Ted Spencer
Veteran
*Very* nicely done Frank! I'm thoroughly impressed...
FEATURE: DEUCE OF SPADES - How I made a period full feature film all by myself on ZERO budget
- Thread starter Deuceofspades
- Start date
*Very* nicely done Frank! I'm thoroughly impressed...
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Easy fix. Throw a cloud layer at it, make the operator "darken" and tweak the curves a bit.
Jeeez, Jordan looks so much better with some grease in his hair.
Frank
Jeeez, Jordan looks so much better with some grease in his hair.
Frank
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Deuceofspades
Veteran
yeah the boys DO transform nicely don't they? :thumbup:
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Frank, are you a wizard???? That might be very cool, especially if the clouds can look dark. The scene is supposed to be immediately after a storm. I do have a nice cloud pattern in my opening shot, which I could email to you for ref and maybe we can match it for the reverse shots (above), so it looks like the same moment. My desire is to make the tree look as dramatic and ominous as possible and the cloud color / pattern can certainly do that since we would have control over it now. :thumbup: You're ON !!
Heading out to the desert tomorrow crack of dawn. Will make sure to bring you the 360 shots you need as well as ground texture and SCTA tower.
This is all so exciting!
Deuceofspades
Veteran
WEEHEEEEE !!!
A nice little blurb about my film just came out in one of America's most established and oldest hot rod magazine: HOT ROD MAGAZINE !!!
NINE MILLION READERS!
They did publish the photo of the poster, so that's way cool. I am very happy. This is my first domestic press and it is coming out in the biggest hot rod magazine, so it's a very good thing in deed. I'll post a link once the magazine hits the stands.
A nice little blurb about my film just came out in one of America's most established and oldest hot rod magazine: HOT ROD MAGAZINE !!!
NINE MILLION READERS!
They did publish the photo of the poster, so that's way cool. I am very happy. This is my first domestic press and it is coming out in the biggest hot rod magazine, so it's a very good thing in deed. I'll post a link once the magazine hits the stands.
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
When I saw him the first time in that teaser, I thought he´s a natural.
I can`t belive that he went back to that wig after having a
REAL SLICK (pun intended) HAIR STYLE for more than a year now
Not exactly, it´s just my everyday job.
Frank
Deuceofspades
Veteran
I'M BACK !!!
Had a great trip, shot on location on the dry lake bed for two days. We had a blast. I chased the deuce at sunset two evenings in a row and stumbled upon some incredible footage. BREATHTAKING !!!!!!!! Well, if you are a hotrod lover, that is.
Frank I got the 360 panoramic photos of the lake for you as well as the SCTA bleachers. I'll be emailing them to you tomorrow hopefully. :thumbup:
Today is a very intense day for me. Started at 4AM packing everything up in the desert and driving the deuce at 50 mph down an 8 miles long bumpy dirt road. The roadster was doing a lot of drifting along the way, but was able to keep it from going into a spin. Coming back to La was a 3 hour drive, without windshield. My ears are still buzzing. Drove straight to my day job. Then I have to get the heck out at 3PM and zip up to my house cause I am auditioning actors from 3PM to 7PM.
And they wonder how come I don't gain weight :beer:
Had a great trip, shot on location on the dry lake bed for two days. We had a blast. I chased the deuce at sunset two evenings in a row and stumbled upon some incredible footage. BREATHTAKING !!!!!!!! Well, if you are a hotrod lover, that is.
Frank I got the 360 panoramic photos of the lake for you as well as the SCTA bleachers. I'll be emailing them to you tomorrow hopefully. :thumbup:
Today is a very intense day for me. Started at 4AM packing everything up in the desert and driving the deuce at 50 mph down an 8 miles long bumpy dirt road. The roadster was doing a lot of drifting along the way, but was able to keep it from going into a spin. Coming back to La was a 3 hour drive, without windshield. My ears are still buzzing. Drove straight to my day job. Then I have to get the heck out at 3PM and zip up to my house cause I am auditioning actors from 3PM to 7PM.
And they wonder how come I don't gain weight :beer:
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Glad to hear that.
Damn, I wish I could ride a rod over the lake today, the weather is a dream over here since a week.
But actualy we don´t have any dry lakes in Germany and I don´t have a hotrod.
