My Filmmaking (but mostly aching) Year 2009

Well since I am a compulsive list maker and I did it last year, here's what I worked on this year. Even though it was a tough recession year I managed to get through it with some projects. I really did enjoy working with everyone this year (often more than once) and glad to be a part of this amazing filmmaking world. I am always grateful to anyone who gives me a chance and I always try to do better than awesome. Working in indie film definitely has not made me rich and well it doesn't always make me happy but I love it. On Saturday my mom called me up and got to say how proud her and my dad were for just seeing my name on the big screen in New York. I mean it's what they paid all that money for, right? So thanks to everyone and here's to another year.

Editor - "Back to Smitty"
P2 Short film, (release 2010)

Editor – “The Break Up”
HDV Short film, (release 2010)

Script Supervisor – “Belittle”
S16mm Short film, (release 2010)

Script Supervisor – “Single Waltz”
S16mm Short film, (release 2010)

Script Supervisor – “Meadows of Heaven and Hell”
P2 Short film, (release 2010)

Editor/Script Supervisor – “I Don’t Know”
P2 Short film, (release 2010)

Act2Reinvent
P2 Short promo, (release 2010)

Co-Editor – “BrainAche: Living With Huntington’s Disease”
P2/MiniDv Feature documentary, (release 2010)

Editor – “Halsted”
P2 Short documentary, 2009

Post-Production Supervisor – “Adagio”
P2 Short film, 2009

Script Supervisor – “Let You Go”
P2 Music Video, 2009
Audience Award – Chicago REEL Shorts Fest, 2009

Editor – “Ludzie”
16mm Short film, 2009

Script Supervisor – “Dude Gets Shot”
DVCAM Short film, 2009

Editor/Script Supervisor – “The Kings of Chicago”
DVCAM Short film, 2009

Editor/Script Supervisor – “The Final Goodbye”
DVCAM Short film, 2009

Editor – “Silent Night”
DVCAM Short film, 2009

Editor/Data Asset Technician – “Among All Creatures”
HDV Short film, 2009
Award of Merit – Accolade Film Festival, 2009
Official Selection Shorts Program - The Chicago Filipino American Film Festival

<3justine

Up

I thought Up was a really good story about letting go. Good in the fact that it succeeded in the kind of story it wanted to tell. It was backed up by fun characters and lovely metaphors. I mean you kind of knew what you were getting into from the beginning so it wasn't surprising.

To me though it's been done before. I saw it as a combination of James and the Giant Peach, The Emperor's New Groove, and Tarzan. And I mean many many Disney characters have fallen to their deaths but I think this is the only one that came with a wink of possible safety. I like seeing villains be evil and then die of their own follies! It's kind of the Disney formula. A bit lacking in Up.

My biggest complaint is the 'rental DVD.' It's just gotten so ridiculous that they don't even give you a menu anymore and the first thing you sit through is a commercial about how you should buy the Blue-Ray. There were so many trailers before and after the film. Also there was no closed-captioning available. So boo to the terrible DVD for starting people off with a sour experience.

<3justine

Make the Yuletide Gay

Make the Yuletide Gay is the cutest gay Christmas movie I've ever seen. Well, only gay Christmas movie I've ever seen. It's a simple story of college guy, Gunn, goes home for the holidays and back in the closet because he's yet to come out to his parents. But to his surprise, DING DONG his boyfriend, Nathan, shows up to spend Christmas with the family as well.

While Gunn was obviously the main character, Nathan also had a strong character as well. He was played by the adorable Adamo Ruggiero (Marco from DeGrassi!) I think his acting was really natural and enjoyable to watch. I also enjoyed the character of Abby, the next door neighbor friend. I think her and Nathan really carried this film. The characters of the parents were ok. They were extremely midwestern Wisconsin/Minnesota. But they were just played for laughs.

Anyways it was cooky, it was sweet, it was filled with TONS of innuendo. It did sometimes get a bit stereotypical and screwball, but overall I thought it was a gay holiday treat for the whole family.

