More Witch

Yesterday I blogged about the Experimental Witch project and today I am giving this space over to Lori Bohner the Flashpoint student who directed the film. That’s her in the center between the two leads and amongst the rest of the Flashpoint crew. I’m going to let Lori tell the story of how the film came to life.

As a reminder the film was made by students who had been in the program less than six months before production began. I am proud of their effort and how they collaborated and worked as a team.

PeterH

The moment you informed us of the Experimental Witch Project I fell in love with the idea. So did many other students. About 35 students began brainstorming ideas for our adaptation of the character Heron. My intentions were to be one of the writers and possibly co-write a script. The group began monthly meetings in January. By March our numbers had dwindled as students were be called toward various other projects. In April we began weekly meetings with about 7 students to discuss a shooting script. I had read The Witch of Portobello cover to cover by this time and my script was the most finished and was chosen by the group to produce. By consensus of the students I was elected by the group to become the director. I felt honored.

I was drawn to the project because I feel a connection with this story. Immediately I thought of two actor friends of mine I felt would be perfect for this role. I had also had been a volunteer for the Romanian Film Festival in the fall and loved the old building the Festival took place in and thought it would be perfect for this script.

Things started coming together.

I asked Adam Darin only two weeks before shooting to be my producer. Without him I would have been lost. He was the ambitious leader I needed to assemble the rest of the missing crew and help organize my thoughts. I held two rehearsals with the lead characters and had no time to hold a casting session for the extras. I decided to create several Craig’s list ads searching for different profiles. I had about 15 responses from various actors and had detailed phone conversations and ‘hired’ them from the conversations and head shots they had emailed me. I even met one actor on the train. I was creating a ‘to do’ list that he read over my shoulder and he happened to have a head shot on him. He was perfect!

My only complaint was tardiness. The day of the shoot not one single person (except myself 😮 ) was on time. Even with the chaos in the beginning we quickly pulled the ship up-right and got our first shot off. Adam had made a wonderful shot list and floor plan for us to follow which gave us the perfect check list to accomplish our 117 shots in one-days-time! The atmosphere was very professional and the crew and cast rolled up their sleeves and worked their tails off.

I was recommended a composer and met with him to give him my thoughts on what type of score I was looking for. We had many other meetings following that initial. He was absolutely great. Meanwhile two students, Kyle Krause and Vlad Sava, created two unique cuts. Kyle’s on Final Cut and Vlad’s on Avid. We ended up with Kyle’s as his was more complete.

We got a late start on the editing process and I felt rushed at the end but was happy with the final result. Our sound designer, Ian had two days to finish the final sound mix …and voila…Love and Lovelorn. We had a great team and great crew. I am pleased.

Sincerely,

Lori

Witch of Portobello redux

In January I blogged about how Paulo Coelho was allowing his book The Witch of Portobello to be adapted by filmmakers and allowing them to compete for a $3,000 Euro prize. Each filmmaker had to apply and if selected, had to create a short film about one character. I applied and was given the character of documentary filmmaker on the search for Athena.

So instead of making the film myself, I opened it up to my students and supervised their production. They did the heavy lifting, I sat back and ate craft services. Click on the link to see the Team Flashpoint submission. On my next blog I will share comments from my students about the process.

PeterH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc0U9onOrc4

The Dark Knight

This past Wednesday Flashpoint Academy was one of the sponsors of the Chicago premiere of The Dark Knight. The film was shot in Chicago last summer and the premiere was held at the Navy Pier Imax theater.

As one of the sponsors Flashpoint was allowed to be on the red carpet, in the screening and at the party afterwards. I was elected to be the person interviewing the stars on the red carpet. We were able to get a couple of students out there with me- this is Matt and Joe, as well as our in-house producer Paul Matian. We interviewed Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, producer Charles Roven and others and our students got to meet and speak with director Christopher Nolan. A great time was had by all, and just another way Flashpoint is different from other film schools.

I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

PeterH

We’ve Got a Winner!

