tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-106967022024-03-13T03:56:54.181-07:00one little filmA filmmaking chronicle from idea to screen to statuette in hand...sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-62054408083918322052008-03-11T14:39:00.000-07:002008-03-11T14:48:06.889-07:00Oh godness!I can't believe it has been three months since I last posted on my blog. It feels neglected and sad. Well, no longer- I am back to breathe new life into it. I think one thing this blog can do is show that one can move on from one film and do much more. I became very obsessed with my thesis film "push/pull" and it dragged on me for way too long. But in the past 12 months I think I've finally made the transition from film student to filmmaker. I've made about 8 shorts for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Filmaka</span> and another 4 for work. The films work have been interesting in that they are about subjects I'm not passionate about but I am very passionate about getting them right. I'm feeling a lot of pressure though on the producing side- I've got an MD breathing down my neck to reduce the budgets and increase the quality. Basically, they want me to be a magician- please, build a better house in less time with fewer materials! Well, I realise I can only give it a good effort and if they don't like it they can *&%!<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Filmaka</span> has been such a great outlet for me. I'm dying to know if I won their final contest. I have a 1/38 chance, which isn't bad, but then again I have a 37/38 chance of not winning, which is pretty darn close to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">guaranteed</span>. The prize is a contract to direct a feature film, the big kahuna. I guess I'll find out in April. Today, Paul <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Schrader</span>, writer of Taxi Driver and member of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Filmaka</span> jury wrote about my final film: Very well done.<br /><br />Awesome! That made my day and I could temporarily forget that I'd just had to cut my camera assistant, second camera operator, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">steadicam</span> and art assistant from my crew for a job next week...sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-75166728116747667582007-12-12T14:34:00.000-08:002007-12-12T14:45:56.116-08:00Tired and happy and sadThis weekend I spent a very rainy Saturday at a small post production house making the final touches on a screening copy of push/pull....<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">why's</span> that? you ask. Well, it has finally been selected for a really cool festival, the London Short Film Festival. I'm super excited that it will premiere at the extremely amazing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ICA</span> theatre. That's the Institute for Contemporary Arts- Here's the <a href="http://www.ica.org.uk/Femmes%20Fantastiques+15781.twl">link</a>. So, I've spent all my money and got a nice beautiful <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">digibeta</span> tape copy to show there and I'm hoping it looks as lovely as it did in the colouring session.<br /><br />It feels great to show at a festival, but just gives me a bit more of a burden to get the DVDs done and get it into a few more festivals. There is something about being able to say this film screened at festivals x, y, and z...then it feels like you've done you're best and can move on.<br /><br />Speaking of which, I'm kind of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">exicited</span> to write a romantic comedy script. And I want to make some more shorts for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Filmaka</span>. And I'm dying to make a proper short on 35mm. I've never worked with 35 but it has this allure like no other. <br /><br />So why sad? Well, just tired of the cold, dark weather I suppose. And hate that when I go to a film lecture, as I did tonight, I just want to race out of there at the end- I can never bear to stay for the networking drinks because I feel shy and awkward. And my boss says I give off an "anxiety" vibe and need to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">chillllll</span>. I told him that's just ambition in the face of not having enough to do. So I'm really trying to chillllll. Maybe I'll bring in a radio tomorrow and a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Hawaiian</span> shirt. beach chair. sandals. lolly pops.