Convergence

It's a Wrap!

Yesterday we finally finished shooting "Class Picture"--WOOHOO!! I can't even begin to tell you how much lighter I felt when I came home last night. Even though the work is still not done, at least the burden of dealing with production is over. Yesterday was probably one of the worst days we had on set. We were scheduled to shoot at my apartment and I woke up to discover that there was a short in some of our wires. Khalilah and I were trying to make breakfast before everyone arrived and before we knew it, there were sparks coming from the light switch in the kitchen! We had to postpone the shoot and call mainenance. Once they came and fixed everything we were back on track but that was pretty scary. That incident made us behind schedule and then when we got to our second location we discovered that things were not in the condition that we were promised. It's all good because it all worked out though. Then, one of my actors didn't bother to show up! Fortunately, I had a back up plan to proceed without her--but talk about a stressful day! At any rate, we got it all done.

I must say, the best part about the entire experience was working with the kids. They were the best! This was my first time directing kids in a movie and they were such a joy to work with. As you can see from the picture above we had a lot of fun. So much so that I'm trying to figure out a new story that I can write, just so that I can work with them again. :-) One of the parents said I should consider doing more children's programming, teen PSAs and the like, and you know what? I just might consider that.

Now that shooting is complete, we now begin the equally long process of post-production. I turn the footage over to the editor this week. This should be interesting because this will be my first time having someone else other than myself edit my work. I'm praying that it's a positive experience so that I'm not going "I shoulda just did it myself!" the whole time. Now I can also shift my focus to "Shaking the Ivy," the documentary I'm working on with my friend Loria, and also strategizing for "Something Worth Waiting For."

Stay tuned for more updates on "Class Picture." In the meantime, you can catch a sneak peek of the webpage for the film here. It's still a work in progress, so be sure to keep checking back for updates!

Some of the Coolest People I Know I Met Online

I got mad love for social media. After all, I've met some really cool people behind the walls of a computer screen. For example, there's @visualcadence, who I met through Craigslist in Atlanta. She's the one who's responsible for shooting all my headshots, including the one that used to be at the top of this blog. I put an ad on craigslist one day that I needed a photographer and she responded. We met at a local Borders, discovered we were both believers and a beautiful friendship developed. Through her I also met her husband, @andrewtuce, who's an awesome videographer and filmmaker. I've had the privilege of working on a few projects with the Tucciarones and they are all around great people. I love their creative energy and their warm spirits. 

Recently I met @keilabee1, a fellow ATLien who's a transplant to DC like me--another cool peep. Then there's @thehairmystro--Just met her when I was trying to find a hair stylist for my Class Picture shoot. The first day she showed up on set we hugged like we had known each other for years. Very cool peeps. Today I met @ChristinaFaith for the first time in person. She's a fellow female filmmaker of faith who hails from Philly and who's doing big things for the kingdom. It was such a pleasure meeting her, and we had an AWESOME convo about what it means for artists to redeem the media. I just love having conversations that challenge me intellectually and spiritually! But each of these people I met through Twitter. And that's not to mention the many other people I tweet with on the regular but just haven't had the privilege to meet in person yet.

I found an awesome parking lot to shoot Class Picture online, and through that I met Brooke Kidd, the awesome Executive Director of Joe's Movement Emporium, a fantastic dance studio in Mt. Rainier, MD. She's a great person, very giving and accomodating for us. I look forward to doing more business with them in the future, and I even plan on taking some yoga classes there soon!

I found my awesome church just by doing a google search for "Church DC."  Loads of cool people there. Heck, technically I even met my ex-boyfriend online--back in the days of MySpace--hehe. Even though it didn't work out between us he's still cool people.

I'm always amazed by the way that God seems to connect me with interesting people via the internet. People who share my values, share my intellect, share my passion for the arts. People from different places or even people in my own backyard who I never would've known if it weren't for cyberspace. People who I needed in my life. So if you're one of those who are still skeptical about the digital revolution--get on board! There's tons of cool people to meet, relationships to spark all just with the touch of a few keystrokes.

 

Creative Overload!!

Ok so I know my past couple of posts have been depressing-ville...sorry about that. Sometimes I just need to unload. But I really have nothing to complain about...Life is good right now, my classes are going very well this semester--I, and the students, are having a blast and I've been able to fine tune some of my content, at least in my Intro classes anyway, I'm getting out and about town and meeting new friends and fellow artists...But let me me tell you all about how I'm MAD excited about all the great projects are coming my way!

• 
• I've got one more day of shooting Class Picture before we hit the editing room. We shoot next Sunday and I'm getting excited, although I still have yet to find a parking lot for us to shoot in. This is exactly why I hate producing--because I hate having to be the one to find and organize this kind of stuff. But I'm praying that it'll all come together in the end as it always has...

