and we finally have an official film trailer. Edited by Dylan Baker, polished by Goldtooth Creative. Please share!

Two Indians Talking listed at the Calgary International Film Festival. Matinee screening on Sunday October 3rd. Woohoo!
http://www.calgaryfilm.com/2010/schedule/film/837/

Hello very patient friends and filmmakers.

Two Indians Talking (yes, back to the original title) is heading into the final stretch of post production work, now in the capable hands of Goldtooth Creative.

Huge thanks goes to everyone who has been a part of moving this story forward. It really has been like a relay race of incredible contributors.

We have already begun receiving film festival invitations, which is very exciting — especially considering it’s still a work in progress.

The official website is ready for pre-viewing at http://kissdustpictures.com/. You can see a few promo clips and keep an eye on screening dates. Still to come are the trailer, complete crew credits, and a newsfeed subscription option. (Is anyone out there WordPress-savvy enough to give me a tutorial?)

Feedback is welcome. Stay tuned for further news!

Best,
Sara

Greetings film friends,

I realize it’s been a long while since my last update on the progress of “Discussing Mr Darcy” so have chosen this Valentine’s Eve to check in with you.

At the end of November editor Frederique Remy and I achieved a picture assembly that we’re very happy with. The story is complete and performances are strong – no surprise given how great the script and actors are. Elifer had done a lot of the heavy lifting so Freddie and I worked on finessing the timing and crafting the story. Now we’re at the beginning stages of the audio process.

Professional Recording Arts students at The Art Institute of Vancouver are working on background and dialogue clean up led by Marc Benoit. It’s fun to think the film is moving ahead even though I don’t have my hands on it directly right now. In the meantime, I’ve been listing to a lot of music and forming ideas for scoring and soundtrack. Thank you again to musicians who sent songs to us via Matt Safran. There are wonderful options to choose from, the decision now is what fits best with the film. If anyone still wants to throw suggestions as us, please get in touch with Matt through www.filmusic.ca

The production team at Goldtooth Creative have put together a strategy for delivering post production and when money comes in I’m looking forward to getting involved with them. Everyone’s aim is to have the film completed by end of April so we can hit film festival submission deadlines beginning in May.

This feels like the unglamorous part of the process, there’s not much action that seems worth reporting on… but progress is ongoing in small steps. I realized it was a year ago in February that I optioned the script from Andrew and had a 12-month window to develop it. So in retrospect, we’ve done a good job of making this thing a reality.

I’ll be sure to post again when there’s news to report. Oh, if anyone out there is comfortable with WordPress and would be interested in helping get our official website online, please be in touch. I’ve got a small honorarium set aside for the project and content is well organized.

Happy Olympics. Vancouver is a fun place to be these days.

DISCUSSING MR. DARCY is a comedic drama about the conflicting opinions of two First Nations men as they prepare to set up a roadblock.

We are currently seeking an experienced Editor who can cut a 2-minute trailer for marketing purposes, and perhaps come on board as Supervising Editor for the film. A rough assembly has already been completed.

This micro-budget feature film was shot on two Panasonic cameras (HPX 170 and HVX 200 with 35mm lens adaptors) in early September 2009. The shoot was done with completely volunteer labour. We have a modest honorarium for our trailer Editor.

Director of Photography: Les Erskine
Producers: Darlene Choo, Michael De Sadeleer, Rhonda Dent
Director: Sara McIntyre
Writer: Andrew Genaille

Cast: NATHANIEL ARCAND (Heartland, Moose TV, North of 60, Da Vinci’s City Hall, Ginger Snaps Back, Unnatural & Accidental); JUSTIN RAIN (The Twilight Saga:Eclipse, The Guard); CARMEN MOORE (North of 60, Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy, Wolf Lake, Godiva’s, Raven Tales, Flash Gordon, Unnatural & Accidental); SAM BOB; DENYC; ASHLEY HARRY.

Our all-First Nations cast delivered very strong performances and we have good-looking footage to work with. We also have a handful of distributors and broadcasters waiting to see the story. This film is intended for festival audiences with DVD distribution and television broadcast to follow.

The story has been warmly embraced by the First Nations community and non-Aboriginals alike. Please be in touch as soon as you’re able if you have questions about the project or would like to get involved.

Sara McIntyre (604) 730-1630 kissdustpics@gmail.com

PROJECT WEBSITE: http://www.indiegogo.com/Two-Indians-Talking

VANCOUVER SUN ARTICLE: http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie...

