Friday, December 31, 2010

2010, the Year of the Pacific Ocean

As year end lists roll in this New Year's Eve a pattern seems to be emerging- the Westcoast loved Gravity (our movie, not the scientific theory of course)! Jonathan Marlow, who we briefly met in the Telegraph Hill section of the Bay area (That's right! Where those wild parrots live!) added Gravity to his Top Ten Narrative Film list of 2010 on the San Fran Film Society's year end list round up! Speaking of Mr. Marlow (No! Not Philip!) check out his site Fandor (whose clandestine name had been decided on the very day we met up with him, you could visibly see him biting his tongue to keep his new venture's namesake a secret)! It is a streaming movie network for the best of alternative, international, classic & just plain great films- if our internet was faster I think I would have a Fandor problem! The Bay Area Reporter gave some Nervousfilms love as well naming Brent Green an "Artist to Watch" for 2011, which is pretty exciting too...!

Overall the Westcoast has treated us well this year- between Bad Lit (located on the web but centralized in sunny Los Angeles California), these San Fran rounds of applause, the amazing last show of 2010 in San Diego (Which we even got an awesome review from...?) and our beautiful stay in Oregon I am hoping more Westcoast time can be had in 2011! Here is a pic of the farthest South & North we made it along the Pacific coast and to think: I had never seen that Ocean until this year! Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

For Now...We Toast!

Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film just named Gravity the 2010 Movie of the Year! I really can't tell you how honored I am to have such recognition especially from such a spectacular place! Bad Lit is an amazing resource for anyone interested in underground film. The brains behind the operation, Mike Everleth, writes on the subject with such intelligence, interest and genuine passion that I rarely turn to many other film resources! Mike truly understands the meaning and purpose of creating alternative cinema, reading his thoughts on it make me excited to be a part of such a growing network of experimental, creative cinemaphiles! Thanks Bad Lit & Happy New Year!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Heavy Head

Well, I've talked about Drew before on this here blog...and he is very photogenic so he has appeared in many live show post pictures but, since I decided to write about each band member individually, I think it's time Drew got his own post! I'm not sure how we found Drew? Or how he found us? I remember when I first moved to the barn a package came in the mail, like a kitten on our doorstep, containing a cd with sweetly sung pop songs and lush, super 8 short films. The menu alone was hypnotic enough to make you forget about all bad things in this world and dream about visions of gumballs while finding the beauty in disembodied hands...I guess this was my first introduction to the wonders of Drew Henkels!


Drew slowly became our friend and we have quickly watched him grow into an insanely talented musician, exponentially becoming better at song writing & crafting before our very eyes! His band, Drew & the Medicinal Pen, work out of Brooklyn and are constantly playing shows and recording new iterations of Drew's ideas. But music is only part of his undeniable talent...his visual art is absolutely amazing too! From his lulling films (still above) of train car riding and seashore parades to his scratchy psychedelic line drawings (which, currently, is the only t-shirt design Brent will wear- ahem- Drew, please make Brent a new one! I can't wash the one he has fast enough!) to an enormous radio sculpture (taking up the parts of his room that are not taken up by plywood, plywood that is for another Drew project) hailing from a performance piece he recently did called Fm in the Am which was a totally immersive musical environment (!!!featuring a live indoor nightmarish rain storm!!!), Drew just keeps making things bigger and better every day.


When it comes to Gravity, Drew plays just about everything- pump organ, neck pumpkin, bells, noise makers, guitar but the thing he usually amazes audiences with is the theramin! What a freaking hard thing to play! What a talented dude! I hope he remembers us when he is famous which, with his ballooning skill and pop sensibility, is bound to happen! Buy his album or perish....or just miss out on something truly awesome, your choice! Also, Drew, if you are reading this: I just realized that, after listing only a fraction of the stuff you do here, that you do an incredible amount of stuff?! You must be exhausted? You deserve a nap. (Insert lullaby here). Night Drew!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Ghosts of You and Me

Somehow, in between our many travels, Brent was able to make a video for a showcase featuring the songs of Leonard Cohen! Eleven video artists each take on a track from Cohen's 1974 album New Skin for the Old Ceremonyscreening tomorrow at the Hammer Museum in L.A.! Co-curated by Cohen's daughter, (who happened to be at the Hammer when we did our first ever live performance of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then way back in June, which led to our involvement in this fantastic project), and the coolest, most punk of a curator, Darin Klein, this series is bound to be a good one!















