kubrick is a genius. Just listening to him talk, and plan a shot.... man.

Anyway, watch this. Some of the most educational 45 minutes you'll ever spend today :)

Into Great Silence

Espektro — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:14:50 +0000

Hello critters!. Documentaries offers most of the time the POV of the author instead the reality they pretend to show us. Editing is wizardry, it can rise or crack impressions in the audience by using music, dialogues and video in the right order to bang your mind. But for the new Philip Gröning's film, this is not the case.

INTO THE GREAT SILENCE is a documentary about the life inside a charthusian monastery in the french alps. The project started 20 years ago and now is rolling on film fests arround the world, coming soon to your nearest theater I asume (see the youtube US trailer at the bottom of this post). Most of the critics qualify this as an enchanting, hypnotic, introspective movie, a travel trough time and nature using the silence as your vehicle. Only a few gregorian chants and short dialogues inserted into a 3 hour film (yup, 3 hours of silence... incredible isn't? but not boring at all) full of close ups to the life style of this millenary monastery. The most radicals qualify it as a catholic movie, but it goes beyond the labels and has nothing to do with dogmas. Maybe works as a counterpoint for JESUS CAMP (posted by Fableforge) showing a different perception about religion and the human relations with the existence sourrounding us. Not fanatism, but a personal compromise with God. Not about heaven or hell, but life on earth.

Gröning walked the path of the true documentarist by inserting himself into the reality he wanted to portrait on the film instead of just watching from the above, living as a chartusian himself and acomplishing with all the routines and rules inside the monastery. He concludes there's a huge space for individuality inside the monastery, despiting the first impression you could have about a medieval order with medieval rules surviving in the XXI century.

If you have the chance, rent it, download it (paying for it of course) or go to your theater. Watching a film turns into a personal experiencie, and this is a very deep one.

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/

Degenerates Denigrating the Defeatist Turpitude

sonnyboo — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 03:42:18 +0000

Well my acolytes, 'tis a dark night. The moon has passed into shadow, and the demons of the past arise. I speak of course about the fact that Kelsey Grammar has a new sitcom and Charlie Sheen still has a highly rated show on Television.

When last I wrote, I spoke of the locally produced documentary COLUMBUS IN FOCUS, a doc about the local film scene and some of its filmmakers. The documentary spawned a single negative review, but several positive ones. In the maelstrom of postings about the Columbus film scene as it stands and where it has been – one thing cannot be denied. Columbus filmmakers like a good fight.

If you look at the last 7 years, it becomes abundantly clear that the people in our film scene invariably watch, participate, or comment on all the petty battles, both large and small. On OhioFilmandVideo.com, people you could watch the number of people viewing threads swell in great numbers whenever a tiff would occur. When the epic battles ensued, the views would go into the thousands. The same happens today. The only surge on that old site in the last year is when the moderators allowed people to bash anonymously and go crazy on some guy, although he deserved his licks; it was not the proudest moment.

After the bad review of COLUMBUS IN FOCUS appeared on this site, the mighty KARMACRITIC.COM This very site, no less than 7 filmmakers from Columbus joined the site and most of them participated in the discussion and flat out fighting about the views and opinions. I mentioned this here site and its benefits on the Columbus forums many weeks ago. Only a single filmmaker joined the site after that. Someone posts the equivalent of screaming "Fight! Fight!" in a high school cafeteria, suddenly 7-10 filmmakers suddenly decide to join the site, ignore the benefits and community – just want to either take part in the fight or spectate with front row seats.

Now I love a good debate, but fighting is another matter. Stick to the issues, please. It's not personal. I had a wonderful debate with Sean McHenry, Deep Blue Edit, and we never devolved into name calling or getting personal, no matter how heated our discussion got. At the end of the day, we can shake hands (literally and figuratively), so I feel like there's some hope, even in our dark Ohio State Buckeyes Scarlet and Grey stained hearts.

What was brought up once more was my alleged responsibility as a "leader" in this city's film community. I'm not a leader. Perhaps I fancied such things 5 long years ago, but not any more. I want to make films. The End. I have no responsibility to do or say anything except make my movies and let people know about them. I find anyone who looks up to me or views me as a leader as foolish.
I'm just some yahoo making movies and I'm really only in this to make my movies. I help some people when the mood strikes me or if someone asks, but really I'm in this for me. I don't pretend to be a saint or some philanthropist. In many ways, I'm sure I'm an ass to people, but who the hell said I had to be anything else? I don't recall seeing a contract stating that by being a filmmaker I had any obligation to help or do anything for anyone. I do what little I do for other people because I feel compelled to. There isn't anything deeper or more to it than that.

