Posters, Politics, and Pricing

Okay, so I’m getting ready (finally) to screen HORRORS OF WAR and IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM at Cowtown on November 13th. Part of what I am doing, and what I have asked the other filmmakers to do, was make and print posters. I decided I wanted a special edition poster for HORRORS OF WAR exclusive to this last and hopefully final exhibition. Since the film fits the “Grindhouse” style, we went with some grungy midnight movie style posters of yesteryear.



I wanted to give some tips on printing, as I’ve been doing posters for movies and screenings for 8 years. Now, some basic information people need to be aware of are as follows:

1. Movie Theater posters (called “one sheets”, not to be confused with the 8.5”x11” ONE SHEETS used in selling a film) are 27”x40” (length by height).
2. Real Movie Theater one sheets also have a reverse image on the back because they are usually illuminated from behind in poster cases outside and inside the theater.
3. An early, pre-release poster is called a “TEASER” or “TEASER ONE SHEET” with a simple design or concept style.
4. Smaller posters, especially reprints, are 23”x35” in size. These are what most posters you buy rolled up in bins (Spencer’s gifts anyone?).
5. 11”x17” legal sized posters are most often used to plaster walls and phone poles.

Getting your own poster printed can be a very pricey. I prefer to work with local printing companies. I feel like people give giant corporations enough money and there isn’t enough cash heading into the pockets of smaller, personal companies. So I am definitely willing to pay 10%-20% more for local work to the mom & pop shops. So in the past, when buying 27”x40” posters, they cost between $35-$45 each. Yikes, kind pricey. Today I was pricing those and shops were also trying to stiff me with a $25 one time “file” fee for having to deal with any kind of digital file from me. That means $60 for the first poster.



I have been using CAFEPRESS.COM for a while and without a doubt most of their products are greatly overpriced, and the quality of merchandise tends to be mediocre to poor. But they do offer a 23”x35” for only $17.99 and that’s a deal. The quality of the product looks amazing. I did a SONNYBOO poster, some earlier HORRORS OF WAR posters, etc. and the look pretty top notch. Paper quality, detail, and text all have very sharp properties. Their shipping is pricey, but they also tend to be fairly quick on turnaround too. I am going with them almost exclusively. I give them **********, the whole ten stars.

So lately, I’ve been collecting up posters for my own movies or movies I worked on. I’ve got the cool GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND poster because I like the color scheme and very simple design. I never dreamed when I was a kid, with the many STAR WARS one sheets on my walls that I’d ever own a movie poster with my name on it, especially a movie I either worked on, and even more unbelievably a movie I MADE. I frame my posters and it inspires me to keep working harder and get better as I make more movies.



Now, I’m struggling with the design for IN THE TRENCHES. I want simple and elegant, but my ideas keep getting too complex to quickly. I saw a CRITERION DVD cover art that might be a great inspiration for the aesthetic I have in mind. I’m also really into the BLUE NOTE RECORDS jazz LP designs from the 1950’s, and I like those color palettes and styles.

I do NOT consider myself a designer or particularly good with Photoshop or anything with print. This is not my forté so thankfully Phil Garrett stepped up to do the main designs for HORRORS OF WAR, but I’m stuck on the IN THE TRENCHES poster.

My Sexy Fiancé Veronica and I went with my father to see “W.” and it was okay. I agree 100% with most reviews that I don’t know who he made the movie for. It wasn’t scathing enough for liberals and it wasn’t flattering or sincere enough for conservatives. At the same time, it is a good film, but I’ll bet it suffered from the highly compressed shoot to post production schedule. As is usually the case with Ollie Stone, we can expect to see a “director’s cut” or special edition on DVD later when he has more time to comb through and make more informed decisions on the cut. Someone asked me why this film was put out at all if it won’t affect the election. My response was that it’s really meant for the opposite; the film benefits from the election, not the other way around. If they released this in January as George W. Bush left office, less people would care, and it will be less potent. It’s all about timing and they wanted to cash in on the box office of being the first film to take on a sitting president in 100 years.

Peace out my friends,
- Ross

Castigating the Clochards

Well now mister helper, THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TAD BARLOW broke our box office record for the COWTOWN FILM SERIES’ 6th week. It was several years in the making and obviously a labour of love for many involved. There are moments where one can vicariously feel the sense of accomplishment and the joys of screening a film for the first time. Todd Russell and David Ball’s Q&A (to which I felt no need to really participate and they went with it very naturally) was genuine and enthusiastic. I love being some small part of giving that gift to people, even when I don’t know them very well.



The after-party went on till the bar closed. Funnily enough people accused me of being “shit-faced” because my eyes were bloodshot and nasty, but that was from a lack of sleep. I cannot drink, and I don’t indulge. I used to drink and when I was particularly young, I had a problem with the bottle. These days being overweight and having gout prevent me from even having a sip.



It was great to see so many supporters out for the screening. I am most grateful to that core group of people who have been coming consistently from the first day. From some of the “newbies” on the scene to some of the professional/semi-professional filmmakers, there are some people, who I didn’t at the time know that well, that truly support the real filmmaking scene. I’m trying to show movies from the one notch or above amateur level material.







Yet again, the Uncle Pete shorts killed. It was risky this week because the audience had a lot more grey hair (as if mine isn’t pretty grey, but theirs matched an older demographic). These are risqué and an older, more mature crowd may not appreciate the irony.



I have a mathematical theory on comedy in a movie theater presentation. What happens is that the people who “get it” will laugh out loud once for sure, but they only give the laugh one more shot. If LESS people laugh on the second laugh, they feel self conscious and won’t laugh again. The other option, that thankfully happened for me this week, MORE people laugh; then the old axiom “Laughter is infectious” becomes somewhat viral and true. Basically, the few laughing make the rest of the audience feel it’s OKAY to laugh at the humor, or they feel like they are being informed what is and isn’t funny by the rest of the audience they are in.The amorphous audience can be swayed one direction or another by the collective vibe.



Equation:

If LAUGH 2 < LAUGH 1 = NO MORE LAUGHS, lame crowd and a “miss”

If LAUGH 1 > LAUGH 2 = MORE LAUGHS, hip crowd and a "hit"



This is the premise and art form of theatrical exhibition. Steven Spielberg made his whole early career on studying and practicing this art. I have followed this path with all the film festival screenings and my own presentations. It is the best way to learn the effectiveness of your INTENT versus REACTION of the audience. The more you can intuit the prediction of an audience reaction to something you write-direct-edit etc. the more effective you can become with the tools of the trade, IE moviemaking. This is why the so called “rules” of filmmaking can be such potent utensils. They work and have worked so well. This is also why film history becomes crucial TO ME. You have 100+ years of cinema history of what has and has not worked to study and use to your advantage. Never lose sight of the genuine emotional intent and try to please yourself as an artist, but if your goal is to also satisfy an audience, practice will make your efforts more on the ball.







I think my practice at these results in my events and screenings having decent attendance, especially in comparison to others I’ve been to. I have seen some pretty horrendous screenings and there are even some basic screening opportunities that could be so greatly enhanced with just a teeny bit of forethought, but some people are incapable of learning, or not interested in advancing this part of the filmmaking process. I guess that’s why they don’t get much better. Stagnation kills the growth of anything.



We shot the elements for the title sequence for IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM against Ye Olde Green Screen. I saw some of the results last night and I am pleased. Later today I’ll see the first pass of the title sequence. I had a very specific idea of what I wanted, but since I’m buried in editing still, I’ve asked TJ Cooley to do the actual title sequence, and if he adds some of his usual style to it, it might make a good demo reel piece as it is complex and cool. I wanted a :30 second JAMES BOND opener, not too long or anything as I just want to get to the meat of the movie.







We’re making a special ONE SHEET poster for the double feature screening. I like the idea of alternate poster designs, even if it’s only for my wall when it’s over. I’m amazed at how many people have an active interest in seeing HORRORS OF WAR November 13th. I get so blinded by my own being sick to death of it that people new on the film scene weren’t involved or got to know people who were and want to appreciate seeing what they’ve done. I’m far more excited about the documentary, if the still-procrastinating-in-progress-need-to-edit-attitude can be construed as “excited”.



There will be no Q&A for the HORRORS OF WAR double feature because the Documentary will cover pretty much most things anyone would ask. I have not done much to promote the screening yet, but since someone from the film didn’t know HORRORS OF WAR was even playing, I figure I might need to let people know.



Well, I’m going to see “W.” tonight with my father. He’s excited as hell because he’s an Ex-Republican and the real W. converted him. We haven’t had much chance to speak in the last few weeks so I want to talk to him about the economy etc. I never used to get jazzed to talk to my pops, but these days he’s become someone I like to spend time with. Life sometimes changes on you.



Peace out and don’t smoke crack – that’s a ghetto drug!



