“My Most Difficult Case” Update - 2012 March 25

After a long (too long) delay I am back to work on My Most Difficult Case. I hadn’t done any work on it since last October. I wasn’t even sure what I had to do. I was glad to find that I made some notes back then. The major piece of work left to do is the sound track. Thanks to some good advice from Patrick Aull, I solved the problem I had with noise on the sound from the set.

I didn’t work on the sound this week though. Instead, I tried to modify a couple of brief shots in the film. They are the shots where the killer stalks and kills his victim. These two shots were very difficult to get. I had to shoot them three times before I got something I could use.

The problem with them is that you can see some of the pictures on the wall in the background. If I want to sell the film to a commercial network, I need to get releases for the picture. I tried to find out who owned the rights to the pictures, but got nowhere. I don’t see any way I can hope to get releases for them.

I could likely cut the shots out and not affect the film much. However, after all that trouble I went through to get the shots, I find it hard to just toss them.

I tried several times before to use a garbage key to create a composite to cover up the pictures. I did that successfully with another shot in the film. I didn’t have the same success with these shots. I tried a difference matte this time. From what I read, it should have worked, but it didn’t. I think it was partly because I had a monochrome image and it needed some color to identify the differences. Also, since it was a transfer from film, the grain meant that each pixel would change slightly from frame to frame.

I went back to a garbage key. I reviewed all my takes and found ones where the actors didn’t block out the pictures. This resulted in slightly shorter shots. I am not quite done yet. In the middle of one of the shots, the camera shifts a little and you can see where I covered up the pictures. I think I can fix that without too much trouble.

I was disappointed that the alternative takes were not as dramatic as the originals. I have something I can use now, but I still want to experiment some more and see if I can get a better result. The sound track is the priority now.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

What Next?

 

I got some nice comments from people about the award Contingency won at the festival last weekend. It was all very gratifying. Some people suggested I get it into other festivals, but I can’t think of any other festivals where I could submit it. Since the film is focussed on the $100 Festival, other festivals might not see it as appropriate.

I still want to get the film converted to video so more people can see it. Other than that, I am pretty much done with this film and it is time to move on to other projects. I am not sure what to do next.

I had a look at the blog post I did on my 2012 goals. My next top priority should be to finish My Most Difficult Case. It has been quite a while since I did anything on that, so I’m not sure just exactly where I left it. I need to set aside some time to review where I am on this project.

I know I have to finish the sound, but I want to make some minor changes to the images. In a couple of shots, you can see pictures on the wall. It looks like it’s unlikely that I can get releases for them, since I can’t even identify who owns the rights to them. One has a note about the organization that created it, but the organization doesn’t exist anymore. The other has no information about who created it. If I want to distribute the film, I think I’ll need to cover them up somehow. I tried that before, without much success.

I want to redo Some Days . . ., but I think I’ll do it later this year. It needs a lot of patience to do properly.

I published an article I wrote about “Conversational Films” and a blog post about my transportation planning story this week. I’d started them earlier, but dropped them so I could concentrate on Contingency. In my 2012 goals, I said that I wouldn’t do any more articles that were unrelated to my film or story projects. I had come up with several ideas, but I think I better drop those and concentrate on my film and story work.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Issues in Transportation Planning #6: The Stick and The Map

Over the years, I came to believe that people held two very different views of transportation models. I call these views The Stick and The Map.

My goal is to write a fictional book or make a movie about transportation planning. My interest is not to advocate one or the other view, but to use the conflict to drive my story. That isn’t to say that that I do not have strong opinions about the right way to view a model.

The Stick and the Map

One view is the stick model. In this view, people see the model as a stick or weapon. It is something they can use to attack people. In this way, they hope to force others into agreement with them.

The other view is the map model. In this view, my view, people see the model as a map. A model, like a map, provides a simplified view of the lay of the land. In the case of a map it is the real land, while in the case of a model, it is a metaphorical land of the future.

These two views are in conflict.

Stick Models

Stick modellers want the model to make the decisions. To be effective as a weapon, the forecasts it produces must be unquestioned. If there is any doubt about the validity of the model, it has failed.

Stick modellers add more and more features to the model so that no one can say they have missed something. This approach will not work. The more complicated the model, the harder it is to understand. People will not trust a model they can’t understand. In the end, stick modellers will always miss some important factor, so they can never make a model that no one can question.

