now that the craziness of finals, school and Christmas shopping has passed

and I feel very peaceful and lazy, I wanted to do a little recap of this month to talk about why God is good and faithful, even when we doubt or are oblivious

First, there is Ricky’s dad

So Dr. Norris got really sick late Nov/early Dec. He went to write himself a prescription (he thought he had phenomena) but he lost his wallet which had his medical license in it. He wasn’t able to treat himself so he went in to the doctors. They ordered an x-ray of his chest and discovered that he has a lung condition that gave him the lungs of a smoker of 30 years. He was in the hospital for a while, right before finals. I worried about this because Ricky told me he had to leave class to go visit his dad in the hospital and I think having a parent get sick right before finals is probably the most stressful thing ever. As if trying to graduate at the end of the year isn’t enough! But if Dr. Norris had just written himself a prescription, there would have been no x-ray and no diagnosis and this condition would have got the best of him eventually–probably even by the holidays. For me, this just goes to show that things happen the way they do for reasons and sometimes, like with Ricky’s dad, we see why. Sometimes we don’t. But I really do believe that everything about our lives is woven together in an expert fashion whether or not the big picture is revealed.

Second is my credit card bill.

I took a look at my new bill and said, geez, I need about a hundred dollars to make this work. I didn’t really know what to do. I thought about how my text books could win me some cash, but I couldn’t do that until school was over and my bill was due the same week. I prayed about it because my philosophy is that you can’t worry unless you’re being productive about it and the very least (and very most) you can do is tell God you don’t know what to do and could He please help you out. The week before finals, Monday, I had a huge headache so I told Dr. Fisher that I was gonna take his quiz and leave class to go lie down. As I am making these plans, I get a call from a desperate producer who says that his crew needs a makeup artist quick and they could pay me. I took the quiz and headed over to the production center. I sat down, talked to everyone, took some meds and then got my makeup kit from my house. I was paid $75 for six hours of work and fed Red Robin for lunch. I had to tell Dr. Gonzales that I couldn’t make it to class that afternoon because of a makeup job. He said that was fine and said that by the way, he needed me to do makeup for a shoot on Thursday. It would be two hours and he could pay me. Thursday was my birthday, but when you receive this kind of blessing, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course I’d wake up early on my birthday for a paid gig especially with Dr. G who I love working with. Needless to say, I was taken care of for this bill.

God is very good to us in big ways, such as Ricky’s dad and small ways, such as my credit card bill.

It’s funny because the majority of the time I feel that God doesn’t do half the things I think He could or should in any given situation, but events like these remind me that I am very small and His work is a mystery.

I hope you are all coming before our Creator in prayer for this film. There is no use in worrying about weather or money or injury when you can pray about it. Even with doubts, God, PTL, works in spite of us all the time.

Hey everyone who wants to be an extra, or is an extra for Odd Socks. This is all the information you need to know about the dates and times we are filming.

If you would like to be an extra, I have asked you or someone has asked on behalf of me please email me me your cell phone number and other details, along with the dates that you can make it to Adam.ac.king@gmail.com

You do not need to be able to make every filming date, it is just preferable.

Sock Mutants:

27th and 28th January 7pm till midnight/1am and 8th 9th 10th of Febuary 7pm till midnight/1am. These dates might change ever so slightly (by a day or so either way) but are pretty fixed for now.

Sock mutants will be getting awesome costumes made for them, so when you email me with a confirmation I will email you back with a bunch of measurements you need to give me so we can make you a costume. Some of you may also get facial prosthetics.

Defenders:

25th, 27th and 28th of January 7pm till midnight/1am and 9th and 10th of Febuary 7pm till midnight/1am. These dates might change ever so slightly (by a day or so either way) but are pretty fixed for now.

Defenders will need to bring basics of their own costume (which you will be let known about), but will also be provided with other costume pieces. you also get awesome weapons to swing around.

You do not need to be able to make every filming date, it is just preferable.

Again, if you are keen, email me your cell number and available dates at adam.ac.king@gmail.com

Cheers!

CAMERA ANGLES !

SHOT NO. !

PANELS !

CHARACTERS !

ACTION!

Who knew drawing on a small panel was the toughest job? And that has been my job for a long 2 months.

