FToM + KSR = ♥ from mike ambs on Vimeo.

Amanda and I just launched a brand new Kickstarter campaign to help fund the last stages of post-production!

Help support 'For Thousands of Miles', plus get awesome stuff like Pedal buttons, posters, autographed scripts, a 64 Days DVD with audio commentary and even my personal typewriter.

Here's the (long) description from our campaign page:


Our 1st round of initial post-production funding was a great success on Kickstarter! And because of the amazing 18 backers, which helped raise $1,105, I've been able to work full-time on FToM for the last three months.

Recently, I finished editing a huge chunk of this ambitious documentary, cutting down over 120+ hours of footage into a near 5 hour rough edit. Which brings us to our 2nd round of funding:

So what's the next step? I have a long road of writing still ahead of me. The script, which mainly deals with several narratives blocks in the film are still rough at best, and in most cases detailed treatments and outlines.

The few connecting pieces of FToM that have yet to be filmed - that mainly deal with the experience of coming home from a long ride - need to be story-boarded and added into the editing sequences as place-holders for pacing and mood.

During the length of this KSR campaign, I'll be hard at work writing / story-boarding. The goal is to be done writing when this campaign ends and use (if successful) the raised funds to carry out the following steps as quickly as possible:

Pick-up shots: it's time for Amanda and I to travel to Northern California, where our main character in the documentary, Larry McKurtis, is currently living and working. FToM deals a lot with the hardest part of a long-distance experience... waking up one morning in your bedroom, and realizing it's over.

That is to say, your entire experience on the road shifts when it begins to sink in that it's over. Moments that, at the time, felt slow and uneventful, blur together and begin to represent something more. You try to move on with your life, your routine, but so much of your mind is still stuck on the road.

There is a very, very short list of needed equipment (mostly simple hardware-store lights, an SLR adapter, and a basic DIY dolly cart) that we'll have to secure for the 1-2 weeks of controlled shooting.

From there, we'll need to purchase additional hard-drive space (because I'm working on two completely maxed out Lacie drives as it is) to import the new footage (as well as inexpensive USB LaCie drives for redundant backups... can't be too careful). Several more weeks of heavy editing will follow - which will mostly involve replacing all story-boarded sequences with the actual footage. Recording any temporary narration track (we have someone professional in mind for narration, but that's a different adventure all together at this moment).

At this point - we should have a watchable edit in Final Cut. Amanda and I will begin to work closely on making adjustments, and doing small personal screenings to receive outside feedback on the project. Make more adjustments. Repeat.

From there we'll need to ship off a locked edit to Belgium where Olivier will color correct the film. As well as hire a visual effects creator (for "I'm doing this because I love your film" wages) for a small number of simple and subtle layers to scenes dealing with imagination on the road.

I know this sounds like a lot - and it is, but all these overwhelming steps can be speed-up and more easily managed with a working budget and, more importantly, a supportive community.

DIY film-making can be a crushing, lonely, experience... but all things worth doing are difficult - and together we can be a part of something that I believe will beautiful, inspiring and unique.

Labels: Fund, Kickstarter, Post-Production

I've had several days to think about the two possible directions I mentioned in my last video update. First off, thanks so much to everyone who gave their advice and helped me weigh the pro's and con's.

After a lot of consideration - I've decided the next step in post-production is continue moving forward with FToM, and to hold off longer on another addition in the 64 Days series.

There's a lot of little reasons for this, but for the most part, I left LA behind with the idea of focusing 100% on the film.

I feel that 64 Days, being a supplemental aspect of the project, needs to take a back-seat while I'm being so heavily supported by Erica. She has been bearing a great deal of financial stress the last three months - and I am trying to not waste any of support she has been willing to give.

On a related note - for whatever reason, we've been getting a sudden increase in donations and I wanted to stress how amazingly helpful they have been. The recent PayPal donations and the $1,000 Kickstarter campaign we ran in June have helped me work full-time on FToM and narrow down 115+ hours of footage into a 4 hour rough-edit segment. And that has been an huge step towards finishing the film, so thank you so much!

That's all for tonight - I'd like to write a separate post about the specific steps ahead, as always I'd love to hear questions and comments regarding any aspects of the project.