Let's move on shall we? I brought the assistant editors together tonight for a pow-wow on how to best attack and start cutting The Derek's movie ETERNAL. We have a game plan, and cutting starts tomorrow. I figure with 4-5 nights a week cutting, we can expect to get a lot done in less time. Much like GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND, my role will be more of a "Post Production Supervisor" until the assembly is done. Then I'll step up to the plate and get more involved creatively and time-wise myself.

Things are moving slower on the mini-project shoot I did. Since the main deadline passed (hey, thanks Dennis!!! Just kidding), I am in less of a rush and I want to do a few things more professionally on this project. I will take my time and wait until I have tweaked and played around with it more. I'm working with John Whitney as an editor and it's a different experience to collaborate on something I normally would do entirely myself – now working with someone else. I don't mind the mixed schedules, it's the creative control. I really don't mind and that's funny to me. I thought I'd freak out or just be itching to grab the footage and tinker. I really really don't. I expect by early November, this will be public, at least some of it will be.

I have to re-edit and tweak one of my MOVIEMAKER TECHNIQUE videos for VIDEOMAKER MAGAZINE. I'm adapting one of the videos for my first article with them. I think it's cool to be a freelance writer. I'm a professional writer again.

I have two feature films in mind for 2008. I have been debating for some time which one to go for first. The one with the lower budget seems to be winning out, less because of money and more because of how it will be shot. During my tenure tagging TV spots, I had one of those divine inspirations in terms of marketing, so that tipped the scales heavily in favor of the 2nd feature. My mind is rapidly coming to closure on the commitment. I have held off so that I can just feel what will be "right". This idea looks like the most ripe and in a month it might be ready to fall off the tree and we'll get married.

Another thing that cinched it was the shoot I just did. If I can use aspects of what went right as a model, then this is do-able, shooting on weekends with my limited budget already available to me. I won't have to quit my job, and work around it. I can continue to make money and not give up my whole life as I did before with HORRORS OF WAR. This will be a less ambitious project, but with more control with me, especially where the marketing and selling will be concerned. Had I had this idea, I would have made this before HORRORS OF WAR, but sadly it was conceived of much later. In this case, I will also take a solid 6 months or more to post it. Post production often gets mishandled due to deadlines. I'm a self motivator (no really), and so it will be finished, but I need to let it take its natural course. In many ways, even in the case of a comedy, perhaps even more so with a comedy, you need to find the movie inside what you shoot, and chisel away in editing and re-examine what works and what doesn't over and over again.

That's basically where I'm at. Work is work. I'm burning out, but it's not so bad. I looked at my bank account today, and I'm not dying. I'm not rich by any stretch, but I don't struggle have the dry spells that occasionally plague freelancers.

One last thing. I'm still fascinated with the crazy people who obsess over your faithful narrator. I guess it's because I don't view myself as someone worthy of much attention. These blogs are really just mini-journals for my own edification and for a few friends. I find it fascinating to look at my webstats and see so many repeat readers. Some individuals read the same blogs dozens of times in one day. I think I've re-read my blogs maybe 3-4 times. I'm not that obsessed with me, and I am my own 1 fan! Maybe I'm not and I don't realize it.

I am fascinated with obsessions over someone like me, who hasn't really done anything that spectacular or original. I set modest, obtainable goals. When I achieve them, I definitely pat myself on the back, but I don't think that's arrogant. I am proud of my achievements, but they are admittedly small. Is that really so wrong? I'm not doing it to seek the accolades; I do it for business reasons.

