{"id":564,"date":"2009-03-07T15:13:23","date_gmt":"2009-03-07T21:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=564"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:57:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:57:45","slug":"it-was-10-years-ago-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=564","title":{"rendered":"It was 10 years ago this week…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitting here in the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters<\/strong>, feeling a hell of a lot better and exponentially more ornery than I did at this time a week ago, I realize how defeating my words in my last post might read to some people. However, I can’t justify a rewrite because those insecurites, what-ifs, and self-criticisms (barely) touched upon in “In My Backyard” are true. In a glib recap, C-U Blogfidential<\/strong> and C-U Confidential<\/strong> sailed along unexceptionally in 2008-09 and your not-quite-humble-today editor isn’t exactly sure how or where to propel the Good Ship Opteryx from here.<\/p>\n

What might have lightened my load had I considered bringing it into discussion is that, mere days after CUBlog<\/strong> completed its third trip ’round the calendar year, something else marked a separate anniversary of arguably greater personal significance. Any of you veteran Shampoo Banana<\/strong> scallywags recall the graphic below?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I remember sitting beside myself in unbridled glee after bringing home a big box of these floppy, 12-page things from the Mattis Avenue<\/strong> Kinko’s<\/strong> on March 3, 1999<\/strong>. About six years into my Champaign-Urbana<\/strong> residence and a parade of local activity involving such things as WEFT<\/strong> radio<\/a> (which I still haunt on occasion), The Octopus<\/span><\/strong> (R.I.P.), and the Freaky Film Festival<\/strong> (come baaaaaaack<\/em>!), I finally understood what do-it-yourself<\/em> meant in the grander scale of things, even on the tiniest of levels, and then I did<\/em> it. I made my own media<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I intended MICRO-FILM: The Warning Shot<\/strong> to be\u00a0the half-step towards whatever MICRO-FILM<\/strong> was destined to be. Most of its copy came directly from a hearty e-newsletter that I edited and sent out to all of my friends and indie film contacts that February. Upon receiving it myself, I knew immediately that such a thing was simply too massive to expect a regular readership for it without inspiring migraines across the land. Then, I did what\u00a0came naturally\u00a0– I retrofit the copy into a traditional page design.<\/p>\n

Despite primitive graphics, the cover itself is a compact snapshot that tells us as much about Champaign-Urbana film at the time as anything. The little frowning boy starred in PUT ON A HAPPY FACE<\/strong>, a stop-motion animated short by Suzanne Twining<\/strong> that won the top prize at the first Freaky Film. The precursor to C-U Confidential<\/strong>‘s “Wilhelm<\/strong>” private-eye character is then-University of Illinois<\/strong> graduate student Jack Bratich<\/strong> at The Canopy Club<\/a><\/strong>, acting in a filmed\u00a0bit we made for the second Freaky Film. The 16mm cinematographer shot a thesis film for fellow Columbia College<\/strong> student Melissa Schmitt<\/strong> in Urbana the prior year, during which famed science fiction author Ray Bradbury<\/strong> spoke at Foellinger Auditorium<\/strong>. (The picture with yours truly dates from 1993.) Finally, the silohuette is of then-UIUC art student Jennifer Gutowski<\/strong> who worked at the former downtown Champaign indie record store Periscope<\/strong>, which closed a few months after this went to press. Er<\/em>, the copy machine.<\/p>\n

I kept the interior pretty spartan considering what I had to compse it with – Microsoft Publisher<\/strong> – and restricted the photos to outside margins, thereby allowing for maximum copy. Interviews included Ms. Twining as well as frequent Freaky Film guest Brien Burroughs<\/strong> (whose experimental solarized film URBANA<\/strong> helped put the freaky in the first year) and fellow movie magazine self-publisher Dennis Druktenis<\/strong> of Scary Monsters<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. I also added ruminations about the definition of independent film with SmilePolitely.com<\/a><\/strong> contributor P. Gregory Springer<\/strong> and then-UIUC Ph.D candidate Steve Bailey<\/strong>, along with my extremely lengthy MICRO-FILM<\/strong> mantra that reads, well … earnest<\/em> is a good way to put it. Not nearly as verbose as the greenest zinester telling it like it is from a 20-year-old perspective, but definitely a far cry from the editorial\u00a0I hammer out\u00a0now where nuance, logic, and restraint are often stronger virtues than the facts and the claims.<\/p>\n

The same can’t be said for the press announcement that I coconcted two weeks later:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some pretty bold statements in that particular copy, yes? We can also draw a timely “what goes around…” subtext in terms of what I had thought would take place after issuing Warning Shot<\/strong>. (To those unfamiliar with MICRO-FILM<\/a><\/strong>, TWS<\/strong> is technically not<\/em> issue no.1; I guess that makes it no.0?)<\/p>\n

I actually had no dreams for a big, glossy MF<\/strong> at that point, but wanted to try out a “local-zine” dubbed MICRO-FILM 101<\/strong> as a 48-page, offset product. I can’t remember if I planned on doing it in a digest or magazine format, although it might have been the former given the only remnant of that concept:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The young woman is Cecilia Lucas<\/strong>, a UIUC senior at the time. Some friends and I had started shooting a Super 8 MICRO-FILM<\/strong> promo with her\u00a0at the Channing-Murray Foundation<\/a><\/strong> the same week that I finished Warning Shot<\/strong>; the photo comes from a test shoot we did with her that Feburary to see whether natural daylight would be a strong enough element in the chapel. Even as a rough concept, this cover would only hold up in a smaller format and seems ready-made for copy-shop glory, not a rumbling printing press. I guess this constitutes an exclusive of sorts, one of those elusive little things lost in time\u00a0that you only show a few confidants at the outset.<\/p>\n

This could<\/em> have been the C-U Confidential<\/strong> of its era had I followed through with an Illinois<\/strong>-specific issue. So, what exactly is “coming around?” The next CUZine<\/strong>, due\u00a0in April<\/strong>\u00a0either at a Boneyard Arts Festival<\/a><\/strong> or “Ebertfest<\/a><\/strong>” near you, will essentially channel the spirit of our stillborn MICRO-FILM 101<\/strong> a decade after the fact, surely featuring “two dozen stories [however abbreviated for space]\u00a0about filmmaking and film culture in the Midwest” and most likely hitting that 48 page benchmark should the Fates – and your advertising dollars<\/a> – allow.<\/p>\n

As for lil’ ol’ MICRO-FILM: The Warning Shot<\/strong>? If nothing else, it was the true beginning where I said, “What the hell…” and took my best shot, for lack of a better phrase. Maybe at some point, I’ll scan and post a complete PDF of TWS<\/strong>. It happens to be the one MF<\/strong> paper item that I don’t have the original electronic files for.<\/p>\n

Remember a little viral number called Chernobyl<\/strong>? It was unleashed a scant few weeks after my modest effort on April 26, 1999, and taught me numerous lessons about dealing with unsolicited e-mails. Let’s forget that<\/em> anniversary and move on, shall we?<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

p.s.<\/em> I still have a small pile of Warning Shot<\/strong> hidden away here at MFHQ<\/strong>. If you’d like one for posterity, send $1 to MICRO-FILM, P.O. Box 45, Champaign, IL 61824-0045<\/strong> for postage along with a neatly-written mailing address. I might throw additional goodies in the envelope for good measure.<\/p>\n

p.s.2<\/em> For those possibly wondering, “Hell, Pankoke, why aren’t you making more of an effort to trumpet this occasion?” I refer you to the official<\/em> 10th anniversary date of MICRO-FILM<\/strong> – October 29, 1999<\/strong>, the night that issue 1 made its debut at the third Freaky Film Festival – and invite you to keep an ear to the ground. Better yet, keep reading C-U Blogfidential<\/strong> for related developments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your editor remembers that personal success often comes in the smallest of packages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,25,31],"tags":[1702,80,181],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jp-confidential","category-micro-film-du-c-u","category-the-old-school","tag-c-u-confidential","tag-micro-film","tag-micro-film-the-warning-shot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}