part five of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six & seven ]

Okay... so the short "just for fun" clip that I mentioned five days ago - the same clip I said could be expected up that night, or at the latest, the next night - well I just exported it this morning. Part of the delay was because the song I originally choose was Belle & Sabastian's "the boy with the arab strap"... which is a somewhat long song [5'15] for a "short fun clip".



So, this morning I dropped Steve Burns's "Troposphere" - which is a very short 2'31 - into the edit, deleted the extra three minutes of random footage I had been planning on using originally, and then de-interlaced all the footage since I've noticed any time I export mov's at broadband settings I get a strange horizontal fuzz on clips that have been slowed or altered. Anyways, enough stalling, here it is - the clip runs 2'32 long and is 13.9 MBs in size. Enjoy.

share this   |   'save as'   |  

I have four specific things I keep intending to write about but I'm just too busy at the moment to get into them... but don't let me put them off for too long. I will tell you this, the "to-do" note I scribbled for myself reads: "meeting with Stefanie - the sound lady", "doc' fund out the window... again", "fundraising letter", and "DGA dicks". Feel free to nag me about any one of the above topics... it will motivate me.

Also, while I'm at it - I thought I'd tack on the fifth slideshow for everyone.

note: right click here to "save target as".

Labels: Pre-Production

part four of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six & seven ]

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Three post in a row with out any word from the outside world. I suppose with "today's goal" & "girl with a movie camera" I didn't expect much... there really wasn't anything to add. But for "cutting floor" I thought for sure some of you would chime in to say "that cut sucks" or "I have no idea where you're going with this"... something.

Last night I went to the hammer museum to listen to a conversation with Olivier Stone and David Corn. I was a bit disapointed though, David Corn, who is the author of 'The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception', kind of stole the show right off the bat... setting the tone of the conversation to politics and government coruption. Which I should have seen coming. But I really just wanted to hear Oliver Stone speak about his films and his experiences as a [contriversal] filmmaker.


I've been meaning to post the fourth slideshow, I guess now is as good a time as any...

note: right click here to "save target as".

Labels: Pre-Production

Last night I began cutting together footage. More importantly, I should be getting down on paper exactly where I want to go with this short... narrative... a more specific beginning... an ending. I know there are several things I still need to get on tape before I can get too far with cutting.

Amanda suggested last night that I just pick a fun song and throw together a short music video of bike trip shots, just something to get myself even more familiar with the footage and also to cut something together quickly that doesn't hold a lot of pressure with it. So you can expect that up sometime tonight or tomorrow.



I'm not sure how this idea is going to pan out - but I'm going to try and post both cut & un-cut footage during the editing process. I guess I will continue to do this as long as it doesn't eat up too much of my server space. This first 'rough cut' is an opening idea I had while Amanda and I were gone on our ride, it's a very thrown together edit and I've already deleted the cut of it, but not before I exported this quicktime file.

The main purpose of this edit was actually to create a stand-alone wave-file of strong winds... this wind that you hear in the background is actually a combination of several clips and two separate days. It just occurred to me that perhaps I shouldn't be telling you these things, I'm afraid now when you watch the clip you'll just be listening to the wind and pick it apart... when if I hadn't said anything at all you might not have ever even thought about it. Oh, and the lack-of-picture in the beginning of this clip is normal. Enjoy.

Labels: Pre-Production

Almost two weeks ago; I was sifting through my old bookmarks, updating my blog links in firefox... creating 'live-bookmarks' for any sites with atom or rss feeds, and deleting links to blogs that no longer existed... I checked in on a lot of sites I hadn't come across in a long time. One of these was 'Dove Sei Tu', a "diary of the making of a feature-length film, in production in Italy in the summer of 2004".

To explain: On Jan 08th, 'girl with a movie camera' wrote [after posting the last eight months on a fairly regular basis] a post simply saying: "Pause || Be back soon". I checked in every week to read more, but there were no updates. Then a month or two would pass and I would remember to drop by - still nothing.

Seven months later [but still two weeks ago] the production-diary is still 'paused'. No update... no word from 'girl with a movie camera'. I write myself a 'to-do' note: "dove sei tu - missing in action". I plan on sitting down and writing a post [much like the one I'm finally getting to tonight] about her film, about her site, about how much her production-diary helped inspire my own.

Before I know it; a week has flown by and I've still yet to write that / this post. Then, for what ever reason, I drop by 'Dove Sei Tu'... and find a single post titled: "news - the return!!!", with a handwritten note reading: "as the editing for "Dove Sei Tu" has been completed (as of June 2005), this blog is moving to a new location: girlwithamoviecamera...".


