Hanging It Up

So...this isn't really an easy post to make but one that must be made, I suppose...

After 10 years of toiling in various stages of development hell...Ugly (Is a Movie) is officially dead.

The reasons for this are numerous but mostly, it just doesn't feel right anymore. The ideas and characters in the film are still close to my heart and I hope to do something with those scenes and bits of dialouge in the future but I have put my cast and crew through enough waiting in limbo over the years and it's time to cut our losses and move on to something different.

Over the years of working on this project I've made many good friends and allies and would like to publicly thank all of you for your support. All of the money raised for the film has gone into replenishing the funds from when we shot our preview footage way back in March of 2007. YES, it was that expensive. So no, I'm not going to take all of the money generated through the ads to the left and vacation in Cabo. Labs, crew members and equipment will be paid for so all your donations have still made a difference.

So what's next for Jason Ryan Films? I have a few scripts that have been on the back burner while I was concentrating on Ugly (Is a Movie) these last couple of years that will now be resurrected. I do have another feature length script I am very anxious to make sometime hopefully in the next couple of years. You might be saying to yourself, well...why this other thing and not Ugly? The truth of the matter, the stars just aren't aligned for this project anymore. The actors are growing older and moving on, some crew members don't even live in Seattle anymore. Trying to cobble together the same atmosphere of the original 27 minute long preview short just isn't possible anymore. I kind of liken it to a dysfunctional marriage; at some point things looked great and you were both in love but at a certain point when things don't work anymore it makes more sense to part ways than to stick together. So, with that metaphor in mind, I'm going to be looking for "other fish in the sea" and I'll always keep a piece of the original vision for Ugly with me. It still exists as a short film that I am very proud of. We've had screenings all over the country, got invited to speak at a "works-in-progress" panel along with local film icon Lynn Shelton ("Humpday") and have made lots of very supportive and enthusiastic fans. Thank you so much for your support for this film. Be on the look out for other short films, music videos and someday in the near future, feature films with the same sensibility, creativity and passion. I am definitely not going away, just changing my course of direction.

Check www.jasonryanfilms.com for up to date news and various projects.

Fundraiser Show/Screening/BBQ

Hey, blog readers. Sorry for the lack of updates. I am working on some...changes to the concept of "Ugly (Is a Movie)" so I'll be busy writing and re-writing right up until shoot day in August.

I will take a second to inform you all of a fundraiser for the film on June 20th at the Dearborn house (e-mail me for the address).

The music line-up:
Corespondents (our editor, Doug Arney's band)
Shenandoah Davis (awesome, awesome singer/songwriter)
and one last act TBA (think relatively quiet though, this is a house show so no metal this time around)

There will also be a screening of the currently complete footage of the film, a couple of older short films from the makers of "Ugly (Is a Movie)" and a potluck BBQ. In the immortal words of Will Smith, "summer, sumer time!". $5 suggested donation plus a couple of change jars to help us finish the film this August. Hope to see you all there. I'll be the one wearing an ill fitting blazer and looking incredibly nervous.

-Jason Ryan

Official Site Is Up

You might have noticed that this blog hasn't been updated too much recently, that is because I am busy putting together uglyisamovie.com

I will still update this blog as often as I can and once the official site is fully off the ground (I am still tweaking the design), I will use this blog as more of a news outlet with production updates and so on.

Influences (Part 2)

It's always been difficult for me to put my interest in heavy metal music and the influence of it on my films into words. And while I'm not what you would typically classify as a "metalhead", I do listen to that genre of music more than people might think, especially as I get older.

I think the main quality I take away from it and try to apply to my films is the idea of technical proficiency meeting the subversive and abrasive. I think even the most staunch metal-phobe would be hard pressed to deny that Dave Lombardo from Slayer is a talented drummer, for example. And just as film artist like David Lynch or David Cronenberg works with highly skilled technicians and creates dark and very mainstream unfriendly cinema, my favorite metal artists create abrasive and some might say ugly pieces of music.

"Ugly (Is a Movie)" is the first film in which I have played with the notion of including hardcore or metal music on the soundtrack. The artist is Doomsday 1999, a now defunct band from Seattle. The scene in question is one where we cut back and forth between Rose (Amber Hubert) talking to her friend Marie (Caitlin Hill) about Marie's encounter with Lynden (Sam Suver) and Lynden painting, rather wildly, while listening to Doomsday 1999 on his stereo. To me, the scene functions on a couple of levels:

1. Stylistically, the cutting back and forth between a very quiet domestic scene (Rose's apartment is nearly silent except for the limited conversation between Rose and Marie) and a mildly chaotic scene with very noisy and loud music dominating the soundtrack creates a nice juxtaposition and engages the viewer (and therefore listener) a little bit more and makes both the scenes a little more interesting (sum of the parts kind of thing). The scene ends with an extremely long visual fade to black while the song actually rises in volume as the song builds to a cacophonous climax, leaving the viewer no choice but to absorb the soundtrack fully. It creates a strange environment in the theatre during this scene. I've watched the audience watch it on numerous occasions and it nearly always creates a lot of discomfort (people covering their ears, laughing uncomfortably). This might make me an egotistical sadist but this delights me to no end. I like playing with the audience and toying with their expectations a little bit. This is sort of my version of that playful New Wave spirit I talked about in the Godard post, I suppose.

