MINICONCEPTDOC #52: QUESTION

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The end. It truly was a great adventure.

One that would have been impossible without the following people... To you... thank you, thank you thank you:

Theo Langason*
Chris Ward*
Dave Damm
Juniper Emmons
Jessica Emmons
Magnolia Emmons
World Whirl 3 (Jessica Emmons & Melissa Blatcher)
Steve Fritz
Kevin Emmons
Sleigh Bells
The Gritty Brits (Kyle Jakubowski)
Brian Biggs

Michael Bleming
Jesse Elder
Sonny Holliday
Pete Gambino
Dave Kain
Kyle Costill
Justin Emmons
The Dirty Projectors
Bon Hernandez
Frankie Gambino
The Rachel's
Allen Woll
Jeffrey Blatcher
Art and Electronic Media Spring 2010 Students
Eric Berry
Stephen McMaster
Gregory Kaminski
Chris Gambino
Frank Gambino
Starla Blatcher
Iris Blatcher
Bart Everts
Anna Matthews
Kent Turtz
Freedy Johnston
Joanna Newsom
John Cage
Marisa Habina
Steve Habina
Mike Phillips
Living Fiction
Sean Grieve
Nora Grieve
James Clark
Cathy Pizzo
Rosell Goldberg
And the viewers who took the time to watch this passion project. Big ups to you all!

* There could never be enough thank yous that I could give to these two gentlemen. Their music has inspired so much of this project.



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MINICONCEPTDOC #51: ZENITH

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Only one more MINICONCEPTDOC to go... And tears begin to flow... as I sing the whole day through...

I won't waste your time with goodbyes in writing. I use today's MCD to do that. I think it's appropriate that I use this outlet for my adieus and reflections, don't you. I mean, it's how I've been communicating for the last 6 months.

I will say this... This project has been the single best learning experience for me as a documentary filmmaker thus far. Thank you watchers for indulging me.

Next week I will say my formal thank yous to everyone that made this possible.

Visit High Point State Park. You won't be disappointed.

Until Sunday...

Yours in film,

BBY



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MINICONCEPTDOC #50: YOUTH

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In this first of the last three MINICONCEPTDOCS, I am pleased and proud to present to you a story by my friend, Dave Damm.

I have long been attracted to his stories. This isn't a revelation, so many people are. They have a rawness, a realness to them. They are, what I can only so obviously describe as, REAL LIFE. Real life. Not contrivance, not "reality television", not persona, no convention, but REAL LIFE. They contain happiness, sadness, triumph, disappointment. They are the DNA of Dave, and us.

To read his stories please visit http://davedamm.livejournal.com

For now, please take my interpretation of his journal entry Recess! (part 1)- Wall Ball, 1990:

 


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MINICONCEPTDOC #47: NAUTICAL

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I am exhausted. It's late and I've labored over this film. This MINICONCEPTDOC was taxing, twofold.

One, I feel a little vulnerable revealing this part of my past.

Two, every time I watch the SS Morro Castle footage it makes me cry.

It's tragic, heartbreaking, frightening. I guess it compares to my dream in that, for me, as for them, we had no control of the circumstances. We were all at the mercy of something much larger than us. And that's terrifying.

The music you hear is quite special. It's been my goal to use music made by friends and not music out there already... But 3 out of 52 isn't bad, right? Today's music is by Rachel's. They've made some of the saddest music I have ever heard. I own all their albums on vinyl. For some reason I have always preferred to listen to them that way. The format just suits their music. They share an aesthetic.

Quite a few documentaries have used their evocative sounds. Most recently the quite good HBO documentary GASLAND has featured their music.

As a band, they haven't made an album for about half a decade. But the band's namesake, Rachel Grimes, made a record recently called Book of Leaves. Read more about that.

Their first album came out when I was in college and because of that it has always represented a particular part of my life. The songs in today's MCD were also used in the very first film I ever made in college. It was shot on 16MM B&W film. It was heavy-handed, over-dramatic, and pretentious. I'm still proud of it.

From then, to now, I give you NAUTICAL:



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MINICONCEPTDOC #46: XANTHIPPE

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Ever since I realized I was close to completing an alphabet's worth of MINICONCEPTDOCS, I've become driven to complete that.

There have been four letters that have consistently eluded the random word generator: K, Q, X, and Y. Criminals!

To keep this as challenging as possible, I ask you to provide the final words for the MCD alphabet. Come on. I need you. Justin? Kyle? Who reads this thing? Who knows??

Whew.... I'm getting worked up over this. Let me calm down... Let's just get back to the mission at hand: MCD ALPHABET.

Actually, X can now be removed, as Allen Woll so graciously provided that challenge, which you can watch here today.

So please... suggestions! K, Q, Y we're coming for you!

On to today's film.

I won't reveal too much about this little documentary. It's a little historical injustice, it's a little tale on reputation, it's a lesson in bad press.

Execution wise, I think it could be tighter. That's on me though. I think it could be written better. But you know, the time constraints are tough!

A lot of people came through in the11th hour and gave their time so I could make this. I want to give extra thanks to those last minute collaborators: Anna Mathews, Pete Gambino, Jeff Blatcher, & Kent Turtz.

And thanks to Allen for the concept!



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MINICONCEPTDOC #43: NATURAL

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Here we go with my meta bent!

We got films within films and themes within themes, people.

This week's MCD has a star. You will finally get to see and hear Theo Langason at work as he creates the music for this week's short.

The theme is NATURAL. I suppose I'm interested in how natural or arduous the art making process is, so it was a pleasure to hear Theo talk about what inspires, informs, and influences him and how a song comes to life.

THEN, I wanted to take the song from it's natural birth and apply it to a doc within a doc that captured the NATURAL theme. I struggled with what that content would be...

When that happens, I just drive, and think... I wander and lose myself.

I stumbled upon something I can only call sublime. The beauty of the scene was arresting. It was an experience both natural and unnatural, but I came away with nothing but completly inspired and wonderful thoughts. But... I'll let you decide.

It's only NATURAL:



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MINICONCEPTDOC #37: NEWFANGLED

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Basically, we all need help, right?

This was the promise of mid-century America. The 20th century, that is...

The future, the brilliance of humanity will bring us that help, and life, life will be one of ease and comfort.

That's what this MCD is about.

Also, I was able to use a brilliant new resource available to documentary filmmakers!

Check out the inventions of the future now:



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MINICONCEPTDOC #34: FIASCO

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The ongoing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico has been on all our minds.

There's a whole lot of finger-pointing, and not much effective problem-solving. I don't have the answers, and I'm not bringing anything new to the table with this MINICONCEPTDOC.

I do, though, hope it's obvious what I am doing with the language... Admitting arrogance, naivete, and unpreparedness, and in these, I hope wisdom is gained.



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MINICONCEPTDOC #33: INCOMPLETE

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I am not going to say much here. Draw your own conclusions. What I will say is, I really enjoyed creating and playing this song. Quite frankly, I think it rocked.

The recording of this began in January 2010.

Maybe in the future this song will be posted to this blog in its completed form... but for now, and most likely for always, it will remain incomplete:



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