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

I’m sitting in the Sarasota Airport at 11AM on a Monday and I really have to wonder what I’m doing here. Four days ago I arrived here confident in the direction of my life, this film, my ideas, etc…

Now I’m not so sure.

The festival itself was fine. They tried really hard to make a program with variety and quality. They treated me well and we shared some laughs. Ethan’s family were wonderful. They welcomed me with open arms, made me feel like part of their family, and showed me a wonderful time in a wonderful city. I want to thank them a million times over for a great weekend.

The problem is not with the festival, or Sarasota…The problem is with me. For some reason I just completely gave up after the TBTK screening on Saturday. Perhaps it was the small crowd, perhaps it’s the fact that besides Donnacha no one seems to read this fucking conversation anyway…so what’s the fucking point? This Indie Film thing seems to be a one sided conversation…a “Let me tell you all about me…but fuck what you’re doing” kind of thing. It’s not a community…it’s a shark tank. Now on the flip side…I met some great people at the fest; friends of Ethan that also welcomed me with open arms. AND the positive thing here is to say…”well…5 new people saw the film…so that’s good.” And it IS good to meet new people and have them see the film…even if it is a handful at a time. My question is…How long can you stay positive? How long can you survive on silver linings before you start to question why?

The other question besides who cares is why bother? If you make work that never reaches anyone…is it worth doing? Can I sustain myself on pure self satisfaction? How long does that feed your soul till you just want to go build something solid like a house, or do something that puts some real good back into the world.

How long to you fool yourself into thinking what you’re doing matters at all?

Well? Let me know what you think…if anyone is even reading this. If I don’t start hearing from people…I’m shutting it down…and move on to better things.

John

So I’m going to try and start something here that will hopefully take off a bit and be a cool experiment in keeping a conversation going. In the last few years I have had the pleasure of not only making films, but talking to others outside of my upstate new york bubble about indie filmmaking and the state of DIY art making. One of these souls is Donnacha Coffey, an Irish filmmaker and lover of all things indie. Donnacha saw my first film and tried to get in touch with me…but I never got the email. (which is the total truth…scouts honor.) He tried again…and thank goodness…we have now been in constant contact about film and life. Read more >>

So the film is finally all complete, mixed, packaged, ready to go, and we want to celebrate by bringing it to the people. In spirit of DIY and micro budget filmmaking we are putting together a mini tour of the film in early summer and we need your help finding the venues. We’re hoping to find galleries, small theaters, film series, college campuses, etc…to have small screenings with you and your friends. (or complete strangers who like film.:-)

Shoot me an email (name5026@yahoo.com) or comment to this blog with a place you think would be perfect for a small, quiet, indie film about family. We will also use this tour as an opportunity to launch VOD and DVD releases…so sharing this to friends and family via the interwebs will only help the cause!

Thanks to all of those who have sent me ideas so far…I am looking into all possibilities!

Cheers and thanks in advance!
John

What a great experience Maine International Film Festival has been. I wasn’t there for TBTK, but Motion Portrait Film was excepted into their shorts program. It was wonderful. Great venue, great staff, great town. Waterville was amazing. I want to thank the entire staff for making this a place to see ground-breaking work in such a wonderful setting. Filmmakers…send in you work for next year…asap. Read more >>

In this new world of indie film production and distribution it seems that some films only see the light of day at festivals. Some go on to DVD sales, or some might have small theater runs in places like LA or NYC. Read more >>

Over the past few months, I’ve gotten a ton of questions about the process of making The Brave and the Kind. These questions have led me to reflect on my own experience that started back in January of 2008. Making a film in a year is considered lighting fast by industry standards, and it certainly has been a whirlwind and an absolutely amazing experience. I’ve taken the time to share the story of this process below, which should answer all of the questions you’ve all been asking. Thanks again for your support and interest in the project!

1) To start is to have the idea. I usually like to do research on subjects, talk about the idea with close friends and family…see their reaction to it. In some ways the idea for TBTK is almost the full realization that began with that first interview with my Grandpa, which subsequently ended up in the film. But in many ways, much has changed due to personal revisions and trusted feedback.

2) After the idea is planted, most people then go on to writing the script. This was my experience writing a feature length script… and it was anything but pleasant. I think there are some people who love to have it all come into focus on the written page. Having a game plan certainly helped make the film better, and for that I’m thankful. But for me, the filmmaking process itself ends up becoming a way for me to discover what the real story is about, and having it locked down word for word seems too constricting. If you ask me, there is a fine line between sticking closely to the script and improvising. When that balance is struck, amazing things happen.

3) Next comes pre-production. For The Brave and the Kind, planning was happening while the script was forming. Once we got the locations in the script locked down, we went out and made the schedule. Once the characters were finalized, we moved on to casting… and so on. Ethan and Emily were both great finds, and most of our other locations and cast fell into place. They did so because we were still flexible in our story. Would it have been as organic if we had a stone-tablet of a script? For a film like Iron Man it sure would have been a disaster. For a film like TBTK, the little moments are sometimes discovered in the chaos.

4) Production couldn’t have gone any better. The schedule held up for the most part. We had a stripped-down crew, with many people fulfilling multiple roles, but they all did an amazing job remaining flexible and getting the job done. It’s tough as a Director to also be the Costume Department, AD (at times), Continuity, etc… However, we didn’t need crowds of people standing around drinking coffee either. The few indie films I’ve worked on were always terribly overstaffed and wasteful. Read more >>

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 >>

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.

Read more >>