Posts Tagged affirm films
Here I am, at it again :)
Vintage Live & Outside (VintageTruth.com)
Well, I’m home. I didn’t post in the last day or so because besides “and I drove 900 miles,” there wasn’t much to be said. I could’ve written about the creepy gas station guy, but that’s not enough for an entry (although knowing me, it could’ve been). Either way today was a great day. I woke up pretty late as I didn’t fall asleep until about 5:30-6am after unpacking my car. That was murder by the way. I grunted and groaned the whole time lugging all the crap up the stairs. Some of that stuff is really heavy, like my Mac. Thank goodness I save the boxes of everything, because packing all the stuff without it would be scary.
There wasn’t anything to eat in the house and honestly, I didn’t care one bit. I wasn’t hungry at all, probably the side effect of not eating much in the past 24 hours. I’m 200lbs people, I won’t waste away. 
The house is in decent order but my bedroom and the spare room are a bit of a disaster. Perhaps I should call FEMA? I need to get all my stuff out of the boxes and figure out where to put it all. I got a call from Brandon Rice @ Coram Deo Studios (No Greater Love) to talk about that website job I mentioned. I called him back after getting my computer setup and my desk situated. That’s always the first thing out of the box and in order, my computer. It’s not even because I love it so much, but it’s one of the most annoying things to unpack. All the cables and hook ups and getting the plastic off the monitors and those hooked up (DVI connectors are a pain to screw in with small stubby fingers like mine), etc. I think the site will come out great, and I’ll fill you in on more when I actually get the first piece online. It’ll just be a splash page, but at least you’ll have something
The rest of the day was just getting situated. I headed to Lewiston to get some groceries for the next day or so. I gotta say, it just doesn’t feel like home until it’s 75 and sunny, and I pull into Lewiston with oldies blasting in my car. I’m not going to have a lot of days to do that, it’s getting cold here already. 
I grabbed some “essentials” like mt. dew, slim fast (breakfast), muffins (breakfast), cream soda (of course!), hot dogs, hot dog buns (wheat…mmm), milk, honey nut cherrios, and I think that’s it. I don’t live on much, ha ha.
Vintage Live & Outside was later so I got ready and headed to Getzville for that. It’s always a good time! There’s so many folks there I love to see each week. I gotta say if there was anything about staying in NY that wouldn’t be so bad, it’s all the friends and stuff I have here. The rest of the night was great although I did catch myself in a large amount of odd conversations. I hate it when that happens, you feel like such a retard. Anyways, tons of folks went to Applebees afterwards (as usual) and hung out. I was there late this time, past 12 easy. Just sitting, laughing, and enjoying others company. That’s what makes Tuesdays so great for me. I love Vintage not just to worship and hear God’s Word, but I get to see so many folks I don’t normally see during my week. Living in the sticks 45mins+ away from everyone else makes it tough.
So yea, it’s good to be home. Time to get settled for good this time. I’m finally going to get that 50in Plasma of mine out of it’s box again and get it setup. I’m not going anywhere. If I got a call tomorrow for a job in LA I wouldn’t take it. I’m here for good I think. I’m going to refine the Standing Firm edit a bit more in the next week and get a cut off to friends for feedback, then it’s going to Affirm Films. Enough waiting…and we’ll see what they say. I got a call from their VP about 5 mins before I headed back to NY from Memphis and told him it was going to be on it’s way. I hope they say “we want it.” and help us get this thing out there for people. Speaking of which, I had a great time my last night in TN when I sat down with Joyce and George Bradshaw (who I was staying with), and showed them pieces of the film and some of our interviews. I think they really enjoyed what they saw and were excited to see it. I look forward to sending them a copy 
Well…time to get to work, finish getting unpacked, and wait for my parents to get back from Georgia in the next day or so. I can’t wait to see them again! 