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-24365825483304147292007-07-19T04:44:00.000-07:002007-07-19T04:53:32.338-07:00Almost forgottenMy film is dangling in an abyss. I sent in a beta tape, screened it on the San Francisco State campus, graduated and then this: nothing. I realize it has been more than two months since I have written in this blog, and since not much has happened in the past two months, I thought I'd write a post in the hopes that writing in the blog would stir up the cosmic universe in favor of progress. I've been rejected from numerous film festival and numerous jobs. Well, my short has been rejected, but it hard not to take it personally. I am waiting for the festival programmer to call me up and say "I see something unique and excited here and want to screen it." But I think that may never happen. So, other good things could happen instead. Like maybe my next film will get me some where. I was talking to someone last night was saying how I have a job- being a filmmaker- and I should never go work as a waitress or receptionist because who cares about being poor and my art is more important, blah blah blah. It is easy to say this when you're employed, can enjoy a nice meal at a nice restaurant and holidays at the beach, and feel integrated with society. But those of us who are alone, the artists sitting in their little dark rooms in the suburbs and villages and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">highrises</span> with the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">internet</span> as our main friend, feel that perhaps its time to put in application at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">starbucks</span> in hopes of social interaction, free coffee and money to see a movie with a new coworker on the weekends.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-79002309406204999402007-05-07T07:15:00.000-07:002007-05-07T10:39:17.621-07:00filming final gloryThis morning, my film "push/pull" got yet another rejection- from Hamburg <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Int'l</span> Festival...as usual, I felt down, my boyfriend cheered me up, I moved on and thought about <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">entering</span> the film in more festivals.<br /><br />This afternoon, a tiny little one-day film I made for a website called <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Filmaka</span>.com won a prize of $3000! I'm so pleased. I'm a bit shocked since the film was so incredibly no budget, but I feel really happy. It also means I get to keep <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">entering</span> their contests and maybe even win more money and prizes. Their grand prize, which I am now eligible for if I make another film, is a feature film contract. Ever since my first coloring contest victory (I won circus tickets), I've adored contests. Actually, even younger than that I would dream of winning the Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes. I wanted to give all the money to making art centers in Africa. It's still an idea I'd like to see come to fruition...one day. I hope that this isn't a giant scam and I'm being a sucker...but for the moment I choose to believe they actually liked my simple little film.<br />In further good news, last week I had a script I wrote Shortlisted (i.e. a finalist but not a winner) for the Audi Reel Talent Award, which means it was in the top 11 out of 180 short film scripts. Had I won, the prize would be a 10,000 pound production budget...as it is I still want to make the film, but probably with a 10 pound budget instead.<br /><br />Alas, some good news, but still those rejections hurt.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-85763050067327306902007-04-18T02:14:00.000-07:002007-04-18T02:21:21.095-07:00The quiet hush of rejectionI realize it has been more than a month since I last posted- for shame! I have been busy with my cross-channel move to London, looking for a new job, and enjoying the British (gasp) sunshine. Our little film got rejected from Cannes Critic Week so I probably wont be sashaying down La Croissette in evening wear. But actually it is a huge relief as I haven't got any evening or day wear that would be red-carpet worthy. And I'd need a 35mm print, which I am not currently close to possessing. Meanwhile, I am waiting to hear back from a few other festivals and getting prepared to send out another batch to more fests. As each application takes time, sweat and money, along with the possible emotional pain of rejection, it gets hard to send them out. Yet I am absolutely determined to get this film out and seen in a proper environment, be in Cannes or Hackney. <br />I promise my devoted blog readers, after two years of reading this, will be the first to find out when the film hits the big screen.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-57351294366219341342007-03-13T12:14:00.000-07:002007-03-13T12:23:31.492-07:00filmakaI randomly found out about a little film contest ("<a href="http://www.filmaka.com">filmaka</a>" and entered my film "I am hungry" (not my masterpiece "Push/pull" of course) into it. It is a new and not well publicized contest, and I didn't think about it too much... but miraculously, my film was in the top ten (number 8 out of around 100)...and apparantly I won some money! Wow, I've never won money for my films before. It is a really nice feeling that people voted for it and got my wierd sense of humor (in which I eat very literally "like a bird"). If I understand the contest rules correctly (a big "if"), I get to enter another contest and make another film and compete for even more money. The thing is, the winners are chosen by a vote/jury combination...so I may be campaigning amoung my blog readers to register and vote (for me!)