Impossible Blog

Out of money, Out of time...

2006-11-22T17:52:00.000-05:00

The dream life is over... Reality just bitch-smacked me and now its time to get back up... time to follow my own advice...

Trailer...

2006-11-10T03:21:00.000-05:00

For those of you who stumble upon this blog... (all two of you...) Here is the trailer for the film being talked about here...

Under the wire and almost worth it....

2006-11-06T22:28:00.000-05:00

I am tired, so i will have to make this quick. Under the wire, day late, dollars short, we have sent it off to sundance. Hopefully this will all go somewhere. Although, it will probably only go where all other things go, away.

The goal reached, now to catch a break.

2006-10-31T22:26:00.000-05:00

Well folks,
Thats it. The rough is as complete as its gonna be for now. The copies have been printed, and now its just time to wait. Wait for someone to swallow this whole thing and hope for the best. It's a wonderful and a terrible thing all at the same time. I don't know how to describe it. i have gone through many trails throughout this process. Not many of them posted here unfortunately. Anyway, from the battle of day 7 to overcoming the orwellian orders and the hhh version (i'll explain it another time). In the words of the subject, "i have no idea how this all came together and got done. Then again, I do."

It's been a while

2006-09-19T02:47:00.000-04:00

Well, It certainly has. Anyway, here is the update.... nevermind, there really is no update. I am still poor, and trying to make this thing work on a large scale in the never-ending pursuit of the green-backed montser we all chase, My Boss, we'll call him H-Squared for now, is still a complete asshole, and can't be trusted with the simplest tasks up to and including showing up for a meeting that HE arranged and called for, which means i have to drag my stupid ass out of my office in NJ and schlep into the city just so that even if we do have a meeting, it's a five minute thing that could very easily have been done over the phone. On top of this whole pile of shit, my girl and I are fighting about almost everything (the kitchen sink has yet to piss her off in some form or another...) so, it's been a hell of a couple of weeks.

Also, now he's seen the most recent version of the film, in which he does not have a interview. I am of course, fine with this, because I have been trying to get this interview for about 9 months at this point and I've been stood up more times than the fat girl on prom night by him. But now that he's seen that he is not in every fucking shot, suddenly its a big fucking emergency that we sit down and do an interview so that he may spend about an hour of my time masterbating into the camera about what a great fucking guy he is. What a crock of shit.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer that the human mind is the most flawed thing in the world, and everyone's got their thing. but this guy is one pickel short of a car... (yes, it doesn't make any sense, thats the point.) He's a sociopath. Now, I'm not kidding, lookup the meaning of asociopath, and you will find this guys picture. Smiling for the cameras after beating his kids.

This guy likes to put up the impression that he has alot of money, and just can't wait to spend it. There are two problems here... 1. He doesn't have the money and 2. he still can't wait to spend it. This is not really a problem for me, except when it interupts the funding for this project.

So let me get this straight, you can't pay me my meager wage to keep me fed and full of RX meds, but you can by yer fucking ho of the week that diamond encrusted dildo so she can fuck you with class?

And you think I'm the asshole? Fuck you.

Anyway, I'm so tired of this fucking movie, I just need it to be over and I only have myself to blame for it not being done. I am just so sick and tired of people telling me what the movie should be when I know what it has to be for the truth of the event. I can only make the footage do so much, it's like asking an automechanic to make a corvette out of a toothpick and dental floss.

Anyway, you've heard enough...

The road to completion....

2006-06-12T17:31:00.000-04:00

Well... I realize that it's been a while... I doubt that many of you noticed. Anyway, I have now officially been rejected from the two festivals that i entered. The funny thing is... I'm kinda glad in a "fuck 'em" sort of way... Now begins the re-edits.
For those of you that don't know, re-editing a film is much like... well, editing anything. You have this whole piece, complete and yet flawed... very flawed... And now you have to go back and fix it. The problem is, by this time, you have gotten to know and own and reason for every second, every reason and statement in the entire project, you can watch the entire movie from start to finish muted and still know every line that comes up. It's like creating a human body, and then finding out that the bones are too brittle in some places. Now, of course the easiest way and probably best way to fix the problem is to start from scratch and just clean-slate the entire thing. However, this is a terribly cold view, and if you love your product, you will fight like hell to stop yourself from throwing down your rough cut and chopping the whole fucking thing to bits using a goddamn rusty chainsaw. So then, you try and go back in and fix in some places, and leave the stronger parts alone...
Sometimes, it works, other times, you make one section stronger, and the sections around it then either don't fit, work, or just in general become weak. And then what the fuck do you do? The worst thing is when you spent so much time doing this, and you go for comments. It's kinda like having a kid, and then hearing someone else tell you how you fucked him up, and then what you need to do to make him perfect. It stings a little more over time, especially when you realize that the person is right.
Now, knowing this person is right, as well as knowing the person, makes it all the more difficult to take the opiniion seriously. For you film people out there, this is also hard when the person you ask is not in the line of work that you are. It's like asking a cheese maker to judge how an chicken is raised. Now granted, they are similar, but just different enough to cause trouble when trying to judge it.
Anyway, so now, I'm working on another idea to clear my head, which will hopefully give me enough distance to really come back and attack this thing.

Goodnight, and Good Luck....

Goddamn I hate the French...

2006-04-11T12:07:00.000-04:00

Well... it didn't get in to Cannes...
I'd like to say that this doesn't effect me... but it still sucks... Anyway, back to post, gotta finish this movie... and then move on...

In the words of a very wise man that was asked to make one statement about all situations, he said:

"This too shall pass."

Sending to festivals, and the mental recovery effort....

2006-03-29T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well... shit...
It's been a while... but it's been hectic....
I've just submitted to my second film festival, the Silver Docs Festival, (doc. specific). Anyway, enough about the boring shit... now on to the even more boring shit. The frenzy is over, the first and most important deadline has been met... now it's time to go back over everything that I've done, and evaluate every fucking frame in the film... btw... the movie is 1hr and 50min... which, roughly equates to about 164,160 frames to investigate.... damn... that blows now that I look at it... i'm screwed... And sound editing is such a bitch... you can't just press a button and make it all better... it blows... anyway, the new trailer is up on my website... (to the right... dipshit...)
Die

The rough Assembly...

2006-03-11T12:52:00.000-05:00

Well... it's finished...
The rough cut at least. Jesus christ, what a mess.... luckily, i'm at a point right now where I know that I have a story that can fit into a feature length film.... the problem now is, getting it down from 150 min. to somewhere between 90 and 120... It's gonna take a wholew shit load of patience, that i'm quickly running out of.... Now that the big push is over, we get into the nitty gritty.... which can be fun... but now the problem is the same as when I began.... where do I begin? This is one of the hardest things to do, I have so many parts that I believe are essential to the story as a whole... but in reality are probably time wasters.... well... I mean.... Ya know.... shit...

Buy something

2006-03-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

This may be a shameless plug, but check out the impossible store. It will be stocked with new merchandise every so often, besides, all the stuff in it already kicks ass.

Casey: Sorry for interrupting the flow

One day left, and the fight for day 7

2006-03-07T02:35:00.000-05:00

Well...
today i had to come upon the hardest day of the trip... the rest of them in there own incoherent maddness seem surprisingly cogent when compared to the complete cluster-fuck that is day 7.... I could honestly, make a feature just on day 7... nothing else, none of the other 8 days would matter anymore... Well... I'd probably use them for cutaways or some other such nonsense.... point being, I have never had to fight so hard to cut probably 7 combined hours of footage into a single scene.... which is for now 37 minutes long.... the problem, there is just so much in that day, thats it's almost impossible for me to explain it clearly, let alone cut it together so that it will make sense.... well.... whatever.... with the rough cut almost done, it's time now simply to finish the fucking story, get the structure out there, and just start scaling back bit by bit.... i have this strange feeling that for the next few months i am going to be debating the importance of 10 secs.... And that will only come up when I am talking about big changes....
It's all a matter of frames here... and I need to fight with everyone of them to make sure that I can make it in time to go to festivals.... I don't know what the big deal is.... fact of the matter is that it's not going to get in.... i've come to accept that....
I have only one last thing to say...
Would you like fries with that?

The truth about Documentaries...

