Finally managed to compress the film onto one disc using Compressor...yeah. I've started to distribute the disc around again. I'm just ready to move on to the next step, which is locking the picture and sorting out the sound. But, as Orson Welles said, "We will sell no wine before its time."

Half Empty...Half Full...

This is the glass half empty:

I'm just getting so frustrated. We finished the 4th cut on Wednesday and were going to burn the DVDs on Thursday. After spending hours exporting the Quicktime file and importing into DVD Studio Pro, we find out that the film won't fit on one disc. Not, we have to figure out how to compress (read picture quality suffers) or burn it onto two DVDs (really inconvenient for the viewers) or burn it onto a dual layer disc, which is about 5 times the price of a regular DVD. I won't even go into the nightmare it has been to try to source these discs. Give me an effing break!

The glass is half full:

Hurrah! We've finished the 4th cut. It will take us a few days to iron out the technical issues of burning it onto DVDs (we are becoming tech wizards!), and then we can send it off to our viewers. We are so so close to a picture lock.

4th Circle of Hell: Can anyone else smell that?

We've got the 4th cut, or pretty much near the 4th cut. Patrick is in Sweden for a few days, so I watched the whole thing over again and made notes. My notes are getting shorter and shorter, which, I guess, is a good thing.

The rights could be an absolute nightmare. Coppe and Terminal11 have been so cool. They have given me permission to use "Bird's Midair Heatstroke" at the beginning of the film, so that's one down and 67 more to go. Been doing a lot of research on Fair Use and have found some good stuff at Center for Social Media. Also went to Borders today and read a bit of the The Documentary Film Makers Handbook: A Guerilla Guide, which clarified a few points...mostly that I should have raised more money and hired a music supervisor. Live and learn.

But, still...there are some things that I have no idea about. For example:

Home video Mark took years ago at EWC (permission was verbally granted at the time)
Video of a live Sumo event that we shot
Video of a Baptist revival that we shot

Well, onwards anyway...haven't gotten a paid gig in ages so back on the rice and beans:

"rice and beans, rice and beans, we love rice and beans!"

which means some wicked farts are coming out of my butt.

Recent Stuff

OK, so we're almost at cut 4, and I think that might be a picture lock (although we will remain relatively fluid until the Online). Patrick has been fast forwarding through all of the tapes (500+ of them, as you might remember). He's looking for possible shots that he might have missed. At first I thought this was a big waste of time, but it's really paying off. The last time he looked at all of the footage was 2 years ago. At that time, we didn't really have a film. Now we do...we have a context. The bits and pieces he's extracting from his breakneck revisitation are adding richness to the film.

I've been tweaking the voice over, researching rights, and trying not to get overly excited. I have a festival wheel on my fridge. Sometimes I just look at it and dream of that future...that very near future.

We've been showing a few people cut 3.2. And, we are getting extremely good feedback. We showed it to MK the other day. He's Japanese, so I was very keen to get his take on the film. He really liked it, and he thinks that it will have a market in Japan amongst the Japanese. That is fab. I just hope the cowboys are ready for that eventuality.

After this cut, we are going to show it to some really hard critics...just to see if the film and the two of us can stand up to it.

Rights

Just got the wedding video from Mark. It's actually better than I expected as I wasn't expecting a TV Infomercial featuring their wedding. It's fab! Patrick quickly cut it together, and I wrote the voice over. New he's laying it over the scene and popping it in. That will bring us to cut 4.

Spoke to DJ a few days ago. He watched cut 3.1, and he really liked it. He biggest criticism was that the film seemed to end too abruptly. He wanted to see a "where are you now" bit for each cowoby. Actually S & M mentioned that when they watched it as well. So, I've written all of the cowboys to see where they are now, and I've got the scoop. So, we'll cut that in to 4.0 as well.

Rights are giving me a headache. Where do I start? There's all of Ken's TV stuff, the Patrick Harlan TV & Radio stuff, "I'm just a Girl" (I've heard that Gwen Stefani never gives rights). And, I would need them given as I don't have any money.

Tired now.

It's Hard to Believe

I know! We are so close to a picture lock. We're just cutting in bits of Mark's wedding video then sending it out to our test audience. After feedback from them and some adjustments, we can finally move on to the next step, which is sound design. Yeah.

Thanks, thanks and thanks again.

Tony comes up to me today and says that he's read the blog all the way through. I am chuffed. Didn't think anyone was reading except Rob and Nat. He inspired me to go back through and read it myself. So, I got through about half of it, and, you know what, there were some really important things that it reminded me of. So thanks for that Tony!

Before that, got up early and worked on a short story about Tokyo, which I'm entering into a contest in June. The prize is £5000. Imagine wild success and just a little bit of partying if I won that. Then went into LFS and worked. Came home and watched Sans Soliel again. I just love that film, and it inspired me again. That was Patrick's suggestion. He's also put all of the Tokyo footage onto two DVDs (3 hours worth) for more inspiration, so that's my remit for tomorrow.

Gave the film to Alan for a crit. Thursday is the day. Hopefully.

I have so much to be thankful for, and sometimes I forget it.

Joe is in hospital, and I am thankful that he is getting better.

Thanks to the universe and to "the man upstairs" for looking after us all.

Screening

Screened the cut of Tokyo Cowboys to one of our investors on Friday. I think it went well. He really liked it and gave us some good feedback, which we are now incorporating for the next private screening tomorrow night...another investor. I think in about a week, we'll have the next big cut. Then we'll start to screen it to a wider audience.

Tired, but happy.

High Quality Trailer

You can now see a high quality version of the Trailer here. Enjoy!

We burned a copy of the whole film last night. On Friday we will have our first screening, so here we go!

Show Cut!

Have made tremendous progress since the last blog entry. Yesterday, we finished the "show cut." We watched the whole thing through, and, like a daft cow, I cried. I guess it's just the stress of it all, but it did not motivate Patrick, the poor thing.

In any case, we're doing our first screening to investors on Friday. I'm shitting myself. We still have a few bits and bobs to sort out before then. After the screening, the next step will be to cut in the Japanese sequences, so we'll be watching some Japanese footage over the weekend.

I think we must be about 3 weeks behind schedule, but I can't really tell anymore. Just plug on through until we are finished. That's the way to go.

Unblocked

After three days of being blocked, blocked, blocked, I have finally finished Nice Guyjin for the screening cut. Not really blocked...really. Just writing a load of crap. But...finally...today...not crap. You ever wonder why writers use their bowels as a metaphore for their writing?

