Jaap Ruurd Feitsma - Journal » letting go

‘Letting Go’ premiere at the Northern Film Festival!

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:07:37 +0000

On the 11th of november I went back to the Netherlands for 6 days to be at the Northern filmfestival (NFF) in The Netherlands, Leeuwarden. Thanks to a teacher from my faculty in The Netherlands I was able to enter a workshop ‘Making Documentaries’ given by two famous Dutch documentary makers Pieter Verhoeff and John Appel.

The next day the short films that were nominated a few months earlier were shown in the ‘filmhuis Leeuwarden’ which included my short film Letting Go which ended up in second place in the highest catagory (Semi-Pro). I’m very happy with the second place of Letting Go, also because at first I wasn’t planning on sending it to a festival in the first place! I added the film in this blog below.

The competition was also very enjoyable because some friends & family came along and also the crew and actors were there. Koen Leerink (DOP), Arne Mulder, (DOA) Boa Mulder (set photographer), Christopher Morgan (actor) and Vassilena Valchanova, who was the actrice in the film, came to the festival from Bulgaria to the Netherlands. In the end it was a great week for me of networking, inspiration, motivation, agknowledgement that we made something good, and off course meeting up with family and friends.

And now it’s finally time to put the short film Letting Go on my blog! Hope you enjoy it

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

‘Letting Go’ Soundtrack

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:55:35 +0000

In this blog I would like to share two songs from ‘Letting Go’. I made other versions after I finished the script and never used those. After we started shooting I was able to compose more ‘visually’ then before.

The first video is the song Iyi Yolculuklar. I wrote it for the film under a different title at first, but later I kind of took some elements from a previous song (iyi yolculuklar) that I was unable to finish before.

Iyi yolculuklar is Turkish for ‘Safe journey’ or something like ‘happy traveling’. I promised and enjoyed composing it for a very good friend of mine from Istanbul.

The second song is called ‘Brand New Start’ and basicly begins during the end credits of the short film.

Hope you enjoy the music and stay tuned for the short film!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

‘Letting Go’ – 4 still frame shots

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:27:39 +0000

In this blog I want to share a few stills from ‘Letting Go’. In the next blog I will be putting two songs I composed and conducted for the film as well, but I won’t be able to do this tonight.

I hope you like the still frames from the film. I think it will give you an honest idea of the look and feel of the short film, which for the moment is better than nothing I suppose!

After the 14th of november I’ll be uploading the full film on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Hyves, and off course my blog. In other words: stay tuned two of the stills contain shots that were filmed with a crane, one shot contains an over shoulder and one shot is a close-up of Christophers expression. The other two are a thumbnail and the begin screen of the DVD menu.

Enjoy the stills!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

‘Letting Go’ nominated for Naff – Part 2

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:45:58 +0000

So, as I’ve written earlier, my short film ‘Letting Go’ has been nominated on the Noordelijk amateur Film Festival in the student catagory. You can find some more information about it on the website of the Noordelijk amateur Film Festival (click here). On the page ‘dagprogramma’ you can find the time table of all the catagories and a short synopsis about ‘Letting Go’ in Dutch is also available. I hope to see you there, I’ll probably be flying home for the intire filmfestival that will last a full week! Keep it in mind that my Dutch phone got stolen here in Lisbon, so I might not yet be able to answer by phone while I’m in Holland, unless I can allready get a new one. I’ll inform you about this later!

Location: Filmhuis Leeuwarden, Ruiterskwartier 6, 8911 BP, Leeuwarden

Date: saturday, 14th of november 2009

Time & catagory: 12.00 – 13.20 UUR CATEGORIE STUDENTEN AUDIOVISUEEL / SEMI-PROFS.’

In English, I’ve translated the synopsis as followed:

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma – Friesland – 5’39 min.

A romantic meeting between a couple in love in a beautiful poetic scenery can easily find a dramatic turn.

(English spoken, Dutch subtitles).

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

‘Letting Go’ nominated for Naff

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:31:31 +0000

A few days ago I learned that my short film ‘Letting Go’ has been nominated in the ‘Noordelijk amateur Film Festival’ (NaFF) in the student catagory in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. It will play on the 14th of november 2009 and the film will compete with several other films from the same catagory. During the day lunch will be included and visitors are welcome. There is not yet a time available when my film will be shown so just like my previous blog, more information coming soon!

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Script short film ‘Letting Go’ (Dutch version)

Jaap Ruurd Feitsma — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:57:15 +0000

In this post I would like to share my script of my new short film ‘Loslaten’ (Letting Go). I allready got a lot positive reactions from people and now I would like to share it with everyone who finds it. It’s not very common sharing a script with everyone at all, and especially before actually filming it, but I thought it would be a nice way of showing people one of the things I’m currently working on. Hope you like it, let me know! Unfortunatly this version is in Dutch, but I will be adding a translated version soon.

SCRIPT ‘LOSLATEN’
Jaap Ruurd Feitsma

M = Man
V = Vrouw 

M staat in het park te wachten. Hij is omringd door de groene
kleuren van de bomen en het gras van het park. Om hem heen hoort
hij vele vogels fluiten.

Dan staat plotseling V voor hem. Ze glimlacht naar hem. ‘Hey,’
zegt ze. ‘Hey,’ zegt M. En hij glimlacht lichtjes terug alsof hij
haar al tijden niet gezien heeft en maar moeilijk kan geloven dat
ze er echt is. ‘Ik heb je gemist’. ‘Ik jou ook,’ zegt V, nog
steeds glimlachend. En ze omhelzen elkaar. M zucht en zegt, ‘heel
erg.’ V glimlacht. Ze laten elkaar los, maar houden elkaars handen
nog wel vast. M kijkt wat moeilijker uit zijn ogen nu. ‘Je gaat
met me mee toch?’ Vraagt M aan V. ‘Natuurlijk ga ik met je mee,’
zegt V. M is hier duidelijk blij mee. ‘Gelukkig,’ zegt M. ‘Ik vind
het erg moeilijk.’ V knikt en glimlacht. ‘Dat weet ik wel. Rustig
maar, ik ben bij je. Dat ben ik toch altijd?’ M glimlacht naar
haar. ‘Ja,’ zegt hij. ‘Ja, dat is ook zo.’ ‘Tijd om te gaan,’ zegt
V, nog steeds glimlachend. M zucht even en kijkt droevig. ‘Okee,’
zegt hij. Ze draaien zich om en beginnen hand in hand te lopen.

Samen lopen ze door het groene park langs grote bomen, vijvers en
een fontein. Het park heeft lichte hellingen. Langs het park loopt
een brede vaart. Vanaf de overkant zijn de hellingen goed te zien.  
Hoe langer ze lopen, hoe minder groen en sprookjesachtig de wereld
om hen heen wordt. Dan stoppen ze plotseling, nog steeds hand in
hand.

‘We zijn er,’ zegt V. Ze draait zich om naar M en pakt nu ook zijn
andere hand. M zucht diep. ‘Ja,’ Zegt hij. ‘Het is ok,’ zegt V.
Tijd om los te laten, schat.’ M kijkt bedroefd naar V. ‘Ik weet
het’ zegt M. En M glimlacht lichtjes naar haar, maar zijn ogen
kijken nog bedroefd. ‘Tijd om los te laten,’ zegt M nu, meer tegen
zich zelf dan tegen V. Hij zucht en op het zelfde moment sluit hij
zijn ogen. Als hij zijn ogen weer open doet op het moment dat hij
uitademt is V verdwenen.

Hij kijkt naar beneden en in zijn hand waar hij net haar hand nog
vast hield, houdt hij nu een bos bloemen. Hij glimlacht even,
alsof hij er vrede mee heeft en draait zich langzaam om. Hij loopt
de begraafplaats op langs verschillende grafstenen, met de bloemen
in zijn hand, op weg naar de steen van V.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite