The 24 Diary

egyptianboxer104 said:
how far along are you in your plan?
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I'm kinda between stages. More like phase 1 and a half. :)

There's really only 3 stages, but there is a lot of information, practice, training and knowledge between each one. So if you want to say the first movie is Filmmaking 101 the second movie is Filmaking 102 then third as Filmmaking 103, then I'm in a split class of 101 and 102.

I came up with this plan from watching several other people/prod companies and what they did right and wrong and how the market reacts. At that time, I had already completed one movie - but that was 4 years ago. All my momentum was lost. so now with the new movie I'm finishing "Voices" I can't really call it phase 2 because I lost the momentum of my first. So I'm in a personal hybrid of 1 and 2.

I have a few peojects that aren't "movie related" that I hope push me into phase 2. They may occur over the next few months. So here's to hoping. :)

Are you working on anything right now? If so what? - and don't spare the details.
 
Hey Jls4

Give us more lol.
I know writing these long post is very tiring, but they are very informative.

For example guys
Best way to learn is DO
I shot a short film to get me ready for D.Ping my first feature, which is Heaven, U.S.A and you can find in this forum. I've learned so much....on a ridiculous level that the cinematography for this feature is looking good. People said work on your lighting because they saw it wasn't good, so I worked extra hard on that.

I'm working on my business plan for my first feature..which is real scary, a huge risk, but definitely production will start on May, that's not my goal...it's really what's gonna happen, so studying off DVXuser is one of the best things we can all do as we give each other advice and learn from each others mistakes without having to make them on our own.

So on to my question
When you were shooting voices, how was the crew for it?
 
Right now i'm working on a short film that feels like it's been shot to hell. lead female drops out last night... when we need to wrap this weekend so i'm running around trying to find a replacement... Once this film is done, i'll have the chance to recieve a grant to shoot a feature from my college over the summer.
 
Charlie06 said:
Give us more lol.
I know writing these long post is very tiring, but they are very informative.

...

I'm working on my business plan for my first feature..which is real scary, a huge risk, but definitely production will start on May, that's not my goal...it's really what's gonna happen, so studying off DVXuser is one of the best things we can all do as we give each other advice and learn from each others mistakes without having to make them on our own.

So on to my question
When you were shooting voices, how was the crew for it?
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Trust me I'm not against writing. I've spent the last couple of days studying. Yesterday I kept following movie links on myspace. So I would go to one movie based myspace page and hop over to "a friend's movie myspace page". Lots of study to see what's hitting the market. I prefer seeing sets of either awesome shorts with detailed info OR trailers and clips from features where I can see the Behind the Scene photos or video. This helps me to understand what they did right and wrong - what equipment they used - how much time it took.

I saw a great short - wow it was great from Whitestone Motion Pictures - a little musical. It was 3 minutes and the guy said it took them 6 hours to shoot. He was a "justin evans" type and wanted to make sure all the shots were perfect. And wow it was awesome. Funny thing - I have never heard of them before. They were on Vimeo, but vimeo's search is so bad - you really have to know what you're looking for. Found out - they are in Atlanta. I found them from an actor's page who came out for one of my movies.

But that type of info gives me huge insights on making movies. He had over 10 shorts, I watched probably 6 of them, I'll go back later and watch the rest. Found several links and pages with good work to study and learn from. So that's why I've been quiet. I'm studying. :)

As for Voices - my crew is great. I think the movie would have come out better, if I had some money to pay them up front. I ended up sometimes with 2 or 1 person on set because they had to take jobs to make ends meet. But like I said so far all together we are 5 persons. 4 Crew and my music composer who only is working in post. The 4 crew we did production design, catering, lighting, audio, camera, etc. It only got crazy when we got down to just me on set trying to do everything at once - when no one else could be there. And for at least 5 scenes, that was the case. But I come from that hard knock life of doing it alone - so I had to do what I had to do.