2. From a character/narrative stand point, it simply shows what kind of person Lynden is a little more. Lynden doesn't talk much so I tried incorporating some signifiers in the film to paint a better picture of what makes Lynden tick or what interests him. The music we listen to says a lot about us as people, I think. What is says exactly about Lynden I will leave to the mind of the viewer. For some, it leads them to believe he is more sinister or dark, for some it humanizes him a little more, some just find it a funny idiosyncrasy. I guess it just depends on your attitude towards the metal genre and your biases for or against it.

Hopefully I can put a clip of this scene in the future. I'm working on getting some youtube clips set-up. Stay tuned for that in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading.

Music From The Film: "Dearest" by R.B. Reed

Our good friend and local musical genius R.B Reed was kind enough to compose and record a song for the film entitled "Dearest". My only instructions to him were to create something kind of grandiose and romantic because I needed a song to use for a scene in which our hero, Lynden, watches Rose, his dream girl, as she enters a record store in slow motion. It's essentially a literal interpretation of the moment you see a person and "you hear music" (i.e. "love at first sight"). It most definitely works and I am forever grateful to Mr. Reed for his beautiful donation to our film. Listen below:

Script Excerpt (#1)

FADE IN:

14. INT. LYNDEN’S APT. BEDROOM. MORNING.

LYNDEN sits on the edge of his bed, smoking a cigarette. He is wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. The sound of young children playing outside in the alley is heard. LYNDEN seems restless and nervous. His leg is bouncing up and down. He rises from the bed and heads over to the window; he pulls back the light curtain and pokes his head out. He blows some smoke out the window and drops his cigarette down towards the alley. He watches the cigarette fall to the ground. He exits the frame.

15. INT. LYNDEN’S APT. LIVING ROOM. MORNING.

LYNDEN sits on his couch, in front of the television. He is watching an old cartoon.

DISSOLVE TO:

16. INT. LYNDEN’S APT. BATHROOM. DAY.

LYNDEN is standing in front of his bathroom mirror. He is now fully dressed and ready to go out into the cold (coat and stocking cap). He removes his hat for a second and turns on the faucet. He washes his face with cold water briefly and dries it off. He puts the hat back on and exits the bathroom, turning off the light.

17. INT. LYNDEN’S APT. BUILDING. LOBBY.

LYNDEN approaches the mailboxes along the left wall of the lobby. He reaches into his coat pocket and removes his keys. He opens his mailbox.

CU of the MAILBOX: “APT. 707-BLACK, LYNDEN”.

His mailbox is empty. He shuts it and lets out a big sigh. He hesitates for a moment and yells out “CUT!”. A man named JASON RYAN, the director, steps into frame from behind the camera. CUT TO another camera angle reveals a camera crew and lights facing SAM, the actor playing LYNDEN.

JASON:

CUT!

(walks up closer to Sam)

What is it, Sam?

SAM:

I’m just…I’m having trouble understanding

what this scene is about.

JASON:

What?

SAM:

I mean, what’s my motivation?

JASON:

You're checking your mail

(matter of factly)

SAM:

But am I sad when I see no mail?

Should I sigh like that? Or is

it just business as usual.

JASON:

Don’t sigh. It’s casual.

(lowers voice for privacy from crew)

It’s just to show your daily routine.

It will come back later on in the film.

You’ll see.

Let’s just push on through.

SAM:

Ok. Let’s go.

JASON:

(to crew)

Ok. Places everybody let’s get this and move to the street.

CUT TO:

18. EXT. THE STREET. LATE DAY.

LYNDEN walks down the street.

Influences (Part 1)

When I talk about being a filmmaker or director with people (and other filmmakers especially) the subject of cinematic influences inevitably comes up.

One of my main artistic concerns is mentally making the distinction between influences and inspirations.

For example, while I love David Lynch with all the energy my little film nerd heart can muster...his style and film aesthetic is so specific that borrowing from him or creating scenes with a strong Lynch influence comes across as pretty transparent and to me a "Lynchian" film that isn't directed by Lynch himself is sort of a waste of time. So Lynch falls into the inspiration camp. Granted, he is the leader and defacto dictator of that camp but I just can't bring myself to put strobe lights or midgets into my films simply because I love him so much.

Jean-Luc Godard on the other hand is a filmmaker whose work and influence I find seeping into my films almost subconsciously. I hope I have enough objectivity to stand back and not let his ideas or techniques dominate my own style but from the moment I watched "Breathless" I have been bound and determined to create my own film with such a playful spirit, that's not a slave to the plot but instead breathes and plays with the idea of being a film itself. This film and Godard's work in general in some ways is the biggest influence on "Ugly (Is a Movie)". The way he creates different types of scenes that do something new and different cinematically but can still shed some light on basic human interactions is what I strive to do in my own way.

Take a look at this scene from his film "A Woman Is a Woman":



He is taking a very simple domestic scene and transforming it into one of the most memorable scenes of his career. The simplicity of having the couple carry out an argument via book titles! It's one of those "why didn't I think of that before?" kind of moments.

Which isn't to say you can expect one Godard rip-off after another in my film. It's always a challenge for any artist, whether they be a filmmaker, sculptor or musician, to not let their influences dominate their work. The spirit and inventiveness of Godard is the biggest influence on this film, so while you won't see any arguments carried out through book titles or giant flashing text on screen in the middle of a scene (another Godard hallmark), you will hopefully experience a film that is trying to do something beyond just telling a story about two people interacting and that brings an experimental and art film spirit to an otherwise linear narrative.