SCREENPLAY, THE DREAM VS. BUDGET REALITIES

SCREENPLAY THE DREAM VS. BUDGET REALITIES

You wrote a great screenplay. You were dying to go out and shoot it. You sat down and did a budget breakdown and discovered that Guy Ritchie would think twice before blowing that much money. In other words you are a low budget film maker, but you wrote a big budget screenplay. 

 

This has happened to us all. 

 

The thing that you are going to have to do is set it aside until you can afford to make this film and go about writing and producing a film or two that will help you to raise the money for that script. 

 

You are going to have to learn how to write a low or micro budget screenplay. The problem with this is that most film makers only have a few clues as to how to do this. Limited locations and limited cast members is part of it, but not the whole story. Because if you are not careful you will limit yourself right out of writing a quality screenplay. Instead you will end up with a film that looks and sounds like it was paid for with food stamps. 

 

The rules of crafting a great script does not change. In fact you have to focus more or these fundamental rules when writing your low budget screenplay.

This is a chapter from my new audio book on screen writing. If you have an audible account or a kindle account you can easily check it out there. Also available on iTunes.

You see that writing a low budget screenplay is not enough. You need to write a quality one. When I started this blog many years ago I wanted to help other film makers while learning as much as I could along the way. I love movies and want to see better and better stories being told. If you go back in time to the 1930's and 40's then jump to the 70's it seems like people did know how to make great films, but since then the secret of steel was left on the battlefield. It is time to get back to making great movies again. Great movies begin with a great script. Over the next few post we are going to talk about writing.

Thank you for visiting my blog and please take a moment to share this post.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE MICRO BUDGET PUZZLE

There are those in Hollywood (the Industry) who believe that they have figured out the concept of micro budget filmmaking.

 There are those who went to film schools and worked on big budget films who believe that they can drop down and play in this digital filmmakers world. A few filmmakers have mentioned to me that they are worried about an invasion from the big boys as if the Avengers are going to show up armed with Dslr cameras and Zoom recorders. I wish that they would. They would not last long out here on the frontier. You know, down here in the fields where we fight for our meals.

Before I continue I want you to take a look at a fantastic video that was posted on what a 200 million dollar budget looks likes.

 

 Can you imagine those pay checks? I am a screen writer and I do not think that the writer is worth that much money up front, especially if you wrote any of the last mega budget super hero films. I could produce and distribute five feature films with name actors for what the script supervisor gets paid. Then again all of us would love to hit it big with a micro budget film so that Hollywood would come knocking and throw a few million at us.

 Look at it this way, the industry list micro budget as 250,000 dollars. That is their floor.

Now let’s look at what is meant by low budget film making and then micro budget. I would like you to picture it this way. If a film shoot was a date, low budget is burgers at Five Guys, without the bacon or cheese and micro budget is grilled cheese sandwiches at your place, the bread is the dollar loaf for the dollar store and the cheese is that orange stuff that is 99 cents a pack in the supermarket. You know the cheese they do not even have to keep in the refrigerators. All real micro budget film makers know where to find this bread and cheese because we feed it to our cast and crew.

 



  

Bonus footage:::: Here is sort of a Ted talk for the producers out there. I love this advice and let us all remember that producers are people too and they are the ones with all the grey hairs.




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Sophie’s Fortune, Action Adventure On a Micro Budget

It is sort of an adventure to write about and get to know indie film makers. I would equate it to the classic version of Doctor Who where the Doctor, (Tom Baker people) would pull a lever and would not have a clue where he landed his ship until he stepped outside. I get sent links to check out all the time. Sometimes it is to a trailer and other times it is a short film or even a feature. About a month ago someone was good enough to send me a link to Sophie’s Fortune. They said it was the best micro budget action adventure short film that they had ever seen. After watching the film that makes at least two of us.
What I would like you guys to do now is to watch the complete short below. Share it and then read my interview with the film maker Chris Cronin about the making of the film.

Q) When people think low budget short film most envision a story set inside a house with two to four actors involved. They do not imagine an eighties style action adventure.  What is Sophie’s Fortune about and what made you think that it could be done on a micro budget?

A) Brendan gets involved in a 'Fathers only' treasure hunt for the sake of his 7 year old niece Sophie and the parents imagination get the better of them as they go on an epic adventure. Sophie's Fortune is about fathers pride and the fact they are still big kids with imagination. It’s a kids film for grown ups in a weird way.

The main aim of Sophie's Fortune was to not play to the restrictions of the short film format and the expectations that come with short films. We didn't really know at first if we could pull it off and that was half the fun of it but I was confident. I've been told a few times that you get to make the films you want to make when you get the big budgets, you definitely need a budget to make films like 'Jaws' and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' but we thought what the hell let’s see what we can accomplish on our own. With short films you always have to worry about budget restraints, time restraints, festival requirements and even though I can appreciate that it' good to work to restrictions, with this one we just threw caution to the wind and made something we'd like to watch.

Q) I am from the home of the mega budget block buster while with the exception of the James Bond movies, (most of which are actually filmed around the world) the UK does not produce these types of films?  Is this just a trend or are these kind of movies not well received there?

A) If I look at it realistically I think it’s because adventure movies require a certain amount of distance to travel for it to be an adventure whereas the UK is a lot smaller so it’s easier and cheaper to travel coast to coast in just a short car ride. Plus there are certain restrictions on the use of weapons in public and the gun laws are much different. I think we’d love to make these kinds of movies but there definitely doesn’t seem to be a big need for them right now. The idea of making a summer blockbuster style UK action/adventure appealed to us, in part, because we realised no one was doing anything like it (fan films aside) and also because it would be something we'd personally really like to watch.

Not many short films have attempted the adventure genre, especially here in the UK, but we didn’t believe that where we came from, or what budget we had, should define how we use our imagination in film. Why can’t someone from England go on a glorious adventure with mysterious treasure and dangerous puzzles?


Q) I guess I should get to the technique film making questions.  First one that has to be asked is what did you shoot with? Also would you have selected a different camera if you had it all to do over again?

A) This was made over 2 years ago so we used a Canon 7D with no prime lenses at the start and decided to see it through. It was an outdoor shoot so we didn’t require lighting other than hand-held LED’s and reflectors for the actors faces. The glide track was the greatest weapon for creating that cinematic movement and it saved a lot of time laying down tracks. I think we’d all have liked to shoot this film on something a bit bigger like an Alexa or a RED but post-production would have been an absolute nightmare with all the visual effects on 4K. The 7D was pretty good for the run and gun shooting style that we utilised when bad weather was creeping in on us. I'd love to shoot a more refined story with a Red Epic now that I've had the chance to play with one. That would be a lot of fun.


