At the end of my college freshmen year in Chicago, I worked at an independent film festival. I say independent, because the festival self proclaimed itself as the Midwest’s premiere film festival that catered to all independent film making and even went so far as to put “Indie-“ in it’s title. In actuality it was only in its second year and attracted very little “established” attention, but that didn’t matter to the filmmakers who were showcasing their hard earned films. All of the feature length filmmakers were looking to make a deal with the enemy of all things independent: mainstream distribution. All of them had a hunger in their eyes and were all looking for the agents that were promised, but never showed up.
The festival went on for a week and half without one single deal being made and on the last day, when they were handing out awards, the only people in attendance were the filmmakers. Every single filmmaker went home poorer than when they started (costs money to come and stay in Chicago) but a few went home with awards.
Now, a couple of years later I am reminded of this festival with its big aspirations and the filmmakers in attendance. I am reminded of the filmmakers who thought they were going to make it big, but ended in a self congratulatory celebration of their own (still unsold) independent filmmaking.
I am reminded of these things not in disdain, rather I think of them as a reflection of our own little JUMP film festival and the assumptions that we never assume. I am filled with pride when I think of JUMP and what it doesn’t promise. It doesn’t promise recognition, certainly not fame, and most certainly not any money. As a filmmaker I would love nothing more than all three of those, but with JUMP all preconceived ideas of any of the above just do not matter.
The wonderful thing about JUMP is that it’s a home movie festival. It’s a festival where the audience can hate your film, but like your family, will never tell you this.
I raise my glass to all local filmmakers, all local audience members, and to all things JUMP. I would like to thank the Ak Robotics crew for making it all possible. In an effort to create a venue for their own films the guys at Ak Robotics have created a festival that is uniquely unassuming, all welcoming, and all forgiving. Sure there does have to be some measure of entertainment value, and the films do have to be short, but the lines are fuzzy and the audience doesn’t care.
To all audience members, I say throw more money into the donation jar, it’s for a good cause and it’s insurance that you have something to do on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night at least twice a year. Give back to a festival that has freely given already.
Now on to the commentations-
TRANSIENT BOOKS-
Judging by the film’s description in the program I would assume that this little movie was completely unplanned. Arlo showed up, happened to have a camera in his backpack and they happened to need a video for their website (I assume?). It was a match made in documentary heaven and I thought it worked. I enjoy commercials and advertisements that don’t feel forced. This felt natural and the questions by the filmmakers solicited responses that painted a very unique picture of what exactly Transient Books was all about. My only qualm, albeit a small one, was the Argentinean fellow (name escapes me) was hard to follow when he was explaining some of his stories. Of course this is more than likely a 2nd language issue, but a more pointed question by the filmmaker might have been posed again or a gentle prodding to elaborate or redefine would have helped the clarity of what he was saying. It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand his English, his accent gave the whole film that transient edge.
CHRISTMAS vs. EASTER
Simple titles that do well to explain what the audience should expect from your films compliment your animation. Keep that pen moving. I am not sure that adding details to your mean looking rabbits worked to keep the whole thing as one animation style, but whatever. The abrupt ending was a little quick. Maybe a couple of “Oh, Crapping Paper!” faces before the explosion might have worked better.
OLD PEOPLE
Argggg! I too have felt have the same way about the disorderly elderly, always up to no good. They are always falling off the curbs downtown, then they have to call an ambulance, they block the whole street, it takes like 90 minutes to get them to on the stretcher and into the back of the ambulance cause they are all old and slow… I got places to go people! Well dones.
WALRUS vs. SCOTCH TAPE
Poor little fella! Good advertisement for not throwing your trash in the ocean.
WHERE I GET MY IDEAS
Wasn’t quite sure what went into your head there. A mutant brain slug makes sense. I hope you have health insurance. By far your best animation in terms of movement. When the slug went into your brain, it looked fleshy, soft and natural.
BALANCE
I am not a climber at all, so my lack of appreciation stems from that. Something I always hate in snowboard films is not showing the whole jump and landing, so it makes sense to show the whole rock but on one hand showing the whole rock made the climb look kind of small. I could have just reached up and touched where he was climbing too. Shooting it all from a shoulder height and above worked against the action. I do believe that it could have been shorter as well.
A REAL PRINCESS-
Great little story. The writing on this story was its best feature. When she goes to her Father and asks “Am I a Princess?” was a great bit. The third act felt a little rushed, but then fairy tales always are. I think the third act feeling a little rushed was a result of the climax happening to quickly. She was kissing toads. She liked kissing toads and she kept at it, but there could have been a moment to let the audience know that maybe this toad was the “ONE”. It would have made the subsequent joke a lot stronger, and in turn the 3rd act feel just right.
