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

UPDATES:


GRRRRREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As of today, 1PM we have officially FIGURED OUT HOW TO EXPORT MULTITRACKS VEGAS SOUND FILES AND EVENT LIST OUT OF VEGAS SUCCESSFULLY - with handles, with volume curves and with pans. All 75 tracks of reel 4 played beautifully in Nuendo and in perfect synch!!

OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a two week ordeal, figuring out what was making the conversion fail each time, and a lot of trouble shooting, trying a bunch of different approaches and eliminating the problems one by one until none was left. Now that the perfect recipe has been concocted, converting the other 7 reels will be a breeze....:laugh:Special thanks to Perrone, David and Barry for putting their thinking caps on and coming up with a few good tips each.

Also I got to visit the sound mixing facility and see the sound stage where my film will be remixed and it was pretty exciting! I took a couple photos and will share them here tomorrow :).
 
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Deuceofspades said:
Well.. I wouldn't go that far LOL... That was one man's opinion ;)... Although I had two more tonight react the same way... Its always great when that happens.
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What is better is when a woman comes here and does amazing things!

Go Faith!

Don't rush your master piece, take your time, make it perfect, we will all be waiting :)

Respect!
 
Deuceofspades said:
Well.. I wouldn't go that far LOL... That was one man's opinion ;)... Although I had two more tonight react the same way... Its always great when that happens.
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So that makes 3 men opinions out of 3 :) Anyway, it really sounds as you managed to touch deeply in the audience feelings which is also crucial for a film success beside great scenes, video shots and a nice story (which have been all proved to some extent on this forum ;)
If the big boys at the movie companies will not see this I would say they are blind or ":Drogar-Smoke(DBG):" :)

Anyway, we are all supporting you here :)
KEEP going ......
 
Deuceofspades said:
Also I got to visit the sound mixing facility and see the sound stage where my film will be remixed and it was pretty exciting! I took a couple photos and will share them here tomorrow :).
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.... and just for sake of learning something new, can you tell what they will exactly do during the "sound remix" ? I guess you should have a basic track with the actors voice and background sounds plus the sound track. Are they going to add some other sounds as engines or wheels spinnings etc ?
Sorry for my dump question :)
 
CiPO said:
.... and just for sake of learning something new, can you tell what they will exactly do during the "sound remix" ? I guess you should have a basic track with the actors voice and background sounds plus the sound track. Are they going to add some other sounds as engines or wheels spinnings etc ?
Sorry for my dump question :)
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Oh sure, I'll be glad to cover it all.

STEP ONE: Dividing of the film into reels. Each reel must be 20 minutes or less. Each dividing spot must have silence (no overlapping of sound from previous shot or next shot) and be a hard cut and preferably not a black frame. Simple as above may sound, we found it was very hard to find such spot at the end of scenes and sometimes had to pick the end of a reel in the middle of a scene. I am told this causes it's own set of headaches, but they are better than the alternative (overlapping sound).

STEP TWO: addind academy leaders and setting up timeline timecode: An academy leader was added to the beginning of each reel, with a visual count down and an audio beep. Reels start at 8 seconds before hour one, so basically timecode for reel one starts not at zero but instead at 00:59:52 (don't ask). Leader is 8 seconds so that means that frame ONE of the film is at time code 01:00:00 - Reel 2 will start at 02:00:00 and so forth. I guess the time code jumps with each reel by one hour, even though the reels are 20 min or less, but they must have a reason to do it this way, for ex maybe they can tell by the hour what reel it is (ex: anything time coded with 07:XX:XX would be found in reel 7)

STEP THREE: Spotting of the film, reel by reel. During spotting, the "re-recording engineer" I guess that's what they're called, sits down and watches carefully the film and makes note of what, rigth off the bat, they know they are missing: Folleys, ADR, scoring, ambiant sounds, sound effects, sound design, etc etc... They make note of everything with time codes. Which is why before you can spot a film you have to have picture lock (as in - no more editing changes, this is IT that is the final edit of all the scenes and shots.). You can make some changes later but it complicates things, so it is needed to have picture lock first and try to have yoru shi* together before you get to sound mixing stage.

STEP FOUR: Files must be exported out of your computer and imported into pro facility system. They may or may not have the same software as you do, for exemple, Electric Entertainment has 'Nuendo' which is not the most common platform. Step four is where things got stuck for me, being that I'm in Vegas. AndI lost two weeks that way, but now back on the road :) hehehehehe.

STEP FIVE: Engineers open your file and take a listen and start to organise the tracks, undo all your mixing decisions (volume curve, pans, etc) and basically take the timeline back to SQUARE ONE. (that's the part that really sucks because you spent sooo much time making it sound "good" and they come and dismentel all your hard work and throw it right out the window... but it's for your own good)

STEP SIX: I don't know yet what step six will be cause I'm not quite there yet LOL - but will keep you guys posted. I understand in my case, the work will be shared by 5 guys, each will take on one task, ex: one will do ambiant sound, one will do sound design, one will do dialogue mixing etc etc... the team will be closely supervised by veteran Patrick Cycconne. He will do the final mix.


Below, a few photos taken yesterday at the studio... I must confess I was excited to drive up to HOLLYWOOD and feel I was now part of it in a new way. And pull up to the studio, located on Highland and Santa Monica in Hollywood... And walk in and see all the posters of all the big films that were mixed there... I felt very small and very humbled but also very proud, all at the same time... Weird, eh?


below: Andrew tests the conversion on his own laptop and is able to open the Vegas file successfully for the first time!!!! We are THRILLED!! Here in one of the smaller upper rooms.

