I found several hours worth of time-lapse screen recordings from early editing passes of For Thousands of Miles. I’ve been using FCPX for almost a year now, I can’t say I miss the 6-hrs-remaining render window in FCP7.
This is a pretty accurate depiction of most, if not all, of my production efforts…
photo via crazyunclelarry via instagram
I can’t believe that it’s been six years since the trip that forever changed my life. 6 years ago tonight @jayhale and I were nervously packing up our bikes and gear for something that scared the hell out of both of us. We didn’t finish it together but being alone for thousands of miles made me change, for better and worse. I can still smell The Skagit in WA and the sea at Bar Harbor. Here’s to the best summer of my life.
It’s been 3 months since we released the film’s trailer, alongside our plans of a Spring-release. In that time a lot has changed, and, at the same time, a lot has remained frustratingly static. Where to start.
Let’s start with some of the good things: the Kickstarter campaign to get the special premiere-based posters and t-shirts went really well, and it’s been exciting to start getting those things into people’s hands ahead of release. I should give a really big thanks again to Kristen from Warpaint for all her amazing work and attention to detail. Also, working with Eluvium on the original score was an amazing experience… I really can’t find the words to describe how inspiring it was to first hear the early drafts of the film’s score. Now that the score is finished, the film has a truly unique and consistent feel. IFP introduced For Thousands of Miles to Robinson Devor, and his mentoring was incredibly, incredibly helpful / encouraging; his feedback helped me make a cut to the film that I’d been nervous about in the previous months, it was one of the weakest parts of the film, and I was lucky to have someone who understood the film so well, someone who was able to provide such helpful feedback.
What was our plan?
We still needed / need financial help with the film to pay for a sound mix and the licensing rights for the two pieces of non-original music, and we had very much hoped that one of two things would happen: 1) the film would be accepted at one of the festivals with a 1st-time filmmaker grant, specifically: Tribeca and Ann Arbor. Or, 2) the film would be accepted at a festival and an outside investor would help cover the last of remaining cost. This option was far less likely, as most investors are willing to put money into a film premiering at a festival on the agrement that when it is sold they will recoup their expenses, but I don’t have any plans to sell the film. Although rare, it might have been possible to find an investor willing to cover the relatively small remaining cost with plans to self-release the film.
It happens that nearly everything that’s ever gone right for this film has been against initially unlikely odds, and this has bit-by-bit lead to my taking greater and greater risk… I’m not sure whether that is good or bad.
In any case, the film was / is very close to being 100% finished, it was close enough to take a chance 3 months ago; we applied to 20+ film festivals, launched a kickstarter, moved forward on partnerships with bicycling organizations, we put everything we had into motion, and then, piece by piece, each thing we had worked so hard to structure, fell apart. None of these things falling apart means the end of the world, setbacks are nothing new, but that’s not to downplay their affect, they are still setbacks and they do cause delays, scrambling, and frustration. But I am still very hopeful.
What is our new plan?
To be honest, we had put nearly all of our plans into motion several months ago, and when all of them fell short, we were feeling at a loss of what steps to take next, that was until Nathan came along with a plan for self releasing the film in a way that was very close to my heart. He’s helped bring not only new eyes to this project, but new and talented people as well, I’m excited about what we’re planning and I’m anxious to talk more about the release plans as soon as we have them locked in.
Steven Soderbergh - State of Cinema Address
A very interesting talk on the past, current and possible future state of cinema. Also some interesting commentary on movies vs cinema, and the importance of films being in your voice.
On a voice-related note, this State of Cinema talk reminds me of a dinner Erica and I had with Rodrigo, the night before his film’s Mexico premiere, Rodrigo was saying, despite all the recent bad news of festival rejections, that some filmmakers work hard their entire careers for a chance to make just one film in their own voice… and that For Thousands of Miles was, no matter what happened with festivals or the film’s upcoming release, that no matter what I had made a film in my own voice, and that was something to be proud of.
Cinema is difficult… movie-making in general is a crushing undertaking, but cinema specifically, where, like Steven Soderbergh notes, where every single thing matters, is difficult in an entirely different kind of way. For better or worse, there isn’t a single line, a single shot, a single edit in the film that is there because of number-crunching or lost-battles, and I am proud of that… and I can’t wait to try again with the next film.
Give this talk a listen if you have 40 minutes to spare, it’s well worth it.
