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

Really great to hear all of this Faith!

Mind if I ask what your sales numbers are up to now?

It seems you're becoming quite the Horatio Alger story around here... : )
 
Zblock said:
Liked and Shared.
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Thank you Zblock!! :)

Moving 5000 friends has been a huge undertaking. The automated "suggest to friends" feature on Facebook is not working, probably too many friends and it just crashes systematically every time I have tried. Oh brother!
But slowly but surely we are moving people by sending each a PM or posting the notice on their walls. IF anyone has any Facebook tips on how to do this, that would be great!
 
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Had a GREAT show last week-end. Back To The Fifties is the largest car show in the world and despite the rain, it was very busy. I spent Friday signing autographs and talking to fans NON STOP, never had a chance to even take a sip of water, eat, and trying to break free to run to the bathroom LOL was very hard... Being "famous' is both very exciting, rewarding but also very draining. It's like the fans both feed you energy and drain you of it at the same time. By the end of the day there was nothing left of me LOL. But I went back at it the next day, and the one after that...

If only you could have been there and could have heard the fans talk about the film... It is so amazing! The excitement, the loyalty, the hard core support... Some of them confessed to having bought TEN copies of the film.
One visitors bough the film on Friday. Saturday morning he came back to the booth and said:

" I was very tired yesterday after being at the show all day but I could not help but pop the DVD in the player cause I was dying to see it. I figured I would just glance at 5 to 10 minutes and then go to bed... Well... I could not hit the stop button, and ended up watching the entire film. Went to bed at 2AM and I am really beat today but it was well worth t!!!"

LOLOL

Then there was this young teenager, a cute girl who walks up to the deuce and suddenly starts to jump up and down and scream: "OH MY GOD IT'S THE DEUCE OF SPADES!!! OH MY GOD YOU ARE THE GIRL FROM THE FILM!!!"
She had just seen the film for the first time 10 days ago and apparently it left a big impression on her. She was so darn cute and so darn EXCITED that I let her seat behind the wheel so her folks could take some souvenir pics. (more jumping up and down LOLOL)...

You know what really amazes me about DEUCE OF SPADES is the demographics. The film seems to appeal to people of all ages and to both genders equally. From 6 year old boys who ask for their moms to put the DVD in the player cause they want to see Johnny, to 80 year old men who reminisce about their youth, to teenage girls (all in love with Johnny of course LOL) to 20 something young men (hard core fans - they associate with JOhnny), to ladies of all ages (the love story captures the heart of the ladies)... to middle aged baby boomers... Seems I got it all.

Even millionaires??? Yep. Yesterday I was invited to visit a HUUUUGE property filled with show horses and the largest gas pump collection in the world, plus LOTS of show classic cars and hotrods. The owner, a multi millionaire, looked at me and said: "God it feels like I've known you for a long time, I have watched your film so many times....". The property was offered to me to film in, all 800 acres of it. :) Did anyone say.... Sequel?



PHOTOS:

This young teenager is a huge fan and asked me to sign his shirt when he saw me pulling into the registration area.

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The line in front of my display never stopped. I was signing DVDs non stop.

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The Deuce of Spades and I make the local paper:

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Interview shot Sunday morning, with the MSRA

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This all original 32 roadster sports the DEUCE OF SPADES emblem:

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The film is gaining great momentum, here are my current critics quotes:

"Best hot rod film since American Graffiti" (HOT ROD MAGAZINE)

"Worth the Wait! A quality, must see film!" (HOT ROD DELUXE)

"Exceptional!" (ROD AND CUSTOM)

"A slice of Americana artfully carved right out of the Fifties" (GOOD GUYS GAZETTE)

"One of the greatest hot rod films ever!" (REV IT UP RADIO)

"Best car movie I have ever seen. I was very impressed! Lots of great roadster shots, strong story and cinematography! I don't believe I've ever seen a car movie that was so authentic:
I consider Deuce Of Spades an award winning movie!" (DICK SCRITCHFIELD - Founder of the famous historic LOS ANGELES ROADSTER CLUB)