Time to wake up the 41 Chevy from hibernation.
I think I take her for a spin this afternoon.
The Autobahn is not as much fun as the salt flats,
but good enough to scare BMWs with my hopped up jalopy.
Check your AOL Mail gal. I have something for you.
Frank
Damn, I wish I could ride a rod over the lake today, the weather is a dream over here since a week.
But actualy we don´t have any dry lakes in Germany and I don´t have a hotrod.
Time to wake up the 41 Chevy from hibernation.
I think I take her for a spin this afternoon.
The Autobahn is not as much fun as the salt flats,
but good enough to scare BMWs with my hopped up jalopy.
Check your AOL Mail gal. I have something for you.
Frank
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Deuceofspades
Veteran
Ooooo... better go check it right away, can't wait to see it !!
UPDATES: I came back from my trip and dived right back in: Auditions galore. Great caliber of mature actors and I am so delighted to see how excited they are about the film !! Some of them read the blod and knew more about my project than .... ME!
Way cool.
So far so good, things are falling into place for the modern day scenes, nicely.
This week we are repainting my house inside to prepare it for this week-end's shoots, which are all in the house. Nice, I guess I won't have to drive far to get to my shoots LOL !!
Below: A photographer snaps some candid shots of me and my deuce while I was driving it to record misc deuce sounds for the film.
And you are right Frank, the weather was INCREDIBLE, and it felt so good driving the deuce that I did the "I'm flying! I'm flying!!" arm thing... (and got caught doing it, too, by set photographer Peter Torres)
This photo to me screams: I AM ALIVE.
Matt Sconce
Veteran
I just saw that Don Ajluni is the Doctor in your movie! He is the Nosy Neighbor in my movie. Great guy. Best of luck! -Matt Sconce
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Ah that's funny! SMall world, eh?
Yes, Don is one of two doctors. I also have two orderly and four nurses, fun stuff!Here is the main doctor and one of the nurses
Here is another nurse and orderly (plus my assistant Jerry Mull, as a hospital patient, in the background LOL)
Here is Don in the center
Here is the head nurse, with her seringe of epinephrin.
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Deuceofspades
Veteran
Worked until the wheee hours yesterday, taking care of pre-production stuff. Location for my opening scene was confirmed yesterday afternoon and I am VERY EXCITED about this. Complete, with old cars galore, sitting amidst small backyard buildings, barns and a **** load of misc car parts.
Jerry Mull (Founder and President of the LA CLassic Chevy car club) who has, over the last six months, really stepped up to the "main production assistant" plate and I did a long evening conference call to discuss the details of all the shoots left, what we are going to need to gather, props wise, location wise etc...
Everything is falling into place nicely despite our complete lack of budget. In fact we have less budget now then we did when we first started!
A new casting call has been made late afternoon yesterday and when I checked my inbox a few hours later, I found that already over 50 seasonned actors had submitted for the last 4 parts available in the film.
Looks like I'll be auditioning a lot of people next week !!
Audition are a lot of fun. It's always great to meet people and see different takes on the same scene.
DAILY PHOTO:
Below: Jerry Mull (left) pulls strings and triggers miracles: Here a 30's packard ambulance is taken out of the Automobile Driving Museum and towed to our remote crash scene location for an all nighter shoot. You can see Maurice (wh also stayed up all night with us) shaking hands with me. "SHE" was quite a sight.
Jerry Mull (Founder and President of the LA CLassic Chevy car club) who has, over the last six months, really stepped up to the "main production assistant" plate and I did a long evening conference call to discuss the details of all the shoots left, what we are going to need to gather, props wise, location wise etc...
Everything is falling into place nicely despite our complete lack of budget. In fact we have less budget now then we did when we first started!
A new casting call has been made late afternoon yesterday and when I checked my inbox a few hours later, I found that already over 50 seasonned actors had submitted for the last 4 parts available in the film.
Looks like I'll be auditioning a lot of people next week !!
Audition are a lot of fun. It's always great to meet people and see different takes on the same scene.
DAILY PHOTO:
Below: Jerry Mull (left) pulls strings and triggers miracles: Here a 30's packard ambulance is taken out of the Automobile Driving Museum and towed to our remote crash scene location for an all nighter shoot. You can see Maurice (wh also stayed up all night with us) shaking hands with me. "SHE" was quite a sight.
