For the Canadian citizens dropping by, I draw your attention to votearts2006.ca.
This is an important initiative to increase funding for Canadian Arts - it sounds like the political parties are verbally on board, but it can't hurt to tell candidates that this is a priority for you. Now is when they're at their most receptive and supportive!
For the new tax year, I've invested in several new toys for my computer:
- latest version of the Macromedia Suite - more RAM to boost my computer's performance to handle the most important item: - Final Cut Pro Studio
Can't wait to really dive in and play with the last, as I've been using Express for the last year, and couldn't open my own last edits on Coffee done on FC Pro at the Film Group. But I have to install the RAM first, and clear some regular memory - the install alone takes 4 Gigs, and they advise that 40 Gigs is required if I were to install all loops, samples and tutorials! That's insane, frankly. "I remember the day when..." we had 32K for the whole computer!
I'm taking a Film Studies course this term - Howard Curle's "Poetric Realism in American film from 1950". We've seen two films so far - Panic in the Streets and Little Fugitive. During the latter I couldn't help thinking (per Jonathan's comment recently that most films are too long) that it could easily have been a tight short film rather than a feature. The opening 5 minutes alone, establishing part of the story, was covered in 5 seconds of dialogue right after.
It'll be interesting to hear what the rest of the class thinks - I definitely heard some restlessness - tough film for modern attention spans. I am definitely drawn to the idea of using non-professional-actors and Real Faces and Real Places in films, though.
Video blogging is exposing me to some beautiful images and funny/poignant stories from non-professional videographers. It will be fascinating to see what happens to the lines between amateur, professional and artist as the form evolves.
From the "You know you're in Manitoba when" category, here's a picture I took last week at Fort Whyte Nature Centre:
On my trip I read Robert Rodriguez's excellent Rebel Without a Crew. Totally inspirational story of how he made El Mariachi on $7000 in 3 weeks, acting as Director, DP, sound guy and any other crew work that needed doing. He brought it to Hollywood and got an agent and contract in a couple of weeks - nuts.
Many interesting ideas. The main one is to just go ahead and start shooting. Don't wait for someone to give you money - shoot on whatever you have available and learn by doing. Practice shooting and editing. Make some "bad films" to warm up to your big project. The funny thing is he thought El Mariachi was a practice film. He keeps saying, "I would have taken more time if I knew people were going to see it."
So he's totally got me thinking about what it would take to shoot an indy feature. Andrew, my DP on Coffee, mentioned shooting a cheapy feature in Toronto over the course of a few weekends. With the availability of portable HD cameras, the main expenses would be renting equipment and feeding the crew. I was impressed with the lighting set-up on Sean Garrity's short in November - just set it up above and be done for the day. If I had a lot of outdoor shots, all the better. And need good microphones...
Rodriguez says and I agree: It's about story story story. If you have great stories, that trumps lighting, quality of video, etc.
His other main point was not to believe all the negativity about how it's impossible to Make It in This Business. Creative work will be appreciated by someone. I'm not convinced I want to work in Hollywood, but I definitely want to keep turning my stories into films. I'm really enjoying my SD300 (footage available on vlog soon). Wonder if I could shoot a short documentary on its highest quality setting? Also, have often thought of animation as a great way to eliminate the need for a crew...
Brain definitely buzzzzzing for the new year!
It's been fun to show people the near-finished version of the film. Good feedback. The funniest part is everyone has a different interpretation of the film. There's very little dialogue, so if they miss or disregard one line, a different storyline emerges. I don't mind this - I'm intrigued by it.
