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

I wanted to tell everyone just how much I loved spending time with them and getting to play and work together. Of course as usual the time went quickly and not every world solving conversation got finished and not everybody’s life stories got to be told but one thing for sure is we all work hard and play hard. The nocturnal youth are impossible for me to keep up with but they were so enjoyable I did not want to miss any moments with them. Their youthful energy was appreciated at clean up and I really want to thank everyone for cleaning up their space and helping for the whole group. Mr. John Edward Yost gets a big thank you for his vacuuming skills and refrigerator cleaning. Mrs. Rodino was voted the hippest mom and Mrs. Albertson the most loving. I feel like I met people that I have known my whole life and friendships were born. Such good hard working new adults of our future on this planet, the ones we need to hear about more working with humor and kindness.

So that’s a wrap on principle photography. The shoot couldn’t have gone better and the experience more jam-packed full of good times. The footage looks great and I’m ACTUALLY excited to be editing. (I’m usually not the biggest fan.) We have one more weekend of pickups, but that doesn’t come till after the twelve day recording session in August for the soundtrack. Stay tuned to the site and all its relative pages for updates, new videos, and Behind-The-Scenes of the experience that is soundtrack recording with Rob and Pete. Thanks to EVERYONE who helped make this happen, not just this past weekend, but the entire film.

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Or, should I say, Ethan’s? If you’ve been a recurring visitor to The Brave and the Kind’s official site, you may have noticed, after only a few months online, we’ve updated our look. With production nearly complete, a hard drive full of gorgeous footage, and a slew of beautiful photography from still photographer Meghan Petersen, we knew it was time to take out the fine china. Read more >>

I’m starting to understand the idea of greed…in life…in general. As we near the end of shooting, I have to remember to let editing, soundtrack recording, and sound mixing take it’s course. To rush these things would be greedy. Read more >>

Friends, family, and the film crew will all be heading to the Thousand Islands this weekend for a 5-day shoot. For most people, the Thousand Islands is a tourist attraction, but for my family and me it is so much more.

It all started when my mother’s father and mother would bring her to camp at the state park on Point Peninsula in the Thousand Islands. Point Peninsula is about as far away from civilization and into the middle of Lake Ontario as you can go. Her father liked it so much he built a log cabin across from the park and my mother spent most every summer there. Her friends and family had also built cabins surrounding her fathers.

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Last weekend I was in my second scene in this movie.

It seems like just last week when Johnny came to me and asked me if I had a bright light he could borrow to shoot a video for a High School project.

From that day I knew that all the advice I had given my sons about getting a real job and not one in the “creative industry” was for not. Read more >>

So the film is almost shot, behind-the-scenes videos are in motion, and soundtrack recording is coming up. And all of a sudden it’s a different job, a different set of priorities. I was in production mode for so long I forgot what post-production felt like. Not to say that we’re in post-production…but I can see and smell it on the horizon. Read more >>

Due to last week’s busy shooting schedule I had no time to put together a behind-the-scenes video. However, the massive amounts of interesting material I filmed this week will make for great content, so keep posted. I would like to thank everyone that came this weekend, from cast and crew members to extras. This week would not have worked without any of you. I took a ton of good stills from this week that you can check them out by clicking on any of the pictures in the Flickr stream on the left.
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I recently went to NYC for a few days during my first vacation since the beginning of the summer. I have to find a place to live come the beginning of October. Most of my friends have relocated to NYC - why, I’m not sure. John once moved down to Brooklyn but only stayed for a short period of time, returning to live in the apartment above my parent’s house and curse his school loans. He had worked himself to death to just barely pay the rent. I have made it my job to learn from John’s, as well as anyone else’s mistakes. Which is why I went to a SUNY school to save on school loans when I got out and why NYC is not on my list of places to live.
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Last weekend I learned filmmaking is very complex - so much to think about, so many areas to address. I always knew that intellectually but to be a part of it first-hand was a real eye-opener. Lots of hours setting up, loading and unloading heavy equipment, lighting, sound, waiting, working, helping, watching, doing, learning, revising. The director has to address all the different needs of every different personality and is pulled in every direction at once. The pressure everyone is under is a frustrating aspect as well.
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