LEAP (An End Times Feature)

Will you be shooting 35mm? Let me know if you are.
http://www.releasing.net/rawstock/
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Most likely not. We'll be shooting HD. Part of the deal of the budget is that we'll be doing three films. So some of the $500,000 will be going to get our studio set up so we can do the next couple films as well.

Got my first shipment of DVD's in today... Finally!
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#/photo.php?pid=30969611&id=1066873203&fbid=1316692471850

Those of you who ordered a copy, they'll be in the mail tomorrow.

Things are still going strong for Rise of the Beast. Did some location scouting last week to shoot the opener. We'll also be shooting the opener in HD, which I'm super excited for!
 
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So I thought with my film being released and all, that the journey for "Leap" was over and I could go full steam with my next flick. Well, I am still going full steam on the next one, but I guess the adventure for "Leap" hasn't ended yet...

I received a voice mail from one of my actresses yesterday. It went something like, "Hey Chris, great news. I have some friends that are leaving on Wednesday to meet with TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) and they want to meet you and possibly share our movie. I'll meet you tomorrow at ten."
I was like, okay, I'll play. Sofiya, the actress, was a little late, but she phoned her friends ahead of time. She ended up picking me up around noon. (My car has been acting up, so I needed a ride to Couer D'Alene, ID where her friends lived). I brought with me a couple copies of the film, as well as the proposal for the next one. Her "friends" turned out to be a married couple who is very well known within the Christian community. They were leaving to preach to a congregation of 12,000 that would be taped by TBN. We talked for a bit about my background, and what my goals are. Then we watched my little movie. They had a hi-def tv and it was the first time I'd seen my film on such a nice setup. The best part? The film actually looked and sounded amazing! Not bad for a zero budget flick. They told me they really enjoyed the film and asked how much I spent. When I told them, they didn't believe me. They asked how much I was getting to shoot the next one. I told them. They said they can't wait to see what I can pull off with that kind of money. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about the end times and had scholarly discussion about why we believe as we do (They are futurists, but I'm a historicist). Before we left, they said they would be showing "Leap" to some people they know. We prayed, I thanked them, and we left.

So all in all, a very good day. I don't know if anything will come from this, only time will tell. Overall, I'm happy that so many people have seen the film. I honestly didn't think people would see it. That's the only reason why I made it for as little money as I did. I mean, I wanted people to see it, but I figured it'd just be like another trunk novel like "Wulf" was.

This has just been unreal. =)
 
Finally got a hold of the Newport Roxy today. "Leap" is scheduled to screen at the end of the month. The theater will be advertising in the newspaper, on their marquee, and before screening their contract films from Sony, Paramount, etc... My job is to let the local churches know so they can advertise for the next couple weekends. The theater seats 420 guests, and I don't think I'm going to have that hard of a time filling those seats. The best part is that they agreed to screen my DVD, rather than having me make a film print.

As for money, the percentage is a little weak on my end, they're going to pay me what they pay their contracts, around 40%. However, I'll be able to sell my DVD's, and I'm just happy people will be seeing the thing. I didn't make this film to make money. We've already made back our budget, so anything else we make is gravy.
 
What a day! I got a call this morning finalizing the date and time for the theatrical showing. After the call, I spent all day sending out press releases and such to the newspapers, churches, and friends. I totally get now why the big films pay someone to do this.
 
LEAP 2 UPDATE
We shot the proof of concept this last weekend. It was our first HD shoot, but I spent a few days before playing with the camera nonstop so the actual filming was a breeze. We were using the Sony FX1, and decided to go solid state for the actual film, rather than HDV. I'll be posting the concept as soon as I finish the sound design. As always, you can get full updates and vlogs for Leap 2 at eldirector.ning.com
Please do not register on there, I'll just delete you =)
 
Hey cool stuff. I just found this thread. I'm also a christian filmmaker and am planning my first feature for this year. Where can I see the films trailer? I saw the teaser.