T-Shirts

Was looking through my notes trying to write the final VO for Nice Guyjin when I found this: a post card detailing quotes I had seen on T-Shirts on the final trip to Japan.

And here they are:

Thank you for your Continued Efforts
Bad Ass Yellow Boy
I have never been to the moon.
Unauthorized entry punishable by law
I'm Cookie
We can Know various truths
No one has ever seen the future
Rip Ass

You have to totally love the Japanese to pieces!

Today

Worked on Nice Guyjin all day today including writing the introductory DVO. This is a very tricky bit, but Patrick and I outlined a plan of attack today. So, it's more voice over writing and recording for me and more editing for Patrick.

It's midnight on a Friday night. I'm still working. Patrick says we need to push it harder. OK. A little more yoga...a little more stretching...a little more massage.
I feel like a Japanese Salaliman.

Tokyo Porno

So, I've re-recorded all of the voice over, and Patrick has almost finished re-digitizing everything. Whew! Now we get back to the editing. I think we just want to be done with it.

On an aside, JA emailed today that he'd seen the first two minutes of Tokyo Cowboys in a prono. We suspect that it's been ripped off from the Youtube site. JA is investigating and will get back to us with more details soon.

Bummer

Haven't actually been able to blog for the past few days. A terrible, terrible thing happened on Friday, and I'm still recovering.



Well, it wasn't actually the whole project. It was only that the whole project got made "offline." For those of you in the know, you know that our life has been a living hell. For those of you who don't know what offline is, just trust me that our lives have been a living hell. But, PJ and I decided to try to do the "glass is half full thing." Spending days digitizing has allowed PJ some much needed time for writing, and I've been writing and working from the paper cut. It's all coming together, but we're now nearly 2 weeks behind schedule for our May 31st completion. Bummer, but at least we're not dead.

Warranty is Cool

Spoke to the guy who repaired Bruce, and (there is a God), Bruce is still under his warranty. Luckily, the drive contained only media, which can be re-captured. We've freed up space on Nobuko and Big Mamma by deleting old render files and making some stuff offline, so we can carry on with the work, which, by the way, is going swimmingly.

Spent the day writing Voice Over for Mark's bit, and I think it is in really good shape. Now working on Act 2 where Aki gets pregnant, Ken quits headhunting and we meet the weird and wonderful Cloudy B. Bongwater.

The Mighty Bruce

Oh, for f*&k's sake

I am so sick and tired of these stupid hard drives. Bruce, who you may recall was repaired for a whopping £125, has gone down again. I have spent the evening searching on the Interent to see if there is anything I can do. I've swapped the cables, repaired permissions, shut off everything and waited for 15 minutes and have done a little witchy dance. But it still doesn't work. What is frustrating is that things were going really well. We were moving quickly, and we are on tract to finish the show cut within the week. Now I don't know what to do other than curse and then go to bed.

Call to Action

The UK Govt are about to propose restrictions on photography in public places which could make street photography and documentary photography against the law. There's a petition on the Downing St website against the Government's proposals to restrict the use of photography in public areas. Sign up to the petition now......

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Photography/

And then please forward this email.

Another Process

This is a process I like to use sometimes when I write voice over. First I just write things in a stream of consiousness style, then I just let things formulate from there. This piece is not finished yet, but it is something I can work with to create the final voice over.

I feel the most comfortable with the writing bit because I've been doing that longer, however, I've started to use my writing editing method as a map for editing the film. I think it's working. This was another good suggestion from my mentor.

A Sample of the Process

These are some of the notes I took from the cut. I guess you would call this my process, but I don't do it this way always. On this occasion, this seemed the right way to go.

This too Shall Pass

Watched the whole thing again and took notes. Sometimes I think it's gonna work, and sometimes I think the whole thing is shit. Today I think it's shit. But I'm sure that this will pass.

In the afternoon I did some marketing exercises from the marketing book. I was supposed to brainstorm all of the words that describe the film. Then I was supposed to watch the film again, but I just couldn't manage it.

Watching the Cut

Set up the DVD player here and watched the cut all the way through. I'll be watching it everyday while I'm here. Last night I did some stream of consciousness writing about the nature of the relationship between Japanese Woman and Gaijin Man. Some weird stuff came out of that, and I'm still thinking about whether I'm going to post it or not.

Actually, watching the cut was good. I saw where it could be improved. Still, there is no ending, and this is worrying me. I want to have a cut we can show to people by the end of this month, and still no ending. I can't show a cut to people if it has no ending.

My mentor says to meditate upon it and the ending will come to me. So, here I am...meditating and dreaming and thinking.

The Importance of Thinking

We arrived in Sweden last night under the cover of darkness. Patrick is here to shoot a music video for Kirmann, and I'm here to "think" about Tokyo Cowboys. I've brought a bunch of blank paper and the DVD of the "first cut." (I call it a first cut, but I think it's much further than that. It's the first cut that we're going to show to people.)

As Gören drove us back to Askersund,
we all sat mostly in silence, and I let my mind wander into a dream about Tokyo Cowboys. It was the first "quite time" I've had in I-don't-know-when, and this is good.

Today, I went out with Patrick while he shot. Mostly I just held the extra camera for him and thought some more. It is so quiet here...I've forgotton how quiet.

Monday, Monday...

Worked a little on voice over for Mark yesterday, but nothing was forthcoming. Just got an email from Shuri, one of my girl mates from Tokyo. Well, I knew her in Tokyo, but she hooked up with a Swiss dude and moved to Switzerland a few years back. Anyway, she was doing some research on MHS and saw that he is now in charge of membership at the American Club. Wow. Small world.

Today, I was working at the day job so didn't get much done on TC. That always depresses me a bit...not because it's a bad gig, it's just not what I want to be doing with my days. Patrick ripped a copy of the whole cut for me to take to Sweden. Awesome.

A Tokyo Story

Tokyo...flipping 5 a.m. We start on the trains so that we can record the Tokyo squash...millions of people trying to cram into a tiny cars...sardines. Only these aren't the commuters. They come later. These are the party people catching the first train home.

From here we cross the length of the city three times to chase up our characters, stopping on the way to shoot impressions of Tokyo. No lunch. It's genki drinks and a.m./p.m. onigiri with a side of ebi flavored crisps.

9 p.m. and we haven't stopped. We're meeting with a potential investor and his rich wife. Maybe they will give us £500. Maybe £4000. You never know. We spend hours...obsequious, just this side of begging. OK. I beg. They say they still need time to think about it. Goodbye, they say. Our flat is just around the corner.

