Grant Happy

I'm whipping up two grants that are due Friday - one for Manitoba Arts Council (screenwriting) and one for Canada Council (new media). For both I am what is called an "emerging artist" - someone who has had some training and done some projects, but is not yet a Professional. Can I just say how much I LOVE and appreciate Canada's support of the arts? In the States, if you are very lucky and very definitely a professional, you might be able to get some funding, but I've never heard of funding for new artists.

I might be one of the few people who enjoys writing grants. Completing the forms and writing the essays forces me to articulate what it is I want to do, why I want to do it, and why I think it's worth doing. It also forces/allows me to define myself as an Artist, and to describe all the projects and training I've been working on - giving me an opportunity to see how far I've come in the last 2-3 years. Plus, it makes me focus - I've now done research and written an outline for a feature-length film that was before just a scribble of an idea. And whether or not I get the funding, now that I have the Plans mapped out more fully, I will make these projects happen!

In other exciting news, this afternoon I transferred the DV tape from the lab (they developed it from the 16mm and put it on digital tape) to my portable hard drive to bring home - I might have to not load it up here until those applications are done or near done - I'm totally pumped to get into the editing process - watching the footage in real time really got me thinking about what shots I want to use where. It's all gorgeous, thanks to my crew and cast!

Looks Good! Sounds Good!

Shew. Finally had a chance yesterday to go see the footage returned from the lab and hear a bit of the recordings rescued from the digital nagra. A big relief that there's no strange line down the middle of the frame or distortion on the audio.

In general, I'm really pleased. The outdoor stuff is gorgeous, the actors come across great. My only concern is the colours inside - not quite as vibrant as I'd hoped. I'll talk to my Director of Photography about that - see what he was going for. Since I'm finishing on digital, I can play around with it a bit.

It's been funny to me how many people aren't aware of the editing stage. They figure I'm "done" now that I've finished shooting and they'll be able to see it in a week or two. I'm reading a great book of interviews with editors - First Cut by Gabriella Oldham. They talk a lot about the anonymity of being an editor - a blessing and a frustration.

Won't get a chance to really dive into editing until next week, when I go back to the film group's lab to actually batch capture the 50 minutes of footage (!! 10:1 ratio for a 5 minute film - maybe I have 6 minutes...) Then I'll copy the files over to my hard drive and take it home to start editing there.

That leaves my weekend free to catch up on email and work on some web projects - will post them when they are live.

Agreed to be Assistant Director on a short film in a few weeks for my friend Jeff Bruyere - he was the Art Director on Coffee Maker. I'm looking forward to that - should be a fun shoot.

In Limbo

I’m about half-way through a tri-state tour of Midwestern USA (IL, IN, & OH). Probably for the best that I’m not in Winnipeg right now, checking in each day at the Film Group. “Is my film back yet? Is it back yet?” My DP got a call from the lab last week, so at least I know it made it that far and there was something on the film for them to see.

The trip has been fun, but it’s odd to be on such variable sleep/eat/be/focus time. Hoping that once I get home, I’ll be able to get back into a rhythm of working on My Projects in the mornings and going to the Day Job in the afternoons. The summer has involved so much travel and special activities, that I’ve probably only had my Ideal Schedule less than half the time.

But it’s great to see friends, to fulfill that priority to myself. And got a new perspective on Chicago, a place I’d visited a few times before:






(the reflection is from inside “the bean” pictured above - a groovy interactive sculpture in Millenium Park).

In Light of Recent Events

Last weekend the hurricane in the South was a blip in the back of my mind, but as events unfolded this week, I found myself caught up in the horror of those who remain trapped and desperate in the New Orleans region.

In that dark mode, how to justify something as "meaningless" as creating art?

But then I remember our mission in life is to help each other make it through.

A vaccuum has been created, devoid of not just Law and Structure, but hope and joy. We must do what we can to fill that void with hope and love and kindness and joy and yes, beauty and art, even in, especially in, the face of despair and fear. We must bring light to a world that threatens sometimes to be consumed by darkness.

If you haven't chosen a place to donate, I recommend the Houston Food Bank. Because of their partnerships, a $1 donation buys about $5 worth of groceries, and a $100 donation buys almost 4000 meals.

Earlier this year, I came across this poem by Jack Gilbert, Refusing Heaven, and it says it all to me:

A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.

If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.

If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come.