john marshall
director of
whirligig farm: the legend of acid park
Friday, October 16, 2009
finito
well its been a while but the film is finished and on its way to festivals, i have sent it off to cucalorus which was the first on the schedule....and its in. wow, who knew that this is where it would lead...nice any way i will link this blog to the masses and see what it brings. i hope that other people will add their stories through comments of the process of the film. see everyone soon.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Week 1 Part A
Well it’s the first week of school, and I have really enjoyed the Christmas break. I contacted Mrs. Simpson before the break and asked her to look for some old pictures and accounts of the younger days of the park. I have not contacted her yet and I am looking forward to going up there later this semester and wrap things up. To be honest, I haven’t thought much about this project during the break, except for coming up with the idea of title card artwork and looked at my super 8 mm footage. The super 8 mm footage (to y delight) has developed, yet sadly it was not converted, as I asked, to mini dv. I have more super 8 mm cartridges to use. I want the holes to organize what I have and see what else I need. I will plug the holes with super 8 mm footage and I still have kodachrome cartridges to use. One is exposed already. I’ll use the rest of the film and send it all off to be developed and have it all put on a single or two mini DV tape. Glad to be back though, I am scared that my last semester @ UNCW will be the most challenging yet.
Week 1 Part B
I re-photographed the super 8 mm footage while I was converting family films and captured it just to use and get an idea of its place in the film. I think our weakest element right now however is not the photography. I still feel I only have one interview in the format that I need. I will get into that as I sift through the audio and see if it has snatches and snippets I can use. I wish I was able to be there for the interviews. I think I would have asked more questions. This is good though because I will refine and update my questions for the remaining interviews. Thank God that I have more lined up, because the ones that have already been conducted are suspect. But we will see, perhaps things will develop differently as the project comes together. I want to attend a sound class or two with Markowski to fix the Barry Paige interview. I think I need some expert advice on the sound aspect of this film. I am waiting to hear back from the bluegrass band, but they have been contacted. I know of another solo artist to contact as well, just in case.
Week 2
Well we’re into it now. We are the first to go in showing our stuff. Steve and I can handle it though. I am very impressed with this young man. He is a complementary partner for this film and I am glad to have him aboard. I can explain concepts to him that he just gets along with me. Anyway seems we will be doing an all day session on Sunday and some of Saturday as well. I am thinking about going light to dark with composition and placement of photography. I think that splitting up the images on certain screens is a good idea. I have a lot of really good stills to use and I think that it breaks up things a bit. I like looking at multiple images on screen and the amount of stills I have that would look great sitting up on screen like that. I think some even can stand alone on screen. How this and all the moving and non moving footage work together is another story. I have been thinking about the order the audio (when I get the rest of it) will be put together. That is a huge piece of this film
Week 3
Well we busted ass and got it all done. We organized the day light footage and put in some dialogue of the girl we recorded. She is head and shoulders above the rest of the interviewees. Steve, and Damian’s interview was alright but they did not hit the keywords or subjects that need to be covered and touched upon. They were really over the top on their tone. I want to interview Steve again and get his back on track. I have contacted all of my interviewees and they are ready to go. I need to get going on organizing these. I have three people to help me when I go back up to the farm. One is my friend Jason who is bummed he can’t get into any of the production classes. I told him I have some production for him. When I go back up to the farm there is definitely some more stuff I want to get: him working, the daughter, Vollis’wife, maybe all of them together in the park. I need a good night drive-by; I don’t have a good one on file. So I think I can get it all done in one day. The best weather would be overcast through the day and clear at night with a moon. (And windy)
Week 4
Class was canceled, so me and Steve lived to fight another day (even though we were ready) we messed with it a little bit. But the best part was that I came up with the rhythm of the film. I think that the legend of Acid Park breathes through the words of the people who tell the story. And without those words the story doesn’t exist. So my idea was that the images only appear on the film when the words of the storytellers are told. The pauses of black will be brief but varied in length and duration. The story from light to dark will still be there. But it will be a true tale. One that allows itself to only exist while told in legend and myth. We will be going on this week so I as always look forward to the criticism and growth produced from these sessions.
Week 5
Well we went before the class first. And I think it went fairly well, except for some reason our images of stills were pixilated and blurred. This was pretty disappointing for me since of the expense that I went through to get them transferred over to disc. But the class and Mrs. Silva didn’t really like photos, Matt and Skip liked them. But the stills will be lost from the film. This means more work but it also means I know what I will be shooting on some of the super 8 mm cartridges. It is hard to be able to capture the moving image when it doesn’t move so hopefully when we head up there we will have ideal conditions. But the park plays differently every time I head up there. So we will find out. Also brought up was the soundtrack on the need for one or not. I have the options to feel out with music, so I will make my decisions when I actually get the music. I do know that I don’t want to shove it down people’s throats. But light doses add to the overall production value of the film I think. This is the first time some people had seen the footage and I think it was overall well received. The photography is pretty strong so I need to focus on the sound element now. With my concept for the film’s rhythm hinging on this soundscape it is forming into something sound intensive (pro tools). The visit to sound class is deemed necessary now. Also the idea of going dark to light instead was brought up as light is shed on a subject as it becomes visible to the audience. I am fine with that because it is just my idea upside down. That is close enough for me; I just wanted to go from light to dark from an esthetic point of view. The darker images are just plain prettier, and moved more. The light images are moving less.
Week 6
I forgot to mention I heard back from the bluegrass band and they are on board, I explained the concept to them and what I was looking for from them. I need to get some footage to them so they can come up with some ideas. I gave them my blog address and contact information. Let’s see how it goes from there; I am in the position that it won’t break me if they get busy. I used this week to mainly catch up on other classes. Not much else to report. I know stuff is around the corner and before I know it the end of the semester will be here and I really want to get it on track. I spoke to Professor Eric Patterson about my doc and he has been there! So you know I am gonna get his interview as well. He said no problem so the revised questions I mentioned have to get done and we’ll start knocking out these interviews soon.
Week 7
We have our new deadline ahead of us, it is crunch time. But Steve and I find the time somehow. We started sifting through all of our footage and see what we got and organized it in large chunks. We are going first again in class (this is a trend for us) with a large rough cut. There is a time limit of thirty minutes and I think most of our best stuff should be under this amount. The one thing we don’t have is the audio. The layout of the images’ duration dictates itself by dialogue layout. The interviews already conducted are mostly, as I feared, unusable. Damian’s tale is riddled with expletives which I would have to bleep. Barry Paige is echoey (bad). Steve’s interview was too revealing. I think the kid with the good girl interview is stoned. I am not too worried because as I always do, I overbook talent. I have 5-6 interviews ahead still. We keep putting off going up to Acid Park, lining up which one to go is tricky and my schedule is what is holding us back. Unlike last semester, I have been using Sundays and Saturdays to catch up on homework and regular work. I am overwhelmed officially now. I can’t wait to go before the class with all of our stuff out there (images mainly). I love feedback. Ha ha! All of the stills have been taken out mostly. I will meet with the title artist and get him to make sure to take note of the pics we wanted to use so they end up on the film somewhere.
Week 8
Class canceled. So here is my chance to catch up on the audio. I have reworked the questions for the interviews and held the marantz just for this weekend. Steve is contacting the Tattoo shop Piercer hopefully we get him scheduled. I have called the twin friends of mine to set up a time but only get voice mail. I told Dr. Patterson that I would catch him on the Monday after the weekend. So that would be four interviews done, I think it should be okay though. I talked to the twins a couple weeks ago and reminded them.
Week 8 Part II
So the piercer dude is nowhere to be found. And something serious has happened to my other twins’ interview. It may never happen because of what happened. My little interview is the least of their worries now. I have to re-adjust and see what I have left. Interviews closer to the project have more focus than before. What a blessing that Dr. Patterson was found. If I didn’t take his class this semester, I would have never guessed in a million years that he has been there. The rough cut is ready minus sound of course. The class will get to see 90% of what will be the final film, untightened, of course. I will still get this interview thing back on track. I ended up having problems with the marantz and I found out that European mikes have a different form of battery insertion. I used the marantz before and didn’t have this problem. But it was set to stereo. I am using mono for the interviews. I am going to set up a casting call for the remaining interviewees and get it all done as soon as possible. I have contacted the solo artist, he is all over it and we are meeting later this week so he can see the images and get his head around the subject. We have the opportunity since we are going first to have next week to accomplish these interviews. It looks like I need to get my pillow and sleeping bag ready, it is going to be a long couple of nights in the new Bear Hall. Critical times are upon us.
Week 9
We have shown a fine cut to the class and attached some sound. Unfortunately, we had some doubling issues (picture and sound repeated, boringly). I really feel this took away from the critique that we could have had. But forward we must move. Money issues have forced me to make some decisions on the super 8 footage, I still want to photograph some close-ups with the camera to replace the stills but it looks like it will have to wait until after the end of the year screening. As mentioned before I listened to the interviews conducted by last semesters group and found them to be fairly useless. Damian swears every other word so his interview’s presence will have to be piecemeal in nature. Stephen’s interview will also have to be redone. I came up with a new line of questions, designed to be repetitive as to flesh out as many memories as possible, while at the same time, producing alternate takes with which to have other options available to me. It is now two and a half pages, with room for the interviewee to reflect on their answers, yet feel comfortable with the setting. I want those interviewed to be in the same mindset as when they were at Acid Park. Also mentioned was the need for wide shots, shots of the car, and of course, elusive Vollis working.
Week 10
Still no spring in North Carolina, but I love the cool weather. Life outside of school stepped up its game and I have not been able to move forward. I have checked out equipment but alas, the marantz befuddles me and I get no interviews. All I am able to do is acquire some creaking sounds from outside the editing lab, which sound surprisingly like windmills; perhaps these can be used with the sound design, in later weeks. I schedule a marantz tutorial with Tony Creech and call it a week.
Week 11
The credits song lyrics have come across the wire; they are based on a random web account placed on my blog from last semester. The musician has told me that he is already recording the track and it will be coming soon! I can’t wait; I think the production value of this piece will be through the roof. No interviews yet. I have, however, met with Mr. Creech and found out what I did wrong with the marantz and hopefully I know what I am doing now. The title artist and I met and went over what pictures we would use. This was a great experience for me, because I was able to get someone not involved in the film excited and anxious to contribute (just like the musician). We discuss what of the discarded pictures we could use (about 60 in all) and I sent him home with transparencies, sharpies, and a picture disc for comparisons. Not a great week but a good enough one.
Week 12
Full Frame looms in the near distance. All projects will have to be suspended for that weekend. I want full attention to be paid to these films. Mostly in production value and story is what I am interested in. I have a place to stay at my mother-in-law’s and I can’t contain my excitement. The end title’s song was sent to me in rough-cut, and it is incredible! I played it for the class and I think they were impressed, I know I was, so was Steve. Steve actually has seen the band play before (six degrees of separation). I took that as a good luck sign and marched forward. I obtained my wife’s interview and contacted the Simpson’s and set up a date to go up and get the final moments needed for the film. Mrs. Simpson was very nice and I told her that I was looking forward to finally meeting her (she has proven to be more elusive than her husband, Vollis). I pray for good weather because that is the week it will all have to happen, good or bad. Final decisions are made for the final 30 pics to be used in the end title cards (there will be minimal front titles due to length concerns). I printed out grayscale copies for the artist, it is literally in his hands now.
