Christopher Pendergraft

Title says it all. One of the most engaging movies I’ve ever seen.

Zero 7 - Pop Art Blue - http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Pop+Art+Blue/23184900

One of the things I try to do when writing a story is incorporate elements of my favorite songs, quotes, paintings, etc. into the story. In this case, after realizing that “Pop Art Blue” was a color, I titled my short screenplay “Pop Art Blue” in homage to this song.

The second draft is almost done and will be posted soon. In the meantime, enjoy Zero 7’s “Pop Art Blue,” from the most unique album I’ve ever heard, “Yeah Ghost.”

Port City Poetry Vol. 1 is the first in a series of mini-documentaries by filmmaker Christopher J. Pendergraft and poet Kevin Dublin, chronicling the proliferation and evolution of poetry in Wilmington, NC.

Vol. 1 features interviews from Ana Ribeiro - poet, reporter and manager of the Port City Poets blog, and poet Jeffrey “Just Jeff” Wyatt on their personal definition of poetry and where poetry is headed.

Also featured in Vol. 1 are highlights from Oct. 24th’s “Soul Slam” @ Bottega Art & Wine.

My commentary on the experience coming soon.

I’m hoping they’ll play some of the soundtrack music they composed with Clint Mansell:

I’ve added a “featured song” widget to the upper right corner of the site, courtesy of GrooveShark. I’ll switch out the song every month with a new favorite.

This month is “In the Midlife Zone,” by SHINE.

The Midnight Sun is a poem written by poets Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro. The poem struck a personal note and I immediately began to tinker with the idea of shooting a short film based on it. I also realized this was the perfect opportunity to create a workflow for high definition video using Final Cut Pro, being that I’ve never edited HD video. Shot w/ Canon HV20, 1080i60, CineMode on the right frame.

The Midnight Sun by Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro

The whole moon hanging high
I saw you at the bar, at midnight
Sitting, holding, sipping with your head tilted to the side

You averted your glance
But I followed your eyes
And landed on another bottle of wine
And for a second I died, because we weren’t together

I remembered the same scene years ago
And it led to a route of despair
When I thought of your midnight sun
Above summer skies and summer wind

In the confines of your hair
Where I imagine my hand nestle your cheek
The moment before you hit the road
Carrying all the worries of the world
And throwing them all back to me

Everything exists inside you
And inside me all is chaos
I want to bathe in your midnight sun
And forget that you’re not the one
And forget that I’ll always remember

And pretend this is the first time we met
And live in this infinite moment
Letting you light up the dark hour you caused
I could risk, I should–

No, perhaps I should remain–
And waste away any chance at happiness
Afraid of burning in your midnight sun

Written By: Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro
Directed By: Christopher J. Pendergraft
Cinematographer & Editor: Christopher J. Pendergraft
Narrated By: Kevin Dublin

Cast
Lost Lover: Kevin Dublin
Beautiful Girl: Anna Hedgecock

Music
“Blue Feather” by Kevin McLeod

Special Thanks
Bottega Art & Wine

I found an old video of myself performing kata! Brings back memories. This kata, Heian Godan, seems so easy compared to the kata I’m learning now, Bassai.

Purchased a MacBook Pro. Might keep it if Final Cut Studio performance is better than my PowerMac.

I spent part of this weekend shooting footage for a “visual poetry” project based off “The Midnight Sun,” by Kevin Dublin and Ana Ribeiro. Basically, “visual poetry” is a fancy term for “extremely short film.” This will be time I’ve worked with high definition footage. The project was shot in 1080p24, which is supposedly difficult to capture and edit. So far, I haven’t had much trouble with it outside of my Mac refusing to recognize my Canon HV20.

I’ve captured the footage from the HV20 to my hard drive using Final Cut Studio 6 and successfully performed an advanced pulldown of the 24p video. Apple has posted a very handy guide in their knowledge base for Canon HV20 users needing help establishing a 24p workflow. Check the guide out here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2410.

Unfortunately, editing may take a little longer than expected because I have to render each video clip in Final Cut before I can preview my edits… which can take up to 2 hours. Therefore, until I get a stronger mac (I’m eyeballing a Dual G5 system on Craigslist), I’ll have to employ some careful editing techniques and try to limit my renders to once a day.

The footage looks good. I’ve noted some things I could’ve done better to improve aesthetic quality, but given that the entire shoot consisted of 4 singular takes, I think we did a good job. Once it’s finished, I will go into detail about the entire process, including exact details on the equipment I used.