victory « 12 Films. 12 Weeks. There are worse ways to spend a summer.

Our Latest Film-Race Entry: “Thirsty Work”!

April 29, 2010 at 7:19 pm | Posted in Keith Boynton | Leave a comment
Tags: boardwalk, champions, Coney Island, Film Racing, race, racing, sleep deprivation, tracking shots, victory

Another Film Race has come and gone, and I’m just now feeling recovered enough to blog about it. Perhaps even more so than “The Queen Bee of Mushroomtown,” this was a surreal and wonderful experience. The hours flew by, the team clicked seamlessly; we became a lean, mean, pizza-fueled filmmaking machine. And you know what? I think we made a really good movie. We call it “Thirsty Work,” and we can’t wait to let it loose upon the world.

Speaking of which, come to this Saturday’s 7:30 screening at NYU’s Cantor Film Center! We’ll be there, and we’d love to see you. Tickets and details are available here.

“Thirsty Work” will be posted in this space sometime next week. Till then, here are some pictures to tide you over! I hope they capture a little piece of the experience. It was a magical time.

(It may be noted that our beloved Clint Byrne doesn’t appear in these photos. That’s because Clint was too busy taking photos to pose for any. Thanks, Clint!)

Brigitte Choura and James Fauvell croon their hearts out on the pier before dawn

James Creque preaches hellfire while surrounded by it

The sun rises. We keep right on shooting.

Going about our work in the shadow of Coney Island's famed Parachute Jump

Yes, that's water from the Atlantic Ocean. No, Mike's not very happy about it.

Are you intrigued yet?

Done with shooting! One happy crew.

Mike's innovative credits-designing posture

James Creque sleeps the sleep of the recently drenched.

Two cousins enjoy some family editing time.

With a few hours left to turn in the movie, the remaining team enjoys a short break on the roof.

… and we got the film in with time to spare! We’re getting pretty good at this. Should that worry me?

Posted by Keith

“Spirits” Triumphant at Blackout! World Bows Before DVG!

September 21, 2009 at 9:34 pm | Posted in Keith Boynton | Leave a comment
Tags: cinematography, Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, Razzies, victory

Last Saturday’s Blackout Film Festival went off without a hitch (as far as I could tell, anyway), thanks to the tireless efforts of Tom Keefe and his merry band of film fanatics. “Spirits” had the honor of closing out each screening block, and the audiences at the two screenings I attended seemed to enjoy it, if scattered laughter and general attentiveness are any indication.

Derek Van Gorder (DVG to some) hanging out on the "Moving Pictures" set

Derek Van Gorder (DVG to some) hangs out on the "Moving Pictures" set

On a more concrete note: the festival jury singled out our film for the Best Cinematography prize! We here at 12in12 extend our heartiest congratulations to Derek Van Gorder, DP extraordinaire, who shot four of our thirteen films (and hopefully many more in the future). “Spirits” was the first film Derek did for 12in12, and his involvement in it goes back to the very first e-mail he wrote us, in response to our Craigslist ad, which included this fateful sentence:

The “Spirits” script mentioned on your blog in particular stands out for me, since I am highly interested in telling stories purely through visuals, and have pursued several films in this vein before.

Amidst a mass of form e-mails, the fact that Derek had actually checked out our blog and had something to say about it caught Mike’s and my eye immediately. Ever since that e-mail, Derek’s been on our good side, and our appreciation for him has grown with every film we’ve done together. Sometimes, in spite of everything, Craigslist does right by us.

Thanks to Tom and the gang for a very enjoyable festival! Tom is currently exploring the possibility of taking the Blackout Film Fest on the road, spreading the good word to a few more American cities. We’ll keep you posted as that story develops. Meanwhile, we need to get to work setting up a screening of the 12 …

Posted by Keith

Our Blog Hits 10,000 Views!

July 20, 2009 at 5:04 pm | Posted in Keith Boynton | Leave a comment
Tags: popularity, self-congratulation, soaring dominance, victory

Last night, our humble little blog passed the 10,000-views mark! We owe it all to you, our loyal readers. It’s an honor and a pleasure to supply you with weekly films and daily ramblings to fill the interstices of your day.

The "busiest day" part is completely wrong, but still -- 10,000 hits!

Also, more or less coincidentally, this post is our hundredth. The heavenly bodies are aligning, my brothers!

Posted Messianically by Keith

Never, Never, Never Give Up

July 1, 2009 at 12:56 am | Posted in Keith Boynton | 2 Comments
Tags: computers, Murphy's Law, perseverance, technology, victory, Winston Churchill

I’ve already written about the capture problems that have been plaguing post-production on “the Improv Movie.” What I haven’t mentioned is that we have significant (and unrelated) audio problems, too. We recorded two tracks of audio — one through a shotgun mic on a boom pole, and one through the camera’s built-in mic, for back-up. It appears that the boom audio is basically unusable — too “peaky” for comfortable human consumption. (When audio “peaks,” it distorts in a harsh, crackling way that sets one’s teeth on edge.) It may finally be time to replace our trusty ol’ Shure mixer. Or maybe our microphone. Or our brains.

But that’s not all! Now the hard drive with all of the weekend’s footage on it (yes I know we should have backed it up shut up) refuses to turn on. The good news: it appears to be the power cable, not the hard drive itself, that’s screwy. The bad news: I have no idea where to get a new power cable for an old LaCie Bigger Disk — especially in the next, say, twelve hours. If anyone does know, please tell me, and I will shower you with roses all the days of your life. The model number is ACLG-51.

Anyone have a spare one of these lying around?

I realize that the last few blog entries have all conveyed various shades of crisis and despair. For those of you who’ve just started reading this blog — and maybe also for those of you who’ve been following it faithfully — it must seem like this project is coming apart at the seams. And honestly, it feels a little like that to me, too. But I want to take this moment to clarify that we are not giving up, and the project is not — despite all appearances — falling apart. Crisis is more or less a normal state of being for a filmmaker, and we’re the filmmakers that even other filmmakers are shaking their heads at. In other words: if anyone is stupid enough not to give up on this wild endeavor, it’s us.

As for Friday’s film: we may have to reshoot it Thursday afternoon. But it will be posted Friday morning. That’s the 12in12 guarantee.