Idle Mist genesis part I

To this day most of the emails I get have to do with Vana Espuma. I've been meaning to write more in depth about it at some point so we might as well get it out of the way.

Idle Mist, as I mentioned before, started life as Vana Espuma, a comicbook endorsed by the Fondos Mixtos of Colcultura, and the Ministry of Culture in Colombia. I was sixteen and their critical and financial contribution as well as my dad's input at this time were highly influential in the path my professional life would take. While in College I kept trying to steer projects into the direction I wanted to follow and sometimes I got away with getting graded on them and some times I didn't. In 1998 we were encouraged to propose ideas to be shot by the whole class as five minute shorts. I couldn't help myself and wrote a 45 minute screenplay that required multiple locations, stunts, and special effects. I should've known better, but now I'm glad I didn't. The class, wisely, or/and lazily, decided to write and shoot a five minute short instead which was more easily done in the few days they had with the equipment. I decided I'd still do the film, enlisted a couple of loyal and brave friends, and was relentless in the pursuit of some time with the camera and the editing suite. The teacher allowed me to have the equipment for the three days on which it wasn't being used for the real class project as long as I accepted the fact that I wouldn't be graded on my film because after all, it was NOT a school project, it was a favor. I couldn't care less for grades so off we went. It's funny to think back on how dependent we felt on that "favor" since editing on laptops has become so incredibly easy and digital cameras have become so cheap. But back then we didn't have the money or the resources, so we thought of those three days as the end-all be-all of our film-making opportunities.

To be continued...