Gotham City Sirens, The Interview

               

kickstarter

    Years ago when the words fan film were mentioned you knew that you were in for an second rate film populated by fans of star wars wearing Halloween costumes and fighting with toy lightsabers. We have come a long way since those days. Now fan films are filmed as well as the original material and sometimes much better written. Many great digital film makers have gotten their start shooting short fan films. The truth about film making is that most film makers on one level or another when they are starting out are writing and shooting versions of the material that they grew up watching. Spielberg was making his versions of the movies that he watched as a kid. Tarantino is doing his versions of those gangster and exploitation films from the 1970's that he loves so much. Every film maker begins somewhere and with this post I begin a series of post on the Fan Film.

This is my interview with Terell Culbert, the film maker behind  The Catwoman and the upcoming Gotham City Sirens. Before I begin I would like to thank him for agreeing to do this interview and to remind you guys there is time left to check out his campaign and help out.  You can do so by clicking here.

Q) Because there has been so many versions of each and every hero and villain that populate the Dark Knight universe it has given both writers and film makers more freedom to create their own versions of these classic characters. What lead you to do select this subject material?

A) The diversity. I love the fact that this motley crew tells their own story almost immediately. Selina is a villain with the possibility of one day becoming a hero. Ivy is a boss in my book! She’s got that perfect blend of insanity and leadership abilities. Harley is a mash-up between the Joker and Billy the kid.

Q) The fan short film The Catwoman is a slightly different take on the character than we have seen before. When writing an origin story did you feel any pressure to cling to what had been done before or did you feel free to tell the story in your own unique way?

A) I didn’t really feel pressured. Catwoman has always been this flirtatious vixen with a vague amount of depth. So I wanted to give people a unique origin story that explains why Selina is a villain with the potential for good.

Q) What was the shooting schedule like on The Catwoman? Also I must ask what type of camera did you use while filming it? Where you pleased with the results and will you be using it again on the new project?

A) Our shooting schedule for the Catwoman was pretty rough. The actors were involved in other projects already. So while we used four days to shoot the actual film. We wrapped in about three weeks. The camera I used was a Canon EOS Rebel T3i it’s a Digital SLR camera. I will absolutely be using it for this project and many others. It’s so easy to transport and use.


Q) How important is it to find the right actresses for Gotham City Sirens?

A) It was very important! While casting I found a lot of Actresses who had one or the other, the look, but not the personality or the personality, but not the look. When you do a fan film it has to come off authentic, in a way. My budget is ridiculously small so I can’t depend on great stunts or CGI. My performers have to make you believe that there is a corrupt city named Gotham that inhabits these awesome characters.

Q) I have told anyone who wants to work on a micro budget digital film that they should first watch that old Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. The one where Charlie Brown and Snoopy make popcorn, buttered toast and jellybeans for Thanksgiving dinner and then they should take away the popcorn, jellybeans and butter from the toast so that they will begin understanding how little they should expect to be compensated while working on a film shoot. On any given day how many people are working behind the scenes on your film shoot?


A) (Laughs) Great example. Normally it’s just me, sometimes I am lucky to get a second or third person to help me.

Q) With the help of your crowdfunding campaign you are going to be producing Gotham City Sirens. What is the length that you are aiming for with this project?

A) 40 minutes.


Q) You are going to be taking on some pretty (in more ways that one) iconic characters from the Dark Knight universe in the forms of Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Poison Ivy. Is this a case of going big or go home, or did the story you have in mind when you began demand that all of them be included?

A) This film really did demand that I include other female characters who could stand with or against Selina. I feel like It’s a great installment to Catwoman’s universe.

    
Q) Some fan film makers only want to make fan films. I understand that you would like to branch out from this area of film making. In an idea world what kind of films are you making in the future?

A) Drama/ horror. I really like both those genres.


Q) Any final thoughts on making fans films in general.

A) There are a lot of awesome fan films out there with amazing special effects and cool movie props. However, this should never be the catalyst for making a film in my opinion. Each fan film that I have done is due to a long experience of reading watching and caring for these fictional characters.

    Thank you again for taking the time to do this interview. We all look forward to seeing the finished film.  http://www.bamimagery.com/

Facebook Link.

Okay guys that is it for today. As always please take a moment to hit the like button on stumbleupon and to share this post on facebook.  Social media has to become a habit. This is the most important tool to the indie film maker. It is important for a kickstarter or indiegogo campaign to become a success and it is important for blogs like this to grow. By helping to grow an audience for others we grow an audience for ourselves and our future projects.

