Booking. Thunder. Casting. Lightning.

August is upon us. Insert typical comment on how time flies here.

I have been in Alberta for five weeks already... my time with the Banff Centre has almost expired... already! As I juggle preproduction and a job that requires a larger amount of creative input than I'm used to, I'm finding myself relatively exhausted. Though, the mountains are a strange source of energy, and of inspiration. Going for tea at the Centre every morning usually comes with the unique pleasure of coming within arms distance of an elk or deer in the crisp grass. Walking through the streets and watching as a thundering storm comes down the valley (there have been a lot of these this year). Whether or not I am able to see things more clearly is up for debate, but I am seeing things differently.

The film is going through various stages of really stressing me out, but I suppose that's the litmus test for learning new things. We had a very decent turn out for auditions - I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm brought into the audition studio by people who had travelled a fair distance to get to me.  We had people from Cochrane, Calgary, Canmore, even Brooks. Some great ideas, thoughts, and criticisms came out of these sessions - I'd say it was a phenomenal first attempt at casting in Alberta. We received interest from CKUA, and a very cool lady named Meagan Clark came out and did a quick interview with me Monday morning. This was very, very cool. Talking about my project to people who want to hear it just gets me going, and forms these lovely creative ebbs that just carry me along through my lengthy preproduction days.

And of course, I will begin thanking people now - even though my thank-yous will continue until this film reaches the eyes of an audience and beyond... much thanks to old film camp friend, Amanda, for being my reader and casting assistant, plus keeping me company for like... twenty hours. And much thanks as well to Sandra, for use of her very nostalgic and fantastic dance studio.

It was great being able to hear my script being read for the first time, and some people brought some really interesting things to their characters. It's a feeling you really remember. The film has never felt more real, more exciting, and now we're really in the deep end.

The entire filmmaking process seems a series of financial and emotional ups and downs, this film providing the biggest yet. I feel a teensy bit bipolar when an e-mail favouring or stomping on my pre-production arrives on my phone and I proceed to act accordingly. If it's good news, yes - I'm awake, I'm ready, let's do this - let's go send more e-mails! If the news is bad - it's the apocalypse, the world is abysmal. In a single thought, it's exhausting. It's a delicate balance I'm not that great at keeping up. As anyone who has probably had to stand a conversation with me for more than 5 minutes in the past month knows.

New Logos are happening while I should
probably be doing other things

As my brain boils in my skull, I've been soothing my soul with Luciano Pavarotti, Tchaikovsky, Shubert... plus, soothing my 12 year old self with Spongebob Squarepants and Adventure Time therapy treatments every day or two. In the past year, I think I've started to understand how to handle myself under stress. (Finally) after five years of post-secondary... stress doesn't mean the whole system grinds to a halt any more. And that is super!

I've assembled a handy little crew, made of a unique blend of SFU film students, SAIT alumni, plus some extras. A bit of good news, or a budget reduction goes a long way. There's a lot of work to be done, as there will be through until the production phase of 'My Old Flame' is complete.

The more time I spend away from Vancouver, the more of this weird relief I feel. It's going to be a busy last year, but I will graduate in the spring, pack up, and move to a new city.

Cheers,

Things to check out:

Please, please, please - check out this TEDtalk by Colin Stokes - "How movies teach manhood"

Shakey Films have a new thing going on - check out the trailer(s) for JIMBO.

The first annual Moonrise Film Fesitival - TONS of SFU content in this one!

I'll probably be Tweeting/Instagraming the crap out of my production - follow Agriotherium Films on the Twitter

The Frets

 Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Frets. My first year film at Simon Fraser University. See my previous post on production.

This was a very personal project for me - after being rejected from this film program a handful of times, I wanted to complete this on my own. I think I really needed to prove to myself that I finally belonged in this program. I picked a concept that I could relate to, simple as it was. Unfortunately, I think I kept it too simple. To me, my camera work was a little dry. If the scratches weren't present (for whatever reason), I'd put everyone to sleep. Most of my shots worked out great - fantastic exposure (I think it's pretty good, I mean, for someone who still doesn't completely understand exposures), great colour.

