Ciao.
I will try to write once or twice in the several days, but don't count on it. Take a vacation from Prinsiana for about two weeks.
But. There will be a contest on Wednesday, March 12th, 5:00 PM Eastern sharp. It will be a time contest. It will be worth 20 points. Yes. Yes. So do not forget.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, absent.
Matthew, please shut up about your movie.
I will, I will, when I get back to regular journal writing during the second week of March. But what's the use of shutting up about my movie now when I only have two days to shut up about it before, um, you know?
So. Let me try to get all film-related comments out of my system in the next two days in a film-comment-purge of my system.
1) In the most important news, tapes to the Vinegar Hill Film Festival, Flickerings, and "scanLine" are going out in this mornings's mail. My expected acceptance rate: one-of-three, with an okay chance at two-of-three. Aside: For whatever reason, despite the religiousness at the end of my film, I think I have a better chance at "scanLine" than Flickerings. Don't ask me why.
2) What is not going out in this morning's mail: CDs to the Wisconsin Prinses and the Iowa Prinses. Even after setting the quality level at 50% and halving the image size to 360x240, "12 Stories" was still 900 MB. Oh well. I'll have to reduce it again this evening and see what happens.
3) Realization while filling out festival forms last night: "12 Stores About Eileen" is a USA-Canada co-production. How cool.
4) Realization while watching my film on television for the first time last night: I have no idea how good my film is. None. I've seen it far too many times, and any element of surprise is gone, and I'm just too close to it to have an opinion other than seeing little nitpicky bits I'd like to change.
That is my movie. That is also somewhat of a lie, because I am not done; I am just done enough so that I don't want to waste another 3 hours rendering another copy when there are only two nights before I, um, let us just say take a vacation from this weblog. (If you do not know what I am talking about, e-mail me; I just don't want to publish the specifics publicly.) So while there about a dozen small bits that I'd like to play with in my movie -- ditching a couple sentences in Jo[h]n's speech, ditching the awkward first word (or maybe awkward first five) of mine, fixing the artifacts in the second card in the closing credits, fixing the #12 intertitle, fixing the spinning of the Earth and Mars, possibly adding two pictures that I have asked a certain person permission to add, possibly adding a certain person to the credits after he permits said addition, lowering the volume of part of the score underneath my part, blah blah blah -- it's all minor stuff, and I'm happy enough with the current draft not to worry that these small bits will be the breaking point between any festival’s acceptance or rejectance of “12 Stories.” So I am done. For now.
Other movie bits:
1) Just perchance: Does anyone here have a DVD burner?
2) Everyone who is in the movie will get a VHS copy when the movie is final final. For now, however, I am going to send out two copies of the film tomorrow as probably zipped AVI files on CDs to Ed/Beth-Annie and moM/daD. If you are not Ed or Beth-Annie or moM or daD and you must absolutely see the movie now now now, then you need to bug Ed to send you the copy once he has it on his computer. This copy, I should note, is not as crisp as the final; you will probably not be able to see the Newsweek joke, the Wentzlaff Corporation joke, etc., but you will get a general feel for the film.
3) We are playing a level 5+ handbell piece in the James River Ringers. But that does not have much to do with my film.
4) On Saturday, I had to run four miles. The first two miles I ran in an unbelievable 24:45. The last two miles I ran in a believable, but still swell, 27:15. I finished ahead of three other people, bringing my streak of not-last-place-finishes to a improbable six (including last weekend, when only eight people ran because it was raining and they were wimps). I could potentially finish this 10K in under 1:20:00. But that does not have much to do with my film.
5) I was going to say something else, but it did not have much to do with my film.
Snotcrap. It never occurred to me that I needed to come up with a synopsis of my film when submitting it to festivals. Why can they not synposize my film themselves? That is the question that I am asking myself and now you. Because that would be much easier, because I am I think too close to the film to give an accurate synopsisization that does not give away too much about either the themes of the film or the premise beyond, say, story #3 or so.
Okay. I have ten minutes before the end of lunch. Let me try.
1) A religious woman is missing. Could it be...Satan?
2) In Matthew Prins' eagerly awaited sequel to "Agnes: She is Missing," "12 Stories About Eileen" continues his exploration of the persevering, avoidable alienation of a specific subset of the human race, this time through a series of vignettes that say more about those discussing Eileen than about Eileen herself. (Alas, I may use part of this one.)
3) "I was at the lock-in the night it happened. I…don’t know too much. No more than anyone else, I guess." (That's the first line of the movie.)
4) No one knows nobody. (That's really more of a poster tagline.)
5) There are, you know, these, um, 12 people, and they're telling these stories about Eileen, you know, about when she...I mean, just various stories and stuff and, you know, sometimes they get a bit sidetracked and they start to talk about stuff like, just as an example, their favorite flower, like orchids, because you know I saw these really cool orchids once in a movie, I think it was Adaptation, which by the way have you ever seen that Björk video?
6) Seeing "12 Stories About Eileen" film that will change your life (because it has to by definition, because your life would necessarily have to be different if you had not seen the film, at the very least by the absence of seeing "12 Stories About Eileen").
7) "If you see one film this year that uses the word 'antecedent,' make it '12 Stories About Eileen'. Or not." -- Thelma Dawn Esprit, New York Post-Dispatch
That is the new chance that I will be able to finish this movie by Sunday night. If all goes well, after tonight I will have recorded all 12 parts and I'll have probably less than ten hours of work left on the film:
1) The end credits. (This is just eight or nine black 720x480 gif files with words in them. Not very difficult, and I can do part of it at lunch tomorrow at work.) One hour. 2) Editing the music. (The major problem: Trying to get the length of the music to line up with the segment lengths [except the overlap between Kim's and moM's]; I may not even try.) Two hours. 3) Inserting Von and Pablo's part, and inserting Jo[h]n's part, and black-and-whiting the parts, and designing their little introduction thingies. (As long as I can use an entire take from each, not that difficult; the introductions will take me five minutes each, tops.) One-and-a-half hours. 4) The final two seconds before the end credits. (This will be...interesting.) One-and-a-half hours. 5) Sticking in all these graphic files that I asked for, and recording two or three more video bits tonight and on my way home from running tomorrow and sticking those in. Two hours. 6) Lining everything up again after inserting the two new parts (and editing down some of the others a bit): Half-an-hour. 7) Rejigging the audio levels after watching the first draft of the entire movie. Half-an-hour.
That's nine hours or so as I see it, and I hope hope hope that I can get it all done on Saturday so I can spend Sunday morning worrying about the solo I'm singing at church rather than my movie. Oh. Have I mentioned that I am singing a solo at church on Sunday? Ugh. This is not something I am looking forward to.
This better be on next month as well, or some of us will be very, very upset.
Part of Iceland Air's Iceland-to-North-America in-flight entertainment for February:
Inside Björk This documentary takes a grand look on Björk's whole solo career, spanning from 1993 to 2002. Inside Björk, though the title suggests it, does not only feature Björk but also luminairies such as Sir Elton John, Sir John Tavener, Thom Yorke, Missy Elliot, Sean Penn, Alexander McQueen, Lars von Trier, Graham Massey, Zeena Parkins, Matmos, RZA, Beck and Stella McCartney sharing their experiences and thoughts on Björk's music.
And what do I get on the North-America-to-Iceland leg?
Will and Grace Will Truman and Grace Adler are best friends and neighbors in this adult comedy about two people who seem perfect for each other but can never actually find romance together because Will is gay and Grace is straight.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 2.
"Time is tickin' away! Tick, tick, tickin' away!"
Having now recorded and edited my massive, five-minute part, I am 90 percent confident that, when finished, "12 Stories About Eileen" will run between 20 and 23 minutes. That is 20 percent more confidence than I have in my finishing this project by the March 1st deadline.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 5.
Wait, did I not move to Virginia to escape winter?
Apparently not. Ugh. I think I would have preferred Washington, D.C.'s 12 inches of snow to this however many inches of ice we got instead. I do not know how I will get my car down the driveway tomorrow morning (we didn't ever try until about 4:00 today). Oh dearie me.
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The list.
What else I need for my movie right now is what is listed below. All pictures must be at least 350 in height or at least 450 in width. I am black-and-whiting them all eventually, so they may be colorless.
Covers of books about teenagers and sex (as in, the covers reference both teenagers and sex)
A circular picture of the earth
A circular picture of some other planet
Sheet music for our national anthem (PDF file also acceptable -- actually, probably preferred)
Picture of a box of feminine napkins -- from the '70s, if possible
Picture of John C. Reilly
Two pictures of thin Renée Zellweger
One picture of less-thin Bridget Jones Renée
That should be almost everything I need, Internet-searchable-picture-wise.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 10.
I have finally cast my entire movie. Yay the 12 people who are helping me. And by the end of today, if my boss and I can get a couple free minutes, I will have in my possession recordings of 9 of the 12 stories (with Jo[h]n's, Dev's and Paul's, and [ugh] mine remaining). I am happy, albeit perhaps temporarily. Next up: Fun with blue screens!
