The time has come for a real update on what’s been happening with me; it’s been many a months, but I’m here to break the silence. Brace yourselves…
I’ve been doing a lot of writing recently (actually, for the past year). Mostly it’s been on the reviews front (I’ve been keeping pretty well up with not letting reviews fester), but also I’ve been doing some creative writing. Not just on “Unwinnable Hand,” but also in the form of short stories and such (click on the titles to read the posted-on-MySpace “Red Cup Mafia” and “Requiem for a Lemur: A Short Story of The Grand Lemur”). In addition to considering editing and posting one such effort from years back- be warned, though; even edited it’ll be a little risque- I have two “in progress” works, one the story about my friendship with my pianist Dawn, the other a work no less personal, whose subject I’m not quite ready to discuss yet. It’s a style of writing I’ve very much enjoyed getting into- it’s different enough from the reviews to be interesting, and close enough to screenwriting to where it’s been beneficial in sharpening my skills in that level of narrative. It’s also put some more on my plate creatively, but when inspiration strikes, you gotta put pencil to paper, regardless of medium.
In the coming months, expect much in the way of “Unwinnable Hand” updates. We’re going to be filming again starting in June. The script is in its’ final “official” draft; the ending has been problematic, but after the first idea for it was too long-winded, and the second one was, well, too complicated to explain, I’ve finally hit upon one that, well, just plain makes sense. The actors new to the story in its’ second half have their scripts, with rehearsals to occur when we start filming with them. Three new locations will be featured- two of which are currently TBA, though- and all should be interesting to look at when the final film is completed, which I still hope to have happen by December. And recently, Ron, Dave and I went in together on a camera (and the necessary accessories) with which to finish the film. I still intend to use a second camera of Chris’ during filming- for multiple angle takes- but from here on out, this will be our main camera for filming and post-production. In the next month or two I also hope to add more hard drive space to my computer so I can complete editing and such on the film. Once that’s in place, look for more in the way of Cinema Nouveau Production’s MySpace page– there’s a lot to share. (And don’t worry gentle reader- I do intend to film “Red Cup Mafia” at some point. Right now, though, “Hand” is my focal point.
I’ve let my musical output dwindle this year. Save for the music I wrote for the “Unwinnable Hand” trailer, I haven’t been inspired to write anything new. And save for “Weightless Waltz in D”– a piece I wrote last year as a companion piece to “Weightless Waltz in F” (both of which are intended for a long-in-thought album inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey”)- I haven’t been enthusiastic about recording any of the already-written pieces I’ve let build up for one reason or another. On a happier note, one of my earlier pieces (“In a Lonely Place,” off of my CD “Dark Experiments”) was performed at the locally-organized “Turned On” electronic music concert back in February(thank you to Ron, Dave, Dawn, Jennifer, Jeffrey, Melissa, and Chuck, who all came out for moral support); it was positively received from those I talked to (though unfortunately, didn’t get the performance filmed so I could post it here), even if it wasn’t one of the works mentioned in the Atlanta Journal-Consitution’s review of the show. On top of that, I was also able to finally release my Western-inspired CD “Sonic Visions of a New Old West” after a friend of mine from high school- Carrie Henry- designed some beautiful cover art for the disc; I even got copies of all three of my CDs- the third being “Creative Beginnings”– professionally printed so I could make the CDs readily available on CDBaby.com. Unfortunately, that’s about all I’ve done for myself musically. None of my other performance submissions have panned out to anything, and I haven’t been looking into more opportunities beyond that. I can say that my focus has been more on the film, but the fact of the matter is I just feel unfocused in my life in general. I’ve pulled myself in so many directions (each with their own long-term rewards); I’d like to follow them all, but don’t know how to follow any of them really. I took a chance recently and sent a letter/resume to the AJC in the off-chance they might take me on as a film critic, but that didn’t pan out (though to be fair, it was also a lot like a rookie baseball player gunning for the season home run record from their opening swing in the pros), though it wasn’t a complete devestation on my part that it didn’t. I know I’m capable of doing all of these creative forms I’ve discussed, and I know I have friends and family who have been supportive as I’ve explored all of them, but I think it’s more of a worry that I won’t be able to get my efforts out there so that I might have a shot of doing any of them professionally. I guess we’ll just have to see, however, what pans out in the long run.
Anyway, that’s really about all I had. I suppose I could go into some details of things happening in my personal life, but that’s for another blog. Plus, well, what you’ve just read makes up for a lot of my personal life as well. I hope I didn’t bore you with all the details.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
www.myspace.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/cinemanouveau
