FEATURE: TRAILER - SUPERSEEDS | Super Powered Adventure

I also think just like Barry said, it depends on your market. Of course if you're in LA, then all of the actors have got to be SAG to even get any work, but in the midwest, especially in Oklahoma, there's no need to be SAG at all. All of the actors in my film are local and none of them are SAG and trust me, if they couldn't act, they wouldn't be in my film. I think as indie filmmakers acting is a real key ingredient. It's one of those things that truly helps bring our story out. It's a fundamental thing that I feel like you have to have if nothing else. . .well, you know what I mean. Now having said that, I just saw the movie, "The Grace Card" (a Christian film - not a preachy one) and the acting was not very good. It was really just okay. Inconsistent, but the story and the cinematography were great and because the story was so great, it really made the movie. Now had the acting been great, we'd be looking at Oscar nominations I'm sure. So, go figure.

I agree too that it would be nice to have more information about what avenues to explore after your film is completed. We can find all the info. in the world on gear and camera specs, but when it comes to the business side of distribution? Not so much. I think it has gotten better though, because there are some indies making some good progress and sharing their experiences here.
 
Kholi said:
Think I'm gonna have to leave user altogether.
Click to expand...
Or stick around a little while longer as we work hard to reorient the site away from the gearfights and penis-size-measuring contests, and get it back focused on individual users and what they're accomplishing. I'd trade every gearfight on the board for one Marlon Ladd, one Kholi Hicks, and one Faith Granger.
 
Barry_Green said:
Or stick around a little while longer as we work hard to reorient the site away from the gearfights and penis-size-measuring contests, and get it back focused on individual users and what they're accomplishing. I'd trade every gearfight on the board for one Marlon Ladd, one Kholi Hicks, and one Faith Granger.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Barry. :thumbup:
 
Sorry for the aside here Kholi (you know I back you and your film), but I feel the need to ask - what IS being done to reorient the site? This isn't a flame bait question at all, but I feel like for this specific issue, more transparency is needed. DVXuser is going to lose a lot of people like Kholi and Faith and Marlon (that are actually making bad ass films) to people that are arguing about resolution charts. I respect the work you put into trying to figure out why the cameras work the way they do Barry, but I feel like its gotten to the point where we've entirely lost the essence of filmmaking.

"THE ONLINE COMMUNITY FOR FILMMAKING"? Can we go back to this train of thought, please?

Would LOVE to see some footage by the way Kholi!

Kegan
 
Don't worry, the focus is being clarified and changes are underfoot. We, as a site in general, are about the users, not about the gear. We're about what the users can do with today's equipment, not about what rumored thing might come in the future. We're about users actually putting the gear to work, not about some "revolution" that may or may not yield any fruit. Technical information is here to serve the purpose of someone getting the best from their chosen product. Technical information is not and end goal for us, assisting users to accomplish their goals is our mission and purpose here. We are not a customer service site for Panasonic or any other manufacturer, and we are not a sales arm for any company. If someone wants to send a message to Panasonic, hey -- go to the company's website and look at their "contact us" page and go right ahead and send that message, but don't bog us down in campaigns and complaints, because that's not what we're here for. We are an army of unpaid volunteer moderators who are putting forth a free forum for the benefit of filmmakers and video shooters, who can show their work, ask questions, share knowledge, and build themselves and each other up.

As to the specific changes: things take time to implement, and we are not ready to discuss what we're doing quite yet, but I've already put the smackdown on a few folks and the simple rule is this -- this is a site for users to come together and learn and share information regarding how they can accomplish their goals in the world of film and video making. If someone is posting here, they should be asking themselves -- am I gaining knowledge from this? Or am I helping answer a user's question in a productive way? Because, if not, well -- this may not be the place for them. We don't need to be all things to all people. We don't care about or need discussions on politics or religion, we're not someplace where people can come and post their 'free speech' rants, we're not a place for people to organize class-action lawsuits against somebody or other... that kind of stuff just doesn't have any relevance with what we're here to do.

This thread is an excellent example -- Kholi has shared much of what he's learned, he's making a real feature film on no money and exploring new ways to finance and distribute it, we are discussing pros and cons of going SAG, etc. We're talking about composition choices, actor choices, story choices, and business issues. Camera discussions are welcome in the realm of which they are related to helping an individual user to choose which is most appropriate for that particular user's desired usage. Discussions and announcements of new equipment (such as the recent influx of slider dollies and cheap LED lighting) are certainly welcome, as they bring the reality of the dream closer to more people. Arguing that a DSLR represents "the new front in the revolution" and that anyone who chooses to use a video camera is "an elitist snob who's just trying to keep us down"... well, that kind of stuff isn't useful and we don't want or need it here.

