settingoutproductions.com

Check out my new website: settingoutproductions.com.  You can find all of the musings of this blog as well as information about upcoming projects.

Improve the Environment by Having Fewer Children

Scientific American reported last month that the biggest impact Americans can have on climate change is having fewer children.  Of course population control raises a myriad of ethical questions – not only issues revolving around religion and freedom of choice but also soaring birth rates in underdeveloped countries and diminishing populations in some developed nations.  In a previous post I referenced Gapminder and their theory that population spikes in developing countries are unavoidable and will predictably level out (following the same pattern as countries we currently deem ‘developed’.)  So who is responsible for population control?  If anyone?  And what happens if we never address the issue?

“Other”?

Right now 6% of the people who voted for their favorite still (all pulled from the film) have said “other.”  But there are no comments.  So I am curious if these people have seen a working version of the film and have a specific idea of another image they like better?  Or if the 6% are mostly people who haven’t seen the film and just aren’t attracted to any of the images shown?

There definitely isn’t a majority viewpoint from voters but I had decided to go with the current favorite “Baby”.  Now the trouble is, for cohesion purposes, I want my DVD and publicity postcard to have a similar design.  And DVD’s are circles with a big whole in the middle.  So having a great image is a good start but I’ve been playing around a lot with possible layouts.  I printed several options this morning (which means some friends and participants will really be getting one-of-a-kind copies.)  I’ll take a picture when I make a decision so you can all see it.

Publicity Stills

Update

I am doing some final polishing on I love children, but . . . before printing DVD’s and making press packets to send out to film festivals.  My goal is to move to the distribution phase by the end of the month.  I’m excited to finally put this piece out there, but I have to keep reminding myself how long the festival process takes.  I’m looking at festivals that accept entries in September and October but most of these festivals don’t actually happen until the spring.  During that lag-time my post will no doubt be fewer, but I will keep sharing interesting pertinent tidbits that I find.  And I will obviously post any developments on the distribution front.

overpopulation

“If everyone lived the lifestyle of the average American we would need five planets.” – Global Footprint Network

screening!

I love children, but . . . will screen at the Walker Building at Emerson College (120 Bolyston St) at 6 pm on Monday August 10th.  Contact me to get your name on the list.

rough cut screenings

making media is an interesting balance between artistic expression and effective communication.   it’s usually difficult to know how other people will react to your work.  when i work on a project daily for an extended period of time, it’s hard to stay grounded in what will make sense to people that don’t have an intimate relationship with the project.  i think it’s important to know how other people interpret and respond to my work.  outside feedback can be really useful.  but, at the same time, being confronted with a diversity of perspectives can be really overwhelming.

i held rough cut screening of I love children, but . . . the last two nights – first for a group of media students then to group of predominantly young professionals.  digesting the feedback from other media makers was relatively easy.  there were divergent perspectives but i generally understood where people were coming from.  the discussion after the screening was problem-solving and conversational.

last night the discussion was minimal.  and the group was much larger so i didn’t have the opportunity to flesh out the specifics about how people felt about the film.  i just have the surveys i passed out which are often contradicting and sometimes incomprehensible and taxing enough that i can’t bring myself to thoroughly read through all of them right now.

throughout the process of constructing something i always oscillate between loving and hating it.  this pendulum of emotions on good days makes me really productive and on bad days can just shut me down completely.  i think it might take 24 hours to get over being overwhelmed and get productive with the plethora of opinion i was just handed.

rock-a-bye baby creepier than usual

Rough Cut Screening

Next Tuesday (July 28th) I will screen a rough cut of  I love children, but . . . If you are in the Boston area and want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to view and provide feedback for a work-in-progress please let me know and I’ll get you on the list for security.  Along with my project you will see works-in-progress by two other amazing female documentary makers, Lydia and Christine.