… sounds like a good idea for a Disney movie except we can exchange the gay man for a brunette princess. And oh yeah the Men in Black can be Dwarfs.
“Insert the FINAL CUT STUDIO instillation disk…”
The new edit system arrived today, decided to take a crack at a Screenplay and the snow that is falling as I write brought back memories of the first step on a long journey to where I am today. I have to say that the hour that I’ve spent with my new Mac Book Pro has sold me on Apple. First it was an iPod, then the iPhone and now the Mac Book. I’ve been a skeptic all along but I’m now a full-fledged junkie or whatever term is hip to apply. Now only if Final Cut is as good as Avid. I’ve spent the last 9 years cutting on an Avid edit system at WVPBS and own my own Avid Express system that I work on from home. The same system that I cut “Shades of Gray” on and “Adopt a Jesus.” I can only hope that Final Cut can stand up to the Avid program… To be continued
Not that I’m busy or anything but I think Charessa (my wife) and I are gonna begin working on a screenplay. All of the research is stored in my head so the easy part is out of the way, now its time to put it together in an entertaining fashion that resembles nothing of the true events. You know based upon a true story. We’ve got the index cards out and the opening scene ready to go, should be a fun process... updates to come.
This next few paragraphs should be titled “The road to where I am,” or “The first step in a journey I had no idea I was about to begin. As I get in the way back machine, I think I was a senior in High School or maybe a Junior, and one of the biggest snow storms to hit the Kanawha Valley in West Virginia in my lifetime had just passed through. The only bigger storm I can remember I had to walk home from school with my dad and almost got frostbite. My mom used warm wash cloths or maybe a hair dryer, memory in the way back machine is hazy, to keep my ears from falling off. Anyway… I got snowed in at the Thaxton’s house, which was good planning; I got to hang out with my future wife Charessa while the snow melted. I ended up spending a lot of time on that hill in high school and we ended up buying a house and living there the first ten years or so of our marriage.
So during the snowstorm I call up the local video store and see if they are open and how long. The guy on the other end of the phone tells me he’s about to close. I tell him I can be there in 10 minutes, we have to walk because of all the snow, he says OK. That was the first time I met Jeremy Brightbill, to make a long story short we became instant friends, I got a job at the video store and we started a band together along with another friend of mine Antonie Zorio. We would be known as Watership Down after the Richard Adams Novel. Jeremy is now working on the soundtrack to “Romeo Must Hang,” I can’t wait to hear what he comes up with, he’s truly a great musician.
My time at the video store allowed me to study filmmaking and watch a lot of movies, and they paid me to do it. At the time my Favorite Actor = Dennis Hopper, Favorite Movie = Raising Arizona… It was a journey that began there and after a few detours I ended up studying film in college. I was fired from the job at the video store once and like a good producer I talked them into hiring me back, besides I had a lot more movies I needed to watch.
Well it’s 12:30 am and I’m on disk 3 of 7 of the final cut install… it’s gonna be a long night. I think I’ll go read A Clockwork Orange.
Showing posts with label "Gray Barker". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Gray Barker". Show all posts
1.21.2010
Evil Tatters of the Ghost of Quiet Dell…
…or the journey to become a filmmaker… or spending time with serial killers makes for interesting dreams.
In the next four months I will attempt to finish my newest film, “Romeo Must Hang,” self-distribute, “Adopt-A-Jesus,” and hope that “Shades of Gray,” which was picked up by Entertainment One hits store shelves. All while holding down my 40 hour a week job at WV Public Broadcasting. In the end this will be a handbook on “how to” or “how not to” make it in the film world. Failure is not an option!!!
Over the course of 2010 I will attempt to document how all of this unfolds, the ups and the downs. Before I conform to a mundane existence in a day to day job I must make an attempt to make it in this world on my own. If I’m successful I’ll have a long career ahead of me telling stories through a lens and I’m inviting you to come along for the journey. The great Yogi Berra once said, “If you arrive at a fork in the road, take it.” My journey began with a trip to Clarksburg to read through the papers of one Gray Barker, that grew into a partnership and friendship with brothers Jeff and Bob Tinnell along with John Michaels and now a distribution deal with Media 8 / Trillian Entertainment and Entertainment One.
I’ll fill in the back-story as we go along but for now, Ladies and Gentleman… Harry Powers.
The year began with lots of snow and allowed plenty of time for pre-production on “Romeo.” Researching serial killers is not my cup of tea but the story of Harry Powers is a compelling one indeed. Who knows maybe I’ll get a good short-film out of a crazy dream or something? Research is always interesting for documentary films because you must get inside and become the best friend of your main character. Living subjects are easier because you can communicate with them, as for the Gray Barkers and Harry Powers you must have that dialog internally. Gray Barker wasn’t such a bad guy but Harry isn’t exactly someone I would seek out for friendship. Getting to know Harry means reading books about other murderers, (Gacy, Bundy, Gein, HH Holmes) this has allowed me to somewhat understand how Powers mind worked. It has also brought other questions that will become themes in the documentary. Such as the consumer publics desire to watch as such atrocities play out in our 24 hour news of today, due-process and the death penalty.
Davis Grubb, author of “Night of the Hunter”, the book based upon Harry Powers once wrote, “Evil tatters of the ghost of Quiet Dell still drift out and fume in Harrison County. Not so much for what he did to us but for what Harrison County and the state of West Virginia did to him. Evil like his is our cancer and one does not cure cancer by hanging it in the noose or electric chairs. The witness of these spawns more Harry Powers.”
The challenge for me with all of my films is how to engage the audience in a intelligent conversation and at the same time entertain them with a compelling story. This is one reason you must become closely aquatinted with your subjects. With Gray Barker, “Shades of Gray,” I read through his papers and person correspondence, with Harry Powers, “Romeo Must Hang,” I read the newspaper stories, his court transcripts and I studied others like him. With Brandt Russo, “Adopt-A-Jesus,” I spent time on the road with him living his lifestyle and we became friends. Once you find a good story that has a character who is complex the next step is to get to know them.
Next for me it’s off to Buffalo, NY to interview David Schmid, author of “Natural Born Celebrities.” The edit system is also due to be here in the next couple of days. After 7 years of editing on an Avid it’s time to learn final cut and the Mac OS. Makes the journey all that more interesting, hope you’ll come along with me and we can have a dialogue at this fork in the road.
In the next four months I will attempt to finish my newest film, “Romeo Must Hang,” self-distribute, “Adopt-A-Jesus,” and hope that “Shades of Gray,” which was picked up by Entertainment One hits store shelves. All while holding down my 40 hour a week job at WV Public Broadcasting. In the end this will be a handbook on “how to” or “how not to” make it in the film world. Failure is not an option!!!
Over the course of 2010 I will attempt to document how all of this unfolds, the ups and the downs. Before I conform to a mundane existence in a day to day job I must make an attempt to make it in this world on my own. If I’m successful I’ll have a long career ahead of me telling stories through a lens and I’m inviting you to come along for the journey. The great Yogi Berra once said, “If you arrive at a fork in the road, take it.” My journey began with a trip to Clarksburg to read through the papers of one Gray Barker, that grew into a partnership and friendship with brothers Jeff and Bob Tinnell along with John Michaels and now a distribution deal with Media 8 / Trillian Entertainment and Entertainment One.
I’ll fill in the back-story as we go along but for now, Ladies and Gentleman… Harry Powers.
 |
| From "Romeo Must Hang" |
The year began with lots of snow and allowed plenty of time for pre-production on “Romeo.” Researching serial killers is not my cup of tea but the story of Harry Powers is a compelling one indeed. Who knows maybe I’ll get a good short-film out of a crazy dream or something? Research is always interesting for documentary films because you must get inside and become the best friend of your main character. Living subjects are easier because you can communicate with them, as for the Gray Barkers and Harry Powers you must have that dialog internally. Gray Barker wasn’t such a bad guy but Harry isn’t exactly someone I would seek out for friendship. Getting to know Harry means reading books about other murderers, (Gacy, Bundy, Gein, HH Holmes) this has allowed me to somewhat understand how Powers mind worked. It has also brought other questions that will become themes in the documentary. Such as the consumer publics desire to watch as such atrocities play out in our 24 hour news of today, due-process and the death penalty.
Davis Grubb, author of “Night of the Hunter”, the book based upon Harry Powers once wrote, “Evil tatters of the ghost of Quiet Dell still drift out and fume in Harrison County. Not so much for what he did to us but for what Harrison County and the state of West Virginia did to him. Evil like his is our cancer and one does not cure cancer by hanging it in the noose or electric chairs. The witness of these spawns more Harry Powers.”
The challenge for me with all of my films is how to engage the audience in a intelligent conversation and at the same time entertain them with a compelling story. This is one reason you must become closely aquatinted with your subjects. With Gray Barker, “Shades of Gray,” I read through his papers and person correspondence, with Harry Powers, “Romeo Must Hang,” I read the newspaper stories, his court transcripts and I studied others like him. With Brandt Russo, “Adopt-A-Jesus,” I spent time on the road with him living his lifestyle and we became friends. Once you find a good story that has a character who is complex the next step is to get to know them.
