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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

EXPOSED: "A Naked Screening of a Work in Progress"

AFCOOP Filmmaker in Residence shares her unfinished film

Posted by Eva Madden-Hagen on Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 4:47 PM

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As some of you who follow this blog will know, I’ve been working this winter on my latest experimental film project POSE. It’s about Dave Cullen, a local storyboard artist who has taken up nude modeling and the comparisons and contrasts lying therein. Part of the duties of the filmmaker in residency program at AFCOOP (gracious funders of the film) include presenting talks and workshops detailing the film’s progress. So, in mid-February I screened a selection of the raw footage to an audience down at the Khyber, something that took me to a whole new frontier in my filmmaking career.

Now, I’ve always been a bit of a “best foot forward" person, and I’ve only ever shown my work publicly when it was best called finished. In this case, it was a very nerve-wracking affair to stand back while they watched and I waited for the comments.

I asked myself: How in the hell was this ever going to work? Most “film-type” people have a hard time watching a rough cut, let alone raw footage. Add to that, I was shooting experimental footage with Super 8 cartridges on a 35-year-old film camera mixed in with video from a state-of-the-art high definition camera. Unedited and without structure, I thought I would be opening myself up to a lot of misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

I was expecting the worst. It occurred to me I possibly should get drunk before arriving. This made it all the sweeter when the following Q&A became not only interesting but inspirational. Despite a lack of context, the audience saw many of the same things that I see in the project---that the subject Dave Cullen is quite a fascinating and compelling character. That the grainy and gritty Super 8 footage is actually quite beautiful and poetic, and the contrast I was looking for between Dave the introvert and Dave the extrovert is a subject that captured their attention as it did mine.

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Don’t get me wrong here, it wasn’t a love fest. The audience had critique as well as praise. Some people wondered aloud how I could ever merge the two distinct image formats of Dave in his studio on video an Dave posing as a nude model in Super 8. They do look very different and the discourse of each piece is unique. Did I make two separate films when I should have only made one? Some people preferred the abstract nature of the imagery of modeling while others were more drawn in by the charming discussions about life with Dave in studio. We had a contentious group discussion about nudity and whether I should include it or not. What would either of the messages mean to the final audience? There was no final consensus. Although I didn’t agree with every comment I did leave with something very valuable. A sense that there was genuine interest and engagement with what was on the screen and it was worthy of a real discussion. I’ve now returned to the edit suite with a renewed sense of energy, enthusiasm and belief that I might be onto something.

Next up as the AFCOOP filmmaker in residency I’m hosting a workshop on Thursday March 15th at 7pm. Here I’ll be discussing sound design and in particular for experimental film with some discussion directly back to POSE. If you have an interest in sound design or experimental film, or in relation to a specific project your working on, come on down to AFCOOP (5663 Cornwallis Street) and join the fun.

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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Eva talks about Super8, Dave Cullen

AFCOOP Filmmaker in Residence chat happening December 1

Posted by Eva Madden-Hagen on Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 11:12 AM

This Thursday, December 1, as part of the Filmmaker in Residence Program, I will be giving an artist talk at AFCOOP. I will be showing some of my Super8 films, discussing my new work POSE and engaging in a discussion with the subject of POSE, artist and raconteur Dave Cullen. Dave and I will be discussing art, comic books and the Zen of nude modelling. As a way to introduce you to Dave, and pique your interest, I presented to him a version of the Proust Questionnaire. Here are his answers.

What is your idea of perfect of happiness?
I don't believe in such a thing. It sounds redundant.

Where would you like to live? 
Halifax, NS, Lower Manhattan or upstate New York, Freiburg, Germany or Montpelier, Vermont.

Who are your favourite heroes of comic book/garphic fiction?
 Batman, Wolverine, Green Arrow and Conan (although he originally comes from the pulps).

Who are your favourite heroines of comic book/graphic fiction? 
Black Canary, Catwoman and The Black Widow.

Who are your heroes in real life? 
My parents, Jon Bogdanove, Walt Simonson, Neal Adams, Neil Young, John Lennon, David Bowie and Nellie McClung.

Your favourite artist? (comic book or otherwise) 
Neal Adams and Barry Windsor-Smith for comics and Caspar David Friedrich and Joni Mitchell for painting.

Your favourite musician?  
Neil Young

The quality you most admire in a man? 
Compassion, resolve, humour and an appreciation of women.

The quality you most admire in a woman?
 Humour, compassion, resolve and an appreciation of men.

What do you most value in your friends? 
Work ethic, an ability to focus, a robust sense of humour and a healthy contempt for conformity.

What trait do you most dislike in others? 
Fearfulness, laziness, conformity and a respect for "authority."

What is your favourite occupation? 
Drawing comics on a rainy day (a lost ideal), meeting friendly, loquacious strangers, travelling and seeing live music.

Who would you have liked to be?
 Cookie Monster.

Your most marked characteristic? 
I'd rather not mention it in mixed company.

What is your most noted fault?  
Laziness, procrastination and a lack of focus.

What is your present state of mind? 
Anxious, glib and New York.

What natural gift would you most like to possess? 
Flight.

How would you like to die? 
Quickly.

What is your motto?
 Never answer questionnaires on an empty stomach.

 The talk starts at 7pm and takes place at the new Atlantic Filmmakers Co-operative headquarters on 5663 Cornwallis Street, Halifax. Come on down and see the new space, meet some other artists and filmmakers and join in the discussion.