....<br /><br />As for news about my other little film, the one I've been perspiring for 2 years thinking about, well, it's not done yet, but I really feel the end is in sight. I'm committing to graduating in May which means really getting this together soon. I will. I will. I will.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-76037876513007308812007-03-07T14:20:00.000-08:002007-03-07T14:30:45.195-08:00tired and slightly downIt's been a whole month since my last post, for shame. I'm surprised if any one still reads it, but it really is my record so who cares.<br /><br />Tonight we had the cast and crew film screening at a cafe called <a href="http://www.e-dune.fr/blog/index.php/General">Dune</a> in Paris near my apartment. I first showed two other little shorts I've made, and then "push/pull". People seemed to enjoy the films, even though I felt a bit sensitive to any remarks made. One actor wondered why I had gotten rid of the end scene that we filmed, another wanted to know why it looked so bright...but really what matters is that I've shown the film in public (albiet the version still is waiting for some "professional touches". <br />I took this acting class in college with this wonderful teacher and there were only a few of us in the class. We did loads of fun exercises. I remember in one of the exercises the teacher litterly prying my arms open and saying, "Sahra, you've got this whole world but I can't see it because you're hiding it in a little ball." That's kind of how I feel about this film, about all my films really, or my creative side in general. No matter how much time I spend dreaming of how lovely every film festival and red carpet will be, it kind of hurts to show them, like I'm being pried open against my will.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-32733110076176700322007-02-10T15:52:00.000-08:002007-02-10T15:52:22.602-08:00sensicalI know I have not posted in ages, and actually I'm probably in no condition to post at the moment. It's 1 a.m. and I just returned home from watching David Lynch's "Inland Empire". A friend who is a Lynch fan invited me, and I declined after reading a review. But then, sometime in the early evening, seeing I had nothing to do and having read a more positive review, I decided to go along. Big mistake.<br />Really, really painful 3 hours of my life.<br /> I feel I should be given a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">mudbath</span> and several bottles of champagne just for having sat through it. The first 30 minutes are pretty good; they don't make sense exactly, but one is willing to go with the flow and try to unravel what is happening. <br />Then it just goes downhill and keeps going that way for 2 and a half more hours, though the credit sequence is <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">oddly</span> cute. <br />Imagine you go to a conceptual video art gallery. There are four screens. On one screen is an extreme close-up of a woman crying. On another there is another woman looking at the woman crying and saying, "How did I get here?" on an endless loop; on the third screen are some polish gypsy circus people; on the forth is a woman standing in the video art gallery watching the video screens. This attracts your interest for all of 4 minutes. But then they shut the doors of the gallery and lock you in, make you sit down and really stare at the screens in an overheated room for another 2 hours and 56 minutes. <br />Finally, they let you out and you can breathe again, though there is no hope of getting your 10 bucks back for the admission fee.<br /><br />Alas, my favorite thing about the movie was that it made me feel so much better about my own. Obscurity is definitely "in". Though comparing the two, my film is crystal clear, which is probably much less cool.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1169410537317165232007-01-21T11:36:00.000-08:002007-01-21T12:15:37.683-08:00The six year old's reactionToday I showed Nathalie, her parents, and 3-year old and 9-year old brothers, the film. Nathalie has grown since the last time I saw her, at her 6th birthday last summer. Her cheeks have lost their baby fat and she's gotten more giggly. I was slightly terrified that the family would watch in expressionless-horror, think that I had created some horrible impenetrable art piece that used their daughter as a wooden doll. But no, they actually seemed to love it. Nathalie and her brothers shrieked with delight when they saw her face on the television screen. She laughed because she remembered filming the movie but would never have imagined