Everything is Permitted

B

beacher

Member
Hey everyone,

i just began working on production for my first movie. "Everything is Permitted"

thought id keep everyone posted on the progress, the script is almost halfway done, but me and my friend whos staring in it, decided to shoot with what we knew was gonna be in the movie and make a short trailer today, its pretty sick i think, we finished shooting and editing in one day, so its kinda rough but i just wanted somthing to get the feel of the movie across. anyways, let me know if it held your attention, or if you think it was good, (or if you hated it also) anyways, thanks guys peace.

http://www.vimeo.com/702548
 
Nice job. If i may make a suggestion or two...Overall I would shorten the length. I would hold back on showing the little girl. It was very creepy and effective but once, or perhaps twice, is more then enough. You want to give the viewer a reason to go back and watch it again (always a good thing).

Lose the dramatic song in the second half. It's way too powerful and ruins some of the tension you successfully established in the first half. Besides, what are the odds you're gonna get permission to use a Cranberries song.

Besides that, great work. The fact the you're only 17 and this your first film is extremely impressive. Good luck
 
so, i just finished the script, stayed up till 1 in the morning, but hey, its done. going to try to film over spring break, and have the final cut done by april. if you havent checked out the teaser me and my friend made for it,
(were reshooting everything, it was just to go on location and get a feel for it) but it turned out pretty cool. go check it out.
http://www.vimeo.com/702548
and let me know what you think.

anyways, try to keep everyone updated, thanks for lookin guys. peace!
 
It was okay. Honestly, it didn't leave me wanting to see it. Since you're 17, I'll be easy on you, lol. The helmet on the girl and the Halloween costume left it looking very amateurish. I feel that if it can't be done right, don't do it. But that's just me. You should go for it though, it's worth the experience.

Also, try and stabilize your shots. Use a 14$ stabilizer or a tripod. A lot of shots seemed overly shaky, or shaky for no reason.

One thing I noticed that can be worked on is your spit room. There's not enough in some shots, such as when he puts on the headphones. It just makes it feel closed off.

Anyways, it's just a few things to work on. Keep going. Shoot that feature (but be sure to never work with only a first draft).
 
thanks for the sugestions,

the halloween costume, is actually part of the story. and yea the helmet could be made ot look deadlier, but remember a 6 year old girl is wearing it, so it has to be safe also.

as far as spit room goes, and shakieness, ill give it too you i have no idea what spit room is. but the shakiness i can agree on. ill work on those aspects.
 
beacher said:
as far as spit room goes, and shakieness, ill give it too you i have no idea what spit room is. but the shakiness i can agree on. ill work on those aspects.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wasn't sure if you knew. Well it's also referred to as talk room. It's when you give enough space in front of the subject, whichever way they're looking. I found this photo on the web as an example (link below). This subject is given a lot of spit/talk room for look. You don't need that much, but it falls better than if she were facing the other way, giving too much room in the back of her head.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs10/i/2006/089/a/a/in_profile_by_justmebuzzabe.jpg

For shakiness, type in 14$ steadycam in google. And build it.
 
wow, that steadicam is sick. ill definalty have to build one. Only thing is, he didnt mention the dvx100, does it work with those?

as for spit room, i know im clealry an amature, and have no real training in filming, but, i mean doing things just because thats how everyone else does them, doesnt really leave room for any inovation, ya know? i just wanna try different things with filming, thats why im trying to stay away from reading to many tutorials on stuff, becasue i just want to develop my own style, rather then learn someone elses.
 
beacher said:
as for spit room, i know im clealry an amature, and have no real training in filming, but, i mean doing things just because thats how everyone else does them, doesnt really leave room for any inovation, ya know? i just wanna try different things with filming, thats why im trying to stay away from reading to many tutorials on stuff, becasue i just want to develop my own style, rather then learn someone elses.
Click to expand...

It's not a style, it's one of the "rules" of composing a shot.

This is the biggest mistake a beginner makes, and all beginners have that argument. I've heard them say that for the 180 rule ('I like breaking rules' they would say), and so on. The thing about rules or guidelines, is that yes, you can break them, but only in certain circumstances.

Like we all say, "if you're going to break the rules, know them first, and then know why you're going to break them."

There's a reason for the spit room, there's a reason for the 180 rule, there's a reason for the rule of thirds, there's a reason for use of headroom (or lack thereof), for negative space, etc... It makes things look aesthetically beautiful and proper. However, once you know these rules, and what breaking them does, then feel free to do so.

If you go with the idea of never learning the rules, and just breaking them without knowing them, then your shots will continue to look amateur and unprofessional. Look up tips for composing shots.

Trust me, you'll be glad to look it up.

Or better yet, take a beginner photo class, you'll learn all of these things within the first few classes.

beacher said:
wow, that steadicam is sick. ill definalty have to build one. Only thing is, he didnt mention the dvx100, does it work with those?
Click to expand...

