Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA – Shawn Downs, the gaffer and sometimes cinematographer on the FilmZambia projects, is completing his thesis film at the LA Film School. You can view the trailer for THE HUNTER on YouTube. It is visually compelling, a nice piece of filmmaking. Often, beginning filmmakers think the dialog is the most important part and spend all of their time shooting actors talking. (Hence the horrifying descriptor, a Talking Heads Movie. Woe the director who makes a talking heads movie.) Shawn was never confused about the fact that filmmaking was telling stories with pictures and that it is different from, well, audio books or radio. Shawn’s moving pictures are moving. I like the rack shot with the arrow (a tad faster would be swell but perhaps he’ll speed that up in post). The choreography of the fight sequences looks very Wong Kar Wai-ish. Lyrical. And, I do love the sound effects. That chilling sound of the blade being pulled from the scabbord is chilling at the end. Okay, I am not keen on the opening graphic and hope that doesn’t make it to the final but, heck, if I had a bunch of money, I’d be having him direct something for me. Wouldn’t you?

Congratulations to Shawn. Since we returned from Africa, it has been an intense year for him. He has dedicated himself to filmmaking and, like several of the other Zambia crew members, he has taken the necessary steps to make his life line up around his goals. Of course, I think the goal of visual storyelling is a noble one. Gifted filmmakers give viewers access to people and places they might never see, propel them to have thoughts about relationships or quests they might never have had, perhaps even to relax and be entertained after a gruelling week. Shawn is beginning his quest and he’s making a strong first step.

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by M. Piercy
The bonsai tree
in the attractive pot
could have grown eighty feet tall
on the side of a mountain
till split by lightning.
But a gardener
carefully pruned it.
It is nine inches high.
Every day as he
whittles back the branches
It is your nature
to be small and cozy
domestic and weak;
how lucky, little tree,
to have a pot to grow in.
With living creatures
one must begin very early
to dwarf their growth:
the bound feet,
the crippled brain,
the hair in curlers,
slapping the hands that
used to love to touch.

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“When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it seems longer than any hour. That’s relativity.”—Albert Einstein

Things are heating up here, literally and figuratively. August 8th is my big date with destiny. The irony, LAST year, I had the exact same big date with destiny. On August 8, 2006, I was getting on a plane for Zambia, Africa, with fourteen MCC filmmaking students and three Art faculty. I had no idea what we would be walking into, how the project would turn out, or if everyone would come back in good health. It was an exciting and scary time. August is “Monsoon Season” in Phoenix; the time of year when we have lightning storms and rain almost every evening. It’s the time when we get the bulk of our rain for the year. It’s a big deal in the desert.

Speaking of big deals in the desert, this year’s big date with destiny is a bit different. I can’t quite characterize it as an adventure. It has certainly been expensive and fraught with danger but not an exciting adventure. If you’d have asked me a year ago, I’d have told you that I would never face anything more difficult than going to Zambia. I would have been (GASP!) wrong. Sometimes, I feel like one of those goofy Bop ‘Em Clowns. As a child, I remember some of my classmates having those toys. They have about five pounds of sand in the bottom and a whole bunch of hot air up top. The kids could punch the living heck out of them but they’d keep popping up only to get smacked down again. I could never understand the appeal of the toy. Why keep hitting that poor smiling clown? I find it even less appealing in real life. How many smacks in the face must one take and keep coming back up for more? Apparently, the answer is relative. As my friend Robin would say, “It’s all relative, Cyndi.” As a young woman in college, Robin loved that saying. She was always wise beyond her years. (Those are my favorite kind of people—young at heart AND wise beyond their years.) She’d reference the Einstein story about the pretty woman and the hot stove. We’d laugh like hyenas. It’s all relative, Cyndi. In the cosmic scheme of things, what’s going on is pretty small but, in my world, it’s enormous. It’s all relative.

I had a wonderful update from MICHAEL SOKIVETA (a former MCC student) today.

“I don’t think I could have made it in this industry if I didn’t have you as a teacher. Not only are you a fantastic teacher, but you were always patient with me and you always took the time to help me when I needed it.

When I think of people to whom I give credit for my success in web design, the list goes …
1. God
2. Cyndi Greening
3. Dean Householder (Who helped me get my first web design job. I had nothing but a class project to show my interviewer, but it got me the job) … and the list goes on from there.