that this is what it would look like. The parents thought it was beautiful and flowed well. The three-year old was far more interested in showing me the farting sounds in "Ice Age" than watching my film. So it was a nice little bit of encouragement. <br /><br />I am basically in a holding pattern, the sound and image editing 95% done, now I need to send the film to festivals and look for money. I have a friend of mine who is going to try to help me with this but it seems quite hopeless. Plus, I spend far too much time looking at film festival websites and dreaming of sitting in crowded theaters in krakow and lisbon and edinburgh and portland, and far too little actually looking for funding and writing scripts and being a creative spirit. The internet is an addictive force that is pulling me into mediocre behavior. I believe only chocolate will save me.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1168466997315642372007-01-10T13:56:00.000-08:002007-01-10T14:09:57.353-08:00RoadblocksOh happy new year dear blog readers. It seems quite strange that this blog is going into its 3rd year (is that possible? no!) on the same little film. To be honest, I'm quite tired of it. Not tired enough to abandon filmmaking, but definitely in need of a long nap. Just writing for a long while. In early December I managed to get this crusty old finance guy at my school to say, and I quote,"you have 950 euros to spend towards your project. I promise." Then I hassled two different labs until I miraculously negotiated a decent price with eclair for the beta master copy. Granted, this means abandoning hopes of 35mm blow-up, but it still is better than nothing and I need a beta tape to graduate. All this negotiating took a ridiculous amount of phonecalls and work. In the meanwhile I've been working on my sound and my sound designer is getting closer to giving me a quite nice sound mix. I have been plotting the cast and crew screening.<br />So today I head over to my disgusting, graffiti-filled, trash-dump of a school and present the estimate so I can pick up my purchase order, bring it to the lab, finish my film in the next few weeks, send it to festivals, and graduate before I start a job in London. All seems well. But then crusty old finance man seems to have completely forgotten his promise, claims the funds had already been used, there'd been some little mistake, ha-ha, oh well. I was not feeling ha-ha oh-well. <br />I feel set-back and deflated, but not end-of-the-world deflated. I read New Yorker comics on the train on the way back home and they made me laugh. I read the adorable "inspirational article" my friend Bronwen mailed me about picking yourself up when you fall down. I ate a delicious Belgium chocolate with a hazelnut inside that my dad gave me. I talked to my love on the phone. <br />So things are not all that bad. But not all that good.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1165777271102745922006-12-10T10:50:00.000-08:002006-12-10T11:01:11.113-08:00EnduranceMaking a film, long or short, seems to be really a question of endurance. There are a million temptations to drop it, to let it slowly disappear into an abyss of creation. I feel like I've gotten so much out of the process of making it so far, why stay on for the final part- the endless rejections and criticism that seem to await me? Maybe I'm being super negative but it seems like for all the hope I have that this film will pivot my career towards sought-after young directoresse, I also feel saddened by the reality- thousands of filmmakers vying for a few spots at obscure festivals that are attending only by other young filmmakers who think they could do better than you. <br />But the fact remains that I have to finish, at least for the sake of graduating if not for feeling like I can move on. And finish means have something I can screen to an audience at a movie theater without a great deal of shame involved. Yet when I screened it for a friend this weekend she is lost at key parts and I feel I am stuck and will never figure out how to make it work. <br /><br />Christmas is around the corner and I can see that there isn't much hope of finishing before then, and so 2007 will roll around and I will at least keep on trying to find little solutions to finishing this mess of a film I have created.