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Charlotte Sometimes is a $20,000 "erotic mystery" that found
theatrical distribution thanks to film fest prizes, critical acclaim,
and two nominations for the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards. The actors
are Asian American, they speak standard English, and no one shoots or
kicks anyone from start to finish. Viewers have said to me on numerous
occasions, "After three minutes I forgot everyone was Asian."
By the same token, film purists often say, "After three minutes I
forgot it was shot on DV." Variety called Charlotte Sometimes "one
of the best video to film transfers yet," and you'll rarely find
a digital film as renowned for cinematic storytelling. In my last piece, I talked about the shooting of Charlotte Sometimes, and how digital video turned out to be the right choice both artistically and financially. Digital video enabled me to experiment and improvise with the actors in ways that would not have been possible on a 35 mm film production. It also allowed me to make mistakes, learn from them, and correct them for almost nothing. (A reshoots budget of $850 allowed me to shoot five new scenes, providing I could make due with a crew of three.) If the film had failed, I would have spent only $20,000 to either (a) figure out I wasn't cut out to be a filmmaker, or (b) gain valuable experience for next time. These days a good movie can be shot for the price of a used car. If you want it badly enough, there's no reason not follow your dream. |
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Shooting and Editing That said, the raw digital video footage we shot had a glossy "video" look, especially when we viewed it on a television screen rather than a computer or high definition monitor. It gave the film a synthetic feel that undermined its realism and subtlety, and shortened what I call the "life" of every shot. While making editing decisions, even more so than during production, I needed to have faith that Charlotte Sometimes would somehow end up on 35 mm. Editor Kenn Kashima (The Debut, Yellow) and I worked on a Final Cut Pro system supplied to me by Visionbox Pictures in exchange for deferred payment. At the time, I translated the words "deferred payment" as "free." And even though I've since learned otherwise, I was worse than broke at the time, and I'm glad I made the deals I made. Visionbox had provided production services up to that point, also for deferred fee, but had never offered cash investment. At the time, Visionbox was focused on "real" projects-- "commercial" films in which they'd invested real money. The visionary Michael Kastenbaum, who first brought the project to Visionbox, had left the company by this time. Charlotte Sometimes was tolerated on the premises largely due to good graces of CEO John Manulis. I wonder if he knew my secret plan was to somehow convince him to help me to finish the film. I still recall the day he stopped into my editing room and watched me play a scene between Jacqueline Kim and Matt Westmore. "Looks great," he said and he went off to his next meeting. I took that as a sign of good things to come. When the rough cut was ready, Mr. Manulis hosted a screening at his house to introduce the film to the Visionbox publicist (I can't recall his name) and Chris Miller, who had recently replaced Mr. Kastenbaum as Number Two at Visionbox. Afterwards, the publicist announced he was late for a dinner party, but before departing he regretfully informed us that the film didn't work, that there were too many things left unsaid, and the only solution was intermittent voice-over narration to explain everything. When the publicist was out the door, Mr. Miller pointed his finger at me very sternly and said, "If you put voice-over in this movie I'll kill you." From that moment forward, Mr. Miller and Mr. Manulis devoted their resources, their knowledge, and their connections in the industry to providing Charlotte Sometimes with the very best in post-production. Under Mr. Miller's supervision, the film's five reels were outputted from Final Cut Pro on to a DV-cam tape and converted to High Definition (D-5). It was then color-timed on a state-of-the-art Di Vinci 2K system at Complete Post in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Bradley L. North, one of Miller's protégées, cut and designed the sound at Burn Studio in Santa Monica. The crowning jewel was a magnificent score composed by Michael Brook (Affliction, Albino Alligator). Film Festivals and the Blow-up to 35 Visionbox had paid for sound design and color timing, but a transfer to film would be too expensive to justify. Mr. Manulis had been saying for years that in today's market, a film is just as likely to sell on video as it is on 35 mm. Why incur the cost, and increase economic risk, while still at the festival level? If the film is going to sell, the distributor could pay for the transfer. If the film is not going to sell, the transfer would be a waste of money. Although this was sound reasoning, I decided to pay for the transfer myself for reasons of my own: (1) Because of its unique approach, I felt Charlotte Sometimes had a decidedly better chance of finding distribution on 35 mm. (2) Thanks to my first paid writing gig, the screen adaptation of Shawn Wong's landmark Asian American novel, American Knees, I would soon have the money. (3) Although the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival could have screened Charlotte Sometimes digitally, the Florida Film Festival did not have the necessary projector - and as Film Threat guru Chris Gore had rated Florida FF in his top ten of the world, I was determined not to pass up the invitation. (4) It had always been my dream to see Charlotte Sometimes on celluloid and dreamers cannot be deterred by fiscal responsibility. During April and May of 2002, I had two objectives: One was to complete the sound design and prepare for the film-out. The other was to finish American Knees so I could pay for it. Alpha Cine Labs in Seattle was eager to try out their new film-out technology, and eager to get into business with Visionbox, so President Don Jenson offered us a deal that I would be able to afford. Rather than the CRT scan, Alpha Cine was implementing two new technologies called the Teranex Video computer and the Arrilaser Film Recorder. Alpha Cine's New Projects Director Bruno George could explain how they work exactly, but let's just say their test footage blew us all away. (www.AlphaCine.com) The D-5 CTM (color timed master) was never down-converted back to DV. At Mr. Miller's request, Mr. George was able to acquire a D-5 deck in Seattle, so the Teranex/Arrilaser conversion was made from a high definition master. Mr. Miller and Mr. George were incredibly devoted to making my $20,000 movie look like a million bucks. It was Miller, for instance, who teamed with George to find the precise settings to fit Humphrey's camera work. And it was George who worked tirelessly to remove video artifacts and fix mistakes left over from production. He even honored a request I relayed from one of the actresses to alter a shot to make her look sexier! In June of 2002 Charlotte Sometimes won a Jury Prize at the Florida Film
Festival, and the first of our key reviews (Robert Koehler's for Variety)
came from the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival, where Charlotte Sometimes
qualified as a candidate for the IFP Independent Spirit Awards. Five months
later, the Hawaii International Film Festival screened that same 35 mm
print for a sold out house that included many of my childhood friends
as well as a film critic by the name of Roger Ebert. The review he published
a few days later in the Chicago Sun-Times (www.CharlotteSometimesTheMovie.com/ebert.html)
caught the attention of distributors for the first time. When the 2003
Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced a month later, theatrical
distribution was becoming a reality. Now there are five or six prints
in existence, and they've played in 24 U.S. cities, and Charlotte Sometimes
can be found on DVD and VHS at places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video.
Meanwhile, the executives who hired me to adapt American Knees screened
the same 35 mm print and hired me to direct it. Tomorrow we have a meeting
to decide whether to shoot it on video or film. |
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