Here’s a great article by Marguerite Ogle at pilates.about.com.
http://pilates.about.com/od/Pilates-Interviews/a/Inside-The-Pilates-Movie-A-Movement-Of-Movement.htm
Tag Archives: inspiration
Burning Torch Productions Announces its Latest Film
First of all, thank you for joining The Movement! I hope you are as excited as us about exploring one of the fastest growing activities in the world, Pilates. My name is Mark Pedri and I’m a documentary filmmaker. My passion is seeking out compelling stories and capturing them on film. I would like to be the first to introduce to you A Movement of Movement.
Today is the official announcement of production and the light is green. The film explores the human condition in the context of Pilates. Many of you have probably heard of Pilates, or maybe you’ve even become passionate about it. A Movement of Movement is your film. Pilates has been spreading at a phenomenal rate in recent years, but what is really happening? Sometimes in order to notice that you’re moving, you have to stop and look at what’s around you. Ever since the dinner conversation that sparked the idea for this film, I have been trying to step back and see the movement. We are living during a remarkable movement of ideas, activities, and philosophy. You’re probably asking, what does this have to do with Pilates? My answer is, everything. We are living in A Movement of Movement.
Throughout the production of A Movement of Movement, we will be posting updates about where we are, who we’re with, and what we’re doing. I want to share the adventure of Filmmaking. Movementofmovement.com is a website built especially for you to stay up to date and be a part of the film. I welcome, encourage, and value you comments, so don’t be shy! The website is updated at least once every week with information about the film and also tidbits about the world we live in. We also send out a newsletter that you can subscribe to here.
-Mark
If you made a film….
I spend my days making films and feel extremely fortunate to be able to participate in such an amazing art form. While driving to Park City today I started to think, what would each person in the world make a film about if they could? Everyone has a unique perspective and that shines through clearly onto the screen.
It’s just something to think about. That’s how I got started 10 years ago. What would you make your film about? Or maybe the question should be, what WILL you make your film about?
2012 Reel
It’s been a great year. We’ve been driving, flying, biking, walking, and just moving in general Burning Torch Productions has been logging miles and footage all year. Here’s a glimpse into the world of Mark Pedri.
From the desert to the runway
From the desert to the runway. I tried to think of a witty quote to open with but this is all that came out. Last week I traveled with Burning Torch Productions from the high altitudes of the Colorado Rocky Mountains to the debts of Canyonlands National Park in Utah and to the 2012 Runway Show in southwestern Wyoming. Looking over the pictures, I’m realizing just how diverse the week really was. When you put snow next to sunbaked desert soil, the snow feels colder than ever and the soil seems that much hotter. When you wander through the most desolate wilderness in the lower 48 and then go to a fashion show, the solitude of the wilderness is the purest you’ve ever felt and the people of the fashion show are the most inspiring. The power of film is in the tool of juxtaposition. 
Placing diverse images side by side brings a sense of power that can’t be experienced any other way. Capturing and compiling these images is my passion. The diversity of everyday life is one of the only true beauties we can experience. Everything else slowly fades and becomes average.
I would characterize myself as an adventure filmmaker. It has taken me to the far corners of the earth to capture some of the most obscure and intense moments. Balancing “getting the shot” and my safety is more or less a common equation in my daily life. One might ask, how could the excitement of this ever fade? It doesn’t fade. It just loses perspective. Sometimes you have to juxtapose experiences in your own life rather than just watching them on the screen. My method to bring back perspective into my daily life is by diversifying how I can experience my passion. Shooting extreme sports isn’t my passion. Shooting life is my passion. This past weekend I shot a fashion show. The excitement and energy surrounding the event was incredible. Shooting high fashion and glamour has always been part of my excitement towards filmmaking, but juxtaposing it with shooting the loneliness of the desert or the risk of extreme sports makes it one of the most exciting things on earth. Here’s short clip to give you an idea of what it was like.
The Art of Finishing Something
This week was the host to quite a few finish lines in my life. I finished the short film “Western Wandering”, I finished a fashion show promo video, and I finished my master’s degree in communication and journalism. On one hand it’s a huge relief, but on the other hand, finishing something doesn’t always mean that you’re less busy. In my case it just means crossing things off the top of a list and moving other things from the bottom up higher on that same list.
Even though I’m just as busy, there’s still a value in finishing a project. A professor once told me that the worst finished project is better than the best incomplete project. Finishing films is one of the hardest things I struggle with every day. It’s not because of the work involved, but rather knowing when to let go. My advisor Conrad Smith told me the other day that “Energy! O Energy!” has enough footage to edit for eternity. He’s right. The struggle is knowing when to stop, and realizing that you finally have what you want. The footage has been shot and the story is in place. Now it’s just a matter of finding what I want to use and using it.
I just finished my MA degree and a common question I’m being asked is, “what’s next?” I wish I knew. Like I said before, just because you finish something doesn’t mean that you’re done. Right now I have a number of other films on the burner, and EOE is hopefully going to be complete by the end of May. But then what, more school, projects to pay the bills, a feature film? My answer is, all of the above. Living is learning, which means that I never plan on being finished with “school”. Who says the projects that pay the bills can’t be fun? As for another feature film, there will be plenty of those as well. The past few films have been low budget and made with the resources that I have. These films were made out of pure passion and very little else. My goal for the next film is to take the idea of passion, and combine it with the resources of a well-funded film. Hopefully this is a recipe for a film that can reach a large audience and make a difference. “Come on kid, that’s just crazy. Do you really think you’re going to change the world?” If I had a penny for every time I heard this, I’d have enough money to change the world. It doesn’t bother me though because my idea of changing the world is different from that of the people who say this. If someone watches “Western Wandering” and feel the emotions and the experiences of the adventure, that’s all I can ask for. We tend to focus on the huge concepts and ideas in the world, but what about the individual moments? The huge concepts are made from each individual moment. If someone experiences one of those moments though one of my films, what more could I want? Remember, knowing where to stop is the hardest part of finishing.
