Film Festivals are a breeding ground...

...I'm not sure of what exactly, but I have a few theories.

There are tons of them around the world, all with their own acceptance process. if only I knew each of their standards perhaps I could make the most of my submission money. I'm proud to say that, so far, I've been accepted into three festivals. On the flip side to that, I've also been rejected by two. Out of curiousity, I visited those two festival's web sites and found several films that I've had the priveledge to screen with at other festivals. However, some of those films (strictly opinion) we're just awful. *note I said "some". others were increadibly amazing films that don't surprise me of their acceptance. now here comes theory one:

1. film festivals are a breeding ground for envy: why is my film not good for some festivals, while other crappier films are? In turn I must hate those films because of that. however, the films that are better than mine just make me plain envious.

I understand that some film festivals need to be unique in order to compete with larger film festivals. but this begs the question, "if film festivals are meant to spread the love of film, why do many of them have a specific class of film that they will show?" because my film does not endorse political, ethnic or sexual preference, does that make my film less of a film? Obviously I won't submit to a "gay and lesbian film festival" if my film doesn't promote that, however, you're fooling yourself if you think that the screeners don't push a film up the ranks if it doesn't appeal to them personally. (I.E. one of the crappier films had scenes that may have been perceived as "edgy" or "experimental", subsequently leading to their accptance). now heres theory two:

2. Film festivals are a breeding ground for dogmatism: after writing that I realize how harsh that may sound, and I appologize for the offense. nontheless, it is a theory of mine and as we all know, theories are an IDEA used to account for a situation. because I don't believe in elitism where art is conserned, this theory is based on an individuals views therefore, it must be dogmatism.

now due to laziness, I'll just give you my third (and best) theory with no prelude (although i think it speaks for itself):

3. film festivals are a breeding ground for better films: I know damn well that my current best will never be my over all best if I don't stop trying to progress.

**if you've read this, i hope you don't hate me for it**

festivals!

it would appear that I've forgotten about this little blog. although a lot has happened in the last few months, I'm much to lazy to report all of it. The long and the short of it is, "Oily Marks" has been accepted into two festivals thus far.

the first of which, is the "Indie Spirit Film Festival". It will be held in Colorado Springs, CO April 25-27th. my piece will be showing at the edifice gallery on the 26th at 1p.m. I hope to meet as many people as possible there. for more info go to www.indiespiritfilmfestival.org.

The second film festival is the "Ohio Independent Film Festival". this festival will be held in Cleveland, Ohio May 5th-11th. My piece will be showing on the 11th at 7P.M., which just so happens to be: Closing night, my friends graduation and mother's day. what an eventful day huh? Unfortunately due to being a productive member of society with a steady job, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to this festival. I would love to go back even though I was just out there a couple months ago (another story I might share with you later), I'm just not sure i can swing it. for more info on this festival please visit www.ohiofilms.com.

by the by, you can also get updates on "Oily Marks" and my other projects at www.ejvasko.com.

Almost finished...

"I asked an old professor of mine, 'there’s is so much that I can do, when do I know when its finished?’ he said, 'the project will be finished when you just stop working on it.' you just need to be happy with what you have and leave it alone."

This is what my academic advisor said to me in response to that very question he'd asked years ago. The quarter is over, and it still has not sunk in just yet. I've decided to take a break from the piece for about a week to get a better idea of what I'd really like to do to make it better. I'll likely heed the advice and just make one or two changes to the final cut and submit it as it is.

Just one or two more weeks to do what I will and then hope for the best. I'll also cut together a trailer for promotion and put it up here. After that, there will be radio silence until I get word from the festivals.

Cheers

I've made it this far

Portfolio review was yesterday morning. I had only slept for 2 hours over the last three days leading up to it so Friday was filled with exhaustion and excitement. I was initially worried about even being able to pass, considering the piece was no where near the quality that I would have been happy with. Then when it came my turn to go before the review committee, my instructor told me that I ended up with an "A". My nervousness immediately fell away as we walked into the room to see the review committee begin to clap for me as I entered the door. Quite a few praises and suggestions began to follow suit as I smiled and nodded at each of their comments. Once they were done, they clapped for me once more as I exited the room.