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1164834086823330942006-11-29T12:45:00.000-08:002006-11-29T13:01:27.650-08:00this is lifeI have had such a long strange day it feels like several in one. I went to take my mother to the train station, from there she boarded the train to the airport. In the mad rush of jumping on as the bell was ringing, I forgot to pass her bag and then the doors shut. I followed her on the next train. <br />On my way back to Paris I was leaving the climbing the stairs of the metro. Girls screamed, it sounded like a movie star had landed. Then, behind me, several people running on the stairs, mouths covered like they were all collectively vomiting. A woman shouting, "he killed himself, he jumped". And then the stunned faces of people who don't know what to do, rush to their next train or watch the body being dragged from the tracks. I come home to a box of roses, sent by my love, who doesn't let our anniversary pass without a million thoughtful jests. <br />I go to school to hear more about how helpless the funding is. The screening was so poor that there is no hope of getting department funding. I was never told this screening was a kind of funding test, but apparently I had the chance at some but now I don't. My assistant director thinks we should look for a production company to help us finish, but that seems impossible.<br />I teach English to my old-man student, he's going to retire in a few months. He wants to visit Australia this fall. He's been a waiter for 39 years, and he works at a fancy restaurant. Paul Hogan and Robert Redford have been there.<br />I somehow acquired 4 new private students this week, which is a blessing in a moment of financial distress, but it seems I'll never have time to work on my film.<br />I am reading the third diary of Anais Nin; though I never read the first two it seemed fair enough to jump right in. It is wonderful and I identify terribly with her (well, I'm only on page 88, so we'll see). I love how she is a starving artist with no time to write and always having to take care of a million other little things. <br />Tonight I went and saw "Babel" which was very good even if I had to struggle a bit with the French subtitles. It was wonderful to see a movie I actually really enjoyed. Brad Pitt was the film's biggest flaw, but aside from that it was compelling and gripping and human. And the loveliest part was leaving the theater, the doors open right onto the Quai, and it was suddenly foggy. Not thick San Francisco fog, but a good post-rain mist that just floated on top of the waterfront and made Paris completely perfect. Well, it was a perfect moment at the very least.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1163705019915975312006-11-16T10:49:00.000-08:002006-11-16T11:23:39.970-08:00rainingI should be depressed- stuck in the rain in this unfurnished apartment without a toilet seat and with a half-finished floor and no time to write my script and no money in my bank account- but actually I'm feeling just fine. I think my perpetually optimism is often clouded by my perpetual cynicism, but one can feel both I suppose.<br /><br />I am projecting the film for a group of students at my University in Paris on Saturday, unfinished as it may be, with unmixed sound, no color correction, and very rough titles, on a terrible quality film projector to boot. Still, it'll be the very first time I see the images bigger than a computer monitor, so that's something to get excited about.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1162672724186275092006-11-04T12:22:00.000-08:002006-11-04T12:38:44.203-08:00sinking?When one starts eating a dinner of canned tuna and canned corn standing over a kitchen sink with a plastic fork, one begins to feel that perhaps it is not too far to the days when someone else is guiding the fork towards my mouth....<br />I have to admit, things are not going fantastically. I have $8.95 (minus my 30,000 film school debt) in my bank account, am desperately trying to finish fixing up this apartment with no end in sight as I think I'm allegeric to the dust, feel too distracted to focus on my screenplay, have an unfinished film that I am scared to show to anyone, and am really annoyed that I liked the last New Yorker piece by Miranda July. I want to be able to say, why yes, I can do that, write good stories and direct indie features and get published in the New Yorker, but it really feels like I can barely figure out how to buy nails at a hardware store in Paris. My phone is not yet working and if I didn't have the internet I think I'd really be losing it alone in Paris on this chilly Saturday night.<br />Okay, one tiny bit of nice thoughts since I don't want to drag you down or worry my parents- I saw the documentarian Fred Wiseman at the cinemateque today, a rare opportunity to be sure. He spoke in French with a very similiar American accent and slightly broken French to my own, so I felt a little better. Maybe someday I can give an interview in French at the cinemateque. Honestly if I have to wait till I'm 70 that's okay with me too.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1161630996086947342006-10-23T12:14:00.000-07:002006-10-23T12:16:36.086-07:00hearing voicesToday I recorded 4 women for the possible roles of re-dubbing the mom and the narrator, including myself. All of them were quite good (except me), and now I have to decide which to choose.<br />Whenever I make an ounce of progress on the film I feel so much better, like maybe someday it'll get finished and screened in some sort of theater. I'm trying not to abadon my hopes for a 35mm blowup just yet, but video is looking so much more practial...why didn't I plan that all along??? Stupid school holding me out for false hopes.