The crew from Oklahoma visits the big city for the World Water Film Festival at Columbia University in NYC.
Take Care, Tar Creek has had a run of showings at film festivals! This post provides a summary of recent events.
It was selected and showed at the Lost River Film Festival in San Marcos, TX on October 17, 2024. Lisa (my wife and Film Producer) and I drove down to spend a day at the festival. It was a great showing in a cool venue. There was a Q&A session where people asked questions related to the making of the film and the current state of things at Tar Creek. The film was well-received and got a lot of great compliments. We were so grateful to network with other filmmakers and take in some other great documentaries.
The film was selected as a finalist and showed at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Festival in Claremore, OK on October 30, 2024. Another cool festival with a great theatre. Met some cool people – didn’t win a Dog Iron Award unfortunately, but hey, we met Will Roberts who played General George Marshall in Oppenheimer, so that was cool.
On Saturday, November 16, 2024 the film showed at the World Water Film Festival at Columbia University in NYC. Myself, Lisa and our daughter Peak, travelled to NYC and stayed in Harlem.
Also in attendance was Rebecca Jim, her cousin Mary, and friend Karen. It was great to have them travel from NE Oklahoma to join us at the festival.
It is amazing to have the support of friends in family in these creative and social endeavors.
Thank you again to LEAD Agency Inc., Rebecca Jim and Dana Jim for their generous support.
It’s been a little while so I wanted to provide an update on some recent occurrences for Take Care, Tar Creek. I am happy to say that the film was accepted to Red Dirt Film Festival in Stillwater, Oklahoma and was displayed in theatre in April 2024. I was invited, along with other filmmakers, to share about the making of the film and to answer some audience questions. I also had the opportunity to meet some other great filmmakers from around the country.
In May 2024 the film was displayed on the opening day of the Tar Creek Apprenticeship Program (TCAP) in Miami, OK. Since I was out of town at the time, I was invited to call-in via Zoom to deliver some opening comments and remarks about the making of the film and its message. I have been invited to visit the TCAP Career Day to talk to participants about filmmaking and the impact it can have on environmental activism.
On July 13, 2024 the film will play as part of the Circle Cinema Film Festival in Tulsa, OK along with a selection of other short films.
There are several more film festivals that I have submitted to and awaiting a response from – so hopefully will have a few more to show at.
Also, I have received an offer of support to further the reach of the film, cover some of the fees, and work with me to get the film out to a broader audience. Still working through those details so can’t so too much about it at this time.
As much as I would like to share the film widely – put it on YouTube, etc. I need to proceed diligently through the steps beforehand – I want to give this film as much opportunity as possible.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to the 25th National Environmental Tar Creek Conference held at Northeastern Oklahoma (NEO) A&M College in Miami, Oklahoma from October 10-12. This was the 25th year of the conference – which is both impressive on one hand and concerning on the other, given the persistence of the issues surrounding Tar Creek. The purpose of the invite was to present my film, Take Care, Tar Creek – Revisited.
My wife and I drove up to Miami from Norman earlier in the day.
I had not seen the program and did not know exactly when I presenting. When I opened the conference program I was surprised to see that there was more to it. The title read, “Chat Research Results in Super 8 Movie – Aaron Gibson, researcher and filmmaker.” So wait, was I supposed to talk about my Masters Thesis research project from 20 years ago to this room full of actual scientist, researchers, regulatory agency representatives, and community members? At once I felt unprepared, under-qualified, and anxious. Thankfully, my wife was there to reassure me that all I really needed to do was relate the past to the present, and go from there.
Watching the session just before mine; a Doctoral candidate talking about sulfate-reducing bacteria, did not instill confidence, but instead reminded me how disconnected I was with “the science.” What was I doing here? Why wasn’t I here years ago when I could actually speak intellectually about the hypothesis, about sampling and data collection methodology, about results, the spectrum of metal concentrations, about the distribution of particle sizes in the mine tailings, and about statistical analyses? But how could I, now, twenty–plus years later? Yet, here, and moreover, NOW, I was.
The time came and Mrs. Rebecca Jim introduced me and I made my way to the front of the room.
At this point, I don’t remember if what I said was relevant. Surely I mentioned my background, summarized my research, did what I could to connect the past to more current experiences. I downplayed my “research” side, my “scientist” persona. The position I was in now, was not a “scientist,” but as a filmmaker – and in that capacity, I felt much more at ease.
There was some technical issue with the showing of the film, in fact, the movie kicked off a few seconds beyond the opening scene – but was a moot point – something that surely nobody would really notice.