Week 13 (Hell Week 1)
Interviews are scheduled this week, all are ready, and here we go! I conducted Skip’s interview and all went well aside from the extraneous commotions that occur during an outside interview. Next was Steve’s, he also had a truck that wanted to go continually in reverse (beep, beep, beep, beep, etc). It would prove to be a way better interview than the last one conducted. It was a lot of starting and stopping because of the extra noise but it was in the books. Next was Dr. Patterson’s interview, his was more controlled because it was held in his office. He had a lot to say on the subject, as he had been preparing for the interview for 3 weeks or more. He had a lot of nice things to say about the place, but seemed pretty far removed from the subject, but the nice thing is that he and his companion both were skeptical of the story but both believed it for the most part, especially after seeing the car. His experience raised more questions than answers, but they went to see it during the day, which is a completely different experience. After all interviews were completed, to my horror, all files were in an MP3 format. Compressed media, the settings of the marantz I had so painstakingly set, somehow reset themselves to default. Luckily they were at mono and at the highest settings for MP3. I converted them using QuickTime Pro and moved forward hoping that Pro Tools would be my savior, along with the Barry Paige, girl 1, man 1, and Damian’s ugly recorded interviews. Oh I hate sound! Sunday, Skip and I went to Acid Park to film Vollis, the car, shoot the rest of the super 8, and film the night drive bys. It was cold, overcast, and wet. We were able to finish most of the things planned, but as the rain fell harder, we had to let the night shots go to hopefully next week on the way home from Full Frame. I called Carol Simpson for an interview; she never called me back. Putting this week behind me I made preparations for Full Frame.
Week 14 (Hell Week 2)
What an experience Full Frame was. I totally didn’t have time for it but I forced myself to go because the next time I get a full access pass to a film festival it will have to be because I am a participating filmmaker. On the way home, Steve and I shot some night drive bys, it was late, dark and we needed more light, and more crew. But we got something at least. Also accomplished this weekend, Steve conducted my interview (in camera, with a shotgun mike, my nemesis, the marantz, was not present) Last week I forgot to mention the festival plan, which is due this week. I decided to create an excel file for it, and boy what a mistake! The actual legwork for this project was in no way as hard as trying to make an excel spreadsheet on a printable 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper. The experience was gratifying though; I conducted it as though it was my real festival plan. I learned so much about the process and had a little bit of fun on the withoutabox website. Plans were set up to get the fine visual cut finished for our film so we may concentrate on sound. Sound was laboriously trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and named and named and named. Sound as in image was massive in length and breadth. But it will be used to create quite an extensive and rich soundscape. The musician called me to touch base with me to let me know that the master print is finalized with fiddle. He also recorded some accompanying music to help space gaps. The title artist has finished his work; we just have to film their projections. This project is coming together fast.
Last Week
The sound element of this project proved to be very taxing. It really encompassed an enormous part of the project, as I have always envisioned it. This was the hardest part of this edit, we have had the images ready for some time already. But, after hours and hours of time and Sundays, we got it pretty well pieced together. The musician submitted the final version for me with the fiddle which is now in the track and the artist submitted his work. The projection didn’t work as well as hoped, so they became high resolution scans. These scans took 7 hours to do 15 pictures but they are beautiful and exactly as I envisioned. A lot of good people helped me on this project and I hope I made it up to them, with the final edit of the film. I love it and I get emotional watching it. What a joy
Last Entry (for school anyway)
I spoke too soon. It isn't over, last week I thought we were turning in final projects. I was wrong. It was another pre-screening this week is the last project. We received a lot of mixed reviews, and it was a lot for me to decipher. I really had a hard time what people were trying to tell me. One suggestion was for me to show the interviewees/account tellers. Not only would this be impossible but it also is against original concept. I met with Steve a few days later and we talked about it. He kind of read things differently than I did, and heard the more important things. Once he repeated these to me, I remembered some of these statements said and we implemented some things. We put a portion of the end song at the front of the movie and interlaced segments of Vollis throughout the film. A beginning title sequence was implemented, and end titles sped up (director credit at the front). These were positive changes and the film is stronger and has a thicker back bone to it. As previously mentioned in other entries, film can always be improved and tweaked to make it better and better, tighter and tighter. I think we are farther along, but more steps need to be taken. I still have to come up with the money for the super 8 footage. I really hope that there is a place for it in this film. I always saw small spaces to lie between the accounts to allow them to sink in, perhaps we can add 30 seconds or a minute to allow this to happen. We are at ten minutes and 27 seconds right now, so we have a little wiggle room. I will get the footage back in the next month or so and have a couple more meetings and screenings before we send it off in the festival circuit. As it stands right now, the film is pretty strong. And I look forward to hearing the next round of suggestions and/or constructive criticism. I still love the film and hope to continue to make it better.
Well it’s the first week of school, and I have really enjoyed the Christmas break. I contacted Mrs. Simpson before the break and asked her to look for some old pictures and accounts of the younger days of the park. I have not contacted her yet and I am looking forward to going up there later this semester and wrap things up. To be honest, I haven’t thought much about this project during the break, except for coming up with the idea of title card artwork and looked at my super 8 mm footage. The super 8 mm footage (to y delight) has developed, yet sadly it was not converted, as I asked, to mini dv. I have more super 8 mm cartridges to use. I want the holes to organize what I have and see what else I need. I will plug the holes with super 8 mm footage and I still have kodachrome cartridges to use. One is exposed already. I’ll use the rest of the film and send it all off to be developed and have it all put on a single or two mini DV tape. Glad to be back though, I am scared that my last semester @ UNCW will be the most challenging yet.
Week 1 Part B
I re-photographed the super 8 mm footage while I was converting family films and captured it just to use and get an idea of its place in the film. I think our weakest element right now however is not the photography. I still feel I only have one interview in the format that I need. I will get into that as I sift through the audio and see if it has snatches and snippets I can use. I wish I was able to be there for the interviews. I think I would have asked more questions. This is good though because I will refine and update my questions for the remaining interviews. Thank God that I have more lined up, because the ones that have already been conducted are suspect. But we will see, perhaps things will develop differently as the project comes together. I want to attend a sound class or two with Markowski to fix the Barry Paige interview. I think I need some expert advice on the sound aspect of this film. I am waiting to hear back from the bluegrass band, but they have been contacted. I know of another solo artist to contact as well, just in case.
Week 2
Well we’re into it now. We are the first to go in showing our stuff. Steve and I can handle it though. I am very impressed with this young man. He is a complementary partner for this film and I am glad to have him aboard. I can explain concepts to him that he just gets along with me. Anyway seems we will be doing an all day session on Sunday and some of Saturday as well. I am thinking about going light to dark with composition and placement of photography. I think that splitting up the images on certain screens is a good idea. I have a lot of really good stills to use and I think that it breaks up things a bit. I like looking at multiple images on screen and the amount of stills I have that would look great sitting up on screen like that. I think some even can stand alone on screen. How this and all the moving and non moving footage work together is another story. I have been thinking about the order the audio (when I get the rest of it) will be put together. That is a huge piece of this film
Week 3
Well we busted ass and got it all done. We organized the day light footage and put in some dialogue of the girl we recorded. She is head and shoulders above the rest of the interviewees. Steve, and Damian’s interview was alright but they did not hit the keywords or subjects that need to be covered and touched upon. They were really over the top on their tone. I want to interview Steve again and get his back on track. I have contacted all of my interviewees and they are ready to go. I need to get going on organizing these. I have three people to help me when I go back up to the farm. One is my friend Jason who is bummed he can’t get into any of the production classes. I told him I have some production for him. When I go back up to the farm there is definitely some more stuff I want to get: him working, the daughter, Vollis’wife, maybe all of them together in the park. I need a good night drive-by; I don’t have a good one on file. So I think I can get it all done in one day. The best weather would be overcast through the day and clear at night with a moon. (And windy)
Week 4
Class was canceled, so me and Steve lived to fight another day (even though we were ready) we messed with it a little bit. But the best part was that I came up with the rhythm of the film. I think that the legend of Acid Park breathes through the words of the people who tell the story. And without those words the story doesn’t exist. So my idea was that the images only appear on the film when the words of the storytellers are told. The pauses of black will be brief but varied in length and duration. The story from light to dark will still be there. But it will be a true tale. One that allows itself to only exist while told in legend and myth. We will be going on this week so I as always look forward to the criticism and growth produced from these sessions.
Week 5
Well we went before the class first. And I think it went fairly well, except for some reason our images of stills were pixilated and blurred. This was pretty disappointing for me since of the expense that I went through to get them transferred over to disc. But the class and Mrs. Silva didn’t really like photos, Matt and Skip liked them. But the stills will be lost from the film. This means more work but it also means I know what I will be shooting on some of the super 8 mm cartridges. It is hard to be able to capture the moving image when it doesn’t move so hopefully when we head up there we will have ideal conditions. But the park plays differently every time I head up there. So we will find out. Also brought up was the soundtrack on the need for one or not. I have the options to feel out with music, so I will make my decisions when I actually get the music. I do know that I don’t want to shove it down people’s throats. But light doses add to the overall production value of the film I think. This is the first time some people had seen the footage and I think it was overall well received. The photography is pretty strong so I need to focus on the sound element now. With my concept for the film’s rhythm hinging on this soundscape it is forming into something sound intensive (pro tools). The visit to sound class is deemed necessary now. Also the idea of going dark to light instead was brought up as light is shed on a subject as it becomes visible to the audience. I am fine with that because it is just my idea upside down. That is close enough for me; I just wanted to go from light to dark from an esthetic point of view. The darker images are just plain prettier, and moved more. The light images are moving less.
Week 6
I forgot to mention I heard back from the bluegrass band and they are on board, I explained the concept to them and what I was looking for from them. I need to get some footage to them so they can come up with some ideas. I gave them my blog address and contact information. Let’s see how it goes from there; I am in the position that it won’t break me if they get busy. I used this week to mainly catch up on other classes. Not much else to report. I know stuff is around the corner and before I know it the end of the semester will be here and I really want to get it on track. I spoke to Professor Eric Patterson about my doc and he has been there! So you know I am gonna get his interview as well. He said no problem so the revised questions I mentioned have to get done and we’ll start knocking out these interviews soon.
Week 7
We have our new deadline ahead of us, it is crunch time. But Steve and I find the time somehow. We started sifting through all of our footage and see what we got and organized it in large chunks. We are going first again in class (this is a trend for us) with a large rough cut. There is a time limit of thirty minutes and I think most of our best stuff should be under this amount. The one thing we don’t have is the audio. The layout of the images’ duration dictates itself by dialogue layout. The interviews already conducted are mostly, as I feared, unusable. Damian’s tale is riddled with expletives which I would have to bleep. Barry Paige is echoey (bad). Steve’s interview was too revealing. I think the kid with the good girl interview is stoned. I am not too worried because as I always do, I overbook talent. I have 5-6 interviews ahead still. We keep putting off going up to Acid Park, lining up which one to go is tricky and my schedule is what is holding us back. Unlike last semester, I have been using Sundays and Saturdays to catch up on homework and regular work. I am overwhelmed officially now. I can’t wait to go before the class with all of our stuff out there (images mainly). I love feedback. Ha ha! All of the stills have been taken out mostly. I will meet with the title artist and get him to make sure to take note of the pics we wanted to use so they end up on the film somewhere.
Week 8
Class canceled. So here is my chance to catch up on the audio. I have reworked the questions for the interviews and held the marantz just for this weekend. Steve is contacting the Tattoo shop Piercer hopefully we get him scheduled. I have called the twin friends of mine to set up a time but only get voice mail. I told Dr. Patterson that I would catch him on the Monday after the weekend. So that would be four interviews done, I think it should be okay though. I talked to the twins a couple weeks ago and reminded them.
Week 8 Part II
So the piercer dude is nowhere to be found. And something serious has happened to my other twins’ interview. It may never happen because of what happened. My little interview is the least of their worries now. I have to re-adjust and see what I have left. Interviews closer to the project have more focus than before. What a blessing that Dr. Patterson was found. If I didn’t take his class this semester, I would have never guessed in a million years that he has been there. The rough cut is ready minus sound of course. The class will get to see 90% of what will be the final film, untightened, of course. I will still get this interview thing back on track. I ended up having problems with the marantz and I found out that European mikes have a different form of battery insertion. I used the marantz before and didn’t have this problem. But it was set to stereo. I am using mono for the interviews. I am going to set up a casting call for the remaining interviewees and get it all done as soon as possible. I have contacted the solo artist, he is all over it and we are meeting later this week so he can see the images and get his head around the subject. We have the opportunity since we are going first to have next week to accomplish these interviews. It looks like I need to get my pillow and sleeping bag ready, it is going to be a long couple of nights in the new Bear Hall. Critical times are upon us.