Map Models

Map modellers want the model to help them and others understand the implications of the decisions they must make. Map modellers accept that the model isn’t reality, but it can help them and others understand the real world. Map modellers may even deliberately leave things out of a model if it helps them better inform the decision at hand. They believe that credibility lies with the modeller, not with the model.

When you think of the model as a map, you change how you use it. Map modellers use the model to explore possible futures. They learn to recognize problems and opportunities when they arise in the real world.

They also recognize that the model is not the only tool they will need. When you go for a drive, no map can be a substitute for looking out of your front window as you go down the road. If you don’t know where you are, a map isn’t much help. In the same way, no model can be a substitute for a monitoring program. Every now and then, you need to have a reality check.

The Nature of the Conflict

Stick modellers are afraid of map modellers, because of their openness about the shortcomings of transportation models. This is a threat to stick modellers. The map modeller’s insistence on monitoring is an anathema to stick modellers.

Map modellers are disdainful of stick modellers. Where the stick modeller believes they have a big stick, the map modeller sees only a rolled up map. A rolled up map isn’t a very impressive or effective weapon, and it isn’t much use as a map either.

Story Conflict

Since these two views are often subconscious, the people in conflict would not necessarily understand why they are in conflict. None of the characters could address it directly, since they would be unaware of it. People will see it as a personal conflict, which would lead them to discount the importance of the conflict.

In a story, we want to have the hero resolve the conflict. Since I never found a way to resolve this conflict when I worked as a transportation planner, it is hard for me to imagine how it can be resolved in a story. In my experience, stick modellers do not like to discuss what they see as an esoteric philosophical point. On the other hand, in a fictional story I can create a wish fulfilment fantasy where I solve a problem that I couldn’t in real life.

An analogy helps to understand the complex. However, like a model, any analogy has its limits. The analogy of the stick and the map does not capture the full complexity of transportation models. When I write a story though, I can use poetic license to ignore some of the complications.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

“Contingency” Wins Award at the $100 Film Festival - 2012 March 11

They screened my film Contingency Saturday night at the $100 Film Festival.

The screening went well. They had a good turn out. They moved the festival this year. The last few years it was at the Plaza theatre, but this year they had it at the Alberta College of Art and Design in the Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre. The festival was there several times in the past. My wife thought it was a better location for the festival.

The last time I went to the festival I only met a couple people I knew. This time I met about a dozen. I did some promotion of the film, but I only know of one person who came because of the promotion I did. He got the date wrong and went to the Friday night screening.

After the films were finished, they announced the awards. I was very pleased when they announced that Contingency had won the Best of Alberta award sponsored by Calgary Economic Development. That impressed my wife. I got a trophy designed by George Duncan

The host, Nowell Berg (who hosted the first $100 Film Festival) asked me to give a little speech. I said that I knew that while many in the audience were film makers, many others had never made a film. I challenged them to make a film for next year’s festival. I would really like to see that happen.

After the screening, several people came over to me to say they liked my film. That makes me feel good. I get a screening fee for the film. That makes me feel good too.

I haven’t decided what to do with the film next. Ordinarily I would look into getting some distribution of the film (Moviola showed My Next Film), but that requires I get releases for everything on the screen, and that would be a nightmare to do. I've lost touch with some people and I never did know the names of some other people. I haven’t decided what to do with My Next Film either.

I do feel inspired to make another film for the festival.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

“Contingency” Update 2012 March 4

I got the picture and sound done for Contingency this week. I used a CD for the sound. It is very hard to get perfect sync with that arrangement, but I think it should be close enough. The projector I used varied between a little fast to a little slow.

I took the film and CD into the CSIF office Tuesday. The festival will screen it as the first film on the Saturday night (March 10). The screening starts at 7:00 p.m. in the Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre in the Alberta College of Art and Design (1407-14 Ave NW). More information on their website: http://100dollarfilmfestival.org/fest2011/

Melanie Wilmink, who runs the festival, told me she’d like me to record more information about the start of the festival. Back in 2003 (year 11 of the festival), I wrote a short history of the festival for the CSIF’s newsletter. I’ve posted it on my website now http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/articles/the-history-of-the-100-film-festival/ Melanie also posted it on the CSIF blog. http://csifblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/the-history-of-the-100-film-festival/

Over the next few days I plan to do some promotion of the festival, and my film of course.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog