Dispatch - a Fat Monster film

chriscurl said:
I can't wait for you to combine spaceships and vampires into one epic masterpiece!

Love the film btw, congrats on the well deserved win.
Click to expand...

Long ago we sat in Blaine's living room and after several bottles of wine we came up with the concept of doing a film titled "Giant Robots and Hot Chicks in Lingerie." I still pray to win the lottery so we can make that film. Hell, the title sells the damn thing itself!
 
Mark Johnson said:
Long ago we sat in Blaine's living room and after several bottles of wine we came up with the concept of doing a film titled "Giant Robots and Hot Chicks in Lingerie." I still pray to win the lottery so we can make that film. Hell, the title sells the damn thing itself!
Click to expand...


As long as it's better than Michael Bay's version...
 
AJ Brooks said:
... To quote what my girlfriend said after she watched Dispatch, "...oh well. Maybe next time AJ." lol
Click to expand...

Your GF is a sweetheart! Say, does she like Victoria's Secret and robots???

Seriously, as soon as the viewing opened up somebody who will remain nameless PM'd me the link to your film and said, "this is gonna be in the top 2 for sure." It was awesome man.
 
Mark Johnson said:
Long ago we sat in Blaine's living room and after several bottles of wine we came up with the concept of doing a film titled "Giant Robots and Hot Chicks in Lingerie." I still pray to win the lottery so we can make that film. Hell, the title sells the damn thing itself!
Click to expand...


I'm in.
 
CopyofDSC_0258.jpg

Almost the entire crew (L-R): Tim, Rochelle, Mark, Matty, Luis, Geoff

CopyofDSC_0246.jpg

The Sound Ninja. You can see the Zoom recorder to the left of Luis clamped onto that light stand.

CopyofDSC_0269.jpg


CopyofDSC_0287.jpg


CopyofDSC_0296.jpg


CopyofDSC_0144.jpg

Johnson and his good friend, Stella.

CopyofDSC_0254.jpg


vampbts1.jpg


We'll be posting some BTS stuff since over the next few days. Hopefully it's sort of interesting to look at. Maybe we'll get lucky and Matty can explain his lighting setups.
 
Last edited:
If anyone has questions I'm more than happy to answer them. Pretty much what you see there is what we were working with. For any specific questions I can do some lighting diagrams.
 
I can tell you the fixtures now.
Diagrams will come tomorrow when i'm not distracted by my girlfriend ;)

Main set up was a 650 arri w/ chimera and 40 degree grid.
500 watt china and practical tied to the same dimmer
150 watt arri spotted on a painting, and 250 watt practical lamps against the wall.
Walking around some bounce here and there.
Other than that i think we had a 300 and we put a 2k outside.
 
Oh man, you guys had me fooled...

I actually think it was for the best that you guys went incognito... I went into this one with absolutely no preconceptions, and thus didn't judge it against your previous work.

Good to see you guys back.

Just noticed that AJ posted basically the same post. Oh well.
 
Just a note of encouragement / tough love to the members.

There's been a lot of talk about FM production value, some going so far to say it's unfair that they get to compete.

But this is one frickin' location. A living room. Put together in 1 week from casting to wrap.

OK. O2 - that was ridiculous - I mean who finds a poo pooing spaceship set for 4 days for $300 total!

But as for DISPATCH it was Tim's parent's living room (one location only), a hazer (rent for $50), an indie slider, some lights (nothing crazy, no 4K's or anything), depth of field, some good makeup, and composition. For many members, certainly ALL of the finalists, the only thing holding pretty much anyone on these boards back from making a short that looks just like it is talent, study, and preparation.

Most all of you have more than a leg up in all three requirements, so no excuses. Just commit to doing it and start calling in the favors.

Which brings us back to the O2 spaceship set. One of the reasons FM can put stuff together like this is that they start with a "we can" attitude and go out and schmooze and meet people and ask for favors - like giant spaceship sets for $300. Like really good vampire makeup for virtually nothing. Rather than starting with "there's no way I can achieve that." I'm here to say, yes you can.

The spaceship set and the vamp makeup brings us to one of my production value tricks - write for - be INSPIRED by available resources. Mark knew of the O2 set before he wrote O2. He knew he could probably get it for cheap when it wasn't booked by using his schmooze skills and offerings some kind of trade to the people that run the place (his VFX skills I think). So that set was pretty much an available resource and he wrote O2 to take place on it. For DISPATCH Tim thought - what can I do in somebody's house, on one location, shot in 1 day, for almost no money, and Oh yeah, I know this really cool makeup chic.

It's just a living room, lights, dolly shots, and a hazer. You all should be able to put that together ... as for what you do with it ... I think most of you are up to the challenge.
 
For DISPATCH Tim thought - what can I do in somebody's house, on one location, shot in 1 day, for almost no money,
Click to expand...

That's pretty much exactly what I did with my lovefest entry. I had myself, my two friends, a camera that needed to stay close to a plugged in laptop to offload cards. So, it ended up being a character driven story that could take place on my front porch (at the time) and use natural light.

I think Jack's advice is great. write for the available resources that you have, whether they be a spaceship or a front porch and you having to hold the mic and operate the camera by yourself, or whatever. If you write for a location that you don't have, or effects that someone can't do, etc... That's when things can look "amateurish" and people start talking about "production value".

Last time they had a RED One, and a spaceship. This time they had a GH1, and a living room. I enjoyed this change of pace. Where they didn't have some giganto grand idea, that was bursting at the seams to fit into 6 minutes, etc. They had a small idea that had room to breathe.

Two of my favorites of the fest were this, and THE JONES'. Those films were nothing alike, and I enjoyed them both for completely different reasons.

Personality is where it's at in my opinion. Your film has to have personality.
 
Jason Ramsey said:
Last time they had a RED One, and a spaceship. This time they had a GH1, and a living room.
Click to expand...
That's it right there, Jason. I remember all the buzz around the fact that several of the shorts were shot with the RED One and how other filmmakers couldn't compete with that. This one was shot with a GH1. It just goes to show that in the right hands you can get good images out of different tools. For too many people the stumbling block has been, "I can't compete because I don't have the best equipment." While having the right tool can certainly help, the talent USING the tools is infinitely more important.
 
Matty_g said:
I wish it was a hazer. It was a borrowed smoke machine that needed MUCH wofting and needed to be used between EVERY take.
Click to expand...

I hear ya man.. we used one in ours and I can't tell you how many shots were ruined because there was "too much" or "setting off the smoke detector". The smoke actually changed the look of the film so we were constantly having to adjust the cam. Did you guys have the same issue?

add smoke fx to add to things not to work with. (kids, animals, smoke machines) :)

/j
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top