Rescue in D Minor
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blog/newsletter/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?
Last week, I committed to finishing the damn pitch deck for the feature film I'm working to get made. And I finally did it! As regular blog-readers know, I've been wrestling with this beast for several weeks. And I finally vanquished it at a prophetic time--while watching the Oscars. (By the time the show started, the text was all written so I could multitask while finishing the graphic design work.)
It felt great to take my own medicine and do what the title of this blog encourages--finish my monster. The reasons for moving slow on it were all the usual:
-A daunting amount of work so the first steps up the hill feel futile
-Hard to focus when I'm juggling other projects
-Brain not braining at times I have set aside to brain, etc.
But the way I got it done was the way that often works for me--setting aside a big chunk of open time. (This is a hard to come by luxury and I paid for it on Monday!)
But Sara was at work on Sunday so I got up at about 7 am and started poking away at the pitch deck, thinking surely I will be done by the time the Oscars start at 4 pm.
Another part of my process: Endless lying.
Anyway, I finished the pitch during the broadcast and was rewarded by the bonkers sight of the worlds of Doctor Who and Guns N' Roses merging. Specifically, Slash wailing on the guitar while the current Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa dances.
Although Barbie did not sweep the awards, I was still inspired by it as I worked on the pitch deck. The Barbie film is many things to many people. It IS a comedy, it IS surreal, it IS a musical, but all of those genres are a language. And what's being said in those fantastic, heightened, blazing genre words is deeply profound. For me, Barbie asking "Do you guys ever think about dying?" while dancing away isn't just a plot point or a trailer moment--it's the human condition summed up in 5 seconds. As someone who loves genre and can't resist working in it, Barbie is a triumph.
I did not intend to type all that but it escaped.
Anyway, what a team up:
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
Besides finishing the pitch deck and having strong Barbie feelings alone in my home, it was another busy week. Podcasts, zoom calls, taxes, etc.
By the end of the week, I was feeling down. Nothing major, nothing specific. Just the depression of a thousand cuts. But here's what turned my mood around: Making horrible sounds.
I'd set aside Thursday afternoon to work on my latest short film called The Demon's Commentary.
Particularly, I needed to work on sound effects and music. And it was exactly the balm I needed.
I love figuring out what sounds I can make with only a microphone, the things in my home, and free-flowing experimentation. I made battle sounds with a hand-held vacuum cleaner, RPG dice, tupperware, and gravity. Later this week, I'm going to do some things with a lemon, a bag of chips, and a hammer that I'm really excited about.
I also sat down at our small keyboard to make some "music." The quotation marks are doing a lot of work for me here. As the old and cruel joke goes-- I'm not a musician, I'm a drummer. I know very little about music or music theory. I sit down and google basic chords to remember which keys make up D Minor. I know just enough to be dangerous. (Just Enough To Be Dangerous is the title of the autobiography I will probably never write.)
But it's really freeing to stop judging your skill level or your technical education and just PLAY. This is not composing a full score for an orchestra. It's making emotional noises for a horror movie. For my purposes, it's about conveying mood and atmosphere--beds and stings. Playing with notes and chords and bizarre settings until this big hunk of tech is making a sound that feels like what's in my mind.
It reinforced a lesson I need to learn and relearn: When I'm upset, creating always helps. It doesn't magically fix everything. But it makes me feel more alive, more curious, more excited.
I think we're in a time where it benefits large corporations to limit our agency. If the internet company screws you over, it's next to impossible to talk to a person to explain the problem or even ask a clarifying question. They trap you in an automated phone maze with limited responses and choices. You hit a button but it doesn't do anything. "You hit a button and nothing happens" is a feeling I think is weighing us down, down, down.
Creativity is hitting any damn button you want and seeing a result. Maybe not a huge one. But it's there. Your choice, your intention, in front of you. Your goal might be becoming a bestselling novelist. You can't just hit a button and make that happen. But you can just scrawl a haiku on a napkin. You can just take an artsy photo of your desk at work. You can just doodle your favorite animal on a post-it.
And I think you should. Bang out a D Minor chord on the saxophone setting of a keyboard. Hit a button and make something happen.
I'll keep hitting that button until I remember the lesson.
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
Sometimes, the goal makes itself. The short film I'm working on is due next week. I committed to doing it as part of a fun accountability group here in Los Angeles. The group's been running for a few years but this is my first time participating. Anyway, that's my goal: I'm going to finish my short film, The Demon's Commentary. Dear lord, I have a lot of buttons to hit.
YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
What's your goal? Is it creative? Do you need to tidy? Hang out with a friend? Buy new sweat pants? Feel free to reach out to me on social media or respond directly to the email version of the blog and let me know what projects you’re working on this week!
LIGHT PLUGS--
THE NARRATOR! All members of my Patreon now have exclusive months-early access to my experimental comedy film--THE NARRATOR starring the great Phil LaMarr. If you're interested, you can check out the Patreon here. Thanks for the kind words from those who've watched it!
You can also check out Strange Path t-shirts and wall art on Threadless. And, of course, multiple comedy albums and cosmic horror on Bandcamp. Thank you for the kind support!
A LITTLE SKETCH--
In the spirit of doing quick doodles to amuse and entertain yourself, here's a squirrel who is also a vampire. See you in the FUTURE TIME called next Tuesday!
