Some people feel that when you attach the word urban to an independent film the story will be based on slices of life that unfold in housing projects or the barrio. Which do provide rich and colorful backdrops that reflect a slice of americana.

On the flip side urban culture has moved beyond the housing projects and barrios.

Taking those attitudes and feelings into new environments. This opens up new backdrops for you to shoot urban films. You no longer are forced to only shoot in the inner city to produce urban films.

A few other hits urban movies take is that the production quality will be less than an art house film made on a similar budget. That urban movies don’t have well written scripts and they all look the same style wise.

Many innovated filmmakers that love the urban genre are changing the way people think about that.

They are putting out high quality urban movies made on indie budgets that are freshly entertaining.

The diversity of the urban genre continues to grow because the storylines are connecting with a larger audience by going beyond what you would expect to see in an urban movie. The elements you can fold into an urban drama are becoming more complex earning these films more respect.

Through networking I’ve connected with Irish-American filmmaker Mike O’Dea founder of Shamrock Films. He is currently in production with TOWNIES.

A film about the Charlestown mob. Looks like a great urban movie being delivered from the viewpoint of Irish-American gangster characters.

The word ‘crime drama’ is used to describe films like ‘Training Day’, ‘The Departed’ and ‘Scarface’, but to many urban movie buffs these aren’t crime dramas. They are urban masterpieces done by highly talented and respected filmmakers at the top of their creative game.

Shooting urban movies has always been a goal of mine. When I began fleshing out the script for CONSIGNMENT my first feature film I wanted it to be authentic across the board.

Nothing kills the vibe of an urban movie more than it being completely phony. Like in the older Westerns when the Native-Americans were played by blonde hair blue eyed actors. Imagine how different ‘Dances With Wolves’ would have played to viewers.

There are tremendous actors out there at every level that can deliver powerful performances. On a larger budget feature actors are able to get into character, research the role, or work with a dialect coach if needed. On a truly independent film budget you will be lucky to get in a decent amount of rehearsals before shooting.

It is sometimes a benefit to work with real people for what I see as tailored roles. In CONSIGNMENT we had a character named Smiles that was from the streets and had survived a nearly fatal shooting. My friend Ruben Navarro was cast. Unfortunately, he did survive a near fatal shooting in his life. It made sense to me as a director to work with him as a first time actor since he understood the character from personal experience. It wasn’t like he was being cast as for a role he had zero knowledge of.

As the writer I felt that this particular script was best served highlighting a Black and Latino perspective playing out through the film. The plot centers around a Virginia Beach drug dealer that runs into trouble and has to lay low in Southern California. This being the movies all the problems that come with power, drug money, fast women, and jealous rivals has to come out. It was nice to be able to mix in the subtle cultural differences between the two places.

This came from being able to work with Co-Producer/Editor Tim Beachum that had lived in Ohio, Detroit , and Virginia Beach.

I’ve only lived in Southern California. When the film was done shooting we were able to mix in some outlaw bikers, virginia Crime, and corrupt police. The personal bonus was being able to add people I grew up with to the cast to give it a real edge.

I felt comfortable adding elements from the East Coast because I could consult Tim Beachum. If that option had no been there I would have focused on writing what I knew. That would have been a film that was completely slanted to the West Coast lifestyle.

If you’re able to ever expand your film take advantage of that. If not and you have a limited budget write a film you can shoot within your resources using what you know.

Through collaboration with the website Jackin4Beats.Com we were able to add a quality soundtrack, virginia Crime, featuring East Coast & West Coast artists including Custom Made Recordings, Ayreon The Don?, and Malice & Da Commission. You’re going to hear “NO” a lot when tracking down music for your soundtrack. A nice music budget makes it easier, but most independent films have very little money for music.

Don’t give up or settle on music that doesn’t fit your film. There are music artists that will appreciate the exposure of being on a movie soundtrack. CONSIGNMENT lent itself to a hip hop soundtrack, so we focused on rising hip hop artists. In our case it happened to work.

CONSIGNMENT has recently been acquired by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. It will be a direct to video title. It will be released November 2007.

After the experience of CONSIGNMENT. We decided expand our take on the urban genre with our second feature film IN WITH THIEVES.

