(I don’t know why it gets squished…)

As it’s almost Film Festival time down here in LA, I thought I’d update you on my own potential film festival entree, Sole Mates!

Since we last met, I was able to crank out a rough cut of the footage and send it off to an elite team of super-critiquers. I knew I’d have my work cut out for me, since I trust in their opinions… and they were very opinionated about the movie, so it has a bit of work left until there’s another draft.

That brings me to the point of this post, that I’m treating this film as one of drafts, stages and progress. I’ve really never approached one like this before, even The Experimental Generation, though many helped me create it, I never thought to ask for help in the later stages. The people I asked were people from work (co-workers and bosses), some people from the film school, and a few people whose sets I’ve worked on, so the feedback I got was as wide-ranging as the experiences I was drawing upon.

Working on a film like a longer-term project and treating it as a multi-faceted thing is really strange ground. To layer sound? Add a soundtrack in addition? Color correct for more than just aesthetics? Completely cut-up a shot I really like? The point is, as I should have realized a while ago, that film is really a collaborative thing, and I hadn’t really stepped away from a project and let people in before.

It has complicated things, but that’s not a bad thing. It feels now that I am stretching myself and learning more, finding even smaller details I’d change if I could shoot it again that didn’t even cross my mind before. Though it’s not like I’m taking Final Cut to its very limits, I am beginning to probe those shadowy areas with the light of experience.

The plan at this point is to tinker a lot with it. It is pretty cute and simple right now, but I’d like to add some layers and complexity and make it something worth watching a few times. For better or worse, I tend to be ashamed of most of the projects I’ve worked on, finding it very difficult (borderline painful) to watch anything I’ve done before over again, and this could have a couple explanations. It could be that I’ve learned a lot since then and would want to change so many things that watching it would just cause frustration. Alternatively, I could just be a Negative Nancy. The end goal is still to submit this to some festivals, and if it actually got into one I would want to see it there… and that would mean creating something that I’m interested in watching again.

Now, I hope to have another draft done by this weekend and I’ll seek out another round of criticisms, and then have a final version done for public viewing by next weekend. Hold me to this!

You were all involved in this project, either in the actual filming or in helping me think and brainstorm before hand, so you deserve to see it (I just don’t want to burden you with asking for your observations on minute details if it’s not something you have an interest in).

If you’re wondering why it is taking a while, just realize that it’s summer and a boy can find himself easily distracted by a book, basketball, or babes… and what do those all have in common? Chasing unattainable dreams… *chuckle*