The truth is, everywhere I look I only see that list of words given above.  Sorry god!  For sometimes I forget to look onto your greatest creation… ever to walk this earth.

What I get is something for me satisfying… long one but enjoying one also. And i hope you will agree with me when

when you will finally see the film.

StoryBoard01

StoryBoard02

StoryBoard03

StoryBoard04

Well top two pictures are drawn by hand. And the bottom two drawn with the tablet. As like this, there are many sequence or rather shot. Some are tough and other are little bit simple.

We finally got the story in line. Now its all about production. But between that we should had some concept art. And the next post is all related to that. And we will hope that you will love to see the next one.

Still we cannot say the concept art is over. But we will update as it progresses.

-Tamonud

Hey moviegoers,

So the first trailer for Ridley Scott’s vision of Robin Hood has hit the net…and for me it only meh. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy most of Scott’s work, however, I don’t think I am sold on Russell Crowe portraying the arrow-flinging criminal. It looks to me that Scott & Crowe are simply trying to recreate the magic that fueled Gladiator and if this is indeed what we are getting from this version of Robin Hood, then I fear that the meat and potatos of the essence that is Robin Hood will be lost — replaced with glorious and amazing battle scenes — which to some of you may be all you want from the duo.

Although I am not a huge supporter by any means of Kevin Costner, I at least enjoyed Prince of Thieves. That to me was a very well done Robin Hood film. What made that film great was the actual script. It went into more backstory of Robin.

I don’t think Scott’s Robin Hood will be bad — I just think that perhaps he may emphasize more battles then story. I hope he proves me wrong. So having said all that, the trailer does look pretty decent, but like I said, meh. Check it out for yourselves and sound off on it in the comments!

It has been six long months since the two of us — me and Scio (Scio: I didn’t actually have anything to add…) — got the idea of making “The Hidden One”, adapted from an old short story; but unfortunatly for us, we forget the original author’s name!

After 1 months we had gotten this…

This is incidentally my very first painting with the tablet, which I brought specially for this film. And I am also very much lucky that the critics have kept there mouth shut. Thanks! for that.

Huu…  So finally got something to work on.

Script is ready and also the poster. So, what next?   STORYBOARD!

-Tamonud

This is Part 2 of a 4 Part series on my thoughts and experiences concerning the Short 1 min Film we put together for the skarlets competition:

• Part 1: Red Box Spider Journey: The Idea
• Part 2: Red Box Spider Journey: Pre-Production (This post)
• Part 3: Red Box Spider Journey: Production
• Part 4: Red Box Spider Journey: Post-Production

Feel free to watch the entry and vote and post comments

My Thoughts and Experiences on Pre-Production

The key here was that we had a common goal, with the same interest at heart. But that alone does not achieve success.

In this case; for such a short project, there did not seem to be much need to storyboards or a script.

I think we knew that handling a spider was going to be kind of random.

We were also rushed to get to production because of the submission deadline (which I have found out now has been pushed out 6 months).

The biggest problem with rushing this part was that when it came to editing I was forced to make many workarounds to get the story to fit into one minute.

Next time though – I am going to have to force myself to be more strict in planning and previz.

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After the official announcement of “The Leaving” ’s success as one of the 2010 Cinemalaya full length category finalists, “THE LEAVING” production team is formalizing the official crew for the project. Pre-production started approximately on December 7, 2009. The Team is currently recruiting other staffs, prospective cast for the project. Co-producers, and Sponsors/investors for the projects! (MUST HAVE!). Will update the schedule regularly.

Mike before

So this morning Michael and I went to Matts place to try out some

prosthetics on his face for tests to see what Darning might look like.

Matt used the material from the body suit and attached it to a latex backing which he then attached to Mike’s face. After it was all attached we stuffed the middle of it, round the eyes, the nose and chin with tissue paper to see how fat we could get the face.

Darning nearly there

It started to look really good, and Mike was able to make a number of funny and scary expression with the mask on. If you want to check out more photos go to the facebook page, they are on there.

However I think that it is going to need to be a lot fatter, this means more tissues around the neck and head. when the costume is done that will make things easier.

Speaking of costumes, we also met up with Emma who took some measurements for the fat suit. It should be underway soon, I can’t wait to see Darning come together. Goodness knows hes costing enough.

