SHORT: Drugs Kill

Sam K

Sam K

Member
Hey,

Before I get into to much detail I'll just give some quick background & info that could be good to take into account, If you don't have time for all this just skip to where the writing goes back to white
So I'm Sam, I'm 16 and I live in France. Ok that's enough of the boring stuff.
Thing is, since like let's say November I've developed a passion for Filmmaking. I surfed amazon for good books, grabbed a few and started reading.

And the one thing that kept coming up in the books which I really connected with was: You're not born a great filmmaker, you have to start shooting films and get better as you go. Robert Rodriguez couldn't sweat this enough in his book " Rebel without a crew".

So I picked up my handycam and just said to my two brothers hey guys let's shoot a movie. No script just made up the story as we went, no lighting whatsoever. I got myself a trial of after effects slapped on some muzzle flashes and was done.

I made 2 more shorts, all of them being sort of the same, just gunfights. When I look at them I know they're nothing great but If I saved my money, to buy a HD dSLR and then worked all summer to be able to shoot a 2000dollar movie, well that movie would have been s**tty, because I'd have no clue how to go about making it.

So that's my approach to making films. SO I will ask you to take that into account. I believe that I'll learn better from trying with not so great equipment, no money, no crew and no experience, than reading a million books watching a million movies, making a million bucks and making a film with no Idea.
If ever you were interested in my work, you can check out my YT channel just HERE




So this brings me to my next Short film. I'm gonna step up the whole production value of this one, from having a good enough script, to getting my actors ( or should I say friends) to rehearse, to actually having a story( you'll giggle at this if you saw my previous shorts). Also I won't rush it, if it needs to be shot in several days then that's the way it's gonna be.

As you may have guessed if you read what comes before this, I do everything from script to filming, to acting some parts, to editing, to scoring, to doing sound, ADR etc.

This one is still in preproduction stages. I'll make a poster for it over the weekend, so that you have a piece of artwork to look at.

The story is about an artist who Takes drugs to enhance his creativity but pushes it to far and ends up having an awful Bad Trip. During his trip he starts shooting at people who are not really there, and ends up killing his friends and getting himself killed.

All the violence and death in the movie will be underlining the message of my short: DRUGS KILL.

Although I'm making movies with pretty much everything against me( no money blablabla no equipment etc) I do have the advantage that I can write my characters around real people. For example I will be playing in a few scenes, and I can easily write my lines, and my character around myself. I'll even call the character Sam. For my brother who will be playing the main part, although he doesn't do drugs ( Thank god) He is an artist, so Bam we've got an other character. My little brother always likes to think he's older than he really is, so I can base my character on him.

That's all for now, I really hope I can get your support and suggestions for this. I still have to write my script, but I have already got a handwritten overview of pretty much the whole short.

So feel free to say anything, even if it's just good luck, Cause I'll need it. :p
 
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While you may not be born a great filmmaker you are defiantly born with the artistic ability to craft a beautiful shot and the creativity to tell a great story. Its just the framing and structure come with learning. Personally I don't think anyone can just become a great filmmaker with learning, while its need, there is defiantly the creativity and artistic eye that come into equation. Those two things are defiantly something your born with.

Sorry this is slightly off topic but I just don't see how some directors can say your not born a great filmmaker, implying its more a technically natured affair then a creative one. While there are technical aspects that come into play when creating a film, the originality and beauty come from the heart and mind.

BTW none of this is directed at you, just a general comment.

Ok to stay on topic I watched Taking down the terrorist on your YOUTUBE channel.

First off: I am no expert at filmmaking, heck I have probably the same amount of experience as you as I have only made two shorts. But right off the bat I would say, avoid kids with guns. I know its tempting but you can never craft a good tale when you have kids playing as terrorist. It ruins immersion and also really does not tempt viewers. Now I am not saying all kids with guns are bad, if you have a good reason such as say gangs then its works as there are gang members who are like 16+ who do very well carry weapons. As terrorists and secret agents though, it really doesn't work.

Secondly: The effects defiantly need some work and these movies are perfect for practice. While I have only made two shorts I have been practicing with test films and footage for years for the effects and you will only get better with practice. Watch some other shootouts on youtube and you will see how they implement there effects for better effect (no pun intended).

Thirdly: The cinematography was fine as was the framing though I would add a bit more flair. Take time with each shot and try multiple angles to see which one has a better impact.

Finally(Mainly because I don't know the proper term for fourthly) The editing was decent, sometimes the cuts were a bit off and didn't flow but for the most part it was alright.

