Friday, September 22, 2006

The DVD skinny: Great Things to Come



Yes, it's been a while... so I'll try to be as brief and to the point as humanly possible. Our man in Pennsylvania, Trai Forrester has compiled all of the necessary data, tricks, and trades so that this project will finally come to the flickering light of home theater. The kudos I have to give this man for his dilligence, determination, and humanitarian effort are far too lengthy to plug on this particular blog. There will be a point in which I spill my love of Trai... but for now I will spare you. Let's just say that without him, this project may have become lodged in a realm of binary DVD coded 1's and 0's hell with no hope of escape. Lucky for us, that is not the case.

Trai shipped off a DLT (Digital Linear Tape) copy of the movie so that we could then send it off to be replicated once again. I've never seen a DLT... for they seem to be a virtual anomaly in Memphis. It's an interesting little black box that holds all of the hopes and dreams of a local Memphis filmmaker... and from what I have been told and my eyes have been able to decode through the pages of an Eclipse report, we should be golden. I have no reason to doubt, that this time, that we will get the product we have so desperately chased across the fruitless indie plain. DIVINE MANIPULATION OF THE THREADS will finally be coming to a DVD that we can hand out, sell at $10 a pop, and ship off to Indie festivals around the country. I have not recieved the final prints... but I feel good. For all of you out there in the processes of compiling a DVD, I highly - HIGHLY - recommend sending it to Trai Forrester for verification (www.dvdverification.com). This guy knows more about DVDs than the people making professional grade DVDs. As a matter of fact... they go to him. So, if you care about your babies... it's worth the extra step. I know that next time 'round I will go to Trai first. And, with all of that siad... he's a pretty cool cat.

Anyway... festivals. I'm hoping to send our stuff out to the Nashville film festival (if I haven't screwed it and missed the submission date). There is no way in hell to guarantee that it will be involved with any festival (though I have a hard time fathoming why it couldn't be) but Nashville would be a treat. You see, the Nashville Film Festivals has made a name for itself over the past few years. This "name" is why we could face some stiff competition. Now, festivals, as a whole, do have a tendency to show some off-the-cuff and rough-around-the-edges kind of material. As you know, DIVINE, is polished and ready for it's close up. With that said, we will soon begin the much needed festival push... for if no one knows that the film is even on the blurry horizon, then there is no chance in hell that your "delicate little film" will make a cough - much less a boom. Oh, and though I have not heard a definite "yes" or "NO," I still do not think that we will be invited to screen at Indie Memphis.

The word is that the DVD will take 2 to 2 and 1/2 weeks to come back to us. How's my timing for jumping into the middle of the Christmas rush? I will do my best to keep all of those interested parties up to date on the progress of our third attempt at pressing a disc. Be it myspace or e-mails or random meetings at bars... we will let you know. I'm desperately hoping that it comes home to us before I take the long and winding roads to join my lovely Christine in glorious San Fran.

There is more than likely a party taking place in the weeks to come. I hope that all of you can make it. We need a fantastic "roast-like" shin dig to send me off with laughter and smiles. I dearly love and appreciate all of you. We've still got a small window of time. Let's make the best of it.

-B