This is me on the set of "Toast" a 48 Hour Film Project Fall Shoot Out short film I co-wrote and assistant directored.
If you haven't guessed I'm not the one in the tub.
The film will be available on-line soon for voting. I will forward the details as they become available.
Turning over a new leaf here at themudthebloodthebeer. I've decided to branch out from the core idea of writing about filmmaking. Oh, heck yeah, it's my favorite thing in the world so I'll keep writing about it movies, script writing and film making, but I need a place to put down the ideas, stories and picture about me, my life and my writing/filmmaking. So there might eventually be a face lift, but now the unpleasant color change will have to do.
So for now, here's the best looking thing I've made in a long time.
Cool blog about one person's journey in film making:
http://www.filmschoolstudent.com/
P.S. Doesn't 'ally' look like a weird word that must be spelled wrong?
WHAT I DID TODAY THAT WILL HELP ME BE A visual FILMMAKER!
This is not what I did today, but what I've been doing this week, today included:
1. I am planning to shoot some test footage for a friend who is going to direct his first short film.
I'm excited because his script is good and visually challenging to make. We have the chance to do it right and develop a look before we actually get into the mess that is making the film.
WHAT I DID TODAY THAT WILL HELP ME BE A better FILMMAKER!
Actually I'm pretty far behind in updating this but here goes:
1. I started editing the script for my horror short. I'm playing with ideas about the timeline. Should I use flashbacks, tell it out of order, tell it straight.
2. I am directing a video project at work. My first professional project. It is draining and not necessarily what I want to do, but I get to sit with an editor for three days this week and talk and learn about story telling. A great opportunity.
UPDATE: I'm getting my creative ass handed to me by my editor. It's amazing the difference between someone who can edit (me) and an EDITOR. I think there are three directors on a film/video project writer, director on set, and editor. I'm learning that I might have some talent at the first two, but I have a lot to learn on the third.
WHAT I DID TODAY THAT WILL HELP ME BE A publicized FILMMAKER!
1. Emailed host of video blog about being a guest on his show to talk about this year's 48 Hour Film Project.
I'm going away for the weekend, I assure you I will be doing things that will help me be a film maker, I just won't be able to document them.
Expect three things on Monday.
In an effort to actually post, welcome to my new short post series:
WHAT I DID TODAY THAT WILL HELP ME BE A FILMMAKER!
1. Started this series.
2. (actually a few days ago) Finished the first draft of a horror short.
I’m going to try to post at least one thing everyday for at least a week. If I make myself post maybe it will force me to do someting everyday to help me be a filmmaker.
Not that I'm not already a film maker, that is unless the name becomes void if you are inactive for to long.
Wish me luck!
I'm working too hard on someone else's short film. My tired waking hours are spent recovering from long work week followed by long work weekends. I don't feel bad about not writing...
I am thinking about writing three pivotal scenes to get my juices flowing.
I am thinking alot about some other things that I want to write but am fighting the urge to drop the current story and move to the newer, shinier things.
Although I am too entrenched in someone else’s short film, it is a good kick in the who-ha because it reminds me there’s no reason I can’t make my own film, short or otherwise.
Well, no other reason but myself.
I spent some more time yesterday on outlines. I’m so freaking glad I did this. The story changes so much before you put it down on paper. It grows and gets better (I hope). Once you start to write a scene with dialog and descriptions it’s very painful to throw that out because it doesn’t serve the plot… and usually it detracts from the plot. My first screenplay had almost no outline. But it was a real talkie and I let my characters basically do or say what they wanted. It turned out fine, but it has played in nary a mega-plex and oh, yeah, it hasn’t sold or been made yet. I’ll try the measured approach this time.
I outlined some more today. I need to see where I’m going so I can eventually worry about just what I’m working on in each individual scene.
Ideas are flowing, new scenes and character development comes to me as my mind wanders around the story. I now know what happened to mom because there were dishes to wash.
Still no names.
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you.
-Bob Dylan
After the Red Sox lost in 2003, I swore that I would live by this Bob Dylan line. I’m going to make my own entertainment, control my own destiny and live my own life. I wasn’t going to waste my time and live the roller coaster of living life from afar. I’m too young to live vicariously through others. I might have my timeline off, but I seem to remember that is when I really got crackin’ on my first screenplay. I sat in the cold and drafty front room of my house and wrote. I can’t remember the details but in less than a year I had a screenplay. It helped that work was slow and I had much less responsibility at that point.
Two years later we have a world championship, a finished screenplay and unfortunately a false start or two on the second screenplay.
So now the season is abruptly over. I’m not too heartbroken. New York is also out of it and winning last year has taken the sting out of the loss. It’s time to start getting my kicks on my own again. I’m excited about writing.
I’ve been setting the end of the baseball season as a deadline for myself. After a few days of writing I have a very rough (and minimalist) outline and just under two pages. There are some very important pieces missing. The first thing I’m going to work on from here is character names.
Also, I’ve been researching. I wanted to write about a serial killer. After reading up, I had to rethink the relationships between the characters because my vision of these murders was a very two-dimensional.
One thing I also have to think about is, am I going to make this film? Today the answer is yes. I really don’t want to be a screenwriter, I want to be a director. The script is a tool to get me behind the camera. I will, however write the screenplay as if I was going to sell it. I want it to be polished and I want people to be able to see it because obviously actors and possibly investors will want to see it.
The cart is officially before the horse.
Haven’t heard from Scott.
Started doing research on a serial killer type thing I’m thinking about. Trying to figure out how to pull off a believable bad guy in a situation I’ve been toying with for awhile.
My elevator pitch?
“Misery in reverse.”
Haven't heard anything from Scott about the script, hopefully he's busy and not avoiding me. I'm used to being reject by a much higher caliber of people. I'll wait.
I finished a draft of the short horror film and sent it off to my collaborator. It was weird writing something that I know will be altered and isn't for general consumption. I felt I could get away with writing the dramatic chase at the end as:
"Hiding and being chased in the woods. SCARY."
... instead of describing what each shot or action would be. As long as I can get the gist and plot down, we can tweak all that later. Also, I know that anything I write will be changed when we get to the location to shoot.
I have one major concern about the story. Actually I have many concerns but I am a paranoid worrier and will concern myself at this writing with one. I am nervous about what happens when we see the scary thing in the woods for the first time. Echoes of test audiences laughing at a mechanical Jaws inspire me to show less. Obscuring equals more complex blocking equals more work during a night shoot where no one gets paid and there will be child actors.
Did I mention there’s a cat?
So now I’m writing a different story that Scott, the other creative involved in the short horror film project, came up with. He actually came up with the kernel and I’ve run with it, then I showed him some stuff and he modified it. This weekend I will write the whole thing… or at least a draft of it.
I abandoned (for now) my old idea because Scott’s is so much easier to shoot. Probably one location, possibly 4 cast members, hopefully to be shot in one weekend.
Wish me luck on sitting in my home office in the hottest room in the house and actually writing something good.
... lots of excuses.
I've been on vacation and traveling for work like a bat out of money. I just sat down and wrote the beginning of an outline for the short horror film. I'm nervous about it being ____ enough. Why the blank space? I don't know exactly what makes a great movie different from a merely good movie. Once I figure out what ____ is I'll be all set.
More travel tomorrow. Progress is a slow, dry heat.
More when I'm back from Vegas.
Here are the shorts I directed in 48 hours:
Here's a lo-fi short that took a little longer:
Here's a 48 hour short that I co-wrote:
Here's a music video I shot:
Visit our YouTube page: www.youtube.com/cohnjoyne
