Aggregating the Advert

Well she left me. I got used and abandoned. Sometimes she does this. She just ups and leaves when I need her the most. There’s nothing like getting your teeth kicked in by someone you love and care for. I’m staring at a deadline that can’t be escaped and all she can do is think about herself and not about me and my needs.



I’m speaking of course about the muse. I need to come up with something to put into a giant sea of green and I just can’t think of what to put in it. I was even contemplating some form of white, as in a digital white cyke with gradients, etc. but that stinks of desperation. It might also be my only answer if that mythical bitch doesn’t come back to visit me and give me inspiration in the next 48 hours.

I’m presenting my two TV pilots at the end of this week and I’m still putting together what should be the easier of the two episodes. Well, it isn’t. I have no idea what to do with the greenscreen elements I’ve been shooting this past week. I’m officially out of ideas. I’m mulling over some white-ish ideas but that seems lame. I also don’t have a title sequence or even a remote concept of what to do with one.

My brain is effectively jell-o right now. I can’t think. I can’t concentrate. I’m sleepy. I’m tired. I’m worn down. Nothing is relaxing me. Friday night I watched AVATAR on Blu-Ray, simply because I could turn my brain off for 3 hours with this brainless entertainment. I had only seen it once in 3D, and to be honest, I preferred it in 2D. In my opinion the whole new 3D thing is a fad, not the salvation or future of theatrical releases. It’s mildly entertaining, but story, character, and meaning supersede spectacle every time. Can you imagine a Woody Allen movie in 3D?

Anyways, FRAMELINES is done. The intro and title sequence are doing well in responses. I just put out the first real story, focusing on Mickey Fisher from Ironton Ohio. This guy is an inspiration. Mickey rocks and has made some of my favorite low budget features, period. Scott shot, directed, and edited this with our intern Alex Newman.



We’ll be screening the first 30 minute episode of FRAMELINES tomorrow night at the INDIECLUB COLUMBUS meeting. It should be interesting to see how people react to it. From what I’ve seen from the intro and Mickey story, we’ve got a good show. My sights have gotten a little loftier with the final product of the show than I originally intended. I thought a UHF station with limited reach would suffice, but the show is better than that, thanks in large part to the efforts and participation of others.

Maybe in a few weeks I can make a happy announcement about where and how to see the show(s).

Dubious and Perfidious

I am burning myself out. I am working on the feature length script for ACCIDENTAL ART. I’m promoting FRAMELINES, the 30 minute TV series I just finished yesterday. I’m working on the LOOK AT MY SHORTS TV and getting that pilot episode ready. I’m about to shoot a couple small shorts. I’m hustling to get some more paid work in the door. I still get some freelance work, usually all at the same time or it is a drought. All together, this makes for a singed and strangely happier Rossman.

I guess I want to describe some of my motives behind the TV shows. FRAMELINES is yet another one of my philanthropic ideas. I want to help legitimize the filmmaking movement that myself and my peers are involved in. Getting a widely viewed and accessible magazine style TV show on PBS all over our state felt like a good way to do that. Making a TV show that features human interest stories and Mickey Mouse explanations about the basics is one way to get our work known to people who otherwise not ever take what we do seriously. Somehow, being on TV makes it “real”. This show is not about me, but about all the great stories and ways in which people make movies. So far, I’m really happy with the show as its progressing. I love when you can exceed your own expectations.

Then there’s the educational aspect. The filmmaking tips and basic instructional elements are something that has been important to me for years. Gaining a public forum to put these out there on broadcast television in an easily digested format seems like a perfect fit.

Overcoming personal differences to interview someone objectively because they are doing good work, even though they might have acted like a 3rd grader and called me names behind my back, or to ask for a short film from a moronic ass because it’s still a good movie, these are all obstacles. I guess I’ll have to be the bigger man and just try to do good work and not worry about the rest. I’m far more interested in the big picture. I believe in success without competition, as in a win for everyone, not just me.


A backlog of used books in my queue

There is no outlet or wide audience for a lot of the short films, so a short film compilation TV series makes sense to me. Even with Public Access 8 years ago, it was a way of reaching thousands of people with your work. Doing yet another variation of that idea today, I’m going to try to reach as many viewers as possible with a multi-state show that really gets people to see the short form movies. The crux here resides in trying a more radical idea in a more conservative format. I predict I’ll have to actually edit two completely different forms of the show, one more conservative, and another more hip and aimed at the key demographic of 18-34 year olds.

Like I said before, sometimes the Muse comes in and I can straddle her and make her my bitch. When she comes, I make the most of it. None of the petty politics or idiotic things people say or do matter when you can create something that lasts forever. All the nonsense, and even the irrelevant people will be forgotten, but the work will be there until the end of time.

Framelines

Your faithful narrator has been busy. I occupied this fallow, low income time with many projects. I finished the pilot episode to 1 of 2 TV series. I just worked a ton of long days editing together the whole 29 minutes, including graphics, intros, and even shooting some last minute greenscreen and studio work. Now on to the 2nd series pilot!

Sunny 95’s Dino Tripodis hosted the show for us and we had 5 distinct segments to the show. A Filmmaker Profile where we look at someone’s body of work and interview them, a Spotlight On segment where we look at a person or place or group and get a quick story on that, filmmaking tips, like the ones I’ve already made and that Scott Spears has made, then we go On Location for B-Roll heavy interviews with a movie during pre-production, production, or post-production and get an inside look, and finally my baby the Roundtable discussion.

Sometimes I can pull a rabbit out of a hat. I think I did that with the title sequence and intro to the show for sure, but possibly with the show as a whole. I was deeply inspired by the show VIEWFINDER in Cincinnati, but I wanted a completely different format, a magazine style show that went on location and legitimized the indie film movement as it is today. Scott came up with a great name for our show, FRAMELINES.

Here is the opening and title sequence for FRAMELINES

Framelines Opening Title Sequence from Framelines TV on Vimeo.

Bequeathing Asperity

I am keeping busy. I have more projects than I have time for. I widdled down the 3 TV shows to 2 total. I have had the conundrum of trying to figure out what to do this year, as in should I do a more ambitious short before attempting another feature film? What about the dwindling income? I have found answers and some have found me.



Scott brought us an intern at the studio, an ambitious film geek named Alex. He’s been a godsend for us, as a lot has gotten down since his arrival. Funnily, his hard work makes me feel like doing more work, so I try harder and get more done, especially on my own works.

Alex took an interest in ACCIDENTAL ART, after seeing the recent re-cut. He had not seen it before and I pitched him on what the rest of the story is. Then that lead to him seeing the whole script. This took us down the road of him taking a crack at a draft.



I think by this weekend I’ll have the draft of this script I always wished it would be. It’s no offense to any of the great writers who took a pass at this, but it’s about very preferential things. I want this script to be something very specific and I’m only partially capable of writing that.

Now ACCIDENTAL ART is now online. Dig this,

Accidental Art from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.