Broadcast News

So I saw Broadcast News for the first time tonight as part of an Albert Brooks double feature at the Paramount Theater Summer Film Series (the other film was Modern Romance, a movie I had seen before, love, and might write about separately). Broadcast News is a little weird to me. I think it gets by on the manic energy of Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks’ dry wit, and William Hurt’s charisma as well as the chemistry of the likable and fleshed out supporting cast (by the end, the news team - from the technical crew to the top anchor - feels almost like family). It also gets by on most (but not all) of the writing.

But at 2 hours and 13 minutes its too fat and it’s not the most visually appealing movie (even a scene at airport security looks like it was staged in the same drab, confining set as the news room; why would airport security ever be so cramped?). James L. Brooks demonstrates his knack for emotional and tonal shifts on a dime, but sometimes he can’t help himself but shift gears too far. Some gags are attempts at biting satire but play like parody and feel cartoony (two examples: two musicians pitching their idea of the new opening credits jingle; and Holly Hunter’s Jane sending her rival to report on an Alaskan serial killer pays off in the background of a scene but the set dressing for it forces the joke and so it falls flat because its tone feels out of place). James L. Brooks hangs around in scenes far too long to make sure these gags get played; otherwise, the movie won’t be funny enough.

Oh but it would. When the film focuses on the interplay of the three main characters it really shines at providing relatable, honest human moments. Characters crack jokes in the most emotionally raw and intense situations - as when Albert Brooks takes a stand declaring his love for Hunter and his desire to fight for her, he stops to quip, “This is the first time I’ve ever fought for anyone. Do people ever win these fights?”. It rings true - and funny. And while these characters are neurotic and don’t go about their feelings in the healthiest of ways, these aren’t infantile adult children. These are grown ups, acting like grown ups, being funny and devastating all at the same time.

Is it blasphemy to name scenes I’d retroactively cut from an Oscar nominee? I’d cut the jingle (it’s funny, and Brooks is hanging in the scene to also show the executive director’s disapproval of Tom’s first performance on air, but it keeps us away too long from the central drama). I’d cut the sex scene (they kiss at the car, Holly Hunter sees this, we know they’re going to sleep together - nothing is gained by showing us Tom and the other anchorwoman actually together, especially when she’s about to get shuttled off to Alaska in the next scene never to be heard from again. There’s great character work in that scene, and I love the scene for that reason; however, it’s gotta go... in my humble opinion). It’s almost as though James L. Brooks wants to make sure that we know they slept together, and that’s another tendency he has in this movie, which is to be on the nose. It doesn’t sink the film, but it happens more often than I’d like to see.

And the seven years later coda - there were two previous out puts you could have ended the film on before we got to this last sequence. The idea behind this last sequence isn’t bad - it’s just the staging of the whole thing. It doesn’t feel right. It ties the movie up too nicely. It’s not necessary. And it’s the worst written scene in the film. The seven years later jump just doesn’t work for me and it’s too bad because I thought any of the earlier out points would have made for a more resonant conclusion to the film.

But hindsight is 20/20! And I know I’m shitting on the movie but I actually like much of it. A whole lot of it in fact. It comes back to the performances and the middle of the film, where the writing is its sharpest and most witty (“If there’s anything I could do for you” “I’d like you to die real soon”). Joan Cusak’s first scene is a classic; the hypertension of getting that tape on the air on time is both comic and a rush. And Hunter and Albert Brooks’ playing off each other, like best friends that communicate like lovers but will never act on those feelings, is my favorite element of the film. Two truly wonderful, delightful performances.

Beer on the balcony

It's a nice night to sit on the balcony, beer in hand, letting my four hours of sleep catch up to me. Hit one of my many deadlines today, so I get to breathe a sigh of relief as I get a little bit of control back in my schedule.

I turned in my first Texas Filmmaker's Production Fund application today. Like anyone who scrambles to get all the materials together close to the deadline, I had my share of technical issues before getting to the post office around 1:30 PM.  Ran out of ink, realized I was out of blank dvds to burn my rough cut onto... then toast titanium hung up while writing the lead out of the dvd... now I sound like a nerd...

