INLAND EMPIRE

http://www.filmint.nu/?q=node/121

My Cousin's Baby Layne And Other Things On B&W 35mm

Thinking About Film Festivals

Film festivals, as we all know, kick a lot of ass. It is a time and place where filmmakers, old and young, new and experienced, gather to celebrate the awesomeness of cinema. I am very excited about submitting a future film to Cucalorus or any out-of-town festival. I have been working on an extended cut of the Gypsy Fire documentary (in which more live performance has been added) and realized that I want to shoot more. Perhaps this will happen. I just think that shooting live performances is an epic adrenaline rush. In any case, we shall see what the future holds. As for the Port City Paranormal documentary that shall enter the editing stage next semester, I am very excited to work with Mike Munch on assembling the film. I think that we have strong content and that this documentary could be both inspirational/endearing and sobering. By sobering, I mean that the footage will tear down the walls that have been built by modern craze reality shows such as Ghost Hunters (the real deal is nothing like these overdramatized shows). PCP can be developed into a humbling piece and I look forward to submitting it to film festivals across the nation.

Cucalorus Happenings

There were many events that I wanted to attend at Cucalorus. I wanted to see Precious, but I knew that it would be playing at theaters such as Mayfaire in the near future. I also wanted to see The Messenger, starring natural born killer Woody Harrelson, which is a film for which I have heard many great things. I have never been able to attend a Blue Velvet tour, and considering the fact that it is one of my favorite films by one of my favorite directors, and would love to do so in the future. Stinking Bishop Shorts (featuring Too Bare Or Too Bush) was on my list of things to attend, however it was sold out.

The following is an excerpt from the Cucalorus response paper:

The screening of documentary shorts containing the mighty “Titan” had remarkable films. The “Solitary Life of Cranes” gave viewers an extremely well shot perspective of crane operators in London; talking heads were not depicted. “A Film From My Parish – 6 Farms” served as an unexpectedly interesting experimental documentary. The film was shot on a digital camera supposed purchased by the director on eBay and edited together by incorporating the use of stop-motion, animation, and montages that attempted to recreate motion, an example being the rapid juxtaposition of photographs of a path through the woods that replicated a forward tracking shot.

The feature that I would like to discuss is The House of the Devil by writer, director, and editor Ti West. Ti hyped his film really well before the screening began and a movie critic joined in, claiming that this is the movie that audiences should be seeing instead of Saw VI; I agree, but that’s as much hype as I can award the little horror flick. The plot is as follows: Samantha is a sophomore in college and has very little money, so she takes a babysitting job at a spooky house in the middle of nowhere. The man who hires her is played by Tom Noonan (I love Tom Noonan!) and is later revealed to be a member of a satanic cult. The majority of the film involves following Samantha around the empty house before being captured and sacrificed to the devil. The screenplay was lacking in creativity, but Ti directed the actors well and the film looked and felt like a 1980’s horror flick, and I applaud him for realizing that stylistic choice which he set out to achieve.

looking back on the project 3 film shoot

the music video shoot of Wax Lips was frickin awesome. we shot for an entire saturday, meeting bright and early at 8:30. the bulk of the shoot took place in the drummer's house. we completely rearranged the living room space into a dance floor for the extras and set the band up in a corner next to the massive stone fire place. my job was lighting, so i checked out several lights (300, 650, and a 1k), a ton of green, blue, and orange gels, diffusion, flags, c-stands, and the like. we had various lighting setups for the band (alternating between those 3 colors) to give off a concert feel. we also had a scene that took place at a bar inside of their house and i decided to light it green and orange. the make-out scene was lit blue, of course. later that night, we shot at lucky's pub while the band performed on stage. lauren kicked ass as the producer and assistant director. will and alex were in top form as director and DP. great great crew! all in all it was one hell of a fun shoot, and i just wanted to thank darion for coming out to help.

more 35 mm!!

grandpa


mom (kinda wishing i had a pola for this one)

Concerning the Art House Reading

I find the concept of the microcinema brilliant. Many cinephiles such as myself struggle to see lesser known films on the big screen (I would like to see Lars Von Trier's latest film Antichrist on the big screen, but that aint gonna happen here in wilmywood because audiences would flee in terror), but it is not practical due to the existence of pop culture. One of my favorite theater experiences occurred when I saw David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE (yeah he wants it in all caps) at Thalian Hall one night. There were probably 15 people in attendance, all of varying ages, and after the film ended, we all talked about it afterwards for at least 15 minutes. That wouldn't happen after a showing at mayfaire. I think it would be awesome to start a weekly or monthly screening (even if it is at my apartment for example) for fellow cinephiles to kick back and relax to films that are not widely seen on dvd and then discuss them. Hmmm. Maybe....

recent 35 mm stuff

Spiral?
Wisdom: a portrait of my father.

