FEATURE: DEUCE OF SPADES - How I made a period full feature film all by myself on ZERO budget

DammitJanet said:
Hi Faith.

As a rockabilly cat myself, I can honestly say I'm very excited about your film and what it has to offer. I also admire your "rebel without a crew" aesthetic. That said though, I'd like to offer up my services for film scoring if you're looking for anyone to contribute some music. I have some very laid back lonesome rockabilly guitar stuff in mind based on your teaser. Just shoot me a PM if you're interested. Best of luck, and I hope you'll check out my films as well!
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Hi DammitJanet, I will try to check out your film tonight when I go home. I do have to work on my hotrod though, completeing repairs to get it ready for the rest of the filming. (It never ends)...

Music eh? Soudns sweet. PMing you right now...
 
Deuceofspades said:
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Hey Faith. After reading all of your posts so far in this thread and the other one in the 35mm forum you've just given me that final push I needed to stop being scared, to stop procrastinating and to jump right into the deep end with my swimming gear off!

I've been sitting on a script for a feature length film for a while now and I've finally managed to get all the locations and actors I need otherwise the crew is 100% me!

I have started a blog-like post in the User Films forum too.. it's tilted ""Medium" A directors blog blah blah blah.."

Hopefully you can check it out and give me tips on my way through the experience of having no experience!

Keep it up Faith. I really admire you for what you're doing and I'm pulling my hairs out waiting on Duece of Spades coming out! (Do you plan on doing DVDs of the movie, out of interest?

Thanks for all the inspiration and that final kick into "guerilla film making"!
 
THE GEAR

I purchased all my gear a a year ago, cause I figured that since it was going to take me forever to film DEUCE OF SPADES, renting would end up costing a lot more than owning. I was right.

For those of you curious as to what I used to film with, here is my gear list:

CAMERA:
HVX 200 panasonic with 48 GIG of P2 Card storage
Letus Extreme 35 mm adapter
Nikon 35 prime lenses including: 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 55 micro, 100mm, zoom.red
Rock follow focus and whips
HD Nebteck Marshall monitor

CAMERA MOUNTS:
Indie Pro Dolly ( 12 feet rails)
Pro tripod with Sachtler fluid head
Shoulder mount
Figrig hand held stabiliser

SOUND:
Sennheiser 416 shotgun mic with 12 feet boom
Two Sennheiser lavalier mics

LIGHTING:
6 way large bounce
Lowell portable compact light kit - OMNI lights (2) X 500W
All gels, diffusion gels, CTO & CTB as well as ND gels
Two 1K Ari lights (loaned to me) - with Light stands and sand bags (on a few night shoots, I borrowed six 1K lights and a 4K generator)
 
GregPorter said:
Hey Faith. After reading all of your posts so far in this thread and the other one in the 35mm forum you've just given me that final push I needed to stop being scared, to stop procrastinating and to jump right into the deep end with my swimming gear off!

I've been sitting on a script for a feature length film for a while now and I've finally managed to get all the locations and actors I need otherwise the crew is 100% me!

I have started a blog-like post in the User Films forum too.. it's tilted ""Medium" A directors blog blah blah blah.."

Hopefully you can check it out and give me tips on my way through the experience of having no experience!

Keep it up Faith. I really admire you for what you're doing and I'm pulling my hairs out waiting on Duece of Spades coming out! (Do you plan on doing DVDs of the movie, out of interest?

Thanks for all the inspiration and that final kick into "guerilla film making"!
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Please see my next post regarding my "crew" - doing it 100% alone is not possible - you will need "some" help.
 
Deuceofspades said:
Please see my next post regarding my "crew" - doing it 100% alone is not possible - you will need "some" help.
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Well, I do have some people helping with various things but I just mean I take priority over how everything is done, more so than actually doing it.

I still have someone else on a camera and/or on another camera and I have people working booms and lighting as well as other things.

:p

Also, Most of the feature I am doing is set in one location so I don't need many people on my shoots. Otherwise the external shots I have planned can be done with at the most 3 or 4 people.

My film is FAR FAR FAR from being as detailed and upscaled as yours is turning out to be. Your film has such an amazing movie feel to it. So far mine is very low-key. :p
 
MY "CREW" (or lack thereof LOL)

I started filming with no crew. My first few shoots were just me and my actors. Fortunately, my actors helped immensely, carrying gear, helping putting up the lights, the dolly, etc etc... Without that help, I would not have been able to do it.

I then was able to start getting some volunteers. As the film progressed, it became increasingly easier to find people who wanted to become a part of it.

Usually I will work with a crew of one to two people plus me. I have one person booming and one person helping with anything else we need (grip). The majority of my shoots were done with a crew of ONE (boom) and me.

