so i made a movie: VOYEUR, part four

Finally! I know you've been holding your breath with anticipation, but it's finally here: another installment of So I Made A Movie. Voyeur is a short film written by, directed by, and starring Shannon Lark. I acted as cinematographer.

We just know how much you dug our silly write-ups for Ludlow, so we decided to continue the series. See what you've wrought? This is what happens when you pay attention to us. Part One can be read here, part two here, and part three here.
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SHANNON LARK: Once Stacie and I met the camera guy (no quotations this time guys, it’s my birthday today and I feel like doing whatever the hell I like) in the kitchen to get the footage transferred. Oh boy…to make a long story short that would drag on indefinitely, we hooked up the S x S adapter to my hard drive and imported the footage onto my laptop. However, I did not have the proper software (nor did I know I was supposed to have this software) that would convert the now imported the BPAV files to quicktime, nor did we have internet so I could attempt to download the software from Sony’s website.

So we imported it into the camera guy’s laptop, where he converted the files. We transferred the converted Quicktime files to my computer and it was a no-go. I couldn’t see them, nor could I see them in my editing program. I use Windows still (I know, I know, I suck) and my editing software is Adobe Premiere, while the camera guy uses a Mac and Final Cut Pro. After much ballyhoo and all three of us trying to figure out what we are going to do with these stupid files, we decided that the camera guy will keep a copy of the footage, I would keep a copy of the footage, and Stacie and I would go back down to LA and use her Mac which conveniently has Final Cut Express.

STACIE PONDER: This is a prime example of why I love using tapes. Yes, a large part of bias is due to the fact that I'm old and I mistrust all technology (and these kids today, with their low-slung pants), but mostly it's just that…well, I guess it's because I mistrust technology. Sure, things can go wrong with footage on tapes, but for the most part you don't have to worry about corrupted files and incompatible systems. What really sucked was that once Camera Guy split, Shannon and I wouldn't have instant access to the footage. I was a bit worried that we'd encounter problems back in Los Angeles and all of our hard work would disappear into the ether.

SHANNON LARK: The camera guy left as I woke up the sleeping Pippi and we put the apartment back together. Pippi had taken pictures of Harry’s apartment before we moved everything aside, so we got the pics and she arranged everything back to where it was. Stacie and I walked down to the parking garage and got her car after I ran up to the pay window and saw my favorite attendant, Wen, behind the glass. He practically jumped out of his seat when he saw me. At first I thought it was because he hadn’t seen me for 6 months, but then I realized I was still covered in fake blood. I bumbled through explaining that even though it was daylight outside and I was covered in blood, it was just “what I do…you know...movie stuff.”

I jumped in the car with Stacie and we motored back to Harry’s, moving all of our crap out of the apt and into the car. I left a thank you note for Harry and all three of us left the apartment, shutting the door. It was 7:30am.

STACIE PONDER: I was so exhausted that it seemed as though the ground was undulating beneath my feet. I felt like my eyes were going to fall out of my eye holes- I can only imagine how wiped Shannon must have been, considering all she'd been through during the shoot- but then I got a second or third or eighth wind…at least enough to get us home.

SHANNON LARK: We dropped off Pippi at her car and drove back to Darren’s. Stacie was still, somehow, a badass driver after being up for 24 hours. Honestly I think she might be an alien.

We dragged more crap up to Darren’s so I could reorganize and burst in the door, laughing hysterically. I still had my sunglasses on and if one didn’t know it, they might think I was drunk, or maybe still tripping on LSD I took the night before. That’s one of the many things I love about filmmaking: it truly gets you high. Higher than any drug you’ve ever taken before (except ecstasy). The feelings you derive from finishing a shoot is truly astounding. Filmmaking isn’t easy, and Stacie and I rocked its rapey-ass!

