Yearly Archives: 2012
Good night, neverland!
May 17, 2012 – 12:01 am | No CommentsChange is constant and inevitable. I move to a diffferent city every few weeks, a different state of mind every few minutes. So much flux I can’t keep up with my emails. I find it hard to keep my computer connected to my external hard drive at home for more than eight hours. Meetings change times like re-observed electrons. Tasks sit undone, clothes un-put away. I strive to stay present-minded.
Two music videos in pre-production. Band videos, polishing a feature (if I ever squeeze out the time.) A meditation retreat coming up. Film festivals in different cities. Friends..I am constantly saying good bye to you only to whirl around and face you again. Life I’ve been living so I haven’t had time to blog. Trying to schedule time to write.
A city so oppressive and magical. I’ve got to get out of you…but wherever you go, there you are.
No Comments | Tags:Final Cut: I’m out. Next up, Avid or FCP X. Suggestions?
May 11, 2012 – 11:52 am | 2 CommentsWhen I rendered my film out to its final version, I had to do the 14-minute film in about 8 segments because I kept getting out of memory errors.
Final Cut 7 in Lion just doesn’t work. It does terrifying things like all of a sudden refuse to save a file.
I’m leaving, and the question is whether to Avid or FCP X.
Where are other people going?
2 Comments | Tags:Great, so our president likes equality now.
May 9, 2012 – 9:25 pm | No CommentsI wasn’t very excited or happy or relieved that Obama came out in support of marriage equality. I’m inclined to believe he’s always supported it, but whatever his true feelings actually are, he makes these statements for political reasons. He’s either pushing as much of his personal agenda as he thinks he can get away with at a given time, or he’s saying what he thinks will get him re-elected. Either way, he is lying to us, every minute of every day, spinning reality to fit politics.
You say your views have “evolved,” but I call bullshit. I think the political climate has evolved, and it’s hard to watch the media circus without seeing that.
And yet it’s remarkably easy to swallow these reservations and hope that they mean my own personal politics will get advanced. I’m truly, genuinely happy that this means a more equal world. But it’s remarkable to observe the deceit we tolerate when it moves a situation in our favor.
EDIT 5/10: Most of what I say is not prescriptive. I think in general that practical decisions must be made pragmatically as part of a holistic approach, and opinion pieces tend to arise from dogma that should be considered only as part of a greater whole. Also, it’s easy to use “the president” as a metonym for “the system” and quite important to be clear about the distinction. My frustration is with the system that requires such maneuvers, not this one particularly brave actor within that system, who I do commend in this case. Even while I call bullshit.
Thanks to Rick Bettan’s Facebook post for inspiring me to clarify:
I think the following qualifies as a rant, but I’m not deleting any of it, because I think it’s so important. To my friends now Monday-morning quarterbacking President Obama’s announcement of his support for Marriage Equality, especially my gay friends, get a grip. Seriously. Whether this was a “calculated political move,” “a few years too late,” “incomplete because he still says states should be permitted to decide,” or “not enough because it’s merely symbolic,” I, for one, don’t care. I’m frankly astonished to see people, very smart people, attacking the President for doing something that is so inherently right and good. Our generation has such a short collective memory, and we are so used to things moving at lightning speed, that it’s hard for people to wrap their minds around how quickly this issue has advanced. It was only in 1997, 15 years ago, that Ellen Degeneres first came out. Prior to that, there were no major primetime stars (or leading characters) who were gay. It was hugely controvertial. It was only in 2003 that the Supreme Court handed down Lawrence v. Texas, affirming a right to intimate association that extended to same-sex sexual conduct. And even then, marriage was simply a non-starter politically. NO major Presidential candidate has ever supported marriage equality. Now, no Democratic Presidential candidate will be able to do anything but support it. As for the argument that this is merely a symbolic move, tell that to the 13 year old in Kansas who is struggling to come out, or worse, is contemplating suicide, who now can say “wow, the President of the United States values me and thinks my relationships are worth something.” Symbolism is meaningful. That’s why it’s called symbolism! And sure, perhaps this is a calculated political move. Maybe, as one friend (who I’ve never disagreed with so adamently, or even at all, before) has bitterly pointed out, maybe the President has supported marriage equality all along but felt constrained not to voice his support in the past. Well, if that’s the case, thank g-d for that, because if he had voiced that support before being elected, we wouldn’t now have a sitting President supporting marriage equality; we’d have John McCain, with Sarah Palin a heartbeat away. Moreover, even now the President’s support on this issue is still a risk. The first polls showing a bare majority of support for marriage equality have only happened in the last year – and those polls are national polls that do not reflect support in the states the President needs to win in November. He may not be out in front of YOUR opinion, or even liberal opinion, but he is out in front of national opinion on this. Calculated or not, this was a true risk, and the President may be punished for being true to his beliefs in November. So here’s my message: back the eff off! Reflect on what this man has done for our community. Get your mind out of Hell’s Kitchen and try to consider what this means to gay people in red states. Most of all, GIVE to his campaign to help counteract the negative impact this will surely have. Thank you for reading.
