Playing The Field 

• Courtesy Photo

Alexander Blocher heads up a film/music production outfit called Only Loud. At this point, it's largely a solo operation, with Blocher's frequent recordings of local bands captured through a one-camera, one-editor model. That may change at some point. In fact, a project that's on the cusp of release might be the one that moves his business into a more expansive direction.

That project is called The Field, a feature-length film that highlights 16 local bands, all "friends or friends of friends," as Blocher says. They were caught in action at local clubs throughout the fall and winter of 2021, spilling a bit into 2022. The work will receive a test screening at Brewvies (677 S. 200 West) on Monday, March 28, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

Envisioned only last autumn, the piece runs 90 minutes thanks to interstitial scenes and vignettes that allowed the film to take on a different feel than a simpler approach of featuring Band A, B, C, etc., in performance settings. Those "narrative" elements, as Blocher considers them, were also blended into the single-song showcases of each band, giving the film a cohesive, flowing feel.

"I guess it started last September, when I was filming some friends' bands at Urban Lounge," Blocher says. "It just started out as live show footage. Towards the end of the year, I wanted a 'night in retrospect,' a showcase of my work presented as an end-of-2021 kind of thing."

Though he's got a better-than-average home projection system, as you might expect, Blocher "thought it would be cool to show it in a theater." And so he will.

Though the idea hit a while back, months and months back, it's not as if Blocher was able to successfully stave off additions, or "tweaks" as he frequently refers to his 11th-hour editing additions. On a recent morning, he found himself at an SLC coffeeshop noting that he'd been up late the night before, working on edits to a film due to screen in less than two weeks. Working early, late, whenever ... it's been a bit of a rule all through March.

"I'm really riding the wave of meeting this deadline," he says. "I'm glad that I put a deadline on it. It's been weird talking to people when it's essentially not finished."

After a second's pause, he adds for emphasis, "It is finished. I'm just doing some last little tweaks."

Included among the bands represented in the film are 90s TV, Branson Anderson, Calvin Lee, Division of Doubt, Durian Durian, Fairmont, Gamma World, Idi Et Amin, Mercy Seat, Musor, Mutie, Red Bennies, Sculpture Club, Spike Hellis, Total Cereal, Worlds Worst. Some of these folks were friends prior to shooting; some became friends after.

"I honestly enjoyed hanging out with the bands the most," Blocher says. "I didn't anticipate that. I was nervous, at times, especially with members of the bands that I didn't know at all. I'm always a little socially anxious with people I don't know. And then you're hanging out with them and making something creative out of it, too. I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. It wound up being such a good experience working with everyone."

His hopes for the film aren't wild. In fact, they seem pretty practical. "Outside of this night, it would be nice to get it seen by as many people as possible," he says. "Maybe some other local theatres and organizations would like to show it. I would love for the Tower to reopen and have it shown there. It does feel like a locally-important film. So I'd like to get it into the local scene first, then would like to send it to other documentary film festivals and see what happens. The real important thing is that it's a first step. Using all the resources I have myself, I'll see how far I can push it, and then whatever happens, happens."

What will also likely happen is a trip to Oakland and San Francisco, where Blocher's got friends. Who probably have friends, too. And there's unfinished work here, building on the narrative threads that he feels were really developing into something special with The Field.

"I don't necessarily think the new project will be a feature," he says, "but I think I wanna take what I've done with this movie and expand those segments further. Go more narrative with bands, and have more planned show footage. Not necessarily a live show with an audience, but getting them somewhere interesting. I'd like to get to a point where I can have a second shooter and two cameras. Editing with that kind of set-up would be very nice."

For links to tickets to see The Field, as well as some YouTube clips of the bands featured, visit linktr.ee/onlyloud.