As per first year requirements (and much to my immense delight), this film was shot on 16mm film with an old, spring motor Bolex and cut on a Steenbeck flatbed editor. One thing that I really wanted to do with this first film is experiment with the medium of film itself. You can't take paint and bleach to video - so I went a little crazy. After cutting my film and putting together a solid cut on the Steenbeck (one of these badboys), a set up a work table at home consisting of a transparent cutting board propped up on stacks of paperbacks, a bare lightbulb, a film reel winder on top of the desk, and a pen stuck into the chair to put my take up reel on (which was interesting). I also had a little standup magnifying glass and a wide variety of acrylic inks, paint brushes, q-tips, tiny glue applying brushes, x-acto knives and a large jug of bleach. The hand work on this was excruciating. 24 frames go by each second. So to make anything consistent, it was extra killer (the breakfast foods especially destroyed me).

The night before I showed it in class, I was up all night - still scratching and bleaching away (trying so hard not to pass out from chlorine fumes). I left the sound mix for last (aka starting it three hours before class started). Originally I had a much more complex sound track planned. But I quite like how it turned out. I had my bff and amazing talent, Durae over to do voice overs. Upon going to put them to the film, it just wasn't flowing. SO. Me, who hates my voice, at 6 am, after a night of too much bleach , an entire box of Pot of Gold chocolates (yes, I am THAT disgusting) and a good solid 20+ hours of zero sleep, does this voice over. Upon listening to it back, all I could think of was Nicolas Cage's Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation. This has also been pointed out to me numerous times after the fact. Good thing or bad? Not entirely sure. At around 8:30 am, I wrapped it up, synced sound one last time and bit my lip. My loathing for this project was so unimaginable - an hour before class and I thought it was the worst, an abomination to film.  The biggest pile of steaming bullshit this world has ever seen. The whole way to class, my heart was pounding in my ears as I was thinking of some way to apologize for it's horribleness to the entire class.

I could hardly concentrate on the films that came before mine (I was glad I had other opportunities to see them, because they are amaaaazing (I will never see escalators the same way ever again)). My heart was in my throat. The butterflies in my stomach turned to bees. I was shaking and sweating. My hands still smelled like bleach. I fumbled the film into the projector, I was on the brink of apologizing for the dreadful end result - then, without saying a word (well, after panicking at the lab instructor because I didn't know where the focus knob was on that particular projector) proceeded to stare at my feet while it played.

The Frets from Laurel Brown on Vimeo.

What I heard was laughter, than applause. My heart slowed down a bit, the class began to discuss. With every word, I started to feel so much better. Having done scratch work on film themselves, they understood the trials that are involved to do it. I even got a compliment pertaining to my, "... unique perspective of the world," and even my voice over. I wanted to say grandiose things about my film, having my faith in life restored, but all that came out was a nervous dribble of words about nothing in particular.

Post screening, I have got to mention,  I experienced such a feeling of elation I had never felt in my life.

I have wished numerous times to myself in the past years that I wish I had gotten into the film program previously. But here is something I have discovered, coming to the end of this first semester, I am so happy to be with the fantastic people in my class. We are all very different, ranging talents, backgrounds and ideas, but all of us have this common thread running deep within us - an intense passion for film. Each film that was presented was completely different, personal journeys, exploring the medium of film, the artistry of it, the processes and labors. Each unique, fantastic and inspiring. I will be proud to work with these people for years to come.

And I just have to mention - that a computer did not touch this film until it was recorded to be put on the internet this morning. Four days after it's completion.

Thank you for reading all this - I just thought I would preserve it for those rough patches where I need something to hold onto for dear life.

Sorry for the cheesiness and nostalgia. I think it's appropriate right about now.