Notes from 2010

New home for 40 Frames

As of today, Pam and I are the new owners of a live/work unit located at 5232 N Williams Ave in North Portland (between Alberta and Killingsworth). We begin moving our live possessions today, and will move our studio equipment during the month of February, leaving our short term tenancy at Cathedral Park Place. Many thanks to Ken and David who provided us with an affordable work space while we figured out our living situation. Use of the space allowed us to make progress on Empty Quarter, as well as preservation work on the 40 Frames collection of 16mm prints. The new location will be a dedicated work only space, as there is not enough room to conduct public screening events, which is fine given our transition to other projects (16mm Directory and personal film projects). We are very excited about the new space. After two years attempting to build a similar space in the far north peninsula (St Johns), it was great to finally find something to suit our (unique) needs. It's sad that it is not only hard to build spaces like the unit we are moving to, but that it has become so damned hard to finance them to buy as well. I hope this changes in the near future, otherwise artists and other non-commercial creative types are very limited in what they can find in affordable live/work space.

December 30, 2010  –  permalink

Local premiere of Empty Quarter

The local premiere of Empty Quarter will take place January 28, 2011, at the Portland Art Museum's Whitsell Auditorium. The presenters are the Northwest Film Center and Cinema Project. We are excited to have the support of these organizations, in what we hope will be a well attended event. We feel the scope of the project is something many locals will find of interest. The recent election could be viewed as a testament to a political divide and growing disconnect between urban and rural communities. We hope the film can work to open up a dialog, and at the very least bring some attention and awareness to rural life in Oregon's outback.

December 04, 2010  –  permalink

Work prints returned from the lab

We shot 11 rolls of 7231 and 7222, plus an additional 300' short end. The total film shot was around 130 minutes, or about 1/3 of the total shot so far. It was a very productive period for us. Only wish we could have stayed longer. We found some great contacts in Plush in Lake County, and given more time (and money) we'd gladly go out there to record some film in a little one room school house, but we need to wrap the production and move closer to completion. The results from the lab are great, everything was 30 lights from the printer, so 95% of the exposures were spot on. Lots of useable footage, so we'll be cutting in all the new scenes in the coming weeks. Given the current amount of additional material, we are definitely on target for a 70 minute film. This will permit us to show the film as a stand alone program, which I think will only benefit how the piece is viewed. We'll be doing the final lab work at Alpha Cine with printer Bill Scott. Alpha will process our optical track and make our final composite prints.

October 28, 2010  –  permalink

Wrapping production of Empty Quarter

We returned to Malheur County for ten days of production work. We recorded onion harvest and packing, a bentonite mining operation outside of Adrian, making corn silage, service at one of Oregon's two Buddist temples, the Owyhee Dam, and a number of pick-up shots (open landscape in Succor Creek, agricultural buildings and other structures). It was tough work, probably one of our most productive shoots of the entire production process over the last ten years. The film is now at Cinelab being processed and printed. Very excited to see the results. We have ahead of us an intense three month period of editorial and lab work in time for the premiere which has been moved to late January. Details for the local screening are still in the works. I've used seven different cameras for this production, and it was nice to have the XTR to employ this time around. In recent years, we've also switched over to file-based audio recording, finally moving away from DAT. Pam has a nice audio kit, and I think she is please as well with the transition to better tools for the task.

October 14, 2010  –  permalink

New dates for last EQ shoot

With temps in the mid-to-upper 90s forecasted for next week, delays with securing permissions, and a hefty workload at my day job, we made the decision to push the last shooting dates to early October. The weather should be more forgiving, and the seasonal transition will present new opportunities for subject matter (football, pheasant hunting, etc). The locations recorded in July came out really well, and will soon be cut in to the rough. Lot of set-up and repair work to do in the studio, so plenty to take care of in the meantime.

August 13, 2010  –  permalink

Treasure Valley - shoot 1 of 2

On Saturday, we ate a nice breakfast at the James John Cafe, our favorite St Johns haunt, methodically packed our gear and by 4:30PM were on the road to Ontario. Seven hours plus one time zone later (Malheur County is in the Mountain Time Zone) and we were checking into the Stockman's Motel in Ontario. Sunday was mostly following up with our contacts and preparing for two days of shooting before returning to Portland. Thus far, we have recorded work on Paul Skeen's farm (descendant of the pioneer Pete Skeen-Ogden), making bread at the Rodriguez Bakery (family owned since 1965), and doing a few shots of buildings and landscapes in Nyssa and Vale. In a few hours, I'll be shipping our camera rolls to Cinelab outside of Boston. We will return to the area in a few weeks to resume shooting and wrap production of Empty Quarter. Next up will be visits to a dairy, a butcher, mining operation, more farms, and a visit to the Owyhee dam and resevoir.

