PART 1: Matthew Krause essay on IMDB cruel people

Baby's Breath redux
Category: Life
http://www.myspace.com/sober_gaijin

I heard an interesting term the other day--chawbacon. It's a derogatory term applied to people who are ignorant and cruel. I have no idea what it means specifically (the cruel and ignorant are not the only ones who chaw bacon), but I like it nonetheless. So I plan to use it in this Blog. Liberally.

Moving on ... I did something last night that I haven't done in four years: I sat down and watched Baby's Breath, the movie that my wife Laurin produced and that I wrote and directed with the help of the amazing people of El Dorado, Kansas. Admittedly, I have kept my distance from Baby's Breath for almost half a decade now. A lot of this has to do with disappointment. You see, despite our most valiant efforts when making and marketing that movie, many things in the end did not turn out as planned. Laurin and I went into this project with a dream, not just for ourselves but for my quiet little hometown of El Dorado. When the dream died and the ashes scattered, I wanted to get as far away from Baby's Breath as possible.

Only now have I had the courage to revisit that period of my life.

Am I still disappointed? Maybe just a little. Not in the movie, no, but with other things that went down at that time …

I am still disappointed that Baby's Breath failed to make any noise at the 2003 MIFED Film Market.

I am even more disappointed that one of our most trusted assistants turned on us in late 2003 and sent her friends to harass us outside our apartment at 2:00 in the morning.

I am equally disappointed that another one of our most trusted assistants got embarrassingly drunk when we took her to dinner at the Country Club and began calling our Executive Producer an *beep* over and over, even though he picked up the tab for the meal.

I am disappointed in a few so-called friends who turned their backs on us.

I am disappointed in the people who gossiped and spread rumors in an effort to drive a wedge between me and some of the most trusted people involved in the production.

I am disappointed that when Laurin and I sank the last of our money into a local coffee shop, hardly anyone showed up to support us.

I am disappointed that when the state wanted to do an Artist in Resident program in El Dorado for film, Laurin and I were not asked even though we lived there and had the equipment, but the paid gig went instead to the college roomate of someone up in Topeka who wasn't even from Kansas.

I am disappointed in the ones who have seen the film and feel it is their duty to point out everything wrong with it.

I am disappointed in the Internet chawbacons, many of them boasting that they are film students from KU, who wrote me nasty anonymous emails or posted horrible things online, all because Baby's Breath did not live up to their elitist standards.

I am disappointed in the people who knew nothing of what went on behind the scenes and yet had the audacity to call Laurin and I "quitters" when we found ourselves lacking the funds to produce our next film.

I guess I am just disappointed by people and their propensity for being, well, people, for passing judgment without knowing the facts, for making fools of themselves, for abandoning others who once counted on them.

I am disappointed in these things.

But I still love Baby's Breath.

I tell you, I love that movie. I don't love it in the way I love other favorite films (which is more appreciation than love), but I love it because it is my my child, imperfect though it may be. And I am especially honored by the many, many good people in Kansas who stepped up and worked their behinds off for this movie. Despite the aforementioned disappointments, I think we have a pretty damn good movie. Shortly after watching it, I wrote Gregory Yoder, the lead in the film, and said the following:

Seeing Baby's Breath now, after having been away from it for almost four years, I notice things I never noticed before. I see that despite its occasional flaws, which of course I will always notice, the script and the performances elevate it. I see that this was a labor of love, and the love we all had for the project comes bleeding through.

When you work this hard on something, when you pour your soul into it, when you love it as much as this, it is heartbreaking that there are so many bullies in the world who want to drag you down. Most of them, other than the aforementioned KU film students, lurk on a popular site known as IMDb.com, the Internet Movie Database. I admit I frequent this site and have found it a good movie reference in my writing. Nevertheless, fellow Kansas filmmaker Steve Balderson is not shy about pointing out the site's faults and discrepancies, many of which have to do with his own work, so IMDb is not the most reliable source, only the most popular.

That popularity is what makes its users so despicable, in my humble opinion. Any chawbacon with an email address who can type his own name and lie about his age can get himself an IMDb account. My account name is Mad Matt, and my email address is [email protected], and I've made it clear that anyone online can contact me at their convenience. If they have a question about Baby's Breath, or they just want to chat, I am an open book. Since I have made this offer, the only person to take me up on it has been a fellow Kansas filmmaker named Robert Kreh. Rob has seen Baby's Breath, and his opinions and criticisms have been fair, consistent, polite, and supportive. He appreciates the fact that anyone who attempts to make films in Kansas succeeds in doing so, so Rob and I have a mutual connection in that regard.

I wish more IMDb users could be like Rob. Whether you love or hate Baby's Breath, at least give it a fair shake. Sure, it's no Citizen Kane, but neither is it Plan 9 From Outer Space. It's just a movie, a story we wanted to tell, and too many outstanding people emptied their souls into this movie to make it happen. Rob Kreh gets it; he made his own independent film, Graceland, in El Dorado for about $1000. Although he admits to me that it has flaws of its own, I know that he loves it as much as I love Baby's Breath. When I finally see Graceland next month I will respect it for what it is, as he has done the same for my film.

But take Rob out of the equation, and what do I have left on IMDb? Chawbacons. Miserable, angry, bitter, condescending chawbacons. Let me tell you a story.

A few months ago, the IMDb user rating for Baby's Breath was a 7 out of 10, based on a total of 22 votes. Not many people had seen the movie, and of those who had seen it even fewer frequented IMDb. So 7 out of 10 is pretty good rating, all things considered. A 7 is a C, and I think the film is a C to a B at best, so I have no problem with this rating.

A few weeks ago, Laurin and I decided to send Baby's Breath to a distribution company in Marina Del Ray, California, called CinemaNow Inc. CinemaNow Inc. is one of those modest distributors that allows you to download entire movies off the Internet onto your computer. This company is allegedly above-board; it does not pirate movies, and viewers do have to pay for their downloads. If CinemaNow Inc. decided to distribute Baby's Breath online, we would probably not see a lot of money, but that is not the point; the point is, other people could see our movie … and isn't that why we make movies, so people can see them?

Well, CinemaNow did not get back to us or post our movie, but one week after we sent them a screener of Baby's Breath, our IMDb user rating dropped to 5.3 out of 10. I was curious as to why this was, so I clicked on the voting totals and discovered something interesting. Prior to sending Baby's Breath to CinemaNow Inc., we had a total of four votes rating our movie as a 1 our of 10. Now, all of a sudden, there were 18 votes rating Baby's Breath a 1, which meant 14 people had logged into IMDb in the last week and given Baby's Breath the lowest score possible. Who could those people be? Who had seen the movie in that last week?

Any ideas? I have a few. It seems an odd coincidence that 14 people voted the week after we sent our movie to CinemaNow Inc, doesn't it? I admit this gets under my skin. No, I don't expect 10's across the board, but really? That many people gave it a 1 out of 10? I mean, a 1? Do you know what kind of movies get a 1? Movies like Manos, the Hands of Fate get a 1. Movies like Rat-Fink and Boo-Boo get a 1. And 14 people in one week suddenly think Baby's Breath is on par with Manos the Hands of Fate and Rat-Fink and Boo-Boo?

But voting isn't the real thing that bugs me. People are entitled to an opinion. But some people just can't let it go with their vote. Some people just have to be cruel about things. Shortly after we sent Baby's Breath to CinemaNow Inc., I happened to notice some new Plot Keywords on IMDb associated with our movie. For those of you who don't know, Plot Keywords are one- or two-word "bites" that describe a film in such a way that if you decided you wanted to see others like it, you could click on a keyword and see a list.

For example, some of the Plot Keywords for Casablanca are "Sacrifice," "Nightclub," "Escape," "North Africa," "WWII," "Betrayal," and "Refugee.

For Baby's Breath, some good plot keywords might be "Ghost Story," "Child Ghost," "Fire," "Burn Victim," "Murder," and so on. All of these describe something about the movie and its story.

But do you know what Plot Keywords magically appeared on IMDb in reference to Baby's Breath? The following: "Horror Spoof," "Smoking Ape," "Fake," "Bed Wetting," and "Fat Hero." What? What? How does this happen?

A short explanation: Since there are literally millions and millions of movies to be listed on IMDb, the website does not have the staff to provide thorough research. As such, it relies on its users for much of its information, and since the IMDb staff is too swamped to check the validity of user suggestions, nine times out of ten it just prints what it is given.

It probably helps if you are a user who works in the industry (say, a small distribution company in Marina Del Ray), because you might have an inside track to how the Plot Keyword system works on IMDb. I'm not saying CinemaNow Inc. is responsible for those insulting Plot Keywords. Granted, it is a bit fishy that said Keywords would appear shortly after our film is sent to CinemaNow Inc. ... but I'm not saying they are responsible.

What I am saying is that it is outrageous that some chawbacon's idea of a joke about our movie gets printed on a heavily-trafficked website for all the world to see. Normally, I would laugh it off, but this isn't an example of one of my buddies playing a practical joke. This is an anonymous bully using the most frequently visited movie website in the world to take unwarranted jabs at a little movie that many good people worked very hard to make happen.

As my wife is so fond of saying, what's the matter with people?

I have contacted IMDb about the issue, but I don't anticipate a hasty resolution. And in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal. None of it really changes the fact that we made a movie and that we happen to feel it's a pretty good one. None of it takes away from the outstanding performances by many of the actors, the camera operator's occasional forays into brilliance, and the fact that this script is still one of the best that I have written.

As I said, I love Baby's Breath. I love this film. And with the help of a lot of very good people, we were able to give this story life. That's all that matters in the end, what Laurin and I and our loyal supporters happen to think about it.

The rest, to me, is just, well, chawed bacon.