Next for me it’s off to Buffalo, NY to interview David Schmid, author of “Natural Born Celebrities.” The edit system is also due to be here in the next couple of days. After 7 years of editing on an Avid it’s time to learn final cut and the Mac OS. Makes the journey all that more interesting, hope you’ll come along with me and we can have a dialogue at this fork in the road.
11.03.2009
"Shades of Gray" a new WV masterpiece
Shades of Gray - a new WV masterpiece
By Steve Fesenmaier
Bob Wilkinson and Robert Tinnell, two of West Virginia's most creative filmmakers have combined forces to make "Shades of Gray," a masterpiece film about one of the state's most interesting personalities since WWII, Gray Barker (1925-84).
Wilkinson is a WVPBS filmmaker who previously had directed a great film about Harpers Ferry called "John Brown's Body." Tinnell is a well-known graphic novelist and filmmaker, best known for his hit graphic novel, "The Feast of Seven Fishes," and a long previous career making films in Hollywood. The film is called "Shades of Gray," a new 55 minute biography that is full of insight and dark humor. Congrats to both for making an accessible and intense film about a man who helped create the contemporary obsession with UFOs and local monsters.
The film includes fascinating interviews with Barker's family and friends, revealing that Barker never really believed in all the amazing things that he wrote about including UFOs, the Flatwoods Monster, Mothman, "Men in Black" (MIB) but apparently enjoyed the invention. He was just a small town man with a very great imagination, and the intelligence and energy to invent worlds that only he could really imagine.
This biography includes clips from two of the Hollywood films that have been made based on Barker's inventions - "The Mothman Prophecy" and "MIB." Both films starred the biggest actors in Hollywood, and the second became such a hit that a sequel was made.
I particularly enjoyed the recreation of Barker writing at his typewriter, showing a lonely character who almost single-handedly invented the world that super-star directors like Spielberg and thousands of others were able to mine for their own creations. Could there have been a hit TV series like "The X-Files" without the work of Barker? Could Spielberg have invented E.T. and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" without "Saucerian" magazine? I doubt it.
There is an earlier film, "Whispers from Space," by Ralph Coon that also profiles Barker. Coon came from L.A. back in the 1980s to explore the life and times of Barker, interviewing some of the same people shown in this film including Merle Moore, the Clarksburg-Harrison County library director who purchased the Barker Collection for her library. (She once called me on a Saturday, asking me to come to town to evaluate the collection. At that time I had no idea who Barker was and declined the invitation. I did work with Coon then, programming the world premiere of the film at the Spring WV International Film Festival, and put Wilkinson and Tinnell together since they both expressed great interest in Barker to me.) This film, unlike Coon's, explores the very dark side of Barker's life including his homosexuality and his possible death from AIDS. Barker was arrested for illegal sexual activities, and as Moore says, being gay in a small town can be dangerous.
This film is for adults, and probably will not be shown in West Virginia grade schools. However, I think that it would be great to show in West Virginia high schools and colleges, studying the vast UFO universe that came from Barker's typewriter.
The film has been shown at the 2008 Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia and will be shown in Sutton, Braxton County in early October. Hopefully Barker's family, some of whom still live in Braxton County, will attend the premiere. I hope that there is a Clarksburg showing of the film since David Houchon, the curator of the Barker Collection, is one of the main experts interviewed. Hopefully, the will be shown all over the U.S. and world. The people of West Virginia can be proud of this honest and artistic film about a man who made our universe a whole lot bigger despite having little to work with except his own intelligence and flare for the amazing.
By Steve Fesenmaier
Bob Wilkinson and Robert Tinnell, two of West Virginia's most creative filmmakers have combined forces to make "Shades of Gray," a masterpiece film about one of the state's most interesting personalities since WWII, Gray Barker (1925-84).
Wilkinson is a WVPBS filmmaker who previously had directed a great film about Harpers Ferry called "John Brown's Body." Tinnell is a well-known graphic novelist and filmmaker, best known for his hit graphic novel, "The Feast of Seven Fishes," and a long previous career making films in Hollywood. The film is called "Shades of Gray," a new 55 minute biography that is full of insight and dark humor. Congrats to both for making an accessible and intense film about a man who helped create the contemporary obsession with UFOs and local monsters.