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No Comments | Tags:Wow, crowdsourcing is awesome. Now, Chinese and French!
April 20, 2012 – 2:33 pm | No CommentsWow. You guys…!!
I put up the script for Shabbat Dinner a few days ago, and NINE HOURS later, the entire thing was translated into Spanish. And translated well! It was amazing watching little boxes flit across the screen doing the translation, so thanks everyone. I think it provided a necessary distraction from work for some people.
Let’s try this again but for Chinese and French! If you want to translate, click the links to open the Google Doc, and get going! Don’t forget to tell me that you did it so I can thank you.
Sweet!
No Comments | Tags:Whoa. Naples museum director begins burning art to protest at lack of funding
April 18, 2012 – 12:32 pm | No CommentsFrom The Guardian: “Antonio Manfredi has already destroyed a painting and vowed to incinerate one artwork every day until his demands are met.”
Antonio Manfredi stands next to a burning painting by French artist Séverine Bourguignon during his protest. Photograph: Roberta Basile/AFP/Getty Images
Says the artist who watched her painting being burned over Skype: “I feel as if I am in mourning. It is very sad that they burned my painting. We hoped until the very last minute that someone would step in. And now I have to fix in my mind that I will never see that work again. But I hope it’ll be worthwhile. At least people heard about what is happening in Italy and to culture everywhere. It’s been useful.”
No Comments | Tags:This is what happens when I order two ink cartridges from Amazon.
April 18, 2012 – 11:36 am | 3 CommentsTwo boxes, two sets of packing tape, and packaging for the cartridges. I’ve got to stop using this company…they’re like the McDonald’s of retail. They’ve got to stop wasting.
Crowdsourcing a translation
April 17, 2012 – 12:53 pm | No CommentsOkay all, so I have one week to translate Shabbat Dinner into Spanish. While I could run the whole thing through Google Translate, that sounds wholesale and inhuman. Gah.
So let’s crowdsource it! I’ve set up a spreadsheet on Google Docs. If you know Spanish, just click this link. Then you put the translation in the column next to the English. Do one line, do 20. Do however many you want!
I’m taking a risk here, both by posting the script publicly while it’s still on a festival run and by making a publicly editable document. But yeah, let’s hope this works!
If you know French or Chinese and want to help, let me know and I’ll set up a spreadsheet for them too!
No Comments | Tags:Speaking at Brown University Meetup on Tuesday
April 13, 2012 – 5:46 pm | No CommentsHey all!
I’ll be giving a 15 minute talk at the Brown University April meetup. It’s called “42 ways to change the world with film.” I’ve got 2 so far..any suggestions? But seriously..I’ll be talking about the different ways film can be used for social justice and my experiences in them. Anything from issue-based documentaries, injecting social messages into pop culture, teaching film to marginalized communities, etc. I’ll probably talk a bit about making Shabbat Dinner and working at FilmAid. Or maybe I’ll be more focused.
Would love to see you there! It’s Tuesday, April 17 at 7pm at North Star fund at 520 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2203.
Check out the Facebook event and RSVP on the Meetup.com site!
No Comments | Tags:Teaching and screening Shabbat Dinner at Harvard-Westlake
April 11, 2012 – 10:06 am | No CommentsApologies for the super long time between posts. Sometimes it’s better to live life than to write about it (or just impractical to do both), and that was March for me.
The month started off with a whirlwind week in Los Angeles, where I was invited to guest teach at the Harvard-Westlake video art program. The course was to focus primarily on color correction. Cheri Gaulke and I designed a four-part workshop, which we taught to each of the eight video art classes throughout the week.
What an amazingly gratifying experience. High schoolers are laser-focused and nimble or distractable and doltish, and it varies by the minute, but overall, these students were eager to learn and engage with the material and incredibly creative and driven. I’d love to do it again, and I will this summer at the Harvard-Westlake summer video workshop!
In the first our four lessons, my major take-away was that the director is responsible to have complete and utter control over every aspect of the frame. Though the idea makes sense in principle, it’s another thing entirely to practice it; it often takes seeing many examples to realize what can be done in a frame. My favorite example to tell is from teaching in Kenya, when several students filmed an interview in which 2/3 of the image was a giant USAID logo. Was it intentional? No. But it was still a part of their film.
I went over the basics of three-point lighting; followed to a T it tends to look staged to a modern eye, but it’s a great way to wrap your head around how to light a scene. I showed examples of good and bad lighting, in particular emphasizing that because video has a fairly low dynamic range, harsh highlights and shadows are to be avoided. Then I quickly discussed using elements in the frame to elucidate the relationships between characters, objects, and the viewer.
