Sorry for the lack of posting this weekend. The Internet at my house went down again. I should be getting draft number 5 of Do Nice Guys Finish Last from Gabe tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to being done with it. I want to start sending it to festivals already. I have several friends and family members who bug me about seeing it almost every day. I’m still not going to rush it though. We’ll be done with it when me and Gabe both agree that it’s done. In the mean time, we have been working our asses off on it. I really believe in getting what I want out of a short film. Just never saying “it’s good enough.” If something doesn’t look or sound how I want it to, I’ll re shoot it. I believe that if you’re a film maker, you should always make the film that you want to make. Screw what the critics say, screw what other people say, you’re making this short film, make it however you want. If you do that, it doesn’t matter if other people like it or not. You made the film that you wanted to make and that’s that. Of course, other people liking it is a nice added bonus. I always wanted Do Nice Guys Finish Last to be something that’s funny because it’s true. That’s part of the reason I made it a mockumentary, to sort of bring people back to the fact that it’s based on a realistic principal. Plus it was a damn good time filming it. It’s kind of cool, there’s so much you can get away with in a mockumentary. A boom mic enters the shot? O well, that happens in documentaries all the time. An actor stumbles over their lines? O well, people stumble over their words sometimes in reality, it happens. The scene is too dark? O well, sometimes rooms are dark. It’s not that it’s an easy out, it’s just that there’s so much room to play. All of this in Do Nice Guys Finish Last if it does make it in is intentional. We wanted portions to have a little bit of boom mic in them just to cement the fact that the characters know that there are cameras and everything there. It’s kind of weird placing these imperfections here and there, but it’s kind of fun at the same time.
I’ll keep you guys updated on the progress of it. Right now, it’s looking pretty good. We’ll probably have a final cut around next week. Then we get in to the exciting world of color correction….. Yay.
Last night, on the way home, 3 ideas for short films came to me. I told myself that I would write them out after I was done working out. I finished working out and out of habit I turned on NHL 09 for Playstation3. Midway through it’s start up, I realized that I wasn’t supposed to be playing NHL 09 and that I was supposed to be writing out some scripts. I convinced myself to play just one game, which usually turns in to roughly 5 games. I am so addicted to NHL 09, it’s not even funny. Seriously, I’ve been playing that game for a year and I can’t stop. NHL 10 comes out in 2 months and then it will all start all over again. So, I start to play and I’m playing goalie mode and I’m not joking you, the computer scored like 4 goals on me in the time span of 1 real life minute. Which is like 20 seconds in game time. If you were in my kitchen at the time you would have heard:
“damn it………son of a bitch………SHIT!……….MOTHER FU- Screw this!”
With that, I turned off the system and went upstairs and started writing.
I got a lot more out of writing those scripts then I would have gotten from playing NHL 09 for 4 hours. I immediately sent one script to Chris and he really liked it. It seriously is, the perfect short film for festivals. It would run about a minute long, it’s funny, it’s quick, it’s clever, and it’s PG-13. The best part is, is that I could probably shoot it in one day and edit it the next. It’s a really simplistic and clever concept. Maybe it will be something that I can pull off in between Do Nice Guys Finish Last and Project X. I got the ball rolling on Project X. Which needed to be done. I looked at all of the information I had and just put it all together and sort of wrote out an outline. Then I E-Mailed that to the script writer. I’m excited to see how it comes out. Also, I just got the new cut from Gabe, of Do Nice Guys Finish Last. Needless to say, I’m glad that I suck at NHL 09 and that the computer saw it fit to destroy me.
So, the Action on Film Festival is happening this Sunday in Pasadena. Where my film is being shown? No clue. The schedule says Academy 2 but I have no clue what that means. They really aren’t making this easy. Clicking on the schedule link on the web site leads you to a page with links for 2006 and 2007 schedules. The 2009 schedule is available in PDF format here:
Action on Film Schedule
As you can see Censored is playing in the 4PM block. What that means, I have no idea. I guess it’s playing sometime around 4PM. I have no clue what’s playing with my short film. You can buy tickets here:
Action on Film Festival Tickets- Single Program Pass
Near the bottom of that page it says
“When you make your purchase be sure to write the name of the film you are coming to see in the memo portion of the confirmation form.”
So, I guess write “Censored” in the memo portion of the confirmation form. I have to be honest, the web site looks kind of shady and doesn’t really seem like it’s working as it should. E-Mail me if you want to attend and I’ll do my best to walk you through it.
I think by Academy 2 they mean The Regency Academy Theaters. Just a guess though.
Last night I went through the first cut of Nice Guys Finish Last and made notes on it for Gabe. I was up pretty late last night. I slept right through my alarm this morning, which is pretty amazing. Considering my alarm plays ultra loud metal off of a CD. I have to say, I was pretty harsh on the edit. There’s some stuff that I liked and some that I didn’t. It is what it is. If Gabe disagrees with me on something, we’ll talk about it and figure it out.
It’s been awhile since I’ve uploaded something new hasn’t it? I would really like to try and put something together soon. I have a quote book of random quotes from friends of mine. Sometimes I’ll flip through it for inspiration. For some reason, it always makes me think of quick shorts. Maybe I’ll do that tonight. Actually, the quote book inspired both The Train Wreck and Bad Girlfriend. Caine’s whole speech in Bad Girlfriend about Chris’s girlfriend was something that a friend of mine actually said to someone. I’m not joking. It’s always a lot of fun doing those. It’s just a small crew that usually films something in one night. Often times, what we filmed gets edited that same night. We usually start around 8PM and finish editing around 5AM. It’s always a good time. I should do something like that while Gabe is making the edits on Nice Guys Finish Last. Why not, right?
So, we have a first cut on Nice Guys Finish Last. It came out pretty good. It’s 18 minutes long. Right off the bat, I see a couple things that would shave off like a minute or two. Either way, I don’t think the festival version will be having any credits in it. Gabe did a pretty good job on the first cut. I think there are some other takes that I would like to experiment with. Apparently Gabe had a tough critic in the room while he was editing last night. Someone he doesn’t know was saying stuff like “What is this? Are you guys in high school or something?” I kind of wish I was there for that. I say, tear it to shreds, I want to know the people that hate it and why they hate it. If she could give me 20 specific, valid reasons why it was bad, I would want to hear all of them. Only way you’re going to get better is if people tell you what you did wrong. On the plus side, she did say that some stuff was funny. Gabe said there were scenes where she actually said “OK, that’s funny.” Anyway, the first cut is a good start. Apparently I forgot that one of the cameras had a polarizing lense on the front of it. Some of our outdoor scenes look a little off but that’s ok, we can fix that with some color correction. I was actually surprised, but Gabe usually stuck with one shot for an entire scene, so it really wasn’t that big of a deal. It shouldn’t take us too long to correct it. The colors are fine in doors, it’s just a couple of the outdoor scenes that look a little off.
I wrote a blog yesterday about the book I’m reading, How Not to Make a Short Film. The author of the book (Roberta Munroe) responded to my blog in a comment. The Internet, let me tell you. That’s the second author I’ve had communication with this month. Sometimes I forget that the little name on the bottom of the book is actually a person. You can check out the comment in my last blog, she had some words of wisdom for aspiring film makers. It was all good stuff. I wonder if Kevin Bacon will ever respond to my Bacon Dick blog. Probably not. I wonder if he would be pissed? If I were a celebrity, I would take the Bill Murray approach. Apparently if someone recognizes him, he does some sort of weird dance followed by a bunch of random acts then says “Nobody will believe you” and then runs off. I’m sorry, but that is genius. I want him to adopt me. I’m 27, but still.
Yesterday, I found an awesome site for royalty free music. Check it out:
Inomptech Royalty Free Music
The search feature is great. You can search by musical genre or the mood of the music that you’re looking for. I was extremely surprised by the amount of quality music that’s on there.
I need money to make my new short film. Plain and simple. In the past I’ve resorted to selling my personal belongings. I sold a couple old cameras, video games, furniture, computers, really whatever I could get my hands on. I think I can make my new project for roughly $2000. Things I haven’t tried yet are selling sperm and blood. I should try to sell some blood, I have O-, which everyone can take. Obviously, God wanted me to sell blood, so I can make this short film. I’ll have to look in to that. I’m not sure how I feel about donating sperm. I would feel really sorry for the woman who gets that sperm. It would almost be like playing a really cruel joke on someone. I think one of me is enough.