Emerging from the smoke-filled bar, I realize that it is past last train. It is Friday night in Azabujuuban. Getting a taxi is difficult enough for the locals, but, for foreigners like us, it is impossible. Well-dressed Japanese couples line the street, waving their hands in the air. Mr. Taxi-man is not stopping.

"Let's walk a ways," I say to Patrick. "After we clear the crowd, maybe we'll get lucky."

We walk up Gaien Nishi Dori...all the way to the Haagen Dazs shop. Couples still line the streets, and it is 1 a.m. We stop off at a favorite izakaya of mine on Aoyama Dori. It is shit. I realize this is the first time I've been here sober. Food has a different quality when you've been drinking.

We start our walk again, turning right on Omotesando Dori. We are carrying all of our equipment, lights, camera, tripod. It starts to snow. We walk all the way up Omotesando Dori...pass Harajuku Eki, pass Yoyogi Koen...to the corner at the top of the park (is it Komazawa Kosaten?).

Finally we make it to Sandra's house. It is 2 a.m. when we stumble in. And, even though she needs to be up for work in 4 hours, she makes us tea and asks us how shooting has gone.

As I drink my tea, and warm my toes, I think about filmmaking. It is my absolute favorite thing to do, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why.

Mark Segerlund

Looking for an ending, so we looked at Mark Segerlund footage today. Mark is one of those guys who really believes in all of that positive attitude, life-is-beautiful gris gris. Some people might think that, well yes, he does have a wonderful life, so it's easy to believe in that kind of stuff. But, I think that his life is so wonderful because of his Pollyanna philosophy. Personally, I'd rather people running around thinking that they can use their imaginations to make the world a more beautiful place than people running around bombing the shit out of each other. What an utter lack of imagination. But, anyway, that's another story.

The structure is coming together. It all hinges on Ken's story arc inter cut with a collage of other cowboy stories. It seems to work, but we are just so close to it now. We're pushing to have a first cut before we leave for Sweden on Wednesday. Then, I'll hand it out to a group of viewers and see what they think.

The Dreaded World of English Teaching

I know I'm going to get shit about uploading this draft of the voice over about English teaching. But just remember, everything is out of context. Hopefully it will make perfect sense within the context of the film.

Very Close

OH HAPPY DAY!!! It works. PJ intercut all of the stories yesterday, and the cut works. There are several areas that need to be ironed out, but, jumping juniper, it works!

We watched the whole thing, which clocks in at 1 hour 38 minutes. I've made a list of the next steps:

Write Voice Over about English Teaching
Write Voice Over introducing Mark
Review Nice Guyjin Interviews
Review the Securities company bits (Ken)

Then PJ cuts it all in, and presto, a first cut.

We are very, very close. I'm hoping to get it done before going to Sweden on the 14th (which was our goal!).

Fresh Start

Today was a big, big day for Tokyo Cowboys. While I was at the day job, PJ was cutting...but not just any cutting...he was intercutting. Now, we've got all of the characters on the timeline for the first cut. I haven't seen it yet, but PJ seems quite chuffed with himself. It's late now, so I'm going to sleep with visions of Tokyo Cowboys in my head and start fresh tomorrow.

Just Checking it Out

PJ suggested we take a look at some of the smaller characters...see if there is something there. Today, I was re-visiting Nick's footage. Nothing yet...but I really like the Christmas stuff with him. PJ continues to cut.

As an aside, Jason Ayers called today. It was good to talk to him. I am so grateful to him. He was one of the people who was instrumental in helping us get this project off the ground from the very beginning. Jason is doing freelance stuff and trying to get his own film career off the ground. He's also still got his hand in Head Hunting, and as always, he's in with the creatives.

Hoping and wishing and praying and scheming

Watched the cut of Mark today. It's good...really good. Just 10 minutes long. PJ thinks we need voice over from me at one point, so I've been trying to scratch it out of my head today. Nothing is coming, though. I know from experience that you can't rush these things. I just have to keep the faith, get to the page, as they say, and hope for the best.

Ta daaaaa...

Got the upgrade yesterday. Swapped the computers around, so now we're rockin'.

Here's PJ's new work space:

Our bed is actually on top of this workspace. We call it the "Treehouse." You can see Hot Rod under the keyboard on the left.

Here you can see all of the hard drives and the bang up job I've done with the cableing. I predict that it will all be smooth sailing from here on out. At least that's what my mentor has been telling me.

Vision Quest

My mentor has been telling me to visualize success and that this will help me to finish the film. I have been struggling. What do I visualize? Walking up on a stage to get an award? Lights coming up and people clapping? Signing a contract?

When I think about the success of the film, I visualize a person coming out of the cinema into the sunlight, disoriented and thinking "what a strange trip...what a dream I had." I want Tokyo and the Cowboys to stay with them so that, at odd moments and for a very long time, they might feel nostalgic and think "I miss this and that about Tokyo or Ken or Mark" even though they've never physically been to that place or met those people. I guess that's as good as it gets in terms of success. But I will try to also think about the awards and clapping and contracts. A girl's gotta eat.

Distilling the Journey

Reviewed the Ken cut with P.J. today. I'm happy with it, but enough of Ken. We need to move on. P.J. spent the day working on Mark, and I spent the day reviewing Cloudy's transcripts (all 60 pages of them...I didn't realize there was so much). I was looking for quotes, for that is the stage at which we are at the moment. I'm looking for cowboy poetry to put over sequences. I'm still trying to figure out where to fit Cloudy in. But I keep reminding myself that it's the journey I want the audience to feel. The film is a distillation of the journey. I know it's a lot to ask for, but can the film take them to Tokyo? In that dark cinema, will they hear it, feel it, smell it?

Drama

I watched the whole Ken cut today. It's very minimal, and it gives us our narrative, however loose. I was reminded of Hitchcock's quote: "Drama is like life with the boreing bits left out." This is still not the first cut. Ken provides the narrative, now we have to add the collage. That's where the other guys fit in.

Justice

Apple is going to reimburse us for the upgrade of FCP, which is great. So, now we wait. But, as we do, PJ can still be cutting on the old machine.

Apple's Response

I fell like I'm getting further away from the project. It's not all about editing. It's about fixing crashed harddrives and upgrading software. I remember editing at LFS. We did everything on film, and I'm beginning to long for those days.