Progress! Tonight through the magic of Skype Desktop Sharing (about which I was previously oblivious), I watched Elifer’s assembly of about half of the film. Up to now I’ve been battling with my big screen desktop that’s too out of date to watch footage, and my little laptop screen where I can only view the unlabeled raw files. It’s been frustrating. I’d decided to just wait for Eli to show me his first rough cut… so tonight’s viewing was a fun surprise. And the performances are working! Happiness.

We’re seeing challenges with focus since the 35mm lens adaptors have such a narrow window of sharpness, and our camera crews were constantly rotating. And a few scenes where axis puzzles are present. But overall I think we’ll piece it together nicely. Man, those guys look good on screen.

Wonderful article by Randy Shore in today’s Vancouver Sun on page D11.

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie...

If you’re on the north shore and can get your hands on a North Shore Outlook, find our lovely debut article on the Arts Page (18) by Rebecca Aldous with photo credit to MDS. Seeing us in print brings a certain kind of thrill – this must be real!

Also tune in to Vancouver Co-operative Radio, Tuesday 15th at 12:30 for an interview with Orene Askew. 102.7 FM http://www.coopradio.org/ Nathaniel, are you going to be calling in too?

1/2
And so, we’ve survived shooting. We didn’t just survive, we had a great time and we got amazing footage. Our crew was predominantly rookies led by Les Erskine and Tom Balzer who ran the show like the pros they are. Lots of coaching until people found their footing, and when Lindsay George joined us as Gaffer on day 3, we really hit our stride.

Nobody yelled, no bleeding occurred, when the ADs realized weather might interfere the shooting schedule was rearranged to be sure all outdoor scenes happened under dry skies. We only really had 2 afternoons of wet and then the sun burst through again for our final day of roadblock footage. We kept a steady, civilized pace to the work and made our days consistently. It honestly felt like a blessed experience.

Of course a few hiccups occurred – as could have been predicted with an all-digital process, we lost footage from one camera on Day 1. At first we didn’t know if it was gone or just needed different software for access, but it was finally declared Erased. Because we were shooting two cameras simultaneously, we didn’t actually loose takes, just coverage, and we determined the scenes were still intact without needing to reshoot. As you can imagine, triple backup systems were immediately implemented and things went smoothly from then on. The only other glitches were minor damage to a tripod and a microphone. All in all, the casualty list was impressively short.

MVP Crew mention goes to Matt Medwin and Derek Griffith who took turns sleeping overnight in the location so we didn’t have to pack all gear into a lockup at the end of every day. This saved us a few hours daily and several hundred $$ overall. They had internet, warm blankets and comfy couches for the ride.

2/2
Our entire production was 10 days in the location, with Day 1 being technical and performance rehearsal. It was the first time we had all actors together so my full attention was on them while the crew figured out their systems. It wasn’t until about 2 pm that I looked at a monitor and gasped at how beautiful the frame was. It hit me that we were making a film!

Directing two such talented actors as Nathaniel and Justin was a joy and demanded my complete focus. They work from completely different creative places, so my job was to develop languages with each of them that allowed their connection in the centre of the story. Their chemistry was captivating to follow. Sam Bob and the women all brought wonderful energy the their scenes and will shake up the story nicely at key moments.

Tonight I’m watching our Behind the Scenes footage, getting to see what the rest of the crew were up to… hearing our actors talk about their characters and experiences. Seeing Jaden, Carman’s son, whizzing through his Rubik’s Cube almost equals the amazing stories from the elders who’ve spent time on roadblocks and at protests.

I’ve also loaded lots of photographs on our FaceBook site for you to share and tag. I’m now upgrading software on my desktop so I can start watching dailies. The plan is for Elifer to piece together a timeline according to the script, and I’ll be doing a paper edit simultaneously so we can jump into finessing quickly. Then comes music, colour… the fancy and fun stuff.

Our shoot ended with a blessing from the Squamish and visiting Nations around a bonfire at sundown. Then our crew wrapped up the night with marshmallows and drinks around that same campfire. I think I’ll build this into every production I do, can’t imagine a story where it won’t be appropriate. It was truly a magical end to the process and I promise to keep cast and crew updated about our progress through post.

Keep your eyes out for a story in the Vancouver Sun about the film and First Nations humour. We also got visited by APTN, PitchPage and The North Shore Chronicle. Thanks for following along so far – more to come!

Congrats on the interview! I encourage you to share the event details with your fans in the new EVENTS tab so they can attend or send their friends from the area. More info on EVENTS here:http://www.indiegogo.com/blog/2009/09/new-event... Cheers GoGoDanae

Sounds great, Sara, all the best for the shoot!