HerzogisGod
Well-known member
So if you were to tally it all up, how much would you say this project has cost you?
Deuceofspades
Veteran
I have not added it all up yet. But when i am done with it, I will and I promise to let you guys know.
UPDATE:
Had a very nice audition last night and found my TOMMY MILLER 2009 version (now pushing 70). Great actor. Also, looks like we are going to get another nice review in ITALY
. PLus possibility of some DOS footage ending up in a cable access TV car show...All in all a good day.
I also had to go buy filming supplies, little things like light bulbs, 6 of them at $22 a pop (OUCH!!!!) and cinefoil and some lens cleaning cloths. Tally of these tiny little harmless items? over $200
.Does anyone have some aspirin?
DAILY PHOTO:
Johnny Callaway sneaks away into the night while a huge fight errupts inside Bettie's house over his seeing Bettie.
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Preparing for this week-end's shoot. I am excited to meet a fellow dvxuser member who is coming to help me with a crane shot. This will be the first crane shot in the film and it is always my first time around this type of device, so I am going to learn a lot, no doubt! Plus we are talking about possibly putting the crane on my dolly so boy oh boy that is going to be one hell of a shot to tackle! I love it! I'm really looking forward to it!
Ted Spencer
Veteran
Crane/dolly combo can be *really* nice. Good luck with the shoot!
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Rough week-end, which started with my cemera person calling me at 6AM the morning of the shoot, SICK AS A DOG. NO way she was going to be able to even stand up to be able to run camera. Lost a day, and that was a terrible set back which cause a ripple / domino effect of the most stressful kind.
Come to the rescue Dvxusers members (yey!), Robert and his son Jaren did the lovely crane shot, worth every minute it took to set it all up. They helped all day sunday and we were able to progress with the scene nicely! THANK YOU GUYS!! Very nice people, easy to work with and they worked well together, Robert behind the camera and Jaren pulling focus for him on and off.
Blocking the scene paused some challenges I had not anticipated. Monday I regrouped, edited what I had so far and assessed how to proceed.
Yesterday I went back at it, with Michael (yet another wonderul dvxusers member) behind the camera, and we were a great match. We got incredible shots for the pivotal scene of the hotrod girl discovering the old letter in the roadster. All in all a great day shooting, very relaxed, fun and super productive, yielding dramatic shots that do justice to the dramatic nature of that particular section of that scene.
Today I finish off the rest of the scene, less essential stuff and hopefully wrap, cause I am heading out to Fillmore to film on location for 3 days there, and shoot the first scene of the film.
Wow guys! It's getting there!!!
Too busy to post photos now but I promise I will very soon, so you can see our fellow dvxusers at work
Come to the rescue Dvxusers members (yey!), Robert and his son Jaren did the lovely crane shot, worth every minute it took to set it all up. They helped all day sunday and we were able to progress with the scene nicely! THANK YOU GUYS!! Very nice people, easy to work with and they worked well together, Robert behind the camera and Jaren pulling focus for him on and off.
Blocking the scene paused some challenges I had not anticipated. Monday I regrouped, edited what I had so far and assessed how to proceed.
Yesterday I went back at it, with Michael (yet another wonderul dvxusers member) behind the camera, and we were a great match. We got incredible shots for the pivotal scene of the hotrod girl discovering the old letter in the roadster. All in all a great day shooting, very relaxed, fun and super productive, yielding dramatic shots that do justice to the dramatic nature of that particular section of that scene.
Today I finish off the rest of the scene, less essential stuff and hopefully wrap, cause I am heading out to Fillmore to film on location for 3 days there, and shoot the first scene of the film.
Wow guys! It's getting there!!!
Too busy to post photos now but I promise I will very soon, so you can see our fellow dvxusers at work
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Filmed again last night until 1 AM. We shot the fourth section of that garage scene. Jerry was blowing leaves into the garage with a fan LOL... cause in the scene, a storm is coming. It was fun (for a while) but after a few takes racking those leaves and taking them back to their starting position started getting old...
The real weather cooperated and sent us some strong wind so I got a real nice sundown shot with wind blowing in the trees behind of beautifully lit 50's glass wall. No, I didn't light it, God did. The glass wall did the rest .