2006-03-06T05:02:00.000-05:00

well... here we are... it's 2:30 am here in the post-production studio known as my attic, and I find myself re-experienceing the most difficult day that happened on the trip. On this particular day, (for background) we had arrived at a distribution point to drop off our supplies. Well... after a few hours, the mood went from lite and celebratory to down-right ugly. Fights broke out between everyone of the most inconsequential things... some arguments involved people that were not doing the fighting... everyone was pissed, and i had to keep rolling. For the film, even though this particular fight eats time, I have decided to leave it in it's uncut form for not only the emotional value, but also for the purpose of truth. Fighting can be and is a very ugly thing... unfortunately, when you watch reality television, thats all you seem to see. the thing is, they don't let it play out. They use quick editing to get to the point... however, when they do this, they comepletly rob the scene of any emotion. Now, am I saying that cutting itself robs the emotion, no, of course not. There are some instances when the mood and discomfort would not exsist without the editing. However, the way that most of these tackle it is to make a 5 min fight last 30 sec. And thats not right... sometimes, you gotta leave the camera running to catch everything. This is why I advocate shooting on DV, or another cheap medium. Let the moment play out. As a director, you have a responsibility not only to tell the over all story, but also to capture the truth.
Now, before anyone says anything, no, I do not believe that documentaries should be considered the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you believe that, you are either too idealistic, gullible, or just never have either been behind a camera or in a post prod. enviroment. The truth in documentaries and all filmmaking in general. push it out of your mind. You may not control what happened in front of you, you do however control what is shown. The fact of the matter is, everything has a POV behind it. it is a simple fact, no matter what you do, you're POV will be all over it. You could set up a camera, point it somewhere and let it roll, and your pov is still there simply because you chose where to point the camera, and when to roll and cut. Thats it.
Don't become disheartened yet, we have so much more to talk about, not all of it now... but soon. Listen, there is truth in documentaries, there will always be, but you should never regard documentary as an absolute truth. However, are there moments of truth in them? Yes. and that is what we should strive for. Please I beg you, sometimes the best editing you could do in film is holding the shot. Watch irreversable to see that I am right, the rape scene will kill you.
Thats is for now.... If you don't agree, comment if not, pass it on....

The Beginning.... I think...

2006-03-04T12:55:00.001-05:00

Well... here we are...
To start with, let me fill you in on who I am...
First, I'm a kid from NJ... (BTW: Yes, I live near a highway, Yes I do glow in the dark, Yes I exist in diners and Yes... We don't like you either)
I am a Filmmaker that graduated from school about 2 years ago.
Currently, I am working on my first feature... A documentary about a private relief effort immediatly after Hurricane Katrina.
Now that we have that out of the way....
I am in the midst of Post-Production at the moment, and hoping to be in festivals later this year.
Anyway, so thats me.
I'm starting this in hopes that I can try and explain why film is the best and worst buisness that you could get into.
First of all...
Film can be a beautiful thing... the only problem is, that unlike writing, you need a shitload of money in order to make it work. And when you don't have money, or time (which you never really have much of either) you improvise.
This film is nothing if not an incredible learning experience.
This is how it all started.
I used to work at the filmschool I graduated from, in the editing room. Editing is where the movie is made... and if you disagree, remember this... without editing, there would only be dailies. I befriended a student there, and I ended up DPing her film. It was alot of fun, and she and i work well together. Then, Katrina happened. I new that I needed to be down there... as shitty as this sounds, I wanted to be there to get the entire breakdown of civilization on film, actually, i needed to get down there, and I was in the proccess of finding a way down there when I recieved a phone call. It was Sat. Sept 3rd, 2005.
It was my friend, and she had a proposition for me. I was just about to sit down to dinner with my family when she called me and said, "My Dad's going down to New Orleans to donate supplies and he wants someone to film the entire thing. Will you do it?" Before I even gave it a thought, I said yes. She put her father on the phone, and we began discussing the logistics of the trip.
After I got off of the phone with him, I immediately began gathering supplies, this was harder than you might think, considering the plan was, "We are going to get 1 or 2 trucks, fill them up with stuff, and go down there and distribute them." That was it.
The next day, I showed up at his place, preparing myself to leave immediately. 20 min later, he arrived, and said, "The plan has changed slightly..."
For the rest of the trip (sorry, you gotta see the movie for details) I woke up every morning and went to sleep every night exausted thinking, "I am in way over my head..."

Here's the thing though... if you really want to be in this buisness, get used to it. A very wise man once told me, "Being a director, the first thing that you should do every day is damage control and crisis management... everything else can and must come after that." The art will come by instinct, if you don't have it, get out.... now.