DOC: 'Showdown for Sheriff' a one man band documentary diary

[Movies by Matt]

CUE MUSIC: Cuckoo by Benjamin Britton from the Moonrise Kingdom soundtrack

FADE IN (Aarrgghhh, I hate fades, do we have to start that way!?!?!): Me Matthew Marzano, typing a post to DVXUser rather than working on my music licensing contract

Hello fellow DVXUsers, I'm making a feature length documentary titled:

Showdown for Sheriff
A Constitutional Conflict

At it's core this movie is examining the division occurring within our country and using my local sheriff election in Klickitat County, Washington as a microcosm. The incumbent sheriff's name is Bob Songer and he's known as a Constitutional Sheriff. He's received some national press (The New Yorker, Vice, Alex Jones) for not enforcing gun laws passed by Washington State (I-1639) and not enforcing mask mandates during COVID.

The election occurred in 2022 and I currently have a 80 minute edit but I can't help be to keep shooting and attempting to add energy to the piece, ultimately I just want to create something I'm proud of. The two things happening right now are I'm writing up a music licensing contract based on the contract books by Mark Litwak and can I say, in my small town, those contracts are so big, I'm embarrassed to even present them because frankly people around here still operate on their word is their bond, but tell that to a distributor. The other thing that is happening is there are two unmoderated town halls in the next two days and I'm headed to Goldendale, Washington (50 miles away) from me to cover them and talk to a few people around the area.

The one catch is, I don't own a car, I'm biking, with a trailer and camping out in a local farmer's field (with his permission)...did I mention this is a low, now no-budget documentary? I am riding a Surly Long Haul Trucker while pulling a Burley Flat Bed Trailer. Haha, don't worry I've done the trip a bunch and since I'm so rural, there's very few cars until I get closer to Goldendale, which for the area, is a large place with a population of 3,434 as of 2022. Even though my transport is cheap, the gear I'm carrying isn't and though I'm a one man band type, I am really striving to not compromise on quality and to that end do my best to ensure the audio is a strength rather than a weakness, which has dictated a bit of my shooting style.

I am fully tripod on this project and there's very little camera movement. No drones, no gimbals, no sliders. Sometimes I'll pan or tilt, but that's about it. This allows me to run a boom pole at times too. Yes, you read that right. My audio setup is pretty intense as I want to deliver a Dolby Atmos mix and to experiment with sound options in post. It's definitely overkill but currently rigged to my camera setup (C300 Mark II with L lenses) is a Schoeps CMIT5U and Figure 8 capsule in a Rycote basket for a MS setup that feeds directly into a Sound Devices MixPre3V2 recording at 32 bit, plus I am also running a Sennheiser Ambeo with a Rycote BBG into a MixPre6V2 with the Ambisonics plugin...I do not monitor my audio. I know that's insane but especially when I'm talking to someone I want them to talk to me and feel a connection, I can't wear headphones, I hate fiddling with the camera too. I then have a handful of Lectrosonics PDR's and a SPDR to wire people for sound and use DPA 6060 lavs, again, I do not monitor these channels. I often use the PDR's as plant mics too with a DPA 4098 attached. Then to top it off, at any large meeting I'm always attempting to tie into the sound system using a MixPre-D and a PDR, I swear I have every audio cable and adapter known to mankind but I still ran into a few ancient pieces of equipment that I couldn't plug into, I can only summarize my feeling with a Marlon Brando quote from 'Apocalypse Now', "The horror...the horror."

The style is a mix of verite (though on a tripod so not verite by the strictest definitions) and some of Errol Morris' early work like 'Vernon, Florida' and 'Gates of Heaven'. I'm aiming to have this available for sale by the end of October 2024 and to have some public screenings around Klickitat County. This thread will follow that journey and I'll do my best to keep updating it and answer any questions fellow users may have.