Week 9
We have shown a fine cut to the class and attached some sound. Unfortunately, we had some doubling issues (picture and sound repeated, boringly). I really feel this took away from the critique that we could have had. But forward we must move. Money issues have forced me to make some decisions on the super 8 footage, I still want to photograph some close-ups with the camera to replace the stills but it looks like it will have to wait until after the end of the year screening. As mentioned before I listened to the interviews conducted by last semesters group and found them to be fairly useless. Damian swears every other word so his interview’s presence will have to be piecemeal in nature. Stephen’s interview will also have to be redone. I came up with a new line of questions, designed to be repetitive as to flesh out as many memories as possible, while at the same time, producing alternate takes with which to have other options available to me. It is now two and a half pages, with room for the interviewee to reflect on their answers, yet feel comfortable with the setting. I want those interviewed to be in the same mindset as when they were at Acid Park. Also mentioned was the need for wide shots, shots of the car, and of course, elusive Vollis working.
Week 10
Still no spring in North Carolina, but I love the cool weather. Life outside of school stepped up its game and I have not been able to move forward. I have checked out equipment but alas, the marantz befuddles me and I get no interviews. All I am able to do is acquire some creaking sounds from outside the editing lab, which sound surprisingly like windmills; perhaps these can be used with the sound design, in later weeks. I schedule a marantz tutorial with Tony Creech and call it a week.
Week 11
The credits song lyrics have come across the wire; they are based on a random web account placed on my blog from last semester. The musician has told me that he is already recording the track and it will be coming soon! I can’t wait; I think the production value of this piece will be through the roof. No interviews yet. I have, however, met with Mr. Creech and found out what I did wrong with the marantz and hopefully I know what I am doing now. The title artist and I met and went over what pictures we would use. This was a great experience for me, because I was able to get someone not involved in the film excited and anxious to contribute (just like the musician). We discuss what of the discarded pictures we could use (about 60 in all) and I sent him home with transparencies, sharpies, and a picture disc for comparisons. Not a great week but a good enough one.
Week 12
Full Frame looms in the near distance. All projects will have to be suspended for that weekend. I want full attention to be paid to these films. Mostly in production value and story is what I am interested in. I have a place to stay at my mother-in-law’s and I can’t contain my excitement. The end title’s song was sent to me in rough-cut, and it is incredible! I played it for the class and I think they were impressed, I know I was, so was Steve. Steve actually has seen the band play before (six degrees of separation). I took that as a good luck sign and marched forward. I obtained my wife’s interview and contacted the Simpson’s and set up a date to go up and get the final moments needed for the film. Mrs. Simpson was very nice and I told her that I was looking forward to finally meeting her (she has proven to be more elusive than her husband, Vollis). I pray for good weather because that is the week it will all have to happen, good or bad. Final decisions are made for the final 30 pics to be used in the end title cards (there will be minimal front titles due to length concerns). I printed out grayscale copies for the artist, it is literally in his hands now.
Week 13 (Hell Week 1)
Interviews are scheduled this week, all are ready, and here we go! I conducted Skip’s interview and all went well aside from the extraneous commotions that occur during an outside interview. Next was Steve’s, he also had a truck that wanted to go continually in reverse (beep, beep, beep, beep, etc). It would prove to be a way better interview than the last one conducted. It was a lot of starting and stopping because of the extra noise but it was in the books. Next was Dr. Patterson’s interview, his was more controlled because it was held in his office. He had a lot to say on the subject, as he had been preparing for the interview for 3 weeks or more. He had a lot of nice things to say about the place, but seemed pretty far removed from the subject, but the nice thing is that he and his companion both were skeptical of the story but both believed it for the most part, especially after seeing the car. His experience raised more questions than answers, but they went to see it during the day, which is a completely different experience. After all interviews were completed, to my horror, all files were in an MP3 format. Compressed media, the settings of the marantz I had so painstakingly set, somehow reset themselves to default. Luckily they were at mono and at the highest settings for MP3. I converted them using QuickTime Pro and moved forward hoping that Pro Tools would be my savior, along with the Barry Paige, girl 1, man 1, and Damian’s ugly recorded interviews. Oh I hate sound! Sunday, Skip and I went to Acid Park to film Vollis, the car, shoot the rest of the super 8, and film the night drive bys. It was cold, overcast, and wet. We were able to finish most of the things planned, but as the rain fell harder, we had to let the night shots go to hopefully next week on the way home from Full Frame. I called Carol Simpson for an interview; she never called me back. Putting this week behind me I made preparations for Full Frame.
Week 14 (Hell Week 2)
What an experience Full Frame was. I totally didn’t have time for it but I forced myself to go because the next time I get a full access pass to a film festival it will have to be because I am a participating filmmaker. On the way home, Steve and I shot some night drive bys, it was late, dark and we needed more light, and more crew. But we got something at least. Also accomplished this weekend, Steve conducted my interview (in camera, with a shotgun mike, my nemesis, the marantz, was not present) Last week I forgot to mention the festival plan, which is due this week. I decided to create an excel file for it, and boy what a mistake! The actual legwork for this project was in no way as hard as trying to make an excel spreadsheet on a printable 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper. The experience was gratifying though; I conducted it as though it was my real festival plan. I learned so much about the process and had a little bit of fun on the withoutabox website. Plans were set up to get the fine visual cut finished for our film so we may concentrate on sound. Sound was laboriously trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and named and named and named. Sound as in image was massive in length and breadth. But it will be used to create quite an extensive and rich soundscape. The musician called me to touch base with me to let me know that the master print is finalized with fiddle. He also recorded some accompanying music to help space gaps. The title artist has finished his work; we just have to film their projections. This project is coming together fast.
Last Week
The sound element of this project proved to be very taxing. It really encompassed an enormous part of the project, as I have always envisioned it. This was the hardest part of this edit, we have had the images ready for some time already. But, after hours and hours of time and Sundays, we got it pretty well pieced together. The musician submitted the final version for me with the fiddle which is now in the track and the artist submitted his work. The projection didn’t work as well as hoped, so they became high resolution scans. These scans took 7 hours to do 15 pictures but they are beautiful and exactly as I envisioned. A lot of good people helped me on this project and I hope I made it up to them, with the final edit of the film. I love it and I get emotional watching it. What a joy
Last Entry (for school anyway)
I spoke too soon. It isn't over, last week I thought we were turning in final projects. I was wrong. It was another pre-screening this week is the last project. We received a lot of mixed reviews, and it was a lot for me to decipher. I really had a hard time what people were trying to tell me. One suggestion was for me to show the interviewees/account tellers. Not only would this be impossible but it also is against original concept. I met with Steve a few days later and we talked about it. He kind of read things differently than I did, and heard the more important things. Once he repeated these to me, I remembered some of these statements said and we implemented some things. We put a portion of the end song at the front of the movie and interlaced segments of Vollis throughout the film. A beginning title sequence was implemented, and end titles sped up (director credit at the front). These were positive changes and the film is stronger and has a thicker back bone to it. As previously mentioned in other entries, film can always be improved and tweaked to make it better and better, tighter and tighter. I think we are farther along, but more steps need to be taken. I still have to come up with the money for the super 8 footage. I really hope that there is a place for it in this film. I always saw small spaces to lie between the accounts to allow them to sink in, perhaps we can add 30 seconds or a minute to allow this to happen. We are at ten minutes and 27 seconds right now, so we have a little wiggle room. I will get the footage back in the next month or so and have a couple more meetings and screenings before we send it off in the festival circuit. As it stands right now, the film is pretty strong. And I look forward to hearing the next round of suggestions and/or constructive criticism. I still love the film and hope to continue to make it better.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
wow, time flies when you are having fun, this semester has been a whirlwind, i havent blogged in a while so i need to catch up a bit. let's see, i could talk about my trip to lucama on november 2-4, i havent talked about that yet. o.k. well i got that friday off from baby duty and my wife was home all day, there was a storm off the coast of the atlantic seaboard and i had just picked up all of my equipment and dropped it off at my house to wait for my group. plans changed for them and i realized i had to go it alone. so i grabbed the jvc dvx and some sticks and got in my van and hauled butt since it was already 3 pm. and the kick off was at 6 pm. after a 2.5 hour drive i made it up to wilson and found a parking spot right up front. i went inside the arts center and told the receptionist i was looking for barry paige. while i was waiting i struck up a conversation with some of the guests. they started telling me all kinds of things (most i knew already) when i asked them if they would like to go on camera they declined, so i decided maybe this wasnt the venue for my film. barry paige came out and introduced me to the coordinator for the whirlygig festival and she asked me if i was the filmmaker from canada, i said no but realized that i am glad i was doing this film this year and not later years because it is of special interest for many people. i explored the meet and greet and soaked in the smells and sights of the banquet before me. it was all designed for hobnobbing and was very informal. i kind of wandered around and looked to see if there was a podium or some sort of a pulpit for public speaking and seeing none. i looked around and saw it was not going to be my scene. barry paige was busy with people so i looked outside. the wind was churning and blowing like crazy. daylight was losing fast. i thought to myself. if vollis and family is here, who's at the park? no one. i slipped out quietly and motored out to whirlygig farm.
when i arrived there it was just as i suspected, the gigs were moving ....yes! quite rapidly in fact. i got out my camera and started to soak it all in. and capture the most i could. whirlygigs were moving that hadnt moved in the past and the noise was truly unique. it was really empty at the farm and no one was there. my dad called me while i was out there (he lives in michigan) and i tried to describe to him what was going on and he could sense my excitement. i stayed out there till the sun went down and grabbed all i could. at night it was very black this particular night but the wind was cool and smelled clean like rain. i fired up the spotlight and set up my shots. unfortunately the light takes a lot of juice and i had to run my car to keep it going so i have no audio from that night. i hope to get it on another night or day. the audio would have had a running car in the back ground, anyway. so i used a whole hour's worth of tape. and decided to go home and hoped it would be this wonderful out there the whole weekend.
so on sunday morning of the fest. i got up early like 7:00 in the morning and call skip from documentary class. he agreed the day before to help me shoot some stuff for the festival. i was so excited i drove us straight to the park hoping for the same magic that happened on Friday night, (i had been watching the trees move the whole way up and listening to the weather). the wind was there just not very strong. i set up the marantz and stereo mike first thing because i really needed the missed audio. once the sound station was set up i started showing skip some of the things i was looking for, but i stressed that i really was looking for other people's perspective as well. i have told everyone that has helped me on this project the same. the late morning and early afternoon produced some bursts but people, planes, and vehicles really cramped the purity of the sound grab on some of the sound files. i got a workable list and was fairly happy. speaking of people, the farm was kind of busy but i was really expecting a lot of people checking this park out due to a runoff from the festival and was surprised that was not the case. at mid afternoon , we decided to go to the festival and check it out. we got to wilson and not alot was going on, we drove around and they had all the streets blocked off. so we looked around for whirlygigs instead and found some we hadnt seen before and filmed them. i thought we should go back to the farm, and we stopped off to robert's family restaurant on the way back and got some of north carolina's most famous barbeque pork and took it to go and ate under the whirlygig's shadows. we spent some more time filming and taking pictures. i grabbed a tape of the sunset so i can do a time lapse sequence. and thought, i think i have done enough. we shot another tape of mixed footage, one of the sunset, took 4 rolls of pictures, and got some sound grab (the early morning was all that produced the best sound for us. the rest of the day was a wash for sound) i wanted to get skip back home. if the whirlygigs were turning like friday nite we would have stayed. i fired up the spotlight for him and some hippie visitors and drove the long road home. i had my moving footage and my sound i was fairly happy. i called the simpsons and let them know that i was leaving but told them i would be back to get some random grocery list items for post and left the farm behind for now
jm
when i arrived there it was just as i suspected, the gigs were moving ....yes! quite rapidly in fact. i got out my camera and started to soak it all in. and capture the most i could. whirlygigs were moving that hadnt moved in the past and the noise was truly unique. it was really empty at the farm and no one was there. my dad called me while i was out there (he lives in michigan) and i tried to describe to him what was going on and he could sense my excitement. i stayed out there till the sun went down and grabbed all i could. at night it was very black this particular night but the wind was cool and smelled clean like rain. i fired up the spotlight and set up my shots. unfortunately the light takes a lot of juice and i had to run my car to keep it going so i have no audio from that night. i hope to get it on another night or day. the audio would have had a running car in the back ground, anyway. so i used a whole hour's worth of tape. and decided to go home and hoped it would be this wonderful out there the whole weekend.