The film includes fascinating interviews with Barker's family and friends, revealing that Barker never really believed in all the amazing things that he wrote about including UFOs, the Flatwoods Monster, Mothman, "Men in Black" (MIB) but apparently enjoyed the invention. He was just a small town man with a very great imagination, and the intelligence and energy to invent worlds that only he could really imagine.
This biography includes clips from two of the Hollywood films that have been made based on Barker's inventions - "The Mothman Prophecy" and "MIB." Both films starred the biggest actors in Hollywood, and the second became such a hit that a sequel was made.
I particularly enjoyed the recreation of Barker writing at his typewriter, showing a lonely character who almost single-handedly invented the world that super-star directors like Spielberg and thousands of others were able to mine for their own creations. Could there have been a hit TV series like "The X-Files" without the work of Barker? Could Spielberg have invented E.T. and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" without "Saucerian" magazine? I doubt it.
There is an earlier film, "Whispers from Space," by Ralph Coon that also profiles Barker. Coon came from L.A. back in the 1980s to explore the life and times of Barker, interviewing some of the same people shown in this film including Merle Moore, the Clarksburg-Harrison County library director who purchased the Barker Collection for her library. (She once called me on a Saturday, asking me to come to town to evaluate the collection. At that time I had no idea who Barker was and declined the invitation. I did work with Coon then, programming the world premiere of the film at the Spring WV International Film Festival, and put Wilkinson and Tinnell together since they both expressed great interest in Barker to me.) This film, unlike Coon's, explores the very dark side of Barker's life including his homosexuality and his possible death from AIDS. Barker was arrested for illegal sexual activities, and as Moore says, being gay in a small town can be dangerous.
This film is for adults, and probably will not be shown in West Virginia grade schools. However, I think that it would be great to show in West Virginia high schools and colleges, studying the vast UFO universe that came from Barker's typewriter.
The film has been shown at the 2008 Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia and will be shown in Sutton, Braxton County in early October. Hopefully Barker's family, some of whom still live in Braxton County, will attend the premiere. I hope that there is a Clarksburg showing of the film since David Houchon, the curator of the Barker Collection, is one of the main experts interviewed. Hopefully, the will be shown all over the U.S. and world. The people of West Virginia can be proud of this honest and artistic film about a man who made our universe a whole lot bigger despite having little to work with except his own intelligence and flare for the amazing.
10.30.2009
Letters from Stanton Friedman & Jerome Clark about "Shades of Gray"
Jerome Clark author of the UFO Encyclopedia:
Hi, Bob,
I am frankly thrilled at how well this film turned out.
I love the way you tell the story, which keeps circling back on itself, each time exposing new levels of insight and revelation. The final part, integrating Barker's public life as a UFO personality and his private one as a deeply closeted gay man, is a stroke of genius, and entirely persuasive. The first part so brilliantly parodies a cheesy, gap-mouthed cable-TV UFO "documentary" that you had me fooled there for a few minutes. Watching it, I was lulled into thinking, "Oh, another one of those." Man, was I wrong.
You've made a smart, unexpectedly moving film, and I give you my heartiest congratulations. I've watched it four times now, and it stands up each time. I've also learned things I didn't know from it.
Cordially,
Jerry
Leading Ufologist Stanton Friedman:
Bob:
That was a touching film. Thanks for sending it. Well done. A sad tale but a fascinating one. As best I can tell you have captured the man.. warts and all.
Stan Friedman
Visit theyknewtoomuch.com or email astraydogfilm@gmail for more info...
Hi, Bob,
I am frankly thrilled at how well this film turned out.
I love the way you tell the story, which keeps circling back on itself, each time exposing new levels of insight and revelation. The final part, integrating Barker's public life as a UFO personality and his private one as a deeply closeted gay man, is a stroke of genius, and entirely persuasive. The first part so brilliantly parodies a cheesy, gap-mouthed cable-TV UFO "documentary" that you had me fooled there for a few minutes. Watching it, I was lulled into thinking, "Oh, another one of those." Man, was I wrong.
You've made a smart, unexpectedly moving film, and I give you my heartiest congratulations. I've watched it four times now, and it stands up each time. I've also learned things I didn't know from it.
Cordially,
Jerry
Leading Ufologist Stanton Friedman:
Bob:
That was a touching film. Thanks for sending it. Well done. A sad tale but a fascinating one. As best I can tell you have captured the man.. warts and all.
Stan Friedman
Visit theyknewtoomuch.com or email astraydogfilm@gmail for more info...
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