Monday, October 01, 2007

all the way west: a new movie

I finally got around to looking through all the shotty video footage from my road trip out west this summer. I made a movie. My brother, Adam "the Heed" Dunn, master of Flash, built this sweet player for me, note how the player maintains the theme of the website. He's the man. He does this stuff for a living. The video is big, ~50mb, so let it load before watching.

Director's commentary below.



I took the first shots while driving east through Western South Dakota on my way back. There were big thunderstorms on the horizon to the south. The song is Feist's "The Water."

Part 1: this shot is of Greenback Cutthroat trout in the stream below Spruce Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Then a greenback in Fern Lake in RMNP. Then pictures of some fish I caught: a brown trout in the Big Thompson River below RMNP in Colorado, a rainbow I caught in Indian Camp Creek, a tributary to the Middle Fork of the Gila River in New Mexico, a rainbow from the McCloud River below Ah-Di-Na in Northern California, four greenbacks from RMNP, and a Volcano Creek Golden Trout from Golden Trout Creek in the lower Sierra Nevada. Then a magnificent sunset near the California-Oregon border. A Golden Trout I accidentally killed in Mulkey Creek (the only dead fish of the whole trip that I know of). My shadow and the same trout. Shadow of the ferry from Vancouver Island to Vancouver. Driving through dusty western Kansas. Driving toward Denver in Colorado.

Part 2: driving north on the east side of the Sierra, just south of Yosemite I think. Driving south through northern New Mexico. Driving east through eastern Wyoming I think. A lizard along the Middle Fork of the Gila River. My brother in Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula. The same. Mythbusters and my brother's Havoc Heli in our room at the Quinault Lodge. The music is Feist's "My Moon My Man."

Part 3: in the tent, seeking refuge from mosquitoes near Fern Lake in RMNP. Stretching out near the Fern Lake trailhead in RMNP. Chris fixing some wires somewhere in windy Kansas. My brother on the windy ferry from Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula to Victoria on Vancouver Island BC. Ian fly fishing for the first time on the Big Thompson River. He likes poker better. But he has good nymphing mechanics. Should have used an indicator though. Ian fed up with fishing after he fell in a river somewhere in RMNP. Mt. Lassen in California. Again (or maybe Shasta?) Sunset in Oregon. My brother fed up with the video in Quinault Rain Forest. Sunset near the Illinois-Indiana border. My car plastered with bugs after the drive back. The song is Old Crow Medicine Show's "I'm Stickin' to the Union." That is all.

5 comments:

Brian said...

Best video since HUGE RHODODENDRON.

I almost felt something almost nearly coming close to resembling a proto-emotion when I watched the first segment with the dead fish.

Anonymous said...

poor fish. like van gogh, his fame is posthumous.

kudos to your tribute. your shadow was fitting- valley of the shadow of death and all that.

Pell said...

Well done. That was a good video. I had forgotten about that Snapple Bottle. Not that your pain wasn't important. And I just now remembered how much fucking Snapple we drank on those trips.

Anonymous said...

Mat, I found your website while doing a search for Boxer's Cafe. Clicked on the site and really enjoyed meeting you. Your movie was great! I enjoyed your writing. I did not get to read all yet...plan on returning again someday. (I assume that Basty is your ill mannered cat). If you enjoy; "staying with the union" you will enjoy the music of Gypsy Dave and the Stump Jumpers playing at Boxer's on Fri. Oct 19. This young man is from my home town of Meadville, PA. I am planing a trip there myself to spend time with my son.

Matthew D Dunn said...

Brian: I will repost HUGE RHODODENDRON because it is a pretty fucking great movie.

Patrick: you completely misunderstand my artistic vision.

Pell: we'll catch fish next time.

Cynthia Mcelhatten: that's a pretty a wild last name. I'm very happy you enjoyed the site and I hope you do stop back again some time. Boxer's is one of my very favorite bars in the whole wide world and I'm thrilled that you know about. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it back for the concert. I played an open mic there once when I was 19 years old and drank a bunch of beer and ate some pie and thought I was pretty much the coolest guy ever. Next time I tried the woman owns it kicked me out real good and kind of got mad at her husband for not doing it sooner. Also, Basty is my former housemate's 100lb Doberman. My cat, which is now my mother's cat, is named Momma Buddy.