Thursday, November 25, 2010

"To you it's Thanksgiving, to me it's Thursday."

That's what Rocky says to Adrian, remember?

I just added to my List of Stuff to Do in Life:
Run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, like Rocky.
They're even known as the Rocky Steps. Everyone else does!

(I think this is from the credits of the 6th Rocky, Rocky Balboa.)

My old revised list of Stuff to Do needs another revision.

Like, I want to film another story!

Watching all of Peter Weir's films this past month (The Last Wave ... Master and Commander) made me long for the process of figuring out how to show a story.

And then Random commented that I looked happy helping bink with her art project, that it suited me. That made me realize how much I've missed doing my own art project.

Words are my main thing, but I LOVED the work of creating a visual vocabulary for storytelling, like the red velvet blood and gloves in Orestes and the Fly.

I think I stopped because I burned myself out making the herring film a year ago.
Not only was making all those fish head masks far more time consuming than I'd expected (being a newbie), but trying to choreograph 15 people in a small space ended up freaking me out. I got overwhelmed, it got away from me, I felt like a failure, and I didn't want to do it again. (Even though the end result, which bink edited, pleased me.)

So, now I've recovered, here's what I can do:
SCALE BACK.
Less people, more time and space.
Maybe I'll even make the movie silent--Weir says he would have liked to work in silent films, and his movies like Witness have very little dialogue.
(Plus that would solve the audio problems I've had.)

Of course, I have to finish writing The Book first...
But when I'm done, I'll have a good chunk of time, because I'm in a funny position:
I won't have much work after January, but it'll be hard to look for new work because I'm going to be walking in Spain most of May and June.
Time for a time-consuming but incredibly cheap to free undertaking.

I'm a little freaked out about money--not having any or any immediate prospects of getting some, plus spending ALL my savings on Spain--so I'll make the movie with only the stuff I have on hand or can scrounge up.
The universe has always provided, so far.
Maybe I can get by, one more time, pleasegod.

Anyway, I've never been much into Thanksgiving, but I do love youse guys: Thanks for everything.

4 comments:

  1. I loved Orestes and the Fly.

    More Greeks maybe?

    Have you read The Gate to Women's Country?

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  2. I'd say there are too many who care about you for things to happen the way they do to sparrows. If you need shoelaces for your project, I still have some. (Not many, mind you.)

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  3. It is good to be working on art projects, isn't it? I do hope the gods are good and you find yourself happening onto something that provides you with meat and potatoes, or whatever rows your dietary boat. Take care and create! I'll do the same one of these days.

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  4. Hey, ART: Greeks = endless source material!
    I haven't read The Gate... will look it up.

    MARZ: I may need shoelaces, at that.

    FISMO: Yeah, having an art project, even just percolating in my mind, makes life worthwhile!

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