Going Out
The weekend started Friday by working on the story structure for EOE until 3:30 am. The next morning came much too early and was followed with more progress on EOE. With all of this work, I have been neglecting from my leisure time and haven’t stopped to smell the roses. Saturday night I decided to take a break from editing and I went out. I didn’t “go out” in the way that you may think. “Going out”, to many people means going to the bars. “Going out” to me means venturing out into the world to experience something great. The traditional expectations of going out seem boring to me. I don’t like limiting my experience based on what’s popular or easy to do. Whether it’s a bar or simply walking down the street, going out is an opportunity to experience the uniqueness of each moment in a setting outside of your house.
I took a drive around town just to see what was happening, to see what I wanted to do while I was out. Living life means opening your self up to the spontaneity that it may bring. Saturday night it brought me to the University of Wyoming campus. It was freezing, the wind was blowing, and I was completely exhausted from the last few months of editing and shooting. That wasn’t what was on my mind though. The moon was low in the sky, spilling perfectly balanced light onto the symbolic Bucking Horse bronze sculpture of Wyoming. I found my experience for the night. At first I just looked at the scene and then decided to take a few photos to share the experience with others. Here are a few shots of “going out” this weekend. For me, it was incredible. It gave me a well-needed break and reminded me that simply opening your eyes to the everyday beauty of living can be the inspiration that can’t be found anywhere else.
Mark
What’s in a story?
I have been hitting the editing pretty hard these last few weeks, maybe a little harder than I should. Between the stack of hard drives to my left and the server to my right, I would say that if megabytes were Big Macs, I could feed the entire country for a year. The amount of footage is irrelevant though. The story that is emerging is what’s important.
On these long days that consistently drift into even longer nights of editing, I’ve found myself pondering the idea of a story. What is it about a story that makes us so attracted to it? There are so many exciting things happening every second of our lives, but every now and then, we choose to tune it all out and tune into a story. Whether it’s a book, a film, or someone telling it to us, a story has the power to show an aspect of life that often goes unnoticed. A story conveys truth.
At the root of every story is truth; the truth of human experience, the truth of emotion, the truth of life. This is what brings us back, time and time again. Life can be overwhelming, and as a result, one can become numb to the everyday experience. Stories are where we run to replenish our soul of human experience. This is what makes the “story” one of the greatest tools ever utilized by humans. Even something as powerful as fire or electricity can’t reach the level that a story can. Fire, electricity, and steel are all tools of a physical world. A story is a tool of the mind. As powerful as these energy producing machines that I have been studying are, they can’t do what a story does.
So as I sit here in front of the video footage of the last six months of my life, I am wondering what my story will be. A director has a unique responsibility. It’s the responsibility of creating a story for the world to experience, creating something for people to believe in. It’s the responsibility of creating truth.
It’s not work
If you’ve ever wondered what the mind behind Burning Torch Productions thinks, this is for you.
With Energy! O Energy! in production and more projects on the burner, I’ve been working more hours per day than I care to keep track of. When you’re self-employed, keeping track of your hours is depressing. When it’s all said and done, the film is only about 90 minutes long, but the hours leading up to its completion will easily exceed 3000 hours. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Do you think I’m crazy? I don’t blame you. Let’s look at the math.
1 feature length movie running time= 90-110 minutes.
Hours committed to making the movie estimate= 3000 hours.
3000 hours = 125 days = 1/3 of a year.
*This is for a film that’s only 2/3 complete.
Now you’re probably saying, “That’s impossible!” But it’s not, and here’s why.
When I’m working on a film, I become completely consumed and passionate in the production. Every thought in my head is somehow connected back to what I’m working on. In order to explore a topic, it must be looked at from every possible angle. The number of ways to explore a topic is infinite. Does this mean you shouldn’t try? Of course not. It just means that you’ll never run out of studying.
So in other words, making a film is a full timejob, literally. If I’m not spending my waking hours filming, editing, or producing, I’m thinking about the film in every part of my life and then dreaming about it at night (dreams weren’t included in the estimate above).Film is the creation of reality, which makes the human experience the ultimate guide to filmmaking. Film is the magic of watching realty unfold in front of our eyes. Even fictional films convey realty. At the heart of a film is emotion and the emotion is real, even if the story that evokes it is made up. Every second of every day is an opportunity to expand. It can be as little as seeing something in the grocery store and writing it down on the back of my receipt. It could be a conversation with a loved one. The possibilitiesare infinite. Nothing goes unnoticed.Actual deskwork may last from 8 to 6 or 7 or 8 or 9, but the deskwork is only a tiny part of the work that goes into making a film. I don’t make 8am to 6pm films. It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because I can’t. I can’t take on a film and just forget about it at quitting time. I don’t leave work at work. I can’t leave work at work because to me, it’s not work; it’s my life.Some people might call it being obsessive. Others might argue that it’s not a healthy lifestyle. Call me insane. Tell me it’s impossible and that it won’t last. Say that it’s not worth it. Try to change me. It won’t work, because like I said before, it’s not work, it’s my life.
Mark
Burning Torch Productions 