STACIE PONDER: Poor Darren wasn't quite sure what to think, no doubt. I felt- and probably looked- as if I'd just completed a tour of 'Nam, and we were barely coherent as we lugged all the bags into his apartment. I'm not sure if this cracked-out euphoria is due to the filming itself, or to the fact that we film intense stuff for far too many hours in a row and by the time we're finished our brains are leaking. Either way, it's pretty fucking awesome, if irritating to everyone else we encounter.

SHANNON LARK: After much needed showers, we hit the sack, and we hit it hard. I awoke a couple hours later and started repacking and organizing. Stacie woke up shortly after and we had chicory coffee and attempted to download the appropriate software to convert the footage to QuickTime files. Hmmm….yeah. Darren even jumped in to help us until we realized that the software is actually not compatible with windows. The prospect of not being able to access this footage hit me, and it was terrifying.

STACIE PONDER: See? Technology. You just can't trust it. Alright, so maybe it's not the technology's fault per se. It is, however, as the old saying goes: "If Camera Guy had given us all of the correct information beforehand, chances are we would have avoided most of the fucking problems with the footage transfer because we would have known what the fuck we were doing."

SHANNON LARK: So we packed up, drug all of our crap back down to the street, got in the car, and drove to Stockton to meet Pippi at a hotel she reserved for us to share. The ride out there was fucking HOT, and we were drenched in sweat by the time we made it to beautiful Stockton. Stacie and I like to be hardcore, and we like the idea that we like to be hardcore, and can sleep ANYWHERE. But it was truly wonderful to get into a nice hotel room with beds. I took another shower and got ready for the Viscera screening that Pippi organized at the Plea for Peace Center.

STACIE PONDER: The ride was ridiculously hot, which didn't do much to perk me up. Apparently the highway between San Francisco and Stockton runs directly through the bowels of Hell. The hotel room was totally worth it, though, as it was much nicer than what I'm accustomed to when I'm on the road (ahem, Ludlow Motel)…big ups to Pippi for scoring it! Wait…does "big ups" actually mean anything? Is that what the kids are saying nowadays?

SHANNON LARK: Stacie and I met her down there about an hour later, and we met her awesome friend Cherry and saw Reyna Young and Co. I bought Stacie an ice pop for being my pal and we watched the Viscera films and did a Q & A afterwards, where Stacie even like…spoke! It was nice just to sit down in a chair. I was exhausted and bruised on my ribs, arms, legs, really all over my body. I guess that what happens when someone beats the shit out of you repeatedly. :)

STACIE PONDER: It was my first ice pop in years. YEARS I SAY, and it will probably be my last. Nothing against ice pops, really, it's just that we don't tend to run in the same circles anymore. I just…I think I'm in a different place now than I was when I was having ice pops all the time- and I'm not saying it's any better, nor any worse…it's only that we've grown apart. Err…anyway. It's always a treat to revisit the first round of Viscera films. What was really interesting to me was watching Shannon's early films- after watching her work in Ludlow and Voyeur, it's obviously how much she's grown as an actress and filmmaker in a short time. Watching "It's My Birthday", for example, I couldn't help but think, "Aww, it's Baby Shannon." Oh, and I did speak at the Q & A, although I'm not exactly sure why.

SHANNON LARK: We hit the local Stockton bar afterward, which was an interesting social experiment of lonely, desperate, drunk men in America. It really felt like home to me and provided deep nostalgia I found humor in.

The next morning I made a visit to the hot tub at the hotel and we got an amazing breakfast at a local Mexican restaurant (oh my lord shrimp tacos!). Stacie and I said goodbye to Pippi and hit the road to Sasquatch Mountain to see some big ass trees.

STACIE PONDER: I was SO EXCITED to see the big ass trees. I couldn't get wait to get there. At some point before we left Stockton, Shannon said to me something like, "It's too bad we can't go camping…" to which I naturally replied "Well, why CAN'T we go camping?" Before you could say FUCK YEAH, we hit a Target and picked up a little tent, 2 flashlights, 2 coffee cups, and an aluminum percolator. What else could we POSSIBLY need for 2 nights on Sasquatch Mountain?