So I decided that it would be crazy to go this project alone on the production side of things. So I have now got two awesome people on board to help out as my producer and assistant director.

Brendon Udy, who is a fellow film maker from Auckland university has agreed to produce the film with me. He has a number of his own films under his belt as well as having worked on a large number of other peoples films. As of late he has done a lot of producing and is becoming very good at it. He is also underway in making a Zombie web series at the moment.

James Mulrennan is an old school friend of mine who has been making films with me since I started making films. Although not technically a film student, (hes a Law student) – he is a film student at heart, which is where it counts. He has one of his own films under his belt, and like Brendon has worked on a very large number of other low budget student films. Over the last 3 years James has AD’d for me countless times and this project is going to show just how damn good at the job he is.

So they are helping me out in my last month of pre production before I go crazy, and then we will tackle production together very soob, which I am looking forward to very much.

today was rather busy. It is the beginning of a disgustingly busy weekend. I get to sleep in Saturday morning until 8:30, and that’s the latest I can sleep in for a while (this is of course hoping that I get lots of hours at work. If I don’t, I get to sleep in, but honestly, I’d rather earn money.)

So we camera tested the cat today. Sinatra. The stray who may as well be my cat since I’m going to get him fixed next week. Poor thing. He underwent some physical trauma today which I do not think helped him do the camera test well. Kinda like not eating breakfast before a 10 am final.

I learned a lot through this situation though:

-Make sure cat is not physically harmed before shooting (Sinatra took a tumble off the couch in his carrier which made him very upset and uncooperative)

-He is not skiddish. He does not run from strangers or bite. If he is upset, he meows

-Bright lights do make cats worrisome.

-Sinatra does not respond to his name, kissing noises, snapping, patting noises or “kitty”. The only thing he really seems to be attracted to (besides food) is the prospect of being a nuisance. Before going in the carrier, he jumped up on the kitchen table. Kyle, who was over to loan me a load of books for Jamie’s office set, promptly hit him in the face. Sinatra did not do anything. Kyle picked him up by the scruff, cussed at him and dropped him on the floor. Sinatra went into the kitchen, jumped up on the bar, then the table. I picked him up and put him down. On attempt number three (was he really after our humus or just reveling in being annoying?) he was ballsy enough to jump up on Kyle’s knee and then onto the table. Kyle promptly hit him. Sinatra did nothing.

-sinatra will let anyone hold him. This is the oddest thing since every other cat I know hates being held by strangers.

-any cat will probably need to get used to the set before we begin rolling, whether we use Sinatra or a professional cat, and that’s just a fact of the set (and why we scheduled more time than usually necessary to shoot)

-We may have to get a cat wrangler with a heard of professional cat clones. Sad but true. Sinatra can do about 50% of the things we need him too. I will see if I try again with the bathroom finished, if he will play along. Lisa suggested to use him in rehearsals too. If we can get him to be cool, he can save us about $1200. So I’m not giving up on him yet.

So while the jury is still out on whether or not Sinatra has made it into the cast/crew, our latest additions to the crew as of yesterday are Jeff Webster as our Best Boy Electric (was not approved by me or Brandon first, but I don’t have an issue with him as an addition, adore him in fact, so no harm and no foul) and Kerriann Webber as our Makeup/Hair. Kerri and I did a year of high school together but didn’t become friends until I went to college four years later. She is in cosmo school right now. I will have to train her on makeup for film but she’s a smart cookie so I’m not worried about her doing well.

Welcome Welcome Jeff and Kerriann!

2 days until the last round of casting

7 days until my 21st birthday

10 days until finals week

15 days until school is out

22 days until Christmas

28 days until 2010

31 days until Beth Cissel and Kelsey Heng come back from Biola London

36 days until “Still” begins shooting

the countdown has begun!

The process of creating the media product in 72 hours was at times difficult, with ideas not working as planned, indecisiveness and group conflicts all contributing to the disappointing final product.

The first thing the group did after being issued the task was to meet up and discuss ideas. As the brief was very loose, it allowed the group to think freely about the kind of product we wanted to produce. My initial idea was to use the variety in the group to make something that I personally hadn’t done before, such as an advert using the expertise of the advertising media members of our group or doing a documentary or news style product using the skills of the journalist. I thought this could be a good idea because our group had three media production students, who could focus entirely on the actual making of the product and allow the other members to come up the idea and theory behind the film, creating roles for each of us to play in the group, instead of everybody trying to do everything.

