Songfight! Documentary!

Future Boy · Post by **Future Boy** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:13 pm

I'd be willing to be followed around for a bit. And since I live with Moboid you'd get a twofer and fill part of your estrogen quota.

jack · Post by **jack** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:20 pm

Future Boy wrote:I'd be willing to be followed around for a bit. And since I live with Moboid you'd get a twofer and fill part of your estrogen quota.

and didn't you guys meet and fall in love through songfight? hell, now thats a story.

hey FB, ever heard of the asylum street spankers? i caught the tail end of their show last night...

Future Boy · Post by **Future Boy** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:33 pm

Yes, though we are not the only "met through songfight" couple. I hear there's one in Lancaster, as well, though not quite the same, I guess.

And, yes, I've heard of the Spankers. Even saw a reunion show in Austin not too long ago. They are good good good.

vanilla ike · Post by **vanilla ike** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:36 pm

I was at that show too!....Saw them at the Saxon Pub for the first time and made a point of being at the reunion show.....solid.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 3:46 pm

jack shite wrote:if there are 50 people featured, it just won't have the impact of say 4-5 people with interesting stories.

If I remember correctly Spellbound had 6, and they repeated the pictures for each day and such. It was pretty easy to remember who was who, and the fact that they all looked different helped too. 6 seems like a good number. But yeah, I think you want to film more than that in order to make sure you've got good footage, cause once it's done, it's done, and it might be difficult to go back and pretend, if you've got a SFLive as the climax event.
So be prepared == good.
-bill

MalachiConstant · Post by **MalachiConstant** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:40 am

jack shite wrote:as much as i think it would be nice to include as many people in this project as possible, i'm not sure thats really the best approach.

You hit the nail on the head there. As Heuristics wrote, I think about 6 "main characters" would be the maximum. It may be a good idea to make sure those six people look as different as possible, i.e. you don't want two dark-haired 30-year-olds both wearing red shirts. And of course you could put their name and city up each time you change characters for the first 20-30 minutes.

I'm reminded of "Word Wars", the doc about scrabble players. There was the black guy, the guy with stomach problems, etc. They did a good job of giving each person an identifying characteristic and reminding people of it throughout the movie.

tonetripper wrote:I would like to shoot everybody for this thing (with a camera that is).

Totally irrelevant aside here: I do a lot of shoots where I'm the only white guy surrounded by black clubbers or rappers. I've always felt uneasy saying things like, "Yeah, we'll shoot him backstage after the show" out loud.

tonetripper wrote: Malachi rules!

Well, if you've ever read "The Sirens of Titan" you'd know that Malachi Constant is the most hated man ever. But Songfight rocks and I like to do whatever I can to add to it. I wanted to do interviews in Austin but I didn't have the time/organization/tape to do it.

jack · Post by **jack** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:24 am

*well, nobody asked me but......to me, the most compelling group would consist of the following......

Spud and Octothorpe
JB, Frankie, and Brick Pig
Hoblit
The Sober Irishman
King Arthur
MC Frontalot
Future Boy and Moboid
Johnny Cashpoint
Glenn Case
Jim of Seattle

obviously, there are tons more folks who should maybe get a storyline. this is just my list. i'm noticably absent from it. if there were a documentary on the "real lives" and behind the scenes production stories from these folks, i'd be glued to the friggin tube. don't be miffed if i left you off. i just think this is a good representation, rich with material.

all are from different geographic areas, different cultures, all are different ages, and different kinds of music. songfight is the thread that sews them up.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:20 pm

Depending on the tone and the overarching theme of the movie, different types of people would be better suited to be in it. Casting lists will only beget more casting lists, with cries of "you only have one person who is a such-and-such" or "everybody on the list is such-and-such", and give the illusion on some small level that this movie should cater to the opinions of those who frequent this messageboard. A movie made by committee will suck much more than one that does not.

jack · Post by **jack** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:39 pm

15-16 puzzle wrote: A movie made by committee will suck much more than one that does not.

amen brother.

j$ · Post by j$ » Sat Dec 18, 2004 12:43 pm

*nobody asked me but

Add Kompressor to that list

I would happily offer a skewed British perspective to anyone who asks for it.

j$

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:02 pm

jack shite wrote: King Arthur

I dunno, they made a whole big budget movie about this guy last summer, and I didn't even bother to go see it...

Umm, just in case anyone is interested in the continuing saga of KA: I have completed the "Audio Production Technology" degree at the community college and have decided I'm still not ready to go back to work, so I'll be starting at ASU (West) in mid January, working on a BA in "Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance." One of my classes this first semester will be "Documentaries," so maybe once I'm edjumicated on the subject, I'll have something to contribute here...

Charles (Interdisciplinary is my middle name!)

Post by jb » Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:31 pm

15-16 puzzle wrote:Depending on the tone and the overarching theme of the movie, different types of people would be better suited to be in it. Casting lists will only beget more casting lists, with cries of "you only have one person who is a such-and-such" or "everybody on the list is such-and-such", and give the illusion on some small level that this movie should cater to the opinions of those who frequent this messageboard. A movie made by committee will suck much more than one that does not.

All movies are made by committee!

