Aug.7.2008
Might as well admit upfront, Evangelical Yeti is my first attempt at making a film.
I suppose I was lucky on this one. Many filmmakers, from what I understand, often have to struggle and search to find a subject compelling or socially relevant enough to invest their time in. I, on the other hand, had my subjects approach me, screaming and wielding ten-foot banners overhead.
For those of you who have been viewing any of the Beyond Logic Network’s other content, the chronology of this film series may be important to you; the end of Evangelical Yeti’s action wraps up a mere matter of hours before the action picks up in Scene 1, of the Beyond Logic Network’s experimental film series.
As a side note, the end of this film shows me trying to get a statement from the management of St. Augustine Catholic church. It bears to mention that this church is NOT located in the city of St. Augustine, a place that I’d road trip to shortly after wrapping up filming in Turlington Plaza, but is a church coincidentally NAMED after St. Augustine that is located directly across the street from the University of Florida in Gainesville, the city in which Evangelical Yeti’s action occurs. My attempts to get a statement from the church was part of an extend effort in the film to analyze the impact that the campus preachers have on other organized Christian entities technically away from, but still close to, UF’s Turlington Plaza. However, this extended effort was edited out of the film’s final cut and placed in reserve for a possible follow-up documentary.
Also, artistically speaking, I’ve found that I live in a society of critics who largely do not produce art themselves. [Ace sighs, dispiritedly] As such, I should probably preemptively acknowledge a few criticisms about this film right upfront, in order to save the time and breath of those who’ll unavoidably go after them.
First and foremost, this was my very first attempt at making a film. At the time of shooting, I had one memory card and one battery. As such, I could only record in forty-five minute bursts, on low resolution, before I had to walk a half hour home to recharge and upload. Also? I had never, in earnest, used digital software editing before (I was working off of a PC, on Adobe Premiere Pro CS2, by the way). As such, the film’s production quality may be less-than-glorious at points, however, I hold that the film’s academic content, research and analysis is of quality work.
Second, the film has been split up into three segments. And these splits have been placed at awkward intervals. Why? Because most films that include aft breaks (commercial breaks) are specifically organized and designed to do so, while this film was not. This film was MEANT to be enjoyed as a consecutive whole, but the limitations placed on us by the progressive-download capacity of our server forced us to break the film into parts.
Third, no… we are not above courting advertisers. But, that said, advertising is what helps keep our content free for the viewership, and keeps us from having to charge admission or download fees. Plus, for this particular film, we purposely made note to NOT court advertisers until well AFTER the film was postproduced, to dispel any accusations that our content may have been biased to flatter our sponsors.
- Ace Ashkuff, filmmaker