Q) What was budget on this film and how long did it take to shoot?

A) The budget was £2,000 and that was used to feed the cast and crew and cover expenses. Some of the guys chipped in and everybody involved was really supportive with helping to cut financial corners where we could in the aim to make a great film. It was a massive collaboration and couldn’t have been achieved without the support of everyone. The fountain head in the film was a huge prop build and should have cost a fortune but Joshua Michaelson believed in the project and wanted to be involved so that was his contribution. Same with the amazing post-production visual effects team. Everybody wanted to make an Indiana Jones film so they jumped in. The first block of filming took two weeks but we had to stop due to the Autumn weather so we picked it up again in Spring for another 2 weeks. It really felt like a feature production but with a short film crew. Some of the action set pieces took all day, like the running along the wall scene and it’s very difficult to get the entire cast in one location when they are not being paid up into the hills for 10 hours. From pre-production to post-production it took us about 2 years to complete the film, that was mainly because we were making the film as we were going along and it kept expanding.


Q) You pulled together a great cast. Where did you find your actors?

A) This was a bit of a self-indulgent endeavour so I pulled in all of the actors that I had worked with or wanted to work with in the past. Some roles were written specifically for the actor such as Steve McTigue’s character the Great White Hunter. Whereas for others I had to find actors to suit the role such as Adam Baroni and Donald Standen who have action films written in their DNA. I was really lucky to find those two specifically in the UK and as a bonus they have on-screen fight training which was a big win. Simon Hardwick, who plays the lead, has been a good friend of mine for a long time and he has gone on to do some big things in the West End but wanted to sink his teeth into something a bit different and with his training he was brilliant at choreographing the fight scenes with Adam. Simon’s dedication to the film is the reason we were able to finish the film. I joked that he was Bruce Campbell sometimes as I put him through hell like Sam Raimi did to Bruce on 'Evil Dead'.


Q) One of the draw backs of shooting an action adventure film is the size of the cast and crew required even on a low budget production. How did you deal with feeding everyone?

A) We just kept things as simple as possible, it was mostly sandwiches unfortunately, nothing fancy. And on the long days the cast would chip in themselves. This project was our film school and we realised the importance of feeding the cast and crew regularly to keep the energy and morale going and everybody happy. Everybody realised the mountain we were trying to climb and were happy to contribute where they could so we were pretty lucky in that area.


Q) The action part of action adventure gives many film makers nightmares because of the stunts that are required to make it look realistic. Every guy from the age of five to sixty five thinks that they can do it better than Jackie Chan, but reality usually comes crashing in after the first strained wrist. How much training went into getting the cast ready to do stunt work and did everyone do their own stunts?

A) Yes, they did, and there were a few bumps and grazes but not in the scenes you’d expect! It was just being a large group out in the countryside with rough surfaces etc that did it. We were very lucky to have a healthy cast with a level headed approach. I had to be pulled back sometimes but I managed to achieve the wall slam after a bit of reworking the wires. Simon is a dancer so he has a lot of strength and stamina and a great ability to remember choreography which made him incredible for action sequences. Adam has a professional wrestling background too so he knew how to fake a punch and be safe at the same time. He and Donald also had on-screen combat training as I mentioned which was a very useful thing to have, everyone else was able to follow their leads and with the use of a bit of camera trickery, we were able to pull off the fight scenes. I think. The rest of the cast focused on shooting the crap out of things and throwing out one liners.

 Q) Clearly there are a lot of visual effects in this film. Who did the effects and what type of software was used?

A) Numerous people were involved in the visual effects, again it was no budget so only those who were interested in showing off their skills contributed and t was mostly done in Adobe After Effects. Even I edited quite a few of the scenes as did the Producer and the DOP. Daniel Buckle was the magic man who did the CG fountain in Maya/3D Max and that was because it was part of his final major project at university. We were very lucky that we had a good group of visual effects people wanting to flex their creative muscles. Some of them work on hollywood blockbusters, but given that they usually work as part of a massive team they may have only been responsible for smaller effects such as dust, whereas in SF they were responsible for all of the effects in a shot so they could fully own their work. We had to wait for Jupiter's Ascending to finish to get Sophie's Fortune done!



Q) Having grown up during the eighties I loved this film at first sight.  Clearly I see a little Raiders of the Lost Ark in this movie. What other movies were you influenced by?

A) Thanks Rodney, that's really cool of you to say. The list of inspiration is as long as my arm, some of them conscious and others subconsciously. I grew up on films like that too so I share the love. There are some old and some new. It was meant to be a grown up Goonies meets Indiana Jones but there are elements of Jumanji; The Mummy; Romancing in the Stone; Predator; Commando; and the more recent stuff being Uncharted and a list of anime, believe it or not. Everything I’ve ever made has influences from Cowboy Bebop, sometimes without me even realising it.


Q) I miss the days of films that featured good old fashion guy on guy violence with the clever one liner thrown in at the perfect moment. Forgetting the Expendables, do you think that we will ever return to movies like that minus robots and aliens and guys wearing capes?

A) Oh yeah, I think film trends are like swings and roundabouts, when we get fed up of the serious stuff there’ll be a need for these type of movies again and then after that we'll want the serious stuff. Dark Knight was so successful because it took comic books to a darker place and so there were copycats and the answer to that was Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy who had fun with the material. The action adventure genre will be back when it's needed but the type of hero is likely to adapt just like what they did with Sherlock Holmes. The modern adaptation of Indiana Jones, in my opinion, is Nathan Drake (Uncharted) I’d be happier to see a trilogy from that than another Indiana Jones film. It was a perfect trilogy, goddamnitt.


Q) Was there ever a moment during film or watching it later where you thought that this could have been expanded to feature length?

A) I think instead of making a feature version of Sophie Fortune I’d rather make something with the same tone, the story for SF was never the main focus, it was just a MacGuffin that allowed us to go to the jungle in the UK. I think if it was a feature film the audiences would be annoyed that it was all in their imagination, we would have to adapt it to be more in the real world to pull it off effectively. I think it would have to be a different story set in the UK without guns, maybe a crazy old Grandad leaves heritage to a grandson who goes on an adventure to find it - something like that would be more fun and realistic for a feature adaptation. The producer of SF is definitely considering a feature adaption as he’s a big fan of the genre too. He's keep a close eye on Tomorrowland to see how they do it.


Q) I am asking this question as John Williams begins work on the score to the new Star Wars film. I wish more films had orchestral film scores, who did the music for the movie?

