lawn chair time

Tonight is the night:  The Danville Lawnchair Film Festival 2012.  Can you feel it?  We can.  Things are buzzing in WSF land as we prepare for a great night of local film and the weather should be spectacular.

If you caught us on the radio with Charlie Perry yesterday, you know a little bit about what we have in store for tonight.  I don't want to say it's going to be epic... but it is.  We're recounting a forgotten piece of Danville history and heroism and it might just change everything you believe about the town and possibly your thoughts on life in general.

3 Ladies is a short film designed as a tribute to three genuinely dynamic, incredible people who shaped this city.  And that is no joke.

We'll talk much more about the film and the process of making it after the public has had a chance to ingest it tonight.  We will put it online next week and give everyone a chance to yell at us.

For now let me just say that we were very happy and blessed to add some extremely talented folks to our humble troupe on this project.  The professionalism on set increased exponentially.  And Grace Sheene even composed and performed a piece of original music that we used several times.  So, thank you to everyone who made our contribution to this year's festival possible and, to all the newcomers, welcome to the fold...


Dale Kihlman
BJ Curd
Maria Montgomery
Matt Todd
Grace Sheene
Havannah Martin
Jadelyn Winfield
Sophia Stafford
Kirby Stafford
Kolton Winfield
Aram Martin
Connor Frey
Derek Emerson
Kristie Martin


With Special Thanks to:
Judy Spellacy
Rolan Coulter
West T. Hill Community Theater
Joey Martin
West Johnson

do what you do

Ray and Charles Eames.  They weren't indie, but I still heart them.

I just wanted to take a minute to send a figurative smack-on-the-rear (the sports kind) to all the creatives out there.  I’m thankful for all the talented people who are out there plugging away, making art.  I’m most thankful for, and encouraged by, the people who are giving us things to look at and watch and listen to who aren’t getting paid a dime for it.  Those people are exploring and pushing boundaries because they love what they do.  They love to create.  And I can identify with that.

I just wanted to say, “Keep it up.”  I think we’d all like to make money doing what we love to do.  But only a few are doing it to get rich.  Most of us just want the cash and the time to make the art more often.  The sad truth is that the majority may never find it.  But, does that mean it was all a waste?  Are you kidding me?  There is amazing work sitting all over the internet landscape right now and it gets discovered everyday.  Adults discovering musicians and authors, children discovering artists that inspire them to pick up a brush, and on and on and on.  These efforts are absolutely not wasted.  First of all, there is always hope.  People reach their professional dreams all the time.  But, even if that never happens, there are still people you're going to touch.  Somebody out there is going to appreciate what you made.  Somebody out there is going to LOVE what you made and they are going to be moved by it.  Ultimately it might cause them to make something of their own.  So let me say this…

Keep making.  Make as much as you can.  Create.

The more you produce, the more eyes that see it, the more chances that something sticks or goes viral and moves you closer to where you want to be or sets you on an even better course you never expected.  Never believe what you’re doing is for nothing.  Your friends will see it and they’ll make sure more people see it.  Strangers in Russia will see it and send it to their friends.  Trust me, I know.  Walk Softly is big in Russia right now.

But… what if?  What if the best thing that ever comes of your art is when your 8 year old climbs into your lap and belly-laughs while she watches your video? Or the person you devoted your life to stares at your painting or photo or listens to your song and smiles ear-to-ear with a sparkle in their eye?  If you ask me…  I say you’ve made it.

Now let me share some love.  Check out a couple of my favorite indie creators:  Michael Startzman and David Arnold.

secret shoot saturday

Probably the best look you're going to get until May 18th

Secret Shoot Saturday was another ironman production marathon, certainly not for the faint of heart.  Sixteen hours: from 9am Saturday to 1am on Sunday.  To put it simply, it was nuts.  It was also our first attempt to make one of our productions a real-time social media extravaganza; probably to mixed results.  For those of you who followed on Twitter, how did you feel about it?  I think Allen did a great job of juggling heavy acting and creative duties while sending out some status updates about where we were in the process as well as a mix of photos.  And then, on the other hand, there was me.  Most of you have never seen me on the day of a shoot, but those that have can attest that I am not what you would ever describe as a "multi-tasker."  To dress it up in the most positive light possible, you could say I'm "in the zone" on those days.  But, basically it boils down to no one being able to get much out of me other than what the next shot is.  So, my tweets were much more sparse.  Plus, this shoot was just massive: lots of actors, lots of set-ups, lots of props, lots of costumes.  It's low-level insanity to try to pull off what we did in one day.

