Thankfully, my friend Annette was kind enough to be my driver, and accompany my gimpy self to the screening. Although, I think I would have traded the pain of driving myself, for all the "cripple" comments she made throughout the night... I'm just thankful she wanted to go, and kept me company.
She was also kind enough to play "photo girl" for us, and got recruited to snap a bunch of pictures on various cameras. Here's a pair from the evening:
Steve "Papaw" Pyatte and Myself.
Myself, "Papaw" and fellow filmmaker Chris Allen.It was a REALLY great time. I got to me Michael Garcia - who wrote the original screenplay. He came into town from Texas. We've talked numerous times via email, so it was nice to put a face to the name. I got to see regulars like Jim Dogherty, Don Becker, and Joe Martin. And I hung out most of the night with Chris Allen. I also got the chance to meet and talk to Daniel Risk - who basically took over what I started, and helped Papaw get this thing finished.
Onto the film: The film makes its point. And I have high respect for ANYONE who can complete a project. The film has a VERY straight forward message, and it hits it. It sometimes overkills it, however - at the screening, the played all of the "Bonus Features" from the DVD right after the film, and we had a HUGE into by Steve, so I might have just been overloaded with "the message" - perhaps in smaller doses, it wouln't feel the same.
The problem with me (one of MANY) is this: When I watch any film, for the first time, I critique it - for its technical aspects. That's just how my brain works. There's many films that when I see them in the theatre, I claim and swear that they are horrible - and once I watch it on DVD, I realize its not that bad. It's RARE that a film like "The Last Kiss" comes along, and I'm SO involved in the story (because of an amazing script) that I do not look at the technical aspects of the film.
Sadly, as with most indie flick, the dialogue just didn't get me hooked - so I started technically watching the flick. It probably did NOT help that I've read the script numerous times - and knew the story. For some reason, this just sadly happens with too many indie scripts - MINE INCLUDED - we are too focused on the words, and disregard the fact that this is a visual medium. It's something that I've attempted to work on, and it's tough. It's a tough thing to move past the words, and move into the fact that the visuals are more important to keeping people interested. It's a visual medium - with dialogue to accompany the visuals.
So, here's my semi-technical comments: The editing at the beginning and ending were very good. Lots of quick cuts, cut to music, it flowed, it didn't sit on one shot too long, it felt like a good edit. The middle was a little SLOW. They focused too much on the dialogue - and didn't allow their actors to move. They stood still - they didn't move. It kept cutting between the same two shots, except to give me a Close Up of the same angle. Visually, I was bored with what I was seeing. I understand that they were more concerned with getting their message, but I'm going to argue that more people than not, are going to be visually bored. And the problem is that when you visually bore the audience, they shut off their ears to hearing the dialogue, because their eyes have given up. It's very simple to create movement between people. Have them walk around. Have one of them go off and do something, and force the other one to follow. Something. Anything. Film is a visual medium, and if you're going to chose it to tell your story, then you need to make sure you're satisfying the audiences visual needs. If the story is the only important thing - then it should be a book.
The one thing that I CAN NOT say ANYTHING negative about was the music/score. It was GREAT. It was PERFECT. Watching the credits - it looked like it was all pre-recorded stuff, and they MADE IT WORK for the film. I thought the music was well cut to the scenes, and they worked as if it was perfectly written for the flick. It really set the mood and the tone for what was going at various points. It also worked REALLY well at various moments when "shock value" was being used. The music really added another depth to the flick.
The film is essentially a high-end PSA. It's anti-drinking and driving, and it does an EXCELLENT job of conveying its message. It shows you the remorse in the characters. You do feel their pain. It was ambitious. It was a big project. And for a first-time director like Steve, it was a HUGE step. I'll guarantee it was a massive step over what "Consternate" was. And if this is where Steve's learning curve is beginning - then he's got a HUGE potential to tell amazing stories and with the right work, homework, and research into the art of filmmaking - he's got a chance to go on to bigger and better things.
In today's society, ANYONE and EVERYONE believes that they can make films. Look at YouTube or MySpace or Google Video, they are overcrowded with lots and lots of bad products. And its because all of these people hear stories about filmmakers - one in a billion chances - and they think that they can do it too. They don't take the time to read the books, watching the bonus features on DVDs (Ten Minute Films School Segments 1, 2, 3 and 15-Minute Film School), read magazines (1, 2, 3, 4), do homework - and TRULY learn the mental reasoning behind filmmaking. Filmmaking is a mental work - because through millions of perfectly arranged pictures - you have to tell a story. Mise-en-Scene is a basic principle that I felt was lacking in "Crossroads" - it felt like the just had people stand "where they should be" - then worked their shots around the actors, instead of arranging their actors to make a more dynamic shot. I REALLY hope that Steve takes the time to look into a few books that go into the technical aspects of setting up four framing and shots, and then also looks into some of the books which deal in the psychology of framing a shot. How the audience interprets various set-ups. I think he's got MAJOR potential, and like I said, he's already WAY SURPASSED my first film. It's also wonderful to see someone who is so kind, so caring, and so giving with himself - that you can't but hope he makes it far. He's got a wonderful attitude, and deserves lots of respect and acknowledgement for his work on the project.
I also have to THANK Steve, he said A LOT of nice things about me in his introduction to the film, and again in closing. It was very nice for someone to acknowledge those who he's worked with. It was an amazing time, and I'm so glad to have been able to attend. And I'm glad to add "Crossroads" to my DVD collection.
Following the showing, Chris Allen asked if we wanted to catch a bite to eat, so we all hit the Steak-N-Shake, where we talked and TALKED film forever. We talked a lot about the curent state of the film community in Indy. We talked about his upcoming project. We talked about past projects. When Chris and I sit down, we TALK and TALK film. The last time we did lunch - it turned into a 4-hour meeting. He's an AWESOME guy, and someone that I really respect.
It was a good night for Indy Indie Film - and I hope more people get to see the film, as lots of hard work and time were put into it. I'm also looking forward to the IndianaActors.com Film Festival in March. I am looking forward to seeing a lot more indie films, and getting to spend more time with fellow filmmakers - talking film and enjoying each other's company.
Tonight was awesome - because it REALLY reminds me how much I love doing this. And hopefully it will help me carry on in developing the scripts I'm working on. Now, I'm looking forward to spending a day, or two, in Chicago to see some more cool flicks, and much like in Boston, get a feeling for how filmmakers from others parts of the country/world are doing.
Annette and I somehow got onto the topic of the film "Love Actually" on the drive home - so I HAD TO put it in and watch it. So, I'm going to do that - get my foot up - and try to get healed.
FOR HEIDI: Who asked me how involved I was in the project, HERE is a link where I go into details about how the project was born, and what I had to do with it. ENJOY!
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