Comic Book City, Portland, Oregon USA

Project done!

I recently finished the film, after integrating the sound mix, including music by Adam Selzer, from my sound editor, Dave Huston, and have begun submitting to festivals. Check back here for news of screenings.

In the meantime:

• I will be posting more reflective and personal pieces on my Wordpress blog, A Weird Fish, starting with this post.
• I have moved my video hub from blip.tv to Vimeo. You can still view my work at blip, but check my Vimeo page for new and updated video postings.
• The project also has an IMDB page.

Primary interviewing finished

Last week, I wrapped up the primary interviews for the film. In all, I have some nineteen hours of footage from the summer that will be the platform for shaping the narrative, and guiding the rest of the shoot. The final documentary should be an artistic expression of the relationship between people and place. What I've learned from my subjects is only the first step towards finding and developing that expression. First, though, is the necessary work of logging all of that tape. I want to thank everyone who participated. I also want to thank all of the people who worked as crew: Anne-Marie, Tanya, Alex, Danny, and Charley.

I've been blogging informally about the production at Mediated Worlds.

Interviews begin

Yesterday, the first interviews for the main part of the documentary were recorded. Thanks to Paul Guinan and Shannon Wheeler for their time and to Kaebel Hashitani for letting us use The Sequential Art Gallery for the afternoon. I also got to welcome Tanya Schiller and Danny Sprinkle to the crew.

UPDATE: more about this stage of production on Mediated Worlds.

Note: this link takes you to an archive of my old Vox blog.

Stumptown shoot

Continuing with our accelerated production schedule, Anne-Marie, newly added production intern Alex Kunkle, and I spent the better part of Saturday recording footage of the Stumptown Comics Fest. We focused on the exhibition hall, but also shot segments of one of the festival's many panel presentations (the one we were at focused on the business of comics for independent creators, publishers, and store owners). I was also able to introduce myself to a number of people who I hope will participate in the film. More than anything, I'd like to think that we were able to capture the energy of the event, and will be able to represent the variety of exhibitors and attendees.

From here, I should be able to return to pre-production research, and am particularly looking forward to getting the survey circulated.

I want to thank the Stumptown organizers and volunteers, and especially Kip Manley, for working with us and giving us access to the fest.

Production begins

Anne-Marie and I spent the weekend getting footage of 24-Hour Comic Day at Cosmic Monkey Comics on NE Sandy. In all, we shot close to three hours of tape, including overnight time-lapse footage (1.5 second every 15) of the artists' table.

I was also able to attend an organizing meeting for the Stumptown Comics Fest, which happens at the end of the month, and the main reason that I've begun production this soon - before I have crew and collaborators together and a clearer sense of direction regarding specific themes and subjects. Still, I know that having footage of important community events like 24-Hour Comic Day and Stumptown will be useful, even necessary, and so we've started on the fly.

Read more about 24-Hour Comic Day at Leigh Walton's blog. Leigh works for Top Shelf Productions, co-sponsor of the event. He graciously gave us an interview, as did Andy and Adam, co-owners of Cosmic Monkey and excellent hosts for the weekend. I also want to thank all of the artists who worked through us looking over their shoulders.

UPDATE: I have an extended post on the weekend over at Mediated Worlds.

Note: the link takes you to an archive of my old Vox blog.

Welcome and Introduction

This is the official news and information site for the documentary, Comic Book City, Portland, Oregon USA. The film is an exploration of the connections between people and place, and, particularly of the qualities that make Portland a vital center for comics writers and artists.