However, it was quickly agreed that we would do a fictional film of some sort. We considered doing a comedy, but the group didn’t feel confident enough to make jokes that would appeal to the mass. Then the subject of horror came up and almost instantly we decided that it was the right genre to do. A number of the group particularly enjoyed watching horrors and had lots of ideas and inspirations to work from. The initial stages of pre-production moved very fast, with ideas being decided on almost instantly. It wasn’t until the details had to be finalised that conflicts started to arise. Using the resources we had available to us, a horror film based on students in Coventry Cathedral seemed the most obvious and easiest to film.

Our inspirations came from the recently released “Paranormal Activities” and “The Blair Witch Project”, two films which use handheld cameras to establish a more eerie atmosphere than just using regular film cameras. Both films also use unseen ghosts or demons to create fear, which we felt was something that would benefit us because we wouldn’t need to use effects to make a ghost, we could simply rely on the unknown to generate fear. As we began to discuss more of the film, it became much more difficult to come up with a worthwhile ending, which became the predominant cause of conflict in the group. Some members didn’t like some of the ideas and that became an issue when other members mistook the disliking of their ideas as a personal attack, because no counter ideas were being put forward. This greatly slowed down the brainstorming process because every time an idea would be discussed, we would have to go through the process of convincing the group member why the idea wouldn’t work and why it wasn’t anything to do with personal feelings. Unfortunately, this became the main focus of the discussion, taking concentration away from the project, and its this, which I feel, is the overriding reason for why I consider our 72-hour product a failure. The most basic point of our video suffered because of this, as we couldn’t decide if it was to be a film trailer or an advert, meaning that when it came to filming, it became a case of just filming what we could and creating an actual product later on.

Location scouting was easy, as we knew we wanted to film in the cathedral. The only cause for concern was in getting permission to film there, however that was solved quickly as I phoned the head offices and arranged a short meeting to sign a permission form.

The day shoot was easier than anticipated. As intended I stayed behind the camera working on production with another media production student whilst the rest of the group were our group of students on a tour of the old Cathedral ruins. There was difficulty when filming the group walking, particularly when trying to get more than one angle, because it was near impossible for the group to walk in the exact same positions every time. This is something that would have to be overcome in editing. Not having a script also didn’t really hinder our progress, as the other members of the group acted and reacted very naturally to each other, which I feel gave our final product a more authentic feel in terms of dialogue.

There were production difficulties on the shoot however. When we looked at locations the previous evening, the lighting from street lamps seemed suitable. When it was on camera on the other hand it was incredibly difficult to make out any detail of the characters. The group made the decision to film in night vision as opposed to adding it in post-production, which was the original idea because then it wouldn’t lock us into having to have it in night vision. However we felt it was more important to get footage we could see than keep our options open with footage that is useless.

The editing also went quite well, but it did become apparent that we had a lot of footage that would not be able to be used otherwise we would greatly go over the allowed time. There were also some issues with making the footage we had work, as continuity became a big problem. Having only used Avid a few times the editing took a long time, but gladly we got it done in the time we had. I took control in the editing, again because I have a media production background, and I consulted the group when larger decisions needed to be made. The biggest decision to be made was whether we would use the footage to create a trailer or an opening, and this was a decision we would go backwards and forwards on more than once. Finally, we decided to do a trailer, which used a small clip of the film to promote it, instead of a traditional trailer, which uses lots of very short clips pieced together from the entire movie.

Overall, I wasn’t happy with the finished product. Even though the filming and editing went well, the first group meeting where decisions weren’t made was the reason for the final product not turning out how I personally wanted it to. Far too much time was lost discussing what wouldn’t be done instead of talking about what would be done, and how we could make a viable, believable ending to our product. I really believe if we could make it again then it would be a better product, because, learning from our mistake, we could really hone in on what went wrong and go into the actual production with a much clearer idea of what we were looking to produce.

PREDATORS by Mike Finch & Alex Litvak, Robert Rodriguez

12 July 09

90 pages

Nimrod Antal directing

Robert Rodriguez producing

Starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Danny Trejo

Troublemaker producing for Fox

In pre-production now

A little meta moment first: sorry for being out of pocket for these couple weeks, but fatherhood and Thanksgiving conspired to keep me away.  I’m going to try to get back to my previous output soon.  Bear with me.