A) We were very fortunate to have Carlos Rubio on this film who shared the same passion for this style of score, which you don’t hear much anymore. There’s a great story about Robert Zemeckis on Back to the Future where he told the composer that the film is simply a kid with family issues who travels to the same place over and over. He said the score needs to sound like Marty McFly is saving the world and holy crap it's probably one of the best themes to a film ever. I spoke to Carlos in a similar way with SF as really I just made an action adventure film, Carlos made it into an epic. He did an amazing job and it shows because he's already nabbed two awards for it.

Q) Is there a feature film in the future?

A) Yes there is actually, it’s a supernatural horror that is in the final stages of development with a studio. If my producer can get an adventure film off the ground with a great story then we’d happily do that! But for the rest of this year I’m sticking with shorts - the latest being 2AM which is a creepy thriller set in a diner, again something more likely to come from America than the UK.


Q) Who are the film makers that influenced you?

A) The only real inspiration on SF in terms of directors is Steven Spielberg - this really is his playground. I'd really like to shoot an action film with John Mctiernan also in mind in the future. All other inspirations are from other genres really like Ridley Scott, Rian Johnson, Park Chan-Wook and David Fincher. Do the best you can, try to live it down.


Q) Any advice for the beginning film maker?

A) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, experiment and enjoy doing it. You're not going to figure out what kind of filmmaker you are by playing it safe. Also, you won’t learn by somebody telling you what to do, you learn from your own experiences. As Mr Sunscreen said "Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. …But trust me on the sunscreen."

Thanks again Chris for doing this interview. If you would like to visit his website click here. I would like to end by showing the trailer for his upcoming short film 2 A.M.

Found Footage 3D, The Interview PART 1

This is going to be a two part interview with Steven DeGennaro, the film maker behind Found Footage 3D. At the moment he is in the middle of a Indiegogo campaign for his film. If you would like to check out the campaign you can do so by clicking here.   In you wish to know more about the project you can visit the website by clicking here.

If you thought that making a found footage film is easy I think that you are about to lose some of your illusions. It is easy to make a movie. Record ninety minutes of footage and cut it together and you got a movie. The problem is that making a good movie requires much more than this. It requires months and in some cases years of planning. Followed by endless weeks of shooting and re-shooting and then the hard work begins, it is called post production. I have interviewed a guy who shot a film in a day, I have seen it and it was not very good. I interviewed the director of Joker Rising which was shoot in six days ( shoot in six days, but there were months of pre and post production) and many believe that it is the best fan film ever made. You can shoot, edit and distribute a movie with your iphone, this does not mean that if you wish to be a film maker, whether found footage, epic fantasy or straight drama you do not need to learn all that you can about writing, lighting, editing and a hundred other things that go into making a great film. I know that many readers have taken the found footage series of post lightly while planning to shoot their own found footage films. If you plan to do it as a hobby then take to it any way you wish, but if this is going to be your profession then invest the time and effort to learn how to do it as well as possible.

Let’s get to part one of a two part interview.






Q) You are in the middle of an Indiegogo campaign for your 3D found footage film.
What is the plot and what will make it different from the other found footage films out there?

A) Found Footage 3D tells the story of a group of filmmakers who go out to a cabin the woods of Central Texas to shoot “the first 3D found-footage horror movie”, but end up in a found footage horror movie when the evil entity from their film starts showing up in their behind-the-scenes footage.  What Scream did for slasher movies, we aim to do for found footage.  Like Scream, our characters know all of the rules, tricks, and clichés of the genre, and we use that structure to comment on and poke fun at the tired tropes of found footage, while at the same time, turning them on their heads and executing an effective scary movie.

Q) Hollywood uses 3D as a way of milking more cash out of audiences for its tent pole films, with the occasional film that was meant to be seen in this format like Avatar and Inception. I would image that in this case 3D has been selected for the effect that it will have on the audience rather than any box office concerns?

A)The 3D is an essential part of the storytelling, for me.  We certainly didn’t undertake the decision lightly.  So on the most basic level, we’re shooting in 3D because the lead character of our movie, a charismatic but ultimately soulless movie producer, decides that if he shoots “the first 3D found footage horror movie,” he will make a killing at the box office.  So right away, we’re almost sort of making fun of ourselves for doing the same thing.

But at the same time, once we had given ourselves a good reason to do it, I decided very early on that we had to do some cool stuff with it.  And found footage—especially a movie about people who are making a movie—allows us to do some things that no one has ever seen before.  We have the practically limitless depth-of-field of a consumer camcorder, which means that rather than having the subject be in focus, and everything in front or behind him being out of focus, the viewer can choose what he or she wants to focus on in any given shot.  That allowed us to really compose shots with a ton of depth in them, with multiple layers, rather than just “here’s an actor; here’s a bunch of fuzzy stuff behind him.”

Also, because our villain is itself a creation of the very footage it inhabits, it can do things within the footage that wouldn’t necessarily make sense in a more traditional movie.  Things like moving from one screen to another as people watch footage on a monitor, or appearing differently in one eye than in the other.  That kind of stuff.



Q) There are a few ways to shoot a 3D movie. The easiest is to set up two identical cameras side by side and in post blend the footage to produce a 3D image. What types of cameras did you use to shoot the film? Also when shooting on a budget, you sometimes have to trade the camera that would be perfect for the job for what you can afford. Any cameras that you wanted that you just could not afford?

A)The beauty of found footage (from a budgetary point of view) is that you get to shoot on cheaper cameras. Indeed, in my opinion, to really do it right, you are required to shoot on cheaper cameras.  There’s a certain aesthetic that’s required in found footage.  If it looks too nice, then it works against your suspension of disbelief.  I’ve seen found footage movies that were clearly shot on state-of-the-art big-budget cameras with full Hollywood lighting, and then the character looks at himself in a mirror and you see this little dinky handheld camcorder and it pulls you out of the story because you know that camera couldn’t possibly look that good.

From even before we decided to shoot in 3D, I wanted the aesthetic of the film to be very lo-fi and real.  So when we made the decision to shoot in 3D, we did a bunch of research on readily-available 3D camcorders and we settled on the Panasonic z10000.  It’s a camcorder with two lenses side by side, and it operates more-or-less the same way any prosumer camcorder does, with the exception of being able to change the convergence of the 3D effect (which can further be tweaked in post as well).  So we bought 3 of them (two of which appear in the film, with a third as a back-up in case we broke one of the other two).

We also bought a 3D GoPro rig to shoot “surveillance” footage.  Because of the wide-angle lens and the fact that the cameras are not necessarily 100% aligned when you shoot, that footage was a little more difficult to deal with in post, but it looks really cool when we’re done.  Again, this is something that most people have never seen before.

