.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

BrainStorm

Creating Media of All Kinds

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Premiere for Coffee


I'm exceedingly happy to report that The Coffee Maker will have its premiere at the Winnipeg International Film Festival, to be held June 8-11. As soon as I know the exact screening time, I will post it and send out a mass-email.

I'm pleased that the premiere will be here in Winnipeg, so that everyone who worked on it (and my friends and other interested parties) can go. Still waiting to hear from several other festivals, and need to send off some more apps. But it's good to have one festival as a for-sure.


Friday, May 12, 2006

Writing Weekend

Last weekend was an editing weekend, taking all the recordings from the They Came at Night monologue readings and piecing them together. I'm fairly pleased with the result, though I was quite stressed in the 11th hour when I couldn't get the project to dvd to take to the screening! I was able to bring something close to my final cut, but had major sympathy for a woman whose technical difficulties prevented her from showing her project. I was very impressed with the footage the other two projects were able to get, and it was fun to do a Q&A after my film. We're thinking we might put together a compilation DVD, but in the meantime I'll post it on my vlog sometime soon.

But this weekend I should be focusing on writing. I'm completing the translation of my action adventure novel (Into This Wilderness, completed about 3 years ago), to screenplay format. I've decided to apply to the Canadian Film Centre's television writing program, and would like to have a feature to submit as my writing sample, rather than a 10 page short. The best part of applying is that I also need to submit a spec script for a current show. So I'm putting together something for my beloved Lost. Again, something I've been wanting to try for a while, but this application packet gives me the motivation to finish! Entry to the program is super-competitive, but I figured it was time to try for something along these lines.

I did select my actors, and I'm very pleased - think they'll all work well together. Will say more about them soon.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Tough Decisions

Survived my two nights of auditions + taping, though my cough was awful by the end of both nights. They'll remember me as the director with TB.

Some EXCELLENT actors here in Winnipeg, but that means that now I'm faced with tough decisions about who to cast. Will have to go back through the audition tapes. I also now have to take into consideration matching up the characters - someone could be brilliant, but I have to think about whether they "work" with each person I'm considering for the other role. If I have time, I could play the tapes back to back and pretend they're acting with each other. I totally see now why for a feature you'd want to do callbacks to check chemistry with different actor matchups.

What I love is when an actor gives me something that changes my thoughts about what a character is like - even as the writer! It always astounds me to hear the results of people reading my words and internalizing them, and creating a different reality, a different possibility for that character. I laughed outloud several times in the last two nights, as actors put their hearts and talent out there and made the characters come to life.

To any actors out there reading this, I just have to say that this whole process truly is so subjective. You might kick ass in an audition and not get it because of any number of factors, including who else is cast, or a "look" or "attitude" the director is going for, which would be different for a different director. So it's true as they say that you can't take it personally!

It was amazing to tape the monologues for They Came at Night. Everyone gave such a different interpretation, and some people just blew me away with their intensity. I can't wait to start cutting it together. It was also fun to work with some beginning actors and give them some encouragement about the audition/taping process. My thanks to everyone who helped out with the project, especially those auditioning on the same night! A lot to ask of both of us!

Monday, May 01, 2006

Goings On

Back from four days in Ottawa. Very fun times in the Byward Market, and the tour of Parliament was particularly meaningful after my citizenship studies. We even got to meet with a Senator (the political kind): Maria Chaput. It was excellent to hear her story and what she does, as I have a distrust of non-elected officials!

In commemoration of May Day, I'll also spend the next few days expressing a distrust of military in the streets with my contribution to the Conspiracy Week Film Festival. Over the next two days, I'm taping a short film They Came at Night. There will also be several interesting documentaries showing as part of the week - check 'em out!

The challenge is I'm not sure exactly where to go to get footage of the troops. I do have actors though - 16 Winnipeg actors have volunteered over the next 2 nights - gotta love the interest level! Many of them are also auditioning the same evening for the three leads in Rave Review. It's taken a lot of brain cells to organize all the time slots, but now I'm pumped up to get auditioning and taping!

I had tried to recruit a DP, but since everyone's working on the three productions going simultaneously (Brothers Grimm, Good Life and Blue State), I'll just have to be a true Guerrilla Filmmaker and shoot my own stuff!

Today also marks the first day of the May Day Poetry Project - I'll attempt for the second year running to write a poem a day (or close to it) for the month of May. Other poets will set similar goals. Come cheer us on!