I have a deep respect for Robert Rodriguez – the guy knows how to make movies for a price, he’s an iconoclast who has always found a way to do what he wants, and he’s not a stylist, priding himself more on making a movie what it wants to be rather than making a movie what he wants it to be.  That being said, he misses as often as he hits.  “Planet Terror” was undercooked.  “Spy Kids” and its sequels are great, but “Shark Boy & Lava Girl” and “Shorts” did not recapture that magic.  And yes, I might lose all credibility with a sector of my audience here, but I’m not a fan of “Sin City.”

Rodriguez producing this “Predators” reboot-sequel makes all the sense in the world, actually.  The original was exactly the kind of made-on-the-cheap great genre flick that Rodriguez does so well  This isn’t a project predicated on aesthetics, but rather story and sizzle, Rodriguez’s strong suits.  It’s being directed by Nimrod Antal, whose latest film “Armored” comes out in a couple weeks.   Armored’s script hurt my eyes the 12 times I had to read it.  Apparently Rodriguez was hired to write “Predators” back in 1996, and this is based on that script.  **I’ve just added a link below to Rodriguez’s original ‘96 script (thanks, DS!), and after I read it I’ll let you guys know how it measures up.**

Are they still together? I can't keep track anymore.

The story starts with ROYCE, EDWIN, ISABELLE and four others waking up while they land in an unknown jungle, no one knowing where they are or what they’re doing there.  They’re all killers, assassins, soldiers, warriors, supposedly worthy prey.  Turns out they’re being hunted by the titular predators, here described as Super Predators – jacked up, like the original on steroids.  This is a game preserve on an alien planet and they’ve got to fight their way out.  Along the way, they run into NOLAND, who has survived on the planet for decades.  The finale has Royce surviving to do battle with the last Super Predator while Edwin tries to kill Isabelle.  An alternate ending included in the script has a ship land in the final frames of the film and Dutch himself, now some kind of Predator leader, descend from the gangplank to congratulate Royce on a job well done.

No more script links, guys.

Robert!

I’m running low on Salt Lick sauce.  Can you send over another case?  What do they put in their brisket?  It makes my tongue cry happy.

Thanks for PREDATORS.  It’s pretty good, but between you and me, it can be a hell of a lot better.  You have an opportunity to make whatever movie you want.  Fox has given you a massive amount of latitude, they aren’t going to interfere, and you know that if you even do a half-ass job, the movie will do well.  You’ve got some great talent  – Adrien Brody is obviously wonderful, and nobody kicks ass like Danny Trejo.  I really like Topher Grace, too.  I think he’s underrated, and he has an offbeat staccato synchronicity to him that dovetails perfectly with Edwin the serial killer.  So with all these eggs in your basket, you can choose to throw some shit on screen and be done with it, which is about where I’d say the script is now, or you can come up with something better.

You Brody haters are short-sighted. It's an inspired bit of casting, I think.

I’m not talking about reinventing the wheel, either – I’m just talking about making sure that the script pays off on its concept and doesn’t lapse into plot laziness.

I think there’s an endemic problem with the conceit here.  PREDATOR was about an alien hunter on Earth – seems he’d been there for awhile, because local legend spoke of him, although the opening of the movie showed his ship landing – hunting down Ahnuld and his buddies.  It didn’t seem like a fair fight; the Predator, after all, is an alien with amazing technology at his disposal, while the soldiers are just guys with guns.  But Ahnuld is on his home turf while the Predator is all alone on an alien world, which appears to even things up a bit.

But here, Royce and the others have a few guns and not much else, they’re dropped in the middle of an alien place with virtually no preparation, and the Predators not only are numerous, but they’re souped-up versions who also have alien dogs and birds-of-prey at their disposal.  What’s the challenge there?  The Predators are set up to be honorable warriors, even only killing prey who’re armed.  They aren’t the kind of killers who enjoy an unfair fight.  The first movie establishes that Dutch and his crew are complete badasses, and only then does the Predator go after them. But if these Super Predators can’t kill a few measly disoriented humans, then they don’t much deserve their mandibles.

I am Predator! I am late for the 4:15 of New Moon! Team Jacob!