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1161361894616484232006-10-20T09:10:00.002-07:002006-10-20T09:31:34.653-07:00holding patternI know I am neglecting my dear blog. I'm embarassed to report very little progress on my little film. Basically, there is no money to finish my film, I am fixing an apartment instead of becoming a great artist, and its hard to imagine ever getting a negative cut and a film printed. Having gone through it before, I know there are a million steps between having the film "edited" and actually having a film print in hand. At the moment, I have neither the time, money, energy or enthusiasm....but maybe once I actually unpack my bags in my new apartment and have a moment to take a breathe, then these qualities will emerge.<br /><br />I'm "squatting" in a friend of-a-friend's apartment for the meanwhile, praying that the new apartment will magically be ready to move into in ten days, complete with people to move my stuff and a new couch to sit on and waiting will be a grant to finish this film and graduate from graduate school. But realistically, I'll be "squatting" a little longer, wearing the same shirt for the third day in a row, writing my feature script that will also never be funded, and wondering when it will be time to sell my soul and work for MTV in London. 6 months?<br /><br />(sorry to be so pessimistic today, need to take my vitamins)sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1161361747395275042006-10-20T09:10:00.001-07:002006-10-20T09:29:07.460-07:00holding patternI know I am neglecting my dear blog. I'm embarassed to report very little progress on my little film. Basically, there is no money to finish my film, I am fixing an apartment instead of becoming a great artist, and its hard to imagine ever getting a negative cut and a film printed. Having gone through it before, I know there are a million steps between having the film "edited" and actually having a film print in hand. At the moment, I have neither the time, money, energy or enthusiasm....but maybe once I actually unpack my bags in my new apartment and have a moment to take a breathe, then these qualities will emerge.<br /><br />I'm "squatting" in a friend of-a-friend's apartment for the meanwhile, praying that the new apartment will magically be ready to move into in ten days, complete with people to move my stuff and a new couch to sit on and waiting will be a grant to finish this film and graduate from graduate school. But realistically, I'll be "squatting" a little longer, wearing the same shirt for the third day in a row, writing my feature script that will also never be funded, and wondering when it will be time to sell my soul and work for MTV in London. 6 months?<br /><br />(sorry to be so pessimistic today, need to take my vitamins)sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1160164509791358452006-10-06T12:47:00.000-07:002006-10-06T12:55:09.800-07:00sound offI have travelled 6000 miles to get a visa so that I can go back to France and stay and work there. It seems a bit nuts but I'm happy to have the green sticker in my passport. Now, turning back around after on 4 days, back to Paris tomorrow.<br /><br />This visit did afford me a chance to meet with a brand new soundguy, one who seems far more confident and committed. Yesterday we showed the film to one of SFSU's best professors, Pat Jackson, who is completely amazing and one of the top sound editors working now- she works with Walter Murch (probably one of the most famous editors in the world)...<br />So she saw my film and then provided a very detailed hour-long session on how we could use sound to make the film work better. It was so fantastic and useful and I am feeling really good about that...except for of course she thought my film was quite difficult to understand and had some really amateur qualities. But I'm very excited to move forward now and get this sound done. I have to record some new voiceover, which is a bit of pain but I think will be well worth it.<br /><br />It's October 6th today and I have a goal of finishing sound in 3-4 weeks. I want to enter the film in Clermont-Ferrand and Berlin, and those deadlines are pressing on me. Most importantly, I need money to finish this film. Whether I go to 35mm or Digibeta tape, both are going to cost mucho dinero, I'm praying that my school in Paris is feeling very generous. Unlikely.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1158875407576518592006-09-21T14:41:00.000-07:002006-09-21T14:50:07.586-07:00A very big weekSo much has happened in the past 8 days I feel crazed- though none of it really relates to the film so I hesitated to blog it. But alas, filmmakers have lives outside of their filmmaking (though sometimes it doesn't feel like it). In the past 8 days I flew to England, became engaged to the man I love, moved his stuff into his new apartment in London where he started his new job, had my 29th birthday, came to Paris, signed on a new apartment here, sadly gone to the funeral of a lovely man- the father of a friend here, and (most impressive of all given the French bureaucracy) managed to get an electric bill in my name in the new apartment. It all feels a bit unreal as I look at this sparkling bling on my hand and think about furniture arrangements. Remodeling the apartment is next on the list- which is awfully similar to planning a movie really- having no clue what you're doing and praying for the best.