Last year I started my own design firm, and now I have over forty active clients, and a half-dozen contract and full-time employees that design and program for me. I couldn’t have done it without you as my teacher.

A quick update. Things are going well. My wife (who I met at MCC) is pregnant with our second child (due in November). My wife blogs about our toddler on “his” website, TITUS: Everything I Do is Cute.”

I told Michael the same the I tell ALL of my students. The credit for your success goes to YOU! You did the work, you were passionate about the field, you are creative, determined and inspiring. As his teacher, I simply opened the door and let him walk through to his future, let him meet his destiny. But, just the same, it was great to get the letter! I’ve had some pretty awesome letters this week. DOROTHY BOYLE and BEULAH MARTIN wrote about their continued successes, too. I think it is probably the greatest perk of teaching, hearing what your students are doing with what they learned. Very few professions have that sort of direct connection. Overall, I am a very lucky human!

Photo credit: Thanks to Michael Sokiveta for the great shot of the Dust Storm above!

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“Throw your hat over the wall and follow it. At least you’ll be committed.” — Irish Saying — My great-grandmother, Jane Greening, was from County Cork in Ireland. When I was a child, I was always most excited about my Irish heritage. I loved irish sayings like the one above. It always seemed so, well, Irish. Committing oneself to an impossible task, no matter what. To me, that was Irish. Wide-eyed idealism and faith that it would all work out in the end. As an adult, my idea of what it means to be Irish is tempered by the inherent challenge of what it must be to live on an island nation. Limited space, limited resources, unlimited faith and optimism. Pog mo thoin flatlanders. (That’s a photo of Blarney Castle in County Cork, Ireland to the right.)

“Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow.” — Norman Vincent Peale — Leave it to NVP to make the Irish look like slackers. Peale lets you hang onto your hat but suggests that you’re only really committed if your heart goes over the fence. For filmmakers, I think this is essential advice. If you don’t commit everything in your heart and soul to making the best film you can, a film you’re passionate about, you’ll never make it because there will be enormous hurdles to overcome. At this point in my filmmaking journey, I would suggest that as big as you think your problems will be, they are molehills in comparison to what you will ultimately encounter. In the end, it is only your passion and your commitment that will carry you forward. And, hard work.

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

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“The only way you can influence your fate is to put your soul into your performance and hope it registers with the audience.” — Mr. Eko, LOST (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)

Now, Adewale is putting his heart and soul into FARMING, a film that was chosen for the annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, which was held at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 28– June 28, 2007. My fellow Art Faculty member, Kai Kim and I are avid LOST fans. We both adored “Mr. Eko” and were horrified when they killed him off. A powerful actor, Adewale was amazing in his role. A little research reveals that Adewale has a Masters in Law from the University of London, where he was born and raised. He actually began his career as a model in Milan. He’s fluent in (obviously) Italian, English, Swahili and Yoruba. Adewale’s parents are Nigerian so it is not surprising to discover that his film is being made in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

But despite his big screen success, it is in television that he has excelled. In 1997 he joined the cast of Oz, one of HBO-TV’s most successful and challenging shows of the 1990s. He stayed with the series for three years, playing the drug-addicted rapist and murderer Adebisi with such depth and sensitivity that he became one of its best-known and most sympathetic characters. For this role he received NAACP Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. I’m looking forward to the film he’s developing under Sundance tutelage.

“I kind of feel for the people on the show who are just coming into the business and this is their first gig. They’ve got a big letdown coming.” — Adewale on his younger cast mates on LOST.

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First, an apology for being so lax about blogging. I’m trying to get back in the swing and generate more information about independent films, independent filmmaking, animation and visual arts. A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about Other People’s Money or, even better, filmmaking grants! If you’re looking for funding, you might want to start with this list!

• Grants.Gov
• University of Michigan Library List
  
• Film Arts Foundation List
• NYC Mayor’s Office Grants List
• IFP Grants
• National Geographic Grants
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts Grants
• MacArthur Foundation
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Endowment for the Humanities

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It has been one of the most challenging summers of my life. Thus far, I have avoided writing about it because it has been so difficult. Besides, I like to write about fun things. I like to write about movies and art and film production. I like to write about Zambia and world travel and adventures. One of my favorite stories is DON QUIXOTE. I’ve always thought it was important to run full-tilt through life. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

This summer, I ran into the damn torpedoes. It wasn’t so much fun. Frequent readers of this blog might think there was a challenge with Alec, my 19-year-old cherub who made the his high school years rather difficult. But, no, the good news is, he’s alive and well in NYC. Surprisingly, the challenge has come from a most unlikely place.