<3justine

My Movie Year in Review (2009) pt1

Even though I gave myself a little blogging break when things got busy I still want to continue my movie year in review tradition. Even though I know I watched more movies this year than last (I'll reveal the final number later) it was a big TV year for me. Watched the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Office series. Also got in a lot of Bones, Angel, and Firefly. Well I've had a lot of time on my hands this recession year. :P

Anyway in this first part I talk about 2008. More specifically movies from 2008 that I didn't see until 2009.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - I dunno I long put this film out of my memory. I think it was all sorts of unbelievable situations and random characters.
Blindness - It was good, not great. Probably could have had more Gael Garcia Bernal. :P
American Teen - Again good, nothing memorable.
Burn After Reading - So bad.
Let the Right One In - May be my favorite movie of 2008 even though I only gave it 4 stars on Netflix.
We Are Wizards - Lovely doc about Harry Potter fandom and the art created from it. Including Brad Neely and Harry and the Potters. Too bad the people at Starkid Potter were too late for this. Or maybe this doc was made too early?
Happy-Go-Lucky - Thought it was ok.
Choke - Ok. Don't expect it to be as good as the book.
Rachel Getting Married - It was good. Anne Hathaway is always good.
Rudo y Cursi - It was good and I <3 href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/">Slumdog Millionaire - I did a review on this one back in July so go check that. In short- meh.
Repo! The Genetic Opera - Rocky Horror meets Moulin Rouge meets Nightmare Before Christmas BUT fails to be as good as any of them.
Gigantic - Fits into my year of quirky indies and my year of Zooey Deschanel. The movie is just wandering and pointless.
Good Dick - I liked this unusual quirky indie. Interesting characters.
Nights and Weekends - I also did a review for this film, probably something like "Ok Joe Swanberg I've had enough of your penis!"
Dakota Skye - Another film I reviewed. I really liked it and thought it was really cute. A must for all teen girls.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - It's the last review I did, read it. (Forest Gump anyone?)
Harold - Really didn't live up to it's potential of an unusual premise.

Well ok if you are interested in my actual review of 2008 you can find it here.

Anything else from 2008 I should see? I've got Peter and Vandy, Che, and Departures in my Netflix queue.

Well stay tuned for the rest of my review at the end of the year!

<3justine

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Wait, I didn't know I was watching Forest Gump!

Well, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was written by the same guy who seems to be all out of ideas.

Ok so the movie did keep my interest for the first hour and a half. It was nice to look at and the special effects are nice. But as soon as Daisy finally decided to be in love with Benjamin that's where it lost me. "No, no, no! Ok let's have a baby." Where did this all come from? And then all of a sudden you're watching a Brad Pitt movie.

I mean it was good in a sense. It just had no depth. And it had Hurricane Katrina tacked on?

<3justine

Articles

Ok here are two articles I've posted on Facebook but are blog-relevant.

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=22958

Horray! This is an article on Sharon and her work on 'Hannah Free.' She name-drops Sara Plano and myself.

Well when I was at the advanced premiere of 'Hannah Free' in Chicago they had a panel with the filmmakers who happen to all be female. So the topic of the panel was being a female filmmaker. I feel that all this amounted to questions starting with "As a female filmmaker how do you feel..." I'm pretty sure that most of the questions were answered "Well as any filmmaker would feel..." because let me tell you its pretty hard being a filmmaker no matter what genitalia you have.

Yes its true and I won't deny that we're in a male-dominated field and there is sexism but a female director is still a director. Would you say: I'm going to go see my female doctor, my friend's a male musician, male director?

So this next article compares two directors (omgz they're ladies!) and talks about what they look like?!

http://weblogs.variety.com/bfdealmemo/2009/09/unlikely-rivals-on-the-oscar-circuit.html

(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer is my life right now. Except I'm not at the end of the movie yet. I'm on day 441. At this part in the movie the main character, Tom, is at his lowest depressed state after Summer breaks up with him. The movie has given me some hope, though. As someone put it on the IMDb board "it tells us that there are many wonderful experiences in our lives and that we don't have to give up when one ends, more will follow."

