Brooklyn, New York
It’s been about 6 weeks since my last update. It might be more appropriate to begin, “Bless me father for I have sinned, it’s been about 6 weeks since my last update”. That’s how the Catholic sacrament of penance starts and this blog’s title “Mistakes I Have Made” fits. By confessing my mistakes fully and in detail, I become aware of the circumstances and assumptions that make mistakes possible, even likely. Flamboyant mistakes can indicate an adventurous nature but repeating the same mistake over and over is a sign of ignorance and stubborn inflexibility – a terrible sin for the mystic commando. This blog improves on the Catholic protocol by implementing confession early in the causality chain thus nixing pre-sin, patent pending.
It’s also just over 6 months since the updates started and for some readers the novelty may have worn off. “So what if Dan Kelly is developing super powers and saving the world? I’ve got bills to pay!” So to keep everyone’s attention riveted I’ve decided to reveal winning lottery numbers in advance. 466. 72851.
Speaking of money… following last month’s plan to generate finishing funds by liquidating extra equipment, I have, after considerable effort, sold one of my HVX cameras and a few hard drives. Certainly the economy is funked – I’ve never had so much trouble selling used gear before. Now I’m super motivated to sell the rest of the extras before the buyers all disappear. I’ve also been preparing to reactivate my freelance gigs. Initial recon indicates that I need to establish a more compelling promotional presence with new reels excerpting recent projects. So back to the project at hand – DOG.
Last month a radical approach to slashing the length of DOG from 26:40 to 13:00 was initiated. The idea was to have less movie to work on and therefore finish sooner. Unfortunately the test audience complained that the new concise cut was hard to follow.
Faisal Azam suggested fleshing out Uncle Joe’s character as a way to make the shorter treatment coherent. The bottom line is that there is no quick fix, no easy way out. A shorter film brings up new storytelling issues. A longer film requires additional roto and motion graphics.
I wanted to release *something* in January but DOG is far from ready. My other film “Some Almonds Are Harder to Skin Than Others” has been ready for a year, needing only cosmetic tweaks and some color correction. It’s a micro-documentary tangentially related to DOG production and I’d been saving it as a special feature for the DOG DVD. The prospect of getting something out to festivals immediately was inspiring, so I shifted gears and released Almonds last week.
Almonds explores the link between an affinity for wilderness and a loathing for consumption. People who are disconnected from nature seem more likely to convert earth’s bounty into junk and toxic waste. Enhancing or at least initiating an authentic public connection to wilderness would put consumerism in serious trouble.
Publicity still from “Some Almonds Are Harder to Skin than Others”.
A visit to the strange tribe at the top of the hill – consumers.
Publicity still from “Some Almonds Are Harder to Skin than Others”. The mostly
sprouted breakfast, proof of concept for a low cost and sustainable activist fuel.
If Jerry Mander is correct (Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television) and the primary distribution channel for movies is inherently disconnecting, then achieving connections with movies would be a nifty trick. Thank Goddess I am an artist – what’s needed is a little poetry.
Almonds reminds some folks of “Grizzly Man” by Werner Herzog, a movie I’ve never seen. Kai Schwarz and I got to talking about sustainable travel and after I showed him Almonds he too said it reminded him of GM. I don’t really want to watch GM until I had launched Almonds, but after hearing this yet again I did some research.
There seems to be two schools of thought on GM. Some people interpret GM as the story of a young idiot who gets himself and his girlfriend eaten by a bear. This doesn’t seem to support my objective of creating connection to wilderness, so it’s disturbing to think of folks drawing a parallel between GM and Almonds. Another interpretation is that Herzog’s portrayal of ‘Grizzly Man’ Timothy Treadwell was skewed. Treadwell’s close connection to wilderness, his attempt to teach and live his vision even to the point of loosing his life are portrayed as crazy and foolish. That’s the narrative of consumer culture and Herzog may have pandered to it. Until I see the movie myself, I can’t be sure. However, I feel confident that the GM angle may be workable after all. Almonds could be the revenge of Grizzly Man, not on the bear but on the sleepy mind set of unsustainable post-modern life.
I’ve just returned from Michigan where I enjoyed 10 days of frozen lakes, outhouses and super hot baths. On the drive back I snagged a picture of the exit 69 Big Beaver sign on I75. Though the camera resolution was set lower than I had intended, I think I can complete the abandoned highway scene now. Haven’t run out of mistakes yet.
