There isn’t enough coverage. It’s like I’ve said for months—THERE ISN’T ENOUGH COVERAGE! YOU—sorry, “DA BOSS”—didn’t get enough coverage that one day in New York City, summer 2022. There’s plenty of footage of JJ and Ron walking around Tribeca: Duane Park, The Odeon, Balloon Saloon, Puffy’s, King’s Pharmacy, Tribeca Hardware, Morgan’s Deli (interior and exterior), the Powell Building, the Hudson River—it’s all there. But these are insert shots. JJ and Roo walk and skip around, but there isn’t enough variation in camera angles. There’s absolutely no dynamism to “the story,” just JJ and Roo walking around Tribeca until sunset. Fine B-roll you can use in the background of a scene, something playing on someone’s TV, or evidence in a criminal trial. Dolly out from this or that close-up to the nervous defendant… the footage is that low-quality. It’s really appalling.
Da Boss has little to say. He admits I’m right. “You have to understand this day was a great experience—a fantastic experience. I had a great time. It was amazing. I’d never had a day in New York like that since…” and he trailed off and I stopped listening. “…but you’re right I knew the footage wasn’t any good. I don’t have an explanation. I thought maybe the Super8 footage would save it, but nope—I’m just glad some of it even turned out at all.” He slumped into the couch behind my editing bay and fell asleep. I cast a spell on him because sleep doesn’t come easy to this creature. But I’ve been imbued with the power of the spirits since birth and so I’m grateful and gracious with my abilities; I’m anxious to heal. Just look at my husband, Rooster—he’s a mess. He needs me to operate and more importantly cooperate with me, and the world. “MONICA COME HOME” he texted me. “THERE ISN’T ENOUGH KETCHUP OR COFFEE IN THE REFRIGERATOR. I NEED TO SEND HELP.”
One of the devices I came up with vis-à-vis the New York segment was a variety of opacity layer effects, rendering much of the segment into vivid rainbows and stark monochromes. Da Boss said he liked it but we agreed it was un-sculpted and needed to be re-worked from scratch. Luckily the marks were the same—Da Boss recorded the score, a simple verse-chorus-verse-bridge song without vocals. There are clear inflections points where images can be arranged rhythmically. Along with the footage of Roo and JJ, Da Boss has supplied a number of photographs from his childhood from many of the same locations that are to be incorporated into the piece.
There are enough photos to create a strobing montage, or dense static collages, which means more time operating the scanner and less time creating and sculpting the work I’m supposed to be finishing. It’s all very complicated here in NARC Film land, but I believe this segment has gotten a fire under the ass of Da Boss, because he—we, me—need to finish it by next Wednesday, April 24. I’m going into the zone now.
—Follow Monica Quibbits on Twitter: @MonicaQuibbits