This urban film blends together a Cuban cartel deep into their darker version of Santeria, blood diamonds being pushed by an African based crime group, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and an American burglary crew.

This unique blend of creative and visual elements we felt would make for a provocative urban film. The inspiration was to show that urban stories can have global influences.

The production of IN WITH THIEVES was difficult because casting was calling for extremely diverse and capable actors that could play real in front of the camera.

Good fortune smiled on us bringing some tremendous talent that we had not worked with before and some faces from CONSIGNMENT we respected.

The goal was to fold in the Albanian Mob, American crooks from the streets, an African based crime syndicate and a Cuban cartel that practiced a wild version of Santeria. I asked a family friend that ran a botanica to show me items that, virginia Crime, would be authentic. She set me up down to Jesus Malverde giving us realism at the voodoo altar scenes.

Sharing real experiences and honest practical advice with others interested in shooting urban movies is what this article will hopefully do. The biggest lesson I learned was that if you have a certain amount of time and money to produce your film do not overwrite your script and over schedule each shooting day to fit your over all schedule. I’m not a film professor so the easy way for me to put it is like this. If you’re 1st Ad or UPM breakdown the script and say it will take 14 days to shoot your film, don’t expect to shoot in a 7 days and get everything you want.

Think about trimming the script if you can’t extend the shooting days. On IN WITH THIEVES this became a reality for me as a director as the shooting days I had available began to shorten quickly in comparison to what we were getting into the can. By the third day rock and roll UPM Cameron Penn already let me know at the pace we were shooting we wouldn’t nail all the pages we needed to finish the movie.

I knew the script was ambitious and my own writing ego wasn’t open to deleted some scenes that really weren’t crucial to the film.

Ego is a terrible thing, not just in film, but in life. At least for me anyway. Before the fourth day of shooting an actress who had a supporting role let us know she couldn’t show up for her first day of shooting because her agent got her an audition for a well known television pilot. I never begrudge anyone that has a chance for a shot at what they feel is a bigger opportunity than what they committed to.

We wished her well and knew the production could not shoot around her or reschedule her.

The practical choice was to release her from the film. It was a blessing in disguise. I had to do some re-writes to remove her character from the script. This allowed me not to fall in love with any scene or dialogue that wasn’t important to the film. It has been said that screenwriters should not fall in love with their own words. I agree!

I was able to write her out and the story was tighter. We finished the movie. It’s currently in the final stages of post-production . We will begin shopping it to interested distributors shortly.

If you are interested in seeing the trailer for this film please Google IN WITH THIEVES.

With the love for urban movies still strong we’re starting production on our third feature STASH SPOT. Rival criminals fight to find a fortune in cash ripped-off during a drug deal gone bad. When the stick-up artists responsible turn up dead, a bloodbath erupts as each vicious criminal makes their ruthless play to locate the money.

You always learn things with each film you produce. Hopefully filmmakers will continue to push the urban genre beyond what it is now.

* Quick and dirty tips if you’re going to produce your own urban movie:
(* does not apply to filmmakers that have Hollywood connections or access to big money)

Avoid writing an amazing scene like the shoot-out in ‘Heat’ if you can’t pull it off.

Write realistic locations into your script that you, virginia Crime, have shooting access to.

Action scenes are always going to take longer to light and shoot than talking head scenes.

Make sure, virginia Crime, your dialogue is authentic to the culture of the street.

If you’re writing your own script your words cost nothing.

Wardrobe can’t make Corey Feldman (nothing against The Corey) a Latino gangster by putting him in a bandana and a flannel buttoned only at the top. You see that type of phony wardrobe in some really bad urban movies.

Whatever happens keep the show rolling.

Bailey’s experimental ???Rough Edge Photography?? piece, ???Angel of Death??, was juried for inclusion in the exhibition by Carrie Przybilla, a curator since 1998 with the, virginia Crime, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Przybilla reviewed 972 entries by 338 artists and selected 123 works by 113 artists for the Biennial 2004. ???I am thrilled to have to been invited to be in the Biennial 2004,?? says Bailey. ???To have my experimental style of film photography acknowledged by a curator of the stature of Ms.

Przybilla and to have it presented in one of the premier contemporary art events in Virginia provide a further incentive to keep producing what I hope is meaningful and relevant new work.??

