The Brave and the Kind: A film by John W. Yost

As post production winds down, and a new year approaches, I felt it would be good to take a moment and reflect on where this project was a year ago. It was just an outline and a fake trailer. One weekend while writing the script, I got the idea to make a fake trailer for the film to give IndiePix an idea of the mood and feel I wanted the film to have. Read more >>

The one film that started it all, is now posted up everywhere and on this site. “Fog” was a short film I shot in 2004 right out of college. We shot it in one weekend with all my friends from the Maine Workshops. (I worked there for 8 months right out of school.) It was shot with the Panasonic SDX-900 and was my first real experience with video as a possible substitute for film. Read more >>

So my associate producer/former co-worker/bud Brandon Bethmann is making a feature. It’s kind of mumblecore, kind of a zombie film, and a labor of love for Brandon. It is certainly not his first time at the helm of a feature film (IMDB page) but it’s the first time working in this genre. I’ve been helping as DP and so far the shoots have been relaxed, productive breaks from my everyday life. Let’s congratulate him on joining us in being artsy-fartsy. I’ll post a little video too.:-)

Finished the rough cut
Sent it out for notes
Got good notes
Finished the fine cut and sent screeners out
Notes are coming in
Test Screening Nov 23rd at the Saratoga Film Forum…7PM
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I went to the store to buy a few things. No one was smiling…no one was talking…it was an eerie experience. I hope this has gotten people to think. I hope it doesn’t take much more for people to understand how important this presidential election is. I hope it makes people rethink their priorities. I believe in people…I hope we can all believe in each other.

Cheers
John

I’ve found that when you make a film that most of your family and friends either know about or are starring in, you tend to hear the question, “How’s the film coming?” OR, my favorite… “You’re making a film or something….right”? It’s true. I am making a film and it is going good… I swear. I felt strange all last month; I felt a pain that constantly grew every time I was asked those questions. This pain/feeling grew until I was finally burnt out completely and had to take a four-day break. What was the pain? Longing. Read more >>

And for the 4 people that read this blog…I’m sorry… Mom, I’m sorry for the delay in posts.

It’s been a good two weeks and the rough cut is now done and delivered to the powers that be. Time to celebrate and think about the future. Test screenings, final color timings, and sound mixes. But for now, it’s just me and the film. Me and…me, basically. I’m very happy with the progress so far, but spending everyday face to face with my family and our issues can sometimes have a burning-out effect. Another thing that has a burning out effect…reading every blog, from every blogger in independent film, and debating whether or not Indie film is dead. It’s time to stop humping the dead horse and move on. Some people say film is not an art of the 21st century. I disagree. The way we access the art of film now is a 20th century thing. Lets find a 21st century way of enjoying, distributing, and making the art of film…don’t give up so quickly.

Cheers,
John

You know him as one of the guys who recorded the soundtrack. Now check out robs earlier work as a film student by clicking the link below.

http://www.vimeo.com/708829

what a sexy guy

Here I am sitting in Pete’s living room waiting for him and Rob to come record and I realized a few things. My current job is not a typical job. It doesn’t have the normal 9-5 day attached to it. It can be done from most anywhere including a café, which is where I am actually doing most of my work. It also makes me realize that soon I will have to find that 9-5 job or something like it, as well as a place to live. Hopefully I’ll be lucky again in both regards.

The recording has had its ups and downs with several technical glitches. Security cameras were set up as soon as we arrived. Unfortunately, I only had a short time with them as the laptop was needed for recording. For some reason John’s computer did not allow us to do anything to the music after it had been recorded. Thankfully we had the laptop to fall back on.

I’m putting up a song that I captured through the security cameras on Vimeo . Due to technical difficulties however, it was not recorded for the soundtrack. I will also be posting a 5×5 video. 5×5 videos are five, five-second clips, sort of a video haiku. So be on the lookout for the videos and maybe you can catch a sneak peak at the music that will be in the film.

After visiting the Thousand Islands I came to a realization, about change. I thought it would come to me later when I was 80 cursing the neighbor kids because they were playing in my yard or bothering me with some new technology. Little did I know that at the ripe old age of 22 I’d be confronted with the stark differences between my memory and the current condition of those people and places.

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