Sci-Fi Trailers and End of The Year Notes

 I am going to be closing out the year with this post. I have a trailer that I really like and I would love to do an interview with the film maker, but there is a language barrier. The trailer and the behind the scenes footage are also foreign language, but I had no problem enjoying it so I am posting it. This film reminded me of Goonies. It is low budget and I hope that this film gets completed. Working with kids can be tricky, but these kids seem like a group of little superstars.

This film falls into my series of post on sci-fi film making. So here is the trailer for “La Esfera" The Sphere, plus a few extras. On the youtube videos you can hit the subtitle button and then change captions to English.

   
LA ESFERA (The Sphere, 2014) - Official Teaser Trailer from La Esfera on Vimeo.





    

 If you liked the trailer then please take a moment to share it. Not this entire post, but share the trailer. The trailer has been out a month. It only has a hundred or so views and a movie does not get seen if no one knows about it. Now to two films that do not need any help with social media, but I am going to go big budget anyway. I love Godzilla movies. If I ever become a big time film maker I will beg to do a Japanese monster movie because I know that they can be done much better. The first trailer is a second bite of the apple for the studios at this subject. The first big budget Godzilla film was terrible in every way imaginable. This one looks pretty good.

Last up for today is the return to film making of the guys behind the Matrix trilogy. Did I say guys? Lana and Andy Wachowski have made a big budget sci-fi film titled Jupiter Ascending.

   

 That will be it for today and probably the year 2013. Thank you for visiting my site and remember to share The Sphere Trailer. Pin it and share it on Twitter and your Facebook. Good luck with your digital films. Film Making is not easy, but it is fun.

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.

   

Crowdfunding, The Revenge Of The Devil Bat

Crowdfunding, The Revenge of The Devil Bat

I would like to start by saying that this film has a truly modest crowdfunding campaign goal of 750 dollars. Please take a moment to drop by their page and see if you can contribute something. This will be my interview with one of the film makers behind the making of the sequel to the public domain film The Devil Bat. I have just done a post on public domain films so I will not cover much about the subject here except to say that public domain films are films that were not properly copyrighted or the copyright has expired. Here is a quick look at what their campaign is about before we begin the interview.

 

The first part of this interview will be conducted with Cedric Crouch, I hope to ask the Director a few questions before the campaign ends. And here is a link to the campaign before we begin.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1586906037/revenge-of-the-devil-bat

First question. Is the goal to just produce the best possible sequel to The Devil Bat or are there any dream of bringing back PRC?

-We are pretty much just concentrating on Devil Bat. Our company Swamp Picnic Productions, has plans to do movies with a variety of themes and genres. We don't plan on just working with/relying on ideas from PRC. The PRC stuff is great but we don't want to become "a trick pony" solely basing our projects of past ideas.-

Did you consider trying to shoot your movie using a similar time table to the original film? Shooting it in under a week?

-That would be nice and quick but it's not really possible with the other actors schedules. In fact production is stretching out over many months due to actor availability and filming many important scenes in different states. We are probably going to wind up spending a week just in travel time to Maryland, West Virginia, Texas, etc.-

Would you ever attempt to shoot a movie with the kind of time restrictions that were in place back in the PRC days?

-Yes we would. Director Ted Moehring and myself did the last movie "Invasion of the Reptoids" in approximately 7-9 days. We had a few delays due to bad weather effecting the filming of the outdoor scenes but the total shooting time was pretty close to what PRC had.-

You are doing a sequel to a public domain film that you seem to love. Would you have gone the fan film route if the film was not public domain?

-I can't speak for Ted but I myself wouldn't want to do a fan film. There are too many issues with releasing something like that. The copyright owners are usually not receptive to something like that getting released. Our chief crew member Ron Fulmer (Captain Ron Productions) actually worked on some fan films that were removed from youtube due to copyright issues.-

You mentioned that this film established the rules for most of the horror movies that followed it. What do you think of modern horror films? The wave of torture porn horror like Saw and Hostel? The endless series of found footage films and haunted house, haunted kid, haunted box from a yard sale movies?

-I myself like some of the newer movies but mostly those with interesting plot elements. I'm pretty tired of seeing lost footage and torture porn. I think those are pretty played out by now. Some more recent movies I enjoy include El Superbeasto, Cabin In The Woods and the Hatchet series. To me they bring some freshness to the horror genre yet still pay tribute to the past. I'm sure Ted will have a lot to say on this matter.-

People who read my blog know that I am the biggest Hitchcock fan. He said that the problem with most horror movies was that they were all about walking props that showed up every fifteen minutes to kill someone. He said that he had never done a horror movie, I would argue that if The Birds is not a horror movie then what is it. What directors do you look to? Who do you pattern you film making style after?

