July 9, 2006
Introspection & on-line reviews
The latest analogy for film making that’s come into my brain is this: Film making is like cliff diving.
In cliff diving, you hurl yourself off the top of a mountain, hoping you don’t hit anything on the way down and successfully dive into the water. With film making, you hurl yourself off an emotional mountain hoping you are successful (artistically, monetarily). But with each step of production you land, splat, on another cliff. Then you have to pick yourself back up and hurl yourself off a cliff, into the abyss again. Always hoping you find success. That’s how I felt showing the script to friends for the first time… casting actors and hearing my words spoken aloud… raising money… launching into production… directing a cast and crew for the first time…submitting to film festivals… screening the film for strangers, hoping it plays to them like it does to me…and, most recently, starting DVD self-distribution. A project like this takes a great deal of commitment. It’s been 3 and 1/2 years since I started writing the script and I feel like I’m-- maybe-- at the half way point. I’ve always heard that finishing a film is only half the job. Marketing and selling it being a whopping other 50%. Now I really know what that means.
On that self-distribution trail are more film festivals. July is a pretty dry month festival-wise, but August and September are shaping up nicely with screenings in Atlanta, Rome, Georgia and Calgary, Alberta, Canada. More on those soon.
On-line reviews are starting to come in. The John Waters comparison might be the best thing anyone as ever said about one of my films. Check ‘em out:
“Stomp! Shout! Scream! is a unique B monster movie romp that’s a lot of fun… Edwards never seeks to spoof, but tell an actual story, with great performances, and a wonderful soundtrack. I really enjoyed this in all its demented straight-faced glory. John Waters would be proud.”
“STOMP! SHOUT! SCREAM!(2006) is a delightful homage to/entry in the beach party/monster subgenre of Sixties drive-in fare, packed with rock & roll, bouffant hairdos, bikinis, and cheesy monsters…”
“Stomp! Shout! Scream! is a groovy movie... Fans of Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello beach movies like Beach Blanket Bingo(1965) will dig it, as will fans of the Herschell Gordon Lewis film Blast-Off Girls(1967) or the “man in gorilla suit” movies like The Beast That Killed Women(1966).”
"It’s a tightrope walk to pay tribute to three separate genres of ‘60s movies – the beach party flick (think Frankie and Annette), the rock and roll movie (believe it or not, even Herman’s Hermits had their own movie in 1966), and the old-fashioned monster movie – without drifting into parody. Somehow, however, “Stomp! Shout! Scream!” pulls it off just about perfectly."
Jul 9, 2006