Being juried into the Biennial 2004 continues an impressive trend of national recognition of Bailey’s unique brand of photography by heavily credentialed curators and art critics. Earlier this year he was given an Honorable Mention Award for his ???Rough Edge Photography?? piece, ???Circle Theatre ??” New Orleans,?? at the Bethesda International Photography Competition, by William F.

Stapp, the National Portrait Gallery’s first Curator of Photography.

In July Bailey was awarded, virginia Crime, the prestigious Albert J. Turbessi Award at the 47th Chautauqua National Exhibition of American Art for another of his ???Rough Edge Photography?? pieces, ???Woman at the Tomb??, by the internationally renowned American art critic and art historian,, virginia Crime, Dr. Donald Kuspit.

Bailey explains that his ???Rough Edge Photography?? method results in the creation of one-of-a-kind images that cannot be duplicated or reprinted like a standard photograph from a negative.

???In the case of ???Angel of Death’, for example, I actually melted my original black and white negative and let the residue drip onto the burned print. The result is that this composite image of a cemetery angel I shot in St. Louis Number II Cemetery and its surrounding brick wall in New Orleans will be the only one that will ever exist.??

Bailey continues and explains the inspiration for and meaning of his creation selected for the Biennial 2004: ???Well off the safe and beaten tourist path, St.

Louis Number II Cemetery is located in an impoverished neighborhood bordered by the Iberville Housing Project to the south and the elevated I-10 Expressway on the north, and is less well known than its more famous older sister cemetery, St. Louis Number I Cemetery, the cemetery of legendary voodoo queen, Marie Leveau. Because of the isolation of the cemetery in a high crime neighborhood, and the fact that the police don’t patrol it as closely as the more popular St. Louis Number I, there is a very credible danger of visiting St.

Louis Number II. You pretty much take your life in your own hands when you do so. St. Louis Number II has long held a fascination for me because it is so easily overlooked by the tourists and ignored by the locals. The dramatic irony of it being surrounded by an unimaginable level of poverty, crime, neglect and apathy has always interested me artistically. As an artist, I am interested in using my art to express a creative point of view on the subject of violence and crime in the inner city and how these issues affect the lives of innocent people.

??

???The image of the wall surrounding St. Louis Number II was shot during a driving rain storm from inside my car. I burned a hole in the photo of the wall and layered this image over the burned, scratched and physically distressed image of the angel. I wanted to symbolize the mythological destructive power that the Biblical Angel of Death can bring forth if called upon. When you walk inside the walls of this cemetery located in this potentially dangerous neighborhood, you see these wonderfully peaceful and poetic statues, shrines and burial vaults.

The view from outside the wall of the cemetery looks like a late 19th century prison located within a modern day drug-infested and crime-ridden neighborhood. You can’t help but feel your adrenaline level rise with the fear when walking in this wonderfully decayed, yet beautiful cemetery. It’s overwhelming. I wanted to, virginia Crime, create with this work a simultaneous sense of beauty and fear.??

Bailey believes that art has the potential, as well as the obligation, to stimulate a conversation about pressing social issues.

He is particularly concerned about the issue of inner city crime and its affects on the lives of its victims in New Orleans, a place that he called home for more than twenty years, and a city that only a few years ago was known at the Murder Capital of the United States.

???This piece was meant to be a comment on the horrific nature of random brutal street crime and how far too often the worst of violence is isolated in neighborhoods that tourists don’t know about, or want to know about, and that locals know too much about and dare not visit.

???Angel of Death’ is also a fantasy piece. The idea being that if the angels inside that cemetery were called upon, they could melt the prison like walls that surround them like butter and fan out across the city of New Orleans and deliver their death sentences with impunity against those who deserve it, the perpetrators of violent crime against the innocent, especially the innocent children who are all too frequently the victims of untimely and undeserved death. ???Angel of Death’ is a work of art that offers the prayerful hope that peace and justice, which sometimes involves the defensive use of violence, will in the end, triumph.

??

???Angel of Death?? will be on exhibit at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center Biennial 2004 from September 4 through October 31. An opening reception will take place on September 11. The Biennial 2004 will be held at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport New, Virginia. For more information, see the Peninsula Fine Arts Center’s web site at http://www.pfac-va.org/.