- Ross

Bilious & Brutish Interlopers

So we had a productive week here in the Columbus Film community. First off, the inaugural MOFA meeting, that’s Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association (imagine if it had been Mid Ohio Filmmakers Organization, it would have been MOFO). Now there speculation has begun that yours truly was behind this. I am not. All I did was take the several interested parties I knew of, who have dissatisfaction with the other film group, and put them in the same place at the same time. I have been asked my opinion on a few things, and gave said opinion, but the rest is on them. They did an amazing job putting together a meeting that, the Bar of Modern Art estimates, was over 70 people.

What an amazing contrast to the other Columbus film group! Their last meeting topped out at 11 people in attendance. Now, the two groups serve very different purposes. One is a social and networking opportunity, the other is basically a seminar and screening opportunity for first time or amateur filmmakers. Several people who are at more of a professional level needed a chance to meet and mingle with their peers and those transitioning beyond the confines of camcorder movies. I think both groups are important, and cater to a different audience entirely.



Strangely, one of the analysis I have come to reading people’s reactions is that it feels like, as it always does, people are drawing lines in the sand between the two groups. It always comes down to a kind of high school mentality for some people. It’s like we have the popular, good looking people forming one group, and the geeks and freaks in their kind of A/V club. Neither group is excluding anyone per se, but there are those feelings, whether self generated, or based on some tinge of reality, that cause people to feel cast out or unwelcome. I hope people overcome these mythical obstacles and just enjoy both groups for what they are.

Now the MOFA meeting was the night before the COWTOWN FILM SERIES week #5. I was afraid it would affect attendance, and it did, but we still hit our average of around 48-52 people in attendance for Johnny Wu’s THE RAPTURE. I was pleasantly surprised. Again, for the compare/contrast crowd, that was significantly more than the grand total for all combined screenings at a local film festival recently.



With less than 2 minutes before the end of the movie, the DVCAM deck seized up and stopped. I ran full tilt to the projection booth, saw the error message, so I unplugged the unit, plugged it back in, ejected the tape, expecting to see a devoured cassette unspooling, but it wasn’t. I pushed the tape back in & pressed play and it finished out fine. There’s nothing I hate more than poor presentation. I may have to switch over to DVCPRO and rent a deck if there are any more problems with this deck. I ran the head cleaner, but I don’t trust it. I have also put an offer out to purchase a deck that can play back DVCAM tapes, as a backup, but that cuts into the emergency funds and savings with the new Great Depression staring us in the face, but I am responsible singularly for the presentation at the COWTOWN FILM SERIES. I have to maintain the highest level of professional presentation. This is MY responsibility and I love other people’s movies enough to do whatever it takes, sacrifice something of my own, fall on the sword, to make someone else look as professional as I can make it.



Johnny always does an entertaining Q&A and he’s practiced at it, so I had very little to do or say. That was good, as I am getting burned out. After that show I realized I’m only at the HALFWAY mark. What the hell was I thinking? 10 weeks? This is a lot of work. I subconsciously knew what I was doing, but consciously, I have gotten older, more tired, and this is a massive undertaking. Is it worth it? Hell yes. I’m having a blast and so is the crowd. Even when the movie isn’t to the individuals liking, they still find merit or at least enjoy themselves at the after party.

Luckily, I got pretty far ahead on the work and the tapes. I have the next 4 Cowtown shows already completed and on tape…. Unless I have to convert them to DVCPRO, which will suck solely because of the time, but I will do what I have to do. As it is, I can just skate in, setup my system, and then we rock right into the pre-show. I have all the levels and connections all setup.

Today I’m buried “IN THE TRENCHES” trying to get this documentary finished. Finally my workload really is starting to drop off, which I thought would be a good thing, but it really isn’t. Business and freelance prospects are starting to feel the initial wave of the economy crash. In 3-4 months, we’ll all see the catastrophic effects of what’s happening with the stock markets. When the trickle down gets to “Main Street” (gotta love 24 hour news channel buzzwords), everything will dry up for a time. Expect Xmas to be dismal this year, but personally, I don’t get much into the season anyway.

Obviously, this blog is a minor form of procrastination preventing me from starting work on the documentary, so this is it.

Peace out,
Peter John Ross

PROGRESS, WITH A PARTICIPLE OF PARTYING

The stock market plummets, yet my stock goes up some. With the meager success of the COWTOWN FILM SERIES, along with it come the many people who either forgot me or just plain want something for nothing. This type of pattern belies the reality of our society here in the U.S. I no longer have harsh feelings, as it’s not personal, it just evolves that way. My absolute trust is something I don’t give away often. People play games and the expectation remains that people want you to play their games or you become some kind of pariah. I have no interest in the games. I actually mean exactly what I say and say exactly what I mean (without having to write it in a long winded, over bloated style).

Looks incredibly likely we’re going to set up a winter 2009 COWTOWN FILM SERIES. By then, several more features will be completed. It won’t hurt to have some new shorts from several people done by then too.



I actually got to edit last night on the documentary for November 13th. I forced myself into looking at it, doing some re-synching of audio, and that (as I knew it would) lead to me cutting stuff. I went into AVID and exported some raw footage to use as “B-Roll”, and to enhance some scenes I have. I actually cut the new OPENING of the whole documentary. It’s an interesting hodge-podge of stuff from one of the bigger days. Pacing for a feature length movie and a DVD-Extra are two radically different things. The old opening cannot be used as it’s not really apt, nor is a clip-highlight thing really apropos to what the overall theme.

I have decided to shoot something cool for the opening title sequence. Using the theme of “IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM”, I saw this technique that I want to apply using silhouettes and creating a virtual 3D trench. Where I’m going to find the time and inclination to shoot and create this, I don’t know, but hopefully there are enough gaps in my work schedule now to pull this off. I think I can. Power of positive thinking? Coming

The laundry list of things left to be done doesn’t seem as heavy now that I’m more or less coming up with my game plan on how to attack this and finish it on time. I may even replicate on DVD-9. I haven’t decided if I want to. Maybe when the movie is done I can say.



Something new in my mind is to utilize (with permission) some of the TV clips and interviews. It will help finish the “story” and explain a few things for us too. I realized nowhere at any time (other than on VIEWFINDER) do we address the whole TWO DIRECTORS, ONE FILM aspect. So that has to be inserted since we answered it eloquently together on that show (And the one of the only times John Whitney and I appeared together).

The hardest part is editing me? I hate looking at and even worse so, listening to me talk. I hear myself talk enough to other people, and now I have to hear me talking to myself? Ugh. I always understand other people’s hatred of me when I edit anything of me speaking.



I only procrastinate on something when I’m simply burned out. Anything to do with HORRORS OF WAR pretty much keeps me singed on the edges and crispy on the inside. I want to move past this movie, but this documentary is the last string attached. If I finish it, then screen it, and then it truly will be over. I can let it go away forever as more of a memory than this albatross.

The next phase is prepped and ready to go, but I cannot start until I keep my word and finish what I started. At least that motivates me to get ‘er done. This week I should be able to make even more headway on finishing the documentary. I plan on giving the project several more hours and whole days this week. If I can crack the nut, and get over the hump of initial work, then I can slide into home plate with a bit more ease.

Working on this makes “V” very happy. My being in his presence creates a sense of unbridled contention. As I type, he lays in a ball next to me, utterly decimating a box that he claimed as his mini-apartment that has lost 2 of its walls to his weight leaning against them. This guy makes me laugh. Cousette pretty much sleeps all the time now. She’s getting old. Poor girl.

We partied at Jessica’s Saturday night. My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and I had a blast, as did most people present. I missed being social. That’s not an issue these days. With every Thursday night after parties for COWTOWN, soon to be MOFA meetings (Mid-Ohio Filmmakers Association), rehearsals, and my day job, I have no problems being the little socialite. I see and talk to people a-plenty lately.

That’s all I got for now acolytes of Boo. The Boo his self has grown tired and must allocate some time for working.

Peace,
Peter John Ross

RETRIBUTION AND REVELATION

Week four of COWTOWN went extremely well. JOHNNY APPLEWEED from Johnny Cotugno and Tamara Reynolds played for a packed crowd of over 200 people. In the short film line up, I added the SAD KERMIT short from Backwards Slate’s Max Goah. Man oh man did that hit well with the audience, as I knew it would. I programmed it after the Uncle Pete and Telemarketer shorts; you have to ditch your ego and program what works best and that piece I knew was a home run.

 

During the trailers, I did something a bit different. Since several of the audience members are repeat viewers, I felt that the trailers start to get a bit grating being the same every week. So for HORRORS OF WAR, I decided I’d mix it up since I personally have several trailers. Since it was a comedy night, I played the Japanese DVD trailer, and just in case the joke was lost, I added a title at the end that said “Now in English” and thankfully it got laughs, big laughs no less. Even more cool was that about 6 people approached me to say that the thought the trailer was so kick ass, they want to see the movie again.



The great and powerful short film channel MOVIEOLA from the Great White North has approached me about showing the new short films. I had not been quite the marketing whore I once was in that I never submitted the Telemarketers or Uncle Petes to them. Since they bought a British TV network too, this is a bigger outlet than it once was. Thank god I have a connection and history with them as competition for air time is fierce these days.