It is very true that projecting an image of success will result in other people seeing you in that light. It's hardly a deception, as I am not lying or saying I'm doing something that I am not doing, IE winning awards, getting distribution, etc. What it comes down to is the pessimist versus optimist argument that plagues humanity through all its days. Some people will look at these little accomplishments and say, "These aren't very significant!" and other people will view the same things and go, "Congratulations! That's great!" Which one are you and why? I have found in my own quest to be a filmmaker, there are more optimists in the actual film industry and more pessimists in the local film community. Which one should matter more to me? <>

I dislike experimental films. I don't detest them, but they aren't really original and they are full of clichés. In 2001, using all the underexposed film from the original black & white BITTER OLD MAN shoot, I hobbled together a spoof of an avant garde, experimental film. Originally I called it THE Bitter Old man. Seeing a temporary gap in Sonnyboo Entertainment, also known as "BOO-TAINMENT --", I digitized my only copy of this atrocity and put it online on a few sites. I trimmed about :45 seconds out of it and changed the title to "THE DEATH OF SONNYBOO " since I thought the title would be provocative and the footage shows my little ginger-bread man mascot committing suicide off a bridge.

Strangely, many people gave it genuine reviews. On Sony Pictures' CRACKLE.COM, I even won the EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD for today October 1st. How's that for an unexpected surprise? That makes my awards count on their site at 40, as in 4-0, double digits. The views are in the 20+ millions. If anyone wants to make a competition out of short films, that's 40 awards, and 20+ million views. Does that really make me a better filmmaker than anyone else? Does that somehow make the movies themselves "better"? I think not. You can excel in filmmaking without having an antagonist. Not everyone can, apparently, but it is possible. I wasn't even trying to get this fake short in a contest, and yet I won an award today. Funny. I hate competition, yet I won.

The world is a wacky place. No two ways about it. WACKY

Peace to the acolytes, and gentle curses to the wierdos

- Peter John Ross

Untitled, United, and Uncouth

sonnyboo — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:24:07 +0000

So I finally got to see the documentary that’s been editing in my basement for the last 4 months (COLUMBUS IN FOCUS). I think the guys did an admirable job. The original intent was to be a “behind the scenes” of the REEL BUCKEYE feature called “THREE EASY PAYMENTS” but became a study of the local Columbus film scene as a whole over the last 25 years.

I got interviewed over a year ago and then I gave them a list of other filmmakers and teachers I thought might be able to contribute something. They also found a ton of other people that have been around for years making films. The film had several high points, not the least of which was how Sheldon Gleisser imparted his usual wisdom peppered with cynicism (especially in regards to the death of celluloid). Then there was William Lee, one of the most prolific and constantly churning out features for damn near 30 years.

The death of the film school at Ohio State in the early 1990’s (a debate on the year is somewhere between 1991-1992) featured prominently. It’s pretty unanimous that everyone feels that one of the largest universities on the planet, “THE” Ohio State University, needs to have a film production class, nonetheless major. Cracking the bureaucracy of said university seems to be the real problem. If REEL BUCKEYE is any indication, it’s not a lack of interest from the students. Several hundred students fight to make their own mixed major Film studies program and then participate extracurricular on the movies in various capacities.

I think if the students, especially the girl who produced THREE EASY PAYMENTS, Amira Soliman, tries to crack the wall, I think they have a real shot at making it happen. She seemed to have perseverance and determination. A fully active film school could be so positive in terms of resources, trained & interested individuals, and there can be no downside.

Overall, the movie had some focus issues, but overall, I liked it and its message. There seems to be a genuine interest for most people in seeing the Columbus film scene succeed and no one had to bash anyone else to get ahead. Even the Q&A after the screening, where some of the cities oldest working filmmakers got together on one stage were courteous and respectful to one another. The ideas stayed positive the entire time from the audience and the stage. My sole regret in my interview was saying that the ONLY reason we shot film was because of its value in the sales end of the film, but that wasn’t true. It was an artistic choice because for a WWII era storyline, shooting video would inherently feel “wrong” and the audience would have a harder time getting into the story.

I guess you can be a glass is half full or a glass is the object that I hold responsible because I don’t want to do what it takes to make my dreams come true. Which one are you? I understand that sometimes baby needs a bottle and it feels cathartic to whine and cry, but sooner or later you actually have to do something to change your situation. Otherwise, it’s better if you make the best of what you have and make movies.

I saw my rough cuts from my shoot. This is not a typical project, so it will be a less conventional post production in some regards. It’s hard to edit to a phone conversation when the other side of the conversation hasn’t been written or recorded yet. I’m going into the studio to record several bits tonight so that some of these can be finalized ASAP.

