2010 vampire short

J Davis

J Davis

Veteran
It looks like a project I've been working on since late last year is picking up pace and becoming a reality. I will be using 7d and t2i vDSLR cameras, and associated lenses and workflow
and since I love the community here so much I thought why not start a thread. Here's a little background.

I was initially inspired by the 2008 swedish film about a child befriending a child vampire, film is called 'Let The Right One In' and in particular the power of the scene where Oskar playfully
refuses to give his vampire friend Eli an invitation to come in. To some extent The Hunger, 1983 with Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon has also been a source of ideas.

The biggest influence on me however is Mike Leigh and the way he approaches film making (more on that later) .

Casting happened in Oct 09 and my two leads (Emily and Joey) are both acting teachers here in NYC. We have been jamming on story ideas and have had four meetings so far.

The current story is very dependent on a location which is about to be locked down. Once this happens it will be a green light for rehearsals.

I kinda like the idea of mixing footage from the t2i and the 7d. I did this before when shooting the betrayal fest film 'Adam and Eve must Die' for dvxuser hoz. (link)

Main lenses will be AIS primes and audio will be 2 system with zoom h4 and rode mics.
 
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THREAD INDEX

post 34 church scene LINK
post 35 night wandering LINK
post 40 kiss at night LINK
post 41 gate at night LINK
post 47 library dolly/slider shot (start of shot) LINK
post 48 library dolly/slider shot (end of shot) LINK
post 52 at the table LINK
post 67 trailer on vimeo LINK
post 70 big-up the muscians LINK
post 79 shouts to my actors & crew LINK
 
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Nice. Should be a lot of fun. Good luck with it, and let me know if you need any help once you start shooting.
 
Good luck man. Vamp movies are hard to do without being cheesy, so I look forward to what you do with it. I've worked for someone on a very bad vamp project, one day I may do one myself.
 
kyle.presley said:
Good luck man. Vamp movies are hard to do without being cheesy, so I look forward to what you do with it. I've worked for someone on a very bad vamp project, one day I may do one myself.
Click to expand...

Thanks Kyle, and I will strive to make a cheese free production. It will be tricky but I believe it can be done.

BTW - I highly recommend to everyone that they see the swedish child vampire film Let The Right One In which inspired me on my little short. Its definitely 'no cheese'.
In fact it is one of the best films I have ever seen. Made it to my top ten list.

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In)
wikipedia link 48 wins, +10 nominations, try to get the non dubbed version
4103228732_20a68eef31_o.jpg
 
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Let me tell you, J…

If you can create a short that comes anywhere close to being as good as LTROI, you will have created something special. LTROI is at or near the top of my list of the best vampire movies of all time, along with Bigelow's classic Near Dark, The Hunger, Shadow of the Vampire, Cronos and, of course, Nosferatu.

I'll be excited to see what you're doing, J. Good luck!
 
Yeah Let The Right One In is a work of art. I heard they were going to remake it in the US which I think is a bunch of BS. There is no reason to remake that film. Shows where the heads are in corp Hollywood.
 
Right on man. Good luck on the production. If you need any script help or post help that I can do here in Florida let me know.

Let the Right One In is an amazing movie. It kind of irks me that they're already making an American remake.
 
Best of luck. I've picked up a set of nikon primes based, in part, on your postings. Your project should be a lot of fun.
 
I'm looking forward to checking it out Jhoe! Thanks for letting me know about it. I've subscribed to this thread.

Vampires are hot nowadays, maybe you can get it screened somewhere!
 
@Stephen & Mike, I'll be sure to check out Nosferatu, its been in my 'to watch' pile for some time now. The pile never seems to get smaller, I wonder why?

@Justin & Jerrod, I feel the same way as you about a LTROI remake.

@cap10kirk, generally its hard to go wrong with AIS, they are sharp and inexpensive. There are a few duds around so read the reviews but I love 'em.

@Kenneth, thanks for your support, its been two years since I sent a film to festivals ('Dancer' link), this one might be the one for 2011 <fingers crossed>

@Jay, there are about seven distinct scenes that will each need a separate location, Queens mostly with one being upper west manhattan, but two locations are not locked down. One of those that is not locked down is a church and that's the main obstacle right now. Finding a church board that will approve for us to shoot a 'vampire' film in their sanctuary is proving just a little tough. Even though this story is not a typical vampire story (its not horror) and is not necessarily anti religious we have not had a break. We've been looking for two months.

A small old english church out on Long Island looked like it might be a go but that option was shot down in flames tonight. Tomorrow I meet with a church board for a church here in Queens. The father knows the extent of the story and approves but it is not up to him. I must face a panel of 6 grey heard conservative types!

Hoz is tracking down another option for me in Brooklyn. Emily my lead has connections at a church in manhattan.
Its such a small scene (only 3-4 shots) but vital to the story so we must lock this one down or we don't have a film and its back to a re-write. I have a good feeling though.

Still waiting on approval from Screen Actors Guild as well. Urrrg. <good feeling fades a little>. But gotta stay ++ive. Thanks for all the support, interest and well wishing posts.
 
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wSup Pietro! I love some of Chan Wook Park's work.

I'm a big fan of Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Old Boy. I've been trying to get a hold of I'm a Cyborg as well so I will be sure to look out for Thirst.

I have to mention though, my vampire film is not horror. Very little blood. (not a love story either like LTROI). I'm really trying to do something different.

But thanks for letting me know about Thirst. Along with Takeshi Miike, Chan Wook Park is an amazing visionary.
 
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