"Oily Marks" - an introspective

Film Festivals are a breeding ground...

2008-06-04T02:15:00.002-06:00

...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!

2008-04-08T00:53:00.002-06:00

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...

2007-12-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

"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

2007-12-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-12-02T01:57:00.001-07:00

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

2007-11-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

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.

light at the end of the tunnel

2007-11-08T02:35:00.000-07:00

The piece is currently ready to be polished. We have just 5 short weeks to get the piece cleaned and polished for submission. I've been battling with myself over the decision to submit the piece to film festivals. As it stands, the feedback has been pushing me towards sending it. However, it is still in poor shape by my standards.

In all honesty, I'm having trouble focusing. I know what needs to be done and the great amount of time and work it will take to get there, but I'm just about burned. It’s very difficult to write, direct, produce, edit, sweeten and compose an original audio bed for just one person to do. I'll take it in stride and chalk it up to a learning experience. A very difficult and painful, learning experience.

As a side note I have two very solid ideas for features. I'm struggling with putting them on the back burner. Especially the most recent one, being as I seem to stay awake at night and become inspired almost daily by things I'd like to add to it. Alas, I must jot them down and forget about them for the time being. "Oily Marks" is not just yet ready to be labeled as "completed".

comments in all directions

2007-11-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've completed the new rough cut with all the additional footage I've shot and spent friday showing it around to people. Over all the piece is going over really well. however, i have been getting quite a few suggestions from faculty on it. typically, I take suggestions with open arms, especially when I get repeat suggestions. yet, in this case I have yet to recieve repeat suggestions, rather everyone is suggesting I make changes at different parts throughout the piece. many of which I completely disagree with, so i find myself wondering how I could make this piece any better without re-shooting the whole thing. the short answer is, I polish the shit out of what I have and hope for the best.

in other news, I've been getting progressively sick over the last few days and it is cause for concern. This piece is first and foremost my graduation piece. as it currently stands, this piece is a damn good one (as everyone I've shown the piece too has expressed), yet it may not be accepted due to attendance failing. each quarter (11 weeks) we're allowed to miss four classes (15.75 hours). I'm halfway through the quarter and I've already missed 8 hours in two classes. I can not miss anymore class for the durration of the quarter or my chances of attendance failing will greatly increase. I will continue to move forward as though nothing is wrong and hopefully my illness with subside in the next day or two.

First day of re-shoots

2007-10-28T03:26:00.000-06:00

I woke up at the crack of 1P.M. today and was immediately amped for shooting. I went to make copies of the script and shot sheet before going to the location. the call time for all crew was 3P.M., however I was a bit late. Thinking my crew would be pissed because they'd just be sitting around, I sped to get to get there. Once i arrived, I found that I was the only one there.

I started to unload my truck when Ryan (assistant DOP) pulled up. I called Sal (the AD) and she let us in. We reviewed the footage that we needed to re-shoot and developed a game plan when Peter (lead actor:Sam Marks) showed up. short handed, but not wanting to waste any time, I had Sal and Ryan set up for the scene as I worked with peter, getting him into character and giving him an overview of what was going to happen today. Next thing I know, we're shooting and everything is going great. We're making killer time, the lighting was excellent and peter's performance was dead on.

at about 4:30, three members of my crew finally showed. after a quick debate in my head, I sent them home. I didn't really need their help. the scenes were simple and didn't require a lot of crew. Tony (boom op.) showed up a half hour later and I sent him home as well. the camera mic was good enough seeing as we weren't recording any dialogue.

the entire day was scheduled to run from 4-10. we were done filming, and all packed up, by 7:30. I took everyone out to dinner and planned to come home and capture what was shot. I ended up not capturing any of it, rather I spend the last 4 hours working on my packaging. I must say it is looking really good. being a graphic designer comes in handy sometimes.

Tomorrow is going to be a long one though. I'm re-shooting quite a bit as well as the added scene. I'm sure I'll write again tomorrow night. lets hope i don't forget any shots and everything goes well.

Where is Everybody?

2007-10-26T00:31:00.000-06:00

it's now two days before re-shoots and I can't seem to collect myself or anyone else for that matter. Wed. night set me back in a very personal way and my mind is working overtime. However, I've decided to keep on schedule with the production. I've made several calls this evening to get all the cast and crew on the same page and found myself set back even more. Not the cast nor the crew, outside of myself and the AD, have been confirmed at this time.

I've given myself a deadline of noon tomorrow to get enough crew and the cast to do the re-shoots. Lets hope all goes well and I can pull this off. KEEP THE FAITH MAN!

Killing babies

2007-10-21T01:11:00.000-06:00

I forget who said it, but someone once said that a screenwriter creates babies, not scripts, then ultimately must kill their children for the greater good of the story. I could have possibly butchered that quote by paraphrasing it, but the theme is still the same. I am no exception to this unwritten rule. As mentioned in my previous entry, I spent a great deal of time revising the script to better convey the story, and much of it was time wasted..

I had meetings all morning and afternoon on Friday to review the rough edit and script revisions. as the day went on my final meeting was with the AD. we had a quick brainstorming session and after just a few minutes, we came up with a whole new alternative. Rather than adding the extra (excessive) dialogue, we decided to keep the current edit the same and to shoot a very short flashback scene (despite my distaste for "flashbacks"). This will not only drastically cut down the time needed for re-shoots, but it will serve as a better conduit for the turning point of the piece. So I'm all for making the film better, even if I have to kill a few babies in the process.

A Blog, why not

2007-10-18T04:03:00.000-06:00

it's kind of ironic that I create a blog to illustrate the progression of a film that is almost half-way completed. Nonetheless, here i am typing away. I've never created a blog before, in fact I had absolutely no interest in "blogs" prior to creating this one, so bare with me.

I suppose I should let you know where I stand with the film thus far. to be totally honest I'm at a "refresh" point. Although i have a tremendously talented team of actors and crew, as well as a great amount of time to finish pre-production, I feel it has been rushed. Don't get me wrong, the majority of the work looks great, it's just the little things that you don't catch while trying to check off as many shots as possible in a short amount of time.

The last day of principal photography was almost a week ago and I've spent the entire time analysing the footage and storyline, seeing what doesn't work and researching how to fix it. I've also beefed up the dialogue a great deal, blocked out what needs to be re-shot and what needs to be added. There still needs to be more work done before re-shoots on the 27th, but with my whole new "plan of attack" and time left to get my "ducks in a row" I'm actually really very excited for the 27th to come around.

once I figure out this whole "blog" thing, I'll be sure to post production stills and screen shots when I have free time.