I got some real neat footage of the hotrod girl working on her hotrod, doing her brakes, stumbled upon interesting lighting and went for it... And we finally wrapped that garage scene, which in the end took us four sessions to complete.
Now I only have one day to haul the deuce from Inglewood (where we filmed) to Fillmore (where we are going to film this week-end) and also pack my truck, travel trailer, props, wardrobe, filming gear and haul my own ass to Fillmore too. That, while juggling with my day job during the daytime.
OUCH.
The real weather cooperated and sent us some strong wind so I got a real nice sundown shot with wind blowing in the trees behind of beautifully lit 50's glass wall. No, I didn't light it, God did
. The glass wall did the rest .I got some real neat footage of the hotrod girl working on her hotrod, doing her brakes, stumbled upon interesting lighting and went for it... And we finally wrapped that garage scene, which in the end took us four sessions to complete.
Now I only have one day to haul the deuce from Inglewood (where we filmed) to Fillmore (where we are going to film this week-end) and also pack my truck, travel trailer, props, wardrobe, filming gear and haul my own ass to Fillmore too. That, while juggling with my day job during the daytime.
OUCH.
craigbowman
Veteran
Notice how we spend a huge part of our production lives hauling and moving mountains of stuff all over the place and then back again; carrying more stuff till our arms feel like they'll come off, and opening doors with our feet and other parts of our bodies not directly connected to our hands, (breaker bar doors)!
But its a satisying exhaustion, isn't it!
But its a satisying exhaustion, isn't it!
Deuceofspades
Veteran
YEAH, I HEAR YOU, I can see you've lived it!!
Filmed all day sat, all day sun, had to then drive all the way home to download my P2 cards cause for the first time in my life I actually ran out of storage space, and was to film on location one more day. As a result, didn't go to sleep until 2 Am Sunday night. Monday morning up at 7AM and filmed all day. Dealing with setting up the deuce in the barn, making it look old and credible on sat then loading it up on a trailer and figuring out how to cover it without damaging the paint was another pain in the you know what. It took about 3 hours. We then drove all over the places, finding different looking backdrops to simulate a road trip, taking (supposedly) the main character back from Texas to LA. Dvxuser Michael Delano filmed with us Monday, truly a nice guy, very helpful and he nails the shots fast, which saved us yesterday. Way to go Michael!! :thumbup:
Nonetheless, I didn't get all the shots I needed, so I am to finish today after work, with a new guy behind the camera, an Italian filmmaker who's reel truly impressed me. Him and I have similar tastes so I hope the chemistry is good so I can have a small network of shooters to work with, since so far no one shooter is able to commit to do all the shoots (which would be my preferred way to go)... Wish me luck!
Screengrabs coming soon, when I can catch my breath for a second (yeah, right, like this is going to happen!)
Tomorrow I audition actors, same on Thursday, Friday I pre and sat / sun I shoot again.
OUCH x 2.
Meanwhile a few grabs from previously shot flashback scenes:
Filmed all day sat, all day sun, had to then drive all the way home to download my P2 cards cause for the first time in my life I actually ran out of storage space, and was to film on location one more day. As a result, didn't go to sleep until 2 Am Sunday night. Monday morning up at 7AM and filmed all day. Dealing with setting up the deuce in the barn, making it look old and credible on sat then loading it up on a trailer and figuring out how to cover it without damaging the paint was another pain in the you know what. It took about 3 hours. We then drove all over the places, finding different looking backdrops to simulate a road trip, taking (supposedly) the main character back from Texas to LA. Dvxuser Michael Delano filmed with us Monday, truly a nice guy, very helpful and he nails the shots fast, which saved us yesterday. Way to go Michael!! :thumbup:
Nonetheless, I didn't get all the shots I needed, so I am to finish today after work, with a new guy behind the camera, an Italian filmmaker who's reel truly impressed me. Him and I have similar tastes so I hope the chemistry is good so I can have a small network of shooters to work with, since so far no one shooter is able to commit to do all the shoots (which would be my preferred way to go)... Wish me luck!
Screengrabs coming soon, when I can catch my breath for a second (yeah, right, like this is going to happen!)
Tomorrow I audition actors, same on Thursday, Friday I pre and sat / sun I shoot again.
OUCH x 2.
Meanwhile a few grabs from previously shot flashback scenes: