'The Frets' photojournal

Bolex #4 - a mysterious enigma that does not like to count film properly and enjoys giving me anxiety.

The paperwork... before it got stuffed into my pocket for three days.

Organization. A bitter sweet process.

This then happened. 90% of the clothes I own were unfolded and thrown on the floor. But, with any luck, it will be the best stop motion double exposure anyone has ever experienced.

Overall, it was a pretty swell, but extremely tiring process. First and foremost, thanks to my one talent/superhelper/drinking buddy Durae! She put up with three days of not only me, but FILMMAKING me, which is this entirely different entity.

For this first project, I decided to go without help. I got lots of offers for extra hands on location from my super film class peers, but this was a journey I had to make to myself - perhaps only to prove that I could do it on my own.

My weekend (mid-Thursday through very early on Monday) went as such:

• 4+ hours of planning, storyboarding, checking and double checking equipment
• 10+ hours of set ups and shooting
• 200 feet of 16mm film
• numerous mild aneurysms over-thinking exposures
• trying to justify to a stranger or two why I was shooting on film and not digital
• a lot of puns
• 5 hours of my normal job
• 12 hours of Lord of the Rings at the Rio
• Way over budget on food
• 6 hours of late night philosophical conversation
• a soup pot filled with spiced rum cider
• so much coffee
• 10 hours of sleep

My film is currently being whisked to Ontario to the fantastic Niagara Custom Lab. I hope to have it back by next Monday, so I can begin the arduous process of post-production I have assembled for myself. I am sure there will be lots of cursing when I get the film back. Then when I have to cut it on the Steenbeck, then again when I'm hunched over it, carving impossibly tiny things into a 16mm wide piece of emulsion with a knife. But this is the moment I have been dreaming of since the day I woke up and figured I would devote the rest of my life to film. Life is good.

On Sunday, the amazing Rio Theater showed all three Lord of the Rings films (the extended versions, too!). It was a struggle to stay awake through them, as I had gotten 10  hours of sleep over the course of three days and I was extremely exhausted. It was so great to see them all again. I realized that I hadn't seen Fellowship of the Ring in theaters for eight years. Which makes me feel old. The first and second of the trilogy were shown on 35mm. Unfortunately, Return of the King was shown on DVD and seeing the two compared so close together made me see the difference. It's something I always knew was there, and now I have physical proof for myself. There was digital noise, the colour was different (in a sort of contrast-bumped way) and even the sound was distorted. Nonetheless, it was a rather emotional experience; partly because of the lack of sleep and the rapid 'coming down' after two days of caffeine high, but mainly because I realized that The Fellowship of the Ring was the film that introduced me to the concept of cinematography. The day I watched that film, not only did I want to make films even more, but my perspective of filmmaking changed. It sounds really lame - but it came out when I was 12 or 13, I had never seen anything so amazing. Nothing will ever influence me the ways that these movies did.

"Fell deeds awake... now for wrath... now for ruin... and the red dawn."

Anyways, I'd just thought I'd justify my Lord of the Rings love. If you have it seen it, see it now. It's got an ocean of depth (compared, especially, to the puddle of depth Avatar has). Also, read it. I've read Fellowship of the Ring so many times. When they pass through Farmer Maggot's field has always stuck with me, a long with the parts with Tom Bombadil. ANYWAYS, it deserves a lot of respect, both the books and the films. I'll stop having a glory rant.

I still owe my blog some VIFF reviews. One of these days.

Hope everyone's having a great November!