"MODEL / PHOTOGRAPHER" - an ELOQUENT GRAFFITI prelude – a film by SABI

Zak Forsman said:
i never thought i could live with having someone else cut my films, but as long as it's someone you're on the same frequency with, their objective view of the material is invaluable. they don't come to it weighted with all the things you "intended" to shoot which can mess with your perception of how it will be received.
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You mean like having to keep that 28 foot dolly shot in the movie, even though it doesn't work at all for the story? :beer: to editors that cut out our babies when they are crying.
 
Looking forward to seeing this, Zak. I'd love to have an editor I could trust & work with someday, as I agree 100% on what you said. That's one of my favorite parts about filmmaking, is the community aspect of it, and what others bring to the table. One person to ultimately steer the ship, sure, but all hands to make it better than what the Captain could do in the first place on their own, or often times even better than what they envisioned, because of other ideas that are brought to the table they never thought of.
 
Zak Forsman said:
i never thought i could live with having someone else cut my films, but as long as it's someone you're on the same frequency with, their objective view of the material is invaluable. they don't come to it weighted with all the things you "intended" to shoot which can mess with your perception of how it will be received.
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How did you hook up with your editor? I've tried other people editing my stuff 3 times now, and every time they had a decent 'rough cut', but I felt they didnt take it where it needed to go, such that I needed to get in there. That and two of the three did it more as a favor, it's not like they actually wanted to do it (which probably contributed to them doing rough cuts and not finished work). (sigh), I'd love someone jumping up and down to do the full edit for me.
 
i don't know if gender truly plays into it but I know a lot of professional editors, most of them are guys. My editor is not. the only one I could stand the thought of handing my baby over to was a young woman named Jamie Cobb. She comes from that Walter Murch school of thought where emotional continuity trumps physical continuity and everything else. Where most of the editors I know have an ego about their method because they "know" what they're looking for, whereas Jamie dives in and absorbs every single frame, she experiments with ALL her options and I give her the time needed to do it. In this short, the scene at the door was cut by her in three or four (maybe more) different ways before we settled on the one most appropriate for the emotional trajectory the characters were on. And I don't mean 3 or 4 revisions, I mean she starts from zero each time.

Having someone who puts ego aside and surrenders to the materials you shot, is a rare gift. Only a director would put that much effort into it. And in the end, you feel confident that you have extracted the absolute best film from the raw material because you know it's been fully explored and no corners were cut.
 
how did you work with your editor... I mean, do you spend every minute with her or just let her takes on the footage and cut the way she sees fit or the way she feels the emotion for certain scenes, then you take a look at it and decide? does she have all 3 or 4 different ways before you see any of them? I too had tried to work with a separate editors and failed because like you said, no one has surrendered to the materials and what I'm really looking for is an effort, a creative effort base on the script and the footage we got... so at the end, I ended up cutting it myself... because I don't really see an advantage of having the editor... especially the one without any creative input and truly effort into cutting it...
 
I look at everything and do a rough assembly to satisfy my urge to get my hands on the material. we watch that together, talk about issues, characters, etc... then she goes at it alone and I don't look at it unless she needs my eyes on something or she's ready with a first cut.

what i like about her, is she refuses to look at the script. she is adamant about finding the story in what was actually shot, not what we intended to shoot. i've tried to refer back to the script with her to bolster my arguments and she just gives me that look and I know what it means and that i'm deluding myself. she's much smarter about this sort of thing than me. i have trouble killing my darlings.

in "Mo/Pho" you'll see a couple of moments where the focus drifts a bit, it goes a little soft. and while there WERE other takes where focus was spot on, we would have been sacrificing emotional continuity and well, you gotta ask yourself, of the two, what's more important? jamie has the will power to make the right decision. I struggle with it.
 
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Wow, that is truly amazing ... everything; your story about the process, her knack of looking at it the way she does, etc. Would be SO awesome to work with someone with that kind of passion.
 
Zak Forsman said:
in "Mo/Pho" you'll see a couple of moments where the focus drifts a bit, it goes a little soft. and while there WERE other takes where focus was spot on, we would have been sacrificing emotional continuity and well, you gotta ask yourself, of the two, what's more important? jamie has the will power to make the right decision. I struggle with it.
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This is very much Walter Murch territory. I've done the same in mine, trying to use a sort of hierarchy of importance to determine which takes get used. Performance, moment, emotional truth, these are the things I try to make highest in that hierarchy.
 
You have some of the strongest actors that I've ever seen in independent cinema. Please pass my compliments on to them. And please accept my compliments to you and all of Sabi for another fantastic short film. I eagerly await Sabi's feature releases.

Chris
 
Didn't think there was much story to this. I'll watch again.

The style, mood, acting, cinematography was dead on though. You got the look of the film covered beautifully!

I'm in your area for a bit, lets make a film!

Robbie
 
Great Film! Though I don't know the characters history but the emotion of the moments there is strong and I can feel it!!!
You have all natural lightings on that roof top right? is there any light setup up there at all? or you just shot it at "magic" hour? It looks so good!
 
vnguyen972 said:
Great Film! Though I don't know the characters history but the emotion of the moments there is strong and I can feel it!!!
You have all natural lightings on that roof top right? is there any light setup up there at all? or you just shot it at "magic" hour? It looks so good!
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I personally do not like how films look when they are deliberately "lit". it's so rare when it doesn't look artificial to me. so I choose locations based on how the light naturally falls there and at what time of day it's like that.

thanks man.
 
Wow! Exceptionally well done. At first I thought there wasn't much going on, but at that moment, then I got it.

I love the subtle yet powerful tension. I thought there could have been one more beat with her, but great piece.
 
I've only seen one short from you and yet I've been eagerly anticipating this and everything you have in the pipeline. You, sir, know how to market yourself.
 
Zak.... There is SOOOOOO much emotion in this I almost felt like I was going to cry at the end. This played out so well for me. So much story of lives and relationships in those moments. I'm going to be thinking about this film for a long time.

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Robbie Comeau said:
Didn't think there was much story to this. I'll watch again.

The style, mood, acting, cinematography was dead on though. You got the look of the film covered beautifully!

I'm in your area for a bit, lets make a film!

Robbie
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I don't know what to say to this but when you read this, read it as a normal conversation and not as a stab at you Robbie.
I want to say WTF, you want to make a film with someone who you can't even comprehend? What do think you will accomplish by that, you making the story much better? Its not all about the surface and filling the scene with dialog....blah blah blah. (that was just an initial reaction)
Not trying to be mean with that at all. Just out loud thinking.

But what I will say because on the flip side of my thinking is you are still young and probably haven't experienced anything near this and have no idea what just happened but one day you will be driving home in your car with tears in your eyes and it will hit you like a ton of bricks. You will probably say "oh ****" out loud when you make that realization.
Also on the 3rd flip side of that... as it is as a short now, its designed to be able to let the audience insert what emotions and experiences they have that are triggered by the scene. The back story is all speculation based on your experience. I totally put my experiences in what I related to but it may be totally different to what Joe Shmo's experience was. Now I'm not sure if Zak actually sat down and thought of that "design" but from what I know about him I wouldn't put it last him. Then again there might be a whole back story thats written out and will be hand fed to you in the feature.
Making a film with Zak will probably be a very enlightening experience as it is with Mark when I shot with him. Its always a plus to be able to be a part of a project when you know the people attached are doing great things. Hope he takes you up on your offer.
 
From beginning to end, it was easy to stay with the film. Many times it's hard to be agreeable when a film holds long in emotions, forcing us to read faces and muted gestures and even the plain, quiet nothings that happen, but when the music is touching and the camera work is organic, it just makes sense to let it be.




...trying very hard to make your top review quotes....
 
ZAC - seriously, this is my style of cinema, and WOW you did an amazing job, loved the emotional continuity you created.

This was my first watch whilst Im waiting for zips to dl, but ****ing hell this was good.
 
Dude.

Dude.

Dude. Man talk about the emotion of the scene. I felt this and felt it deep and I'm sure that every single one of us who's been through a similar thing can get the kind of pain, hesitation... awkwardness... that comes out of the situation. The fact that you communicated it in so few words, even more amazing.

It worked for me and you wrenched my heart out, (you utter and complete bastard). I felt her pain and I was him, crying in my car, driving home alone wondering about all of the things that could have been.

Yeah: you allowed us to insert our own stories and experiences with just a hint of the past, but it works as a whole story in itself.

I'm going to go cry not and not drunk dial any of my exes.

You bastard.
 
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