 

• I'm also working with my good friend, Loria King, on a new documentary called "Black Ivy." This film will take a look at African Americans who have attended Ivy League schools. The idea is to revisit W.E.B. DuBois' philosophy of the Talented Tenth and see if these Ivy Leaguers are today's version of that. I'm really excited about this one because we've already been churning out some very interesting research and we're looking to shoot that in June. 

• I'm also still working with Loria on editing the documentary that she shot about the life of her grandfather, Hossick Jefferson. He's a fascinating man who lived to be (I believe) 103 years old. He has seen so much in his lifetime, and some of his viewpoints on life in America might surprise you. His family is also a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and his slave mistress Sally Hemings, which is interesting as well. But I"m really excited about this project because I've been hoping that Loria would finish this project ever since she first shot it while we were in film school at Columbia University. Now that she's picking the project back up again, I'm honored that she has asked me to edit it.

• And then there's still Something Worth Waiting For. Now with all these other projects going on, I'll probably have to push it back to later in the year, but I am determined to shoot this film THIS YEAR. 

That's four films in one year but if there's one thing that making Class Picture has taught me it's that I need to make sure that I'm always shooting something. I let so much time lapse since my last film that I had forgotten some of the important lessons that I learned on that film. I'm a director, and the only way I can become a better director is if I keep directing. My goal is that when my contract is up at HU next year, I want to be in a position where I can transition into being a full-time filmmaker. That's the plan...

And in the midst of all this, I'm planning on going to Haiti with my church in May. So far 2011 is shaping up to be a great year...

One Of Those Nights

Well, it's been a long week. We shot Class Picture last week and it was fun, it was frustrating, it was exhilarating, it was stressful and aggrevating--all the things that make for a typical film shoot--and I can't wait to do it again. I still haven't gotten a good night's sleep. I'm hoping that I can accomplish that tonight. 

As I sit here looking at my footage from this past weekend and typing this blog, I'm feeling some kind of way right now. It's hard being an artist. And I don't know of many artists who don't struggle in some way. We struggle to pay the bills. We struggle to stay true. We struggle to get support. We struggle to get our work seen. I am so thankful that I have a job that's related to my field, but I still find myself struggling sometimes to not just be another worker and to still maintain my art. Sometimes I ask God why does it have to be this hard? Why can't we just readily have money to make films and have distributors ready and willing to promote them? It seems like it's always us artists who are constantly reaching for a dream.

*sigh* But let me stop the pity party. Usually right after I finish a project I find that my melancholy self rears its ugly head in the worst way. Couple this with having to accept the reality that a once-trusted friend and artistic partner has really let me down in the worst way, it's not making for a great night. But in the midst of it all, God is still good. I'll continue to fight, I'll continue to reach for the dream. 

I'm just having one of those nights where the only thing I can cling to is hope...and a Savior who loves me no matter what.

A Filmmaker's Vent

Well it's been a very stressful past couple of days. If anyone out there has ever wondered why movies have such large crews and why they're so expensive--you have NO IDEA!! Class Picture is the largest cast I have ever had to deal with, and something simple as scheduling rehearsals has proven to be quite the ordeal. Class Picture also has more details than I've ever had to deal with. Because part of it is a period piece, certain articles of clothing need to be found. Fortunately, the actors in the first half of the film will be wearing uniforms, but their hair and makeup still needs to reflect the time period. Not to mention the fact that we're still trying to find a school location. We found the church and they have been FANTASTIC! But they have no parking lot, which means we need to find a separate lot to shoot in.

The uniforms that I ordered for the kids are the wrong size...I still need a gazillion more extras...I still have to do a head count so I know how much food I need...hair stylists to interview...have to meet with my camera guy so we can do a location scout...production meeting to plan...two more rehearsals to coordinate...have to book rehearsal rooms...have to finalize production schedule...have to purchase and reserve parking passes since DC doesn't know how to have parking lots at their establishments...and I STILL have to find out what that little sign is called that children hold in front of them when they take class pictures, you know the one that says "Hillside Elementary School, Class of 1985" -- yeah that. I need to find out what that's called so I can buy one...this is why film crews are so big--because usually they have people to do all this stuff...and as the crew grows, so does the budget, which is obviously something else to stress me out...

And that's only the tip of the iceberg of all the stuff I have to deal with...I'm trying to keep it all in stride...thank God I only have to deal with all this for two more weeks...but that's the life of production. I don't know of any filmmaker who doesn't ask themself the question "Why did I get into this business again?" at least a hundred times during the course of production. Of course, but once we get to the other side, we always say it was worth it in the end.

