Instead, Dandi calls his movie “a visual feast.” Like the art films “Rivers and Tides,” “Koyaanisqati” and “Baraka,” it will use imagery and music to take viewers on a non-verbal journey. The director admits that selling the concept can be challenging. “People keep asking, ‘What’s the story?’ And we have to find a way to hit that emotional sweet spot without relying on a conventional plot line. Because it doesn’t have to be there — and in fact, I feel that its absence will make our film more powerful.”

The film will consist of 18 vignettes. (“We’re big into golf numerology,” says Clark). It won’t use voice-over narration, although it may include some spoken poetry. Clark adds, “There’s never been a golf film that’s used breathtaking images and sound in the way the artistic genre has been explored, say, for surfing — with films like ‘The Endless Summer’ and ‘Step into Liquid’ or for skiing with the Warren Miller films. Our movie will focus on the beauty and spirit of the game — its inner nature, as opposed to the PGA Tour, which you could say is about the outer nature of golf.”

“It’s kind of like a ballet. I use Motion and Shake to more tightly pull together the images and the music. Each changes the other in ways that words couldn’t convey.”

A Symphonic Film

For director Dandi, the lush look of his golf video is intimately bound with music. He’s using Digital Performer to compose the original score for the film and sees the pictures and sound as a twin entity. “When I go out to film, I shoot to the music I hear in my head,” he says. “Being in the most beautiful places in the world, like Bandon Dunes in Oregon, is so inspiring.”

Later, Dandi composes his mental music to the film he’s captured. “It’s kind of like a ballet,” he reflects. “I use Motion and Shake to more tightly pull together the images and the music. Each changes the other in ways that words couldn’t convey. And I don’t think about the tools, because I’ve used Final Cut Pro and Digital Performer for so long that they kind of disappear, and I’m just creating.”

Dandi says working on the film is like “developing a new language — I call it a symphonic film, a tone poem with music.” To demonstrate the concept to prospective sponsors, he’s crafted a two-and-a-half minute trailer. “We had to show them what we’re talking about,” he says. “They watch it and say, ‘OK, we see how your film is possible, and it’s amazing, but how are you going to sustain that for 90 minutes?’ Because they assume that we’ll keep doing the same thing they saw in the trailer, but we won’t.”

Logistical Challenges

The more immediate challenge is capturing some of the world’s greatest golf locales on film. “We’re spending about two weeks of each month on the road,” recounts Clark. “One of our biggest hurdles is simply getting our equipment to these remote locations.” To date, Dandi has shot a slew of courses in California (Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Cypress Point and others) and Oregon (Bandon Dunes), and he has his sights on such stunning spots as St. Andrews (Scotland), Ko’olau (Hawaii), Fancourt Links (South Africa) and Casa de Campo (Dominican Republic).

With about fifteen percent of the project in the can and a budget of under $3 million, both Clark and Dandi are moving ahead with brio. “The whole project is an adventure,” says Dandi. “The film isn’t scripted — we shoot in one place, and then we discover something that leads us to the next. And we’re not doing the conventional workflow, where you shoot and then edit. We’re editing in real-time along the way.

“I’ve always wanted to tackle a full-length film, but I’m too independent to work in the movie industry,” adds Dandi. “Now, with tools like Final Cut Pro, I can do it on my own. And when people ask me, ‘Where did you go to film school?’ I can show them my work. The questions about your background disappear if they can see something you made. The software lets me use these art forms at a very high level — unlike in the analog world, where you have to master the physical tasks of your craft before you can make anything good.”

He’s less driven by the need to prove himself, however, than by a desire to explore the unknown. “If I knew exactly how this project would turn out, I wouldn’t want to do it,” he says. “As an artist, you have to just start working and your idea comes into form. You set it on a path and it unfolds.”