doin the damn thing

Well so far so good, i spoke with Tony and Andrew about the film and they were both realy excited and flattered about the idea of me directing a documentary film about them. It turns out they both have interests in film themsleves and both bothers have really professional digital cameras which is always a big plus. Tony the younger of two brothers has a Cannon GL1 and Andrew has a XL1. With them both having nicer DV cameras this is convicent for me, and saves me the trouble of having to renting muiltple cameras from the film department and convenent for those of you that will also be needing digital cameras. I haven't actually had the chance to speak with the two brothers face to face, however after speaking with the brothers over the phone i should be able to meet with them somtime later in the week.....other things that i've had on my mind surrounding this project are honestly I've never headed up such a big project before, which with anyother project i would be a little uneasy with this just for the simple fact that other people would heavily be relying on me. But with this project im so passionate about the subject and just amp'd on documentary filmmaking i dont fore see being side tracked any problem with this film. Other than that i feel like have a good group of guys working with me, and after speaking with other people and friends both in and out of the film department i found a couple of people that were also willing to to help with the project.

........Not a bad start!

here's the pitch

well the pitch that im purposing is about two brothers Tony and Andrew. Tony younger of the two and up an coming surfer has already competed on the professional level in the longboard devision serveral times in the past couple of years, and his brother Andrew a few years older is also a talented surfe but has been fighting the crippling effects of lymes deseise. I want the documentary to be appealing to the wilmington surf culture, but also attractive to people who have no interest in surfing or the culture. I want the documentary to have a very personal feel and just tell the story of two brothers/friends. I want of lot of really interesting shots i plann on mixing up film stocks and styles shooting mostly digital, and some really interesting ambiance super 8, as well as 16mm which i plan on shooting the interviews with but 16mm takes money so we'll see. As for techinal challenges go really what to get some water shots but that takes a speacial water houseing but i think i can probably find a housing for a reasonable price.
why should I be shooting this film..........i guess just for the simple fact that i have so must interest and drive behind trying to get this film made. I've known Tony and Andrew for years and i know what kind of people they are and im convinced that they can tell a good story and perhapes with my direction a great story...haha i would like to see this film get exsposure all over the U.S. at independent film festivials, with a wide range of audience members, but thalian hall is a start. As for this film standing out and being unique, the content within documentary itself is very oringinal i honestly couldn't think of a more appealing storying if I tried. This film has the ability potentially relate to anybody who has ever had any kind of serious struggle. I dont know perhapes im looking to deep into this project, but though my expectations are high im confident in the topic of this documentary.

-matt

playing catch up!

Well thus far in class I'm feeling more and more behind only after looking back over the class schedule did i realize that i have been reading the next week's readings in relation to the blogs that we're supposed to be turned into today on-line at twelve noon. As you can tell this is my first blog entry but bare with me. Has any one else had to do these blogs before?
But any who, chapter4: the beginning of chapter four made documentary film making sound more like the inner workings of a court rooms with plaintiffs and defendants than film making. But it made a good point, that it is the job of audience to decide whether of not the "quality of evidence" is enough to communicate the message clearly. As the chapter advances it covered more ideas of credibility as well as order and selection in presenting evidence. It compared the director of a documentary to an attorney (which i wasn't to found of) but i could understand. And how the arrangement of evidence had a large impact on the over all message that the film was trying to convey. This chapter also touch on documentary film making as a practice and the ways in which filmmakers choose to collect evidence whether it be completely disconnected and observational or more involved like participatory documentary film making. Either way the they are out to achieve the same goal and that is to tell a story by getting the audience to experience other people's realities and POV's.
Chapter 24: interviewing....
This chapter seemed mostly common sense. It seemed to me that if you have basic social skills then anyone is capable of creating an interview. I thought it interesting how the camera placement can change the audiences perception of the entire interviewee. With the camera being placed at eye level directly in front of the subject so the subjects speaks directly into the camera therefore speaking directly to the audience; or off to the side so the subject speaks to the interviewer. These minor movements have an impact of the audiences interpretation i found this to be interesting. I thought this chapter to be useful when it talked about setting the subject and your self at ease. I spoke of how to gain the subjects trust and avoid closed ended questions and manipulation (makes sense). Ways of gaining trust and suitable questions to ask etc.