In short: DVXUser is a place to talk about what you're doing with the products. Don't just talk about the products. DO SOMETHING with the products, and then tell us what you're doing with them. That's what we're here for.
 
Barry_Green said:
Don't just talk about the products. DO SOMETHING with the products.
Click to expand...

Barry,

This is somewhat off topic but my thread for Battle is a little misnamed of late. Don't know if you've followed it at all but we were picked up by Lionsgate and the name was changed to STEP OFF.

I've tried to modify it but it doesn't seem to work for me. Maybe I'm just user illiterate but I'd love for it to say STEP OFF and then re: ORIGINAL THREAD TITLE if that was possible just to get branding in line and hopefully attract more folks to comment in the thread about distribution, etc.

And this is not meant to take shine away from Kholi...I think he knows that :)

Thanks,
Martin
 
Send me a PM with a link to the thread and exactly what you want it named, and I'll suss it out.
Martay said:
Barry,

This is somewhat off topic but my thread for Battle is a little misnamed of late. Don't know if you've followed it at all but we were picked up by Lionsgate and the name was changed to STEP OFF.

I've tried to modify it but it doesn't seem to work for me. Maybe I'm just user illiterate but I'd love for it to say STEP OFF and then re: ORIGINAL THREAD TITLE if that was possible just to get branding in line and hopefully attract more folks to comment in the thread about distribution, etc.

And this is not meant to take shine away from Kholi...I think he knows that :)

Thanks,
Martin
Click to expand...
 
Knowing that there's something being done is enough to satisfy me.

This is my film school, I couldn't and still can't afford the other kind of education. So doing and learning here is what's gotten me where I've been.

It'd be nice to share information even on Technical gear without having someone with a personal agenda (getting gear rented, etc) refuting working knowledge and opinions.

User Films section is always great to visit, with Kegan's projects, Marlon's, Martay's helped me with some info as well.

Needs to be more like this.

Thanks people, and the thread derail is VERY welcomed.
 
And now to re-rail the thread - at what point in the process did you start planning on what happens after you have a film in hand, distribution, monetizing, career-launching, etc.?
 
OldCorpse said:
And now to re-rail the thread - at what point in the process did you start planning on what happens after you have a film in hand, distribution, monetizing, career-launching, etc.?
Click to expand...

>:] Thought about that well in advance. I had a business plan that I had written out with pitfalls, etc. Have some contacts to distributors through friends, etc.


The next step is also getting a friggin' trailer up so that I can take advantage of those contacts here in HELL A.

But, my main thing is career-launching and building. The ultimate goal here is to expand to another feature and more-than-likely web content. Almost immediately. That's why I've been so frustrated that I haven't been able to write, but I've started on that for sure.
 
Very wise, Kholi. Many folks start thinking about the aftermath way too late. And since it's rare to actually make $ right off the bat on your first, it's exactly right what you are doing - concentrating on career-building. It's a long-term plan.

Regarding writing and having material. Heh. Here's a little food for thought. You know how it happens on many occasions, that a band has a great first album that they never again match? Well, there's actually a reason for that. It's a well-known pitfall in art. You see, that first project (album, film, novel etc.) is frequently the fruit of years of dreaming and planning and refining. You do it, and it's great, because you spent so much time on thinking it through when you had nothing else to do and no time obligation to deliver a project on some deadline - you could take your sweet time to come up with the best of the best. Then you suddenly have success, and the market demands a followup, you have to strike while the iron is hot. So really, you have no time to generate new material, and you instead do something fast and rough as a followup, and the results can be subpar (bands often have to go on tour to support their first album and so have really no time except to write their second followup while on the road in the tour bus, hotels, airports and the like). So you spit out a followup product that's hurried and it's just not as good.

In contrast, bands or artists who got their success later, or had enough material accumulated through years of nothing else to do but to write/record/etc., will sometimes have enough material to sustain a career for years and years. It's the same in film. Often you see a writer/director who has a good script etc., and for some reason it's not quite the right fit for the production company, but the guy has talent or the script is really good, and so they'll ask him "hey, do you have anything else?". And sadly many times they don't. And everything stops. Same here. Let us say you meet with great success/acclaim. It's good to have a couple of projects in the drawer read to go - should the occasion present itself. Because sometimes it's too late to start writing when they need it to go NOW.