Not to be secretive...

Projects I am currently working on-

Pre-production on Daniel Wolf's still untitled(?) independent project. Slated to start editing end of December.
Stephanie Lind's Production Design reel.
Jule Fontana's Cinematography reel.
Editing Mihir Desai's Act2Reinvent internet show trailer. Possible webisode editor.
Editing Leon Shepard's "Bowling Brothers" scenes for fundraiser. Possible feature script supervisor/editor.
Editing final touches on Aaron Orsini's, "I Don't Know" short.
Slated to edit Kyle Johannessen's short, "Chalk Six" October.
Script supervisor for Omar Nabulsi's independent project, "Meadows of Heaven and Hell" October.
Assistant edit Hugh Schultz's, "Credits" next week.
Collaborating editor on Kim Lyle's "BrainAche: Living with Huntington's Disease" at least another month.
Slated to edit Mihir Desai's 2011 project, "Ethicus."
Post-production advisor MPC, International.


I try to stay busy.

<3justine

The Golden Compass

I don't know how I feel about The Golden Compass. I've the all three books of the His Dark Materials series. The first one wasn't exactly my favorite. I like the interactions between the main character and a character introduced in the second book. I was pretty satisfied throughout the movie as it recreated scenes I did remember. Then they ended it before the actual ending the book! I can't fully blame them. The director left the project, someone took over, and then he ended up coming back. Also the studio had a lot of influence on the editing, including removing and swapping events. I dunno, I'd give it like two and half stars. Ain't no Harry Potter.

<3justine

Dakota Skye

Dakota Skye is an adorable coming of age story with a twist. The titular character (as Jack would say) is a 17 year old high schooler with a "superpower." She is able to tell when people are lying. For the viewer, the truth comes up on screen as subtitles. She calls herself cursed with the truth and has thus become jaded about humanity. She's got herself a douchebag boyfriend, but hey since everyone lies at least this one's got a cute face (in her opinion.) She also has an absent mother, dead father, and friends who she doesn't care for anymore.

Then one day her boyfriends oldest best friend, Jonah, comes back to town. He's a cutie (he's got that certain Camburgler look to him.) But best of all, it appears that he always tells the truth! Of course they click and have a lovely road trip to the Grand Canyon resulting in my favorite line: "That's a big fucking hole." "That's a grand fucking hole." But no! They mustn't! Her boyfriend's his best friend! And Jonah's too good of a guy.

Along the way Dakota experiences a little snafu about Jonah's honesty. Is he really being honest? Or is he her arch-nemesis and her power doesn't work on him? Of course the lesson of this story is trust. But its a super cute lesson. I really enjoyed it and would maybe buy it if I saw it somewhere for cheap.

<3justine

Nights and Weekends

Ok so I forgot my notes for Nights and Weekends in Massachusetts. So, I just got out of a long distance relationship. While I was in said relationship I came across the trailer for this film and even though I have a shaky mistrust for mumblecore films I thought I'd give it a shot because its about long distance relationships. I probably thought then-boyfriend and I could watch it together and discuss its flaws. Soooo I kinda knew it was a bad idea watching it but I decided to torture myself anyway.

I think my first note involved how mumblecore films involve the lead actors getting naked as soon as the movie starts. And that Greta Gerwig can't keep her clothes on! She also always plays herself.

The way these mumblecore films are shot is that there are scenes mostly shot in masters. Handheld with no particular coverage. The editing really is, just chopping out the fat. Also the way they cut things together to make it smoother is to use audio bridges. Every time. Every fucking time.

So what about the characters? I don't really know. The couple breaks up halfway through and I don't know if you're rooting for them to get back together. I'll tell you though, it is messy like a relationship.

Serenity

Ok so I've been watching Firefly all this week on Hulu. Thought I'd give it a shot since I love me some Joss Whedon and of course it most definitely did not disappoint. The show really pulled me in and I watched it all in a couple days. Of course Fox was a bastard and cancelled the show only after one season. So I guess to wrap things up or do something for the fans Mr. Whedon came up with Serenity. It's the movie that picks up where Firefly left off.

