Ugh! Rooftop Films and My Non-Productive Week

Having wanted to make the Rooftop Films 2011 Summer Series deadline last week (their screenings are awesome, so I recommend visiting one and checking out some really cook movies), it's slightly disappointing that I did not meet this particular goal. What's more annoying is that it seems like every time I start to move forward in the direction of getting projects completed and out into the world, something comes along and puts me two steps back. Well, I wasn't anywhere near my footage much in the last week and even forgot about it for a few days while trying to deal with some problems that probably come with being in the city but had planned on getting everything in by Rooftop's March 1st deadline.

I should have known that this was not going to work. Word to the wise: Never attempt to finish editing a movie on Adobe Premiere after having a few white wine drinks to try and avoid the reality of mice in an apartment. By late Tuesday evening, I noticed that I was less focused on working on the movie to the best of my abilities at the time and more focused on making the deadline for submissions to this summer series.

It was after this realization that I decided to just give it all up because this submission would have been a rush job and if I have learned anything from previous filmmaking tasks and contests....it's the importance of making sure that you don't half-ass anything.....whether that be projects that you want to complete, assignments due for work or interpersonal relationships.

That (choosing to half-ass my project) is worse than not submitting at all, so I stopped filling out the submission details for my short documentary and now I'll have to make enough time to edit this thing the way that I want it.

Now, enough about this for now....What do YOU want?

This post is part of the Film Festival Wednesdays series, started here on this blog.

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An Unforgettable Best Supporting Actress Moment at the Oscars

As February 2011 comes to a close, The Bumbles asks those participating in its Monday Movie Meme to share memorable Oscar moments that stood out among all others during this Hollywood extravaganza.

Last night's Oscar broadcast had a few memorable moments including one that prompts a "WTF?" reaction as I wondered how this ended up getting props on Yahoo's Red Carpet Report this morning. For me, it wasn't Natalie Portman's gracious acceptance speech that almost had me in tears while adoring her beautiful dress, Sandra Bullock's humorous presentation of the Best Actor nominees or even that F-Bomb that Melissa Leo dropped during her acceptance speech after winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in "The Fighter."

The unforgettable moment was noticing that awful dress that Best Supporting Actress nominee Helena Bonham Carter graced the stage (and the Red Carpet, but I missed that pre-Oscar show because my company was busy watching "Amazing Race" on CBS) and our television sets with during the Oscars. The black bustier nightmare was made by the costume designer from "Alice in Wonderland" so if Carter wore it in the movie, then it may have been fitting for that atmosphere.

Her effort to "celebrate film instead of fashion" makes the ensemble, complete with big curly hair, dark sunglasses and black clutch shaped like a fan very commendable (and pretty cool, since many of us are used to focusing on the clothes and designers and this move by Carter might be a neat reminder that it's the Oscars....not NY Fashion Week) while helping me to understand this choice for the red carpet.

Still, when I noticed her sitting in the audience and then again later on when "The King's Speech" won for best picture....I couldn't help but say to a relative "She looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie (specifically Bellatrix Lestrange)." It turns out, Helena Bonham Carter is the woman from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. So maybe her red carpet ensemble doesn't look that terrible after all.

She did get me to think about a film while I was watching the Oscars and focused on her (and everyone else's....did you see Mila Kunis rock that lavender lace dress?!!! She was gorgeous!) fashion sense. It appears that Carter achieved this goal. After learning more about this actress, her work and previous red carpet appearances, the Harry Potter-looking dress no longer seems as bad as it looked at first glance. She appears to be a creative woman who likes to make bold statements, so horaay for her!

Would I wear, or recommend that another woman wear something like this to any formal event such as the Oscars? Probably not. But Helena Bonham Carter obviously would and is not only ok with doing so, maybe she likes it...so it's all good!

A runner-up moment is the general sense that last night's Oscars was all about the parents, specifically mothers....from one Live Action Short film winner's statement that his mother did the craft services to another winning speech that revealed a mother's responsibility for bringing "The King's Speech" to the big screen.

The biggest disappointment of all, which occurred way before last night, is still the fact that Ryan Gosling got snubbed for a lead role nomination for his role in "Blue Valentine." Sure, Michelle Williams lost to Natalie Portman but at least Williams got a nomination.....her "Blue Valentine" co-star (Ryan Gosling) didn't even get that, which totally sucks!

Who else watched the Oscars this year? What are your thoughts on last nights Oscars?

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I Want to Make the Rooftop Films Deadline

In the spirit of a "I Want..." meme (which also appears to be defunct now, but still a useful writing/blogging prompt nonetheless), I'd like to profess that I want to make the final Rooftop Films 2011 Summer Series Deadline. Having missed all of the previous deadlines, March 1st marks the final date that they will accept submissions and so "I want...." to be able to submit a documentary that I made to this summer series.

The doc has been sitting on the shelf (well, actually it's been sitting on different hard drives and mini DV tapes and such but y'all get my drift) for way too long without playing in front of an audience and so I think it's time to stop lallygagging and finally get something done and be productive in this new year. I've known about Rooftop for several years but never submitted anything to their summer series because I either didn't have a project to submit or I didn't have the necessary requirements ready in time for the deadline....and here we are again in 2011 and I've missed the last two dates in February that I planned on submitting a work in progress yet still managed to miss these deadlines and now I want to make sure that I can get something to them by the last and final deadline to be considered for inclusion in their 2011 Summer Series.

I don't know if it's because I like Rooftop films or because I missed the January 31st deadline for this TV station contest, making Rooftop the next best choice or because I still haven't added the finishing touches/changes to the audio and B-roll clips or because I want to finally get something done in the beginning of the year rather than waiting until December and regretting unproductive blocks of time and then adding it to my New Years resolution for the following year or because my short drama movie went from pre-production to being placed on a temporary back burner (more on that within the next week or so) .....but....I just really want to make this deadline!

I'm hoping that I'll have enough balls to approach some movie theaters to get these popcorn shots (don't ask....you'll have to watch the Doc to see it, HA!) that I want for some of the B-roll but I've got to pay rent in like the next 6 days or whatever so I'm working to scrounge up money for that. Oh, and I saw a mouse in my apartment, WTF!

Anyway, I love Rooftop Films. I love how they play lots of independent films each summer on a roof (Forget the theater and other traditional venues for a moment...Films on a roof...if that's not sexy, I don't know what is) and attract lots of people who probably wouldn't even know about these films otherwise and I love how the founders of Rooftop Films started something in their own homes that eventually grew into a large venue to screen independent films and I love how they also provide grants for filmmakers and such.....and I LOVE that they started expanding to screen indies in other areas of the country, which brought "Gasland" to my town (even though I missed that screening, but that's another story...it still rocks!) and I loved how they showed Humpday (which I missed as well, but I couldn't afford to get to and stay in New York at the time, but I watched it on Netflix streaming...before Netflix started acting up) because I wanted to find out whether two straight guys could make a gay movie for the purpose of making money.

Ok, this post is much longer than I intended it to be.

The bottom line is....I want to submit my doc to the 2011 Rooftop Film Series by their final deadline!

That's what I want.

Oh, and I want to watch Stuck! but I will get to that eventually....it just arrived in the mail a few days ago but I haven't had the chance to relax and enjoy the film.

While this isn't a review or film festival screening schedule, it's still fitting as a Film Festival Wednesdays post so I'll categorize it as so.

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