Verlaine - Feature

A

aurantaurant

Well-known member
So it's been a year. And we're almost done with the final edit. Here's the trailer.

Shot on the HVX200 and Redrock M2 Encore


http://vimeo.com/17992481



This was going to be a web series, but I ended up just writing it as a feature. It also made it a lot easier to deal with SAG by doing it SAG ULB Feature instead of a series. I love SAG. :)

We're going through the whole process. Some of it really sucks. Right now we are IN PRODUCTION.

I'll be posting various pictures and footage for you guys to check out. Here is the rest of the information on the project.

VERLAINE - Feature Film

Hired to enact revenge on a man who savagely beat a beautiful
Russian debutante, Jack VERLAINE is pressed between his newly acquired job
and a persistent man named, Brill, who offers him a chance to advance higher
in his seedy career. But when an estranged lover reappears in Verlaine's
regimented existence, he soon realizes the new elements in his life may be
just a plot to uncover his true identity.

CAST:

Verlaine: Robert Seay
Brill: Mark Rolston
Don Fernando: Zitto Kazann
Abe Frohman: Jeffrey Vincent Parise
Jenna: Kodi Kitchen
Alena: Silvy Kas
Grandie: Luke Edwards
Silverstein: Bud Watson
Christine: Carolyn Stotes
Megan: Michelle Van Der Water
Maria: Kristina Coolish
Grunwolski: Beau Kiger

CAMERA:
HVX200 with RedRock M2 Encore and MicroX.

This feature is a continuation of the short film VERLAINE which can be viewed here:
http://exposureroom.com/verlaine/

We also shot some test footage for the movie using the M2 Encore that can be viewed here:
http://exposureroom.com/members/burmoco.aspx/assets/737c2e838781464a8763613915b471b7/

Here are the back and front of our promotional DVD's for the short we did to promote the feature.
BackOneSheet.jpg
FrontOneSheetFests.jpg
 
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One of the speed bumps we dealt with was interacting with some of the agents. Because we're a SAG Ultra Low Budget feature our minimum we can offer is $100 a day. In the breakdown we were offering $100 plus $500 deferred. So there was full disclosure for everyone.

We posted the project on Breakdown Express and an actors manager or agent would submit them to the project. So we'd call them in, they would read, nail it, and then we'd offer them the part. The funny thing is that one particular ACTOR was submitted by their manager and their agent had no idea about the project. So when we offered them the role we had to ALSO call the agent and inform them of the project. Haha.

So imagine calling some guy with 200 clients and telling him you're offering one of those clients $100 a day. I got laughed at quite a few times. "So-and-So doesn't do Ultra Low." So I'd politely respond, "Thanks, maybe we'll work together in the future." Those were low days.

The next day that same agent called me and apologized because his client really wanted to play the part. Oooookay. Great.

So we got the actor.
 
One other thing I recommend to anyone trying to do this low budget... or as low budget as we're doing it...

Hire an up and coming casting director. Most of the time they're pretty cost effective and because they were probably associates of a bigger casting director, they've worked with a lot of agents and actors. It's very useful for approaching Actors you might not have access to. I have found that it works a whole lot better to get an offer from a casting director than from Joe-Nobody Director.

Plus they're a nice buffer between you and the agent. Especially if you don't like talking to agents.
 
why are you offering them $500 deferred? you realize that before you distribute the picture, online or elsewhere, that you have to pay them scale right? ULB only let's you get them for $100 to shoot the thing, not to exhibit or distribute it.
 
The SAG ULB contract is slightly confusing and I've seen some rather negative views toward ULB posted online. The reality is that it's designed to help everyone.

Zak, I think some of your info on the ULB contract is inaccurate. The $100 a day is all I have to pay them if I put it in festivals. If it gets distribution and goes into the theaters I only owe them a residual of that distribution fee. It's small. If I distribute it in theaters myself I don't think owe them any residuals unless I make money. I'll have to clarify that with SAG.

The deferred is set up for the actors incase the movie makes a substantial amount of money and I recoup the cost of the movie. It's hard to tell an actor who usually works for a few thousand a day, that they're only making $100. The deferred helped slightly. Not much, but it helped. The actors only get that deferred money if I make money. Also if I license it to TV or Online I do not owe them scale wages. I only owe them a residual based on the licensing fee. If the "theatrical motion picture" is distributed outside of the theatrical market (lets say internet) then I owe the actors 3.6% of the licensing fee. It's not a lot. It's completely fair.

I also had to pay a deposit to SAG based on the initial budget. And I have to do everything through payroll and pay taxes and blah blah blah. And there is quite a bit of paper work that we have to send to SAG.

But that's the trade off for getting really good actors.

Using professional-seasoned actors is important to me, because I've used non union, and less seasoned actors before and the truth is, the better actors are in SAG. That's just the reality. Professional actors bring a lot to the table. I can save so much more time when the actor is nailing each take, or is at least giving me nuggets on each take. Sure, there are cheats to getting non-pros to do a serviceable job, but it's more enjoyable for me, as a writer/director, to be able to tweak the actors performance than it is to completely mold it.
 
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you're probably right. I'm relying on second-hand info. let this be the one thing that I trusted to someone else and ended up with bad info. I suppose it's time I learn it all myself so I know it's handled correctly.
 
So far SAG has been easy to work with.

Here's a look at what we're shooting. We've shot 22 days. 6 more to go.

I had to edit this scene for one of the actors reel. We're still in production but because I'm a nice guy I did it. It's rough, but you get the idea.

http://www.vimeo.com/6498307
 
Looking good, Nick~ The movie has a nice feel to it. Judging by the scenes you have put together you're going for the classical look. My gut feeling is that you will get distribution for this movie.

Keep up the good work.
--vic
 
We just sent Him the script through our casting director. He liked the part enough to do it for free. I think he was just wanting to do something fun and nutty. He was really a pleasure to work with.
 
aurantaurant said:
We just sent Him the script through our casting director. He liked the part enough to do it for free. I think he was just wanting to do something fun and nutty. He was really a pleasure to work with.
Click to expand...

incredible.

cinematography was noteworthy as well. very filmic lookng. only thing that would make me say "this is not shot on film" is the low resolution. very good and probable candidate for distribution especially with sizemore attached
 
p.s. i could have sworn i seen another actor in there that appeared in a dvxuser fest film ...the christopher lee looking guy with gray beard..? no?
 
Astigma, record, Thank you for that. Much appreciated.

Homunculus,

The DP was Tyler Rumph. He's super talented.

Yah the actor was Bud Watson. He was in Doug Spice's DEAD DROP. Doug Spice also produced Verlaine, saw Bud Watson then cast him in his other movie.

We shot the movie in 720 and it's the HVX so it does have a lot of grain. But those were the limitations of the project. I think it kind of gives it grittier look. But it was hard to compensate for all the light we needed.
 
You Got... Tom Sizemore... for free... Nicely Done!


I hear you on the light aspect of the hvx. I shot my feature on the 200a with the sgblade so the issue was just a little smaller for me.
I hate seeing that grain though. Have you tried putting your edit through NEAT VIDEO? This might help a bit.

Can I ask what the budget was and what your dp used to light the film?

Any luck so far on getting the ol'e HWood interested?
 
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