I have to RANT.
- Thread starter J.R. Hudson
- Start date
Alexa
Veteran
Re: I have to RANT.
i hope I didn't read this too fast and am repeating something..
but another idea for inspiring stuf to shoot is to shoot work for other artists.. of their work, them at work, their movtivation for their art, etc..
painters, singers, makeup artists, photographers, sculptors, welders? etc.
..and some of these artists can end up working for you in trades...
( I see the thread started before "pooh" was born..John..seems you've come a LONG way!)
I have way too many things I want to be shooting..and realize though if I try to do all the "genres" I will get nowhere...
i hope I didn't read this too fast and am repeating something..
but another idea for inspiring stuf to shoot is to shoot work for other artists.. of their work, them at work, their movtivation for their art, etc..
painters, singers, makeup artists, photographers, sculptors, welders? etc.
..and some of these artists can end up working for you in trades...
( I see the thread started before "pooh" was born..John..seems you've come a LONG way!)
I have way too many things I want to be shooting..and realize though if I try to do all the "genres" I will get nowhere...
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Re: I have to RANT.
The ressurection! Wow!
For what its worth:
"Tales from the Apocalypse" starts this weekend.
The ressurection! Wow!
For what its worth:
"Tales from the Apocalypse" starts this weekend.
dakotapod
Veteran
Re: I have to RANT.
[quote author=John Hudson link=board=Offtopic;num=1070391475;start=15#22 date=01/03/05 at 16:59:58]The ressurection! Wow!
For what its worth:
"Tales from the Apocalypse" starts this weekend.[/quote]
This is GREAT news!
For two reasons - Glad you worked through your original concerns and glad you started your project!
Clips soooon please.
[quote author=John Hudson link=board=Offtopic;num=1070391475;start=15#22 date=01/03/05 at 16:59:58]The ressurection! Wow!
For what its worth:
"Tales from the Apocalypse" starts this weekend.
[/quote]This is GREAT news!
For two reasons - Glad you worked through your original concerns and glad you started your project!
Clips soooon please.
Young-H._Lee
Well-known member
Re: I have to RANT.
Hi John
What you are going through is a very common phenomenon that not only artists struggle with, but I think everyone does. Heck man, depression is the number 1 health problem in US!
What we are doing - making films - is probably the hardest thing in the world to do, and to do well. You can be a painter, computer graphics artist, sculptor, composer - and do it well all with some basic gear and lots of time by yourself, but to make film - you gotta go out and collaborate, lead, interact and account for all the possible contingencies and situations - deal with bureacracy, deal with money, deal with food, with payment, with legal issues...you know what im getting at. And even with that, you can spend $150 million on a film that falls flat on its ass.
It's a tough, rough craft we are in bro. But then again, its also the best thing in the world if you can do it well. And how do you do it well? I really liked what Barry wrote. Read, study, do. Watch lots of films, read lots of everything (fiction, non-fiction, technical manuals, articles), live life to the fullest and go out and freaking do it!
I can relate to how you feel though - You know prior to doing those Chinatown scenes (the fight and the chase and all that) - I was paralyzed by fear for almost 3 months. I was still in school but everytime I thought about going out to film that scene, it made me sweat.
"What if the cops come?
What if someone gets hurt?
What if someone cancels?
What if the crew doesnt show up?
What if my camera breaks?
What if it rains?"
I asked myself these questions and repeated them over and over again - and you know what happened?
Over time, depression built, feelings of inadequacy, feelings that I am a failure, feelings that I am nothing, worthless, a stupid piece of **** that shouldn't even exist, and all sorts of horrible horrible self-destructive thoughts.
Finally, I realized that, it was now or never. IT WAS NOW OR FREAKIN NEVER DAMMIT!
So I gathered all my courage, called up all my friends, went out, scouted for hours, prayed, scouted all over DC, prayed, talked to friends, planned, visualized, wrote, read, watched movies...and then I had a plan.
I came up with a flow chart (finally a use for my Comp sci degree ) detailing all the requirements that I needed to make the scene work.