About a month ago a group of Flashpoint students participated in the Chicago 48 Hour Film Project, and last Saturday night their film, Urn Doctor, M.D. won the Audience Prize for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Team Flashpoint was one of 30 teams that competed during the Chicago event held during the weekend of June 20-22. In 2007, some 30,000 filmmakers participated in the 48 Hour Film Project in 55 cities around the world. This year, 15 cities were added, the 48 Hour Film Project will tour 70 cities.

To compete in the 48 Hour Film Project, teams must write, shoot and edit a short film in just 48 hours. All teams are given the same character, prop, line of dialog and genre, and must finish their project 48 hours later.

This year’s elements were “Walter or Wilma Western Repair Person” (character), an urn or container with a deceased’s ashes (prop) and a line entitled “What’s the Password?” (dialog).

I am very proud of them because they exhibited all of the things we try so hard to deliver at Flashpoint-namely collaboration and communication. Team Flashpoint was comprised of students across all four disciplines. Those students are:

Bill Douglas-producer/team leader,
Matt Arauz-director,
Adam Darin-assistant director/ Lead Actor
Steve DaDouche-director of photography,
Ian Roelle – chief audio technician,
Pat Sokley – assistant producer
Tony Schiavone-Editor
Ben Cline-editor
Josh Gort-gaffer
Scott Fedor, Austin Johnson, Chris Janonis, Mike Rolfsmeyer -graphics/PA’s

Vlad Sava – Additional Camera Support
Timothy Daniel – Wardrobe/Craft Service/ PA
Kyle Krause – Additional Camera Support

Kara Powell – Lead Actress

Check out their website. http://www.urndoctormd.com

Congratulations Team Flashpoint!

PeterH

It Ain’t Over Until It’s Over…

… Yogi Berra supposedly said that about the importance of playing hard through all nine innings of a baseball game because you don’t know how it will turn out until the game is complete.

It ain’t over until it’s over, just sounds better to my ears.

The same is true for film work or anything in the arts: the creation of the project is not enough, you have to see it through until the end. For young filmmakers it means packaging, presentation, pitching the finished film, then more screenings and more presentations. One of the hardest things to do for young artists is to sell their own work-their artists not salespeople- but it is also the most important.

You can’t just finish the film and show it to your friends and family and assume your work is done. That’s amateur hour, and if you can’t get out there and sell yourself- or at least give it your best shot- then get out of the business. I think Patti Smith said, “If only 14 people see it, is it art?” OK, maybe it wasn’t Patti Smith, but I like her and will attribute it to her. But the point is well taken.

Vincent Van Gogh didn’t sell one painting while he was alive. It didn’t make him any less of an artist, but it made him depressed and crazy and one ear short of the full compliment, and ultimately it killed him. Van Gogh couldn’t sell himself- and he drove his brother and dealer Theo nuts by his lack of self-promotion.

A few years ago I made a pilot of a TV show called Rainbow Soup. It was a show about art and world culture for kids (tweens) and their parents. We tried to create thirty minutes that would be interesting to both parents and kids- so Peter Gabriel sings and Studs Terkel reads a kids’ version of Icarus and Daedalus and the film director Stephen Frears is the voice of an animated character.

When the pilot was finished I felt my work was about half done. We then set out promoting and selling the show. We created an elaborate mailer- including a painted soup bowl, a game and a package of instant “Rainbow Soup.” All of this came in a package about the size of a cereal box. It was fun, but it also included all the important facts and figures about the series. It took maybe six months to put it all together, but it got people’s attention and I am as proud of the salesmanship of Rainbow Soup as I am about the content.

The show never got picked up for TV, but it has lived a nice life on the internet and in schools in the United States and Canada. I even keep a letter from HBO Family, which after careful consideration rejected the show, but praised our marketing campaign. It’s the best rejection letter I have ever received.

So just remember what Yogi said- it ain’t over ’til it’s over. You can see a clip of Rainbow Soup at http://www.rainbowsoup.tv/.

PeterH

What’s It All About?

