Corrado Part II

That's pretty wicked! Congrats! Guess chances are I can go rent it this wknd then too (hopefully it's also out in Canada).

Bona fide DVXuser success story!

Edit: Looks like I'll have to wait until next Tuesday for the Canadian release at Blockbuster. Guess I know what I'm up to on Tuesday.
 
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Congrats Adam. What does this mean as far as "graduating" to the next level?
Is the model:
(Successful DTV) --> (Get noticed and approached by studio guys) --> (Get tapped to do small studio film) --> (It's successful) --> (You're now the new hot action director and get a shot and standing up a franchise at some studio)

How much credit/visibility does the writer/director get for a project like this? Will the star or producers absorb all the credit for the success or does the "creative" get some shine too?

It's interesting tracking your progress through everything since Corrado. Thanks for coming back here to share.
 
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taormina said:


RANK​
TITLE
STUDIO

WEEKS IN
RELEASE​
1​
Rio
Fox (NASDAQ:NWS - News)

2​
2​
Paul
Universal (NYSE:GE - News)

1​
3​
The Fox and the Hound/Fox and the Hound II
Disney (NYSE:DIS - News)

1​
4​
Soul Surfer
Sony (NYSE:SNE - News)

2​
5​
Mars Needs Moms
Disney (NYSE:DIS - News)

1​
6​
Your Highness
Universal (NYSE:GE - News)

1​
7​
Jumping the Broom
Sony (NYSE:SNE - News)

1​
8​
Rango
Paramount (NYSE:VIA - News)

5​
9​
Source Code
Summit Entertainment

3​
10
​
Tactical Force
Vivendi Entertainment (NYSE:VIV - News)

1​

[TD="colspan: 4"] Rentrak Top 10 Selling DVDs*
[/TD]
[TD="colspan: 4"][/TD]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Rentrak-Announces-Top-DVD-prnews-3349357934.html?x=0&.v=1
Click to expand...

Wow, nice! Very sweet.

Congratulations!

-M
 
Hey Adam, wanted to get on here and congratulate you on not only getting another feature made, but also getting it out, and apparently (from the charts) it appears to be successful! Awesome!
 
In the tradition of Adam, I'm sure he'll come back and answer questions and post thoughts on this. Congrats man, sky's the limit from now on!!!
 
Hey thanks very much, guys.

MentaDuke, It's a pretty big deal for me since most people "in the know" are aware that I originated the project. As to where it takes me, we'll just have to see.
 
I ll tell you what is next for him. TACTICAL FORCE starring STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN.

My question is what the hell happend with CORRADO? it never came out on DVD
 
Yes it did, but its name got changed to "Bad Ass". It's available on Netfilx and many other places.

And if you look a page or two back, you'll see we've also been discussing the recent release of "Tactical Force" (formerly known as "Hangar 14").
 
Found this and the previous thread two days ago, read it all. Interesting. Two questions... 1) Did your investors make back their money on Coronado yet (or are you able to disclose the deal's details)? 2) What projects are you doing now/have lined up?
 
I stumbled upon the Corrado production blog a few weeks ago and from the start I was sold.
A really amazing account, and honestly on par with books such as Rebel without a crew or Make your goddamn movie.
After reading Adam's adventures I was really excited to check the film out, the trailer didn't look very good but then again most of them don't. Especially when it comes to low budget films.
I even found the film on a torrent website, but decided to help a fellow filmmaker out and order the dvd from amazon.
Now I just finished watching the film, and I'm still in shock.
You have to forgive me as I'm an extremely blunt person (and also use to work as a film critic in Europe) and anyway as a paying customer I believe it's only fair for me to express my two cents without being considered a troll.
Moreover, even though this is definitely a low budget affair by Hollywood standards, this is a legit film production which cost maybe ten times more than the average film produced by the dvxuser crowd.
The film, is really an embarrassment.
I didn't expect a great story because Adam clearly pointed out it was supposed to be a direct to DvD film for the foreign market.
However that doesn't excuse the sloppiness of the final product, especially considering the budget.
I'm not really a pixel peeper but this film has incredibly big technical problems. The colors are off and color correction is horrendous. Adam mentioned sending the film to a post production facility that charged big dollars.... How is it possible that the final result is so amateurish ?
Really, guys... If I or anybody else posted a clip of the film asking for some feedback about my color correction ability you would all tell me that I need to greatly improve my skills.
(edited by moderator at user's suggestion t to remove potentially offensive comments). It is really embarrassing.
Somebody also mentioned the sub-par quality of the audio mix.
Again, Adam mentioned having professional audio guys with 100k worth of equipment on set, plus a boom guy. He also sent the film to a sound designer, who also charged top dollars for the final mix.
So how on earth can the sound be that bad ?
And also the lightning, blocking of the scenes are incredibly amateurish.
The film is poorly directed and editing is awful as well.
The script pretty poor as well, but since this is a direct to dvd affair I guess it can be excused.
Still, after reading how all the agents loved Adam's script I had a bit more hope for the story. Someone apparently even compared it to Pulp Fiction!
But anyway we all know agents are there just to kiss your (edit) so asking their opinion is akin to ask your grandma if she thinks you're an handsome enough boy.
Acting for the most part was OK, even though it looked like Tom Sizemore was improvising most of his lines.
(edited by moderator at user's suggestion t to remove potentially offensive comments)Julia was either miscast or she's a really untalented actress.
(edited by moderator at user's suggestion t to remove potentially offensive comments) I can only imagine how the other actors must have felt working with someone so inexperienced and who delivered lines in such a wooden way.
I could go on for hours, the film is a train-wreck.
Again, don't want to sound nasty but on a technical side it reminded me of Birdemic. Although that film was entertaining.
So why have I decided to write this post ? Just to bash a guy who actually managed to make a film with some serious dough ?
Well, the problem is that the film is really terrible. We're talking Ed wood school of film-making here.
And yet, everybody seem to celebrate the fact that Adam managed to get the money and financing to make yet another film.
Nobody seems to care the final result is so unsatisfactory and frankly amateurish. We are on a film making forum, but go on IMDb and check the user reviews.
I doubt those people are into matte boxes, Nd filters and Sliders like us. However they all singled out how the film was technically sub-par.
How can someone make a film so amateurish with that kind of budget, I'll never know.
Maybe Adam is a genius when it comes to finding funds but he's simply not a very talented writer/director.
But still that doesn't explain how the dop and the sound people could also mess things up so badly.
Anyway that brings me to my other point.
It seems like the fact that Adam got Tom Sizemore and managed to get a crew together was enough for LA producers to convince them he was worth another film (with an even bigger budget).
The fact that he made a horrible film wasn't even a factor in their decision.
And that's sad, and maybe explain the sorry state american cinema is in these days.
It's also disturbing for me seeing how most users around here celebrate Adam simply because he did it and managed to break into the system.
The guy made a horrible film, does quality not count anymore ?
And you can like/dislike a film... that's subjective.
But turning out a product of that technical quality given the budget is inexcusable.
Maybe everybody here is just interested in becoming a 'professional' as in someone who makes money making films. But I'd rather make 10 films that make no money whatsoever and be proud of the final result than have steady work and live like a king in my mansion knowing I'm contributing to saturate the market with the filmic equivalent of junk food.
Corrado has no reedeming qualities whatsoever, I'm baffled people who saw it here didn't fit to start a debate about it.
Mostly on how something that cost so much turned out to be so bad and how quality doesn't seem to matter when it comes to breaking in Hollywood.
Interested to hear your thoughts, if you've seen your film.
If you haven't, please help Adam out and order a copy on amazon.
I'm sure he'd be happier to have us pay and watch his film and ***** about it rather than just ignore it and leave it on the shelf.
And before someone starts to point out the many grammar mistakes in my post, English is not my first language.
 