(via thingsilikeon)
The Zen of a Directionless Cross-Country Ride, via Adventure Journal
“Why am I doing this,” asks Larry McKurtis. “Why am I in the middle of North Dakota, pedaling a bike across the country?”
McKurtis set off on a 4,200-mile journey without clear reasons for going, expectations of why he’d find there, or how it might change him when it was over. A Zen approach, perhaps, but maybe, in the end, more intriguing than one of laser-like focus.
“In his mind he had always imagined the road to be full of adventure and happenstance,” said Mike Ambs, who’s making a documentary about McKurtis’s trip, “which it was, but in ways that were often unnoticeable to the passing traffic; the summer sunsets would burn colors in the horizon Larry would later be unable to describe; the fireflies would weave in and out of the tall midwest fields, with no one there to share in every detail of the world around him. The loneliness of the open road left him feeling alive, awake – himself in ways he was never able to be before.”
I caught up with Ambs to learn more about the McKurtis and his ride.
How did you come across Larry McKurtis? Tell us a little about him.
Just a few months ahead of principle photography, I had made a casting-call video that explained a bit about the film itself, and how we were looking for someone already planning to ride across the country, someone that was comfortable with a camera on them for most of their ride. Out of all the people who responded to that video, Larry’s email seemed most-motivated by a simple need to get away and test how far he could push himself; which I liked, his trip wasn’t tied up in vacation-hours, it was a basic reset button for him.
Was he open to you telling his story or did he take convincing? What convinced him?
We met face-to-face a few weeks after his email, and a few weeks before leaving to film – I think we were both nervous on if this was going to work out, but after a day spent hiking around the mountains above Truckee, California, I think we were both convinced our intentions were in sync.
What is at the heart of McKurtis’s quest? Does he find it?, The ride as you describe it seems bittersweet. Was it to Larry?, How did the ride change him? What changes did he make in his life after he returned home?
Larry set out with no specific goal in mind. Really his trip was a challenge to himself, to see how far he could push himself physically and mentally. I found, through my own bike trip, Larry’s bike trip, as well as speaking with others on the road, that, what happens after you return home from your trip, hits people a bit unexpectedly. There is no giant epiphany or life changing moment when you reach the end of your ride, but instead it’s a slow realization, you set out to do this unimaginable thing, and you succeeded, it definitely sets a precedent for the rest of your life. The film touches on this and eludes to the next big plans in Larry’s life; off screen he went on to plan a sponsored 3-tier trip from Alaska to Chile, he has completed tier 1. He is involved a lot with river conservation also.
His bike trip definitely sparked something within him, something that wants to do greater things – and there is something about the way you go about a long-distance trip, mile-by-mile, that becomes a way of approaching other ambitions outside of riding; and, on top of that, there is something about the imagery of the open-road that is a constant reminder of what else is out there.
Source: adventure-journal.com
The Build, 1st spotted thanks to Richard Gil
I think most people who follow the film know that if I had to choose between releasing For Thousands of Miles online or releasing the film in theaters, if, for whatever strange set of circumstances, I could only choose one, I would choose releasing the film online without any hesitation. It’s a far, far more exciting, intimate and powerful way of sharing a film.
The depth I could add to the film online, vs in a theater, is day and night, there are hours and hours and hours of additional videos that branch directly off scenes in the film, I’ve kept a scanned copy of every page of script ever written… even the pages scribbled on the back of napkins, I have early storyboards, alternate narrations, some of the early temp music used in the film has interesting stories; and all of the above examples are related direction to production, there’s even more if I start diving into stories within the film itself. So many people, places, things left to hint at - and the internet is perfectly suited for that kind of tangled storytelling.
The above video is called The Build, here’s a short description via Design Boom,
instrument, an independent digital creative agency based in portland, oregon has launched an interactive documentary titled ‘the build.’ the film portrays the values and culture of the local motorcycle builder community in portland, told through the personal stories of three bike builders. shot during the fall and winter of 2012, the movie captures the cyclist enthusiasts in iconic oregon locations including the gorge, mt. hood and downtown portland, as well as their own workshops. blending design and technology in groundbreaking ways, the project pairs traditional filmmaking with new school interactive experiences that push the envelope of current browser technologies like webgl and html5 video.
This kind of mixing linear-filmmaking with online-tech is so exciting to me; it gives these films so much more life, there’s a whole separate side to this 16 minute long film to explore. I love that idea.
I don’t know how just yet, but after For Thousands of Miles is released on VHX, and after the DVDs start going out to people, I am going to focus my energy into re-releasing the film using a special online player.