All that would have been impossible without the amount of incredible people that were involved.  We had our best crew of actors yet; better than we deserve.  They were all incredible and knocked it out of the park.  We had family members that stuck around all day and kept everything from grinding to a hault.  My parents, the Sheenes, and the Martins; without every single one of them it could never happen.  Not to mention friends who ran audio and carried lights around and anything else that needed doing.

Another tweeting roadblock was the secrecy level.  We will never have to hide as much of a project as we've attempted to hide on this one.  There is one simple reason for that:  this project was always specifically designed for a Danville, Kentucky audience and the Danville Lawn Chair Film Festival.  We had a concept that we thought would umm.... exhilarate... and we don't want to ruin it for anyone until the moment it debuts on May 18th in the center of the town that birthed it.  If we did this right, things could get out of hand and that's exactly what we wanted.  We want to cause a scene, point blank.  This flick seriously couldn't be more Danville.  Literally impossible.

So, in the future, expect more behind-the-scenes.  But for now, be glad you have no idea what's coming.  (And if somehow you've heard too much, don't tell a soul!)

help us out - phase 1

SHARING IS CARING

 If you've ever sat down at your computer or with your fancy tablet doo-dad, watched a Walk Softly video and thought, "You know what... I am entertained at this moment and I appreciate those boys for that," I want you to just hold onto that sentiment and take it one step further.  You can directly ensure that more videos and films get made.

There are two easy ways to help.  In fact, the first method is super easy:  Share our stuff with your friends.  And for that matter, if you hate our videos, share them all with your enemies as a form of punishment.  Seriously though, if you click "like" or "share" or "+1" on the stuff we do, it helps.  Basically anything that looks like a thumbs-up or a heart is good.  If that heart is on top of, underneath, or in the general proximity of our videos...click that.  And/or copy the link of your favorite videos and blog posts and email them or facebook them or tweet them out there.  Go ahead, blast them worldwide.  But, by all means, maintain your credibility.  You know, if we make the indie film equivalent of Waterworld, just ignore that one and avoid losing all your critic cred with your hipster buddies.  Nobody likes a sellout, right?

There's no better time to start than now.  If you haven't followed our Twitter accounts (@wsf_allen and @wsf_scott) you're going to miss live updates and pics from our big shoot this Saturday.  You can read all about it in our last post.  Get to it!  Then what?  Share!  And stay tuned for Phase 2 right here.  You'll love it.

Squeak Gay's Big News Wednesday

Squeak Gay has absolutely nothing to do with this, but I saw his/her/it's truck on the road and I felt the need to share.  The weirdest part is that there are no Google results for Squeak Gay Construction.  Zero.  How is that possible?  Not even a phone number?  The one thing I do know is, if that was Squeak behind the wheel, he looked like he meant business.  The mystery deepens.  Anyway.  ...Onto the news!

As promised in our last post, production is afoot!  The Danville Lawnchair Film Festival is just around the corner and that means the WSF Gang must be doing some completely alarming and slapdash production work.  (Timeout.  Slapdash!  Use it.  Today.)  A shoot of major proportions is going down in Danville proper on Saturday (April 14th) and let me say, we've done some ridiculous things before but this is...a game-changer.  And I just hope people will be able to discern the immense love and admiration this project was born from, despite its assured high-level insanity.

Now, here's the cool part:  amidst shooting on Saturday, Allen and I will be tweeting our progress as we go.  We'll try to bring you some of the goofiness that we get to experience on these shoots and even send out some pictures from the set.  Some very carefully framed pictures.  Possibly a peek at the people starring in this thing and maybe the most clever of you will be able to guess what we're up to.  (Be assured, if any of you guess correctly, we will vehemently deny it.)

Now, you might be wondering, "Hey, how do I follow the fun on Saturday and receive these tweets you speak of?"  My friend, I'm glad you asked.  I am glad you asked!  It is easy enough; just head to the Twitter machine and when you see @wsf_allen and @wsf_scott, click Follow.  Hey look, I made our names into links.  How convenient is that?  (Also, pay no attention to the last month of tweets.  We were both understandably and appropriately obsessed with Kentucky basketball.  We will now return to the observational humor and witticisms you pay us for.)

Also, come back in the next day or two and I'll make that completely shameless plea for assistance I mentioned last week.

collaboration

Guess who these belong to?

Matt Todd, David Arnold, Kirby Stafford, Blythe Sheene, Kristie Martin, Kolton Winfield, Aram Martin, Kyle Lange, and Evona Stafford.

