FEATURE: Rise of the Beast-the new feature from STARS Pictures

I don't need a big one, just little two little ones. If anyone knows where I can get some, let me know. The fire breathing part would be tricky too. But yes, the movie will be extremely CGI heavy so I may not be doing it for sometime, or I might try to just sell the screenplay, I'm not sure yet.
 
Look, I'm going to give it to you straight here, all joking aside. I think this is a bad idea, bottom line. El, you may have some talent, but you NEED to utilize that in making some professional quality short film, before you attempt a feature length film. In your area you may be the best filmmaker around, but let me tell you, it's a BIG world. Take a step back, work on a couple shorts, polish your craft, learn from your mistakes. Keep writing features, by all means, but don't try to do this one right now... just isn't wise.

I know I haven't arrived, and I'm still very young, but I am speaking from a little experience to say, it's wise to make the mistakes on the short films, where the stakes aren't nearly as high.

Thanks, hope it helps!
 
Brandon Rice wrote: I know I haven't arrived, and I'm still very young, but I am speaking from a little experience to say, it's wise to make the mistakes on the short films, where the stakes aren't nearly as high.
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I disagree with that; the bigger the film the bigger the mistakes ... and the more you'll learn :-)

polfilmblog wrote: I take it that the religious insanity in the thread is a joke?
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That's the serious part. LOL
 
I'd have to agree with Filmman. I learned more on my last two features than I did on 30+ shorts. Granted, I still learned a lot on those, but it was nothing compared to Wulf or Leap.
 
El Director said:
I'd have to agree with Filmman. I learned more on my last two features than I did on 30+ shorts. Granted, I still learned a lot on those, but it was nothing compared to Wulf or Leap.
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Dude... if you've made 30+ shorts, and you're putting stuff out like this... you need to reconsider what you're doing.

I don't mean to be harsh, but I'm not going to beat around the bush here. The Christian film genre is very dear to me, and I want to see quality product being made for it... and this is not it.
 
If have to chime in here. Both are right. I shot several shorts, but nothing taught me more than shooting my first feature and making mistakes on it. I learned more on that than anything. I made less mistakes on my second feature but mistakes were still made. Three's the charm and I learned so much that I think I'm ready to make my first big film.

As for the "Christian" film genre it's a figment of our imaginations. There are several film genres: Action, Horror, Drama, Docs, Romance and Comedy, your film will fit one or be a mix of one of these. It's like calling "Blade" a black film because the lead is black. And for the record I don't believe in "black" films either. It's all labels given to things to market them and in the end these labels are the equivalent to crap.

-Nate
 
The Christian film genre is very dear to me, and I want to see quality product being made for it... and this is not it.
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It's very dear to me too, but I feel that people have put the genre in a box and said "your movie must fit this mold. It must be this quality, and needs to be about this subject and must be family friendly". I've heard it all, and I'm sorry, but that's a bunch of garbage to me. For me, the story is the most important aspect of a film-Christian or not. I truly believe this story needs to be told (as does my funding source) and I'm going to do the best I can with what God's given me to work with but I'm sorry if the teaser isn't up to your standards. I've said it before, the teaser was meant for my funding source. It was not meant for all the wonderfully technical people on this forum. I posted it here because this thread is supposed to be a journal for the making of the film. I made the teaser to get funding. It worked. I really don't see what the big deal is. It was part of the process of making the film. I also think people are forgetting that we're going to actually have talent working with us on the film.

I'll be honest, I'm starting to get a little be irritated by the lack of support on this forum. I'm not talking just about my movies. I can handle it, and I'm going to make my movies whether people think I should or not. But I see it on other threads where someone posts something and they get put down by everyone. Do you really think that's going to help the person? I think the biggest problem here is that everyone (with the exception of a few) is way too technical and tends to forget about the art.
 
Nathyn,

There are several guys on this website who have proven they can tell a great story, direct great performances, and gather together a crew that makes beautiful images... they did all this in the short film world, which allowed them to stretch their resources and really show a professional piece. Some of these guys are Jack Daniel Stanley, Geoff Reisner, and many others. THOSE are the guys I would be ready to hand a check over to make a feature length film. I need to SEE it.

Thanks.
 
