Carte Blanche - A Feature Film Written & Directed by Matt Kieley

very inspiring, Billy. I like the way you trivialize the trivial.
I've never seen this approach before.

Keep up the good work; you're on the right track ... to making history ... of some kind.
 
filmman said:
very inspiring, Billy. I like the way you trivialize the trivial.
I've never seen this approach before.

Keep up the good work; you're on the right track ... to making history ... of some kind.
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I always give people the benefit of the doubt, but I'm almost certain I'm being mocked. If it's a joke, I don't get it. "Trivializing the trivial"? What do you mean? What is this assessment based on?

EDIT: You're still not being mocked, you idiot.
 
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I lost the handle on that observation. I meant to say that having the kid give her plastic flowers was stupid but brilliant at the same time.
 
Your instincts on feeling mocked have been off a few times now . You accused me of mocking you in the past and I wasn't.
 
Actually, I never accused, I just said I got the impression I was being mocked. And its only happened twice. filmman made a few comments before that I read as sarcastic. I really want to understand his sense of humor, but it's hard to tell on the internet, as there's no body language, tone, inflection, or facial expressions to read, and some of the comments didn't come off as obviously positive. Sorry if I jumped to conclusions, I just want to understand what's going on. And to be honest, I don't really know what filmman is talking about most of the time. I'm a speak what you mean, and mean what you speak kind of person, which even bleeds into my work. I don't flounder around with metaphors or symbolism.
 
Billy wrote: And to be honest, I don't really know what filmman is talking about most of the time.
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LOL. That goes for me too sometimes :-) I actually find your movie and what you're trying to do worthwhile. In fact, I'm a little jealous -- not dangerously jealous, btw.LOL I like, for example -- your characters are videotaping each other. I find that brilliant. I've never seen it before in a feature film. I hope you intend to keep that in. See, that's not mocking, but I think it's unusual, yet brilliant. I mean, this style of filmmaking there are no rules for it. And it's a good thing, you know.

So, please go on, make your movie and have your actress walk on a fence or whatever it was -- back and forth, balancing herself; it's a metaphor for ... something -- maybe youth, maybe she can't decide on whom she wants, whatever.

What I find charming is that you consider yourself to be quite forthright. I don't agree. You're very complex -- not confused; but meandering ... by choice, perhaps by temperament. What you're doing is interesting. That's why Aurant is following your progress too. We find your project of interest, because you're dealing with what's real in relationships.

Therefore, I sincerely mean it, go ahead, make the movie exactly the way you had conceived it ... and experiment as much as you want.

:-)
 
Well I really do appreciate your interest. I'm very skeptical of people, so I tend to be cautious of people's words and intentions.
 
Another in a series of videos of solo acoustic performances for Carte Blanche. This is "Syrup" by Thor Brinsfield, the fella whose song "Amiable Medley" is featured in the second teaser:

http://vimeo.com/3967716

Thor's talent is especially impressive to me considering he's only 17.
 
Remember when I said I was wrapped? Well I lied...kinda...but not really. I always knew I'd have pick-ups to get, and I had to make a couple scenes for another fake movie-within-the-movie. But I've come up with some ideas for new scenes I'd like to add, and I'm in the process of writing them. The new scenes will also require some scenes already shot to be re-written and re-shot to fit the additional scenes. It's a little bit more work to do, but I think the scenes will add to the characters, and of course the story. The new scenes also have a couple of new characters, so I need to do a little bit more casting.

I'm writing a part for fred. Yes, I'm bringing her back into this again, so prepare yourself for more interpersonal nonsense. During the shoot, when fred donated her paintings to be used in the film, we came to speaking terms again. Toward the end of the shoot, she told me she wanted to make a movie with me, so I agreed. Shortly thereafter, she confessed that she really wanted to be in one of my films, and was upset when I re-cast her. She was supposed to play Helena a long time ago. That's in fact how I met her: she produced a play I was acting in (to meet actors for the film) and she was acting a different play at the same time. I saw her performance in that and was impressed, so I cast her in the film.

Over the course of a year, the project fell apart, we became close friends, I fell for her, things got kind of awkward, we had a falling-out, we became close friends again, we went out briefly, we had another falling-out, and by the end of last year, I thought she had lost interest in the film, and I decided it was time to get over her, and I couldn't do that if we were making a movie together.

At the very same time, Coryn emailed me about the project, asking if I was still making it, and saying that she was still interested, so I cast her. But now, even though she's leaving for art school in May, we're friends again. When she came to pick up her paintings on Saturday, she gave me the portrait she did of me, which is featured as my cameo in the film, as a extremely belated birthday gift. So now I have this new role that I think she would be great as.

Now onto why I'm adding all this stuff: When I finished a draft before filming, the film was really about both Elliott and Helena. They were sort of co-leads. When I showed the script to a friend for feedback, he remarked that he hated Helena, and the audience would sympathize most with Elliott. That's exactly the opposite of what I was trying to do. I had perhaps put too much emphasis on Helena rejecting Elliott. The film is really about the two people remaining friends despite the drama and rejection they experienced together, and I had detracted from that by making it too much about Elliott's heartbreak, so I shifted the focus toward Helena's character, and toned down the failed attempt at romance between Elliott and Helena.

When I was writing, it kind of made sense, but now, after shooting and cutting it, I feel like it's missing something. I'm going to try and add more to Elliott's character, and show more of his romantic failings before meeting Helena. In the film, Helena remarks the Elliott lives vicariously through film, and that theme is kind of there, but I'm going to try and expand on that in a device I used in an earlier draft; In the draft I finished before writing what would became the shooting script, Elliott would be attempting to make a relationship film based on his most recent heartbreak, and he meets Helena in an acting class and casts her. Sound familiar? I think it would be interesting if that, instead of having Elliott talk about his past relationships, or showing it in flashbacks as we do with Helena and her ex, we see Elliott and Helena acting out these fictionalized versions of scenes from his life.

