work faster, work leaner; create a body of work!

I recently listened to Joe Swanberg's podcast at the workbookproject.com.

This is what it's all about.

He shoots his movies on video for nothing, has a crew of 2 and comes up with high quality stuff. Prolific is a word that comes to mind; inspiring is another. How has he managed to do all this?

He shares with us how he's finished three features and two seasons of a web TV show in the past two years (as well as another in the can but unedited). The key is his unique approach to the medium. First off --- He spends very little money on these films, he's the shooter, actor, producer and editor. He used to do the sound but now he has a sound guy. He very recenlty started working with a producer but really he's managed to cut out about 90% of the useless twits who manage to gum up the works (you know who you are; you can stop reading now). He doesn't write scripts but rather uses the actors own life experiences to form the story.

He said for his latest, Hannah takes the stairs, all he had was a pencil drawing to secure financing. He says a lot of indie filmmakers spend so much money on their first film that they are tied to those projects until they can recoup their initial investment. He uses the four-eyed-monsters kids as an example. They made their first film in 2005 (yes, it's called four-eyed-monster) at the same time Joe had just finished his first film --- Kissing on the Mouth. As I mentioned he has completed several projects since then but Arin and Susan (the directors of FEM) are 80 000 dollars in debt and can't move forward with any new projects.

So, yes I like what Joe Swanberg is doing. I think that Mona and I should just do our next fiction project by ourselves with non-actors that have great stories to tell and look great on screen. First we have to finish this doc.

Friend or Foe

Is this world set up for forward thinkers? Or is it destined to stunt the growth of those who challenge mediocrity?

I can't tell you how many times I've faced the challenge of fitting in with the straight world. At work I bite my tongue and am forced to justify my opinions on a daily basis: it's a tough grind. When you go against the norm it's not a fun existance. People at my work just want things to go smooth; they want to avoid situations that make them think. What the fuck is the matter with thinking or feeling or having emotions? I want to gain emotional maturity through my life experience.

Ever since I left the studio to work at the Running Room I've had problems fitting in with the masses. I've learned to like them, befriend them and even bedded a few but in the end i just want to go back to my own: the weirdos.

The edit begins

We've been back from Kelowna for a week now and we've started to edit the Ladyhawk doc. Yesterday, Mona and I made a 1 minute teaser for the doc. We got a hold of the final mixes for the album (unmastered, unfortunatly) and their Fight for Anarchy EP. The new album is a natural progression from the first release but the EP is a crazy side-step of lo-fi genius. Bob Pollard, Lou Barlow and David Berman insinuate their influence into the 6 song, mushroom inspired, recording. I don't have a comprehensive list of all the songs yet but I know that song six on the ep has been re-recorded for the full album, which I will refer to as "Whitehouse" for now, since that's where it was was recorded, and that's what Colin wrote on the CDR with a sharpie. They are very against the idea of calling it "the whitehouse night gallery sessions" though. The lead singer/songwriter, Duffy, abhors any album that has "the" or "sessions" in the title.

I have to say the guys in Ladyhawk are some fine lads. Allowing us to film them for two weeks was a bit more than they signed on for. Having two cameras in your face for 10 hours a day can be a bit trying and they didn't complain one bit. But we knew they were tired of us during the last couple of days. We're going to film their Tofino show (our last piece of the film) on April 14th and then we'll be out of their hair. After they see the finished Doc they'll know it was worth it.