The big SUZUKI push ended. I’m blitzed. Even though this was a smaller order, which only meant that I did more of the work myself instead of bringing in more people to help. Now that the economy has crashed, only a few weeks off from my earlier prediction of Mid-to-Late-August, we can expect a serious draught in work for many in the film & video realm.

I had an interesting discussion relating to the effects of the economy on filmmaking on various levels. The “indie film” will die a pretty immediate death, from the $1,000-$1,000,000 stages. Private investment has just left the building as everyone’s property and stocks have plummeted. The mini-majors in Hollywood will be the first ones to feel the squeeze as the banks pucker up the credit.



What most people don’t realize about a major Hollywood film is that they are financed not by investors in most cases, but low interest loans from banks. Warner Brothers, Sony, Fox, and Disney have assets and values so they can get a loan, as opposed to private investment. That means that now that there is less credit available to banks from bigger banks, there is less money for Hollywood, even though they are, in a general sense, profitable. Since virtually every single “indie” studio had been gobbled up by the big studios, there ain’t no money for Indies either.

So with private investment, studio deals, all out of the option window, what can we do? In a lot of cases, just wait it out. Practice. Make shorts. What else is there? We’re screwed for the time being.

The home video market had already been decimated by piracy, gluttony of product, and a lack of profitability thanks to Netflix, Video on Demand, and alternate sources. It seems the very same things that widen our audience diminish our chances of fiscal success.



The future is unwritten. We face various forms of uncertainty. My prediction remains positive, as the unknown is the future. I know that the next generation, the next wave will be in the unexpected, unpredictable new form.

- Peter John Ross

Procrastination Kills the Kitties of Creativity

My weekend filled with monotonous, but necessary works. I got ahead on our big commercial gig whilst simultaneously digitizing and working through a ton of material for The COWTOWN Film Series. From conforming video files from various sources to digitizing tapes and DVD’s, sorting through it, scheduling, and then timeline assembly, I did about 44 hours work from Friday to Sunday night for the COWTOWN Film Series, while still laying spots to Beta SP for broadcast throughout the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard.





Putting these shows together is by no means a small job, but quality assurance means a lot to me. I want to put on good shows. Because someone told me how cool the title sequences are that I did, that actually got me a little upset. I appreciate the compliment, but now I’m left wondering what I to do when by week 10 they get bored with those animations. So I spent my Friday night creating a whole new set of animations and graphics for the show intros for the remaining 7 weeks. So now I have a plethora of animation and title sequences for everything. I even added dates and show times to the trailers, an animation introducing the Q&A sessions, and a titler at the head of each show. I’m big into professional grade showmanship, although most of the animations I created are simply templates slightly altered from VideoCo-pilot.net (gotta give credit where credit is due and Andrew Kramer deserves most of the credit).



I even did all the PRE-SHOW timelines and exported them to MPEG files for the Compact Flash Video player I use for the loop. I love this cool handy device. No moving parts, just plug it in for power, connect the audio/video cables to the INPUT of the DVCAM deck, switch the deck over to LINE IN, and then pop in the COMPACT FLASH card with MPEG1 or MPEG2 files on it and away it goes, looping for an eternity. Running it through the deck saves me any additional hookups or switchers, plus I can manually control the volume levels on the deck for the LINE IN. I want the PRE-SHOW to be a much lower volume than the real show.



For the PRE-SHOW, I added a trailer for JIM LEO’s upcoming feature. Even though it isn’t a part of COWTOWN, he’s been attending every week. One other thing I added was a few new slides to the slide show. I’ve always had one for INDIECLUB COLUMBUS because they send out the notices about COWTOWN, so it’s the least I can do. I’m not particularly a fan of the local chapter, but hey scratch my back, I scratch yours. Business is business. I also added one more Paul Landis-made slide for a production company because supposedly there was a FACEBOOK notice about being “banned” from the COWTOWN Film Series. No one has been banned. It’s open to the public and anyone can attend. Who I chose to put in the PRE-SHOW is really up to me. Several people PAID to be sponsors; others generously donated time, support, word of mouth, or short films.



So someone I barely know tells me there was some FACEBOOK or something entry stating that their current status was “BANNED FROM COWTOWN because they weren’t getting a free slide. What the hell are they doing for the screenings? My understanding is that this same yahoo called me the devil and then wonders why I’m not feeling inclined to give them a free spotlight on the big screen in front of 50-100 people a week. Gee, I wonder. Whatever, I’ll put their slide into the shows. Sheesh.



My Sexy Fiance Veronica ™ could turn into Columbus’ own AIN’T IT COOL NEWS for Ohio movies. Since I prefer to watch the features for the first time on the big screen, she’s my beta tester when I lay off the timelines to tape. She watches for glitches and mistakes or even computer error (which has happened a few times) and the tapes stop, or the hard drives stop, or there’s skips in the program, etc. She sees all the movies, pre-show, and short films/trailers, and the features up to 3-6 weeks early. Since she works and can’t make it before 30-45 minutes into each COWTOWN Film Series, she loves getting the private screening. I suggested she blog about the movies before they screen and build a mini-web-spoiler thing going so Columbus could really be a mini-Hollywood. Like if the plot twist was the ultra-lame “she’s really the killer’s SISTER!” DUH-DUH DAHHHHHHH! Oh my god, it’s as if they saw HALLOWEEN iV! Maybe not. No one really cares.







As it is this week’s upcoming feature JOHNNY APPLEWEED kicks ass. It’s not a slapstick comedy or Cheech and Chong proportions. It’s got a bit more depth and seems more akin to the abstract-lite Richard Linklater films like WAKING LIFE or moments in SLACKER. Regardless, I think people are in for a treat with the short films too. When Max’s SAD KERMIT video plays, my belief is that people will be laughing so hard, I’ll get equal parts complaints and praise for programming it.



I have shows 1-9 (out of 10) pretty much complete, 1-5 are even on tape already. There are a few procrastinating or last minute tinkerers and slackers in my midst, but we have set deadlines. I shan’t be very forgiving of those who miss the deadline…. PHIL. These dates and times are not superficial, as I need to clear the decks so that I can put my OWN focus on completing the feature for November 13th. Obviously HORRORS OF WAR is done, but IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM is not. I’m debating that show order now and think the film itself should go first for those who haven’t seen the movie; the documentary goes second and doesn’t spoil anything.



Once I plug the holes in a few of the newer timelines (and secure some more blank DVCAM tapes), I’ll be set for the rest of the run of COWTOWN . I have placeholders and other things in the sequences, so everything in terms of mapping and planning has been completed. I wanted to get ahead, and now I have. I have two projects in post production to nail, one small, one huge, but neither insurmountable.



If I can just manage to get the day-job commercial work to tone down some more, then I’ll be in a position to get everything done in order. Thanks to the economy, that looks likely to be sooner rather than later. In the past year I’ve learned some amazing time saving tips and workflow short cuts with all my software that I so arrogantly thought I had mastered. Nay, I say unto thee. Someone can always teach you new tricks and cut corners.



I want to schedule two small shoots in the next few weeks. I guess, since my inspiration has returned I might as well kick the ignition and go for it, right? I mean when the divine muse gives you a gift or two, you should really pay attention and light the fire. I’m lit. I want to burn like a forest fire while the heat remains.







Happiness is a warm gun to some, but for me Happiness is a cold glass o’ Paul Newman’s Own lemonade. Here’s to ya Paul. Rest in Peace. I’ll have two gallons to support your charities every week.





- Peter John Ross

Catch Up, Cowtown, and Commercials

Now for some more good news. I got a strange call the other day. The BARACK OBAMA campaign wanted to pay to advertise at the COWTOWN Film Series. The fact they had even heard of it blew me away. Now, I have been remaining quite Switzerland in terms of politics, so I must adhere to that here and turn them down. I cannot allow the screenings to become political in that regard, no matter how I feel about one candidate or another. I’m just blown away that they had heard of the screenings and wanted to advertise with me. We must be doing SOMETHING right!







Week Three of COWTOWN went well. Whenever Dino Tripodis can’t MC, I know have two very hot ladies doing the intro. I used to want to do the intros and take center stage, but I guess not only have I mellowed, but I want to work the projection booth and make sure things run smooth to get the show started.



SUMMER NUTS played very well. The mockumentary style rarely gets done well on the low budget, but this one nailed the Christopher Guest milieu better than any I have seen. We had a decent crowd too.



The audience always seems to contain the same core 25-30 people from our local film community, which makes a nice base for attendance, and the rest, and sometimes majority are the general public. Yes, I’m disappointed more people from our “film” community don’t attend. There are supposedly 200-300 people on various email lists. As was discussed the other night, it starts with the leadership. No matter what people say, it’s always their actions that speak louder than words. When people say they care about filmmaking or that they can put personal differences aside, it’s the actions that clearly show that they cannot. People follow the EXAMPLE set by the leaders, not their words. When the leaders only care about themselves and their own screenings, that’s what people take from them. If that’s what the leaders are like, people who are followers tend to be the same way, or at least feel the actions are condoned.







