"Corrado" - A production blog
- Thread starter taormina
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taormina
Hates to Rent
I like the way Federico Fellini worked. He'd ask his actors to count, one two three and shoot MOS. Then he dubbed the lines in after picture was edited. The story worked better that way. The visuals were more important for him, and the dialog ended up expressing his way of thinking better. He liked dubbing. I think he was a great director. He was very unique, a real artist.
Of course, he didn't work in the US. I wonder what the AFM distributors would say to him if he told them he didn't even have a script for 8 and a 1/2
Vic, you're a hopeless romantic, which is not bad at all.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
I did the EPK package for Bachelor Party 2, which was a direct to DVD film that Fox did. Pretty low budget.
As far as Indie films, IMHO, if you are serious about selling your film, EPK can be helpful although it's not as common. EPK is almost always hired by studio marketing so since most indies are not involved with the studios, it is more rare. But having it to intercut with some key scenes can make for a good marketing clip to show to potential film festivals, distribution, HBO First Look, etc.
Dan
Ted Spencer
Veteran
It took me a little digging around to figure out that an EPK is a Electronic Press Kit. I'm offering it here for the benefit of others who might have been likewise unenlightened : )
slimchrisp
Well-known member
count me in that list. thanks ted.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Sorry guys, I have been doing it for so long that I assume that everyone knows what EPK is.
D
D
taormina
Hates to Rent
Well, the edit was complete over this weekend. Watched, rewatched, tweaked, stroked, shortened and stretched, Corrado is complete.
I am now in the process of rendering out the final cut in two forms - one as a DVD so I can give a copy to the post audio and composer, the other as a gargantuan uncompressed quicktime to give to the colorist.
Based on my tests, the uncompressed quicktime will come in at 1.2TB (!!!!) and take approximately 40 hours to render. I am rendering it in 20 minute reels.
I just upgraded my machine in order to handle all this....this render time is with the new machine which is a quad core PC.
I am happy with the movie right now. I know how much better it will be with the color, sound, and music. I continue to receive inquiries from big distributors and I can't wait to sell the thing.
I go in for color timing this Friday which I am really excited about. The little HVX held up real well when exported to an uncompressed .mov - really great quality and I can't wait to tweak the color.
Side note: This is probably the last movie I will edit. I did a great job as confirmed by others, and I enjoyed the process, but I simply lost too much momentum on movie#2 handholding Corrado through post. I really needed to be getting that one off the ground not editing for 3 months straight. As soon as I wrap Hangar 14 I will be launching the next flick while it is in post. I hope to film two movies per year like this.
No matter, all I lost was a little time - as it stands Hangar 14 will be pushed up into November instead. I've got some really great actors lined up as well. Big guys. Household name guys!
But alas, this thread is for Corrado.
I've decided to do a blog on Hangar 14, although it will be somewhat abbreviated over this one. Not as much will be revealed since most of the fundamentals are in this thread, which will be compiled and available on my site.
Also, my blog on Hangar 14 will be available to view exclusively on my website (when it is up) at www.taorminafilms.com .
I will try and find a way to answer all of your questions on there as I do here, probably using wordpress.
My reasoning on taking the next blog offsite is twofold: 1) It is a valuable marketing tool, and I feel uncomfortable marketing anything on this website. It's supposed to be a forum, not all bout me. My site is all about me, and 2) I need some mechanism to moderate my thread so that it doesn't stray off topic or get out of control....both of which my site gives me.
Of course, everything I offer will be absolutely free, as usual. And I promise to keep updating this thread until at least the movie is sold.
I am now in the process of rendering out the final cut in two forms - one as a DVD so I can give a copy to the post audio and composer, the other as a gargantuan uncompressed quicktime to give to the colorist.
Based on my tests, the uncompressed quicktime will come in at 1.2TB (!!!!) and take approximately 40 hours to render. I am rendering it in 20 minute reels.
I just upgraded my machine in order to handle all this....this render time is with the new machine which is a quad core PC.
I am happy with the movie right now. I know how much better it will be with the color, sound, and music. I continue to receive inquiries from big distributors and I can't wait to sell the thing.
I go in for color timing this Friday which I am really excited about. The little HVX held up real well when exported to an uncompressed .mov - really great quality and I can't wait to tweak the color.
Side note: This is probably the last movie I will edit. I did a great job as confirmed by others, and I enjoyed the process, but I simply lost too much momentum on movie#2 handholding Corrado through post. I really needed to be getting that one off the ground not editing for 3 months straight. As soon as I wrap Hangar 14 I will be launching the next flick while it is in post. I hope to film two movies per year like this.
No matter, all I lost was a little time - as it stands Hangar 14 will be pushed up into November instead. I've got some really great actors lined up as well. Big guys. Household name guys!
But alas, this thread is for Corrado.