I’ve been reading this new book called How Not to Make a Short Film by Roberta Marie Munroe. She’s done just about everything on a short film and used to be a programmer for Sundance. Needless to say, her advice is valuable. She’s already listed a couple things that I’m guilty of. For one, when submitting your short film to festivals, don’t put your companies logo in the front of it. Nobody has heard of your company and furthermore, nobody cares what the name of it is. I’m totally guilty of this. There are a couple things in the book that I don’t agree with though. In one section there are different budget brackets. The first bracket is $11,000. That’s the first bracket. They slowly ascend to $75,000. Basically what that tells me is that according to this book, you can’t make a decent short film for under $11,000. It lists all of the equipment and crew you need. I totally and completely disagree with that. $11,000 for a short film is bloated to me to say the least. Robert Rodriguez shot El Mariachi for $7000 and most of that budget was spent on the camera. And that was an 80+ minute long movie. The example the book uses is a 15 page short film. And it’s using the time frame of a 2 day weekend shoot. Maybe I missed something in the interpretation, but that’s what I’m getting out of it. Later on in the chapter there is an interview with a film maker who made a successfull short film for roughly $4500. One of the things listed in the $11,000 budget is a continental breakfast for a 35 person crew. Go to the supermarket, buy some fruit, get some yogurt, granola, some bread to toast, little orange juice, some bagels, put someone who will work for free on food prep duty, and there’s your continental breakfast. Better yet, go to Togo’s and order a sand which platter, they’re like $40, I do it all the time. Also, 35 person crew?! Are you serious? That seems bloated to say the least. I shot Censored with an 8 person crew and I had no clue what I was doing and that seemed bloated and that’s been accepted to festivals. I shot Nice Guys Finish Last most of the time with a 4 person crew. I shot Say Something with a 5 person crew and it cost me like $100, if even that. That was an 8 minute long short film that all of my teachers(who were industry professionals) thought was great. Maybe I’m just not at the level she’s at yet, but Jesus Christ. If Robert Rodriguez can make a good movie for $7000, I can make a 15 minute short film for way under $11,000. I think, anyone can shoot anything they want for free, they just have to know the right people and make the right moves. Don’t get me wrong, Roberta Marie Munroe is a smart lady and she wrote a great book. I would recommend How Not To Make a Short Film to anyone. It’s got some good stuff in it, I just can’t agree with that one point.
On to my next order of business. Is anyone in the market for blood and/or sperm? I’m selling.
Alright, so this was the week of prep. I’ve been letting everyone know that Censored will be showing at the Los Angeles United Film Festival and working on Nice Guys Finish Last. I’ve made some calls and it’s looking like if I can pull my head out of my ass I can probably organize a shoot next Sunday. The fact that Censored got selected for a film festival is a huge distraction for me. I’ve been kind of fixated on it.
There’s some other interesting stuff playing at the festival. Me and my room mate are going to see Super High Me. This comedian did an experiment where he smoked pot for 30 days and then didn’t smoke pot for 30 days. I’m not a pot head or anything, but this sounds amazingly funny and interesting.
Apparently the big deal of the festival is The Shark is Still Working. It’s a documentary about how the movie Jaws has helped to shape common elements of pop culture. They sold out the first night so they arranged to have like 3 more nights of that same movie. I’m not really that interested in it, but it does look kind of phenomenal.
Fagbug is another movie that caught my eye. It’s a documentary about a girl that was a victim of a hate crime. The title makes me giggle.
Seriously, there are like 20 movies playing at this film festival. I’m a little overloaded, I’m not sure what to do. Do I go to all of them or just the ones that really interest me? I am kind of curious about the number of documentaries being screened. Is this like an independent film thing? Is it just cheap and easy (like a whore) to do a documentary or something? I’ve never really had an urge to shoot a documentary about anything. Nice Guys Finish Last is a mockumentary. That’s about as close as I’ve come though.
P.S. Sorry about the somewhat shitty post. I’m not really sure what to say today.
Last night I did some hardcore planning for Nice Guys Finish Last. This is the longest script I’ve ever worked with. It’s 17 pages long with a total of 21 scenes. While that doesn’t sound like much it’s a lot to manage and plan out. Luckily I am shooting it mocumentary style, which takes a little bit of pressure off of the planning. It looks like we’ll be using at least 2 cameras for each scene. It basically lets us cheat a little bit. We can keep the cameras hand held and still edit between two shots seamlessly. I’ve never edited with choices like this before. The concept sounds really cool. After my current project, I’m seriously looking forward to doing a goofy comedy that I can just have some fun with. Maybe Nice Guys Finish Last will break me out of my fear of using hand held cameras. We’ll see.