More Reflections (Frog Baby / “January” / Film Festivals / “No Deposit, No Return”)

It’s been a few days since the rejection of our film.

I’ve calmed down, since; had my conniptions about the ridiculousness of the judging criteria, and the mediocrity of some of the films that made it in. Some of this scathing incredulousness will probably still make it into this post, because I see many flaws in the way that this “festival” has been conducted. To be clear, I am at terms with the fact that “January” wasn’t right for the Frog Baby Film Festival. The remainder of this post will detail a philosophy that I’ve had reinforced over the past week, along with some of my issues with the festival itself.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the disparity between myself and the judges from the Telecommunications Department stems from a difference in philosophy regarding what is fundamentally important in film, or any narrative medium. While the Telecommunications Department seems focused on technical specifications and regurgitating the same commerciality being replicated again and again in Hollywood, I am focused on three main things: plot, character, and theme. 

There’s a concept my Directing professor has told us about, that of “No deposit, no return.” Basically, this can be summarized by analyzing an audience’s reaction to a piece of work. Audiences will either leave, discussing the deeper implications of the piece, and it will stick with them for longer than until they get to their restaurant and start talking about other things. “No deposit, no return,” comes into play when discussing the opposite of this. Basically, in this scenario, the play/film/whatever might be perfectly fun and light—a “popcorn” movie or similar fare—but twenty minutes afterwards, the audiences are only talking about, “Oh, that was really funny.” “That one actor was pretty good.” “Where are we going to eat?” The audience has invested nothing of themselves into the work (no deposit) and has gotten nothing from it, too (no return).

I appreciate “No deposit, no return” films and plays just fine. I understand that not everybody wants to be challenged or think hard after watching a film. But I also understand that films that aren’t  “No deposit, no return” tend to have greater emphasis placed on character development, plot, and theme. Thus, these are the films I gravitate to, and want to be involved with, because the fact of the matter is that no level of production value will excuse poor writing, acting, or directing.

All of these ideas were reinforced when I received the four judges’ ballots for my film.

We were judged on the following criteria, on a scale of 1-5. The category is written, with our scores from each judge marked next to them.

Camera Work  4 , 5 , 3 , 3   

Lighting   3 , 4 , 2 , 3

Audio   4 , 4 , 3 , 3

Editing   4 , 5 , 3 , 4

Original Story   4 ,  4 , 3 , 4 

Creativity (use of all these elements pertaining to the story in a unique way)  4 , 4 , 2 , 3

We totalled up and averaged these scores to determine the percentages for each element, as determined by the judges’ panel.

Camera Work: 75%

Lighting: 60%

Audio: 70%

Editing: 80%

Original Story: 75%

Creativity: 65%

The judges were also prompted to “PLEASE WRITE COMMENTS ON THE BACK” of their ballots. Of the four judges, only two wrote comments. The following quotes are two of the judges’ feedback on our film:

“This is pretty good.”

“Mostly excellent production value.”

“Focus issues in spots.”

“Drags a bit here and there.”

“It’s an interesting idea that’s a little hard to stick with.”

Awesome. Now I have some information from the “professionals” in this field on campus on how to improve my filmmaking endeavors.

Oh, wait, was my film being evaluated as a narrative story, a work of art, or was it being evaluated for technical prowess and production value? Wait a second, production value? Student films and production value certainly don’t go hand in hand, in my book. But then again, I’m not in the TCOM department, so what do I know?

One more thing, and this is the thing that really pisses me off, because this is the thing that leaves me certain that this disparity in philosophies will be the number one reason my work while in college won’t be recognized by those in the department whose opinions are supposed to hold merit. We were not evaluated on acting, writing, or directing.

Wait, what?

We were not evaluated on acting, writing, or directing. 

Lemme do a quick search…oh, yes. These are the awards given out at last year’s Frog Baby Film Festival, as according to WeLoveTCOM.com:

Wait a second….Best Actor? Best Actress? Best Director? Best Screenplay?