Q) The found footage genre is the genre that has experienced the most growth during the last two years while also receive the most hate from hardcore film goers. For every Paranormal Activity, there are five films like Crowsnest, Area 407 and Devil’s Due.  Can this genre make it long term or are we talking disco?

A) We live in a time where everybody in the Western world carries a camera in their pocket at all times.  One hundred hours of footage are uploaded to YouTube every single minute.  The news, our Facebook feeds, our Twitter feeds, and TV news are filled with footage shot by everyday people.  Terrorists upload videos of beheadings.  Protestors film cops. Cops film car chases.  Surveillance cameras watch a lot of what we do in public spaces.  Journalists and citizens alike film war and political unrest across the world.

So no... I don’t think that the idea of telling a story through the eyes of one of the characters in that story is a style that is going to go away anytime soon.

Q) The thing unique to the found footage genre is how so many of the film makers that I have interviewed approach the writing of their films in totally different ways. Film maker A may write a complete screenplay in standard format. Film maker B may craft an outline of scenes and piece it together in rehearsals. Film maker C comes up with a title, a basic beginning middle and end point and allows his or her actors to improvise the film from that point on. What approach did you take to crafting the screenplay?

A) I admire the balls it takes to go into a situation where you don’t know the story, you don’t have the beats of a scene in mind, you make everything up pretty much on the fly.  That’s how they did Blair Witch, which is still, in my opinion, one of the best horror movies ever made.  They got great results, and they also spent a hell of a lot of time crafting the movie in the editing room.  But it could just as easily been a complete disaster, and unfortunately, for many filmmakers, that’s exactly what happens.

At the same time, if you over-plan, you end up with something that starts to feel rehearsed and stilted, and you lose the realness that found footage relies on for a lot of its best moments.  So I didn’t want to necessarily script out everything.

So the screenplay was a constantly evolving process for me that took over two years from initial idea to the time we rolled cameras.  My first few drafts left a lot of detail—particularly the dialog—intentionally vague.  I think it came in at about 60 pages or so.  But then people had a hard time really envisioning the characters and the finished movie in their heads, and that made it difficult to get certain people—like Kim Henkel and some of our investors—on board.

So I went through and I wrote out a lot of the dialog, knowing that I was going to eventually scrap a lot of it once we were on set.  I’m glad I did, though.  In fleshing out the beats of each scene, I was able to connect more with who the characters were, which helped a lot in casting the film and in shooting it on a really tight schedule.




Q) Where and how did you find your actors and did you give them any room to improvise during shooting?

A)The most important thing for me was to make sure that the characters never felt like they were saying lines.  So the actors had free reign to use their own words any time they wanted to.  At the same time, because a large number of the scenes had to play out in long single takes from a single camera, I couldn’t let them just meander around a scene for hours and hope to fix it in the editing room.

So the first thing we did was spend three days on the set—just me, the actors, and the director of photography—talking through and rehearsing each scene.  The beats of every scene were there in the script, but they had a lot of room to improvise around those beats.  We used the rehearsal process to figure out what scenes and lines were really working, and which ones weren’t, and I went and did some rewrites based off of that.  That allowed us to show up on set and shoot very very quickly, because we’d already worked out a lot of the kinks beforehand.

During the shoot, we then didn’t do many additional rehearsals right before shooting, so that the actors could keep fresh and be spontaneous.  Often they’d nail it on take 1 or 2.  Sometimes, when we got to take 6 or 7, they’d start feeling too rehearsed, and we’d throw in a take or two where they got to completely toss out the script and have fun.  We very rarely used those takes in the finished film, but they usually loosened things up enough that the next take, which was much closer to the scripted scene, worked really well and found the perfect balance between improvisation and structure.

In the end, we had a mixture that was probably about 85% highly structured scenes with improvised dialog, 15% of what we called “marshmallow moments,” where we set up a scenario and the actors just freeformed it for ten or fifteen minutes and we jump cut the best parts, and then a rare scene or two where we ended up with the dialog very very close to what was written on the page.

It was a very unique way of working, and it never would have worked if the actors we got weren’t so damn good at it.  We went through a pretty traditional casting process. I spent several months watching audition tapes—I eventually saw over a thousand auditions from over ten thousand submissions—and then we had in-person callbacks for my favorites for each role, where I got to see them with the other actors.  It was actually very easy to eliminate about 80% of the hopefuls right away, because despite explicit instructions that I wanted them to use their own words and not stick to the script, most actors just can’t pull that off.  They either stick exactly to the script, or they improvise and are just really, really bad at it.

In the end, we ended up with six lead actors that had amazing chemistry together and were really great at exactly the kind of improv we needed for the film to work.




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Film Makers Advice, Horror Films

The great thing about being a film maker is that others who have come before you are willing to give advice. Some of the worlds greatest film makers have left behind hours and hours of film making advice. From big budget film makers to low budget masters these men and women have recorded their experiences on video, film and with the written word.

 I love advice from film makers so much that I do interviews with those whom I admire. I love to learn new things that can only be told to me by those who are out there in the trenches. I wrote a book about film making with the core lessons being provided by the hardest working micro budget digital film makers on earth. I hope that before you begin your journey as a film maker you will pick up the book or the one that is to follow and take the advice of those film makers.

 Okay I admire so many film makers from the past and the presence that it was hard to pick just a few of them for this post so I will do at least three post like this with a different subject being covered in each. The advice today is on horror film making.

The first film maker is Guillermo del Toro. I believe that he is one of the greatest directors on earth. It sort of broke my heart when he dropped out of shooting Hobbit, but I understand his reasons. 

   

 Next up is advice from the film maker behind the Conjuring, James Wan.

 

  Next up is the film maker behind the greatest horror film of all time. You can debate this amongst your selves, but on most list, including mine is The Exorcist.

 

  I am adding his quick interview about the sequel to his masterpiece and how much it sucked.

 

 Next up is a film maker from my home town Philadelphia. Now cut that out, he has made a few great films. Also I would like to say that he produced and co wrote The Devil, a movie that is a tight as hell character driven low budget horror film. I am talking about M. Night Shyamalan.

  

 Next is John Carpenter, the great film maker behind The Thing, Halloween, The Fog and Escape from New York.

 

   

 Val Lewton is a name that every horror film maker should investigate. He was a producer who built the foundation for every horror film to follow his Cat People. I could not find an interview with him, but he did leave behind some great footage.

 
 Next is foreign horror film makers and I will limit this to two film makers. First up is Dario Argento the legendary Italian Film maker.