I have to say, Serenity was pretty awesome. Or I'm just coming off the high of watching a whole season. But I think it was awesome. The first half and hour just flew by with some nice never before explored backstory and some the same old hyjinks by the old gang. It was fun seeing bad guys that were only hinted at in the series. Also, this was definitely River's story as shown by her being the largest person on all the DVD covers. But still Joss is wonderful at making wonderfully disfunctional families. But because we've come to know these characters so well in the series they've kind of become predictable in their actions, especially Mal. I would have liked Mal to have a stronger arc. Another thing I was thinking through the movie was that nobody got hurt, unlike the show where ususally at least one person was majorly wounded per episode. As soon as I thought that, the whole last half hour everyone was practically near dead.

Overall, it was different than the series because there are nine main characters and every episode we get to focus on someone different. With the film they've had to streamline it so we could focus on some main characters and have others grouped together. But like I said, we've come to love and know this "family" we just want more of them. Also on the show the camera movements were more docu-based. I think the movie was a bit more slick. But these are small complaints.

<3justine

Metropolis/The Monster Walks

Here's some catching up. I watched Metropolis last night and it was pretty awesome of course. With the workers toiling below the Earth's surface and the rich thinkers living high in the sky it's a plot that's been done many times since. You can definitely see all that this film has influenced. The model art deco city was beautiful, I loved the iconic imagery, and the special effects were fantastic.

I watched The Monster Walks tonight. It was not as classic. It was a cute really short (at one hour) early talkie. Its a plot we all know. A rich scientist has just died. His daughter and her fiance come over for the reading of the will. Her handicapped uncle is there with their servants. All the fortune gets left to the daughter... and then the deaths start. At first it is believed to be the scientist's ape. But then of course people have secret intentions, blah, blah, blah you can figure it out. Of course it did feature the strong man fiance who is a doctor playing detective most of time. Don't worry dear I'll save you, here's something for your nerves because you are frail, because you are a woman. I'm probably just inferring all that. Another stereotype: the couple's African American driver. Everything he said was just terribly racist. And seriously, I don't think it was a coincidence that they cut between him and the ape as often as they did.

<3justine

Coraline

Coraline starts out with our main character in a new town. Her and her parents have moved into house and Coraline is bored, bored, bored. Here parents of course are workaholics and ignore her and are two busy for anything. In the exploration of her new house Coraline discovers a small mysterious door. At night this door leads Coraline to an alternate house that looks just like hers complete with "other" parents. This reminds me right away of an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark.

Well everything is just dandy with the awesome Other Mother and Father. Coraline gets to do everything she likes and with a loving family. She goes back and forth between these worlds a few times even ignoring obvious warnings not to. Of course the Other Mother wants her to stay forever and that's when the fun and games ends and Coraline realizes she's in danger.

The climax is then really weak. Nothing really gets taken to a higher level and it seems the character is kept at the same emotional level. Then it just kinda wraps up nicely.

Also what's with the theme? Are we learning 'Be content with what you have even if it sucks'? Her parents didn't really change in the end. They were oblivious to the whole thing. It seems like life is just going to go on for Coraline the way it was. So the end was a little unsatisfying.

On the whole it was very Hansel and Gretel meets Alice in Wonderland meets Pan's Labyrinth.

<3justine

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

I like how The Phantom of the Opera began with the old owners of the Paris opera house signing it over to the new owners. They can't leave without be like "Oh PS, there's a ghost." The new owners are skeptic of course at first, but hey this story isn't really about them. The Phantom wants things his way including the love of his favorite singer, Christine Daae. Before Christine finds out her mystery supporter is scary-face Phantom himself she wants to be his slave. She even wants to break off marriage to her lover, Raoul, to get further in her career. It did feel like it was only when she found out how hideously ugly the Phantom was, that she was crawling back to marriage-ville with Raoul. I even found that when Raoul was at the Phantom's mercy and she could save him by pledging to marry the Phantom she thought it over a real long time. Overall lesson, ladies, its the handsome sugar-daddy or the fugly insane escaped criminal.

