I'm Finally Making My Own Movie - "PAPER PLATES"

[animator]

I'm sorry to hear about this!

You are very close to this project and know what you were envisioning and what went differently. If there is any way you can hand the footage off to someone else for the first pass at an edit, I think it would really help the end product. You can completely recut it, but having a different set of eyes put it together first will give you a fresher and cleaner perspective.

 

[JediMichael]

I know the pain of having that vision and fighting everyone to get to it. And everything I've done has always been no budget, or at most, a few hundred dollars. It can be rough.
Hopefully the editing goes smoother, as thats what I much more prefer to do than the shooting any day.

 

[joberg]

Yep, you've described perfectly how principal photography can go right/wrong if cast and crew don't take it as seriously as the director/writer of the movie. My father was always frank with those involved into filming any scene: "Don't come on set if you think that this is a joke!!"
It's difficult work at best; sometimes you'll be the victor and sometimes the loser...it's not for the faint of heart.
Keep up the good job and, hopefully, the cutting of the movie will give you more (not less).

 

[Psab keel]

Oof. That was an experience...

11 days. 11 grueling, awful, frustrating, days. Half of them I spent sleeping on my bed roll on location. I got some great performances and dealt with sub-par and genuinely awful ones. Things I wanted to avoid, I couldn't; things I thought I could manage, couldn't; this was easily one of the roughest and toughest experiences I've ever put myself through. I won't even get into handling the cast and crew. I stumbled my entire way through this, and in the second week, delegated some of my burdens onto some more "experienced" cast and crew to help me better organize and streamline the shoot. While it mostly worked, and we started moving in a brisker pace, the compromise to what I wanted to achieve was almost as great a blow to me as dealing with the general ineptitudes and incompetence of others. On top of my own inadequacies and inexperience.

I felt there was a general loss of gratitude, sympathy, and respect for me and the project as it went along. I was paying out my own pocket for everything and seeing people roll their eyes at me, "Yeah, whatever; it's your movie" when I gave direction or wanted to re-stage something drove me up the wall. I had a crew of five for most of the time and a cast of 10 on average and corralling them all was a monumental task.

Had I the option of remaking this movie with triple my budget and 2.5 months to do it, I'd take it up in a heartbeat. I don't think what I got is a complete loss, some of it is genuinely good and everyone had complimented what I wrote, and what I managed to pull together on my own. I just wanted to avoid "it's good for what it is" trap and it seems that's all this was going to punch at. I wanted more. So much more for this. I'm missing 9 shots because I was out-ruled by my own cast and crew and now I have to manage cutting around that. Simple things that would've tied things together. Even orders to make everyone look sweaty and hot for some shots weren't done because of neglect and incompetence. I won't say that I hated doing this, but I did have a very hard, difficult, and mostly terrible time.

I said in the end that everyone would come to hate me, and they did. I was wanting to do good work; the rest, they were just wanting to have have fun. They all suffered with me, and they gave me what I asked for when I stepped in directly myself, but I tried my best and I got what I need to cut something together but, man, what a gut-punch of an experience. I feel like I got a taste of what Lucas and Spielberg suffered making Star Wars and Jaws. Nothing went right, and anything that could've gone wrong, did on this production (short of a cataclysmic fire).

I'm now starting work on the editing and I am loathe to even see half of the footage again, knowing the work that it will take to make it work.

Yet despite all of this, you DID it! It's honestly really inspiring to know that you had the guts to even attempt this. In my limited experience, working on independent films where you have no money and essentially volunteers who just think it "might be kind of cool" to make a movie, I can say I've had a taste of what you experienced, even if it was from someone on the sidelines who participated. Managing people is half the work, when all you want to do is actually get the shots you need/ want, but man do I have a boatload of respect for you to put yourself out there! I'd be curious to know where we can watch the final product! Despite all the headaches, to say that you made a movie? That's far more than most people can say.

 

[JediMichael]

Created a whole thread of its own, just leaving the link to redirect from here.
But I definitely understand the pain of any type of low budget film making.

Darkside Story - A Star Wars Parody

So for the past two and half weeks, I've taken the time to remaster this old fan film friends and I worked on, starting in 2002 for the Star Wars Fan Film Awards. Long story short, the project got to big, especially with just 3 of us doing all the post production (all roommates), so we missed...

www.therpf.com

 

[joberg]

Reminded me of those amateurs student film festival we had in Brussels in the '70s Yes, film making is difficult at best...you gotta have a strong vision (as a director + writer)to humor/fend-off people coming with "better ideas/shots, lines, etc..."The Buck Stops Here" applies.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

The fact I had to throw my weight around at almost every step of the way, I think, contributed to everyone resenting me at the end.

 

[JediMichael]

Reminded me of those amateurs student film festival we had in Brussels in the '70s Yes, film making is difficult at best...you gotta have a strong vision (as a director + writer)to humor/fend-off people coming with "better ideas/shots, lines, etc..."The Buck Stops Here" applies.

Whats funny, is these directors rarely told me how they wanted a shot framed, so I just did my own thing.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

It's come to it where I need to busk for money, gang.

This is the link to my GoFundMe campaign. I need some scratch for some post-production work. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, truly.

 

[joberg]

The fact I had to throw my weight around at almost every step of the way, I think, contributed to everyone resenting me at the end.

Well, nothing personal at the end of the day...egos have to be left at the door (or on set) You're the Captain after all!!

 

[joberg]

Whats funny, is these directors rarely told me how they wanted a shot framed, so I just did my own thing.