Called Apple. They were all very nice, and I managed to convince someone to help me...plead my case to the powers that be who can give me a free upgrade. I'm supposed to hear back from them on Monday. Until then, I have to re-connect Bambi so that Patrick can get on with the editing.

The Long Goodbye

Spent the entire day setting up Hot Rod. Re positioned the hard drives, moved Bambi into the kitchen and started to set up the Internet. After several calls to both Tiscali and Apple support, I found out that our free modem from Tiscali is not supported by this Hot Rod. Soooo, had to run over to Maplin on the Strand and fork out £50 on an Ethernet modem. I was thankful, though. Maplin is a 5 minute walk from my flat*.

Anyway, got the modem set up, downloaded all of the updates and got myself ready to install Final Cut Pro 4.0. It didn't work. Hot Rod does not support 4.0 I was told by the tech dude at Apple. I was very upset because my sales agent had promised me that the computer would indeed support my version of Final Cut Pro when I purchased this £1700 hot rockin' computer. By this time, however, all of the sales agents had gone home, so three was no one to complain to.

I'm calling Apple tomorrow to throw myself upon the mercy of anyone who will listen to my woeful story.

*I was reminded of buying my first computer in Buzen, Japan in 1993. We had to get the computer on an American base. Got home, set everything up only to discover that the printer cable was not included. We had to travel 20 minutes to the next town to order one.

Hot Rocking Rod

My Little Office in the Kitchen
The new computer arrived today...a MacPro Xeon with two, count 'em, two Intel dual processors. We've decided to christen the new Machine "Hot Rod." He's come to us just at the right time, as Bambi (a first generation single processor G4) is really straining under the pressure of all of the hard drives. Sometimes we have to restart her two and three times to get her going.

Bambi is not obsolete, however. She will move to my little office in the kitchen, and Hot Rod will take over in our bedroom/editing suite.

Dreaming with Ken

Spent the day looking for Ken voice over to fit over the New Years sequence. I watched the cut up to this sequence, which ends at 38 minutes, and I was really pleased with it. Ken is just so funny and human, and I think his character will form a bond with both an English-speaking audience and the Japanese. I allowed myself a daydream of grandeur. Maybe Tokyo Cowboys will give Ken what he dreamed of. Maybe it will make him recognizable to 50% of the Japanese viewing audience. Then I came back to Earth. It's good to dream. Ken reminds me of that.

PJ and I are doing the old one-two punch technique of editing. When I feel like I'm not doing enough on Tokyo Cowboys, I have to remember that he's cutting. And, when he's not cutting, I'm looking at the footage, thinking and figuring out where to go to next. I think we are well on the way of having the first cut by mid February.

Diary for Today

Wading through Words

Spent the morning pouring over transcripts...mostly Ken's. I feel like a detective looking for clues...clues to the story. Tomorrow PJ and I will go over some of the clues I've picked out and start cutting them into the film. It's shaping up. All I have to do now is make it to the computer every day.

Frustrating

This morning, after berating myself in my journal for pages about not being further along on Tokyo Cowboys, I came to the conclusion that I have director's block. I have always prided myself over never having had writer's block. I don't believe in it. If you can't write anything, it just means that you need to do more research. And research is part of the writing process. But, directing...that's a whole new kettle of fish. So, I've been blocked...afraid...not knowing what to do or where to turn.

I decided that I would do two hours of Tokyo Cowboys today no matter what. Only two hours because I was working a full day at the day job. Add to that shopping for dinner, cooking and cleaning, and I've already put in 10 hours of work before even sitting down to Cowboys.

So, I got home, announced to Patrick that I was on a tight schedule and booted him off the computer. I got through three minutes of the cut before the computer crashed. It took me 20 minutes to coax it into allowing me to watch the cut again. It's 56 minutes long. I reckon, we'll have another hour once we finish the first cut, which I hope to do by 15 February. I made notes about where to intercut the other characters (this cut only focuses on Ken) and where to search for Voice Over. So, tomorrow, after another 10 hours at the day job and life's essentials, I'll start looking for voice over. That means reviewing hours and hours of transcripts.

But, I will finish this flipping film. And I will finish it by Spring. And it will be good.

On a more positive note, we got the loan check today for the new computer. I'm going to order it as soon as the check clears. Maybe that will help us to move faster.

Loan Request

Just sent in the loan request, so we should be getting a check soon for the computer. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait. Still trying to find the balance between finishing the film and making enough money to pay the rent. I suppose this is the case for a lot of people like me who want to live their dream but who don't have rich patrons. The problem is that, after working all day, I'm usually too tired to do any work on the film. But, today is the last day at the day job before Christmas break, and I've got a bit more than two weeks left before we got to NOLA, so there's an opportunity in there somewhere. Opportunities everywhere.

Wha-hooo

Just got email from SSB. They are gonna do it! They are going to loan us the money (interest free) to buy the new suite. Oh happy day, oh happy day. I am filled with gratitude to the great power.

My Space

Been investigating Myspace at the urging of my niece, the technocrati Dominique Elizabeth Thompson. "It's only the place for all the cool people, Nene. So, if you want your film to be cool, then myspace it." So, OK. I've gone on, gotten myself an account and uploaded some stuff. I must say that I'm a little bit addicted now.

No news from SSB about the loan for the new editing suite, but no news is good news as they say. There might be another option: a Natwest Credit Card (0% interest on the first 9 months). I don't see why they won't give me one as they have given me an obnoxious amound of "credit" on my overdraft.

Credit Hell

Against my better judgement, I applied for one of those no interest for 12 months of new purchases credit cards. I don't like credit...believe it is the spawn of Satan. But, the need for the new editing suite has caused me to consider selling my soul. Anyway, the angels protected me because I was turned down. It's insane that after 6 years of living here and with the same bank, I still cannot establish credit. Called the bank, and they will loan me the money, but the interest would amount to nearly £500. Are they having a laugh? I can get a better interest rate from a loan shark. So, my next plan is to borrow it from work. I've emailed SSB to see if she will consider it.

Other than that, I'm praying for this big gig through Spencer. If we get it, we'll be able to pay for the computer outright and have some left over for Christmas. Don't want to get too excited about it, though. These are times in which we must get in touch with our pragmatic selves.

Speaking of Spencer, PJ showed him the clip from Tokyo Cowboys on his iPod. He was really impressed and wants to use some of the TC footage to pitch the big gig.

That is all.

