Monday, December 22, 2008

sequestered

this snow day turned snow week has forced me to get down to business. i've been revisiting some music i wrote back in the spring with this project in mind, and codifying a game plan for the sound scape of a certain recurring thematic section of the story/video. certain ideas that had seemed silly or uninformed at the time of creation are starting to reveal their purpose within the piece now that i know much more about it. i even wrote some new stuff that i'm excited about!

because i have a big handful of incredible musicians down to play and experiment in recording sessions (and possibly live), the sound palate at my disposal has been greatly broadened beyond any former capacities. as someone who isn't first and foremost a composer, it's nearly as terrifying as it is inpiring at this point in the game. my plan is to keep chugging along little engine that could style and trust that i'll create something worth while - whether i "know what i'm doing" or not. i raise my glass to you, snow.

photos are from the LIFE magazine photo archive - "building the apollo space ship"

Thursday, December 18, 2008

14 seconds



So, now that the animation station is fully equipped with a working lightbox again, I was able to shoot all our handy work this evening. On the night of our animation party, there were 12 of us who worked for 3 hours to uniquely fill in each frame of the Slovenian Bag Story. In the end, we produced 200 delicately hatched frames or 14 frames a second or 14 damn good looking seconds. This means all in all, with the 45 seconds that were already finished, 1 full minute is done (800 frames/drawings), and it looks fantastic.

Take a look
8 seconds

i fell off the wagon...

i have been pulling 15 hr days rehearsing and recording with kultur shock and figeater! it has been tons o fun, but hasn't left me with the capacity for much else. i'm currently being held hostage by snow and hope to be able to keep my rehearsal with ezra for tomorrow...

for now, i will leave you with a special snow day treat. click HERE to, "behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat."

Monday, December 15, 2008

Production stills! of our animation party

The animation experiment was a great success! Thank you all so much for your helping hands. This hatch-mark charcoal fest will soon become a bi-monthly event. We'll be meeting informally at a local bar or cafe and I would love all the help I can get. I hope to see you there.


wine + exact-o-knives


executive decision


beautifully hatched dress!


Friday, December 12, 2008

it's an interesting thing...

...gathering people who don't know each other and putting them at the same table to do an intimate thing, make art. it's like some sort of group blind date. i have to keep reminding myself that i'm the only person who is friends with everyone involved and that it's going to take time for my collaborators to develop personal/working relationships with each other and this project. growing relationships through the process of creating this piece is an intentional element, i just have to remember to leave room for it! i also have to realize that at this stage in the process, i'm working to externalize things that are very internal to me and need to allow time for each of my collaborators to digest all i've thrown at them before i can expect anything back. that said, our brainstorming sessions are gaining momentum and i'm confident that they'll only continue to grow as each person gets their hands dirty and develops a personal relationship with this piece. input from the multi-faceted perspectives of 4 individuals specializing in different mediums, each with unique life experiences, makes me a very happy lady.

amanda's busting out the bag animation...jamie's designing a screen...ezra and i start tangibly working on movement next week...

we are moving from concept to creation. way great!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

day 6

i spent the day teaching, researching grants, eating rice cakes with butter, and watching internet tv. this is why i have trouble posting daily...glamorous, no?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

day 5

i have been taken on as an artist of the frank agency!!! this means lots of amazing exciting things like support for strategic planning, marketing/promo, and grant writing! i am so incredibly honored to be represented by this fantastic organization, which i have looked up to for years. pinch me. it can't be real.

over the next couple weeks, i will be working on creating current promo material for myself and this project - soon to be found here: http://www.thefrankagency.org/Paris.htm

this calls for a major wine and internet tv celebration.

Monday, December 8, 2008

day 4


pat graney
house of mind
happening now

Sunday, December 7, 2008

day 3

my meeting with amanda went well. we made a lot of progress toward defining the general shape of the piece and how its elements relate to each other. it also led me to the next step, which is for ezra and me to define our roles as performers now that the larger story is emerging: who are we? what is our relationship to each other and to the main character? why are we performing live with the video/animations? and so on... we meet this coming friday to delve in.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

day 2

i'm trying a new thing to see how many days in a row i can post. i'm on a roll.

tomorrow i meet with amanda to firm up our new thoughts on what the big picture story is and discuss how to start filling it in. while work on the project has been happening in some capacity for over a year now, i feel like tomorrow marks the actual start of creating its tangible aspects and being able to define it. the day i can explain all of this beyond, "uhhh...it's um, this big multi-media project i'm working on," just might be closer then i thought. hallelujah.

Friday, December 5, 2008

i'm a terrible "blogger"

i'm trying to be better about posting frequently as i realize it's the reason anyone would check back - to see what's new - but this project majorly ebbs and flows, and my "blogging" has a hard time deviating...

the animation party we had a couple weeks ago was great. amanda's light box ain't workin' right now, so we're hoping we still like what came out of it once it's in motion...and if so, we're going to start having them regularly. anyone up for drawing tiny hatch marks with a charcoal pencil?

two pieces of exciting news:

1 - we now have a through line and a general shape!! amanda, the genius, magically, wonderfully, and so simply wrapped all of my seemingly disparate elements into a package. those epiphanal moments are always so incredible and often make me laughcry - it had been staring me in the face the whole time even down to how i'd organized my notes and drawings. geez and great!

2 - we have decided to revamp our timeline pushing our premiere back to fall 2009 and it feels great!