In the second class period, the students filmed a three-shot sequence. We chose locations that provided a number of difficulties: areas that were too bright or too dark (avoid them at all costs, even if it is helpful to your story), areas where the lighting was too flat (add some lighting using a light or bounceboard), cluttered areas (use close-ups or wide shots), and boring areas (add color or other interesting elements.) We gave them a few props that they had to use and 45 minutes to shoot in.
In the third class period I gave a tutorial on Apple Color, teaching techniques such as Secondary rooms and power windows. Manipulating the colors gave the students a much better visceral sense of why the shooting techniques described above actually work. They edited and color corrected their own projects during the fourth period.
I also had the opportunity to screen Shabbat Dinner for the Harvard-Westlake Gay-Straight Alliance. In the middle of a mind-bending eight repetitions of my opening lecture, after about three hours’ sleep, and returning to a high school I hadn’t really been at for ten years, it was going to be an intense experience no matter what. But seeing the students connect on a level I hadn’t seen before to the film was truly emotional. As the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle said in its article about my week there, “Murmurs of ‘That was so good’ filled Ahmanson Lecture Hall as the projector clicked off and the movie ended to applause.
In the end, the primary audience for Shabbat Dinner is high schoolers; I wanted the film to accomplish and speak to something even though it was not feature length. Hearing that it was true to the high schoolers’ real-life experiences and seeing their faces as they asked for copies of the DVD and even t-shirts was incredible. Ted Hope taught me that distribution of a film is as integral as any other aspect of its creation – in fact, more so, because the ultimate raison d’être of a film is to be watched. So the entire creation of a film leads up to the moment of a viewer experiencing it, and in many ways a film is defined only by that moment. And it was a great one!
Thank you to Cheri Gaulke, Kevin O’Malley, and Alyssa Sherwood, as well as all the Harvard-Westlake administrators and students I taught, for making that week such a memorable one!
No Comments | Tags:Making Shabbat Dinner Part 4: Distribution
March 20, 2012 – 8:32 pm | 1 CommentA four-part series on just what went into making a short film. You can also read part 1, preproduction, part 2, production. and part 3, finishing the film.
In mid-January I watched the film for the first time in two weeks, writing down all my thoughts. I held two test screenings and got a lot of feedback about what worked and didn’t work and, even though I hadn’t wanted to make changes to the edit, I did. I looked for a composer and found the incredibly talented Gerardo Giraldo. He was able to compose things on the fly which, with an incredible sample library, sounded amazing. We had several many-hour meetings which were among the most gratifying of the whole project. After having spent so much time alone with the film, it was great to watch him improve it by adding restrained but crucial notes. This was the final breath of life the film needed.
I hired an intern, Alejandro Salazar, who became instrumental in finishing up the post-production and moving us into distribution. With his help, we applied to over thirty film festivals (most of which we are waiting to hear back from) and fulfilled the kickstarter project. When I realized that the t-shirt design in my head (“SHABBAT DINNER” in big letters and a list of names) was going to be stupid and nobody would ever wear the shirts, Alejandro had the idea to make a cool design the centerpiece of the shirts, like some band tour shirts. My friend Mark Grabiner designed the illustration, and Alejandro designed the back of the shirts. I then looked for someone to do the poster illustration. I was aware of the work of Michael Morgenstern because we have the same name, and gave him a call. He was an incredibly nice person and very interested in the project, but was far too busy to help at that time. So I emailed out to the Burning Man listserv and found Alexander Petrowsky, who came up with the design (pretty much in final form) after watching the film and looking at Michael’s style. He said that the film was about communication and silence, which is why he used the morse code machine in the kids’ mouths. Then there were mugs, stickers, and custom printed envelopes.
We threw a release party on February 23, and the t-shirts arrived that morning. It was so nice to see all my friends and show them what I had been working on, and also to be reunited with the people I’d enjoyed working with on the film. It was great to watch others enjoy the film, but even more than that I was so happy to have them there and be a part of a great community in New York.
The most gratifying moment so far in this process was a screening last Monday at the Harvard-Westlake Gay-Straight Alliance in Los Angeles. I showed to about fifteen kids, male and female, straight and gay; it was the first time I’d shown it to high-school aged kids. And they connected with it in a way that nobody had before. Their distracted whispers quickly turned to dead silence, which was soon punctuated by the two people sitting behind me in the audience saying “oh my god this is so good” every few minutes. A few of the kids told me that it spoke to them about their experiences and what they were going through right then, and they were so excited when they found out they could buy a copy of the DVD and show it to others. That’s what I really wanted out of this – to make a film that connected with people. I was just as prepared to find out that it was disconnected with the reality of their lives, that dialogue and motivations had been caricaturized in my hazy recollection of what it was like to be that age.
I’m hoping to take the film to high schools around the country; for now, it is beginning its festival run at the premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. I’ll be there, and expect updates on how it goes!
So to everyone who was a part of this film, thank you for an amazing experience.
1 Comment | Tags: