Short Horror

So now I’m back to writing about writing.

I was stuck on a few airplanes this week and started to write down the skeleton of a short film that I hope I can get made in time for the Salem Horror Film Fest. The deadline is sometime in September for showings in October during Salem, Mass’ huge celebration of all things scary. Coincidentally I got married in October in Salem.

Just a coincidence.

The story is a mash up of a couple of some made up things and stuff that happened to me and people I know. Right now I’m debating on whether I should go the supernatural route or a story more based in reality. There seems to be no requirement other than scariness for this film fest. I think the real world is much scarier than ghouls and goblins, but in the spirit of the competition I may include something a little mysterious, if not paranormal.

On the plane I scribbled on a printed page that had some earlier ideas on it. I filled the paper with words, which was satisfying. I started to write in short story form, in the first person. This will obviously have to change, but I wanted to get the feeling of the perspective of the protagonist down on paper. This may end up as narration in the film, or maybe not. I love films that tell as little as possible and make you watch. Although getting the back story in that will make you care about our hero and his plight by purely visual means will take some time and might kill the ‘short’ of the short film.

In case you were wondering:

Logline: A kid has a bad experience in a cemetery.

The next step is to get it off the paper and into the computer. Followed by more writing, then somehow forcing it into a film structure.

So You Wanna See It?

Not Really Like This the movie.

The Awful Blogger

I need to get back to posting often. Which also means I need to get back to writing often. Slight problem, I’m tired of “Something Awfu”l and I’m excited about “Untitled Thriller”. Well, let me finish talking about the 48 Hour Film Project and then I’m of the races. Races = Staring past a silent keyboard at a blank screen.

Fixing the wrong line
Editing
The competition

So we had the wrong line. It should have been a deal breaker, but it ended up being no problem. I get to my editor's house Sunday morning and he doesn’t know we have the wrong line. I break the bad news. He sighs. Immediately we have plan. The once scary fact that he had to leave me for 2 hours to go to a friend’s christening now becomes a blessing and an improptu ADR session. Luckily the only time the line is spoken is by an unseen audience. He takes his mini DV camera to the party and records the unsuspecting family and friends saying the right line. A quick call to my animator and songwriter in Maine fixes the animation and song for the opening. I’m now glad that he put his work off until the last minte. Phew.

So I learned in the editing process, using an experienced editor, what an art and a science it is. He fixed so many ‘problems’ it made me ashamed to think I could just up and edit. Also, he was more than a fixer, he was an enhancer. He knew where we lingered too long. He knew that a particular shot was a great idea, but didn’t fit when the pieces were all assembled. One thing he said early was that we wouldn’t have enough time to edit, even if it were a 72 hour film festival, but we’ll do it anyway. I am a lucky bastard.

The film was finished and we turned it in. Of course there are more details but I really need to start working on a new project. I will say that some, if not most, of the other movies were great and fun to watch. You saw so many levels of experience and technical skill. It was very rare to see people who didn’t have great ideas. Some films were too long. Some of the exection wasn’t clear enough. But all of them were inventive and original. Experience and an extra few hours would have helped. There’s probably some life lesson there that can be applied to everyone. I’ll look into it.

And oh, yeah, we didn’t win.

Almost Done

So here’s what I’m going to talk about in this second to last post about my experiences in the 48 Hour Film Project:

Working with actors
Somebody else shooting

So this wasn’t the first time I had worked with actors. At my day job, there is always someone on the other side of the camera, but I rarely tell them more than where to stand to get the best light. Now I had to tell them stuff like, you’re supposed to be nervous, but not scared. The intimidating part about that is that I had to know why he was supposed to be nervous but not scared. I wrote the guy, I made him up out of thin air (thin air + brainstorming with story folks). It was a thrilling experience not only because I did know why my actor had to act like that, but also because they listened to me. It proves one of my life theories that many people who are successful have more balls than talent. If you can convince people that you know what you are doing, it’s almost as good, and probably more necessary, than actually knowing what you are doing. Example; I’m pretty sure that last sentence was grammatically wrong and at the very least poor English... but I wrote it, you read it and my point is that it’s out there and like my movie I didn’t let a thing like making sure it was right get in the way. (I did it again.)

I had planned to shoot my own film. Luckily a director I worked with got very excited about the prospect of working on something different and volunteered to do anything on the film. I gave him the camera. He is a brilliant director who used to be a brilliant shooter. Well, he still is a brilliant shooter. His ability to light, shoot and select some shots allowed me to be a director. It was a strange sensation to have someone else set up for me. But if I didn’t have someone so focused behind the camera I wouldn’t have the film I have now. An experienced person suggesting shots and set ups is invaluable. As a director he also knew what shots would cut together and which would not. I tried to be in every decision about shot selection and the look of the film, but that proved impossible. My favorite shot in the film actually was conceived, executed and ‘printed’ while I was talking props on the other side of the studio. It was bittersweet to think I had nothing to do with it, but it is a great shot and I can only say I’m jealous for not coming up with it.