After the film the lights came up and there was applause and I notice some people drying their eyes. I thanked the room for their response to the film and took a few questions. There were questions about the type of medium used, if I had the chance to shoot the film on some other kind of media, would I? What advice could I give someone going from science to filmmaking? I received several compliments about things in the film.
The session concluded with Rebecca thanking me at the front of the stage and I took my seat.
There was a second showing later in the evening as an after-hours event in an auditorium. This was also listed in the program but this one just read “Super 8 Movie” and had a blurb about a discussion with the filmmaker. I found this showing to be more comfortable for me, possibly knowing what to expect and knowing that just the film aspect would be the focus of the discussion. Some of the audience members had seen the previous showing – but this one was better because I was able to start the film at the actual start.
The voice of Tar Creek, Rebecca Jim, and I after the second showing of the film.
Again, at the end, there were some questions and comments about the making of the film, and I went into more detail about the interview itself. At the end of the showing I was honored and recognized with a Mike Synar Environmental Excellence Award for “my cinematic vision of the story Tar Creek herself would tell.” It was a wonderful gesture and came quite unexpectedly.
Overall, the experience was meaningful in that this creation, not just mine, but everyone who had a hand in it – originated from nothing and culminated in a final piece (or tool, or thing, or product, or whatever you want to call it), to encapsulate a story that has value. Not value in the sense of monetary value, but value in the sense that it can be used to further the position and the message. Activism value. Change value. The kind of value that makes a difference to the environment and to people.
The film is a means to make science palatable for people who are not scientist or policy makers.
***
I am currently in the process of applying to various film festivals.
I am excited to announce that the film was accepted to the Red Dirt Film Festival in Stillwater, OK. More to come in future posts.
View on YouTube (above) or on Vimeo at the following link: https://vimeo.com/768065071/38d576a480
Although we didn’t make the cut of top 25 for this year’s Straight8 Film Festival in London, we are pleased with the results and have to have the opportunity to tell this story in a unique way. I look forward to future projects that may bring me closer to telling the story in a more complete manner.
Special thanks goes to Rebecca Jim of LEAD Agency for her participation and continuing efforts to be a spokesperson and advocate for Tar Creek and the surrounding community.
Another big thank you to Stephen Rose for producing the music track. And thanks to my son Summit Gibson who was there throughout the shoot and featured in the film as well.
Exposed Super 8 film cartridge, prepping for shipping to UK for processing and digitizing.
It’s a nerve wracking feeling packing, labelling, and shipping the film. You wouldn’t think so but given there are customs forms, labels, packing, and payment, and then once it leaves your hands all you can do is hope it makes it where it’s supposed to go.
The next day I left on a work trip and during a layover at the Denver, CO airport I received a call from UPS. Something to the effect of, “We have your shipment here and we need some additional information about it.” Was not a good feeling to know it was stalled along the way. I worked feverishly to both call and email the necessary “missing” information – basically, they just wanted a description of the what was in the box. Yet another reason to sweat. I wouldn’t feel good until I received a confirmation that it’s in the hands of Cinelab in London.
Unlike digital formats where a backup is possible. If this film gets lost or damaged in transit, that’s it, it’s over. Gone. Lost forever. No returns, refunds, exchanges, do-overs.
Thankfully, a couple of days later I received confirmation that the film was received.
Saturday, June 11 was quite a long day. We went from shooting at various film locations, to the interview, and then back to shooting more locations. The idea really was to complete the entire film shoot in a single day. After all, it’s only 200 feet of film in the cartridge and at 18 frames per second (fps) that’s just 3 minutes and 20 seconds! How long could it really take? My thinking was that I would have more than enough time to shoot two rolls of film. But turns out that I barely had enough time for even a single roll. Not because of any one thing, but because each shot takes time to set up and there’s travel time between locations, and then there’s waiting around time, so on and so forth.
Later in the day we were to meet Rebecca Jim and her son Dana at a location along Tar Creek near the Miami Nursing Home. An odd thing happened while we were there. At the time, my son and I were waiting in the car for our guests to arrive so we could film them. I’d noticed these two boys with loaded-down bikes ride by and head down towards the Creek. I thought it odd because knowing that the water is highly toxic it didn’t make sense to me that they’d be going down there to fish or play. I let my son know that I was going to walk down and scout it out, maybe get a shot or two of the water while we waited. When I walked down to the access point, just beyond the trees, in the center of the Creek, stripped down to their shorts and digging around for rocks in the water, were the two boys. What were they looking for, I wondered? Crawdads maybe. But it couldn’t be, there was very little, alive in this water. They didn’t see me and I didn’t really make myself known – I just went about my business. But it did strike me as odd and at the same time, thought maybe this would be good for the film, so I pointed the camera in their direction and pulled the trigger for a few seconds.