[a still-frame from her film 'Dove Sei Tu'... I know it's not much to go off of, but it looks very beautifully shot]

I quickly follow the link and find two post, the first; a quote from Dziga Vertov's 'Man with a Movie Camera' [which I immediately added to the top of my netflix queue], and the second; a long "catching up" on the last several months of post-production for 'Dove Sei Tu'. I decided to send an email reading:

'Girl with a movie camera', I'm so glad to see you've returned - you don't have any comments on your site, so I thought I'd send you an email letting you know that I'm very excited to start reading about your project again. For months I wondered what was happening with your film... and it's a very strange coincidence, well it would have been, but a few days ago I was about to sit down and write a post about your site and how you've been M.I.A. for a long time now... for what ever reason I didn't find the time and now look.

Anyway - I just wanted you to know 'the above' - as well as, you were a huge inspiration for starting my own film-related blog. And yeah, that's it - I hope one day I'll be able to see your finished film. Keep writing and best of luck...

Tonight I got a response, and I don’t usually cut & paste my email conversations… I hope she doesn't mind my sharing - but she gave a much needed pat-on-the-back and I felt it was worth sharing:

Michael, thanks a lot for your kind words - it has been really encouraging to receive emails like yours, from people who used to read the blog and were wondering what happened to the film. hopefully in the upcoming weeks i will post dove sei tu's trailer as well as other screenshots :) i also checked out your site and i must say that i'm really impressed by your project - congrats! and the blog is fantastic! :) my browser is currently throwing a tantrum, meaning that i tried to watch your trailer and ran into problems, but i'm sure it looks fabulous. i will check back soon :)
best of luck with everything, especially logging & capturing (from someone who knows how terribly enjoyable it is ;)

Okay, this post has ended up much longer than I originally intended... and now it’s very late in the morning – mostly because I stopped half way through this to eat diner and watch a movie… plus when I came back I found that my wonderfully reliable laptop had died while I was away and I had to start again from scratch… another friendly reminder of why I should never post on anything but my mac.

Anyway, the several other topics I was hoping to mention tonight will have to wait until next time. Goodnight.

Labels: Pre-Production

It's my first day off of work in six days - today's goal: log & capture five hours of footage. It's not even noon yet and already it's 90+ degrees... so, I have my giant Jackson Parlour "Dare to be Great" mug in front of me filled to the top with ice water, and two fans pointed directly at me on full force.

Before I go, I'd like to thank Chris [or "Cerveza"] for adding a 'project pedal banner' to his email signature, you can view the banner, and others, at his site by clicking here. It's a huge help in spreading the word.

Sorry this post is so short - but I've lots to do.

Labels: Pre-Production

part three of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six & seven ]

I've spent the last few hours working myself in circles on a new video & graphics website... now my contacts are completely dried out and I've, yet again, failed to get myself back on a "normal" sleeping schedule. After coming from home from my *insert heavy sarcasm* wonderful & fulfilling job, Amanda and I relaxed on the couch and watched 'Dog Day Afternoon' on netflix.

It feels like the first time we've been home in forever... actually I started this post last night - but Amanda and I agreed to house/ dog sit for her step-sister, Amber, while she was out of town on business. So, two sentences into this post I saved it as a draft and hoped to finish it there before going to bed - but her internet was funking-up on me. Why is it every time we house or dog sit for someone it's when their internet is acting up? I swear I know enough about computers to not be just doing something wrong. Anyways, enough 'filler' for one post...


Thursday morning I'll be meeting with Stefanie Sellars [who has offered to compose some original music for the film] down the street at a local coffee house called 'Romancing the Bean', I've never actually been inside, but I drive past it almost everyday. We'll probably be meeting around 10'ish, I'll be wearing a black tee-shirt with light... wait, why am I giving away all this information? Now Amanda is paranoid that some internet stalker is going to show up and give me evil looks from across the cafe. I can only hope she's right... I be flattered to have a stalker. In any case, I'm excited to sit down with her and talk about the sound of film, more on that later.

And finally the real reason you're probably all here: the pictures. Actually, I believe this slideshow is my favorite of the group... I think it has a lot to do with the goats. Okay, you all know the routine.

note: right click here to "save target as".

Labels: Pre-Production

part two of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six & seven ]

Our air conditioner is a piece of crap. The only way it cools the apartment outside of it's five foot "personal bubble" is if you put a fan in front of it and crank it full blast. And even then you have to stay in either the living room or kitchen to cool off... and since I'm in the bedroom - which is very, very far from the a/c, even with the fan - I'm sweating just sitting here. Which is as a attractive as it is comfortable.

Okay, so - the point of this post, I'll be busy all day importing and logging footage, to keep the site moving I thought I'd post the 2nd [of 7] bike trip slide shows. Enjoy.

note: right click here to "save target as".

