~ ‘Ian's Film Talk’ ~
Perhaps the glass wasn't broken enough?
Just got back from seeing the new Alice in Wonderland. Not as bad as I’d heard, just as beautiful as I’d heard. Sometimes the 3D was cool, sometimes it was just annoying. All in all, 6.5 out of 10.
I found the advertisements at the beginning fascinating. They were all aimed at kids from 5-15, and heavy on the girl (buying) power. I had heard this was a dark movie. And there were dark moments to be sure, but no real menace. Some of the character performances were strong, if not great (not sure where the writing / directing was really going). I’m a big fan of Crispin Glover, and except for some digital / irl mash-up problems (his physical head didn’t really move with his digital body), I enjoyed his performance a lot. Read the rest of this entry »
Inspiration. Something that is said to come and go at its own behest, and not at ours. Sometimes true; and in my experience, sometimes not.
Inspiration, for me, is often a matter of getting down to it. It’s my understanding that many writers (for instance) get “writer’s block.” Well, when I’m writing, at least for the past 7 years, I don’t have any problem actually writing. The words come. The trick, for me, is getting to the computer. I get, “sitting down at the computer” block. Read the rest of this entry »
Part 3 of 3 in a vlogging series done around a fabulous day location shooting. The day ended at Baker Beach here in SF, with some amazing shots of the Golden Gate. Read the rest of this entry »
Part 2 of 3 of a fabulous day location shooting. Includes gorgeous shots of the presidio and the bay, along with a review of a tuna melt from the Bean Bag Cafe on Hayes and Divis! Read the rest of this entry »
I’m an independent filmmaker. And that means that lighting is critically important to me. For instance, if I can’t separate my foreground subject from the background that subject is in front of, I’ll have a muddy image that no one will want to look at. Well, it might be an artistic curiosity, but it won’t be a clear image. And most of the time, what I want is a clear image.
This is also true in my life as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »
The first of a 3-part series on an excellent day of location shooting, here in San Francisco. In this post, we visit John McClaren park (a gorgeous, relatively unknown piece of land in SF), and get beautiful, moody shots of the south side of the city, Mt. Davidson, Bernal Heights and more. Read the rest of this entry »
I finally finished my latest short screenplay! It’s called “28/5” at the moment – well, that’s the code name, anyway. The “working title,” or so it’s called. The movie is a meditation on the violent nature of love in the Christian era. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that at this moment! 
More to come.
I love writing. I always have. There’s a flow to it, for me, that feels so good. Dialogue has emerged as my favorite part of writing. When the characters I’m writing say something amazing, I love it. It lifts me up. Getting it right – having the characters – no, the people – come off the page, alive, because of words that they’ve spoken, through me, is a feeling like no other. Read the rest of this entry »
Haiti. So horrible, I can’t even look at it. I’m a little ashamed of that. There it is.
I say, wait to give money. Everyone is giving now; and that is righteous. I have never given money to the people of a disaster-impacted area (unless you include the US political system). I plan to this time. Read the rest of this entry »
When we had actual farmers, and not agribusinesses, the farmers would work a plot of land until it was time for the land to lie low and gather its strength (minerals and other plant nutrients) back into the soil. I feel like that plot.
I also think that a fallow “period” is perfect for a writer (of English, at any rate). Not only is it is an unspecified length of time, it’s the punctuation mark that signifies the end of a complete thought. Once upon a time, there was one space in between typed words, and two spaces in between sentences, occurring immediately after the period. A perfect place to lie low. Read the rest of this entry »
It wasn’t until I was 33 years old (and I’d been living in San Francisco for 8 years) that I realized, “Hey. I’m a freaky artist type!” I’d always known I was interested in artistic endeavors, and so I set off to find out what particular art suited me best.
I studied guitar with a near virtuoso Berklee School of Music grad, and wrote a few songs. I studied drawing with world-renowned monumental sculptor Aris Demetrios. I studied acting at ACT, a nationally acclaimed school, and performance at the Marsh, a local guerrilla theater, where I wrote and performed my own shows. I wrote three novels and a handful of short stories.
For each of these arts, I studied and created with singular focus and vigor. Always, however, my passion would wan, and I would find myself asking the question, again and again, “What am I meant to be doing?” Read the rest of this entry »