"A perfect film! DEUCE OF SPADES is epic, a must see for both car enthusiasts and general public." (CHROME AND FLAMES)

"A powerful movie, destined to become a cult classic: It is a bold canvas with photography and action that are simply beautiful. I rate it a 7 3/4 Sparkplugs out of a perfect 8." (HOT ROD HOTLINE)

"More hot rod than American Grafitti, more drama than World Fastest Indian and as much tragedy and romance as An Affair to Remember." (NITRO MADNESS)

"DEUCE OF SPADES is sure to become a cult masterpiece with the hot rod world. I cannot say enough about this film!" (LINECHASER MAGAZINE)

"One of the best films in its genre! Five stars out of five!" (BADASS LIFESTYLE)

"Faith Granger has created a landmark in independent cinema. Her cinematographic abilities are limitless! A great story, wonderfully filmed, a colorful tapestry of rock n' roll, vintage America and fast cars. Deuce of Spades puts the established movie industry and their multi-million dollar budgets to shame!" (DIRTY MAGAZINE)

"A chance to relive the fifties, Golden Era of hot rodding! DEUCE OF SPADES has cult film written all over it" (KUSTOM MAGAZINE)

"Beautifully shot, Deuce Of Spades is an emotional roller coaster, an engaging film, keeping the viewer captivated from start to finish" (VINTAGE LIFE MAGAZINE)
 
DEUCE OF SPADES PREMIERES IN FINLAND NEXT WEEK!!!

Friday, July 29th during the Helsinki Rockabilly Festival!! Screening is at 7PM at the Kino Andorra, Eerikinkatu 11, in Helsinki. After party features soundtrack band MYSTERY TRAIN.

For more info see the flyer and to purchase tickets email the organizer directly at

info@helsinkirockabillyweek.com

HELSINKI SCREENING flyer.jpg
 
As most of you know, I have been on tour since April to support the release of my motion picture DEUCE OF SPADES. Since my tour route took me through Madison, WI I decided to stop by SCS to visit. It was nice to see everyone again! I had a chance to sit down with some of the software engineers and suggest some Vegas new features:) ... I had met many of the team members last April at NAB, when I did presentations at the SONY pavillion in connection with my editing a feature film in Vegas.

I thought I would share a pic with you so you can see some of the faces behind the software!

Here pictured with the "Deuce Of Spades" 32 Ford roadster, star car of the film.

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Deuceofspades said:
Just read Tedd's review and must point out that my accurate ratings on Imdb are actually:

Arithmetic mean = 8.2. Median = 9

43.2% voters rated it 10/10

and that is precisely why Imdb is displaying false ratings on my home page. The "weighed" ratings of Imdb are a complete scam designed to kill indie films that are not selling on the amazon network. Amazon owns Imdb, didn't you guys know this?

If I ever have made ONE big mistake making this film it was that I listed my film on Imdb.

See how quickly people believe whatever Imdb claims - and even though they cannot in any way substantiate the rating they are displaying?

Now to address the ending. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, however, the critics do disagree with Tedd:

"Best Hot rod film since American Graffiti! A multilayered story with a dramatic ending guarantied to make the make up run" was HOT ROD MAGAZINE critique. If they thought the ending was sappy, overplayed and ruined the entire film, I doubt they would l have worded their review that way, espacially since HM catters almost solely to men.

Also, in our preliminary test screening, which involved 1300 viewers, none of which were friends of mine, the questionaires collected indicated that 99% of viewers loved the ending.

I rest my case your honor ;).

Considering what the main characters have to go through to get to that ending, you got to think about it a bit more carefully and ask yourself: If that was ME, how would I react? Also remember that the older people get, the more fragile they become. I see it day in and day out with my older friends, how quickly they become overwhelmed with emotions.

So I must strongly disagree with your assessment of the ending, although I respect your tastes and opinions. No two people will perceive the same film the exact same way. :)
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lol Faith.
I'm toying with the idea of shooting a feature about a serial killer that preys on film critics.

