Video Production Business is Sagging, Thinking about Making a Movie
- Thread starter basspig
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basspig
Veteran
To make money at anything, one has to start somewhere. While I have a need to pay bills and taxes, I don't want to do it as a door greeter at Wal-Mart. I'd prefer to do so in an area in which my skills lie. I'm very much at-home behind the camera and in the editing suite, so this is where I think I need to focus my efforts for my remaining years.
I've waited 44 years for a chance to make a movie. I've got some fragments of ideas building in the back of my mind, and I'm presently grappling with how to bring out long-suppressed creative abilities. My first obstacle is not financial--it's intellectual. I'm dealing with 'writer's block'. The need for a great story idea. The ghost stories are a fascinating lot, but overdone during the 1960s-80s. I want to do something fresh, totally unexpected, and at the same time, intellectually-stimulating. I'd like to portray mankind as a heroic being, not as a pathetic scourge of the earth, as is the case in most films today.
I have so many ideas for movies, but their scope is better matched to $150M budgets, not as first films. In fact, my first attempt probably will be a short, perhaps 5-10 minutes in length. But dense with ideas and thought-provoking events.
I also thought about making a short that is like a lucid dream, but it would be too disjointed and make no sense to the viewer, so I put that aside for now. It would be good for a dream sequence in a larger work.
This is going to involve volunteer acting talent, if I can find it. Perhaps the local universities will have some aspiring film students. I'll also need adult actors. It's a tough call, but with so many recently-unemployed folks, maybe it won't be impossible. There is no budget and there is no possibility of loans from banks. Much of my income lately has been coming from the sale of personal property on eBay. The money I saved last year is gone. Last year was pretty profitable. I almost paid off all my gear. I have one credit card left to payoff. But all income stopped after November and I've been living off savings and my younger wife's income, which has decreased this month (her company announced across-the-board 10% pay cut and stoppage of 401K contributions). She doesn't earn much, but the medical coverage is the main benefit. What I'm say is that we don't have any funds to put into movie making, other than our sweat, equipment and skills. The rest is going to have to come from volunteers and guerilla filmmaking techniques, unless we get a grant that allows sufficient budget for permits and the like.
I've waited 44 years for a chance to make a movie. I've got some fragments of ideas building in the back of my mind, and I'm presently grappling with how to bring out long-suppressed creative abilities. My first obstacle is not financial--it's intellectual. I'm dealing with 'writer's block'. The need for a great story idea. The ghost stories are a fascinating lot, but overdone during the 1960s-80s. I want to do something fresh, totally unexpected, and at the same time, intellectually-stimulating. I'd like to portray mankind as a heroic being, not as a pathetic scourge of the earth, as is the case in most films today.
I have so many ideas for movies, but their scope is better matched to $150M budgets, not as first films. In fact, my first attempt probably will be a short, perhaps 5-10 minutes in length. But dense with ideas and thought-provoking events.
I also thought about making a short that is like a lucid dream, but it would be too disjointed and make no sense to the viewer, so I put that aside for now. It would be good for a dream sequence in a larger work.
This is going to involve volunteer acting talent, if I can find it. Perhaps the local universities will have some aspiring film students. I'll also need adult actors. It's a tough call, but with so many recently-unemployed folks, maybe it won't be impossible. There is no budget and there is no possibility of loans from banks. Much of my income lately has been coming from the sale of personal property on eBay. The money I saved last year is gone. Last year was pretty profitable. I almost paid off all my gear. I have one credit card left to payoff. But all income stopped after November and I've been living off savings and my younger wife's income, which has decreased this month (her company announced across-the-board 10% pay cut and stoppage of 401K contributions). She doesn't earn much, but the medical coverage is the main benefit. What I'm say is that we don't have any funds to put into movie making, other than our sweat, equipment and skills. The rest is going to have to come from volunteers and guerilla filmmaking techniques, unless we get a grant that allows sufficient budget for permits and the like.
Why would you want to change society's way of thinking? Society thinks the way it wants ... successful moviemakers don't "rock the boat".
Ya wanna change the way people think ... why not make a movie showing how artists live of the backs of people who really produce ... ha ha ... reality too much for ya? As I said, don't "rock the boat".
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
No offense here, but that´s a verry romantic point of view.
Don´t want to make that a political discussion but there was and will be much power and force behind the scenes of film making, to change the way people think, and it worked.
Anyway - Back on topic.
Mark, by all means - look at my Timefest entry UNZEIT.
http://exposureroom.com/members/FrankGlen.aspx/assets/878cd65038c5431c9fb60e6b6858efc5/
I had no budget (and I mean zero), all the actors where friends that never been in front of a camera, I had only 4 Sunday afternoons and the crew was me myself and I.
The first narrative film I evar made.
Even more inspirering is Faith Granger, who makes a fantastic no budget - one girl show - 2 and a half horus feature film out of nothing but her faith (pun intended).
Have a look: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=160032
That girl proofes, that it can be done without money as long as one is dedicated, focused and obsessed enough.
So go for it!
Frank
JonathanLB
Carbonite Member
Yeah no offense but stupidest comment of the day award goes to... *drum roll* YOU!
The whole reason I became a filmmaker is to change the way people think. Like my film teacher said back in the day, "If you can change the way people think, you can change the way people act, and if you can change the way people act you can change the world."
Society is full of morons, totally mediocre morons, with no other ambitions than to work their 9-5 job, drink some beer, get married young, pump out some kids, and retire. The vast majority of people just exist, they are really not here for any other reason than to spend money so the rich can get richer and the great can take advantage of them. I mean, there is nothing forward-moving about society, it just exists. It's only the great individuals at the top who drag society forward, through their efforts, without which society would never change, it would constantly remain stuck in the simple everyday routines people follow.
The one reason I love filmmakers is because people who are chasing their dreams, succeed or fail, are not mediocre. They are achievers. They are at least people who HAVE dreams, and the courage to follow them. That's more than about 95% of people can say for themselves, sadly.
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" -- Thoreau
basspig
Veteran
Postmaster,
Let me begin by saying that you did an admirable job with UNZEIT. It was cinematically decent in terms of production value, the audio was reasonably good in most scenes and the plot had a clever 'end of the circle returns to the start' twist to it. This is VERY close to the sort of short film I have in mind for my first effort.
Now... the Faith Granger film. How I didn't see that thread? Too busy checking the Sony EX1 forum and focusing on gear. I spent a couple hours watching the clips and reading the thread, looking at screen shots.. holy beejeezus! All of the indie films I've seen up until today were garbage. Yours was thought-provoking. Faith's is, well.. just unbelievable in terms of accomplishment with no formal budget!
Seeing all that she had survived as a child in Lebanon, I now understand where her energy comes from. She's young, energetic, still hopeful about life, and quite physically-attractive, if I might say that. I, on the other hand, was raised in a boring, conservative family, during hard times, grew up in abject poverty, was not genetically-endowed with any looks and am now in the twilight of my life. Needless to say, my ambitions are NOT so intense as Faith's. But even so, this is a dream I've had for a long time, but was unable to realize in childhood, being that in those days, we spent most of our efforts trying to find something to eat, much less worry about movies. I didn't even get married until I retired, and I met my wife in the Philippines, who, bless her soul, cares more about the person I am than what I look like. I was so broke at the time that I had to get a complete stranger to sponsor her visa to come to the US so we could get married. We continued broke for years and held off having children, hoping that success would eventually come (I had a career in radio at the time). Then one day, we both realized it was now or never... so we had Amanda, the most adorable little girl whom my friends describe as looking like a 'baby doll' --an achievement I didn't know was in either of our genetic makeup.
So here I am, with my wife, whom strangers mistake for my daughter, and with my daughter, whom people mistake for my granddaughter all the time, scraping to make the utility bills every month, realizing my radio days are behind me and thinking about making a film. I ought to have my head examined.
But if it's one thing I do before I die, that would be a good legacy for me to leave behind and to my wife and daughter.
You did a fine job with your "untimely" short story and I also viewed your Ground Freeze animation, which I found quite impressive. I have the tools to do all this stuff, but I seem to have too many distractions preventing me from focusing on one goal. I also have too many directions I'm running in. Faith has found a way to pursue all directions at once, which is amazing. Even more amazing, she has an incredible eye for cinematography--tremendous powers of observation, which she uses in place of years of experience, to achieve the production values. This proves another theory of mine that you can have all the experience in the world and still be mediocre, but the power of a sharp mind that can integrate reality efficiently can achieve amazing feats in stunningly short amounts of time.
Let me begin by saying that you did an admirable job with UNZEIT. It was cinematically decent in terms of production value, the audio was reasonably good in most scenes and the plot had a clever 'end of the circle returns to the start' twist to it. This is VERY close to the sort of short film I have in mind for my first effort.
Now... the Faith Granger film. How I didn't see that thread? Too busy checking the Sony EX1 forum and focusing on gear. I spent a couple hours watching the clips and reading the thread, looking at screen shots.. holy beejeezus! All of the indie films I've seen up until today were garbage. Yours was thought-provoking. Faith's is, well.. just unbelievable in terms of accomplishment with no formal budget!
Seeing all that she had survived as a child in Lebanon, I now understand where her energy comes from. She's young, energetic, still hopeful about life, and quite physically-attractive, if I might say that. I, on the other hand, was raised in a boring, conservative family, during hard times, grew up in abject poverty, was not genetically-endowed with any looks and am now in the twilight of my life. Needless to say, my ambitions are NOT so intense as Faith's. But even so, this is a dream I've had for a long time, but was unable to realize in childhood, being that in those days, we spent most of our efforts trying to find something to eat, much less worry about movies. I didn't even get married until I retired, and I met my wife in the Philippines, who, bless her soul, cares more about the person I am than what I look like. I was so broke at the time that I had to get a complete stranger to sponsor her visa to come to the US so we could get married. We continued broke for years and held off having children, hoping that success would eventually come (I had a career in radio at the time). Then one day, we both realized it was now or never... so we had Amanda, the most adorable little girl whom my friends describe as looking like a 'baby doll' --an achievement I didn't know was in either of our genetic makeup.
