Ice Merchants of Huandoy: a documentary film

Post by **steve hyde** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:52 pm

...Thanks for the questions and comments.

It really wasn't too cold at 4000m in the Andes. It's equatorial so it wasn't like we had to deal with sub freezing temperatures. It was usually warm unless it was raining. We did film in the rain one day. In retrospect I should have waited to shoot another day, but we wanted to get the job done so we shot anyway.

The DVD cover design is a draft and will change over time. Yes I did do a quite a bit of directing and location selecting for available light etc. Our only light source was a large scrim for bouncing light.

I also shot a lot in low light. In some shots inside the adobe home I wanted black blacks and used all natural lighting. I shot 7205 wide open and asked the colorist for black blacks. I'm very happy with the results. It is a flame lit scene and looks great in my opinion.

We have a solid "screener cut", but are still working to refine the audio and visual elements and the music. The film will have its premiere at a film festival and I will announce that when we know which festival is willing to premiere it. DVDs and or online screenings will come after that. I will keep you all posted here and we will have a website up soon.

Thanks. It is very encouraging to know that there is interest.

Steve

Post by **steve hyde** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 6:59 am

woods01 wrote:After seeing your S8 Cities film I'm sure this film is great, the subject
sounds very interesting. I take it you have a digibeta master of the
finished piece but any plans to seeking funding for a film print?

Your publicity material looks very nice, are those photos frame grabs
or did you shoot stills?

As mentioned a 16mm doc is rare these days and you mentioned being
cautious in shooting. Where there any specific strategies that you used?
Did you stage some scenes because of light availablility?

... I missed this question. Sorry. I don't have any plans to print this film. If I ever have a reason to do that I would have the selects transfered again to HD 24p and then printed out to 35mm on the Arri Laser at Alpha Cine Labs. For this film I plan to project the digibeta.

The stills are frame grabs. The mountain shots are 16mm and the portrait is 8mm. (sorry about the interlacing on the S8. Not sure why it did that.)

I'm off line for the next 10 days. Again, thanks to everyone for discussing.

Steve

Post by **npcoombs** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:56 pm

Shame you didn't go the HD transfer route. Those mountains beg to be bigger!

Post by **steve hyde** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:56 am

npcoombs wrote:Shame you didn't go the HD transfer route. Those mountains beg to be bigger!

Well - not sure how HD would make a mountain bigger? HD was never part of the visual design of this documentary. It's a 4:3 picture. I'm very pleased with the colors and quality of the high quality Thompson Shadow SD transfer.

Steve

Post by **npcoombs** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:18 pm

steve hyde wrote:
npcoombs wrote:Shame you didn't go the HD transfer route. Those mountains beg to be bigger!
Well - not sure how HD would make a mountain bigger? HD was never part of the visual design of this documentary. It's a 4:3 picture. I'm very pleased with the colors and quality of the high quality Thompson Shadow SD transfer.

Bigger on my monitor!

Post by **Nigel** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:16 pm

Nice job Steve!!! Can't wait to see it.

Good Luck

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:45 pm

looks good! please update us on festival dates...

Post by **steve hyde** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:06 pm

Thanks. I'll gladly send a screener DVD to anyone willing to take the time to offer some feedback. I'm scheduled to work with a finishing editor later this month so I'm currently working to refine the cut before handing it off to her. Since I was behind the lens of the camera I can't see anything out of context. It all makes sense to me since I was there. This poses a bit of a problem so outside views are welcome. Please PM me if you are willing to review the current cut.

I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of people who have now seen this documentary are reminded of a passage in the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" . It is fascinating how meaning is made intertextually from one text to the next. It also inspires me to try to connect the work with people who have read that.

Steve

Post by **woods01** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 9:00 am

One other question. What was your experience juggling film stock, airport security and a foreign language in this age of air security?

Post by **steve hyde** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:23 pm

...airport security was actually pretty easy. I would ask for a hand inspection and got one every time. On a couple of occasions the security person told me I would have to have the film x-rayed. I politely said no the film will have to be hand checked followed by an explanation of how I had received hand checks elsewhere. With a sigh I would hear - "this will take a long time". I replied with a thanks and said I have time to wait. It never took longer than 10 minutes. Language was not a problem since I speak Spanish.

Steve

Post by **steve hyde** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:02 pm

steve hyde wrote:
npcoombs wrote:Shame you didn't go the HD transfer route. Those mountains beg to be bigger!
Well - not sure how HD would make a mountain bigger? HD was never part of the visual design of this documentary. It's a 4:3 picture. I'm very pleased with the colors and quality of the high quality Thompson Shadow SD transfer.

Steve

...actually got a chance to screen my film on an HDTV and was pleased to see how much color and detail is shown, much more than the Macintosh monitor. The colors are just as bright and vibrant as any HD program I have seen. If anything the colors need to be toned down. One sequence that was shot on 7201 looks like Velvia. I asked the colorist for "vibrant colors" on this scene, but I'm a bit worried that it is over saturated. People who have seen it like it though so I think I will leave it the way it is. The current cut is from the DVcam and mpg compressed.

Post by **greg_8mm** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:07 pm

How are things going with this project? I'm still very interested in it.. Any news on what festivals it's gonna be shown? DVD release?

Post by **toby_tools** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:47 pm

Looks very cool.
I look forward to seeing it someday.
Please let me know if you release it on DVD.
Toby

Post by **steve hyde** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:15 pm

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your interest. This film is still in post-production and is evolving organically. It has been slow-going because I have a tendency to take on too many projects and so on, but it is taking on the form of my intent.

This is my first narrative film so there have been lots of mistakes and happy accidents. I did submit a cut to the Telluride Film Festival. (probably the most competitive festival in North America) and it was rejected... honestly, if that cut landed on my desk I would have rejected it too. Since then the cut has been restructured with the help of a talented editor. I have thrown out a lot of great shots that were not serving the story and I am chipping away in time - trying to get it down to 10 or 12 minutes.

In addition, I have gotten some help with sound. We have conceptualized a new sound scape that reflects the rhythm of the new cuts. The feel of the film is getting closer to my intentions, but still needing work.

For the most part, I am working almost entirely alone at the university library on a Macintosh - at times going batty - and would rather be out climbing mountains.

All this said, this short film is a work in progress in more ways than one. It is the first short in a series of shorts that I plan to produce on everyday life in the Peruvian Andes. The final product - two or three years from now, will be a collection of documentary shorts - feature length and will be made available on what ever format makes sense at that time. Before then, I will put together a limited release on DVD or have it made available on a site that offers hi-fidelity downloads that time-out. Also some television people have approached me about acquiring it. They must have read about it here because I have not even started promoting it.

will update with film festival placement and dates. The title is also subject to change. I don't really like the title that much.

Again, thanks,

Steve

Post by **steve hyde** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 1:12 am

...this project is having its premiere at the 2008 True/False film Festival in Columbia Missouri - Feb 28- March 3rd.

I settled on the original title: Shikashika which is both a Quechua word and a fitting onomatopoeia..

I also posted about the premiere in the festivals forum:

http://filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/v ... 41d9546d14

Again - thanks all for your interest and best of luck on your projects- I hope to cross paths with some of you in the festival circuit this year..

Steve