<br /><br />I have very little movie news except there isn't a pile of money waiting to fund the finishing of my film here, but perhaps it will appear next week. In the mean time, I'm dying to get going on sound design and am meeting my editor tomorrow.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1157610399377895912006-09-06T23:14:00.000-07:002006-09-06T23:26:39.393-07:00back in actionAfter a very long rest on the pause button, I have returned to filmmaking (when I'm not attending weddings or working as a temporary receptionist in a cockroach-infested downtown office). I hope my readers haven't forgotten about me (hi mom)...<br />Today I showed my film to my advisor on campus who said it was "beautiful but a bit unclear". I think this may be code for "I hate it" but she is too nice to ever know the truth. She doesn't know if people will understand that the old lady gives birth to the little girl, but she did say I could clarify a lot with the sound design. It was good to get feedback and feel like they will indeed let me graduate and not disown me forever. Basically, I am just going to have to get used to the reaction of "it looks great (but what the hell are you talking about?)" <br /><br />I also recorded sound with various actors of various talents and it was quite fun. Two didn't show up and one got lost but I still got some voiceover that I have plans for. One dude was a pro-wrestling announcer (I didn't know this until the end of the session) and we recorded a hilarious, "Get ready to rrrrrrrrrrummmmmble" thing- which obviously has no place in my movie but was too funny not to record. Maybe I can make an interesting sound collage with it.<br /><br />I'm heading back to europe in 5 days, sadly without a job or visa, but happily with my film, apartment and boy waiting on the otherside of the atlantic. Some people say that once you cross the atlantic you're never on the right side, I think I'm still trying to figure out if this is true for me.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1153859776104862582006-07-25T13:31:00.000-07:002006-07-25T13:36:16.116-07:00time slows downMinnesota is very quiet.<br />I am two weeks into my vacation and it feels like two months. I am frustrated I haven't accomplished more- why haven't I written that brilliant screenplay or finished the DVD or entered the film into festivals??? I supposed I am being hard on myself, but I feel like with all this time on my hands I should become super-productive, not super-lazy.<br /><br />My sound is basically being kidnapped by my sound guy. He is not responding to my email pleas (are you reading this?) and he is in sole possession of my sound files (I have backups in Paris)...so, I guess I will be content to wait.<br /><br />I rewatched my film today after not seeing it for a couple of weeks. It is perhaps not as atrocious as I thought.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1152756172463634732006-07-12T18:52:00.000-07:002006-07-12T19:02:52.473-07:00homecoming unfinishedIt felt like an epic journey getting home- a night in Nice, a flight, a night in Bristol, a drive to Heathrow, a flight to Iceland, a long movie-less flight from Iceland to Minneapolis, a walk up two flights of endlessly familiar stairs into my yellow room and sleep. Now I am sleepy again, after a first day here. I like Minnesota and feel very calm here. It is hard to feel stress in a state like this. There are so many lakes and trees and flowers about. The roads are so wide and everyone drives slow. People are large and friendly. Some little boys waved to me as I let them pass at a yield sign. In Paris they'd run you down.<br /><br />I need to finish my film.<br /><br />I have left to do: sound, subtitles, DVD, film titles, lab work, mixing, color correction, film festivals, budgeting, lab print with negative cutting, optical negative, publicity kits, website updating, and fundraising.<br /><br />I have energy to do: nothing.<br /><br />So, I guess it is up to Minnesota to recharge my batteries and find the drive to put it all together. Perhaps I need to swim in all 10,000 lakes. I wonder if anyone has ever done that.