More later about:

Fixing the wrong line
Editing
The competition

I promise

I will post copiusly very soon.

So Sorry

I dropped the ball and haven't been updating. I was out of town for work for a week and then on vacation for a week. At least I was in LA. Although no one offered me any work...

I made these 'lobby cards' for the movie... instead of writing, of course. Lobby cards from the 40's and 50's are my favorite kind of movie promotion, especially for bad movies. These are very modern. I might try to make some older looking ones soon.

Places everyone...

... this string of pearls.

Behind the scenes... not really.

The two Jays.

The time machine!!!

Another angle, there's always another angle.

The view from way back.

The ever important 'sitting in'.

A wide establish shot of a tight shot.

We all didn't move this fast.

I'm Getting There...

When I got on the set I realized, with the help of some very astute teammates, that the script was long… damn long. If you subscribe to the ‘one page, one minute’ theory, I had a thirteen minute script for a movie that at maximum could be 7 minutes. The people in charge of the project stressed that shorter is better and by no measure was the script I wrote short. This led to a meeting of knowledgeable teammates that eventually inspired wholesale cuts in the script. Funny little aside jokes were cut. Redundant explanations were removed. Ideas that I wanted to add as we filmed were discouraged. This was painful. Unfortunately we only whittled the script down by a few pages and it was still a long movie when it went before the camera. More pain would follow in editing.

As the noon call time arrived, everyone I invited (or asked, or begged) to show up, did. It was thrilling to see people gathering around to create something. It was some time, possibly two hours, before we rolled on our first take. The energy was still there when we finally got a good take (after about 3) in the can, and surprisingly it was still there about 10 hours later.

One thing I learned about not being the sole producer while trying to direct: I found myself answering my cell phone while I was trying to make creative decisions. As the only real contact person, I handled just about every question about just about everything. Not a good plan. Next year someone else will know the answers and will be holding my cell phone.

The closest thing I had to another producer was my darling wife. She not only allowed me to use our family savings account to pay for the film, she also assisted at every turn when asked or when not asked. She seemed to enjoy herself and we’re still married, which is impressive by Hollywood standards.

I’ve decided shorter posts might help me post more, so more on this subject later… maybe tomorrow.

The helmet, uh, in action?

The Wrong Line and How It Shaped Our Movie

So I hinted in the last post that we had the wrong line of dialog. It’s all my fault. In my crazed state of first time producer, director and all around smart guy, I couldn’t find the sheet that had the line of dialog. If that line was even a little off the film would not be eligible for the competition. A dozen people were starting to file into my house and I needed that damn, I mean darn, piece of paper.

Long story short, I called my co-worker’s team and asked for the line of dialog. Their producer said, “I’m not sure, I think it’s ‘I wasn’t always like this,’” or something like that. I can’t say for sure because, as I mentioned, I was crazed. It was not a malicious act to give us the wrong line, and in the long run it was good for us.

I doubt we would have gone with a time travel story if we had the line right. We decided that if you weren’t always like this, somehow you had to have gone back in time to make a change. With the collected brilliance in my living room, I’m sure we would have come up with something. But because we had the line wrong, we definitely were thinking about things other teams were not.

I woke up on time Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep made it very difficult to get out of bed. I’m not saying I slept in, but I planned to be at Boston Costume the second it opened at 9AM but ended up getting there sometime soon after 9. This would have been a symbol of the coming of a long, bad day, except of course, someone pulled out of the parking space directly in front of the store. One illegal U-turn and if I believed in fate, I would have agreed that it was on my side.

In my clouded mind’s eye I saw astronaut flight suits for my two 1950’s actors on the set of their ‘space-age’ mouthwash commercial. I knew Boston Costume was the place to go and it was. It was, that is if you wanted to drop $75 American on a 3-day rental for each suit. I had assumed a pricey rental cost so my back up plan was two $10 "Tyvek style" painter’s suits from Home Depot. Not to leave empty handed, they showed me the broken helmet for one of the space suits and offered to sell it to me for $20. It was a steal (and hardly broken). Later in the shoot day, friends Emily and Jen ‘futurized’ the Tyvek suits with colored electric tape, stencils and tin foil. The helmet topped off the ensemble and for under $50 bucks I had two original costumes that were better than I could have ever dreamed. (I have considered offering to sell them to Boston Costume.)

I also learned an important directing lesson here. I was no where near the costume design because I was on set trying to rally the troops and get something down on tape. I trusted the eye of two very talented people and was rewarded. I didn’t meddle or even have any instructions after I told my wife what to tell them. They ran with it and made amazing costumes. This is why I hate the term ‘independent film’. Collaboration is the key to making a film, of any length, scope or under any deadline. A huge team made a movie that one person could not have made.

More later…