Anyway good luck with Drugs Kill and I look forward to watching it.
 
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Wow Thanks a lot, if everyone here has as constructive criticism as you, I'll stay here for a loong time.
 
Just some advice for the Drugs Kill. If your planning on keeping it semi-realistic then choose a good drug. Having done various hallucinogenics myself and the hours of research I have put into them, one bad trip would not send you on the verge of killing someone. It would more be the brain fry from an hallucinogenic binge that would send people into delirium.

Or if he overdosed on benedryll (Found in flu medicine and sleeping pills) that can send you extremely delirious to the state where you can't deduce hallucinations from real life (From personal account its horrific and not something I recommend).

So be wise with the drug he takes because despite what you've heard from anti-drug propaganda LSD/Shrooms/2C-X family won't have you shooting people unless your poo pooing insane to start with haha.

BTW I am not advising drug use haha
 
Hey great you're just the guy I needed.
So tell me, with the opening scene being the artist popping some drugs, washing em down with vodka and then when he isn't happy with his painting he pops a whole more load of drugs which then make him delirious to the state whe he " can't dedue hallucinations from real life".
What would I need him to take? ( No the actor won't really take any of this stuff haha)
 
Its really a hard one to say. To get delirious from like LSD you would have to do it like everyday for like a month or something. This would sort of put you in a state where you wouldn't have the concept of time or reality. Despite what there anti-drug fools tell you, your not going to really go insane of one trip and its hard to overdose on LSD to a level where you can't tell your hallucinating though if you do have signs of mental disorder, a single trip can send you over the edge but I doubt to a killing spree level.

I would have to say, show the artist like researching over the counter dugs for hallucinating then he finds benedryll as his answer. I say this because if you do benedryll to the level of hallucinations then you could possibly go on a killing spree. Plus it would be more realistic as if the artist could get hold of LSD it would show that he has been immersed in drug culture for quite sometime and therefore knows what he is doing.
 
What does benedryll look like? This short probably won't get a million views, so I don't need to be bang on realistic. It's for a Youtube audience, and I need it to be semi believable, but I could also just use some real small cookies with like different color icing rapping around them and have like MAGIC COOKIES written on the see through packet or something. Would that work?
So let's get back on track towards my film.
 
Benedryll is just a compound found in some sleeping pills and flu medicines so it could really be just like a bunch of vitamin pills. I really wouldn't do that magic cookie idea unless its meant to be a comedy, otherwise it would detract from the serious message the short is trying to make.
 
En fait c'est trèz important d'oser de passer des choses aux autres, et d'avoir confiance aux autres. Comme réalisateur tu ne peux pas faire tous seule.
Il y a toujours des gens besoin pour la lumière, le camera, le son, la postproduction... Des gens qui savent des choses techniques, mais aussi artistique.

And now back to english :p I just said it's realy important to pass things over to others. As a director you can not do 54666468 things the same time.
So you need a "technical crew" who also knows how to be "artistic".
 
@DRE
Oui certes mais autour de moi en ce moment il n'y a pas tant de gens qui sont interressés par tous ces aspects techniques. Mais amis acceptent d'etre acteurs, et je leur délègue certaines taches quand ils ne sont pas entrain d etre filmés.

Yeah maybe but right now there ain't that many people around me who wanna do the technical stuff, so I get mates of mine who came to act to help me out with the stuff. The reason I'm going to a french film school in a couple of years isn't cause I think I'll learn a lot in film school but to be around people who are also interested in making films.

@Maxim. Oh Okay great,I've got **** loads of vitamin pills that my mum bought me but that I keep forgetting to take.
 
That's a good idea to go to filmschool. You will learn a lot there. And also how to prepare stuff, how to find solutions...

The most important thing is communication. For example as a soundguy I alwasy ask for a location visit and to tell neighbours NOT to do construction works that day.
Or to inform them that there's being shot nextdoor. And in the 19th century there wasn't "Baywatch" on TV :p
 
Hey guys. I've started writing the script today. Im aiming at getting a script done the right way this time, so I'll upload a part of it when I get it so that you guys can criticize my work. ( In a good way)
I'll get some photos done of my main actor ( So what he's my brother, I feel cool calling him my main actor) and two of the secondary actors( So what it's me and my little brother I feel call saying this). I'm actually on this forum thanks to the guy who made Wages of sins, I read his book so if ever he comes across this, I'd like to thank him.

Also For the Benedryll. On google I find both benedryll and benadryl. Which is the proper word?
 
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I was off sick today so I messed around making a poster with the pictures which were available to me. you can see it on the first page.
 
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