 


 The second interview is with Takashi Miike, I believe that he is the greatest living director. That is my opinion, most of you will differ. He has directed every genre known to man including musicals and westerns. Here is a littlr interview along with the trailer to one of his films.


 


 
 

 That will be it for today. Thank you for visiting and please take a moment to share this post and to consider checking out my book of interviews.



  

iPhone Filmmaking Spring 2014

Many of you know that I also run a blog on iPhone film making click here, but today I thought that I would address the subject here on this blog.

 For the low budget digital film maker the iphone 4s and iphone 5 have become a more attractive option for the beginning film maker. The day is coming where a feature length film shot using an iphone is going to be a main stream release. A movie shoot featuring A list stars with an A list release budget. Perhaps that first major feature will be shot by one of you. If you are unaware of the basics that you will need to shoot a film using your iphone I will try to catch you up.

You will need something to steady the image. Hand held will not work no matter how steady your hands may be. This can be solved by purchasing a simple attachment that will allow you to mount your iphone to a standard tripod or monopod. You can also invest in a steadicam or DIY one yourself.

 


   

Just like with a dlsr camera you need to adjust the frame rate at which images are to be recorded. You can do this with the app known at Filmic Pro or the slightly less popular Almost Dslr.




 Now you are ready to shoot your first iphone film. Like all types film making you learn most by doing so I would suggest practicing you shooting a few short films. Some of the best work in this area is being done in overseas. Here are two great examples of what can be done with an iphone 5. The first film is titled Echoes. The second film is from perhaps the world’s best iphone film maker Conrad Mess, The Other Side.

 


 

 Thank you for visiting my blog. Please take a moment to share this post with a friend or on your facebook page.

 In closing I would like to say that I am sorry that I have not posted in a few weeks. I had a computer meltdown and lost a lot of files and research. From this I learned to back up the important stuff online. Right now I am using google drive until I fine a pay option that suits my needs. If you are a film maker you probably have a ton of work stored on one computer. Screenplays and contact information and promotional material. Hopefully you back up your actual films on an external hard drive. If you do not then make getting a external hard drive job one. Imagine losing months of work in the blink of an eye.

Okay that is it. Good luck and I will be getting back to the found footage series of post. Next up with be trailers from some upcoming found footage films while I finish up an interview with a film maker.

Digital Filmmaking, The Encounter Interview

  Digital Filmmaking, The Encounter Interview


 When I decided to do a series of post on low budget scifi I had no idea that there was so much of it out there and that it would come in some many forms. Today the interview that I have for you will be with Chad Farmer, Director of the short film Encounter. This is a found footage film (stop that, put the bottle of pills down. This is a good one.) that fits with the theme of the last few post. I also have to say that it a very invented micro budget film. Shot using a Gopro, an iPhone and a Webcam, this is a case of using what the scene calls. So many times we get married to one piece of equipment and will use it whether or not it fits. I have seen too many low budget found footage films where the film maker loved the look that was provided by a Dslr camera that they overlooked the fact that a camcorder or a iPhone would have made more sense within the plot and would have made the actual filming process a lot easier.

Okay lets get to the interview. You can check out Chad’s other work on Youtube if you like this film.

Q) The first question has to be what is Encounter about?

A) Encounter is about a husband documenting his wife's sleepwalking which leads them to the unexpected. It's also about them repairing their relationship after losing their unborn son.



Q). I have always been a fan of using the best tool to get the job done. You used a webcam, a go pro and a iphone to shoot this film. Was this well plan as you were writing the script?


A) Yea, the gopro and iphone were always in the plan and the webcam came later in the writing process as it was just another variety and look to add to the story. and the webcam was kind of their place to talk to each other together and not so separated and they rediscover and repair their relationship on their journey.



Q) How did combining the different methods of shooting work out in editing?

A) It was a beast. I learned the hard way. Editing software likes everything to be the same size, framerate and codec and of course my three cameras were all different. haha. There are ways around everything which takes more time and work which is ok in this case because of the complete free way of working. I wanted the camera choices to serve the story and not the editing driving the camera choices.
So I edited in adobe premiere in a 1280x720 sequence which is what the webcam footage was and that was the most footage i would be cutting so i went with that size and format to edit in. gopro footage was shot at 1080 and scaled down to 720. The iphone footage was the real problem. I used a 4s but the problem with iphone footage straight out of the camera is that not every clip had the same framerate. some were 30fps, some were 24fps, some were less, etc.....Also, premiere did not like format. It was hard to scrub, playback, or do anything with the clips without freezing, chugging, etc. So I had to transcode all iphone clips in mpeg streamclip to make it easier to work with. If I used iphone to shoot anything again I would use an app like FilmicPro to lock in framerate, etc....




Q) I am from the less is more school of FX. The practical FX worked very well in this film. Was there any thoughts of using any CGI?

A) I'm totally with you. I actually had more vfx in there but in the end i decided to cut them and keep it simple and keep it about the characters. This was going to be a feature but it seemed like it was trying to hit a certain time and was more of a distraction from the characters.



Q) While some have attempted to shoot entire films and I am talking feature length using the iphone, I have looked at it as solid tool to be used under certain circumstances or when it is the best option available. Do you plan on using it on future projects? Also did the quality of footage it provided surprise you?

A) The quality was good but it served my story and would use it again if a story calls for it. Also, if it's all you got, use it.


Q) I am in the middle of writing an ebook on making found footage films. From the film makers I have interview about the subject no two of them approach it the same way. Some script it as if they are shooting a standard film right down to every word of dialogue. Others only provide their actors with the camera to be used and a basic sketch of what they are suppose to say and do.
How did you approach the scripting your film?

A) This was a narrative experiment. I wanted to do something different. So the script for this one was a list of about 35 scenes. For each scene I wrote a small description of a sentence or two of what needed to happen and any bullet points of what needed to be said or discussed in the scene.


Q) How much direction is involved in shooting a film of this type?

A) The most direction came from the editing process. Since a lot of it was a single shot on the webcam I could jumpcut through the scene to create certain moods or feelings. Dig through the mud to find the best stuff.
There was not a lot of camera direction while shooting since I wanted it to feel like real people were using and operator their own cameras just like in real life. We would talk a few minutes before shooting a scene to get the right mood and emotions and then the actors would shoot it. Most scenes were done in 1 take to capture that spontaneous energy. All scenes were done in 3 or less takes. Most in 1 take.


Q) When working with the actors how time did you have before shooting to rehearse them and get them use to improvising with each other?