This is why another, much more positive and professional filmmaker group has formed in Columbus. I’m not involved, but I have been asked my opinion on aspects. I want no part of being in the leadership of a filmmaking group, but thankfully, I would like the opportunity to attend a real meeting of actual filmmakers doing bigger and better things. FINALLY, a core group of people are taking action instead of just complaining quietly in dark corners. If something is wrong, then FIX IT. Don’t just complain endlessly that something won’t change itself.



Some of the filmmakers with shorts or features in the series are attending every single show, whilst others only show up for their own screening. It says a lot about community and the interest in maintaining the “team spirit” aspect of the series. Micky Fisher and Johnny Wu have driven up from the opposite ends of the state to support screenings that weren’t their own.



I’m not angry or upset by this. I don’t know some of the filmmakers that well. These are NOT my first film festival or showcase screening, so the attendance from filmmakers is not a shock, nor is their motive. Some people just feel like all the work for a screening SHOULD be done for them, as if they are that good. In other cases, they just reach a point of being sick of their movie or never had much confidence in it, so they kind of DON’T want people to see their movie out of shame or self consciousness from the terror of actually finding out that the film is NOT as good as they had hoped.



GET OVER THE FEAR. Be proud of your movie. No movie is perfect. Every director dreads the moments that don’t work or where some blemish exists aesthetically. Become a “glass is half full” kinda person and embrace the unadulterated reaction of the audience to your artistic creation. No, not everything will go as you expect, and the amorphous beast known as the mob/crowd mentality can be different every single time the movie plays based on the collective mood and sway of the audience. Take it all in and enjoy the ride.



Some filmmakers go their entire lives or careers without having the movie play in front of audiences in a real movie theater. It’s an HONOR and a PRIVILIGE to exhibit on the big screen. This opportunity doesn’t come around that often. I cannot wrap my mind around the concept of NOT getting thrilled and fired up about a film screening. Now, bear in mind, I cannot sit through another screening of HORRORS OF WAR, but the idea of putting it in front of a paying audience again gets me jazzed. The adrenaline kicks in from the interaction the audience to the flickering images.



UNCLE PETE’S PLAYTIME has been playing very well at COWTOWN. So far UNCLE PETE plays very well at all the live venue screenings. I made these intentionally to be viral videos for the web. I’m surprised that they hit so much better in a theatrical setting. Every audience screening has yielded much more positive reaction than the singular viewing experience online. The infection of laughter makes it okay to be amused at the political incorrectness of the piece.



I’m, immersed in TV commercials as I dub over 100 spots to tape. I spent all week making the timelines so I can mechanically and mindlessly record them out to tape. Simultaneously, I will be digitizing and creating the shows for pretty much every single COWTOWN show that’s left. I want to get them done and not worry about it week to week. Procrastination kills the kitties of creativity.



That’s it for now kiddies. Back to the massive working weekend of catch up, COWTOWN, and commercials.

Press Whore! The Unfiltered Facts

Okay, so week two of the COWTOWN FILM SERIES played out. Yes, we had a drastic increase in attendance. Over 100 people attended this week. It didn’t hurt that the Columbus Alive did a feature story and interview, as did Uweekly, the OSU print paper. See, I sent press releases about the COWTOWN FILM SERIES in early August, and then did follow ups at the very beginning of September for the Sept. 11th premiere. The early bird gets the worm, as they say.







Now, why both papers wanted to interview me, instead of the filmmakers that have movies playing escapes me, but press is press. I’m helping get attendance to THEIR movies, so it all works out. It’s not like I haven’t been pushing these filmmakers to get their own press. I’ve given pretty concise road maps since this summer on how to get these articles & interviews for themselves. So far, I think 2-3 might actually get some (or try to get) printed press on their own.



When doing short film festivals in the past, I would get angry about the apathy, but I think I’m past that. When you don’t promote, and no one shows up, I won’t be the one embarrassed. I’ll simply have that “I told you so” look and I might even skip out on the after party and not work hard to get anyone to head over to the bar. I want to align myself with winners, not losers. By this stage, the inhibitions and complete lack of ambition hardly can come as a surprise from some of the filmmakers whose work I present, especially when I do so much promotion for them already.



Since it’s predictable, I’m not sweating it. My focus & attention go to the ones who ARE way into this. Some of the directors of other movies are coming EVERY SINGLE WEEK and even some other filmmakers locally are making the Thursday night screening habitual. This makes me very happy. The number of these actors, directors, writers, etc. surprises me even more. There exists a core group of pros and semi-professionals who are looking to support each other, truly, in actions not hollow words.



One thing has been a constant in life and that is that one thing you can rely on is the unreliability of others. That’s why I take so much personal attention to press, but also presentation. Very few others have an interest in making a professional, good looking theatrical experience. I go to film festivals or meetings where the projector and DVD players are not tested, and nothing sucks the energy from the room like a group of people standing around, semi-silent, watching 3-4 people fumble with a not working projector or DVD player for 5-10 minutes. By then the momentum has been train-wrecked, and then when the movie plays, the mind-frame has been interrupted and it takes time to get back into it. It’s a Pavlovian response to the lights going down, the projector starting up…. So when the movie doesn’t actually start, you’ve set up anticipation, and then don’t pay off. It’s frustrating, at least for most people and not the best frame of mind for the voluntary suspension of disbelief that most movies rely on to be effective, especially amateur movies that stretch that suspension (or voluntary part) to its breaking point to get the ideas across.



I’m managing the COWTOWN FILM SERIES by myself. No one has contributed much to it because it doesn’t NEED much help. These kinds of events are not rocket science, nor do I have to put in more than 5-10 hours a week into it and that includes promotion. Now, the one regret I have was not getting a print shop as a sponsor. I wanted to get the flyers, postcards, and programs printed for free. As it is, I pay for the programs out of pocket. If we do another run of COWTOWN film premieres next year in early 2009, I will get not only a print shop to sponsor, but I think I can bag some TV time for free too.



I got in my JAG 35 lens adaptor. It works well, albeit I got what I paid for, but it will do what it needs to do. One problem, for me, is that the image inversion makes my life hell. The 35mm lens adaptor inverts the image upside down. So I can’t use the LCD screen, as it’s upside down and I just cannot adapt to that. I ordered a $50 7” LCD screen that I’ll mount upside down on top of the camera. It will arrive on Tuesday, so I can play with it more. So far, I’ve only tested it indoors with pop cans and minimal lights looking at a big monitor, with the camera upside down. The wrack-focus and depth of field effects are amazing. I will use this thing to powerful effect soon enough…My ASPECT HD codec can invert the image right-side up free of charge when I digitize.







The Columbus Alive interviewers asked a lot about HORRORS OF WAR. I can think of no topic I’m more sick of discussing. That makes editing on the documentary about the making of the movie, still being pushed to a back burner, even though the clock is ticking.



I have re-loaded my AVID XPRESS PRO projects and started to sort out outtakes and demonstrative footage for the documentary sections that have been half-cut and need B-Roll to finish. I knew I wanted to start the documentary, as a feature length doc that is, in a less “flashy” softer, subtle, slower open. I now know how to open the movie, which is a big step to seeing the whole project finished. The goal with the feature length version will be in trying to make it a broader, more generalized approach as to how we made an independent film, although I love the stories and little things. Those carry the most weight to me, as I’m trying to make a movie that I want to see, not necessarily one that anyone else will.



I love the documentaries and DVD extras for things like Peter Jackson’s THE FIGHTENERS (4 hours long) and the LORD OF THE RINGS (nearly 6 hours for each of the 3 movies, plus newer 90 minute docs for each of the 3 movies), and HEART OF DARKNESS with Francis Ford Coppola or FULL TILT BOOGIE with FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. The drama behind the camera, the camaraderie of the cast and crew, the creative process of various people in any department – THOSE are the things I like to see and hear. That’s the basis of the film to me. So it’s 50% interviews and stories, and 50% “fly on the wall” documentation to make a hybrid movie that combines my two completely different styles of filmmaking documentaries.



I’m hoping to replicate and sell DVD’s of this documentary when I’m finished. If I add the Filmmaking Tips, and other bits, it will be marketed more as a “Film School DVD” type thing, but also as the supplement disc that the movie didn’t get.



Time to get back to the grind of commercial work. “V” is NOT happy about the time I spend abroad. He’s taken to waking me up earlier and earlier trying to get his playtime with me before I head into the universe outside the walls of Rossdonia.



Peace out Amigos!

Rossifer

Clint Eastwood is trying to eat my head

My interview with Columbus Alive for the COWTOWN FILM SERIES

Directorial Scrimmaging

I’ve been out of the loop since the HORRORS OF WAR screenings. Sure I directed the HOW TO DEAL WITH TELEMARKETERS videos in late 2007 and this year I did the UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME series, but I have not tackled any drama or acting that had real meat on the bones. I love working with actors, but I really love getting deep into a scene and playing with all the various ways you can interpret or enliven a scene.

