I Am Still Here

Bonus points if you get the reference I am making in the title.

I do not know why, but I feel the need to defend myself. True, my blog does not attract many viewers, but that is beside the point. I have just been distracted for the past couple of weeks.

It started with Spring Break, where I found myself in a situation where I did not have my laptop with me. I was traveling, and kept a journal for that week long respite, writing upwards of 8,000 words. Writing takes time, and I simply considered spending more time there than on here.

When I finally came back to school, the work just piled on me, ton after ton after ton. I has not been a very relaxing two weeks on my end, and it will continue to be trouble.

But I will persevere, because this blog is important to me, as is the dream that revolves around it. So, if you are reading this, know that I will be writing my next blog very very soon. It is sitting as a draft right now, and I just need to eek out the thirty minutes I need to finish it.

I am not trying to change the world here. I just want to find some piece of mind, one sentence as a time.

The Story of Film: A Commentary

In late December I was looking for a chance to learn about films, particularly within the medium of documentaries. I was not picky, but when I stumbled across the series, “The Story of Film: An Odyssey,” I knew I discovered something special.

It is a project of unprecedented scope, covering over 120 years of film around the world, condensing it into a 15 hour long series. I tried it first to watch three or four hour-long episodes a day, but I gave that up fast. The reason is that the series is very slow. The material is very engaging, but the truth is the execution felt lacking, underwhelming.

The documentary’s writer and director, Mark Cousins, narrates as well with a strong Irish accent, deep voice, and unrehearsed tone. It is a little ironic that a man who has seen so many films does not know how to sound engaging. Why he didn’t hire an actual actor to narrate boggles goes my mind. Take a look at “Inside Job.” One of the things that kept it engaging was Matt Damon’s narration. There was something in the timbre of his voice, the way he delivers different phrases, that sucks of you in. Such cannot be found in “The Story of Film.” Cousins’ voice takes a little while to get used to, and it is certainly not something you’d want to listen to for an extended period of time.

Another reason is that the material is dense. Many films, directors, and actors are referenced throughout, and will get referenced again in as little as 20 minutes or not until 14 episodes afterwards. Interviews interpolate throughout, with the people getting interviewed being younger as the series progresses. The name of the game is proximity to the story of film. Cousins travels worldwide – an odyssey itself – to talk to these filmmakers. Their origins include Mexico, Australia, France, and of course, the United States. He’s interviewees also are recurring; these guys have some pretty large brains in cinema, and Cousins has no qualms about picking them. The responses are pretty even handed, as they avoid grand statements (save for maybe Baz Lehrman, but that’s just him).

Cousins has no concerns for that. Many times he will talk about this director or that film as the greatest of [insert topic here], ignoring what many others would consider. For example, he talks about Gus Van Sant and his greatness without even mentioning “Good Will Hunting” – on that note, does Cousins actually that that Van Sant is better than Tarantino? Really?

Meanwhile, he tends to gloss over many technical innovations in favor talking about specific directors. True, he emphasizes, or rather laments, the impact of digital cinema and how it has killed the use of celluloid, but the rest gets lost in the shuffle. He talks about the emergence of sound, but does not nearly deep enough on how sound first came to be. Who came up with it? Where’s the reference to “The Jazz Singer,” for instance?

On the other hand, he does talk about when film was first invented. He mentions Lumiere brothers and Thomas Edison. This is within the first 20 minutes of the entire series. At the same time, he comes full circle talking about how film is trying to get back into that idea of a dream state. The epilogue though feels a little mishandled or clumsy, as he throws the random year 2046, speculating with the strange question, “what if film was like the experience of the film ‘Inception?'” I don’t know, but then again, who ever thought moving pictures could become such a centerpiece to global culture?

Still, the entire series is an unabashed love letter to film and its representation of reality. Any good artist knows his history, and if one person wants to learn about such a history of film, this is a good place to start. I especially enjoyed getting exposure to all these films I otherwise would not have been exposed to. A lot of films that are referenced from Japanese film history I actually heard about it through my Japanese film class as well. In a sense, both the class and this film series complemented each other, and help to expand my understanding of the medium. I have started a list of films I need to watch, just so I don’t forget. Hulu and Netflix will certainly be getting a run for their money.

There is little reference to the business side of things, as Cousins prefers to go through the artistic endeavors of auteurs instead of the macro innovations. I imagine this is okay for the casual viewer, but what about the serious viewer? What about the person who might want to indulge in the actual experience of working with in film? Then again, I suppose that’s more of the current state of film as opposed to the story of film.

The story is hardly finished.