This is the haul thus far for Bizarnival:  three film fests, three awards.  I don't say that to toot our horns.  I say it because we've been shocked at the response this little short film has gotten.  A film that we hammered out and shot in a day and a half.  So, what made it a success?  Was it a flawless narrative and carefully crafted concept?  Definitely not.  I mean, 15% of it is just a wink at people who've watched Cannonball.  Nonetheless, Bizarnival has grabbed a lot of people.  They sit and smile at it in the festival theaters.  Why?  It's because all the people involved put their stamp on it; their own brand of magic.  Bizarnival apparently has something for everyone.

For example, the moment the lights came up in Louisville I heard someone say, "That little robot was amazing."  And you know what?  He is.  Matt Todd's Keymaster is just an awesome little guy that never fails to reel people into the story.  I gave Matt very little direction on what the Keymaster should look like and yet, what he made couldn't have been more spot-on.  Add that to the fact the Keymaster was operational and perfectly pose-able for stop-motion; unbelievable.  From there you get the Bomber and the Mime.  Aram and Kolton brought those two to life and I can't count the amount of times someone has told me that one or both was their favorite part of the movie.  And Blythe and Kristie totally went for it, capping off the craziness in the extremely weird final scene.  Of course, David Arnold's music is always incredible and gives our work a tone and energy we could never achieve without him.

Those audience comments and the responses we've gotten have been the reward for me because I couldn't agree with them more.  I'm amazed at the work everyone did.  Todd and Allen never fail to amaze me on any project we tackle and that was obviously the case once again.  This is one of the reasons film is great.  Collaboration.  It is the truly collaborative art form unlike any other.  And we're getting better at that.  It takes so many people to get it right.  And they can all bring something you never expected to the table and lift the work above what you imagined.  That is exactly what happened here.  I had no idea all of those pieces would be so great and that's why all the credit goes to the friends and family that made it happen.  This is a team effort and I couldn't be happier or luckier to be a part of it.

Keep an eye out: 

Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  I'm getting back into the swing of things after some time away.  But we have a lot on the way; productions (stuff to watch), stuff that should make Space Cops fans happy, and even a shameless cry for assistance (so look forward to that)!!

PS - Are you following us on Twitter?  @wsf_scott and @wsf_allen

How about Facebook?

cannonball: eucalypti

Tony just bolted from his paper delivery duties and fills in the Bandit while they look for Lou.  I always liked this line that Todd ad-libbed mid-scene.  And unlike after most of his ad-libs, I managed not to laugh immediately.  So enjoy this very short deleted scene from Cannonball and remember, DVD's are only $4.99.

derby city

We're headed back to the Derby City Film Festival after a one year hiatus!  Who wants to come along?  Bizarnival is scheduled to play at 4pm, Saturday, February 18th.  The venue is the Eifler Theater in the Clifton Center, a very cool venue built in 1929 and a building with plenty of history where people apparently get hitched on a regular basis.  I don't think anyone is getting married that day (Except you...to great films. Mrawrararar) but you never know.  Be sure to check the lineup and see if any of the other films tickle your fancy.

A Year Later...

It has been a year since we lost our friend and collaborator Dr. Alan Ross last New Year's Eve. Another post was needed to make sure all of you out there remember not only Dr. Jezik from Cannonball, but a son, brother, friend, doctor and above all else one of the most wonderful human beings that has ever graced this terrestrial plain. There are so many of you who have been touched by the man who took care of your pets (myself included) as if they were his own and treated you as if you were the only client he had. I had the pleasure of knowing Alan since I was about eight years old and I can say he was one of the funniest people I have ever known. Our relationship strengthened in church and school and the journey from then to now is kind of what James Taylor was talking about in the Secret O' Life. Enjoying the passage of time. There is not a day that goes by that I don't want to call him and tell him something only he would think was funny, because it was me telling him and we just got each other. His number is still in my AT&T top ten, can't seem to get rid of it. As 2012 approaches, keep your friends in mind and don't feel awkward telling them you love them and how much they mean to you. Be thankful for those friends you have that are still here to share those dumb jokes and crazy observations, and also be thankful for the friendships you had that have made you the person you are today. To Alan, you walked softly with us and you continue to inspire us and make us smile all our days. Thank you and cheers.

happy holidays!

These fine lads and lass will not let evil pervade their holiday times and neither should you. Walk Softly would like to wish you all a Happy Bonanza of glad tidings and good will. What will you do differently in 2012 besides wait for the end of the Mayan calendar? Keep a good feeling and be a nice human as consistently as possible. Peace.