black and white. super 16mm. trailer. (or: more than i was willing to admit)

betty i am - Trailer (Jazz) from jaime ryan heintz on Vimeo.

so, we shot this thing just over two years ago and it seems like it's all coming together in some form or another. the final cut is done, we're getting music rights, and final audio mixing is about to start.

i really don't even know how i got so entwined with this film. first thing i hear from jose, "hey, wanna grip for me?" then i think, "hey, wanna camera op for me?" and then... "hey, uh... wanna dp for me?"

WHAT?! dp your feature film... ON FILM... the project youre going $20,000 into debt for?!

ME?!

might as well have asked me to perform a transplant on a hemophilic infant. it had been at least a year or two since i had previously dped... and i was never really happy with my results... on school shorts... not features. but, jose trusted me for some reason. maybe he had to.

and... to scare me more shitless. given the circumstances, i knew i wouldnt see ANYTHING of what we shot until well after we finished production. no dalies. no saftey. no reshooting. in fact, we didnt see the footage until we did the telecine... ONE FULL YEAR LATER. so yeah, there was a little trepidation, a big sigh, and forehead rub every time i gave an f-stop to naoe, chisho, or wooja.

thing is, i kinda decided early on (and to what extent jose actually agreed, i have no idea) that if we were going to do this thing truly low budget and take inspiration from the french new wave and jarmusch films... we HAD to go out on a limb... i was going to have to go out on a limb. far fucking out.

i dont think we had anything stronger than a 1k, and maybe only two or three at that, so i pretty much knew everything was going to have to be pretty much practical. i knew i didnt want to over light anyway (since thats a HUGE pet peeve of mine anyway (and it should be yours too!)). most, if not all, of the day stuff was lit by a window (or direct sun) with black hung on the opposite wall and exposure set for the highlights. just aimed that meter globe right at the window. no sweat, right? contrast ratio? latitude? characteristic curve? HA!

i think i had a mantra - if youre not taking a chance, it's not worth doing.

i knew i could have fucked up miserably... no catastrophically. but i didnt tell anyone... unless i laughed it off with an uneasy smile and a touch of feigned bravado.

jesus, that was stupid. haha.

anyway, it's done. it turned out pretty well (still some stuff i'd change, obviously)... but i am forever grateful to jose for offering me the opportunity to hang myself.

the feature and trailer were cut by me (another long story).

the music featured here is "le coeur qui jazze" by france gall.

(and, if you follow this (http://www.vimeo.com/2758101) link, you can download the source video, if youre into that kind of thing)