So I press on...Please pray for me! :-)

Convergence Lives Again

Guess what everybody? I'm writing a book! Well, actually, the book is already written. Can you believe I've just been sitting on it for the last 5 years? I finally dug it out of the archives and I'm in the process of putting the finishing touches and proofreading it...What's it about, you ask? Well it's actually based on this blog. It's called "Convergence" and it's a memoir of sorts where I take a lot of the poetry/journal entries that I wrote during my college years on topics such as love, faith, fear, death, family, and friendship, and then contrast them with my feelings on those same topics now that I'm older and (supposedly) wiser. :-)

The idea behind the book is that as I look back over my adult life (especially my college years), I went through several changes, all in efforts to find my identity. I've been through a relatively "loose" phase where I partied and drank and had 2-3 different "male friends", then I went through a pseudo "thug" phase where I wore baggy clothes and skullies and only listed to "gangsta" rap. I went through an angry militant phase and a women's lib phase where I was very vocal about everything in life being racist and sexist--all in efforts to find my own voice. Then I became a Christian. And all of that went out the window. I let my faith, and moreso what I had been told about my faith, define who I was and the way I thought. As I got older, I started to realize that yes, my faith does define a lot of who I am. However, I am still a whole person that has thoughts and experiences, feelings and opinions that are valid. In other words, just like the tag says on this blog yes, I am a Christian, but I am also black. I am also a woman. I am also single. I am also an artist. I am also young-"ish" (I'm thinking I may need to change that part of my tag. I'm not sure if people with arthritis can be classified as young :-) Being a woman of faith doesn't mean that I have to throw those aspects of who I am away. It just means that it is a major force that informs those aspects of who I am.

And thus, I started writing the book...and then I started writing the blog to get me ready for the book. But for some reason the book never materialized. Well 2011 is going to be the year that I let my creative juices flow, so get ready! Convergence--the book is on its way!

Who Am I?

Now that I'm in a new city, anytime I meet someone new I'm faced with the conundrum of answering the question "Where are you from?" The first thing that usually comes out of my mouth is to say I'm from Atlanta. But then when they start asking me where I went to high school and if I'm a Grady baby, I have to explain to them that I'm actually from New Jersey. And then they want to know how I'm finding my way around a brand new city, and then I have to tell them that I actually went to undergrad here in MD and DC so it's not completely new to me. And I feel like a big fat liar, because I'm really not from Atlanta. The truth is I just lived there for 6 years. I've lived in a number of different places, but my family is in Atlanta now so it's where I call home...

Same thing applies for my career. When people ask me what I do for a living I usually say I'm a college professor. But then at some point I have to explain to people that I'm actually a filmmaker who teaches film so that I can pay the bills. Well, that's not the only reason I do it. I really do enjoy teaching. But lately I've been asking myself if that's really what I'm supposed to be doing with my life? I mean, I've always believed that teaching would be a component of my life, but not that it would be my life. My goal has been to be a filmmaker.

The crazy thing is whenever I read my own bio, I realize that I have accomplished a good deal, and I have to remind myself that I already am a filmmaker. I've directed not one, but two feature films, a number of shorts, music videos, promos and commercials. My films have played in film festivals, I've sat on festival panels, and I've juried for festivals. So to define myself as a college professor sometimes feels like I'm only telling half the truth about who I really am, and who I believe God has created me to be.

Which sends me into another conundrum because it makes me start to wonder, am I in the right place right now? Am I doing the right things? Because the reality is that I'm not done making movies yet. I still have more to say. And the last thing I want to do is get into a rut where I'm so stuck in teaching world that I forget about the filmmaker side of me. It's so easy to get stuck somewhere that you didn't intend to be.  This gives me lots to chew on, knowing that my contract here in DC is about to end in about another 5 months. So what's next? Lord, help me to not lose sight of who I really am...

The View From the Beach - Day 3

Yesterday’s lab was pretty amazing. We started out by listing our character traits and then listing which one of our character traits are in tension with one another. For example, I am a dreamer and I’m hopeful, but I’m also fearful and doubtful. I’m very goal-oriented but I’m also a procrastinator. Last night our assignment was to write down our top 10 desires. I didn’t expect that exercise to be that difficult or that painful for me but it was. It was painful because I realized that I have some desires that I may have given up hope for. Some desires I expected God to have met by now, and quite frankly the fact that he hasn’t leaves me to wonder if they’ll ever be met. Wondering if maybe I’ve done something to prevent them from being met. In the event of full disclosure, I’ll go ahead and share my desires with you all:

• • I want to get through this assignment without crying.
• • I want to be held.
• • I want to forget what’s it like to be held.
• • I want my relationship with God to be like it used to be.
• • I want to be a full-time filmmaker and a part-time teacher, instead of the other way around.
• • I want $1 million to make my film Something Worth Waiting For.
• • I want to travel around with my film SWWF and talk REAL TALK with women about the joys and pains of singleness
• • I want to bring my students with me on a shoot.
• • I want be a better aunt.
• • I want to stop teaching COM 1109.