Mesa Community College has faced extraordinary difficulties in the last year. Media coverage about international travel, extended contracts and athletics propelled the resignation of the college president and created a climate of paranoia on campus. When I returned from Zambia, I was worried because, well, let’s be honest, Zambia is international travel. I asked several people if I needed to worry. I was assured that the FilmZambia project was exactly the sort of thing international travel funds were for … to fund the travel for 4 students and two faculty advisors to another continent to acquire skills in their chosen career and to participate in a cultural and humanitarian exchange … no worries.

To be certain, if you read the FilmZambia blog, it was a growthful and challenging experience. The other three faculty had to return to MCC before we were finished with the project because they had to teach in the fall semester. That left me alone in Africa with fourteen students. I didn’t realize how worried I was until I set foot back on U.S. soil. I could feel the tension leave my neck and shoulders. I was lucky everything went well, we finished the films and everyone came back in good shape.

To this day, I constantly marvel at how lucky we were. We missed the terrorist threat and shutdown of Heathrow by less than an hour. Less than an hour. All of our equipment arrived unscathed. When the lights were too powerful for the Zambian wiring (and we burned out the transformer for an entire building on the first day and we couldn’t find a single bulb on the entire African continent), we were able to fashion our own light kit from local supplies. It only cost $350. A great deal that let us finally start principle photography after a dismal first day.

We had a wonderful place to stay in Lusaka at the Kwazulu Kraal. Okay, one of the faculty was bitten by a spider and got an infection that required 90 days of antibiotics via a pic-line BUT she is alright now. Yes, we didn’t really have warm water for most of the hours of any day. Shower? Who needs a shower?! When they funding ran low for supplies, my ATM card worked without a hitch in Lusaka. I could keep the crew fed and the bus running from location to location. When we went to Livingstone, pure luck had us book into the Taita Falcon Lodge on the edge of the Zambezi. While we were eating lunch, the woman who worked for the helicopter company was at the next table. Our PR Genius and Line Producer, MK Racine, was able to negotiate an aerial film shoot that took everyone up to see Victoria Falls with their own eyes.

When it came time to return to the U.S., we had been told (luckily) that we wouldn’t be able to take our gear back on the plane. We shipped four cases of lights and the glidecam back. To be honest, it was expensive. $2000. Luckily, I decided to pay extra to insure all of the gear during shipment (the insurance rider I’d put on my homeowner’s policy prior to leaving only covered the gear from theft, damage or loss while it was in my possession). It was also expensive. Another $1000. So, when two of the cases were lost in transit, the school was reimbursed for the lost lights. Okay, it took nine months to get the money and I never got reimbursed but, luckily, they did. Almost none of the student computers, cameras or gear were damaged. Mike did lose an audio adapter in shipping (which was covered by insurance) and Pamela’s small computer was dropped on set. The damage was mostly cosmetic. She just has to be careful when she plugs it in. We did finish the film. Our first edit did not make Sundance 2006. Luckily, we can try again in 2007.

So, if I’m going on and on about being so lucky, what’s the problem? On May 11, 2007, a letter was delivered to my home by courier. Now, you know as well as I do, that’s rarely a good thing. I could not believe it. It shocked me to the core. I was hired to teach in the Media Arts program at MCC, to make certain that degree-seeking students could earn their AAS degrees or Certificates in a timely fashion AND provide instruction for industry professionals to further develop their skills. I devoted the last nine years of my life to serving all of these students (well over 300 per semester) and serving the college to the best of my ability. Our student successes are, in my opinion, amazing. I feel blessed to have had such an opportunity to work with so many dedicated and talented people! (I got a letter tonight from Etsuko, a former student, telling me of her current work as a fine art photographer for Hollye.Com. What a bright spot in a really yucky couple of weeks.

So, if you’re a former student or friend, please think good thoughts for me as I fight this challenge. I’ll keep thinking good thoughts for all of you, too.

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BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA — I am really happy to report that almost everyone on the crew is doing GREAT. I am so happy and proud of them. They really took their experience in Zambia and turned into great opportunities for themselves. Let’s play catch-up with the crew …

SHAWN DOWNS went straight from being the Gaffer in Zambia to attending the LA Film School. He’s been working on tons of films and is highly-regarded by his classmates and professional actors whom he directs. He recently shot his thesis film and I am really excited to see how it all comes together. I’ll be blogging about his film in the next couple of days. I’ve got stills (no footage yet) that have me enthused. With Shawn, I have no doubt that it will be excellent. It was easy to see that the guy was going places.