July 27, 2010  –  permalink

New cut of Empty Quarter

We put some time in to re-working the assembly of Empty Quarter. The current version now runs about 65 minutes. Much of what remains to shoot (in July-August) will document various kinds of farm and ranch activity from hay cutting to onion packing. In addition, we'll be meeting with some area small businesses to discuss and record their work. With the added footage, we may arrive at a longer 70-85 minute final version, something new for us to consider. We'd previously thought the film would be an hour, but I think we have a longer piece on our hands.

June 07, 2010  –  permalink

Change in travel plans (new production dates)

Due in part to delays in service work on our equipment, delays on receiving supplies ordered weeks ago, and the desire to gain access to the operations at Murakami when they start up again in August, we postponed our production shoot. We also decided to break up the final shoot into two separate shooting schedules, a little less than a week in Jordan Valley in July, and a little more than a week in the Treasure Valley area in August. Folks at the chambers in Vale, Nyssa, and Jordan Valley have been extremely helpful, and we are grateful for their support and interest in the project. Our list of contacts is growing and this slight delay we believe will end up adding value to the project. On another note, Pam and I will head down to Maxline in Wilsonville in a few days to price some new custom cases. My camera case recently busted, and Pam's been using old luggage cases to hold her sound gear.

May 21, 2010  –  permalink

One week from arrival (Southeast Oregon)

Everything seems to be lining up. A few leads have fallen through, but fortunately other opportunities have cropped up, including an invitation to visit Rodriguez Bakery in Nyssa. Regarding the trip route, we finally decided to go back to our original plan and limit our geographic coverage. We will spend most of our time in Ontario-Vale-Nyssa (aka the Treasure Valley), and head south to Jordan Valley to visit a few ranches. On our way to Jordan Valley, we'll pass by Owyhee Lake (a reservoir that backs up over 50 miles of water) and Leslie Gulch as we travel along the Succor Creek Byway. We're both pretty excited for the trip, but there remains a lot of little things that need to come together in order to make things roll smoothly. Though it can be stressful coordinating such production efforts, meeting new people in the region has been one of the driving factors in working on the project. As city dwellers, we rarely if ever get an opportunity to connect with and observe rural activities. While having a direct connect to the land can perhaps be found in urban gardening, the experience of being in this low density region is far from the city life of Portland.

May 15, 2010  –  permalink

Petition to Eastman Kodak RE 7265 and 7231

The following link is a petition requesting Eastman Kodak continue production of low speed Black & White camera stocks 7265 and 7231. Please help by endorsing the petition and continuing to circulate to individuals and organizations who you feel would be interested in supporting this effort. 40 Frames will send the completed petition on to Eastman Kodak.

April 30, 2010  –  permalink

Polarity Post donates MTM machines to 40 Frames

Roger Wiersema and Polarity Post recently donated several MTM dubbers, a recorder and a prism projector to 40 Frames. Thanks to Roger, the long search for these units has ended. We flew one-way to SFO on Thursday, stopped in to Polarity to see how the system fit together and then disassembled everything in preparation for the move the next day. Stephen Parr of Oddball Film & Video Archive was kind enough to put us up for the evening, and in close proximity to the rental truck pickup. We arrived at Polarity at 9am, packed everything in about two hours and were on the road heading north by 11am. Since Pam and I are not the type to endure long drives for the sake of "getting there", we stopped at the half-way point in Ashland where we stayed Friday night, and then stopped again in Eugene to stay at Pam's mother's place Saturday night. We got back to Portland today at 5pm, and started unpacking. Only a few items remain to be unpacked, so we'll finish the job tomorrow. It was a huge effort to get everything up to Portland, but nice to have machines of such high quality to put to use in our studio.

April 18, 2010  –  permalink

Kodak announces discontinuation of Plus-X

Earlier in the week, Kodak announced it's plans to discontinue 16mm Plus-X negative (7231) and reversal (7265) camera stocks. This a very sad news, and arrives at a bad time, as much of Empty Quarter and Open Road are being shot on 7231. Yesterday, I ordered some 7231 to stockpile for the last Empty Quarter shoot and the five remaining shots for Open Road. I hope what I purchased will get me through the next two projects. While other options for shooting black and white exist (7222, 7266, ORWO UN54 and N74, and Fomapan R), Plus-X negative has a very unique and wonderful look and carries forward a cinematic tradition starting with the birth of motion picture film. When pull processed, Plus-X can have an amazing latitude, seeing into shadows and incorporating highlights. Kodak's decision to discontinue this stock from their product line is unwise, and shows a lack of commitment to a number of core products that have helped create an identity for the company which separates it from other players in the media technology field. If anyone has good condition factory sealed, recans, or shorts ends of 7231 they would be willing to donate or sell, please contact me.