I've decided to do a blog on Hangar 14, although it will be somewhat abbreviated over this one. Not as much will be revealed since most of the fundamentals are in this thread, which will be compiled and available on my site.
Also, my blog on Hangar 14 will be available to view exclusively on my website (when it is up) at www.taorminafilms.com .
I will try and find a way to answer all of your questions on there as I do here, probably using wordpress.
My reasoning on taking the next blog offsite is twofold: 1) It is a valuable marketing tool, and I feel uncomfortable marketing anything on this website. It's supposed to be a forum, not all bout me. My site is all about me, and 2) I need some mechanism to moderate my thread so that it doesn't stray off topic or get out of control....both of which my site gives me.
Of course, everything I offer will be absolutely free, as usual. And I promise to keep updating this thread until at least the movie is sold.
Hi Adam and congratulations on completing these stages of the process.
If you have the time can you speak about the color timing process and what that actually entails?
Also maybe you have gone through this already but are you going to sell to individual territories one at a time or are you looking for a deal that takes care of all thr rights in one bundle so to speak.
Do you have a lawyer negotiating or is it you? Do you have the knowledge of these kinds of complex deals?
Do you know how getting something on the back end for yourself works and if so can you take a minute to summerize that for me/us?
Next time around will you be self financing again or looking for investors? If so do you have an idea of what type of construction you will set up to make that work for you so film three will have something to sustain it getting off the ground.
Anything you feel was covered before say so and skip and whatever you can talk about let us know.
Again so much grattitude for bringing us these keys!
Dogday.
If you have the time can you speak about the color timing process and what that actually entails?
Also maybe you have gone through this already but are you going to sell to individual territories one at a time or are you looking for a deal that takes care of all thr rights in one bundle so to speak.
Do you have a lawyer negotiating or is it you? Do you have the knowledge of these kinds of complex deals?
Do you know how getting something on the back end for yourself works and if so can you take a minute to summerize that for me/us?
Next time around will you be self financing again or looking for investors? If so do you have an idea of what type of construction you will set up to make that work for you so film three will have something to sustain it getting off the ground.
Anything you feel was covered before say so and skip and whatever you can talk about let us know.
Again so much grattitude for bringing us these keys!
Dogday.
filmman
Veteran
Congratulations Adam!
How come your uncompressed is coming out that big? I've only done 8-bit so far and that came in at 90 Gigs for the 83 minute feature film I finished. You must be doing 10-bit, but it shouldn't be that big. How long is Corrado?
Also I'd appreciate it if you talk about what you will deliver to the distributors? An HD version of the movie? What format?
Thanks again for your generosity in sharing so much information in this blog. It has rekindled the production fires in me again.
How come your uncompressed is coming out that big? I've only done 8-bit so far and that came in at 90 Gigs for the 83 minute feature film I finished. You must be doing 10-bit, but it shouldn't be that big. How long is Corrado?
Also I'd appreciate it if you talk about what you will deliver to the distributors? An HD version of the movie? What format?
Thanks again for your generosity in sharing so much information in this blog. It has rekindled the production fires in me again.
taormina
Hates to Rent
I actually meant color correction - color timing is a film thing. Even so, this is how it goes:
1. I bring the highest quality uncompressed final cut I can generate to the post house.
2. They output it to a D5 tape and put it on a spirit machine, which is a 2K real time color correction machine.
3. I sit in for a day with my DP and we tell the colorist how we want it. I focus more on the look, my DP focuses on the technical errors like overexposure, crushing blacks, etc.
4. I supply the post house with my completed post audio and score, and they do a layback.
Basically when I am done, I have a beautiful Hi Def D5 tape of the completed film in my hand to give to distributors. I can downconvert to SD and output to DVD if I want.
I have studied and investigated the territorial selling route and have determined it's not for me. Shows like AFM might net you sales in all territories, but I simply do not have the time to deal with so many worldwide contracts. My plan right now is to sell to two distributors - one for North American rights and one for World. What they do with it at that point is their problem. The people I'm talking to right now are big enough to do that no problem.
I have not negotiated anything yet - the movie is not done yet. I have, however retained an entertainment attorney. I'm a seasoned salesman, I can sell whale steaks to Greenpeace. Still, I'll have him involved in the deal to ensure I am not getting screwed.
I was of the opinion that you should get the biggest advance you can up front. I still believe that, although I am warming up to the idea of a back end. A director friend of mine made a $500K movie that sold recently. They gave him half up front. The film has grossed 4X budget worldwide so far, and he has continued to receive his portion of the checks reliably, so I guess it does work.
I will still use my pool of investors, but this time I will not personally guarantee r the investment itself. Since all the publicity on the movie, I now have two more investors who want to put up cash - both are in the film business though and I have to see if I can stomach that. My next movie's budget has effectively been cut in half from the vibes I've been getting.....it now sits at $2.7 Million.