But I had one shoot, my biggest scene, where I had more help. I was running a set of 100 people that day !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Including actors, extras, car owners. I even had a pro assistant director that day calling "ACTION" etc, which felt really weird. He happened to be a car owner and brought his car to the set so he helped all day. I must confess that without his help I would have crashed and burned that day LOL. Too much to film - not enough time. That day I also had a steadycam operator doing a shot for me (thank you LUIS!).

Here is a photo from that shoot:

BTS%20Saugus%203.jpg




So as I said, people on the set oftentimes pitched in to help me. Car owners would hold flags, actors would handle props (ex: Jalopy race scene - the cop taking a pee: Two actors held the branches he is pissing on and a third one squeezed the apple juice bottle to make the "urine" flow) and then I had volunteers to grip and hold booms etc...

Some shoot, I worked all alone, and if the dialogues were stationary I put the boom on a C-Stand and VOILA. Done.


One of the most important thing I must stress is that I spent a little over 3K on a one year filming insurance policy. In a state where people are "sue happy" this was a MUST.

I do not recommend filming without insurance. Ever.
 
Wow. Very inspiring thread. Just being able to keep with this for so long would have been amazing, but the quality of the screenshots and clips simply put this in the league of legendary.
 
Glad to see this in the User Films section! Great example of an informative user film thread! Looking forward to the continued updates!
 
ghalied said:
Wow. Very inspiring thread. Just being able to keep with this for so long would have been amazing, but the quality of the screenshots and clips simply put this in the league of legendary.
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In fact I have been going for so long ( I filmed EVERY WEEK-END without fail for an entire YEAR) that I don't know what I am going to do with myself when this is done.

Did I hear someone say "SEQUEL" ?? :beer:
 
UPDATES:

Still in between two sections of my film. Still working on fixing the STAR of the film : My 1932 ford roadster. The deuce has our fannies kicked from here to Gibraltar. Boy, working on hot rods sure is rough.

This is pretty much how I felt last night after an entire afternoon / evening of mechanical struggles:

Not pretty! (photo taken at my local Pepboys - for real!!)

"CLEAN UP ON AISLE 32!!!!"


Cleanup-On-Aisle-12A.jpg
 
I was honored to be invited to speak at the upcoming meeting of the oldest and most established dry lake racing car club in the world. These guys have been doing it since the thirties and many old timers and hall of famers are members.

So next Tuesday I get to tell them about DEUCE OF SPADES and show them some footage and bring their youth back :). Apparently they all know about the film and have heard about it through word of mouth...

This was just the little push I needed to bite the bullet and stay up until 2AM editing my dry lake racing scenes last night.

Have you ever tried to film a dialogue amidst a REAL car event? And then edit it and try to match the sound from cut to cut???

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

Each shot has some car in the background revving its engine up. No two cars sound the same (when it comes to hot rods)... So no two takes match.

On top of that, having no control over what was around us, miss cars kept getting in the frame, parking in the background, and killing visual continuity.

As if this was not enough to drive you to insanity, add the fact that we shot it at magic hour over the course of two afternoon sunsets and that the light keeps getting darker from shot to shot... So unless you pick two shots filmed within a few minutes of each other, they won't match, light wise...

SOMEBODY SHOOT ME AND PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY.... :furious3:

On the bright side I had a few awesome looking roadster drive through my frame during the conversation and they added a lot of produciton value ot the scene, and that was not at all planned :).
 
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filmman said:
my kind of filmmaker :)

just discovered this thread for the first time

it's good to see another desperado beside myself doing it all yourself


Here's my website: http://www.releasing.net
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Filmman, it was truly a pleasure meeting you and yoru wife last night. I learned a lot from you. Thank you for taking the time to go over distribution with me... I look forward to networking!
 
I think Deuce of Spades is a winner.

You have a great attitude toward filmmaking. I wish you great success; you deserve it.
 
EXCITING UPDATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just heard the word: DEUCE OF SPADES IS THE COVER of the upcoming issue of WHEELS magazine, Northern Europe largest hot rod magazine!! I am the feature story with a full 3 page spread and many photos...

I had no idea they were considering giving me the cover, so when they send me the proof I just about s**t in my pants!!!

I honestly can say this is the most excited I have ever felt in my life... My face was all red and I think my eyes got watery... Weird...

The deuce is very proud to be on the cover. They picked this shot:




Faith%20and%20the%20Deuce%20of%20Spades%202.jpg




I think this is going to bring even more foreign press my way. So far I got good size reviews in New Zealands (mention of the film name on the cover - feature story and a full 3 page spread in the largest hotrod magazine there), two in France (including France largest hotrod magazine), one in Finland. I have more lined up in Italy, South Africa and now Tchekoslovakia and possibly Germany.




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