Synopsis: An inexperienced band goes into self-imposed isolation in a remote cabin to ensure that they will finally record an album. Lars, the lead singer, believes that the surrounding wilderness will inspire him to awaken creatively and spiritually. He wanders into the woods, where he meets a mysterious talking tree who promises to teach him how. Instead, the two enter a realm of confusion and obscurity.
This movie is inspired by my experiences listening to Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins as a teenager, thinking about playing music in my bedroom, not really ever doing it in a serious way, and now, as an adult, thinking about the life stories of Kurt Cobain and Billy Corgan and how they both struggled to create this perhaps stupidly dark music. I also kind of esoterically relate John Denver's song "Rocky Mountain High" to Kurt Cobain's biography because they're both stories about a musician who sort of drifts off into another realm and experiences a kind of death and rebirth. I thought it would make a cool movie to have a Kurt-style character experience "Rocky Mountain High" in the form of some kind of magical suicide. More esoterically, I relate Billy Corgan's post-Cobain malaise to his desire for spiritual awakening, which is now confirmed by his blog. I think, in his own teenage rock and roll mythology, he equates awakening with glamorous suicide, and he is frustrated for not being able to die young.
More broadly, DOOMED is a myth about the tragic, psychedelic American dream: of frontiers and pioneers; of struggle and triumph over great odds; of continual invention and progress; of individual dicovery; of expansion and growth; and of transcendence and revelation.
This myth is inspired by myriad tragedies of American pursuits: the violence of manifest destiny; the disillusionment of Walden; the melancholy of cowboys; the broken promise of the moon landing; the destruction of our natural environment by the great inventions of our ancestors; and the entropy, violence and confusion of counterculture.
We began shooting DOOMED Nirvana in Jonas, Pennsylvania during the last week of September, 2009.
We're making this movie with a compact and inexpensive kit. It's possible to make a good movie for under $1000. Don't believe the hype!
Velbon monopod, used as a boompole, purchased for $2.00 at a garage sale
Vintage 1970's aluminum tripod
to do
-fix those vimeo links up there
-finish editing september footage
-rewrite glofin scenes. i want them to be shorter, more focused, and to better accomodate what we filmed in september.
-new sketches and shot lists for the rewritten scenes
-schedule production of glofin scenes for middle of june
margaret powers is working on the glofin puppet.
-what does she want to add or change?
-i forgot to give her the ground spikes for the pulling mechanism. gotta bring it to her.
david kolsky or mike strunk need to re-record the glofin audio
-does margaret want to operate the puppet with or without pre-recorded audio?