I wish we there for the screening (taking place tomorrow at 8pm) instead of being in this freeeezing, snowy landscape! But I guess I will sort of be there in image...still cold though! Really cold! Go to the Hammer where the open air and art are always warm and always awesome!!! (Here is a sneak peak still from Brent's contribution to the tune of Is This What You Wanted, one of my all-time favorite Cohen songs).

Puppetmasters

Puppets seem to have been creeping into my life a lot lately! Actually, now that I think of it, I have always had puppets in my life, as an Emmet Otter obsessed child to an adult sitting in a darkened theater basement in lower Manhattan watching Erik Sanko & Jessica Grindstaff's The Fortuneteller (probably the single best piece of art I've ever seen in New York), puppets have always been there I guess. Hell, I am even practically a puppet in Gravity, positioned frame by frame by the likes of puppetmaster Brent Green! And even a puppet in my own stop motion too!
















Recently, while in California, puppets seemed to be omnipresent... Eating dinner in L.A. I sat with experimental filmmaker & artist Janie Geiser (whose work frequently employs the pliable puppet as character, but who also makes some haunting found footage/sound collage films) and Scott (whose amazing "kids" rock comedy show Pancake Mountain features alt music legends and a puppet host, Rufus Leaking, maybe he's a goat? or a sheep? either way, he's a puppet!). Even Will Vinton (who I actually got to meet after Brent ran into him in our hotel at the L.A. Animation Festival and asked him to say hello to me in my room where, to my surprise, I opened the door to the smiling, mustachioed, father of claymation!) basically employs puppets in his art as well!



L.A. was so puppet-centric we even spotted a tuxedo-clad Kermit tipping his hat to us as we were stuck in the traffic that is L.A. This is a perfect segue into a live show/residency that Brent is set to do on the Eastcoast next year- which will include a live performance of Gravity in February at the Silvermine Guild Art Center in Connecticut now under the direction of Leslee Asch....wait for it, wait for it....a former Jim Henson disciple! Puppets, they just make sense.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

I Green Heart Oregon

On our way away from the Westcoast we spent some time in Portland Oregon. I always knew it was a place of greatness but I guess I didn't know just how great! First we stopped at the filmmaker Vanessa Renwick's (pictured here in her sweetly patch covered jacket!) in what I think is called the Mississippi part of Portland. I can't begin to describe her house other than it is a dream; a tree to climb into bed, a basement studio brimming with work, an indoor trapeze/dog toy and the recent addition of an outdoor handmade sauna in the shape of a totem style raven's head! What?!? We spent the afternoon checking out some of her recent film exploits which were absolutely gorgeous and really true to the aesthetic & issues of the area- televisions depicting wolf hunts embedded inside refrigerators, the gruesome craft of the hunt next the passive human hunt, referencing our place in the natural world and the ways we've lost touch with it (a common theme I think is in a lot of Vanessa's work). Another piece, Trojan, must be seen to be loved...I can't do it justice in words!

















After some tea drinking we headed to a local grocery store to see this exhibit (pictured above)..yeah, that's right, a gallery show IN a grocery store! I can't imagine a more perfectly synaesthetic experience! So much nature, art, animation, film and everything else coming out of this super-natural city! I really hope we get to bring Gravity to Portland at some point but, until then, I can at least keep up on how kick ass it is through all the wonderful work coming out of it!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Dear Oregon


Dear Oregon, Your arts scene is just as beautiful as your trees! Your design sense is so compatible with mine! Your food offerings are delicious in my mouth! Maybe we should get together for awhile? Maybe you should bring Gravity back out here as a live show? Maybe we were meant to be like all of the "which city do you belong in" quizzes said? More later! Love, Donna K.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

When It Rains It Rarely Pours

Today was our first day off on the Westcoast and we definitely lived it up! The film enthusiast/programmer/creative director Richard Herskowitz (who brought us out here for our screening and was also responsible for our recent performances in Houston) spent the day with Brent & I exploring the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest, after narrowly missing a disaster involving us coasting into a gas station on fumes! Richard (pictured after filling gas tank) hasn't been in the area for too long so today's exploration included some new heights for him as well as we climbed to the peaks of a waterfall and drank some coffee at new & exotic waterside locales!