These aren’t the awards that any of the films that made it into the festival were judged on. These weren’t in the judges’ criteria… If anything, the only awards that can be given out should be for “Camera Work,” “Lighting,” “Audio,” “Editing,” “Original Story,” and “Most Creative.” The films that made it into the festival weren’t judged for anything else, and weren’t compared to the other 50 submissions in this capacity, so why should their merit on pure production value be what pole-vaults them into the arena to duke it out for awards they aren’t necessarily even deserving of? 

I am no longer associating myself with any on-campus festival or film event, after this experience. One of the most important things in my work is to collaborate with people who share my philosophies on creativity, film, story, and character, and as it appears that these ideas are rarely even associated with any events put on by the TCOM department or Cardinal Filmworks, I am going to stick to avoiding “No deposit, no return” films, in search of pursuing honesty in my work.

As far as January goes, the remainder of this incredibly-hectic week will be spent polishing it up and readying it for submission to other film festivals, including Heartland, the Indianpolis International Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.

Wish us luck, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me soon!

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Reflections

It is finished. It is online.

I am monumentally proud of everybody’s hard work and contributions to this film. Now comes the exciting part: submitting it to film festivals and sharing it with friends, family, and strangers online. 

Unfortunately, our first foray into the film festival world did not end positively. Just minutes ago, I received this email:

Dear Mr. Eickhoff,

Unfortunately your film January has not been selected for this year’s Frog Baby Film Festival. We broke previous records of submissions, having over 50 which meant tough decisions. If you would like copies of the evaluation forms from the judges regarding your film, please let me know. We would also love to have you at our festival taking place in Pruis Hall on March 24th at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). Thank you for your submission and hard work.

I’m not entirely surprised; this isn’t everybody’s type of film. Our campus does not have a program, or degree, in filmmaking—the closest thing is a Film Studies degree or degree in Digital Video Production. The Telecommunications Department’s emphasis is on commerciality, “the Industry,” technical specifications. These are not the elements that create a great film. “January” does not aim to be a commercial success. It is atypical from many commercial films, because its focus is not on pandering for low-brow humor, or impressing viewers with unrelated action sequences and explosions. “January” is a film about people. Real life. Real emotion. It is dialogue-heavy, character driven, and certainly not everybody’s cup of tea. It is disappointing to me that the judges did not see fit to reward these elements, but I don’t know their criteria. I am meeting with the coordinator for this event to get copies of their evaluations, in order to garner more insight, as well as learn why January didn’t make the cut.

I’m not disappointed, exactly. I don’t think that Frog Baby was the correct venue for the film. But I do feel sorry for those who have dedicated their time and hard work to the film. While, for some reason, the judges did not see fit to reward our efforts, please know that I am incredibly proud of all of you. Evan, Zach, Steph, Lauren, David, Chris, Dan, Natalie, Jack, Eggroll, Graham, Mike: thank you so much for all of your work. You are all incredibly talented people and I would be honored to work with you again.

For those that want to see the film, check out the following:

January from Brent Eickhoff on Vimeo.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #10

22 minutes and 29 seconds.

The final running-time for “January.”

It is finished.

It’s been written, rehearsed, acted, storyboarded, reworked, filmed, edited, synced with audio, color corrected.

As I think about how far we’ve come in the past few months, I am astonished. Even more so, I am humbled. It has been such an incredible privilege to work with every single individual on this film, regardless of how seemingly-small their contributions have been. I thank all of you from the deepest depths of my heart for all of your hard work, time, and talent. This film would not have gotten off the ground if it wasn’t for your diligence and commitment to excellence.

I also have to thank all of you who have donated to this film—family, friends, friends of friends, friends of family, strangers I’ve never met but who I hope to shake their hands. Thank you all for your overwhelming support. Our goal on Kickstarter was to raise $350. Your contributions totalled $730: twice our goal.