Labels: 64 Days, FToM, Fund, Post-Production

Post Production - Week 88 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

I was up late last night working - and decided a video update was long, long overdue. I've been finished up on a huge step of post-production for almost two weeks now, and I've been waiting to make that announcement on video.

Also - and more importantly, I need people's input on what the next step for me should be.

Labels: Editing, FToM, Post-Production, Vlog, Weekly Update

I just finished watching a really inspiring video, twittered by Zak Forsman, of Nina Paley at the Phily DIY Days meet-up, that I mentioned recently, presenting the revenue results for her Creative Commons free-distribution approach. Yep, that's right, she has made money by giving her film away for free.

My favorite part of her presentation was early on when she defined "free" as having more than one meaning: there's the free as in "free beer", and there's the free as in "free speech".

Nina released her animated film, Sita Sings the Blues, five months ago under a Creative Commons Share Alike license. Now this site, has for several years, published under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share Alike license, and that license applies to all the content we post here; the episodes, the teasers, the production updates, etc (unless specifically said otherwise).

What these licenses mean is pretty simple and straight forward; under both, people are free to share your work - this includes downloading it, making copies, uploading it to a bit-torrent site, etc... any means of sharing are allowed! They are even allowed to make changes to your work - in a film's case, they could re-edit or re-mix scenes - as long as they released that modified work under the same license.

But what you can't do under our project's current license, that you are allowed (and encouraged) to do under Nina's is sell the content. It's not even required that you cut a percentage of the profits with the person who created the work. Although, in most professional cases, that person or organization does share their profit.

She brings up a specific example of this in the video, a Film Festival downloaded her film, put it in their schedule, and sent her a short email afterward saying something along the lines of, "hey, we put your film in our fest'. We'll send you a check in a few weeks". Her film played there, did very well, and she received a check for a few thousand dollars.

That is how film distribution should work! It's not there yet, but people like Nina are working very hard to prove that it is a viable option for both filmmakers and theaters. It's really inspiring and encouraging to see this model working, and working so well, even in it's early stages of approach.

The way in which Nina makes most of her money is through selling "containers", more specifically: DVDs and merchandise. This has been a hard sell for other filmmakers and distributors, a huge majority are still hard-pressed to understand that just because someone can stream or download a film for free, doesn't mean they will not pay for it.

The more people that see Sita Sings the Blues... the more festivals it plays in... the more people who watch it online - enjoy it - and suggest it to a few friends... the more word of mouth: the more DVDs Nina sells. It's as simple as that.


The distribution of FToM has always been something I knew would have to be different - it's just not a film that is designed to be played in theaters all across the US. It's not a blockbuster, or a sleeper hit, or fun for the whole family. And I'm okay with that. I'm going to plan according for it, which means I won't be submitting to all the major film fest' with the hopes of being picked up. I'll still submit, but I won't be holding my breath.

FToM is guaranteed to do far, far better with a release approach similar to Nina's. And honestly, whether the film is more or less likely to be successful under this model is besides the point - I want to help push this form of distribution forward. I think it's important.

I think as more and more theaters upgrade their projection equipment to include digital, the more they tap into the internet, the more unavoidable it is to see organizations and companies come forward and help showcase film's with Creative Commons licenses. Most likely using something close to an on-demand / streaming / bit-torrent approach.

And that, to me, sounds like a very, very good thing.

Labels: Creative Commons, Distribution, DIY, FToM, Post-Production

Teaser 017 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

I've mainly been using instrumental music for these teasers - but to be honest, I've always wanted to use music more in line with this teaser.

If I can help it, at least half of the soundtrack will be music you're used to hearing in these teasers, and the other half will be more... old, lonely, love-related. There's a good reason for that - but one I'll save for the film.

Until then - here's a shot of Larry pushing slowly back against the winds in ND... alone on the road with nothing left to do but think about everything his life has been, and everything he wants it to be.

Help us burn up the lat of our 9,735 HD embeds by posting this teaser on your own site. Just copy & paste the code below, or you can tweet this post to all your followers.

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Labels: Embed, Post-Production, Teaser