Cucalorus response 2: Nobody

For my second viewing, I checked out the film Nobody, another documentary though this one following around Jerry Bell, a drifter whom received an inflatable raft from smoking 20,000 cigarettes and rafted down the Mississippi to Memphis where he met up with 2 documentary filmmakers. Jerry became tired of his regular home-life after his wife left him and his mother died so he decided to convert to a life on the river, living off whatever he could find. The filmmakers, Lance Murphey and Alan Spearman, were originally newspaper photographers and just happened to find Jerry and decided to make their first film about his journey. Not knowing where they were going with the doc, they followed him around until one fateful day Jerry called home to find out that his son had committed suicide leaving Jerry in shambles, deciding to stay around Memphis for awhile.
I really dug the way the doc was shot, black-and-white and every shot seemed like a portrait (I guess the photographer thing came in handy). Meeting Jerry, Lance, and Alan also at Jengo’s one night made me interested in seeing the doc because I thought it’d be interesting but comical. When I saw it, I was surprised at the somber tone and the overall message it sends about life; you don’t need a home or car to be free. I was really surprised to see how professionally shot and narrated (by Jerry of course) the film was.
Afterwards, there was a Q&A with the three guys, who were happy to answer questions about how following Jerry around was. They also informed the audience (they had told me a few nights before) that Jerry was featured on Dr. Phil, where his daughter confronted him to tell him how much of a failure he was. This really shocked me because Jerry seemed so kind-hearted to me that I could never see him being a dead-beat dad. Almost every night, I ran into him and the filmmakers and we ended up talking for awhile about almost anything. It was actually refreshing to meet such an original person here in Wilmington and I was sad to see them all head back to Memphis.

Cucalorus response 1: Monster Camp

For my first Cucalorus screening, I attended Monster Camp, a documentary about the lives of Seattle NERO players, a real life version of Dungeons and Dragons basically. The whole community documented was a brand new deal for me as I really didn’t know (or want to know) that things like this actually exist, but it was very interesting to say the least. In a nutshell, the filmmaker, Cullen Hoback, followed around a few enthusiasts as they prepared themselves and their costumes for the big showdown of the real-life D&D’ers. The doc was very funny because of how serious the people took the game and how it had basically engulfed their lives. As a filmmaker, I really dug how professional the doc was made and how he let the players do the narration and not himself (see Michael Moore). I also liked the equal coverage of everyone and the balance of their real selves and game selves. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that the guys seemed to get so much into the game that it had taken over their lives. It was almost sad, but I guess its good to have a hobby that one cares so much about.
There was a Q&A afterwards with Cullen, whom I had met a few nights before at Jengo’s, and he was glad to explain how he got the idea and also how the players were in their real lives. A question was asked about whether or not he was trying to exploit or poke fun at the players since the documentary was of a humorous nature. He explained that he was indeed not and it just turned out that way because it was a ridiculous concept to begin with. He also explained that the guys actually were pretty successful in their jobs (although one was a stay-at-home all-day gamer) and social lives and that one of the main guys was actually engaged. I had met Cullen at Jengo’s and somehow he got on an anti-film school rant (could’ve been the free alcohol) about how no one needs film school and that it actually hinders one’s chances in the film world due to the ego that comes out of a film degree. I was split on my feelings because I’ve learned a lot through this 6x1 class and in my other hands-on courses. But I do get what he’s saying because some of my more critical (i.e. paper-writing) courses haven’t taught me much other than the fact that I’d rather make movies than study and write about them. But who am I to judge, right?

Feeling Loopy

Happy Cucalorus week, blogland. Hope everyone has fun.

Last week’s class brought the first ever Make-the-Biggest-Film-Loop contest to Leutze Hall and sadly, the Ambitious Chinchillas(a kickass name BTW) lost to the other guys. It was definitely a contest of creativity as well as logistics. Our team started out with a good amount of film to kick it off with a bang, and we begin looking for things that could be used to loop it on the ceiling, walls, and even the floor, though not too close. I forget who it was but one intelligent member of the ACs discovered that using the key clips (whatever they are called) worked extremely well for moving film through, so we gathered the three or four our group had and went to work. We set up these clips in a triangle shape over the ceiling and walls and they seemed to work a little too good. I could see the look of jealous on that rival group’s faces as one of our first huge loops went through without problems, not to brag or anything. Finally, our key clips ran out and our loop tragically touched the ground, leaving us in defeat as well as shock. The experiment as a whole was a lot of fun and interesting. Congrats to the other team.

On another note, the works-in-progress looked and sounded cool. It’s really neat to see how much sound adds to the rayograms that are pretty much seemingly random. I really dug the speed techniques used, as in slowing down or speeding up the footage. Originally, they seemed almost too quick when we first viewed them after processing. But with the works-in-progress, they seemed to make a lot more sense and the sound added immensely. Can’t wait to see the final products and the one-shots.