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Good for you, lionelhutz, for having the guts to critique the s*%t out of this film, and wonder what the poo poo is going on.
But, he did get a recognizable and then sold that film and gets to make more so...
I haven't seen it, but I'll check it out now and edit my post accordingly.

*lionelhutz's review has been moderated
 
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Well, sadly my post has been 'moderated'.
I guess an euphemism for censored.
I'm honestly not really sure what could be considered a personal attack in that post I wrote.
I mentioned that Adam's wife, Candace Elaine, did a questionable job in her part.
Maybe it's personal because I'm talking about a family member of Adam ?
The moment you cast a friend or a relative in a leading role, they stop being your family and friends and they become part of the cast. So when it comes to the movie, I'm not talking about Adam's wife, but leading lady Candace Elaine.
My humble opinion is that her acting was a bit wooden, but I don't really want to go into that.
Adam stressed at the beginning of his (excellent) production blog on how it's important to cast big names for your film. And he did, except for the leading lady part, which went to his wife.
So if I'm accused of implying there might have been some nepotism there, I guess I'm guilty.
But the point of my post was to start a debate about the state of Hollywood and how to break in.
This film shows that if you know enough rich people and are very good at getting actors (and Adam as a producer did an outstanding job) then it doesn't matter if you can deliver a good film or not. The doors are still going to open.
Adam might be the most talented director on earth, and the next Kubrick for all we know.
But this film didn't really show any talent.
If anything all that money wasn't on the screen.
And it wasn't just Adam's fault because color correction (done by a post production facility which charged top dollars) and sound mix (also done by other professionals) are also amateurish at best.
If you haven't seen the film, and you really should go and buy the dvd on amazon if you enjoyed this thread like I did, on a technical level it can be compared to 'Birdemic'.
Even the notorious 'The Room' actually looks better than this film.
Again, note how I'm talking in technical terms.
For some reason the colors are off, the whites are all blown out and the sound is barely audible (also, the levels changes from shot to shot).
Camera movements are also extremely clunky in a very noticeable way.
It seems like I'm going out of my way to rip this film to shreds, but honestly it's a bit of a mess. Like I said in the previous post, go on Imdb or read some dvd reviews of the film and everybody is going to point out at some point how poor the movie is on a technical standpoint.
And I'm not even going into the merits of the script. That's something very subjective, though I would say after hearing everybody loved it and someone compared it to Pulp Fiction I had some hopes.
I know this film gave the opportunity to Adam to make an even bigger budget film, and that what is disturbing in a way to me.
The fact that this film turned out to be so bad didn't really prevent the director to find another film to shoot next, with more money to boot.
I'm not judging Adam's choice or career path here.
The film is out there and as a paying customer I'm entitled to an opinion on the final product. The fact I bought the dvd on Amazon and wrote a post here is a testament on how Adam got where he wanted.
We all know already that a big budget doesn't necessarily make your film any better artistically speaking.
Corrado also tells us that money doesn't necessarily make your film look our sound professional either.
Forgive me again for my bluntness but I'm on a forum where people normally critics all the technical aspects of a camera and spend hours debating about overexposed shots in short films made by penniless film students.
This is a big budget (for our standards) film made by a professional crew. I don't think it needs any sugarcoating.
I also used to work as a film critic and confronted personally big name directors in various press conferences. If I get 'moderated' again, I guess it means I'm not 'Hollywood' enough maybe.
But fellow filmmakers, do we really just want to work in movies so bad it doesn't matter anymore if the films we make are good or not ?
Film is an art, and maybe I just see it like that because I'm European... but, to use film only as a mean to put (a lot of) bread on the table is very limitative.
 
The post was moderated because it was slightly inflammatory and bordering on personal attacks. We'd like to see posts (especially critiques or criticisms) happen without curse words, so on and so forth.

A little Self Moderation would go a long way.

Edit: and you did ask me to edit the post via PM so that it could stand.
 
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