April 08, 2010  –  permalink

Empty Quarter travel route grows larger

Initially, we thought to focus our visit on the Treasure Valley area in the northern part of Malheur County. We've reconsidered the route, and are looking at a larger loop of Malheur and Harney Counties. We'll leave Portland traveling I-84 east to Ontario, spending a few days there and the surrounding area (Vale, Willow, Nyssa). From there, we'll head south past Adrian and along the Succor Creek Byway to Hwy 95 and onto Jordan Valley. Then west to Rome, Burns Junction and south to Whitehorse Road. Stay a night or two at Fields Station. Continue North to the Alvord Desert and travel along the Fields-Denio Road to Hwy 78, New Princeton, Crane, and landing in Burns for a day or two. Another new development is to hit spots between Burns and Ontario on Hwy 20, including Drewsey, Juntura, Harper, and Westfall. It's a lot of driving but it seems reasonable, as the route will allow a few days in most locations. On the equipment front, I'm in search of a used Aaton magazine case for the trip, and planning to rent a fourth magazine. The idea is to have enough stock loaded for a day (or more) worth of shooting without having to spend time reloading. Also trying to locate a Canon 50-300mm in Aaton mount either for purchase (at the right price) or for rent.

March 31, 2010  –  permalink

Preparation for final Empty Quarter shoot

In the middle of preparation for the final production shoot for Empty Quarter. The 12mm arrived safe and sound. The key way has a bit of movement, so I will send it with a magazine up to Charlie for service. The rest of the time is spent plotting the itinerary for the 16 days we'll be in Malheur County. Still considering taking some time to hit spots in Harney and Lake, but no final decision just yet. Lining up contacts for shooting. We'll be recording mostly agricultural and cattle ranch work in the Treasure Valley area, in the northern portion of Malheur. Trying to soak up some of the issues at play right now. Disputes over where to locate wind energy towers is a hot topic in the Oregonian. Federal government funded environmental impact studies are being conducted right now. The issue of the endangered sage grouse is being considered a close parallel to the spotted owl on the west side of the cascades. Land use issues continue to be at the center of the debate, and the economy of the three southeast counties remains in shock with high unemployment, particularly in Harney County.

March 18, 2010  –  permalink

New 12mm lens on the way

I recently purchased a Zeiss 12mm mkI super speed lens. I'd been looking for one on and off for a couple years. This lens will fill out my set of primes (9.5, 12, 16, and 25). I was debating for a while between keeping the primes, or investing in a zoom (since I can't afford to own both), but felt the increased speed and light weight of the primes was a better option. Maintenance can also be less of an issue with primes. While a zoom lens can provide some ease of use (once it is mounted), it's kind of a pain to set up, and in most cases requires additional support, which would force me to use rods even when not completely necessary. I'll be shooting tests as soon as the lens arrives in a few days.

February 09, 2010  –  permalink

Moving to new apartment

As the housing and construction market crumbles around us, our house project is seeing further delays. First the lenders drastically changed their loan products, expecting far more up front. Now the lot we've been working to divide (into a flag lot partition) may not be immediately available to us due to decreasing home values and the bank possibly not releasing the lien on the property. In the meantime, we've been renting a tiny apartment in St Johns waiting for the market to settle and the trends to reverse. Since the summer we've endured a rat problem, a broken water heater, a leaky washing machine, being terrorized by the neighborhood kids (knocking on windows and doors late at night), and enormous heating bills given the small size of the apartment. But the final straw was a mold issue that started back in November, and has become progressively worse. Our old studio was drafty, so I'm not accustom to mold/moisture problems like we've been experiencing. We have books warping, and papers and clothes feel damp to the touch. So, after saying fuck this, we plotted a move, located a place not too far from the current apartment, and two blocks from the building lot, should we ever manage to finance construction. I'm excited to move, to have a little more space and comfort, and hopefully lower utility bills. We're set to move on February 15, new address to follow.

February 09, 2010  –  permalink

Test and real shots next two months

Alongside Empty Quarter, I've been producing a film entitled Open Road. I've been sitting on a few remaining shots for a long time, but will be setting out to record the final shots in preparation for the final shoot for Empty Quarter. Call it a test with real application. I have a bunch of stock sitting around, and some credit at the lab, so I hope to get in some time in the coming weeks to record 3-5 of the remaining shots for the film. I've often thought the films would work well screening as part of the same program, especially seeing as how they are both partly inspired by the journals of John Charles Fremont. The only problem I see at this stage is the length of Open Road continues to increase, and may no longer pair well with Empty Quarter. If I can pull the resources together, I'd like to have two, one hour long pieces done by the end of the year.

February 02, 2010  –  permalink

Scheduling next shoot for Empty Quarter

We're looking ahead to April-May to resume production on Empty Quarter. We are planning to spend 10-14 days in Malheur county, primarily Vale, Nyssa, and Ontario. The focus will be on people working in various agricultural, warehouse, and domestic environments. We'll likely be in touch with Doug Maag who we had worked with previously, as well as other folks new to us (and our production) in Ontario. There was a bit of a struggle in the past to gain access to certain food processing and mineral operations, however we hope to overcome the suspicion and general concerns of these business entities. Looking forward to the final shoot of what has been a very long-term project. Also looking forward to a break from our routine here in Portland. Despite the sometimes difficult work of the production, we always seem to have a good time in SE Oregon.

January 08, 2010  –  permalink