Monday, May 01, 2006

Best Foray Into Independent Filmmaking

Where to start, where to start. Ok, there's this annual thing in New York called the Lingos where all the young Mormons are invited to make movies and we watch the best ones. I got an idea this year, so I decided to make a movie.

Personal Best


Something that you may or may not know about me is that I can hold my breath for a long time. A really long time. It's from having been a good swimmer or maybe was the reason that I was a good swimmer. Either way, I'm good at holding my breath. My movie was just me as I held my breath for as long as I could . . . turns out I totally set a new personal record and held my breath fo 4 minutes and 8 seconds. It wasn't easy, by the end my vision was going dark and I was seeing stars.

I made the movie with Lexia because I knew she could make it look good . . . and she totally did. We got all Kubrick about how the simple shot would be framed and how the "set" would be decorated and what I'd wear. Lexia put an immense amount of effort into the titles, end credits, and sound editing and the end result, I must say, was really, really tight.

As we're both busy people, I hadn't even seen the completed film before its premiere on Saturday night. I was just dying at the Lingos waiting for my movie to come on, turns out they played it last. Lexia added a little timer that would pop up every minute, when the first minute of my breath-holding was done the audience clapped and cheered and I had to laugh because we still had a long way to go. Watching the movie, I couldn't believe that I really held my breath that long . . . but I did, I was there, I saw it happen.

I'd love to get the video onto Youtube or at least mail it out to those who want to check it out, but for the time being the movie is still a 4GB file on Lexia's computer. Trust me, you'll know when it's ready for distribution.

Also, all the other Lingos were totally good this year. So much better than in 2005.

Also . . .

After celebratory cheeseburgers (which I think have gotten smaller) at the Burger Joint we went over to the "Lingo Longer" rooftop afterparty in Hell's Kitchen. First of all, if I'm going to be on a roof, you can just expect some time-lapse city shots. I need a tripod so bad.




This is me:


This is Intern Lexia and Tina.


But now I wonder, must all party photos be captioned?


I mean, these are just people out having a good time


And either you know them or you don't, so why should I need to say who they are?


So why should I say "Then Oscar was like 'Check it out'"?


Or if any of them became a year older while they were on that roof?


The finishing of law school and the accounting for of events on the internet are now locked in a battle to the death. We'll see who wins. Birthday parties and whatnot coming . . . eventually.

6 comments:

Sara said...

My sister is SO pretty, isn't she? I sometimes wish I looked just like her. Darn if we were real twins, instead of just Irish ones . . .

Also, captions are nice because although you either know the people or you don't, it might be nice to put the names of people under an image, for future's sake. It's like a yearbook. What if people forget people's names?

But I understand the dilemma. It's a constant image-posting conflict . . .

Betsy said...

Those time lapse city shots are pretty much the best thing ever.

Also the best thing ever? You with a pink background.

Last best thing ever. Karisa.

Brigham said...

If you didn't know, this is where you people (Sara and Bets excluded) write things like "I saw Personal Best and Brigham is a big liar for saying he held his breath that long" or "Personal Best should have been underwater" or "Personally, I liked the video with the Chili Dogs." Then there would be conversation and interactivity.

Anonymous said...

ok, briggie. ok. i'll get serious.

i really liked it when you got all crazy eyed towards the end. i thought your brain was going to explode.

but i sort of wich you had passed out because that would have been so rad.

Jenn said...

Obviously New York's finest showed up. Those are some good looking ladies and some swarthy gents.

JT

Anonymous said...

After a long hiatus, I am so pleased to return to Steady Mobbin'. And to be the first one in a picture with briggie on his birthday! It's too much...

Did i mention that i am going to name my first born son Brigham? Either that or Abraham. Something with ham. I like ham. And I like Brigham. He's cool.