Take a series of everyday, ordinary actions (well, not too ordinary), shoot 'em on black-and-white reversal film with a Bolex, add razor blades and presstape and see what happens. THINGS (about to) HAPPEN is a fun little exercise in style over substance. It's a bit slow-going at first, but stick with it, the second half is pretty nice, if I may say so myself.

But don't take my word for it: see what people are saying about THINGS (about to) HAPPEN:

"You are now officially a film [nerd]." -- S. Linguini

"Real film, even on a tiny pixelated screen, really brings out the chocolatey richness of a Tastykake donut. Anyway, the whole thing was a real piece de resistance (that's french for 'piece of resistance')..." -- L. Baranauskas

"Nothing makes my day like seeing a stuffed animal get poked with a stick." -- B. O'Kane

"A minus." -- D. Parry

One student in my filmmaking class said this reminded him of Maya Deren's revered avant-garde film "Meshes of the Afternoon." Um, thanks. But I don't think anyone in film school should be forced to sit through this one.

Not that many people did - because at the big end-of-year screening, this piece went last or next to last, partially because it was projected on film, not video, and the mag had to be all laced up. Yeah, I'm hardcore.

As you can see to your immediate right, the picture for this doozy was edited entirely on rewinds with razor blades and tape. It was a fun and interesting experience, and I learned a lot about who I am when I found myself reaching to press "apple-S" every few minutes to avoid losing my work.

starring

Julia Curcio, Jeannie Curcio, Jim Battestelli, "Mister" Paul Renzetti, and Inky the stuffed white lion

technical nonsense

Shot on Eastman Tri-X 200 speed reversal black and white film with a Bolex 16mm spring-wind camera. Film processed at Temple lab and original edited on rewinds with razor blades and presstape. Film then transferred via telecine to MiniDV, then captured into Adobe Premiere where sound was added (mostly foley recorded out-of-sync, editing done at 24 fps timebase).

December 2000

Underlit/underexposed. Doesn't that suck? Sorry about that, folks, but I was learning. And you know what? I still am. (Or, um, it was the lab's fault.)

Flash frame in sneezing sequence.

Second half so much better than first.

"Scary mask" scene has horrible beginning-of-roll junk in one shot.