Friday, December 11, 2009

deciding not to submit

It's been two years since I started this project, and I'm finally "done" with the film. I put quotation marks around the word "done," because the film isn't ready to be submitted to festivals or released for public viewing online, and there's a chance that it'll never be ready.

When I started this project, I wanted to make a film that both I and the Texas Rose Festival Association would be proud of. This film would would spark constructive dialogue among those who love the Festival and those who have never seen a reason to love it.

Right now the film makes an attempt in this direction, but doesn't really get there. The TRF Executive Committee (who originally gave me permission to film) said that the result of the project was "a little disturbing," but they still gave me permission to submit the film to festivals and move toward public distribution.

I decided to hold the film back, though, and wait until I have a chance to talk to the committee face-to-face about the film.

Thanks to everyone who contributed on this project, especially Jon Ho.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

intro clip

About 25 friends and family attended the screening Saturday. We watched six films, ranging in length from 35 seconds to 12 minutes; then we circled up for about 30 minutes of discussion. It couldn't have been any better.

Here is the introduction of the rough cut that I screened on Saturday. For the next couple weeks I'll be putting the film aside in order to finish college(!), then I'll pick it back up in the summer.

As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Screening this Saturday at Stanford

7PM at Meyer Forum, We'll watch an incomplete version of the film (alongside 4 other short films), then have a discussion.
Everyone is invited to share the experience.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Taking more time

I've premiered two pieces in California, and both were well-received. The first was a 3-minute trailer at An Art Affair, and the second was a 13-minute audio documentary, broadcast on FM radio with the Stanford Storytelling Project.

I'm putting more work into both pieces before releasing them online. If you don't want to wait, contact me and I will show you the drafts. Otherwise, I'll post both pieces here when they're ready for a general audience... Thanks for your patience!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Trailer showing this Thursday night at Stanford

This week I'll be screening a ~2min trailer of the film at An Art Affair at Stanford. After the screening (probably this weekend) I'll post the trailer here to the blog.

Alexis is working hard on the rough cut which should be "finished" on Tuesday night. This is super exciting, and I'm anxious to get feedback from a few people on how to develop the film from a ~45minute rough cut into a ~15 minute final cut.

Jon and I started working on an audio documentary about shooting the TRF film. We're working from 3 hours of audio material we recorded during production, as well as some of the audio from Alexis' rough cut. If all goes according to plan, it will air on Thursday, April 30 via FM and podcast.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Editing

Although this post is long overdue, it contains lots of great news:

a) We've taken on a new team member (Alexis!) who has been ferociously attacking the footage, breaking it apart into smaller, more digestible chunks. We currently have about 4 roughly cut sequences (about 5 minutes each), and two very rough sequences over 30 minutes long. Alexis has cut the majority of this material; she has really been a godsend to the project!

b) Here's one of those beforementioned rough sequences:
...we're not sure whether or not it'll be in the film, and if it is, it will be more polished. The image resolution will also be much better.

c) I'm heading to Texas in a week, at which point I'll get feedback from some of the people depicted in the film. After that, we'll do a couple public screenings at Stanford, of the unfinished film. Feedback from these screenings will help shape the film's direction (and also give incentives to keep working on it).