Kickstarting this project

 So last week I started the Kickstarter campaign to try and source funding to do a re production of our class project for festivals. It's not that I feel our project is not good. I do, I feel it came out pretty good for what we had to work with, however to compete, we need more. So I started the campaign with the goal set pretty low,  $5000 as we don't need a huge amount to pull this off. We would need to acquire help with the filming process. The sound problems that we had were a nightmare for me, and I come from a sound background! Having a designated sound man would be beneficial and necessary. Then there was the acting..... We used child actors. They had various levels of experience and interest in the project or acting for that matter. Tyler is re working the script to make it more age appropriate to a r rating and we will be adjusting the characters age range to 17 or so from 12 to 18. The oldest role, Brandon would be 19. This would free us to do a bit more with the dialog, language as well as way more violent and gore, which it totally lacked in our student film. We felt collectively that we had to hold back on a lot because of the ages of the actors and that was also the case with the dialog. I allowed my so Alexander to say a few choice words to spice up his role a bit and add to his narcissistic demeanor of his character.

 Now back to our crowd funding campaign, it is going very slowly. I created a Facebook page for the film and tried to get the buzz going and we have had minimal response. Hopefully in the next 28 days we will receive at least a few pledges. Here are the links to the Kickstarter page as well as the Facebook page.

Kickstarter Campaign

Facebook page

I can finally come up for air......

 This summer's project has tried to kill me. Seriously, if it wasn't for the computer problem that I had to deal with a few weeks back it was the microphone issues that plagued a few of my days of shooting, of course the metering on the camera was off so I assumed I was all good. Bad choice not having a dedicated sound guy handle the mic's and ensure that there was actually sound being recorded! So needless to say, quite a few scenes had to have voice over work. Some worked well, a couple not so much. The film is edited down, the audio is as good as it gets for right now. In the next weeks I will get a few of the actors back in to do voice overs for a couple scenes that I feel need to be cleaner and will edit down a trailer as well for the Second Life screening. Aside from the issues, I had a blast working on this. Would I change things? Of course I would! I think this was a great learning experience for myself and also Tyler which is great because that's what we are here for afterall right?

 I must say though, the one thing that I learned the most from this project was hop imperative it is to triple check your sound constantly during filming. I made a real mistake by assuming and it ended up costing me days of headaches. On top of that was also sometimes the actors strayed slightly from the script so when it came time to do VO work, reading from the script didn't work. We had to read lips in some parts to get the exact dialog recorded in post production! Yes, it was a nightmare!

 I did export in compressor at a small size to help with uploading. If it looks too small or really crappy, I will re-render on Monday and re-upload it.

Smiles In The Dark

And so we proceed

 This past week we began our production. We have a few of the scenes done, put into post and cleaned up. So what I do is shoot from 7am until we get our set shots that I scheduled for each day done and then import and edit at night. This weekend is the stressful part of the filming schedule as there are various locations and various actors needed per scene. What it translates to is miles on the car, gas in the tank and a ton of traveling from point to point. The good news is that the weather app on my phone is telling me that the rain should not be a factor but then again, it is as reliable as the navigation app that told me that I have arrived at my destination which was actually just the woods!

I also wanted to post the release forms signed by each actor in the project.

Trials and Tribulations

 Without a doubt in my mind I believe my mac pro is out to kill me. It seems that without a doubt with every project, I have some sort of issue. This time it was the worse it has ever been. On Wednesday I began shooting for the project. The footage came out pretty good, a few issues with a small room and the lens on the Canon XLH1A not really giving me the throw I need. Either way, we used the Nikon as well so the footage works. I come home and start importing, the XLH1A isn't recognized within FCP 7. So I try FCP X, which is the worst ever program that Apple ever created may I add... Anyway, the install corrupts and renders both versions of FCP useless. I try a re-install, nothing works. So I had to format and re-install every program! Thank god I have 5 hard drives on the Pro and always keep my projects and Apps/ OS separate but it took me 2 days. Then yesterday when I thought I was all set, every hard drive was locked! It took me all day to fix and now, with fingers crossed, I am ready for war!

 This afternoon we have another production meeting and script read. On Wednesday we will be shooting the bully scene and next weekend the Mike scenes as well as the majority of the basement and interior shots. We will be shooting the security guard scene as well on Sunday of next week. The only real issue that I have had so far has been of course scheduling. Because the majority of my actors are kids, I have to work around the end of school, graduations,football practice and of course the killing scenes need to be done at an early time just to not complicate things with the added issues of concerned residents seeing a psycho with a machete chasing kids around!

