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

Cinema is the cousin of Magic, they share some of the Family secrets. As you know it's all about giving the crowd a mesmerizing experience that lifts them up & takes them away for a short time, so what ever acting, camera, lighting, audio tricks we pull off that works, -- it Works! Tricking the audience is our way of life
 
Foley is all about that. In a movie for some reason it feels weird if you don't hear clothes rustling, magazines being picked up, glasses being put on a table etc, etc. etc... In real life we often don't hear those things, and normal dialog miking usually doesn't pick them up much either. But in big-time-movie-magic-world...ya gotta have 'em. So ya add 'em in. It's fake, but if you do it well it sounds just right...
 
Yeah , it's like punch sounds, they sound so fake, you can hear the fist as it travels through the air (woooosh) and then it hits and it sounds like a sledge hammer just hit a 2000 pound bull. - Yet the actor's nose isn't even bleeding LOL...

When I filmed my dragstrip fight scene, we made it look very down and dirty. the boys are rolling in the dirt, and none of what they are doing look all that smooth or glamorous. They are struggling, pushing, shoving and figting like normal people fight. When "Fresno" gets punched in the face by Johnny, he goes down and is stunned for a moment and spits blood out of his mouth and his nose is bleeding. his nose is still bleeding 10 ,inutes later. It really looked real and was very realistic. I really liked that about that scene.

Then again, I can pull off "realistic" because I am not doing an action movie :beer:...
 
here are some screengrabs from that scene that illustrate above:

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Deuceofspades said:
THe Magazine is called WHEELS and is Swedish. It covers about 5 northern Europe countries though...
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Ok, not Finnish then :) thx .... will check it.

You know, I was thinking about our discussion this morning and it dunned on me, while I was brushing my teeth (yeap, I get a lot of epiphanies when I am in the bathroom LOL) that actually, his voice level dropping when he turns out his head IS the only NATURAL way to be. But both you and me got bugged by it. In real life, if someone talks to you and they turn away, you will hear them a lot less (I can vouch for this, I am partially deaf and as soon as peope turn their head away while talking, even if a little bit, I no longer can understand a thing they say :((( )...
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You know what .... sounds almost scary. I was rethinking exactly the same. As you said. It is natural that his voice should lower cos he is turning hid head. But maybe not so much. Maybe our brains have been "spoiled" by movies in a way that we are always used to hear well everything it is said. The fact that it bugged both of us means there is something that our brains consider wrong although logically it now seems different.
There must be a way in between ..... :)
 
CiPO said:
It is natural that his voice should lower cos he is turning hid head. But maybe not so much. Maybe our brains have been "spoiled" by movies in a way that we are always used to hear well everything it is said. The fact that it bugged both of us means there is something that our brains consider wrong although logically it now seems different.
There must be a way in between ..... :)
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yep, cast actors that have no necks LOLOL...

:thumbup:
 
Thank you :)

I snapped a few shots of my temporary prototype poster. I have no idea yet whether this shot will end up representing my film (itis quite likely), but for now I needed one poster to take to functions, car shows etc to promote the film, so I went to Kinko's and had one printed, along with postcards and business cards with exact same design.

It was a great moment, when I put the poster up on teh wall..

BEHOLD! WE HAVE A MOVIE !!! :thumbup: (well at least, it looks like it hehe)

Poster2.jpg



Poster.jpg
 
Hey Faith. The poster looks great, but if I may, I'd like to suggest that you leave the word "full" out of the description. Calling it a feature is sufficient, and adding "full" to it somehow sounds a tad amateurish, at least to me anyway...
 
Ted Spencer said:
Hey Faith. The poster looks great, but if I may, I'd like to suggest that you leave the word "full" out of the description. Calling it a feature is sufficient, and adding "full" to it somehow sounds a tad amateurish, at least to me anyway...
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Good suggestion... I agree. Although I had my reasons for this specific poster to be worded that way. This one is going to car shows etc... And everyone in the car circles assumes that anything filmed today about hotrods is either a documentray or a short film. Cause no hotrod full feature has been filmed for decades. So I guess I wanted to STRESS the fact that this is a film (not a docu) and a full feature (as opposed to a short). So for car shows, I will keep it in that format for now. But for the final posters, it will probably just say "a Faith Granger film" or something basic like that.
 
