Sundance 2011 comes to you Jan. 27 (possibly)*

January 18, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Get ready for the hype overload that will be the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It officially kicks off Thursday, Jan. 20, opens for business Friday, Jan. 21 and continues for 10 days, with winners announced Saturday, Jan. 29.

Between now and the first of February, it will be hard to get away from the media coverage. That said, here’s a discussion by actress Vera Farmiga, who’s starring in “Higher Ground,” a film in the U.S. Dramatic Competition produced by my friend and indie film legend, Gill Holland:

To see this particular film during the next two weeks, though, you have to be in Park City, Utah.

— But don’t despair if you don’t have an incredibly overpriced hotel room booked for the gala.

*If you live in Ann Arbor, MI; Brookline, MA; Brooklyn; Chicago; Los Angeles; Madison, WI; Nashville; San Francisco or Seattle — the Sundance 2011 festival comes to you.

For one day, Thursday, Jan. 27th. And at specific arthouse venues.

This is the second year Sundance has managed this event, and its intent is to promote the Institute, the individual films and filmmakers, and the independent, arthouse theaters where the screenings are held.

And Park City will be directly involved: the “Life In A Day” documentary that kicked off on YouTube this summer — inviting submissions for ordinary people to record what was happening on July 24 around the globe — will be shown there as part of the connected, nationwide experience.

“A major component of the Sundance Institute mission is to expand and engage audiences for independent storytelling,” Keri Putnam, Sundance Institute Executive Director, said. “Sundance Film Festival USA is an extension of the Institute’s year-round support of independent theaters across the country – designed both to provide people with access to films premiering at the Festival, and to encourage interaction between artists and audiences.”

Oh, and the Sundance Channel might possibly provide some information about what’s going on during the festival. Plus CNN, MSNBC, Fox, USA Today, the New York Times, etc etc etc. And let’s not forget US Weekly.

On being on the road

January 12, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Which is worse? Okay, maybe “worse” implies something truly horrible.

How about — which, to you, would be harder to deal with?

After a long day of working on the road, coming back to:

1. A small, empty hotel room; or

2. A large, empty hotel room.

After a couple straight days, I think the large (but empty) hotel room is worse for me, personally.

All that space reminds me of what (or more precisely, whom) isn’t there.

A small room just means my stuff can fill up a lot of that space.

With a big room, there are expanses and echoes and a lot more empty.

But this will pass. And so will these mid-winter traveling blues.

– James

“One True Thing” – the documentary starts

December 7, 2010 / / No Comments

First, the clip, then the story:

There are a lot of projects on my short list, but it’s the usual excuses of too long a list, and not enough money or time.

But excuses just don’t cut it anymore, so my plan to get this documentary project going is to just do it — and structure the plan in such a way that all the shooting can be done on incredibly flexible schedules, and the budget can remain miniscule (for now, at least).

So here’s “One True Thing”.  The idea is that our team sits down with someone at their preferred location, and once everything’s set up, all we do is ask for your first name, and to tell us one true thing.

It can be anything, from trivial to profound. So long as it’s true to you.

We also have some ground rules for ourselves/the project:

— First name only

— We won’t edit your response once you start on your true thing. That means once you being, we’ll run until you stop. So, no edits to make you look better, worse, or more concise.

— You can have more than one thing to say. We’ll just treat them separately.

— Don’t pressure yourself. We don’t expect Dalai Lama-league answers, so no worries. Something about your cat is acceptable…

What do WE get out of all this? Good question.

Expectations:

Sure, the first clip is three guys of various ages working in various levels of seriousness.

The real payoff should be when we reach a certain critical mass and broader themes emerge. Personally, I fully expect this to start focusing on religion, relationships and philosophy — but I could be completely wrong.

Maybe folks hone in on sports and cosmology, who knows?

If I were to point to an existing model for how I expect this to turn out, I’m going to reference one of my all-time favorite books and life guides: Directing the Film: Film Directors on Their Art, edited by Eric Sherman.

Yes, you’ll find a lot of practical advice on nearly every aspect of filmmaking by some of the greatest in the field — but that’s essentially a bonus.

What I find great is that within Sherman’s 352 pages of collected wisdom, you can read one absolutely sterling, profound and compelling piece of advice put forth by an absolute master of their craft — and on the next page, there’s another absolutely sterling, profound, and compelling piece of advice from yet ANOTHER master, completely and absolutely contradicting the first.

Example: Think about rehearsing your actors. There are a number of directors that weigh in on how their actors must be absolutely well rehearsed and prepared, so there’s no doubt about the lines, nuances or inflections before the cameras roll.

And there are a number of directors that talk about why anything beyond nominal rehearsal kills the energy and dampens the creative sparks from fresh discovery.

Who’s right? They all are. And that’s the point — the truths within this book are the truths that work for each person.

So that’s where I personally see “One True Thing”‘s potential. But we’ll see.

Technical Points:

As we add in clips, we’ll update the master video, and keep individual clips for easy reference.

We’re also COMPLETELY OPEN AND ENCOURAGING of outside submissions. So feel free to crank up your webcam or video recorder, work up a segment, and send it on.

Contact me at OneTrueThingDocumentary@gmail.com, or visit the project site at OneTrueThingDocumentary.com .

And of course, a special shout-out of thanks to my Creato Destructo compatriots, Jerry and Shay Stifelman. (Tracey, let’s get you taped!)

– James

It’s an HD World

December 3, 2010 / / No Comments

Had a new studio shoot this week — as in, a new studio space and a new project.

Viewfinder view

The clients didn’t have a huge budget, but recognized the need for video, and they were willing to move around some priorities to make sure this was done in high definition.

I’m amazed that some groups still ask for or even REQUIRE  480-based origination video. There are a lot of ways to shoot in HD as your source and downconvert from there if necessary. Even if you need a final 4:3 product. Even if this is “just for the web”. Even if you’re not sure how the project will evolve.

If you think your project can’t be done on HD… seriously, we need to talk.

James Hyatt

Fin.

Epic Video, Underground Band & Lessons Learned: Part 1, Reasons Why

November 16, 2010 / / No Comments

First the video, then the story. (You may want to grab a beer first; this is 11 minutes long):

The name of the band is Shit Horse. Two words.

Yes, that’s basically a no-go at most American radio stations. Yes, it’s harder to advertise gigs or be listed in event directories. Yes, it’ll difficult to have CDs in stores (Wal-Mart, I’m looking at you…).

For Shit Horse, though, that’s missing the point. More precisely — that’s EXACTLY the point.

Background:
They came together… not as a joke, more like a conspiracy.

Part of the formation was planned: the first members came together to play the XX Merge fest in 2009.

Part was purely accidental, possibly even a twist of fate: because someone else was sick, the first three members grabbed lead vocalist Danny Magic, pretty much off the street*. (*Possibly apocryphal)

Their first release is cassette-only, in June 2010. Let me make this clear: not June 1990. Cassette only, 2010. The band held to a strict “no digital” discipline all the way through the recording process, staying analog as long and as far as possible.

The first run of cassettes sold out, and they’re spooling a new batch. But many of their fans are overseas (Shit Horse is huge in the UK; check out the mania here, and Culture Deluxe’s postings; and some proof BBC Radio 6 likes them), and shipping individual tapes is both a time-consuming pain and relatively expensive. So the band and their label, Odessa Records, have relented and produced a digital album download — primarily to make it easier for non-US fans to get their music.

Hype Factor:
The real question is: Are they the real thing?

Yes.

And like most real, authentic things, they’re far from perfect. Half their live shows are so great I’d swear we were witnessing the rebirth of rock, blues, soul, funk, punk and maybe a little jazz — all at once. They’ve made me wonder if this is the start of a new-millennial return to Americana music, with a fully aware, multi-racial, and multi-generational  group (members are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s) .

During those shows, I get my hopes up and think: the Delta blues were the call. The Rolling Stones were the response. Is it possible these guys are the fully realized testimony?

But then other shows can end with at least one band member storming offstage, swearing he’s gone for good. And if you’re in the audience, holding some hope in your heart, there’s a bitter tang of disappointment, as the band plays the soundtrack to every major letdown of your wild dreams and impossible hopes.

But they keep reuniting, and keep playing blistering, brilliant shows. At least for now.

What Happened:
And that should help explain why our Creato Destructo video team (helmed by Jerry Stifelman) would spend most of the summer and burn through many personal favors to crank out a three-act tribute/showcase/document — for a group of musicians that might not be playing together in the new year.

Some things, you do for the love of something bigger than money, free time, and air conditioning.

Sometimes, you just have to commit.

And so we did.

Preview: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

What about the “how” of what it took? That’s coming in another post.

– James