Richard has been programming the Cinema Arts Festival in Texas for the past two years now and has really been able to capture the (underseen) artistic community of Houston while still managing to bring in some (progressive) big names of the screen! I really think this festival is so unique and I can't wait to see it grow like it no doubt will! If that wasn't enough, Richard also runs Cinema Pacific a sort of interdisciplinary arts/film festival in the area of Eugene featuring works coming out of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean- an interesting concept with just as interesting content! Overall it has been a lovely filmic trip to this beautiful area, full of short film watching, trips to the ocean, wonderful food and all with the best of company! More Oregon tomorrow, followed by....home!!!

Go Ducks

Last night a decent turnout came in the pouring rain to the Schnitzer Museum of Art to watch Brent perform Carlin live followed by the theatrical version of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is an architecturally gorgeous building with such impressive exhibitions (complete with state of the art interactive information technology and a sprawling collection of Asian art ranging from intricate jewelry made from bird feathers to neo-Japanese scrolls) that it felt like a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art rather than the art museum at the University of Oregon! A recent exhibit of Gus Van Sant and Andy Warhol's  polaroids was followed by a comprehensive exhibit of a master Italian printmaker hailing from the 18th Century, two perfect examples of just how ambitious and comprehensive the curation here is. Judging by the varied crowd at the film screening the community definitely realizes what a valuable resource this place is, I hope the students do as well! Being that my camera decided to die (possibly for good) I only got this one little cell phone picture of the front of the museum, but I think it gets across the theatricality and beauty of both the inside and the outside of the museum pretty well! Now...what kind of camera do you have?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Oregon Trail


Oregon is so picturesque that the photos I keep taking don't even look real! How beautiful! Just a reminder that Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then will screen theatrically tonight in Eugene, OR at the Schnitzer Museum at 5:30 with a special live performance of one of Brent's shorts! Now, back to enjoying the natural wonders of this Northern haven...ahhhh....so pretty!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

California Here I Come

 One more goodbye to L.A.! I love this city! It's especially fitting that, as I write this, Brent is being interviewed on a Californian hillside (views pictured here) for a documentary in true Hollywood form, hehe! Goodbye to this strange and beautiful city!

If I Was A Photographer

 I didn't really post too much about the venue we played in San Diego and I thought I should because it was a pretty great place. The Museum of Photographic Arts is located in Balboa Park in San Diego California where not one, but two (!!!) world's fairs took place! The hollow, ornate architecture left behind by the semi-permanent world's fairs are always insane! In this case, MOPA resides in a looming Spanish-Renaissance style pavilion left over from the 1915 Panama-California Exhibition, which seems almost fitting to be the house of art photography, not only as a great picturesque backdrop but as a nice foil to the ghostly, reproducible photographic process. The museum curation was perfection (especially the Maggie Taylor and Jerry Uelsmann exhibit which was a fantastic Victorian nature fantasy) and the theater itself was gorgeous (complete with a twinkling night sky above)! Everyone there was great to work with and the vibe (uh-oh, I've been in California too long!) was calm, cool and collected to such a comforting level. I think the greatness of the museum had a lot to do with the greatness of the show, everyone felt at home in this wonderful environment! I wish there was more on the internet to get across MOPA's feel, I guess you'll just have to visit to understand!

Coconut Donut


On our way back up the coast yesterday to drop off Drew (pictured here in a photo by John) & John at the airport we stopped to take a few touristy snapshots...I really just couldn't help it! Giant donuts and surfers made me feel like we were in an alternate universe of cool and it just had to be done. Want to give a special thanks to Adam for letting us borrow his amps, and to the violin shop for providing John with a beautiful cello, and to Mike Plante (and his wonderful wife Kate- good luck on finals!) for being such great friends and supporters through these shows (and all the others for that matter)! Heading further north today for a screening/Q&A in Eugene Oregon tomorrow!

Always on the Watch

Not really sure how to describe the awesomeness of last nights show... First, it was the single best live performance we have done to date. Second, San Diego was one of the most strangely beautiful places I've ever been. Third, the people and the area are packed with a serious rough spun creativity that is pretty friggin' incredible!