Then connected arrows, and organized my thoughts. I went out again and went to the actual locations that I was gonna shoot in. Scouted more, spent hours at the locations (if you look at one of my first posts on DVXuser, it was that long ass post on Chinatown - that was my first major test shoot day). http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Clips;action=display;num=1099680352;start=0#0
Then after spending hours at the locations, came up with a sequence, step by step, shot by shot of the actual action on the film.
Then, I held rehearsels with my buddies, called up local friends to help crew, and through lots of phone calls, preparations (making fake blood, storyboarding, prayer) it fianlly boiled down to the first day. The first day of shooting.
It was a Sunday. I haad 10 people come out for me, all working for free. We went out to the alley, and setup the first shot.
Roll camera, action! After the first shot - I cant even describe the feeling of elation - its so magical, getting the very first shot down, its like, you just opened up a can of magic and the flow has started!
Then, it was hours of hard work, exhilirating, you forget to eat, but also you forget your fear. You are living your dream! Having a blast (assuming you are well prepared), and of course, LIVING YOUR DREAM
Let the flow of the work consume you because its one of the greatest feelings in the world. And remember it - because you will feel down again one day.
And after that first day, what went through my mind was, "holy ****, I am stronger than I thought, I could do it! (and in the words of Herbert) There is hope for me after all!"
And I looked at my dailies, edited together a small clip and the magic started to happen, when your film starts to come to life...its just liek you want to run out and scream! Then you add sound, like Kurosawa says, "when I add the sound, I tremble." And then, man, you forget how hard it was to prepare for the shoot, you forget all the pain, because all you feel is satisfaction, watching your baby film loop continuously over and over again, with tears in your eyes and all you can say is, "this is mine. I did it."
Enjoy that moment man, because you will need to go out and face even tougher challenges later. My next challenge was to go out and shoot the cahse scene. Now...this got my nerves racked to the core.
The alleyway fight scene - it was in this deep alleyway, out of public eye, but the chase scene on chinatown street - was in the middle of everywhere!!!
Hundreds of people pass by one of the most touristy spots in DC - where we are filming!
Fear of the unknown plagued me once again John...but you know what? Having my previous mini-success of the alleyway scene in my belt - it boosted my self-confidence. All I prayed for that day was, "Lord, please dont let the cops arrest us!" And I went out on a limb, and am so grateful to have actors and crew share the same amount of courage to believe in me and follow me out there.
And we shot the chinatown chase scene in about an hour at 9:00am to 10:15am. And just got out, ducked behind the buildings and shot the dialogue.
We damn near ran over some old ladies and stuff, and tons of people (including cops) were staring at us like we were nnuts, but you know what? I just didnt care that much! It was that fun. I'm just happy no one stopped us and no one got hurt!
If I ever finish the rest of the film, I'll add all the behind the scenes stuff, some crazy things happened, but in hind-sight those moments are the greatest moments of my life.
I checked out your website and saw a music video as well, and I thought that was really great, so I think you are already onto something, so take heart! You can do it!
I'm a beginner myself, with lots to learn, so we are all in the same boat - I hope my words gave you and whoever is reading this a deal of encouragement, because "
But when the night is falling
And you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight
You've got the music in you
Don't let go
You've got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
You've got a reason to live
And lastly, I have a short film I made 2 years ago - thought I was down in the dumps with it cause so many things went wrong, but in the end, it allworked out, you can watch the short film and read teh whole "making of section" here
www.solarbeauty.com/enterthesavior
Best of luck to you ;D
Hi John
What you are going through is a very common phenomenon that not only artists struggle with, but I think everyone does. Heck man, depression is the number 1 health problem in US!
What we are doing - making films - is probably the hardest thing in the world to do, and to do well. You can be a painter, computer graphics artist, sculptor, composer - and do it well all with some basic gear and lots of time by yourself, but to make film - you gotta go out and collaborate, lead, interact and account for all the possible contingencies and situations - deal with bureacracy, deal with money, deal with food, with payment, with legal issues...you know what im getting at. And even with that, you can spend $150 million on a film that falls flat on its ass.