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below: We then go down to the sound stage where the film will be mixed weeeheeee... Note that the screen is HUGE, but it is pretty far away from the console, so in teh photo it looks smaller and as though it is right above console. It is not, you could probably place a good 50 chairs between console and screen if you wanted to. There is a full drum kit and other instruments stored in that space and they don't even fill 10% of that big space.

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There are several rows of plush leather seats for people to watch footage and all I can think about is: Dang - sure woudl be nice to "borrow" this room to do a screening for potential distributors hehehehehe... One can always dream....

Below: saying I was happy at that moment would be an understatement LOL

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Below: the mixing board where DEUCE OF SPADES will be mixed :)

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n1c02 said:
sorry. I have to ask... what type of $$$ are you looking at to have that studio edit your film?
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They are not editing the film, they are mixing the sound. And I heard a full mixing job at that level is about $300,000.00 We are not going to get a full full mixing job, but close, so maybe... $200,000.00??

Nothing I could ever afford, not even in my most maniacal dreams. They have volunteered to help and contributing to the film pro bono. Special thanks to my good friend Patrick Cycconne for making this happen.

This is just another DEUCE OF SPADES miracle. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they remain able to finish the job and hope for the best. This will add incredible production value to my film and make it theater ready. Cause you never know ;)...
 
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Postmaster said:
Normally you would look at a figure in the neighborhood of $300,000.00.


Frank
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Frank my darlhhhing, I will shoot that deuce at sunset footage up to you this week end. Any progress on fire relocation?

I got my firetruck CGI shot this week. It's cool. You can see a 1050's firefighter walking away from the wreck that has just been put out, smoke is still rising up in the air, and he walks up to a 1950's firetruck... while rolling his vintage hose up...
It's a quick shot but will add a lot of production value to the crash scene.

Meawhile in New York Darren D'Agostino is working hard on the title treatement. We got some amazing ideas in the works there, entirely built in 3D... Way cool.

:2vrolijk_08:

Happy in Filmland,

Yours truly,

The trouble maker :).
 
Fire is relocated, also streamlined the crash again - uploading tomorrow.

What about the stabilizing job?

Can´t wait to see the whole shebang.

Best, Frank
 
You're welcome :)

Today I prepared REEL 1, REEL 2 and REEL 3 for conversion. So far so good.
Looks like I'm gonna be able to prepare the footage for you Frank, tomorrow. :happy:

Tomorrow I also start working on second half of film to finalize picture lock. I am almost there!!! Just a few more tweaks...

I should have it dialed by end of next week or sooner. Then back to preparing audio files... Should go a lot faster this time around now that I know what to do!


Keeping busy and productive, and hanging in there... Another week-end spent working... Dang. Making a feature sure is a LOT OF WORK.
 
Faith, I dunno if I asked this before.. or if you've already stated it previously but.. what is your background in film previous to this project? Have you filmed anything else before this or did you basically start your journey in film making with this project?
 
Azmyth said:
Faith, I dunno if I asked this before.. or if you've already stated it previously but.. what is your background in film previous to this project? Have you filmed anything else before this or did you basically start your journey in film making with this project?
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I have no background in film, never been to film school and never done any films. After starting to work on DOS, while I was still in pre-production, I completed a 35 min short, "THE PARK BENCH" to learn the ropes and learn how to light, since I had to become the DP for DOS, by necessity. I wrote, directed, filmed it and Dped it and edited it and did the soundtrack and completed it in 3 months. Two weeks later I started rolling on DOS.

So in a nutshell, that's my background (or lack thereof LOL).
 
ChipG said:
What ever happens keep your team for future projects!

Too many people get famous and forget (in LA).
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I am definitely not one of those "LA" people. In fact I am very unlike most film industry people around... But then, I think that's already painfully obvious LOL !!
 
Delivering REEL 1 thru 4 to studio today :)... Hopefully all of them will convert OK :D

I can now attack the second half of the film at long last and finalize everything. but first, I'll prepare the deuce at sunset footage for you Frank and shoot it to you tonight.

Last night I received a new 3D mock of the title treatement, with new camera angles and movement.... Gonna be bitchin' !! :thumbsup: Darren is doing a marvelous job. If anybody here needs 3D title treatments he's da man. Oh and he also specializes in CGI blood and fluids. For those of you doing horror or war flicks :thumbup:. Shoot me a PM and I'll be glad to give you his contact info. He's a good guy and very dedicated.
 
Hi.. i dont mean to sound negative.. But I know alot of us are wondering. I have read through your post and I think your film is going to be awesome.
But with that being said.. I think it is just a little misleading with how you pushed your project as being all done by you.

Basically you said that you are doing everything yourself. As much as this would almost seem impossible with the fantastic job that you have accomplished with this project.

The only reason I write this is I have read and re-read and I love the project and what you stand for. but misleading people that this CAN be done the way you are achieving it .

Obvioulsy you have WAY more money and help with the project than most of us could ever hope to. I realie that as far as money you meant "no investors". which is ok. but there must be a great deal of money that was put into this project and without investors, most of could not even come close to what you are achieving..

Again not trying to flame or create any negative spark. jsut stating the obvious on this project and I do wish you all the luck in the world. but I do not think you will need it. As this seems that it will be a great feature and the buzz on this will skyrocket the film wherever you want it to go.

Thanks
Jay
 
Glad to hear things are going well for you. Apologize for not being able to get back to you. Text me or email me if you need anything.
 
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