Even when I think Nothing is Happening

Was really depressed yesterday. I meant to write the intro to Ken voice over, but...worked up at the school all day. Then came home and tried to do a load of laundry while cooking. The washer spewed out a load of water so that I was standing in 1 inch of it while cooking on an electric cooker. Turned off the electricity, cleaned up the mess, finished off the laundry in the bath (don't try this at home), then finished dinner. By the time I finished eating it was 10 p.m., and I was in no condition to write. Just when I thought all hope was lost, Patrick said "have a look at what I edited today while you were at school." It was brilliant. We also decided to carry on with the edit before writing any more of my voice over. I'll save that for last.

Also applied for several credit cards on line. These are supposed to be 0% interest on new purchases for 12 months. If I can get one, we are going to buy a new system...the MacPro. It will scream.

New System

Had a look at the Nice Guyjin stuff that PJ cut. Also thinking about Ken's introduction V.O. I've been thinking more about a dialogue between my voice over and the cowboy voice over. Will spend some time tonight working on the intro vo for Ken. Things are moving along, but wish I could build up more momentum.

Thinking about getting a credit card to buy a new editing suite. This is against everything that I've come to believe about finance. But, we need a new system. It's either that or sell some of our sweat equity, and I just don't think I can bare going back to selling shares. It takes so much time, and I hate, hate, hate it. Begging for money...I think this will be my reality for the next few years at least.

Technical Hell

Spent the whole morning trying to get the computer started. It's definitely straining under the weight of the four external hard drives. Sometimes three hard drives mount, sometimes all four. And, I can't figure out why. I think our Mac has been brilliant over the past six years. It's an outstanding Power Mac g4. But, it's time to upgrade. PJ and I decided that I would go into the bank on Tuesday and try to get a loan for a new computer.

We finally got the computer up an running (albeit, hard drive Bruce wouldn't start at all). So, we decided to back up all of the projects onto Angelica. Because she's a USB hard drive, this took three hours. After all of this technical hell, I just didn't have the will to carry on with editing. I feel terribly guilty.

The new direction is going well, though, so I'm happy about that.

New Direction

After taking 6 weeks off to earn a bit of cash, we are back to editing Tokyo Cowboys. Patrick re-cut the first 50 minutes to focus on Ken's story as the backbone of the piece. His story has the strongest arc. As off shoots of his story, we will be making segues into the lives of the other cowboys.

We've been frustrated about our inability to create momentum with the cut. It seems that earning a living is interfering with the completion, but we continue. I guess this is the way it is.

56

Whey! Patrick's cut the first 56 minutes of the film. We are now officially smokin'.

Moving Along

Now moving from Ken to Mark. Doing this with a little segue into East West: Christmas 1997. Old footage of Ken (when he was fat!) and Mark winning every award there was to win at the end of the year. Wrote the voice over last night. Recorded it during lunch today (doing a paid gig today).

Trying to find money...free money. Don't want to de-value the shares, so the only way to go is with grants and schemes. May be spending the 12th and 13th with one of the very early investors in TC to brainstorm how to get more money in. It would be so good if I could do TC full time and not have to work for money (although I am so thankful to the people who give me work).

Introduction: Ken

Start off with Ken's V.O. about sacrificing a lot to come to Japan.

October 4th, 2002

I think sacrifice is a good place to begin. I used to think that Cowboys led a glamorous and charmed life in Tokyo. But Ken's life is more about balance...a security/freedom balance. Money buys security. But to make money on the urban frontier, you have to sell freedom. He's trying to balance by working from home as a freelance recruiter: the more you put in, the more you get out.

The Rainy Season

October 1st, 2002

We arrived in the middle of the rainy season.
Hot
and humid
and rain
and wind.

It's a fitting welcome. Tokyo is washing herself clean.

There's a Tsunami warning today.
It's supposed to be a big one.
But in the time it takes me to get from Shinjuku to Roppongi
on the new Oedo line,
it has passed.

Tokyo.
How Iíve missed your inconsistent and charming self.

This is Where it Begins

Tokyo September 27th, 2002

We arrived today.

Coming back here is like falling back into a dream...
it's utterly familiar,
yet everything concrete
slips through my fingers
like water,
like neon.

It's a two hour bus ride
from Narita Airport
into the city.
The jet lag hits,
you have to close your eyes...
settle into it.

Patrick says:
"This is where it begins."

We've come looking for Cowboys...
the foreign men
who leave everything behind
and cross oceans
to be here.

What do they give up?
And what treasures do they gain
out here
on the postmodern
urban frontier?

Jason

Jason rolled into town a few days ago, and I'm still recovering.
Called Ken and Brendan in a drunken stupor. Ken was in Hawaii. It was 6.30 a.m. in Tokyo, so Brendan just laughed at me and said he'd call me later.

Jason's on his way to a four week intensive film course in Prague. He wants me to go out there in the middle of August to brainstorm some ideas for a script. Fuck it. Why not.

Rainy Season VO

Needed to cut the Rainy Season V.O. down to 30 seconds, so rewrote and recorded it today. After Patrick dropped it in, it seemed to be lacking a bit of energy. Patrick's suggested that I record it while walking around in the garden. I think he's right. I want it to have the effect that it was recorded on the fly as we were shooting the film.

Tsunami

Oh, I am so pleased. We have finished the opening sequence and are now slotting in the sequences in loose chronological order. As faithful readers of this blog (I know of only three), you will recall that we spent the summer cutting sequences in Rockhammar. I think we cut something like 75...I lost count after 52.

Anyway, we're dropping those sequences into a Final Cut Pro Project aptly called "Tokyo Cowboys: The Whole Thing." We've had to break the TC project into about 9 projects to keep the computer from getting overloaded. She's a good computer, but she's a first gen. G4 bought six years ago for film school. She's souped up with 1.5 Gb of RAM wired up to 5 daisy chained LaCie harddrives totaling 3.5 Tb (that's roughly 3,500 Gb).

At the same time that Patrick is doing this, I am writing and recording voice over. We'll have guide tracks at least. Then, when the whole thing is put together, I'll go back over the voice over to polish it off.

Here is a sample of the most recent voice over penned by yours truly:

October 1st, 2002

The Japanese say they have four seasons. One of them is the rainy season: hot and humid and rain and wind. The shoes in your closet go green if you're not careful. It's a fitting welcome. Tokyo is washing herself clean.

There's a Tsunami warning today. It's supposed to be a big one. Shops shut down, the streets are deserted. But in the time it takes me to get from Shinjuku to Roppongi on the new Oedo line, it has passed. Tokyo. How I've missed your inconsistent and charming self.