There are a few ways to fix this problem.  Maybe the Predators should prep the humans more, give them supplies, better weapons, information about where they are and so on.  Maybe the game preserve isn’t a jungle, but rather a fake town or fort, created to give the humans a fighting chance. Perhaps the Predators are just as much captives as the humans, both played against each other for the amusement of some other alien race.  Perhaps you simply hang a lantern on the fact that this is an unfair fight, and pass off these Predators as the equivalent of English fox hunters; the kill is an inevitability, and a gruesome one at that. Or maybe the Predators should hobble themselves somehow; they aren’t allowed to use all their tricks and gadgets, camo, armor, what have you.

That last option could be cool – when the humans start succeeding at fighting back, the Predators have to trot out more and more of their tricks in an attempt to vanquish the prey.  This would have the added benefit of ramping up the stakes as the script goes on; start with a food fight, move into a fist fight, a knife fight, a gun fight, and finally global thermofuckingnuclear war.

I will hunt you down and kill you just as soon as I return my books to the library!

You know me – I like scripts that are transformational.  I’m always looking for layers – ALIEN isn’t just about fighting a bloodthirsty alien, it’s also about a corrupt corporation.  POLTERGEIST is about subdivisions and real estate as well as things that go bump in the day.  The original PREDATOR involves the CIA, a guerilla war, and US meddling in Latin America.  So where are the layers here?  As written, the best that could be done might be a real character arc, hammering something into Royce and showing how he goes from being a cold-blooded killer who works on his own to someone willing to sacrifice himself to save Isabelle.  I don’t think that’s good enough, though, so the trick becomes how to find another story to tell here.  Since we’re on an alien planet, that becomes a little bit harder, and since the characters are basically transported there without knowing anything, that becomes even harder.

One idea: perhaps you exploit Edwin-as-serial-killer thing.  He’s the lone mystery in the script and I kept waiting for something amazing to happen with him.  I was hoping for a surprise, someplace where he’d turn and show off just why he’s so crazy.  That scene in the pit with Isabelle doesn’t count – it’s a placeholder at best, downright boring at worst.  I think you can do a lot more with the concept.  At what point does Edwin turn?  Could it be that the Predators brought him there because they believe he’s the ultimate predator?  How many people has he killed?  Perhaps he starts killing everyone else, and at first they think it’s the Predators but then they realize it’s one of their own, 10 Little Indians on Ceti Alpha VI.  Maybe he knew about the alien planet already, maybe he helped the Predators track down all these bad-ass bad asses, maybe he’s in cahoots with the Predators.  I’m grasping here, because there’s just so little to hold on to aside from the shit-blows-up parts of the script.

Noland presents other problems.  He’s nothing more than a placeholder here, a speed bump.  He’s a fascinating character – he’s survived for years, killed more than his share of Predators, and seems to know all there is to know.  I like the twist that he tries to dispatch our characters so quickly, but it means that his character is squandered.  I want him to try to kill them and then they’re forced to join with him.  The script needs that kind of conflict – too often it seems like you’re just hoping that people will argue and clash just because of their personalities.  In a script like this, I don’t think that’s enough.

A few smaller thoughts… The opening needs a set piece of some sort.  Challenge the characters right off the bat with immediate jeopardy.  Force characters to make hard choices right away.  Scenes of characters parachuting into the jungle isn’t enough.  Maybe they’re chased right off the bat – maybe not by a Predator, maybe by an indigenous life form.  Maybe they wonder why this weird animal is in wherever they think they are (Latin America, maybe?).

Do what you can to make us believe that they’re on Earth, so that when it turns out they aren’t, we’ll be as shocked as they.  Hopefully you can find another way to do it, but the movie needs a ‘what was the last thing you remember?’ kind of conversation, as the characters try to piece together how they ended up there.  You definitely need a better conversation at the moment they realize they’re on another planet.  Silent pondering and one character’s WTF does not a good scene make.  This moment is epic; these characters have just had their minds blown upside down and back again.  Give them a moment to realize the gravity, and give them something interesting to say about it.

Predator kill! Also, Predator babysits for $15 an hour.

