HANDLING FEAR and BEARS
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--
DID I MAKE MY GOAL?
Big picture, I’m working away on the post-production of our horror film, Dead Media. Last week, I committed to the goal(s) of sending a minimum of 10 planning emails to creative partners and completing the second draft of the film edit.
And I almost succeeded! I sent the emails which got more balls rolling on building the post-production team. But I didn’t quite finish the second pass on the film edit. I’ve got 10 minutes of the film left to do. Some scenes just need a little tightening, adding more reaction shots, etc. But a few scenes need major surgery. Most of those are toward the end of the film so, hopefully, later today I can scrub up and dig around in the film’s guts.
And as soon as I finish the second draft edit, I get to do the third!
If you’re interested in helping us pull the film across the finish line, I need to raise a bit more money for post-production. You can make a one time tax-deductible donation via Film North here. Thanks to the folks who have made contributions in the last few weeks. Deeply, deeply appreciated.
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
Appropriately enough for working on a horror film, I’ve been thinking a lot about FEAR, ALL CAPS FEAR this week.
That said, many parts of my week were great with little fear involved. Hooray! I got to enjoy both of my homes this week. I split my week between Minneapolis and Los Angeles, flying back to LA on Sunday evening.
In Minneapolis, I got some great post-production work done as well as dealing with an unfortunate post-production setback. And I’m already looking ahead to my return to Minneapolis for even more post-production work.
One of my tasks was gathering sources for the sound design of the film. There’s a lot in the film that is ethereal yet monstrous. It needs to sound otherworldly, lost in time, but with a feral power to it.
So I had great fun recording various motor noises from my Dad’s beloved 1950 Chevrolet Panel Truck. A bizarre form of time travel as we drove around in a gurgling, roaring 75 year old beast of a machine with a delicate little laptop cradled in my hands.
Anyway, back to FEAR, ALL CAPS FEAR.
Working on a creative project like a film means constant decision making. And every decision is an opportunity for fear to creep in and freeze you up.
I think there’s an important distinction between CONCERN and FEAR. Concern is rational. It’s about something that is very likely to happen in response to a poor choice. (I shouldn’t go camping alone in the woods and leave a large bucket of honey out because that will attract bears.) Fear is often irrational. It’s the anxiety of what bad thing could possibly happen. (What if I leave honey out at the campsite, a bear shows up and the bear can talk and the bear doesn’t like me and just says they hate me right to my face.)
In trying to make decisions with some alacrity, I’ve been really working to ask myself—is this concern or fear?
Along those lines, I had a great talk with my Dad about fear. He’s working away on creative adventures as well, playing drums and getting back into visual art. I shared a thing with my Dad, then said, “Hey! That’s going to be my blogletter this week!” (Thanks, Dad.)
Early in my journey editing Dead Media, I watched a fantastic video on the art of film editing.
This individual video is a part of a larger interview conducted in 2017 with Walter Murch, editor of The Conversation, American Graffiti, and many more films.)
Walter Murch shares his six criteria for any one cut in a film. The first is emotion—does it feel right? Does it make the audience feel what you want them to? Does it add to the emotional palette of the film?
From there the criteria get more specific, eventually focusing on technical rules about line of sight, three dimensional space, etc.
It’s a great list! But the part that stuck with me was Murch’s discussion of what is most important in the list. He talks about how everything else can and should be thrown away in favor of EMOTION.
But, in his experience, young editors focus on the technical over the emotion. Because technical criteria are factual and knowable. Does this edit break the 180 degree rule? Do we know precisely where every character is in space?
In contrast, focusing on emotion can be frightening because it’s subjective. There is not going to be one agreed upon, correct, measurable decision about cutting on the moment the character raises their eyebrow versus the moment they frown. But one will feel correct if you listen to your instincts.
This framework of decision making has been immensely valuable as I work on every aspect of the film—editing, sound design, VFX choices, etc.
It’s a way to check whether I’m focusing on CONCERN or FEAR.
When I’m making a creative choice, am I focusing on the technical because it is truly the best thing in that moment? Am I responding to valid concern?
OR am I focusing on the technical because I can get it verifiably correct? Am I responding to the FEAR that someday a bear will see this film and laugh at me because I made a mistake?
As I go through the edit of the film, it’s great to check the technical—where are the characters in space, do all the head movements match in these two shots with six people in the frame?
But it’s a joyful, rewarding gift to focus primarily on the EMOTION. Does this feel right for the scene? For the character? For the film? For all the memories and wounds and hopes of my life that made me want to make this film in the first place?
I think it’s a gift we should all try to give ourselves in creative and life adventures: Don’t let fear keep us from the gift of emotion.
I think that’s the best way to keep the imaginary sentient bear from being a jerk.
LIGHT PLUGS—
David Lynch and Greystone!
THURSDAY MAY 22nd! My wonderful wife, Sara, works at Greystone Mansion and Gardens where David Lynch attended AFI and filmed Eraserhead. For preservation month, she’s giving a Lynch specific tour of the mansion and the exterior of the stables.
The Nightmare Adorable!
I wrote and directed this short horror film back in 2023. Can you help us get to 1000 views on YouTube?
DEAD MEDIA! We’ve got a fiscal sponsorship with the great Minnesota organization Film North. They can accept one-time donations that will go directly toward finishing the film: SCORE, VFX, COLOR GRADING, etc. It’s like a Kickstarter where the rewards are A) a tax deduction and B) helping us make the film.
For full info, please check out the page for the upcoming horror film, DEAD MEDIA!
Or if you have any questions about supporting the film, feel free to reach out to me personally!
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I’ve got to spin a lot of plates to keep things moving on the post-production for Dead Media. But I also need to focus on what’s most important. So my only goal for this week is to finish the second draft of the edit and start the third!
YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?
A LITTLE SKETCH--
This week’s sketch is a positive vision of a sentient bear. I realize a bear who loves cinema shouldn’t be watching it on a laptop, but look it’s the only place they can stream the Criterion Channel. Anyway, thanks for reading and best of luck finishing your monsters!