My initial plan may get put on the side. I have a new fan. Someone at Yahoo Video likes my shorts, so I’m starting to get some attention there. It’s not like Grouper/Crackle where I have several MILLION views, but tens of thousands of views is not something to scoff at either. I feel a few marketing pushes coming on. I have not marketed like I used to in some time, partly because I work so much, also in part because I have had little to promote. The entire month of October will be about HORRORS OF WAR and the N. American DVD release. I have a few surprises in mind for that. My hope is to make the DVD release something that will get some notice, especially in the local media.

I tried to take today off work, but I had to go in anyway. I had 2 more TV spots to lay to Beta tape, and then I had to set up the main machine to take an analog signal from the DVCAM machine. There was something wrong in that the project was set for HD instead of SD, so after 10 minutes of tinkering, I got the project set up properly and I was able to try to come home and get some peace.

When I accepted this assignment to be an editor, I had forgotten how much I got down on my own stuff because I had the time and the inclination. At this point, I get home and I don’t want to edit or work on video projects because I’m fried and I did that all day long. If I can get my work load down, then I can find that balance for both. Part of that might be in that I have my portable 750 Gig Drive to haul to and from work with all my own projects mirrored on it, both as back up and also in case I work in some editing while at work in between jobs.

I’m putting together the editorial team for ETERNAL, the Derek’s movie. It’s been put off to the side and I won’t let it fall of the plate. I’m gonna turn the heat up and see if I can get editors in here 4-5 nights a week for a while and get this finished up. Once we reach a certain point, I can swoop in and start to re-work scenes or play with structure, etc. It’s that initial assembly that seems like an insurmountable climb, but with a group of motivated individuals, you can do anything. Teamwork creates a synergistic ball of enthusiasm and together there is NOTHING you can’t do. Nothing.

We’ve entered a serious Peter Gabriel phase for music. I got his 2002 album called “UP” and it was one of the most down sets of music I ever heard. That’s not bad per se, but if you want happy music, this ain’t the disc. I did get the 2 different DVD’s of concerts from this era and they had a great little documentary by his daughter and served as a “Family Portrait” since his other daughter Melanie was a back up singer. I developed a crush on little Melanie, but was it her or the Dolby Digital ™ 5.1 surround mix?

I managed to get my 5.1 surround sound system working again. I had to downgrade for a while to regular surround, which isn’t bad, but knowing and constantly reading about how great the sound mixes are…. And also believing that sound is 50% of the experience to any movie… I was going a little bonkers inside. I got the coaxial digital input to work, which was a first. So even when I thought I had 5.1 surround before, I really didn’t. Now I have true digital surround. I inaugurated the sound system with the 5.1 surround digital CD of the Beatles Love album. Whoa Nelly Furtado! What an amazing sound!

I followed this up with a screening of TROY: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT. I thought the original was dehydrated dog poo, They re-cut every single scene as if it were a new movie and they made a vastly better movie. Then Monday night I put in Quentin Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF: EXTENDED AND UNRATED DVD cut. I liked it a lot in GRINDHOUSE in the theatre, and this version was even better. I think if his name didn’t rhyme with “Barantino” no studio on earth would let his movies be so chatty and without action for so long. That’s not a criticism since I love his dialogue, but no one else can get away with that anymore.

I got 2 new pairs of VANS in the mail. I have not purchased SLIP ONS since the 1980’s. Here’s the wonder of the Internet. I write these blogs as a form of journal. I know of a few close personal friends who read this. It’s a way of not taking 7-10 hours a day talking on the phone or saying the exact same boring stories about my new shoes.

So to my acolytes, I say stay out of the ocean during jellyfish season.

- The Real PJR, accept no substitute

DOS CERO UNO

yorkhdez — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:42:11 +0000

This is a shortfilm documentary about the mexican soldiers who fought in the Second World War. I did this film as part of a film production course more than 1 year ago.

I am sorry but by now it is in spanish languaje, I will try to make english subtitles soon.

Enjoy!!

Evil Clown

knack4film — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:45:47 +0000

This had a lot of potential, unfortunately we didnt get it into festivals like we should've. Mike Dobson's cartoon is amazing though and is now available on You Tube and MySpace, it's no longer titled Carnage, now titled Siobhan. He's an amazingly talented animator. I was Production Manager/Editor on this and it was a big workout for mildly small budget project. Learned a lot on this film.