Movies To Remind Us Of Our Humanity
Over the last ten years, I’ve developed skills in crafting ever larger stories in movie form that capture my perspective from having seen the parade of life streaming through the park on countless mornings and afternoons. I’ve developed good connections with actors, directors, screenwriters, and cinematographers that I can work with and learn from. I want to keep building the capacity to tell the stories that interest me from the vantage point of the strange and wonderful life I have been living!
The main project I’m working on now is mini-series about a ( hypothetically fictional) cellist who performs in a park who encounters an angel and an AI Agent who compete with each other to persuade the cellist to accept on certain conditions an offer of immortality. Perhaps we might call it “Temptation of The Park Cellist”. This narrative fiction format is the medium I believe will be most suited to share with the world some of the magic I have experienced playing in Lithia Park for going on 14 seasons. Below you will see some of the tools and resources I need to realize the completion of this project, and spread the word of my work on social media.
A state of the art video editing computer - $4146
This computer will need to perform double duty. Besides doing efficient editing and rendering, it needs to be dead quiet for recording audio in my studio for the soundtracks I’ll be composing. Here is a look at it.
Here’s a list of software and gear we need to be effective at making better movies:
Audiogo Labs mics - $697
3 boom stands - $165
Insta360 5x Action Camera - $549
DJI Osmo Pocket Camera - $964
Nanlite PAvo Tube - $153
Davinci Resolve Studio - $297
Extendable Selfie Stick - $125
Handlebar Mount - $39
External Drive Setup for new Video Editing Computer - $760
Along with this gear, I’ll need a budget for some of the talent-actors, our cinematographer, special effects-that will make this production top notch. I am estimating $5000 for all this, but we will make the most of what we have, as one does as an independent filmmaker!
I will conclude by saying: I will continue to be intrepid, to make what I can out of what I have, to tell the stories that I’m able to.
I will build on the footage we shot last year in the park, interviews with David West, a Professor of Native American Studies at SOU, with John Enders, author of a book about Lithia Park, with the great folks at Creekside Strings who have fostered hundreds of kids to learn how to fiddle folk tunes in the park over the years. All of this will come out.
The computer is the most important component of this, as it will enable me to do as much of the work myself as possible. Still, the audio and video gear and the budget for the movie would be a huge boon to make it possible to produce the best example of what I am capable of in this medium that I have so far attempted.
All contributions are a huge help in this endeavor!