boss with the sauce- shake it up!

which versary? any- versary. another photoblog.

clyde and i dated for a year. i spent a lot of time in this car.

we went to the botanical gardens in brooklyn right before they closed.

appropriately enough, there were some lovely flowers there.

my date was handsome.

this mallard was our tour guide.

everything is small | it is summer.

GOIN 2 FESTYVUL BRB

OH HAI
IN 3 HOURS CLYDE AND I ARE LEAVING FOR



NOT PACKED NOT PREPARED NO CLEAN CLOTHES TO WEAR FOR THE WEEKEND

cubicles.

Working from home is significantly less delightful when you make the realization that all of your favorite grainy snacks, for which you'd run out for a quick distraction, are off limits, and the only snacky options are fruits, vegetables, or meats. NOT FAIR, JUDAISM!

At one point, this was meant to be a filmblog. In its first iteration, it was solely response papers for my cinema verite class (which, in hindsight, may have been one of the most incredible educational opportunities I had at Vassar. Thanks, Jamie Meltzer, where ever you are!) Then for a hot second it was a proper bed of lies- whenever I went out and pretended to be Noseprint Pictures, a concept that I now realize was woefully underconstructed and unrealistic to anyone who had actually EVER WORKED FOR A FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY.

But, in the interest of killing time on the clock, a filmy anecdote with photos, and a general update.



RIDING TALL won the Best Student Documentary award at the International Family Film Festival. !!! IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING was also playing, which is mega exciting because one could ostensibly 'plex my Vassar movies. I didn't get to go, because that was the weekend of the cruise/funemployment... but when I returned to Puerto Rico, there were several emails and messages waiting for me, highly suggesting I attend the awards banquet. One of the other emails announced that

RIDING TALL had been accepted to the Connecticut Film Festival, along with another of Clyde's movies (New Uke City), Katie's movie (Black Ice) and some stuff from ben and brian (I am so setting up a Ben and Brian tag because as soon as they get to NY, I'd be over the moon to work with them again.)

We're also in the Ivy Film Festival-- Clyde for New Uke, myself for RT, and we got an incredible deal on a hotel in Providence, so we're going to have a romantic weekend getaway to Brown. The beauty of this festival lies in the numbers. There were 350 student films submitted. There were 31 films selected. 3 of those were documentaries. What are 2 of the 3 documentaries? Mine, and Clyde's. The third one is from RISD kid who went to Uganda to shoot child soldiers and an orphanage. Memorize-you-saw-it is totes going to kick our vassar asses to the curb... which should make for a more pleasant carride back to NYC, as I am fiercely competitive, especially with Clyde, and no matter if he wins or I win, I'm going to be unbearable.

Speaking of Clyde, we went to see Adventureland on Sunday, and caught the cameo of our "friend" (and I use the term very loosely, we had him on set for one day and he was pleasant and professional) Dan Bittner. Man, I am obsessed with linking today, aren't I? In any case, it was a sweet, nostalgic film, and Dan was solid. Then, these pictures reemerged from second semester senior year, and I was reminded of my greatest art directorial accomplishment-- the cubicles.



We needed to build a set on the soundstage as a requirement for Ken. The easiest one, Clyde decided, would be the FBI office. Unfortunately, we didn't have any tools. Or any real building experience. And it was snowing. like, a blizzard. I think this was in February, because after the shoot, I ran off to go to the Magnetic Fields with Ali. But then again, when wasn't it snowing last february? Which is less than conducive to running to three art stores, a fabric store, and the hardware store. Part of me seems to remember Gracie tagging along, but that also seems incorrect. There were several moments wherein we tried desperately to make our plans to build these less abstract, using various props to illustrate the positioning of the walls. This was ultimately a failure. We had NO IDEA how to build anything, I was lying my ass off at this point as I'd never actually built anything in stage crew without explicit instructions. We didn't have any tools. It was snowing. We were about to spend $$$ at a hardware store for supplies we weren't sure we needed. In any case, we assembled a lot of junk, including 1x3s, took it all to the sound stage, and then found canvas stretchers that worked far better. The burlap was a bit too thin to block light, so we "reinforced it."



