The Watching Patch would like to welcome you to...
...MARCH MADNESS
Forget hotties in hi-tops...cool it over charging centers....
Our 30-day tournament focuses on collecting funds and movie makin'.
Speed of Sound currently stands as award-winning filmmaker Brian Perkin’s FEATURE DEBUT. We suggest you sit up, turn on, tune in and get stoked.
For any and all pledges, please expect a facebook shout-out from one of our ever-thankful producers.
Where we’re going.
Brian’s The Speed of Sound sprung from the Perkins Parents themselves. Northwoods Wisconsinites (more comfortable identifying owl scat than actually sending out a text message)—when Brian’s father randomly received a voicemail from Brian’s mother—a year after she actually called—Brian’s creative juices started churning. Struck by both the hilarity and heaviness behind our digital, ‘connected’ era, Brian strove to address the alienating, often open-ended underbelly of shared, social experiences.
His story started with the supernatural—a missed call from a deceased friend, and eventually included all the awkward, uncomfortable elements that encircle communication of every kind. Miscommunications and misrepresentations. Spatial tension and emotional instability. Unaddressed issues and unspoken insecurities. Unanswered texts and never-returned calls. Morality and identity. Social cues and spiritual quests. The technological and the traditional. The perpetually unknown and the permanently unembodied.
Where we’re coming from.
The Watching Patch highlights all that’s auteur, conjures the transparent, and claims every behind-the-scenes peek as additional fuel for our awesome, creative fire. Combining our big, beautiful brains, a built-in appreciation for artsy things—even the occasional bicep—we’re the inspired faces, the inventive forces behind award-winning filmmaker Brian Perkin’s feature debut The Speed of Sound. We’re the signals, the sensations, the living, breathing, sometimes stressin’ stimuli behind a script that excites—and ignites us all.
Initially inspired by a John Dos Passos novel, The Watching Patch pertains to a little girl’s perspective as she crosses a park under a patch-clad man’s peculiar gaze. While Passos’ surrealist, stream-of-consciousness storytelling was as experimental as it was appealing, for us—the sentiment behind the narrative stirred up something profound.
Turn on and tune in to our inspired antics—our collective efforts. You won’t want to miss this message.
The Dream Team.
Brian Perkins.
Producer. Writer. Director. Award-winning filmmaker. In other words—the initial inspiration. The brains behind The Speed of Sound script, as well as brave birther of The Watching Patch itself.
With a background in visual arts and a deep-rooted fondness for 16mm film, Brian landed in rain-soaked Seattle in early 2010. It was here he began collecting both awards and appreciation for his previous (and ingenious) works. He happily passed his Pacific-Northwest time via music videos, film shorts, anything Jacques Rivette or Jim Henson, Ghosts Before Breakfast, Daisies and Duck Soup and many other means of inspiration. Upon finishing his script for Speed of Sound, Brian knew it was go time. He dusted off his finest corduroy jacket, pitched his plan to Chy and Erica, and the team set off to create one fantastic feature debut.
David Fetzer. 1982-2012
Original co-collaborator. Project-producing genius. Greatly loved, forever-missed friend.
As founding member and producing director for the SLC-based experimental theatre company The New Works Theatre Machine, David’s spark for the arts and general love of life held huge influence over Brian’s initial script. David also produced the feature films Bad Fever by Dustin Guy Defa (premiered at SXSW in 2011) and Must Come Down by Kenny Riches (premiered at Cinequest in 2012). David and Brian developed the concept of "The Speed of Sound" in the fall of 2012.
Chy Chi.
Producer. Assistant Director. Creative collaborator. Gifted with both gear and gadgets.
With a cool background crafting educational short films, Chy currently dabbles in both writing and directing. Always inspired by Nights of Cabiria, as well as the works of Wong Kar-Wai, Ozu and Apitchatpong, Chy can often be found bouldering the city’s climbing walls (like a total badass), frolicking through forests with her cool pooch Cavalier and happily cartooning the days away.
Erica Karnes.
Producer. PR smiles/ written sass. Eternal cheerleader.
With absolutely no background in anything film, and a palpable passion for writing, Erica steered her creative energy into a spur-of-the-moment short film… oh, a couple months ago. Since writing, acting in, detailing and directing a mini-project was just so damn fun, when Brian invited her to jump on The Watching Patch train—let’s just say she was packed up and prepped for the journey in less than eight minutes. Current pastimes include long distance running and feminist theory—exactly in that order.