-This is another question geared more to Ted. I myself appreciate directors such as Lucio Fulci, John Carpenter, Ed Wood and Ray Dennis Steckler (who Ted and myself had the opportunity to meet before he passed away). Carpenter is a big inspiration since he also does a lot of his own soundtrack music (I myself am a musician and have done soundtrack work for most of Ted's movie projects). I also like Stecklers "no budget, just make it anyway" approach to film making. If he could do it, we can do it!-

What are your goals concerning this production?

-Our goal is simply to make the best movie we can. No self aware humor or intentional cheesiness just a good tribute to a movie we used to watch on tv horror programs like "Doctor Shock" when we were young and impressionable.-

The thing that I find most impressive about your production is the cast that you have put together. Finding a quality cast for a low budget film is right up there with funding as the hardest thing that most film makers have to deal with. How did you pull your cast together?
 

-I have to credit that all to Ted. He is an expert at networking and seeking out talent.-

A question about the original film. Bela Lugosi is an icon, is it a bit intimidating to write and direct a sequel to a film that he carried?

-Ted is a huge fan and said the script practically wrote itself. I'm sure he will be able to elaborate more on this.-

Of course I am assuming that this a direct sequel to his film and not to the follow up film?

-It is intended to be a sequel to both the original film and the sequel "Devil Bats Daughter".-

Okay I suppose the last question should be about post production. Post is the most over looked part of film making. Should you reach your goals did you plan how you would market and release the movie before you started to shoot?

-Some though was given to that because distribution is very important. You could make the greatest movie in the world but if no one sees it it doesn't matter. Swamp Picnic has several other movies already released so that track record combined with the great cast should ensure that some company will put it out.-

Thank you Cedric for taking time out of your schedule to answer my question. I look forward to interviewing Ted before your campaign ends. Now I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the cast members that you have assembled for this production. Gary Kent, Lynn Lowry and George Stover.

 

The Year Of The GH3

            The Year of The GH3

    The Panasonic GH3 is perhaps the camera many of us have been waiting for. The kind of dslr that can get the job done right out of the box. I know that many will say that this camera already exist and that it is named the Canon 5d mark III. Sur it is, but the price difference is almost two thousand dollars and to some of us two thousand dollars is the budget of our micro budget film.

    This camera is going to cost you between twelve to eighteen hundred dollars. I realize this is much more than the hackable Gh1 and Gh2 and the Canon T2i. If you are on a budget those cameras are great and can get your feature film shot. You can do it using some of the Canon Vixia camcorders if necessary, but there are moments when you have to stop, take a deep breath and allow yourself to dream a little.

   The Panasonic GH3 can put the low budget digital film maker on an even playing field with the big budget pros.

    Those were some solid reviews of the camera. Now here is a short film shot by the legendary Phillip Bloom using the camera.

    Okay, I would suggest that you visit some of the online sites to price the camera. See what kind of deals are available. I realize the cash investment is going to be big, but the rewards are awe inspiring. If we are going to spend money this year on a camera this is the one.

    What?

    “What if there are problems with the camera?”

    There will always be limitations to every camera. There will be patches and firmware updates and yeah probably hacks that come along, but this one is going to be with us for a long time.

    Okay that is it guys. Good luck with your film and always keep in mind that the equipment we use is not as important as learning the basics of good lighting, framing and quality sound.

Sounding out the Zoom H2

                                    No Budget Sound, The Zoom H2

    You want to have the best quality sound possible for your film. This is more important than your camera.

    Wait a second, get off of that ledge. I know how you feel. Our cameras are our babies. They are our pride and joy and some of us sleep with them under our pillows at night.

    Hold it, I don’t mean me. Just some of the rest of you guys. I am normal, my camera is stored in my wall safe.

    Sound is more important for this reason. Your intended customer will forgive poor lighting or an image or two that they can not make out, but they will lose patience quickly if they have to say on more than one occasion “What was that? What did he just say? Huh?”

    Bad sound will kill your digital film project.

    Bad sound will scream to all involved that you do not know what you are doing.

    Sound will send your film packing faster than visuals ever will. Sound needs your full attention and the best way to get quality sound on the cheap is to use a Zoom.

    You can use the Zoom H4 and attach a mic to it for all your recording needs. Or you can use a Zoom H2 and use it as the mic.

For under 150 dollars you can get a brand new Zoom H2 online, attach a boom and you are ready to compete with the pros.

    Here is a short video tutorial on what you will need and why.