Labels: Pre-Production

I just thought I'd take a moment and write a quick note to mark the occasion... I've got 220 GBs out of 280 cleaned out [enough to completely free up my main external]. I've got my several boxes of tapes sitting out in front me, all clearly marked and in chronological order. I've got a blank hard-cover notebook to log down any info & notes in. I've got Final Cut Pro open in the background ready to capture... this is the first time I'll be going over the bike trip footage, I haven't seen so much as a minute of it yet, I actually feel a bit nervous.

Labels: Pre-Production

It's time for me to get something off my chest that's been frustrating me for weeks now. I haven’t waited this long simply to hide it from any of you – I try to put everything I possibly can out there so anyone can see all the ups and downs of making a film, I’ve waited because I’ve been hoping I was wrong. But it’s been days, weeks even.

It’s especially frustrating after Amanda and I biked thousands of miles up & down the pacific coast handing out stickers, and even scrap paper with 'project pedal' info, to anyone and everyone who would take them.

I haven't received one email or comment from any of the many bicyclists we crossed paths with during our trip, not one. Not Sky, or Carla, or Sarah, or Colleen, or Lucy, or Mathew, or Kevin, or John, or the nice guy from Germany who took our photo and said he would email us a copy... not one. When I returned home, exhausted, I was a little hurt to find that my mailbox was basically empty.


But, there is a happy ending to this post - a day or so after being back - I did receive an email from "the producer" letting me know that he had been closely following our trip on the site... that everyone was anxious to see what I put together from the footage, and that he was looking forward to sitting down face to face and talking out the project.

So, maybe I didn't get the flood of emails I had hoped for, maybe I won’t be able to keep in contact with all the interesting and inspiring people we met along the way - but it's quality not quantity, right? I think of all the people I was hoping to get an email from – if I had to choose one – I’d have to say “the producer’s” email outweighs the rest combined.

Okay, well it’s four in the morning and mostly been killing time waiting for the last load of laundry to finish up in the washer so I can toss it into the dryer and pass out. Good night, world.

Labels: Pre-Production

part one of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six & seven ]

I've decided to use 'keynote' to build an interactive quicktime movie slideshow for the bike trip photos... I've grouped them into 100 each to cut down on file size for readers with slower internet connections.

Now, this is a bit experimental - I'd like to hear some feedback on this decision. Should I instead just post them 20 pic's at a time? Should I upload a large PDF? Should I try something I haven't thought of?

Okay, without any further procrastination - here are the first 100 random pic's from our pacific bike trip. Enjoy & don't forget the feedback. I've got 500 more of these things to share.

note: For those of you out there still dragging your feet with 56k, I recommend you right click here and "save target as".

[update] I've tried to find a way to save the slideshow mov' file as a streaming quickstart, but I'm not having any luck. So unfortunately the whole 13 MBs have to download before you can start clicking... please be patient.

Labels: Pre-Production

Ten days. That must be some kind of record - I'm not even sure if I went this long without posting while we were gone on our bike trip. So, just where the hell have I been and why have I been neglecting the site for so long?

Well, to explain, I've spent eight of last ten days working closing shifts at my hellhole of a day job. Which, after being gone for 30-some days on a beautiful & challenging bike trip along the pacific coast... is... I'm not sure how to best explain this - you know the saying about "a frog in boiling water"? Not to sound over-dramatic, but my routine and life now aren’t drastically different than before I left - but now I feel shaken-up, awake, aware, dazed, somewhere-else, all at the same time. I get anxious when standing in one place for more than an hour. I haven't seen a sun set since San Francisco.

I think over time you become numb to your unpleasant or unsatisfying routine - your dead-end job doesn't annoy you as much as it should, your lack of exercise [both mental and physical] doesn't sound as many alarms as it should. And [where I'm going with all this, is that] the bike-trip slaps you around a bit - wakes you up, causes you to pick your head up and look around for a change.

Anyways - by working eight days in a row, I feel I've missed out on the most important aspect of the bike trip - the after shocks. The reflective period.

The last ten miles of the trip - the Golden Gate, the "rental car fiasco", the five hour car ride that lasted ten hours, the day and a half off before my never-ending shift... it's felt like it's flown by in the same time that it just took you to just read about it.


So - I'm getting side tracked here - where was I heading with all this rambling? Well - aside from the day-job, I've spent almost every last minute of free time designing and building a website for some video services I used to do when I lived back in 'Ypsi'... DVD authoring, editing, graphic design, etc... I feel that I've been in a constant state of "broke" since moving to Hollywood - and the bike trip has helped light a fire under my ass; it's time for some changes to happen.

Okay, next post you’ll have some pictures from the trip – I promise – they’re all ready to go, I’m just trying to decide the best way to share 600-some pic’s.

Labels: Pre-Production