A few years ago, my friend Holly was taking an acting class and her scene was not flowing. It was a Friday night and as is hardly unusual, I had no plans. Since My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ (then simply Girlfriend™) worked (and works) Friday nights, I tend to take Friday night off and just chill on my own. Holly called and said she & her scene partner couldn’t focus and they had a particularly harsh read in front of the class and wondered if I’d mind “directing” them. It was supposed to be more about just being more of a babysitter (her words, not mine), but I seriously got into it. I loved taking a scene, one I had not written myself, and then working with actors to re-shape the words and find meanings and emotions in the context. I had never before directed words I had not written myself.

At first I just had them read it and perform the scene as they had been for at least two reads. Since there is a tendency to get into syncopation with the words, the first suggestion I made was to examine the lines and maybe accent, and “hit” a different word and tell me why they chose that word instead of the one they had been emphasizing. Then I pulled them separately and told them to try the scene as a completely unrelated character. I told one of them to be SPOCK from Star Trek and the other one to be Bill Murray. Just to create an entirely different dynamic to the scene. Neither would win awards for impersonation, but the reads became entirely different. We found together different aspects from this wild interpretation to take to the final variation of the scene back to “normal”. There was so much more in terms of dynamics and the “rut” was alleviated.

The next day I was proud to receive the phone call telling me they had successfully impressed the acting teacher.



The experience left an impression on me and I used similar techniques for my 2004 endeavor directing in the 48 Hour Film Project. Since we had no script, I wanted to develop a rapport with actors in lieu of having a script (or genre).

Now, I am in a different place, yet not so different. I have not been directing in some time. I’ve been away from actors and acting, nonetheless directing. Like any other art form, practice makes perfect. I’m practicing directing at least once a week with two actors. I play acting games, using “open” scenes, and hell, I’m even making up scenes and writing one pagers for them to work on with me. That invigorates me as a writer too, but the directing muscles get the most work. This experience helps me on many levels, but the re-igniting of my inspiration and desire to get back to directing has rewarded me the most.

Maybe it’s arrogance, maybe it’s fear of being judged or deemed weak, but , I’d say that pretty much MOST directors need to practice working with actors more than they do (if they do at all). I don’t really care. I feel like if actors need to practice, then directors need practice just as much if not more. Jesus, having seen so many indie films recently I know that most alleged directors are NOT good at working with actors. I view what I’m doing as a scrimmage before the new championship season starts.

That also means I’m about to really get back in the game. I’ve been on the bench too long and this is just the warm up before I start playing my best.

Even though I suck at sports metaphors…

Expect more goodies from the blogs from Rossdonia!

Your Ever Faithful Narrator,
- Peter John Ross

Post Partum Punctuation

FINALLY! GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! screened last night. The first night of COWTOWN went well, as well as could be expected. The majority of our press will hit for next week’s screening, and the movie is probably the best in the series on week two, so I’m happy. We had about 55 people for the first night, and I expect over 100 for next week’s show.

I just took a phone call from WBNS 10TV, our local CBS affiliate about details for the next screening and to get summaries of each film for their community events calendar. That combined with the other press all hitting next week on Wednesday and Thursday, right before the screening of THE COURIER. We’ll have the COLUMBUS ALIVE story and video, the Uweekly, and hopefully some more press. All for the glory of Ohio Filmmaking.

GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! is not a great film, nor will it win any awards, but it has an endearing heart at its core, which can make it quite watchable. Considering the fact that it took 12 years to be completed, the flaws actually got demagnified when played on the big screen, as opposed to how sometimes the opposite is true. It is not a good film, but it isn’t a bad film either. The audience was moved by producer/actor George Caleodis’ Q&A session where the self deprecating honesty and genuine passion for seeing this through to completion.

Now that it’s been played in the public, I can finally give some of my personal criticisms of the film. I think it suffers from many first time filmmaking mistakes. First off, one entire plotline, one dealing with drug dealing, never shows anything. They talk about everything and show nothing. It’s a common filmmaking mistake (one I’ve made several times). Movies are a “show me” medium, not a “tell me medium”. Unless you have a famous or incredibly charismatic actor, no one would prefer hearing them tell us a story as opposed to showing us through moving images.

Secondly, there are too many “lead” characters. In GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND there are three lead characters when there should have been only too. It gets convoluted and difficult to invest yourself into any one of these characters when there’s so many lead, and even secondary characters distracting us, the viewers. There is a character named “Matt”, whose performance is good, but I do not like his character at all. So giving this character screen time just grates on me.

Lastly, there simply was not enough coverage to edit with. Sometimes scenes had NO coverage, just one to two takes of a master shot. That’s it. Even if you use up a few seconds of film to grab some cutaways; shots of hands, feet, or anything that doesn’t need synch sound, and you can add dynamics to a scene or remove unwanted dialogue or changing the rhythm to something more appealing.

I like the movie, but simultaneously, I don’t want people thinking I don’t recognize that GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND is not a well made movie. It’s not. My mantra, as chronicled in these blogs – we can’t make it good, we can only make it better. We did make it better and it is FINISHED. That’s what really counts. I still find the film appealing on many levels, but it’s not exactly fine art. For whatever reason, I like the movie, warts and all.

I can’t believe I have 9 more weeks to go of these screenings…. Why did I do this to myself?

Carrion and Fodder With a Side of OCD

We’re only a day and a half away from the first COWTOWN FILM SERIES screening. I’m happy with GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! No, it is not a great film, but it’s a watchable and entertaining film. Too many people just wanted to see it done and that’s what I did.


Strange that I’m potentially considering helping another struggling feature from a Columbus filmmaker to get done too. I don’t know if I will or not. A lot of loose ends and personal issues may prevent me from even offering a helping hand.

I just did interviews with the COLUMBUS ALIVE and also UWEEKLY so the last vestiges of the social coma have really started to end. There’s nothing that can stop me now. The snow balls are collecting, just need to start rolling them down the hill and see which ones are avalanches…



I have so much in the hopper right now, I’m bursting at the seams, both literally and figuratively. For a new project I’m looking to executive produce, I went ahead and splurged on a 35mm lens adaptor for my Canon HV20. I went with the JAG35, as I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, like the $1100 on the Letus35 adaptor. It’s a great piece of gear, but I don’t want to buy something with no lens that costs more than the camera. It just feels awkward to me. So $400 for the JAG35 and having amazing depth of field for my 1080 HD camera, albeit a tiny one, all lead me to the decision to purchase.



In my current state as a director and filmmaker have me very interested in having depth of field as a valuable tool in my arsenal. It’s very basic you see; I want to wield my control over the image more. By being able to focus, or not focus, on things in the frame means the viewer will really only see what I want them too. This is like level two filmmaking, but it’s so potent. I have not played with this much. I’ve done some occasional rack-focus effects, but I have not truly utilized the power of depth of field to my fullest advantage. Now I will experiment with it extensively and make sure it gets used in this little side project.

Since the deadline is now barreling down on me, I have to finish the documentary IN THE TRENCHES OF AN INDIE FILM, about the making of HORRORS OF WAR. The goal of having a feature length documentary about the creation of an ambitious feature must be completed. I started this, now I have no choice but to hammer the rest out. I did a lot of work on this, nuggets of which are in the webdocs, but overall, the narrative and educational aspects have to be nudged and tweaked until I have a compelling story. Its there, buried in the interviews and footage; just need the time and concentration. I can do it and today I started my though process on what to do with it, so that’s a good sign. I have to complete this project before I can move on.

In discussing the idea of completion of projects, and how COWTOWN FILM SERIES has been helping more than me with a real life deadline to compel the end of procrastination, I realized. I cannot start another project, at least shooting one, until this documentary wraps. I can pre-pro to a certain point, but I’m cheating if I don’t finish.

That’s the end of the Sonnyboo Report for now.

- PJR
The man, The myth, The math

Who's gonna be our next president?

Personal politics aside, I think OBAMA will win. It's not about my choices or preferences, but simply the mathematical numbers.

Making it all local to Ohio, a definite RED STATE and home of corrupt election practices, in DAYTON OHIO, when McCain came in to announce his VP, they had to charter their own buses for the republican party to get enough people there to make it look like a crowd was there and 2 days later when OBAMA was in DUBLIN OHIO, it was well over 20,000 people, driving themselves from as far away as Indianapolis Indiana just to see the guy and hear him speak.

The regular news media ain't reporting facts; they're reporting their political point of view.

Obama will win, but it won't be a "landslide", as people will vote what they always vote, conservative or liberal. I believe Obama will win, but it will be by less than 10%.

Did anyone else see McCain agreeing with a woman wanting to institute a new DRAFT for the military? That will do well for him. People like a draft. Especially parents and young people.



And I think both of these guys made terrible choices for VP. Obama's guy is so devoid of any kind of personality and charisma, it was "INSERT OLDER WHITE MALE HERE". Then McCain, thinking the overrated Hillary supporters would rather have any female ("INSERT VAGINA HERE") , picked a woman with no experience, except being mayor of a town of 8,000 people and Governor of Alaska for less than 2 years. McCain would be older than Reagan was when he took office. If anything would happen to him, like senility, SHE would become the president. We have to look at her as if she might be the next president, and I don't think a lot of people would vote for her for president. The republicans just took the whole "experience" attack angle off the table against Obama now.