JARED MOSCHCAU surprised me all to heck. Jared was the Unit Photographer for the doc and one of the youngest crew members. Since he’s been back, he has DIRECTED TWO SHORT FILMS and is in pre-production on his third. His newest project is based on a song by the son of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’s Larry McMurtry. With twin brother, JUSTIN, (who is a sound editor and composer), Jared is actively continuing to hone his filmmaking skills. I’ll be blogging about his earlier films this week.

Cinematographer CARLOS ESPINOSA and Line Producer M.K. RACINE have continued in their Film Zambia roles by assisting Jared with his projects. The triumvirate have an excellent working relationship that serves them with these projects. Film Zambia storyboarder ERIC AGUIRRE is also on the team of the newest project.

Last month, I blogged about our two New Yorkers. ALEC HART and JACOB FELIX went from members of the documentary crew to full-time positions in the Big Apple. Alec is editing at Subvoyant (a post-production house that often assists with Sundance features). Jacob is the personal assistant to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS director, Jonathan Demme. The guys say that life in NYC is expensive but worth the extra effort for the experience they’re gaining.

JENIECE TORANZO had been assisting on the editing of the Film Zambia project but recently accepted a position with MORR FILMS as a post-production editor. She’s adding AVID editing to her skill set and really likes her new position. The owner of the company told Jeniece that he was pleasantly surprised how skilled she was and how much she knew as an editor. He said that graduates of other community college programs had been a disappointment. Thus far, Jeniece is doing well and making us proud.

Producer/Writer PAMELA BOWMAN is completing a screenplay that is set on the Reservation that she plans to shoot in late November. She has also been editing the Film Zambia project. Pamela recently went to LA to meet with producers about other projects and took a meeting in New York with HBO.

ROBBY BROWN was doing production work in the Valley. He fell in love and moved to Oklahoma. Robby does freelance editing and shooting. He tells us that there isn’t a lot of produciton in OK but he looks for as much work as he can to keep his skills up.

HEATH McKINNEY recently moved to Utah where he works with troubled teens. He ended up rooming with a couple of guys who own their own editing firm. They do a lot of commercial work. Heath is now doing a lot more editing.

MICHAEL MONTESA has been traveling the globe. He’s been to San Francisco and NYC. Soon, he’ll be going to Europe for five weeks. He recently interviewed to be a crew member on a film project in Ecuador. Looks like Mike’s next film project will also be in the southern hemisphere. The film is shooting early next year. We’ll keep you informed.

NICK MARSHALL is working on a horror screenplay.

EDGAR RIDER graduated from ASU with a degree in Theater Arts / Acting upon his return to the U.S. He produced the Potato Confrontation.

JABBES MVULA reports that he is talking with European producers in the hopes of raising funds to shoot another film in Zambia within the next year. I’m anxious to see what he’s able to put together.

Finally, there are often questions about the status of the films. A rough cut was complete for Sundance but it was just toooooo rough. So, they’re being re-cut and should be done soon. As soon as they’re ready, you’all will be the first to know!

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BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA — Well, I got to serve as a juror for PBS’s online film festival. Festival jurying is a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. The preliminary rounds were done by PBS so we only got the final 20 (much like the Sundance jurors getting the final 16 in their category from the programmers). We had specific directions on what to look for … Innovation and Creative Risk! ITVS is committed to projects that are innovative in their use of the medium or are imaginative in the presentation of their content. Jurors are asked to consider innovation and creative risk not as mere aesthetic ends, but within the context of the Web as a powerful tool to engage, express, reflect and explore. We were asked to decide if the films inspired us, moved us, stuck with us. Last year’s PBS winners can be viewed, where else, online.

We are sworn to secrecy … unable to reveal our thoughts on our favorites until after the official announcement. What I am allowed to say is that there were some really interesting short films. Several were beautifully shot but a tad traditional. A few were really powerful AND innovative. I’m eager to hear what the other jurors thought. As a digital filmmaking instructor, I’m going to encourage people to enter this festival! There is a decent amount of prize money and several awards. The chances are pretty civilized.