Anyway... I applied to TFPF for funds for my short film "Do Over". We're still cutting it [just recently had our first test screening of sorts], so there's still quite a bit left to do before we can consider it finished: color correction, sound design and sound mix, titles, score, etc.... This was my first grant application that I wrote for project, so the process was very helpful in distilling how we actually made this film and what it means to me and why I think it will mean something to an audience once we're finished. It also shed a light on what the "true" cost of the film was. It made me appreciate that much more the time and hard work my gracious crew to this little romantic comedy.

Whether we receive funds or not, the process of applying was well worth the sleepless night and the technical dificulties this morning. Here's crossin my fingers...

Shootin' Pickups

Just finished shooting variations on the same pick up shot for my short film, “Do Over.” We’re trying to keep a scene alive for rhythmic reasons; the key joke that makes a scene a scene just wasn’t selling with the way I asked the original prop for the scene to be framed. Plus, the prop just didn’t work as well as we wanted. Thanks to a huge favor by a friend of ours who is a graphic designer, we mocked up a much better prop, a gift card. From there it was all about matching this one little insert shot to the principal footage.

No small task.

I shot tests with different lenses and different lighting set ups myself all week. After receiving my DP’s device, I decided it was simple enough I could light it (per his notes) myself, and then ended up shooting it tonight with our two leads, my producer and my girlfriend.

There was a lot of debate about how Garrett, our leading male, should hand it to our leading lady, Jacobi. What felt natural vs. what played best on camera, etc. Then trying to nail the same sweet spot over and over for the right focus. Then making sure to get the right movement into the frame so it cuts into the scene well and looks interesting with a gag that’s playing (hopefully). I’m not sure if we got it exactly right but for something that will be on screen for a total of 3-4 seconds, I think it’ll work.

I enjoyed actually trying to figure out the lighting myself, and operating the camera as well. It re-taught me a lot of things about shooting that I hadn’t been exposed to in a long time. If nothing else, this little itty-bitty insert shot that took us two hours to film gave me the confidence that I understand lighting and photography a little bit better than I had given myself credit for.

Still doesn’t mean it’ll cut! Wait and see....

I also managed to record our last actor’s performance, a role that is all voice over. The actress and I recorded it ourselves in a sound proof room in the basement of the fine arts building at the private school I teach at. We got it in the can in under 45 min. -- record time for me. Productive day for my short today...

... but not for my other projects...

Heaven Can Wait

Just watched 'Heaven Can Wait' directed by Ernst Lubistch. Very strange movie. Anti-climactic. But some great word play, one liners and banter, especially when there are three or more characters on screen. Chaotic dialogue that bounces off of itself from one character to another is something I enjoy and appreciate, especially when done this well. The story overall, though, just doesn't amount to much. Very peculiar structure and ending. I was very surprised when it finished. Glad I finally saw it. 

Fourplay: Tampa Fundraiser Screening

The audience reaction to our naughty little short was loud and uproarious. There were a few "awws" whenever our main character was rejected by someone he wanted to get close to, and the laughs built really nicely over the course of the film. I'm always pleased and excited at screenings like these.

The house wasn't full but any little bit helps. Here's to a successful premiere at Cannes!

Stretched Thin

When you edit free lance, you tend to take on too many projects at once. Sometimes out of economic necessity, sometimes because a story or a filmmaker is so compelling you don't want to pass up being part of a project that could turn out to be unique or push your craft to another level; sometimes you're doing somebody a favor (watch out for those).

No matter what you sign up for, large or small, high budget or low, deadlines tend to get pushed or shuffled around, unforeseen problems arise that take time to suss out, or too many cooks enter the kitchen. When all of the above happens on two or three or four projects at once, they ending up caving in on each other with you at the center of the rubble.

Stuff's been caving in lately -- not in a way I can't handle, but... you know... even metaphorical cave ins suck -- and I made a mistake pertaining to my day job -- the one that pays the bills -- that I shouldn't let happen again even when I have to do what's required of me on one of my other jobs. I teach part time, and when my students expect me so that we can discuss their final projects and I don't show because of forces I could have better control over...?... Well, I feel I have let them down, which means I've let the school down, their parents down, and myself.

Sometimes editing independently can make you feel like you've given yourself up to the gods, that you've handed your fate over to someone else's control. It's silly to feel that way, I know ("Quit whining and take back control you pussy!"). But I can't deny it still feels that way sometimes. I need to work on finding a better balance an preventing those cave-ins before they occur...