PS. A new goal has occurred based off of NorBro's post in some thread recently, I really just want to get NorBro to watch my whole trailer it's 1.5 minutes now. I'll post a link when I take it public...is that too much to ask of NorBro? It probably is, but I just wanted to throw it out there. Oh, and yes Mr. Jensen, this is my pet project...

Talk to you all soon, m-

 

[NorBro]

dawg, what's crazy about this is...I don't read long posts with more than a few lines but I command F them (if I see them) with my name to see if anyone mentioned me because I don't want to ignore the person...this is the third time that worked.

I'll def watch your trailer.

 

[CharlesPapert]

dawg, what's crazy about this is...I don't read long posts with more than a few lines but I command F them (if I see them) with my name to see if anyone mentioned me because I don't want to ignore the person...this is the third time that worked.

I'll def watch your trailer.

Cool, now I know to randomly mention you in my long posts.

TL;DR: mention NorBro

 

[NorBro]

I don't keep up with every thread though, some of them are just too long and boring for me.

Gen Z changed my brain with their content creation, rascals.

Longest thread I ever remember being a part of was the R5 in 2020...300+ pages, I think I had a comment on every page.

That was the last fun camera release I had...oh, the new camera days...my goodness.

 

[Movies by Matt]

dawg, what's crazy about this is...I don't read long posts with more than a few lines but I command F them (if I see them) with my name to see if anyone mentioned me because I don't want to ignore the person...this is the third time that worked.

I'll def watch your trailer.

Thanks NorBro, i figure if I can just engage you here I might be able to keep this thread alive. I’ll try and keep it short…

I’m out on Horseshoe Bend Road, rural to say the least, it’s 12:59am. About 20 minutes ago someone drove by, stopped, asked if I needed help, I mentioned I’m waiting for a shot of the moon, and he said, “oh you must be that guy making that sheriff movie.” As he drove off, for a few fleeting moments, I really felt like, damn, this just might work.

Uh oh I’m going too long. But earlier this year I was listening to the ‘Talking Pictures’ podcast with Alexander Payne and he mentioned that a filmmaker must be comfortable with despair…and he’s won two oscars, where does that leave the rest of us?

Ok moon is 5 minutes away…1:20am.

 

[Zachadoodle]

Be prepared in case your interviewees want footage of them off your film. Never be discreet so that you can get people in your film; doing the opposite can get you in a lawsuit, even if you're sneaky. Being anonymous when approaching people means law enforcement will work harder to get you caught, not completely eliminate the fact that they can catch you. Most of all, never treat your subjects like a tool.

 

[NorBro]

Thanks NorBro, i figure if I can just engage you here I might be able to keep this thread alive. I’ll try and keep it short…

I’m out on Horseshoe Bend Road, rural to say the least, it’s 12:59am. About 20 minutes ago someone drove by, stopped, asked if I needed help, I mentioned I’m waiting for a shot of the moon, and he said, “oh you must be that guy making that sheriff movie.” As he drove off, for a few fleeting moments, I really felt like, damn, this just might work.

Uh oh I’m going too long. But earlier this year I was listening to the ‘Talking Pictures’ podcast with Alexander Payne and he mentioned that a filmmaker must be comfortable with despair…and he’s won two oscars, where does that leave the rest of us?

Ok moon is 5 minutes away…1:20am.

Despair sounds about right...so much work to make something, I don't know how anyone does it [at the non-guaranteed millions-of-dollars-in-my-contract level].

At least artists like painters know it's a ****-show of an industry; who exhibits what, who buys what, how much...but they can just grab a new canvas and start over dozens of times per day.

Filmmaking is for the strong, I wish you well.

 

[NorBro]

Be prepared in case your interviewees want footage of them off your film. Never be discreet so that you can get people in your film; doing the opposite can get you in a lawsuit, even if you're sneaky. Being anonymous when approaching people means law enforcement will work harder to get you caught, not completely eliminate the fact that they can catch you. Most of all, never treat your subjects like a tool.

are you sure you're not a robot

 

[Tom Roper]

Ctrl-F could be useful for script non-readers.