It's a tough, rough craft we are in bro. But then again, its also the best thing in the world if you can do it well. And how do you do it well? I really liked what Barry wrote. Read, study, do. Watch lots of films, read lots of everything (fiction, non-fiction, technical manuals, articles), live life to the fullest and go out and freaking do it!
I can relate to how you feel though - You know prior to doing those Chinatown scenes (the fight and the chase and all that) - I was paralyzed by fear for almost 3 months. I was still in school but everytime I thought about going out to film that scene, it made me sweat.
"What if the cops come?
What if someone gets hurt?
What if someone cancels?
What if the crew doesnt show up?
What if my camera breaks?
What if it rains?"
I asked myself these questions and repeated them over and over again - and you know what happened?
Over time, depression built, feelings of inadequacy, feelings that I am a failure, feelings that I am nothing, worthless, a stupid piece of **** that shouldn't even exist, and all sorts of horrible horrible self-destructive thoughts.
Finally, I realized that, it was now or never. IT WAS NOW OR FREAKIN NEVER DAMMIT!
So I gathered all my courage, called up all my friends, went out, scouted for hours, prayed, scouted all over DC, prayed, talked to friends, planned, visualized, wrote, read, watched movies...and then I had a plan.
I came up with a flow chart (finally a use for my Comp sci degree ) detailing all the requirements that I needed to make the scene work.
Then connected arrows, and organized my thoughts. I went out again and went to the actual locations that I was gonna shoot in. Scouted more, spent hours at the locations (if you look at one of my first posts on DVXuser, it was that long ass post on Chinatown - that was my first major test shoot day). http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX2/YaBB.pl?board=Clips;action=display;num=1099680352;start=0#0
Then after spending hours at the locations, came up with a sequence, step by step, shot by shot of the actual action on the film.
Then, I held rehearsels with my buddies, called up local friends to help crew, and through lots of phone calls, preparations (making fake blood, storyboarding, prayer) it fianlly boiled down to the first day. The first day of shooting.
It was a Sunday. I haad 10 people come out for me, all working for free. We went out to the alley, and setup the first shot.
Roll camera, action! After the first shot - I cant even describe the feeling of elation - its so magical, getting the very first shot down, its like, you just opened up a can of magic and the flow has started!
Then, it was hours of hard work, exhilirating, you forget to eat, but also you forget your fear. You are living your dream! Having a blast (assuming you are well prepared), and of course, LIVING YOUR DREAM
Let the flow of the work consume you because its one of the greatest feelings in the world. And remember it - because you will feel down again one day.
And after that first day, what went through my mind was, "holy ****, I am stronger than I thought, I could do it! (and in the words of Herbert) There is hope for me after all!"
And I looked at my dailies, edited together a small clip and the magic started to happen, when your film starts to come to life...its just liek you want to run out and scream! Then you add sound, like Kurosawa says, "when I add the sound, I tremble." And then, man, you forget how hard it was to prepare for the shoot, you forget all the pain, because all you feel is satisfaction, watching your baby film loop continuously over and over again, with tears in your eyes and all you can say is, "this is mine. I did it."
Enjoy that moment man, because you will need to go out and face even tougher challenges later. My next challenge was to go out and shoot the cahse scene. Now...this got my nerves racked to the core.
The alleyway fight scene - it was in this deep alleyway, out of public eye, but the chase scene on chinatown street - was in the middle of everywhere!!!
Hundreds of people pass by one of the most touristy spots in DC - where we are filming!
Fear of the unknown plagued me once again John...but you know what? Having my previous mini-success of the alleyway scene in my belt - it boosted my self-confidence. All I prayed for that day was, "Lord, please dont let the cops arrest us!" And I went out on a limb, and am so grateful to have actors and crew share the same amount of courage to believe in me and follow me out there.
And we shot the chinatown chase scene in about an hour at 9:00am to 10:15am. And just got out, ducked behind the buildings and shot the dialogue.
We damn near ran over some old ladies and stuff, and tons of people (including cops) were staring at us like we were nnuts, but you know what? I just didnt care that much! It was that fun. I'm just happy no one stopped us and no one got hurt!
If I ever finish the rest of the film, I'll add all the behind the scenes stuff, some crazy things happened, but in hind-sight those moments are the greatest moments of my life.