so on sunday morning of the fest. i got up early like 7:00 in the morning and call skip from documentary class. he agreed the day before to help me shoot some stuff for the festival. i was so excited i drove us straight to the park hoping for the same magic that happened on Friday night, (i had been watching the trees move the whole way up and listening to the weather). the wind was there just not very strong. i set up the marantz and stereo mike first thing because i really needed the missed audio. once the sound station was set up i started showing skip some of the things i was looking for, but i stressed that i really was looking for other people's perspective as well. i have told everyone that has helped me on this project the same. the late morning and early afternoon produced some bursts but people, planes, and vehicles really cramped the purity of the sound grab on some of the sound files. i got a workable list and was fairly happy. speaking of people, the farm was kind of busy but i was really expecting a lot of people checking this park out due to a runoff from the festival and was surprised that was not the case. at mid afternoon , we decided to go to the festival and check it out. we got to wilson and not alot was going on, we drove around and they had all the streets blocked off. so we looked around for whirlygigs instead and found some we hadnt seen before and filmed them. i thought we should go back to the farm, and we stopped off to robert's family restaurant on the way back and got some of north carolina's most famous barbeque pork and took it to go and ate under the whirlygig's shadows. we spent some more time filming and taking pictures. i grabbed a tape of the sunset so i can do a time lapse sequence. and thought, i think i have done enough. we shot another tape of mixed footage, one of the sunset, took 4 rolls of pictures, and got some sound grab (the early morning was all that produced the best sound for us. the rest of the day was a wash for sound) i wanted to get skip back home. if the whirlygigs were turning like friday nite we would have stayed. i fired up the spotlight for him and some hippie visitors and drove the long road home. i had my moving footage and my sound i was fairly happy. i called the simpsons and let them know that i was leaving but told them i would be back to get some random grocery list items for post and left the farm behind for now
jm
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Whirligig Farm
Duration: 08:00 minutes to 15:00 minutes
Subject: Local Urban (Rural) Legend Confrontation
Story Version One: two minutes to three
Audio: of Legend version 1, run under images of Acid Park, bright day, light background audio, also included will be short audio discussion by director narrating location of park and first experience
Images run: Images captured during bright light conditions, sunny, very little or no
Whirligig movement, images will start bright then continue to dark as dusk
approaches, also included will be 35 mm photo files, and color super 8 mm
(kodachrome) and modern color super 8 mm.
Story Version Two: two minutes to three
Audio: of Legend version 2, run under images of Acid Park, rainy day, med. background audio, also included will be short discussion narrative concerning legend’s story
Images run: Images captured during dreary overcast day, more whirligig movement
to fast daylight, 16 mm footage included, also included will be digital SLR photos
modified using photoshop, images also modified using FCP and After Effects
Story Version Three: two minutes to three
Audio of Legend version 3 or alternate story, run under images of Acid Park, Nighttime, heavy background audio, sound effects, and short narrative describing summary of legend themes
Images run: Images captured during storm at night, heavy and frenetic whirligig
movement, focus on alien and otherworldly views, building suspense, also
included will be re-projected and modified footage from super 8
The Real Story of Acid Park: Vollis Simpson: two minutes to three
Sound and image together of interview with the creator of Acid Park, Vollis Simpson.
Topics discussed: the origin of the name acid park, the actual origin ofmain
Legend surrounding daughter’s death, reveal and insight to legend’s spread.
Also included will be location audio sound and narrative summary of topic
including expressive thoughts. Throughout Vollis’ interview will be very
stylized and artistic photography and footage, with stress being on thebeauty
of the art inside of Acid Park
End Credits: Original music composed by bluegrass band and/or guitarist songwriter
Grocery List of Needed Elements for Post:
Four More Interviews to be grabbed using the Morantz and Shot gun Microphone, these have already been confirmed and are in Wilmington so no travel necessary.
Photos and Footage to be modified using Photoshop and After Effects
Already shot footage to be sent off for development. (2 rolls of 16 mm, 6 rolls of Super 8) Remaining three cartridges (modern color, B&W, and Kodachrome) to be shot (waiting for big storm) and also mailed for development.
Developed footage to be projected and re-photographed and modified
More Audio exploration, incl. sound effects and location grab (Big Storm again)
Contact Local Bluegrass Band (Located nearby in Southeastern North Carolina) and Guitarist/Songwriter (also Local). Present them with footage and legends to create original soundtrack and song(s) to accompany film
Duration: 08:00 minutes to 15:00 minutes
Subject: Local Urban (Rural) Legend Confrontation
Story Version One: two minutes to three
Audio: of Legend version 1, run under images of Acid Park, bright day, light background audio, also included will be short audio discussion by director narrating location of park and first experience
Images run: Images captured during bright light conditions, sunny, very little or no
Whirligig movement, images will start bright then continue to dark as dusk
approaches, also included will be 35 mm photo files, and color super 8 mm
(kodachrome) and modern color super 8 mm.
Story Version Two: two minutes to three
Audio: of Legend version 2, run under images of Acid Park, rainy day, med. background audio, also included will be short discussion narrative concerning legend’s story
Images run: Images captured during dreary overcast day, more whirligig movement
to fast daylight, 16 mm footage included, also included will be digital SLR photos
modified using photoshop, images also modified using FCP and After Effects
Story Version Three: two minutes to three
Audio of Legend version 3 or alternate story, run under images of Acid Park, Nighttime, heavy background audio, sound effects, and short narrative describing summary of legend themes
Images run: Images captured during storm at night, heavy and frenetic whirligig
movement, focus on alien and otherworldly views, building suspense, also
included will be re-projected and modified footage from super 8
The Real Story of Acid Park: Vollis Simpson: two minutes to three
Sound and image together of interview with the creator of Acid Park, Vollis Simpson.
Topics discussed: the origin of the name acid park, the actual origin ofmain
Legend surrounding daughter’s death, reveal and insight to legend’s spread.
Also included will be location audio sound and narrative summary of topic
including expressive thoughts. Throughout Vollis’ interview will be very
stylized and artistic photography and footage, with stress being on thebeauty
of the art inside of Acid Park
End Credits: Original music composed by bluegrass band and/or guitarist songwriter
Grocery List of Needed Elements for Post:
Four More Interviews to be grabbed using the Morantz and Shot gun Microphone, these have already been confirmed and are in Wilmington so no travel necessary.
Photos and Footage to be modified using Photoshop and After Effects
Already shot footage to be sent off for development. (2 rolls of 16 mm, 6 rolls of Super 8) Remaining three cartridges (modern color, B&W, and Kodachrome) to be shot (waiting for big storm) and also mailed for development.
Developed footage to be projected and re-photographed and modified
More Audio exploration, incl. sound effects and location grab (Big Storm again)
Contact Local Bluegrass Band (Located nearby in Southeastern North Carolina) and Guitarist/Songwriter (also Local). Present them with footage and legends to create original soundtrack and song(s) to accompany film
Opening night of Cucalorus
The crowd at Jengo's was very excited and lots of background noise were included. rumblings and mumblings exuded as i walked into the darkened theater. i grabbed the first seat i could get as i came in as the intro shorts finished. The first film was "West Bank Story" and was a spoof comedy musical surrounding love, jihadism, racial tension, but most importantly: Love. Very funny at parts this film seemed overly produced for this genre, but amused the audience greatly. This film was too long and could have been edited shorter and included too many unnecessary shots. the next film was the feature doc:The Film Class. this film was very appealing in its Cinema Verite style. The subject matter was intense and interesting and time passed quickly. i felt this film, although assembled by amateurs, included way too many shaky shots. i saw tripods in this film i think they should have used them more. the important theme in the film was the message and i do think that that was clear in its presentation. if the subject matter was not as serious and if the filmmakers did not have so many obstacles to conquer to get this film shown, i feel it would not have been festival worthy just by production value alone, they get a pass living in a third world country and other obvious hardships befalling them. i decided to stay for the shorts that mrs. silva programmed and found 2 of them to be inspiring, the first film (which i cannot remember the title) and the film "elephant music" "elephant music" was dark and somber and gave off feelings of despair and solace. Quite extraordinary actually. The session wrapped with one of the filmmakers Q&A (Penny Lane) and was quite a good time. I learned that without the help of film cooperatives and foundations experimentals would not be as good and possibly non existent. it seemed the better experimental shorts had quite a deal of backing indicated by the lengthy credits. this could be a pro for someone with that kind of access and a con for those without. i really enjoyed "film class" and "elephant music" but could do without west bank story (seemed like a waste of resources, i cant believe it was shot on panavision!) i learned that i need to be there earlier (traffic was kind of bad) and advice i would give would be to research the films you go to see, because you could be stuck paying for a bum film. Not necessarily at this screening, but feedback with other students indicated there were a couple of real stinkers in this years lineup. i'm glad i missed them.
jm
The crowd at Jengo's was very excited and lots of background noise were included. rumblings and mumblings exuded as i walked into the darkened theater. i grabbed the first seat i could get as i came in as the intro shorts finished. The first film was "West Bank Story" and was a spoof comedy musical surrounding love, jihadism, racial tension, but most importantly: Love. Very funny at parts this film seemed overly produced for this genre, but amused the audience greatly. This film was too long and could have been edited shorter and included too many unnecessary shots. the next film was the feature doc:The Film Class. this film was very appealing in its Cinema Verite style. The subject matter was intense and interesting and time passed quickly. i felt this film, although assembled by amateurs, included way too many shaky shots. i saw tripods in this film i think they should have used them more. the important theme in the film was the message and i do think that that was clear in its presentation. if the subject matter was not as serious and if the filmmakers did not have so many obstacles to conquer to get this film shown, i feel it would not have been festival worthy just by production value alone, they get a pass living in a third world country and other obvious hardships befalling them. i decided to stay for the shorts that mrs. silva programmed and found 2 of them to be inspiring, the first film (which i cannot remember the title) and the film "elephant music" "elephant music" was dark and somber and gave off feelings of despair and solace. Quite extraordinary actually. The session wrapped with one of the filmmakers Q&A (Penny Lane) and was quite a good time. I learned that without the help of film cooperatives and foundations experimentals would not be as good and possibly non existent. it seemed the better experimental shorts had quite a deal of backing indicated by the lengthy credits. this could be a pro for someone with that kind of access and a con for those without. i really enjoyed "film class" and "elephant music" but could do without west bank story (seemed like a waste of resources, i cant believe it was shot on panavision!) i learned that i need to be there earlier (traffic was kind of bad) and advice i would give would be to research the films you go to see, because you could be stuck paying for a bum film. Not necessarily at this screening, but feedback with other students indicated there were a couple of real stinkers in this years lineup. i'm glad i missed them.
jm
hello visitors:here is a list of prospective festivals that would seem to be a good fit for this film as far as style and content are concerned, included are a list of fees, to get a better idea of festival plan cost:
these are arranged in chronological order nearest to farthest:
May 31, 2008- NextFrame Touring Festival(For Students only) - Earlybird $20, Regular $25
November 15, 2008- Gasparilla Film Festival - Earlybird $30, Regular $40
November 20, 2008- Black Maria Film and Video - $35 Deadline
November 30, 2008- Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - Regular $35, Standard $55
December 15, 2008- RiverRun Film Festival - Earlybird $20, Regular $25, Late $35, Extended $40, Student $15
January 1, 2009- Drive-In Film Festival - Earlybird $15, Regular $20, Late $25, Extended $40
January 11, 2009- SilverDocs - Earlybird $25, Regular $30, Late $40, Extended $45
February 9, 2009- Rural Route Film Festival - Earlybird $10, Regular $20
February 2009- Cannes - Free
The dates listed are the absolute late day they will accept the films
these are arranged in chronological order nearest to farthest:
May 31, 2008- NextFrame Touring Festival(For Students only) - Earlybird $20, Regular $25
November 15, 2008- Gasparilla Film Festival - Earlybird $30, Regular $40
November 20, 2008- Black Maria Film and Video - $35 Deadline
November 30, 2008- Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - Regular $35, Standard $55
December 15, 2008- RiverRun Film Festival - Earlybird $20, Regular $25, Late $35, Extended $40, Student $15
January 1, 2009- Drive-In Film Festival - Earlybird $15, Regular $20, Late $25, Extended $40
January 11, 2009- SilverDocs - Earlybird $25, Regular $30, Late $40, Extended $45
February 9, 2009- Rural Route Film Festival - Earlybird $10, Regular $20
February 2009- Cannes - Free
The dates listed are the absolute late day they will accept the films
Friday, November 9, 2007
hey kids i hope cucalorus is treating you well, i got a response from rural route and it really surprised me how informative it was i hope it helps everyone else as much as it has me
best
jm
> how many entries to you get a year?