So here I am, with my wife, whom strangers mistake for my daughter, and with my daughter, whom people mistake for my granddaughter all the time, scraping to make the utility bills every month, realizing my radio days are behind me and thinking about making a film. I ought to have my head examined.
But if it's one thing I do before I die, that would be a good legacy for me to leave behind and to my wife and daughter.You did a fine job with your "untimely" short story and I also viewed your Ground Freeze animation, which I found quite impressive. I have the tools to do all this stuff, but I seem to have too many distractions preventing me from focusing on one goal. I also have too many directions I'm running in. Faith has found a way to pursue all directions at once, which is amazing. Even more amazing, she has an incredible eye for cinematography--tremendous powers of observation, which she uses in place of years of experience, to achieve the production values. This proves another theory of mine that you can have all the experience in the world and still be mediocre, but the power of a sharp mind that can integrate reality efficiently can achieve amazing feats in stunningly short amounts of time.
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Mark, age and circumstances are no excuse.
Look, I´m 42, Faith is arround 40 (thou she looks much younger).
I grew up and lived in a similar situation than the one you described - her live was even more...umm tourbulent to say the least.
SCREW ALL THAT! YOU WANT TO DO THAT FILM - RIGHT? SO WHO CARES?
No offence, but I´m tired of poeple that continiue saying:
"I would love to do that film - if I only would have (fill in any frigging excuse)"
There is no excuse if you really want to do that.
As I said - you need to be focused and absolutley obsessed.
If you have no obsession - forget it, you will fail.
Even with obsession, chances are that you will fail, but at least you tried it and you can look in the mirror as a proud man.
By all means Mark, get your arse of that couch and start writing a screenplay.
That film must be all you are thinking of day and night till it´s done.
Imagine every single scene and every single line over and over.
Be pregnant with it.
First step is to get aware and conscious about the story you want to tell.
Nail it down till you are totaly confident that this is the best story you evar heard.
That story is your key. If it´s good enough, you can talk poeple into volunteer.
Then try to get your things together.
You already have the equipment.
Now get actors, locations, props.
And start making a movie!
Frank
Look, I´m 42, Faith is arround 40 (thou she looks much younger).
I grew up and lived in a similar situation than the one you described - her live was even more...umm tourbulent to say the least.
SCREW ALL THAT! YOU WANT TO DO THAT FILM - RIGHT? SO WHO CARES?
No offence, but I´m tired of poeple that continiue saying:
"I would love to do that film - if I only would have (fill in any frigging excuse)"
There is no excuse if you really want to do that.
As I said - you need to be focused and absolutley obsessed.
If you have no obsession - forget it, you will fail.
Even with obsession, chances are that you will fail, but at least you tried it and you can look in the mirror as a proud man.
By all means Mark, get your arse of that couch and start writing a screenplay.
That film must be all you are thinking of day and night till it´s done.
Imagine every single scene and every single line over and over.
Be pregnant with it.
First step is to get aware and conscious about the story you want to tell.
Nail it down till you are totaly confident that this is the best story you evar heard.
That story is your key. If it´s good enough, you can talk poeple into volunteer.
Then try to get your things together.
You already have the equipment.
Now get actors, locations, props.
And start making a movie!
Frank
basspig
Veteran
Great advice, Frank.
But I'll reiterate that you and Faith are both young and energetic. I should have started 40-50 years ago, but alas, the equipment was out of my reach then. But now the playing field is more level, and I can compete on IDEAS now.
Now, to come up with a plot I can be obsessed with. Overcoming 'writer's block' is my first obstacle. I'm watching your film multiple times. It's a great model of a self-contained and fully-resolved plot in a short story. Now I just need to find something personal within me that resonates, so I can come up with the inspiration for my story.
But I'll reiterate that you and Faith are both young and energetic. I should have started 40-50 years ago, but alas, the equipment was out of my reach then. But now the playing field is more level, and I can compete on IDEAS now.
Now, to come up with a plot I can be obsessed with. Overcoming 'writer's block' is my first obstacle. I'm watching your film multiple times. It's a great model of a self-contained and fully-resolved plot in a short story. Now I just need to find something personal within me that resonates, so I can come up with the inspiration for my story.
JonathanLB
Carbonite Member
Well, Frank is right, you have to give something your all for it to turn out really well. I feel at least that anyone who really tries their best at something, and comes away from it having given it everything they have, is already a winner. They may not have won from an outsider's perspective, I mean you may not have had your film get distribution, or make you loads of money, etc., but to me the losers are the people who just never even try in life, they basically are happy with total mediocrity, the winners are the people who at least know what it's like to try and fail, because they had the courage to pursue their passions.
I at least do not want to be 60 looking in the mirror wondering what might have been, whether I might have made it, if I just took more risks, or if I was just more dedicated.
I at least do not want to be 60 looking in the mirror wondering what might have been, whether I might have made it, if I just took more risks, or if I was just more dedicated.