Brendan, Drew, John & Brent outdid themselves with the music this time. Every live performance is improvised (except for the theme song of course!) and for some reason last night they really came together as a band and pushed what they were doing to a whole new level! Of course, we wouldn't have sounded as wonderful if it wasn't for Davey Tiltwheel and his amazing soundman skills!

The sort of intense punk scene that rumbles throughout San Diego (and which Davey was seriously able to capture in his sound mixing) really supported the quality of what we do and the accepting, excited audience produced such a serious energy that I can't even describe it. It was pretty wonderful to be in a place with people who understand the feel of the film (and who are also doing equally as amazing, near like-minded stuff- like O, and Tristan, and Low Volts, and John, and even the Navytown tattoo parlor packed streets)! Not to mention the fact that the town is nestled on the Pacific Ocean with all kinds of canyons, and cacti, and beaches, and hummingbirds all floating around in this beautiful, unexpected way. Man, loved this town! And our show! I loved it so much I'm gonna do another post about it! Later when some pics come in! And when I am not falling asleep at the keyboard..zzzzzzz...!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Lights, Camera, Action!

I think that Hollywood audiences probably watch films differently than in any other place in the world, making the feel of the hundred or so people sitting in front of us at The Silent Movie Theater last night an odd assortment of brightly lit dreams and critical apprehension. But, when the credits rolled a huge applause came at us in such a way that made me really excited to have shared our film with a group of film enthusiasts, actors, animation lovers, musicians- all of the people who make & love the movies! I feel like I am constantly saying the phrase to Brent "As a film nerd, you wouldn't appreciate (fill in blank here)" and last night I felt at home with my people!
I also think that's why The Cinefamily is a perfect community to exist within the borders of Hollywood. Their mission statement starts with the very reasons that I love film, especially independent film, so much; acting as communal, creative expressions teaching new ways of being & seeing. I am excited to have shown our film in such a historically loaded film spot too, (a place complete with film archives, an organ hailing from the silent movie days, headshots of early screen classics, a backyard with antique film mechanisms, the art deco fervor of the beginnings of the film world) continuing the next step in the tradition of cinematic arts! Thanks to The LAAF for having us! And please, support your local independent movie theater- movies can change the world, ask for more than explosions!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

This Is Where the Magic Happens

Hollywood, you are really a little too into special effects lately: first there was a huge fire on the runway during our planes take off, then we saw a woman drive her car, full speed, head on into a cop car! This wasn't the kind of cinematic magic I was looking for...but, the giant California Raisin shaking hands with everyone outside of The Cinefamily? Yes, my kind of magic. And a Labyrinth/Return to Oz Costume Pajama Party? YES, this IS the kind of magic I was looking for! Ah Cinefamily, providing my kind of (silent) special effects since 1942, then with sound since 2007!

In fact, talking to the theater manager today we learned that Brent's live program of shorts that he performed here in 2007 was the first show with sound performed at the space when The Cinefamily took it over! So, tomorrow we bring even more noise to (The Cinefamily at ) The Silent Movie Theater at 10pm featuring a line up of Brendan on drums, Drew on theramin/guitar/various noise machines, John on cello and Howe on piano keyboard (or possibly vintage silent movie theater organ if I can convince someone of what a great idea that would be!)! Here are pictures I was taking moments before I saw that REAL car crash earlier today..I still think our car crash is better though!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Dance Magic Dance

As we drove away from our rural Pennsylvanian home to embark on our Westcoast live shows & screening, a huge giant bald eagle flew right in front of the car! It was such a magical thing! We kept driving and made it to New York last night where we set off to find a replacement case (my case and the airport security just weren't getting along) for my foley kit, a search also filled with magic thanks to the window displays of the various city department stores, the little animatronics and Christmas scenes swaying to the holiday bell tunes are always such a beautiful, eerie thing! A perfect magical intro into the magical world of animation which begins today at The L.A. Animation Festival! I also just realized that L.A. is the home of Walt Disney, a true magician and animation mastermind! O no, the holiday magic has taken over! YAY! Now, also magic, flying on a plane!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors

Also during our Westcoast adventure starting at the end of this week is a stop over in Eugene Oregon! Various internet quizzes have told me that I belong in Oregon so I am ecstatic to go there for the first time since a lot of algorithms have told me to go! The Schnitzer Museum of Art and Cinema Pacific at the University of Oregon are holding a screening and a discussion/Q&A (which was supposed to be via satellite but, since we're on that coast already, is now going to be live in person!!!) on December 8th at 5:30, stop on by! Say hello! Tell me where to get the best coffee! Here is a picture of some of the Gravity set frames from way back when the film was just beginning, who knew this film would take me to all these places? See you soon Westcoast!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Photographic Arts












Sunday, December 5th, we're headed to San Diego California for a live show of Gravity at MOPA, the Museum of Photographic Arts. At first one would think this might seem weird that we're screening the film at a photo museum but, being that Gravity is actually made up of thousands of individual photographs lined up in true animated form, it is completely fitting! Our cellist John grew up in the San Diego area so I think it will be fun to go to this place I know nothing about with someone who hails from there! In honor of MOPA & John's hometown, here is a photo John took of me and Drew loading up the van after a recent Gravity live show! Finally some beautiful evidence of what John's been doing behind that camera for months- stunning John! 

Sunday, November 28, 2010

He Ruins Pizzas!

As a child I remember being obsessed with the California Raisins to  an almost unhealthy degree, even refusing to go to the doctor unless I could get the pruned figurines I lustfully eyed in the window of the nearby toy store! So when I read that Will Vinton, the creator of The California Raisins and the Domino's Pizza Noid (You heard me, the friggin' NOID! Avoid the Noid!) to name a few, was going to be at The 2nd Los Angeles Animation Festival International I got pretty excited since we will be there too!

LAAF (trailer) from Cinefamily on Vimeo.

The 2nd Los Angeles Animation Festival International will be taking place at The Cinefamily at The Silent Movie Theater December 3-7, featuring a live performance of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then on December 4th! I am super excited for this live show, with Brendan, Drew, John and Howe on the roster I think it's bound to be a good one! I am also super excited for all of the other festivities going on for this event too including a discussion with one of the Pixar animators behind the much acclaimed short Day and Night, a screening/discussion about Mtv's (past?) role in promoting progressive animation and even some vintage Vinton taking center stage with a new print of his rarely screened feature The Adventures of Mark Twain! And, it is all taking place in one of my favorite cities! Los Angeles! Can't wait for my second trip to this beautiful, glitzy, home of the movies!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Build Your Own World


People rarely come out to the barn unless it is on the way to somewhere else which is (thankfully) the case with our good friends Griff, Sterling & their beautiful daughter Vespertine (who all actually appear in the opening funeral scene of Gravity, Griff playing the priest with some very memorable stop motion acting!) who often swing by during holidays on their way to see family! Together we all (finally!!) went to Roadside America/Miniature Village, a place I've been eager to go to ever since I moved to Pennsylvania! 

One man, as a child,  had an idea while standing atop a Pennsylvanian mountainside looking across the built world below him to build his own little world depicting the history of American life complete with a circus parade, a train system, dinosaur filled caverns, a movie theater, a coal mining operation, a jail, churches, farms, a zoo- everything! There is even a grand finale that depicts the sun set & rise to the tune of "God Bless America" while projections of Jesus (?) & American milestones flash across a mural of the Statue of Liberty! When I saw this amazing display I immediately thought of the line from Gravity where Brent reminds "The truth of this whole thing is you have to build your own world," a truth that our film is a testament to in every way possible. We all create the place and life we live and we should do so with the good of everyone and everything else in mind- just like Leonard, just like Brent and even just like Laurence Gieringer the creator of Miniature Village! Now...to the turkey!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Trees Sort of Grow There Now


The first time I ever went to Brooklyn, NY as an adult I climbed into a giant white mini-van with my good friend Brendan and drove in to see a tiny band play in the backroom of a bar called Pete's Candy Store. As I moved between a little tin roofed stage, a christmas light lit backyard and a warm cozy counter to the tunes of the beautiful duo The Malarkies I made the decision to move as soon as I could. Pete's, which is located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, is pretty perfect so when Jamie Hook (a man of many talents including producing Guy Maddin's live show Brand Upon The Brain when it took place in NY & being the founding director of the Seattle non-profit Northwest Film Forum) asked me to ask Brent if he'd participate in a lecture series he was curating at Pete's I said yes before even asking Brent! Come see Brent lecture on Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then & watch me drink some warm, wintery cocktails next Monday at 7:30pm! Also, here are some ancient cell phone pics of my last Brooklyn neighborhood which happens to be right near Pete's (Concidence? Of course not!)- hope you can make it!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Living in a Waterfall

Well our Canadian adventure has come to a close but not without visiting the mighty Niagara Falls on our way between borders! What a vivid end to a very strange trip! Here is a picture of the natural wonder that is Niagara and also of the waterfall we slept beside during our stay at the animation festival. Thanks for the memories Canada!