A) I didn't want to rehearse at all. I wanted it to feel like normal people were filming stuff at home.
I did an audition process to find the best pairing of actors. I would have different actors do improv exercises with each other and then mix and match them to see what the best fits were. I got to meet a lot of new and great actors that I hope I can work with someday. I was so lucky to have 2 great actors. They did such a great job. It was really up to them to drive this project or it would not have worked.


Q) A few general film making questions. What film maker do you look to for inspiration?

A) I grew up on Spielberg so he will always be up there. but there are so many like Hitchcock, Tarantino, Alfonso Cuaron, Peter Jackson, Fincher, Kubrick, Scorsese, Mallick, Aronofsky, Derek Cianfrance.....I could go on forever....


Q) Is there a feature film in your near future?

A) Yes. I was just going through some ideas today.

Q) What is the advice that you wish someone had given you about film making when you first started out?

A) Just shoot. I love the latest and greatest cameras and all the coolest tech and we all get caught up in waiting for the best cameras and stuff but just shoot with what you have or can get.

***

That will be it for today. A topic that I want to touch upon in the near future is the Hollywood studio idea of replacing the Franchise model with what is called a Shared Universe. A universe of characters that exist in the same place and time while only coming together ever three or four years for a mega project. The Avengers is the best example of this. Where each Hero has a stand alone film and are brought together for a combined project to max out their box office potential.

Could this be done by a group of film makers on a micro budget level? I think that it could, but they call us indie film makers for a reason. That indie streak is hard to overcome even if there could be massive financial rewards waiting at the end of the rainbow. Not to mention the chance to do some grand arc story telling. Stories where villains and their origins can be explored as fully as those of the heroes. Where characters can be developed and transformed by multiple film makers that would lead toward something greater than a reason to level New York city again.

Something to think about. Please leave comments on the subject.

Sci-fi Film Making, The Arrowhead Interview

This post will continue my series on sci-fi and low budget film making. The more I learn about how so many film makers are shoot more and more films in this genre the more I believe that someone is going to break out of the pact and we are going to see a low budget blockbuster in the same way that we witness the Blair Witch project catch fire almost fifteen years ago. Think about it this way. Producing a film that can have within it CGI that could rival that of the major studios can be done right now on a micro budget. We are at a point where the only things that are holding the low budget world back is ambition and execution.

Right now I would like to share my interview with the producer of what will be the feature length version of Arrowhead.  I would like to thank Eric for taking the time to do this interview with in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign.  The short film version of what is to come cost less than seven hundred dollars to produce.  Most Hollywood productions spend more on coffee in a day.

Arrowhead: Signal - Behind the Scenes from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.

This is my full interview with the executive producer of the film Eric Machiela.    

You can find their crowdfunding page at this link.       

Q)  There is a growing trend in the low to micro budget film world toward shooting sci-fi features. How long have you been planning to make to shoot this film?

A) There was a time when sci-fi movies were either backyard VHS fan films or multimillion dollar blockbusters. Today the technology is so much more affordable that everyone’s able to create at a much more professional level. It makes sense that the kind of film geeks interested and crazy enough to push and play with this new technology would want to create in the same genre they loved growing up. For me the Arrowhead journey started around four years ago, but it’s really an accumulation of all the sci-fi movies and comic books I consumed as a kid. Now it’s more about making good sci-fi than it ever has been, because there’s so much competition.

Q) I forgot to ask the most obvious question. What is the film about?

A) The short answer is that it tells the story of a mercenary stranded on a desert planet, battling a mysterious creature with only a computer to keep him company. But on another level it’s about imprisonment, isolation, and what it means to be a ‘good’ person. Those are some heavy themes so we’re hoping that wrapping it all up in a colourful and exciting package will soften but at the same time reinforce them.

Q)  Back in the late seventies / early eighties Australia started a revolution in post- apocalyptic road movies. You are the second film maker from your part of the globe that is attempting a sci-fi film on a low budget. Is it hard mounting a sci-fi film there through whatever studio system exist there?

A) There is a ‘studio’ system in Australia, although it’s a government funded film commission that we’re essentially bypassing because we’re involved with a subscription television channel. So I suppose the experience of pitching to a channel, being funded by them and then having to deliver a product for them to distribute is similar to the American studio process, but it’s all gone so smoothly that I can’t really say I’ve really experienced what it’s like to navigate through any system. We’re very lucky in that regard. If I had gone with the government model, based on history I think I would have had a hard time getting a science fiction project off the ground, certainly this project because of its scope. What we’re doing is a big risk on paper, as I imagine a lot of other less fortunate projects are, so it’s no wonder a lot of people attempt getting their movies off the ground using less traditional methods. And if Arrowhead’s journey in any way resembles part of another new wave like the one Australia had in the 70s and 80s, then I’ll feel like we’ve achieved something really special.

Q) The one question that every beginning film maker seems to ask no matter the size and or scope of the production is. What camera or cameras are you planning on shooting the film with? If you had an unlimited budget would your choices be different?

A) We’re shooting Arrowhead on the RED Epic, which is what they used to shoot The Hobbit, Thor: The Dark World, Pacific Rim, and countless other amazing looking productions. If I had an unlimited budget, I’d like to say I’d use 35mm film simply because of my love of classic films shot on celluloid, and to keep that tradition alive. But in the digital realm RED is the gold standard, and the end product is arguably no different. The movie’s going to look stunning thanks to these amazing cameras.

Q) When most hear sci-fi film they think special effect. I on the other hand think sound. From Forbidden Planet to Star Wars, to Alien, to Pitch Black I remember the smooth sound of those films. How important is recording quality audio going to be?

A) Sound is just as important as image, which is easy to forget because you can’t see it. You can’t put good sound on a poster. So our sound designers, location recordist and composer are all going to be working very closely together in the same way I’ll be working closely with the production designer, cinematographer and effects artists. We’re creating a desert world that has to sound unique but also has to generate a certain aural tone. The fact that our main character is alone most of the time means that filling that silence is even more important.

Q) What do you think of the state of sci-fi films and television these day?

A) In a lot of ways there’s never been a better time for sci-fi. We’re able to go and see several mega-budgeted sci-fi films on the big screen every year, so we’re very lucky. For every E.T. there was always a Mac and Me, so even though I believe the best stuff came from that 70s/80s period, it’s not like everything back then was great. These days I think the highs aren’t as good as they used to be, but the overall quality is more consistent. I’m a little put off by all the CGI saturation in everything, and the idea that sequels have to be bigger and more explodey is starting to get on my nerves. I’m a little tired of cities being destroyed in every summer blockbuster’s third act, so I’m hoping the trend will start to shift back again. Whether now is a good time to enter the game is another question, but there’s certainly enough inspiration to draw from.