At this point, my hair was either really short, and I can't imagine it was, or it was terrifically long and wound around my head like a demented Heidi. I assume the latter. In any case, Sean Gilmore came to the rescue with a full set of tools (including an electric drill! Who knew you'd need such a thing in college?) And at around 5 AM, clyde and I finished painting the set, left the dressing for the next morning (at 9, I seem to recall) and crawled home. The most impressive part of the whole endeavor was not that we managed to create an office out of nothing, with my feigned technical expertise and borrowed tools, but that in painting four walls with three coats of paint (someone had painted them magenta, which does not cover easily) Clyde did not get one drop of paint on himself. He looked immaculate.

I, on the otherhand, was thoroughly dappled, and completely mystified as to how he had avoided making a similar mess. Maybe it's because I attack all physical activities like a 5 year old.




So, these are the cubicles. Cubicle story is now recorded for posterity. the next time I had to build cubicles (which was probably 2 weeks later) my car nearly blew off the road, lifted by an enormous sheet of foamcore. But that's a story for another day.

Hiding on the internetz

Melissa asked me ALL NIGHT not to make public these videos. So i'll only make public the one in which she asks nicely.

Clyde and I came up with a great new vengeance film (as rapey vengeance films are his favorite sort.) It will be the tale of a passionate moviegoer who flies into a rage when people chat during his pictures... and then he kills them. It will be not so subtly based on that guy who shot the other guy during a screening of Benjamin Button in Philly, and also all of the random stabbings that occured in my movie theater at home in New Jersey.

We're going to call it Man Down In Front.

If You See Something, Say Something

If You See Something, Say Something from Caitlin Mae Burke on Vimeo.

Vassar College 2008, Senior Narrative Project
Written and Directed by Clyde Folley
Cinematography by Caitlin Mae Burke

Metonymy because SYNECDOCHE IS STUPID

Sometimes I see movies and I get a little incensed, and then it takes the L train 20 minutes to show up to Union square, and I'm alone, and when I'm alone and bored and incensed I write myself long emails about what I did and didn't like about the stupid movie on my phone.

this is one of those times. All phone autocorrects and half thoughts preserved for posterity.

Alright, Charlie Kaufman. We get it. You are a brilliant brilliant man and your first foray into both directing and writing a film should be nothing short of the second coming of Christ, or at least close to mad men in terms of sheer ineffability. Forgive me, I am tired, as I just sat through your opus, all six hours of it, and I have to say, I am impressed. Somehow, you figured out a way to make me hate phillip Seymour Hoffman. I thought it couldn't be done.

Sparkly moments- emma watson playing samantha Morton, the house on fire, adele's paintings, olive's tattoos. I wasn't much impressed with the cinematography, but the production design was impressive, the make up effects were well rendered and not, in my opinion, excessive.

Bit this film is just pretentious. It's everything I hate about Williamsburg- superiority complex plus substance equals giant minus of sincerity. I get it, ck. I know the definition of synecdoche, I see how you implemented it (and how!) I understand your film but I still think it is arrogant of you to make it. Its a good chuckle at the expense of the. Everyman. That's not to say I think films should pander to the lowest common denominator. But rein it the fuck in, ck. I am a well educated woman, I know my film theory, I know my literary devices. I GET it. And my first reaction was still a big fuck you.
If you wanted to create a work, which was clearly a labor of love on your part, that smugly disregards it's viewer after the first ten minutes, then you have succeeded (and how!) but I didn't appreciate it. I don't like reacting so negatively to anyone's work, especially someone I respect. But I am appalled and I want my twelve dollars back.
Sincerely, Cmae

Sent from my iPhone

I will edit this in the morning when I'm more coherent. But I will say, i am fucking PUMPED to see The Wrestler, especially since the trailer uses a baller springsteen song.

trudging slowly over wet sand

hide on the promenade
etch a postcard:
How i dearly wish I was not here

mumbled to the core.

i has a shiny new business card
So I failed pretty triumphantly towards the end of the NYFF, but in my defense there were heaps of Jewish holidays in there, and I went with Clyde to one of the Oshima movies (Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence) so I think I did my duty to cover a variety of festival related events. Apparently I missed all of the good, sexy Oshima movies, but seeing David Bowie punk a japanese general in guyliner with cheekbones that just wouldn't quit was worth the price of admission.
That, and the cameo from the most irritating character in my favorite-ever-film (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover) as yet another bizarro, unexplained boy soprano character...
Whoops. According to IMDB, this is false. But how many platinum blonde, hunchbacked English lads were there to choose from in the early 80's?
Apparently, a lion's share.

Good Enough To Eat

Directing Class Final.
Vassar College Film Department.
written/directed/edited by Caitlin Mae Burke.
photographed by Erica Tronstad