A few weeks ago on NPR’s Fresh Air, they played a 1997 interview between Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese done at Ohio State University. The two men are discussing Raging Bull– they played two clips from the film on the radio and it is fascinating just listening to the film- and Ebert begins the discussion like this:

…People will discuss the subject matter as if that is what the film is about. The film is about boxing, or it’s about gangsters. A film is not about its subject, its about how it’s about its subject. The subject is neutral, people don’t understand that. Whenever anyone makes a statement I don’t like to go to movies about … fill in the blank. My response is ‘anyone who makes that statement is an idiot.’ I don’t want to go to bad films about cowboys is maybe a more intelligent statement.

Well said, Roger. Raging Bull was about a boxer not about boxing.

If you want to hear 12 minutes of Ebert and Scorsese’s discussion as well as listen to two scenes from Raging Bull, then go to itunes and look up the June 27 Fresh Air podcast or visit npr.org and go to the Fresh Air archives. It’s a great, passionate discussion as well as an interesting insight into how Scorsese shot the boxing scenes for Raging Bull. Later in the broadcast Michael Imperioli talks about working on Goodfellas and what it was like to work with Robert DeNiro.

Check it out.

PeterH

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I finally got around to seeing The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Julian Schnabel’s film about Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of Elle magazine who suffered a massive stroke which left him in a condition called “locked-in syndrome.”

It’s a terrific film in many ways: the story of what happened to Jean-Do is amazing. After his stroke he was in a coma for 20 days. When he awoke he was mentally aware of his surroundings but paralyzed with the exception of his left eye. He used his eye to communicate, blinking as a transcriber repeatedly recited a French language frequency alphabet. Using this method he wrote a memoir chronicling everyday events and what it is like for a person with locked-in syndrome. It took 200,000 blinks and each word took approximately two minutes to complete.

Another reason I liked the film was Schnabel’s use of the point of view shot. Much of the film is from Bauby’s point of view, so the viewer really feels what it is like to have this condition. Using the p.o.v. camera, the viewer finally catches a glimpse of the afflicted Bauby in a refelection. It comes as a shock that this person- with a brain which is quite alive- is in such a horrible physical state. By using this p.o.v. shot we got to experience the feeling Bauby had when he saw his own reflection.

During the film I found myself thinking that Mathieu Amalric-who plays Bauby in the film- was terrific bringing this character to life. While I do think Amalric did a great job, I think it was Schnabel’s direction that made Amalric’s performance so strong. During much of the film we don’t see Bauby, we only hear him. So when we finally get to see Amalric’s crumpled body it is even more horrific for us, because WE have had locked-in syndrome and we now realize what it has done to OUR bodies. Julian Schnabel was most deserving of his Oscar nomination for best direction and I think he should have won.

The Protagonist

I saw a remarkable documentary film not long ago called The Protaganist, directed by Jessica Yu. The film interweaves the stories of four unrelated men who have been consumed by their personal journeys. The men: a former German terrorist, an “ex-gay” evangelist, a bank robber and a martial arts expert.

From The Protagonist website.

But as their stories unfold, one starts to see the parallels between the uncommon, common experience of these four men. Each character embarks on a journey for valid reasons, only to find himself so deeply embedded in the cause that he becomes the opposite of what he had intended. He is blind to this fact, though, until the forces of fate and character boil and distill to a single moment of dark epiphany. In telling this echoing story, the film asks: what is the path to extremism? In responding to the turmoil of life, where does one draw the line between the reasonable and the unreasonable? And how does one recover from the delusion of certainty?

In addition, the film is based on the works of Euripides and the film uses quotes from his plays as chapter headings. Yu also uses wooden rod puppets- pictured here- to stage both excerpts from Euripides and scenes from the four men’s past. The puppetry is really amazing and adds a layer to the film that would not otherwise be there.

Jessica Yu won an Oscar in 1997 for her short documentary, Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien, who lived for decades in an iron lung after being paralyzed by polio. She has directed other award winning documentaries and in the small world isn’t it category, a former student and regular reader of this page, has worked with her and says only good things.