I'll be honest, I'm starting to get a little be irritated by the lack of support on this forum. I'm not talking just about my movies. I can handle it, and I'm going to make my movies whether people think I should or not. But I see it on other threads where someone posts something and they get put down by everyone. Do you really think that's going to help the person? I think the biggest problem is that everyone here is way too technical and tends to forget about the art.
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Technical and art go hand in hand bro. And no one will ever learn if we all just pat each other on the back either... will they? I do think I'm going to help you actually... next time you shoot something, find a good crew to do it with you, even if that means paying them a little. Don't do everything yourself, and you'll see a HUGE difference.
 
And by the way, I agree about your whole "family friendly" thoughts Nathyn and El... look at the short I did recently "A Dim Light" it is definitely not "family friendly". But I would argue the quality of the short is very high, and we shot that in 12 hours. It can be done.
 
And no, I won't be doing EVERYTHING myself. We are paying people, that's where a good portion of the budget is going. People and gear. We'll actually have a crew this time (very small, but they'll be handling lighting, sound, food etc...)
 
El Director said:
And no, I won't be doing EVERYTHING myself. We are paying people, that's where a good portion of the budget is going. People and gear. We'll actually have a crew this time (very small, but they'll be handling lighting, sound, food etc...)
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I am talking about the stuff you have done... it is WISE to build a crew BEFORE doing a feature... I worked with the crew that we made No Greater Love with on several short projects before doing the feature. It's wise... I am telling you, it's just a wise idea.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Nathyn,

There are several guys on this website who have proven they can tell a great story, direct great performances, and gather together a crew that makes beautiful images... they did all this in the short film world, which allowed them to stretch their resources and really show a professional piece. Some of these guys are Jack Daniel Stanley, Geoff Reisner, and many others. THOSE are the guys I would be ready to hand a check over to make a feature length film. I need to SEE it.

Thanks.
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I'm not disagreeing with the suckness of the Christian film genre, due to focus on the message, versus story and technical aspects, but at the same time, I'm simply pointing out that this is something he did very quick to show his concept. I'm not even saying it's great. I'm questioned should we be seeing proof of concept work because it rarely looks good.

This guy is doing it on his own. Let him make his mistakes. The only difference between him and others is we're watching him make his mistakes and with that being the case we can help him fix them. I've offered to direct his trailer cutting like I (and others on this forum) did for Filmman's "Butterflies" trailer. When we first saw that trailer everyone was like "Huh?". But he asked for help and we gave it to him and he cut a darn fine trailer when it was all said and done, so if you feel strongly about the genre, I think this is the road to take. And just because it's a "Christian" film (it's actually just a Bible based action thriller like most endtimes films no better than "End of Days") someone still has to make it and it will still be subject to not being 100% when the person is first starting out.

I did two films, the first one people thought it sucked technically but they loved the story and the second one wasn't great, but for some reason people liked it. Each one I learned from and moved on. That's the beauty of being indy, you make all the money and take all the losses but it's all on you. And if we hadn't started this craptastic "Christian film" genre so we could feel special we wouldn't have to worry about it so much. It's like how ignorant people on IMDB call "The Excorcist" a Christian film simply because of the themes. The film is no different than "Constantine" save for the "based on a true story." This shows no one really knows what a Christian film is. In theory "Lord of the Rings" and "The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe" are Christian films. If a Christian made "The Matrix" there's good argument for it as a Christian film too.

-Nate
 
Forget I said anything about Christian films! My whole point is to make some professional shorts before attempting to get financing for a feature length project. Not only will you see if you CAN work with an actual crew, but if it works.

Bottom line is that El needs to get a crew around him, shoot a good short, and then I'd have confidence in him directing a feature... not until that happens. And whoever is "financing" this from your "proof of concept" is not making a very wise decision.

I am just talking straight here, and I'm sorry if you don't like it.

PS. Where is the trailer you talked about?
 
"everyone (with the exception of a few) is way too technical and tends to forget about the art."

I have to agree with Brandon here, a big part of the art, is the craft, if your camerawork, lighting, directing are substandard, it does not matter how good your story is nobody is going to bother with it,

of course there are successful directors like Lars von Trier, who are masters of the cinema Verite style, who can break all the rules, but you have to understand them before you can break them.

I don't believe being honest is putting somebody down, its a fact that there absolutely no chance anybody in any film council, let alone production studio would give you any funding based on this demo. So in that respect you are very fortunate, but if you or anybody want your work to ever reach an audience outside of a church, you have to learn about the craft of film making.
 
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