Extra Criticum

Get Thee to an Artist Residency!

I’m an artist residency whore. My friends know this and I am not ashamed. I hope to continue my whoring ways until the day I die, that’s how fond of the residency experience I am.

Residencies come in all shapes and sizes. Some limit whom they accept (Hedgebrook is for women writers, for example) but most welcome all artists, at all stages of their careers, and several are open to academics and scientists as well. Some are more like vacation spots and require that you pay to attend, others politely suggest you make a nominal contribution, many are a free ride and some may offer grant you a travel or hardship stipend. Some residencies are designed so that you’re roughing it in the great outdoors and some pamper you to no end. Most are somewhere in between. At some places you have to cook and shop for yourself, at others you have a master chef making every meal for you and staff serving it to you. And again, some places are somewhere in between.

Interview with Filmmaker Aimee Madsen

In the spring of 2010, a Google Alert mentioned a documentary in production about Paolo Soleri that wasn't A Life's Work. I was curious and reached out to the filmmaker, Aimee Madsen. We've communicated since about each others' work and supported each others' efforts the way filmmakers do, or at least should. I'm thrilled that she agreed to answer a few questions about her film, Before Form.

Tell me about your documentary, Before Form.

Process: Editing a Bit of A Life's Work

In case you don't know, I'm making a documentary called A Life's Work. It's about people engaged in projects they may not complete in their lifetimes.

Before I get to the clip, some background. My first meeting with Bob Darden of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project was in Chicago, August 2009. During our sit down interviews it became clear very quickly that I would have to go to Baylor University (Waco, TX) to shoot audio engineer Tony Tadey in action. And so I did. The footage with Bob and Tony was shot April 2010, the interview footage is from that Chicago meeting.

Here’s the clip.

On Rejection

Recently I posted on Facebook an email rejection I received for a work of nonfiction ---

Thank you for sending us "[title withheld by me]." The editors had a lengthy discussion about your work. Unfortunately, we are not able to publish it in our forthcoming issue; however, we certainly encourage you to submit other work to us in the future, as your piece had its fans.

This is called a "scrawl" and writers will tell you that as rejections go, this is about the best you could ask for. It is much more encouraging than a form email, such as ---

Achtung, Babies!

"I don't want a full house at the Winter Garden Theatre. I want 90 people who just came out of the worst rain storm in the city's history. These are people who are alive, on the planet. Until they dry off. I wish I had a theater that was only open when it rained." Bill Murray as the playwright Jeff Slater in Tootsie.

Documentary filmmaker Doug Block had an interesting post on his blog, Around the Block about how we're watching movies these days. Block conducted an informal test. As part of an assignment, he asked students in a film class (average age 25) to watch his documentary, 51 Birch Street, saying only that it was available on multiple formats. The next time the class met he surveyed them on format and viewing habit.

The David Licata Film School

Facebook told me Werner Herzog is someone I might know so naturally I clicked on Herr Herzog's link. It brought me to his page. Click on the image to read the text.

“I’ll Show You the Life of the Mind!”

One of the things that gives me fits while editing A Life’s Work is the establishing shot. (And this documentary will require a lot of them.) An establishing shot does what its name suggests: it tells the viewer, “You are here.” Let it be known far and wide: I hate establishing shots in film and television. In sitcoms they are unimaginative—

EXT: BOSTON STREET - DAY

Busy street, most prominent is a sign for a bar called Cheers.

Cut to—

INT: BAR*

If I Could Slow Down Time

Do you like watching actors at work? Then go to Lincoln Center before July 31 and sometime between 8:45pm and 11:30pm. Sit by the fountain and face south. You’ll see something magical: Portraits in Dramatic Time.

Artist David Michalek videotaped actors performing in mysterious scenes for somewhere between 5 and 12 seconds in ultra-high definition at a rate of 3,000 frames per second. That scene is then played back on an 85-x-45-foot screen in super-slow motion, so that the 5-12 seconds plays fluidly for 8 minutes or more. There is no recorded sound; the fountain and the city is the soundtrack.

“Everything about a movie … is who you are and where you are when you saw it.”

Cross-posted on alifesworkmovie.com/blog/

Robert K. Elder had a brilliant if somewhat sadistic idea: sit down with 30 filmmakers and ask them to name the ONE film that changed their lives. And hold them to it, interview them in a knowledgeable, professional and persistent way, let the filmmaker veer off momentarily, talk about how that film found its way into their work, but bring them back to that one film. (Elder lets two of the 30 choose two films, so clearly, he’s not a total fascist.)

A Bit of the Old Ultra-Violence

I’m reading The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark by Robert K. Elder. I’m enjoying it and I'll write a post about the whole book here soon. But I came across a passage I wanted to share. Here Elder and the fine director John Dahl (Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, Rounders, You Kill Me) discuss one aspect of the film that changed Dahl’s life, A Clockwork Orange.

Out on a Limb: Interview with Filmmaker Daria Price

To support this film, please visit the Indiegogo page.

Full disclosure: I’m being compensated by filmmaker Daria Price to help the crowdfunding campaign for her film, Out on a Limb. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with the good stuff.

Daria Price is a filmmaker with a diverse background who works in both documentary and fiction films. She was a field producer and videographer on Canada's Vision TV documentary series, Twist of Faith, and on HDnet's World Report documentary, The Silent Epidemic: Diabetes in Kids, and she has produced, directed, and shot science and tech stories with Elsash-TV for APTN, BBC, and HDnet. Daria’s current project is a documentary called Out on a Limb.

Goldfrapp Tarkovsky

I like to listen to music when I go to the gym. I should be listening to my Italian lessons, but they only seem to bog me down. No, what gets me moving and keeps me moving is Goldfrapp. I love the early, moody, John Barry meets Ennio Morricone electronic music produced by the duo, but when I’m on the elliptical or working that abductor, I want the later disco Goldfrapp.

Learn Filmmaking!

So I’m waiting for a crosstown bus and I’m staring at this poster:

Why You Should See Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Not because it’s in 3-D. That’s the last reason to see it. The 3-D is subtle and it works, but it won’t blow you away.

You should see it because it’s a brilliant, thoughtful film full of images you’ll never see in your life. (Unless they build the theme park nearby with a replica cave. Seriously.)