Be careful with foregrounding the characters all wondering what’s hunting them.  We already know what it is, so we’re far ahead of the main characters and that’s a bad thing.  The only possibility here is that you hang a lantern on the fact that we know more than they do, but I’m not a fan of that.  Get it over with in the first act, so they think they’re being hunted by aliens in El Salvador or somewhere.  Let the holy shit moment be the revelation that they’re on an alien planet.  I’d also move that hunting camp scene that comes at the start of the second act – I think it would accomplish more if it’s later.

I think the script has a ways to go before it’s ready for production.  I know you’re aiming to release next summer, but I’d rethink that.  In fairness to you, I’m quite sure you’ll get Nimrod to deliver a decent movie at a price that’ll make back its nut and then some – but if you stick with this draft, it won’t be as good as it could’ve been.

I’ll be in Austin next week.  Dinner’s on me, drinks are on you.

- John

more fantastic Predator cosplay pictures here (via io9)

These are either deconstructions of short films to aid our construction of the sort film medium

Or they are deconstructions of short or feature films realated to the crime thriller genre.

Black Hole

Good Luck Jeffrey Brown

This is the first draft of our Plot synopsis for our short drama thriller film.

Plot Synopsis

Jake, Reid: you’re absolutely right

That was a really hurtful and completely unfair thing for me to say on that earlier post (“people everywhere”) and I want to make a public apology. Sometimes the tendency for myself is to pick up more acutely on negative energy instead of positive and whether or not I am getting that from the crew or outside of it, that’s still not a fair thing to say and it’s not fair of me to continue channeling bad vibes. The passion this crew has for this film is a rarity in the history of this class (at least, that’s what Lisa tells me and she’s been doing it for… ever practically) but so many thing tear at my attention that I feel I lose sight of it.

So “Still” crew, I really, sincerely apologize and I hope you realize that just like anybody else in this class, the work can occasionally get me down, resulting in me being mentally reckless. I do promise from now on to keep check on my attitude. You all hand picked me and the script and I am honored and it is rude of me to take that for granted. I do recognize your passion, but obviously, I need reminders.

Thank you for everything thus far. We’re not out of the woods yet, probably not even half way in!–but I have a good feeling about this set. Come Jan, we’re going to see some intense magic. I do feel good about this crew–don’t ever doubt that. I said it in my pitch and I’ll say it again, this is probably one of the most talented crops of people to take this class (another notion Lisa seconds)

On Friday, look forward to some exciting things:

1. Footage from auditions and callbacks of mine and Karyn’s favorite Jamies and Dessies (plural…?)

2. Building Jamie’s library. Please remember to bring books on Friday for David to take home. I will bring boxes to carry them. If you like, bring other things you think Jamie would have as a writer… and I’ll be purposefully vague with that one. Please let your mind go nuts

3. and perhaps camera test footage… I will confirm with Ricky….

So I have a simple Dreamweaver project due tomorrow…except I’m not using Dreamweaver =P
Actually, I’m using it, but as a coder (which is totally different, for those of you who don’t know).
Here are some screen captures that I took from my mac in class ( I <3 U, Mac!)

The pre-production of my still untitled short film has finally started. Although I’m bit behind my intended schedule, I’m happy that finally things are now coming out of the scripting stage and the ball has started rolling. Regarding the script, I’m satisfied with the way the story has finally turned out. There are still some loose ends to be tied and some more pruning to be done -something which will continue until the rehearsals I presume-, but overall I’m satisfied with the story structure and how each character has turned out to be. Few friends of mine, whose opinions and sensibilities I conform with, have liked the story and have also given some good suggestions and insights which have helped my script. I continue to talk with few more people whose insights might help and tighten the script further.

In terms of casting and crew, casting is almost 75% done and crew hiring & hunting is on. The fact that my story has now seven characters, each equally important to the story, makes the process of casting actors quite daunting. Getting the right crew is equally important too, especially the Director of photography (DOP) and the Editor. Few people I were counting upon earlier have sort of back tracked. But the positive outcome of that is that after I started looking for alternatives, I talked with one DOP who seems now much better than the guy who I was earlier relying upon. So, as they say, problems could be in fact opportunities in disguise.