Framed

Since we were a bit beat up from all of the stresses brought on by the delayed screening I didn't really get to see too many of the other films showing at The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema. The fest is a pretty great idea, showcasing only feature length animations brought in from all over the world. Saturday the focus was on anime, a style I never really got. Watching anime is like watching a giant jagged collage of genres so flat and removed that I can't really hold onto any part of it but the assault on the senses can sometimes be a nice jolt out of reality I guess!  Unfortunately we hit the road yesterday and missed the Eastern European stop motion attack that descended upon the festival! The Ugly Duckling , In the Attic and even the new film by the stop motion master Jan Svankmeyer all in one day! I've always loved the obvious hand evident in stop motion films and, after making our own, I watch them with a completely new respect and eye! Canada, once again bringing their animation love to the masses frame by frame!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Projection Booth Blues


After even more technical difficulties (!) Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then finally screened in the region of Waterloo Ontario! During a midnight (turned 1:15am) screening Saturday night a small, faithful audience lingered in the theater waiting to finally see the film. Drew, John and I even sat through the theatrical screening which left us all a bit shaken and provided a reminder about why we were all, despite the constant bad omens & false starts, in Canada in the first place. I think the same could be said for the staff of the festival who, after battling with an abused projector, also needed a reminder of the reason why all of us were huddled in a dark theater together into the wee hours of the night: to share the wonder of animated films! Here are some pics of Drew & John looking a bit dejected outside of the projection booth of the theater after attempting to help out in any way they could! Thank you guys! Your support really made a difference in calming some weary nerves!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Technically Difficult

Soooo...the show in Canada didn't exactly happen. A lot of factors ranging from projector issues to lighting complications made a (very patient and agreeable) audience sit for awhile while things were getting sorted out. We're attempting to re-schedule the live show but our busy schedule is making it a bit difficult! I think the real bummer about the situation is that the band we had amassed (Brendan, Drew, John , Mike & Alan) was sooooo amazing during soundcheck, and during various attempts to soothe a waiting audience, that it would have been an awesome show! I hope we get to play with this line up sometime in the near future! Now we explore Canada and it's various landscapes while trying to figure out how to make a screening happen!

Maple Leaf Rag

We started off our road trip to Canada at Drew's house in Brooklyn with Stella the amazing dog! We collected John and our equipment (and some coffee) and hit the road! Brent ended up in Buffalo New York discussing his residency with HallWalls and speaking to a class at the University of Buffalo at the request of the legendary Tony Conrad and his band of cool, eager, lovely students so we picked him up along the way!


















When we travel to these shows we slowly learn details about them as we approach the town and The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema  was no exception! This time we heard we were staying in a cottage, then we heard it was a cabin on a lake then we learned it was actually a mill on a waterfall! It is spectacular! As is the line up for the festival! O Canada, you are beautiful!

Goodbye Texas


One last goodbye to Houston! I thought it was especially fitting when, upon arrival in NY to stay at a friends house, I met a man who was from Houston! After talking to him about a million different things I loved about Houston we both came to the conclusion that people tend to be quiet about how awesome that city is...I bet it is on purpose to preserve the greatness- so, forget everything I said! Houston is just ok! I can't lie. It is the best!  New York I still love you too but all of the great people who flock to you all came from someplace that is usually just as interesting (and usually more affordable)! These trips always remind me that where you live is what you make of it and that you can make anything anywhere! Here is one last pic of the thing we made in Houston and even though I miss it I can't wait to be home to make things!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Lebenswelt


Brent performing his shorts at The Kitchen in 2008
One thing that seemed to keep creeping into the conversations of filmmakers during our time in Houston was the new trend toward live cinematic presentations. Filmmaker Esther Robinson seems to think that since filmmaking has become so accessible that this trend toward live film performance is a new way to push creativity in film, allowing an added variable to a medium that has saturated our culture through things like youtube and digitization. Esther is also interested in performing arts so she believes the live experience and the active presence of an audience (which after seeing the drastic changes in our live shows that often play off of the feeling of the crowd I completely understand) is something that people want more of in our isolated, passive film watching experience.

