35mm Film Out

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Blaine said:
Hero Fest is coming up. I recommend you take a look at the entries. It will give you an idea of the kind of quality that we've come to expect here. Some entries will be less than stellar by filmmakers doing their first (or an early) project. They're taking the opportunity to advance their dream by making a video and putting it out there for (hopefully) constructive criticism, which they will then use to make their next effort that much better. Others will be stunning.
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...good call
 
... I'm really trying to figure out if your messing with me or not.

ok, if i'm a potential investor, and i say 'well if im going to put up my half a million dollars, I'll need to see that your at least capable of making a movie' and you showed me this, what would you hope this demonstrated about your ability?
 
Screw it, I give up... I really do. I've been working on getting this feature in order for 5 years..... And it's driving me crazy.
 
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It kind of reminded me of a home movie made when someone took their camera to the fair. I thought the images (colors) were flat, without luster or any excitement. I agree with Cheese. I don't see how a potential investor would be able to tell whether or not you could shoot a narrative story based on this.
 
PunkMetalDrummer17 said:
Screw it, I give up... I really do. I've been working on getting this feature in order for 5 years..... And it's driving me crazy.
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so you've been working on this feature 3 years before you did that short? well theres your problem. You somehow got the idea to do a feature before you learned how to operate a camera.

Seriously, you need to take a step back, put your feature on the back burner, and start from scratch.

Step 1: come up with a story that can be told in 5 min or less, screw that, 3 min or less. That means when you write the script, it can be NO LONGER than 3 pages. Write the script, get some friends on board for the weekend, get a camera from school, shoot it and edit it. I'm not even asking you to light it or have good sound (bad lighting and bad sound are carnal sins to me) just complete your first short, like everyone else does, and come back and post it.

If you can do that, then you can take it from there.
 
The only thing that got me into film... well, she'll be in college next year (and I won't be. I'm a Junior.).... I guess I'd work on the short if she doesn't go to college in the UK and stays in the US. That way she can be in it (the feature)..... Since school would come before starring in a movie.
 
?? I assume this person would be the actor that is to play the role of Emily.... at $22k for 22 days work? So from a producing perspective no one is going to sign an unknown for those dollars.
 
ncje said:
?? I assume this person would be the actor that is to play the role of Emily.... at $22k for 22 days work? So from a producing perspective no one is going to sign an unknown for those dollars.
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It's Alexa Vega, I.E: Carmen from SpyKids. And yes, she would play emily.
 
PunkMetalDrummer17 said:
... the school is no profit... meaning If I use the schools equipment, I can't do a thing with it. And the big thing to me is....
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why not
that's what Roberrt Rodriguez did with El Mariachi

Unless you sign a contract at your school that whatever ideas or materials you generate whlie a student there or using their facilities is owned by the school, then whatever you make is your own. Just like you could carve an ashtray in shop class and sell it at a flea market.

Just because they give you access to materials doesn't mean they own your intellectual property.

I worked in theatre fo 10 years and almost all theatres (except broadway) are gues what ... non profit. When I had plays produced, you sign a contract with the theatre often stating that the theatre gets a cut of future deals with the play because the fact that they are premiereing the play supposedly adds value to it. BUT that took a signed contract. I still owned the play and could choose to sell it or produce it wherever I wanted despite the fact that I used a non-profits resources to make it.

A school is a non profit organiztion that exists to educate and serve students, some of whom may be artists. THis is no different than a non profit umbrellaing an artist who does not have non profit status by giving him space or allowing people to make tax deductable donations to said artist through the umbrella organizations non profit status. Said Non profit would not then own whatever art the artist developed or be entitled to a cut of it unless there was a very specific conytract stating so. If such a document exists, then the bite they take of the artists profit is minimal as they are a ... NON profit.

If you can get the school to provide the resource use it and then sell your movie.

Rodriguiz is the proof this can be done. He used University of Texas film equipment in the summer while there were no film production classes.
 
I see what your saying... I was just going by what my teacher had said.... The kid that shot the feature last year was told that he couldn't do a thing with it since he used gear that was supplied from a non-profit organization. I don't know if that's actually the case or if the teacher just thinked it sucked so bad that it wasn't worth selling.

What I was going to do, was use the school equipment for behind the scenes material since, in the end, there wouldn't be direct profit made of that material. We do have two DVXs (regular and B) and a DVC80 at school. My teacher owns a 100A, also.

The major reason I don't want to use the school is because of that.... We don't have anything higher than the MiniDV format; And since somebody said that the DVX doesn't transfer tremendously great to film, I'd really like to shoot at least DVCPro 50, on a SDX900. Then maybe a 2nd unit on a HVX, because I have a ton of Slowmotion and fast motion effects. (really should use the varicam because I need Frame Rate Ramping, but I could do that in post.)

Jack Daniel Stanley said:
why not
that's what Roberrt Rodriguez did with El Mariachi

Unless you sign a contract at your school that whatever ideas or materials you generate whlie a student there or using their facilities is owned by the school, then whatever you make is your own. Just like you could carve an ashtray in shop class and sell it at a flea market.

Just because they give you access to materials doesn't mean they own your intellectual property.

I worked in theatre fo 10 years and almost all theatres (except broadway) are gues what ... non profit. When I had plays produced, you sign a contract with the theatre often stating that the theatre gets a cut of future deals with the play because the fact that they are premiereing the play supposedly adds value to it. BUT that took a signed contract. I still owned the play and could choose to sell it or produce it wherever I wanted despite the fact that I used a non-profits resources to make it.

A school is a non profit organiztion that exists to educate and serve students, some of whom may be artists. THis is no different than a non profit umbrellaing an artist who does not have non profit status by giving him space or allowing people to make tax deductable donations to said artist through the umbrella organizations non profit status. Said Non profit would not then own whatever art the artist developed or be entitled to a cut of it unless there was a very specific conytract stating so. If such a document exists, then the bite they take of the artists profit is minimal as they are a ... NON profit.

If you can get the school to provide the resource use it and then sell your movie.

Rodriguiz is the proof this can be done. He used University of Texas film equipment in the summer while there were no film production classes.
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Serenity Now - Serenity now.

Now you are spewing terms like ramping and how many slo-mo effects you will be using. I am curious how many tests you have done with these cameras in a controlled way to see what would work for your project

see the thing is 800K is a HUGE budget for a first time producer - HUGE - you will be swimming in money and will have no idea how to spend it without a team under you. Do you even understand how much time it takes just to balance the books on a day to day basis on a budget that big.
 
Well my teacher has an investor lined up for me........ He actually just got 3 million for a project with Willie Nelson from this guy, in which my teacher's friend is directing. According to my teacher, Jessica Simpson could potentially be it. The guy told him he wants to do a series of movies..... So will see how that goes.
 
uhm ... you do know the DVX won the cinematography award at Sundance last year ... right? (shot on thwe 100 - not even the A or B with just the stock lens!)

The did a real time up rez which means they ran it through a machine to get it to a bigger size, but I don't think it went to 35mm until after it was at Sundance and got distribution -- which is often the case -- same with blair witch, same with El Mariachi (16mm to 35), etc.

You do need to slow down a bit.

You know Steve Buscemi also had a film at Sundance shot on DVX by amazing cinamagrapher Phil Parma(sp?) called Lonesome Jim.

The award winner was called November ... there are articles on both in the articles section of this forum.

If these people with real Hollywood credits are using the DVX for smaller projects because they believe in the material or thought it would serve the story in some way either in image quality, lack thereof, or extreme mobility, etc. Then its good enough for you man ...

You hear people say it all the time on this board and it usually annoys me because its in response to someone just asking what screen is best for their 35mm adaptor, but you NEED to hear this:

Stop focusing so much on your gear, it doesn't mean crap, and focus on content. You are not going to make a movie that looks like Speilberg your first time out. I promise you.

You MIGHT wow us with a unique voice and amazing story telling ability (which does not require 35mm).

This wunderkind filmmaker scenario is more likely than making a movie that looks like it was shot in Hollywood, but not by much, and again you don't need high $ gear to wow us ... OR DO YOU?

Also ...

I was just at short film panel in NY and one thing the panelists strongly impressed upon the audience was that at these festivals, and they included Sundance among them ...

YOU CAN:
Have shitty image quality
Have poorly lit scenes
Have less than perfect audio
YOU CANNOT, CANNOT, CANNOT,
Have bad acting.

Our eyes, and to a lesser extent our ears, will easily adjust to and accept a low fi grunge aesthetic. We won't accept bad acting.

For a guy with Punk in his name you seem pretty obsessed with slickness.

Look at Open Water ... shot on CONSUMER DV!!!!!!!!

And probably the most profitable guerilla indie on DV since blair witch project with a huge distribution deal.

WHY?

Professional performances, a good screenplay, and A GREAT HOOK ... "blair witch project meets jaws" and for what they could pay for distribution, the studios said "ch-ching!"

Do you have solid well written viable comodity? (i.e. script)

Until then you are wasting everyone's time including your own, and if by some miracle or twist of fate $800K lands in your non-dues paying lap, well then frankly you are going to waste $800K.

You will make garbage until you have a good script.

Get a great script.

Get a DVX (or a single chip you little meglamaniacal leap frog you)

Make the best damn movie ever made.

The rest will take care of itself whether it was shot on pixelvision or VHS.

I think we are just getting to a point with DV where we can look at DV as 16 MM, and HD as 35mm (not in resolution but as a metaphor).

Just as 35 mm does not render 16 mm an immediate piece of crap, Neither does HD make SD a dead technology. Maybe one day -- but not for a while.
And lots of great movies were shot on 16.
Devil's Rejects
EL Mariachi
and tons of other non Genre movies.

That's how I look at it. For the time being I am perfectly happy with my 16mm bolex (meaning my DVX). No need for 35mm (HD) yet for me.

PunkMetalDrummer17 said:
I see what your saying... I was just going by what my teacher had said.... The kid that shot the feature last year was told that he couldn't do a thing with it since he used gear that was supplied from a non-profit organization. I don't know if that's actually the case or if the teacher just thinked it sucked so bad that it wasn't worth selling.

What I was going to do, was use the school equipment for behind the scenes material since, in the end, there wouldn't be direct profit made of that material. We do have two DVXs (regular and B) and a DVC80 at school. My teacher owns a 100A, also.

The major reason I don't want to use the school is because of that.... We don't have anything higher than the MiniDV format; And since somebody said that the DVX doesn't transfer tremendously great to film, I'd really like to shoot at least DVCPro 50, on a SDX900. Then maybe a 2nd unit on a HVX, because I have a ton of Slowmotion and fast motion effects. (really should use the varicam because I need Frame Rate Ramping, but I could do that in post.)
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I am dumbfounded by how amazing that post was Jack - i am gonna print it and put it on my fridge.

still laughing out loud
 
100% about execution, I agree. Story, Acting, and good Marketing.

Great example of how a huge budget with a great script could turn into a horriable movie: The Shining Remake. Why!

Wendy, I'm not gonna hurt ya.

Old saint nick for my money.
 
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