Q)  I guess that I should ask a few FX questions. Will this film feature a great deal of CGI or are you going to do a lot of practical FX?

A) We’re trying to base a lot of what happens in the movie on what skills we already have. That’s why you saw a lot of digital matte paintings (alien horizons, planets in the sky) in the short film. That’s within our skill set, so we’re embracing that again. There won’t be a lot of heavy CGI, partly because of budgetary reasons but honestly mostly because we embrace practical over digital with a strong passion. Anything that we can do in camera will be done - digital extensions will only happen if they’re completely necessary. When Kye encounters the creature, for example, it’ll be a real creation that will exist on set and that can be lit and interacted with for real. There’s not enough of this happening anymore.

Q) Are you doing the effects work yourself or are you going to outsource this work?

A) If we’re talking digital effects, we’re anticipating 80% of the work will be done within our existing team (myself, our editor and VFX artists), and 20% will be outsourced. We’re completely outsourcing our effects makeup and creature creation, because it’s something we haven’t personally done. The challenge as a director is making sure all of these diverse methods and elements come together to form a consistent whole.

Q) Part of the fun of being an indie film maker is inventing new ways to get things done. To get the most production value out of the least amount of money possible. Watching the short film version of Arrowhead Signal it is amazing to think that you managed to do that for about six hundred dollars. Were there moments of doubt that it would get done?

A) The biggest moment of doubt was the second day of our desert shoot, when one of our crew cars had an accident. Nobody was seriously hurt but for the next few days it was looking pretty scary, and we lost a lot of our props. So at that point I was worried we wouldn’t have a complete story, because that was our last chance to be in the desert. In the end though, it worked out better because we lost a lot of planned scenes that weren’t needed. The climax of the short film, where Kye and Reef stand together on the mountain, was shot months later at a much less spectacular location than we had planned. But aside from this we were spared a whole lizard hunting sequence that in retrospect would have involved some terrible CGI and slowed the pace down greatly. Aside from those exterior forces that we couldn’t control, there was never any doubt we could get that short film made, and it’s that same stubborn refusal to admit the crazy ambition of it all that is keeping us going with the feature.

Arrowhead: Signal (with Director's Commentary) from Arrowhead: The Movie on Vimeo.

Q)  How will this all translate into a feature length film? How much will the cast grow?

A)The cast is still very small, and it’s still the story of one man’s struggle to survive. Cast Away had several characters but it’s only Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt and Wilson that you remember. So the cast will be similar to that. We’re hoping for audiences to be able to look back at the short film after having seen the feature and say ‘I recognize those elements. I remember that scene.’ But the feature is very different - its roots are in the short but it’s greatly expanded. I think fans of the short will be surprised but still feel at home.

 Q) You are doing a crowd funding campaign for this film. How can those who are reading this interview help you to reach your goal?

A) We’ve been funded by the SF channel in Australia and our film is getting made - the current crowdfunding campaign is aimed to help our friends at Gorilla Pictures be involved. We’re in Australia but they’re friends of ours from a film school I attended in Michigan. As Executive Producers they’ve pledged a percentage of the film’s budget, as well as an overwhelmingly generous amount of equipment, resources and crew that will help us make the film bigger and better. They’re committed to helping us but if they can raise some capital to get themselves over here, it means they’ll be able to dedicate all of these assets and for a longer amount of time. If a few hundred people donated $50 then they’ll be able to help us out and offer supporters some pretty cool rewards.

Q) Does the campaign have a Facebook page?  Does the film have a website yet?

A) The movie has a website (www.arrowheadmovie.com) where you can view our short film and behind the scenes materials, and you can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram (@arrowheadmovie). But our most active community is at Facebook.com/ArrowheadMovie.

Q) Will this film get made no matter what?

A) Not only will this film get made, but it is being made as we speak. Preproduction is in full swing - we’re building our sets and costumes, we’re close to finishing the casting process, and we start shooting in ten weeks! The only question at the moment is where we’ll be distributed, but we deliver to the network in late 2014 and the movie will be seen.

 Q) Some final words with the film maker. Is this going to be your genre? Are you going to specialize or are you going to shoot whatever type of film makes the most sense to you at the time. Sort of like Ridley Scott or Spielberg?

A) I’d love to make all kinds of movies, in fact after this one I probably won’t want to look at a spaceship or space suit for a long, long time. All kinds of movies interest me, but my favourites are the ones that build worlds and mythologies and create places you want to go and visit. A lot of these are science fiction, but not all of them - I love genre movies but if I’m lucky enough to make lots of movies, I’m hoping each one will challenge me in a new and exciting way.

Thanks again Eric, looking forward to seeing the finished film.  For those of you who wish to get involved you can do it by contributing to the Kickstarter campaign or by sharing the campaign page or this interview with others.  This is I believe is my eighth interview with someone involved in a crowdfunding campaign and I have monitored all of the campaigns through to the end and the ones that hit their goals all had one thing in common. Social media got them over the top. Twitter, Facebook and word of mouth got them over the top. If you cannot donate money then take the time to share.

Okay that is it for today. I have something on Found footage coming soon, but this will not stop me from finishing the series of sci-fi post. My steampunk post is not going to come until January. I am having fun with the whole steampunk universe so I am taking my time to get it right.

Good luck guys and try to enjoy the film making process.

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Clandestine, And Sci-fi Film Making

 
After seeing the fantastic short sci-fi film Clandestine and seeing the great behind the scene video that film maker Aron J. Anderson shot I wanted to interview him. This interview begins what will be a series of post on the subject of sci-fi film making.

So many film makers have been told that sci-fi is out of reach because you need millions of dollars to make an impressive film. Those who say it and those who believe it do not truly understand what great sci-fi involves. If you believe that the remake of Total Recall or the over blown retooling of the Star Trek Franchise is great science fiction then you need to go back to the starting point and read some of the early masters of the genre. Science fiction is about speculation about technology and how it affects our existence. If you want to see great sci-fi I would suggest a film like Forbidden Planet which has state of art effect for its day, but is about humanity and what took much tech too quickly developed can do to a race like the human race.


Okay that is my rant on science fiction. Time to get to my interview with Aron J Anderson.

Thanks to today’s technology we are seeing a revolution taking place at the low to micro budget film level. What I have notice during the last year is that film makers have begun to move away from shooting quickly comedies and found footage horror and have turned their sights on sci-fi.


Clandestine from Aron J Anderson on Vimeo.


Q)The first question I hear from indie film makers is usually what camera did you shoot it with so I have to ask about the Panasonic Gh3. It is relatively new and I have to ask how well did it perform and would you use it on future projects?

