"Corrado" - A production blog

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HVX2006 said:
As for editing? What size shots did you end up using the most in the end? How much did you have to "cut around" gaps in performance? Where you more often forced to cut or could you let it play for several sentences or more at a time? Did you most of the time construct a given dialog from the same take or rather multiple takes? How many cuts are in your film? Who preformed better, i mean ratio vise the TV actors or the Film actors? How did the "non actors" or "first timers preform compared with the star? Did you have more problems cutting around them?
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1) mediums and CUs.
2)None
3) Unsure what you mean here.


A few of these questions I won't answer - they are basic cinematography questions that any book will tell you..how to shoot a master and move in for coverage while maintaining the integrity of a scene.

4) All of the actors did very well, I had no real editing issues with anyone. I did find that the more experienced actors held the same actions on every take....Johnny for example exhaled his cigarette smoke in the same places every take in a 3 minute scene. Without me telling him to.
 
HVX2006 said:
Directing #2

When Tom or the main actor was wrong/off, how did they react? Did he want to move on or go back and get it better? What was there attitude to failure and the process involved to getting to perfection (not always pleasant)? What was your attitude to it? Move on and hope to save it in post? Try to be positive and let it go? How did you deal with "crisis" in the realm of acting? What would you differently when dealing with performance on your next project?

Often it seems that there is a perception that a great actor gets "there" easily because he is "great" and that the performance is always great in take #1 and perfect by take 3. It has often struck me how little actors know about there own performance, even great actors like Gorge Cloney are always allot less good in the films where they direct them self.
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Working with Tom was definitely covered in this thread.
 
I'm impressed, I think he answered them all....more than I thought he would have considering some of them seemed to be answered before...all in all good questions, good answers...

I figured pro actors didn't do the whole "hey lets rehearse for 8 weeks before the movie shoot"...they get their scripts in their emails and they learn their lines..
 
taormina said:
Why did you need to know what he wants by page ten? What script formula book does that come from?
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I didn't "need" to know, but you asked for our thoughts on the 10 pages so i offered mine. I don't think that just because something comes from a book that it does not apply to the real world. Lot of very smart and successful guys have written books on writing. In any case i was mostly interested at what point it becomes clear what the hero wants, on what page that is?
 
HVX2006 said:
Directing 3#

Did the actors want to see the takes at the end of a scene? How do you feel about that as a director? Would you have been comfortable saying no? How was it directing your wife? Did you have to scream at her allot? What takes president for you when choosing a "print", the actor hitting his mark, great performance, correctly executed blocking.....? Did you end up using allot of traveling shots? Did you block the takes and set marks or did you leave it mostly to the actor? Did you do complicated set ups and blocking? Did you do standard "coverage"? Did actors need allot of "explaining the character"? Did you take time off to talk to actors one-on-one if things weren't working? Did actors when waiting for the lighting, rome the set and talk to crew or did they want to be somewhere off by them self? Did you provide such a space at all times? What in your opinion are the 3 dont's and do's when dealing with stars, i mean practically on set, in your day to day interaction?
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1) No, God help us, actors don't do that!
2) N/A
3) N/A
4) I've done it before 3 times, she fades into anonymity on set and is just like any other actor
5) No - that would be humiliating. I don't scream much in general.
6) We print 'em all on HD - and sort them out in the edit.
7)Of course we always block and mark after first seeing the run through.
8) Not really.
9) Yes and no, we did some unconventional coverage.
10) No
11) Yes, but never really had this problem
12) Actors who aren't filming can be found in their trailer or private area.
13) The rest of this is in the thread.
 
HVX2006 said:
I didn't "need" to know, but you asked for our thoughts on the 10 pages so i offered mine. I don't think that just because something comes from a book that it does not apply to the real world. Lot of very smart and successful guys have written books on writing. In any case i was mostly interested at what point it becomes clear what the hero wants, on what page that is?
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I don't follow most of what is written in script how to books. (Neither does John August, for example).

In my scripts, you will find a setup, an inciting incident by or around page 21, and four acts, that's it.
 
taormina said:
1) mediums and CUs.
2)None
3) Unsure what you mean here.


A few of these questions I won't answer - they are basic cinematography questions that any book will tell you..how to shoot a master and move in for coverage while maintaining the integrity of a scene.

4) All of the actors did very well, I had no real editing issues with anyone. I did find that the more experienced actors held the same actions on every take....Johnny for example exhaled his cigarette smoke in the same places every take in a 3 minute scene. Without me telling him to.
Click to expand...


I mean when constructing a scene in the edit did you mostly use the material from one take ore did you cut it together from all three takes (most of the time)? Basically did you not experience any problems with the acting that forced you to cut look for a different take to continue the edit.
 
taormina said:
I don't follow most of what is written in script how to books. (Neither does John August, for example).

