Before I begin promoting myself and the talents of those I have been fortunate enough to work with, I need to thank Chris Misch, founder, editor, and the main energy source behind Next Projection. I also need to thank TAN Coffee in Ottawa (our set) for being similarly pre-disposed to support local, rinky-dink art projects.
Bedtime Stories is five-minutes long, and I think it’s appropriate any preamble take no longer to read. I was heavily stoned on Godard when I came up with the concept of two ex-lovers meeting for a coffee. The story is told through their dueling internal monologues; the “real life” sound is muted. There are an awful lot of close ups of coffee (both an homage to 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her and my caffeine addiction) and cartoon inserts (Pierrot le Fou).
There is, I’ve been told, some Wes Anderson framing and tracking shots, perhaps because I had just seen Grand Budapest Hotel, but also because I had built a skateboard wheel dolly and was dying to use it. You can find a good set of instructions here.
Nicholas Wade-Fournier plays the man, and Stephanie Czismadi plays the woman. Both, I think, sell it. My musical friend Cal Cheney supplies the piano score, inspired by the dissonant jazziness of Mike Garson, David Bowie’s pianist on Aladdin Sane.
You can find the movie with my other – mostly corporate work – at my website. That’s it, that’s all – enjoy.
Bedtime Stories from Alex Griffith on Vimeo.