Oh well. Politics remain a less fun time waster filled with sound bytes and out of context name games. All of this made worse by 24 hour news organizations desperate to keep ratings via controversy, even when it's manufactured. 

The Inalienable Rights of the Ignominious

And the hits keep on coming! Oh, Acolytes of Boo, your faithful narrator keeps himself quite busy these days. I’ve been formulating a script for several months now. It’s a short, but that’s because the story I want to tell is not feature length, but a complex story that only lasts a dozen or so pages. One night the story literally woke me up. I was in that state of nearly sub consciousness when this idea occurred to me and I turned on the light, scribbled the basic idea down and then promptly fell asleep fully, having exorcized the demon of the muse.

I have been an avid fan of courtroom dramas (and even comedies) for well over 20 years. I even worked as a deposition videographer for a short time. The world of the legal fascinated me, but simultaneously I have never had an idea I felt was compelling enough to attempt to put to movie. This idea moves me enough to make it the next thing I shoot. It mixes serious issues of race and politics, so I’ll be able to stab at the heart of a politician I hate more than any other because I know him personally. I met this raging moron former state legislator on several occasions in my various video jobs over the past 8 years. Now I’ll take him to task, and with a very harsh view.

Last night, whilst awaiting my dinner date at Easton, I had this notion to bring with me a notebook. I had a pen in my pocket. Instead of reading CINEFEX on the article on the visual FX of IRON MAN, I was compelled to start writing the screenplay. I just… did it. No real thought or decision was involved, it just started. The damn broke and scenes and characters that my mental outline had never even pondered suddenly started appearing and saying things. I felt more like I was transcribing a TV show I was watching in my head than “writing”, but then again, the best writing I know of comes from this kind of serendipitous experience.

I will soon have a completed first draft typed up and the re-writing phase will begin, but the biggest hurdle is always the first completed draft. I sometimes cheat and cut corners in scenes and dialogue just to cross the finish line and feel that relief that comes with a draft completion. Then you go back & fill in the gaps with re-writes and little changes that quite frankly continue all the way through rehearsals, shooting, editing, and ADR in post production.

Something is inspiring me. I don’t actually know what it is, but I’m getting things done. The compulsions to finish old projects and start in on new ones has me aflutter. I have so much more to do and the energy and will resides in me to see it all done.




On a completely other note, today I finished the final DVD master of GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND, complete with trailer and deleted scenes. I did myself a favor last year that I failed to remember. I renamed several sequences of scenes that were removed as “deleted scenes” so they were very easy to find and export as individual scenes. ROCK ON, which made life much easier today.

An initial master disc is made, the DVD art and disc graphics are now done too. Tomorrow I’ll get some of the inserts made, and on Monday (no holiday for me), I’ll burn several copies for the cast & crew. Unfortunately, I can’t do full color inserts et al for the entire cast & crew, but then again, I don’t know hardly any of them and I’m not the one who promised them this movie 12 years ago. I’m just an editor and I’m already going wayyyyy over the top to help a bunch of strangers by finished their movie and then screening it for them in a movie theater.



Speaking of which, I already made the DVCAM master tape and DVD backup of the first COWTOWN FILM SERIES show tape. Unlike most people I know, I’m not gonna wait until the last minute to prep a show. This is too important to slack on. I’m going to test the projector and cables and lighting several days before the show.

I have entrusted the presentation of the shows to other people in the past and both times it bit me in the ass; one of those times it bit my ass and also my own wallet. Never again. Two bit know-nothings will not affect these screenings. People are going to be paying money for these screenings, so I need to make them as classy and without mistakes. Exhibition and theatricality often get overlooked by alleged filmmakers presenting their movie to an audience. I am motivated by my years as a movie theater projectionist/manager and also from some film festivals with really poor presentation. I feel compelled to give people something a little extra and make absolutely certain that the filmmakers movies are shown as best I can. I can’t imagine a more disrespectful thing than to screw up someone else’s screening by not being thorough and checking everything ahead of time.

The world spins in my direction these days my friends. Over a year ago I bought a pair of the precious VANS. I have worn 10 and ½ since puberty and this time, my feet were too big to wear them. So I ordered a 2nd pair of size 11’s and on my left foot, the one that gets hit with Gout, and it was still too tight. So both pairs of perfect VANS have sat in a closet unworn and brand new. By a fluke, I tried them on yesterday and BOTH pairs fit perfectly. I must be losing some weight, although not in the gut area. Going to the gym has helped a lot. I’m still swimming, but I’m still not anywhere near where I want to be. As I get older, it gets harder & harder to lose the weight. I’m only up to twice a week at the gym and I want to be at 4 times before the end of September.

Peace and Love and Good Happiness Stuff,
Peter John Ross

It is Complete. GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! has been recorded to master tape

The karmic goodness continues! As my Sonnyboo Fan Club of 5-6 readers no doubt already know, the sun is shining in Rossdonia these days. The future looks quite good, both short term and long term. The summer may be coming to a close soon, but the sun continues to shine its golden rays, good guys win, bad guys lose, and your faithful narrator has nothing but exciting news.



Last night at approximately 11:29PM, I put GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! to master tape. I finished someone else’s feature film. Even though it’s not mine, a level of satisfaction permeates.

Sadly, Micah Jenkins was not present for the momentous occasion. I would have bought us a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Micah revived this and brought it back to life last year. His interest, more so than my own, got this movie to be finished. Micah has been laboring on the audio fixes for close to a year, one night a week in my basement.

Part of what took so long was that I was only willing or able to donate one night a week to the project with some occasional weekends. Since GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! is an ultra low budget movie, there is very little coverage in many scenes, which means awkward pauses, extraneous dialogue, and everything else – you’re stuck with it. Another element, very often overlooked is AUDIO overall. Upon LISTENING to the movie, the audio levels, dialogue tracks, ambient sounds, electricity humming, refrigerators, air conditioners, crown noises, these are all cursed with this movie.

Most people simply do not put the time and effort into editing the audio as much as they do their picture edit. It shows in the work, especially if you’ve ever played your cheap ass audio in a movie theater’s sound system. There have been times where your sound is great on your PC speakers, but put it in a real Dolby rated movie theater and you can hear every single flaw at decibels you didn’t know existed.

With Micah having both finished his audio “fixes”, meaning making it as good as we can without re-recording or spending any real money on it, it was my turn to finish up. I always knew that from the rough cut and even picture lock last year that I wanted to do more music spotting. Spotting is the process of determining where music goes in the movie and “how” it goes in. Will it be ambient music, like a radio or TV in the movie, or the music only montage sound, or will it be layered into the scene’s audio, but still be a main player in the moment.

This past Sunday, because the clock stared me down like a barrel of a shotgun with the screening in less than a month, I dived in headfirst into my job of music. George Caleodis had given me 2-3 CD’s of a band he was in from the 1990’s called THE IDEA and told me I could pretty much use any of it, so I did. Since the film takes place in the 1990’s (since it was shot in 1996-1997 it’s considered a “period piece”).



I’m an amateur sound designer/sound mixer. I am in no way a pro or even necessarily good at it. There are some serious and real people out there, but I have no budget to hire the folks who I normally would use for this job. Micah & I had to do it ourselves with whatever off the shelf software we had available to us.

I put in a few songs to be “ambient”, meaning songs that are coming from unseen TV’s and radios in the scene. To make it sound more “natural”, you don’t just lower the volume or gain on the music. I used an EQ setting where I kill out the bass and it sounds a bit more like a small radio or TV would sound. In one case, I even started the music as “scene music”, meaning the song at full volume, mixed with the sounds of the scene, then slowly EQ’d out the bass to make the same song appear to be on the radio in the next scene. It made a perfect transition. Hopefully no one will even notice it’s there, but I’ll know I did something cool to get us from one scene to the next using audio to smooth it out.

In other scenes, like the “love scene” (if it can be called that), I added a song to it that plays into the moment and lifts the scene up some. Similarly, at a more “action” oriented scene towards the end of the film (it is a film, shot on 16mm), I added an upbeat rockin’ song that also seemed to elevate the tension and excitement whereas before there just wasn’t much there. In other cases, the ambient music just smoothes over the horrendous inconsistencies of regular audio in the scenes.

I had a new mantra with Micah these past few months as the deadline of the COWTOWN FILM SERIES premiere loomed. I said, “We can’t make it good, we can only make it better.” Striving for perfection is not a bad thing. I often do in my own works, as best I can, but with this project we just needed to see it finished. That’s all. It’s been 12 years in the making, 5 of which in my world. I checked my emails looking for end credits info and I saw that my first real emails to Miguel and George about taking on the completion was in summer 2003.