"Once were finished with everyone else, the committee is going to deliberate on who will be getting awards. I'm not saying you will get anything, but you need to stick around because we'll bring everyone back into the room once we figure out if anyone will be getting an award." Sherri said to me as we walked back into the waiting room.

About 45 minutes later, Sherri came back into the waiting room and asked us all to go back into the review room. Once there, she said, "well, we've decided to give out two awards this quarter. For non-fiction, we've awarded the certificate of achievement to Cami Whitlock for her piece, "Torri Anne". Everyone clapped for her as we waited in anticipation for what the next award would be. What seemed like an eternity passed before these words came from Sherri's mouth. "This next award will go to a student that did a fictional piece... we've decided to award E.J. Vasko with Par Excellence for his piece, "Oily Marks." stunned, I stood there for a few moments as they all clapped and congratulated me.

Now, just to give you an idea of what par excellence really means, it is only given out to students who really show a great deal of technical ability. My understanding is that it is rarely given out. In fact, the only person I know who had received it, is my friend John back in '05.

So, after a bit of questioning myself on the piece, I've decided that it really is festival worthy. I hope to have a tighter version of the piece in the next week or two, and will begin submitting it then. Hell, I've made it this far, right?

aw hell!

well, things are looking grim for graduation. as it turns out I need to score near perfect grades on everything I turn in to be able to graduate. thus holding the film in limbo for the time being. This week is going be really difficult and busy. I still have about 20 hours of work to do for the film before friday, and I have at least double that to complete my other projects in order to graduate.

On top of that, I'm getting sick. I was enjoying some delicious libations in my local watering hole after a long day's work, when it all happened. I had just broke a new game of pool, when the bouncer (sean, I meet him a few weeks earlier after closing) took the 8 ball and threw it into the pocket and said I had to leave. then, while inches away from my face, explained that he was sick and argued for me to leave just before coughing into my face. what a dick!

I'm really going to need my whits about me this week.

personal life vs. the film

The last two weeks have taken me away from getting my work done. I haven't really been worrying about it due to the fact of being ahead of schedule with the piece for the most part. Now as the final weeks approach, I realize that I'm really behind now. Today I've put the good audio into the piece and decided to re-cut it once more. Although it seems like there isn't much left to do, I have several other projects to complete in the next two weeks or all of this work will be fruitless. I've set a schedule for myself in order to get an idea of where I stand and the amount of work it will take to complete everything.

It’s looking like a really rough two weeks ahead of me and my personal life wont take a back seat. There is turmoil in my life right now and it's quite depressing. Everyone gets scared of change and uncertainty and I'm no different. With any luck, things will pan out great, the piece will be completed and well received and my path will take a turn for the better.

The important thing to do for now is to create a boundary line between work and life. No easy task, but I've done it before, I can do it again.

Bleached bypass is for suckers...sort of

Last Thursday I met with my AD so I could pick up all the rest of the equipment and props. Poor girl has been literally living on set for the last month or so. It makes sense being that I used her apartment for the piece. In any case, when I met with her, we talked a bit about the piece and what can be done in post. She suggested I do a bleach bypass (it was done in "Saving Private Ryan"), saying that she thought it would be really good for my piece. I kept it in mind and did some research on how I can do it in post rather than as a method of film development (which is what I understood it to be). Turns out that there are tons of ways to emulate it in after effects. So I tried about half a dozen different ways before settling on one. While doing that I also decided that I wanted a smaller depth of field in some of the shots and started playing around with defocusing. While doing that I stumbled across an effect that makes the piece almost look painted. Which is an incredible find considering the piece is about a painter that is disenchanted with his work. After two days work of just playing around with effects I finally have a great starting point for my first draft of my sweetened cut (my 5th or so cut of the film). Now I'm just 6 short rendering hours from a new version to show around.

I'm kind of working out of order, considering that I still haven't put in the good audio from the shoot. Who really cares though? I'm just amped that it's coming closer to a final product. Currently I've put roughly 230 hours of work into the piece, and I'll end up breaking the 300 mark long before it's finished. Hopefully this piece will get me some work.