Other people seem to think the live film screenings are a way to combat the increasing loss of money from illegal downloading & the sudden lack of indie film support caused by the economic landslide. Filmmakers are getting paid to be present at live shows, live screenings (like concerts) are becoming a new viable way to be an independent film maker. But, the angle that interests me the most is editing...

Sam Green performing Utopia (photo from his site via Indiewire)


I don't know why but I am completely fascinated by the way that live film performance is like an onscreen editing process. Brent is constantly changing his narration, or changing the pacing of his narration, throughout our live screenings of Gravity and our improvised soundtrack is never, ever the same. Sam Green and his Utopia in Four Movements is a film made on a computer presentation software (like Powerpoint)- he is actually advancing slides and film clips on stage, editing right in front of us, in addition to his live slightly altered lecture-style narration. Even experimental filmmakers, like Martha Colburn, who play film reels and alter the speed and color live are editing what you are seeing right in front of your eyes and even adding a live on-the-spot soundtrack!

 Martha Colburn performing (photo from her flickr page)

The immediacy of performing and editing a film live is really amazing. It shows the true skill that is involved in the filmmakers ability to control their unique style and present their vision of the world. I think live cinema is a new movement that has come about for a lot of reasons but mostly I see it as a way for filmmakers to be more active and present in their craft, an urgency and energy that channels the way we live today but into a more humanized connectivity, a real 3D connection in a sea of 3D glasses! Now, what to name this live film movement...? And who will write the manifesto? JkJk, please don't write a manifesto....!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Hair Dyeing in a Hotel Makes Me Feel Like a Hitchcock Leading Lady


Our second performance on Saturday was stellar! For some reason it was a particularly somber show (which was especially strange given that our Friday show was a bit unhinged and jangly) leaving many of the audience members, and even most of the band members, in a contemplative state long after the show was done.  Unfortunately, my camera disagreed with the theater lighting so I didn't get any good band pictures...but I did get a nice shot of my foley table junk (below), and yes, that bell IS labeled "phone," and a pic of the well lit Mr. Brent Green on guitar & vocals!

Afterwards we loaded up and made it out to the closing party for the festival complete with delicious mini-cupcakes sparkling with multicolored sugar crystals and some of the best company one could imagine! I even watched as a friend of mine visiting from Austin blushed uncontrollably when she came to the realization that the man sitting next to her, Sam Green, was in fact the Sam Green who made The Weather Underground, a film that redefined the way she thought of documentary cinema! Being with friends and filmmakers, and all of the wonderful people who worked on this festival (too many to begin to name!) was a great end to the overwhelming feeling of love I have for Texas! Tomorrow I head to the eastcoast, as does Brent who had a brief detour over at the San Francisco International Animation Film Festival today for a screening of Gravity!

Let's Go to the Movies!


The panel that Brent was on about soundtracking film was pretty interesting I thought. The whole gang seemed to be coming from completely different angles on the subject which really led to me thinking about the process of filmmaking, and even the nature of creativity in general- nice work guys! One of the best parts of the panel was that it took place inside of this enormous multiplex theater complex! I can't help but love the spectacle of new moviehouses! The lights! The noises! The smells! It's all so overwhelming and otherworldly that just the theater is like it's own pre-film experience-it's great! Even better was that Brent was showing clips at the panel, which took place in a giant theater, so we got to go into the projection labryinth of the multiplex! WHAT!?!?

So awesome! Dozens of projectors beaming out to hundreds of audience members, buzzing and flickering, so cool! Also cool was seeing pieces of Gravity in a place like this with a huge sound and a huge image making me, literally, see the film unlike ever before! I guess that is another great/unique thing about this fest, being able to see rare or different films that one wouldn't normally see in this type of setting. If only there were more movies I wanted to see playing in theaters like this all the time!