March 11, 2025

Late Night Art Wait

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. I’m editing the film in chronological order. Last week, I committed to the goal of editing up to minute 45 of the film.

It was a bold goal and I made it to minute 43. Close!

The blogletter is out late today because I was deep in the editing zone. I’m currently working on THE BEAST. A scene I’ve been concerned about since we filmed it on Day Two of the shoot. Scene 32. It’s a combination action-horror-conversation-scene with moments of fast-paced physical action and slow creepy horror tracking seven characters, two weapons, and a magic portal.

It’s a big challenge but also great fun and I’m about halfway through the scene. I was hoping to finish it before the blogletter but it’s going to need a bit more time.

I’ve been working a lot lately and I find myself guilty while working on one thing for the film that I’m not working on another, different thing for the film.

If guilt is going to hang around this much, they could at least pitch in and send some emails for me while I’m editing.

Speaking of multi-tasking, this week I ate an apple turnover that looked like a large baked ham. Good times.

ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--

Sara and I went wild this past weekend and left our home on a Saturday night AFTER DARK.

We were kindly gifted some tickets to an event at the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library. The soon-to-be-completed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art partnered with the library for a late night, after hours celebration of “building story.”

There were performances including dance, music, puppeteering, performance art, and adult storytime in the gorgeous children’s section of the museum. Seriously, if I had a time machine I might use it to grow up in Los Angeles just so I could learn to read in the kids’ section. It’s warm and cozy with slight noir vibes like Philip Marlowe started a daycare center. Seriously, look at this bear. I love this bear.

The event was very well-attended. The library was packed with the diverse people of Los Angeles, enjoying themselves in a soaring, ornate building dedicated to community and knowledge and art. All noble, soul-nourishing things that fascism longs to crush. So in the current immoral attack on democracy, hanging out at the library felt joyfully defiant.

But one of my favorite parts was a very odd performance. The schedule of events listed some kind of music-movement performance organized by the LA Phil. (To me, the name LA Phil will always sound like someone’s sketchy pot dealer in 1988, but I digress.) The performance was happening in the library atrium—which is a very tall and open space, multiple stories, four floors of escalators, massive chandeliers covered in sculptures. So an amazing, beautiful space. But no stage. No obvious place for the performance to happen. No clear place to look.

So hundreds of people just gathered, leaning on railings and clumped in walkways, looking up and down and asking other folks where the art was happening.

Pre-recorded music started humming from big speakers. Slow, ethereal, calming music—a bed of low, bending notes and lilting accents. Audience members pointed and strained as performers began to appear all over the space.

Dancers waved wheat stalks over a balcony. Figures draped in blue cloth swayed in the windows. A woman with an elaborate hooded dress and green facepaint played a violin as she rode up and down the escalators. On the top floor, a performer slowly rotated a painted ball, pantomiming the movement of some celestial body across the sky. At one point, words were mixed in with the music. I recognized the voice immediately. It was one of David Lynch’s weather reports, effusing about Los Angeles’ “beautiful blue skies and golden sunshine” before wishing everyone to “have a great day.”

Sara and I watched—switching from performer to performer, straining to spot others—for at least 15 minutes. Eventually, we had to meet friends so we wandered away as the piece continued. In theory, I’m sure it ended but it’s nice to think those blue cloud dancers are still swaying in the windows.

I enjoyed the performance but what was really novel and special was this: WAITING FOR THE PERFORMANCE.

A bunch of humans were told something cool would be happening. Most of us did not know what the cool thing was or if we would like it. So hundreds of people just looked around with patience and curiosity for something beautiful, poignant, or weird to happen. I heard people mumble: “Is that a costume?” “Are those dancers?” “I think that’s wheat!” “Look, that lady’s got a moon!”

This was a planned performance, but I think we can emulate that experience. It might not be a multi-media performance art piece, but beautiful, poignant, weird things are happening everywhere all the time. On the bus, in the park, at the mall, on the side of the freeway when you’re stuck in traffic.

The performance was beautiful, but being OPEN to seeing something beautiful was even more beautiful.

I think that’s helpful during horrible, stressful, dark times. To go for a walk and be open to the strange and wonderful things you might see. It won’t fix anything, but it will be nice for a few seconds.

And creatively I think the world is bursting with inspiration. I think if you’re stuck on a creative project, heading out into the world and being open to the rich tapestry of human weirdness around you is a fantastic way to kickstart the creative process.

The next time I’m frustrated with a creative project, I’m going to head outside and wander the streets asking myself, “Hey, does that lady have a moon?”

She might, if I’m willing to look.

LIGHT PLUGS—

VOTE FORWARD! The letter writing campaign to encourage voters to actually, you know, vote is BACK. They’ve got a campaign to write to voters in Wisconsin about the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Full details on how to write letters here!

The Nightmare Adorable! I wrote and directed this explicitly political short horror film back in 2023. It’s on YouTube now and getting more views will help with the eventual promotion of Dead Media. You can watch here!

Speaking of 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 need to stay focused on Dead Media editing. At the end of the month, we’re taking a little break for Sara’s birthday so I’m trying to get as close as possible to a first draft edit of the film. So I’m going to up my goal by a lot. It will mean getting up early, staying up late, making more time for editing. My goal for next week is to edit up to minute 60 of the film.

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 I decided to be very direct. It’s a lady who may or may not have a moon. Good for her. Anyway, I hope you have a great week. (And if you’d like to do a quick sketch for me to share on the blogletter, feel free to email me a jpg at joseph at jokingenvelope dot com.) I hope you all see people with moons this week.