Monday 13 February 2012

MARCO'sMANIA and docs that seem to take forever to complete

Yesterday while outside in Montreal's NDG area it was snowing, inside, editor MC Sarda ........finishing MARCOsMANIA - a doc on bipolar buddy  shot over the past decade - yes a long long coverage of one guy's life & struggle with mental illness -
he was doing miraculous things back then

Well last post i thought my docs were up and ready to do post on but was in Montreal with editor MC Sarda, editing over past few days cause a small miracle had happened. Let me explain further... a 15 years back Marco and I took off in my old Volvo 245 wagon to cover the Maritime portion of his WorldHertiageSites shoot. He had over the previous years photographed all the sites east of Quebec so this was the last of them. His bi polar illness has overcome him from time to time so that it was taking years to complete this project. But the amazing thing of using the project as a healing therapy for his bipolar-ism, was the he was doing the entire project on his disability pension of about a thou a month and that he wasn't giving up.

Anyway, like a i said about a decade and a half ago i took off in my old Volvo wagon with camping gear to film/video his journey from Toronto to Anse aux Meadows on the St Anthony peninsula in northern Nfld which, by the way, is said to be the first Viking settlement in N.America. Well after many days of a strange, funny and eventful tour we arrived back in Toronto with about 12 hours of footage shot from my Sony D8 camera.

Then a few bouts with the wrong editors, etc., etc .. the footage lay dormant sort of half assed assembled for a decade until 2009 when after a severe bout with cancer, i decided i'd clean up all my 'undone' stuff and do worthwhile work to complete undon projects so at that time i picked up my camera and shot stuff with Marco on his ongoing therapy 'art cure' of his bi polar illness. But was unable to get the heritage footage back from the editor ... eventually we resolved our differences and i got it back after years of neglect but once again had problems with editing the Heritage footage.

Then i got hit with cancer and thus unable to do much for, once again, years (also my Mother became incontinent/ill and so Helene and I were spending much of our time travelling every week to Toronto from Ottawa to look after her needs eventually spending the last couple years full time in Toronto looking after her and me trying to recover from a traumatic cancer chest splitting operation. )

Well all those delays came to an end a couple years ago when i got back into movie making sort of a cure for my illness and my lethargy to tackle that movie again. I managed to update my equipment, contacted Marco after years and shot stuff that i thought would use all those years of problems into a 'new' doc. but once again some editing problems and disaster when the footage no longer seemed useable since my D8 Sony failed thus i was unable to log&capture the footage .. again delays

Friday 3 February 2012

Lamenting the end of a movie made well well we'll see

After a year of this and that of learning FinalCutPro, of learning how to set up and log&capture HD footage from my Canon A1S to the browers, set up bins, etc., etc. , two more of my docs are finally ready for the final stages of colour correction/sound corrections so that's what i'm learning now slowly (mind u in my opinion one never learns all that FCPro can do unless they are a full time, pro editor - the number of people who i've encountered who do it 'part time' and who know how to do it but not why it goes that way and in fact only know about what i know which is 'as long as it goes well then I know it' when it doesn't go well - carimba!!  'Lord help me Jesus!' (as ChrisK. says) I call out for my pro pals who work with it every day for help - i bless them every night and light a candle in church {that's a metaphore of course since my church days are very few and far between - which may be why it took so long for FCPro to sink in?)

There should be a FCPRo intervention workshop where,  like those loose fat or recovery ur life so called 'reality' shows,  u can weep on shoulders that cry out for weeping souls who don't get all .. that FCPro offers - those classes I think would be full!

Anyway, like all those hardy filmakers who like myself believe that to be a true 'film/video-maker' u have to learn all the aspects so that when there's no money or little money and few people who can or want to participate  (and in Canada that's often enough) in a project that's close to your heart, that needs to be done, that cries out for recognition, u have all the means at ur disposal ... 'cause the only one u really need to help u is urself.

I know that movie-making is a collaborative creative, art and skill, that one gathers the team together as a producer and all that but so often the driven film-maker just has to make that movie, driven like a junkie, so to speak, to get to the heart of a story and display that heart to fellow humans - that need after all is what real, genuine creative people suffer from and suffer they do unless they learn it all and paint away on that canvas and without heat, comfort or moola create what's in their heart and mind!

p.s. all the babble means that 2 docs are done ; 2 more to go.... and go they will - remember 'Best is All - All is Best.'  What's that saying from some trite holywoody movie, 'Set ur movie free if it comes back with cash, buy a case of beer and celebrate.' (not sure if i got that quote right??)