My Directorial Debut

This is a late post, but what the hell.  I've been slacking on my writing and it's better late than never.

I remember a few years ago when Crystal brought up to me that she was thinking about going back to school for nursing.  We were eating at the Cork & Clever and I told her that if she goes to school for nursing that I would get to go to film school.  Well, as it goes, Crystal has almost completed nursing school and I have yet to take a single course in film studies, but that hasn't stopped me from pursuing it.

One morning this past January I stumbled across an article on Inforum about FM Access Film Festival, which was being put on by the Moorhead Community Access channel.  I was intrigued and thought about doing a short film on the first thing that entered my head, and that just happened to be ramen noodles.  

I told Crystal about the festival and the idea I had and I'm pretty sure she thought I was crazy.  With her going to school and my free time being nearly limitless, she told me to go for it as it would at least keep me busy for a while.  So I got out my camera, my tripod, bought shiny, new drip pans, and set out to create my David Lynch inspired masterpiece.

My first attempt didn't quite go as well as I envisioned it to be.  I was unsatisfied with the footage that I shot with my Flip Camera, and after editing the footage together, I decided to give it another try but to use my Canon digital camera instead.  

The second attempt went a lot smoother, especially since I knew the shots I would need to fill two minutes and the angles that I wanted to get.  I'm sure, though, that the high schooler who was selling jerky door-to-door thought it was weird that I had my camera on a tripod pointing down at my stove.  

With the footage complete, I set out to put the finishing touches on the final cut.  Editing the footage together was a piece of cake, however, there was one problem where a shot didn't quite match up with the previous shot.  I used some editing magic to fix that problem and added in an almost dream-like filter on the video to give it a more washed out look to add to the ambiance.

The part that took the longest to complete was the music and audio, which probably took longer than shooting the footage and editing it altogether.  I layered some sample audio loops together to create the music, which I feel is an integral part of the film, especially considering there isn't a single line of dialog in it.

I submitted my film, entitled Ramen, and received an email a few days later saying that my movie was selected as an official entry into the FM Access Film Festival and will be shown on television.  The email also stated that even though they really enjoyed it, my film wasn't selected as one of the top three who were awarded a prize.  

As promised, Ramen did air during the television broadcast, but I was a bit disheartened to learn that there were only six films selected to be a part of the film festival.  I will say that one of the 2-minute films was really good (Sick), but I thought my submission was better than the other two winners.  I may be biased, though.

Although my movie didn't make it in the top three, I still have a desire to make more 2-minute movies and have a few more ideas that I have been kicking around in my head.  Moorhead Community Access has plans to hold another FM Access Film Festival, which I plan on submitting another entry to, but I also have my sights set on the Fargo Film Festival, which also holds a 2-Minute Film Festival.  Seeing a film I created on the big screen would be worth more than winning a prize in my mind.

So, without further ado, here is my 2-minute masterpiece entitled Ramen.  And for those who want to see the entire FM Access Film Festival broadcast, you can find it on YouTube.

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