It took until winter 2004 to get the film out of DuArt labs in New York. Then I personally paid for the telecine transfer to digital video. We attempted for several months in 2004 to edit this and just get the audio synch to picture. It failed because schedules and what not didn’t allow anyone from the production to give us some kind of road map to link the sound and picture.

In 2007, Micah pushed to bring it back to life. Micah and I know several of the investors and even though we weren’t involved in the shoot in any way, we felt an obligation to try to give them a finished movie, even if it’s just a DVD. As one of the investors said, it would be “closure” to the whole thing. On September 11th, 2008, we’ll close the book on GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! and show people this flawed masterpiece.

I like GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! It’s a weird, yet strangely appealing movie. It has warts, like all movies, but I really like it. A charisma of story and character gets to me. I only hope it gets some other people too. I’ll find out September 11th at 7:00PM at the Screens at the Continent.

What a strange feeling this is right now. A giant albatross has been lifted from my neck, albeit a self imposed one. I can’t tell you why, but in the last week or so, I’ve just been getting more Shiite done. Life is setting up the pins, and I’m knocking ‘em down. The stars have just aligned perfectly for me so the next year or so will be BOO TIME.

Peace and Love and Good Happiness Stuff,
Peter John Ross

What's in a Name?

My name is not actually “Sonnyboo”. Nor is it “Sonny” or any variation therein.

I was born Peter John Ross on January 24th in Reynoldsburg Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I am the 4th child in a family of 4 kids. My mother named the other 3 so my dad finally got to name me for once. I was named after “Pete Rose” and “Johnny Bench” of the baseball team the Cincinnati Reds from their heyday of the BIG RED MACHINE. When I was a kid, I was called by friends & family “Pete”, but never “Peter” unless I did something very wrong and got caught. So by the time I lived in Wadsworth Ohio, I heard my name as “Peter John!” a lot when the police would bring me home in the back of the squad cars, quite a bit more often than maybe I should have, but I was young and most of what I did was harmless.



When we moved to El Paso Texas, I was addicted to the music of the Sex Pistols, and although my preference was for bassist Sid Vicious, I was subbed “Johnny Rotten” for my behavior by friends and teachers, and the family still called me “Pete”, but I didn’t spend as much time with them, so it was always “Johnny Rotten”.

Moving back to Ohio, to Pickerington, no less, for my last 2 years of High School, I felt like a different person, but somehow similar to whom I was, so I went by “John”. Somehow, people wanted to specify which John, so it was “JohnRoss” almost like one word.



Shortly after high school, I worked at a movie theater, and quickly rose into management, as in an Assistant Manager! The company policy required that I be called “Mister Ross”, but I was all of 18-20 years old, and so I said to the staff, “just call me ‘Ross’” and that has been my name ever since. I don’t know why, or how, but that has been my pseudo preference ever since. It’s just kinda been how I am addressed and what I respond to, but to be honest none of those names really match. I don’t know what name I would choose now.

When working as a broker for Bank One, I even had my name plate say “ ‘just ‘Ross’ “ plus another one that simply says “Ross, as seen on TV” which was a joke then, and not so much these days, although whenever I tell my parents I’ll be on the local news, they ask me what I did wrong this time.



Professionally I go by “Peter John Ross”, cursed with three first names like a presidential assassin, but I can tell my friends or people who know someone who knows me if they refer to me as “Ross”. If I get an email or a phone call asking for “Peter”, I assume it’s a bill collector or telemarketer or that I’m still in trouble so then I kinda hide. Old habits. Some people think I hate my names or that it irritates me. I don’t hate being called “Peter”; I just don’t really know who that’s supposed to be. If you want to gauge whether or not I like you, I’ll tell you to please call me “Ross”, otherwise. The big clue that I don’t want to talk to you, I’ll let you keep calling me “Peter”.



That is the etymology of “Ross” as my name. Not really all that interesting if you think about it.

48 Hours of Frivolous and Fornicating Frogs

Well, I did something I didn’t want to do. I participated in the 48 Hour Film Project here in Columbus. No offense to TJ, the director/producer, as he did a good job and his team was cool, but I was not in the mindset. I did what I could as an editor, but overall, I wanted more time and that just isn’t what this is about.

Mostly I detest any level of competition in filmmaking. I have always fought hard against giving awards at screenings and festivals that I am involved with. It’s art. It’s subjective. There truly isn’t a “better”, although you might like one movie better, we get into the entire “preferential/subjective” versus “overall/objective” arguments. What I love about my theory is that I have to be presented with an argument that has not been placed in the eternal loop of being subjective. I used the Socratic Method on this hypothesis and proved it as a theory for over 25 years since I was in grade school and first learned sciences.



The screening of the 48 Hour Film Project went well. I thought virtually all the films had merit. Some had great ideas, others great technicals, and others had both. The movie that I predict will win hands down is AIDAN 5, a sci fi movie with Bryan Michael Block as the actor playing 5 clones. It deserves to win, it was freakin’ AWESOME. Style, music, camera work, and most especially the performances were great. Again, they used hand drawn sketches instead of Photoshop illustrations, or even higher end material – but the idea was so visual and so well executed, it only ADDED to the experience.



Again, I hate “competition” in the arts because can you really compare a high end, produced at a studio piece to literally some community college kids with a camcorder shoot? There will always be perspective and preference. I respect and like both types of movies, but I understand people want to apply this Jock mentality to filmmaking. It’s like people need an adversary or external motivation in order to push themselves to achieve more. That works for some people, but not others. I am self motivating, so I don’t need that crap. I’m never truly satisfied with what I’ve made so I’ll be trying to improve my moviemaking perpetually.



If anything the screenings just verify my theory that Filmmaking is the new “Garage Band”. In the late 80‘s, cheaper guitars and amps made it possible for the everyday Joe to be a musician and start a band. Today, cheap HD cameras and home PC’s are making it possible for that same Joe (or Josephina) to make movies. And they do.



Last week I shed off my biggest freelance client, voluntarily. Given the economies instability and the prospects of the future look quite dim, maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did and I don’t really regret it. I’m looking forward to getting some of my free time back. I had this imbecile of a “producer” who in 8 months was on time a total of 4 times. Last week, I was so pissed off that when she was 90 minutes late, I left. Over an hour later, she called my cell phone pissed off I didn’t call her. She said she wanted to pick up her hard drive of materials and I told her it would be packed up and ready for her. I can’t abide people who don’t respect my time and efforts. I happily handed her back the drive. I made sure to email her the information that half the video files are in the Matrox hardware codec. She didn’t know what a codec was. Most people outside the film industry don’t, but an alleged producer with 10 years experience should have at least heard of it. She’s incompetent.







Now that I have time again, I can focus even more on the upcoming screenings. We’ve got Uweekly doing a story already. A good start and I want the WEEKENDER to do something for us too. Promotions are just as much work as making a movie. Most indie filmmakers don’t seem to grasp that, and even some of the ones that do think that by simply following in your footsteps will be enough. It’s not. Cheap knock offs of my promotional efforts don’t always equate to the same level of payout.



I’ve been working for 2 weeks on the animations and promotional items for the screenings. I was already doing “pre-show entertainment” when Paul Landis handed me several slide cards to play before the show. I was already doing some, but these were cool for the most part. I just had to omit a few. I don’t want people thinking I’m associating with some of these people/companies. Mostly because I don’t want anyone to get scammed or screwed and complain to me that I promoted those ones. Combine that with PAID sponsors, and I’d rather just not use those. It’s probably best to avoid promoting people who lie or just plain don’t deliver.



I’m going to use the solid state COMPACT FLASH card video player that plays MPEG1 and MPEG2 video files. I used this in Cleveland at my booth on an LCDS player, but for the shows, I’m going to play out of this thing into the Line In of the DVCAM/HD decks. It auto-loops, and I already have five 15 minute programs of pre-show that I’ve tested with this setup. I’m using trailers of upcoming films in the series, plus other local films, with drive in style promos, and animations I’ve made for the Cowtown Film Series.



I can’t stand projecting of DVD. First off, DVD’s are unreliable and never 100% guaranteed to work. They sometimes skip. DVD’s sometimes lock up. DVD’s also having such a high level of compression that the details are lost, especially when showing them on a 50 foot movie screen. Colors get muddled or lost on DVD when projected like this. I feel a responsibility to people paying to see this, nonetheless the filmmakers whose movies I’m presenting, to give them 110% and make certain we present things as best we can. DVCAM, being a mechanical tape, but at a much higher color and resolution gives a very good presentation format. When we screening HORRORS OF WAR off DVCAM, depending on the size of the screen and resolution of the projector, it looked almost as good as a 35mm film print (and better when using the Texas Instruments DLP projectors) with full colors and great amounts of detail on the big screen.



What I made yesterday, that I’ve been mulling over for 3 weeks how to do, is something for the actual main presentation. I wanted a special “please turn off your cell phones” promo, so I made this:




COWTOWN - Turn Off Your Cell Phones from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.


