Ceven’s Blog

After we shot the footage for Addis Abeba I spent a week away from looking at the footage to gain new eyes about it. In the meantime there was space to catch up on everything else.

This summer has been a killer. After Spring Equinox I wanted to have only one project to get through the summer with after going like a machine since 2006. I began working with 3 other musicians making an experimental musical theatre project as a place to practice being vocal in front of an audience in preparation for the next Nevec Red incarnation. While on one hand it was very nice to be a part of someone else’s project I found that it was not enough and by June started other projects. Unless I’m completely immersed in something, I feel frayed and pointless and therefore need several to stay stimulated. As it so happens some of the other projects began doing well and by August found myself spread out over many directions. That is my Zen! Unfortunately it became so extreme that it was time to rethink which projects to be a part of. At the beginning of the month a Dutch television show came and shot us practicing and we had a dinner with their reality-show cooking portion. This should be available to see soon. While looking at September I realized that it would be in the best interest of the theatre piece to step back and let someone else who has the time and ability do the role. They also have some plans for later this year with touring, which is something I’m not sure I could commit to because of other commitments at this point. It was not my favourite decision to make as I like the piece and the people very much. Nonetheless once it is ready I’ll direct to the “when’s” and the “where’s” because it is worth seeing!

Autumn Equinox is the beginning of a new creative tide which will last until spring. Projects are already lined up. There will be a shift in focus. The last year has been dealt with reduction and abstraction, the next will be about narratives and stories, mixing them, rearranging them, cutting them up, and compositing them on top each other. This will no doubt bleed into the Nevec Red project as well.

I’ve started working on the film short whose script was passed onto me a couple weeks ago. The more involved it becomes the more psyched I am about it. It’s been a while since doing a strict short film. The last was “Die Verrückte Teestunde” an original German translation of the Mad Tea Party from “Alice in Wonderland”. Looking back now the short is full of holes but it was the most complicated project to assemble at the time. It marks exactly where I was as a filmmaker in May 2008. In the end it would have worked a hundred thousand times better had I gotten the sound properly recorded or asked for voice-over work.

This time I’ve started with the audio and am building from it. By nature I am a musician but deep down in the heart of me there is also film director clawing his way outward. My life-long passion is learning how to marry these two together. Right now I start to see where that evolution is going. With the aforementioned film I struggled to get all the parts together plotting and planning every little detail. This time I know what to expect and find myself thinking, “Oh yes, and this is where we do blah blah blah…” I’m totally into the coordinating the photography, script structure, audio, writing the soundtrack, editing, how everything will look and layering. It’s really fun!

The film is titled Addis Abeba and it is about the duality of relationships, how they come together and break apart and the human mechanics thereof. I work at trying to be sympathetic to both the lead characters yet at the same time put enough distance so that they can be each whole 3-dimensional creatures. We will be using techniques and software that are completely alien to me which is also very exciting.

This is a really-really nice project and it brings Han van Acoleyen back into working with me which is always a treat. I’m really going to savour this experience.