Dunno if I'd be able to give a satisfactory ending though because in my head, the guy would be given a medal by the president instead of being caught by the cops...
 
Hi Fatih
I was going to leave this as an email conversation, but I thought that the info would benefit the other filmmakers on the forum as well.
I am finishing up working on a feature and the producer wants to have a DCP made. Wanted to see if you could share some more about your experience with that process and tell us where you had it done.
Thanks!
 
Wow.. It's been a while, sorry kids I have been very swamped. I have now been living on the road for over 6 months!!!!! And loving every minute of it. The tour is going very well and I have learned TONS.

NEW!! You can now access a map of my 2011 tour itinerary as well as a detailed list of all the cities I am visiting, here:

http://www.deuceofspadesmovie.com/TOUR.htm

Got a few more TV appearances and interviews, also got quite a few more critics reviews.The latest ones are:

“ A powerful, timeless cult classic” (OL’ SKOOL RODZ)

“Stunning! A stellar production!” (LEGENDS OF THE ROD & CUSTOMS HALL OF FAME)

"In a word, an AWESOME film" (ASH GROVE PRESS)

"Beautifully shot, Deuce Of Spades is an emotional roller coaster, an engaging film, keeping the viewer captivated from start to finish" (VINTAGE LIFE MAGAZINE)


You can read more reviews here: http://www.deuceofspadesmovie.com/film_reviews.htm


You can follow my tour on the new DEUCE OF SPADES FACEBOOK FAN PAGE here: http://www.facebook.com/deuceofspades


Today I discovered an interview from NAB on YouTube and thought I would share it with you:



Currently I am on the East Coast and heading South to Florida. I will not be back in Los Angeles until 01/04/2011 and intend to leave again a couple months later for a second tour of the Western states this time.

While driving across the country I have been fine tuning my script story line for the second installment of DEUCE OF SPADES (aka sequel).

Last week I started focussing on my Soundtrack CD release, to coincide with Christmas Holidays. The double CD project is progressing nicely, thanks to my powerful laptop and Vegas suite. The double album is going to rock!


This is it for now, if you want more detailed update, join us on Facebook or subscribe to the notification list here: http://www.deuceofspadesmovie.com/mailing_list.htm







 
Thanks for the update, Faith. What a great success story!

Just curious - do you expect to have outside financing for the sequel? Seems like you'd have no trouble getting it if you wanted to...
 
Ted Spencer said:
Thanks for the update, Faith. What a great success story!

Just curious - do you expect to have outside financing for the sequel? Seems like you'd have no trouble getting it if you wanted to...
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I really don't like to have to answer to anyone when it comes to my art, so more than likely I will finance it myself. Because as soon as you take someone else's money, they will have a hand in your project, one way or another... But I guess I will consider offers and if the right one came along, then, and only then,"maybe" I would accept it.
 
Deuceofspades said:
I really don't like to have to answer to anyone when it comes to my art, so more than likely I will finance it myself. Because as soon as you take someone else's money, they will have a hand in your project, one way or another... But I guess I will consider offers and if the right one came along, then, and only then,"maybe" I would accept it.
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That's the same way I feel. It's nice to have somebody that wants to invest, but I would always rather use my money and then I'm the only person I have to answer to. The only problem right now is that I don't really have any. LOL! I do expect that to change soon though.

Also, keep in mind that there are some investors out there that would be willing to invest in your project and trust your know-how enough to leave you alone and let you do what you do.
 
Marlon Ladd said:
Also, keep in mind that there are some investors out there that would be willing to invest in your project and trust your know-how enough to leave you alone and let you do what you do.
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Exactly. They're called "silent investors" for that reason. If they think your idea is worthy enough, they'll be happy to finance it in exchange for a good return on their investment. Most of them have no idea how to make movies (or whatever the thing in question is), and they know it. But they have very good reason to believe that the person they're betting on does...

That would be...*you*, Faith : )

On the other hand, if you can swing it financially all by yourself and make the film you want to, and it does as well or better than "DOS" (aka DOS I?) then there's no better slice of the pie than...*all of it* : )
 
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