A few minutes later, one of them must have seen me. By then I’d decided to pack up and wander back to the car. They seemed quick to get out of the water and get dressed. It was one of those uncomfortable situations where I sort of felt like starting up a conversation but at the same time didn’t have a great vibe about the whole thing and decided not to ask any questions.
Back at the car parking area and Jim and Dana arrived. I shared the story about the boys and a surprised look came over Rebecca’s face. “Where are they, what did they look like, what were they doing?” she asked. Apparently I’d stumbled into an ongoing issue and caught two kids red-handed that were doing something they were not supposed to be doing – and I had it on film! As was explained, these same two boys had dammed up the Creek last season to create a swimming hole. On top of the toxic metal levels in the water, the water became stagnant and concentrated with dangerous levels of bacteria. In addition, all posted signage had suspiciously been removed by “somebody.” The authorities got involved including the Grand River Dam Authority and the Corp of Engineers because, among other things, it is illegal to dam up a flowing waterway – not to mention one that is already highly toxic and not to be swam in. It took the authorities and volunteers months to dismantle the make-shift dam. Rebecca later relayed that she’d encountered the same two boys some time ago, one of them had an axe on his bike, one of them was carrying a holster firearm of some kind.
It wasn’t but a few minutes before Rebecca was on the phone reporting the incident, her son was documenting the area where a few rocks had already been moved into place to create the beginnings of a new dam. And then Rebecca was wading into the water to topple the stones, and remove rocks from the river. “Aaron, come down here and take these,” she said. Immediately, I found myself following orders and helping to ferry stones from the Creek to the hillside.
In the distance was my son digitally recording the live action.
As things finally settled down we were able to re-focus and get back on track with filming. I captured the one or two shots and we moved on to the next location.
Carrots. My submission to the Straight8 2018 Film Festival. Per festival rules, shot on a single cartridge of Super 8 film, no editing, no second takes. All stop-motion live action using….carrots.
This year I decided, rather abruptly, to enter the Straight 8 2017 Film Festival held by CineLab in London. Each year I see the festival come and go and each year I think about entering but somehow don’t pull the trigger (so to speak). But this year, I saw that I *might* have enough time to put an idea together so before thinking about it too much I paid my entry fee.
Luckily, I already had one roll of 500T sitting around. So I quickly went to work piecing together a concept that was bubbling in my mind.
For those unfamiliar with Straight 8 festivals it works like this: using a single roll of Super 8 film you shoot your film from beginning to end without edits, without takes, without the opportunity to reshoot anything. Once you start shooting, that’s it – what you capture is what you capture and there is no changing it. The film is sent off for processing and digitizing. Meanwhile, a soundtrack is put together, thankfully, editing is involved with the soundtrack but because there is no picture for reference it is difficult (if not impossible) to completely synch up audio and visual. The soundtrack is submitted as a digital audio file.
The film and audio is placed together and the first time the film premieres is the first time it is seen, in full, by any audience or even the filmmaker!
This makes the film creation process that much more exciting, unpredictable, experimental, and…risky.
The Script
I began in earnest putting my script together, documenting shots, proposing run times for each scene. My method of pre-production involves a lot of brainstorming, keeping random notes, writing anything down that comes to mind and then sorting it out as I come back to those notes again and again. Old ideas dissolve and new ideas take shape.
As I found this happening naturally, I decided that was what this film would be about – things taking shape, changing, and reemerging as new things. A constant continuous process of change; changing forms. I began to tie this concept to a couple of visual ideas – the process of making something by hand – in this case the forging of an original art piece from it’s early stage as a wax sculpture to that of the human and natural environment. Tying these two worlds together of the human-made vs. the natural environment, the common thread being that we are all part of a “process.”
Soundtrack
For this idea I wanted an original soundtrack. I immediately jumped to wanting a cello piece – the cello has a certain power and mood about it that is unique and carries a certain weight that is appealing. I began asking friends about people who played cello and where I might be able to find someone to create an original score – in a short amount of time! But it seemed a tall order to find someone who could commit their time and energy to something like this on such short notice. I began looking online and quickly remembered using Fiverr for a couple of past graphic design projects so I began exploring there for a person that might be able to accomplish what I wanted. I posted a request and within hours received a number of replies from various composers and musicians about what they could offer. After sorting through the offers and listening to sample works I selected one that I felt could best achieve what I was looking for.
I was lucky enough to find a young Venezuelan composer to complete the score in less than 7 days! Here is a sample of the music:
In the midst of conceptualizing the idea I wrote a narration – sort of a spoken essay or long-form poem. It materialized as free-form writing, ideas popping into my head that became the “story.” I didn’t spend a lot of time writing and re-writing as I wanted to embrace the idea of “the first take” even in this part of the process. So not a lot of revisions. I used Fiverr again to seek out some talent to narrate the story. I found someone and received a version back pretty quickly. I made a couple of suggestions and received another version back.
Ultimately, I wasn’t getting exactly the tone I was looking for so I decided to do the narration myself. It took me several takes and I ended up revising the script a little bit more. The best takes were recorded in my clothes closet using an R-09 Edirol (the same one I’ve had for years now – in fact, the batteries are starting to rust out the inside).
I used Audacity to cut the audio and shifted things around a bit more. Final running time for the audio was 3:23 (about 3 min long but that’s fine).
Shooting Days
My first roll ended up being used on another -related- project so I purchased a second roll. (I have the first roll and will be posting that footage as part of another project which covers more of the interior of the Crucible Foundry and the molding process for the soon-to-be bronze belt buckle that Rick Sinnett designed.) It is the wax positive of that piece that I chose to use for my Straight 8 project.
Canon 814XLS used in the shooting of Wax Moons. Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
Image from making-of Wax Moons. Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
Shooting at the Crucible in the dipping/coating room.
Shooting time-lapse sequence in the Wichita Mountains.
The view from the camera.
Artist Rick Sinnett and Crucible owner, Mark Palmerton talk shop (or something…)
Principle photography took place over a period of three days. The first day took place at the Crucible in Norman. One of the most important – if not THE most important shot – is the first three seconds of the film because it has to display a unique ID number that identifies this cartridge, this film, as a valid submission. If the ID number is not in the first three seconds, you’re disqualified! So I made sure to open with that shot. I continued with a fade-in on an exterior interactive/movable sculpture and then moved inside for a few more select shots.
An Impossible instant photo of the two film actors, Baylor and Virginia.
The second day of shooting, about a week later, took place in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oklahoma. This is one of my favorite places to visit so shooting there would be fun. I rounded up a couple of friends and fellow staff members, Virginia and Baylor, to be actors.
I wanted some interesting shots so I played around with a stop-motion idea and a moving time lapse scene. After a couple of hours and multiple locations I wrapped up the day.
Day three of shooting was back at The Crucible location in the sculpture garden again for a final shot that would wrap things up where they began. Not knowing exactly when the film would run out was challenging.
Issues Encountered
It is not so far removed to try and shoot Super 8 film in one take. In fact, I try to approach filmmaking with the idea of using as few takes as possible because, frankly, film is expensive and every unusable shot is wasted film. But this was my first foray into zero editing where planning is everything and time-keeping is critical. Probably the biggest mistake I made was purposefully ejecting the film cartridge just prior to my second day of shooting. There is always a cool effect when a cartridge is exposed – sort of a flash effect – so I thought it would be cool to include one. What I didn’t take into account was that my in camera run-time counter would reset once I opened the cartridge door! In fact, I realized I’d made an even bigger mistake from the very beginning when I didn’t have a designated stopwatch or time keeper. So I had true way to measure how much I’d shot and how much film was left.
Having a larger crew – or should I say – having a crew at all, would have been helpful. Even a couple of people to help me keep things on track, to keep time, to help with equipment, etc.
Thoughts on the Process
It’s difficult to say with a film like this if it’s going to be good or bad. The best you can do is try to make as few mistakes as possible and hope for the best. A number of things can always screw up what might be a good film: poor focus, bad lighting, shutter-speed settings could be off and affect your color (such as I encountered with my first run of 500T film that was very yellow because I failed to engage the correct setting). I managed to accidentally pull the trigger at least twice that I’m aware of – so who knows what those frames will look like. And I’m pretty sure some of the close-up shots are going to pretty damn blurry.