<3justine

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is going to be a hard one for me to review. I have seen it twice so far in the theater. I went to opening night to a sold out crowd of wand waving super-fans. It was a pretty awesome experience.

It's difficult to do a fair review because all I think about was the differences to the book. I did leave the theater happy and entertained but filled with a lot of wishes. I wish there were more memories, I wish we saw all the horcruxes, I wish they didn't show so much Draco.

I enjoyed the Quiddich a whole lot and the liquid luck. I loved it over all, it's Harry Potter!

But, as I said its hard for me to talk about without nitpicking every little detail. So I won't.

<3justine

Smart People

Boring people.

It was all "blah blitty blah blah blah" and never took off.

The editing was bad. Looked like it was full of mistakes. You could feel when things were cut out. Or probably sucked for coverage. And there were two editors.

On a weird note, I watched this on Netflix instant watch and it was in fullscreen.

Teeth

There's nothing men find scarier than a vagina.

I watched Teeth this evening and I really liked it. I really didn't know what the expect from this film about a vagina with teeth but it turned out to be a comedy/horror about female empowerment. Awesome!

Its quirkiness and self-unaware main character reminded me a lot of But I'm a Cheerleader and Saved! Dawn is a girl raised with Christian morals to be afraid of her own body and her budding sexuality. A lot of the film touched on anti-religion and pro-knowledge. But without getting into the themes and such, this girl was afraid of her own vagina before she knew it had teeth! And I'd say a lot of girls are. Girls are taught they they are the modest gender. Knowledge is unfeminine.

Ok, I'm getting a bit rant-y. So Dawn of course is taken advantage of and her body fights back for her. This is the gross/scary part. I do not recommend this for guys because it will soon scare them off from sex. It was definitely ewwwww. But, on the subject of male viewers some may say that this movie depicts all guys as skeezy dirtbags. To this I say "meh" and suck it up. You guys have almost all the movies in the world to be represented in. This girl was weak to begin with so of course her character is not going to attract the best guys.

Another thing I loved with subtle vagina-like imagery found in nature in the film. I thought that was some really good planning.

So in the end she learns (what I hope) many girls learn: Sex isn't scary and she's in control of her own body/sexuality. She ends up a girl with some confidence and power.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire: winner of Best Picture, 2008. Meh.

Just watch City of God instead. Seriously. Do it. Slumdog was boring and I couldn't connect to the characters from the beginning. Why should I care about these characters? The fancy-schmancy camera work isn't going to make me.

The film started to pick up near the end but I really can't place a significant moment.

The one thing that peeved me about this in the past is that the co-director, Loveleen Tandan, was not included in many of the awards for this film. She only was nominated and won at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. It is a rule that only one person's name can be on the Oscar ballot for Best Director unless they agree to share it. Remember last year Joel and Ethan Coen won?

In case you don't know your Oscar history, in the 81 years of the Oscars only three women have been nominated for Best Director. Lina Wertmuller in 1976, Jane Campion in 1993, and Sophia Coppola in 2003.

Getting back the edit groove

I think I'm getting my edit mojo back. Slowly but surely. Yesterday I did a short session with clients working on the Magical Vision trailer. Should be working on more of that next week. Today I went to Resolution Digital Studios to watch the final color/sound mix for Hannah Free. Its the closing film at Frameline film fest next weekend. I got to see my name in the credits twice! Yay. Tye came over today with the final sound mix Among All Creatures. We worked on credits as well so it's finally done! My name is in the credits three times for that one. ;) I'm exporting a QT right now to make our deadline for Chicago International film fest. So, exciting, exciting stuff!

Next thing I want to tackle: Redcam work flow and XDCam codecs.

<3justine

Away We Go

The editor of The Limey. The DP of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Now that I know this I'm just a little disappointed with Away We Go. I went to see this with my friend and favorite production designer, Stephanie. One of our first comments was that the cinematography wasn't that great. To me, sometimes the light didn't match its source and there was another shot that bothered Stephanie. Our next comment was that it showed one couple too many. It seemed to hit a slow point between Madison and Montreal.

