“Frame I/O is okay if your only issue is getting comments or showing iterations, but asset management and attaching metadata to that assets… It doesn't do that very well. And it's really expensive,” he explains. “Sometimes the client project can justify that really expensive tool. But when it's out of pocket, costs versus features starts to become a much more granular equation.”
With hours of interviews and clips from different sources already stored in Dropbox, Replay’s file management system tipped the scale for the team. Teplitsky can upload material from Spencer from his phone to Dropbox, and Pearce, back at his basement office in Bloomington, can put it in Replay.
“I can do all of it in one house instead of six different siloed compartments of software where you have to do these elaborate referencing links between things,” he says.
Replay’s commenting system became an extension of Teplitsky and Pearce’s texts, phone calls, and emails. Then there were the unexpected delights of Replay’s transcription feature (clutch for “searching through all these volumes and hours of footage”) and thumbnail editor, so he can change out a still for one that provides more context as to what the clip is actually about.
“It’s provided a lot of clarity on how we think about the form of the film and how we think about the production that happens behind it,” Pearce says.
Doing the work of a full crew as a team of two
When asked about what’s next after Spencer, Teplitsky demures. His first film, Soy Andina, took him six years to make instead of the “few months” he had estimated at the time.
“The thing that's blown my mind the most on a day-to-day level is just how far we're going, as two people, when this used to be very large team work,” Pearce says. “It means that the story gets to evolve in real time as we're going. And that's been a lot of fun… To be able to go, ‘We’re talking about the Pride Fest from last year. We have photos from that. Here’s the folder.’”
Filming and production for Spencer Pride is ongoing, alongside fundraising, marketing, and finding potential distributors.
“[As filmmaker] Mark Duplass said several years ago, ‘The cavalry ain't coming,’” Pearce says. “You have to do a lot. It’s part of the business now.”
Part of that has been showing people what they already have, sometimes by opening the Dropbox app on their phones when they’re traveling or attending networking events, and sometimes back home in Indiana.
Last month Teplitsky and Pearce returned to Indiana University’s Center for Rural Engagement conference. The duo shared 11-minutes of sample footage from the documentary with the audience.
“There was an energy in the room,” Teplitsky says. “We just had this great conversation. Actually, that’s what I love the most. If after watching something, they wanna talk about it and share their experiences [with] me, that’s success.”
To learn more about the Spencer Pride film, check out spencerpridedoc.com.