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Monday, September 26, 2011

I love Super 8

Pose brings Madden-Hagen back to old-fashioned tech

Posted by Eva Madden-Hagen on Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 11:04 AM

A couple of weeks ago we hauled a bunch of stuff down to the flea market in a bid to clean up our apartment. One of the harder choices were two old 8mm projectors we had collected through the years. They were a bit dodgy working-wise but so well made, so aesthetically pleasing to look at it didn’t matter. Their lifespan extended well past their obsolescence as exquisitely sculpted pieces of fine craftsmanship. Lots of people were intrigued by the projectors, and we listened to parents try to explain to their kids, that once, home movies were on film, and you ran it through this machine and projected them on the wall. The kids looked on, slightly confused but mostly bored. This was not an XBox.

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Coming up this fall I’ll be tackling a new short film called Pose, through the filmmaker in residence program at the Atlantic Filmmakers Co-operative. When I first conceived of making a film about nude modelling, I knew I wanted to incorporate Super 8 film into the process. It’s so intimate, so organic and has always opened up a side of me as filmmaker that is more personal and vulnerable. And yes, it’s still available and in wide use around the world.

The first time I shot a complete film in Super 8 was in 2005 during the Attack of the 50ft Reels program at the Atlantic Film Festival. The task---take a 50ft cartridge of Super 8 (about three and a half minutes of footage) and go out and shoot a narrative film in-camera over two days. In-camera means no editing and there’s no ability to shift the timeline. What you shot was what you got. Would it make sense?

No easy feat, really. It meant the concept had to be planned in advance, if I made a mistake I had to live with it, and if I ran out of film before I reached the end---well, tough. I decided to shoot the annual Terry Fox Run and wanted to try time lapse which some Super 8 cameras are capable of. Time lapse is basically taking a single frame of film or a photo at set intervals over a period of time. When all those little frames are played back at regular speed an entire afternoon can be boiled down to three minutes of action. Afterward, I created a soundtrack from memory and the processed film and CD were screened for the first time together in front of an audience at the Atlantic Film Festival.

In the end, the film turned out really well. Way beyond my expectations and my passion for Super 8 was born. What I really loved about it was the spontaneity, the single vision, the way I could conceive and shoot and produce a finished film without years of development, production and distribution that go along with bigger films. I realized that just because the process was so simple didn’t mean it wouldn’t tell a story and convey a message to the audience. It forced me to think on my feet---and create as I went---and sometimes I think that is a great way to flex the creative muscle.

Keeping all of this mind, back now to the Pose project. Once again, I plan to shoot in Super 8 using time lapse and slow motion (over cranking) to tell the story. After a few recent films following the traditional production timeline, I’m excited to get spontaneous again and create on the fly. Next blog, I’ll talk a bit more about how I plan to use Super 8 film. If you’re also a fan of Super 8, please join in the discussion; share your films, or tips for shooting.

Oh yeah, we sold the old projectors. They went to a good home.

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Friday, August 5, 2011

On becoming a Filmmaker in Residence

Eva Madden-Hagen moves house and starts a new chapter in her directorial career

Posted Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:43 AM

It was the end of June and I had my head in the oven when Chris Spencer-Lowe from the Atlantic Filmmaker’s Co-op called.

No, I wasn’t trying to off myself---and even if I was, my electric oven wasn’t going to do the trick. My husband and I were moving out of our apartment and it was down to the wire. Add to that we were still looking for another tenant to take over our lease and it was the last day of the month. Time was ticking and the threat of double rents was looming large when---Abracadabra!---we found a new tenant. Hooray! The twist---and a good story always needs a twist right?---they needed to move in within the hour “Sure. Okay. We can do that” I said, mentally calculating the possibilities.

The plan to spend the rest of the day clearing out was kaput. I only had only a little over an hour to get ‘er done, finish packing the car, gather up the last of the stuff and get the hell out before a moving truck showed up to unload. It’s never good to meet the new tenants on the way out. It’s like meeting the new girlfriend before you’ve even finished breaking up with the old boyfriend. Keep it discrete. So the plan to carefully scrub smudges off the walls went out the window, the main priority was my dark and stormy oven. I dove in. And then the phone rang. It was Chris, pleased to tell me that my next film was a go. I would be the next Filmmaker in Residence.

Good news like this can really take away the sting of being up to your elbows in Easy Off---goddamn that stuff is indecent. But I still had work to do so I cradled the phone under my chin and listened to Chris talk about the program while I continued to wipe grease off oven racks. It wasn’t until later that night as we sat on the floor in our new place among towers of boxes, eating out of take-out cartons, that it began to sink in.

What I’ve found is that good news---just like bad---often comes in the midst of chaos. It’s less about celebrating and popping champagne corks than it is about a quick dance around the kitchen, a self induced pat and the back and then the ol’ battle cry---well, I guess I better get to work. You know it’s real when your head’s in the oven.

So now I begin my 10-month journey as the Filmmaker in Residence at AFCOOP. What does that mean exactly? Well, that’s what I’ll explore here. I’ll talk about the film I’m going to make, the people involved, the process, the pain and the pleasure. Along the way I’ll stop to chat to other filmmakers abut their work and their process and if anyone asks a question, I’ll do my best to answer. As well, I will write about some of the other projects I’m working on.

Finally, if I’m lucky, I’ll establish some level of engagement with you. A conversation is always more interesting when it’s not just one person talking while everyone else listens.