Approx. 200.
>
> how many entries are docs?
Approx. 125.
>
> how many docs do you screen?
19 were screened in this past year's festival.
>
> how many student films do they program?
13 were screened in this past year's festival.
>
> advice to entrants?
Keep it short unless you've got a solid feature planned out!
>
> what do you want to see more or less of?
Always looking for more good narratives, more love stories, and more
foreign
entries (especially from Africa and Asia).
>
> what are some common mistakes filmmakers make
> entering?
Falling in love with their work and not editing their films down. We
see a
lot of good ideas that just last too long. Also, with regards to
narratives, we see a lot of films with good production values that just
don't take enough time with the script.
>
> what really excites you?
A great film that doesn't try too hard, doesn't lag, and as a topper is
even
by someone who lives in a rural area.
best
jm
> how many entries to you get a year?
Approx. 200.
>
> how many entries are docs?
Approx. 125.
>
> how many docs do you screen?
19 were screened in this past year's festival.
>
> how many student films do they program?
13 were screened in this past year's festival.
>
> advice to entrants?
Keep it short unless you've got a solid feature planned out!
>
> what do you want to see more or less of?
Always looking for more good narratives, more love stories, and more
foreign
entries (especially from Africa and Asia).
>
> what are some common mistakes filmmakers make
> entering?
Falling in love with their work and not editing their films down. We
see a
lot of good ideas that just last too long. Also, with regards to
narratives, we see a lot of films with good production values that just
don't take enough time with the script.
>
> what really excites you?
A great film that doesn't try too hard, doesn't lag, and as a topper is
even
by someone who lives in a rural area.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
synopsis of whirlygig farm
an outsider look into the myths and legend surrounding a peculiar plot of land located at the intersection of simpson road and wiggins mill road in lucama north carolina. this film is presented in varying examples of person to person myth of parties that have had interactions and experiences on or near this piece of land. these accounts are the spine and the images the body as the whirlygigs, the metal shop, the road, and the abandoned car and the abandoned house near this property are presented in experimental fashion as the audience is bombarded with spectacular images, new and old, actual and modified, of the farm and surrounding landmarks. this roadside attraction asks us are the stories true or false, if so, who or what is behind this mystery? not far from i-95, this farm, called whirlygig farm or acid park (depending on whose telling you about it) is more than meets the eye.
jm
links that didnt show
rural route film festival
rural route film festival report.
well once i got over the wrong name written down (i heard rule route)i began my research on this very unique festival. i have been waiting for a response from my email and may eventually hear back from them. however there is no contact info except for email. i pursued one of their many venues, the anthology film archive in nyc and spoke to jed. he was very helpful but could also not supply their phone numbers. anyway here is what i found out through crazy research. jm
this is a newer festival, started in 2003 by a couple of brash young men (Alan Webber and Mike Schmidt) who wanted to create a different kind of festival. through their own experience with festivals, they found their niche, the rural route film festival
their mission statement is simple, most festivals seem to lack any real personality and tend to dwell on the name of the city, etc. rural route was created with the intent of bringing country living to nyc (its main stage)
the main fest was listed as july 28 - 30 and also july 20-22 i did not find out what venue the 20-22 dates were listed but the 28-30 dates were at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave, NYC, NY
these are the listed main dates but this is also a traveling festival and here are a sample of some of the latest upcoming dates:
oct 27 2007 8:00 pm fifth avenue cinema portland oregon
nov 9 2007 7:00 pm rural route tour program silver city,new mexico@realwestcinema
nov 15 2007 7:00 pm festivalde todometrajes rurales-arica, chile @ arica
nov 16 2007 8:00 pm westfest @ alpine, texas
the submission period is now closed as the fest gears up for a best of 2008 tour but their criteria was simple: rural route accepts all films and videos that can lay claim to a ...rural theme. the primary setting for the work should be rural or within an ag-based city of 200,000 people or less. works can be completed in any year, in any country, at any length
some of the types of films
docs: agricultural themed, music, profiles, international
shorts: experimental (shannon silva film), doc, and animation
features: narrative and doc
historical: music, portrait
length: 3min to 35 min (this is just a sample, there are other lengths)
global: films from ukraine, lithuania, canada, and even sweden
sexuality: some but not major focus
race: not so much
gender: both are represented well here but not a major focus
all in all a very down home feel to this festival, which is their focus. i wish i could have talked to someone, but since this is a travelling fest, i imagine that i will be able to update more later as they become available.
jm
well once i got over the wrong name written down (i heard rule route)i began my research on this very unique festival. i have been waiting for a response from my email and may eventually hear back from them. however there is no contact info except for email. i pursued one of their many venues, the anthology film archive in nyc and spoke to jed. he was very helpful but could also not supply their phone numbers. anyway here is what i found out through crazy research. jm
this is a newer festival, started in 2003 by a couple of brash young men (Alan Webber and Mike Schmidt) who wanted to create a different kind of festival. through their own experience with festivals, they found their niche, the rural route film festival
their mission statement is simple, most festivals seem to lack any real personality and tend to dwell on the name of the city, etc. rural route was created with the intent of bringing country living to nyc (its main stage)
the main fest was listed as july 28 - 30 and also july 20-22 i did not find out what venue the 20-22 dates were listed but the 28-30 dates were at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave, NYC, NY
these are the listed main dates but this is also a traveling festival and here are a sample of some of the latest upcoming dates:
oct 27 2007 8:00 pm fifth avenue cinema portland oregon
nov 9 2007 7:00 pm rural route tour program silver city,new mexico@realwestcinema
nov 15 2007 7:00 pm festivalde todometrajes rurales-arica, chile @ arica
nov 16 2007 8:00 pm westfest @ alpine, texas
the submission period is now closed as the fest gears up for a best of 2008 tour but their criteria was simple: rural route accepts all films and videos that can lay claim to a ...rural theme. the primary setting for the work should be rural or within an ag-based city of 200,000 people or less. works can be completed in any year, in any country, at any length
some of the types of films
docs: agricultural themed, music, profiles, international
shorts: experimental (shannon silva film), doc, and animation
features: narrative and doc
historical: music, portrait
length: 3min to 35 min (this is just a sample, there are other lengths)
global: films from ukraine, lithuania, canada, and even sweden
sexuality: some but not major focus
race: not so much
gender: both are represented well here but not a major focus
all in all a very down home feel to this festival, which is their focus. i wish i could have talked to someone, but since this is a travelling fest, i imagine that i will be able to update more later as they become available.
jm
well here we go, this is the weekend of the whirlygig festival, it should be alot of fun. we have got our equipment checked off, just waiting to get it from tony. i feel a bit sad about the whole deal. if all goes well, this is the last journey for a while to acid park. the weather should be beautiful and i believe i feel a stiff cold wind in the air. the fact that it is halloween week helps add to the mood. me and my pals hope to wrap up principal photography after this weekend. i hope to capture the ambient sound of whirlygigs with the stereo mic i reserved. there are a few establishing shots i thought of as i have been reflecting all week what it is that i am missing. we hope to use the banquet as a spring board to make all final contacts. i still wish to put an ad of some kind in the paper so i can find some older photographs of vollis' work and hopefully of the car. we will have more than enough tape to cover the legend. my big hope is to get into the town of wilson and get my vox pop that is so crucial to this story. the word of folks is critical and i look forward to hear what they have to say about vollis simpson and his infamous park.
the wind, yes the wind will blow kindly upon our supject this weekend, the weather seems to have finally turned the corner into fall. i am going to make a phone call to the simpsons before i head up to make sure that the gigs arent tied down like the las time i went. i cant imagine on such a big weekend how vollis could possibly not show them babies off. i expect a lot of traffic at the park, there should be moments for vox pop there as well. i plan on a series of 3-4 questions, that should get people excited to talk about vollis' work as well as gut level reaction and hopefully some more stories to tell. so while wilmington prepares for cucalorus, me and my merry band will be swimming into the mystery which is acid park-jm
whirlygig festivalamagig
here is an overview of the whirlygig festival coming up this weekend-jm
Date: 10/26/2007
This year’s Whirligig Festival will be the largest yet with more than 120 booths including handmade arts and crafts, food and a variety of other attractions.
Music
Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes will headline the festival. The group is most widely known for the hit, “If You Don’t Know Me By Now.” They take the stage at 3:30pm on Saturday. The Embers will pick up the headliner spot on Sunday beginning at 1:30pm.
This year’s festival features 11 bands on three different stages playing a wide variety of music. Performances include: The Wallers, performing a variety of 70s-90s favorite dance tunes; Bombadil, mixing mainstream with an indie sound; Healing Force, an African-tribal performance band, Spare Change, mixing rock, country, soul and beach; The Winstons bring jazz and dance; Sajaso plays Latin dance, Russ Varnell and His Too Country band bring bluegrass and Grand Ole Opry style country; The Ramonas, a tribute band to the Ramones; wrapping up the lineup is MoJoe, a soulful hip-hop band.
“We are so proud of the lineup the Entertainment Committee has put together,” says Judi Thurston, festival coordinator. “All three stages will have music all day. People can stroll up and down Nash Street and hear a wide variety of music.”
The music continues Sunday afternoon from 1-5 pm with community church choirs and school chorus groups. Fike, Hunt and Beddingfield High Schools’ award winning choral groups will perform on the courthouse steps, along with Sallie B. Howard and the Barton College Gospel Choir and Sign Choir. Church choirs will be on the middle stage in at various intervals to allow attendees to hear all the music. Church groups include Wilson Community Church, 1st Free Will Baptist Church Youth Choir, Jackson Chapel First Baptist Church and the Wilson Praise and Worship choir.
Food
The area’s favorite food vendors have returned. The Elks Club will hold its big BBQ cook off again this year. Competitors drive in (from several hours away in some cases) and set up camp for the night on Friday. They’ll cook all night, then make the succulent pork BBQ available for sale to the crowd. Judging begins Saturday morning for the best BBQ prize and bragging rights.
Olde Time Concessions will impress festival goers again this year with their "Cruzin’ Diner". This 50’s style diner offers sirloin burgers and milkshakes; perfect food for a NC autumn afternoon. You could also try a sample of their gator bites.
This year’s festival also includes corn on the cob, funnel cakes, hamburgers, hot dogs and loads of other choices.
Children
The Arts Council is sponsoring the Whirli-Kids area again this year – historically one of the most popular places at the festival. Free children’s activities including inflatable bounce houses, bungee jump, and arts & crafts will be available in the Barnes Street parking lot. The Arts Council is also sponsoring the Whirli-Kids Choir and concert. After weeks of practicing, the children will perform a community concert at 3 pm. The Arts Council outdoor stage will also feature local talent performance groups including Megan’s Academy of Dance, East Coast Country Hoedowners, Unique Steppers, Real Dance Studio and Sallie B. Howard’s Hip Hop and Mime groups. You’ll even see some swashbuckling pirates dueling it out for the crowd. Want a sneak peak at them? Go to http://www.shadowcombat.com/.
International
The popular Around the World in Wilson tent will be at the center of the action with a new approach to cultural awareness. Ambassadors from 20 nations will lead 30-minute interactive sessions ranging from story sharing, to sports, arts, music and even dance lessons. The newest addition to the committee’s cultural celebration is a children’s Parade of Nations. Classrooms from around the county are adopting a country, creating flags and preparing to march in a parade from the heart of the festival to the main stage leading to up to an international presentation by the committee at 12 noon. Children, teachers and classes are encouraged to sign up to participate in the Parade of Nations through the City of Wilson’s Human Relations Office at 399.2308.
Bike Ride
Festivities will begin very early for the participants in the Cyclist of Wilson’s annual bike ride. The bike ride begins at 8 am on the library lawn and will weave through city streets and county roads. Participants can select from a 10 mile ride or the longest stretch – 60 mile ride.
“With all this activity going on, the community can see we need many volunteers,” says Thurston. Any citizen that would like to get involved with the festival or volunteer to help on Saturday or Sunday can contact the Volunteer Action Center at 237-7411. More information about the festival can be found on the festival website at: www.wilsonnc.org/whirligig.
Date: 10/26/2007
This year’s Whirligig Festival will be the largest yet with more than 120 booths including handmade arts and crafts, food and a variety of other attractions.
Music
Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes will headline the festival. The group is most widely known for the hit, “If You Don’t Know Me By Now.” They take the stage at 3:30pm on Saturday. The Embers will pick up the headliner spot on Sunday beginning at 1:30pm.
This year’s festival features 11 bands on three different stages playing a wide variety of music. Performances include: The Wallers, performing a variety of 70s-90s favorite dance tunes; Bombadil, mixing mainstream with an indie sound; Healing Force, an African-tribal performance band, Spare Change, mixing rock, country, soul and beach; The Winstons bring jazz and dance; Sajaso plays Latin dance, Russ Varnell and His Too Country band bring bluegrass and Grand Ole Opry style country; The Ramonas, a tribute band to the Ramones; wrapping up the lineup is MoJoe, a soulful hip-hop band.
“We are so proud of the lineup the Entertainment Committee has put together,” says Judi Thurston, festival coordinator. “All three stages will have music all day. People can stroll up and down Nash Street and hear a wide variety of music.”
The music continues Sunday afternoon from 1-5 pm with community church choirs and school chorus groups. Fike, Hunt and Beddingfield High Schools’ award winning choral groups will perform on the courthouse steps, along with Sallie B. Howard and the Barton College Gospel Choir and Sign Choir. Church choirs will be on the middle stage in at various intervals to allow attendees to hear all the music. Church groups include Wilson Community Church, 1st Free Will Baptist Church Youth Choir, Jackson Chapel First Baptist Church and the Wilson Praise and Worship choir.
Food
The area’s favorite food vendors have returned. The Elks Club will hold its big BBQ cook off again this year. Competitors drive in (from several hours away in some cases) and set up camp for the night on Friday. They’ll cook all night, then make the succulent pork BBQ available for sale to the crowd. Judging begins Saturday morning for the best BBQ prize and bragging rights.
Olde Time Concessions will impress festival goers again this year with their "Cruzin’ Diner". This 50’s style diner offers sirloin burgers and milkshakes; perfect food for a NC autumn afternoon. You could also try a sample of their gator bites.
This year’s festival also includes corn on the cob, funnel cakes, hamburgers, hot dogs and loads of other choices.
Children
The Arts Council is sponsoring the Whirli-Kids area again this year – historically one of the most popular places at the festival. Free children’s activities including inflatable bounce houses, bungee jump, and arts & crafts will be available in the Barnes Street parking lot. The Arts Council is also sponsoring the Whirli-Kids Choir and concert. After weeks of practicing, the children will perform a community concert at 3 pm. The Arts Council outdoor stage will also feature local talent performance groups including Megan’s Academy of Dance, East Coast Country Hoedowners, Unique Steppers, Real Dance Studio and Sallie B. Howard’s Hip Hop and Mime groups. You’ll even see some swashbuckling pirates dueling it out for the crowd. Want a sneak peak at them? Go to http://www.shadowcombat.com/.
International
The popular Around the World in Wilson tent will be at the center of the action with a new approach to cultural awareness. Ambassadors from 20 nations will lead 30-minute interactive sessions ranging from story sharing, to sports, arts, music and even dance lessons. The newest addition to the committee’s cultural celebration is a children’s Parade of Nations. Classrooms from around the county are adopting a country, creating flags and preparing to march in a parade from the heart of the festival to the main stage leading to up to an international presentation by the committee at 12 noon. Children, teachers and classes are encouraged to sign up to participate in the Parade of Nations through the City of Wilson’s Human Relations Office at 399.2308.
Bike Ride
Festivities will begin very early for the participants in the Cyclist of Wilson’s annual bike ride. The bike ride begins at 8 am on the library lawn and will weave through city streets and county roads. Participants can select from a 10 mile ride or the longest stretch – 60 mile ride.
“With all this activity going on, the community can see we need many volunteers,” says Thurston. Any citizen that would like to get involved with the festival or volunteer to help on Saturday or Sunday can contact the Volunteer Action Center at 237-7411. More information about the festival can be found on the festival website at: www.wilsonnc.org/whirligig.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
loves of a whirlygig part II
well it is the next day which is the tuesday of fall break, me and my friend kasey, head down to peruse the continental breakfast spread out at the hotel lobby, i wanted eggs and instead frozen pancakes, oh well that's why its complimentary, i get a cup of coffee and head back to make some phone calls. when trying to call the arts center in wilson, i am informed via automated messaage that they don't open until 10 am, well i got to get some stuff together anyway. so i practice with light meters and load the bolex and get it light safe. we pack up the car and start the journey to the other part of wilson, nc.
i got to say the iphone is pretty cool, we had used it the night before to find food and a hotel room (which are way too expensive for such a small town, i guess it had a nice view of a car dealership) so we have full confidence in our device and get lost as hell. it turns out we were looking for a street which has multiple listings in different towns, and the iphone guided us directly to the wrong town. we checked the hotel address on our receipt and it turns out that that is a billing address and not the actual address of the hotel. go figure. we finally get on the right track and head to downtown wilson. we went through downtown wilson the night before and it was kind of dark and scary, like on the wrong side of the tracks kind of thing. but during the day, it was so different and i was impressed and it actually kind of reminded me of wilmington and how its downtown has remnants of the past scattered throughtout while it tries to merge with the present. we find a parking place nearby the arts center and make our appearance known.
after about 15 min. mr. barry page, the executive director of the wilson arts council came out to greet us, mr. page was quite helpful with his interview and gave us many suggestions of other folks around town to talk to and also gave us some more locations around town to find more of vollis simpsons work. he also invited us to the banquet/gala event scheduled to kick off the whirlygig festival nov 2-4. he told us of how vollis's daughter carole commissioned an artist to sculpt his hands and asked me if i had ever seen his hands, i of course had. mr. page then led us up to miss sandra holmes' office in the same building. miss holmes heads up the wilson visitors bureau and told us she was leaving for lunch but to let her know if there was anything she could do for us. i told her i needed old photographs of the whirlygig farm and told her we were heading back out to meet mr. simpson later that day, she told us she might stop by since she needed to speak with him also.
after cruising for shots of wilson whirlygigs and having lunch we arrived back at the whirlygig farm to no wind again, except for short bursts, nothing was really happening. me and kasey instead did some road shots, abandoned car shots, haunted house shots, and kept filming until mr. simpson arrived...at 6 pm! i guess his doctor appt. took a little longer. kasey and i interviewed a visitor to the farm and i then called mrs. simpson and let her know we were locking the gate and heading back to wilmington. i explained to her what we had and that we would be back especially for the festival, and i let her know how nothing was blowing or moving and how i still would need to shoot some more. i thanked her and him and she told me to drive safely back to wilmington. i said i would. getting in the car and driving away i was very happy for the things i had accomplished the past two days, but also disappointed that it would take more filming. i hope very much and please say prayer that we get a weather change soon, b/c the whirly gigs must turn, without that i have only a half movie at best
jm
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
loves of a whirlygig
well it has been a while since my last post but i have been busy, there was no fall break for the whirlygig kids. the friday of the break brought damian, ryan and stephen rogers out to the farm. it was rainy so they had to wait for the rain to subside. what resulted was some very dark, cloud filled images. it gave quite a stark look and will add to the spooky side of this story. rain and curious onlookers spooked these kids so much that they bagged it in instead of staying through on saturday. but the results were spectacular, they shot about 2+ hrs of video and plenty of 35 mm digital shots before calling it a night. ryan confided in me that to stay overnight would be an insane thought, since at that time i thought that i would stay through since i was coming up mon and tuesday. i met damian on saturday afternoon and picked up the equipment since my stage was set for mon and tues.
mon morning came early and i called my friend hannah to let her know we were ready to go. she came and picked me up with the gear and we stopped by some stores to pick up supplies (batteries, tapes, etc). well nothing was open until 10 am so we had to wait for an hour. i noticed hannah was wearing flip flops and i advised her on bringing shoes since this was the country. so we went back to her house and since she was a photography major i asked her what kind of cameras was she bringing. she told me and then she said, " hey i got a fisheye lens camera for my birthday, should we get that?" i was stoked, i said hell yeah so even though we had to wait to leave wilmington, it turned out to be worth it.
so we finally get on the road and 2.5 hrs later we arrive to the farm. vollis is in his shop and just getting ready to start working. i took the hint and decided to go show hannah the farm and let vollis get started. we decided to start w/35 mm film slr since that was why she was there. we spent about 2 hrs taking pictures and shooting some video and super8 mm. it was about 3:30 and i decided to go see how vollis was getting along. i arrived at his shop and saw that unfortunately he was packing in for the day. i thought crap, how am i going to get shots of him working. i asked him what his schedule was for tuesday, and he said he had a doctor appt. but he should be back after 2pm. so about that time, hannah had let the bugs and heat get the best of her and she was heading back to wilmington. we unpacked all of the gear out of her car, and i said thanks and she left. i was completely alone at acid park.
i had made arrangements for a buddy of mine to come and help me shoot camera and the interview i had scheduled for tuesday. he didnt get to acid park until about 6 or 7pm. we were losing daylight fast. i had not stopped shooting footage and film since about 12:30 pm. i decided to call it a day and me and kasey (my friend) started packing up. vollis came by and checked on us, and to lock up the gate. he showed us his arsenal of lights he had rigged up with a car battery in the bed of his truck. they were no joke and lit up quite a bit. he started to feel comfortable around us and started telling us stories of people stealing signs and general mayhem. i was tired and kind of out of it when he told us about the night he actually did shoot somebody, that was on his land. he was shooting a warning shot and actually shot a guy with his shotgun. the crazy old man aspect of the story where he will shoot you...that's completely true. he carries the gun around to defend himself and his land. and if you're messing around with his stuff he has a right to shoot you. i found out the next day that the law and the county is completely on his side and support him. it was pitch black so there would be no filming this story since we were busy filming the sun set on the farm. we did a lot of drive by night shots and filmed the old abandoned house that is part of one legend and some of the abandoned car and left the whirlygig farm to seek a hotel room and food. tomorrow was another day.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
put your "hands on a hard body" baby
talkin about hands on a hard body, i would first like to say that i totally had the winner pegged from almost the beginning and felt just as jubilant as him (well maybe not he didnt seem that excited, since the truck was going to be his wife's) i feel that if put in that situation i would also do well, maybe not if i started today, but i could train for sure. this film had a real genuine hometown feel to it and the interior dramas surrounding the people with their hands on the truck. i don't think this doc would have been as good as it was without the prior winners commentary. he added the most to this piece. he had philosophy, technique, and downright good advice on how to win that hardbody nissan truck (look honey, it does have a bench seat, just like you wanted) i think that follow up interviews would also be a good tie up, asking them if they did it again what would they have done different. the strategy of this contest was intricate, the religious woman actually started talking about this and when she saw the camera was on her she changed her dialect from english to spanish. the contest really brought out the worst in her at the end. she seemed bitter, i know she was tired, but i didnt trust her throughout the piece and thought that she didnt have the best interest in mind for the other contestants and would love to have seen her lift her hands off of that truck, since earlier she was playing all those mindgames and ploys to get the other contestants to lift their hands off, she was the only one to actively engage in this competition, and she did this viciously jm
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
found some more accounts discussed in unexplained mysteries forum, enjoy jm
QUOTE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drugs, death depicted in urban legend
Underlying story of Acid Park
Kyle Billings, Staff Writer
October 12, 2004
What is an urban legend? According to Tom Harris on "How Urban Legends Work" (Web site Science.howstuffworks.com/urban-legend.htm), they are unique stories or myths that "are passed from person to person and frequently have the elements of caution, horror or humor." Perhaps the most famous urban legends are the tales of sharp objects in Halloween candy, or temporary tattoos coated with LSD to get people addicted. These tales of horror or morals do not exclude their presence from the students of Greenville. There exists the well-known legend of Acid Park, the LSD inspired monument full of kinetic art, a memorial both praised and clouded with mystery. A few miles outside of Wilson in Lucama, NC, just off Wiggins Mill Road, is a sight you cannot miss.
Vollis Simpson is an artist who has created countless "windmills and whirligigs," which are various large and small kinetic structures that employ the use of easily found tool-shed hardware. The most notable of his creations include around 30 towering monoliths of movement, sound and individual imagination. Simpson has become somewhat of a cult celebrity, his works being featured in such publications as Sign and Symbol, People, and Time. His pieces have also been exhibited in various art museums such as The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, the Boston Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Ask around the campus of ECU however, and you will hear a different version of the story of Acid Park.
Karen Baldwin, Ph.D., teaches American Folklore 3750, is very familiar with the park, the legend and Simpson himself. She describes Acid Park as a "one of a kind" place that invokes a "great sense of awe" in the sincerest form of the word. As for the urban legend, she asserts that "there are variations with each telling of the story, yet all are focused upon a central theme." The story is based upon the daughter of the maker of the site. The general concept is given as follows:
On prom night, Carol Simpson and boyfriend decide to enjoy the night tripping on acid. Driving home, they approach the five-way intersection on Wiggins Mill Road. With the boyfriend driving at high speeds, the car turns the tricky corner, spins off the road and hits a nearby tree. The daughter dies instantly, but somehow the boyfriend survives and tells the father what happened and what he saw. Windmills now encompass the site of the accident, and were built for Carol Simpson posthumously. While Vollis Simpson's true inspiration of his creation is debated, the legend has it that Mr. Simpson created Acid Park, a collage of unique and unusual windmills and whirligigs, from the description of the boyfriend in his high state of mind. The park is filled with tiny little reflectors that give off an eerie glow when passed by car at night. Also, the car that was crashed that night still remains lodged in its place where it took a turn for the worst.
Usually Acid Park is seen in groups, such as sororities/fraternities, with some people knowing the legend and others experiencing it for the first time. For two Alpha Phi pledges, Mallory Caudle and Nadia Chioariu, their sorority experience included a night trip out to Wilson to see Acid Park. While describing their first look at the monument, Claudle said, "We drove by it first and you see nothing and then all of a sudden you see all these lights and it looks like a carnival kind of, and then we drove back by it and the reflectors were all spinning and stuff." Both ladies agreed that despite being slightly "weird" or unusual, Acid Park itself was not very scary. The scary part was the car. Nadia says, "between all of the reflectors is the road and you go down like a quarter of a mile and the car is there wrapped around a tree ... I wasn't scared or anything until we drove by the car and that freaked me out."
When asked if they would ever go back to Acid Park, both were sure they would.
There are also urban legends known to exist on campus. Among include stories that the odd shape of the Brewster Building, which is said to have been created to protect faculty over the rioting students in the late 1960s. It has been documented there were no riots at ECU, but those who describe the account think otherwise. And as with most urban legends, the facts don't seem to support the stories. Vollis Simpson defiantly denies any such relation of drugs to his artwork, discouraging the legend entirely. The term "Acid Park" was obviously not coined by Vollis Simpson, who does not take kindly to the mention of his creations in that name.
Despite any influence, many take urban legends as fictional hogwash. Urban legends are spread through word of mouth, with many juicy details often added to create the greater story. Many say when the unusual occurs, people resort to enticing tall tales of horror or comedic explanations for the immediate effect. Vollis Simpson even explains the meaning of the reflective light is to warn other drivers of the dangers of the winding intersection. The emotional power of Acid Park is undeniable however, stirring feelings ranging from awe to "being freaked out." Whether or not you believe in urban legends, Acid Park is a place to be witnessed and talked about.
In the weeks that come, if ever you and your friends are looking for a little adventure, take a ride down to Lucama, NC. At night, in the wind-chilled autumn air, your wooded surroundings pitch dark save for the moonlight and the headlights of your car, travel down Wiggins Mill Road. Go to Acid Park and see where your emotions take you.
Just a little something from my neck of the woods.
matthewgoad
Aug 20 2005, 01:03 PM
I can find more info if you are interested in it.
eveningsky339
Aug 20 2005, 01:23 PM
I have actually been to Acid Park. I was on a trip to Virginia, but I went a little out of the way to see it, because I had heard the legends. Really strange stuff.
matthewgoad
Aug 20 2005, 01:48 PM
Oh that's cool. I've only been once and it was pretty freaky stuff. But it was raining, so that could've helped it. The wind was blowing pretty hard.
eveningsky339
Aug 20 2005, 02:06 PM
I saw it at dusk, so I could see the reflectors and stuff. Like a carnival gone horribly, horribly wrong.
bacca
Aug 20 2005, 02:18 PM
to get the full effect you should go late at night and be sure to drive down that dirt path to see the car wrapped around the tree.....there are so many different stories around here about why it's there etc. It sort of ruins it without those....I haven't been in years actually perhaps I need to head out there soon it's always good for a spooky night
matthewgoad
Aug 20 2005, 02:33 PM
Yeah I saw the car it was very freaky.
isis-999
Aug 20 2005, 02:52 PM
QUOTE(matthewgoad @ Aug 20 2005, 09:03 AM)
I can find more info if you are interested in it.
[right][snapback]800840[/snapback][/right]
OMG..matthewgoad, I use to hang out there as a teenager, I have friends who live near the place, I spoke with the old man one night he was out in his shed working, His daughter never died as the story goes, the local teens made it up he told me, to go along with the car being in the tree, It was just a old junk car that a tree grew thru, It's a really cool place, Its right off Wiggins Mill road.
Small world uh..
ABOTU
Aug 20 2005, 02:58 PM
wow creepy... that would be fun to check out. Sweetness
Baldwin
Aug 20 2005, 03:02 PM
yet another place to add to the list of places to go before I expire. Godda be sure to pick up some blotter before I go
Great Big Sea
Aug 20 2005, 05:36 PM
Sad and spooky sounding park.
matthewgoad
Aug 21 2005, 11:39 PM
So some friends and I went to Acid Park last night. It was really cool. It's the first time I've been that it wasn't raining. The reflectors really showed up well and made it look so weird. If you've never been I would really urge you to go. I can't wait to go back.
bacca
Aug 23 2005, 01:43 AM
Mathew I have heard that he has made alot more but from what i remember his fenced in yard was about full years ago.
Are there a lot more up then there was years ago...as I said I haven't been in years I suppose it's one of those things thats right up the road that you never go to
Maekrix
Aug 30 2005, 11:54 AM
..... I'm a little confused on what "Acid Park" is and how its related to the story
matthewgoad
Aug 30 2005, 12:09 PM
Yeah there are some new things up there. He's added some windmills since the first time I went when I was alot younger, but I don't know how long it's been since you were there.
GavinStrife
Aug 31 2005, 04:34 PM
I've been there several times... its about 45-50 mins away from my house, and now its between home and my apartment... the Urban Legend part of Acid Park comes from the park's origin, not to the existence of the park itself. Its a neat place, and worth a look sometime if you're in the area.
Nxt2Hvn
Aug 31 2005, 04:53 PM
WOW.. didn't realize so many people lived near Wilson NC...
I am originally from Rocky Mount and have been to Acid Park several times....
I was surprised to see the title "Acid Park"
COOL
GavinStrife
Aug 31 2005, 04:58 PM
I'd also like to note that I'm a junior at ECU, which is mentioned in the article there, and all but one of my classes is, infact, in the Brewster building... it has 4 wings in a square with a central courtyard, and between each wing is a tunnel... the tunnel has a gate that can be lowered and locked, which does seem a bit odd since I've never seen them locked... and all you would be locking is the central courtyard, it wouldn't keep anyone from getting into the buildings at night.
matthewgoad
Aug 31 2005, 05:04 PM
Yeah I'm in Raleigh, not too far away. So check this out.. A friend of mine went to Acid Park last weekend to see it for the first time and they took pictures.. None of them came out. They took them to be developed and they person there said they had never seen anything like that. It made no sense to them how the pictures could look that way.. Weird, huh?
LyCaN123
Sep 6 2005, 03:19 AM
Could you sum it up a bit because im kinda lazy to read the whole thing
bacca
Sep 7 2005, 12:41 AM
Acid park is just some guys yard....he has been putting together what would you call them windmills? sort of anyway they are big metal art pieces with reflectors or something on them....If you go at night the headlights will reflect over them......note if the winds not blowing and its not dark out it losses something
Anyway there is also a dirt path down the side of the property that has an old wrecked car basically it has a tree growing thru it now....I have heard that there is an old church further down the road, but I personally don't know if that is true....Well if you live here long enough you'll hear stories about the car and the crazy old man who builds those things......apparently none of it is true but it is really trippy to head out there......Is that about it?
Oh and if I'm remembering correctly not very far from there, there is supposed to be i think it's seven bridges road? well anyway the stories go that if you drive one way they'll be one number of bridges but one less when you turn around and come back........this area is full of stuff like that a haunted church that the organ is played every night etc......I haven't read about them in a book but the stories are told here regularly
For the rest of you who also live in the area did I get something wrong or miss something? I feel like i'm forgetting something......
isis-999
Sep 7 2005, 01:33 AM
LOL.. Matthewgaod, And i have talk about this before. I have a very good friend who lives in black creeck.. and we all use to hang out there, Its only about 10 minutes from his house.. Did you guys know it made most huanted list of places in NC.. LOL I know the old man who owns the land and who made all the stuff.. He loves the story that goes along with the place but will tell you it's just a story, his daughter is a nurse in Wilson NC..
lemonlove
Dec 20 2006, 02:29 AM
Hate to bring back such an old thread...but I couldn't resist.
I live in Lucama, NC, home of Acid Park. The whole legend is so absolutely hilarious to me. Vollis Simpson makes the "whirligigs", as they're so fondly called around here, for fun. They've become an art statement. We even have the annual "Whirligig Festival" every fall. Acid Park itself is just his junk yard. However, it is so much fun freaking out people unfamiliar with the legend. I remember loading up a van full of Campbell University students and going with them down there one night. So hilarious!
