Always Afraid

I just realized I never made a point to talk about the movie Mike and I put together a couple of months ago. I think it came out really good. For those of you who don't get a chance to see it, its based on a hypothetical totalitarian society (actually Rutland, VT). The plot is relatively simple, but with a complex underlying theme of fascist and oppressive social institutions. In the film, two guys in a relationship are subjugated to daily humiliation and threats from authority for being gay. I don't want to give the whole thing away, so if you want a copy I suggest you contact Mike on his blog "flummage," and maybe he'll burn you a copy. If anything, he should put it up on youtube (its barely a half hour).

I would say that Ryan had the most natural acting out of all of us. Even Jess, who had the shortest role did better than me. Theres just something about hearing your voice recorded that makes you cringe (or makes me cringe anyways). At times it actually sounds like I have a lispe, which is fine considering I was playing a gay character, but Ryan is gay in real life and he doesn't have a lispe! Well I guess not all stereotypes are true. I didn't see him flick his wrist once either or decorate his apartment with Christina Aguilera posters or pink drapery. He's the most heterosexual gay dude I've ever met. Haha. Stereotypes can be funny. But they shouldn't be enforced. Oh shit, I'm a hypocrite.

Aside from my lackluster acting performance, I think Mike did a great job shooting the whole thing and editing it. It has a real cinema verite feel to it, which is good. Some of the shots are rather continuous with few cuts for several minutes. I always like movies like that. They're more realistic. Although somehow Mike was able to have an aerial shot of Ryan walking downtown, through the vision of a security camera, where his profile was brought up showing his criminal charges. That was wicked cool. I don't remember doing anything like that in videoworkshop. But then again, I wasn't allowed to edit, because I sucked hardcore at it and nobody wanted me to fuck up there project. I also didn't enjoy using Final Cut either. Too tedious and boring. I guess its not for everybody.

There are, however, some rather obvious discontinuity errors. For example, when Ryan and I go back to the apartment after our talk four weeks later after getting out of prison, I suddenly have long hair again and pants. I was thankfully wearing the same Jonee Band shirt. And then later on, when Ryan gets arrested for the final time, you can clearly see snow outside, even though an earlier shot there was none at all and it looked like late spring. Oh well. Its not like we had a budget or schedule that was conveniant. However, Mike spelled my last name wrong in the credits. Its "Kimball," not Kimble. I've also seen people spell it as "kimbell." Oh well. He's forgiven. He's a great kid to work with anyways.

I'm really digging the Shook Ones album I got. Check them out at www.myspace.com/shookones. Also check out Wake Up Call from Maine. Just got their album too. Its only 16 minutes long and has 11 songs. Angry hardcore with big breakdowns. Shook Ones is more melodious and super fast, but the singer sounds a lot like Kid Dynamite.