CHEAP BASTARD FILMWORKS - New Super-8 projects

Well, kinda 'new'; decided it was the time to find out what was on those rolls of unprocessed Super-8 that had been sitting around for years on end - early in the 2000s, I won a eBay auction of a lot of Ektachrome 160-G film cheap and promptly discovered the reason for that was that it was expired film (date on the boxes is 'DEC 79' and a type where one of the chemical ingredients used for developing was becoming very scarce) - and expensive to process, so 4 rolls sat in storage, along with a couple rolls of Tri-X, having forgotten exactly when & what I shot on them.

After some research, I decided to use Negativeland, a lab in Ridgewood, NY that could process it (as B/W negative; best option to get an image) & scan it, along w/a print of my 16mm film-school project to be scanned.

THE RESULTS:

The Super-8 was questionable - but it turned out Good; only one roll had serious deterioration, and even managed to pull an image from that - has the feel of footage shot over a century ago... 

 

Even better, it turns out that I shot these during production of THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN (in Wichita and Cottonwood Falls, KS) and the Traci Lords family comedy AU, PAIR KS [aka THE SOCCER NANNY] in Lindsborg, KS - I had completely forgotten that I brought the Super-8 with me.

The 16mm [empty, try another] looks pretty good, a 2K scan of a print. My interest in oblique metaphoring and love of musical minimalism probably has roots here - literally done with no money, which is why the credits were originally done orally (Director's Answer™® - "It's a Truffaut homage").

  

Thanks again to Ben Kufrin, Jon Knoll, Tracy Holliway-Wiggins, Jane Brockman and everyone else who lent a hand.

More personal excavation to come? Perhaps...

It's FilmFest Time!!

Happy New Year, everyone! Yes, I know that it's just a tad late, but you know how these things are.  Personal turmoil and all that comes along with it -- The Good News is that everyone made it through surgery and they're recuperating nicely. The Christmas Miracle of December transmorgrified into January's Fresh Hell, as Christmas Miracles sometimes do.

With Spring, comes FilmFest to Kansas City - excuse me - The AMC Kansas City FilmFest, as the official titling goes. That kicks off this Wednesday, April 6 through April 10.

Here's a two-part interview with founder Fred Andrews, who provides some history, from when it started as The Kansas City Filmmaker's Jubilee to its current incarnation as FilmFest. This was intended for an article last year about the festival, but the publication it was intended for no longer exists... so, not one to waste material, it became the latest from Cheap Bastard Filmworks.







My personal picks are:


WED.
Togetherness Supreme
Rainbow Town
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
Anatomy of Vince Gauaraldi

THURS.
Andy Anderson Shorts/Detention
Seminar: Art Direction for the Indie Filmmaker

FRI.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
Brotherhood

SAT.
Au Pair, Kansas
Homecoming
Pruitt-Igoe Myth
Seminars: The Big Idea


And I recommend any and all of the shorts programs.

You can find trailers for some films, as well as information about tickets and a link to a downloadable program on the FilmFest site.

Disclosure: I did work on AU PAIR, KS, and the FilmFest is the place where it will be making its world premiere, then on to festivals in Minnesota and Oklahoma.

Production blubs - AU PAIR, KS & NAILBITER

J.T. O'Neal, writer/director of AU PAIR, KS was kind enough to pass this on - an assembly of the opening credits of the film. This isn't likely the final version, but it's a taste of what's coming down the pike.





Work begins on another project very soon -- as always, there's not much that I'll be able to say while it's in production. I can say that this is the long awaited NAILBITER, Patrick Rea's new feature. You can check out Patrick's site SenoReality Pictures, for official word about the film... there's a very enigmatic trailer up that offers up a hint of what to expect.

Have a happy 4th!

Memories of a Winter's Day...


... it takes me back to about a month ago, while shooting AU PAIR, KS and the first big snow that we suspected we'd get, but were hoping we wouldn't.














Ahh, memories...

Au Pair, Kansas

Time again for a few weeks of work away in a foreign town... well, Lindsborg, KS, is not all that foreign, but it is new for me. The above mentioned film is a Christmas family picture, and it will certainly be shooting in authentic conditions - none of that 'shooting in July and pretending it's cold' bullshit here. I'm working with some familiar faces, and with some new ones, so we'll see how this works out.

Obviously, I won't be blogging during shooting. I should return to the warmth of home right before Christmas, so the next entry should be before the New Year.

To tide you over, and also to shout out to some of those people I'll be working with again, here's something that Script Goddess brought to my attention... Cube-Tap's "It Was A Good Day".