HipCinema

We are currently in pre-production on a narrative feature film project, “Touching Bass”. We had a four day shoot in January 2008.  The full feature will be shot in October of this year. So at this moment we are fundraising and I am polishing the script.

It was great directing again, after a year of cutting broadcast news.  I miss directing and I plan to do a set of short films before the feature in the fall to continue using my director’s eye.  Like a musician, a filmmaker should practice her craft often.  Doing short films and trailers is great.  If anyone wants me to direct a commercial or music video I will do that to! Directing is directing, the more you do it the better you get.

The idea is to trace 3 generations of bass players: Grandmom Mozelle played in an all female band in the 1940’s; her son Casey played in the 1960’s and left the US for greater opportunity in Europe; his daughter Zera plays in an Afro-punk band and struggle’s to balance family life with her career. The film starts with the death of Zera’s father Casey. She goes to Philadelphia for her father’s memorial service and meets her American relatives.

I got the idea for the film and soundtrack during my last weeks at the London Film School. I was feeling a bit nostalgic about Philly. While attending a film screening, I noticed they were playing jazz before the show. I thought my next film needs to be about jazz and my hometown. So in October 2005 I started to develop the script for “Touching Bass”. It’s about family, music, and the under appreciated contribution of women instrumentalists in the creation of America’s classical music – Jazz.

The film is being funded through our community, with the generous support of individuals.  My idea is to promote the music for the film as a way of marketing the film and raising money for the film. Warren Oree & The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble recorded the soundtrack for the film last October. We had the music on set in January (which I played frequently while shooting the short and trailer). It helps everyone to get into the same rhythm.

Check out the sample trailer and previews by clicking on “Films by Nadine Patterson” on the sidebar.  The clips are basically a project test for me as a director.  We shot in 24p with the Panasonic 100-B camera in the 4:3 aspect ration.  I wanted to create a soft image to emulate film.  The shoot enabled me to work on the style of the film, and the characters.  Questions I asked myself were, ‘Would Grandmom Mozelle really say that?”,  ”What is Zera’s motivation for leaving?”, “How can I tell the story visually and use less dialog?”  I had a chance to see which locations were effective in telling the story and to see how my cast blended as a whole.

So click on the soundtrack links and buy a CD.  Your support helps to finance the film. Look for “Touching Bass in 2009! Peace.