I have decided that we need some point opportunities, and thus for the next few days I will be posting two stills from my movie, and from those stills you have to guess the context of the scenes. (That is scene with an "s" tacked on at the end; today's stills are from two different scenes.) One point for the closest of each, as judged by me. You have four days from the beginning of each contest to vote. I will laugh if some of you in the movie do not recognize visuals from your own scene.
So. There is this, and there is this. (If someone can find a better picture of the latter one, I'll give them a half-point.)
---
For two more points: I need three or four pictures (preferably older-looking pictures -- of, say, the '60s or '70s) of two women of high school age who are in each of the aforementioned three or four pictures together. (If there are other people in one or two of the pictures as well, that's fine.) And then I need a picture of one of those women with either a female child (of any pre-K age, really) or a child of gender indeterminate. I can do the film without these pictures, but they will certainly help.
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Fun project for Beth-Annie.
If you want a better title in the credits, find me three or four pictures of Lorelai and Rory looking happy together, and a picture of the three Brady Bunch boys looking happy together, and a picture of the three Brady Bunch girls looking happy together, and put them in /prinsiana/eileennew. All pictures must have a height of at least 400 or a width of at least 500; other than that, I'm not picky.
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Fun project for...someone. Probably me.
I need to make a fake check and a fake high school report card. (They can be virtual fake things; I don't need a paper copy of them, in other words.) If anyone has any ideas how to go about this, help.
In case you're not reading the comments, here are the new names for the characters in "Eileen," courtesy of Beth-Annie:
1) E.'s Family Friend, Johnny Myers: Mv. Prins 2) E.'s Younger Sister, Marie Saussure: K. Prins 3) E.'s Older Sister, Samantha Lintrell: S. Prins 4a) E.'s Piano Student, Amelia White: D. Gray 4b) E's Piano Student, Ken Solberg: P. Smith 5) E.'s Church Friend, Jeffrey Winthrop: A. Klages 6) E.'s Friend, Gregg Matteo: B. Williams 7) E.'s Young Friend, Lauren Sandine: L. Newman 8) E.'s Sunday School Student, Marianna Drea: K. Marrefi 9) E.'s Sunday School Student, Tom Perskill: J. Giuffrida 10) E.'s Boss, David Benedict: S. Griffin 11) E.'s Friend, Chris Samuels: Mt. Prins 12) E.'s Daughter, Gretchen Lintrell: I've sent out a couple feelers, so we'll see
So I want to know: How did you come up with these names, Beth-Annie?
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Also.
Here is my "Eileen" task list for today that I came up with during lunch. I do not really expect to complete all of this today, but we shall see:
1) Type up actual dialogue for Alex, moM, daD #2 (after editing the segments)
2) Write down the non-linear editing breaks for Kim that need to be patched. (Confusing, I know.)
3) E-mail Jo[h]n, Paul and Devon about setting up times.
4) Come up with the following art design for Steve's visuals: a personal leave form, time card filled out, time card not filled out, two-column article about disappearance, two-column article about my theories.
5) Edit audio for Dad part 2.
6) Create the intertitle for Kim's segment. (Basically, I should be pretty close to done with Kim's segment today, and I wanted to play with intertitles, so hers gets to be the one.)
7) Edit audio and primary video for Kim.
8) Write score for Kim. (Doubles as score for Jo[h]n, but Jo[h]n's is piano, and Kim's is dulcimer, and they'll have slightly different arrangements.)
9) Record score for Kim. (Really should be last on the list; I don't expect to get this done.)
10) Edit Mom's audio.
11) Start getting info for closing credits.
Fun, fun, fun!
Speaking of #11, if you filled one of these roles in the production (mostly taken from the list of jobs on The Spanish Prisoner), or if you would like to pretend that you filled one of these roles in the production, you should let me know:
Director
Writer
Executive Producer
Co-Executive Producer
Producer (Kim, actually)
Co-Producer
Associate Producer (like in State and Main!)
Composer
Cinematographer
Film Editor
Casting...something. Agent?
Production Designer
Art Director
Set Decorator
Costume Designer
Key Hair Stylist
Hair Stylist
Assistant Hair Stylist
Key Makeup Artist
Makeup Artist
Production Supervisor: Iowa
Production Supervisor: Illinois
Production Supervisor: Wisconsin
Production Supervisor: Virginia
Boom (as in Boom Microphone) Operator: Iowa
Boom Operator: Illinois
Boom Operator: Wisconsin
Boom Operator: Virginia
Unit Production Manager
Second Unit Director
Assistant Director
Assistant Props
Carpenter
Gaffer
Construction Foreman
Art Department Coordinator
Standby Scenic (???)
Property Master
Set Dresser
Property Assistant
Assistant Propmaster
Scenic Painter
Sound Re-Recording Sound Mixer
ADR mixer
Sound Editor
Assistant Music Editor
Sound Engineer
Foley Recordist
Foley Editor
Production Sound Mixer
Stunt Coordinator
Key Grip
Grip
Auditor
Intern
Extras Casting Assistant
Electrician
On-Set Medic
Tailor
Location Assistant
Dolly Grip
Transportation Captain
Parking Coordinator
Driver
Caterer
Production Counsel
Script Supervisor
Shopper
Video Playback Operator
Seaplane Pilot
Camera Trainee
Best Boy
A second non-film-related post in a row? How perfectly sweet. Or something like that.
Some of you are no doubt wondering, "That Matthew, what does he expect to to run his 10K in?" The honest answer: Less than 1h45m and more than 1h15m. However, I know even more specifically what I would like to run my 10K in, and it is in this: 1h25m19s. Why? Because that is the pace that I would have to run every 10K at in a marathon in order to finish the marathon in under 6 hours, which is the typical amount of time allotted to finish a marathon. That's right. I am thinking about a marathon again, and in fact let me just put my marathoning logo down here as a little extra push:
I am intending to put a half-marathon as one of my goals for the second triad of the year, and either the Richmond Marathon or the really cool sounding Bay Bridge Marathon as a goal for the third triad. But I should not think about that yet.
Okay, the article doesn't list me by name, but I am the one who did the design and layout for this, if not, you know, the whole medical part of it.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, absent.
Whining.
Hi. You do not want to read this. This is just me complaining how horrible my film is, how I will never finish it, etc. Yesterday was not a happy movie day, so I am just writing this post as catharsis. So just go read about sports instead. (This does not apply if you are computerly inclined, in which case go down to the first footnote to this post and help me.)
This is a stupid movie. The concept is stupid. The stories are stupid. The title is stupid. They aren't even stories; they're more just people vocally meandering. It should be "12 People Vocally Meandering About Eileen." There's no consistent tone; it gyrates from humor to seriousness to humor to mystery to the blatantly religious thing. It's all over the place. The ending is stupid; the idea wasn't bad, but I won't be able to pull it off, because I [spoilers removed]. The ending is foreshadowed too much. The ending wasn't foreshadowed enough. I keep on harping on the two major themes of the film -- isolation of others in lieu of God, [spoilers removed] -- too didactically, while still not making it clear that those are the themes. Everyone's saying the same thing over and over. I have no idea what I'm going to do for the video while moM and daD and Alexander and Katie. My video camera doesn't have a high enough resolution; my film's going to look like snotcrap. I can't get the audio off of the video files I've recorded1. My score is too difficult2. My score is too weird in places and too normal in others. My score needs more instrumentation. I still need to cast two parts3. I still need to record seven parts. I'm wondering when I can record Paul and Devon's part and Jo[h]n's part, because I'd really not have to wait until next Wednesday. I still need to record my part. I still need to memorize my part. My part's dumb. I can't memorize 800 words; what was I thinking? I don't have enough time to finish this. I don't have enough energy to finish this. This will be the worst film ever.
There. Got that out of my system. Back to work on my film, then.
---
1 Here is the problem: Apparently, there are two types of AVI files: type 1 and type 2. AVI type 2 is the type that is used in my video editing software (all three different programs I have, in fact), because it basically separates the audio into a separate appendage in the file, whilst type 1 integrates the audio and video. However, apparently, AVI type 1 is the only type that I can import from my firewire card, for whatever reason -- the card, the camera, the wrong codec. You would think that it would be easy to find programs that could convert AVI type 1 to AVI type 2, and it is, but in the six or seven programs I've tried, either the audio doesn't come over into the AVI type 2 file, or the audio sounds very (in lieu of a better word) computery. I have two potential fixes, either of which I'd take advice on:
a) Find a program that could extract the audio from the AVI type 1 file and put it into, say, a WAV file. Major advantage with (a) over (b): I don't have to sync the audio.
b) Figure out a way to have, say, Windows Media Player playing the AVI file while having, say, some other program simultaneously recording the audio off of it. (I tried it with "Sound Recorder"; all I got was loud static.)
