“We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.”
Tom Stoppard (1937 – )
British Dramatist
“Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.”
Ben Hecht (1893 – 1964)
U.S. Dramatist
Today I am amusing myself with JibJab.Com, a site with an animation that bashes both Bush and Kerry. It has a few mildly offensive moments but is generally clever.
“Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart, don’t know how to laugh either.”
Golda Meir (1898 – 1978)
Israeli Prime Minister
Taught in Milwaukee, WI (!)
“The sadness of the incomplete–the sadness that is often Life, but should never be Art.”
E.M. Forster (1879 – 1970)
British Novelist from A Room with a View
There is so much information on the web. I go crazy trying to staying on top of all the blogs and sites. Today, I spent a great deal of time on Filmmaking.Com. They have articles on everything from directing to special effects. There is even a page with Independent Financing Sources.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about documentary filmmaking. In the words of Barbara Kopple, “They’re doable.” Exploring the sites of Documentary Filmmakers reveals a lot of technical and philosophical information. Of course, I was most excited to find Nick Broomfield‘s site since I recently watched his documentary on Aileen Wuornos. He made the original documentary on her 12 years ago!. Now, there’s even a site devoted to her: AileenFilm.Com. While Charlize Theron’s Monster was a terrific film, Broomfield’s documentary reveals that ultimately Wuornos may have had a defensible case but put her trust in the wrong people. It will deepen your understanding of the criminal justice system. As her attorney said (and I use that term loosely), “A rich man never dies in the chair.”
Keeping with the thought that we are our history, I think of Wuornos and wonder at what point, if ever, we are no longer able to overcome the “hardwiring” of our youth. Last night, I read Alice Hoffman’s The Probable Future. I really enjoyed it! I made a very personal digital story this summer. I can see my history all over it.
“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.”
Erich Fromm (1900 -1980)
U.S. Psychologist
“I suppose everyone continues to be interested in the quest for the self, but what you feel when you’re older, I think, is that … you really must make the self. It is absolutely useless to look for it, you won’t find it, but it’s possible in some sense to make it. I don’t mean in the sense of making a mask, a Yeatsian mask. But you finally begin in some sense to make and choose the self you want.”
Mary McCarthy (1912 – 1989)
U.S. Author
The NY Times had an excellent article this morning about Mark Cuban. I like following Cuban because he’s such a money machine. A very wealthy friend of mine once said, “You could make a great living just following him around and pursuing the projects he rejects.” Cuban’s HDNet is the cornerstone of his belief in the approaching dominance of high-definition television. This article,
Big Media Ideas to Art Theatres, discusses the impact Cuban’s commercial bent may have on the film chain he recently acquired with Todd Wagner.
According to the Times, “Mr. Wagner and Mr. Cuban plan to bring big-media ideas of vertical integration to the art house world. The new owners are importing digital technology to Landmark’s 204 screens by equipping each of the 57 theaters in 21 markets with high-definition digital projection by year’s end, Mr. Wagner said in a later telephone interview from his office in Dallas. He envisions producing low-budget digital movies through his HDNet Films, releasing them through his specialty-film distributor, Magnolia Pictures, projecting them on Landmark screens, selling them on DVD in Landmark theaters and broadcasting them on HDNet Movies, one of two high-definition television networks run by Mr. Cuban.”
The most recent version of Apple’s Final Cut Pro is the HD version so Apple clearly is in agreement with Cuban/Wagner that this is the trend of the future.
“Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.”
Henry Brooks Adams (1838 – 1918)
U.S. Historian
“Art can make chaos seductive.”
Mason Cooley (1927 – )
U.S. Aphorist
The deadline approaches! The Sundance site has the official Sundance Call for Entries 2005 posted. Short films must be submitted by September 3 and Feature films must be submitted by September 24. The Sundance FAQ indicates that rough cuts are accepted on VHS or DVD. It also reminds filmmakers that the deadlines are for SUBMISSIONS not postmarks. DVD submissions must come in a specific size case (see the FAQ). And, a change this year, feature films must be WORLD Premieres. Guess you’ve got to watch the rules if you want to run with the big dogs.
“No sacrifice was too great to get the film right, to get it accurate, true, and perfect. We weren’t important in our minds; only the picture was.”
Lillian Gish (1896 – 1993)
U.S. Actress
“Self-sacrifice usually contains an unspoken demand for payment.”
Mason Cooley (1927 – )
U.S. Author
Today’s filmmaking sites are rich, rich, rich. One of my favorites is Netribution, a site devoted to funding and alternative methods of distribution. Like the NY Times Guerrilla Doc article, this site focuses on how to get your work out there.