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:59 pm

I knew there was a reason why movies suck.

j$ · Post by j$ » Sat Dec 18, 2004 8:26 pm

king_arthur wrote:
jack shite wrote: King Arthur
I dunno, they made a whole big budget movie about this guy last summer, and I didn't even bother to go see it...

I looked for you in the extra DVD footage, but ....

J$

Dan-O from Five-O · Post by **Dan-O from Five-O** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 8:42 pm

My noob/lurker/1 time contributer/asshole everyone hates 2 pennies worth:

It's been said in a couple of manners but you definitely want to use people the camera loves and that love the camera in return but in moderation. Hamming to the camera is no good, but shying away from it sucks as well. Candid shots (like the ones I presume JB fears) would really make the best film. To accomplish that would be difficult but make for the best cinema. For instance, my brother in-law loves to have mic's set up in the basement at family gatherings and record. Most of what he gets is crap, but some of the things he's captured are really very good and compelling.

One of the best ideas thrown out is the idea of following someone around the week of a fight. It incorporates TT's first idea of footage of the person away from SF, at their job, home with (or without) the kids, the creative process et al. Of course if you followed me you could get the futility of it all and how the effort went all for naught because I can't convert my songs to MP3 without assistance.

j$ · Post by j$ » Sat Dec 18, 2004 8:50 pm

So here's how I see it ...

1. Person getting ready to travel to songfight live, from announcement of title, through panic over meeting all these people who might turn out to be just like their on-line persona, through to the nervous, embarassing banter pre-performance to performance of song.

2. Whenever this story touches on a wider salient point / gets boring, cut to interview with head and shoulder type interview with people (JB, Spud, Jack Shite, King Arthur, Heather Redmon, Kompressor in full stage gear)who fill in the gaps as to what our 'hero' is talking about. What is a fight? Why do you do it? Do you know any good porn sites. that sort of thing. Actually they could all wear Kompressor masks ...

3. Long shots of driving to songfight live, soundtracked by Jute Gyte's Driving ('... offf ... the f***cking .... cliffffff')

4. Hilarious footage of the Johnny Cashpoint making love to a keyboard dance from Songfight UK live. 1/2 hr interview with J$ where he points out that, despite what everyone else thinks, Songfight is a militant communist putsch on reality. Perhaps a DVD extra?

Hey I used salient in a post. Do I get extra points?

OOOOH, and there should be definitely, definitely be a Magic Mystery Tour style animated seuqence, animated by our very own director of cool videos, Glenn Case... in fact, the Blimps video might work very well ....

J$

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:38 pm

j$ wrote:1. Person getting ready to travel to songfight live, from announcement of title, through panic over meeting all these people who might turn out to be just like their on-line persona, through to the nervous, embarassing banter pre-performance to performance of song.

That's what I'm fearing about going to SF Live. Lots of scary people I don't know. Older scary people. Scary older males. Men. Scary. Very.

This documentary sounds like it's shaping up pretty well though.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 9:55 pm

Bjam wrote:That's what I'm fearing about going to SF Live. Lots of scary people I don't know. Older scary people. Scary older males. Men. Scary. Very.

Seriously and honestly, I think you have more to be afraid of from meeting dudes your own age at SF.

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:57 pm

15-16 puzzle wrote:
Bjam wrote:That's what I'm fearing about going to SF Live. Lots of scary people I don't know. Older scary people. Scary older males. Men. Scary. Very.
Seriously and honestly, I think you have more to be afraid of from meeting dudes your own age at SF.

I think I'm just afraid of meeting anyone.

Eric Y. · Post by **Eric Y.** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:29 pm

Bjam wrote:Lots of scary people I don't know. Older scary people. Scary older males. Men. Scary. Very.

well at this year's SFL there was at least one male who was not older...

Post by jb » Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:00 am

The problem with the "older" males at sf live is that we will make sure you're in bed early, we won't let you drink, and if you smoke we'll start coughing ostentatiously. Oh, and there will be no shenanigans, young lady.

NO SHENANIGANS.

We're like a fucking gang of chaperones looking for a band trip.

tonetripper · Post by **tonetripper** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:41 am

jack shite wrote:all are from different geographic areas, different cultures, all are different ages, and different kinds of music. songfight is the thread that sews them up.

Good list Jack! I feel that maybe there are a few more though. Blue for instance. He is a must. You, perhaps. Anyway, I love the list and this may be a way of going about things, but I still would like to have a piece of everyone and I think the only way that this could be achieved other than having info from the major players is to get one-word responses from everyone from some generic question that would tie this whole idea together. Even pictures of everyone over some great music collaged together would be interesting. Maybe going back to the idea Fluffy started when I first arrived of that One project where everyone threw in a loop and what turned out was this artsy noise project. Anyway, brainstorming. Once the new year is up, I am going to print this thread and start sifting through the details. Keep the ideas flowing.

J$ - you are wise beyond words and I think you are a major player from that side of the world and yes you get points for the use of salient. Love the driving collage with the use of Jute Gyte's music. Uber cool.

My first interviews would be the moderators. Brad, JB, and Spud with all their permission. This is the beginning and from here it branches. That is my feeling.

Committe Shomittee. We are the committee and this thread is the board room. Not to be convused with bored.

- Pablo