Saturday, January 26, 2013

The hidden virtues of (potential) failure.

So we kicked off the indiegogo campaign yesterday and its been going slow. While I think everyone enters into that process with a hope and a dream of massive funding to be honest there is the element of speculative investment that keeps people from getting behind it. It's a work that is just now finishing pre production, with a group of people who are known for stage work and smaller projects then a feature.

So reluctance on the part of the crowd funding world makes perfect sense.

On the other hand as I was sitting there idly wondering if I had reached too large. (Probably) And if I was mad to throw so much into this as my own speculative investment. (Certainly) It did hit me. come hell or high water this is getting made.

Angel, Ashlee, Tommy  and the other characters of this work have been knocking around in my head for the last two years. If I have to reconfigure the story to cover funding issues or situations with gear. Then that's what I'll do. This is going to be an amazing ride, where you will follow these people into a world just beneath the surface of the world we know where dark things dwell, and where reality is not what you might think.

I take my cues from PI and Primer. Too my mind two of the best Science Fiction/Fantasy films of the last few years. Both were made on shoe strings and both told amazing stories. They reflected an amazing sense of vision which I hope to at least be in the ball park of emulating.

So check out the indiegogo page, http://www.indiegogo.com/Nightshade  feel free to donate spread the word around or whatever. In the mean time we're setting up the shoots for the show and I am looking forward to what we will get.

And then once that's done, there's season 2 two think of.

Film and the joy of budgets

So I put up the indiegogo campaign yesterday and in my mind I am hoping to do well with it but time will tell.

In the meantime as donations come in I think of what can be used for the production with the money. When shooting a video production audio is always a key issue, so I've been pricing microphone sets and either recorders to do sound externally or ways to jack the sound directly to the camera. My first ever attempt at a short film was a lot of fun but killed stone dead by bad audio so I try to keep an eye on that.

Makeup, did you know that makeup grade latex costs about $80 dollars a gallon? Mind you that can go a long way but still. That and color wheels and other goodies as well. I know some very good makeup people who are donating their time but I do draw the line at making them pay for their own supplies. I'm running low budget but I'm not heartless. Mostly.

Cameras. Seriously, go to B+H photo someday and see what a good commercial grade camcorder can run you, its a little intimidating. I do have access to some good ones through the school I work at but having a consistent piece of gear to shoot with saves a ton of time and trouble.

The key point for me is building up a collection of gear and a group of people capable of telling this warped story and a few others we have in mind to follow. Showing off the talents of all these mazing folks who have signed on with me to try their hand at this and showing off that Nebraska is quite capable of doing a lot more than you might think.

Did I mention that film making is kind of both the best and worst of obsessive behavior? It takes quite a few people to make a project happen and a lot of skill to keep it all on the rails. As the process goes on I look forward to telling the stories about the people who I work with and all the madness we get into as we do this.

Best to you all out there in the blogosphere! Wish us luck.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

And so it begins

Do you know what film making is? It seriously is Obsessive compulsive behaviour at both its best and worst.

Seriously find a group of people willing to take their vision spend months putting it down as a script, then go out hunt down the talent, the crew and above all the money it takes to make it all happen.  They are few and far between.

So the last few months have been an excellent example to me in the basics of film making and what you need.

The first is an idea. Those I am rarely short of, if I am not doing something else, I am most often found writing.

Second, gear. So far so good, I have an unusual part time job. I keep the AV studios open for a local community college, and help the students with issues with software editing etc. The plus side of this aside from them paying me 9$ an hour for it is that I can check out any gear not being used by students.   To say this has come in handy would be an understatement.

Third Friends, and heres where I point out that this list is in no particular order. Working in a AV program you meet some amazing people. These people are often looking to shoot and broaden their  portfolios and do work in general. So I have an amazing talent pool of people to choose from. But big props to Mark Wegener, and Mike Machian. Both of whom helped above and beyond.

Then there's patience. Any person in a project knows the joy of setting up then losing locations, recasting at the very last second and wondering why that one piece of gear simply will not work no matter you do.

The last few months have helped to show me all these things, and especially the last and now....

Well now I am a short period of time from pulling the trigger on an indiegogo campaign to raise the money I need for gear of my own and to handle the other expenses that come with filming. Pinning my hopes to what I hope is a very generous public out there.

Wish me and the ones I consider mine luck. We could use it, the next few months will be exciting and I'll keep you abreast here.