In the can

From February 18th to the morning of February 21st -- I managed to do what I’ve been telling people I’ve been wanting to do for years now: I directed a film again. A short film, the “student film I never made” as I like to call it. Something that my chief collaborators and I wanted to make and look as professionally as possible, that we pulled our money and resources together to make, that I called in numerous favors for from the goodwill I cultivated over the last five years (boy -- hope we didn’t squandered those favors; gonna need more in the future!) -- without losing sight of the fact that it was to be a project to get myself back on the directing horse... that was to get my producer and editor back in the habit of making movies of our own, in our voice.

That’s not to see this project is any mere exercise. We took it seriously. We asked more than we deserved of our crew and sought them out because we thought they would make the project the best it could be. And now, with some distance from the shoot, I feel we shot something we’ll be able to say we’re proud of at the end of post production. Something that is beautifully shot, that is performed with joy and abandon, that came not from one brain (I dropped any semblance of an auteur theory Day 1) but from the collective talents of everyone on set.

It was not without its pitfalls or problems (both preventable and unforeseen). It was not without its lessons that I learned in the midst of calling “Action!” nor that I’ve stopped realizing since calling wrap. But mistakes and lessons and moving on and struggling to make the day was what I anticipated and expected and wanted. Because I’ve been witness to and have worked with many other directors and producers who have endured the same process without a safety net (this was not for class credit; this is our money and time taken out by professionals to help me make a sugary sweet and goofy little short to enter into the world where there is no fool-proof, profitable market for sugary sweet and goofy little shorts) and the question that I wanted to answer for myself was: Could I do this myself now? I have proven myself as an editor; did I ever really prove myself as a director? Do I have what it takes to make quick decisions on the fly in the heat of the moment with a schedule baring down on me and my AD saying we have to move on but my editor saying “you didn’t get it”...?!

I don’t know if I’ve proven myself a good director or not; we still have to cut this movie. But I know this about the majority of the shoot: I had a blast. I loved having to decide between two different pairs of dress shoes, a white bow tie or a black bow tie. I loved watching my actors warm up and work their way to such comedic rhythms that I had to leave the room else I blow a take. I loved discovering that my DP had given me something better in the frame than I had imagined when our dolly didn’t work out the way we had wanted. I loved huddling with my producer and editor to talk about how we could cut down the coverage in a pivotal scene. I loved my crew for coming together to help me make a movie... and for having faith in me that I could lead them in making it.

I feel like I have a new kind of momentum now. I hope it’s okay that I’ve shared this bit of soul baring with whomever might stumble across this post in the near future.

Now... I haven’t mentioned much about the film in any specifics. I will in the weeks ahead. But I want to focus on getting it finished before I start really giving any details about it away. Not that this is, like... Terrence Malick’s next opus. Just that... Good things happen when a movie catches an audience off guard, no matter how large or small the project.

More to come in time... For now, movie’s in the can (or to be more accurate, on the hard drives) and that’s a good feeling. Let’s revel in that... until my editor tells me otherwise... =)

Does this make it official?

Three days 'til 'Action!'

I am in the middle of shot listing and re-writes. Scheduling rehearsals and making camera maps (storyboards haven’t really done it for me... yet).

I am not nervous, though I feel like I should be. I think I’m too tired and too focused to be nervous. Or there’s just too much to do just to fill the frame with something interesting that I’m numb to the whole process. It’s like the moment my collaborators and I said, “We’re making this movie” it stopped being a movie and became an endless question and answer session. You just hope deep down inside that you’ve answered 100% of what’s been asked by the first day of shooting so you can just tell people when to hit record. 100% is probably too much to expect, this I know from working with other directors in the past 5-6 years.

I keep getting teased by my producer and my editor that I don’t sound like I’m having fun. It isn’t that I’m not having fun; it’s that I haven’t directed from a script that I wrote since Test Day and I’m re-learning a bunch about this process. But five (!) years in the editing room has taught me a ton about design, about space, about cutting (obviously) and about performance. All the stuff I’m having to re-learn is just all the things I’ve avoided since graduating RTF: equipment check-out, casting, shot listing, costumes, communicating... I don’t know... a unified vision.

But for the three or four people stumbling and reading this blog, I promise you: I’m having a blast.

[And in case you haven’t caught on, seeing as this is the first post ever to my first ever blog: I’m in pre-production for my first short film since 2004 [!]. There’s been a lot of talk over the years about doing this again; let’s hope I can back it up with something the most of us can dig].