I found a load of great information at Filmmaking.Net There were articles on lenses, sound and festivals. Definitely worth bookmarking.
Of course, I recommend a traditional photography class as one of the BEST things you can do to shoot better films (learning to compose a single great shot makes you shoot better motion sequences). You also learn about things like lighting, depth of field and lenses. Some of that is covered in 10 Things About Lenses at VideoExpert.
Often overlooked, film SOUND is critically important for delivering the emotional impact you’re seeking. M. Night Shyamalan tells the story of how the rating was changed on his new film The Village from an “R” to a “PG-13″ simply by changing a sound. For a great understanding of film sound, go to FilmSound Org.
Finally, some interesting information on film festival strategies can be found at Film Festival Strategies at GregPak.Com.
“A sculptor is a person obsessed with the form and shape of things, and it’s not just the shape of one thing, but the shape of anything and everything: the growth in a flower; the hard, tense strength, although delicate form of a bone; the strong, solid fleshiness of a beech tree trunk.”
Henry Moore (1898 – 1986)
English Abstract Sculptor
“Obsession is the single most wasteful human activity, because with an obsession you keep coming back and back and back to the same question and never get an answer.”
Norman Mailer (1923 – )
U.S. Author
“You’ve got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.”
John Irving (1942 – )
U.S. Author from The Hotel New Hampshire
Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf says that the combination of iPod and iTunes is causing more and more Windows users to switch to the Mac platform. MacMinute: iPod, iTunes causing PC to Mac migration.
I’ve been using a Macintosh since 1985 (19 years!) and have always felt it was superior to anything all the PCs out there, particularly in the area of multimedia, graphics and audio. I started teaching at the college in 1989 and have always been Mac based. While I think the Mac/PC war is foolish, I’d never choose anything but a Mac for MY WORK. So, it is with much amusement that I see PC people switching to the Mac for its entertainment capabilities.
Speaking of entertainment, tonight I’m going the hear Sarah McLachlan at the new Glendale Arena. I’m not a big fan of crowds but she’s worth the effort.
“Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything.”
Eugene Delacroix (1798 – 1863)
French Romantic Painter
“Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life’s ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.”
W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965)
British Author
I’ve been in a Blog Funk the last couple of weeks. The quest for digital filmmaking information is interesting but more thoroughly handled by CinemaMinima. The weird tidbits and oddities of the world are documented much more completely on BoingBoing and it’s months until the next Sundance Film Festival.
I lost TWO faculty members at school (one moved away, the other got a full time opportunity) which will make the next school year a bit of a challenge. There will be new adjunct to train and the maintenance of the labs will require much attention. Perhaps it’s the quadruple bypass and look at mortality that makes me feel like Sisyphus (the King of Corinth, condemned in Tartarus to an eternity of rolling a boulder uphill then watching it roll back down again).
Ironically, I am much inspired these days. I’ve seen some terrific films: Charlize Theron was incredible as Aileen Wuornos in Monster (for which she won an academy award). Even more fascinating is Nick Broomfield’s Documentary on Aileen “Lee” Wuornos. Made years before the feature film, he’s enjoying the resurged interest in his piece. I also saw
The Hours a couple of nights ago. I couldn’t make myself watch it when I rented the DVD (twice) but loved it when I saw it. Go figure.
In the realm of literature, I reread Griffin and Sabine and now find it a completely different series since I live with an artist. Some argue that language tries to describe Art but Art is experienced outside of language and then interpreted in language — but the actual experience remains separate from the words. It started me thinking on writing and wondering if something similar occurs with writing. Is there something in the experience of reading the words that is separate from the explanation or description of them?
I think of Carol Shield’s The Stone Diaries. It won many awards including the Pulitzer Prize. I found it to be a rich and worthwhile experience. I also read The Rule of Four. While it is an interesting story, it does not have the power of The Stone Diaries. What makes that so? This is what I ponder today.
Now, I want to buy Nick Bantock’s Ceremony of Innocence, a DVD experience of Griffin and Sabine. As a multimedia art teacher, I want to compare the visual experience with the written experience with the multimedia experience. What, if anything, does it offer that is distinct, new and different? [Since I've come back from Wisconsin, I feel like I am FULL of words that are trying to get out. Look at the length of this post!]
“Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.”
Paul Klee (1879 – 1940)
Swiss Painter
“There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved: It is God’s finger on one’s shoulder.”
Charles Morgan (1894 – 1958)
English Novelist; Recalled on his death 6 Feb 58