I used After Effects, Photoshop, and some funky fonts with some images I already had in the cue. Then I used, yet again, a tutorial and plug-ins purchased from VIDEOCOPILOT.NET and I processed this to look like old film. It was NOT a film look plug in, but rather an actual blank film clip, keyed in over top of the footage. I used the tutorials to see how to add the jumps side to side and top to bottom, along with a glow and the film sprocket holes on the sides. Strangely most of the images are from a FONT that came with our DVD duplicator.



In a very rare move, I recorded my own voice for this. Working on My Sexy Fiancé Veronica’s Holocaust documentary, we’ve been pouring over March of Times films from the 1930’s and I just had that generic old school narrator’s voice and accent in my head, so it was easy to exorcize that demon into this piece. I then processed the voice and the music with a high pass filter and added a loop of the static/film projector sounds and Oila! We have a semi-authentic sounding bit.



I feel pretty damn good lately. I can’t really say why (I mean it, I am forbidden from saying), but the sun is brighter, the air a little fresher, and my outlook has improved. As with all things, it seems karma pays out. You do some good things, and then good things return to you. I love life and fate because I seem to always get what I deserve, and those things tend to be happy.



As I have written in the blog before, the creative ice melts, and I’m coming back to life. My ambitions return with the creativity. With my new free time, I have a new book to write, this time something a bit more centralized and focused. I’m going to write out of the psychological effects of filmmaking and analyze the reactions of audiences. I’ve been mulling this over for a while and the threads that connect basic filmmaking techniques on emotional reactions fascinate me. I just want to write out my observations and put them out there. Plus I get off on having books that I write tangible in my hands. It makes me chuckle.



I got some royalty checks in from the other books. TALES FROM THE FRONT LINES sells a lot better than the HORRORS OF WAR ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY. The screenplays just aren’t moving as well.



Well, I need to get to finishing the last bits of sound design and music for GOODNIGHT CLEVELAND. What do I do with my time off editing full time? Edit. I am sooooo obsessive-compulsive when it comes to film.



Peace and love and good happiness stuff to the Acolytes of Boo…

All 4 of you.



Your faithful narrator,

Peter John Ross

PJR, the man, the myth, the legend always in boxers

The Seinfeld-Twin Peaks Connection

Ever since Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) & Mrs. Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriski) appeared on Seinfeld as George Costanza's soon to be parents in law, the Ross', I often wondered if there was a connection between Seinfeld and Twin Peaks.

There were as many as four Twin Peaks cast members on a single episode of Seinfeld. The aforementioned two, along with Jacque Renault (Walter Olkewicz) playing a "Plaza Cable" guy who terrorizes Kramer and the mysterious Mrs. Tremond (Frances Bay), who already appeared on Seinfeld getting a marble rye stolen from her, all showed up in a season seven Seinfeld episode called "The Cadillac". A previous Seinfeld episode also had three of them, plus character Emory Battis (Don Amendolia) who worked at Horne's Department store and was tricked into letting Audrey Horne work at One Eyed Jacks played the owner of a horse carriage owner who loans his rig to Kramer. Sue Ellen Mischke from Seinfeld played Ms. Jones, the assistant to David Warner's Mr. Thomas Eckhart, turns out to be an assassin who tries to off Sheriff Harry Truman. Even Elaine's boss Mr. Pitt (Ian Ambercrombie) appeared in Twin Peaks as Tom Brockman, the insurance man.

Strangely, no one in the casting department for either show is shared, nor can I find any producers/writers shared. These two shows couldn't be more different, and yet there are strong ties with the bit actors and day players.

What is the connection? Why were so many of these actors crossing over from the Pacific Northwest to the Big Apple? Who bridged these two productions?

A mystery without an anwer....

March of the Swivelheaded Ant Man

Let’s start with the mystery of my opinion of THE DARK KNIGHT, since I last left off before seeing it. I dug it. It rocked. Yes, they clearly used HEAT (1995) as a basis of the overall plot structure, which was a good thing. If the idea was to make Batman ™ seem “realistic” they took that ever further in this one than BATMAN BEGINS (2005). I’m seeing it again soon in IMAX™ and I have since read the script. There are some subtle details in the words, but mostly I’m enthralled with the very well written dialogue. Very natural and something filmmakers should bear in mind.

Well, we just did another INDIE GATHERING in Cleveland this past weekend. They are always fun. I set up a booth, sell some DVD’s, give away CD’s and hand out for upcoming events. Of course, I sell more DVD’s and books when My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ sits at the booth by herself. How odd that the pretty girl sitting alone gets more and more convention boys to buy more product!

I did 5 panels on various aspects of film. I haven’t done much of this stuff lately, as my public appearances have voluntarily dwindled. The social and public coma I have been in for the past year has started to fade. As I prepare for the next few months, I’m already turning up the volume on what I’m doing.



On the way home, the magical MARIE’S PIZZA was had with a brief stop in Wadsworth Ohio where my arteries choked on the most blissful combination of tomato sauce and cheese on bread. Every time I’m within 50 miles, I stop off in my old home town to partake of the pizza I grew up on.

Cleveland fascinates me. They have so much more in the way of older buildings, gothic architecture, and MOM & POP stores. There’s a lot more identity to Cleveland than Columbus. I feel like if Columbus were to be defined, it would be a strip mall with an Applebee’s next to it. There are these tiny pockets of originality here and there, and I wish they could succeed and explode to drive away the corporate, test-market-y stains of retail that permeate everything else.

I cannot blame the giant anonymous “they” of the corporations. They are only 50% to blame. The other half is the people and consumers themselves that prefer this generic, uninteresting blah.



GOODNIGHT, CLEVELAND! has almost finished its sound mix. We’re on time for the Sept 11th premiere, but it has not been an easy road. Miguel Baldoni Olivencia has decided not to Alan Smithee the movie, and take credit. This pleases me immensely. It’s his movie, not ours, no matter how different the “intent” was during the shoot and the “result” from the edit. Micah Jenkins works his head off with these edits and smoothing of audio from 1996-1997 in the new digital realm. I often have to say, “We can’t make it good, only better”. That’s the mantra for a film this old.



THE COWTOWN FILM SERIES just got our big wish. For the Halloween screening on October 30th, I wanted a HORROR film, and specifically I wanted to screen Bob Kurtzman ’s THE RAGE. THE RAGE was shot here in Ohio after Bob Kurtzman
moved back here from LA. For those not in the Know, Bob Kurtzman is the “K” in KNB Effects. He worked on movies like EVIL DEAD, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, AUSTIN POWERS, & SCREAM. Rob is also the originator of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, writing the story that Quentin Tarantino adapted into a screenplay and Robert Rodriguez directed, and he made his mark as the director of WISHMASTER, and more recently THE RAGE. What most people don’t know is that Bob Kurtzman came from Crestline Ohio, interestingly, the same place my entire mother’s side of the family came from. Bob has come back to the Midwest and planted a firm foot in the community and away from either coast. He’s started the studio PRECINCT 13 and setup shop doing visual FX for movies like Rob Zombie’s DEVIL’S REJECTS and more.

I might be losing friends as I turn down some shorts that have been offered to me for the whole series. I asked for a public call for entries, but not all of the pieces are up to snuff. I’d rather play fewer shorts of surpassing quality than let something go because I’m friends with someone. It’s a business and I’m sorry. Here’s an idea of what I’m doing with graphics/animation thanks to VideoCopilot.net’s tutorials.

Work shows no sign of letting up. My head hurts. Very little sleep for me as the August heat destroys the equanimity of cool air distribution on the 2nd floor of Rossdonia. I have picked up a cheap futon for the basement so that I might get some proper sleep at night on various nights. The problem is removing the old family blue couch from the basement, along with it dolly, and dolly tracks, and even a ¾” deck for relocation to the Production Partners studio. This is more than a 2 person job. At least I can afford an El Cheapo futon with a decent pad.



I once reposted a story about the great Stanley Kubrick
and how a London reporter got to go to his estate 2 years after his death and discovered all his boxes of research and information. It’s now a documentary and I found it hilarious and fascinating.

CLICK HERE to watch video



We upgraded our 2nd edit system (Edit “B”) here at work to the Matrox RTx2 system for real time HD editing. I am pleased that it works well with the other motherboard, as Matrox products are sticklers for compatibility. We’ve also increased our storage by 3.5 Terabytes at work, and I added 2.25 Terabytes of storage at home for My Sexy Fiancé Veronica ™ and her documentary. We have some progress. A rough cut is done, some graphics work is complete and now we have some archive footage from MARCH OF TIMES from the HBO Archives to go over what selects we’ll use & buy for the project.

We re-watched NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN in Blu-Ray™ last night. What strikes me best about this movie is the maturity of the filmmaking. Most people don’t grasp the concept of subtlety. Very little is spoken out loud in this film, so is not to beat the audience over the head with obvious or pointless dialogue. In a 3 minute film by John Whitney locally, “A FAMILY MATTER”, reminds me of that kind of mature filmmaking where the story is told visually with the words being spoken often telling you something other than the blatant plot points.


This was a big one, but I’m busy, so I gots ta G.O.

Peace out homies, and I hope the crazy people find peace in reading my blogs.

- Ross