I'm hyper conscious of my cast on the next film. Remember way back when I was looking for talent?? All the agents wanted to know was how much money I had and how good the script was. Now, all the distributors want to know is "who is in it"
When I made Corrado, I was fortunate that the bulk of my cast....the people you saw every minute of the movie...where solid working name actors. There was only a single character that played in the film for more than five minutes who wasn't well known. Everyone is someone as it were. This is where all my press is coming from!!!!
On the next film, the six key characters will be extremely well known. Three of them will be household names. There will not be a single nobody in the film.
This may sound harsh, but if you want to sell your film you have to work the cast. of the $2.7 million 1.1 is cast!!!!!!
Even small supporting roles will be someones. Just as in Corrado - Ken Kercheval played Tom's dad - a one day role, he sat in bed and mumbled some lines. I could've got anyone for that but instead I got a veteran of 300 episodes of Dallas to just lie there and utter a few words.
Keep this in mind.
taormina
Hates to Rent
I am rendering it out as an uncompressed quicktime wrapper, no sub codec within. It is 10 bit, with 32 bit floating point color. The post house said this format is about 9gb per minute.
Don't worry - you are good with your size. Their requests don't make sense to me....the native footage, 1080 DVCPROHD is a gig per minute right out of the camera....where is all the other 8gb of data coming from!!!!!! Beats the **** out of me. But that's how it is.
Corrado sits at 78 minutes without closing titles......82 minutes with titles, which is the true TRT of the film. Your other questions are answered in the previous post.
No problem Vic, glad to help.
I hear you loud and clear and believe me heed those golden words of advice concerning casting criteria if the ultimate goal is to sell for a nice profit.
On the other hand looking at another link in the chain I think I see a flaw or at least something that for myself would be an issue and that is doing projects with all that means in terms of toil and risk and then having so little left after the journey in terms of concrete measurable monitary result. What I mean is that I think it would be worth it to make the extra % selling one at a time ( If not you then someone else for you-Especially if its going Direct to Video ) and also designing a bullit proof tax shelter scheme for investors ( As an incentive for them ) rather than having to get them back their ROI plus what ever extra % is baked into the deal. Just the thought of that kills me. But some people ( You? ) seem to have boundless energy and instead of being depleted with each endeavor actually grow in strength, in that case you will find the best way that works for you in the long run no doubt!
Just a reflection now concerning casting; I am mostly an actor and write a lot, plays and film scripts and have directed mostly theater, but the big productions I have been on have always had mixed ensembles, not only from a producers POV but for an audience and actually for the sake of the star, because it can be too much of a good thing almost like Al Pacinos "Looking for Richard" everyone in every scene was a KNOWN FACE and by the end of the experience it became almost common place. I think for the illusion of "Star" to stand out there needs to be a contrast kind of like having big fat uglys as back up singers to make miss thing in the spot light look thin and delicious. Or like in action movies you need a lot of fodder to kill off ( Unknowns ) because we the audience can only invest so much into the main characters so what happens to them we can care about, its a context and we just can`t relate to everyone and if we do it diminishes what we have left for the star IMHO.
Just a thought.
Dogday
On the other hand looking at another link in the chain I think I see a flaw or at least something that for myself would be an issue and that is doing projects with all that means in terms of toil and risk and then having so little left after the journey in terms of concrete measurable monitary result. What I mean is that I think it would be worth it to make the extra % selling one at a time ( If not you then someone else for you-Especially if its going Direct to Video ) and also designing a bullit proof tax shelter scheme for investors ( As an incentive for them ) rather than having to get them back their ROI plus what ever extra % is baked into the deal. Just the thought of that kills me. But some people ( You? ) seem to have boundless energy and instead of being depleted with each endeavor actually grow in strength, in that case you will find the best way that works for you in the long run no doubt!
Just a reflection now concerning casting; I am mostly an actor and write a lot, plays and film scripts and have directed mostly theater, but the big productions I have been on have always had mixed ensembles, not only from a producers POV but for an audience and actually for the sake of the star, because it can be too much of a good thing almost like Al Pacinos "Looking for Richard" everyone in every scene was a KNOWN FACE and by the end of the experience it became almost common place. I think for the illusion of "Star" to stand out there needs to be a contrast kind of like having big fat uglys as back up singers to make miss thing in the spot light look thin and delicious. Or like in action movies you need a lot of fodder to kill off ( Unknowns ) because we the audience can only invest so much into the main characters so what happens to them we can care about, its a context and we just can`t relate to everyone and if we do it diminishes what we have left for the star IMHO.
Just a thought.
Dogday
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Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Hey Adam,
Awesome news on your final edit! I am getting prepared for output for color (grading, timing, correction, whatever) here pretty soon as well. I am sure it'll be exciting to see Corrado completed! And regarding getting things off the ground for your next film, I applaud you for that! We just started the writing process for our next feature, and you'll probably be close to production by the time we start pre-production! You're rocking it dude! Can't wait to see how this all shapes up!
Awesome news on your final edit! I am getting prepared for output for color (grading, timing, correction, whatever) here pretty soon as well. I am sure it'll be exciting to see Corrado completed! And regarding getting things off the ground for your next film, I applaud you for that! We just started the writing process for our next feature, and you'll probably be close to production by the time we start pre-production! You're rocking it dude! Can't wait to see how this all shapes up!
I think it is possible to get money up front from a straight to video deal but the span of time with which this project flew was really incredible. I would have secured talent with a deposit or even if everything else logistically was in place and felt confident a pay for play. Then gone directly to them and held up the bacon and gotten them to cough up the money or the very least make some sort of gesture that could be leveraged when dealing with investors. Its just a matter of what comes first the chicken or the egg in this case because there is no doubt this film will be sold for a good price now that its complete.
I am not in the same boat by any means as Adam...I am on the shore building my boat still and looking out on the horizon and making observations and drawing conclusions but theres a lot I can`t see yet, but somethings that maybe others are missing...Maybe.
And that is that the ultimate is to have as much from the get go that is soft so that as much of the revenue can be counted as profit and since there are already from the inception of the equation so many middle men and tolls to pay along the way there is very little left at the end of this insanely draining journey.
So soft money or as close as one can get to it for me that would be creating a tax shelter of sorts doing some research on different jurisdictions and who they have treaties with and constructing something to get both governmental resources-sponsorship-tax money.
By tax money I mean money that a filthy rich person can`t beat with lawyers. For someone in a very high tax bracket that 2% their lawyers can shave off for them really adds up. There are ways to get their money funneled into a project so that it can`t be touched by certain governments. So you get them to invest and if there is loss they would have chucked it into the river anyway. If there is a profit they get their money back but you then side step the part about sharing the profits. So its like a loan without interest and with a back door with minimal consequence.
There are places where regulations are very relaxed where people are throwing money around these are the places I would look especially if you can bullshi* your way in or out of basically any situation ( Adam? ) then go there and find those high rollers who don`t really care, they have money to burn.
A simple idea. And so far just an idea.
Dogday.
P.S.
I think Adam is making a lot of the right moves but I would like to see him become rich enough quick enough so he can live long enough to see all three of his kids grow up and be as successful as their Dad.
P.P.S.
Now once again, does anyone have any idea how a "Trust Fond" Gets set up and or operates? I asked on another thread and got no responce...Anyone?
I am not in the same boat by any means as Adam...I am on the shore building my boat still and looking out on the horizon and making observations and drawing conclusions but theres a lot I can`t see yet, but somethings that maybe others are missing...Maybe.
And that is that the ultimate is to have as much from the get go that is soft so that as much of the revenue can be counted as profit and since there are already from the inception of the equation so many middle men and tolls to pay along the way there is very little left at the end of this insanely draining journey.
So soft money or as close as one can get to it for me that would be creating a tax shelter of sorts doing some research on different jurisdictions and who they have treaties with and constructing something to get both governmental resources-sponsorship-tax money.
By tax money I mean money that a filthy rich person can`t beat with lawyers. For someone in a very high tax bracket that 2% their lawyers can shave off for them really adds up. There are ways to get their money funneled into a project so that it can`t be touched by certain governments. So you get them to invest and if there is loss they would have chucked it into the river anyway. If there is a profit they get their money back but you then side step the part about sharing the profits. So its like a loan without interest and with a back door with minimal consequence.
There are places where regulations are very relaxed where people are throwing money around these are the places I would look especially if you can bullshi* your way in or out of basically any situation ( Adam? ) then go there and find those high rollers who don`t really care, they have money to burn.
A simple idea. And so far just an idea.
Dogday.
P.S.
I think Adam is making a lot of the right moves but I would like to see him become rich enough quick enough so he can live long enough to see all three of his kids grow up and be as successful as their Dad.
P.P.S.
Now once again, does anyone have any idea how a "Trust Fond" Gets set up and or operates? I asked on another thread and got no responce...Anyone?
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filmman
Veteran
Forget the trust fund, DogDay LOL.
Tell us about the boat. Is it a sailboat? Will you shoot a movie on it? How much would you rent it for, say, if Adam wanted to rent it to dock it at Cannes and sell Corrado territorial rights? LOL
I just want everyone to know, I'm not hijcking this thread
Tell us about the boat. Is it a sailboat? Will you shoot a movie on it? How much would you rent it for, say, if Adam wanted to rent it to dock it at Cannes and sell Corrado territorial rights? LOL
I just want everyone to know, I'm not hijcking this thread
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