The Rescue Blues…
Today was a good day. I woke up and downed a Slimfast, the typical breakfast for me the past 2 weeks. I love the taste of those things…they really have a nice chocolaty taste that’s great in the morning Not to mention it’s only 190 calories total, fills you for like 4 hours, and is loaded with some vitamins for the day. If I had cereal I would probably be eating 400+ calories between the milk and cereal, even the healthy stuff. There is a lot of calories in cereal, so 2 bowls or so in the morning isn’t the best attack on my fatness…
I made sure I woke up around 11:30 or so because I had a conference call with Nathan Webster, who has become a better friend as this year has progressed. He’s a fellow Christian filmmaker part of the Filmweavers team and recently shared with me the latest cut of The Penny, their latest feature. I really enjoyed it and found it to be different from the norm which was great to hear. The purpose of our call was to discuss Standing Firm, as Nathan had recently seen Cut #2 of the film and wanted to lend his comments. They were overwhelmingly positive, something that was great to hear. He enjoyed the story, felt it will touch a lot of people, and although the kind of movie it was…wasn’t his cup of tea, it held his attention throughout and moved him quite a bit. That was a relief, I gotta tell you. After staring at this thing so much, watching it for the first time all by myself (as I had blogged about previously) left me feeling sick to my stomach so hearing someone else talk about what they liked and didn’t like (not just editing notes, which was nice to have as well), was awesome. I feel a lot better about the state of the film. The cut has also gone out to 3 other friends so I look forward to comments from everyone and seeing how they compare with each other.
Last night I put together new titles for the film, an animated logo for Praise Pictures, and changed up a few things before bed. The film feels a bit more like a film now with some opening logos and such on the front. Final Cut Pro’s text plugin is very crappy to me…just doesn’t allow you to do much. Photoshop and After Effects have never let me down so far, and animating everything gave me some great results…as usual
One funny thing to report today is I found a special tape I needed. I had recorded my Gaffer (Shaun Smith) ‘s interview before I left for LA and totally lost track of the tape. I had placed his interview at the end of a previously used tape…after wherever the shot footage on the tape ended. I was so terribly sick at the time we shot it I think I was just too out of it to make sure I remembered the tape. So I’ve been staring at this box full of a hundred plus tapes from shooting the film wondering which one it was on, or if I even had it anymore. I’ve put off going through them for a while, in fear I didn’t have it. I started going through them today and it didn’t look so good. I grabbed this new song recently called The Rescue Blues by Ryan Adams and was listening to it quite a few times today. I hit play on the song and popped in the next tape and just thought “wouldn’t it be funny that during THIS song I find the footage…” and BAM as soon as the tape loaded I saw Shaun’s face on the LCD of my little camera and cracked up. It’s rare that things happen that way but I got a kick out of it…thanks Lord.
Kevin showed up later and we spoke about what we need to do in the next few days, possible future of our company, how long before we mail a screener to Rich Peluso at Affirm Films, etc. Much needs to be done, but we’ll be fine. I leave in three days which is really soon…I think it’s crept up on me because I’ve forced myself to forget about it. I’ll be saying goodbye again on Saturday and Sunday to friends I hate doing that…
I spoke with my possible composer today as well. He’s a fantastic guy and one heck of a composer. He has written some really nice stuff and can turn out great content faster than anyone else I’ve seen. I know if we’re able to get a budget for him, he’ll bring us something truly special…which I feel the film needs. This has been re-enforced by those who have seen pieces of the film or the entire thing, the composer included. I’m hoping for good things when I mail off that screener to Affirm Films…somehow I feel like everything is fine and I’ll get a response. Don’t ask me how, I just do. Time will tell.
Tomorrow I’ll be getting up and driving around the surrounding towns gathering shots I need for a few pieces of the film, specifically exteriors to use that I didn’t grab in the past. Our church as a nifty new sign out front I want to get in there. Our previous was like flimsy cardboard on wooden sticks…so this new one will look a little better, ha ha.
Tomorrows another day, it’s gonna be a busy one…3 days to go.
