Mark onesheet

Hello folks. You know what gets old? Every time I post to one of my blogs it seems like I’m saying “sorry it’s been so long since I posted blah blah blah.” I’m going to try not to do that any more…starting next time.

It’s been a long time since I posted, and a lot has happened. I’m going to see if I can catch you up. Let’s see; Overcoming Going Under is almost finished (and you can read about the progress of that over at the ocgu blog), I’m pretty far into a documentary/performance/dramatic feature film about Singer/Songwriter Kevin Sandbloom called “Soul Troubabour“, and I have several new ideas that I plan to keep you up to date on the progress of here, but they aren’t ready to talk about yet.

Then there is “Mark.” The first three episodes were in the can two years ago, and I completed the edit on them quite a while ago too. There are a few things left to do for those episodes, but what has really been holding it up is a plan for how best to launch the web series. I figured the best way would be to have the whole first season (whatever that is…since we could make it whatever we want really) ready to go so that each episode could be released on a regular schedule without any long gaps. The trouble has been finding the time to work through those concepts, arc out the season, write the episodes, get down to LA to shoot them (not to mention casting, location scouting and all the other pre-pro work that goes into a shoot), edit them and get them ready to release.

So some of that work is done. The first couple seasons are outlined, the first season in great detail, and the actual writing is underway. Soon we’ll be tackling the pre-production and I’ll take some three or four day weekends down to LA to shoot. Needless to say it’ll be a little while before the whole first season is ready to trot out.

So I think what we’re going to do is go ahead and get those first three episodes ready for prime time and release them ahead of the rest. It’ll be like a little teaser pre-season. Like when Battlestar Galactica started out with a two hour special instead of a regular pilot episode. What do you think? Sound like a plan?

I’ll try and do a better job of posting here, now that I’m settled in Santa Cruz. I definitely have lots to talk about (including all the gear I bought earlier in the year in preparation for Mark shoots, as well as all the other projects in the hopper) so I’ll carve time out to tell you about stuff as it happens. Talk to you soon and happy new year!

Just about the time that Mark will be launching into the web series arena IMDb will be adding a category for us. This is good news!

I’m finishing up the edit on the first three episodes…I’ll have more info about the plans for the future when the first episode is complete, so stay tuned!

I’ve been trying to raise the money to finish OCGU (I’m sure you saw the kickstarter post) and I did manage to get the first episode of Mark in the can. I’m looking forward to starting the edit on that too. I got certified by Apple in Final Cut Pro too. So some good stuff has been happening too.

Swedish Auto now on DVD

Anyway, I got inspired to write a post today when I saw that the dvd for a film called Swedish Auto is coming out. That is a film I saw at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. It was a pretty darn good little indie flick, but I never heard anything about it after the festival until now. I’ve seen tons of films that I saw at festivals come out years later after I’d forgotten all about them, and there is always a little rush of nastalgia, and a little bit of hope floods in, because those film makers have been struggling to get their film out there for months and years and finally something is happening.

Sure they have to survive on their merits, and maybe they will sink, but at least they are getting their shot…and that’s all I want for the films I’m working on. I just want them to have a shot, and let them sink or swim on their own. Well, that and the chance to make another

I know times are tough. If you can support the film, great. If not that’s fine too…BUT, what I would like you to do is email your friends, family and colleagues about our fundraiser on kickstarter! Send them the link, tell them about the project if you haven’t already. Tell them you really want to see it get finished and you think it has a shot at the festivals!

Here is the link to send:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aughtmedia/overcoming-going-under-post-production

Post it on facebook. Post it on twitter. Just get behind this sucker and help me get ‘er done!

We’ve got 44 days left to raise the money! Please help.

OCGU Shooting Day 1 – with the DIY Steadycam

So here is the first post of a series I’m going to do on DIY projects I’ve taken on that have helped me with film making or Image making. The first is a DIY steadycam that you can make for about $15 with parts from the hardware store. Professional Steadycams are very expensive and this option is pretty good if you are working on a budget. I’ve seen some variations that I’d like to try out but this one served me quite well while I was shooting Overcoming Going Under.

The directions I followed were from Johnny Chung Lee, and were a great starting point.