And it will go on like this. Mixing with the voices of the Cowboys to form a story made up of many stories. I am so excited. IT IS FINALLY COMING TOGETHER!

By the way, if you have an rss reader, our rss feed for this blog is:

http://www.tokyocowboys.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Thanks for reading and for your continued and much appreciated support!

Coming Together

Amazingly, it is starting to come together. I recorded some guide voice over today, and Patrick popped it in. It's working! So HP was right. I should listen to him more often. It's still rough, but I can see the shape of the beginning.

Breakdown

Had a bit of a mental breakdown today. I started to feel the fear, and I let it get the better of me...saying things like "I have no idea what I'm doing," and "This film is going to be crap." Patrick talked me down from the window ledge.

I think I just get frustrated when I have ideas then try them out and they are not perfect on the first try. I must remind myself that there are steps to the process and I must walk before I can run.

We've intercut the cowboy arrival stories with my beginning voice over. Then I wrote the voice over to introduce the rainy season and to introduce Ken. It is coming together. I just have to trust myself and trust Patrick.

East West

Patrick has suggested looking at some of the old EWC footage. This is stuff that I shot from 1997 - 2000 of various East West Consulting functions, parties, etc. I shot it on an old consumer camera. Two of the main characters and several of the subsidiary characters worked there during the late 90s during the Head Hunting bubble.

Patrick thinks we can use some of this footage, particularly the stuff where Ken is really fat. I looked at some of it. Ken looks like a baby. I guess he was--22 at the time.

We've dropped the footage into the first act of the film. It really works. It shows where Ken came from...where Mark came from. That culture. I'm trawling through the interviews of former EWC people to put together a collage of voices describing this HH boom. I'm getting so excited about the film. It is shaping up. I can see it now. I can see it!

Arrivals

Still working with the arrivals stories. I've got good ones from the likes of Ken, Mark S., World Family Mark, Cloudy, and Patrick. Still capturing others. Patrick pointed out that they can be anybody's arrival story. Any of the several hundred people we interviewed. The stories are being used in the sound track only...most likely over the footage that Patrick has just cut together to form the beginning of the film.

H.P. says that I'm closer than I think. He says I have all of the bits I need to make a great film. I just need to put everything together. Yes. That's what I need to do. Put everything together...one chunk at a time.

Met with Alex about my voice over. She's the Actress/Singer/Voice Over Artist who lives next door. She's helping me to slow it down and put some feeling into it.

I feel good. I'm trying to relax into the pace of it...the rhythm of it. I was thinking it was too slow, but now I think it's just right.

Really miss my family. Wish I could go home. Feel bad that I can't.

The went there with nothing but their preconceived notions about
the postmodern
urban frontier.

They all started teaching English.
Some of them even found their passion
doing
just
that.

Some moved on...

To Headhunting
To Entertainment
To Business

Always searching.

They began to make her their home.
They found freedom and opportunity.
They were favored.

But they were still restless.
They had not yet found the thing that had
called them
to her.

And
in this restlessness and searching
they struck some...strange...kind of...bargain.

They would never find peace like this one.

So they decided they were home.

They Arrived with Nothing...

Circumventing the ailing Bruce, I'm cutting Ken's arrival story on Big Mamma. I think this is going to work: cutting together all of these mini-narratives of the Cowboys' arrival stories. Together, they create...not a grand narrative, as such, but a cacaphony of possibilities on this postmodern urban frontier. So, this is how I'll proceed.

They arrived with nothing...

First Shot

I think I've decided that this is going to be the first shot of the film. I'm thinking in terms of Westerns. They usually start with a wide shot of the "frontier." This is my post-modern urban frontier. I may use voice over from the Cowboys and others to describe Tokyo. Patrick is cutting it over the next few days.

I was freaking out again about the edit...not thinking that I was moving quickly enough...whatever. I invoked the muse praying for her to guide me. As I lay in bed the other night, this shot came into my imagination. I just decided to trust the muse. After cutting this opening sequence, Patrick will go back to cutting all of the bits together. We are on our way.

Harddrive Blues

Our 1000 GB (1TB) harddrive, code named "Bruce," crashed and burned yesterday. Fortunately, it's only media on there, so the project (the edits) are safe. We've had to purchase another harddrive (£372), which I'm hoping will be able to communicate with Bruce to take over the media. Then Bruce will go in for repairs.

Anyone wishing to submit a name for the new harddrive can do so here. Perhaps something Japanesey

Ourotherr drives are:

Elektrik Zoo (70 GB)
Slave (70 GB)
Big Daddy (500 GB)
Big Momma (1 TB)
Angelica (500 GB)

And, yes, they are all full.

Today we start cutting everything together. I pray that this is the way to go. Patrick says we should work on the stories some more before cutting it all together, but I feel that we've spent too much time on that. It's time to move forward. The only way I can see that happening is to cut it all together. Then, if we have a mess, we can start to clean it up. I can't see the forest for the trees right now.

Over the next few weeks, we will be putting all of the bits and pieces together to see if we actually have something coherent. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

Nietzsche

I read somewhere that "one way or another...all postmodern roads lead to Nietzsche." So I do some research, but Nietzsche is so way over my head.

Beginning Voice Over

27 September 2002

[footage from Narita bus trips]

We arrived in Tokyo today, and everything has changed.
But I still have the feeling of coming home.

Even the language, which at one time seemed so impossible, floods my head instantly.

When the Japanese feel nostalgic they feel "Natsukashii"

I rode the bus from Narita Airport into the city...a two hour ride. When the jet lag hits, it's like falling into a dream of Tokyo. You have to close your eyes and settle into it.

This is where it begins.

[continue on with bus shot w/ no v.o. for a while]

I'm looking for something out here, but I'm not sure what.
Something about the Cowboys who come here...
the gaijin...
the foreign men who leave everything behind and cross oceans.

I'm sure they come for the money, but...somehow that doesn't seem quite right.

It's only the first layer.
But it's the one I'll start with.

[gap here]

There's a guy I know from my time in Japan...came here in the early nineties...just after the bubble had burst.

Back in America, he had been corn fed on the idea that Japan was a place to make your fortune...
despite the economy.

It was a land of opportunity and freedom.

In the beginning of the 21st Century, my friend owns one of Tokyo's top indigenous headhunting firms,

so he's plugged into both the gaijin and the Japanese professional communities.

I wanna know if living on the post-modern urban frontier has lived up to his expectations. I wanna know if money bought him freedom and peace.

Love from a Cowboy

Brent sent this along:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TSWaKWiAhY

In Tokyo you are released from the pain of hating yourself. You come home.