PS If you want a far more articulate article on this documentary, Brian Doan writes circles around me on the Roger Ebert website. Check it out: http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/traditions-of-quality-mark-cousins-the-story-of-film-an-odyssey

THAW Film Festival: Day 2

This day turned out much differently than I expected.

The first event I was going to on that Saturday morning was the script reading for a currently unproduced film, “The Duplex.” It was in the same room that the event was that I went to the day before, and there were chairs set up so that people could watch the reading happen. When I came in, the screenwriter actually approached me and asked me if I was there to partake in the reading. I gave them the only answer I could think of: if I’m needed.

He liked the answer and in a few seconds, I was sitting at a table with a bunch of other people who would be reading from the screenplay; I was the only non-theater major among the group of nine people. Some of the students had received it the day prior or even earlier. I had never seen the script until that very moment when I sat at the table.

My role was not large, as I only had four bit parts. The screenwriter called them red suits, based on the characters in Star Trek. He wasn’t kidding either, as two of the characters I played died within their first line. That didn’t bother me, but this fact made it hard to try to give these characters any depth or personality. I did see Mike in the audience, and he commended me as much as one could commend someone for reading parts that were only given four lines at the very most.

I had this vague feeling though that I was looked at as an outsider, and that many of the things that could’ve been improved, such as making the most of one line roles, felt directed at me. I was probably the only person who had to read exclusively the small parts.

Still, I enjoyed the experience immensely, and it forced me to reflect on how my little experience I’ve done with reading from a script since I first came up to Penn State. Sure, I volunteer to read a lot of the time in my Shakespeare class, but this is not quite the same. It is not as though I actually get evaluated based on my performance in such a class. It is an event such as this where it actually matters.

I didn’t get to keep the screenplay for the movie, but thinking about it afterwards, I have my own critique on it. While the screenwriter was asking us what we thought about the entire work, I didn’t have a good answer until after the fact. However, he wasn’t shy about sharing his small tricks when he came to creating suspense and making it so that you have to read the screenplay twice to fully appreciate what was going on. I think generally the pacing could’ve been different, and  characterizations are constrained only to the two main characters as opposed to everyone else in the group. Either way, I would love to hear if the screenplay actually gets produced and becomes an actual movie. I’m pretty sure the title would be a little bit different too.

Immediately afterwards, I went downstairs to the actual theater room, and I got to see five student films that originate from Penn State University. Most of the films were under 10 minutes, and oddly enough, they were all documentaries as opposed to fictional pieces. I spoke to a friend about it, and she said that they tend to produce a wide variety of different works. My favorite one has to be the one called “Silent Struggle” which talked about different mental illnesses that students have to face. All of the dialogue includes interviews from these people that volunteered to have their stories heard, and the entire execution of the movie was very well done. I almost teared up. I’ll just leave it at that.

I made it my business to note every single director of each film. I figure that if I get in touch with them, I can potentially find an opportunity to either be a production assistant or even an actor in one of their future films. It all boils down to who you know and what opportunities you can find out through them. It actually had been suggested to me by Mike, but I had the thought in my head prior to that. It is all networking. Plain and simple.

So far, I’ve contacted two of the five directors and both have responded to me. While I may not get to see them until after spring break, hopefully they’ll be want to keep their eyes open for future opportunities. I still would love to hear their perspective on what it’s like to make a film, because how else will I find out about it?

I wish I could have stayed throughout the ensuing Q&A, but I had work, and some of the answers were rather windy, especially from the adult filmmakers who took part in and commandeered the session. Chances are I won’t meet these filmmakers again for a very long time, if at all. Everyone knew that it was time to move on, and get back to work.

THAW Film Festival: Day 1

This is going to be a bit of a windy one.

I was only at the festival for four hours on Friday, but I felt like there so much was coming at me at once, so much information that I needed to hold onto from the get-go. The festival had technically started a two days prior, but I didn’t have the time to go until this point. Thinking back on the entire event though, I didn’t even see any of the many documentaries showing these past few days.

I was more interested in the workshops, and that is what brought me to my first event of the day: “Acting in the Digital Age.” It felt more like a lecture than a workshop though, but I appreciated how business oriented it was. A lot of the things that you need to do are the same things that you would want to do when applying for a job in, say, finance or marketing. The difference, of course, is the set of skills that are required. The workshop was in the room upstairs above from the actual theater itself. There were maybe eight students there, myself included, as well as just as many faculty or visiting members of the festival. It WAS a Friday morning, where many students were in class at that time.

What I saw at this workshop was the equivalent of a career network, except for actors. The company was called Breakdown Services, and I got to see their website, breakdownexpress.com, from the perspective of the casting director, the most important person when it comes to picking actors. Half of the people who submit for a role don’t get looked at for more than a split second, and about half of those who do get clicked on are looked at for a very short period of time. Apparently, the casting director has little time to look at each applicant, and it is more of a hunch than anything else that makes them pick this actor or that actor. A film that was recommended at the event was the documentary “Casting By.” I’ll be happy to look for this film when I get the chance.

This selection process is nothing personal. It is casting director’s job; if they don’t deliver then they are not going to be around very long. It is a very winner take all market, in the sense that if you don’t have that one X factor that the casting director is looking for, you’ll be glossed over instantly, regardless of your current experience. The presenter was very matter-of-fact when it came to explaining what you need to do to succeed, such as what sort of picture you would need to have uploaded onto the website. He even talked about how a lot of these business or casting websites charge you either monthly fee or an amount based on how many pictures or clips of yourself you have.

I don’t suppose my experience in high school theater necessarily counts when it comes to this professional market. It was clear that I needed to get some experience before anything else. There was a anecdote that the presenter gave that was about how he and some friends would look at scripts on their own time and act them out. He said even that counts as experience, and when he listed it as such, that was how he got one of his gigs. I could enjoy a company of friends that were into that sort of thing. If anything, it would be fun and educational at the same time.

The bottom line though was that I would need to hone my skills constantly if I wanted to get better at something like acting. I have not been acting very much since High School, so that might be working against me. Acting lessons or classes though are good ideas, so if I get the chance, why not?

After the general lecture about how the website functions, there was a Q&A session regarding both our speaker and a bunch of the other staff members that were at the event. At first, it was more of a discussion between only the panel members concerned, as they kept throwing ideas around among themselves for extended periods of time. It felt like they were showing off a bit, rather than simply trying to help the students concerned.

Nonetheless, it was very educational, and I was writing almost nonstop in my notepad. For example, the main cities that were recommended for actors finding work were Chicago, LA, and New York, effectively debunking my thoughts from an earlier post that I could find much work in Philly. One big piece of advice was being “prepared.” Be prepared for what? you may ask.  Be prepared not to get called back. Be prepared to have lots of down time with little work around. It is one of the reasons I think many of the panelists talked about pursuing other endeavors such as producing screenwriting, etc. It made me feel good in a way, since it meant that I was smart to consider both acting and screenwriting.

The only bummer was there were strong recommendations to be an extra if you can, if only once or twice. I had the opportunity to be an extra for the film “Creed,” but the timing was absolutely awful, so I had to turn down the opportunity. It would have been a 12 hour long shooting day during a busy school week for me, but the experience might have been worth it.

So it goes.

I only got to ask one question during the Q&A, but I tried to make it count. I was under the impression that I was probably the only person who had little to no film experience whatsoever. I had asked my film professor during the week what the first step could be when it comes to getting that experience. He said to try to go as a production assistant, and work your way up from there. During the Q&A session, I asked how I could obtain that sort of job. One of the staff members said point blank that I need to know somebody. And I don’t think I do, at least not at a first glance. I should seriously consider where else I could look to get that serve opportunity, even student film. However, there was another chance to do that. One of the staff members mentioned Pennsylvania film office, which I think I will look up later on.

If anything though, one of the nicest things about this event was just getting to speak to these people, people I would not necessarily interact with under any other circumstances. As I left the event, I stopped myself, thinking about this one guy who had asked about that fact that he was starting up a “little late.” The panel insisted that the industry is not age-reliant; films need people of all ages. He looked slightly under 30, but he was probably the only visiting person among Penn State students. I figured I should try talking to him, so I turned back around and approached him.

His name was Mike, and he was quite open to conversation, so I chatted with him for about 10 minutes, learned about the projects that he’s been involved in, and got a good idea of what he was struggling through when it came to finding work. He even gave me a business card though, and I got the chance to tell him about my budding interest in film.

Whether this connection goes anywhere or not is another story, but he did give me a business card and definitely reach out to him and see where this can go. Who knows? Maybe he’d be able to offer me the opportunity and I could really use. I know he lives in Altoona which is about 40 minutes away from where I currently reside. If the chance ever came, I would definitely visit to see what is happening over there. The current problem was the location itself; there is very little film work in Altoona.

One other thing he told me about was the IRIS film festival in September, located in Huntingdon, PA. I had never heard of it, but if my new friend Mike is going, I would love to tag along. Friday may have only been my first day of a film festival, but I already know that I want to enjoy many more “first days” in the future.