Till the scripting stage, you are the boss; living in the world of your story/characters and controlling everything. But once the pre-production starts, your different type of skills are tested and you seem to start losing control of things one by one. Whoever said that scripting is perhaps the easiest part of the film making challenges and headaches was quite right. The real battle begins when you start working with other people and with uncontrollable variables to realize your story on screen. But hey, that’s the real fun..right?. I mean I’m doing this because, for more than anything else, I love this challenge of creating something out of all these impossibilities; a challenge which only filmmaking could provide for me.

this weekend I made a TO DO OR DIE LIST to keep me on track (and yet I’m still blogging. good grief) because I have more things to do than I can get done this weekend and not entirely because of procrastination. It’s more like I can’t always concentrate well enough to get things done in my house.

I am being set up for success: the only other woman in the house is Lala (who is now a new auntie as of yesterday and will now be Tante Lala or Aunt Lolly or any other disgusting name to make her cringe), I’m off school and therefore off “Still” for a little bit, Jared is up in Monterey with his tribe–and in short, there is no one around to distract me.

One of the top priorities on the TO DO OR DIE was to finish the script break down, and I did. But now that we have had to make rewrites (thanks Kyle for obliging) I need to print out the new script and write my note down on it. For breakdowns, you want to decide what the characters are trying to do with their actions and words. This line, you’re trying to make her angry. This arm movement, you are trying to comfort her. This look, you are letting her know you’re conflicted. But in scenes like the opening page where the birth and clean bedroom are intercut, you are supposed to delineate what each cut is trying to achieve within the audience. Kyle wrote some pretty good parallelism into this scene that I’m sure is bound to confuse everyone but by the end of the bathroom scene (9), you should be piecing together that something went horribly wrong. This at least is my hope.

But now it’s done and I’m back to focusing on my Kurasawa papers. After Monday I can go back and fine tune the break down. For now, a break.

Ok this seems to work much better!

Complete animatic

Now that we have our survey data, we can finalise out plot sysnopsis, the group has agreed on characters and narrative so our next task is to write up the plot synopsis and begin story boarding.

We have now collated all survey results including both the online and paper hand out surveys. Follow the link to the data analysis and summary.

It’s November and that means it’s casting season.

It’s a time of immense frustration, confusion, learning and apologizing.

I attended callbacks with Karyn, but Kyle did not come with me. After an awkward phone conversation, we felt it was best that he did not tag along, but I still wanted him very much to watch the tapes. Because the crew seems to think that I rely too heavily upon Kyle’s opinion, I’ve been forced to as Lisa put it “divorce” him. I wasn’t comfortable with that in my heart, and I knew it. I just wish I had not waited until his disgruntled phone call to admit it. I still want Kyle to be a part of this process. He deserves to be. Even though having to relate to him can be hard, I feel grounded when I do. I can hang up with him, knead at the headache lurking behind my brows and say to myself, “thank God there is someone else in this for something other than the grade or the reel material.” Having a relationship with the writer is like having a friend, mentor, brother, consultant, client and partner all in one and needs just as much maintenance.

And what I saw at callbacks was somewhat satisfactory. I found what I believe to be our Dessie and midwife and at  the time, even a Jamie. But watching the tapes with Karyn, Ricky and Kyle, it became clear to me that we needed to continue the search for our lead male as well as the doula. I loved sneaking peaks at Ricky and Kyle’s faces to see how they reacted to what they were seeing. THe next day Karyn and I sat down with Lisa to watch the tapes and received more negative feedback. She wasn’t truly impressed with anyone, not even with our favored Dessie candidate and told us that she had worked with our favored Midwife before and was not happy with the results. So not only are we going to do more casting for Jamie but we need to call back a bunch of Dessies that couldn’t make it to last weekend’s callbacks AND find a new midwife as well as a doula.

But my philosophy is this: do not settle.

I will find the perfect people for this film. So much depends on them being phenomenal.

So Rowan and Sandy have been working very hard over the last week or so and I now have over half of the songs completly composed, about a quarter written and half composed and 2 or 3 still waiting in the wings.

Its great to hear the music finally coming into existance, its giving me a lot more inspiration to get the film into gear. Even just listening to the music I can see (and hear) the film taking form. I can’t wait to start shooting!

Rehearsals begin again with the new script next week as well. Unfortunatly we wont have Liam Nolan again until the shoot as he is away, but I’m sure he will pick it up really quickly.

Might put up one of the songs when its properly recorded (or a smaple of the song) Until next time! – Adam