For the last two years or so I've covered the openings and behind the
scenes stuff related to the Newport Beach Film Festival. I never went
to one screening until this year.
For Christmas I got a digital video camera, and I have tried
making some mini-movies, so my interest was piqued. New digital
technology makes it easy and affordable to make a decent film on a
laptop. Just upload your film into a laptop computer and you can make
your own masterpiece, or so you think. I have managed to dazzle my
friends and family with a few "shorts" of my own created on my little
Apple computer. Everyone was amazed, but I know better. I have to
admit the videos I have made came out pretty good, but making a real
movie is something else. So I went and checked out a few movies at
the festival.
Press pass in hand, I grabbed the program and circled the films
that generally interested me, mostly documentaries This included any
travel, photojournalism, extreme sports, music themes and interesting
stories.
Documentary filmmaking is something I am interested in, and
actually believe I am capable of producing someday -- if I could ever
decide what subject (and there are millions).
I started with two documentaries in a row. "Pipe Dreams," which
follows two Olympic athletes as they head toward the 2002 winter
games, and "The Wonder of Phil" by local filmmaker, Michael Stute. I
photographed Stute for an article in the Pilot a week before the
festival and I had heard about Phil Shane through the Orange County
music scene.
I was looking forward to it. Both were at the Orange County Museum
of Art. As I walked, in the "theater" was like a large classroom with
the screen taking up one side of the wall. Intimate and friendly.
People chatted away in small groups excited about the film. I felt
like I should have known someone but I didn't. I chose a seat and it
turned out the guys in front of me made the film.
"Pipe Dreams," I would learn later, was one of the better movies I
saw all week. Beautiful mountain scenes with top-notch snowboarding
and skiing. But it wasn't just a bunch of action, it had well-woven
story, using photography, music, interviews, natural sounds and drama
to tell the story of the snowboarder and ski jumper. It was shot at
all hours in all conditions. No clowning around and very pro. The
cast of these two never flinched as the camera followed them toward
the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. An impressive and complete story.
It reminded me of "Hoop Dreams," a basketball documentary, that came