Voice Over

Been working on the voice over lately. Trying to find the right tone. I've been writing overly poetic, I think. Yesterday I experimented with a more journal-like tone, and it seems to be working. I also had this idea of using the voice over as a process of discovery. What did I go there to find? Something about the Cowboys and what causes them to cross oceans to get to Tokyo. Money, Opportunity, Freedom, Peace. This is the journey that they take. And this can be illustrated by the voice over.

On the Shoulder of a Giant

Shooting the BBQ

Inside Cloudy's Brain

Jackie and the Lizard

Arcade

Shooting at World Family

White Balance

Eye of the Cloud

Check out Cloudy's new website.

Sunday

Voice Over

They all went looking for something...
more...
different.
Adventure
Freedom
Money
Fame
A sense of belonging.
They went to find themselves.

They traveled to the wild, wild East
to Tokyo:
the postmodern urban frontier.
They brought what they could carry
always arriving invited

Tokyo welcomes all those with
college degrees
achievement in arts or sport
or
those who can labor at something
that the Japanese cannot.

They tasted of her many fruits
and they were
intoxicated.

And there was always more.
She is ever constructing new realities

And they stayed...
And they tried to find a place...
And they made her the home of the
Tokyo Cowboys.

How Can I?

March Update

Dear Friends of Tokyo Cowboys,

I hope this update finds you healthy and happy. I apologize for not being in touch with ya'll for a while, but things have been busy on the Tokyo Cowboys frontier.

Since my last missive, Patrick and I have been working steadily towards the first cut, and we are right on target for our July 31st deadline. The structure is finally coming together, and I can see a big super nova at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks to the kindness of two of our initial investors, we are FULLY FUNDED! There are no more Tokyo Cowboys shares available for purchase. (You can, however, get them off investors for a much higher price than the original. We plan to be trading on the LSE soon.) This last push will take the project through to completion. If you are an investor and do not have a contract or a Certificate of Ownership, which includes an official Japanese inkan stamp, please email me.

I am steadily working on the marketing plan, however much it takes a back seat to the editing. As you know, until a big fish comes along and swallows us whole, we are marketing as an independent film without all the big studio muscle. That means grass roots efforts. I would like to ask all of you to be on the lookout for festivals, grants, news or grass roots' marketing ideas. If you see anything in whatever you're reading or watching that might help us to get Tokyo Cowboys to market, please email it along.

As always, I will be posting as vigorously as possible on the Tokyo Cowboys Blog (www.tokyocowboys.blogspot.com). We will also be uploading new clips to the website as we cut them (but not too much...we don't want to give away the ending!).

Thank you for continuing to support us with all of your emails, calls, visits and efforts.

Hugs,

Daneeta
Director/Producer
Tokyo Cowboys

The Wall

Spent a bit of time working on the wall today. It's a paper edit of sorts but it takes up the entire length of wall in our hallway. I can put all the pieces together. As soon as I get me hot rockin' Nokia 6280 as a thank you from T-Mobile for being a loyal customer, I will take pics and post here.

That is all.

Beginning Voice Over

It's not that I'm a Japan-o-phile.
It's Tokyo I love.
I recognize brilliance when I see it.
It's the greatest city on the planet...
one of our finest and most intricate creations.

Tokyo is Japan's answer to the Atom bomb.
a polite and resounding:
"fuck you."

Understand this city, and you might crack the enigmatic Japanese.

A two thousand year old culture that grew fat with hubris, was destroyed and then
reinvented itself...
again and again and again.

Tokyo is constantly reinventing herself.

And you are a part of it.
She calls you to her.
You are one of her...chosen.

and you make your way to her however you can.
across oceans and land and time
eschewing your own construct
and joining with her
in
the
great
human
experiment.

She promises you everything...
"It's all here for you," she says.
Devote yourself to her, she says.
Become part of her.

So I did.
But...

The freedom was overwhelming...
it was too much,
and I broke under the pressure

leaving

the
postmodern
urban
frontier.

clinched teeth bit out the promise
"I'll never go back."

But, she said:
"It's not like that. It's not like that at all."

She said:
"Let me show you...Let me tell you the true stories of the Tokyo Cowboys."

The Shares have Gone

We have just received into the Tokyo Cowboys account the final round of funding. This will take us up to the July 31st finish line, folks. The funding comes from two existing Tokyo Cowboys investors who wanted to up their shares in the project. Thanks to you both, we are good to go!

A Beginning and an End

Patrick and I have started to have meetings outside of the "office." This works better for us as it frees up the flow of ideas. At our meeting today, we brainstormed 5 possible beginnings and chose our favorite one to pursue. I won't write it here as I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I am extremely excited about it. It's going to be something completely different from other films about Tokyo, which is something we are aiming for

We also came up with the idea of starting off with the concept of "alien" and ending with the concept of "home." I haven't worked this out completely, but I think it might be a good avenue to pursue. With this in mind, I've started to think of an ending.

I've been trying to figure out how to use the Japanese interviews. I have this idea of using them as "interludes"...the tatami mat maker, the new wave tea master, the juku...all of these would be interludes with voice over. My voice over fading in and out and their voice over fading in and out. My reference for this is some of the God Speed music I've been listening to.

Ghosts

Dear Mr. Marker,

I'm thinking about the marginalization of the white, male, heterosexual. Here is where they can feel special...where they are a rarity. Here is where they are truly free. Sandra says that Japan attracts people that don't fit into their own countries. We are like ghosts in their machine. Boo!

Fire

We are half asleep when the fire trucks arrive. Someone's forgotten to put the BBQ out, and it catches the surfboard on fire. Firemen, policemen, the neighbors...everybody is out to see what the gaijin did.

Little Gifts

The first time we take the train with Cloudy, he puts his hammock up. I'm ashamed to admit it, but when he does this I think he's doing it for the camera. But, then something amazing happens. It starts out with a few brave young men, spurred on by drink and a desire to speak what little English they remember from school. They strike up a conversation. I nearly fall off my seat. This just doesn't happen in Japan. Absolute strangers are carrying on a conversation in the train. Not only that, the Japanese person instigated the conversation and the person he is talking to is a gaijin. You can't imagine how scandalous this is. How reckless. How utterly sublime.

During the months we spend with Cloudy, this happens again and again. He puts up the hammock, and the locals talk to him. It helps that he speaks a bit of Japanese. When no one talks to him, he kicks it off by recognizing the curious glances. Then he asks if they want to have a go in his hammock. I've seen only one man refuse, but he was really drunk. I suspect he was afraid of falling out.

Maybe it's because the Japanese are polite and think it would be rude to refuse. Cloudy says that when they go home they will tell their husband or wife or mother or father about him. But I think it's the opposite. I think they will hold this little gift in their hearts and keep it all for themselves. In future, They will search out the memory and use it for what purpose, I don't know. But it will be just for them.

We Can Know Various Truths

Yoji's T-shirt says "We can know various truths." I am standing in the middle of Shinjuku 2-chome. It's 6 square blocks of the sovereign nation of Japanese queer. It's also the safest place for us to skin up. I ask him what the English on his shirt means. "I don't know," he says. "I bought it because I like the design." In the middle of the conversation, I feel dizzy. I have to nip around the corner and throw up in the shrubbery. A couple of boys walk by and giggle. I look up from the vomit. It's Cowboy Tom from the World Family show with Cloudy. He winks at me and walks on. We can know various truths.

Bits from the Voice Over

Just drafts, but here are some bits I'm been working on:

By accident, we stumble across the shrine dedicated to aborted fetuses. So many of them. Tokyo is a big city. The whole time we are there, only men come to pray to the statues. Somehow this makes it more tragic. I make up stories about the children they have lost. Were the forced to discard them placing their little souls in cold stone for all eternity? Finally, they send a novice priest out to say "no!" He is uncharacteristically firm for a local. I feel he wants to give me a piece of his mind, so I pretend not to speak Japanese. I am ashamed.

Eye of the Cloud

Worked some more on the stories tonight. I was working mostly on Cloudy's story. The first draft went something like this:

Cloudy is a standup comedian. He's dating a girl named Kaori. He takes her to his beach house. They break up. Cloudy starts dating the ALF girl.

For the second draft, I've written up to the end of our first night with Cloudy. It's already 10 pages long. But, I started to discover something. Most of what I'm writing is just to put my writer's mind into context. Then suddenly something comes out that I can use.

What it felt like to leave Cloudy's flat that first night...tanked, in the streets of Shibuya at 2 a.m. It's choc-o-block with young locals. They are spilling out of the clubs and giggling...still high from the music and the dancing and the e. We wave to a group of them on the way back to Sandra's. "Gudo ibuningu," they shout. "Oyasumi!" we shout back. And time slips away and I can almost see Tokyo 100, 200, 300 years ago...all at the same time. It's a humid September night, and the road is dusty. I can smell yaki iimo. And, we're just all trying to find our way home.

Asking the Questions

The first question is: How can I complete Tokyo Cowboys by the end of July of this year?

Last night I spent a good deal of time working on the story. It feels like it's going on forever, but I'm working on transforming my vocabulary. Instead of "going on forever," it's "moving right along." I still haven't decided who will make the cut and who won't. What's very clear is that not everybody can stay in. That would be a 4 hour rambling film that just wouldn't be accessible to most people. And, one think I'm sure about is that I want to make it accessible. No matter how beautiful and moving Chris Marker's film is, it is not accessible to a general audience. That having been said, Tokyo Cowboys must maintain it's poetry. I will not sacrifice that. Well, I wouldn't say sacrifice because I believe that a general audience would be open to poetry. With all of the shit going on in the world right now, we could use a little poetry.

"American Movie"...now that was an accessable documentary. It just didn't get seen by a massive audience because of poor marketing and the fact that it was before the big documentary fashion. It started the trend.

Anyway, I'm writing out all of the stories just in case. I feel close to inter-cutting them together, but there's still the fine tuning. There's also a bit of funding to raise in the form of grants. There are also £6000 worth of shares still left. Our goal is to finish by July. This is certainly possible, but it would be a whole lot easier with money. Isn't that always the case? Patrick and I could dedicate more time to it. I wouldn't be so tired in the evenings. Sometimes I'm so tired from the day job, that I must do some serious motivational hoo hah before I can start to write.

I'm applying for the JUSFC grant again if they let me. I'm applying for the Women in Film grant. It's only a maximum of $5000, but that would get us grading.

The other question I need to start asking myself is: How can I effectively market Tokyo Cowboys to sales agents and distributors? Are those the right people to be targeting? Perhaps I should back up and think of the real goal. Besides communicating my vision, which is to have as many people as possible watching the film and getting it, what are the other goals? A) (and these are in no particular order...A) get investors their money back, B) Make a big enough profit to entice them again for the next project, C) interest people (influential people) in me as a filmmaker so that I can make more films. Very tall orders, but if we don't ask the questions, how will we find any answers? Marketing, marketing, marketing. I'm reading the Marketing book nearly every day to get prepared.

Really tired now. Time to sleep.

The Plan from Now

Yesterday Patrick and I met to talk about the plan for Tokyo Cowboys now that we've reached character assembly.

1) Intercut Characters

• Write out each character's story in prose
  
• What happens?
• Is there a reversal?

2) Cowboy Voice Over

• Transcribe remaining Interviews
• Go through all transcripts and draft Voice Over

3) Narration

4) Tokyo Footage (Transitions)

5) Japanese bits

6) Beginning and Ending

I re-watched Ken's and Mark's footage. Ken's story is there. Mark's isn't so clear. At first I was really frustrated...all huffing and puffing until Patrick came down from the loft and asked what the hell was the matter with me. There is no arc with Mark. I know it's in the footage, it's just not in what we've cut so far. But, I shouldn't be frustrated by this. I should be happy...happy that I know what needs to be done with Mark's footage. I must congratulate us for coming this far. I must motivate the truths.

I thank God for every effing day I spend on Tokyo Cowboys...oo rah.

Master Class

I've been taking these documentary Master Classes up at the film school in the evenings. Yesterday, I went to Marc Isaacs' class. I did a class with Marc last term as well. His films really inspire me. They are more thematic than narrative, and they are quite poetic, subtle and emotional. He's quite skilled as a filmmaker, although he's not formerly trained. It makes me wonder how much formal training is really worth.

Both times, Marc was kind enough to talk to me after. He's very supportive and even sent us kind words while we were in Sweden. I like talking to him because he's advanced further down the road but not so far that he doesn't have time to help those just starting out.

Today, I watched the character assemblies for the first time. It was amazing. Before watching them, I felt that things were just all over the place. I felt like the film was so disjointed. But now I can see the stories presenting themselves...the true stories of the Tokyo Cowboys. I felt really great after watching the assemblies, and I've got renewed excitement about the project.