AFM whirlwind

so, at the last minute, i've decide to attend the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA the first weekend of november, and now i'm in a flurry of a ton of things to get ready for that week. i've always wanted to attend the American Film Market, and now that PRAXIS is done, i thought that it would be a good idea to fly out there and talk to a few people about the project.

a few people who i've talked to have only good things to say about the American Film Market, and it seems a lot more legit that other film markets. even though it's too late to screen PRAXIS there, i figured that PRAXIS is such a niche market type of film, that if i just set up meetings and talked directly to possible distributors, then this would be a lot better than trying to coax them to a screening that a ton of other people are trying to watch as well. if someone is seriously interested in the film, i'd rather let them watch it on their own time, take it all in, and consider the film in its own context. there are so many projects at the market, i think it would be easy to get mixed up. but ultimately, i think PRAXIS will do better with a smaller distribution company rather than a huge one.

the market is also a great way to meet with a bunch of film festivals as well, so hopefully, i'll be able to talk directly with specific festivals, and get gauge as to whether PRAXIS is something that they would be interested in screening.

so, with the market being only a month away, i've got tons of things to do - i don't know where to start. i definitely plan to contact some of the people i've met over the years to see if they have any advice about the AFM, and maybe some war stories as well.

the good thing tho is that the AFM has given me a huge boost in motivation to promote PRAXIS in a whole new way, and even possibly pitch new ideas to future projects. based on this experience, i am also now thinking that it would be worthwhile to attend SXSW as well, even if i'm not screening the film there.

but for now, let me get all my stuff together for AFM and a trip out to the west coast in about a month....

Inspiration

A good filmmaker friend of mine recently emailed me to congratulate the completion of PRAXIS. i met him a few years ago at the IFP in New York when i was promoting the script for THE DEAD SOLDIER, and back then he had completed his first feature. he said that this point of the production was the most frustrating time - when you've completed the film and you're sending it out to festivals and simply waiting, and waiting and waiting. there are no guarentees that anyone will like the film, or will it get into a festival, or how it's received. PRAXIS is currently in this state. and yes, it is incredibly frustrating.

i totally agree that PRAXIS seems like it's in a bit of limbo - the cast and crew screening months ago went incredibly well, and the film was well received by those who were fortunate to see it on the big screen. but a lot of that excitement has kind of worn off, and now its a whole new ballgame.

fortunately, what has been keeping me interested in filmmaking is finding inspiration in new ideas and new things to develop. I recently saw this video "Walls" by a band called Now Its Overhead, and i totally dig the animation of static images with motion graphics. creating a lot of the motion graphics for PRAXIS in After Effects got me interested in a whole new realm of creative possibilities, which is a combination of film, narrative, art, experimental, graphics, design, etc...i love the way that the video is done, and i find it incredibly inspiring to watch how the combination of images and music convey different emotions and feelings.

you have to have a pretty thick skin to be able to make films. and you also have to find things that inspire you and spur on the creative juices. i think it's important at this stage of production (more like promotion of PRAXIS) to keep me busy on other smaller projects that keep driving the imagination, and filmmaker's need to create anything that is visual.

as for PRAXIS, the film festival submissions continue, and the promotion continues, and the work keeps going, and going, and going...