| Success! |
[23 Jun 2003|10:21am] |
Wow. The screening was one of the best experiences ever. The team was there, wearing their jerseys. The place was packed. And people loved the film. They were laughing, talking back to the screen, heckling one another. It was beautiful. It felt so wonderful to make a film and be able to give that gift back to the players. So that they could see each other larger than life upon the screen. It was amazing. I was so, so happy. This is what filmmaking i s all about.
We've got a 2nd screening on Wednesday as we sold out on Friday. This will be a test with an audience not so closely related to the film.
The Force played their first play off game on Saturday, and beat Corvalis 28-14. The real test comes on Saturday, when they play the amazing Sacremento Sirens. I know we're all nervous. I have butterflies in my stomach. I want the Force to win. They've become our team, or we've become part of their team. It's intermingled. We're going to be filming, as we want to make alarger film looking at the Chicago Force's first season.
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| One more day to the screening! |
[19 Jun 2003|09:10am] |
We're almost here to showtime! One more day until the 72 hour feature project festival begins!
Can't wait!
Laurie made the most beautiful posters that we're putting up over town. They feature Gerra, one of the players, making a muscle and smiling at the camera. We are going to sell the posters and stills from the film, to try to recoup some of our costs.
I'm a bit nervous, just because the entire team will be there and I feel what we have is a rough cut. Sure, it's a fun film that we made in 72 hours, but I'm a perfectionist. I want us to go back and re-edit so we have a solid film that holds up. And we're gonna do that.We're talking about adding additional footage to make this an overview of the season.
So, one more day to showtime. This is what it's all about!
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| Marketing |
[09 Jun 2003|10:54am] |
Sree, Laurie and I met yesterday to discuss marketing plans for the film, once the festival is over. Of course, we're always going to mention the 72hfp, and how the genesis of this madness came about!
We have a website: http://www.adayontheforce.com. Right now, you get transported to Laurie's site, but we're working on creating a separate force site.
After working together so closely, I've been missing the creative high, the amazing feeling of collaborating with people you truly respect and work well with. So, it was nice to get together, eat, drink, and work!
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| And the beat goes on... |
[06 Jun 2003|09:34am] |
Things don't end when the film is done. We've been hitting the streets, handing out flyers, gearing up interest for our June 20th screening, the other 72 hour feature project screenings, and the next Chicago force home game (June 21).
Marketing is in my blood, I love this part of filmmaking! I'm definately on a high right now, can't wait until the screening.
Laurie and I went to see a talk by Jane Gottesman, author of Game Face, what does a female athlete look like? It was so inspiring, I bought her book. We're on to something with this film. It's a timely topic, looking at women in sports. It was inspiring to see a woman (Gottesman) who has been writing a book on women and sports for 10 years. I went up to her afterwards,and told her how much I liked the presentation. I also spoke with Geoffrey Biddle, co-curator of the book. He shared his perspective on why so many guys are threatened by athletic women who might be better than them in sports.
You can read more about the book and exhibit at:
http://www.gamefaceonline.org/
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| Sleep is good |
[03 Jun 2003|07:25am] |
Laurie Little checking in: Well, what an experience! We did it and I finally got my first good night's sleep last night in over a week. The film keeps playing in my head-loops of sequences have replaced my dreams. I'm still in editing mode. Congratulations to Miguel in Berlin, I just read that you finished A Day in Life. I'm looking forward to seeing all the films and meeting the filmmakers-hope you can make it, Melinda!
Working with Ronit, Sree, Carmin and our amazing crew was really exciting and fun -my feature doc boot camp. Thanks to all of you! I will try to get the info about the film up on my web site today-www. luministfilms.com-wish we weren't so busy at work! Ronit and Sree and I are meeting tomorrow to figure out our next plan; The fundraiser and PR plan.
Well I'm off to work now-I'll see you at the screening!
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| One Week later |
[02 Jun 2003|09:45am] |
Well, it's been a week since we set out to make "A Day on the Force". We had a screening for the crew yesterday in Laurie's backyard. We had rows of chairs, a great screen, good food/drink, and a video projector.
I've got a bit more perspective since the delirious journal entries due to lack of sleep. And, I must say, i'm damn proud of the film. It works. It came together. All the lengthy pre-production meetings actually did some good, as the film contains all the elements we discussed. I was worried about structure, but the structure comes together. I was worried about character, but the characters stand out. The fact that we had been around the team for months before the shoot, certainly shows. There is an easiness, a comfort around the camera, which translates into an unselfconscious film.
This film is truly a collaborative process. It's an homage to what happens when people work together on a shared goal. So many professionals came together, shared their time, vision, and energy to make this happen. I am still amazed at Carmine, our editor. He shaped this film into something that makes sense. And Sree too....both of them worked together to efficiently create the story. Laurie logged selects, and amazingly went thru a ton of footage to pull the best sequences. I cut the football scenes. Everyone helped, everyone played a role. So, to the crew, and the team...lemme raise a toast....to "A Day on the Force" and the 72 hour feature film project.
Also, I've been reading the other online journals. I can't wait to see the other films, and how other folks have approached this 72 hour challenge. I'm so glad that we're all doing this, and bonne chance to everyone in this event!
Ronit
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| 1 hour, some minutes, and counting |
[28 May 2003|08:02am] |
We're doing it. Laying it to tape, then I'll be off to mail it. Do we have a film? I'm not sure. I mean, yes we have something. And I think it holds together, but I'm too damn tired to care.
We're beat. My face is a weird ghostly white. I've never had to force my eyelids to stay open like now. I petered out in the end, curled on the couch while Sree and Carmen gutted it out. Laurie contributed so much, and then had to leave cause she had to go to work, that sucks. I'm calling in sick, but I do have to teach this afternoon.
What a long strange trip it's been. A cliche, no doubt, but a valid one.
Our project was definitely ambitious, and we suffered somewhat from a lack of definitive structure and adherence to a set editing style. It was hard as we had to cut this in sections, but each differs from the others. We did have too many cameras, got great stuff, but not enuff time to log. We had four computers going,which was necessary. But we ran out of human power, and time, I guess. Time...
So, how do I feel now? Exhausted doesn't describe it. Beyond exhaustion. Not sure I'd ever do this grueling process again, but never say never.
Was a blast to work with everyone. Was a privilege to edit for hours on end. Doing what we love to do. Was an amazing and thrilling experience.
We were short the 72 minutes, so Sree had to add some footage at the last stage. Love parts of the film, and love the Chicago Force, our subject. So, that's it fer now. Your faithful narrator is gonna deliver the film to the P.O., have a shower to wipe off the grime, sleep for an hour, turn around, and go teach. It's a film lifestyle, afterall, ain't it??
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| Less than 10 hours to go... |
[28 May 2003|12:34am] |
Lemme set the stage. There's empty pizza boxes, esspresso cups, coke cans, cigarettes, tapes everywhere, we're down to the wire.
I'm amazed at how calm everyone is. Me, I'm sorta freaking out. "It's time to listen to music, darlings" says Laurie. She's got some music for the piece. I've heard the Brady Bunch, Sunshine Day, eminating from the speakers. Don't ask.
Carmine is consolidating the footage from the different computers. Or trying to. We're having drive issues. One drive isn't being recognized by the computer. We switched drives, switched computers. Still tech issues.
I'm stressed, very. Sree is working efficiently, still pulling selects. Laurie and Genevieve are listening to some of Jack's electronia music that he just finished composing.
Time ticks and ticks. It's 12:35am. I'm supposed to be at work at 8:30 am tomorrow. Fat chance. The piece will hopefully be done. And at the post office at 9am.
Carmine has just put a full coke can by my side. I am not drinking it. Had my share of caffeine. That plus sleep deprivation does strange things to the psyche.
Saw what Sree and Carmine cut, was very impressed. Now waiting for the drives to work so we can cut the game footage.
Time ticks and ticks and ticks. S
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| Hour 60 or something like that |
[27 May 2003|05:26pm] |
Anyone wanna study sleep deprivation? Then come over to Bulletproof Film where we're editing. We've all gotten by with about 4 hours of sleep in the past two days. Less than 12 hours to go. I'm getting nervous. We have SO much good stuff, just not enuff human hours to cut it all. Sree and Carmine are busy cutting. They seem calm. I'm sequestered in the back room, trying to hide my nerves. I've been cutting the game till my eyes blurred. I don't think it makes much sense. Whenever I start to freak, Sree and Laurie have a way of making me calm again.
Just like walking, gotta put one edit in front of the next, one step at a time.
Words of advice: less cameras, more editors. Damn, we could use more editors here....but we're getting there. Slowly, slowly.
Alrighty then, gonna go with Laurie and add some crowd/team cutaways.
Which teams are next in line for this sweet torture? It's fun, really....
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| Hour 42, 3:30am |
[27 May 2003|03:32am] |
I'm starting to hallucinate. I think. Hard to distinguish hallucinations from reality. STILL editing the damn game. Taking waaay too long. Wish I was a faster editor. Thought I was.
Laurie is in the next room, logging. I can hear the footage playing. Sree and Carmine are sequestered in the furthest room, trying to make sense of the story. What I've seen, looks great. But their worried. Trying to pry blood from a stone. And we're under the time limit.
Clock is ticking. We've each had about 2 hours of sleep in 42 hours. Got so much more to log. Damn it. Gotta wade thru this. Word of advice to all other project, simplify, please simplify. Don't get caught with all that footage like we have done. We've got three editing systems going, and we STILL haven't logged everything. Trying to work as fast as we can. Just using the tapes we need. But finding sequences with so much footage is hard.
Oh, was that a cockroach walking past me, or just another sleep deprived hallucination.
You be the judge.o
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| 36 hours in... |
[26 May 2003|08:55pm] |
Uh-oh. We're at the midpoint. Still have so much to edit. Another 36 hours to go, but time is going sooo fast. I now wish this was called the 96 hour film festival. I crave the luxury of extra time, but we wont have that.
Sree and Carmine have edited the rough cut of our three main characters. They've also worked on paring and selecting the secondary characters. Laurie is working with Genevieve and cutting down the vox pop footage. I'm cutting the game. I love football, but I never expected the game to take so damn long to cut. Started to cut the game at 1pm this afternoon, expected it would take until six. It's now 9pm, and I'm only on the third quarter.
As with any project, at times I'm thinking this isn't gonna work, other times, I think, damn this will be a nice piece. Maybe it will end up some where in the middle. If we had the luxury of time, it would be tighter. But that's the challenge, to make something workable within the time frame.
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| Logging apx 40hrs of footage (Carmine) |
[26 May 2003|08:50am] |
4 computers logging footage all night-- trying to concentrate on text and leaving B-roll for later. The shooters/directors are logging their own footage for speed-- they know the footage best. I logged the first tape of each of the three subjects with G enevieve, one of our inters here at BulletProof Film. It was good for me to be introduced to our three main characters so I am familiar with them and their personalities, even if I don't look through every frame of footage.
I stopped by the game at half-time to pick up 18 hours of tape-- this was a little demoralizing. I have not done a count of all the other footage that has arrived since then. I took a 2 or 3 hour nap around 2am-- I just want to start cutting while they keep logging.
Ronit, Sree, and Laurie were very well prepared before shooting-- script and solid knowledge of what had to be covered and their subjects-- but there were so many shooters doing what they're supposed to-- getting coverage. The only problem with this project is, ther e is not enough time to sift through all that footage-- must be done a double speed. Luckily we have so many computers and decks at work or we'd never get through it.
I'm anxious to rough out the text. Had my espresso-- ready to get back to Maria, No.9 0, the first subject.M
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| And We're off! |
[26 May 2003|08:38am] |
Yes. We're smack in the middle of day two. Sixteen hours into logging the project. Spent 12 hours filming, overlapped shooting and logging. Got two hours sleep.
We're camped out at Bullet Proof Films. Got 4 final cut pro systems going. Got a TON of tapes. Realized that this project was waaaay too ambitious, but we're going to do this. We have to.
The shoot went really well. Great weather, good game. Except we're still hunting for the drama.
Right now, it's Laurie's turn to sleep. Carmine is editing down the tape of our character Maria. Sree is cutting the tape of Tameka, and I'm trying to cut down pre game footage.
What have we done...
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| Countdown...tomorrow |
[24 May 2003|07:29am] |
Tomorrow at 9am we begin. I won't be able to type an entry in then, because my computer is at the editing house. Yesterday was a mad running around day. We set up two computers with Final Cut Pro at Bulletproof Films, our editing house. We've got a total of three in all. Sree and I brought our hard drives, and set up the systems. We rented two mic kits from Fletcher's. We had a final crew meeting and went over crew tasks. We ended with a check of equipment and tests. Joe was great and did the driving!
Was great. I am so happy to be doing this, and amazing and so thankful at our crew. Everyone on board has the best enthusiasm and spirit. I love it. This is truly what filmmaking is about. I want to THANK the crew so much, without you, we couldn't be doing this.
I will be listing the crew after the shoot, want to make sure I've got all my notes so that I don't leave anyone out. We've even got folks who've come on board in the last minutes to help! Damn, it's great.
Okay, so for tomorrow. Our morning crews are set. Sree, Laurie, and I will be each following a different Force player. Tom will be getting "Chicago morning shots". Joe will come to the field early and set up. We'll be having a helmet cam. Kimberly, who has tons of experience filming the NFL, will shoot the game. So will Tom. So will Joe, who's gonna do the roofcam. MJ is shooting on my crew, Sree and Laurie are gonna shoot for themselves. Craig and Agneszka are gonna go throughout Chicago and get vox pop interviews. Brenda is gonna interview with Sree. Nora is doing sound with Laurie. Judy is doing the press box.
Yeah, it's a damn big crew. But we're ready.
Catch you on the other side!
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| Odds n' Ends |
[22 May 2003|05:07pm] |
Last crew meeting is tomorrow, Friday. Want it to be brief, a rundown of the crews, and responsibilities. Will meet at my house. Sree and Laurie hashed out final version of shot breakdown. We lost a sound person, but gained an excellent shooter, MJ. Nora is going to work with Laurie. I'll work with MJ. Sree will be working with Karen and Brenda. There's Joe on the roofcam. Tom and Kimberly on the field. Judy in the press box. Vickie and Patrick helping out on the field. I'll list the full crew soon...but that's the rough breakdown for now.
It's getting to be fun and nerve wracking. I can't wait. Taking tomorrow off work. We're going to set up our computers at Carmen's editing suite. We'll have three computers running final cut pro so that we can digitize right away. In fact, Carmen is going to the field so that he can take tapes in the middle of the day.
I have to borrow batteries from Tanja (thanks!). Sree and Patrick will go shopping for food. Craig's gonna lend his cooler. What else?? Details, details....
a
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| Shot List |
[21 May 2003|11:24am] |
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Last night, Laurie and I met at our favorite restaurant. We ate and drank as we put together a final shot list. My nerves are certainly creepin' up. Getting butterflies in the stomach. We've got five main crews. Sree, Laurie, Me, Tom, Joe. Plus three characters to follow. That's a lot. There's a lot happening. The characters getting ready in the morning. Arriving at the field. Tailgate party, autograph sessions, kick/punt contest, song contest. Game. Post Game Parties. Hammering out an exact list of who films what.
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| Nerves |
[20 May 2003|08:41am] |
I'm starting to get really nervous. Strange, I wasn't nervous before. Perhaps a tad overwhelmed, plenty exhausted. Now, I have those pre-shoot butterflies. The "what ifs" in my head...what if the shooting plan is too complex, what if we have tech issues, what if the drama isn't captured, what if we've got too much damn footage.
I appreciated reading "On Guard's" journal, Kevin, Will, and the crew. Its comforting to know that we're all going thru this. The "On Guard " team was trying to pick a crew, weren't sure whom to go with. Different folks on the team had different responses. We're having a similar situation, just with how simple/complex to make this. Laurie and I opt for more cameras/crew, Sree opts for less. I really like Sree' "simplify" shooting style/philosophy. Her last narrative film was great, so simply shot, yet powerful. I hope that I'm not going into overkill with all these cameras. I know my films tend to have an astronomically high shooting ratio.
I think the plan will be to shoot and edit smartly. To know EXACTLY what we want. I'm also nervous about logistics. Vickie is on board as prod manager/tech director for the day of shoot. That's great. We need her!
Looking for a craft services person...perhaps Craig.
You do all this work, and then just go for it on the day. It truly is like a marathon race. And all the teams out there, we're all gonna finish.
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| Spellbound |
[19 May 2003|09:50pm] |
Like an athlete, I'm gearing up for the marathon shoot next week. Making sure I get enuff rest, working out, trying to stay chill despite a hectic work schedule.
Snuck out of work an hour early today to see the documentary "Spellbound". It's about the competition at the 1999 Spelling Bee. In some ways, the structure of our film and Spellbound parallel each other. Spellbound focused on one competitive event (the Bee), and complements this with the stories of 8 kids who were competing. The film drove home the importance of character. Without getting to know the contestants, it would just be another documentation of competition. The characters made the film heartwarming and likeable. I am glad we've chosen, once again, to focus on three characters. They will shape the piece. Hopefully, the audience is made to care about them, and likewise, the team as a whole.
Character is often always the key to good filmmaking. And conflict. Spellbound had both elements. I enjoyed it fully.
Our characters so far are: Tameka, Wendy, Maria. Three very different women, all with their own reasons for playing tackle football. We shifted who we were focusing on, from when we first started, but through more pre-production, we mutually decided that these three would be best.
And conflict? Hmmm....well, we've got it.
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| Details |
[19 May 2003|11:19am] |
Kevin, thanks for your insightful comments. (See comments in entry below). Eight cameras is a lot. We've been going back and forth on this. We will have our main cameras, then back up cameras. But, I tend to over do stuff, so I want to make sure we can go as lean as possible.
Guess what everyone...we're up on the Gene Siskel Website. I've never had a movie scheduled to play before it was even shot!! The site omitted Sree and Laurie's names as fellow co-directors, but I just spoke to the Gene Siskel folks, and they're going to add Sree and Laurie today. Good. Cause this film is a collaboration between the three of us.
Here's the site: http://www.artic.edu/webspaces/siskelfilmcenter/72.html
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| Editor, yes! |
[17 May 2003|08:31pm] |
We have an editor. Thank god! Carmine Cervi, who is co-owner of Bulletproof films, is stepping in and editing. Thank you Carmine! He's also lending us some equipment. Carmine is great, very supportive, and enthusiastic.
Had another long meeting today. Funny part, we couldn't decide on a freakin' cafe to work in. Katarina's was closed (Sree's choice), our second choice was also closed, and the funky place under the "l" tracks had a screaming baby that almost put me over the edge.
So, we reluctantly settled on Starbucks for its proximity and quietness. Laurie, Sree and I met for four hours. Went over our sound and camera requirements, figured out for the last time who is shooting what. Talked about style, approach. What is important to film. We're gonna have eight cameras...damn. That's a lot. The morning crews are going to begin at the same time. Haven't exactly determined the time yet, will be around 9am. That means that on Wednesday, we're gonna have to go to the Post Office at 9am and deliver.
Feel good about things. Feel like this is getting fun again, and that the extra week is actually a good time to rest, and prep.
G
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adayontheforce's journal