SMELL THE GLOVE

Now I’m excited again, in a big way. After making some short films earlier in the year, and doing some writing, I feel a little bit more confident in myself again. Part of it was the self beating that my first real feature film gave my ego, especially on the self reflection angle. I’m not really affected by people saying “You suck!”, no matter what the project. I don’t like or hate something I made based on how other people feel about it; I’m only concerned with how I feel about it. I don’t measure myself against other people, only myself and my own goals and interests.

When another local filmmaker recently dick-measured themselves versus my material, and basically were saying they were so much better than me. I was not pleased. A friend misinterpreted how I felt and told me to “Use that! Go out make your next movie and kick their ass!!!!” and all I could think was (And unfortunately I also said this out loud), WHAT A STUPID REASON TO MAKE A MOVIE. I am not motivated by interpersonal rivalries or comparisons to other filmmakers. Making movies is NOT a competition or a race. This whole analogy that film is akin to sports makes me nauseous. I make movies to tell stories. My only successes and failures, along with comparisons are to myself and my other work. I can’t put myself on any kind of scale with another filmmaker. My personal philosophy truly is that there is NO SUCH THING AS BETTER OR WORSE; ONLY DIFFERENCES.

What motivates me is the need (not desire) to tell a particular story. If I have something to say, I say it with the moving pictures and the sound along with it. It’s an expression about whatever the story and characters mean to me and some kind of sociological metaphor or slice of humanity that tickles my fancy. When I make a movie to try to prove that I can do this or that to some other filmmaker or to win a popularity contest, I’ll shoot myself in the head.



Now what gets confusing is that I have had to learn to keep my mouth shut about my honest assessments of other people’s work, unless it’s praise. I’m much more silent now about that kind of stuff, but I guess some people are ultra sensitive about their own material. Go figure. I’m a lot less interested in other people’s projects at this point anyway. My life has changed significantly in the last 2 years and where I am at and what interests me has invariably changed.

CHANNEL 17, a local digital only TV station has switched over from being a HOME SHOPPING NETWORK to original programming. They are filling a much needed void of locally created content. My old boss Mike Tavares does some freelance shooting and editing for them. A few months ago, they told him about how they were interested in local content and he told them about me, my short films and even HORRORS OF WAR. He gave them some DVD’s and that started them looking at the local film scene as a whole. Ironically, local yahoos want to (yet again) take credit for something they didn’t start but I really don’t care. All I want is my material to be on TV again. It can only help with exposure to an audience that otherwise would not see it. There is also a credibility issue that good work being seen on a TV station helps create. If potential investors see your work broadcast or know that it is being shown, then you are being validated by someone other than your mommy and daddy and the cast and crew. Step aside pretend filmmakers, the real ones are going to utilize the opportunity, then parlay it to mean something.

Sonnyboo.com is going to sponsor the show and the :30 Sonnyboo spot will play on the CHANNEL 17 network soon. With enough (good) new programming, WDEM CHANNEL 17 might get picked up by cable operators and then the exposure goes up exponentially. Since Columbus is illegally withholding any kind of Public Access television, this is a way to get material seen, and in this case, the station will filter out the sub-par, unwatchable crap from many of the weekend camcorder wannabes.



Next month I am shooting something special to me. Finally, I get to shoot something with the RED ONE camera. That will be freakin’ sweet. That means an upgrade to Adobe CS4 just to be able to handle the RED footage from the CF (Compact Flash) cards. I think THIS will continue my growth as a filmmaker and be another huge stepping stone in the career path. RELATIONSHIP CARD helped, and I am very proud of the piece, but this is taking another deep stab at something more professional and clawing my way towards another feature film.

Rehearsals start this week for the new project. The juices are flowing. Time to take another bite out of life and see what’s left.

Indubitably Implacable

I just finished editing the near picture lock on one of the two shorts I produced. I think we need to do a pickup shoot for 2 shots. This was 100% an error on my part, if for no reason than NOT booking a scrip supervisor/continuity person. That job is an all important function, but I arrogantly thought we could go without for a simple 3 page shoot. Was I wrong on that count! Someone needed to remind us to shoot coverage of these 2 lines and we did not. No one check listed the shots with the script and now we’re desperately in need to cover this hole. I won’t be making this mistake again anytime soon.







Tomorrow I should have a picture lock on the other of the two shorts. When I say “picture lock” or the “edit”, that is NOT the end of the process.These are all pre-FX and pre-color correction, not to mention the full sound mix, sound design, scoring, and title phases that ensue. I’m taking my time on each step because it’s not only education, but I want these to be great, not just good. I’m keeping that bar raised for myself and those that work on them.







One of these two pieces will have an intense amount of CGI and graphics work. This will NOT be simple or fast. Working in 1920x1080 at 24 Frames Per Second doesn’t exactly speed up any part of the process either. I’m used to working with standard definition 720x480 graphics, and this full raster HD in a 4:2:2 color space has my computer wigging out a little. Luckily it’s only a 3.5 minute piece, but even then, almost every shot has a digital effect in it. Because of the rigors of post production, I wanted to finish this edit first, so that’s the one that is basically done. I can proceed with the FX since the 2 pickup shots are non-effects shots and it won’t affect anything I do with those. Needless to say this bugs my obsessive compulsive side.







