LECTURE
Friday July 17, 7 – 9 pm
MCAD: 2501 Stevens Avenue (Auditorium)
Myths will be dispelled, pros and cons will be defined, and many lessons learned as we hear the construction story of a bale-building that surpasses LEED standards.
WORKSHOP
Saturday July 18, 9 am – 12 pm
Friday’s lecture will be put to practice by sculpting, sawing, slicing and stuccoing straw bales benches. The finished product will provide a public place of respite for community gardeners in North Minneapolis.
Lecture $10
Lecture + Workshop $40
Details & Registration at:
http://www.pricoldclimate.org/event/straw_bale_and_plaster_building_workshop
Come to the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis on Wednesday night, June 17th, at 9:00 pm to see Locus Architecture’s big screen debut in “For the Love of Film”.
nowHaus evening
“Sound ready? Camera ready? Scene 27, take 3!” My son Carter snapped the clapboard crisply and ducking out of the camera’s line of sight, backed away from an idling red Jetta. Moments later, Steve Appelhans, the film’s director, jumped out of the passenger side door, DVD clutched in his hand, and ran out into the street. He was immediately leveled and dispatched by a good sized Volvo, driven by a distracted, Quizno-eating motorist.
At least, that’s how it will appear.
This past weekend, Linda and I offered our home, designed and built by Locus Architecture as “nowHaus”, to be the main location for Steve’s film. The 48-Hour Film Project challenges filmmakers to produce a 4 to 7 minute short film, script to final edit, using only volunteers, in just 48 hours. To keep advance-filming-cheating to a minimum, 48-Hour organizers require certain elements in the movie, including a specific line of dialogue (“I hope they decide soon”), character name (Kevin or Kathy Schnabel), and prop (sandwich). Lastly, at a ceremony Friday night, each team is required to pick a genre out of a hat. Steve pulled “Romance.”
Linda and I woke up Saturday morning to a full cast and crew pacing the sidewalk outside our house, purposefully disposing of the morning’s coffee. By 7:30, about 500 pounds of equipment had been packed into our house and by 8:30 Steve was busy blocking out the film’s first shot with cinematographer Adrian Danciu. I was tapped for a few early sequences, playing Kevin Schaebel, Architect, although you will be relieved to learn most of the rest of the cast and crew were local Twin Cities pros.
After a full 12 hours of shooting, some late night margaritas, and another jammed day of editing, Steve’s partner Azin zoomed across town while Steve burned the final cut onto a DVD. With a hard deadline of 7:30, they were breathing a bit easier after swerving into the parking lot at 7:20. The computer, uncooperative, was still lazily disgorging bytes. Deciding to remain in the parking lot to let the laptop work rather than run in, computer in hand yelling “We’re done, we’re done!”, Steve and Azin patiently encouraged the machine (“What the HELL is taking so long!”), willing it to go faster. Steve dashed from the car just after 7:30. The submission was logged at 7:36, exactly one minute after the five-minute grace period. Now only eligible for the “Audience Favorite” award, “For the Love of Film” will not be considered for the Best Of 48-Hour Film Project.
Locus needs your help; come see the movie and vote for “For the Love of Film”!
