atoll, orion, & a poster

16mm film frame of Chuck Corbett paddling back out in the distance. I shot this footage from the deck of Chuck's boat, the Tuaraoi, anchored in the calm lagoon quite far away. There was a bit of a breeze, and the 60 foot boat rocked back and forth slowly and gently. I used a really long lens and my tripod. In motion these shots have a really nice life to them, there is this gentle sway to them.

Two days ago we added the final percussion touches to the finale of the soundtrack, a song called Orion. Aside from deciding on a song for the end credits, the original score of the movie is now done. Orion is an 8 minute song that stretches over the last few scenes of the film. My idea for it was something that had the feel and scope of the earth and space, I also wanted it to be the sonic equivalent of a grand finale at a fireworks show. It's sort of fitting that the final song of the film was by far the hardest to create. 

This Rogers marching drum is a big part of the soundtrack, and you can hear it in the trailers. It's the deep boom, the one you feel. In the movie it feels like the pulse of the earth to me. That's kind of how I've looked at it in the soundtrack. You don't always notice it, but it's there.

I bought this drum on a whim about ten years ago from Dynamite Music in NW Indiana. I noticed it up on a shelf, and figured someday I could probably use it for something...turns out it has helped shaped this soundtrack.

Rough sketch of a poster concept I've had for a while now for the film, a lineup of silhouettes of all the surfers in the movie.

this project on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hangs-Upon-Nothing-a-16mm-surf-film/246361802068338

the editing room

While editing my 16mm workprint a couple weeks ago to project for a preview screening, I at first found it slow and challenging.  It had been a while since I edited actual film with a razor blade and tape.  Because of the time it takes to separate and string together shots, hang them on the wall, hand crank the reels, it can make for a different style of editing.  Often times less cuts.

After I was all finished, I thought it might be an OK edit.  I quickly edited together 18 minutes of my band's jam recordings mixed with some field recordings to play along with the footage, not in complete sync with the edit, as I had no way to sync them up.  This audio-visual edit is basically a really rough edit of the beginning of my movie.

I had already done an edit of this section of the movie digitally, a more compicated edit.  I thought it was going to be the better of the two.  But after comparing them, I like the simple edit I did with my workprint way more, and the way the audio goes with it too.  I was really surprised by this.  It just feels fresher I think.  It was less thought out, and I was under pressure to get it done quickly.  So I'm now going back to my digital edit and conforming it to what I did with my workprint.

this project on fb: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hangs-Upon-Nothing-a-16mm-surf-film/246361802068338

chuck on the edge of the world

roller coaster

zoooooooooom

That's Chuck Corbett on the Moviola screen.  That was after we'd sailed 9 days straight, heading south from Hawaii, over 1,000 miles.  We were taking the battered hobie cat to shore on the atoll.  Living on that boat for a few months made me really appreciate living on land.

over the edge of the world

Chuck Corbett, twin fin cutback on his prized beat up fish. Chuck surfs with the reckless abandon of a kid, and with style that reflects the era he grew up in. On land Chuck sometimes reminded me a of a cartoon character, bumbling around, usually on some sort of near impossible mission, fully committed. Sometimes he's ten thoughts ahead of where he's at in a conversation. The way Captain Jack Sparrow walks, there's something similar going on with Chuck. There's this wander to his walk, an uncertainty to where each next step might land.

His surfing has this too. In the moment. Spontaneous. Flowing. A bit off balance and wandering at times. But there's this awesome style to it. Usually made me smile.

this film project on fb:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hangs-Upon-Nothing-a-16mm-surf-film/246361802068338

once upon a time

Chuck Corbett and his wife Toka built and lived in this house on the lagoon. This is a shot from Chuck's collection.

chuck and the ranger

three people

click to enlarge:

The photo above was shot by a news photographer who was on the park rangers' helicopter. The type written note Chuck sent back to his parents with the photo.