That's why it's wise of you to already think of the next project. It's good to have something ready so you can hit the ground running.
 
Last edited:
OldCorpse said:
Very wise, Kholi. Many folks start thinking about the aftermath way too late. And since it's rare to actually make $ right off the bat on your first, it's exactly right what you are doing - concentrating on career-building. It's a long-term plan.

Regarding writing and having material. Heh. Here's a little food for thought. You know how it happens on many occasions, that a band has a great first album that they never again match? Well, there's actually a reason for that. It's a well-known pitfall in art. You see, that first project (album, film, novel etc.) is frequently the fruit of years of dreaming and planning and refining. You do it, and it's great, because you spent so much time on thinking it through when you had nothing else to do and no time obligation to deliver a project on some deadline - you could take your sweet time to come up with the best of the best. Then you suddenly have success, and the market demands a followup, you have to strike while the iron is hot. So really, you have no time to generate new material, and you instead do something fast and rough as a followup, and the results can be subpar (bands often have to go on tour to support their first album and so have really no time except to write their second followup while on the road in the tour bus, hotels, airports and the like). So you spit out a followup product that's hurried and it's just not as good.

In contrast, bands or artists who got their success later, or had enough material accumulated through years of nothing else to do but to write/record/etc., will sometimes have enough material to sustain a career for years and years. It's the same in film. Often you see a writer/director who has a good script etc., and for some reason it's not quite the right fit for the production company, but the guy has talent or the script is really good, and so they'll ask him "hey, do you have anything else?". And sadly many times they don't. And everything stops. Same here. Let us say you meet with great success/acclaim. It's good to have a couple of projects in the drawer read to go - should the occasion present itself. Because sometimes it's too late to start writing when they need it to go NOW.

That's why it's wise of you to already think of the next project. It's good to have something ready so you can hit the ground running.
Click to expand...

Yes. 100% YES.
 
OldCorpse said:
Very wise, Kholi. Many folks start thinking about the aftermath way too late. And since it's rare to actually make $ right off the bat on your first, it's exactly right what you are doing - concentrating on career-building. It's a long-term plan.

Regarding writing and having material. Heh. Here's a little food for thought. You know how it happens on many occasions, that a band has a great first album that they never again match? Well, there's actually a reason for that. It's a well-known pitfall in art. You see, that first project (album, film, novel etc.) is frequently the fruit of years of dreaming and planning and refining. You do it, and it's great, because you spent so much time on thinking it through when you had nothing else to do and no time obligation to deliver a project on some deadline - you could take your sweet time to come up with the best of the best. Then you suddenly have success, and the market demands a followup, you have to strike while the iron is hot. So really, you have no time to generate new material, and you instead do something fast and rough as a followup, and the results can be subpar (bands often have to go on tour to support their first album and so have really no time except to write their second followup while on the road in the tour bus, hotels, airports and the like). So you spit out a followup product that's hurried and it's just not as good.

In contrast, bands or artists who got their success later, or had enough material accumulated through years of nothing else to do but to write/record/etc., will sometimes have enough material to sustain a career for years and years. It's the same in film. Often you see a writer/director who has a good script etc., and for some reason it's not quite the right fit for the production company, but the guy has talent or the script is really good, and so they'll ask him "hey, do you have anything else?". And sadly many times they don't. And everything stops. Same here. Let us say you meet with great success/acclaim. It's good to have a couple of projects in the drawer read to go - should the occasion present itself. Because sometimes it's too late to start writing when they need it to go NOW.

That's why it's wise of you to already think of the next project. It's good to have something ready so you can hit the ground running.
Click to expand...

Indeed, sir. Over a year ago, when I had finally hit the breaking point and said "I'm going for it..." Geoff and I would walk the block and constantly converse about what was NEXT, what needs to be ready for either situation: It does good, we get into another project. If it doesn't do good? We get into another project. Not trying to do this once, I want to play for a while until my ideas are much worse than they are now and I have to become a shadow man for other people with fresher, better ideas.

How it pans out is another story, but, yeah... you see where I'm going!

For the record: I am writing, and scheduling, and helping someone produce a short, all while writing this response. >=] So not slacking!
 
