{"id":442,"date":"2012-01-27T01:47:11","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T01:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/?page_id=442"},"modified":"2014-01-27T03:22:32","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T03:22:32","slug":"errol-morris-a-lightning-sketch","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/?page_id=442","title":{"rendered":"Errol Morris: A Lightning Sketch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan 26th–Update:<\/strong> Errol Morris: A Lightning Sketch<\/em> (2014) has spent a long time in the editing room, but it is finally having its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on February 18th.\u00a0 Meanwhile we are racing to do the sound mix and pursue color correction on the picture–two parts of the filmmaking process that have changed a lot\u00a0<\/em>since the days of working on 16mm film. Meawhile, here is the poster.
\n\"Errol<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Morris&<\/a>ERROL’S DEFINITION OF ART: Set up a series of arbitrary rules, then follow them slavishly.\u2013\u2013 Tweet, 5 September 2009. <\/em><\/p>\n

Errol Morris: A Lightning Sketch<\/em> (2012) is finally nearing completion, or so I am hoping.\u00a0 It’s been deeply rewarding to return to filmmaking after a hiatus of roughly 25 years. The process on this film (like every film, I guess) has taken much longer than I imagined.\u00a0 I’ve been describing\u00a0 A Lightning Sketch<\/em> as a backdoor documentary because Morris and his staff didn’t know what we were doing until we had the footage in the can (or rather on tape).\u00a0 Of course, we were not at all sure that we were making a full-blown documentary, either.\u00a0 It started off as a videotaped interview with Errol that turned into something more.\u00a0 It is also a documentary that has been a long time in the cutting room, which might seem surprising because the film does have a limited number of elements.\u00a0 But it is a project that has been done in between classes and many other responsibilities.\u00a0 Moreover, my ambitions for the documentary changed. At first I was concerned to make something where rights\/permissions would not be an issue.\u00a0 It took awhile before I forgot about the possible costs of rights and permissions and just focused on making the best possible documentary with the footage we have. In any case, although the style is generally ery different than Errol’s, I think I follow (and has always followed) Errol’s definition of art.\u00a0 This documentary also abides by its own set of arbitrary rules.<\/p>\n

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photo credit: Carina Tautu<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve finally come up with a 200-word description for the film.\u00a0 The fact that I could finally do this makes me feel I am almost at the end:<\/p>\n

Errol Morris: A Lightning Sketch<\/em> is a back-door documentary.\u00a0 Filmmakers Charles Musser and Carina Tautu travel to Fourth Floor Productions to interview Errol Morris in lieu of a personal appearance. They find Errol and his staff struggling with depression, in part from the senseless and unexpected death of Karen Schmeer, who cut many of Morris\u2019s films.\u00a0 Errol is also depressed over the harsh critical reception of his documentary Standard Operating Procedure<\/em> (2008).\u00a0 The melancholic mood is sublimated by a whirlwind of activity.\u00a0 Morris is in the midst of publishing a multi-part series for the New York Times<\/em> and is just finishing a new film\u2013\u2013Tabloid<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Besides interviewing Errol as he reflects on his career and current work, the visitors shoot a variety of activities.\u00a0 For the first time, Morris is filmed conducting an interview\u2014an over-the-phone conversation with V.S. Ramachandran for his Times <\/em>series on Anosognosia.\u00a0 We also meet Errol\u2019s staff: editor\/webmaster Steven Hathaway, producer\/office manager Ann Petrone, and researcher\/assistant Sophie Gill.\u00a0 When Errol expresses a desire to be filmed playing the cello, the filmmakers try to oblige.\u00a0 But their efforts take an unexpected twist as the mood of despair finally lifts, bringing the documentary to a more upbeat conclusion.<\/p>\n

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The filmmakers: Carina & Charlie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Photo: Jay Dockendorf)<\/p><\/div>\n

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I showed Errol Morris: A Lightning Sketch as a completed but unmixed and with uncorrected color at the SCMS conference.\u00a0 I also gave a presentation at a separate workshop, entitled “Writing, Filmmaking, Scholarship: Working with Errol Morris.”<\/a><\/p>\n

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Jan 26th–Update: Errol Morris: A Lightning Sketch (2014) has spent a long time in the editing room, but it is finally having its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on February 18th.\u00a0 Meanwhile we are racing to do the sound mix and pursue color correction on the picture–two parts of the filmmaking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/442"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2114,"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/442\/revisions\/2114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.charlesmusser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}