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 surfer, the fisherman, and the barrel

Super 16mm film frames of Daniel Jones. The super refers to the wider 16mm film format, where the film gate is wider, and thus the edge of the film that used to be reserved for sound in years past, gets exposed also. And you get a native widescreen image. My cousin Rob and I converted my old Bolex camera to super 16 last year, and this footage is from the first trip I took after that. For the most part, it worked really good. A few rolls were all blurred though as I threw a few things off internally on the camera when I tore it apart to convert it. Had the camera serviced by Dieter Schaefer at Procam earlier this year and it works great now. I should mention that this camera filled up with salt water a few years ago in Kiribati, when the small boat I was on nose dived. WD-40 kept it working on that trip, and its still going strong, though it has a bit of rust.

I have a habit of getting my gear soaked in the ocean. While filming Daniel at this spot above, his last wave of the trip, he went over the falls and broke his board in two. When the front half of his board floated in with an oncoming rush of water over the reef that the fisherman is on, I went to grab it. I forgot my ipod was in my pocket. It got soaked and never worked again. My girlfriend had given that to me for my birthday. I was so bummed. If only it operated on a wind-up spring driven motor like my good ol' Bolex from 1967.