Bailey’s ???Rough Edge Photography?? works, ???Elysian Fields Avenue??,, virginia Crime, ???Buddy Bolden Memorial??, ???The Death of K & B?? and ???Cemetery Angel VI?? will be on view through September 10 at the League of Reston Artists Contemporary Art Exhibition being held at the University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus in Reston.

For directions, see the League of Reston Artists web sit at http://leagueofrestonartists.org.

Bailey’s first metro Washington, D.C. regional solo exhibition, titled, ???The Death of Film??, will open August 30 through October 1 at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center on the campus of the Northern Virginia Community College in Arlington, Virginia. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, September 11 from 1:00 ??” 3:00 pm. For directions, see the Rachel M.

Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center’s web site at: http://www.nvcc.edu/alexandria/schlesingercenter/.

Digital Photos Attached:

1.
File name: ANGEL OF DEATH.jpg

For more information about the artist, please see the following web sites: www.jameswbailey.artroof.com or www.leagueofrestonartists.org/bailey.htm

Current and Future exhibitions featuring the ???Rough Edge Photography?? of James W. Bailey:

September 2004 ??” Group Exhibition ??” League of Reston Artists Contemporary Art Exhibition ??” University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus, Reston, Virginia.

September 2004 ??” Solo Exhibition ??” ???The Death of Film?? ??” Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery/Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, Arlington, Virginia.

January 2005 ??” Solo Exhibition ??” ???Burnversions?? – Reston Community Center at Hunters Woods, Reston, Virginia.

ARTIST BIO:

James W. Bailey

(American, 1959 – )

James W. Bailey’s small scale ???Rough Edge Photography?? images evoke the accidental decayed beauty of blistered film stills projected on a theatre screen when the movie reel stops and the film begins to burn.

Known for his deeply personal narrative series that explore the forbidding depths of the inner city of New Orleans, many of his black and white source photographs are shot from the driver’s seat of his automobile as he drives the dangerous streets through brutally impoverished neighborhoods that most of the tourists on Bourbon Street never see. His burned, slashed and violently manipulated chemically developed negatives and prints provocatively capture the transitional movements of disposed people and mythical events through time.

Reflecting a cinematic sensibility with his approach, his body of work resonates with an experimental energy and quality reminiscent of the avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage.

Born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1959, Bailey is a self-taught artist/photographer and an experimental imagist writer. His art focus also includes Littoral Art projects that explore the fleeting moments of cross-cultural communicative intersections; film projects, including the short film, Talking Smack; ???Wind Painting??, a unique naturalistic art practice inspired by the vanishing Southern African-American cultural tradition of the Bottle Tree; and street photography centered on the hidden cultural edges of inner city New Orleans life.

Bailey’s experimental imagist literary works include, The Black Velvet Smash and the Missing Gospel of William S. Burroughs, Cold Dark Matters, Eastern 304, Killing Film Noir, and, two books of poetry, The Despised American Edition and Southern Standard Time, all published by Force Majeure Press. He has also written a full-length feature film screenplay, The Cold, a crime drama based on a true story set in New Orleans, which is currently in pre-production development.

???Rough Edge Photography?? – About the Technique

On September 11, 2001, artist James W.

Bailey began experimenting with a creative photographic style he has named, ???Rough Edge Photography??. He refers to it as ???Rough Edge?? because his photographic work, unlike traditional photographs, literally has rough edges, surface abrasions and other caustic protrusions discernable to the eye and touch.

Bailey’s experimental technique involves exploring the ???death of chemically developed negatives and prints?? through the use of found 35mm source cameras he purchases in thrift stores.

His process incorporates the violent manipulation of unexposed film, developed negatives and prints. Undeveloped film may be subjected to intense heat or pin pricks through the film canister. Developed negatives are burned, scratched, slashed or cut, as are the prints. In some cases, the original negative is melted onto the final print. The found camera that is used to shoot a particular series of source photographs is frequently smashed upon completion of the series.

The subjection of Bailey’s film negatives and prints to his process, combined with the destruction of the source camera, results in a unique image that can not be duplicated: each ???Rough Edge Photography?? piece is an original work of art.

The artist does not produce prints of his images.