I haven't written in quite a while because I've been so busy and I honestly haven't wanted to share some of the thoughts I've been having. It's not that they're negative or super secret or private. I guess I've just been a bit lazy.
The last few weeks of the term were very gratifying in terms of watching students' films come to life. There are some very talented and deep students at UCF and I'm proud to be allowed to teach them what I know and what I can find out. The turnout at the student film screenings was terrific and I'm feeling very satisfied here at the end of the term. Tim and I have edited about 1/3 of the Young Composers Challenge documentary. It has come together fairly easily but one challenge is the sheer volume of material. You really second-guess yourself on structure, what to use now, what to save for later, and wondering if it will all make sense in the end.
As soon as I got my grades turned in, meetings finished and graduation attended I flew away to Sweden. More on that in my next post.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Notmuchofabreak Days 3-4
Yesterday morning was a rush of preparing the Ellis films onto every format known to man. We never got word back from the folks at the Phillips Center on how they wanted us to deliver the films so we brought up DVDs, QT files, even DV tape. I wasn't looking forward to the drive, but seeing the films on that huge screen in the auditorium was definitely worth it. I was very pleased and I'm looking forward to March 20th when they'll play behind the ballet. We've decided to tape the whole event with two HD camcorders (Chris Walker, I'll send you a copy... the films contain some of the footage you shot for me).
Today I felt moody, and resentful of all the people enjoying themselves at the beach during spring break. It took a lot of motivation, but I sat at the computer all day going down a list of things I wanted to accomplish... from burning DVDs to sending them off to festivals... to following up on all the things I've been putting off communicating about. I must have written three dozen emails at least. I rewarded myself by riding my bike to my wonderful hot yoga studio in Longwood. When I'm in Gainesville next week I'm going to try to go to a hot yoga place up there that I've heard good things about.
I'm worried about the films, about finances, about putting on weight, about worrying. I feel self-centered and edgy. I want to spend days alternating between cleaning my house and walking in the woods. I dream about being on a boat in the middle of the ocean. I miss the people I like who live in other places.
Heading to Jax tomorrow for the 15K River Run, a 7-year-long tradition. I hope to get some beach time while I'm up there... staring at the water.
Today I felt moody, and resentful of all the people enjoying themselves at the beach during spring break. It took a lot of motivation, but I sat at the computer all day going down a list of things I wanted to accomplish... from burning DVDs to sending them off to festivals... to following up on all the things I've been putting off communicating about. I must have written three dozen emails at least. I rewarded myself by riding my bike to my wonderful hot yoga studio in Longwood. When I'm in Gainesville next week I'm going to try to go to a hot yoga place up there that I've heard good things about.
I'm worried about the films, about finances, about putting on weight, about worrying. I feel self-centered and edgy. I want to spend days alternating between cleaning my house and walking in the woods. I dream about being on a boat in the middle of the ocean. I miss the people I like who live in other places.
Heading to Jax tomorrow for the 15K River Run, a 7-year-long tradition. I hope to get some beach time while I'm up there... staring at the water.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Breaking Spring Day Two
Just slightly more energy today. I took a bike ride up to Walgreens yesterday and bought some meds. One of them (Advil Cold and Sinus) had something in it that required my signature and drivers license. I guess that's in case I'm running a Meth lab. It certainly juiced me up yesterday evening. I enjoyed the new daylight savings time by cleaning up branches and pine cones in our yard, which is a totally neglected disaster. I can't wait to stop spending money on films and get my house put back together.
Anyway, this morning I laid out my new notecards and got to work on wrapping up Act1A: the technology session of the workshop. At the end I found a perfect transition to last year's winner. Steve Goldman plays the midi of Joe Columbo's orchestra piece. This will go well into a bite or two with Joe, who then talks about Stella, so that will get me to the concert. I hope it works.
I had to break in the middle of the day to pick up my laptop, which has been transformed from a tiger to a leopard. I guess it can climb trees now. I also got the final cuts of music from Stella for the Ellis films. After a quick stop at the grocery store I was able to drop in the new music tracks without much trouble, thank goodness. Ben showed me a great procedure for doing this with markers inside the sequence.
Tonight I wrapped up with a little more digitizing. I won't get much done tomorrow because I have to drive to Gainesville for a screen test of the films.
Interesting note of the day: The "Sarasota 350" is holding an "alternative film festival of rejects" across town, during the Sarasota Film Festival. I like this grassroots idea and as a member of the Sarasota 350 I submitted Dear Mr. Gore. If you want to learn more, read this article in the Sarasota Newspaper.
Anyway, this morning I laid out my new notecards and got to work on wrapping up Act1A: the technology session of the workshop. At the end I found a perfect transition to last year's winner. Steve Goldman plays the midi of Joe Columbo's orchestra piece. This will go well into a bite or two with Joe, who then talks about Stella, so that will get me to the concert. I hope it works.
I had to break in the middle of the day to pick up my laptop, which has been transformed from a tiger to a leopard. I guess it can climb trees now. I also got the final cuts of music from Stella for the Ellis films. After a quick stop at the grocery store I was able to drop in the new music tracks without much trouble, thank goodness. Ben showed me a great procedure for doing this with markers inside the sequence.
Tonight I wrapped up with a little more digitizing. I won't get much done tomorrow because I have to drive to Gainesville for a screen test of the films.
Interesting note of the day: The "Sarasota 350" is holding an "alternative film festival of rejects" across town, during the Sarasota Film Festival. I like this grassroots idea and as a member of the Sarasota 350 I submitted Dear Mr. Gore. If you want to learn more, read this article in the Sarasota Newspaper.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Spring Break Day One
It's official: I have a cold. I am feverishly blowing my nose and staying in my pajamas all day. I don't have much energy, but I see this as a good thing because it's forcing me to sit at my computer and work on my film.
Today I went back through the first five minutes of YCC and discovered two important things:
1). It needs more energy
2). It needs more structure
These are two things that most documentaries need when they are first being born, I think. So, I made notes for Tim where I think it drags. Then, I went and found more sound to give it more structure. I still struggle with inserting new clips without making the whole sequence go haywire...knocking things out of place, unsynching the audio, etc. If anyone reading this has any suggestions, please let me know. For now, what I do is make a copy of the project and fiddle around with the copy. Then I show Tim the copy and he "does it" to the original. I know there must be better ways to operate. It's a good thing brain surgeons don't work this way.
This evening I made several index cards and placed them on the piano in my edit pit:
First card: Central Organizing Principle: Talent and Perseverance lead to Creativity and Success
Second card: Act one must answer two important questions: What is going on here? Why does any of this matter?
Third card: Act 1A: The workshop (list of elements follows)
Fourth card: Act 1B: The rehearsal (list of elements)
Fifth card: Act 1C: The concert (list of elements)
The end of Act 1 will be Stella Sung taking a bow. I've decided I need just a few title screens for transitions. I still like the idea of a "young famous composer history" at the beginning and I have two students trying to find me drawings/photos for that.
It was definitely worth taking a day just to observe, take notes, organize and regroup. This spring break is going to go by very fast.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Young Composers Challenge
I've been thinking a lot about whether to/how to tie into my documentary about young composers... stories, histories, information, connections with... famous composers who started young. I've been thinking about that little history lesson about General Sherman that McElwee does at the start of "Sherman's March." I wonder if I could begin this film with a clever little history lesson on Bach, Beethoven, Mendelson and Clara Schumann... child prodigies of their day.
So, I went to the glorious UCF library and checked out several books on the lives of the composers. Fascinating stories here... like the jealousy between JS and CS Bach. CS was older, and jealous of his little brother's talent, so he hid music from him. JS found it and snuck it out at night and copied it. When CS found out, he snatched it away from his little brother. Clara was a piano prodigy whom her piano-teaching father totally exploited for his own gain. He drug her all around Europe to make money for the family. She married Robert Schumann, who was her father's piano pupil, but later reportedly had an affair with Brahms.
To do this sort of thing I think I would need narration, and I would need to find some visuals. I've got a book on how composers have been portrayed by Hollywood in movies, but I don't know if I could afford to clear the copyrights. I was thinking about having Stella Sung and Chris Wilkins read these stories as voiceovers.
Also, Tim has come up with an idea for an animated open: In front of a red curtain, a music staff floats into frame like a magic carpet. Caricatures of the 5 teens are riding on the carpet, each playing their instruments. The magic carpet floats around, then leaves the frame and musical notes from the carpet "hang" on the carpet and become the title. The red curtain opens and the five teen caricatures are standing on the stage, taking a bow. Or... the musical notes could float onto a page on one side of a book and each teen's photograph could appear one at a time on the opposite page of the book.
Then, after the "history lesson" and "animated open" I'll begin the film with the workshop. I'm getting psyched about working on this again.
So, I went to the glorious UCF library and checked out several books on the lives of the composers. Fascinating stories here... like the jealousy between JS and CS Bach. CS was older, and jealous of his little brother's talent, so he hid music from him. JS found it and snuck it out at night and copied it. When CS found out, he snatched it away from his little brother. Clara was a piano prodigy whom her piano-teaching father totally exploited for his own gain. He drug her all around Europe to make money for the family. She married Robert Schumann, who was her father's piano pupil, but later reportedly had an affair with Brahms.
To do this sort of thing I think I would need narration, and I would need to find some visuals. I've got a book on how composers have been portrayed by Hollywood in movies, but I don't know if I could afford to clear the copyrights. I was thinking about having Stella Sung and Chris Wilkins read these stories as voiceovers.
Also, Tim has come up with an idea for an animated open: In front of a red curtain, a music staff floats into frame like a magic carpet. Caricatures of the 5 teens are riding on the carpet, each playing their instruments. The magic carpet floats around, then leaves the frame and musical notes from the carpet "hang" on the carpet and become the title. The red curtain opens and the five teen caricatures are standing on the stage, taking a bow. Or... the musical notes could float onto a page on one side of a book and each teen's photograph could appear one at a time on the opposite page of the book.
Then, after the "history lesson" and "animated open" I'll begin the film with the workshop. I'm getting psyched about working on this again.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Plate spinning fun
It is amazing how much time and money it takes to promote your film when it's finished. It's a fun thing to do, but something I never thought much about. Last week I received my harshest review and this week I've received the best... the one I was hoping for from someone important. Up and down, up and down. I feel like I'm on a trampoline.
I'm working with Ben, rushing to get this Rockwell film finished in time to submit to the mobile film festival. Gosh, this thing has been a ton of work. And then, there's this film for the Ellis Island ballet. I'm feeling much better about the way this film is turning out but there's not much time to get that finished, either.
Today I shot another interview with Steve Goldman. I realized as I digitized the tape at home that I had forgotten to switch my camera setting back to HDV from DV. ARGH! I guess I'll just use his sound. Otherwise, the meeing was terrific. He's going to back me on an animated open for the YCC doc... something I've always wanted.
And then next week I have a shoot on my rocket scientist documentary. I've been working with Wally on his presentation before 300 people in the LIFE program at UCF. I hope I can get some students to commit soon to helping me shoot this thing. It's Tuesday morning and I'm sort of beginning to panic.
Many plates in the air. And then, there are my students. They help me get through all of this. No, they do more than that. They remind me of how fun all this is.
I'm working with Ben, rushing to get this Rockwell film finished in time to submit to the mobile film festival. Gosh, this thing has been a ton of work. And then, there's this film for the Ellis Island ballet. I'm feeling much better about the way this film is turning out but there's not much time to get that finished, either.
Today I shot another interview with Steve Goldman. I realized as I digitized the tape at home that I had forgotten to switch my camera setting back to HDV from DV. ARGH! I guess I'll just use his sound. Otherwise, the meeing was terrific. He's going to back me on an animated open for the YCC doc... something I've always wanted.
And then next week I have a shoot on my rocket scientist documentary. I've been working with Wally on his presentation before 300 people in the LIFE program at UCF. I hope I can get some students to commit soon to helping me shoot this thing. It's Tuesday morning and I'm sort of beginning to panic.
Many plates in the air. And then, there are my students. They help me get through all of this. No, they do more than that. They remind me of how fun all this is.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Back at school
I was in a great mood when I woke up this morning and I slowly realized it was probably because I was heading back to class with my documentary students. I love them.
I continue to send "Dear Mr. Gore" out to various festivals, hoping SOMEBODY will like this film and program it. I had a nightmare last night that it did not get into the Florida Film Festival and I was told the reason was because there were too many audio problems.
I was able to successfully videotape the death of two brussel sprout plants in my guest bedroom last week. I'm hopeful about the Ellis Island ballet film, but nervous about the trip to Gainesville next week when my team and I show the choreographer what we've done so far.
The Rockwell Project is heating up again. I was actually able to do a revised cut all by myself and I like it, but it needs polishing. What am I going to do when Ben graduates and moves away? I need to learn more from him in a hurry.
I need to get cracking on Young Composers Challenge. I've now lost confidence in what I've shot so far, but if I can get back in there and look at the footage again, I might be happy. Who knows. These little projects with Stella have been a bit distracting.
I continue to send "Dear Mr. Gore" out to various festivals, hoping SOMEBODY will like this film and program it. I had a nightmare last night that it did not get into the Florida Film Festival and I was told the reason was because there were too many audio problems.
I was able to successfully videotape the death of two brussel sprout plants in my guest bedroom last week. I'm hopeful about the Ellis Island ballet film, but nervous about the trip to Gainesville next week when my team and I show the choreographer what we've done so far.
The Rockwell Project is heating up again. I was actually able to do a revised cut all by myself and I like it, but it needs polishing. What am I going to do when Ben graduates and moves away? I need to learn more from him in a hurry.
I need to get cracking on Young Composers Challenge. I've now lost confidence in what I've shot so far, but if I can get back in there and look at the footage again, I might be happy. Who knows. These little projects with Stella have been a bit distracting.
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