Pamela Jo Bowman

BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA ARIZONA - Why is it that during monumental moments I can never appreciate the moment? Today we mailed the movie to Cannes. I felt such despair. I wanted to take it back and check it again. I felt like I had sent out one of my children before age and experience could work its magic. As the day progressed, I knew it was gone and began to accept the reality that whatever happens, happens. We did the most with what we had to work with. I know with what we have learned our next undertaking will benefit from this experience as will every project we undertake.

So I say on to a new adventure, new possibilities and new life experiences. It’s only going to get crazy from here on out.

What I do know was that I was able to watch the movie with my family and not feel too nauseated. That, for me, is a monumental moment all by itself!

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BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA ARIZONA — We are so close I can hardly sit still!

I began the week by going through the entire movie … again … and listing all of the things that just have to be fixed or changed. It’s all the nitty gritty stuff that makes the final film more finished, more polished. This is a tad frustrating because once again we have limited clips to pull the scenes from and we have even fewer scenes to create the transitions from one day to another, one locale to another.

Today, I learned some cool Adobe After Effects tricks. If you look at the photo above, you can see how I turned a clip that was shot at high noon and made it look like it was shot at night (I lightened the night shot up a little so you can see it). I learned how to add lights that were emanating from the houses and street lights reflecting on the buildings. One clip even has moving cars! Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a moving car all of a sudden have its headlights on while it is traveling down a darkened road? Well let me tell you, it is harder than I want it to be but a whole lot easier than flying back to Lusaka to get the shot at night! After Affects is amazing fun! Tomorrow, we remove objects (like tape or extension cords) from scenes that were not supposed to be there.

I have another exciting task for tomorrow. I start laying down the subtitles. Not really looking forward to that, but someone’s got to do it! My plan is to have them written by Friday. That is my plan and I am sticking to it!

We will be mailing this puppy out to three major festivals (including Cannes) in about a week. It is as ready as it can get! No time to sit still now! Good thing because I can’t.

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BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA ARIZONA - Today was so much fun! I started placing music down during certain scenes. Sometimes I place two completely different types in the same scene just to see the change that can occur. Music truly is amazing. Changing the music can completely change the whole feeling of the scene. We are speaking to a few different people who compose film scores. I am laying down temporary music. I want whomever does the score to be able to really feel the mood we want to convey for each scene. I believe after they watch it and hear it, our intentions will be communicated quite clearly. Next week we are letting a few people see the entire movie with a questionnaire for them to fill out. We really want to know what they think. How they feel. What characters they like, which they don’t. How they feel about the story line. Then we will be submitting it to Cannes and a few other festivals. I am surprisingly optimistic. Not really my nature. Kind of fun! Also, kind of scary.

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PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA ARIZONA - On Monday evening we get to share our Zambian experience with the public at the Gilbert Arizona Public library.
This is fun for us. We get to talk about our experiences with an interested and hopefully captivated audience. Friends who actually pay attention to what goes on at the libraries have been calling to ask if that is our crew. Yep, it sure is. We have presented our experience at other venues in the past. And every time those attending have been very supportive and interested in what we may be up to next. We love to share. We hope it encourages others to pursue their dreams.

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