The other thing I reflect upon as I write this final production diary, as tears thinly hide behind my eyes, is how far I have come in just 19 years. I can still remember asking my mom for permission to use her videocamera to make a movie with friends; her showing me how to work it: press the red button to start or stop, this lever zooms, this is the lens cap. Slowly, as I began to monopolize the camcorder more and more, I stopped asking my mom for permission to use the videocamera. When it finally died, after several years of service, I saved up money to buy my very own videocamera. Of course, a digital videocamera was expensive for a fifth grader to save up for, but my parents helped split the cost. My parents have always been supportive, and have made sure that the price of expensive equipment hasn’t held me back from progressing as a filmmaker. Whether it was loaning me money, splitting costs, or coming up with more chores to get paid for, my mom and dad, grandma, aunt, uncle, cousins, and sister have always been supportive of my creative endeavors in film. It was my family that supported me, complimented me, encouraged me, and who were there for me each year I participated in the 48 Hour Film Project. One year, when my grandma asked if I’d rather just work with my friends for the competition, I said, “Of course not. I need you guys.”

And I do.

I really, really do.

What’s more, I want you all to know how much I appreciate your encouragement. My mom could easily have told me, “No, you can’t use the camcorder; it’s very expensive.” But she didn’t. 

Thank you, mom. Thank you, dad. Thank you Maggie and Dee and Ree and Brian and Morgan and Julie and Rachel and Gran and Grandad and Uncle B, and anybody else who I’ve forgotten, and I’m sorry if I have forgotten anybody, and please know that I am thankful, so incredibly thankful for all your support.

The film is complete. It’s taken three months, but it’s done.

I can’t wait to share it with all of you. I can’t wait to show you what you’ve had a hand in creating.

I know you’ll all be proud.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #7

January Teaser/Trailer from Brent Eickhoff on Vimeo.

The teaser for “January” is up. We have finished 99% of the filming—all we need to do is get one final, aerial shot on a highway, and we will be done. It is in the process of being edited, currently; it looks like we’ll meet our deadline.

The teaser/trailer went online last night relatively late, but already I’ve been getting positive feedback. People are commenting that it looks “so good” and “really interesting.” My grandma commented that it looks “very professional,” most of which I credit to the wonderfully strong performances by my actors, and the excellent cinematography/color grading from Dan Edwards. Never before have a realized how much of a difference a colorist can make on a film. Adding all of the wonderful contrast and saturation that you see in the teaser above, changes footage that already looked nice into footage that truly pops. Props to the pop-meister himself for some excellent work with Final Cut Pro’s color correcting utilities.

Overall, I’m getting lots of buzz about the film after the release of this preview. People are asking me when it will be finished, when they get to see the final project, and are asking if they can be invited to a screening of it. I’m beginning to think that between the screening strictly for actors/crew and the (hopeful) debut at FrogBaby Film Festival, we might get a screening for other people who’ve been showing interest. But that’s a question for another day! For now, I’m just excited at the interest that the film is getting—it’s certainly a project that is very close to me, and I’m sort of concerned that it won’t appeal to the general masses. It isn’t a comedy; it isn’t an action film; it relies on the performances of actors and the words that they’re saying more than camera gimmicks or special effects; it will be competing against films that fit some of those other descriptions. Yes, I know that as long as I am happy with the finished product, that’s all that truly matters, but I really hope that others will be able to connect with this film as much as some of the cast and crew have.

Needless to say, all of this excitement is getting me more excited about something I was already excited about. I need to get going on finishing my next screenplay, Anamnesis!

I’m a filmmaker.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #5

Jubilation.

This is happening.

After the read-through, in a circle in the cold outside the library, Zach asks me: “This is happening, right? Because I’ve been on board for a lot of films, but they haven’t come together.”

The answer is an incredible, “YES!” But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to Monday night.

Sunday had been a bust. We sat in the small study lounge on the sixth floor for several hours, and didn’t get much progress, at all. Most of it related to bickering about DSLRs vs traditional camcorders, and we spent more time talking about technicalities of the filmmaking process instead of focusing on the point of our meeting: storyboarding.

But Monday was different. It was a slow, methodical process, but we were making headway. Dan, Chris, Natalie, and I discussed potential shot compositions and visual ideas, and Natalie took our notes and converted them into images on the storyboards. We came up with this concept for the film—relating to the “fourth wall” of film, in a way—that I’m totally in love with. Basically, it hinges on cutting to non-literal depictions of things that David, the narrator, talks about. These will be more representational than anything else, and allow us to have these sort-of playful suggestions of things, rather than hitting the audience over the head with shots-of-the-objects-that-he-just-mentioned-in-his-lines. It was an arduous four hours, but by the end of it we had the first 11 pages of the screenplay marked up with all sorts of margin notes and ideas. These accomplishments, and our new concept, danced through my head as I got ready for bed at 3 AM.

