OTHER: Drawing With Chalk Feature Film Trailer

D

DCP

Well-known member
Hello All,

I recently posted under footage for the Panasonic P2 but I figured I'd also post here as being the 'official thread'.

We shot over the course of 6 months with the HVX200 and Letus Extreme. Our budget was approx. $116,000 (includes the purchase of all the equipment; purchasing was the right choice over renting... more about that later).

This was my first film. I'm an actor/musician who also had my own wedding video business. Basically, I enjoy creating. Long story short, my friend (and brother-in-law) had the idea of utilizing my film equipment and we'd write and produce a film (I'd direct and do all of the music). We figured we could do all of this for about $8,000 (I had saved money to build a motorcycle; a task I wanted to do before I turned 40). Though it was a nice thought, once we decided to 'do it right' the budget blew up. We had to do a SAG Ultra-Low Budget Agreement since we are both SAG and were playing the two main characters (ironically we had to pay ourselves...) and a few other actors we wanted were also union.

I decided to buy the equipment because at the time the only financing we had was my $4000 (saved for a motorcycle) and credit cards; we also didn't really have a set shooting schedule (due to financing and shooting around the seasons). I figured I could always sell the equipment at the end. I also knew that I was going to be a big part of the crew. So I learned how to set up the crane and dolly, learned how to shoot with the adapter, understand what each lens was capable of doing, shot some footage myself, did whatever it took to make a good film. We pretty much worked with only ourselves, the DP (Michael LaVoie), 1st AC, one grip/gaffer, and one sound operator). Only a few times did we have more crew (usually when we had the other SAG actors on set). I did all post production myself and did all of the music (with the help from my band of course). Anyway, here is a link to the trailer:

http://www.drawingchalkpictures.com/previews.html

Of course we are now entering the festival circuit (I busted tail trying to get a cut ready for Sundance) and hope for what every filmmaker wants: distribution (and a chance to make a 2nd movie).

Sorry if this is considered a double post, but since I'd also like to talk about the process of filmmaking (not just the HVX200) I thought this would be the place to do so.

All the best.

Todd Giglio
 
Wow that was great! I was expecting alot less to be honest, but that was really great! Good luck with the festivals and looking forward to hearing more about the process too. Keep up the good work!
 
I too was expecting less then what you delivered. I find a lot of trailers on here arn't much in the way of trailers at all. That is something id like to watch though, keep us posted and best of luck.
 
Thanks Guys,

Tailers are tricky. You have to show enough to get people to want to see more (without giving too much away). Glad to see it's working! :dankk2:

I will be keeping everyone up to date. We recently submitted to Sundance, and will be submitting to SXSW, Florida, Tribeca, and the Seattle Int. Festival in the coming month. I'm also sending a copy of the film to a Sales agent located near my in NYC.

Todd
 
I think the highest compliment I can give you is that very rarely do trailers posted here genuinely make me want to see the movie for more then curiosity and as a case study of fellow DVXusers. I'm genuinely interested in seeing Drawing with Chalk.

Maybe part of it has to do with the fact I'm about to turn 30...

Keep us updated.
 
Wow, one of the best overall trailers i've seen on this site, it's very quiet and genuine. show me more. now. thanks. :)
 
yeahfilms said:
Wow, one of the best overall trailers i've seen on this site, it's very quiet and genuine. show me more. now. thanks. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Chance and yeahfilms :dankk2:,

I know you both are not anywhere near NYC, but we are having a private screening of the film for cast/crew/family/friends and if there is space in the theater, I'd open the invitation.

The only other thing I can show is the movie poster (I had posted this under Photoshop) but here it is again:



poster2a.jpg




I will keep everyone posted. As of now, we are planning the NYC screening and possibly two upstate College screenings. We're doing the festival submissions now (only submitted to Sundance, Slamdance, Tribeca, Seattle, Florida, SXSW) so nothing happening now except for the waiting game. :)

Todd
​
 
DCP said:
As of now, we are planning the NYC screening and possibly two upstate College screenings.



Todd​
Click to expand...

Please let me know about these screenings...I'm in the Albany area & would love to see this film!:beer:
 
Yeah, let us know when/where the upstate ones are. My buddy is trying browsing through schools in New York state, might be able to make the trip.
 
Really nice job.
A lot of so called directors get caught up in "this visual" or "that shot" or "this crane" or "that dolly" and forget that those are just tools to help articulate a story. You have, what looks like a quality story to tell and have used your tools to support that. That is as it should be. Keep up the great work. \
I am an actor/ filmmaker in NY as well so, keep us all posted on where it may be screened.
 
The trailer looks super cute :) Good luck with the festivals. If you get into any around Portland let me know, because I would love to go see it!
 
You hear the sentence 'coming of age story' coming out of the mouth of a first time director, you think "oh boy".

But wow, that was wonderful. I really want to see this film.

I think it hits home for us as well, because our lives may become like that (or they are), where we're struggling for a goal, yet others may not support us.
 