Well, well, well....

Looks like we are in a little bit of a pickle.

I lined up all my scenes in their rough edit form on my timeline and I was shocked to see they add up to 1 hour and 50 min.

:huh:

So, I am going to go back over each scene now and really tighten my edits and speed up the pace some and really trim the fat and see how much I will save this way. My goal: 1 hour and thirty minutes for flashbacks. I may have to lose a few scenes if need be...

Amazing how much you learn everyday :). Sure glad I took the time to do this now, cause it looks like I am going to have to do yet another rewrite of modern day scenes and cut them down to a strict minimum. It's a good idea to do all this now, BEFORE I head out to film the modern day scenes...

I am trying to keep the film at 2 hours and 10 minutes, which seems to be the norm for "longer" drama / period films. (ex: Fried Green Tomatoes etc...) and as it is keeping it at 130 min is going to be a "tour de force"
 
You'll have one of the rare 2 hour films that festivals (if you choose that route) will probably welcome do to the unique content. Not many people can pull this off. I love 50's movies! Damn, I would give anything to be able to grow up in the 50's.
 
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To me "Full" would sound like what I would expect a 50's advertisment to say. I read my dad's old hot rod magazines from the 50's (all the issues for 20+ years), old school advertising is, well, old school advertising :) I like it. I wouldn't change it. Reminds me of the 50's cigarette ad's that say Full Flavor.
 
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This has been my favorite project to keep an eye on. As a greaser/rockabilly and gearhead, it makes me grin like a chessy cat to see a movie like this being done independently about the hot rod culture and the 50's. You have my full and complete respect and admiration.
 
D-Day said:
This has been my favorite project to keep an eye on. As a greaser/rockabilly and gearhead, it makes me grin like a chessy cat to see a movie like this being done independently about the hot rod culture and the 50's. You have my full and complete respect and admiration.
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awesomeness :) :thumbup: Thanks!!

Well, I started hacking at my scene last night, went at it until 4AM. BAck at it at 8AM today. Amzing hw much time you can save by tighjtening edits. My flashback #1 was 5 minutes long, and now is only 4. And the scene feels better now than it did then. I was able to cut a couple lines of dialogues out without losing the meaning of the scene, so that was cool.
I am curious to see how much I can save, timewise, by applying this method to all my scenes... I'll keep you guys posted.

:)
 
ChipG said:
You'll have one of the rare 2 hour films that festivals (if you choose that route) will probably welcome do to the unique content. Not many people can pull this off. I love 50's movies! Damn, I would give anything to be able to grow up in the 50's.
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I wonder: do ALL festivals require you to only submit films that are not yet released? Meaning you can't sell any DVDs or have any screenings / premieres until you are done with the entire festival circuit?
 
There are so many festivals now and the rules vary widely for each one. Some allow private dvd sales but not through a distributor, others do not allow any private dvd sales. There is a possibility that many of them might bend the rules for you because 50's indie movies are rare. You might be able to distribute dvd's overseas without it effecting the rules here, I don't want to tell you wrong, they are all different. Make a wish list of your top 20 festivals and read the rules.

Remember, festivals are a big business and most distribution deals now come through dist reps and word of mouth. Festivals can be very expensive but they are fun, really good for the ego too! You should at least do a local one in LA.
 
I guess the big question, is which festivals really attract real distributors? And of those, which would take in a no budget film like mine? I heard that Sundance is mostly big $$ productions these days so it is hard to compete with that and get noticed and selected. Can anyone chime in?

How about sharing a list of key festivals that can yield distribution deals AND could accept a film like mine (no budget).

:huh:
 
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