Making Trash Or A Treasure.

            Will It Be Trash or Treasured?

    You are going to make your digital feature film.
    Guess what, so will thousands of other people during the next five years. 95 percent of what gets produced will be trash. It will be dull and mostly poorly produced and terribly acted. That is the facts. Look at Hollywood with tens of millions of dollars to throw at a project and most of what they produce will be crap.
    Out of that remaining 5 percent some treasures will be found and on rare occasions those who believe that they will be producing trash will actually produce a treasure.
    One of the clearest examples of this is the horror classic The Evil Dead. Most of the people working on it with the exception of the director seemed to have thought trash. That not counting family and close friends about eight people would ever see the film. Instead it became a cult classic. It spawned two great sequels and is about to spawn a reboot (thankfully done by Sam Raimi).
    Sam Raimi had a vision and he stuck to it. No one could see what he saw until they saw the film. Just like no one can see what you see until they see your film. You can tell everyone you meet about it, but what ever you say or write down about it will be nothing compared to the real thing. You are going to have to trust your vision even when all around you are shaking their heads.
    Look it, let us be real for a second. The odds are against you, but to achieve anything great the odds will always be against you. I can’t tell you that you will do a great job and everyone will love you. All I can say is that if you do not try you will never succeed. Your trash many end up being just that thrown in the trash, but it could end up being talked about, wrote about and revisited again and again for decades to come. You might actually produce something that may be treasured.
    Good luck with you low budget digital feature film and here is the first part of a documentary about the making of the Evil Dead. If you want to watch the rest of it just visit Youtube.

Canon Digital Feature Film Making

Canon Digital Feature Film Making

Thanks to The Canon Company and the digital camcorders and DSLRs there is an underground digital film revolution happening. This revolution began a few years ago when Canon decided to add the 24 frames per second option into most of its mid range consumer camcorders. Later it would at this as a video option in its DSLR and the revolution has caught fire world wide.
There are so many sites and blogs dedicated to DSLR cameras such has the Canon D7, Mark II and the T2I that I thought that I would go old school and focus on the cameras that started the revolution and with a few add ons can offer nearly the picture quality at a low price point. I will focus largely on the Canon HV series and the feature films that have been made with these little monsters and when the moment demands it I will get into some of the great work being done with the DSLRs.
Let’s begin with why should a low budget film maker consider these cameras. I would say in response that a low budget film maker should not and by low budget I mean if you have fifty thousand dollars or more to spend then you should consider using the Canon Mark II or the Red or a number of the Panasonic pro-sumer camcorders if you want to make a feature film. If you have fifty thousand or more why not go 16mm film. The film cameras are cheap and if you know what you are doing with them then go right ahead. The truth is that I am not here for the low budget film maker. I am here for those who are called ultra low budget or no budget film makers. You fall into this category if you have less than ten thousand dollars to spend on your first feature.
Allow me to describe you. You or a close friend have written the screenplay for your movie. You will be doing this project with the help of friends and family who will work behind the scenes for no pay. You will be shooting on nights and weekends and at locations that you can get for free or get in and out of without being caught filming there. Your actors will be paid little to nothing up front. You will be looking to get the best production value out of the least amount of money spent possible.
In other words you are a lot like me.
You are only willing to pay for what is absolutely unavoidable. The three area where you are going to have to spend money are:
Sound, if your audience can not hear the movie then you are doomed. Viewers will give up on your project the third or forth time they have to mutter what did he just say? Huh, What was that?
Editing, you may be able to use a free program, but you will need a computer strong enough and quick enough to edit and hopefully do some sound mixing on. If you have such a computer cool, you just saved money.
Camera, you need something that shoots in HD digital and shoots at 24p. Why 24p? That is the industry standard. This is the frame rate that gives you that motion picture look. You are going to have to spend some money on your camera. Money on the lenses and in most cases on a depth of field adapter.
The cameras are why we are here and let us talk about what to do and not to do. Get the best camera at the lowest possible price that will get the job done. Do not blow half of your production budget on your awesome new camera. It will feel wonderful to have that expensive camera and muse about all the things that it is able to do until it is day 12 of shooting and you have no money to feed your cast and crew. You have no money left for transportation, (gas money) and you have just realized that you should have set aside at least a third of your budget for post production cost. Treat your camera like the tool that it is.
A camera is not jewelry. It is not a diamond ring. It is a tool. You could consider it a hammer or a shovel. I think of mine as my axe. Like a good guitar it can make beautiful music if I tune it just right. Let’s talk about the tool you will buy and look at how others have used theirs.