The Sea Shanty Films short bailey has been accepted into the CAPE FEAR INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL in Wilmington, NC on May 2-4!!
On top of that outstanding news, bailey has also been selected as one of the FINALISTS in the “Avant Garde” category.
The festival will be held in downtown Wilmington, NC - a hotspot in the world of independent film AND television (”Blue Velvet,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “One Tree Hill,” “A Walk to Remember,” “Manhunter,” etc. etc.)
bailey is our most recent film. It’s a short dramatic piece inspired by real events. Writing and filming and performing and editing was all very exciting but also emotionally draining. The most common feedback from viewers has been: “Whoa. That was intense”…usually followed by a request for a second viewing.
It’s only 6 minutes long, all in real time, but we took the usual Sea Shanty approach of packing a much larger story and world into multi-layered writing, visuals, original music, and editing. I guess it is kind of “avant garde,” but that was mostly a function of trying to tell this particular story within 6 minutes. bailey is definitely different in design, execution, tone, visual style and “message” - - but it is a good example of a film that almost matches completely with our earliest vision. And that’s not easy, my friends…that is not easy.
If you’re anywhere near Wilmington, NC between May 2-4, we hope you can attend. I’ll update when I know more about the schedule - and you can check the festival site linked in its name above.
Comments are always welcome!
All three of the Sea Shanty Films productions ( 1) The Wingnut and You! - (2004) , 2)X-GEN - (2006), and 3) bailey - (2007) ) that have been wrestled into complete forms have now been accepted into festivals. All 3 have been chosen as finalists…with bailey now in the running to join her older siblings as an award-winner, too. (And, hopefully, we can add The Spectre to this list someday soon…)
This is very nice icing on the much-more-satisfying cake of the actual creation and collaboration of our filmmaking odyssey.
..and that icing/cake metaphor is all mine. Don’t even think of stealing it.
April 21, 2008 at 6:26 pm
*fanfare and applause and stuff*
Congratulations! I have not seen “bailey” (then again, I haven’t seen “X-Gen” EITHER aside from those clips that you showed to us in the movie camp 2 years ago and the trailer that you showed us in class), but from the poster (which as you may remember, you showed us in class last year and asked us to guess about the plot), it resembles your description. As I guess it should . . . hmm . . .
Anyway, I’m awaiting your response to my previous comment . . . still . . . likely because you remembered about the short story and are avoiding me . . .
- Malvolio/Bottom/etc.
April 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Sweet on the CFIF Festival! I’m open that weekend and was thinking about trying to head over there for it! Do you know if any of the Shanty guys going? I’m assuming Brigham will be there.
Now you guys need to start selling a Sea Shanty DVD compilation with all three movies on it!!
April 24, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Ditto to what Derek said! This is very cool news. And, Derek, you were a huge part of the success of this film - boom operator, grip, actor…It bears repeating, really appreciate your help with “bailey,” man. If you could make it to fest, that would be sweet. I’m not going to be able to make it, but we’re trying to get Brigham and Sergio and Evan there, too…
May 2, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Aha! After I commented before, I found”bailey” when I
randomly clicked on the link to the Sea Shanty Website. So ha. Per your
suggestion, I have watched it twice, once after I found it, and once just a
little while ago after I had given things a chance to settle in my mind.
Wow.
Artistically, the film is very well drawn. The music, lighting, and the
visuals are really striking, especially the images of the spinning top, the
rain and the closeups, the mirror, etc. The mood set by the entire story is
pretty intense, and the poetic dribble of information that underscores
everything is something that really helps to define the entire piece. The
writing and the acting, obviously, are really good, too. Very well done.
5 Stars, etc.