Other than those snags, John Krasinski as Burt was great! He was the fun and quirky optimistic dreamer you couldn't help but love. I'll watch any movie with him constantly saying the words 'boobs' and 'vagina'. You can't help but want to love him because he'll just adore you right back. Maya Rudolph, as Verona, was not so strong. They work good as a duo, but John really stole the film.

The other female characters were strong. With each couple they visit, there was always something not perfect with them and it always seemed to be from the female. Maybe because its supposed to emphasize that we should be seeing the world from Verona's point of view. She had the idea for the quest. She wants to find the perfect place and model after the perfect family. I think Burt would just be happy being with her until he learns things are not always so sunny.

Still, I really liked it. It was super funny with some nice dialogue. It made me think of love and my boyfriend. (John and Jack both look nice with beards.) I asked Steph if the movie made her want to get married or have a baby. It didn't make her want to get married but it did make her feel a bit maternal. I'm sure she just wants to get with John Krasinski. Even my boyfriend wants him (for his next movie).

<3justine

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) should actually be called, Everybody's Got a Boner for Esmeralda. At the beginning there were a lot of characters introduced all at once and many different story lines. I'm glad that as the film went on that these got weeded out or condensed. Way too many happenings for a silent film. Lots of lustful attraction turning into "I love you, we're getting married." All of this going on and then a big poor versus aristocrat war. There were a couple nice edit points. When Phoebus takes out Esmeralda for the first time they cut to a moth caught in a spider's web with the spider inching towards it. Did he end up honestly falling in love with her after that point? Who knows. There was also probably a not intentional match on action that I enjoyed. I believe it was when Quasimodo jumps up and is cheering and then it cuts to Esmeralda being attacked in the other room. There's a similar action of Jehan jumping her. It ended sad with Quasimodo dying alone ringing his beloved bells. And then it abruptly ended.

<3justine

First blog

I haven't blogged in a while. I used to just do one big end movie year in review on my LJ. My boyfriend, Jack, encouraged me to start a blog to share my thoughts as a filmmaker.

I know in Jack and mine's ideal lives we would watch one movie a day. He does a way better job at this than I do. In 2008 I watched 60 new movies. I don't count repeat viewings. As of this year I'm up to 34 in the halfway point. The only film I've seen this year that was a 2009 release was actually Jack's film, Transmissions. Also, being poor leads to lots of Netflixing.

My sister brought me most of movies that I've been away from for a year. We just went to the Harry Potter exhibit the other day so I was totally in the mood to watch Sorcerer's Stone. I love the trio's cute adorable horrible acting. I could totally nerd out on HP trivia right now, but I'll save that for when Half-Blood Prince comes out. Eeeeee!!!

So, a while back my parents got me a 50 movie pack of horror classics for Christmas. Tonight I watched Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920). Watching it I kept thinking, "How would they do it today?" This was mostly concerning the transformations which were close up and wide dissolves. The first transformation was nicely done with crazy convulsions by John Barrymore. I would picture that today there would be some sweeping camera movements into close-ups like in the first Spider-Man movie. I still think it worked nicely. As for the story, Dr. Jekyll was a goodie-goodie. His soon to be father-in-law wanted him to live a little and loosen up. As much as Dr. Jekyll wants to do the nasty with the lady who wants him oh so bad, his morals prevent him. Soooo transforms himself to man-whore evil Mr. Hyde. Except nobody likes him because he's a perv that kills people. :( All the while his fiance, Millicent, plays the piano like a good lady in waiting and spends "many lonely hours" until Dr. Jekyll will sweep her off her feet. I just imagine in the end when Dr. Jekyll kills himself she's just thinking "Aw crap. Now I gotta marry that really ugly guy with the bad teeth so someone can inherit my dead dad's stuff. I really need a place to stay." Moral of the story: You can't live in extremes and don't be an English prude.

<3justine