 

[Zachadoodle]

are you sure you're not a robot

I'm not a robot Norbro okay. I hate of how AI is now, because of it I can't have as normal of an interaction I can have as I usually do with people. Nothing sketchy was implied. I'm autistic.

 

[Movies by Matt]

Be prepared in case your interviewees want footage of them off your film. Never be discreet so that you can get people in your film; doing the opposite can get you in a lawsuit, even if you're sneaky. Being anonymous when approaching people means law enforcement will work harder to get you caught, not completely eliminate the fact that they can catch you. Most of all, never treat your subjects like a tool.

Thank you for the tips Zachadoodle. I’m definitely not sneaky and not only do I not treat people like tools, I really attempt to honor them by the moments I choose to use. I see many distributed films where I swear the filmmaker chose the most outrageous and embarrassing thing someone said. I’ve had a solid rough cut for a year now and I’ve gone back to show people their moments to ensure they are comfortable with the portrayal. I’ve yet to have a person be anything but enthusiastic.

In truth, I end up loving the people in my movies. Especially after editing. It’s a strange dynamic because I’ve spent months (errr years…) watching them closely while editing and they don’t see me at all, but when we see each other again out in the world I really feel a great camaraderie with them. I can’t help it. I’ve realized recently that I’ll probably never make a documentary like Alex Gibney where you set out to expose someone or prove they worship false ideology. I can’t spend that much time editing and living with someone I don’t like.

Anyway back to engaging Norbro, I remember back in your hey day of churning through cameras you mentioned in a C3002 thread about how the C-Log 2 out of that camera was special. I totally agree. Especially outdoors, that camera can sing.

 

[Movies by Matt]

A few stats off my latest 5 day shoot:

I biked 202 miles

Climbed 14,670 feet (including a few uphill gravel roads when my tires were slipping as I peddled…brutal).

Had 2 recording sessions with a musician.

I shot:

2x Unmoderated Town Halls (not as fiery as I hoped)

1 Webinar (where the sheriff watched a presentation that was against him)

1 museum (historical pictures from the area)

7 interviews (mostly person on street at random)

5 specific B-Roll shots, including some buffalo up that gravel hill mentioned earlier at The Klickitat Bison Company, where I swear along the way I was really questioning my life decisions, only to arrive there see the view and the buffalo and think, ‘this 4 hour journey is totally worth my 2 second shot’. It is too. Such fun.

All while camping out in a field with no power so having to strategically find moments to offload media (love my Nexto NSB-25) and recharge batteries.

Ok that’s it for now, talk to you soon, m-

 

[Movies by Matt]

Talk about spray and pray, I’ve recorded about 200GB of audio attempting to get the right raven sound. Sheesh.

I’ve been thinking a lot about which animals represent which person and can I capture any animal behavior that mimics the humans? So far no, I cannot….unfortunately, but I do love how Terrance Malick uses his animal shots.

Wildlife is so hard, especially birds in flight. I PM’d Mr. Jensen a few years ago for some advice and he was super helpful, but my performance has been lackluster to say the least….

 

[Movies by Matt]

While out seeking Native American perspective on jurisdictional issues within Klickitat County, I encountered a group of 3 men (not Native American) in the town of Wishram, WA. drinking around a propane fire pit. I’d had my eye on this house for 2 years because they fly a controversial (putting it mildly) flag that catches your attention.

I stop and make my pitch to these total strangers (this is how I produce…haha, inefficient but adventurous). Frankly I’d love a drunken propane fire pit scene. But I’m told to come back in the daytime when his wife is home because, “she has things to say that will make your career.”

Uh…Ok, I certainly hope so. In the end this will be about my 8th trip by that house (it’s 53 miles away). 9:30am next Sunday….finally.

Plus my friend Tre gave me some Tribal perspective on issues within the county while he was fixing his fishing net. So next Sunday I’ll show him my edits and make sure he’s comfortable with it after I talk to the guy with the flag. Getting closer…