2 This is not hyperbole. "Eileen Score, Part III" may sound cool, but as I learned upon giving it to an accomplished piano player yesterday, it's probably nearly impossible for any one person to play on the piano alone because of the 5/4 time combined with the very divergent rhythms in the left and right hand combined with many many many accidentals combined with a bit of speed.
3 Okay, only one part now; my boss has volunteered to be person #6.
There has been a request for me to put my opening credits online. After much playing with exporting functions, I have managed to shrink the file to a not-too-bad-really 3.4 MB for 20 seconds of footage. It'll more-or-less be like this in the movie, except a higher quality, with sound, and probably with some slightly different timing (I don't plan to hold out the title of the film quite as long as in this preview). Anyway, enjoy. Or whatever. Like I care.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 5.
Of course, this shall be your computer's wallpaper forever more.
I mean this, of course, taken directly from my mostly completed and relatively cool title sequence, of course. (This screenshot does not do the opening credits justice, of course.)
This is really more for me than for you; I'm just trying to get my bearings on where I am on this project:
1) E.'s Family Friend, Johnny Benson: Mv. Prins (first half audio edited; second half not) 2) E.'s Younger Sister, Marie Forest: K. Prins (recording either today or tomorrow) 3) E.'s Older Sister, Samantha Clark: S. Prins (recieved; not yet edited) 4a) E.'s Piano Student, Amelia White: D. Gray (recording Monday [unless she tells me otherwise]) 4b) E's Piano Student, Ken Johnson: P. Smith (recording Monday) 5) E.'s Church Friend, Jeffrey Winthrop: A. Klages (audio completely edited and done) 6) E.'s Friend, Mindy Carter: I dunno; maybe M. H-M., maybe someone at Monday choir (written) 7) E.'s Young Friend, Janet Madison: L. Newman (re-recording next Thursday) 8) E.'s Sunday School Student, Monique O'Connell: K. Marrefi (re-recording next Thursday) 9) E.'s Sunday School Student, Tom Myers: Jo[h]n, perhaps (if so, recording Monday; only part not yet written) 10) E.'s Boss, David Benedict: S. Griffin (recording and sending this weekend) 11) E.'s Friend, Chris Samuels: Mt. Prins, apparently (recording early next week) 12) E.'s Daughter, Gretchen Clark: some girl about 17 -- J. Newman? The unwilling E. Neptune? Someone at Monday choir?
I'm relatively happy with where I am thus far, I think. I'll know better Tuesday morning how this is all going.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 15.
One story about "Twelve Stories About Eileen."
So I recorded two more stories in "Eileen" after bell practice, both of which went well, I thought. Then I went home and played them on my television. No sound. Nada. Turns out, apparently, that the battery was dead in my lapel microphone, probably because I had accidently left it turned on at some point. Oh bother. Now that I have to re-record those parts, there is absolutely no way I will make the February 15th deadline, and I have instead officially set my sights at the second of the three festival deadlines, March 1st, which also coincides with the Cornerstone deadline.
Realizations I have come to while listening to the nice readings by moM and daD and Alexander of the monologues from "Eileen":
1) Boy, does Alexander sound like Andrew V. Really. I was seriously taken aback for a moment.
2) I wrote these monologues too long. The three so far are averaging about 2m15s (not including moM's 3m03s second run), and 2m15s times 12 is 27m00s, and 27m00s is just way too long for the story I am telling. I was thinking more 15m00s, and while I'm not going to hit that I suspect, I can't let this go on nearly half-an-hour either. Also, I had some really stupid lines in some of these scripts. Also, some of this stuff is being foreshadowed over and over and it's getting too obvious. Thus, I will be snipping parts of the readings (while certainly not snipping any of the readings entirely). Please, do not take offense. It's not you; it's me.
3) I think I need some pictures of the 40ish Eileen. I don't know how I am going to do this.
4) I came up with the perfect ending to this film. Perfect. Finally. Yay me.
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 7.
Lies I have been told.
That I ran three miles on Saturday in a blistering 36 minutes when it should have taken me 40; I am confident the course was closer to two-and-two-thirds.
That the deadline to get my short film on local PBS is April 15th, 2002 when in fact there is no real deadline.
That today is January 29th when in fact it is February 3rd. (This lie told by my French-word-a-day desk calendar.)
That I will get my new computer working by the end of the day. (This lie told by me to myself.)
That there will be a new contest up tomorrow. (This lie told to you by me, but close enough.)
oh so lovingly written by
Matthew |
these are comments, 2.
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