You have proved my man

That conventional trailers attract an audience.
Production value is there, even though the trailer is mostly talking heads.
Music is good
Titles are good

Congratulations,
I hope that you guys do GREAT at festivals, and get distribution

You might not get much love since we haven't followed your journey like the Corrado, ALPFD

But amazing job, would love to work with you in future projects
 
chris f said:
Good job man, looks good.

So the budget jumped from 8k to 116k? That's a huge jump.
Click to expand...


Yeah, that was a huge jump. Here's the story:

My close friend Chris (college buddy, NYC roomate, and now brother-in-law... long story) and I were hanging out in my basement watching movies like we would do late at night (once our kids and wives were asleep, and no... we don't all live in the same house) after we got home from our night jobs.

After drinking a few beers we were chilling listening to music. Chris had mentioned a song my band had done in 2001 (yes, we went to school for acting and I had branched off into music) called 'Nowhere'. He said he had always thought about it as a video or perhaps in a movie. After talking about it for a few more minutes, he said, "Hey, lets write a movie!". Of course it sounded good at the time. After all I had my own wedding video business as a side company so I had a camera, tripod, mics... so we had the equipment. I also had $4000 that I had been saving so I could build a motorcycle before I hit 40. Chris said he'd kick in another 4g's and we'd be set. We would write, produce, act, cook, drive, do the music, I'd DP it, get some cheap lights at Home Depot, do the sound... hell, we didn't have to hire anyone.

That idea didn't last very long. Chris and I were both SAG and realized that we may have to do a SAG feature ($$$). Once we cast the film (June 07) we had added 5 more SAG actors and that sealed the deal. I also came to the conclusion that no matter how good I can make a wedding look, I couldn't shoot this myself so we needed a real crew. The more we worked on the script, the bigger the budget became. I also realized my wedding camera wasn't good enough, so I needed a new camera. I also wanted a smooth and cinematic camera movements to emphasize the emotion of the film (so I bought a crane and a dolly). I also wanted good sound... BOY, the money flies fast. My problem is that we were shooting whenever we could (never really had a solid shooting schedule) so renting wasn't an option.

Needless to say $8000.00 doesn't go very far once you production level jumps. At this point we were in it this and the way I saw it is that this was our last chance and I was going all in.

We never really wrote down/planned out our budget and just went by the seat of our pants. We knew that we'd be shooting over a period of time (seasonally and economically) so we only worried about the next shoot coming up and put off our concerns about raising money.

Then one Dec. night in '07 it seems our financial concerns was over...Ironically I had a connection at my night job (a place everyone in the world has heard about "The World's Most Famous....") with someone willing to put up $150,000. He liked the script idea and was impressed by the footage I had on my iphone. He asked us to give him an investment proposal (which I slaved over and made look absolutely amazing). He was a nice man and was always generous to all of us. Well after several phone meetings, shipping out the proposal and thinking that our problems was solved, this gentleman fully disclosed to me that he had some pending Federal issues that I should be aware of... BIG Federal issues... so despite the offer, I had to decline (that was a sleepless decision which proved to be the right decision). Because of this happening, my family decided to invest in the film (more so because of the footage I had already shot and edited). Within a few weeks, we had raised $25,000. Our actually cash out (for crew, SAG bond, payroll, etc.) was about $50,000. My equipment costs were the remaining balance.

Anyway, long story short (and it is a lot longer that this), it's nice to think you can do things for no money, but the reality is if you really want a solid film it's going to cost. Granted we had a small crew, and aside from a few volunteers, we paid everyone. I could have shot the film without a dolly or crane or good sound system or HVX200 or excellent DP but you can see where this would lead to and I would not have ended up with the same movie.

Again, the biggest flaw Chris and I had with this project is that we were never on top of our finances. We always just 'slung' it and hoped we'd have the money for the next shoot. I had to sell equipment, borrow from my wife, work extra shifts (which was tough since I had already taken so much time off to work on the film) and hope we'd finish on time. We ran a smooth set (despite this being our first film), got all the shots we needed and showed to the cast and crew we were competent. In the end Chris and I did it.

Funny thing is that we did this despite taking care of our kids during the day while our wives worked, then went to our night jobs, then met up in my basement to work on the film until about 4am (then we'd do it all over again the next day). Our goal back in August 06 (our first writing session) was to have the film shot by Chris's 40th b-day, and edited by my 40th b-day. We met our goal.

Sooooo..... what turned out as just an idea of turning one of my songs into a video turned into a film I'm really proud of.

Todd
 
Last edited:
Charlie06 said:
You have proved my man

That conventional trailers attract an audience.
Production value is there, even though the trailer is mostly talking heads.
Music is good
Titles are good

Congratulations,
I hope that you guys do GREAT at festivals, and get distribution

You might not get much love since we haven't followed your journey like the Corrado, ALPFD

But amazing job, would love to work with you in future projects
Click to expand...