BFX, the place I call home.
My grandfather, 89, hard at work sweeping corn into the grain pit at BFX. I love the way the colors of his attire pop.

LipWax

So the fuckin sweet group I have been assigned to work with decided to create an epic down n dirty rock n roll music video. After searching several nights downtown for bands to shoot (we found an incredible indie bluegrass folk band complete with a mandolin, however they live in fuckin nashville and will not be around), we met up once more to research local bands by way of the internet. Lo and behold we discovered Wax Lips, a band whom shines neon but roars glam grunge (shit i think i just coined a highly contradictory term). Will called Xander (the drummer whom I have met before and dude he's pretty crazy awesome) and now we are set to shoot. Being the lighting/grip guy on set, I will put the use the various tactics I have learned from Glenn Pack this semester while attending Lighting for Film. I am picturing the use of a lot of green gels and a lot of orange gels. Moreover, we are considering shooting some scenes outside (perhaps the beach), so a butterfly kit may be needed. We are going to start planning the look of the film tomorrow. I am very excited about this Super 8 masterpiece.

Self-Portrait Contemplation

I have been thinking a great deal about where to start with my self-portrait. Because I do not have experience in animation, I know that I am limiting myself to shooting with a camera. Lately, I have gained a lot of interest in photography ever since I bought a Pentax K1000, and I have been thinking about incorporating some of my photography into the film to punctuate moments contained within the moving image. Thematically, I feel that I should use one of my poems I wrote last year for one of my creative writing classes. And, yes, I will read it in voiceover.

Confession

I confess,

Like sitting on a toilet,

Releasing the guilt

That poisons my body.

And still I consume sin,

Just as the hypocrites.

I lie

On a pew after

The congregation departed.

This building is now

Hollow, and

I am

It's sole inhabitant.

This body is

The temple.

But my body resembles

This temple,

Occupied by an entity

That has been emptied of

It's Savior.

God is not

Where

He used to be.

I'd like to shoot images depicting a world that is barren yet heavily populated. I think that, when edited together, this piece should start off with a lot of symmetry and slowly fall apart, like deconstructing a puzzle. Concerning concrete images, I grew up on a farm across the street from a swamp, so I want the countryside to play a major role. I have also decided to stay away from incorporating religious imagery and churches; I want the voiceover to feed off of the image.

I'm gonna keep brainstorming....

Sound and Light Project Plan

After listening to the soundscape Will and I were assigned "Confession Booth," we felt that we should approach the project as if it were an examination of something deeper. What is within the images? What happens when you look closer? Also, we decided to add color to all of the pictures. After making various colorized versions of most of the photographs, we discussed how the pictures should flow (aside from trying to match the sounds). Because the soundscape starts with footsteps and a door opening and closing, we decided to bookend the soundscape with images of nature. Once more and more sounds are revealed, nature devolves into the city which then evolves into various images of light as the soundscape digs deeper into the confession. Also, we are assembling a flow of images dissolving into other images while moving in for a closer look and contrasting that with the same image rapidly changing into different colors and textures. Trippy man!

Response for assignment #1b

i bought a Pentax K1000 at the end of july and I have been playing around with it quite a bit, so this assignment gave me a motivated chance to learn even more. And by motivated I mean that I was encouraged to try new things. I've been fascinated by the differences the change in the f-stop can make on the quality and perspective of an image with the same framing, and seeing the results only reinforce that which I have been learning. Also, I am not sure if I would have had the idea to attempt the long exposure of the stop lights had I not been given this assignment (I did a 12 second exposure for each because I noticed that the yellow light held for 4 seconds, so I started the shot on the last 4 seconds of green and ended after the first 4 seconds of red). Of course, I forgot for a second that I was filming black and white, so I am now including a color version that I took. enjoy!