I checked out your website and saw a music video as well, and I thought that was really great, so I think you are already onto something, so take heart! You can do it!
I'm a beginner myself, with lots to learn, so we are all in the same boat - I hope my words gave you and whoever is reading this a deal of encouragement, because "
But when the night is falling
And you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight
You've got the music in you
Don't let go
You've got the music in you
One dance left
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
You've got a reason to live
And lastly, I have a short film I made 2 years ago - thought I was down in the dumps with it cause so many things went wrong, but in the end, it allworked out, you can watch the short film and read teh whole "making of section" here
www.solarbeauty.com/enterthesavior
Best of luck to you ;D
pookie_old
Veteran
Re: I have to RANT.
[quote author=Zoomforce link=board=Offtopic;num=1070391475;start=0#1 date=12/02/03 at 11:24:08]shoot.. get off your ass and shoot something. (with your new camera)[/quote]
What else can you say?
[quote author=Zoomforce link=board=Offtopic;num=1070391475;start=0#1 date=12/02/03 at 11:24:08]shoot.. get off your ass and shoot something. (with your new camera)[/quote]
What else can you say?
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Re: I have to RANT.
Young
That was a well thought out post; thank you.
Pookie
That was a well thought out post; thank you!
Yes, the last year has been brutal on this filmmaker (partner stealing from company was fun) and I went through the classic "Now what?" scenario.
All is good now.
Young
That was a well thought out post; thank you.
Pookie
That was a well thought out post; thank you!
Yes, the last year has been brutal on this filmmaker (partner stealing from company was fun) and I went through the classic "Now what?" scenario.
All is good now.
Re: I have to RANT.
Yeah, I think it should be noted that this thread is more than a year old. Check out the dates -- December '03.
Yeah, I think it should be noted that this thread is more than a year old. Check out the dates -- December '03.
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
Re: I have to RANT.
Somebody jumped in the way back machine.
Somebody jumped in the way back machine.
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Re: I have to RANT.
It's Retro NIght at Dvxuser!
It's Retro NIght at Dvxuser!
Young-H._Lee
Well-known member
Re: I have to RANT.
LOL
I didnt notice that at first - was wondering how John got to be a moderator if he just got the DVX recently
ahahha
LOL
I didnt notice that at first - was wondering how John got to be a moderator if he just got the DVX recently
ahahha
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Re: I have to RANT.
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
Re: I have to RANT.
How 'bout Slapdragon?
How 'bout Slapdragon?
Daniel_Runyon
Well-known member
Re: I have to RANT.
Yeah, its an oldie, but I thought its such a common position for many of us to be in, and Barry stepped in like Merlin to Arthur and layed down some perspective I thought was well worth a second life.
Its real easy to just sit around plotting your "opus" and getting your ideas down, but meanwhile not taking advantage of some great "practice" time and getting your suckiness out of the way on some less vital material.
Yeah, its an oldie, but I thought its such a common position for many of us to be in, and Barry stepped in like Merlin to Arthur and layed down some perspective I thought was well worth a second life.
Its real easy to just sit around plotting your "opus" and getting your ideas down, but meanwhile not taking advantage of some great "practice" time and getting your suckiness out of the way on some less vital material.
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
Re: I have to RANT.
Yeah, at one time Ol' Slappy was working on collecting, organizing and disseminating all video knowledge in the Universe.
Yeah, at one time Ol' Slappy was working on collecting, organizing and disseminating all video knowledge in the Universe.
Terry_Lasater
All about the Caption
Re: I have to RANT.
[quote author=D.W. Runyon link=board=Offtopic;num=1070391475;start=30#35 date=01/04/05 at 03:18:16] ...and Barry stepped in like Merlin to Arthur and layed down some perspective... [/quote]
What does that make us... the Knights who say "Neep"?
[quote author=D.W. Runyon link=board=Offtopic;num=1070391475;start=30#35 date=01/04/05 at 03:18:16] ...and Barry stepped in like Merlin to Arthur and layed down some perspective... [/quote]
What does that make us... the Knights who say "Neep"?