The main variations I made (improvements, if I do say so myself) were to the connection point to the camera. The one he uses in the instructions is bascially just a bolt, which could work of your camera is really small, but if you have a Canon XH-A1 like I do you’re going to want more support than that.

I fashioned mine out of a metal brace, basically just a flat piece of metal with four holes drilled in it that I bought at Home Depot with rubber attached to it with Gorilla Glue (the rubber was from a strip of industrial rubber wall molding I also bought at Home Depot) and a little 1/4 twist screw that goes into the tripod mount of the camera. As you can see in the picture I also added a set of bicycle grips to the metal pipes, which I thought was a good improvement, and I was able to get at target for about $5.

The camera mount

another thing I did was make a reverse attachment that would allow me to shoot close to ground and capture shots of feet walking or low angle shots. This attachment fastened on the head end of the Steadycam which would be used upside down with the weight at the top at the bracket (shown below) at the bottom. It worked really well.

The Reverse Mount

If you have any questions about how I did it, how it works, or where to get parts please feel free to email me or leave your question in the comments. Till next time…

So if you are interested in buying a Canon XH-A1 which has been taken care of let me know.

Too bad too because pretty much everything else was in place – the cast, most of the locations, all the pre-production…oh well. It’ll get done. They always do. So in the coming weeks I’ll keep you posted on the progress, I’ll go through the steps I took to complete to pre-production, and I’ll pass along a few DIY projects I’ve tackled to help with both film making and still photography.

If any of you would like to support nomoneymovie.com and maybe help get Mark made please donate in the sidebar. We appreciate every little bit!

I’m a bit of a list maker and some might say a little OCD. I’m okay with that. It doesn’t get in the way – I’m not locking the door three times or washing my hands with a new bar of soap every time I touch anything. But everything on my desk is in it’s place and at a right angle. Sue me. Anyway, like I was saying, I make lists. I often color code these lists to help me keep from getting overwhelmed by them. If the system to stay organized gets unruly I find that I start to ignore it and stress starts to creep in because I don’t know what I should be doing next. I’m a big fan of the GTD way and it has helped with that stress a great deal. So the color code thing helps me identify parts of the story when I am writing and group things. In this way the story starts to come together for me like a puzzle and I am able to see it’s formation because of the color code. Now, it varies – I’ll make it to suit the story at hand, but I make sure that it will make sense to me as I continue along the process. I don’t want to be looking at my notes wondering what the green highlighted portions mean. So make your system the way that will work for you.

From these cards and the color code I can then start to construct an outline. I usually spread the cards out on a table and start moving them around, putting them in order. In this way the notecards work quite literally like puzzle pieces. I try and keep the notes on the cards as brief as possible so I can grasp the note at a glance. The only time I stray from this is when a really clear idea for a scene springs forth whole. I love it when inspiration strikes like that, but even then I might write out the scene elsewhere so as not to lose the idea, and keep the notecard brief.

Once the notecards are in order I usually use them as my main notes right to the side of the keyboard as I write. Usually this makes for a feeling in me of real calm and creative freedom, because I have the story at my finger tips, I know where the scene needs to go and I have to just let it unfold and capture it as it does.

…all this is making me feel very inspired and I want to go dig into my notebook for the new feature script I’m working on. I’ve got ideas flowing right now. I’m going to go capture them. You do the same.

When I am about to dig into something new that I am not totally sure how to proceed I often find myself comforting my fear of the unknown with copious research. Whenever I think, “well, I’m not sure how to do that.” or “well, what would one do if they were trying to [insert thing I don't know anything about] ?” my response used to be a trip to the library and a couple hours with the dictionary and a thesaurus. These days, while I still like to dig into the big books, I really enjoy research on the web. Pretty much anything you want to know is out there somewhere. The only trouble is finding reliable information as apposed to the rambling of some nut job. It’s really fun to start with one search and hours later find that you have gone down so many varied avenues of thought and learned so many things that you’re ready to start putting the pen to the paper…maybe.

Next is the matter of inspiration. Who knows when it is going to strike? So I try and keep some method of recording ideas with me all the time. Either I can record voice notes on my digital recorder, or now my iPhone, or I have a pad in my pocket and my bag and try to keep a pen with me as well.

