{"id":6895,"date":"2013-08-14T20:42:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T00:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=4197"},"modified":"2013-08-14T20:42:52","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T00:42:52","slug":"reviewing-the-bio-horror-in-antiviral-and-the-race-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6895","title":{"rendered":"Reviewing the Bio-Horror in Antiviral, and the Race Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Yup, they\u2019re finally up \u2013 a film review of Brandon Cronenberg\u2019s Antiviral<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>], released on a nice Blu-ray from Alliance \/ EOne; and a soundtrack review<\/a> [M<\/a>] of E.C. Woodley\u2019s excellent score, released as a digital album from Lakeshore Records. Both reviews are tied to my recent podcast with Woodley (available at Big Head Amusements<\/a> and Sound Cloud<\/a>), and the shorter soundtrack review that appeared in the July issue<\/a> of Rue Morgue magazine.<\/p>\n

Why the fat delay between posts?<\/p>\n

Filming a short on the Sony AVC-3250 camera took up some valuable weekend time (actually about two), and I also wrote several draft film reviews which will actually be up very shortly (like, within the next few hours). I\u2019ve also got a nice podcast with Green Lantern<\/strong> composer Frederik Wiedmann, and soundtrack reviews.<\/p>\n

Way back when I started KQEK.com, I opted to not use a standard database because of cost, and the easiest method was to plop each review into one HTML page. Simple, but I knew years later the end result would be a lot of work cutting & pasting text into fields that really should\u2019ve been automated from the start. The plus side is each page can be customized, but those changes could also have been done with custom style sheets applied to unique reviews.<\/p>\n

The mobile site, however, is much easier to maintain, loads fast, and has far less display problems on smart phones and mobile devices. I\u2019m happy the main site with all its weird graphics loads fast on tablets, but the mobile site is cleaner, easier to read, and reflects the desire to simplify a site’s look instead of create pages with \u2018needy\u2019 design features.<\/p>\n

So my quandary is what to do, since posting reviews on two sites \u2013 main & mobile \u2013 is becoming a bigger time hog, especially where there are other endeavors requiring time.<\/p>\n

One of those endeavors is BSV 1172<\/strong>, my experimental doc shot at a local video store in the fall of 2012 which has to be completed <\/em>for the 2014 Hot Docs Film Festival, and I don\u2019t think my position is much different from most filmmakers: you have the day gig that keeps the roof over the head; some assorted contributions that are manageable, but there are those personal projects which some might brand as vanity works, but are necessary to gain attention of peers.<\/p>\n

To get grant funding for a somewhat arty style of filmmaking, you need prior works screened in festivals with peer judging, public performances, and signs of activity \u2013 basically, another career while managing one or three already.<\/p>\n

Many of my colleagues at the same day gig are in the same situation, and it doesn\u2019t soften the nerves when the job market is saturated with competitors better qualified than you. It doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re better <\/em>\u2013 you might be the better fit<\/em> \u2013 but it\u2019s jaw-dropping when a straightforward admin position at a media company is inundated with 500 resumes. Pretty sure a good percentage of those wannabe candidates have done a lot to distinguish themselves in every media format into which they can plug-in their C.V.’s, yet they know their glow gets fuzzy when it’s placed beside other 150 ex-media administrators floating around after their media firms were downsized, absorbed by another firm, or simply shut down.<\/p>\n

My quandary is how does a 45 year old film school grad, journalist, web publisher, podcaster, filmmaker, video post-production guy, audio restoration dude, interviewer, customer service associate for a dying media format (home video), film researcher, festival consultant, and film & film music writer basically say \u2018Hey – I can do some fairly unique stuff!\u2019 when the positions are few?<\/p>\n

There are some things happening this fall which might help in the long run rather than immediately, because as we all know, things either stay quiet for a while, or things percolate in clusters. You just hope the timing will be right, and you\u2019ll make the most prudent instinctive choice (which sounds, and probably is, a contradiction).<\/p>\n

An opportunity in early October will provide some unique \u2018skills testing\u2019 (more on that in due time), and I\u2019ll have both a fancy-schmantzy logo for Big Head Amusement shortly, followed by a teaser trailer for BSV 1172<\/strong>, because I think the timing this year is right, especially for docs dealing with the once profitable realm of home video sales & rentals.<\/p>\n

The first doc of note addressing this peculiar amalgam of industry and nostalgia is Rewind This!<\/strong> which played at SXSW this past March in Austin, Texas. Directed by Josh Johnson, the doc focuses on the home video industry via VHS, that big bulky tape format which became a boon to studios after they realized killing the rental industry was a form of moronic suicide.<\/p>\n

At present, there are no Toronto screening dates (if you\u2019re in Seattle<\/a>, it\u2019s apparently screening with a 35mm of David Cronenberg\u2019s Videodrome<\/strong>), but the doc will be available on iTunes for a 2 week period starting August 27th in all English speaking countries, and Sept. 10th it\u2019ll be available from other outlets including Amazon Instant Video and YouTube. Visit the official film site<\/a> for more info.<\/p>\n

The second doc of note is Plastic Movies Rewound: The Story of the 80\u2019s Home Video Boom<\/strong>, a 6-part (SIX PART!) series due 2014 from director Mike Malloy, who recently reached his Kickstarter goal to complete the series and has a great (and lengthy) trailer online<\/a>. If I had some extra dough, I would’ve contributed to this really impressive series.<\/p>\n

Where would BSV 1172<\/strong> fit into this sudden interest in what journalists keep revisiting in contrived think pieces as a dying \/ soon-to-be-dead industry?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s an arty, experimental exploration of the physical environment of a large indie video store \u2013 Bay Street Video<\/a> \u2013 filmed using obsolete tube cameras with visual effects bounced between chunky analogue gear and digital effects. It\u2019s also a doc around which there\u2019ll be related featurettes on the gear, with a certain fetishistic affection. Not techno-porn, but images that convey the bulk, messy cables, chunky buttons & knobs, and unique look of analogue gear that\u2019s still available on places like Ebay for reasonable and sometimes insane prices.<\/p>\n

Besides a focus on specific cameras, mixers, and chunky black boxes with singular purposes (image enhancers, amplifiers, video processors, etc.), there\u2019s also a planned short on the CED video format (briefly seen in Malloy\u2019s teaser video, and also seen in various YouTube videos) which for some early store chains formed part of their regular rental catalogue.<\/p>\n

The enemy is bad time management, so let the race to reach those goals begin in earnest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Coming next<\/em>: reviews of Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray edition of George Stevens\u2019 The Only Game in Town <\/strong>(1971) with Liz Taylor and Warren Beatty, and a related review \u2013 the little-seen Stanley Donen oddity Staircase<\/strong> (1969), starring Richard Burton and Rex Harrison as bickering lovers in swinging sixties London, with music by Dudley Moore.<\/p>\n

. <\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com <\/strong>( Main Site<\/a> \/ Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yup, they’re finally up – a film review of Antiviral (Alliance \/ EOne) and soundtrack review (Lakeshore Records) – plus some editorial thoughts on assorted projects present, future, and in the works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Nd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}