Student Originated Studies: Media

Reeves Documentary: Yes, well, I received feedback on the Reeves edit from The Client. He loves some chapters more than others, which is to be expected, and on the whole he was "moved" by the piece. Of course the inevitable "but" followed his original positive response. "But," he says, "I'd like to have music playing throughout the entire movie." Okay. "And," he continues, "Here are more photos from the family archive. Could we include them in the movie please? Thanks." Okay.

That was it. All in all, it could be worse. So I worked on that and am nearing what I hope will be, at last, the final edit. As endearing as Mr. Reeves is, I'm looking forward to moving his documentary off of my desk. I need closure. And payment.

Desert Mother Dessert: It was fun screening my first Dream Journal video. The feedback from classmates was good. I might re-shoot this dream sometime in future, but during this week I worked toward locking the picture I do have and developed ideas for an audioscape. I'm glad I decided to start what I hope will become a series. It's fun to work on something as a director/DP/Actor/Editor without having written the content/script, and not worrying about the quality of that content/script because it was written by who knows what somewhere in Dreamtime.

So that was week 7 for me. I feel no need to wax philosophical about what I'm doing at present, so I'll leave it at this.

Walk like an Egyptian,

John B.

This week in history: 

The Reeves ship continues to sail, slowly, away from shore into a finished Tomorrow. I delivered an evaluation copy of my latest 56-minute cut to The Client. Now the waiting game begins before more work is created by said Client's rejections of various decisions I made as an editor.

I took advantage of the Reeves Project lull by traveling to Moses Lake, Washington and shooting my first Dream Journal Video. It shall be known as Desert Mother Dessert and I have high hopes that it will revolutionize cinema.

Not really so much that. I just want it to find some sort of life worth living. Like myself, really.

I made a very very rough cut of the piece in preparation for a Work In Progress screening which will be addressed in my Week 7 update.

Das ist alles, as they say every evening somewhere along der Rhein. Thank you so much for reading. Not necessarily this. Just... reading in general. It's good for you.

--jb 

Some guy just knocked on my door. He wanted me to sign a petition against something or other that is anti-Bush. I told him I don't sign documents at my door and asked him for a website that I could reference before adding my signature to some mystery list.

The guy said, "So you think you support Bush on this issue?"

To which I replied, "No, I don't know the issue. We've barely discussed it. I don't sign things at my front door without doing research first."

"So you don't support grassroots politics then."

You can see where this was going. It ended badly. He chastised me for being all show and no go (I have a small "Impeach Bush" sticker on my front door). I said, "Yes I do."

"Well you must not because that's what I'm doing and you're not supporting it."

I said, "You have no idea what I do." 

He responded, "Obviously nothing. It's so-called liberals like you that make certain nothing gets done."

I said, "It's liberals like you who attack other liberals that cause just as much damage."

To which he replied, "I'm not a liberal. I'm a progressive." Then he walked away.

Ah, the joys of living in a metropolitan area. Where do people get off thinking they can shove a clipboard through a crack in your door expecting signatures? The whole encounter really bothers me. I feel like I've been politically raped by a so-called progressive "good guy." Gestapo tactics are gestapo tactics, I don't care what word you use to describe yourself.

Thanks for listening.

-jbb 

Redundancy. That's the key word for week Five, because I've been working on the Reeves railroad all the live-long day once again. I did at last complete a cut of the piece. The producer and a Reeves Family Representative will be picking up a DVD on Thursday for reviewing purposes. Hopefully they won't request any major changes. We shall see. Current total run time: 45 minutes.

I also storyboarded a Dream Journal Video. I'll likely shoot it this weekend over in Moses Lake. It will star the two people who also starred in the original dream: Yours Truly and my Mother. The piece is currently code-named "Desert Mother Dessert." I'm going ultra low-fi (single-chip DV/on-board mic for dialog), so don't get too excited, whoever you are reading this now. I know you are chomping at the bit to get excited. But don't. Not just yet. Wait, at least, until you see my fine, fine acting.

That's two fines for those of you keeping score at home.

Goodbye Week 5. We'll always have Paris. 

This update will be rather brief as I spent the bulk of it editing the Reeves piece.

Thanks are in order to those who provided feedback after my screening last week. You gave me some rather valuable food for thought and, perhaps more importantly, permission (however indirectly) to slow the piece down and allow it to find its rhythm. I was really uptight about this particular gig for some reason (hmm... perhaps all the technical flaws were getting me down) and wasn't allowing it to breathe, and so it was turning into one long run-on sentence. After the screening and feedback, I returned to The Timeline with fresh eyes and ears and finally found a groove. It's so much nicer to find one's self working with the content of a piece rather than against it, and I was definitely doing the latter.

So... I'm looking at a 30 minute final version, most likely, and another 30 minutes of "extras" footage. The extras stuff will end up as more of a rough assembly of clips than a fully manicured piece. Then comes the graphic design work for the DVD menu, case and label. There is still much to do as this project spills over into Week 5. I really need to get this project off of my desk so I can move into Phase II of the quarter. Meanwhile, I am trying to remind myself that as long as I'm learning, it doesn't matter what I'm working on. The journey is important, not the destination. Or so they tell me.

Heavens to Betsy,

John Boucher