From there, we took our character traits and then took our top 5 desires and created a story idea based around our character tensions and our desires. It was a really cool exercise because on a practical level, I came away with 5 new script ideas which were kinda cool and had some pretty good character dimension. But what the exercise also helped me do was to just take a look at my innermost yearnings and deal with those. I think deep down inside I often doubt this whole filmmaking thing. Like I doubt that I have what it takes, I doubt that God’ll really do it...

But this exercise helped me to see that this filmmaking thing is something that is burned inside of me. It’s something bigger than me. While we were waiting for one of the sessions to start, this lady turned to me and said that she feels like there is this power, this fighter inside of me that needs to get out. She kept saying that people need what I have…and she’s not the first person to tell me those SAME EXACT WORDS…I do believe that I have a voice. And I believe that it’s nothing but the enemy trying to suppress that and make me doubt…

Lord, re-ignite that fire within me to create, to fight, to dream again…

The View From the Beach - Day 2

Well, yesterday was my first day at the Art Within Lab and I must say my world is being wrecked already. As a matter of fact, the wreckage already began on my way down here in the car. I'm already being challenged to rethink things pertaining to my writing and even pertaining to my career...

I'm telling you, this lab is pretty intense...in the sense that we're pretty much going all day long. But the time goes by so fast! Needless to say, so far I'm getting some interesting insight about my writing and even about my career path in general. Last night we did an exercise where we had to share clips from films that moved us to action, moved us to anger, and moved us to say "amen". My three movies (in order) were Do the Right Thing, Revolutionary Road, and Pursuit of Happyness. Then we had to look at each other's films and find the common threads. Here were some of my threads...

• All of the movies I chose were character-driven
• There was an urgency hope in all of the movies I chose -- in some an expected hope that was deferred, in others a hope achieved
• In each film I chose there was some form of societal pressure that was preventing the characters from having freedom.
• There was a constant theme of family.
• There were constant themes of freedom vs. trapped and honesty vs. idealism
• The scenes I chose were very complicated; they were difficult subjects to talk about
• there was a lot of passion in the films and in the issues they dealt with

Im not sure if you've seen the movies I referenced above but these threads that my peers pointed out really meant a lot of me in terms of trying to understand my voice as a filmmaker. I think a lot of what they said was on target, and I'm trying to process what that means and what that looks like for my art.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of these 2 weeks to try and flesh that out. I will keep you posted...

In the meantime, we are in the midst of a hurricane warning here. Yes, Hurricane Ida is scheduled to strike mid-afternoon. So far right now we're getting a lot of wind and that's about it. The waves don't look too high. We haven't talked about leaving yet, the news said it should be a Category 1 storm by the time it hits here so we'll see what happens. It's just now starting to rain now as I type this...Going to get breakfast now, I'll keep you all posted on what happens!

All Up In My Stuff

Do you have people in your life who don't have a problem getting all up in your stuff? I'm not talking about nosey people. I'm talking about people who know your business and don't have a problem telling you when you're off track.

A few weeks ago I met with Paula (mentor, Producer of Faithfully Divided). It started out as an editor's meeting for her to let me know what changes she wanted me to make to her documentary. But it ended up with her basically "reading" me and reminding me of who I am. She reminded me that I am not mediocre and that I still have stories inside of me to tell. "What's your A story and what's your B story," she asked, making reference to the rules of screenwriting but applying it to my life. "For some reason you've gotten comfortable and you've settled for less than your A story." It was a powerful talking to that I really needed.

There's so much going on in my life right now, which is why I haven't had the time to blog lately. I'm teaching full-time at AIU, part-time at Kennesaw State, I'm in the process of getting ready to make a trailer for my film, Something Worth Waiting For, in about 2 weeks, I'm doing more edits on Faithfully Divided and I'm serving and helping out with a new church plant, Blueprint Church, in downtown Atlanta. I'm really excited about all of these things except one...

This past Tuesday my friend Donna, who used to be in my small group and now lives in North Carolina came down for a visit and we decided to grab breakfast. Donna is one of 9 women who constantly heard me lift up so many prayer requests to change jobs, that I started to sound like the boy who cried wolf. But this time as I told her about all the things that are going on in my life right now she said to me, "Everything sounds so great and exciting except that one fly in the ointment...."

I know what the fly in the ointment is. I think both of these wise women are confirming in so many words that the winds of change are blowing in my life. I've got to figure out how to bring the "A" story of my life, which is filmmaking, back to the forefront. And in order to do that I think I'm going to have to let that one fly go...one way or another...