Another Random Light Observation

While driving around town, sunlight glaring off of a car caught the attention of my eye. How bright, I thought. As I continued driving, I started noticing multiple glares from multiple cars at one time. How fucking bright, I thought. It got to the point to where I was only paying attention to light bouncing off of vehicles while being surrounded by car dealerships in heavy traffic. Because I was only noticing glares at this point, my eyes started to feel weak. How ridiculously fucking bright it is on the street. It felt like I was staring at the sun... or rather, I felt like the sun was all around me. And everything went white.

A Random Light Observation

So the lamp in my living room has a green light bulb screwed in. Moreover, it is a lamp from Kirklands I believe, wishing it were antique (so the green light bulb seemed appropriate). While sitting on the couch in the dark, I turned on only the green light. The first thing one notices is how little it lights the room; the other side of the room was still quite dark. I then noticed that the light bursting out of the top of the lamp shade created an ovalish octagon on the otherwise black ceiling. No light came through the center of the lamp, creating a black hole within the green octagon. I noticed a slight shadow from the curtain rod on the wall. Curiously, a red cup sat on the table under the lamp shade, appearing as if it were lit from the inside. A book sat beside it: Lolita. Now I want to continue reading Lolita.

Fuckin Badass

Manipulation

Truth

Reflections on Assignment 1A

I found this project to be beneficial because it encourages one to really focus on the power of sounds that we do not pay attention to. I am still amazed at the fact that a leaf scraping itself on the sidewalk can be heard over constant traffic. When recording sounds, we attempted to find some sounds that are not quite common but were interesting and could be used as a sound for something else (such as when we threw quarters and corks at the wall). Doing this project encourages me to go out on my own and record tons of sounds so I can start building my own sound library for future projects. Although sound is essentially synonymous with film, I do believe that it is overlooked. (That's interesting in regards to my previous post concerning absolute film). I also found it fascinating that, when played back, some sounds were hard to decipher when trying to figure out their source. Sound is an entity that must be payed more attention to.

Response to "The Absolute Film"

Dr. William Moritz verbalized something I have often considered: film can and should be thought of as expressive images that do not require narrative and sound to function. Mortiz says, "Cinema even more than music seems dominated by documentary and fiction functions," and I could not agree more. As I have taken more film classes and more creative writing classes, I have reached the point where the narrative is the least interesting aspect because it creates boundaries (as far as my writing goes I am far more interested in the scene rather than the story). There should be room to examine all cinematic opportunities. I feel that society takes film (the moving image) for granted. Yes, music can be used in such a way to enhance the image (as we have witnessed in class by way of Ballet Mecanique), but film should not be synonymous with music. A silent image can be deafening. I was watching clips from a random documentary about Norwegian black metal earlier, and the most feared of the black metal musicians silently stared at the interviewer without flinching for over 2 minutes; the silent portrait of this crazy guy will piss you off because of the silence and progression of time. That is the power film can have and, in my opinion, is a nice example of my interpretation of absolute film.

Sounds I Heard Whilst Listening

I decided to sit in the same spot at two different times of day for two of my entries. The following occurred:

Brookstone Apartments parking lot (around 3 PM). While sitting on the steps outside of my apartment, traffic was bustling. Engines revved and roared. The air conditioning units beside the building rattled constantly, but they were not very loud. Brakes squeaked and squealed. I only heard one car honk, and it seemed intrusive. A single leaf rolled by my feet on the concrete, scraping itself in a manner that is louder than one would expect. A bus thundered off through the nearby stop light. Whenever the wind picked up, the leaves in the nearby tree sounded like a distant mountain stream. Surprisingly, I did not hear any music of any kind blasting by. I missed the sound of chirping birds.

Brookstone Apartments parking lot (around 12:30 AM). While sitting on the steps outside of my apartment, I realized how different nightlife truly is. The air conditioning units rattled constantly and were louder than they were in the afternoon because there were fewer sounds to mask them. I could hear the faint sound of a car alarm in the distance and it seemed to fade in and out. Of course the insects were thriving, chirping as a bird would if it were an insect. Moreover, I continued to miss the sound of chirping birds. Have all the birds flown away? A few cars drove by; their engines softly hummed. The loudest sound was that of another leaf scraping itself on the concrete as it raced the wind. A siren sounds off in the distance, maintaining a continuous long and drawn out call. However, another siren with a rapid call fused with the first siren to create an epic police warning.

