Opening Our Eyes

I tend to be a person who is always looking ahead, rather than looking back, but sometimes you can gain a lot of perspective by looking back and that can be critical for moving forward.  Chris Guillebeau writes an annual review in his blog  The Art of Non-Conformity and he suggests we do the same.  It’s a yearly assessment of how you feel your past year has been – noting both your accomplishments as well as your low points.  It helps you mentally prepare for how you want to live your life in the coming year.

Sometimes looking forward can seem overwhelming.  But when I look back at what I’ve accomplished, I get the confidence I need to move ahead. With that said, here’s a recap of 2011 for Opening Our Eyes:

• Completed the film – That in itself was a triumph of accomplishment, but it took its toll.  Doing the rough edit consumed most of my winter.  I needed to cull through over 150 hours of footage, transcode it, add metadata, sort out the chaff, look at the b-roll and cut down the interviews to a 3 hour timeline.  It was grueling for me – 14 hour days – 7 days a week for almost 2 months but somehow I got through it  When spring arrived I handed the entire project to my editor, Erik Freeland who did a masterful job of editing the film.  We worked together, discussing the particular stories within the film and Erik brought those stories alive with how he cut them together. The first cut of the film was finished in July.

• We were extremely fortunate to have gotten permission to use one of Jackson Browne’s song, Alive in the World for festival and community screenings.  Our executive producer, Angel Burns who came on board this year, made that happen – making another dream come true.  Jackson’s music and his social activism has always been an inspiration to me. I was able to personally thank him after seeing him in concert this fall.

• Another beautiful person came into in my life, randomly.  Her name is Joyelle Brandt, she’s a singer, songwriter and an amazing artist.  Joyelle wrote a song called “One“.  She wrote to me on Facebook and told me about her song and how it delivered the same message as our film and that she would be happy to let us use the song in the film.  We did – it opens up the film and it’s like Joyelle wrote it specifically for the film.  We can’t thank you enough,  Joyelle.

• Music is such a critical component of every film  – it is the emotional component and defines the moods and the pacing of the movie. Dominic Brook a hip hop artist from Australian not only appears in the film during the Oasis story, but sets the tone with his music throughout that segment.  Dominic is a kindred spirit in wanting to make a difference. He started Musicians Making a Difference and  has helped a lot of young people find themselves through music.

• We were also fortunate to have digital artist Allan Davey come into our lives and design our beautiful “one sheet” as well as our DVD packaging.  Allan’s poster told the story of the film beautifully and really raised the bar as far as our “look.” We could never thank him enough for his talents.

• Crowdfunding – About this time last year we were winding down our Kickstarter campaign.  We had about a week to go and I remember stressing if we would reach our goal of $7500.  With Kickstarter, if you don’t reach your goal – you get nothing so it was a very stressful time.  We ended up making our goal on Jan. 5, 2011.  Actually, we exceeded our goal and raised a little over $10,000.  I was able to pay my editor (who deserved much more) and give a bit to the subjects in the film.  Thanks to all our supporters we were able to finish the post production of our film, and that is huge.

• We aren’t doing as well with our second campaign on IndieGoGo.  We still have a few days to go but we only realized 20% of our goal.  With IndieGoGo, you get whatever you have raised, regardless if you make your goal.  Maybe, our goal was unrealistic.  Maybe it’s harder to raise money for outreach, PR and distribution, but that’s probably the most critical part in filmmaking – to get the film seen.  But every dollar helps us defray the costs of pushing this out there and we are very grateful to all of our continued supporters.

• Apart from the crowdfunding, the San Francisco Film Society is now our fiscal sponsor, so that means that we can accept tax deductible donations via their 501c3 status. That will also allow us to be eligible for some grants.  Does anyone know a good grantwriter who would like to come onboard?

• Festivals – We have been invited to the San Luis Obispo Film Festival in early March and Cal Poly is our sponsor.  I’m looking forward to the festival and hope that our whole team will be able to be there as well. I did not get into Sundance or Slamdance.  Sundance had over 11,000 submissions and will be showing only 11 documentaries.  But I have printed out my “rejection email” as a reminder that I tried.  I will proudly join the other 99% who tried but didn’t make the cut.
  I hope there will be more invitations.  We shall see, but regardless of festival invitations, the power of this film will be in community screenings.

• Sneak Previews – My dream came true when I saw this film on the “big screen” at the State Theater in Traverse City, Michigan.  It truly was a fantasy come true, to stand there with Erin and watch as they hand placed each letter of our names on the marquee that hot July night.  What made it even more special was to watch the film in such a beautiful venue with a lot of my family and friends in the audience.  My family made that one of the most memorable days of my life.  It was a day of sharing and connecting where all the circles came together.  I’ve had a couple other private screenings, and some have been with Erin which is great.  It’s always interesting to get live feedback.  Last month I showed the film to young Brazilians in Sao Paulo.  It was the first time that I got feedback from a non-American audience.  It was very well received and it confirmed in my mind that not only this film has a global reach, but that it really resonated with this “20 something” demographic.  That gives me great hope for the future.

• Talks
  I’ve had quite a few speaking engagements this year but I think the one that stands out is the TEDx talk I did this month in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  It was an honor to be invited and I met some amazing young Brazilians who are doing some interesting things in their lives.  They are looking at the world through a different lens and to listen to them throughout the day was incredibly energizing.

• PACA – I had a great time speaking at the Picture Archive Council of America.  I talked about the making of this film with a small crew and budget.  I talked about the possibilities for distribution in this day and age.  The ASPP American Society of Picture Professionals,  sponsored my talk and they may bring this talk to their chapters in 2012.

• Grateful for our followers
  Without the support of our family, friends and virtual friends from all over the world – this would never have been possible.  Every time any one of you has commented or written an email – it has given us the energy and encouragement that we needed to keep going.  You have no idea how meaningful all of your comments have been. They’ve certainly helped me through some of the toughest times.

Going forward in 2012 – well that’s a whole other blog post.  But I do know that I need to devote more time to my business.  There are so many things I wish to do and only so many hours in the day.  But it helped to sort it out in my head, and in writing this recap. I realize that even though it seems like there’s so much to do – look how much we’ve done.