Well a DVX is heavier, so I can't say. I would try for something large underneath to support the camera. Or there's a modification to the steady cam with a tripod head which you can find on the net as well.
 
hey everyone, i was wondering if anyone had any good tips on how to get actors interested in working on a film with you, do you get people from your school? ad in the paper? what are some good routes. just wondering what has worked for everyone else. becasue casting is the next step for me. so any help would be apreciated, thanks guys.
 
Considering that this is your first movie, you should probably cast from your school and people you know. But don't just cast them without an audition...I've been there before, and it usually doesn't work out.

Once you release this movie, there will probably be a TON of people who will want to be in your next movie. A lot of people on here say that people will only work for pay, but I've found that many people are asking to work for free on my movies. Maybe us students are just lucky.
 
First off let me say that for a 17 year old this is pretty sick! :beer:

Second: Try and get some adults in your project, it will help production value!
 
Ask at schools, post on craigslist, mandy.com, find local acting schools and ask them. When you do, make sure they know it's volunteer, and thus non-actra (non-unionized). I know one school I worked with had a binder for actra, and a binder for non-actra for film students.

But audition. Just have them read a part of the script, or direct them in a part of the script, or both. Other things, like imrov, etc... are for more advanced filmmakers that have held auditions many times before. Just simple auditions. And remember, they're probably nervous going into the audition, so try to not have too many people, keep it relaxed, give them time to get into character or try it again. Remember, they are volunteering their time.

Make sure they know certain things, like if they're going to be fed when shooting (which should be a yes), if they'll be getting a copy of the dvd (which should also be a yes), and if they'll be able to use it for their portfolio (which should be a yes) and what you'll be doing with the film (festivals, online, school, theaters around the world?).

Also, for the auditions, expect a lot of people to not show up. I find if 20 people reply to, say, an add on mandy.com, only 5 show up for auditions. At least that's for volunteer projects. I heard it happens for paid gigs as well. I can't wait to get the money to actually pay for actra talent. If only. :(
 
wow, thanks alot guys, thats a lot of good ideas. im definalty going to give out dvds, and all that stuff, its just paying for food is gonna be mad hard, seeing as im so broke. but ill try to get some connections. as for adults, i have like 4 in it, which is good, becasue i know shooting like parts with all highschool kids would make it look mad dumb, so yea, i agree on that part. as far as mandy.com, im going to have to check that out. and see if theirs any possibilities there. again, thanks for all the suggestions. Ill keep everyone posted once i get a cast finalized.
thanks.
-beacher
 
http://vimeo.com/769932

heres the link to the first two and a half minutes of the movie, feedback?

im trying to enter into the from here to awesome film festival, so im gonna upload the entire movie, in about a month or so. but heres a quick preview.
 
Overall, not bad honestly...it looked better than I expected. Couple things though, if you plan on selling DVDs drop the Coldplay song, unless you have the rights to use their music. haha Also, did you end up using that $14 steady cam because some of the shots seemed very shaky and distracted me from what was going on especially the car shots. Another thing is try to give you actors a little more head room. I noticed the shot where the main character is walking down the hallway in school and the top of his head is cut off practically the whole shot. Oh, and the dutch tilt shot you have in the car seemed very out of place. Jon Starr really gave excellent advice when he said read up on how to compose shots and the rules of filmmaking you'll learn A LOT. Overall though, it was nicely done. I wouldn't mind seeing the rest.
 
<a href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vdGlueXBpYy5jb20=" target="_blank"><img src="http://i27.tinypic.com/23m9548.png" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>
 
I actually really enjoyed that opening. Very well done. The classroom scene was very well directed.

The shakiness didn't annoy me so much. If you did build the 14$ steadycam, it's better than without one, but you (rather everyone) needs practice to get out the shakes and work with gravity.

I love the cold play song, and it works perfectly, but yes, copyright is an issue. If you're doing a full length feature, you might want to consider the non-copyrighted route.

Also, what was with that shot in the car at 2:03? It looks like you're stationary outside the car (which is also stationary) looking at the CDs. Cut it out, it's too obvious that it's all stationary.
 
thanks alot, i thought the classroom scene sucked though, i didnt get half the shots i wanted, but its whatever, i learned from what i did wrong, i have about 15 minutes of the film shot, so far, ill probably have the remaining id say 7 or 8 done by april 10th hopefully.

as far as the coldplay song, this is just my first movie, that im making for fun, to learn about it and learn from my mistakes and what not, im NOT selling it whatsoever, so the coldplay song is staying.

lets see i did build the steady cam, only my own version, that was my first outting with it, so i definaltly gotta work on the "gliding" motion.

as far as the stationary shot, i replaced tha already in the final cut, so its not an issue.

but anyways, thanks alot for all the feedback. hoping to have the final cut up with in two or three weeks.
 
heres some screen grabs from whats done so far. Ive been working on shot composistion like everyone said, let me know if its any better. thanks alot guys.

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l_1fb42da838773dbc3a9d42e8169e289e.jpg
 
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