Black Lodge 101

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

I took the day off and drove up to Kennett, Missouri to eat with the woman and her family. First time really hangin' out with her folks, and I managed not to appear too awful creepy. Which is good. I think more than anything they were probably curious as to why I was wandering around in socks (had to pull the woman's car out of a mudhole along the way, so I guess I figured it would be more anti-social to track mud in the house than to walk around in socks...) but nobody said a word.

Anyway, back to the fray. I thought that - seeing as how no-one has arrived here to talk with me about Black Lodge - I'd review the basics. Who I am, who they are, and what it is that I'm trying to do.

"Tucked back from the road on Cooper Avenue stands the unnerving sign for Black Lodge Video. For the uninitiated, the bloodstained letters coupled with the heavily spray-painted house behind it make entry seem, at best, a dicey proposition. Folks in the know, however, march right in to Black Lodge Video, a fiercely independent rental business that specializes in independent, foreign, classic, and genre films ranging from the wildly eclectic to the wholly obscure. Black Lodge Video is also the home of the owners/curators, Matt M., and Bryan H., friends and self-professed “cinephilejunkyfreaks,” who share a militant passion about film, film history, and aesthetic quality. Living the lives of film ascetics, Matt and Bryan have watched Black Lodge evolve into something of a community center since it opened in 2000. Who are the customers who identify with their vision? What is their vision? What is Black Lodge Video really all about?"

The above paragraph was the initial pitch I made to my professors at U of M to be able to do this project. My name is Patrick Buttram, I'm the filmmaker, and the Black Lodge documentary is my thesis project for my Master's degree. I'll be embedding myself at Black Lodge Video over the Christmas holidays and into the New Year. As in, sleeping on their couch, and sharing some living amenities with Chris Bratton, the guy who lives upstairs. And, hopefully, over the course of those thirty days or so I'll be capturing a LOT of footage.

The documentary has evolved a bit from when I first started working on it. I'm a lot more interested, now, in the community of individuals who make up the Black Lodge core - it's not just about movies, you know, a lot of folks are there because it's a place where they feel, more or less, normal and accepted. I also am interested in talking about the threat to Black Lodge (and other places like it,) that comes from services like RedBox and Netflix. These independent video stores are really up against it in the coming years. Matt Martin (co-owner of the store,) speaks pretty catastrophically about the coming years for Black Lodge, while Bryan Hogue (the other owner,) seems to be a little more optimistic.

So I'll be talking with Matt and Bryan and quite a few others (Coffin Joe, Farmer, Brooke, Chris Bratton, Patrick Halloran, local filmmakers and cinephiles, more and more as I find them.) This is where, hopefully, you come in. I've canvassed, posted flyers, and now I'm doing this blog to try and find folk that are interested in talking about Black Lodge. If you're out there and have a story to tell I would really love to hear it. This isn't necessarily a gloss piece, either, so if you've got some bad blood for Black Lodge, you'd find a willing ear for that too, here. Anything and everything you've got - I'll take it. Be advised, you may find yourself sitting in front of a camera and telling your story there, as well.

So, there are the basics. Read, think, respond! It's a collaborative age, people! I need your help.

Regards,

-PB

Black Lodge Memories #1

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Know Your Owl!

Okay, so, the woman was chatting with me about my most recent blog post, and began to advise me about a local antique dealer that keeps a lot of antique owls in stock. Which, is cool.

Not, however, the type of owl I'm looking for.

So, I figure I better spell this out. See the design in the picture up above? Not the circle part, but the diamond in the middle with wings? That's a Black Lodge owl. More specifically, its a Black Lodge owl tattoo, and even more specifically a Black Lodge owl tattoo worn by Farmer, a Lodger who you've probably seen working the desk if Matt or Hogue aren't around. These are what I'm looking for. I hear estimates that there are some 35-50 owl tattoos that are specifically Black Lodge Video inspired (interestingly, Matt tells me that he has had the experience of meeting someone with an owl that was a fan of the Twin Peaks television show before they ever heard of Black Lodge Video - how far out is that?)

I've talked with Hogue and Matt about this phenomenon...I mean, bars have regulars, restaurants have regulars, all stores have regulars, but not all stores have regulars who go get a tattoo of the store logo, right? I've gotten some interesting answers out of them and others as to why this happens. Some of them are kind of "Church of the Subgenius"-style answers: it's a cult that's anti-cultist. Others roll their eyes and say it's a fad that everyone will regret sooner or later.

Why do you think they do it? Or, if you have one, why did you do it? Even better still, are you thinking of getting one? What is that process like?

Finally, I wanna get down on a major "thank you" to Kerry Crawford, and her totally rockin' I Love Memphis blog. Go check out her stuff at http://ilovememphisblog.com. If it can be done in this town, Kerry's clearin' a path and goin' and doin' it. Food, music, culture, local product, local celebrity, local sport (Go MRD!) She's got it all, so go have a look-see.

Be good to one another,

-PB

Footage Follow-Up

Okay, just after looking at the tapes from Friday night. Yeah, as I suspected, the audio levels on the band are a little messy, but perhaps not irretrievable. It's amazing what you can do with FCP and Soundtrack. Still...it's gonna be tricky.

The video, on the other hand, is actually a lot more solid than I expected. The band footage is pretty good - it is a little dark, but I'm cool with it. The only problem I see there is that I (that is camera 2,) was doing a lot of cutaway shots as well as wandering around the Lodge and getting footage of folk just kinda hangin' around the store and not necessarily in the room where the band was playing. Then, when I came back to do cutaways of the band, I didn't re-white balance. So....my footage is decidedly more red than camera 1 footage, which is predominantly blue. Gonna have to spend a LOT of time color correcting to get this to look right.