Check out The Protaganist it’s well worth it.

PeterH

Florida State University

Last weekend I went to Florida State University where I spoke with a group of film students working on their thesis films. The dumb filmmaker likes nothing better than a road trip, and getting a chance to talk film with passionate film students was the icing on the cake- or perhaps the cake itself. I think the cultural exchange- visiting and lecturing at another institution- was very valuable.

FSU has a good program. There are only 60 undergraduates. The program is set up like this- the first two years are general education classes and the final two years is hardcore filmmaking. I really like the practical, hands on approach- something we do at Flashpoint. I also liked seeing how the students really had to collaborate. Each student must serve as a writer/director, producer, DP, a.d., sound, production designer or editor on a film. There are some other hard rules as well- films cannot be more than seven and a half minutes- they will not be accepted otherwise. For the thesis (B.F.A.) films the school pays for 2000 feet of film and processing and gives each film a $250 stipend for food and production design.

Having taught only at urban campuses, I was envious that students had 24 hour access. I was in the film department at 11pm Saturday night and there were probably 20 students editing, building sets, meeting etc…. It was great to see and reminded me of my own misspent youth hanging out making film at all hours.

My lecture was about personal vision. I bored them with my journey, then we talked about Tom McCarthy- writer/director of The Visitor and The Station Agent and his personal vision. Regarding both films we talked about what makes family and community and themes of connection. It was a nice evening- the students were engaged and engaging and some even took notes. Several asked me if they could send me their work so I could comment. I look forward to seeing it.

I want to send a special thanks to Joey Daoud who found me, thanks in part to this blog, and brought me down to speak. Check out his Coffee and Celluloid blog- a good taste of what it is like to be a hard working film student. http:coffeeandcelluloid.com

Finally, despite the nice trip, it is nice to be home. My own Flashpoint film students began their second productions this past Monday and I look forward to seeing what they produce.

PeterH

George Carlin

I was sorry to hear about the passing of George Carlin. Along with Richard Pryor, Carlin helped change stand up comedy. To me Carlin was a truth teller and a wordsmith. He knocked down pompous hypocrites with just the right word. He called a spade a spade.

For a 9th grade drop out, he did pretty well for himself. He had a plan- radio first (he had a radio show in Shreveport, LA when he was 18), then comedy, then films. He wanted to be Bob Hope or Danny Kaye. He felt it was his birthright and he didn’t need three more years of formal schooling to get there. He was also blessed with a mom who instilled in him the love of language. The dictionary was an important book in the Carlin house.

Below is an excerpt of his famous seven-dirty words monologue. He can say it better than me. George Carlin you will be missed.

PeterH

There are some people that aren’t into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can’t say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They’d have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That’s what they told us they were, remember? ‘That’s a bad word.’ ‘Awwww.’ There are no bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad Intentions.

And words, you know the seven don’t you? Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, huh? Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that will infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war.

Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, wow. Tits doesn’t even belong on the list, you know. It’s such a friendly sounding word. It sounds like a nickname. ‘Hey, Tits, come here. Tits, meet Toots, Toots, Tits, Tits, Toots.’ It sounds like a snack doesn’t it? Yes, I know, it is, right. But I don’t mean the sexist snack, I mean, New Nabisco Tits. The new Cheese Tits, and Corn Tits and Pizza Tits, Sesame Tits Onion Tits, Tater Tits, Yeah. Betcha can’t eat just one. That’s true I usually switch off . But I mean that word does not belong on the list.

Actually, none of the words belong on the list, but you can understand why some of them are there. I am not completely insensitive to people’s feelings. You know, I can dig why some of those words got on the list…like cocksucker and motherfucker. Those are…those are heavy-weight words. There’s a lot going on there, man. Besides the literal translation and the emotional feeling. They’re just busy words. There’s a lot of syllables to contend with. And those K’s. Those are aggressive sounds, they jump out at you. CocksuckerMotherfuckerCocksucker. It’s like an assault, on you. So I can dig that.