Day 5- Clare and Tony, please don't tear your farm down.

         Last night was the best, most efficient shoot thus far.  Everything went so smoothly and every shot we ended up with looks so, so good.  I wish the entire short could have as much texture as we picked up just last night.  The factory scene might come close, but nothing really compares to this.  Somebody upstairs must have wanted us to get our shots because the rain stopped virtually as we were on our way to the farm and didn't start again until we had just enough to complete the scene.  We arrived around 7:30 and started setting up the lanterns and by around midnight we had significant portions featuring myself and Victoria.  In a perfect world, i.e. if we had a budget, we would stay another night and get more because the farm is so expansive and rich.  But alas, we all have to work tomorrow and my credit card is still smoldering from all the activity this weekend, so I guess we're little indie filmmakers after all.  Really, though, what we got looks flippin' sweet.  But you don't have to take my word for it.  Observe:

So lush.  What other short film looks so beautiful?  Come on, domestic and foreign film festivals, you know you want to let us in.

Andrew.

Iowa at long last.

         We arrived here in Ames and we're all just hanging out in our hotel rooms (while we wait for the rain to blow over and the sun to go down.  The crew we have this weekend is small, consisting of just myself, Victoria, and Zach to help with the camera.  Everything is set.  I didn't feel entirely prepared for last weekend's shoot and being that Iowa is just a bit farther away than Kasota or Watertown (sarcasm font) I was a bit paranoid in my planning, making sure every detail had been checked.
           I can't wait to shoot this farm.  I've gone over the pictures I took in July when we first came out here to visit, planning where we'll set up and how we'll capture all the buildings.  This place will add a lot of texture to this short movie.  We have four small propane lanterns that we'll be arranging in various shots throughout the scene and I'm hoping it will create a unique look for not only this particular scene but also for the entire project.
          The deadline for the Slamdance Film Festival in Utah is October 30 which doesn't leave us much time to do quite a bit.  We still have work to do on every location we've visited thus far to complete each respective scene, and additionally we have one major scene left to shoot which we have yet to begin.  Fortunately, as I've already mentioned, everyone involved has been very available and accommodating in his or her schedules and the next few weeks will be jam-packed with full weekends of shooting and me editing as we go along.
         I've been trying to resist the temptation to work on developing the ideas I have for turning this short film into a feature-length movie, which is the ultimate goal at this point as we look forward to film festival submissions.  I have several other feature-length scripts at various stages of development but for now this story and this particular genre have really captured my attention.  To speak a bit more about "Podunk", it will probably come in around 15-20 minutes and tells the story of two investigators tracking a serial killer from a large metropolitan area into a small rural town.  It's meant to be an allegory, and the longer I've obsessed about every little piece of this project the more I find myself thinking ahead to what else I could do with it on a larger scale.
        I don't want to think too far ahead because I want to let this short movie have its own life but after almost six months of writing, rewriting, planning, and developing I find myself beyond burnt out on the same idea, so moving feels natural.  The feature-length film I have in mind will be less and extension or continuation of the narrative you will see in the short film but rather an elaboration on the theme.  I'm excited to finish this short film not only to send it out to festivals (and await judgement...) but to then have license to move on to different territory.
        With the end in sight I've begun looking for venues in the twin cities for promotion and exhibition.  We want to show this film and have a premiere of sorts at a theater in Minneapolis but we're not sure where.  Any suggestions are welcome.  Thank you to everyone who has checked out this fledgling blog and thank you for spreading the word about it and our movie.  After this shoot I'll post some images so you can get an idea of what we've done and the world we're trying to create.

Andrew.

Day 4

Hello.

       I apologize for the delay in a follow up blog, it's been a busy few days.  We had scheduled a shoot last Friday night but cancelled because of the rain.  Someday we'll be able to control the weather, when we have a budget...  Sunday was a long shoot.  We arrived in Kasota, MN at around 9:30 and began preparing for the shoot and we finally started around 11:30.  I haven't had time yet to really go through what we've gotten from the day, but most of it looks good.
      I've been very, very fortunate at every step of this process to be surrounded by people with endless enthusiasm and support for this project, and it's been invaluable in assuaging much of the stress involved.  In a forthcoming post I'll elaborate on them specifically and give them the credit and thanks they truly deserve, but for now all I can say is thank you, this has been so great because of you.
      This coming weekend we're taking a field trip down to Iowa for some sequences.  Principle shooting should be done in about three to three-and-a-half weeks.  Everything we've shot so far has been edited and is waiting for the rest.  After that we'll work on sound, polishing the edit, and then burn it to a dvd and send it off.  I'm working on securing a venue to show the final movie in late October.  I'm hoping to do it somewhere in Minneapolis but it depends on a few factors, namely how many people we think might actually attend (and so far it sounds like a lot) and thus what expense of renting out a theater we feel is justified.  Word of mouth has already been very good to us and it seems every day I hear more and more people saying their friends and their friends friends want to see it when it's done.  We want you to see it too.
      
      As I mentioned in my first post this blog also aims to promote not only our work but also the work of others, and ultimately to promote valuable resources in and around the cities for artists of many disciplines to actively seek funding, education, or other opportunities to advance their art as a career.  My personal investments are obviously in visual and written media so I'll begin there because I have already gathered numerous specific resources for that.  However, my hope is that as this blog (hopefully) continues to attract a larger and broader readership that any resources I may have missed or simply not know about are brought to my attention so I can both utilize them myself if applicable as well as spread the word about them to other artists.  Later this week I'll begin posting on specific resources I know about so don't worry, I'll keep my promise.

     In the mean time, thank you for surfing the web while at work and being salaried to read my blog.  My good friend Evan Kelly will be participating in a 26 hour fundraiser for the Duluth-based Renegade Theater.  He and his actor amigos will be dropping it like it's hot this coming weekend so if you're in the Duluth area please go check them out and show support.  He's a talented guy.

See: renegadetheatercompany.org

Have a good day, and thank you for reading!  "Podunk" will be here soon...

Andrew.

Podunk.

Well, I've finally gotten around to starting this thing.  The idea for a blog had been thrown around since early summer and I'm only now organized enough to sit down and do it.  My name's Andrew and here you'll be able to read blog posts written by me and my friend Victoria.  Who are we?  We're friends and current collaborators on a short film we're shooting here in Minneapolis, Minnesota as well as in Iowa.  The film (I guess technically a movie, not a film, as we are using no film...)  will be finished in less than a month and will probably clock in at a little less than twenty minutes.  Then we'll put it on a dvd and send it on its merry way around the country (and perhaps the world...?) to knock on the doors of film festivals to beg them to let us in.

The movie's title is 'Podunk' and is about...well... it's about the recession.  I'll just say that.  It's been one of the most exciting processes I've ever been a part of watching this thing go from an idea in my head to all its iterations and changes on the page and now actually seeing it right in front of me.  

There's an ulterior motive involved in this blog.  Aside from promoting our own work and the talented individuals involved we want this blog to serve as a way to connect individuals passionate about pursuing the arts as a career with the resources they need to do so.  This includes us.  Victoria and I have been looking for grant opportunities to support our growing movie-making habit if nothing comes of the festival circuit route (*fingers crossed*).  

When we get our shit together on this blog it will hopefully be helpful tool for all you starving artists out there in the cities and beyond to get started.  If you're like us you work a day job to pay the bills while you do what you love in your spare time.  Maybe with enough work we can do what we love all the time.  

Start spreading the word.  This will be an underground movement to pay attention to.  More soon...

Andrew.