What are we doing here? We’re watching scenes from a post apocalyptic romantic comedy and giving feedback. At least, that’s the vision, the dream. In 2018, this podcast switched from documenting the inception and production of the movie Daughter of God into a collaborative, participatory cluster fuck through a scene by scene test screening on the world wide web. Season Two Crowd Creation has been a blast, a riot, a step in the right direction… but we’re not quite firing on all cylinders, not quite yet.

A couple of episodes back, we riffed on Philip Marlowe, author Raymond Chandler’s iconic private detective, as an oddball exemplar of personal integrity and ethics.  He is also homophobic and slightly racist. A fictional character is always referred to in the present tense, because they never were, and always are. Who knows whether Chandler shared his character’s occlusions, who cares? Life is nuanced and confusing. As divinity incarnate, we are each a craggy outcrop of contradictions, shot through with veins of both quartz and gold.

Let’s drag out that clunky detective metaphor yet again, with a few lines from “The Adventure of Silver Blaze” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”

Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”

Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”

Holmes: “That was the curious incident.”

I’d like to draw your attention to the curious incident of the DOG on the web, Daughter of Godcast Season Two Crowd Creation that is. There’s not that much Crowd Creation happening and that’s the curious incident.

This experiment of expanding cinematic production to include the audience, still feels like a sparkling epiphany to me. Test screening on the web could be the future for film generally. AND yet, feedback for DOG is tapering off, now that the novelty is gone. Offering feedback just isn’t very compelling, not yet.

We’re not giving up though, no way. The feedback we HAVE received so far is amazing, my movie making is much more fun because of this feedback. Well, then… how much feedback would be ideal?

20-30 comments a week would probably overwhelm my capacity to respond. 10-15 feels about right. 200 people tune into this podcast each week, so if just 5% of our listeners gave an opinion every episode, we’d be there. That’s you, by the way. We want your comments and critique, especially if you’re a feedback virgin. By we I mean myself and all  the other listeners to the Daughter of Godcast.  I’m scintillating out here all by myself no doubt, but the fun jumps up a magnitude or two when you join in.

I know asking for feedback is not enough. Contributing an opinion needs to get way more tasty, thrilling, inspiring, satisfying. I’m trying to discover how to make this as good for you as it is for me. Let’s have feedback on the feedback, how can feedback be improved?

If you yearn for a more just, peaceful and sustainable human presence on planet earth, start here. Adventurous cinema awakens awareness and shifts culture. Doesn’t get more zany and adventurous than asking the interwebs to do a scene by scene deconstruction and critique of my very first feature. We’re improvising a breathtaking finale to 12 years of serendipity and stumbling.  AND the emergence of open source movie production. AND Learning to be fully alive.

Those are the stakes