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| february 1999: hole in my heart |
| DRIFT began from a hole in my heart. After I broke up my 3-year relationship with S_, my longest relationship, and simultaneously gotten over an intense crush, I started writing to make sense of my emotional chaos. I wrote DRIFT in two weeks and never expected to make the film, because it just seemed so personal and idiosyncratic. |
| april 1999: a shot in the dark |
| DRIFT was left in my hard drive untouched until April when I found out that the Canada Council for the Arts' film production grant deadline was coming up. It had been three years after SHOPPING FOR FANGS (also supported by the Canada Council). I was itching to make a film, so I submitted the project for the film production grant. I thought I'd just give it a shot. |
| july 1999: one morning |
| When I woke up one morning, I wondered about the grant. Expecting a rejection, I called the Canada Council and asked for the result of my application. A woman asked for my name and told me matter-of-factly that my grant was successful and I should be getting a letter in the mail. As I hung up the phone, I said to myself, "I guess I have a film to make after all." On one hand, I was excited about the opportunity. On the other hand, I knew that it would be yet another tough no-budget project: to make a digital video feature in Los Angeles for CAN$60,000 which roughly exchanged into US$40,000. |
| august 1999‹january 2000: rewriting |
| I was rewriting DRIFT and going to therapy where I focused on working to be more emotionally connected to the world around me. |
| february 2000: prep |
| Bella Yurkovetsky, a good friend, came on board as the co-producer and we began prepping and casting for DRIFT. A number of people (from both the tech and cast side) have turned down working on DRIFT because of the explicit gay content. I was rather sad and surprised that at this day and age it was still a problem. Nevertheless, we cast and crewed up by the end of the month. |
| march 2000: 12 day shoot |
| We shot DRIFT in twelve days, split into two six-day weeks. Our crew consisted of a five-person team: me, the director/DP/cameraman, Bella, the producer, Jim, our sound mixer, Deeya, the production designer, and a still photographer. I used minimal lighting and primarily lit with practicals, a case of Dedo lights and a Kinoflo car kit. Because of the size of the crew and shooting on digital, it was an incredibly flexible production. We finished on schedule. Our longest day lasted 10 hours and shortest 6 hours. |
| a note on Dogme 95 & digital video |
| Dogme 95 and digital video is nothing new; I have been making video shorts and taking them to film festivals since 1992. However, films like CELEBRATION and BLAIR WITCH PROJECT have proved that dramatic features made on digital video can have a significant commercial potential. With this in mind, I started setting some my own rules and notes to make DRIFT. (Read more on Director's Notes) |