QUOTE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drugs, death depicted in urban legend
Underlying story of Acid Park
Kyle Billings, Staff Writer
October 12, 2004
What is an urban legend? According to Tom Harris on "How Urban Legends Work" (Web site Science.howstuffworks.com/urban-legend.htm), they are unique stories or myths that "are passed from person to person and frequently have the elements of caution, horror or humor." Perhaps the most famous urban legends are the tales of sharp objects in Halloween candy, or temporary tattoos coated with LSD to get people addicted. These tales of horror or morals do not exclude their presence from the students of Greenville. There exists the well-known legend of Acid Park, the LSD inspired monument full of kinetic art, a memorial both praised and clouded with mystery. A few miles outside of Wilson in Lucama, NC, just off Wiggins Mill Road, is a sight you cannot miss.
Vollis Simpson is an artist who has created countless "windmills and whirligigs," which are various large and small kinetic structures that employ the use of easily found tool-shed hardware. The most notable of his creations include around 30 towering monoliths of movement, sound and individual imagination. Simpson has become somewhat of a cult celebrity, his works being featured in such publications as Sign and Symbol, People, and Time. His pieces have also been exhibited in various art museums such as The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, the Boston Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Ask around the campus of ECU however, and you will hear a different version of the story of Acid Park.
Karen Baldwin, Ph.D., teaches American Folklore 3750, is very familiar with the park, the legend and Simpson himself. She describes Acid Park as a "one of a kind" place that invokes a "great sense of awe" in the sincerest form of the word. As for the urban legend, she asserts that "there are variations with each telling of the story, yet all are focused upon a central theme." The story is based upon the daughter of the maker of the site. The general concept is given as follows:
On prom night, Carol Simpson and boyfriend decide to enjoy the night tripping on acid. Driving home, they approach the five-way intersection on Wiggins Mill Road. With the boyfriend driving at high speeds, the car turns the tricky corner, spins off the road and hits a nearby tree. The daughter dies instantly, but somehow the boyfriend survives and tells the father what happened and what he saw. Windmills now encompass the site of the accident, and were built for Carol Simpson posthumously. While Vollis Simpson's true inspiration of his creation is debated, the legend has it that Mr. Simpson created Acid Park, a collage of unique and unusual windmills and whirligigs, from the description of the boyfriend in his high state of mind. The park is filled with tiny little reflectors that give off an eerie glow when passed by car at night. Also, the car that was crashed that night still remains lodged in its place where it took a turn for the worst.
Usually Acid Park is seen in groups, such as sororities/fraternities, with some people knowing the legend and others experiencing it for the first time. For two Alpha Phi pledges, Mallory Caudle and Nadia Chioariu, their sorority experience included a night trip out to Wilson to see Acid Park. While describing their first look at the monument, Claudle said, "We drove by it first and you see nothing and then all of a sudden you see all these lights and it looks like a carnival kind of, and then we drove back by it and the reflectors were all spinning and stuff." Both ladies agreed that despite being slightly "weird" or unusual, Acid Park itself was not very scary. The scary part was the car. Nadia says, "between all of the reflectors is the road and you go down like a quarter of a mile and the car is there wrapped around a tree ... I wasn't scared or anything until we drove by the car and that freaked me out."
When asked if they would ever go back to Acid Park, both were sure they would.
There are also urban legends known to exist on campus. Among include stories that the odd shape of the Brewster Building, which is said to have been created to protect faculty over the rioting students in the late 1960s. It has been documented there were no riots at ECU, but those who describe the account think otherwise. And as with most urban legends, the facts don't seem to support the stories. Vollis Simpson defiantly denies any such relation of drugs to his artwork, discouraging the legend entirely. The term "Acid Park" was obviously not coined by Vollis Simpson, who does not take kindly to the mention of his creations in that name.
Despite any influence, many take urban legends as fictional hogwash. Urban legends are spread through word of mouth, with many juicy details often added to create the greater story. Many say when the unusual occurs, people resort to enticing tall tales of horror or comedic explanations for the immediate effect. Vollis Simpson even explains the meaning of the reflective light is to warn other drivers of the dangers of the winding intersection. The emotional power of Acid Park is undeniable however, stirring feelings ranging from awe to "being freaked out." Whether or not you believe in urban legends, Acid Park is a place to be witnessed and talked about.
In the weeks that come, if ever you and your friends are looking for a little adventure, take a ride down to Lucama, NC. At night, in the wind-chilled autumn air, your wooded surroundings pitch dark save for the moonlight and the headlights of your car, travel down Wiggins Mill Road. Go to Acid Park and see where your emotions take you.
Just a little something from my neck of the woods.
matthewgoad
Aug 20 2005, 01:03 PM
I can find more info if you are interested in it.
eveningsky339
Aug 20 2005, 01:23 PM
I have actually been to Acid Park. I was on a trip to Virginia, but I went a little out of the way to see it, because I had heard the legends. Really strange stuff.
matthewgoad
Aug 20 2005, 01:48 PM
Oh that's cool. I've only been once and it was pretty freaky stuff. But it was raining, so that could've helped it. The wind was blowing pretty hard.
eveningsky339
Aug 20 2005, 02:06 PM
I saw it at dusk, so I could see the reflectors and stuff. Like a carnival gone horribly, horribly wrong.
bacca
Aug 20 2005, 02:18 PM
to get the full effect you should go late at night and be sure to drive down that dirt path to see the car wrapped around the tree.....there are so many different stories around here about why it's there etc. It sort of ruins it without those....I haven't been in years actually perhaps I need to head out there soon it's always good for a spooky night
matthewgoad
Aug 20 2005, 02:33 PM
Yeah I saw the car it was very freaky.
isis-999
Aug 20 2005, 02:52 PM
QUOTE(matthewgoad @ Aug 20 2005, 09:03 AM)
I can find more info if you are interested in it.
[right][snapback]800840[/snapback][/right]
OMG..matthewgoad, I use to hang out there as a teenager, I have friends who live near the place, I spoke with the old man one night he was out in his shed working, His daughter never died as the story goes, the local teens made it up he told me, to go along with the car being in the tree, It was just a old junk car that a tree grew thru, It's a really cool place, Its right off Wiggins Mill road.
Small world uh..
ABOTU
Aug 20 2005, 02:58 PM
wow creepy... that would be fun to check out. Sweetness
Baldwin
Aug 20 2005, 03:02 PM
yet another place to add to the list of places to go before I expire. Godda be sure to pick up some blotter before I go
Great Big Sea
Aug 20 2005, 05:36 PM
Sad and spooky sounding park.
matthewgoad
Aug 21 2005, 11:39 PM
So some friends and I went to Acid Park last night. It was really cool. It's the first time I've been that it wasn't raining. The reflectors really showed up well and made it look so weird. If you've never been I would really urge you to go. I can't wait to go back.
bacca
Aug 23 2005, 01:43 AM
Mathew I have heard that he has made alot more but from what i remember his fenced in yard was about full years ago.
Are there a lot more up then there was years ago...as I said I haven't been in years I suppose it's one of those things thats right up the road that you never go to
Maekrix
Aug 30 2005, 11:54 AM
..... I'm a little confused on what "Acid Park" is and how its related to the story
matthewgoad
Aug 30 2005, 12:09 PM
Yeah there are some new things up there. He's added some windmills since the first time I went when I was alot younger, but I don't know how long it's been since you were there.
GavinStrife
Aug 31 2005, 04:34 PM
I've been there several times... its about 45-50 mins away from my house, and now its between home and my apartment... the Urban Legend part of Acid Park comes from the park's origin, not to the existence of the park itself. Its a neat place, and worth a look sometime if you're in the area.
Nxt2Hvn
Aug 31 2005, 04:53 PM
WOW.. didn't realize so many people lived near Wilson NC...
I am originally from Rocky Mount and have been to Acid Park several times....
I was surprised to see the title "Acid Park"
COOL
GavinStrife
Aug 31 2005, 04:58 PM
I'd also like to note that I'm a junior at ECU, which is mentioned in the article there, and all but one of my classes is, infact, in the Brewster building... it has 4 wings in a square with a central courtyard, and between each wing is a tunnel... the tunnel has a gate that can be lowered and locked, which does seem a bit odd since I've never seen them locked... and all you would be locking is the central courtyard, it wouldn't keep anyone from getting into the buildings at night.
matthewgoad
Aug 31 2005, 05:04 PM
Yeah I'm in Raleigh, not too far away. So check this out.. A friend of mine went to Acid Park last weekend to see it for the first time and they took pictures.. None of them came out. They took them to be developed and they person there said they had never seen anything like that. It made no sense to them how the pictures could look that way.. Weird, huh?
LyCaN123
Sep 6 2005, 03:19 AM
Could you sum it up a bit because im kinda lazy to read the whole thing
bacca
Sep 7 2005, 12:41 AM
Acid park is just some guys yard....he has been putting together what would you call them windmills? sort of anyway they are big metal art pieces with reflectors or something on them....If you go at night the headlights will reflect over them......note if the winds not blowing and its not dark out it losses something
Anyway there is also a dirt path down the side of the property that has an old wrecked car basically it has a tree growing thru it now....I have heard that there is an old church further down the road, but I personally don't know if that is true....Well if you live here long enough you'll hear stories about the car and the crazy old man who builds those things......apparently none of it is true but it is really trippy to head out there......Is that about it?
Oh and if I'm remembering correctly not very far from there, there is supposed to be i think it's seven bridges road? well anyway the stories go that if you drive one way they'll be one number of bridges but one less when you turn around and come back........this area is full of stuff like that a haunted church that the organ is played every night etc......I haven't read about them in a book but the stories are told here regularly
For the rest of you who also live in the area did I get something wrong or miss something? I feel like i'm forgetting something......
isis-999
Sep 7 2005, 01:33 AM
LOL.. Matthewgaod, And i have talk about this before. I have a very good friend who lives in black creeck.. and we all use to hang out there, Its only about 10 minutes from his house.. Did you guys know it made most huanted list of places in NC.. LOL I know the old man who owns the land and who made all the stuff.. He loves the story that goes along with the place but will tell you it's just a story, his daughter is a nurse in Wilson NC..
lemonlove
Dec 20 2006, 02:29 AM
Hate to bring back such an old thread...but I couldn't resist.
I live in Lucama, NC, home of Acid Park. The whole legend is so absolutely hilarious to me. Vollis Simpson makes the "whirligigs", as they're so fondly called around here, for fun. They've become an art statement. We even have the annual "Whirligig Festival" every fall. Acid Park itself is just his junk yard. However, it is so much fun freaking out people unfamiliar with the legend. I remember loading up a van full of Campbell University students and going with them down there one night. So hilarious!
http://media.www.theeastcarolinian.com/media/storage/paper915/news/2004/10/12/Features/Drugs.Death.Depicted.In.Urban.Legend-2209359.shtml
http://www.folkart.org/mag/vollis/vollis.html
http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=10660BF408A4CF60&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=7&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=J68C59GPMTE5MDYwODA0MC43NDk1ODE6MToxMjoxNTIuMjAuMjYuMzA
http://www.geocities.com/dyedinthewool/Acid_Park.html
http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=10660BF408A4CF60&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=7&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=J68C59GPMTE5MDYwODA0MC43NDk1ODE6MToxMjoxNTIuMjAuMjYuMzA
the newsbank articles are being funny i will probably just post the article, later jm
http://www.folkart.org/mag/vollis/vollis.html
http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=10660BF408A4CF60&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=7&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=J68C59GPMTE5MDYwODA0MC43NDk1ODE6MToxMjoxNTIuMjAuMjYuMzA
http://www.geocities.com/dyedinthewool/Acid_Park.html
http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_docid=10660BF408A4CF60&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=7&p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated4&p_nbid=J68C59GPMTE5MDYwODA0MC43NDk1ODE6MToxMjoxNTIuMjAuMjYuMzA
the newsbank articles are being funny i will probably just post the article, later jm
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