 As for the specific equipment and software for this project, I will be shooting everything with the before mentioned Canon XLH1A as well as my Nikon D3200. Editing will all be done with Final Cut Pro on My Mac Pro, of course importing of the HDV footage from the Canon will have to go through FCP X (blehh) first and then imported into version 7. All of the effects will be done with AFter Effects. I have the 2 dollies that I made for certain shots that I will be using as well as a couple of tripods. For audio I have Sennheiser wireless body miss that plug directly into the camera bodies. I also have a pretty large green screen( 12 x 16) that I bring out on location and studio lighting for interior shots. Although there are many scenes that call for darker comps, I find that without lighting the shot and then darkening in post, the shot is very grainy. One of the downfalls of the Canon camera.

 All in all, this project is a blast. It is time consuming beyond belief, not only with actual tasks but I find my mind constantly working on ways to approach shots or set ups. Hopefully it all works our for us in the end!

Costumes

 Here are a few photos of the costumes that we are using for the project. For the killer, we just used a gray hoodie, army coat that Tyler bought a few months back and we hit it with a hand sander and scissors around some of the seams to make it look worn. The mask that we made, black boots and jeans that Tyler had already and fingerless gloves I bought off of Amazon and then the machete that we found at an army navy store 15 miles away. The machete was all black so I took the handle off and sanded it to look older. I also bought a plastic one off of Amazon which is a few inches shorter but will work for scenes where we can't risk injury.

 For the guards costume, we went to Goodwill which is a second hand store. We found the gray pants, shirt and boots there. The keychain I found at a local hardware store and after explaining the movie to one of the employees, I scored all of the keys for free. I also designed a security guards id badge but the photo will be changed on Monday when I take a photo of the actor myself. I used one from his facebook page for reference but obviously it wont work.

Making Blood

 So we made some blood today. We also learned that the end result indeed will just wipe off with a baby wipe or warm water so getting it on skin will not be a problem. I am sure clothes will be ruined but we have prepared for that, just didn't want our actors dyed red for a week after shooting!!

meetings,costumes,blood etc.....

 For this week’s assignment, I wanted to elaborate a bit on my interpretations of the main role, mainly the characteristics of Brendan and the killer role.

  Yesterday we held our second reading meeting and have 3 more scheduled for next week, Monday, Tuesday as well as on the weekend. The scheduling has been the hardest obstacle thus far. The majority of our actors are still in school, whether it be high school or middle which ends on the 19^th. We still plan to begin shooting on the 15^th, although it will be mostly scenes of the killer as well as the indoor scenes with the killer/Brendan and Gavin.

 Now like I said, as far as the personality traits that I feel are important and want to express on film, Brendan being the most important. With this character I feel that the bullying over the time while in school took it’s toll on his psyche. This is evident in the relationship between him and the bully Nate. I feel this is also evident when the character Jimmy is around. The fact that the youngest character in the script is also the leader, something that I feel really shows just how lost Brendan is, tells a true sign to how broken down Brendan’s self esteem is. This unfortunately changes once the Killer role is implemented. The scene when the mask is being made and again the initial time that Brendan holds the machete, I feel the power within Brendan start to emerge and that is what I need to show on film. I also feel that with each killing, the power begins to consume him. I want to show that the killings are almost to feed the power, as each victim in some way was to halt the kid’s movie making which would have stopped the killer from becoming.

 This week we also designed the costumes. While all of the roles besides the killer and the security guard are just wearing casual, everyday clothing, I had to figure out which character had the possibility of their clothes becoming ruined with the blood and figured out options for this part of the film. With the killing of Nate, we would not be showing the actual murder on film. It is implied however we will be showing a cut scene to the body when it is discovered. For this we had to come up with a formula that would look realistic, yet would be washable. What I found was this method:

 Basically this formula works using corn syrup mixed with water in a 3 to 1 mixture. Then you would add red food coloring, a small amount of blue or green and to thicken it up, flour. This blood will be sticky and dry like real blood and thankfully will not stain the skin, however clothing will be ruined.

 We will be making a small batch this weekend and will post a video of it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Fake-Blood

Shooting the script, a plan

For this weeks blog entry I wanted to talk a little bit about the script, storyboard and how my vision will come through behind the lens as well as in the editing room.

 To begin, the script that Tyler wrote tells of the group of friends who like many kids in rural areas get bored quite easy. They look for adventure and decide to make a film. The thing we did not want with this project is to be another Blair Witch style first person style camcorder film. There will be scenes where we will show the kids making their film, but we want the quality to remain consistently HD.

