Day 692: Tom, Dick and Penny

In the summer of 1999, I attended the New York Film Academy for two months.  ‘Tom, Dick, and Penny’ was the final result of my time there.  It might not seem like much on the surface, but the nuts and bolts behind the project makes me wonder how I ever finished it. 

First, it’s shot on 16mm B&W film.  I edited it by hand, and when I say ‘by hand’ I really mean it.  I had to physically cut the film into pieces and then tape it back together… by hand.

Second, I didn’t have a way to capture audio on location, so chose to forgo dialogue and focus on telling a story with only actions, props, and music… I know… it’s my bizarre-o-blog world.

Third, I had two mishaps, one during film processing… the other during filming (however, it didn’t show itself until post production.  I believe I shot around 10 rolls of film… which isn’t a lot for a film this length.  I went in knowing exactly what I wanted to shoot and I did… unfortunately, I didn’t have the time or money to shoot extra for insurance sake.

MISHAP #1: When I got my film back from processing and viewed it… I noticed one roll had been processed backwards… meaning it was the mirror image of what I actually shot.  I couldn’t use the scenes captured on that roll, because everyone was facing the wrong directions.  From an audience perspective there was no continuity and it was very disorienting.

MISHAP #2: I originally intended the film to contain a five minute fight scene.  Not to toot my own horn, but the fight sequence was pretty hilarious.  And when I edited it together it really worked… however, I had to omit it from my final project.  At some point during the filming a small piece of film broke off and wedged itself between the lenses and the gate.  The result was a rectangular dark splotch in the upper right hand corner of two rolls of film.  The two rolls containing the fight footage.  Even though the fight seen worked, I couldn’t bring myself to use flawed film… and I didn’t have time to reshoot. 

As a result, I was forced to skip the fight entirely… although it is clear when the fight sequence should take place, its omission doesn’t at all detract from the overall theme of the film. 

However, its omission does cause a few unanswered questions in the film… most notably, “why is the businessman putting his socks back on in the final scene?” 

Wouldn’t you like to know!

PS: You can thank this film for paving the way for the monthly family videos... but thank God for digital media.