More good news, the conversation I got downstairs looks great! I'm really looking forward to getting more of this candid-style interaction amongst the Lodgers. I mean, the piece is as much about the community as it is about the store itself. The more I can get of this style of footage, the better as far as I'm concerned.

Next is a bit of a waiting game - I've got about three weeks and change before I embed myself at the store over the holiday break. I'll be dropping into Black Lodge a lot just to check in, but this is the period of time where I really need your help. What can you tell me about Black Lodge that I don't already know? What do you think of Lodge? What have been your experiences? Do you think you have a perspective that would be good for inclusion in the documentary? I'm really hoping to start hearing from people who want to weigh in on this piece. And, again, you don't have to be a fan, necessarily. If you've got a beef with the Lodge, now's the time to let it out!

Also, I'd really like to gather the owls. If you have an owl, and are willing to let me get a photograph of it, I sure would appreciate it. And, there's owls all over this town. Seen one? Let me know so I can go shoot it. I know of a couple on campus, one at P&H, one at Huey's downtown. Where are more?

Alright, off to teach. Be careful out there.

-PB

Post-Op

Got the second camera for last night's shoot! Just in the nick of time!

All in all, things went well. I'm really curious to see how the audio is gonna come out...the band didn't run through a sound board, so, me and Matt Bowling were riding the levels on our cameras all night. Still, it looked really cool. If you haven't been up there, the Micro-Dome is really dark - not a lot of light to get yer textbook exposed picture. But, hey, it's a freakin' "black" lodge, right? I'm cool with dark.

And got some cool music, too. Want to give a shout out to Tiffany Harman, Other Stories and The Ideal Setback for a great show. The Ideal Setback is Todd Chappell, and his stuff is ambient, spooky, with lots of loops and neat distortion and stuff. He and I talked a little bit and I think I'm gonna be using some of his music for the background track. It works well with the atmosphere I'm trying to get with this doc. You can check out his stuff at http://www.myspace.com/theidealsetback. See Tiffany Harman, Other Stories, and Tiffany Harmon and Other Stories at http://www.myspace.com/eveestarr, http://www.myspace.com/otherstories, and http://www.myspace.com/tiffanyharmonotherstories, respectively.

Got some interesting conversations from folks down in the store proper, too. I really think that's gonna be the trick of making this thing look and feel a little more authentic. Me going down with a camera, postin' up in a corner somewhere, and just being very silent and unobtrusive and getting people speaking off the cuff without worrying (or, even, knowing,) about me being there. The best stuff I've shot so far for this documentary was just folks talkin' who had no interest in the fact I was making a documentary at all. Boss. Very direct cinema.

So, mucho mucho going on today. I've got to get little Vertov over to PetCo and do some kitten things. Out to the Orpheum with the woman tonight. Play practice this afternoon. Point being, I'm not gonna be able to look at the footage til Sunday at the earliest. In the meantime? Shit...I dunno. Start gettin' ready to embed, I reckon. Finish my papers for my other classes, too. Damn! I just realized I'm freakin' busy!!

-PB

Pre-Op

Dropped by Lodge tonight to check out the set-up for the show tomorrow. Talked to Matt and Tiffany Harmon and the collective known as Other Stories. Looks like its gonna be a real laid back show, which is cool. I'm kind of wondering how it fits into the documentary though. Well, in a way I am.

I mean, the average Lodge show tends to be a little more punk, a little more industrial. This being the case, is what I'm getting typical? Is it emblematic of Lodge events? Probably not. On the other hand, it is an ontological happening. It's "real." I'm glad I'm gonna be shooting it, regardless, Tiffany and her colleagues are cool folks. So...its all good. It's all gonna work out.

Just wish I had that second camera. Dang.

Also talked to Chris Bratton for a second. Looks like we're gonna be one happy family for Christmas. This is gonna be tough. I'm embedding myself at Black Lodge for a month, and it's gonna be different. Difficult. Hopefully, rewarding. I just don't see any other way to get the story of what Black Lodge is really about without being there and soaking in it. All of the interviews I've done so far and the footage I've collected amount to a film about a store with a bunch of movie boxes all over the wall. It just doesn't...I dunno...it doesn't live and breathe. It looks like a 20/20 human interest segment. Ugh.

So....we'll see how it all works out.

Again, come out tomorrow. 5 bucks. Cheap.

-PB

Currently on loan from Black Lodge: Cassevetes' Shadows

Prepping, prepping...

So....

I'm off to the Lodge tonight to check out the setup for tomorrow's show. Tiffany Harmon and Other Stories and The Ideal Setback are playing in the microdome, and I want to get some footage. I'm still not sure how this is all going to work out. Matt Bowling has been good enough to volunteer to run some sound and just generally be an extra set of hands, but visually speaking what am I supposed to do? Get coverage of the band, sure, but get coverage of the crowd and just the whole "scene." And I've only got one camera. Dag, yo.

Anyway, I got my equipment checkout sheets okayed, so I'll be picking everything up tomorrow after my speech class. Then I'll probably try to squeeze in a nap, get at Lodge around 5. Figure whatever happens, whatever I can get, it's all still good footage.

I'm tired of waiting around for this thing. I feel like I've done a lot of good prep work, but the prep period has gone on FOREVER, and I'm still no closer to really understanding what it is I'm so drawn to, what story it is I think I'm trying to tell. Much less how that story should look - how to make it visually apparent. I'm such a fucking dumbass sometimes it's fucking depressing.

Still - got to remember to print out a whole buncha release forms...I've GOT to remember that. I'll probably forget.

So, if yer not doing anything, head down to Lodge tomorrow evening. Check out the show. Come say something about your Lodge experiences. Come memorialize Cooper. It's a good thing to do.

-PB

Currently on loan from Black Lodge: Pink Flamingos & Wet Hot American Summer