What I usually do is write down in a notebook each idea I have and put a note out in the margin categorizing it. You can make up whatever shorthand works for you, but when I’m working on a script idea I find those categories usually are “Character” “Plot” & “Scene.” So I’ll end up with a notebook full of little notes about those things and sometimes a few more. Then, when the notebook is full, I’ll transfer them all to individual notecards. I know this means writing them on paper twice already, and that’s not very green of me, but I find that it’s a good way for me to hone the ideas and really think them through.

Next time I’ll talk about what I do with the note cards once it looks like I might have enough for a story.

get out your colored pens!

Once you’ve got your form, then you grab a bunch of different colored pens and your script and get to work. There is a standard color code but since I’ve only worked on my own productions I’ve made up my own code which makes sense to me. See I color code other things on my to-do lists (for example music project are green, so when I made my code sound and score notes are on my breakdown sheets are green) so it made sense for me to keep to that. If I ever work on a production for a bigger production company I suppose I can learn their code then.

get out your colored pens!

The breakdowns for the first “Mark” script were 8 pages since there are only 8 scenes, so it went pretty quickly. This is a great method to really get an idea of what your production is going to need and to get your head around the undertaking. Once I’ve taken this step I really feel like the project is doable at that point. It’s the difference between being overwhelmed by unknowns and really having a handle on the production. Between this and the shot list or storyboards I generally have all I need to plan out the production. Of course it gets complicated when you start dealing with peoples schedules but if you are really appreciative of peoples time and make them feel like a part of the whole you’ll be surprised how willing people will be to work with you.

Next time I’ll talk about how I like to do my shot lists and why storyboards haven’t really worked for me (but how I plan to change that…and why I need to)

They say “writing is re-writing” and at first I thought that sounded silly. It was a daunting idea to think that when I was done writing something that would only be the beginning, and that I’d have to go over it and over it until it was as good as I could make it. I thought I’d be able to get it right the first time or not at all. After several drafts of my first script though, I found it to be true, and discovered a great deal of satisfaction from honing the script until it is like a well oiled machine.

There are a lot of rules for script writing, and I’m not going to go into them all right now (I’d dare say I don’t know them all – and we can talk more about them in later posts) but it is safe to say that it is a very structured form. There are a couple things I do want to discuss though, which have been hard skills to develop but have made my scripts much better.

The first thing I want to mention is writing visually. In a novel you can write all sorts of things that don’t work in a script – you can write the character’s thoughts and talk about their intentions and on and on. You can write whatever you want. But in a script the only things that should be on the page are things you can see or hear. Period. That’s it. I don’t want to read about why the character is doing what they are doing, and I don’t want all sorts of descriptions of their thoughts. Unless there is going to voice over then we can’t hear that crap. Leave it out.

Plus you aren’t the actor. The actor will choose what to think about and will do way more work on their character than you ever will. Leave that to them. Give them what they need to tell the story and that’s it. I guess I agree pretty strictly with Mamet on this subject (On Directing Film)

The second thing are camera moves and phrases like “we see.” Leave that garbage out too. If you write “We see Mark walk across the room” you’re pulling the reader out of the story if only for a second and reminding them that they sitting there and that they are reading a script. Just say “Mark walks across the room.” It makes for a better read.

Also I found that it is more challenging to come up with ways to describe things so the camera moves are irrelevant, or obvious without being stated directly. I choose to make a new paragraph for each “shot” and simply describe what I imagine would be seen on the screen, for example “he shuffles across the floor, his shoes scuffing through the dust” instead of “close up on feet. camera tracks as we see the shoes walk through the dust.” all that extra stuff just detracts from the story and makes for an ugly read I think. Plus you aren’t the director or the cinematographer (unless you are, then you’re writing for yourself, so write how ever you want) so you’re just stepping on their toes before you even meet them.

Even though I am writing for myself I write this way because I want the script to be a worth while peice even on it’s own – I want it to be a good read. Now, granted, if I were writing a script I wasn’t planning on directing, something I hoped to sell, then I would write far less. I would write very lean and only tell the story on the page. I would leave all the directing decisions to the director. If you’re not sure what I mean just make a short film and really examine your script as you go along – you’ll find the bits that are directing on the page, the parts that don’t need to be there if the writer and the director are two different people.

Okay, next week I’m going to talk about Script Breakdowns (which I just completed for the first ‘Mark’ script) If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading!