Tuesday, March 8, 2011

After A Brief Hiatus: Alone Together and What's Next

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Why no posts for the month of February? Time to get personal.

There's no light way to explain what's happened to me over the past three months. Firstly, principal photography ended on schedule. It was time to prep for the second unit in February, but only a week after shooting, I discovered that my cameraman didn't properly store our first two days of shooting and that a huge bulk of our work was lost entirely. I was (an am) devastated. Soon to follow, personal issues came into conflict, and before I knew it, school was starting up again. As things began to pile up I became seriously overwhelmed--so much so my own well-being was at risk. I had to address the situation and do what was best for me.

Though I've attempted to plan re-shoots for "Alone Together" I finally concluded that there isn't the time, the money, or the people to get the job done in time to turn in the project as my Junior thesis. I'm currently in the throes of constructing some sort of coherent narrative from the footage I have along with additional cut-aways that should hopefully piece some things together. There's no real telling what the faculty will think of what I have, but I'm planning on expecting the worst--that I'll be put on academic probation. If such is the case, I'll be producing a film over the summer, which I've been planning here and there, just in case.

I still owe everyone who contributed to my film a tremendous thanks, and so all backers will be receiving a graphic novelization of "Alone Together" by the end of the summer and a complete collection of all of my films on DVD. It's the very least I can do. I can honestly say though, working on the film was a truly great experience. Though many things went wrong, I handled every task to the best of my abilities and worked swiftly and efficiently. I just wish I had more to show for it.

So... What's next?

Well, currently I'm working on producing a short film that will be opening a multi-media arts collaboration entitled MADArt. The show is the brainchild of a talented visionary, artist, musician, and friend Santino Lo. He and I have been discussing the project for months and it's time now to start moving into production. If you're interested in learning more about MADArt, visit the kickstarter page! We're currently raising funds and we're very close to our goal. 33 days left. Don't miss out! As little as a dollar is appreciated.


Aside from MADArt, I'm also producing a short 4 minute experimental video to be projected during a dance performance choreographed by my good friend Yael Baifus. The dance and the visual elements will be mingling with The Flaming Lips' song "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate". I'm very excited to be working on something so abstract. I'll post frames from the footage as it surfaces.

And now for something to be celebrated...

I received word over winter break back in January from La Cinematheque Francais in Paris that they wanted to include my short adaptation of "Killer's Kiss" in their online exhibition "Kubrick & le web". The online exhibit is in conjunction with their Kubrick Exhibition which will be touring through Europe over the next couple months. I was also asked to submit the film to their competition in partnership with dailymotion. It's a really tremendous honor and I'm more than grateful to be given such a splendid opportunity.

Voting polls open in May, and I will keep you all updated as per the status of the competition. If I win, there are a number of prizes to be had. Some include an expansive 19 DVD set of all of Kubrick's films, The Stanley Kurbick Archives from Taschen Books, rolls of Ektachrome 100 T Super 8 film and a 4 day trip to New York. The trip to New York sounds redundant, but I hope I win it, if in case the tickets can be reversed so that I can take a trip to Paris. That would be particularly exciting, especially since I haven't left the country yet. So far, I'm the only American who's been permitted to participate in the contest, since my film is already included in the online exhibition.

In the meantime, I'll have my fingers crossed till June. And if you haven't seen "Killer's Kiss" yet, I've posted my adaptation and the original Kubrick version of the scene for your enjoyment.

Thanks again to everyone for all of your support. Though I've experienced some serious hardships, I'm picking myself back up and moving forward the best way I know how... just keep making movies. I'll be back with more to share next month.

Raw Power,
John Morgan






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