I'm excited about your film and I wish you luck on all to follow. To be honest from the teaser trailer I have to say that the quality and watch-ability is pretty bad. You might have a great idea or script but you gotta get the technical aspects down. If you want people to take this seriously then don't give them a reason to discredit the movie after the first ten seconds. It's got to look good, sound good and be good for it to even be a B list movie.

I'm from Kalispell Montana and I know we're a long way from Hollywood up there but its still no excuse to shoot a feature film of poor quality and call it a movie.

Despite all I've said this was actually meant to be a compliment and an encouragement to continue making projects. Maybe we'll work together someday. I'll keep you posted on my developments.
You can see my early stuff on youtube here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeHDIBH8Zb8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOfbOzug89k
 
Nice to meet ya!

As I've said before in the thread, the teaser was shot before we started shooting to get the actors excited. I actually haven't cut a regular trailer, all my sales have been from word of mouth and screenings. I would cut one, but I'm working full time now on my new movie, which has a half million dollar budget for sure, but there's a possibility of two million =)

To give you an idea though, "Leap" was designed to be a ministry film that could be shown at youth groups. Thus far, it's been a success, and the high school kids love it!

Keep me posted on your project! Good luck!
El
 
Had the premiere last night at the movie theater! I can definitely get used to seeing my films on the big screen. Everyone loved the picture, and we sold quite a few DVD's as well. We had about 70 people show up, and considering most of them had to drive an hour and a half from Spokane (including me), that's really not too bad. The good news is though, now I'm done with "Leap" and I can focus my full attention on "Leap: Rise of the Beast" and it's sequel "Leap: Revelation".
 
Very encouraging news. There must be a market for these movies these days. As long as there are financiers who are willing to spend a million dollars on a movie that makes a fraction of the money back, this is a heaven-sent opportunity to make Christian movies.

With this kind of money I'd shoot ten features in 35mm all with Christian themes and put them in ten thousand theaters across the US. But I can understand the freedom to shoot with a digital camera and experiment with the story artistically. Also there is no pressure on losing the money on productions that may or may not bring the money back. You're investing all this money in building yourself a studio that might be making movies for another 100 years. So I think you're thinking right for what you're aiming at. Good luck with all this, man. I really mean that sincerely.

http://www.releasing.net
 
This global cooling is holding up my projects in the East. I'm hoping the thaw will come early this year in Georgia. Hopefully the money will be in place by April or May. I'm so impatient by nature....

It will be the first normal budget movie with a budget in 20 years. I'm hoping to shoot it in 35mm. I have all the 35mm equipment so it's going to cost me less money to shoot it than digital. With digital I only have a Sony Z1 camera and FCP 5.04 Studio. I will need to rent an Arri 20 series camera and then figure out how to edit the 2k footage.

Thanks for asking.

http://www.releasing.net
 
Brandon Rice wrote: Going from a $0 budget film to $500,000 is quite a stretch, in my opinion. :)
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It could be, but not necessarily. If one buys a bungalow with three bedrooms and a single bathroom for location shooting and living quarters, the production budget will still be zero. But I think El Director is planning to build a studio with the money and still make the movie on a very small budget.

Some investors prefer to invest in a company that has an address, so they can come after their money if the movie doesn't recoup. Personally, I'd rather take a ten percent salary and commit the rest of a budget like this into a movie, with half the money going to actors. With this kind of money, a SAG contract would even make sense. Also, it's very wise to line a distributor and get script and cast approved before rolling cameras.
 
It also helped that we shot a proof of concept showing that we can handle the bigger budget movie =)

Filmman's right. A good portion is going toward getting the studio set up. A very large amount is going toward salaries for actors and crew, also we'll be outsourcing the sound. The rest is for all the business and legal stuff.
 
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I also based my comment on what I have seen from LEAP, and that it (in my opinion) does not seem to be a very marketable concept.

Speaking honestly here :) hope I'm not offending.
 
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