During shooting, I changed the ending slightly, by having Elliott re-writing his film to be about his friendship with Helena (basically everything we see in the body of the film) and making it, with the two of them playing themselves. Now I'm going back and introducing the filmmaking aspect sooner. I think it'll be more interesting, and more personal, which is what the additions really boil down to. I think I had become so fixated with Helena's story, that even though I remained honest, much of it was fictionalized, and as a result, it feels a little less real to me, and we also lose part of Elliott's character. Plus on a basic level of storytelling practicality, I think it needs more.

There needs to be more storytelling beats. IN the film as it is now, Elliott and Helena have a falling out, and very shortly thereafter, they become friends again. It kind of worked on the page, but doesn't really work the way I thought it would. The story and characters simply need more. I think even if I didn't add any of this stuff, it would still be a decent film, but lacking. It doesn't feel like a complete circle, and I think these new scenes would make it much stronger.

Well, that was long-winded. Whatever. I really write these updates for myself anyway.
 
No, we're hanging on every word, Billy :-) I like the way you deal with the sensitive issues of relationships and the casting process in plays and movies. The inclusion of the digital cameras gives the project a documentary appeal as well. Your storytelling and romantic sensibilities are the exact opposite of porno films -- which is what's great about your film. It's a ... non-genre movie (as defined by DVXusers). Keep up the good work. I think you'll end up with a very personal and positive movie.
 
Billy. This is a really interesting thread. Your film looks to be highly experimental. This type of project begs for a BTS, cast/crew interviews, and a commentary. Look forward to watching it. Good luck with the pickups.
 
I don't think I'm going to make any production blogs/journals for future projects. I think I originally started one so I could have a document to look back on, to see what I was thinking at the time of production, and to share my process, but there are certain things I wish I hadn't shared. Like re-casting an important character. At the time, I think I was looking for advice in terms of how to go about it, but ultimately it was a mistake sharing that. I like to explore and experiment and shoot, and re-write, and re-shoot. That's my process. But I think there are certain things that people outside of the production shouldn't be privy to. I don't want those experiments to be seen. I want the final product to stand on its own. I feel awkward looking back on what I've shared in this thread--posting grabs of an actor in a scene, and then later talk of re-casting. Perhaps it's weird of me to feel this way, but sharing every step of a production has lost its allure, and I don't think I'll present the film in this way again. Plus I've made an ass of myself in this thread in several ways, and these kind of threads open up a direct interaction that kind of freaks me out. I don't want to be able to make a fool of myself, and have people think less of both the film itself, and the work that everyone else put into the project.
 
I respect that, but you should know that your bravery in sharing the development of this project, warts and all, actually makes me think quite highly of you. It's ballsy and quite frankly, it's good marketing. But I see your point. Showmanship leans heavily on the hidden.
 
I did a little clean up of this thread. Specifically, I removed the grabs of the actor who was cast as Elliott before Brandon Nebitt.

Here's another video of Thor Brinsfield, this time playing Fat Man

Eventually I'm going to make a youtube page for Carte Blanche, and include the teasers, plus videos that aren't on vimeo, and vimeo will have videos that aren't on youtube. I'm not sure if that would be weird to other people, but I think it's kind of cool having two sites that have the same essential videos (the teasers) but different extra videos.
 
The writing of the new/newly-rewritten pages is flowing well. I've written 28 pages, and still have a few more scenes left. I also wrote two pages of a bad short story that one of the new characters reads to Elliott in a scene. I'm pleased with what I've written, although one new scene in particular will be a bit challenging, but after the initial shoot, it's nothing really knew, so I think I can handle it.
 
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I think I'm really a writer above everything else, so I'm always writing throughout the entire process of making films. I wrote 9 drafts of the script before finally shooting, and even during shooting, it continued to mutate. Sometimes I would cut two, something three or four pages of dialogue out of a scene at the last second. Other times, I would re-write scenes the day before we were supposed to shoot them. I would change other things on the fly, sometimes cutting lines, shortening monologues, re-arranging dialogue, etc. Sometimes even the context of scenes, and certain outcomes in the end were changed on the spot. There were a few instances where we'd set up and shoot a couple takes, and something wouldn't be working, so we'd do a new version of a scene where the actors would utilize specific lines we picked out that did work, or we liked, and they would ad-lib some lines to bridge them together. I would also come up with a line while shooting one take, and giving to them to do in the next, and they made it work beautifully. There was even one instance where we complete improvised a scene on the fly.

It's a true testament to my cast. I liked keeping them on their toes at all times, and I think the last-minute changes worked for their performances. They would spend the previous night, or that afternoon, memorizing their lines, and suddenly they'd have new words to learn, and they'd only have about 20 minutes to get familiar with them. I think it added a spontaneity to their performances, and sometimes even a slight nervousness when I would alter the more important dramatic scenes. Now that I've cut most of it together, I realized it needed a little more, so I've written more. And those scenes will probably change every so slightly when we film them. And of course cutting all this will be like re-writing once again. I feel like film should be exploratory. I'm very skeptical of what will work, so I'm always thinking of how things can be done differently, or what we don't need, or what doesn't work, etc. so I'm always trying to discover new things, and different directions. I think films should be constantly mutating and evolving before they're really finished.
 
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