Tuesday. The day of the read-through. 10:30 PM (although I knew that Zach would be late because of rehearsal for the musical) in room 409 in the library. Most of our cast and crew were there, with the exception of one actor (who I’d only talked to about this the day before, and knew he wasn’t going to show up) and our make-up and lighting guys (the latter of which said he’d be there, and was missing in action). Release forms were passed out and signed. We chatted for a little bit, until Zach showed up, and then we began introductions. Name. Role in the film.  One of your favorite movies. We had a varied room of people—Speed Racer, Big Fish, Fight Club, Elf, 500 Days of Summer.

The read-through started. It was good. Like, really good. Some of the moments—the beats, the silences in between lines—were so good. Pregnant (ew!) with meaning. With emotion. There were moments that were light, and moments that were tragic. Evan’s read of David was honest and engaging. Zach played the role (which I had practically written for him) better than I could have imagined. Lauren’s portrayal of Rachel was fun and adorable; she really captured the spirit of performing children’s theatre. From Steph’s first line, as Sam, to her last sentence—which gave me chills—she was on it. Everybody was on their game. They made me all look good, as I’d cast them without really seeing what they could do with the material at all. They made the screenplay come alive in a way that wasn’t evident from just reading through it. This film—this story—was going to be great. The final “act” of the screenplay pulled me in and dragged me along with it, and the delivery of the final monologue was poignant and powerful. One of our boom operators and grips, who hadn’t actually read the screenplay, said at the end, “Whoa. That was really good.”

Indeed. Indeed indeed indeed indeed. 

After the read-through, in a circle in the cold outside the library, Zach asks me: “This is happening, right? Because I’ve been on board for a lot of films, but they haven’t come together.”

This is happening.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #4

19 days. 

$350, or more.

Is this all going to come together?

That’s like, $20 a day.

Doubt. Fear. Anxiety…Excitement.

This can happen.

This film can happen.

19 days.

Today, I received an email letting me know that Kickstarter.com had approved our project, “January.” 

The fundraiser is officially up and running. You can visit this link to make a donation.

You can read about the project more, how the money is going to be used, etc. by clicking on the above link, so I’m not going to reiterate most of the stuff that’s in that. Instead I’m going to say two things, one of them in relation to the fundraiser and the other in relation to the film itself.

Kickstarter operates in a pass/fail sort of way. Meaning, if we reach our goal of $350, we get the money, except for the fees that Amazon Payments takes for processing all of the donations (see, it uses trusty old Amazon.com as the payment site! Told you Kickstarter was reputable!); however, if we don’t reach our goal, even if we’re only $1 short, we don’t get any of it. That would be bad. Because of this, I made our goal relatively low. I don’t know if we’d actually be able to pay for the equipment, props, costumes, and particularly the food/water to feed a cast/crew of 10-15 college students on a budget of $350, but if we make more money than our goal, all that means is that we just get more money. So, please, even if you are reading this and we are above $350 in donations, don’t feel shy. ;-) $350 is probably the bare minimum this film needs to be made, and believe me, I’ll be happy for every penny, but I also know that the more money we get, the less we will be limited creatively, and the more flexibility we will have. 19 days to reach, or exceed, our goal

The second thing I have to share with you, which I thought would be interesting, is why I chose to name the film, “January.” This, too, was in an email to some of the crew, and I find it encompasses my goals for this film quite well.

“January” is broad, just as this film’s portrayal of real life, of honesty, is broad. There’s a lot going on in this short, it’s very slice-of-life in its focus. The month that the film will be filmed, the setting of the film.

Something that can be poignant. Personal. Playful. Powerful.

Evocative of a season, a month, when all of these feelings occur. Winter is the deeply reflective months when we all search for something to warm us up, amidst the chilling air.

So, please, donate to make this film a reality! Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone you know who loves film and wants to make a difference in a group of students’ lives. Just $5 will get your name in the Special Thanks of the credits, and who doesn’t want to see their name in the credits of a film?

LOVE,

BRENT