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1151534688992811032006-06-28T15:35:00.000-07:002006-06-28T15:44:49.006-07:00musique et fuutbaalOn Monday I managed to get four talented musicians into the tiny, ill-equipped school recording studio. It was about a hundred degrees in there and I was stuck next to the recording engineer, chain-smoking hand-rolled cigarettes the entire day. I have a hard enough time communicating to actors and cameramen what I'm looking for, but musicians was a whole other ballgame. "more abstract", "no, more jazzy", "no, less like that kind of jazz", "uh, could you play something happier", "can you all just imagine there are all these dancing 5 year olds in the room", "oh, that didn't work, okay, back to abstract"....and on and on. But in the end we got a million takes to work with and I think it is quite cool to have original music to work with. The price was 74 euros= 40 euros for a tank of gas, 30 euros for lunch and 4 euros for brownies and coffees. A reasonable deal I'd say.<br /><br />So, the picture is edited (8 minutes with credits), the music is recorded, and now the sound has to be "designed" and mixed. I am going to record the final voiceovers this weekend. As for ever getting a 35mm print (the dream/the goal/the myth), I have to wait until my school budget is revised (???) and pray until September. If all goes miraculously well, and it never does, I'll be 100% done by October. <br /><br />In the meantime, I need to start working on a feature script...something without a 5 year old star...sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1150756320193683872006-06-19T15:21:00.000-07:002006-06-19T15:32:00.206-07:00Going in circlesEditing is perhaps the hardest part so far. I know I haven't been blogging that much, I think it is because I already spend the entire day in front of a computer and am trying to avoid them outside of the editing room. Saint Denis, where our ancient is located, is dirty and hot. Twice this past week the water has been down at the school- causing bathroom incidents beyond disgust. There are cigarette butts and graffiti and teenagers bugging you to use my cell phone and smoke a joint with them and it is not a very conducive environment to contemplation. So, I try to find solutions. If this was a flatbed I know I'd be more limited but I am cursed with infinite choice and yet the footage doesn't seem to have any interest in telling the story I want it to tell.<br />I've been constantly reworking the structure with my editor and she is getting frustrated with me. So we've been arguing a lot which is even less conducive to filmmaking. <br /><br />We showed a cut last week to around 8 people. Not one of them understood it- really, most of them said they were totally lost. So we went back to the more linear structure that is in the script- but it feels flat and disjointed and boring. We've got lots of different little post-it notes of all the different scenes and we keep shifting them and trying to figure out if changing the whole order can make any bit of sense. At this point, I'm wondering if it really has to make sense or should I just give up and go for pure madness.<br /><br />The schedule is also driving me mad- is it worth it to try to get everything done in the next 2.5 weeks or accept I have to put things on hold for 3 months this summer? very very very tired and frustrated.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10696702.post-1149541928627381042006-06-05T14:02:00.000-07:002006-06-05T14:15:33.616-07:00dont' forget me!I know I've been terrible- not blogging for a whole month...<br />Well, the film was on a little post-production pause....but is now fully on play.<br />I showed my professor my rushes. He was extremely dissapointed, he said I "must break it apart and destroy everything" in editing. Which is what I've now set out to do, I agree with him that it is too clean, too sterile, not magical. I'm not sure how to overcome this..maybe getting phoebe tooke out here for some optical printing (are you listening??)<br />I have an Avid at my school. It is archaic and running the version that I believe came out shortly after the last ice age. But it appears (knock on wood) very stable, and we have a private, but very very very unglamorous, little room all to ourselves for three weeks. I've found a wonderful student to be my editor and I'm extremely happy I'm not in this alone. She's nice and easy going and so far, four days into synching up clips, so good.<br />Finally today we reached the "starting" point- it took since Thursday just to get all the media imported and subclipped and the sound in synch with the picture.<br />An important lesson for all future filmmakers: Make your script person take copious notes, make sure your slate is legible in every shot, and if you can afford a time-code capable sound recorder, get it.<br />I've learned a bit the hard way on these few points.<br /><br />Well, for the next three weeks I'm digging in to this editing mess- then comes sound- and then hopefully getting something finished before I head home for the summer. This is looking less and less likely. I think I'm going to have to delay my official graduation until the fall. I guess that's okay.sahrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10963680009758564619noreply@blogger.com0