4 posts tagged “superhero”

I shoot my final project this weekend, I pretty much had to direct this other guys project because he wanted to act in his own movie for some reason, but I enjoyed doing it and the actress said I was good at directing it. She pretty much realized that I was the guy running the show. So I did my best to give her chances and shots to shine, since the actors/actresses are working for nothing but stuff to add to their reel and if there isn't enough close ups then what good is that for a reel? Film making is a business so you got to keep that in mind too.

Pre-Production for my project has been a nightmare. I posted an ad for actors, got a lot of responses, I set up an audition date and no one came, zero. So that put me two days from shooting and I have no cast. I got one call from and actor saying sorry he couldn't make it and was hoping for another audition, BAM he got the part. The lead part was cast my Al my roommate when he asked a few friends, turns out my future roommate was free and interested in the part, BAM cast as the superhero. The last role is hopefully going to be played by a girl down the street who does some theater acting.
Now I just have to shoot it. I'm excited for it be over. Is that good? I'm sure it will be fine but I just wish I could have had one more week to plan this all out. Get some permits for nice locations, actually cast actors that kind of thing. The story is good, kinda funny but not hilarious. everyone will get to see it soon enough

Now I"m going to lay in bed and have nightmares about all the things that can go wrong on the set in the morning, that way I'm prepared for them.

this past week is about the halfway mark on my 8 week course at new york film academy. It has gone my really fast. I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like just a few days ago I was still trying to remember my classmates names. It has been an intense experience for all 18 of us. We were strangers and now we are all friends. We have a worldwide network of budding filmmakers now. England. Portugal. Brazil, Argentina, Denmark, India, Mexico and of course there are a handful of us from America. We got coast to coast, California, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma,Ohio,  Rhode   Island, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.
I think most of the class are hoping to make a career out of this whirlwind experience. Some might make it some might not but that is how life goes.
We begin shooting our final films in five days. It is pure madness. I don't even have a script in a final form. I think I like the story though so hopefully it will come  out the way I picture it in my mind. All I will say is that it is a superhero movie. I put out and ad on craigslist.org for scripts and I got a few actually scripts and a few pitches. The one that is my fall back plan is a basic coming of age story where the boy turns 18 and his father's gift is a father vs son boxing match. I liked the script but it needed a good amount of reworking/rewriting. I even found and awesome boxing ring that might look familiar because it is often seen on ESPN or HBO. So it is kinda of a bummer that I won't be using that location because it would be epic.
here is what the website says
The Look:- 80 foot long catwalk (ideal for unique camera angles)
.- Hard Wood Floors throughout.
- 2 gyms, each with it's own unique look.
- Each gym has a regulation size elevated boxing ring.
- Ceilings of over 20 foot with I beams running throughout.
- Rows of heavy bags.- Locker rooms.
- Gritty authentic Manhattan brick wall.
- Timeless black and white murals including an 18 foot high "Joe Louis".
The new superheros story will be less taxing on the locations, acting, and choreography
(I have never boxed so it would be hard to stage a match but it would look like an amature match for sure so that part would be authentic I guess)
So the new script is written by me I used celtx, which is a free shareware pre-production program. I have to say it is pretty slick. I think I would rather have celtx than the $300 competition. It was actually fun to write it out. Now I just need to comb through it a few times and fix mistakes and make the dialog less lame. I'm going to shoot digital instead of film for the simple reason that I can't afford to spend $600+ just on film. I wish I could though because film does look better, there is no question in my mind about it. 16mm just looks really cool, even on this shitty reversal film stock we have been shooting on.
here is one of the projects that I directed. this was a production workshop where we had a few hours to write and shoot something that was some type of allegory or parralle universe or supernatural power or something along those lines. 

With school coming to a close I have to figure out what to do from here. I no job to got back to and it sounds like SNCAT is about to close anyway so I jumped ship at the right time it seems. We are moving out of the apartment we live in now and are moving to washington heights which seems to be all the rage and is way cheaper becasue I will be sharing a room with Al. so rent will be half the price I pay now. I want to try and find some work here. I don't want to spend to much time working at a resturant or something if I'm not working on other film/video projects. If I could get a job at a post-production house that would basicly be the dream or something where I'm touching a camera would be nice. I know there is free-lance stuff that I could get for online newspaper stuff or something but freelance is kinda scary, spotty work. As long as I'm here trying to advance the carrer then that is fine with me even if I'm making my own web series while I'm working at blockbuster or something like that.
I also got a friend who is moving to LA and wants me to come with. He is going there for music production school and I know I would have fun there but again it is the same thing, I just need to be working(paid or not) at my craft. otherwise what is the point of living outside of Reno? So I have this debate going on in the back of my mind but my main focus right now needs to be my final film. A lot can change in a few weeks too. My final might come out really good and I might submit it to festivals and if not then it is still and awesome learning expirence. Once school is over I'll put together my reel and resume that should take about a week and then I'll send that all over the city, state, hell even the country and I'll take it from there.

BOTTOM LINE is that I'm out here to live the dream and so far so good.