Still it's funny because with 4 people we did a better job than (dare I say it) 50 to 60% of the "filmmakers" out here with a real crew. I think I had already talked about a "complete unionesque set" (I'm not sure if they were union or not) with lots of people working behind the scenes - and the movie didn't come out well. It was average at best. Voices is better - much better. I've seen crews of 10 who didn't know much at all - and we beat them as well. It's funny, it's like I think we need someone on our team with a "big Bragging mouth". I was talking to a few people about it yesterday. I ran into this guy who does movies and he's always talking about what movie he's about to start. (there's lots of people like this - all over Atlanta and I'm sure the world) He's talking I'm going to have the best this and that and we have such and such budget. So I'm impressed and excited to see what he's doing. 2 months go by and nothing happens, 4 months - nothing, 6 months and he finishes a crappy short but no feature, but now he says he's working on a new project and has 3 more coming down the pipe. It's like all these people are great in PR (Public Relations) and Hype - but they have no follow through. all talk. And my crew can get it done, but all of us are relatively quiet people. We don't brag about what we can't do or money we don't have or projects that aren't ready to be shot. We need a bragger in our group - because sometimes that bragger can open doors. People like bandwagons (that's what I was saying above about how I lost momentum after my first movie) so everyone wants to jump onto something they see is moving. So talking gets people to think you're moving and sometimes doors open because of it. I've seen people get access to crew members, equipment, actors, etc just because of talk. But when it comes down to putting the project together, those people fail because they aren't good at the rest.

I've come to admire the walkers and not the talkers. The problem is that the world doesn't work that way. I remember taking a class at a Co-op position while I was still in college. The point of the class was to teach college students that all that college education after about 3 to 5 years was pretty worthless. At that point, your experience and more importaintly your personality would be the thing that opens doors for you. I'm pretty good at talking, making small talk and getting people to feel comfortable - however I don't like bragging and I don't like it when people brag on something and that thing looks/feels like crap.

Wow - that's a lot of talking. See I don't mind writing/talking - just have to have something to say
 
egyptianboxer104 said:
Right now i'm working on a short film that feels like it's been shot to hell. lead female drops out last night... when we need to wrap this weekend so i'm running around trying to find a replacement... Once this film is done, i'll have the chance to recieve a grant to shoot a feature from my college over the summer.
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Yeah, don't you hate it when Lead females do that.

I have a question for the people who are currently reading. Do you have more problems with actors or actresses?

Don't want it to be a sexist flame war, just interested. In my last movie there was a huge difference in the problems I had with my actresses vs my actors. I had 2 actors that I had problems with but the problems were small compared to my two actresses. The biggest problem for everyone was simply showing up - because of other engagements. I just felt that for the women it really was about the glitz and glam more so with the guys. I felt like if I had more money and more people, even if I didn't pay - the ladies would have not given me as many problems.
 
If there is something i am TRULY scared about during my future production..It that somebody will get sick, and get a lot of people sick.

That would mean at least 1 1/2 day lost.
Any tips on keeping everybody healthy? hehe

Were you your own D.P? your own sound guy for voices?
How do you will you would have done with more crew (if you didn't have any)?
 
Charlie06 said:
If there is something i am TRULY scared about during my future production..It that somebody will get sick, and get a lot of people sick.

That would mean at least 1 1/2 day lost.
Any tips on keeping everybody healthy? hehe)
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Don't feed them sugar.

"One of sugar's major drawbacks is that it raises the insulin level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. This is not something you want to take place if you want to avoid disease. " - healingdaily

Feed them healthy normal foods - lots of fruits, juice and water.

Charlie06 said:
Were you your own D.P? your own sound guy for voices? How do you will you would have done with more crew (if you didn't have any)?
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I DID have a crew - we were just small and sometimes they weren't available. 40% of the time I was my own DP, 15% of the time I was my own sound guy, 5% of the time I was both at the same time. :)

Ideally this is what I would like:

Production Team
Producer, Asst Producer, Line Producer, Writer, Director

Crew
DP/Camera A Combo, Lighting/Gaffer Combo, Boom Audio, Sound Recorder, Assitant Camera, 2 Various/Key Grips/Dolly Grip/Super Grip, Catering, Asst. Director

With what we have done with 4 people, I believe if people come in multi-talented and we expand to the above 9 + 4 in production team since we don't need writer on set and move to about 13 we'd be good.

