YOUNG AND FULL OF THE DEVIL

Words from a wise guy

if it doesn't come bursting out of youin spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.

unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

by Charles Bukowski

via Ted Hope via Poets.org

Jim Henson died 20 years ago today...

Although I never  met him, and I'm just one of the hundreds of thousands of people who's lives he touch in the most profound of ways. I for one, still miss him.

How DO YOU DESToRY ANGELS? SET THEM ON FIRE!

Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) has a new musical project called How To Destroy Angels. This is the first music video from the band (that's Trent's wife on vocals) Shot by my friend Greig Fraiser. Beautiful work.

Wow

Sometimes you see an image that makes you stop and stare... for hours...

Via photograpaher Jennilee Marigomen

THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING AWARDS

Much more of this insanity truth here...

Chemicals and Light

I have been wanting to get some of the portraits of Tom and Hugo shot for Last Ride blown up and framed. As they were shot on medium format (Grieg brought his old toy Holga along) I was really keen to get them enlarged optically and printed old school stylee on fibre based black and white paper. I found a printer called Asko at CPL here in Melbourne. Asko is an artist in his own right. Carrying on the tradition of darkroom exposures, hand burning and dodging, and hand chemical development. What was once an essential photographic service (Asko told me in 1988 the company he worked for developed over half a million dollars worth of black and white prints!) is now quite a specialist area, as everything image based is in the realm of the computer. It was very cool to visit him in his dark room and see how the prints were coming along. The potent smell of the chemicals taking me back to my uni days spent in the dark up to my neck in developer.

The prints are quite large, I'm getting some 24inch x 24inch and a couple 34inch by 34inch. I'll post some framed shots when they are complete.

Heavy Metal Parking Lot (films that changed my life pt 1)

Last week I did guest lecture at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Film and Television. One of the things I had wanted to do for a while was just show a bunch of short films that have really effected me over the years. I think I took in about 20 -30 shorts, but I only had time to played around five, once we chatted about each of them. I wanted the students to think about why it is they want to make movies. If it's "to tell a story" or "to create worlds and characters" why not consider writing a short story or a novel? Is your 'film idea' a better idea for a painting? A song? A photograph? A stand-up routine? A newspaper article? What makes a film want and need to be a film and how do you best use the elements of cinema for your 'film idea' so it can only be a film, and nothing else, because all those other options will perhaps be easier for you and definitely less expensive and require way less people to make it happen.

One film idea I'm sure glad isn't any other art form is Heavy Metal Parking Lot. I showed this as an example of how films don't need to be huge in scale, overly planned and /or require the hearts and minds of a mulitple cast and crew. Sometimes all you need is to be at the right place at the right time and with the right attitude.

Heavy Metal Parking Lot is more than just a cultural time capsule, it's a couple of filmmakers doing what all great documentary filmmakers do. They are simply holding a mirror up and reflecting who 'we' are, in the most raw and pure of ways.

There is a great interview with Jeff Krulick who made Heavy Metal Parking Lot here, and another here with guest Dave Grohl. And also check out this excellent site Triple Canopy that not only has a pretty cool interface but also features alot of Jeffs other work, including Harry Potter Parking Lot!

5D in tha House

A quick link to a great interview conducted by Phillip Bloom with Greg Yaitanes, Executive Producer and Director of US TV show House. Which has just shot it's entire season finale on the 5Dmk2.

The interview is about an hour long and goes into quite alot of detail into the whys and hows of shooting one of the most popular TV shows in the world on sub $3000 DSLR camera. To shoot with the 5D (and the cameras that will soon follow) is no longer a decision and discussion based around budget, but one about creativity, control and creating a working process that most filmmakers have been dreaming of. Myself included.

I have never watched House, but I'll be certainly sitting down in front of the TV to watch this ep.

Herzog coming soon in 3D!

Werner Herzog talks (like Jesus to his disciples) about his new documentary about 30 000 year old cave art in France, which he has shot in 3D!

Obsession

Every now and then I go through a period where I listen to a single artist or album constantly over and over (to the dread of all around me) until I kind of exorcise them from my being.

Right now it's Neil Young. This happens a couple of times a year.

You know when you go through those stages where you get so into an artist/album/song, you kind of wish your whole body was an ear.

Right now is one of those times.

He's been so awesome for so long!

7Delicious

I'm totally amazed by the music video below. Over 8 minutes long and beautifully shot on the Canon 7D. Have a look at it, it's stunning. And it was shot with a CREW OF TWO people. One being the singer! On a camera you can buy for around $1500. Epic!

Small crews, small cameras. Less fuss, less logistics, freeing you up for so much more actual film making! I find this kind of thing totally inspiring for so many reasons. Some of which I'll go into more detail when I post the 'Sound Maker' film here (hopefully in the next week or so...)

Along with the minimal fuss approach to the filming, what these guys have done so well is choose great (public) locations, that are already lit and look great. This is where the Canon 7D / 5D's excel, in low light. So not having to use expensive film lights, opens up the possibilities, everything out in there in the perfectly lit city is ready and waiting to be utilised and pre-lit location. That said, the sequences shot in the snowy / foggy forest are equally amazing!

Here is a brief 'making of' the 'Break My Soul' video. And a few more details here.

R.I.P Jim Marshall

Farewell Jim Marshall, the legendary music photojournalist, or perhaps more appropriately 'musician photojournalist'. You may not have heard of Jim, but you would have definitely seen his images.

Cool city. Cool clip.

I must be missing Philly. I watch the film Philadelphia, which is a far greater film than I remembered it to be, and now awake in the middle of night due to jet lag I'm trawling YouTube for cool clips about Philly, so I can see it again through somebody else's eyes.

A few seconds from my New York minute...

Before flying back to Australia, I scheduled a short (7 hour) day trip in New York. I think it really is my favourite city of them all. We arrived at 8am by train bleary eyed with no sleep after wrapping in Philly at 4am. The whole day was a little surreal so I'm glad I took the snaps below so I could prove to myself it wasn't just a jet lagged dream...

I was able to get to a couple of my favourite places as well as stumble across a few new ones. I think thats what I like about NY so much. You can wander off in any direction and find great things just waiting there. It's Disneyland for adults!