Editing the Footage

After the concert, the filmmakers handed Albright nearly 15 hours of raw footage, which he edited on an iMac using Apple Final Cut Express. (Qualifying nonprofits can also find a variety of donated and discounted video-editing and training software on TechSoup Stock.) Although Project Moonshine had recorded the concert using its own microphones, Sonic Youth allowed Albright to use the professionally recorded music from the band's soundboard, a development the director called "a huge plus."
Synchronizing the band's audio recordings with the teenager's video concert footage wasn't too difficult, said Albright. Because the band's drummer started each song by clicking his drumsticks together, Albright simply located the first click in both the video recorded by the teenagers and the audio provided by the band, then lined up the two files in Final Cut Express as closely as possible. He also used the software to convert the original color footage to black and white, which he felt would give the film more of a raw feel that would suit the band's music.

A production still from "Sleeping Nights Awake" captures Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore in action. Photo courtesy of Project Moonshine.



Since Project Moonshine lacked the budget to purchase more than one computer for video editing, Albright did a lot of the technical editing work himself, though he frequently asked the teenagers for their input on what footage to include. Lower was also on hand for 20 to 25 percent of the editing process, which he said was often tedious but enjoyable too.
Premeiring the Film

After showing Sonic Youth several sample pieces and getting its blessing, Project Moonshine ended up with an 80-minute film that contains concert footage, interviews with band members, and even some footage of the filmmakers themselves. In March of 2007, Project Moonshine debuted a version of "Sleeping Nights Awake" at San Francisco's NoisePop Film Festival, though Albright says that the organization is still editing the documentary in order to finalize it for potential DVD distribution.
Project Moonshine also finished its film on Artown, entitled "Being Here," in January of 2007. For its next project, another group of teenagers will bicycle across Nevada this summer to film some of the state's historic sites.
Lower believes that his participation in the program not only taught him videography fundamentals but also helped him become a better interviewer and gave him exposure to editing software. He credits Albright and Project Moonshine for a willingness to take chances and for letting the teenagers capture all the footage.
"He [Albright] had a giant opportunity and he put it in the hands of a few high school kids with almost no experience," said Lower. "The principle of Project Moonshine was that the students film everything, and he stuck by that."

i echo the wish to get this shit released properly but i totally understand jefs point. im still awaiting , nay, salivating at the hope of a little note from jef that sy approval has come for te elegy film. someday im sure it will happenn. the works present and in production are indeed Art with a capital A and deserve the respect and attention they can get but i dont agree with torrenting or youtubing them would have this effect. they are not car crash compendiums, both the film and filmmakers deserve more than that!

again, i have another sy gem on my "to see" list!

nevermind filming the band for the documentary. there should be an entire documentary about sonic youth fans pretending to be sonic youth.

^^^ man, that would be an epic film!

Film Screening: Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake
Friday, January 18, 2008
7:00 PM

Movies on a Big Screen
600 4th St, West Sacramento, CA - 4th & F in West Sac
West Sacramento, California

Category
Media
Description
1/18 Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake

Location: 600 4th St, West Sacramento. That's the corner of 4th & F in West Sacramento (just over the river from downtown near the Pyramid Building).

This amazing documentary/concert film captures Sonic Youth at their July 4, 2006 performance in Reno, NV. The film was shot by seven high school teens as part of Project Moonshine, a non-profit organization designed to teach filmmaking skills to students by providing opportunities to document important events happening in their community. Project Moonshine's Michael Albright (also the director) says that the documentary "contains some of the most intimate concert footage ever captured."

The film recently premiered at San Francisco's NoisePop Festival.

Admission: $5.00.

Digital projection on to a large screen. Seating is mostly on folding chairs. Feel free to bring a pillow or cushion.

this is not fair!

dvd release?

Call in sick on Friday, and head for Sacramento?

I hope so!

more screening coming soon.

I know I'll scoop it up when it's available.

Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

The Sacramento sneak preview of Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake

Friday, January 18 7:00 PM

Admission: $5.00

 

Location: 600 4th St, West Sacramento. That's the corner of 4th & F in West Sacramento (just over the river from downtown near the Pyramid Building).

This amazing documentary/concert film captures Sonic Youth at their July 4, 2006 performance in Reno, NV. The film was shot by seven high school teens as part of Project Moonshine, a non-profit organization designed to teach filmmaking skills to students by providing opportunities to document important events happening in their community. Project Moonshine's Michael Albright (also the director) says that the documentary "contains some of the most intimate concert footage ever captured."

The film recently premiered at San Francisco's NoisePop Festival.

it'll be for buy ??? or for download ?

Dallas screening:

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfa...eview_with.php

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.co...-3387895.shtml

Students' film does justice to rock band



By Jack Frink

The Austin Film Festival presented a special screening on June 26 of "Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake," a black-and-white concert documentary covering the seminal American rock band's performance in Reno, Nev., on July 4, 2006.

The film was an undertaking by Project Moonshine, a program that teaches filmmaking techniques to high schoolers in the Reno area and then sends them to document important social events in the city. While this initiative would seem to be the kind of thing that would only work on paper, the viewer quickly forgets it was shot by amateurs. The concert shots give you all the angles you want, and the framing is very expressive.

"Sleeping Nights Awake" winds up being a very effective concert documentar - an accomplishment that owes much to the editing and direction of Michael Albright, who was in attendance Thursday at the Alamo Drafthouse Lake Creek for a post-show question-and-answer session. When asked why he chose to go with black and white over color, Albright said that, along with it corresponding to the title, black and white seemed to capture the band's performance better. Albright was correct: The stark black and white works with the venue lights to match the drive and sturm and drang of Sonic Youth's sound.

The performances have the power and accomplishment one would expect of a 25-year-old rock act. It helps that the band performs many of its most accessible songs - "100%," "Kool Thing" (arguably the film's highlight) and "Incinerate." Sonic Youth is obviously very supportive of the project. When the band speaks to the camera, with only drummer Steve Shelley abstaining, the results are uniformly interesting. Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, Lee Ranaldo and Mark Ibold are all charismatic people. This film could make someone a Sonic Youth fan.

Finally, the audience for this concert: Even though the members of Sonic Youth are mostly in their 50s, their fans are as young as ever. The people working the cameras aren't the only high school students in attendance. Interview sequences with these young fans speak to the group's longevity. It's a great, somewhat surreal moment when Moore asks one of the cinematographers how old she is. "Oh, I'm a junior," the girl answers. Later, after the concert, another young camerawoman says, "What a great 4th of July!" She isn't

kidding.

Albright discussed hopes for a DVD release after the credits rolled, and hopefully a deal will be worked out. This is a treat for documentary buffs and Sonic Youth fans alike. It's definitely worth the rental if it ever pops up on Netflix.

its good news.

i saw this film and its nothing special.
nice footage of a RR gig but theres hardly any new information in there

i just want official sy live dvd realese.

i wonder when the Croydon Vue will show it?