 For the chase scenes where there will be running in the woods, I will be shooting various angles with 3 cameras. The main camera will be the Canon XLH1 which will be on a tripod. I will also use my Nikon D3200 dslr which shoots full HD as well. We also purchased a go pro hero 3 that I constructed a mount for that can be secured to trees for shots where the actor runs past and I also made a chest mount for the first person shots. We bought a head mount but when we tested it the footage was very unstable do to the movement of the head. Having options for these scenes will make the footage remain fresh since there are several scenes in the script that call for outdoor woods action and running.

 For a few of the scenes I will be using the collapsible green screen. For example when the security guard gets killed. The idea for this scene is to shoot the footage up to the actual killing then hold the marks while the green screen is placed. I will then shoot the actor Kenny dropping to his knees after being struck with the machete and also the killer swiping the blade down in the neck region. I can then put the compositions together in After Effects, resulting in the decapitation of the guard.

We begin shooting the major stuff on the 15^th but over the next 2 weeks we will be shooting small filler and the sewing of the mask scene. For the mask scene, I will be shooting this in our dining room with a black background on one side and the green screen on the other, creating a corner of darkness that I can key in later. I will use the full size dolly that was made and shown on my blog last week to create a fluid motion from behind the character played by Tyler to just over his shoulder. I will then use the skate dolly on the table to do a wraparound scene from the front, focusing on Tyler’s face as he sews the mask.

I think the most critical part of the cinematography for this project is going to be capturing the psychotic behavior of Tyler’s lead role as he becomes the killer. I think it is imperative to focus on the struggles and conflicts within the script. A great example is Brendan’s thirst for power and control. From the initial scene of the mask to the wielding of the machete, the feeling that this gives him power must be seen. It must show that this power overwhelms him and feeds the psychotic behavior, creating the monster. I also need to show how very ironic it is that while he is the oldest of all the characters, the leader of the group is obviously Jimmy who is the youngest by several years.   

 Another thing is that while I will be shooting to script, I will also take tons of other footage as well as extra scenes or cuts with added improvised dialogue. This will be for two reasons, I want the film to be approximately 40 minutes in length so having excess footage can help me when editing and we plan on working another edited cut for film festival submissions.

In the beginning........

 Ok guys, this class is going to be a blast, but will be lots of hard work. Either way, I can't wait to begin shooting in a few weeks! The project that I am working on with my son Tyler, who is also in the class with Dana and myself is a short thriller film. The film, which will be roughly 30-40 minutes in length will be all shot in HD using Canon XLH1 cameras as well as some location shots with my Nikon D3200 and footage using GoPro Hero 3 cams. My role as one of the two main collaborators on this project is to assist with the story as we take Tyler's written working script and adapt it and make the flow of the story possible within the time frame allotted this semester as well as to fit within the 30 to 40 minute clock. In order for us to be on the same page as far as the script that was written and ensuring that I capture the elements, meaning and of course the individual personalities of each character especially the killer, I am researching ways to do more dynamic shots. A few of the ways that I will achieve this effect is by various dollies and mounts for the cameras.

 In the beginning of the week, Tyler and I made several trips to the local Home Depot for supplies to make 2 rigs that will allow us to do some pretty cool shots that would have been impossible by hand.

 The first is a skate table dolly rig. This rig, consists of pvc pipe and an old skateboard that we stole the wheels from.

 I did a test shot with this rig here.

The other dolly is a tripod dolly which is full motion. We have been getting rain the past few days but hope to test it outdoors this weekend.

 As you can see in the last photo, I designed a spring loaded mechanism to secure the tripod legs into the mounts on the dolly to ensure the movement will keep everything safe and secure.

 Last weekend we also shot a reference video to see how the mask and killer looked behind the lens. I turned that into a short trailer which can be seen below.

http://youtu.be/OLLnuhY1srE


 Next week we will begin our location search for certain scenes. A good amount can be shot on our property, however we do have a few other places to find and get approval for.

 Beisdes cinematography, I will also be editing the project and doing the sound design. I have reached out to a few people from my old recording days as well as a few others to see if anyone would be interested in composing something creepy for the title and credit scenes.

As for budget..............

 We are trying to realistically do this as cheap as possible. So far we have spent probably $600 to $700 on props, camera and stuff for the rigs that we built. We will probably spend another $100 on tape and ingredients for fake blood etc.

 We will be having a casting next weekend for extra's and will begin shooting on the 15th of June, which will last a few weeks and should be completed by the 6th of July. It will take a couple of weeks in post to do the cgi and editing.

 The thing that we have going for us is that we have worked so many projects in the past and work very well together. We have organized meetings weekly, but being that Tyler's summer break from work has just begun, we bounce ideas and have creative meetings daily.

So this is just the beginning............