The statistics on PBS/ITVS online submissions is as follows:

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Here’s a great visual revealing the Gross Domestic Product data comparisons for U.S. states versus corresponding nations. My home state of Wisconsin is roughly equivalent to South Africa. Arizona and Thailand are comparable. Any doubts about the wealth of Texas and California. They’re Canada and France, respectively. Little bitty Delaware corresponds to Vietnam. New Jersey either has a lot more industry and product than I realized OR Russia is a lot worse off than I thought. I surprised to see they were equivalent. On top of that, what does Tennessee have that equates it with Saudi Arabia? Katrina-ravaged Alabama equates with war-torn Iran. Katrina-devastated Louisiana is comparable to tsunami-trampled Indonesia. By sheer accident of birth, I was born in the richest nation in the world. This graphic is a graphic reminder of that fact.

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BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA — Last night, I watched ELIZABETH on cable. the film stars Cate Blanchett as the Virgin Queen. The film emphasizes the years when she first came to power, when she was vulnerable and England was weak. The film was on my mind and I started chatting about it while running errands. There was a discussion about how Elizabeth never married because she didn’t want to be dominated by and have the King of England to be a man from another country.

Eleven-year-old Ciera commented that there were a lot of places in the world where it wasn’t very good to be a girl. She went on to say that countries that could have Queens seemed to be better. I suggested that there were a lot of “Queens” in San Francisco but I don’t think she got it. In spite of that, I said that there weren’t all that many women with political power in the U.S. And, while we have had an Equal Pay Act in the U.S. since 1963, I told her that the wage gap for men and women still hovers around 69¢ to the dollar.

In spite of all that, the U.S. remains one of the better countries to have been born female. And I do love being a girl.

Speaking of extraordinary females, Beverly Sills passed away today at the age of 78. I was never wild about opera but I sure loved Sills. She was the Director of the New York City Opera for a decade and later served as the Chair of the Metropolitan Opera. Sills was an avid supporter of the Arts. She died from inoperable lung cancer. A sad passing of an American icon.

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BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA — The full moon is upon us. I drove home last evening under a brilliantly clear desert sky and recalled my previous experiences (there have been only two) of seeing the full moon over San Francisco Bay. I’m in a funny space these days. They are those who track this sort of data and say that there are more tragic and unusual events that occur during the full moon. I’ll attribute my current restlessness to that phenomenon. There’s an awful lot going on these days. It’s no wonder I feel like baying at the moon and/or running off to visit the cool, clear climes of The City.

I was speaking with a friend today. We were laughing about Life in Hell (as summer in Phoenix can be). We were saying that we had no fear of hell because we’ve already been there and done that. Repeatedly. We’re in a searing heatwave. The Shea house closed on Thursday and I got to move the remaining garage items in 115-degree-weather. It was a special treat. No wonder I’m obsessing about the Bay.

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BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA — In 1999, Cate Blanchett was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Elizabeth I in the aptly titled film, ELIZABETH. On Friday, I saw the trailer for another film with much of the same cast and crew. The trailer was gorgeous. Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, and Geoffrey Rush fill the screen in costumes and settings that were stunningly beautiful. Elizabeth The Golden Age looks golden. I’m already anticipating Academy Award nominations for costumes, make-up, set design and, probably, performances.

I’ve always been interested in the whole Elizabethan period because of Shakespeare. So, I adored SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. In the film, the amazing Judi Dench earned a supporting actress Academy Award for her eleven-minute portrayal of Queen Elizabeth. After that I was all excited about the Showtime series THE TUDORS and I started watching all things Elizabethan from Netflix. I watched the Channel 4 mini-series on ELIZABETH I that featured Helen Mirren. Six hours of fantastic film that earned Mirren an Emmy and a BAFTA.

Recently, while I was on my Judi-Dench-Cate-Blanchett kick, I saw NOTES ON A SCANDAL. Judi Dench was positively evil in the film, Cate Blanchett was achingly vulnerable. I really enjoyed the film. My world would be perfect if they’d find a way to get Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench to work on something together.

Of course, I thought it would be wonderful to see EVENING because of all the incredible actresses in it. Glenn Close, Meryl Street, her daughter Mamie Gummer, Vanessa Redgrave, her daughter Natasha Richardson, Toni Colette, Claire Danes. I went opening day. In the end, all I can say is that I wanted it to be so much stronger than it was. I didn’t like the way it was edited and some of the dialogue was just too precious. I liked the idea so much better than the actual film.

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