I submitted UNCLE PETE and IN THE TRENCHES to a few film festivals this past week. I’ve taken too long a break from that kind of thing. Time to get back to it and getting the work seen again. Once these two pieces are finished, I’ll really increase their exposure, and not in the poser-wannabe way I see in my cheap imitators. I mean, I’m going to bust ass to get them seen in real places.



I’m even contemplating a summer film festival of shorts. The question is, should it be a COWTOWN FILM SERIES one off event or a LOOK AT MY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL? I think COWTOWN. The level of excellence for COWTOWN is higher than the way the last screening of LOOK AT MY SHORTS was just kinda trashed. COWTOWN also had better sponsors and I intend to parlay that much bigger. I think I can get some TV ad time on Time Warner-WOW-Insight to really get some asses in seats. It takes months to properly promote and fund an event like this, so if I choose to do this, I’ll commit to dates and start working in less than a month. So I think COWTOWN represents a more professional era and I’ll leave the LOOK AT MY SHORTS to represent the amateurs and posers, of which I was definitely in those ranks then, but not now.







Work has slowed some. What a shock! At least it’s not at a standstill. My prediction? Once we get to the June-July period, people will realize the world didn’t end and start spending some of money they’ve stockpiled. Then some new jobs will open back up and the injuries will begin to heal, slowly but most likely.



I sold several DVD’s in the last few months unintentionally. I always do my duplication at work, and so I usually have some discs lying around. Sometimes commercial clients want to buy a DVD; sometimes it’s an editing class student wanting either the book or a DVD. So I’ve decided to make sure I always have a decent amount of product around. I dedicated a shelf of product at work, and have a box of various DVD’s in the trunk at all times too. You never know when you might want to sell or give a disc away. I run into people from HORRORS OF WAR in various places and want to give them their free copy of IN THE TRENCHES, so keeping some stock handy will save me on shipping.



That’s all for now my bitches. Are you a pretty hate machine?





- Peter John Ross

Chancellor of Rossdonia

A province of Rossdom

Paris et l'amour de cinéma

I just watched a Blu-Ray of the film PARIS JE ‘TAIME, which is really a collection of shorts from a wide array of filmmakers from across the globe, not the least of which are the Cohen Brothers, Gus Van Zant, Alexander Payne, and Alfonso Cuarón. I was floored by the movie for various reasons.



Now I’ve been to Paris France 7 times in my life and each trip was profoundly different. I do love Paris as one of the greatest cities on Earth. On my first visit, I recall meeting a Canadian at the hostel and then proceeding to get drunk on cherry whine in the Latin Quarter with him and his friend, a local Parisian girl. Then there are some vague impressions of vomiting in the middle of the night and sleeping for over 16 hours, and no recollection of how I got to my room and why I still had my wallet.

My second visit had my fondest memory of being near the Eiffel Tower. It was about 2:00AM and I wondered up the long hill to the museum that overlooks the tower and tour buses were still dropping people off from Germany, the U.S., Australia, and more with an incredible carnival atmosphere that late at night with street vendors and musicians enjoying themselves like it was noon. I met people, frolicked and just swooned with the wave that everyone had in that moment. That was the strangest touristy moment I ever had, yet didn’t feel disingenuous for anyone there.

I have shot some Super 8 film in the city myself, but nothing substantial or meaningful. On the last trip I wanted to shoot something, no matter how apparently meaningless. Unfortunately, the Canon HV20 was not out yet and I really wished I had that camera then. To be able to shoot so much, especially in 24P high definition would have been amazing. Perhaps one day soon, I will return for my 8th trip to this city and make even a simple short film there.

Other films have been wonderful post cards to the city such as Richard Linklater’s sequel BEFORE SUNSET, Paris’ hometown hero Luc Besson’s LA FEMME NIKITA, and even the Lawrence Kasden comedy FRENCH KISS. I love each of those films if for no other reason than capturing a small essence of the city.



PARIS JE ‘TAIME is a collection of short films, each with varying styles, casts, and every short focuses on a different district, trying to evoke the flavor of the different parts of the city. American, European, Mexican, Spanish, and even Asian and African casts meld and merge in this amazing set of stories. Each director had 5 minutes to tell a story, from things a varied as a vampire story to love stories, to slices of life vignettes, and fantastical or simple. I recommend anyone interested in making short films watch this feature to get inspired by the elegance of the cinematography, the simplicity of the storytelling, yet with deep impacts. So much is said with so little dialogue, in English or French, and so much is visually told.



I couldn’t have watched this movie at a better time. I’m gearing up for a short shoot and stylistically, this film was right up my alley for the type of movies I’m about to make for the next 3-4 months. Things are prepping well. I want to expand what I’ve done and mature some as a filmmaker.



I give PARIS JE ‘TAIME a very high recommendation. Natalie Portman starring in Tom Tykwer’s segment, which means the film already had 2 stars in my book, rates a 5 star movie overall. If you make or want to make short films, this is a MUST SEE movie.

Adieu,
Pierre Jean Ross