Saturday, October 1, 2005
I am almost through with Robert Rodriguez's Rebel Without a Crew, so I decided it would be a good idea to keep a journal for the Pete Ashdown documentary. I decided to officially start today since this is the day that my lighter schedule at work begins... Ironically, that's where I am right now. Not sure if I'm really supposed to be writing in my film journal on the job, but what can ya do?
Last night I met with Lydia for the first time. Jamie Gadette told me about her a month or two after I told her about my documentary idea. Apparently she had gotten the same idea independently of me. Jamie, who gave me the idea in the first place after I read her City Weekly cover story (June 30, 2005) about Pete, sent me a link to Lydia's myspace.com page. Lydia and I got some coffee and discussed what we wanted for the movie. We bounced ideas of one another, and I was amazed that it seemed like we were on the same page with a lot of stuff. That was an incredible relief: Making a documentary with someone is a pretty big commitment and investment, and I would hate to have to be working with someone who ended up being a complete jerk. I'm excited to work with her.
She balked at the fact I hadn't seen American Movie yet. I'm not too well-versed when it comes to documentary films. Apparently I also have to see some Errol Morris movies. She also recommended I see Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. From her descriptions, it sounded like the kind of feel I wanted for our movie: It's obvious who the good and bad guys are supposed to be, but it's not a movie that wears it's heart on it's sleeve.\I told Lydia that I didn't want it to be obvious that a couple of scary liberals made this movie. That it should be just a story of somebody doing what he feel's is right even though the odds are stacked against him (which is what attracted me to the story in the first place.) Something like that I feel could really go beyond any sort of political ideology. That's what I want for the movie.
Tuesday, October 4th, 2005
Lydia and I met with Pete Ashdown and told him about the documentary. We assured that we were serious about it and that we weren't out to con him or anything. I guess that was his biggest concern, since he had only two questions for us (1) Are you expecting to get any money from me? and (2) Are you going to be invading my privacy or my family's privacy? We assured him we were honest, hard-working American filmmakers and that we didn't have the foggiest idea of what we were doing.
My only regret is that we didn't bring the camera. We could have gotten a shot of Pete screaming "I don't fucking believe this!" into his phone. He had to leave the interview early because of some kind of emergency at X-mission. Some kind of power out from the sound of it. It would have made an interesting little segway into the stress of running for public office.
Saturday, October 8th, 2005
This morning, Lydia and I drove down to Logan to film some kind of parade the town was having for USU's homecoming. We got up damn early... I didn't even have time for a breakfast coffee. Then we drove some 80-some odd-miles to the town, talking the whole way. The only hitch was when we thought we passed it and didn't notice. We ended up kind of stumbling onto it. We parked in a mortuary and walked half a block to the corner of Main and Center. The parade started ten minutes later. Much fun was had by all.
We got some good marching band shots and shots of various parade participants throwing candy to the children. When Pete's car came, I stood out more on the street and let the car pass by me, filming the whole time. As Pete waved to the crowd, he saw me and waved right at me. At least now he knows we're serious.
We kept running ahead of the car to let it pass by us. We got 4 "takes" of Pete driving by; two on the right side and two on the left.
We tried to interview people. The first guy, an older guy in a green jacket refused. He said he didn't want to be interviewed at a parade. Not off to a great start. Then we interviewed two girls. It became painfully clear we should really be planning ahead before we start asking people questions. "So, what do you think of, like, politics and junk?"
A few other things also became apparent when I was editing the footage later.
1. We're going to need a boom mike. Or at least a fucking microphone. The parade behind us completely drowned out the stupid questions we asked those girls.
2. Also, when we crossed the street, we also crossed the line of sight. Meaning half the footage we shot wouldn't match the other half we shot if we decided to put the parade sequences all in once scene. Maybe we could split them up?
3. I love editing! I don't know, but it feels like editing technology has grown by such amazing leaps and bounds, just in the past ten years, that editing is actually kind of fun. Almost like playing a video game. It would be interesting if I decided to edit the movie as I went. That way I could see the film progressing as a film and not just a bunch of footage. It would keep me inspired and speed up the production a bit.nullnull
I am almost through with Robert Rodriguez's Rebel Without a Crew, so I decided it would be a good idea to keep a journal for the Pete Ashdown documentary. I decided to officially start today since this is the day that my lighter schedule at work begins... Ironically, that's where I am right now. Not sure if I'm really supposed to be writing in my film journal on the job, but what can ya do?
Last night I met with Lydia for the first time. Jamie Gadette told me about her a month or two after I told her about my documentary idea. Apparently she had gotten the same idea independently of me. Jamie, who gave me the idea in the first place after I read her City Weekly cover story (June 30, 2005) about Pete, sent me a link to Lydia's myspace.com page. Lydia and I got some coffee and discussed what we wanted for the movie. We bounced ideas of one another, and I was amazed that it seemed like we were on the same page with a lot of stuff. That was an incredible relief: Making a documentary with someone is a pretty big commitment and investment, and I would hate to have to be working with someone who ended up being a complete jerk. I'm excited to work with her.
She balked at the fact I hadn't seen American Movie yet. I'm not too well-versed when it comes to documentary films. Apparently I also have to see some Errol Morris movies. She also recommended I see Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. From her descriptions, it sounded like the kind of feel I wanted for our movie: It's obvious who the good and bad guys are supposed to be, but it's not a movie that wears it's heart on it's sleeve.\I told Lydia that I didn't want it to be obvious that a couple of scary liberals made this movie. That it should be just a story of somebody doing what he feel's is right even though the odds are stacked against him (which is what attracted me to the story in the first place.) Something like that I feel could really go beyond any sort of political ideology. That's what I want for the movie.
Tuesday, October 4th, 2005
Lydia and I met with Pete Ashdown and told him about the documentary. We assured that we were serious about it and that we weren't out to con him or anything. I guess that was his biggest concern, since he had only two questions for us (1) Are you expecting to get any money from me? and (2) Are you going to be invading my privacy or my family's privacy? We assured him we were honest, hard-working American filmmakers and that we didn't have the foggiest idea of what we were doing.
My only regret is that we didn't bring the camera. We could have gotten a shot of Pete screaming "I don't fucking believe this!" into his phone. He had to leave the interview early because of some kind of emergency at X-mission. Some kind of power out from the sound of it. It would have made an interesting little segway into the stress of running for public office.
Saturday, October 8th, 2005
This morning, Lydia and I drove down to Logan to film some kind of parade the town was having for USU's homecoming. We got up damn early... I didn't even have time for a breakfast coffee. Then we drove some 80-some odd-miles to the town, talking the whole way. The only hitch was when we thought we passed it and didn't notice. We ended up kind of stumbling onto it. We parked in a mortuary and walked half a block to the corner of Main and Center. The parade started ten minutes later. Much fun was had by all.
We got some good marching band shots and shots of various parade participants throwing candy to the children. When Pete's car came, I stood out more on the street and let the car pass by me, filming the whole time. As Pete waved to the crowd, he saw me and waved right at me. At least now he knows we're serious.
We kept running ahead of the car to let it pass by us. We got 4 "takes" of Pete driving by; two on the right side and two on the left.
We tried to interview people. The first guy, an older guy in a green jacket refused. He said he didn't want to be interviewed at a parade. Not off to a great start. Then we interviewed two girls. It became painfully clear we should really be planning ahead before we start asking people questions. "So, what do you think of, like, politics and junk?"
A few other things also became apparent when I was editing the footage later.
1. We're going to need a boom mike. Or at least a fucking microphone. The parade behind us completely drowned out the stupid questions we asked those girls.
2. Also, when we crossed the street, we also crossed the line of sight. Meaning half the footage we shot wouldn't match the other half we shot if we decided to put the parade sequences all in once scene. Maybe we could split them up?
3. I love editing! I don't know, but it feels like editing technology has grown by such amazing leaps and bounds, just in the past ten years, that editing is actually kind of fun. Almost like playing a video game. It would be interesting if I decided to edit the movie as I went. That way I could see the film progressing as a film and not just a bunch of footage. It would keep me inspired and speed up the production a bit.nullnull