We had to drive to the airport post office because it was the only one that stayed open until 10pm. We walked in the door 5 minutes before it closed. An official “March 10, 2008″ postmark was all we needed. This, after a mad dash to finalize paperwork, finish the credits, burn the data disc, and run by Jules’ place for the soundtrack disc. Down to the wire.

The film is actually pretty good, all things considered. Five days isn’t much time to do justice to any film, but I think we pulled it off the best we could.
We did it, though. After lots of coffee, very little sleep, and two trips to Urgent Care to get control of a staph infection that has taken over Diana’s face, we completed a 7 minute film in 5 days for the 2008 International Documentary Challenge. Almost killed us, but it’s now on its way to St. Louis to be judged against 121 other teams from around the world.

Making a film with a crew of two is really difficult. It was just us: Diana working as producer, still photographer, boom op, and even operating the camera a time or two, and me as Director, DP, Gaffer, and Grip. The last few days we were stuck at our dining room table furiously editing and re-editing. Diana and Nathan Rudolph helped me sort out the cutting of the film, while Jules spent her every waking moment securing permissions for the soundtrack music from people all over the world.

The music secured for the film is impressive, thanks to the nature of our project and Jules’ contacts and ability to get a diverse and fun mix of songs. She was able to secure releases for 20 songs from 20 bands for the soundtrack (7 made it in the film).

Titled “The Mixtress,” the documentary focuses on Jules Bennett, a girl here in Portland who runs a worldwide mix cd exchange program. People send her their mix cds which she resends to people around the globe along with a monthly mix that she makes. She also hides mix cds everywhere for people to find and enjoy. Her goal is to spread music throughout the world and promote the bands she loves, many of which are unsigned and little known. Musicians from all over send her their tunes, hoping to be included in her mixes. Her project is known as The Mixtress Online.

It was fun, the two of us working in tandem to create a solid documentary in the time we were allowed. Keep May 7 open; that’s when the film will screen at The Hollywood Theatre with all the other Portland entries!