In my scripts, you will find a setup, an inciting incident by or around page 21, and four acts, that's it.
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Fair enough.
 
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HVX2006 said:
I mean when constructing a scene in the edit did you mostly use the material from one take ore did you cut it together from all three takes (most of the time)? Basically did you not experience any problems with the acting that forced you to cut look for a different take to continue the edit.
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I mix takes for sure, thee are better pieces form each performance. I did not have any huge edit problems.
 
HVX2006 said:
Thank you for taking the time to answer all these questions, as always you are extremely gracious and generous.
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My pleasure. The beauty of this thread is that anyone who thinks they can do a better job than I did is fully armed with the information to do so.
 
taormina said:
How cliche about the cemetery. His central need is retribution.
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It could be argued that retribution is not a need. Its like love, everyone wants to be loved, but Joe specifically wants to be loved by Lucy. So Joes need is to be loved BY lucy.
 
taormina said:
My pleasure. The beauty of this thread is that anyone who thinks they can do a better job than I did is fully armed with the information to do so.
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Hey, im your biggest fan, but i try not do be a cheerleader. I think this thread is the single most complete guide to making a low budget film that sells, and i think thousands, me included are extremely grateful to you. I may not always agree with your opinions, but without a doubt i am very interested to hear what you did and how you did it.
 
All these questions by HVX are watering down the main theme of the Corrado thread.

Now we're talking about elementary rules of directing. These are sophomoric questions at this point in the thread anyway; but the worse part is that they're not serious questions and shouldn't be answered seriously.

Corrado is a B-Movie. The Corrado thread presents a brilliant performance by a first time feature filmmaker making a successful B-Movie. The lessons learned from Corrado can be applied to all classes of movie making.

Corrado is now in the final post-production phase and soon in the distribution phase. Most of us are following this thread to learn how an honest effort will lead to a successful effort in marketing of an independent movie.

Personally I've never seen a filmmaker who has it more together than Adam at this stage in his career.

And, yes, learning about Vega vs. FCP and AVID is important. These are the technical tid-bits which are a better way to fill in this thread while we're waiting for the finalization of the editing and the susbsequent marketing of this movie.

Learning how to deal with problems of finishing a digital movie for the new marekts. Digital projection and Internet distribution are very new and we need to learn the efficient ways of working with digital media.

I'm not trying to moderate. Let's just give Adam a chance to teach us some more of the facets of taking a movie like Corrado all the way through this process. Ask as your questions but don't bogey the joint. LOL
 
taormina said:
In my scripts, you will find a setup, an inciting incident by or around page 21, and four acts, that's it.
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I kind of like a 4 act structure too. How would you describe yours?

I read the first 12 pages and I think they're pretty entertaining. Not that it makes any difference at this point but I noticed a few grammatical errors. Was this the version of the script that was sent to agents and actors? Do you think anybody noticed or cared about anything other than the quality of the story and dialog?

Sorry to dwell on this a bit longer but the nature of these errors surprises me. The classical wisdom on sites like Triggerstreet is that any error in format or grammar is inexcusable. How important are format and grammar if you are a writter/producer/director?
 
4 act structure is the same as a proper 3 act structure, act 2 is twice as long as 1 & 3, with a turning point in the middle. Same concepts. different semantics is all.
 
I just started reading this thread last night for the first time. Amazing. I am at page 13 right not and I know I will be spending tonight reading the rest of it...

Thanks for writing this - I just can't finish reading it to see how everything turned out.
 
filmman said:
All these questions by HVX are watering down the main theme of the Corrado thread.

Now we're talking about elementary rules of directing. These are sophomoric questions at this point in the thread anyway; but the worse part is that they're not serious questions and shouldn't be answered seriously.

Corrado is a B-Movie. The Corrado thread presents a brilliant performance by a first time feature filmmaker making a successful B-Movie. The lessons learned from Corrado can be applied to all classes of movie making.

Corrado is now in the final post-production phase and soon in the distribution phase. Most of us are following this thread to learn how an honest effort will lead to a successful effort in marketing of an independent movie.

Personally I've never seen a filmmaker who has it more together than Adam at this stage in his career.

And, yes, learning about Vega vs. FCP and AVID is important. These are the technical tid-bits which are a better way to fill in this thread while we're waiting for the finalization of the editing and the susbsequent marketing of this movie.

Learning how to deal with problems of finishing a digital movie for the new marekts. Digital projection and Internet distribution are very new and we need to learn the efficient ways of working with digital media.

I'm not trying to moderate. Let's just give Adam a chance to teach us some more of the facets of taking a movie like Corrado all the way through this process. Ask as your questions but don't bogey the joint. LOL
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Well said man.:)
 
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