Seems that you were the main DP/cameraman on that short

 

[JediMichael]

Seems that you were the main DP/cameraman on that short

I was. But the guy that brought lights and had borrowed a second camera got DP credit. But my name is in the credits more than any other person already anyways.
I think I might try and remaster the whole entire thing, once I find what tape its on, just for memory sake.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Here's a little scene from my movie. It's still in the rough-cut phase, and it still needs to be sent off to have the audio properly mixed, but it's pretty close to what I'm wanting for the final cut.

WARNING: There's swearing.

I really don't like sharing something this early and this rough, but it's all for gaining further interest for funding. Again, my GoFundMe link is here; any and all help is appreciated.

 

[joberg]

Looks good and, as you said, the sound will be different (as well as ambient sounds) You might want to do some looping for other scenes you'll find problematic...aside from that; lots of work to do. I don't want to criticize your approach to your film making or choices of framing the action, but I would've chosen more close-ups of the actors delivering their lines than the wide frames you've chosen...that's just me and my 2 cents
When you just have one camera, the different set-ups are taking time away from filming as you know.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I don't want to criticize your approach to your film making or choices of framing the action, but I would've chosen more close-ups of the actors delivering their lines than the wide frames you've chosen...that's just me and my 2 cents
When you just have one camera, the different set-ups are taking time away from filming as you know.

This was an intentional choice, and I had two cameras to film, often running at the same time. One fitted with a wide angle lens and the other with a telephoto zoom for close-ups or "flatter" imagery.

This little film is my rebel cry against everything I hate about how movies are constructed now. I wanted to avoid as many cuts of floating heads talking off screen (singles/reverses) as possible, the forceful (often unnecessary) guiding of audience attention; with everything held dogmatically to the "180 Rule" (everything filmed from one of two sides to help establish a sense of space). There's a whole sequence where I not only break 180, but 360 itself because I've already established the space in two sequences already, and what follows is supposed to be chaotic. I want to condense and fill every frame with as much information as possible and let the audience choose what's important to follow in as many long, single takes as possible. This whole movie is conversations happening either at once or in different groups meeting, and to have it be constructed in singles is both time consuming and uninteresting. Also, because the leads are wearing masks, it makes no sense to have close-ups on them unless it's shots of their eyes, and only then will it mean something. I've spent a very long time thinking about this and all my shot choices are intentional to every frame recorded. Whether anyone agrees with it or not is a matter of taste and something I'm not overly concerned with.

The sound still needs proper mixing (as I'm partially deaf, myself) but there's no music in the movie at all but for two instances and that takes on a whole world of meaning when heard, so all the ambient noises are even more important in how they establish textures and moods of a space. Especially in comparison to when there are moments of dead silence, especially when the robbers themselves are stuck in the bank without power.

 

[joberg]

This was an intentional choice, and I had two cameras to film, often running at the same time. One fitted with a wide angle lens and the other with a telephoto zoom for close-ups or "flatter" imagery.

This little film is my rebel cry against everything I hate about how movies are constructed now. I wanted to avoid as many cuts of floating heads talking off screen (singles/reverses) as possible, the forceful (often unnecessary) guiding of audience attention; with everything held dogmatically to the "180 Rule" (everything filmed from one of two sides to help establish a sense of space). There's a whole sequence where I not only break 180, but 360 itself because I've already established the space in two sequences already, and what follows is supposed to be chaotic. I want to condense and fill every frame with as much information as possible and let the audience choose what's important to follow in as many long, single takes as possible. This whole movie is conversations happening either at once or in different groups meeting, and to have it be constructed in singles is both time consuming and uninteresting. Also, because the leads are wearing masks, it makes no sense to have close-ups on them unless it's shots of their eyes, and only then will it mean something. I've spent a very long time thinking about this and all my shot choices are intentional to every frame recorded. Whether anyone agrees with it or not is a matter of taste and something I'm not overly concerned with.

The sound still needs proper mixing (as I'm partially deaf, myself) but there's no music in the movie at all but for two instances and that takes on a whole world of meaning when heard, so all the ambient noises are even more important in how they establish textures and moods of a space. Especially in comparison to when there are moments of dead silence, especially when the robbers themselves are stuck in the bank without power.

Yes, absolutely: your film/decision as a writer/director and what your final product should be I liked the fact that the Sheriff and the bad guy were into the same frame discussing options. I was surprised at first, but, afterward, thought that doing it that way was quite innovative (for me).
As for the ambient sounds; as you certainly know, some sounds are quite interesting during takes...especially if you don't want to clean them in your final. Some might deter from the action/dialogue of the takes also. Your choice, of course, as to keep them whole or transform them in post

 

[Psab keel]

That threw me a bit too, to see the two characters in the same frame, but it clicked after a minute and I'm sure stylistically it will make more sense once we can see the whole thing.

I like the way you blocked the robbers in the frame where the four of them are sitting looking out towards the door. Very interesting visually and far better than the type of framing/ blocking I see in other lower budget films. The shot/ reverse shot approach to filming with dialog scenes can get tedious to watch sometimes, so I understand your hesitation to use it.

 

[joberg]

That threw me a bit too, to see the two characters in the same frame, but it clicked after a minute and I'm sure stylistically it will make more sense once we can see the whole thing.

I like the way you blocked the robbers in the frame where the four of them are sitting looking out towards the door. Very interesting visually and far better than the type of framing/ blocking I see in other lower budget films. The shot/ reverse shot approach to filming with dialog scenes can get tedious to watch sometimes, so I understand your hesitation to use it.

The shot/reverse shot shouldn't be over-used...you know; too much of a good thing

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

The shot/reverse shot shouldn't be over-used...you know; too much of a good thing

It used to be the head of an actor was the least important thing on them. That's something I still hold true.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Thought I'd make a poster for the movie since I'm close to finishing my rough cut. This is currently one of three I've designed (and my favorite of the three). I want variant posters emblematic of the movie more than something direct and, frankly, boring.