Thanks Charlie06,

Hopefully there will be future projects. :beer:

Todd
 
DCP said:
Yeah, that was a huge jump. Here's the story:

My close friend Chris (college buddy, NYC roomate, and now brother-in-law... long story) and I were hanging out in my basement watching movies like we would do late at night (once our kids and wives were asleep, and no... we don't all live in the same house) after we got home from our night jobs.

After drinking a few beers we were chilling listening to music. Chris had mentioned a song my band had done in 2001 (yes, we went to school for acting and I had branched off into music) called 'Nowhere'. He said he had always thought about it as a video or perhaps in a movie. After talking about it for a few more minutes, he said, "Hey, lets write a movie!". Of course it sounded good at the time. After all I had my own wedding video business as a side company so I had a camera, tripod, mics... so we had the equipment. I also had $4000 that I had been saving so I could build a motorcycle before I hit 40. Chris said he'd kick in another 4g's and we'd be set. We would write, produce, act, cook, drive, do the music, I'd DP it, get some cheap lights at Home Depot, do the sound... hell, we didn't have to hire anyone.

That idea didn't last very long. Chris and I were both SAG and realized that we may have to do a SAG feature ($$$). Once we cast the film (June 07) we had added 5 more SAG actors and that sealed the deal. I also came to the conclusion that no matter how good I can make a wedding look, I couldn't shoot this myself so we needed a real crew. The more we worked on the script, the bigger the budget became. I also realized my wedding camera wasn't good enough, so I needed a new camera. I also wanted a smooth and cinematic camera movements to emphasize the emotion of the film (so I bought a crane and a dolly). I also wanted good sound... BOY, the money flies fast. My problem is that we were shooting whenever we could (never really had a solid shooting schedule) so renting wasn't an option.

Needless to say $8000.00 doesn't go very far once you production level jumps. At this point we were in it this and the way I saw it is that this was our last chance and I was going all in.

We never really wrote down/planned out our budget and just went by the seat of our pants. We knew that we'd be shooting over a period of time (seasonally and economically) so we only worried about the next shoot coming up and put off our concerns about raising money.

Then one Dec. night in '07 it seems our financial concerns was over...Ironically I had a connection at my night job (a place everyone in the world has heard about "The World's Most Famous....") with someone willing to put up $150,000. He liked the script idea and was impressed by the footage I had on my iphone. He asked us to give him an investment proposal (which I slaved over and made look absolutely amazing). He was a nice man and was always generous to all of us. Well after several phone meetings, shipping out the proposal and thinking that our problems was solved, this gentleman fully disclosed to me that he had some pending Federal issues that I should be aware of... BIG Federal issues... so despite the offer, I had to decline (that was a sleepless decision which proved to be the right decision). Because of this happening, my family decided to invest in the film (more so because of the footage I had already shot and edited). Within a few weeks, we had raised $25,000. Our actually cash out (for crew, SAG bond, payroll, etc.) was about $50,000. My equipment costs were the remaining balance.

Anyway, long story short (and it is a lot longer that this), it's nice to think you can do things for no money, but the reality is if you really want a solid film it's going to cost. Granted we had a small crew, and aside from a few volunteers, we paid everyone. I could have shot the film without a dolly or crane or good sound system or HVX200 or excellent DP but you can see where this would lead to and I would not have ended up with the same movie.

Again, the biggest flaw Chris and I had with this project is that we were never on top of our finances. We always just 'slung' it and hoped we'd have the money for the next shoot. I had to sell equipment, borrow from my wife, work extra shifts (which was tough since I had already taken so much time off to work on the film) and hope we'd finish on time. We ran a smooth set (despite this being our first film), got all the shots we needed and showed to the cast and crew we were competent. In the end Chris and I did it.

Funny thing is that we did this despite taking care of our kids during the day while our wives worked, then went to our night jobs, then met up in my basement to work on the film until about 4am (then we'd do it all over again the next day). Our goal back in August 06 (our first writing session) was to have the film shot by Chris's 40th b-day, and edited by my 40th b-day. We met our goal.

Sooooo..... what turned out as just an idea of turning one of my songs into a video turned into a film I'm really proud of.

Todd
Click to expand...

Hell Yeah.

Trailer is nice, DCP. I remember you showing footage WAY back when from the Brevis HVX combo and even then I it was still something to look at. Looks like the feature is gonna turn out nice as well!
 
Kholi said:
Hell Yeah.

Trailer is nice, DCP. I remember you showing footage WAY back when from the Brevis HVX combo and even then I it was still something to look at. Looks like the feature is gonna turn out nice as well!
Click to expand...

Hi Kholi,

Yeah, that seems like ages ago. Our first 'real' shoot (just myself, Chris, my son, and my DP) shot those scenes a year ago. I remember watching that footage on my projector in the basement and thinking, "Wow, that does look good. Hope I don't screw up the rest of the film." Fortunately, the rest of the film followed suit.

Todd
 
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