I asked Chuck to describe what it felt like up on the volcano. Here is part of what he sent me:

"At sunrise we arrived at the foot of the vent, the earth constantly shook, the roar was comparable to a jet at takeoff, and as we got closer we could no longer hear each other. The sight of seeing a volcano up close was beyond description. I took pictures and pictures don’t show what it was like. I got close to take a picture and stopped when I became fearful of catching fire in the scorching heat..."

volcano

More from the collection of Chuck Corbett. The second photo shows what happens to photographs in the tropics. Many of Chuck's old photos are half withered away. I had to look at this one for a while...that's a tree on Kilauea Volcano, with the fiery lava plume behind it. I will have to dig up the shot of Chuck getting scolded by the ranger I mentioned in a previous post, complete with lava shooting into the sky right behind them. It's even more ridiculous than the drinking shot.

chuck corbett

Chuck Corbett, Kilauea Volcano, Big Island, Hawaii. Chuck did the day hike in with two friends to the edge of the erupting caldera of Kilauea back in April, 1984. Chuck's friend shot some photos. Just after this was shot, park rangers flew in on helicopter to issue each of them fines, and then the rangers flew off, leaving the three of them to hike out. It took them through the night to get back to their car. Chuck's fine alone ended up being $600.

I don't even know where to start with writing about Chuck. A few books could be written about this guy's life, and they wouldn't be like anything else. He was born in Alabama. He slept through a tornado that ripped the roof off his childhood home. His family soon after moved to California and he learned to surf there as a kid. At 15, he left by himself for Hawaii. By 18 he was in Guam. By 19 he was lost in Kiribati, where he stayed for the majority of 30 years. He surfed the atolls there alone for most of that time. He married a local beauty and they started a family. He left her for a perfect wave and another woman on a farther off atoll.

Chuck is a pretty big part of this film. I spent nearly 8 months total as volunteer crew on his boat so that I could film what his life is like. I had no idea what I was in for. We started in Hawaii, and ended up in Kiribati, sailing the 1000 mile passage during peak cyclone season. I did not want to make the passage during cyclone season, and many experienced sailors said they would never think of doing it. This whole time period was the biggest adventure of my life, and also the most trying experience of my life. This guy it seemed, had gone off and lived the life that most surfers have at one time or another dreamed about. I was really curious to see what this was actually like. It was not what I imagined.

Chuck surfing an atoll reef pass alone, 1984. Also of note, the photo of the young girl in the banner is one of Chuck's two daughters, Annie.

staring into the sun - pt. 1

I sat alone in my apartment in Chicago six years ago, staring at my computer screen. My eyes weren't focused though. I remember the warm orange afternoon light shining through the window, and reflecting off the screen. And it hit me like a train, what on earth was I doing with my life? I was 24. I had recently gotten out of my first long relationship. I had quit my full time job a few months before so that I could pursue creating my own art and music. I felt like I had grown up quicker than I expected. My dad used to tell me as a kid, "enjoy your youth, you're only a kid once." For the first time ever, I felt like I was aging. My hair was even starting to thin a bit on the top of my head.

I remember that at that moment I decided I was going to learn how to surf. I came up with the plan right there. I would buy a surfboard and head to Samoa. I had read about Samoa a few years before in an old National Geographic, and of anywhere I had ever read about, Samoa sounded like paradise.

a month later

"Where are you going?" she asked, smiling. She was carrying a cardboard tray with seven paper cups of coffee on it. She was quite big, darker skin, and had black shiny hair pulled back into a pony tail.

"Suhmoa," I said.

"SAHmoa." She quickly replied, correcting my pronunciation. "That's where I'm from!"

"Who's all the coffee for?" I asked. She looked down at the tray, then looked back up and grinned bashfully.

"Me." she said. She then offered me one of her cups of coffee. Akanese was her name. Her and her older sister Liz had come to the airport in Honolulu for the departure of the one flight a week to Samoa on Samoa's one airline, Polynesian Air. They had one plane. Lounging around there, I had never seen people so big before. Everyone. They were almost all huge. And everyone seemed really, really kicked back. The plane was hours late, and no one seemed to care. Pretty much everyone waiting around here looked Polynesian. I remember an ukulele version of John Lennon's "Imagine" was being played in the airport. And I remember the warm evening breeze.

Liz and Akanese were looking for someone to take a large cardboard box full of gifts back to their family in Samoa. They couldn't find any takers. So Akanese asked me. "Well...uh, sure, I'll do it. can I take a look inside the box?"

to be continued soon...