Wow, didn't realize this topic had gotten so far since I last dropped in! So much helpful stuff here, guys - esp. Kholi, Barry and OldCorpse! Thanks for all the info and advice you guys have poured out in this thread. :)

@Kholi, has anyone - investors, business relations, filmmakers you know, etc. - approached you since production on SUPERSEEDS about getting involved on your next project? I know you said you're anxious to get working on it; have others expressed similar interest in it?

@Barry, great info/advice on the SAG issues there. I had no idea they could pan you like that. Do you think the complications are a bit less stressful when you're dealing with a bigger budget? Maybe as you move up after your first or second feature?

Thanks again for sharing your experiences guys!

Michael
 
Michael Traven said:
Wow, didn't realize this topic had gotten so far since I last dropped in! So much helpful stuff here, guys - esp. Kholi, Barry and OldCorpse! Thanks for all the info and advice you guys have poured out in this thread. :)
Click to expand...

Whatever helps inspire people to shoot it up.
@Kholi, has anyone - investors, business relations, filmmakers you know, etc. - approached you since production on SUPERSEEDS about getting involved on your next project? I know you said you're anxious to get working on it; have others expressed similar interest in it?
Click to expand...
Yes. Definitely. And, I absolutely wouldn't say yes if it weren't something more set-in-stone, because a lot of the times people will "mention" offers or whatever, but it's just that... a mention. Those that have come around with offers, even other filmmakers, are adamant about the next thing and putting their hands in the pot. I'm hoping that it continues to expand once the material finally starts to make rounds. Hope. Keyword.

Once people see you doing, they want to do, too.

While it's been a major risk, it's also rewarding for those that were involved directly. Even if "nothing" really comes of it on the backend, we're gonna do another one immediately....

... And soon. Like, start shooting right when summer hits soon. Haha.
 
Ted Spencer said:
This is great news Kholi. Rock on...
Click to expand...

You gots PM. >:]

- Additional (not-very-exciting) update: Feature is back OUT of the can for shoots, portions to help connect scenes. Scenes and shots that I had originally written into the script as far back as the first draft and removed because of various reasons have now returned and being shot over the next week or two. In that time, post continues on. Still hoping to be finished much sooner than later, but the original deadline isn't going to happen because of the new shoots, etc. All good.

- Although I couldn't do a huge thread with how-to's and everything, I did keep a mental log of most of the mistakes I made, things I would have done differently (from crew size to gear selection) had I known. I don't think it's worth it to compile here in this thread, so instead, I'm handwriting a guide for myself going into the next feature and I'll scan or take photos of the pages for everyone to read. It'll be an analog jumble of tips and tricks to get a feature film done under 100K, from script to post.

It wont' be gospel, it'll just be my experiences built on having done two feature films under the 100K umbrella.

- Oh, right... about that second feature. Goal is to have an outline and a full draft done by second week of April. Goal was set last Friday, as of yesterday--after brain storming in my sleep, and with Teresa--I've got a ten page outline done and going right into the writing phase, bypassing treatment etc.

If it turns out, while Superseeds is finishing sound and vfx, I hope to start shooting beginning of summer on the next. Probably with even less of a budget. Haha.

Also working on some material with Geoff, developing for a larger budget.

Addiction!

- Trailer won't be up until VFX scenes have been completed. Trying to make the first step out count for as much as possible.

- Website and more BTS photos, Video should be coming sometime soon. More concentrated on finishing the thing and planning for the next; this is a good reason why budgets are in the millions, so other people can focus on these jobs. Sheesh.

- Kickstarter folks will get extra goodies when this is all complete, haven't forgotten about you guys one bit. Thanks for neverending support.

THat's about it!
 

Attachments

  • marvin_stole_knife.jpg
    marvin_stole_knife.jpg
    25.7 KB · Views: 0
For those who aren't on the Facebook page--

It's update time: Been hard at work getting new scenes done and, most importantly, cutting a trailer! On top of that, there's some movement in another areas.

Wait, that sounds bad.

Today, we got a sample back from a very talented friend. Just giddy.
...
Here's the first test of one of the visual effects needed to bring this sucker to life.

http://www.vimeo.com/22452717

Adding more for the user community... can't say how much more stoked I've just become, and motivated. I badly want to move to the next production, but the dedication needed to make this happen is hitting the next level, so I'll be writing more on the new script and burning through Superseeds.

Right now, I'm no a trailer. Third version, third revision. Hoping to get a lock on that, then some promo materials (taking a cue from Martay) before I get back to the thirdish cut of the movie.

More footage coming really soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top