While sitting at my computer in my bedroom, I took a moment to take in the atmosphere. My roommate had gone to bed, but every now and then I could hear her cough through the wall. The air conditioner was quite loud and masked many sounds; if it were not running, it would be a much quieter environment. My fingers clicked my keyboard. My neighbor above me stomped furiously all over my ceiling. The bass of rap of hip hop music thud thud thudded from above and I was unable to hear any vocals. It was then revealed that my neighbor was not alone upstairs, being that I soon heard multiple feet performing HULK SMASH! Either a fight was occurring or they were having some intense sex. Or perhaps I was missing out on a killer party; I think I heard the sound of a dresser falling onto my ceiling. My neighbor need not worry, for I am not one to complain.

Response to "Theory of the Film: Sound"

Bela Balazs makes it known that sound is a fundamental element of film; the incorporation of sound is what makes film a unique and nearly limitless art form (nearly limitless when compared to painting and theater, of course). His evaluation of why sound is important in the film world is, in my opinion, dead on. Film is my favorite art form because it basically combines all other art forms into one piece. His claims concerning silence being beneficial in film really struck me. "No other art can reproduce silence, neither painting nor sculpture, neither literature nor the silent film could do so." This is a great point and is something that I have often thought. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN immediately came to mind, the fact being that it lacked non-diegetic music and that the Coen brothers used sound to build suspense: Anton removes his boots at the hotel and approaches Moss's room with shotgun in hand that way he is not to be heard, for he knows that the slightest sound can give away his presence, and Moss is constantly listening to the silence throughout the film, listening for the slightest of sounds. I feel that this is a clear example of how sound, and the lack thereof, can elevate film above other forms of art in terms of control over viewers.

Response to "The Film as an Original Art Form"

Hans Richter makes the claim that film is an original art form, and takes the claim further by stressing what is original and what is not original. He first states that films of entertainment value, such as the works of Hollywood and films that adapt novels and plays (which are/were already their own art forms to begin with). This is an interesting statement to consider. That is not to say that art cannot be created through Hollywood (The Godfather is an adaptation of a novel and yes I agree that the novelized version was art before it was filmed, but I'm ready to fight someone who says that the film version is not art). Richter goes on to say that film has found originality in two forms: the documentary and the experimental film. This is a valid statement, because an experimental film cannot be painted on a canvas and a documentary cannot be produced as a play. I love all forms of film, but I must admit that I completely understand when one states that "film is overwhelmingly used for keeping records of creative achievements." Actors shot on film are immortalized through their performances which society greatly admires. If only society appreciated documentary and experimental films as well.

Response to "Introduction to Avant-Garde Film"

I agree with MacDonald's observation that many are confused after viewing an avant-garde film for the first time. The reason for this is that the population is brainwashed by traditional commercial films that Hollywood spits out every week. I'd like to take this observation further. People willingly watch traditional narrative films because it follows a clear formula (such as a 3 act structure) familiar to everyone, even if they are not aware of it; people like a clear-cut beginning, middle, and end because that is the basics of storytelling. Novels and plays were admired way before film was created, and filmmakers capitalize on film as a way of documenting a play or adapting a novel. Poems and paintings, however, are not capitalized in this way by Hollywood. Avant-garde film is, arguably, the cinematic equivalent to poems and paintings. It seems that people, for the most part, are not as interested in interpretation as they are in being told what the subject matter is precisely about. You can ask someone what an Indiana Jones movie is about and get a clear response, but it is difficult to get a response when you ask someone what Un Chien Andalou is about. It seems that avant-garde is about truly looking at what is being presented rather than just being shown or told.

Artist Bio/Manifesto

My name is Bryan Nixon and I am a film studies major and a creative writing minor at UNCW. Screenwriting has become an interest of mine, and my central goal as a student at UNCW has been to learn the ways of film and the written word and fuse them. Therefore, my interests seem to be in the narrative realm. As a narrative writer, my efforts have become increasingly minimalist (I want every word and every line to count and without excess). Moreover, I have become interested in documentary production, especially after shooting a doc about Wilmington locals Gypsy Fire, a blues rock cover band. In fact, I am eager to film more live performances in the future (it's an adrenaline rush). I am eager to expand my horizons with experimental film because, although it has always greatly intrigued me, I have yet to truly "experiment" in the abstract ways in which I seek.