When filmmaker Phil Donlon shot his short “A Series of Small Things,” the follow up to his acclaimed “Wrestled,” here last May, he invited assistant Mark Letchumanan to document the production.
“They just stuck a camera in his hand and said ?shoot whatever’s interesting,” said James Butler of Post 47, who edited Letchumanan’s doc “A Series of Small Things: A Behind the Camera Look.”
“Mark was not formally trained, which helps give the end piece an immediacy,” Butler said. “When I got the footage my only directive was to be honest in the edit. Phil said ?tell the story.’ I said ?What story?’ He said ?I’m not going to tell you.'”
Butler presents “A Behind the Camera Look” as part of the Made on the Mac series Nov. 18 at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store at 6 p.m.
Doug Jones (“Hellboy”) stars in the 20-minute drama about the personal aftermath of a fatal hit-and- run. Donlon and producer Steve Ordower of Rhythm and Light are submitting the 25-minute doc to festivals alongside the short.
Butler opened editing, graphics and animation shop Post 47 last April, partnering with his former employers Jim Armetta, Bill Prena and Jeff Legare of commercial photo and digital imaging house Alter Image. Post 47 operates out of the Alter Image facility and occasionally shares clients. 3D animator is Eric Tobiason.
Butler positions Post 47 as offering the capacity of a bigger shop with the intimacy of small one. “Everything that you’d find in more of a conveyor belt facility, where a project moves through a handful of people, is available here,” he said.
“But our clients find that their creativity is more easily transferred when you’re working with just one or two people. The technology is such that you can now do everything in one place and still maintain the quality and craftsmanship that you’ve come to enjoy.”
Post 47 clients have included Papermate, Weight Watchers, Draino, Curves International and the Tanita Corporation.
Butler helped produce, and won best graphics, at the second Chicago Motion Graphics Festival last October. “It was such a cool brain candy event,” he enthused.
“I was blown away by what you could find people doing in Chicago. I walked out with so many ideas, I couldn’t wait to get home and try to figure out how they did what they did.”
“A Series of Small Things” has its Chicago premiere, in a private screening alongside “A Behind the Camera Look,” Dec. 15 at the Adler Planetarium.
Post 47 is at 15 S. Aberdeen. Call 312/829-0001 or see www.post47.com.
? by Ed M. Koziarski, edk@homesickblues.com
