but I've been exposed to so much excellent and varied video
work recently that it's made me wonder. A bunch of things have conspired
to facilitate the making of some pretty wicked stuff. The quality
of digital video is beginning to erode the long-standing film elitism,
and -- while it's hardly a cheap item -- more and more people are
getting access to cameras. Also, getting your work out there is
getting easier, with mail distros and fast internet connections
giving people more options than galleries or festival circuits.Inspired by
the video shorts of Meesoo Lee, Esther Bell's DV feature film Godass,
and Chris Wilcha's documentary The Target Shoots First, I went out
this summer and shot me a movie. Came up with a script, showed it
to a few willing pals, and then, one leisurely August day, became
a director.
And yes, the subject of the short -- two guys with a technologically inspired way of relating -- just might have had something to do with the video game I was coding at the same time.
It's no longer on the site, but check back in July 2002 -- it'll
be back along with a bunch of DIY Movie articles. Here's a taste...
Vid-meister Meesoo Lee has written a piece called "They
Get Around" where he talks about the practical and emotional
considerations of putting out a videozine.
Chris Wilcha
made an amazing video documentary of his time as an exec at Columbia
Record House, and we had a spirited chat
about the mainstream/underground divide.
Toronto writer Emily Pohl-Weary's article "Video: It's Not Just Cheap Film" focuses on a couple of amazing video makers and shows why we've been so pumped about the medium lately.
Instead of
taking a page from Meesoo's lo-fi style (he edits his camcorder
footage with two VCRs), I went cutting edge -- and got cut a fair
bit. I've recorded the various frustrating problems I encountered
in a TechQuest Log.
This wasn't
my first foray into the cinema, however -- a few years ago, I starred
in a movie myself called Dying to Be Born.
I also co-wrote two feature length scripts -- and then this Do-It-Yourself
Scriptwriting article.