A)I have had many cameras in the last 5 years, Panasonic AG-DVX100B, Canon T2i,Canon 60d, Sony 5n, Sony VG 20, I used the Canon 5d MarkII, and Canon 7d, Panasonic GH2 (hacked), and the Gh3 is by far the quickest and most enjoyable camera I have ever used. It also has the best detail in the image then all but the Panasonic GH2 hacked (Very close). I would defiantly use the GH3 camera on my next projects.

Q)It looks like this camera handled natural light very well. I see from the behind the scenes footage that you used work lights for a few shots. Many low budget film makers consider work lights as a last resort because of of the harsh light that they produce. Did you have any problems with them?

A)The GH3 has pretty good dynamic range for a DSLR. The only time I use work lights is if the location we are filming in is large or there is a lot of bright back lit scenes. In the case of Clandestine we were going to use the work lights to light the actors during the fight scene because you can see that the sun was very bright outside behind the actors and I did not want to have the background blow all the way out. But our generator died and we ended up not using the work lights. So I had to use a still image of the back ground and tracked and composited it back in the scene so it wouldn't be all blown out in the back ground. So I just exposed for the actors and let the background blow out and composited it in post.


Q)Dslr cameras and sound recording are like oil and water. What did you use to record sound?

A)This was the biggest problem for me. We only had 3 months to finish this film for a contest and I couldn't find a dedicated sound guy so I had to just record audio in the GH3 and had a friend hold the boom. So I was teaching my small crew as we went. The sound recording of the GH3 is pretty good but the location we filmed in were noise and I had to use post to really clean the audio up and that is what made the audio disappointing to me. I used the Rode video mic pro on a boom.

Q)There are a lot of special FX in this short film. Who did the visual effects work and what type of software was involved?

A)I did all the FX in the film actually I did everything in the film except the music score, I did however mix the score with all the other audio FX. For 3d I used Blender, 3D studio Max to make the 3D models or manipulate ones already made by other artist. I also heavily used After Effects with Element 3d. For Making all the audio Effects I used the Zoom H1 to capture audio then I used Audacity to creat the audio FX I needed.

Q)Watching the making of video I noticed you checking story boards. When planning a film that requires a great deal of CGI how important are the story boards?

A)Story boarding is so important. I know lots of people who film with out them and they say they don't need them, but if you want to make really good films you need to storyboards specially if you do CG or other complex camera moves.

Q)From the behind the scenes footage it looks as if you work with a very small crew. Are you comfortable wearing many hats on the set? Are you most comfortable with the camera in your hands?

A)The crew That helped me were great however they were friends of mine and they don't have much experience in making films. So I had to wear all the hats. I had to learn all aspects of filmmaking because when I started out I wanted to do so much in a film, but knew no one who knew how to do it, so I had to learn it for my self. I am defiantly most comfortable with the camera in my hands because I am DP first, then everything after that.

Q)Film makers who develop a strong following tend to specialize in one particular genre. Is sci-fi your genre?

A)I think so just because I love all the gadgets and stuff. But defiantly will film other genre.

Q)The first teacher that every film maker has is the film maker that inspired him or her to pick up a camera for the first time. Who was that film maker?

A)That's a tough one for me because when I was 16 I wanted to take pictures of beautiful California while I went mountain biking. So I was self motivated to by a Minolta SLR stills camera and learn photography. It wasn't till years later when the Pastor of my church need someone to buy and work a camera to film the Sunday service. So while I was searching the internet about video cameras I came across Phillip Bloom using lens adapter to fit on camcorders to get shallow death of field. So I guess I would have to say Phillip Bloom.

Q)After watching Clandestine one gets the feeling that it is part of a larger story. Are there other short films in the future based upon these characters and situations or perhaps a feature planned?

A)Yes it is a big story and I planed on making a part two, but then I decided just to re due Clandestine the way it should be, but I need a bigger budget. So I'm going to see if I can get funded for a feature film, if not then I will just make a part two in the same low budget way I did the first one.

Clandestine Behind The Scenes from Aron J Anderson on Vimeo.

Q)Every film maker who spends any time looking at what is happening at the low budget level usually comes away with a wish or two. As in Tarantino wishes that film makers would do melodrama like they did in the 1950’s. I have a boat load of wishes. I wish that we could bring the Western back. What do you believe is missing from the film making landscape?

A)What we don't need is more alien movies. I would love to see more historical drama action movies like Last of The Samurai.

Q)What is your next project?

A)I do lots of filming for other companies for documentary and corporate work and I'm always filming personal videos of nature and the world around me but as far as short film I have Clandestine 2 and two more movies that I'm writing now neither are sci fi.

If you would like to follow Aron’s work you can visit his website by clicking here.

On Facebook by clicking here. and on twitter by clicking here..


Again I would like to thank Aron for doing this interview and you can find more examples of his work and some great DIY tutorials by him at Vimeo.

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Digital Filmmaking, A Few Notes

Digital Filmmaking, A Few Notes

I thought that I would do a quick post on a few subject that I have been meaning to touch upon.

I am working on a pair of interviews concerning sci-fi on a micro budget. So many of us have thought that sci-fi on a feature length scale has been beyond us so that we instead do horror films. I am learning that the same technology that gives us the ability to shoot digital films on a low budget that visually can stand side by side with the studio productions also offers the opportunity to produce sci-fi. I do not believe that it is yet possible to produce a Star Wars or Alien on a micro budget because unless you are going to green screen everything down to the sets themselves you are going to spend some money. Also being a fan of practical effects when possible would inflate a budget. That said, how many of us have watched a recent big budget sci-fi film and thought that we could shoot the exact same film on 1/100 of the budget.

So I will be looking for sci-fi film makers to talk to during the coming months. Okay I have a crowdfunding campaign that I was asked to post. The filmmaker is shooting this film using a Canon T3i. I hope to get an interview with them when their campaign is over.

   

 I would like to also remind you guys that Angel Dust is still in the middle of a campaign and if you cannot donate money you can share the project with a friend. Embed it on your facebook page or use your twitter to share it. The Angel Dust post has been extremely popular, but so far it has not translated into support.   

  Next bit of business, the official international trailer for the now finished Canon hv20 shot feature film Throwback is ready and it looks great. When watching this trailer keep in mind that the movie was shot with a camera that can be purchased for about two hundred dollars.

   

     

 I suppose that will be it for today. I am right now in the middle of editing a an ebook featuring some of the interviews that have been published here with a lot of great new content mixed in. I hope to have it published before the end of this year. Thank you for visiting. Please take a moment to share this post and good luck with your projects.