MAX SLAP-
Dudes a little ripper. Keep up the skating. You got that 50-50 on lock down. Throw some kickflips down a stair set and you are going somewhere.
THE DIRECTED BY-
I did this one. It is whatever the audience says it is.
ONE LESS GUN IN THE WORLD-
Pointedly simple. I like the shot where you thought it was Marc’s perspective then it turned around and revealed that he was still walking up.
MACRO-
I really like a film called MICROCOSMOS. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. I think you can get it at the library. Anyways, great footage and the music was dynamite. The whole creeped and crawled together just like a _____ . Title at the end was great as well. Now that you’ve accomplished this you need to think bigger…
HOLLYWOOD FOR MORTALS TRAILER-
Footage turned out decent. Wasn’t quite sure what the story was about or what Hollywood for Mortals was actually about, but it still looked like it came together. I do actually know what it was all about, I was there on set on one of the days. The stuff that I lit I thought looked like garbage, but some of the other stuff turned out good. Congrats for making the project happen! Hats off to you and Jeff!
INTERFISHION-
Perfect! Great animation. The water and the lighting and the movement all looked excellent.
1st ASCENT OF NORTH FACE-
I am sorry Greg, but I am going to be critical on this one because it was ambitious. I expect the same for my film. A huge problem is that if I hadn’t read your extremely long and boring title I might not have know what was going on. That is never a good thing. I was a little lost on the timeline of the events, actually I was really lost on the timeline of the events. If you were going for a Werner Herzog Encounters at the End of the World sort of thing then it sort of worked, but even that had a narrative journey. You could have easily provided this journey through narration. The one saving grace was the little animation showing how the climb progressed up the mountain. I don’t think you needed footage from the climb, but you definitely needed a clearer definition of the chain of events. The interviews were well conducted and insightful, but it was missing that careful narrative stitching that moved the whole story along.
BABY BOMBERS-
I love things that look old and outdated. There is something quaint about a film shot on S-VHS. So maybe this film wasn’t the cat’s pajamas, or any pajamas at all, except the ones with those little footsies attached. The truth is that someone took the time to make the babies, and then make a film about them. It was good team effort on everyone’s part. And that deserves some recognition.
CONFISCATED-
Doritos and the Staley… now that’s a film.
ANOTHER DORITO COMMERCIAL-
Hmmm… totally clueless about what a gorilla had to do with anything, but who cares. Could have used some lighting. Totally escapes me about what was going on with the little dancing chip- chimp- dancing chimp! The chips, or chimps, or possessed by the desire to play football, but the higher evolved homo sapien is dominating their species and subjugating them to torturous asphyxiation by stuffing them in his mouth or in a plastic bag. Just when they think the can break free, a relic of evolution walks through the door on two foot and overpowers the homo erectus with his brute strength. But they become friends over their love of subjugating the weak. Does this make sense? Who cares!
INDY 4-
Fun! Indiana Jones is a mad man. Good stuff.
SUPERHERO REFLECTIONS-
It was obviously improved… could have been improved. Could have used some retakes to speed some of the pauses and “uhs”. SuperHammer boy was sort of funny. The true genius was the Intern. His line about the coffee was good. That bit made the whole video a little more bearable. These guys do have more acting skills than some of the actors I’ve worked with. Hats off to you three. Don’t be afraid to do a retake of an improvved line. (The audience will never know the difference.)
SARAH PALIN- RELATIVELY AWESOME-
I thought for sure she was going to make a guest appearance at the end of the video… let down!
FIRED!
Ummm. Welll. Ewww. I-I-I, hmmm, errrrr, (Psssss… what’s going on here?) it’s like kinda sorta… GUNS ARE BAD! Yes! TWO anti gun campaigns in ONE JUMP festival, take that you right wing Nazis! We on the liberal front know how to create effective messaging airwaves with super venom that spits in your eyes and blinds you with so much truth that you cry yourself to sleep at night!!!
BUTTERFLY KISSES-
Classic. When I think of the work many artists that I enjoy, it almost certainly is defined by one simple moment that I can replay in my mind. Why not make that one moment into a short film?
THE PASSIONATE PROPOSAL-
No comment.
STEPDAD-
What a great looking movie! I am seeing Oscar already.
CROSSWALK-
Well, I hope the guy-waiting-to-cross-the-street brushes and flosses after a meal like that. Nothing will ruin your day quicker than a good old-fashioned cavity.