Everything is easily critiqued on a project like this….in retrospect. But fortunately, film shot in this manner has its value rooted square in the moment. That defining moment when the decision is made to pull the trigger and just go-with-it, for better or worse. I guess therein lies the reason for participating in something like this. Yes, it puts boundaries on what you can and cannot do but those boundaries require you to rise to the occasion and put forth your best effort without room for do-overs, re-shoots, re-takes, or previews.
I can see that for some professionals that call themselves filmmakers but are really videomakers (doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?) that process would be too restricting or cumbersome for their current “workflow.” But to me the thought of capturing something that is un-perfect and trying your best to dial-in everything leading up to the shot, and then once it is done, it is done – that it is both exciting and nerve-wracking all the same.
I guess that I hope the film is good but then again what is good anyway? Good seems to only be another individual’s judgement placed on the work. So whether what ends up as the finished product on screen is worthy or not is not for me to decide. What was good was the process of creating this project from start to finish. In that respect, I learned a lot and reinforced the idea that making film is a rewarding and fulfilling experience.
The Final Film
As of this writing the final film has been submitted and the soundtrack as well. At this point it’s a waiting game. Once the film digitized and the assembled with the audio track it will be placed online – at which point I will reference it from here for everyone to see.
UPDATE
My film was selected to show at the Straight 8 Film Festival in London!
I recently attended the ‘friends, family, and movie-people’ premiere of This May Be The Last Time, a documentary produced by Matt Leach, Sterlin Harjo, and Christina D. King and directed by Harjo. This was the first feature-length film backed by This Land Films a section of This Land Press based in Tulsa, OK. The premiere took place at Circle Cinema in Tulsa on the heels of a successful debut at Sundance Film Festival in January 2014. Here is the posting about the film on the Sundance site.
I was hired to work on the film last year. I worked with the director and producer and other members of the cast and crew to capture re-created historical events that took place decades. Though, there was some original home movie footage of other stuff they could not unearth any archived footage from this particular significant event. So the goal was to re-create several scenes in a manner that might pass for film footage captured in the early 1960s. Super 8 film shot in a hand-held ‘man-on-the-scene’ type way was used to create a stylized, authentic appearance.
Coming into the picture I had seen a rough cut of the film and I understood the scenes and what they wanted to capture.
The shoot was a memorable one for me as many of the shots took place with me standing in the North Canadian River with a camera in my hand. All told we shot 7 rolls of film that day at 24 fps which amounted to about 17 minutes of film. The film stock was Agfachrome 200D Color Reversal film and shot on a Canon 814 XLS.
The intention was to use about 5 minutes of the footage. I was happy to see that every roll of film turned out wonderfully; good light, good focus, and framing. Plenty of the footage made it into the final film and the trailer.
I was happy to have been given the opportunity to share in this experience. The documentary is beautiful, heartbreaking, and uplifting, all at the same time…it’s a story worth watching.
Posted below is the official trailer for the film:
I received word that a film that I did some Super 8 film work for has been accepted to Sundance. The documentary film This May Be the Last Time, directed by Sterlin Harjo and Produced by Matt Leach, both of This Land Films, will be shown at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah January 16-26.
Here is the announcement on the This Land Films website:
http://thislandpress.com/12/09/2013/this-land-films-premieres-this-may-be-the-last-time-at-sundance-film-festival/
Here is the short description of the film on the Sundance website:
“This May Be the Last Time / U.S.A. (Director: Sterlin Harjo) — Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo’s Grandfather disappeared mysteriously in 1962. The community searching for him sang songs of encouragement that were passed down for generations. Harjo explores the origins of these songs as well as the violent history of his people.”
My contribution to the film was minimal in terms of the overall production but I had a fun experience working with these guys, the talent and other crew. I was hired to shoot several rolls of film as a part of the film that re-created a specific historical event. I shot the film using a Canon 814 XLS and Agfachrome 200D Reversal film stock. The film was then digitally transferred and scanned at HD resolution.
I have seen the raw footage but not the final cut of the film – so I’m excited to see how the footage was integrated into the story.
Congratulations to all those involved! We’ll be watching the progress of this film to see the progress it makes.
For those unfamiliar with Straight 8 festivals it works like this: using a single roll of Super 8 film you shoot your film from beginning to end without edits, without takes, without the opportunity to reshoot anything. Once you start shooting, that’s it – what you capture is what you capture and there is no changing it. The film is sent off for processing and digitizing. Meanwhile, a soundtrack is put together, thankfully, editing is involved with the soundtrack but because there is no picture for reference it is difficult (if not impossible) to completely synch up audio and visual. The soundtrack is submitted as a digital audio file.
UPDATE
