Entertainment Value

I'm kind of uncomfortable with the notion of "entertainment value." That was something the evil consultants talked about when they made their annual visit we all dreaded to the newsroom. However... I am attempting to make sure that my documentary, "Dear Mr. Gore" has some of this. I'm trying to be humorous and quirky. I'm not sure I can pull this off, but you never know unless you try.

From 8am to 3pm Saturday we shot and cut a segment I came up with purely in the attempt to add some "EV." It cut together well. It's short. It's cute. It will be interesting to see how people react.

David Fanning

Thanks so much to Linda Chapin for treating me to a WMFE special event with David Fanning. His speech about documentary on television was very inspiring. It was nice to hear someone speak who still has faith that television can deliver excellent, important journalism. He believes Public Television is at a crossroads where it can provide the kinds of journalistic and thought-provoking programs that commercial networks cannot or will not provide.

Driving home, I had the idea that the next president should appoint an independent "Media Czar" to whip our corporate media into shape, since the FCC doesn't seem to be able to do that. This person would operate out of NYC and LA instead of Washington and would refuse to grant any appointments with special interest groups. CEOs would be told that in order to uphold the media's obligation to serve the public, profits of more than 10% would be deemed illegal. Would this hold up before the U.S. Supreme Court? Doubtful, but wouldn't it be fun to watch people like Murdoch squirm. I think the first Czar appointed should be Ted Turner.

A good week

I made an extra effort to get good rest and be organized this week. It paid off. I hope I can keep it up. I felt like my classes went well Mon-Tues. I was thrilled to host the Capstone Documentary students in my new lab/office Wednesday morning. I like all of their topics, and as I would expect, they are very ambitious at this stage. The MFA students are fantastic. We are very lucky to have such interested, engaged and energetic guys starting their journey toward features here.

Last week I was worrying about not having time to work on my films now that school has started. I'm happy to report that this week I did get a good amount of work done. I've worked on the YCC budget and called a couple of the families to confirm their presence at the concert. I've got the stage setup worked out with the orchestra folks. Yesterday morning and this morning I got a decent amount of editing done on Dear Mr. Gore and Wally's Movie. Next week I want to start cutting the open to YCC. I really need a better title for this film.

I have a few papers to grade before Monday but it's not bad. I should have time to do some fun things this weekend. I'm dying to get outside... I've got cabin fever.

For next week: looking forward to the Q&A Wednesday night after I screen Who's Next at the Global Peace Film Festival.

New McElwee Book

Since I wrote the review last week of the first book dedicated to Ross McElwee's works, I've been thinking a lot about the Southern film maker. The book contains segments of interviews McElwee has done over the years and an article he wrote for a Paris film maker magazine. He continually talks about the difficulty of WRITING his narrative tracks. It's a slow and laborious process for him. Anyway, the book is definitely worth reading and it's about time somebody wrote a book about McElwee. He invented the personal film genre. The book is called Landscapes of the Self: The Cinema of Ross McElwee.

How long should it take to finish a feature doc?

I've been worrying a lot lately about when I'll finish any of these three films. A colleague reassured me this week by insisting that postproduction on any feature takes at least a year. That made me feel better, but only a little. Since school began I haven't sat down to do any editing but I have been busy doing little tasks that needed to get done, like having documents scanned, certain tapes dubbed, planning for the YCC concert and reconnecting with those teenagers. Coming out of a deadline-driven journalistic background I think I'll always feel rushed. I could go to the computer and actually finish the bicycle documentary in a couple of days with what I have, but it wouldn't be what I envision it to be. I just have to be more patient.

Cannot Sleep

I woke up at 1:30am and could not get back to sleep because I'm so worried about not having time to work on my films now that school has started. The second week of school isn't even over yet and already I'm feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. I'm losing control of my days due to appointments, meetings, commitments, etc. I also feel like I'm back to carrying far too much heavy stuff around all day. My neck and shoulders really feel it when I lie down at night. I'm not eating properly, I'm not getting enough sleep at night, and I'm not getting enough exercise to ward off the stress. How can I get things back under control?

I'm shooting with Wally in the morning. I need to get pickups of him with his DVD. He also wants to talk to me about what he's discovered about "mining the moon." I feel like he wants me to continue shooting this film, but I feel like I have enough already. How do I disconnect from the main character in my film without alienating him? I don't want to hurt his feelings and I want to stay in touch but I cannot continue shooting indefinitely. I hope Erika gets the photo montage done soon. I need something to get me motivated to get back to the edit on this film.

Labor Day

Focusing on what I did accomplish each day is difficult because instead, around 5pm, I tend to worry about what I did not get done. However, if I try to make a list of things I accomplished each day at the end of the day (without padding) I may be able to relax more at night and get the rest I need. So, here's my first list:
1). Wrote first draft of my first book review for Documentary Magazine
2). Authored DVD for a band that will work with me on the score of Dear Mr. Gore
3). Organized my classwork for the week into piles
4). Made a list of things to do tomorrow
5). Completed an equipment checkout list for tomorrow
6). Put my camera batteries on charge for tomorrow
7). Got caught up on emails

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot:
8). Started my blog