For Post:
Editor, Asst Editor, Sound Mix/Sound Design Combo, Composer(Music Score), Sound FX/Foley, Colorist/Film Grading Combo, After Effects/3D - CG Artists approx 3 to 5 people depending on project. So about 7 to 12 people in post. I'm really on the lookout for CG Artists because they are hard to find. Either they tend to be hidden, not that talented, or they cost too much or are connected with a larger body.

My ultimate hope unlike many people on this board is to work with up and coming artists who have not worked much if at all in the Hollywood system - but are just as talented if not more talented. RR talked about how difficult it is to get anything done on a movie set because of all the rules and regulations - I hope that I can avoid that and build from scratch. Working with people who want a "different approach" to filmmaking.
 
On this shoot.... 3 crew members had medical emergencies dealing with family members... This included my DP, Sound guy, and gaffer.......

Fortunatly I have made enough connections in the richmond area that i could replace them all... Except i now only am shooting with 1 cam (but it's HD ;) )
 
And yeah, if i were ever in ATL i'd def send you a PM saying I would help out on anythign your doing. ever. anytime.... alas i'm in virginia/dc :/
 
Charlie06 said:
u got your man right here :)!!!

hahaha
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Now you just need to MOVE to Atlanta! :)

egyptianboxer104 said:
On this shoot.... 3 crew members had medical emergencies dealing with family members... This included my DP, Sound guy, and gaffer.......

Fortunatly I have made enough connections in the richmond area that i could replace them all... Except i now only am shooting with 1 cam (but it's HD ;) )
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Dang that's jacked - but at least you could continue - so that's good.

egyptianboxer104 said:
And yeah, if i were ever in ATL i'd def send you a PM saying I would help out on anythign your doing. ever. anytime.... alas i'm in virginia/dc :/
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Well once we get some money maybe I'll pull you and Charlie down. I figure one of these days I'll be paying people. :beer:
 
The project will be an action movie - that part I know. The screenwriter and myself are currently working through the details. Once we get the script and some cash, I'll start a blog on this website. It'll be my first that follows a movie from start to finish like the "Corrado", "No Greater Love", or "Lonely Place for Dying" threads.

I'll still try to update the 24 diary as I go.

If I have time in May I'll be there, but I don't want to give a promise that I can't keep. I only get so many vacation days. That's why I'm trying to round up people in Atlanta - even actors. Lucky for me several big named people are making their homes here these days and I might be able to get a small appearance by a few local celebrities like "Morris Day", "Monica", "Bow Wow", "Ludacris" and many others. We are the Number 1 City for Rap and R&B in the world! - Nwo we just have to do the same for movies! Bowahahaha (evil laugh)
 
Chance White said:
Count me in. If you'll have me. ;)
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Love to have you! I've seen some of your work. Good stuff. I also like the fact you've done a few action type flicks since that's what were focusing on next and where we're going. I want to do a small short probably in January to test some of the concepts, and if we can raise this money - hopefully start the next project in the spring.

If you have any projects you're working on let me know. i'll haveto have a meeting with you and a few others who've showed interest. We all need to sit down and I can let all of you know what direction Red Collar Studios is going in and you can make a definate decision to see if our path matches with yours. Like I've told everyone so far and what most of the 24 diary is about - is simple - making movies to make money and using strategies not based on creatve preferences but on the movie market to guide us toward that goal.
 
Chapter 11 - Fundraising is No Fun

I've been doing a lot of research on fundraising, since I'm about to embark on a new project in the near future. Pete Chatmon Director of "Premium" (Zoe Saldana - Guess Who, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek / Hill Harper - CSI New York) talks very candidly about raising funds and he can do it much better than me. I'll write more in this chapter as I experience it over the next few months. But for now Mr. Chatmon has the floor.

Fund Raising Part 1 with Pete Chatmon
Fund Raising Part 2 with Pete Chatmon
 
Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the info!

Just had to respond to this, it was great info to use for future reference! Still trying to read through all the responses!
 
Wow that was a great read! Got me through that long afternoon at work....I like the concepts put forth in this thread! I will have to adapt some of it to my style of footage (surfing) but the fundamentals are all basically the same. Thanks again, I'm sure I will read this a few more times.
 
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